I'm doing 40 things
Rather than by having your car die in the middle of the road.
Ahem.
Hayley Brown's Life List
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1. meet wikipedia's notability standards
3 cheers1 person -
2. solve one of the 'Millenium problems'
2 people -
3. sing the sublime in the vernacular
2 cheers1 person -
4. have my picture taken in a swimsuit at the south pole
3 cheers1 person -
5. think better
6 cheers9 people -
6. put a skeleton nightlight in the closet
3 cheers1 person -
7. get off this planet!
6 cheers7 people -
8. Evolve discreetly into a 1950s domestic goddess
1 cheer55 people -
9. See a total solar eclipse
279 people -
10. Earn a doctoral degree
7 cheers26 people -
11. learn to speak another language fluently
4 cheers185 people -
12. hop a freight train
17 people -
13. learn to navigate by the stars
55 people -
14. make a crop circle
2 cheers42 people -
15. learn to raise one eyebrow
2 cheers281 people -
16. experience weightlessness
3 cheers192 people -
17. be photographed by the sartorialist
4 people -
18. sign with a gorilla or chimp
2 people -
19. Publish a translation
3 people -
20. stop picking my skin
756 people -
21. have sex in a confessional.
3 cheers2 people -
22. live on every continent
2 cheers44 people -
23. learn the thriller dance
1 cheer2,778 people -
24. Read ALL of Joyce's Ulysses
1 cheer4 people -
25. learn to shoot a gun
478 people -
26. improve my piano skills
1 cheer81 people -
27. live forever
2 cheers785 people -
28. play strip poker
1,481 people -
29. learn to skip stones
14 people -
30. save $1,000 in an emergency fund
2 cheers33 people -
31. build a treehouse
2 cheers442 people -
32. Pose nude for an art class
334 people -
33. write (and illustrate?) erotica that would make Anaïs Nin proud/ blush
2 cheers1 person -
34. volunteer for a crisis/counseling hotline
22 people -
35. make a lasting positive contribution to the world
2 people -
36. grow an edible garden
6 people -
37. drink with Tom Waits in a sleazy bar
3 people -
38. overcome depression
476 people -
39. Contribute to an open source software project
780 people -
40. Visit a monastery
25 people
Recent entries
Live according to my thoughts, values, and opinions. Do not carelessly mimic disagreeable traits of others with whom I have frequent contact (e.g. parents, suburbia). There are enough monsters around me without me becoming one too.
My parents do a lot of things that I don’t like. Much to my dismay, however, I often find myself doing and saying things that they do and say, things of which I consciously disapprove, and that do not reflect my own opinions and values.
Case in point: I like to consider myself a cautious optimist, while my mother frequently refers to the worst possible scenario as if it were an inevitable conclusion (which often becomes a self-fulfilled prophecy).Unfortunately, given my horrible tendency toward mindless imitation, her negativity tends to slip out of my mouth. This is utterly unacceptable.
My parents are not the only ones whose bad habits I adopt when I’m not paying attention, though they are the key culprits.
I need to act more sentiently.
I need to pay attention to what I’m doing.
I need to stop being so sensitive to disapproval. I need to mean it when I decide not to give a shit about what you think.
I need to be brave enough and vigilant enough not to emulate things that disgust me.
I need to be specifically vigilant against:
-Passive-aggressive guilt mongering/ affected, self-indulgent martyrdom
-Insinuated disapproval of those who do not conform to rigid gender expectations
-Unwarranted pessimism/ dour-casting
-Blaming others when it’s not their fault
-Engaging in irrational, paranoid hygienic rituals and resenting those who don’t
-Generalizing arrogantly/ stereotyping without disclaimers
-Letting parental disapproval get to me when I disagree with their rationale (or lack thereof) for it, and allowing this to spoil what I would otherwise enjoy
-Obsessing over aesthetics and physical appearance
-Disregard for aesthetics and physical appearance
-Sexual conservatism/ acting embarrassed about having had sex (I’m glad I did and I’d do it again, and it’s nothing to fucking be ashamed of)
