A letter from Apr 27, 2023

Dear FutureMe, I’m not entirely sure what to write to my future self, as I don’t have a lot of major life goals I hope to accomplish. All I can really say is that I hope I have continued to live a life that I will remember fondly. I like to think that I live my life in a way where I prioritize making memories, and I hope this mindset will persist through college. We made a list of ‘100 things’ in SLCA 102, and while I don't really have any intention of dropping everything in my life to accomplish all 100 of these things as soon as possible, I think making the list helped me focus on what I really want to do and what I enjoy doing. In other words, it helped me realize what I need to do to live the type of life I described above. I want to be more involved in music, spend more time making things and being creative, and do stupid things with friends. There are so many things on this list I was so excited about when writing it, and I really hope I allowed that excitement to fuel me. If not, I hope this letter serves as a reminder to fully engage in the things I am passionate about and to not let these lose priority in my life. I know I can be the type of person so consumed by school work and the fear of not following the engineering path that I created for myself, but I have made an effort to place more emphasis on what I will be tomorrow that will make me happy rather than what I will be doing 10 to 20 years from now. And since reading about Sebastian Terry’s journey to accomplish his 100 things, I am trying to lean away from the socially enforced idea of needing financial stability to be successful. I am trying to redefine what a successful life looks like to me, and I think that definition is based on gaining experiences more than anything. I am hoping that by the time this gets sent, I’ll have been able to cross a few more things off of my list and live through more of these experiences. I was just able to cross ‘milk a cow’ off thanks to Purdue’s spring fest. My next goal is to get a tattoo, which I don’t think is too far off, and to continue to learn how to use Reaper and play guitar. Though it's not quite finished, here is the list I hope to still be working on: -Music- Produce song / EP Design an album cover Play a concert Stand barrier at a music festival See Car Seat Headrest live Work as concert photographer Be on stage crew for a concert venue Catch a guitar pic / drumstick at concert Get artist to write lyric for tattoo Crowd surf -Art- Fill a sketchbook Paint a mural Tag building / train car Make 1000 paper cranes Film photography Make a short animation -Learn something / skill- Fly a plane Learn guitar Learn ASL Get forklift certified Learn to drive stick shift Learn to do a backflip Do a kickflip Drop into a halfpipe Successfully barefoot ski Build a computer Program a video game -With nature- Climb Kilimanjaro Backpack Appalachian trail Backpacking in Alps Solo backpacking Cliff camping Hug a bear See northern lights Free solo a mountain Milk a cow Spelunking Go to cherry springs or Rocky mountains for stargazing -Destructive tendencies- Punch a hole in a wall Kick down a door / break a window Set off fireworks Jump out of a window Jump off a bridge Jump out of a moving car Bungee jump Dive off of 10m Storm chasing Get escorted off the premises Get arrested Solo skydive Crash a car -Adventure- Ride a motorcycle across the country Visit abandoned mall / ghost town Train hop Drive somewhere but leave the destination up to fate Explore town at night -Houses / life- Live in mobile home Live in northern Europe Build a house Own an abnormal pet Live in isolated cabin Build and sleep inside igloo Adopt a dog from a shelter and name him fish Moss lawn Cook a meal from my own vegetable garden Move into my own apartment Live with minimal waste -Other- Get a tattoo Give a tattoo Dirt biking Paintball Rent a billboard Go to pride Be in a sword fight Shoot an arrow from a moving horse Climb inside a claw machine See something unexplainable Polar plunge Raise the flag Beat hollow knight Eat an entire pizza Stay up for 72 hours Get my fortune read Ouiji board Play full dnd campaign Make scientific discovery Cut my own hair -People stuff- Go on a trip with a stranger Meet Ranboo Leave positive note to strangers Have a drink with a famous person Take someone on their first backpacking trip Minister a wedding Give away tiny plastic ducks to a stranger with no explanation