Top X Things To Do Before You Turn 30

[Bram]

Exactly 444 days from now, I shall be turning 30. This to me signifies the end of life as I know it. It depresses me beyond anything, which of course led me to look up more stuff on the intarweb. I found a list of ten things to do before you turn 30.

1. Drive a wickedly cool car, even if you have to rent it (this means: a head-turner car)
2. Date against type (preferably 'dangerous')
3. See the world (or as many places on it you can manage)
4. Live in a cool place (like a loft in an arty neighbourhood in NY or something; not Antarctica)
5. If you're going to drink a lot, do it when you're young.
6. Take risks with your job (I imagine they don't mean stuff like having sex with your bosses' wife, though that way you could score both #2 and #6 simultaneously, and depending on his wife, maybe #9 as well).
7. Do something physically adventurous.
8. Take your parents to dinner.
9. Do volunteer work.
10. Use this decade to go to extremes ("Climb the tallest mountain you can find. Picnic at midnight. Learn to sail. Talk to strangers. Road trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Take a midnight drive to the beach – then stick around for dawn")

I still need to do #1, a bit more of #3, #4 and #6. That's not half bad. Anyway, I'd like you all to post more suggesttions. We need a definive list of things do do before you're thirty! In case you're thinking 'man that bram dude is OLD', well, you're right. But I would remind you I was your age about yesterday

[Dozer]

Really, ask Dandan. He should know what he missed.

Regarding the list, I'd also add "Do what you've always wanted to do, but never did (or dared)." It ties in to #10, and it's going in the direction of "don't have the tracks dug out that you'll follow to the rest of your life", because that makes it stale pretty soon. It's hard to pick up new habits when your life is being railroaded along by external factors: Avoid that as soon as you can.

[Dante]

Bram - what's your exact birthday, August 29th, 1977 (or somewhere around there right?).  I was August 23rd 1977.   

[Komatteru]

11) Go to foreign country and do something horribly against social code.  Then, see if you can get someone to give you a lecture (in a language you may or may not understand) about how no one actually does this.

12) Retire from something you used to enjoy.

13) Drive on the railroad tracks

[Magi]

14) Have a one night stand (bonus points if it's in a foreign country)

15) Sleep with a 10

16) Sleep with multiple women at the same time (combining #'s 14-16 might seem a tad bit too hard)

17) Participate or attend as many major world festivals and expos as one can

18) Get super duper high on a drug

19) Visit as many major landmarks around the world as possible

[Bardo]

My only "Before I Turn 30" resolution was to finish Proust's Remembrance of Things Past (A la recherche du temps perdu.) I got respectably far before I said "Fuck it." I also had a litany of sexual exploits on my list but I was able to reach most of those by the time I was 28 or so and was able to plunge my "purity" to the low-20s.

For what it's worth Bram, I don't recommend the "Proust Resolution."

[Bram]

I was August 23rd 1977

September 1st. You beat my by a full week, you old fart :-P

11) Go to foreign country and do something horribly against social code.  Then, see if you can get someone to give you a lecture (in a language you may or may not understand) about how no one actually does this.

Check. I climbed the Trevi fountain in Rome, from the left side. I got a little past the horse when the cop got me. I got the lecture, too, in Italian, no less. I'm still hugely surprised he let me off without spending the night in the slammer, or even a fine. That same trip, I verbally abused a Vatican guard for not letting me into the St. Peter's. It's a good thing he didn't speak Dutch. Although I think I got the message across just fine. Again, no punishment, but I think that will come on judgment day or thereabouts.

12) Retire from something you used to enjoy.

Check. I gave up freelance science journalism in favor of my PhD research. Also, I used to play Vintage ;-)

13) Drive on the railroad tracks

Check. If 'on a bicycle' counts, anywa.

14) Have a one night stand (bonus points if it's in a foreign country)

Check. No comment (no foreign country though).

15) Sleep with a 10

Dammit.

16) Sleep with multiple women at the same time (combining #'s 14-16 might seem a tad bit too hard)

Sadly, nope.

17) Participate or attend as many major world festivals and expos as one can

Dunno 'bout world festivals, but I attend music festivals like it's my job.

18) Get super duper high on a drug

Nope. Drugs are sad.

19) Visit as many major landmarks around the world as possible

Yeah, I'm doing pretty well in that area. Now if I'd only gotten to see the Vatican from the inside...

I was able to reach most of those by the time I was 28 or so and was able to plunge my "purity" to the low-20s.

38.0% Goddammit, now I feel bad about myself again :-(

[Toad]

Shit you're old

<3 Bram, 'sup?

[Bram]

Matt! The first thing I thought when I saw you posted here was "Shit - I didn't do anything horribly against social code when I visited you in Paris, did I"?

We're both old Matt. I'm slowly coming to accept that. Now it's your turn. Also: you should post more often, dude! I know you don't play magic anymore, but that's no reason not to take part in silly-ass polls and inane conversations about nothing!

[Toad]

Duh I'm just 26, that's not old! I do play Magic sometimes (well mostly Wagic because Its so much funnier), I just stopped playing T1 because deckbuilding around 1 Tinker 1 Darksteel Colossus and 1 Yawgmoth's Will is boring 

[BigMac]

I resent the old comment about Bram. Lets me feel like some kind of granddad.

By Bram
Also, I used to play Vintage

We will pull you back in, the no time excuse is getting old and lame man, we will pull you back in.

I just counted the days till my marriage and it is another 112 days. About being 30, well lets just say, that is way passed me. For me the question would be:

Wat can i do in my time left untill my marriage?

About the things Bram answered to i can almost give the same answers. I was sitting on one of the Lions at Trafalgar square in London. Same holiday i kept the tube door open for a friend and got shouted at by almost everybody else.
Retiring is for watjes, saying you do no longer have the time for something is just looking for excuses. (just find yourself a gf that is even busier than you so you keep having time for yourself. Yes they are out there, i am marrying one of those few diamonds)
One night stands, was this during a relation or during a free period. Ah what the he..., been there done that and more... Will leave some space to ponder about the 10 and the multiples...
traintrack, i pull a dime on there, does that count?

I never go to festivals (that is why i always have time probably) and i dont do drugs. Really drugs are sad. If you need drugs to have fun, you are sad. If you need drugs to forget, you are in need of counciling. I you use drugs for fun, you are just plain stupid. I dont like drugs, i dont do drugs, i despise drugs.

Landmarks i will be visiting with my soon to be wife as she is kindof a globetrotter and has been to far more places than me. But i will try and catchup a bit...

As for you Bram:

20) get your appartment ready for us to party

21) Try and see the landmarks of your own country. And i dont mean the red light district in Amsterdam, but Boertange for example.

22) go play magic again

23) have lunch with me next week hehe

[dandan]

No to 1, 4, 8, 9 (did a fair bit of Rag work at Uni but it was only because I noticed that HotChics^TM did it so I wanted to hang around with them which hardly counts), 13, 16 (yes if at same time means merely dating/fornicating at the same time, no if it means at the exact same time i.e. same bed and interacting in a way that even Bill Clinton would count as sexual), 17, 18 (soft stuff seems to have little to no effect on me and I have no desire to try the harder forms)

OK, now the Dandan additions:

21. Be a bit socialist. Care about other people, think what a wonderful world it would be if we weren't so money-grabbing
22. Grow out of 21.
23. Lose a game of Magic you could have won deliberately to make someone happy (or less sad, some people and grumpy bastards and are never happy)
24. Learn a foreign language. For you Yanks (with a few exceptions), that will be English
25. Play that computer game until your eyeballs are red, they will recover!
26. Go somewhere that is or until recently was Communist so you know why you should hate it
27. Buy alcohol in Eastern Europe because it is cheaper than you could possibly imagine.
28. Open an account and put some money into it regularly. Try not to resent 'wasting' this money. After you are 30 you will actually find that you consider this money not to have been wasted but just about all of your other (non-Magic) expenditure was wasted.
29. Find a women (member of the opposite [/same] sex) you want to be with after you have had sex with her (him/it)
30. Get a job you 'student' you!! (my bruv will turn 38 this August and still hasn't managed this)

[Often Lost]

Ageing is seriously my biggest fear. My sympathies.

[LotusHead]

I went to London in 2000 (after selling $700 worth of Magic Cards-40 Duallands, 3 Mana Drains, 100 Shit Rares (of the Vesuvian Doppelganger Vareity).

From there (London), I went to a Swedish House Party. Yes, a House Inhabited by Swedish Goth CHicks, and they had a party. And I was there. Whoot!

I was 28ish.

[Bram]

21. Be a bit socialist. Care about other people, think what a wonderful world it would be if we weren't so money-grabbing

Check.

22. Grow out of 21.

Check.

23. Lose a game of Magic you could have won deliberately to make someone happy (or less sad, some people and grumpy bastards and are never happy)

No. If I lose, it's because I suck, and not because I'm sympathetic.

24. Learn a foreign language. For you Yanks (with a few exceptions), that will be English

I guess English SORT of counts as a foreign language. Anyway, does Klingon count? DuSaQ vumghachwIj Sopta' targhwIj.

25. Play that computer game until your eyeballs are red, they will recover!

Check. An all-nighter playing Monkey Island when I was 13 was the closest I came.

26. Go somewhere that is or until recently was Communist so you know why you should hate it

Been to Poland for volunteer work, and saw with my own eyes how depressing it must have been (and partly still was).

27. Buy alcohol in Eastern Europe because it is cheaper than you could possibly imagine.

Check (see #26).

28. Open an account and put some money into it regularly. Try not to resent 'wasting' this money. After you are 30 you will actually find that you consider this money not to have been wasted but just about all of your other (non-Magic) expenditure was wasted.

Check. Though I've netted more from buying magic card than from putting money aside.

29. Find a women (member of the opposite [/same] sex) you want to be with after you have had sex with her (him/it)

I found one. But apparently, it's not mutual anymore 

30. Get a job you 'student' you!! (my bruv will turn 38 this August and still hasn't managed this)

A PhD position is a job! It qualifies on all counts, even the crappy pay.

Ageing is seriously my biggest fear. My sympathies.

Thank you. I just keep wondering what the hell happened to all that time. It's mystifying.

[EDIT] Heh. How weird. Just after I posted this reply, I got back to work, reading an article on punctuated equilibrium (never mind). The very next paragraph reads:

"Levinson (1986:5) proposed (...) that each developmental transition "begins and ends at a well-defined modal age, with a range of about two years above and below that average." His report of the feelings men experience near age 30 (...): "At age 28 (...) a voice within the self says: If I am to change my life (...) I must now make a start, for soon it will be too late." (1978:192). (...) Events do not in themselves couse the start (...) of a period. Instead, the timing of the event determines its percieved significance and its potential to influence deep structural change."

I am now 28, and echo these sentiments. A long-term relationship has recently come to an end, and I've been on a succesful diet for a while now in an attempt to alter my lifestyle. It's kinda scary how I'm apparently merely following a perfectly predictable chain of events.

[Toad]

Hope you can recover from the relation break Bram. Take care, Im sure there are loads of hot dutch chicks who want to do nasty things with you
<3

[Dante]

28. Open an account and put some money into it regularly. Try not to resent 'wasting' this money. After you are 30 you will actually find that you consider this money not to have been wasted but just about all of your other (non-Magic) expenditure was wasted.

Agreed - basically, make sure you do enough things while young to not reset not having done those things when you're older.  This is probably less of a problem in Europe where work-life balance is actually something the culture cares about.  There's so much pressure here (US) to come out of college, start your career, work a lot to get ahead, blah blah blah.

I came out of college with girlfriend of 3+ years, heading towards marriage, etc.  Needless to say, we broke up, I moved in with a friend and for 9 Months straight, we went out 5 nights a week, took weekend trips to the Mexico, Bahamas, you name it, (we once took a trip to Cancun on 2 hours notice on a Friday afternoon).  I easily spent $15,000 in 9 months on booze, clubs, and trips. (note this was around 2001-ish). 

And you know what, I've never regretted one single minute or dollar of it (of course I was lucky enough to have that much disposable cash).  My wife has asked me in the past if I could go back if I would do it all over again and I would.  She asked about the money and I said that it will prevent me from feeling like I never got to "live" and I won't need be that 45-year old guy who needs the red sports car and 25-year old wife/girlfriend for his mid-life crisis.   :lol:  I have some friends who just worked all through their 20's and I can tell they are really burnt out and probably regret some of the major choices they've made along the way...

[Limbo]

with girlfriend of 3+ years

Ok, I know you can do weird shit in the US, but having a gf of 3-4 years is pushing it I think...

Oh, and
31: Search for a place where there are a lot of random friendly people from all around the world, just to talk about stuff with these people that you met just 5 minutes ago.

[Dante]

with girlfriend of 3+ years

Ok, I know you can do weird shit in the US, but having a gf of 3-4 years is pushing it I think...

3 Years in college isn't the same as 3 years in the real world, at least not a Carleton

[Jacob Orlove]

with girlfriend of 3+ years

Ok, I know you can do weird shit in the US, but having a gf of 3-4 years is pushing it I think...

3 Years in college isn't the same as 3 years in the real world, at least not a Carleton

I think he was joking that your post made it sound like the girlfriend, and not the relationship, was 3+ years old. It may have to do with European grammar, since I parsed the sentence the way you meant it.

[Dante]

with girlfriend of 3+ years

Ok, I know you can do weird shit in the US, but having a gf of 3-4 years is pushing it I think...

3 Years in college isn't the same as 3 years in the real world, at least not a Carleton

I think he was joking that your post made it sound like the girlfriend, and not the relationship, was 3+ years old. It may have to do with European grammar, since I parsed the sentence the way you meant it.

ah, yes - to clarify, she and I were in a relationship for 3-4 years, she was NOT 3-4 years old.

[Bram]

Jacob is correct (and Limbo's English is way too good not to be aware of this). Whereas you guys would say "my 18 year old girlfriend",* we would say "mijn vriendin van 18 jaar", or "my girlfriend of 18 year" (note how the word 'year' in the Dutch phrase is both optional, and, strangely, in singular form).



* = possibly with some hyphens in there somewhere
[edit] thanks jacob :-)

[Jacob Orlove]

** = is this the correct antonym to plural, linguistically speaking?

You're looking for singular, I think.

[Shock Wave]

I am now 28, and echo these sentiments. A long-term relationship has recently come to an end, and I've been on a succesful diet for a while now in an attempt to alter my lifestyle. It's kinda scary how I'm apparently merely following a perfectly predictable chain of events.

Can you elaborate on what this "predictable chain of events" might be? I'm pretty sure I know what it is, but I'd rather hear it from you than assume I know what I'm talking about.  :lol:

[Bram]

Hope you can recover from the relation break Bram. Take care, Im sure there are loads of hot dutch chicks who want to do nasty things with you

Thanks, man. What can I say? Once again, I trusted love, and love shoved my face in it. Either way, I'm pretty much fed up with Dutch chicks at this point. I was thinking I'd try something....let's say French for a change ;-)

Can you elaborate on what this "predictable chain of events" might be? I'm pretty sure I know what it is, but I'd rather hear it from you than assume I know what I'm talking about.

Well, you know. The fear of getting old, the urge to change something (or everything) about your life before it's too late, stuff like that. It's kinda weird how you apparently don't have much agency in that. Apparently, it just happens at this point in your life, almost as though it's inevitable. I mean SHIT! A couple of years from now, I'll probably feel the sudden urge to marry and procreate or some similar nonsensical activity. It's just that I'd like to have a say in how I'm feeling, ya know?

[BigMac]

Well, you know. The fear of getting old, the urge to change something (or everything) about your life before it's too late, stuff like that. It's kinda weird how you apparently don't have much agency in that. Apparently, it just happens at this point in your life, almost as though it's inevitable. I mean SHIT! A couple of years from now, I'll probably feel the sudden urge to marry and procreate or some similar nonsensical activity. It's just that I'd like to have a say in how I'm feeling, ya know?

You know me. Look at my life man. If you think you will ever have a firm grip on things to come or things you feel, let me warn you now. Feelings are funny, you can stow them away as much as you like, they will surface at some point. Another funny thing about feelings is that you really do not have a shit load of influence on the matter. Sure you can try to steer it a bit and you could possibly succeed in this up to a certain level. But in the end you will not be able to steer your feelings. To much will be happening in your life to have a real firm grip on it. That is what life is about. Being confronted with sudden changes and trying to get a grip or try to live with those new situations and feelings.
You know i am to be married in about 3 months. Three years ago i was the happy bachelor not even thinking about marriage and children. Now i am doing all those things. That just happens. Best thing you can do is embrace your feelings, explore them, talk about them and try to get over them. Stowing them away will not really help. He man, you got my number, call me any time...

Ah, you know what i mean, come on over and drink some. Lets make it a blast man. See yas soon.

[Shock Wave]

Well, you know. The fear of getting old, the urge to change something (or everything) about your life before it's too late, stuff like that. It's kinda weird how you apparently don't have much agency in that. Apparently, it just happens at this point in your life, almost as though it's inevitable. I mean SHIT! A couple of years from now, I'll probably feel the sudden urge to marry and procreate or some similar nonsensical activity. It's just that I'd like to have a say in how I'm feeling, ya know?

I think something is wrong with me, because I hear people having this conversation all the time, and I have no idea what they are talking about. I think my own personal growth is permanently stunted because I have absolutely no desire to make radical changes in my life (outside of eventually geting married and having kids at some point).

29. Find a women (member of the opposite [/same] sex) you want to be with after you have had sex with her (him/it)

When you're single, this is a seemingly impossible task. When I was 18 I started dating a girl and we ended up staying together for 4 years. Eventually, we broke up, but I actually enjoyed being around her after the sex. Ever since that relationship, my interest in a women wanes after I get laid. Actually, it's not even after I get laid. It's immediately after I am assured that I can get action from her if I want it. More often than not, I'll still take the action if it's there, but it has happened on occassion that I'll be interested in a woman, but then once I feel she wants me, I just want her to get lost. This is a terrible affliction! lol

[dandan]

I think I'll rephrase 29 as

29. Have as much sex as possible with as many people as possible and as a possible consequence, find a women (member of the opposite [/same] sex) you want to be with after you have had sex with her (him/it)

[Shock Wave]

I think I'll rephrase 29 as

29. Have as much sex as possible with as many people as possible and as a possible consequence, find a women (member of the opposite [/same] sex) you want to be with after you have had sex with her (him/it)

Now that seems a little more reasonable.

[Limbo]

32: Watch the transformers movie

But I guess you figured out that one out all by yourself...