As a way to dip my feet back into the art of writing I figured why not do a quick post to update my list 30 goals I wanted to complete before hitting the big 3-0 now that we’ve done another trip around the sun.
The original list was written only a year ago so that list was moreso “goals for the next year” rather than “goals for the next decade”. Unfortunately I quickly forgot about the list after creating it. But I still was able to get over half accomplished. Which means I must be working towards my goals naturally. Glass half full!
Anyways here’s what I accomplished and what I didn’t as well as some reflections and excuses about them.
Completed
- One new foreign country
- I went to Canada, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, France, and Italy in 2026!
- The Pacific Northwest
- During my trip to Vancouver I took the train from Seattle and was able to see all the beautiful scenery of the PNW along the way.
- New (to me) national park
- Went to multiple national parks during my trips abroad. I want to go to some US parks next.
- Michelin starred restaurant
- In my travels around Asia I definitely had bib gourmand but don’t think I had anything starred. However I did eat at Kin Khao in SF and I gotta say that dish was pretty spectacular.
- Create one side project that I’m passionate about
- While old me probably should’ve defined vibe coded vs hand coded I am really happy with Tomatocrab. I use it all the time at work and used it during my job hunt. Still need to work on the website integration though.
- Journal at least 36 times
- Journaling was a daily habit after I lost my job last year so I definitely hit this number. But now that I’m employed again I’ve fallen out of habit. Good reminder to start again.
- Read 3 books
- I finished The Alchemist, No Longer Human, Project Hail Mary, Animal Farm, and most of Siddhartha. Nothing too crazy but I did get halfway through Designing Data Intensive Applications which even that level of progress would be mindblowing to the Mav of 1 year ago.
- Write 10 blog posts
- Nuff said.
- Have 7 more photoshoots
- I don’t think I accomplished this in the same way I imagined but with all the traveling and the purchase of a more compact Sony I definitely had multiples of 7 photoshoots throughout the year.
- Visit my parents across the country two more times
- Easy peasy when you move back home because of a layoff!
- Donate a certain percent of my income to charity
- Goal that I happily meet every year.
- Solve a Rubik’s cube in under 5 minutes
- I think I may have already done this but I made sure of it a few months back. Still need to learn the algorithms to go sub 4 though.
- Try one new restaurant a month, and one new recipe for every three restaurants
- I ate at soooo many restaurants when I traveled but I’ve also done a lot of home cooking with new ideas. I’ll be sure to write some up soon.
- Automate and utilize my home server for media and backups.
- Decided the backups didn’t make as much sense but I definitely automated media to my hearts content. So calling this one done.
- Increase my powerlifting total by 100lbs
- Harder to gauge because I don’t go for 1RMs but based on reps I definitely hit this.
- Make one new friend
- I make a lot of new friends but one that sticks out is my friend Victoria. I met her while in Thailand and we had tons of deep talks about philosophy, politics, and life in general over bowls of mango sticky rice. Really fun trying to explain US gun culture to a German and a Norwegian in a Chiang Mai market.
Incomplete
- Long Lake, NY
- Going up this summer!
- Publish a book
- This one is honestly just a me problem. I have the book I just don’t think it’s polished enough.
- Learn one new hobby past a beginner level
- I tried hard with latte art but still have a long way to “good”.
- Smoking an entire brisket
- After moving I no longer have access to a smoker :(
- Sell one print of my pictures to someone that I don’t know
- Again just a me problem. I think I’ll get some stuff printed and try again for the next challenge.
- Host 2 dinner parties
- Life circumstances sure but honestly just should’ve planned better here.
- Finish learning a new language (currently trying Tagalog!)
- Why did I think I could learn a new language in a year? Also switched to learning Spanish for the utility of it.
- Complete one college class or online course
- Should’ve done this during the unemployment..
- Go on a roadtrip up the California coast
- Next time I move back there!
- Film and document my parents’ life stories
- This one sucks to realize I didn’t do especially after moving back home. But good to remember. I did improve on filming them especially during trips though.
- Go camping somewhere with a clear night sky
- Clear night sky yes but I don’t think I’ve done a lick of true camping in the past year.
- Skydive, bungee jump, or paraglide
- Again wishing I read this list before I went to Asia because it would’ve been pretty easy to check these off.
- Run a 5k
- Did a lot more running and probably even ran this distance but never in a race which was the goal.
- Send 10 hand written letters to friends/family
- I recently purchased a typewriter. I’ll probably do a little post on that soon and I think I will try to accomplish this sometime soon.
Another list will come eventually, and this time I’ll have a requirement to setup reminders before I’m allowed to publish it!