Not an original idea, but it seems like a lot of fun.  I’d like to try to sneak a chess board onto a roller coaster and submit it to xkcd.  If I could think of something else to do, that may work, but the chess board seems easy enough.

http://xkcd.com/chesscoaster/

I’m 28 as of the publishing of this post.  That’s close to 30.  I’m getting older.

Every year, I can’t help but reflect on my life; what I’ve done, what I wish I would have done, what I did, what I wish I didn’t do, What I am, and what I used to be, and everything in between.  Normally, it’s very depressing.  Is it healthy?  I have no idea, but I think it’s all relative to what I do with that information afterward.

This year, I have created a list of 30 things I want to do before I turn 30.  I’ve designed the list to be achievable, and inline with what my current vision of my life would be in a natural progression to 30.  In this manner, it should serve 2 purposes:  First, as goals, that I’ll strive for, challenging myself to complete.  Second, when (if???) I finally reach 30, I’ll be able to compare what I wanted today, with what I want when I’m 30.  Have they changed at all?  Have I changed at all?  Maybe these goals that I set when I was 28 are no longer important to me when I am 30.  It’s sort of like a time capsule in that sense.

I’m going to use the category “life long goals” for updates to the list, even though it’s a departure for how I’ve been using it.  I’ll update the list with dates and links to the blog posts as they’re completed.

Here’s to life, and never accepting it as ‘done’.

This goal is certainly not very likely to happen, but the idea of it really appeals to me.  If I was ever capable of making a large donation to a university or institution, I’d love them to name the building “Josh Hall”.

I want to be a LEGO certified professional.  To think that there are less than 12 in the world, makes that a very daunting task.  There are not clear career paths, you just have to "make it" and be affiliated with LEGO.  I’m not even sure of the benefits beyond bragging rights.  At the very least, I’ll try to become a LEGO ambassador.

www.lego.com/eng/info/default.asp

I don’t want it to be sad.  I’d hope that friends and family that know me well would throw up gang signs in jest at my funeral.  Maybe even going as far as pouring out some champagne on the floor.  If I died in an accident, I’d hope that someone would do an impression of me saying, “what the crap” or “that was ballz.”  Death hath no sting.  I wouldn’t want to be remembered for being a boring “stand up citizen” or a “good person.”  I’d want to be known as the guy who just wanted to have a good time, love people, explore, and be creative.  I’ve said a few times before, I’d love to be buried viking style; body set on a raft and then set on fire and pushed out to sea.  I’d be screwed if we could feel pain after death…but whatever.

I want to invent something.  Something that will require a patent.  So basically, I just want to have a patent on something.  I think they’re pretty cheap.  I have a lot of ideas, but I never do anything with them.  I should start writing them down more…

So I’ve written before about my deep fascination with Bedford Springs resort, and that’s definitely on my list of places to stay and visit.  They have a great history that goes back into the late 1700′s and presidents staying there.  you can read about the history on their site or ask me to borrow the PBS DVD I got from my mom for Christmas on it.  Great stuff.

Another similar place that I want to stay is the Greenbrier in White Sulfur Springs, WV.  It has a long and luxorious history much like Bedford springs, but it has an awesome underground bunker that was to be used by the government during the Cold War.  How awesome is that?

I haven’t used this category for things I want to see and do, but I should.  James Turrell has been one of my favorite artists for many years now, and I think a few people have heard me rave about his Roden Crater Project.  I want to visit/tour it.  From this NY Times article of someone wanting to do the same, it looks like it won’t open until 2011.  I can’t wait.

I’ve always wanted to just hitch a ride on a train.  The real adventurist in me wants to pack a backpack and just jump on and get off whenever i feel like it.  I’ve seen "Into the Wild" though, and I surely do not want to run into one of those situations where I get the crap beaten out of me by a conductor with a crowbar.  I just want a way to wind up in a random location, not knowing where the heck I am, and that’s the only way I can think of.  Every other way involves seeing road signs or landing in an airport.  I guess a hot air balloon my achieve what I desire, but you can’t really walk away from a hot air balloon easily…

Maybe inspired from the show Home improvement, or maybe my old dentist, Dr. Birch, but I’d like to build my own car.  I’d love to have a place in a garage to just work on it for years slowly building it, making sure I’m doing it right, learning about how it all works.  Having some friends come over and help me building it, taking some time for a beer or two.  Maybe even having a son to help me work on it, and if we finished it around the time he was 16, it’d be his car.  Too much?  I dunno, I just like the idea.