Reposted from elsewhere for raddidge's sake because raddidge won't read anything at that elsewhere for unmentioned reasons. Minor edits and additions for the curious.
1. Fluently speak two languages other than English.
Right now I'm passable with Spanish and I can prevent confusion when speaking with illegals immigrants. I would like to get better at Spanish. As for the other language, I would choose either Italian or Russian, leaning more towards Italian. Of course learning Italian after knowing Spanish would be almost too easy and would be akin to learning another dialect so I would consider something like Russian or Greek.
2. Circumnavigate the globe.
I've mentioned this numerous times at heptapod.org. My trip would have me continue westward, up through Alaska, flying to Japan, crossing to Vladivostok, taking the Trans-Siberian railroad to Moscow and heading towards the Black Sea, past Istanbul, stop in Egypt and immediately get the hell out, visit a few islands in the Mediterranean then spend a few months in Sicily finding family. Finally I'd head up through Europe, end up in Great Britain and participate in making crop circles before heading to Ireland then sailing across to New York City. Reckon that I'd also like to cross the equator at some point during the journey undergoing the King Neptune rite and whatever rite is appropriate for crossing the International Date Line along with any accompanying badges of honor of those milestones.
3. Get published.
I want to write a story and have it legitimately published. None of this vanity press crap, no stupid online stuff to get the attention of literary agents like some Cory Doctorow. I don't need a best seller and I wouldn't expect anyone to go nuts but as long as it's really published and really distributed around the country and maybe translated into another language then I'd feel accomplished.
4. Settle down with raddidge
This is self-explanatory. For those of you playing along at home, raddidge is my girlfriend of the last two years.
5. Visit every state of the republic.
So far I've only visited nineteen states. Most of which I've only passed through rather than spending any serious time. Since I'm lazy, I'd say that "just passin' through" will be sufficient but it would be nice to get a bit of the flavor of each state. Maybe do a few just riding a bike.
6. Get to 200-225 pounds.
I haven't weighed that much since high school. I'm certain, I'd look positively skeletal and gaunt if I hit that goal. Plus I wouldn't be as imposing as I am right now.
7. Hit the century mark.
I guess most of the people in my family are long-lived. Offhand I don't think any had hit the century mark but I know many were in their late eighties and nineties when they passed away. It'd be really cool to go beyond that and see the tricentennial celebrations first-hand since I don't remember much from the bicentennial. The important part of this goal is to be alive. I don't want to be a frail and sickly corpse kept alive by machines and tubes. I want to walk or ride my bike and still be vigorous. Anti-senescence treatments a-la Aubrey DeGray wouldn't be considered cheating in the least.
8. Discover an asteroid or comet or KBO or planet
Yep, discover an asteroid and have it named spivak 3883 or some other nonsense. The 3883 is to make it seem really science-fictiony!!111oneone.
9. Ride a horse.
Self-explanatory. For the aliens in the audience, a horse is a domesticated, solid-hoofed, herbivorous quadruped ungulate.
10. Swim with dolphins.
Self-explanatory again. For the aliens in the audience, dolphins are aquatic mammals related to porpoises and whales.
That's when the idea hit me, I was walking around a place of future dreams. An oneiric construction site. Now I wonder if I had wandered any further if I would've stumbled upon non-union dream workers and lots of scaffolding.
