30 before 30

I was chatting with my younger brother and he said, "I never imagined life after 22-23. Somehow that seemed to be the end." I agreed, because I used to be the same way. I never thought I would become any older than 25.

But here's the harsh truth. I turn 30 in February 2014. It's a milestone birthday, and I suppose I could be all unhappy about it. But, instead, I have decided to look forward to becoming thirty. It is sad to leave my 20s behind, and realise that I will not be the target audience for a lot of marketing & advertisers. But on the other hand, a lot of my burning life questions seem to be behind me. I am older, somewhat wiser and have as yet, no white hairs.

I still suffer from existential angst, and self-esteem issues, and yes, acne. I guess these things are not going  away anytime soon.

However, enough rambling! Before I exit my 20s, I decided to make a list of things I wanted to do. It wasn't easy to come up with thirty, but I did it!

1. Run a marathon
2. Throw a party
3. Learn to blow dry my hair REALLY straight
4. Complete the “Artist’s Way”
5. Save an X amount of money every month
6. Learn how to drape a sari really well
7. Find and wear the right makeup
8. Celebrate Diwali the right way
9. Make pickles
10. Keep a photoblog (on posterous)
11. Travel to
• Coorg,
• Pondicherry,
• Hampi &
• Ooty
12. Participate in NaNoWriMo(November)
13. Stitch a garment I can wear outside the house
14. Make a painting or a series of small paintings
15. Design a calendar for 2014
16. Go hang-gliding
17. Travel to another country
18. Learn to do my taxes
19. Go on a road trip
20. "Finish" drawing in all my gifted journals/notebooks
21. Attend a rock concert
22. Take a jewelry making class/Make some jewelry
23. Go vegan for a month
24. Learn to sing a song perfectly
25. Don't shop for a month
26. Write reviews of books & films you watch
27. Participate in hourly comics (1^st FEB!!!)
28. Celebrate Valentine's day
29. Start the 'other' blog (that's a hush-hush project)
30. Be at peace with myself

I am going to try and document this as I go on. Wish me luck!