10 for my Twenties
I’m not big on personal countdowns or New Years resolutions, but it is the time of year for lists, and I love me a list! I love to write them and read them and cross things off them. Some times I make lists after the fact just to cross it off. I love grocery lists and chore lists and top ten lists. I especially love my bucket list. I made it about a year ago on www.bucketlist.org and I’ve added a lot of things along the way. I haven’t, however, actually crossed much off of it.
You see, unless you have terminal illiness (which thank G-d I do not) most of us don’t have a sense of urgency about kicking the bucket. I always assume I’ll get to those bucket list items eventually, some time in the next 30, 40, or 50 years, but today I’m too busy, too tired, too poor, or too lazy. It’s easy to just let your goal take a back seat.
Then last week, I went ahead and crossed something off my list. Susie and I played craps at a casino, which let me meet my goal of learning how to place three separate bets at a craps table. It was intimidating, and I lost $30 over all, but mostly it was fun. We laughed, we learned, my heart beat a little fast, and my wife and I had something new to talk about for a few days. It felt good to move that item to the “Complete” column of my bucket list.
The whole experience reminded me that I don’t want to wait forever to try the things I’m interested in doing. I need to keep myself motivated right now. There are plenty of other good motivators other than death. For one, I’ll be turning 30 in October. That’s a milestone right? A time when people reflect and set new goals. Instead of dreading it, why not charge toward a new decade in my life by ending my twenties with a year of memory making? So I went to my bucket list and I picket out 10 goals I think are fun (and still reasonably accomplishable) goals for my ten months, and this is what I came up with:
Try Curling
Ride A Zipline
Go To A Hookah Lounge
Go To A Drive-In Movie
Go A Whole Week Without Using A Car
Fry A Turkey
Sky Dive
Get Down to my ideal BMI (21.5)
Learn How To Tie a Bow Tie
Pay For A Stranger’s Dinner
Over the next ten months, I plan to start tackling these items one by one, and I promise to post about each adventure as I complete it. However, I don’t want to go this alone. Adventures are always more fun with friends, so I’d like for you guys to share some of your own goals for the next years, and then promise that you’ll report back here or on your own blogs/websites/facebook too.
Some of your goals may be the same as mine, or they may be completely different, but I’d really love to see you chase them. Will you join me?
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My Books
My books can be purchased at all major retailers or directly from my publisher at www.boldstrokesbooks.com or if you want your book signed you can buy them directly from me, via pay pal and I will sign them and ship them to you. For more information on this option please e-mail me at Rachel_Spangler@yahoo.com.
Click on any book cover to learn more of the story behind the story.
Forthcoming from Bold Strokes Books in September 2010
They say you can’t go home again, but Raine St. James doesn’t know why anyone would want to.
Rory St. James was disowned after she came out at seventeen. She rebounded by moving to Chicago, changing her name to Raine and putting down her hometown to audiences around the country. Now, ten years later, too old to be considered a gay youth, broke, evicted, and fresh off a much needed break-up, Raine St. James is forced to accept a job teaching at Bramble University in Darlington, the town she’s been publicly bashing for the last decade.
Beth Devoroux was born and raised in Darlington. Despite losing her parents at a young age, she is well loved by everyone who knows her. She leads a comfortable life with good job at Bramble University, a long-term but closeted relationship, friends that she can count on, and everything she thinks she wants, so why is she so drawn to a rabble-rouser like Raine St. James?
Can Raine and Beth face their pasts and come to terms with their differences in order to have any hope for a future together?
Every skier knows that anything can happen when trails merge.
After a devastating ultimatum from her lover, Campbell Carson returns to her childhood home, Bear Run Ski Resort, seeking her family’s unconditional solace and support. Parker Riley escapes to the mountain after the high-powered world of Chicago’s political machine leaves her questioning her judgment in both life and love. Despite their initial wariness, the women find their budding friendship snowballing toward romance. The idyllic mountain resort is the perfect setting for them to learn to rebuild trust, and perhaps to find a second chance at love. However, when Parker’s past resurfaces, Campbell is forced to face her own hard truths. As barely healed wounds reopen, the unexpected obstacles in their path threaten any hope for a future together.
It’s never too late to learn about love…even when the lessons turn your world upside down.
Ashton Clarke, a local Casanova with a long history of falling into bed with a different woman every night, is perfectly content with her free and easy existence until she gives in to her best friend’s request to spend an evening helping out at the local gay and lesbian youth center. There, Ash meets Carrie Fletcher, a women’s studies professor who not only intrigues Ash but causes her to question the direction her life has taken.
As if this disquieting attraction isn’t aggravating enough, Ash is forced to deal with Carrie’s teenage neighbor Tess, whose bad attitude and biting wit seem to complicate every situation.
Ash doesn’t want to be attracted to Carrie, who isn’t looking for a relationship with anyone, and Tess is angry at the world, but especially, it seems, with Ash. Despite resistance on the part of all three women, it soon becomes obvious that the trio’s destinies are hopelessly intertwined and the lessons in store will change all their lives.
I also have a story called “Baby Steps” in Romantic Interludes 1: Discovery. The story follows new moms Kale and Grace as they relearn what it means to be romantic with a new born baby in the house. The anthology features a host of romantic short stories from some of Bold Strokes Books finest authors.
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I remember when I turned 30. My best friend since 3rd grade is 6 months older than I, and we both had the same experience. We woke up at 30 feeling empowered, energized, focused, determined. It was amazing, and the antithesis of what our culture tells us (or at least used to tell us) about how we should feel as women at 30. And then . . . our bodies turned on us! Both of us all of a sudden had major health issues that set us back months in terms of diagnosis and recovery. It was humbling, and depressing, and amusing all at once. Bottom line: As I write this on my 37th birthday, I can tell you you’re going about 30 in all the right ways (as you usually do most things). <3
Good luck with your list! I generally don’t make lists for “fun” stuff because then I feel obligated to do them. Here’s a good example with Netflix. I used to subscribe, but I stopped. Why? Because if I got a movie and did not watch it within a few days, a feeling would nag at me that I was not getting my money’s worth. I began to feel obligated. Not my thing. (I am married now, and my wife subscribes.) This doesn’t mean I can’t plan
I am awesome at saving and other things.
This is aweseome..but may i saw that for someone who is about to turn 30…You’ve accomplished an amazing amount already!!! I can’t wait to see how this bucket list expands, and items get ticked off.
My list:
find a home that i love and rent or buy it!
Write cards to friends to thank them for being such wonderful friends
find a partner that makes sense for me, and mate for life!
Volunteer
walk daily
read voraciously
write!
I sky dive every year on my birthday check
Zipline Hunter New York
Finish my book
Class 5 rapids in West VA
Continue counting off National Parks in my passport
Attend as many sesquintenial Civil War events I can in the next four years
Continue my geneaology research to get the Bakers to Ireland. That would complete 10 gens all sides
Make at least on person smile each day
The only item on my list is to regularly tell the people I respect and love just what they mean to me. Several months ago, I found out just how quickly life can change and how very important it is to share my thoughts and feelings with those in my life. I learned that I don’t ever want my family and friends to ever wonder how I feel about them. One never knows how long anyone has on this earth.
It may not seem like much of a list but it is something that I have to work at every day.
Beth
I guess Normal must not be very “normal” little town if you’ve never been to a Drive-In Movie (although they are getting harder to find) lol!!
Love your list, Rachel! You rock!