Birthday girls
I happen to share my birth date with one of my closest friends in New York, Quincey. A while back the two of us were talking about possible ideas for our birthday. We laughed and said we should do a week-long celebration dedicated to the amazingness that is us. But the more we talked about it, the more it made complete sense.
Our birth date happens to be marred by a national tragedy which over time has affected celebrations negatively. In addition to that, we both moved a lot as kids and spent many childhood birthdays in a new town without friends. So this was the year to make up for it. Cabaret, Karaoke, Softball, $1 beers, Ice Cream Cake, Cupcakes, Shake Shack, Happy Hour, Czech Beer Garden, Dancing. This was a week-long celebration for the ages, and my liver, stomach, legs, vocal chords are still recovering.
Now that life is slipping into normalcy, it’s time to embrace the new year’s list. I dropped some things that just weren’t happening. I brought back some recurring standards. And as far as new items go, I went big and small. Some overly ambitious and some devastatingly simple.
THE STANDARDS
1. Visit a new state- 13 down, 37 to go!
2. Visit a new country- Due to my supposed risk averse nature, I was unable to travel last year. But this year my goal is somewhere in Central America. I have to break in that new passport.
3. Visit a new baseball stadium- I’m so close to so many stadiums, it’s a crying shame that my number is so low. 7/30.
4. Read Catch-22– Every year I dedicate myself to reading one classic that I’m embarrassed about not having read.
5. Make Jambalaya- My new recipe challenge for the year.
6. Eat Ox Tail- My new adventurous food choice of the year.
7. Eat Ethiopian- You really can’t have too many adventurous food options. I’d be happy with doing an entire list of food.
LEFTOVERS FROM LISTS OF YESTERYEAR
8. Be an extra in a TV show or movie***
9. Go Scuba Diving***
10. Go Sailing***
11. Go to a Gun Range***
12. Do a Juice Cleanse**
13. Go to a Dog Show**
14. Visit a Whiskey Distillery**
15. Go to a Live Taping*- My new goal for this is to see “Last Week Tonight” with John Oliver. I have such a nerd crush on him.
16. Ride a Mechanical Bull*
17. Take a Trapeze Class*
18. Eat at Serendipity*
19. Go to a Monster Truck Show*
THE NEW LIST
20. Sing at Live Band Karaoke- I love singing karaoke. Some might even call it a passion. A week ago, I delivered a drunken, impassioned performance of “All That Jazz.” I’m ready to step up my karaoke game.
Duet with Quincey
21. Paint Nite- I know this is suburban and faux-creative, but I want to do it. I want to somehow paint a pretty picture and pretend I’m an artiste.
22. Go sky diving- I hesitated putting this on the list. I’ve hesitated putting it on for years. I’m concerned I might pee myself or have a similar humiliating experience.
23. Fencing Lesson- I took an archery lesson a couple of months ago. If the place wasn’t so far from me, I would have considered going back. Something so fun about medieval weaponry.
24. Learn to play the ukelele- I learned that my paternal grandfather used to play the ukelele. It’s a family tradition I’d like to carry on.
25. Go whale watching- I didn’t realize how much I wanted to do this until I missed an opportunity last week. I want to experience the majesty of those mammals.
26. Do a knitting donation project- I took down my “Pay for someone’s meal” item, because I’m just too shy. But I wanted to replace it with something charitable.
27. Go white water rafting- I fear this will go the way of my go scuba diving item. It’ll never happen.
28. Visit a horse ranch- I’ve recently started working with horses, and I forgot how deep my love for them runs.
29. Visit the United Nations- I had to add one New York touristy option.
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