The Real 30 on 30

It's officially the year I turn 30, well, 41 days into 2015 and I feel like I haven't really done anything big, grand or epic. I have been diligent with my work though, have consumed more WTF-kind of movies than I should {Gone Girl, Metro Manila, Requiem for a Dream, among others}, hung out with friends, hung out some more, read books, watched YouTube videos, learned some skills, hugged people, greeted people good morning, swam laps, loved people dear to me, did my best as a good friend, a good daughter, an amazing sister. Still, I'm somehow trying to live slowly yet I feel restless. Like there's this shrill voice in my head asking: "Ano pa? What else can I do? When? How?"

To borrow a friend's term, it's a shit-free life. Somebody called my life "a pretty comfortable life." I live across my workplace, I have everything I could possibly need, I don't have debts, my Internet is pretty good where I am, I get to eat what I want {which is basically whatever is healthy and simple}, I am loved and I get to show people I care. It's an awesome life. Still, I'm looking for something. An adventure. A story to tell. Something that will make me remember my 30th, the road to it, very well.

This may be the effect of reading too much Business Insider articles. Or articles like these.

Researchers at New York University's Stern School of Business and University of California's Anderson School of Management conducted six studies to see how people in the last year of their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s changed their behavior. They found that people they've nicknamed "9-enders" -- people who were 29, 39, 49 or 59 -- were more likely than others to reflect on their lives and make big changes, according to the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Anyway, if you've been reading this blog some years ago, I came up with these things I wanted to do before I was 26, and then before I was 30. Now that I'm actually 29, I'm wondering why I wasn't as gigil with doing things as I was when I was 25. My guess is that my quarter life crisis came in the form of trying to become more than who I thought myself to be. I also thought I was pretty boring then so I did all sorts of things, chased passion projects left and right. Now, I'm not sure which realistic goals should I set.

Thinking it over from hindsight, I did overplan. Now that I'm older, and honestly, much wiser, I have new plans and a to do list for the Real 30 before 30. I have a different disposition in life now, I am more stable, chill, and realistic, too. Then again, the things I must do aren't earth-shattering, world-changing like other 30 Under 30 people do.

What are my considerations, you ask. These experiences are either things I'm doing the first time, skills I've always wanted to learn, things that may help someone somewhere, fun things and badass skills worth knowing.

Learn a simple programming language. Have I ever told you my coding dreams? Heh. I've always wanted to code, like badass kind of coding, not my simple HTML and CSS skills. Since I'm in the tech industry, I am sure I'd have a lot of use for it. In my grand plans of making this country a digitally-empowered country, it has to be.
Bake red velvet cupcakes. It may sound super simple to many a baker but I really just want to bake red velvet cupcakes. Plus, I'm no baking type, but when I craved for a cupcake while watching Dallas Buyers Club {disturbing sh*t, this one}, I knew I just have to learn. And bake some. I kind of bake a bit already, I just need to have the courage to buy the ingredients and use my tools.
Learn and excel in a new sport. I'm thinking boxing, since I've wiped out several in the last five years {football, gymnastics, yoga, running, muay thai}. So let's see.
Join a new small group, complete my one on one and do the Victory weekend. In my first list, I targeted to find the right spiritual group for me. Now that I've found it, I want to seal the deal and be baptized as Christian and join a new small group. My old small group has kind of quieted down so I'm gathering the courage to join a new group where I can attend more regularly.
Dedicate one day of the week to zero or minimal social media usage. I already work in the digital world, so I'm consuming digital stuff most days. I feel so exhausted from thinking like everybody else when I consume Facebook most of all. I really need a break from it once a week. I'm thinking Sundays!
Update: See here.
Understand the basics of car repair. I've always thought this was a badass skill to have, useful in the future BUT where to learn?
Learn a new language. It's actually pretty easy, when one lives in that place that speaks the language. I realized this while I was in Germany, where I could speak really good German phrases after two weeks, and in Paris, where I could converse three lines in French. Then I smile and throw a soft, "Désolé, vous parlez anglais?" Mehehehe.
Skinny dip.
Indulge in art at least once a month. One of the things I found out to be something I like was art, which I only discovered when I went to Europe last year. When I came back, I was transformed a lot, and I found myself wanting of more art. I find myself calmer and at peace when I consume art -- which I already did this January at BenCab museum in Baguio. Thinking of what to do next month now. If you have museum/gallery ideas, let me know please!
UPDATE: Here you go for February.
UPDATE: I think I got enough art fix in Europe :) And then subsequently, in Museum of Art in Boston.
Go one week without makeup.I usually can for three weekdays especially if I just had my face cleaned. Let's see if I can do it for 7 days.
UPDATE: Being sick can make you do this. And I did it. And had very clear skin from doing so!
Watch at least one movie in a foreign film festival. I draw so much joy from my experience watching movies at the last French Film Festival that I really should replicate this experience once more.
Read 10 books that I wouldn't normally read. I might ask friends for titles about this or I might end up scrapping this item altogether.
UPDATE: I am on Realizing Freedom by Tom Palmer now, borrowed from a friend. I'm not sure what I'm doing.
Skydive. I've always wanted to and I think this is the perfect time.
Ride or make angkas on someone riding a motorcycle.Because I'm a wuss, is what.
UPDATE. Finally did this in Siargao many times. I ended up burning my leg, of course.
Plan an epic bridal shower.If you know the kind of person I am, you'd know I make a career out of everything I devote time to. And I would like to be the best bridal shower hostess ever.
UPDATE: I am now in charge of two bridal showers with one month gap in between. Wish me luck!
UPDATE: See Bridal Shower #1 here.
Treat my parents to a nice dinner. The last time I treated them was last year, in Nuremberg for my dad's birthday. This year, since it's my 30th birthday, it's another treat on me. No dinner will ever be enough to thank parents for our lives but hey, they never ask for anything in return anyway. I'll decide on the restaurant when this time comes, of course.
UPDATE: Done! In Nuremberg, Germany, too.
UPDATE: Done! More dinners and lunches here in MNL.
Read 10 verses of the Bible once every night before going to sleep for one month. And if even longer, the better.
Start a gallery wall. This project has been in my mind for two, maybe three years now. I really should get to it.
Attend at least one cooking class. I've always wanted to go to that class in 25 Mushrooms Kitchen {hehe} but it's a class intended for househelp staff, ergo, the schedule is always a weekday. Any other leads? Hopefully nothing too expensive and nowhere tough to park.
Update: DONE! Took my class at Mushroom Kitchen!
Do something for the country. It's as simple as voting, or even just reactivating my voter status. I've stayed too apathetic for my own good, I really should stop that.
EDIT: Check how you can apply for your voter status or reactivate yours here.
UPDATE: Done registering myself as a voter. :D
Complete a roster of films I would not regret watching. There's a catch-22 to this though: you never know a bad movie or a good one after it's done. At the moment, I'm uploading my film album through this, and if you must, the films that make it to that are the ones which stayed with me, long after I've seen them. As for the ones that are less than stellar, if they're too bad by the third of the movie, I jump to the next one.
UPDATE: Two movies I've recently seen in the cinemas, I actually regret: Jupiter Ascending and Mortdecai.
Curl my hair using my 1 inch barrel curling iron. I mean, I've had it for weeks now and I still haven't put it to good use.
Finish my RFP Thesis. Because it's been more than a year and it's. Just. There.
There is a fitness goal that I have but I can't divulge in public. I just have to put it here though. If you see me in person, you can always ask me about this though.
Publish a vlog. Have always wanted to do this, people tell me I should, I'm just tamad to do it, to arrange my lights and set up my camera. But just 1 this year, at least one should be ok.
Take this risk.There's this thing that's within my radar. Scares the hell out of me, which is a surprise why I'm still very surprised. For work, it's kind of my job to test new concepts, see if a theory will work, pluck out an insight and move around it. You can say a lot of it fails, and about half of it succeeds. What do I know? I will never would have known the successful stuff if I didn't risk things. Every good decision I've made in my life was borne out of the fact that I was risque enough to go for it. I'm pretty scared for this risk I have right now on my plate but maybe this list will make me push through it. Let's see me see this through. If it fails, it fails. If it works, then good job, me!
UPDATE: I've taken it, and well, let's just say at least I tried :)
Start the chapter of my first book. Have always known I was meant to write one. Might actually have the attention span this time.
Have a cocktail named after me. I don't know how that'll happen but I've always wanted what I'd be as a cocktail.
Perform a song in public. Again, I don't know how I'd do this, as I have in fact performed in public several times in my life. But I actually like singing, and I feel like this year just have to have some form of singing involved. And maybe that tango I've always wished for.
Return to Europe. It took me a long time to put this item here because I'm deathly scared of traveling alone --- for two weeks. I've long planned to come to Spain and while I think it's the best time to come, on my 30th, I'm also scared. But yeah, what have I got to lose, yes? This is it, back to Europe in a few months :P
UPDATE: Tickets secured. :P
UPDATE 2: I'm also going to Australia! Hooray for me!
UPDATE 3: DONE!
UPDATE 4: I traveled to the US in 2015, too!