- Pass 1-kyuu level of the Japanese Proficiency Exam (unable to be completed before 40)
- Skydive [completed August 2007]
- PRIVATE (a girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- Get Dad online
- Get Mom a vacation volunteering with primates
- Do something meaningful in all 50 states [as of January 2010: 23 states visited]
- Run a mile in under 10 minutes
- Re-learn 15 piano sonatinas/sonatas by heart
- Start and complete business plan for BIAB
- Read all books on Foreign Service Exam recommended reading list
- Plan and attend 2 cousin outings
- Get MP3s for all WLIR screamers (if available)
- Plan and attend high school reunion [completed August 2008]
- PRIVATE (a girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- Read 50 books off master book list
- See the Terracotta Soldiers in Xi’an <
- Go on safari in Africa (completed Summer 2007)
- Go on a trek in Nepal (unable to be completed before 40)
- Hang out with seals in Galapagos [completed Winter 2007]
- Catch up on filing for frequent flier miles for all airlines
- Go to Antarctica (completed Winter 2007)
- See the pyramids in Egypt (unable to be completed before 40)
- Explore Machu Picchu (completed Winter 2007)
- Visit Ankor Wat (completed September 2007)
-
Take a cruise in Alaska (cannot be completed before 40)
- Learn to crochet and make something useful [completed February 2010]
- Travel through South America (completed Winter 2007)
- Give up diet cola (completed Winter 2007)
- Be the CEO of a corporation
- Finish Paul’s film
- Sponsor a child in a developing country
- Conversational German
- Put together emergency kits and plan for entire family
- Learn to program using HTML [started July 2008]
- Go the DMZ in Korea (completed November 2007)
- Watch the sunset on a remote island in Fiji (completed Summer 2007)
- See the sights in Taiwan (completed November 2007)
- Sleep on a junk in Vietnam (completed September 2007)
- Feed the monks in Laos (completed September 2007)
- Trek in Bhutan – (unable to be completed before 40)
- Take an economics course
- Go on a dolphin safari in New Zealand (completed Summer 2007)
- Read 95% of the Nikkei Shimbun without a dictionary
- Be my word (on time, keep all commitments large and small) for 2 weeks straight
- Learn to play tennis (cannot complete before 40)
- Learn how to make 5 awesome cocktails
- Learn how to play poker [started February 2010]
- Learn how to play craps
- Learn how to rollerblade (unable to complete before 40)
- Relearn locations, nickname, flower, bird, and capital of all 50 states
- PRIVATE (A girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- PRIVATE (A girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- PRIVATE (a girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- Learn how to drive stick
- Make a window garden
- Write “GG” movie
- Get dad’s story on film [started July 2009]
- Go to the Naadam festival in Mongolia (unable to be completed before 40)
- See the Taj Mahal (completed March 2005)
- Become expert in alternative energy law
- Visit one of the ”Stans” (completed Spring 2007)
- Help M finish SFJR documentary
- Relearn physics to enable me to pass AP exam
- Take a sailing course
- Do a project off instructables
- Study Mandarin in China (completed November 2007)
- Volunteer with a not-for-profit at least once a month for six months [started October 2009]
- Put together a family tree for both sides [started May 2009]
- Cook all my meals for a week
- Reconnect with old friends from school days, college, law school, & Japan [started Summer 2008]
- Read the Koran
- Write a letter to the editor on an issue I feel strongly about
- PRIVATE (A girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- Write a handwritten letter once a month for 9 months
- Attend SXSW
- Take a photography class
- Enter a short story in a contest
- Take a screenwriting class
- Learn Final Cut Pro
- Throw a theme party (unable to be completed before 40)
- Learn a magic trick
- Learn a card trick
- Go to Niagra Falls (unable to be complted before 40)
- Learn to juggle 3 balls
- Win at least $49 dollars in the lottery
- Watch all the movies on IMBD Top 250 [started January 2009]
- Watch all the movies on AFI 100 [started January 2009]
- Watch all the movies on BFI 100 [started January 2009]
- Watch all the movies on the Oscar Best Picture list [started January 2009]
- Watch all the movies on the Palm D’or list [started January 2009]
- Watch all the movies on the Village Voice 100 Best Films [started January 2009]
- Watch all the movies on the Independent Spirit Award winners list [started January 2009]
- Paint a self portrait
- Build a snowman
- Buy something from a live auction
- Write three letters of thank you for a service job well done
- Climb a tree and take a photo of the view
- Learn to day trade
- Know the location of every country on Earth
- Start and keep a visual journal for 6 months
- Keep apartment straight for 3 months
- Learn to weld
- Learn to sculpt
- Iron levels normal [completed September 2009]
- Give blood once every two months [started November 2009]
- Attend Burning Man (unable to be completed before 40)
- Learn how to embroider and complete the kanji quilt project
- Learn to knit and make a sweater
- Learn to cross stitch and make a bib for a baby gift
- PRIVATE (A girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- Use a microphone and make a speech in public
- PRIVATE (A girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- PRIVATE (A girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- Roll FNF 401K
- Build a robot
- Learn how to play the violin
- Play violin in a quartet
- Take a flying lesson
- Build a computer
- Build a server and host a website
- Go horseback riding (unable to be completed before 40)
- Play laser tag
- Take a belly dancing lesson
- Send a get-well package to someone
- Set up blog (completed January 2009)
- Blog at least 3 times a week for 6 months
- Send postcard in to PostSecret
- Be on Oprah (unable to be completed before 40)
- Play drums in a rock band (unable to be completed before 40)
- Brush up on flute
- Get a henna tattoo
- Memorize all the presidents and vice presidents (and their term dates) [started January 2009]
- Read the Economist cover to cover (every article) every week for 3 months
- Go one week without TV [completed January 2009]
- Go to bed by 10 PM for 1 week
- Complete a 26 things challenge
- PRIVATE (a girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- Go on a Habitat for Humanity build (cannot completed before 40)
- Become certified in Pilates (cannot complete before 40)
- Take a high performance racing course (cannot complete before 40)
- Learn to hit a baseball
- Fly in fighter jet (cannot complete before 40)
- Experience zero gravity (cannot complete before 40)
- Practice punctuality for 30 days
- Do one anonymous random act of kindness that has a significant impact on someone’s life
- PRIVATE (A girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- Establish a workout and do it for 12 weeks
- Do informational interviews with 30 VC/business incubator attorneys
- Be well versed in classical music
- Take a cake decorating class [completed December 2009]
- Take an electrical engineering course
- Learn how to do a roundoff/backhandspring
- Learn how to ice skate and do a sit spin/axel
- Take a survival training course (cannot complete before 40)
- PRIVATE (A girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- Have experience of having visited all 7 continents [completed Winter 2008]
- Take a ballet class
- Private (a girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- Learn real estate investment
- Drive a red convertible on Route 66 (cannot complete before 40)
- Make a loaf of bread from scratch
- Wear a bright color from head to toe
- Take a tango class in Buenos Aires (cannot complete before 40
- Learn how to salsa dance
- Research “BinB” documentary
- Perform in a play (completed January 2007)
- Memorize the Constitution
- Don’t speak for a day
- Eat only raw food for 10 days
- PRIVATE (a girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- Eat meat and fish for one month [completed January 2008]
- Learn to sew and make a dress
- Take a self defense course [completed February 2009]
- Take a defensive driving class
- Meditate in morning for 30 days
- Fire a gun
- Try a new recipe every week for two months
- Watch only 1 hour of television a day for 3 months
- Learn to snowboard
- Go on a volunteer vacation (cannot complete before 40)
- Take comedy/improv class
- PRIVATE (a girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- Take a carpentry class and build something useful
- Take a car maintenance course
- Drink nothing but water for 2 weeks
- Try to complete the NYT Sunday crossword puzzle
- Take an art appreciation course
- Take vitamins for 30 days straight
- Learn graphology
- PRIVATE (a girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- PRIVATE (a girl’s gotta have some secrets) [completed March 2010]
- Buy a Chanel suit (cannot be completed before 40)
- PRIVATE (A girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- Start and complete EOI project
- Get an airbrush tan [completed May 2009]
- Send 20 birthday cards in a year
- Learn graphic design basics
- Complete the “20 Bucks” art project
- Complete the “t-photo” book
- Open an internet store
- Sleep 9 hours a day for one week
- PRIVATE (a girl’s gotta hvae some secrets)
- Go to 2 new restaurants a week for 3 months
- Take a photo every day for 2 months
- Paint a watercolor picture every day for 2 months
- Successfully fly a kite
- Conversational Mandarin
- Learn 10 songs on acoustic guitar
- PRIVATE (a girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- Create a family tradition
- Go skeet shooting
- Learn to play the harmonica
- Get professional headshots done
- PRIVATE ( a girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- Go through the Chunnel (completed November 2007)
- See the Aurora Borealis (cannot complete before 40)
- Enter a script in a script contest
- Enter a film in film festival (cannot complete before 40)
- No French fries for a month [completed January 2008]
- Learn how to play pool
- Plant a veggie garden
- Take a hot air balloon ride [completed August 2007]
- Get a facial once a week for 6 months
- Complete “Big History” course through The Teaching Company
- Learn Taiko drums
- Take a helicopter piloting lesson
- Go one week without wearing any black
- Fly first class
- Go 24 hours without complaining
- Complete Nanowrimo (cannot be completed before 40)
- Do 12 random acts of kindness
- Learn calligraphy
- Learn philosophy
- PRIVATE (a girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- Create the MMob org
- PRIVATE (a girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- PRIVATE (a girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- Be in amazing physical shape
- Appear in a movie
- Break 100 bowling
- Run a 1/2 marathon
- Run a full marathon (cannot complete before 40)
- Practice patience for 1 month
- Hit a bull’s-eye with a bow and arrow
- Learn how to play chess [started January 2010]
- Handwrite all thank you letters for a year
- Take CPR course [completed November 2009]
- Read a total of 100 books off the master book list (cannot be completed by 40)
- Give away 100 things [in process from June 2009]
- Become well versed in jazz
- Learn how to play jazz on piano
- Relearn Moonlight Sonata
- Learn how to play Flight of the Bumblebee
- Learn how to play 5 Billy Joel songs on piano
- Go to Ellis Island
- Make Mallomars from scratch [completed Summer 2008]
- Find a well paying job that I absolutely love
- Play flute in a concert (cannot be completed by 40)
- Participate in a piano recital (cannot be completed by 40)
- Cleansing retreat in Thailand [completed Winter 2005]
- Participate in a jam session
- Pass spoken JETRO 1-kyuu exam (cannot be completed by 40)
- Pass JETRO 1-kyuu written (cannot be completed before 40)
- Fly business class on Virgin to Britain [completed February 2007]
- Make a speech in Japanese
- Learn Japanese calligraphy (shodo)
- Have the experience of having visited at least 50 countries [as of Oct 2009: 47 visited]
- Learn to program using Java
- Learn to program using Dreamweaver
- Learn to program using Flash
- Learn C++
- Complete “Couch to 5K” running program [started February 2010]
- Win a game of tennis unable to be completed before 40)
- Take a barista class
- Win a hand of poker
- Read the Bhagavad Gita
- Learn how to do a trick on rollerblades (unable to be completed before 40)
- Take a documentary film course [completed Spring 2008]
- Take regular filmmaking class
- Go to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks [completed October 2008]
- Relearn Biology to pass AP
- Relearn Chemistry to pass AP
- Relearn Earth Science to pass AP
- Get over fear of bugs
- Winterfestival in Hokkaido (completed Winter 2005)
- Read the Old and New Testament
- Give someone a “just because” gift [completed Feb 2009]
- Learn Krav Maga
- Get massage once a week for 6 months
- Visit the Cloisters
- Go to trapeze school [completed October 2009]
- Organize all memory stuff
- PRIVATE (a girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- Do something that scares the hell out of me
- Cable car ride to Roosevelt Island[Completed November 2009]
- No sugar for a week
- Live a week spending 20 dollars a day [completed Winter 2008]
- Go to Cape Cod with the family [completed Summer 2007]
- PRIVATE (a girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- PRIVATE (a girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- See the old houses in Providence, Rhode Island
- Throw a dart at a map and and go where it lands
- Plant a tree
- Try out for a game show [completed May 2009]
- PRIVATE (a girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- Kiss the Blarney Stone (unable to be completed before 40)
- Go to hanabi festival in summer kimono [completed Summer 2005]
- Learn about trading, futures and derivatives
- Digitize all old audio cassettes (mix tapes!)
- Live in a foreign country [completed September 2001]
- Learn to skateboard (unable to be completed before 40)
- Go to a ball (unable to be completed before 40)
- Experience 24 hours of day or night (unable to be completed before 40)
- Get recertified for diving
- Climb Mount Kilimanjaro (unable to be completed before 40)
- Go to Carnivale in Rio (unable to be completed before 40)
- Go to Ibiza (unable to be completed before 40)
- Take a First Aid course [completed November 2009]
- Commission a real artist to paint portrait (unable to be completed before 40)
- Watch launch of space shuttle (unable to be completed before 40)
- Spend whole day eating junk food w/no guilt [complete January 2008]
- PRIVATE (a girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- Own a room with a view (unable to be completed before 40)
- 5 origami animals from memory
- Send a message in a bottle
- Ride a camel in the desert (unable to be completed before 40)
- Write a fan letter to one of my heroes/heroines
- Learn to ballroom dance
- Ride the Trans Siberian Railway across Asia (unable to be completed before 40)
- Sit on a jury (unable to be completed before 40)
- Go to Walden Pond and read Thoreau while floating in a boat unable to be completed before 40)
- Oktoberfest in Munich [completed October 2007]
- Be someone’s mentor
- Shower in a waterfall (unable to be completed before 40)
- Teach someone illiterate to read
- See a lunar eclipse [completed 2008]
- Sing a great song in front of an audience
- Drive the Autobahn (unable to be completed before 40)
- Go on a Special Ops simulation adventure weekend program (unable to be completed before 40)
- Donate $ and put Paul’s name on something
- See a solar eclipse (unable to be completed before 40)
- Learn mindmapping
- Bet $100 on a spin of the roulette wheel
- Teach my 4-year-old nephew the names of all the presidents [completed Summer 2008]
- Milk a cow
- Witness the wildebeest migration on the Serengeti [completed August 2007]
- See the caves of Cappadocia (unable to be completed before 40)
- Climb Mount Olympus (unable to complete before 40)
- Do homestay in foreign country [completed November 2007]
- Visit the mysterious blue grotto in Capri (unable to complete before 40)
- Tour a vineyard in France (unable to complete before 40)
- Go to Greenland (unable to complete before 40)
- Try out for Everyday Edisons (unable to complete before 40)
- Go to a writer’s colony (unable to complete before 40)
- Send a care package to a soldier
- Stay in the Ice Hotel in Sweden (unable to complete before 40)
- Watch/volunteer at Alaskan Iditarod (unable to complete before 40)
- Ride a mechanical bull
- See the monarch butterfly annual migration (unable to complete before 40)
- Go whale watching (unable to complete before 40)
- Attend Pow Wow of Native Americans (unable to complete before 40)
- Complete DocChallenge[completed March 2009]
- Explore the route of the Underground Rail Road (cannot complete before 40)
- Visit the Crazy Horse Museum in S. Dakota (cannot complete before 40)
- See Stonehenge [completed November 2007]
- Help dig for dinosaur bones (cannot complete before 40)
- Float along the Nile (cannot complete before 40)
- Learn astronomy
- Ride on the Orient Express (cannot complete before 40)
- Attend the Pushkar Camel Fair in India (cannot complete before 40)
- Do a Kora on Mount Kailish (cannot complete before 40)
- Learn to do a split
- Learn Japanese wood block printmaking
- Learn how to make stained glass
- Learn how to put on a kimono
- Learn jewelry making and make a gift
- Learn pottery making and make a gift
- Take a makeup artistry course
- Take a coaching course
- PRIVATE (a girl’s gotta have some secrets)
- Take singing lessons
- Take a cooking knife skills course [completed February 2010]
- Get pair of custom shoes made
- Take a glass blowing workshop
- Go through a day as a brunette
- Take a dessert making class
- Get a pair of custom jeans made
- Go through a day as a redhead
- Take a massage therapy course
- Take a raw cooking course
- Skywrite a message to someone (cannot complete before 40)
- Be able to explain Einstein’s Theory of Relativity
- Learn 3 tricks on a trampoline
- Take a speed reading class
- Get into an MBA program (cannot complete before 40)
- Read the Encyclopedia from A through Z (cannot complete before 40)
- Take a memory course
- Take a broadcast journalism class
- Buy myself flowers 1X month for six months [started October 2009]
- Clean and organize every room in S’s house
This page has the following sub pages.
400 Before 40 
Here are the things I can commit to helping/doing with you this year:
Help M finish SFJR documentary
Read 50 books off master book list
Learn how to make 5 awesome cocktails
Put together emergency kits and plan for entire family
Get dad’s story on film
Take a photography class
Go to Niagra Falls
Build a snowman
Learn to weld
Learn to sculpt
Learn 50 new vocab words a year
Finish film for 48 hour Film Project
Work with stylist to create a polished defined style
Complete a 26 things challenge
Go on a Habitat for Humanity build
Take a ballet class
Learn to sew and make a dress
Take a self defense course
Meditate in morning for 30 days
Fire a gun
Try a new recipe every week for two months
Learn to snowboard
Get a manicure and pedicure every week for three months
Go to 52 new restaurants
Take a photo every day for 2 months
Take an S FACTOR course
Run a 1/2 marathon
Take CPR/First Aid course
Complete ”Couch to 5K” running program
Go to trapeze school
Get recertified for diving
Learn how to make stained glass
Learn pottery making and make a gift
Take a cooking knife skills course
Read the Bhagavad Gita
Ride a mechanical bull
At some point:
See the Terracotta Soldiers in Xi’an
Go on a trek in Nepal
See the pyramids in Egypt
Make a documentary about Teddy’s life
Finish Paul’s film
Conversational German
Take a sailing course
Do a project off instructables
Put together a family tree for both sides
Attend SXSW
Attend Burning Man
Take a flying lesson
Go horseback riding
Play laser tag
Take a high performance racing course
Experience zero gravity
Take a cake decorating class
Take an electrical engineering course
Take a survival training course
Take a carpentry class and build something useful
Take a car maintenance course
Start and complete EOI project
See Aurora Borealis
Appear in a movie
Run a full marathon
Kiss the Blarney Stone
Climb Mount Kilimanjaro
Go to Carnivale in Rio
Go to Ibiza
Ride a camel in the desert
Milk a cow
See the caves of Cappadocia
Climb Mount Olympus
Tour a vineyard in France
Go to Greenland
Stay in the Ice Hotel in Sweden
Watch/volunteer at Alaskan Iditarod
See the monarch butterfly annual migration
Attend pow wow of Native Americans
Dance a waltz at the Vienna Opera Ball
Explore the route of the Underground Rail Road
Visit the Crazy Horse Museum in S. Dakota
Float along the Nile
Drink a Mint Julep at Kentucky Derby
Ride on the Orient Express
Get pair of custom shoes made
Take a glass blowing workshop
Take a dessert making class
Be able to explain Einstein’s Theory of Relativity
Read the Encyclopedia from A to Z
Get Dad online
Get Mom a vacation volunteering with primates
Would LOVE to take a sailing course and go to trapeze school this spring/summer. These have been on my NYC must do list for several years now and need to make them a priority! Currently in progress:
– Marathon training (my first full marathon will be in May on the Jersey shore) with hopes of running NYC in 2010 (have to do 9 races in 2009 with NYRR to qualify for 2010).
– Reading the Bhagavad Gita in conjunction with yoga practice following the Sivananda tradition. Includes meditation, which is the most challenging. Attended a lecture yesterday and have concluded that I need a course, but struggling with how to squeeze in.
Would also enjoy ballet and other dance classes, but not sure I can work in this year … maybe in the Fall.
The Terracotta Soldiers in Xi’an look amazing and would be great to make that trip happen.
I love this. I’ll be stealing some ideas and will try to see them through. This list is a tall order but so fun to try to complete.
Glad you like the List! Steal away! (I’ve borrowed some of the “to do’s” from a bunch of other places myself.)
And drop me a note/post a comment with your List when you’ve settled on one. I might even steal some ideas from you for my next list.
Glad you’ve moved #400 up the list a bit–you’ve been a great help so far! We’ll get it done!
In the spirit of Meryl’s post, I can help with the following, if you want help!
Get Dad online
Get Mom a vacation volunteering with primates
Do something meaningful in all 50 states
–define meaningful, and then let’s talk about how I can help!
Start and complete business plan for BIAB
Read 50 books off master book list
–list? there’s a list? I’d like to see it–I could use some inspiration!
Take a cruise in Alaska
Make a documentary about Teddy’s life
Be the CEO of a corporation
Finish Paul’s film
Conversational German
Put together emergency kits and plan for entire family
Learn to play tennis
–I have several friends in leagues–say when and I’ll connect you with them for lessons/recommendations
Learn how to play poker
–We can practice together!
Relearn locations, nickname, flower, bird, and capital of all 50 states
–I have flashcards!
Learn how to drive stick
–I have a stick shift car waiting to go
Make a window herb garden
Write “GG” movie
Get dad’s story on film
Take a sailing course
–Freeport has one!
Volunteer with a not-for-profit at least once a month for a year
–I can name more than a few
Put together a family tree for both sides
Cook all my meals for a week
–We’re off to a good start
Write a letter to the editor on an issue I feel strongly about
Take a photography class
Throw a theme party
Learn a magic trick
Learn to juggle 3 balls
Build a snowman
Buy something from a live auction
Give blood once every two months for one year
Attend Burning Man
Learn to knit and make a sweater
Learn to cross stitch and make a bib for a baby gift
Take a flying lesson
Go horseback riding
Take a belly dancing lesson
Get a henna tattoo
Go on a Habitat for Humanity build
Make a loaf of bread from scratch
Meditate in morning for 30 days
Try a new recipe every week for two months
Watch only 1 hour of television a day for 3 months
Get a manicure and pedicure every week for three months
Successfully fly a kite
Learn 10 songs on acoustic guitar
Create a family tradition
Plant a veggie garden
Take CPR/First Aid course
–I’ll let you know when my school has one going on
Give away 100 things
–Mine too? 🙂
Read the Old and New Testament
Plant a tree
Get recertified for diving
Send a message in a bottle
–Cool to do with Teddy?
Learn to ballroom dance
Milk a cow
Go whale watching
–Alaska? Cape Cod?
Attend pow wow of Native Americans
–I know people who do this.
Learn how to make stained glass
Learn jewelry making and make a gift
Learn pottery making and make a gift
Clean and organize every room in S’s house
I think we should plan to go flying on the same day and not tell the folks until we get back! Horseback riding is something I miss, and I think Teddy may be old enough to go too.
Meditating–check–I think it would be great if the three of us could figure out a retreat where we could learn that skill.
Perhaps we can carve out a weekend a month to meeting some of these goals, and spending time together?
Pam – you are one cool chick! Thoroughly enjoying your blog and your “list”. I am pleased that I have completed (well, two are started) 48 things on your list! Would love to be adverturous enough, and have the time and finances to try many others. For now I’ll have to live vicariously through you…
Thanks, Ali! And go you for the 48 things – that is awesome!
[…] 26, 2010 by gaijingirl Fifteen months ago, I posted my 400 before 40 list and blog, a list of things to do, places to see and goals to achieve before I turned […]
[…] I wrote about my adventure on the White Continent as part of my 400 before 40 list. See the post […]