24 Things for my 24th Year

I turn twenty-three in a half hour. The last year of my life has been strange and funny and difficult and beautifully tumultuous. I lived in a new city on a new coast, I made new friends, I felt new kinds of joy and new kinds of pain, and I learned a great deal from a few terrific people. Now I'm back in New York, and it feels like anything could happen at any moment. I've begun studying for my 200 hour teaching certification at Laughing Lotus, a super fabulous yoga center in Chelsea. And I'm playing with the idea of moving into Brooklyn. I'm listening to men shout in the streets of Crown Heights and I'm feeling happy.

I have drawn up a list for my 24th year.

You can only loosely plan. You can have a rough idea of what you'd like your life to look like, but at this point, so many things will inevitably shift and change and be gained or lost. There's no telling how it will all unfold, so it's best to be open and curious, at least in my opinion. But these are the 24 people/places/things that I would like to encounter in the next twelve months. 

1. New England/Canada road trip

2. Submit manuscripts 

3. Intern at literary magazine
4. Plan an extended trip abroad: Trans Siberian railway/India
5. Write an analytical paper

6. Become a certified yoga instructor
7. Preserve/can/pickle various vegetables & fruits

8. Write a screenplay
9. Write a collection of short fiction/poetry

10. Conduct an extensive interview project

11. Make a short film (or two)

12. Make a book

13. Take a solo hike in the mountains

14. Learn how to wear lipstick

15. Learn how to use a letterpress

16. Travel by bicycle as much as possible

17. Volunteer on a farm/urban garden

18. Learn how to give a good massage

19. Hold a successful, formal dinner party

20. Begin to pay off student loans

21. Thoroughly research M.F.A. programs in California, New York, Texas, Rhode Island, and Georgia

22. Conceptualize & execute a photography project

23. Read at least two more volumes of In Search of Lost Time

24. Nurture existing friendships/cultivate new friendships