thirty-five

ok. i was going to post something yesterday on my actual birthday, but instead there was a bout of food poisoning. i spent the afternoon on the couch, not on the computer. until the ups guy woke me up pounding on the door with the strength of ten men, but i digress...

so i am thirty-five.

i don't FEEL thirty-five. well, sometimes i do. but for the most part i just feel a little cheated that this much of my life is over already. i want more. MORE! there are too many things i want to do, and now i feel like maybe i won't fit it all in. hmmm--i guess the coming years will show me how much i can do under a little more pressure.

BUT, all that said, i feel pretty good about my life. here is a list of 25 things i feel i have accomplished. i have learned to:

1. make biscuits (more on this later)
   
2. knit (finally!)
   
3. cook like my grandmother
4. cook NOT remotely like my grandmother
   
5. solve partial differential equations by more than one method
6. write html
7. say some big words correctly
8. take care of a child
9. paint a room
10. paint a portrait
11. make a stained glass window
12. dream big dreams
13. keep hope in bad circumstances
14. love a man
15. live with a man
16. create a home
    
17. make people feel welcome
18. make friends
    
19. keep friends
20. learn a new software package in a week or less
21. accept myself
22. find the hamiltonian
23. design a fabric
24. make a quilt
25. appreciate my life

i feel pretty good about that stuff. especially the biscuits.

and just for completeness, here is a list of 10 things i want to do before i am forty:

1. get in and stay in good shape
2. gain financial stability
3. buy a house
4. juggle all the things i love to do withut giving anything up
5. find a way to make a living that involves BOTH sides of my brain
6. spend some time in europe
7. have a real studio, with room for all my artistic endeavors
   
8. paint a large canvas picture of the surface of the sun
9. master the art of fried chicken (it's coming along)
10. improve my pastry skills

so there you go. thirty-five. so far, i think the mid-thirties are a lot easier than the mid-twenties. but maybe that's just me.