from the desk of stinkpot

i’m really hungry. it’s amazing – the students and faculty i work with don’t seem to eat at all. without anyone’s lead to follow, i constantly find myself forgetting to eat lunch. luckily, christina has taken a shine to cooking since we’ve moved to boston, which means that i usually enjoy a solid dinner. unfortunately, she’s at a business function tonight, which means that i’ve got 20 minutes until my frozen foods finish cooking in our toaster oven.

torture. my stomach has got to be digesting itself.

to steer my mind away from food, i’ve been thinking about an article i read the other day in the nytimes – “hope, saved on a laptop.” it’s this absolutely heartbreaking story about the mother of a girl killed in the world trade center attack, who finds her daughter’s laptop years later. on it, she finds a list of 100 things that her daughter had resolved to do sometime in her life. although the mother tragically never sees her daughter pass through adulthood, she’s still finds some joy by knowing what her daughter intended to do.

i’ve had trouble getting this story out of my head. so melancholy and yet somehow hopeful.

so i’ve decided to write down some of the things that i’d like to do in my lifetime. i don’t think i can muster 100 right now – but i’ll get started anyway. i’ll try and only write down things that i think i can pull off – nothing too pie-in-the-sky. here goes, in no particular order:

1. become fluent in another language.
2. learn to whistle.
3. write a decent poem.
4. skydive.
5. make some real contribution to science.
6. see machu picchu.
7. see china.
8. see the northern lights.
9. climb a mountain.
10. become a father.
11. become a grandfather.
12. learn to play the guitar.
13. stop being easily distracted.
14. build a bicycle from scratch – even the wheels.
15. become a decent carpenter.
16. learn c.
17. learn to dance.
18. become good at linear algebra.
19. go surfing.
20. learn how to blow a bubble with bubblegum.
21. get the courage to do the scary things on this list.
22. become a decent cook.
23. backpack for at least 2 weeks in a foreign country.
24. live in a small town.
25. raft the grand canyon.
26. go sailing.
27. learn to drive stick.

that’s it for now – i’m out of things to do and my pre-cooked chicken nuggets are finished reheating.

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