I’ve been thinking about my thirty-year-old (sorry, I should write 30, but somehow the word thirty is more romantic) bucket list for quite some time. Quite why one would need a bucket list for a particular age pretty much eludes me, however I’m just seeing it a a bit of fun. I think it all started off last year when I turned 27. At 27 you realise that your next birthday will take you closer to 30 than 25, and 25 is quite a cool age to be. There is nothing particular about thirty, with the exception that people around you seem to expect you to be settled down by then. My parents had two children and were expecting their third one by the time they were thirty.

Reading Mel Hart’s blog post made me think that I should formalise mine and make it public too – hopefully increasing the pressure that way, however before moving onto the list I would like to make one thing clear. Most of these things would be equally fun if done in my thirties, so anything which is not done by then will simply move into a “things to do before you’re forty” list. The deadline of thirty is just an extra incentive to get stuff done. Since I’ve been sort of working on this for about a year there are things I had thought of that I already got done – visiting NYC was one of them for example, however those can’t go into the list since they’ve been accomplished.There is no order of importance, I split them into categories to make them easier in my mind. I am simply going to try and list 30 things I need to achieve in the next few months.

Update: Since it helps to have targets I am replacing the ones I cross off with a new one every time.

New ones:

• Go to a Bruce Springsteen concert
• Start an online publication
• Get into 2,000 3,000 5,000 10,000 Google+ circles
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Travel / adventure

1. Visit the Far East or South America (probably Vietnam)
2. Shoot an automatic weapon (in a peaceful manner)
3. Drive an insanely fast car (a bright yellow, 505 bhp Chevrolet Corvette Z 06, guess that counts)
4. Drive a motorino (motor scooter) / motorcycle
5. Swim at 4am
6. Visit another festival
7. Go kayaking
8. Try / learn rock climbing
9. Sleep in an overnight train
10. Return to Taizé
11. Watch a Man Utd match at Old Trafford
12. Go camping (again)

 

Writing / photography

12. Sell an article to an international medium (Been published on Wired, quoted in Forbes, good enough)
    
13. Have a photo published in an international medium
14. Write a travel guide (even if just published on this blog)
15. Publish a photo-journal

 

Acts I need to see live

16. The Gaslight Anthem (again)
17. Neil Young
18. Chromeo (Travelled to London to see them in Nov 2011)
19. Crystal Fighters

 

Films & books

20. Watch all Humphrey Bogart films
21. Watch a Greta Garbo film
22. Watch La Vita e Bella
23. Watch 50 of the top 100 films as listed by the AFI or IMDB (Update – 58 off the IMDB watched)

 

Personal

24. Quit my side jobs (Update: one down, one to go)
25. Achieve financial independence
26. Lose at least 10kg 
27. Settle into a healthy routine (exercise + food)

 

Random

28. Make an item of furniture (from scratch, not Ikea)
29. Cook tamales
30. Walk through the fountain in Valletta’s Palace Square, fully clothed