30 before 30

Last week, O turned 29, and in celebration, R and O and I went to a bar (in the 44.4% Asian town of Cupertino) where 100% of the other patrons were meaty, melanin underfunded types, nearly all men, many of them playing an aggressive version of Yahtzee requiring all players to slam leather cups filled with dice onto tables whilst hooting, one of them advising a younger man to trust women "only as far as you can throw them," and also where the three of us immigrants with graduate degrees pulled out pens and notepads, like we were TOEFL cramming, to participate in our favorite pastime, making lists. O and I made lists of thirty things to do before we turn thirty; R made a list of 31 before 31.

I turn 30 in two months, so the list is not as ambitious as New Year's resolutions. Here it is, minus the career-related ones I am too paranoid to post.

30 Before 30

1. Take Mom and Dad to Crystal Springs Reservoir
2. Take Grandma to the movies
3. Move to [redacted], or make definite plans to move
4. Record three more songs
5. Participate in something performative (reading, music, other)
6. Finish bedside book pile
7. Discover two new bands that I really like
8. Win one bet against O
9. Run the San Francisco marathon
10. Go to eastern California or northern northern California
11. Buy more contact lenses
12. Go camping again (Lost Coast?)
13. Do another bike-about/food odyssey with R and O (balut in South Bay?)
14. Try to go jogging with Mom (or encourage her to do some aerobic activity)
15. Bike with Dad to Union City
16. Find renters
17. Decide whether Boo can live with me when I move
18. Get to a stable place with S
19. Do a weekday night hike with R and O and friends to spy on friends' relationship
20. Spend time with BH
21. Spend time with HK and KW
22. Spend time with JY
23. Try Richard's mountain bike at Arastradero Preserve before work one morning
24. Learn to cook five more of Mom's dishes
25. Do something nice for S's birthday
26. Read "The Nine"
27. Write something every day
28. [Redacted]
29. [Redacted]
30. [Redacted]