800 Words: 18 Incredibly Unrealistic Goals for When I'm 40

1. Memorize 10 minutes of violin music every month (classical)

1A. Find appropriate musicians to play said music with.

2. Go to two open jams every week (non-classical)

3. Write 5 minutes of new music every week (classical).

3A. Find appropriate musicians to play said music.

4. Write a new song every week. (non-classical)

4A. Form a band to play said new songs.

5. An hour of piano practice six days a week.

5A. Have a piano recital every time you have 90 minutes of new repertoire.

6. 750-850 Words every day on the blog.

6A. ...and no more!

7. Write a short story/essay or book chapter every month.

7A. Find a publisher.

8. Read at least 500 pages a week of non-internet content.
8A. Watch at least one season of a TV show every month on Netflix, DVR, DVD, On Demand (how many people do you know who make resolutions to watch MORE tv?)
8B. Watch at least one movie you've never seen every week.

9. Converse with someone an hour every day in a foreign language (Hebrew, Yiddish, French, German, Italian... whatever other language you pretend to speak by the time you’re 40 ... might I recommend Spanish, Arabic, or Mandarin?)

9A. Live, for however briefly, in places where practice of said languages is a possibility.

10. Learn to cook 500 different dishes.

10A. Keep the apartment in shape so you can invite people over so you don’t eat it all yourself.

10B. Seriously, don't cook too much unless other people eat it...

11. Fifteen miles of biking six days a week.

11A. Find two other similarly enjoyable sport activities for upper body strength and the months when it’s too cold.  

11B. Find organized outlets for said sport activities, including biking.
11C. Go to bed by 11 every weeknight, by 1:30 every weekend night. It's unfair, but the world operates according to the schedule of normal people.

12. A weekend in Washington DC once every month.  

12A. Make a definite once-a-month weekend you head down. Find a couch.

13. A weekend in New York once every three months.

13A. Ditto.
13B. A weekend in New England once every six months.

14. At least a week at a classical music festival every year. 
15. Two serious vacations a year - at least two weeks each.

15A. Spend a week in a dozen of the following cities: Venice, Lhasa, Stockholm, Singapore, Florence, Mandalay, Prague, Beijing, Sydney, Kyoto, Rome, Cairo, Budapest, St Petersburg, Amsterdam, Sana, Athens, Dubai, Delhi, Xian, Katmandu, Bangkok, Moscow, Paris, Tokyo, Istanbul, London, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Boston, Vienna, Cuzco, Yangoon, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, Chicago, Barcelona, Montreal, Berlin, San Francisco, Quito, Toronto, Buenos Aires.

15B. Three days in a dozen the following places: Khiva, Jaisalmer, Dubrovnik, Rothenburg, Goreme, Bruges, Gamla Stan, San Gimignano, Talinn, Varanasi, Banjamarsin, Baktapur, Fez’s medina, Begnimato, Cartagena, Toledo, Ile Saint Louis, Shibam, Lubeck, Ia, Assisi, Rhodes, Kashgar, Elmina, Leiva, Ganvie, Split, The Old City, Salvador, Siena, Taxco, Antigua, Valletta, Lucerne, Kayserberg, Sovana, San Augustin

15C. Three full days in half-a-dozen of the following museums: Met, Louvre, Prado, Orsay, Vatican, National Gallery (London and DC), British Museum, Uffizi, Budapest Fine Arts, Prague National, Hermitage, Moscow Modern Art.

15D. A full day in a half-dozen of the following places: St. George - Lalibela, Ulm Cathedral, Hagia Sofia, St. Peter’s, Imam Mosque - Isfahan, Hassan Mosque - Cairo, Pantheon, Duomo Firenze, Samarkand - Registan, Piazza dei Miracoli - Pisa, Monte Alban - Mexico, Patan - Nepal, Sultanahmet Square - Istanbul, St Mark’s - Venice, Temple Mount, Muscat, Merdeka Square - Kuala Lampur, Dom Square - Riga, Golbasi - Urfa, Staromestska - Prague, Praca dos Tres Poderes - Brasilia, Grand Place - Brussels, Marienplatz - Munich, Market Square - Warsaw.

15E. Make as many connections as possible with people from other places so you have somewhere to stay.
16. Find a way to make all this PROFITABLE...
17. Do all this and nevertheless find a way to make your peace with that you’re a nerdy Jewish son of an immigrant family from Northwest Baltimore.
18. Be a better, more tolerant, more understanding, more giving, more reliable son/brother/friend/employee and any other role which reveals itself as the years go on. You make and meet these goals so that you might find the everyday stuff more easy to digest, and perhaps by making that stuff more easy to digest, maybe you'll come closer to those goals.

81/2 years to make this happen. It can be done! … by someone...