30 Things

Keeping up with the end-of-year lists, here's a long-term one inspired by an old post from Liz (who had 25 items on her list, since she was 25 at the time, but I've added five more, since I'm *gasp* 30):

30 Things I Want To Do

1. Find an agent for my novels!
2. Pick out and decorate a real Christmas tree
3. Visit all 50 states (15 down, 35 to go)
4. Drive from London to Istanbul (taking the Dover-Calais ferry, not the Chunnel, natch)
5. Actually finish reading all the books I own (see 180 list below)
6. Have a proper English library
7. Spend some time being a boat and fishing person
8. Snowshoe
9. Travel more in Europe. Actually use all the German and Welsh and Swedish and Russian and Spanish I’ve learned
10. Ride on a fast horse
11. Practice archery
12. Play more golf
13. Milk a cow, make yogurt, churn butter, that sort of thing
14. See The Divine Comedy and Gyllene Tider and Runrig in concert
15. Attend the Surrey International Writers' Conference
16. Stay at the Algonquin Hotel, NYC
17. Watch more old movies from the 50s and earlier
18. Get a Master's Degree and write my thesis on Tolkien
19. Subscribe to the NME or Q or Mojo or the New York Times
20. Use my CrockPot and juicer
21. Grow a garden
22. Complete my state coins collection (only missing Texas, California, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, Washington and Alaska!)
23. Ski
24. Learn how to cure olives and attend an olive pressing (for oil)
25. Read more books in different languages
26. Attend Festival in the Shire in Machynlleth!
27. Visit Saint Catherine's monastery at Mount Sinai and Sumela monastery at Trabzon
28. Watch a cat give birth (or another animal) in real life and not on YouTube
29. Visit Patagonia and Antarctica and Australia and other far places
30. Really learn how to crochet and spin

Coming soon - end of year wrap-ups and end of decade wrap-ups, a la Marsha!

Comments

Marsha said…
Milk a cow? You are ambitious!

Can't wait to read your decade wrap-up!
AYDIN ÖRSTAN said…
Too many things to do in 1 year.

I don't think you are a "boat and fishing" type. But I would love to join you on your trip to Trabzon!
Deniz Bevan said…
Oh no - that's not for one year! That's for all time! I've got years and years to build up to some of these things. I mean, me, ski? Ha! I'd much rather milk a cow :-)
Cindy said…
Deniz:
It's like you're a peasant born in the wrong century!

Here in Nova Scotia there is a working farm (http://museum.gov.ns.ca/rfmnew/en/home/default.aspx) where you can spin wool, churn butter, milk a cow and all of that. I was lucky enough to spend a weekend there as a child, and it was fun. Ish.

I would like to finish my degree, which I have not done. Hmmm. Maybe I need a list like yours.
Cindy said…
Ooh, and we made candles too, I remember. From tallow, which smells pretty bad. The website says the farm is preserved as it would have been in 1817.
Deniz Bevan said…
Yes! I'd like to try making candles too! And obtaining meat the real way... What was it Barbara S said in a recent forum post? Oh yes, "Especially since they start the way every meat recipe should start: Enter chicken coop. Pick chicken that has run out of time. Take chicken under your arm, talk a few soothing words to it, then wring its neck. Cut off its head, let it bleed out, pluck it, remove entrails, etc ..."