A final look at 30 goals before 30

A little over two years ago I started a 30 goals before 30 list. Not too much has changed since my last update, sadly... but with my 30th birthday fast approaching, it's time to take a final tally.

1. start a 365 photos project - done! started 8/1/12 and ending this year
2. move to a new city - done! moved to seattle on 6/9/11
3. learn another foreign language - fail... picked up random german words and still maintaining my basic chinese and japanese, but... yea, fail
4. travel to europe - done! germany and austria on 10/27/12
5. ride a hot air balloon - fail... but maybe at the albequerque balloon fiesta next year
6. read 2-3 more books in the song of ice and fire series - done! just started on the 5th book
7. visit austin - done! first on 12/24/11, and many more times after that
8. make mojito cupcakes - done! on 4/17/11
9. acquire a navy blue coat - done (sorta)! got a blue hoodie (technically cobalt blue, but good enough)
10. acquire a touchscreen device (ex. tablet, smartphone...) - done! played with an iPad, got a smartphone, and now have a tablet
11. finish writing my list of 100 things to do before i die (currently at 77) - fail... the list is somewhere...
12. replace my dying dell laptop - done! on 4/3/11 with a shiny acer
13. create a new website/blog of some form - fail... this died when i got a FT job again
14. go sky diving - fail... tho i still want to do this sometime
15. figure out my favorite kind of wine - done. i like dessert wines!
16. buy a hat at sacred feather (one of madison's longest standing stores on state street) - done! on 4/30/11. generally unworn, but i still have it
17. acquire a new camera - done! Canon PowerShot S100 on 7/23/12
18. bake for a bake sale - done! 4/18/11 bake sale for an office fundraiser
19. consolidate burned media into 1-3 TB hard drives - done! sometime 2011. still using my giant 3TB drive
20. (related to above) organize my music files - technically still in progress, but i consider the ~40% completion a significant accomplishment
21. sell some of my crafts - done! at the same bake sale fundraiser in #18
22. build a small board game collection - done! it's not so small anymore =)
23. organize/display my vinyl toys - done! my futurama toys are enshrined at work
24. win money at a casino poker table - done! at Harrah's in New Orleans 5/7/11, though lost it immediately afterwards
25. finish making 1000 cranes - fail... it's been in progress for a while
26. attend an anime convention - done-ish. i've been to emerald city comic-con 2 years straight, it's geeky enough
27. finish epic mickey - fail... lost interest in this game
28. pick up a new physical activity (ex. team sports, martial arts...) - done! i am invested in hiking and rock climbing now
29. memorize the chinese pinyin system - fail... i did make an effort to study it, but i cannot faithfully say it's memorized
30. paint my ansem figurine - fail... lost interest in this a while ago

Completed 21/30 since 4/3/11
Not bad. It shows that for me, short term lists do work, and long term lists only work if my interest in that item doesn't fade.