Sutras of a Winesoaked Buddha

Dispatches from the Rucksack Revolution

Friday, October 27, 2006

Short term goals revisited. Long term goals posted.

Short term goals revisited

1.) Fix the fucking shirt. Done and done! Total time spent 2 minutes.

2.) Go to a museum. Check! Went to Kyoto castle (which is like a museum), the Golden Temple, Silver Temple, and walked around a bunch of Japanese gardens, which is also like a museum.

3.) Stop eating chocolate. Well unfortunately my parents know that I have the chocolate cravings of a pregnant woman so they went to Costco and bought a huge box of Toblerone. Fortunately they bought the Halloween style individually wrapped type, perfect for giving as omiyage (small gifts given to coworkers when you go on vacation). So I was able to get rid of the chocolate and butter up my teachers.

4.) Haircut. Done and done!

5.) Give Kakuda more slack. Although this woman can hardly breathe, she is in the full employ of the Japanese government as a teacher in a language she can barely speak. Therefore I have to do most of the planning for all of her classes. Last week was especially bad. I had about 3 minutes notice to plan and teach lessons for her. Of course I didn’t make a big deal about it, but she does kind of bug me. So if there was a fail for the week it was this.

6.) Download more reggae. Big success here, I scored a Toots and the Maytals album that rules. Funky Kingston is especially groovy and their Country Roads cover is fantastic. I also downloaded Bob’s Babylon by Bus, which has some pretty good stuff on it as well. At this point it’s safe to say that I’ll be forever loving Jah.

7.) Less Sorry more thank you. This is pretty hard to measure, but while my mom and granddad were out here I said a lot of Thank Yous, had had little reason to say I’m sorry.

Conclusion: damn writing stuff down is pretty useful…So now it’s time for some longer term goals.

1.) Live in a big city for at least a year. I’m a small city person in my heart, but I have to give it a try.
2.) Masters degree by 30 a frightening close 4 years away, if I can swing this one, I can consider the whole Asian experience will be a sojourn rather then a debacle.
3.) Smoke pot with Bob Dylan. Might have to wait until heaven, but…
4.) Write the great American novel. I don’t really need to publish it, but the whole process would be sweet.
5.) Do a 540 on a snowboard and land it.
6.) Ride a 15-20 foot wave. My biggest yet is about 12 feet, and I still get jittery thinking about it.
7.) Rob an armored car…without firing a shot, give the money away anonymously.
8.) Ride my bike across the US.
9.) Finish the Pacific Crest Trail. I’ve done the hardest part already (John Muir Trail) and the rest is pretty much below the tree line. Peace of cake.
10.) Make and bottle my own wine.
11.) Build a deck and Adirondack chair out of wood without nails or screws
12.) Get tenured at a college before 45.
13.) Take care of my mom and dad when they get old.
14.) Rescue somebody from a life or death situation.
15.) Do a triathlon.
16.) Learn to play the saxophone.
17.) Sell a piece of art that I made to a stranger.
18.) Learn to sail. Buy a boat. Live on it.

Love and family? That shit's totally out of my control…

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

hey max, long time. i was just perusing blogs and happened across yours. i like your goals. i myself am having a bit of a mid-life crisis and am searching for goals. in what subject do you plan to get your masters? take care,
amy

5:39 AM  

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