Happy Birthday To Me!

Today I am 37 years old! I think I'm supposed to feel bad about that, but I don't. My life is where I want it to be, and besides, when I turn 40, I'm throwing myself an awesome party. I'm thinking something along the lines of a bowling alley or roller skating rink... with tacos ... and maybe a magician. Basically, I want an eight-year-old's fantasy party except with booze.

I love lists and I love learning, so to celebrate my birthday, I'vecomposed a list of 37 things I want to learn in the next 37 years.

1. how to roller skate backwards
2. Spanish (I can speak a little but I want to be fluent)
3. another language like French or Chinese
4. the fine art of balloon animals
5. Tap dance (so jealous of my toddler who is starting her first ballet/tap class next week!)
6. the guitar
7. and the accordion
8. and the harmonica
9. basic survival skills like making a fire
10. first aid
11. human anatomy and physiology
12. US geography, including the state capitols
13. World geography because holy shit it is embarrassing how little I know
14. all the U.S. presidents in chronological order
15. the Thriller dance
16. a magic card trick that doesn't suck
17. archery
18. the night sky, especially all the constellations
19. American Sign Language (this one intimidates the hell out of me) Nope, I changed my mind. I will learn how to grill instead.
20. basic car maintenance, especially how to change a tire
21. woodworking
22. some bad ass self-defense moves
23. sewing clothes
24. canning, especially jam
25. crochet (I know enough to crochet a scarf but I want to be able to make intricate amigurami creations)
26. quilting
27. how to ride a unicycle without killing myself
28. the fundamentals of photography - I took a photography class in high school but the teacher was crap
29. botany
30. some basics about statistics and probability
31. the periodic table of elements
32. how to host a podcast (not saying I'd be good at this. But I'm curious how it's done.)
33. enough about robotics to make my own robot
34. meteorology
35. hand embroidery
36. how to make an amazing floral arrangement with cheap flowers
37. french braid - my hair and Pippa's

Happy Birthday to Me!

The Cranky Pumpkin reserves the right to revise and/or abandon this list at any time.

Courtney's Ultimate Bad Ass List of Learning Ambitions

According to The How of Happiness, learning new things makes me happy. I fully agree. And as I've noted before, I LOVE LISTS. So obviously it is time for me to make a list of all the things I hope to learn during my life. I am not setting any deadlines for any of these ambitions.

Without further ado, behold! All the crazy, practical, lame, impractical, exciting, amazing, and weird things I want to learn:

1. how to throw a boomerang
2. how to ride a unicycle - I have wanted to learn this for at least twenty years now! I was THIS CLOSE to buying a unicycle when I was a senior in college. I was convinced it would make an awesome study break while I was writing my thesis. My friends thought otherwise and convinced me to abandoned that scheme.
3. how to juggle five objects - I can juggle three tennis balls! I learned how to juggle in the sixth grade, but if I ever want to be a circus clown, I'm going to have to up to my credentials.
4. how to make a balloon animal - Apparently what I really want to do is go to clown college.
5. how to change a tire - oh thank god, something unrelated to the circus
6. how to change the oil in my car - I'm sick of being such a girl with all things car-related
7. the different parts of a car - I can identify the tires! And the windshield wipers! I'm on my way!
8. all the presidents of the United States in chronological order - George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson...
9. five fun facts about each U.S. President but I can't learn the facts from Wikipedia
10. TAP DANCE
11. how to execute a cartwheel - the cartwheel does not have to be flawless, but a bystander has to be able to say "Hey, that chick just did a shitty cartwheel."
12. how to be a bad ass with a hacky sack - back to the clown theme, but this one has a stoner twist
13. the Thriller dance
14. how to make pasta from scratch - I actually was signed up for a pasta making class once and then the bastards cancelled due to low enrollment
15. how to make a pie from scratch - not to boast, but I'm sure I can do this, I just have never attempted it
16. Spanish - I took Spanish through high school, plus one class my first quarter of college, but I flamed out of that class. But I am working on reclaiming what I used to know and then becoming fluent. I've been using a great app called Duolingo plus reading some books in Spanish.
17. French or German or another third language
18. World geography - My education was severely lacking on this point. I want to know where every country in the world is, plus major cities, rivers, mountains, etc. I already know where the oceans are, so this is totally doable - right?
19. Guitar
20. Ukulele - I own one, I own a book, I own a tuner, but I can't figure out how to tune the damn thing! Someone I know must be able to help me with this one...
21. Grilling - This has been Nathan's jurisdiction, but it is time to conquer my fear of the grill. There's only a 5% chance I will become engulfed in flames and have to jump into the pool.
22. Harmonica
23. Accordion
24. survival skills in the event of a zombie attack, e.g. how to build a fire
25. basic first aid

Okay, I've got my work cut out for me! And I know this list will get longer before I am able to conquer a significant item...