Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Time Travel

The Vassar College library

I recently discovered an old stash of 3.5" floppy discs that contained some documents I thought were lost forever, after a massive hard drive crash in 2008. Among the other things on that disc, I found a "wishlist" of life goals... last updated on October 30, 1991, when I was barely two months into being a freshman. Today, I'm going to share some with you. The insightful and the banal, the unattainable and the incredibly outdated...

See what you get out of it. Thoughts are welcomed. (And please, please enter my contest!)

    3. To be a published author.
    6. To be thought of with respect.
    10. To be a good parent.
    12. To be a choreographer.
    15. To own a Harley-Davidson.

    17. To be a black-diamond skier.
    24. To find a good hairstyle.
    25. To read À la recherche du temps perdu (in French).
    26. To know my limitations.
    27. To be beautiful.
    28. To be honest.
    29. To stay in shape.
    33. To laugh more.
    36. To make my own decisions.
    38. To own and use an IBM 486.
    43. To have at least a Master's degree, and a second Bachelor's.
    44. To be competent in a third language.
    45. To travel.
    47. To be quoteable.
    50. To stay friends with old friends.
    51. To decide what I believe in.
    52. To take risks.
    53. To make a lot of new friends.
    54. To live a long, long time.


19 comments:

  1. Lovely goals all, but what I want to know is: did you ever get that Harley?? And what about your hair? Now you make me want to go through the journals I wrote when I was an undergraduate at Bryn Mawr. Considerably before floppy discs. Oh the possiblities, when we were that young and that cocooned from the real world...

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  2. To take risks. That is probably my fave on the list.

    PS: Some of my high school friends went to Vassar. I always counted them lucky, but even luckier now, seeing what
    Vassar library looks like. Wow.

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  3. What a great list. Interesting that being a published author comes before being thought of with respect. ;-) Have you decided what you believe in, yet?

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  4. This is a beautiful list. I cannot stop reading it over and over again. Honestly, we're kind of the same person a little bit. Not really. In my dreams we are. (sulks) I also want a Harley Davidson. I adore all things Russian (naughty or otherwise). I love languages. There are other similarities, but I won't bore you with them all. The point is I want to be your best friend forever. I'll go carve our names into a tree. The restraining order really isn't necessary, I promise.

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  5. I am amazed that you were able to access those disks! Do computers even come with 3.5" drives anymore? Unless you still have that 486...

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  6. Anne, the hair is still very much a work-in-progress. And I still don't know how to drive a car, much less a motorcycle! I've taken some good rides as a passenger, though.

    Terresa, I fell in love with Vassar when I went to have my interview on the most disgusting rainy day ever... and the campus was STILL stunningly beautiful.

    Alison, I don't think they were in order of importance (otherwise parenting would have been higher) but I agree that it's interesting that I thought of that one so early in the selection process.

    Harley May, it's cool. You can totally be my BFF.

    Jenna, I had to go to Kinko's! None of our home computers know what a floppy disc is. And, I think I went straight from the electric typewriter (with a tiny screen that held up to FOUR WHOLE LINES of text in its memory!) to a halfway decent Dell. Please note that my first computer was a Vic 20.

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  7. Great list. How may have you ticked off?

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  8. Hard to say, atsiko, since so many are ongoing goals! You can't really say when "laugh more" is checked off, right?

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  9. those floppy disks were before my time-- well I mean before I started using a computer extensively for myself-- so I never put anything on them. But I've been digging out a lot of my old notebooks from my high school and college days back when everything was done with pen and paper.
    Carrie -- Have you taken a look at the participants on my A to Z challenge lately? Check my sidebar and look at the great roster of participants. We're already getting April 1 posts from Aus. and NZ. Can't believe how this thing has taken off in 3 days--I am flabbergasted to say the least. So far I've added 30 followers since Saturday and I notice where the participants are adding followers at a faster rate as well. Hope you'll check in on some of those posts -- just some of the ones announcing the challenge have been pretty darn good. Damn! there's some real talent out there!
    Lee

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  10. Question is - how many are now true because you wrote down those goals?

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  11. Lee, I've taken a look. Very impressive!

    Diane, I have to wonder. I mean, getting "a second Bachelor's degree" is a really weird one. I have no idea why I wrote that... why not just double-major, right?

    I got my 2nd Bachelor's degree from Hunter College, 3 semesters after I graduated Vassar.

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  12. I'm most curious about the number of things you listed beyond your control. To be published. To be beautiful (unless you started a fund for cosmetic surgery, we look like what we look like, so perhaps this meant to discover the beauty of yourself?). To live a long life. To be respected and well-thought of, those are obviously contingent on how you live, but ultimately not up to you.

    My list in Fall 1991 would have said, "Finish first grade at top of class." :P

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  13. Love the list! Funny, I had the Russian Splits as a New Year's Resolution a couple years ago. Never quite got there, but I'm still hoping!

    Tawna

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  14. Black diamond skier. I'm always searching for women who can commit to the fall line. I'll ski anything, any conditions, except for Corbett's Coulouir in Jackson Hole.

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  15. Whoops. Couloir. Can't spell that wrong for someone who knows French! (AND might have skied it!)

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  16. Jess, you're a young'un! I guess they're just good things for me to strive for, even if I can't control everything. I can eat right and wear my seatbelt to live longer, and I can keep submitting and learning until I'm published.

    Go, Tawna! I can still do regular splits, but never really got close to the straddle split. Just don't have the natural turnout, I guess.

    Theresa, I've done SOME black diamonds, but I don't ski regularly enough to maintain my skills. I'm going to have to Google that slope when I have time... I'm intrigued! "Commit to the fall line" is an awesome phrase.

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  17. The wish list is absolutely perfect. Every person should follow these goals to be successful in life. A person should be honest and take risks in order to succeed in life.

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  18. Wow, we are the same person. Down to making lists and setting goals and, well, being a freshman in college in 1991. I wrote in journals back then, longhand, and it's interesting how many of those goals I still aim for.

    Every once in a while I wake up and realize that life is moving and I'm not. And I make a list, and I get back out there and move through life with everyone else, a specific blurry little list of goals in mind.

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  19. I love your list, Carrie! "To laugh more." Yes! Ain't that the truth!

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