This batch is somewhat eclectic, so I’m grouping them all together.

42-47. Spend at least 1 week outside of Ottawa per year. In my tracker, I noted this goal as a travel goal. And at first, I was thinking “outside Canada”. But as I thought about it, I realized that it could just as easily be to Alberta or BC, the cottage, Mexico, the US or Europe. What I really want to do is “get out of my house” for a trip of “some” kind where I am not doing “the same old thing” at home. Before the pandemic, maybe that would have been “outside Canada” as a goal; now, it is outside Ottawa. And I thought about making it just a single goal with several sub-pieces for the years, but they are WAY bigger than that for planning, execution, and just overall effort and experience. So I am creating a separate goal for each of 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027, and 2028.

48. A weekend retreat. Before the pandemic hit, I had been thinking of doing a weekend away somewhere. While Andrea likes the idea of it being a couples thing, and I like that too, that isn’t what this goal is. This is about me doing a weekend by myself to just sit and think about my life, my goals, etc. Maybe it’s a writing weekend. Maybe it’s a vegging weekend. I don’t really know. I just like the idea of trying a weekend to just be alone somewhere, no phones, no connections. To unplug from my life entirely. To gain perspective. Or at least to get a different one. Maybe I last 5 minutes and I’ll be craving the connection; maybe I’ll drift into peaceful bliss. But I want to do it sometime, maybe even as early as this fall.

49. Photos of waterfalls. I love waterfalls, I confess. And as a semi-photography, semi-creative, semi-travel goal, I want to take photos of 60 waterfalls over the next five years. Some will be small, more rapids than falls. I’m okay with that. Some might be a small trickle of water instead of a raging torrent. And I’m okay with that too.

50. Photos of sunsets. Similarly, I want 60 photos of sunsets. Two of my favourite photos from our past travels is a sunset over the ocean from a beach in Hawaii and another of a sunset from a small pier area in Matane, QC. Not to mention numerous photos of sunsets from the cottage.

51. Volunteer at doing something different. I’m not sure what this goal means, exactly. Sounds odd, right? After all, I came up with it. But I guess I mean a new area of volunteering, different from what I am already doing for the HR Guide type mentoring, AstroPontiac or RASC. Recently, the Peterborough Astronomical Association asked for a volunteer to run their website. It’s more work than I wanted, but I considered it until I realized that the site is actually manually programmed. Shudder. I could have taken it, but the first thing I would have done was swapped it over to WordPress probably. But someone else stepped up, so I don’t feel obligated to take that on now. Maybe it will be a different organization that I don’t even know about yet. Something maybe Treasurer-ish? I don’t know. But it’s on my list. Heck, maybe it will be the public library somehow.

52. Ride an e-scooter. I used to want to try a segue, but never really got around to it. Now, they have the e-bikes and e-scooters. I’ll probably just rent one sometime for an afternoon to give it a try. A friend rode one back home over the summer with his brother and fell in love. Now he wants one of his own for Ottawa, and he’s going for a super-powered one. Seems overkill to me. Maybe I’ll eventually buy one, but for now, I just want to try it. Ideally, with Andrea and Jacob giving it a go too to see if they would be comfortable enough sometime on a trip to do a tour with them in some city. I’d love to use it to go all around the hills above Rome someday. It was a REALLY long hike the day I did it.

53. Ride a jetski. I have ZERO idea where or how I’m going to do this. I don’t know anyone who owns one, or where I can even rent one for an afternoon. I could do it at a resort somewhere I suppose.

54. Drive a boat. This one is, seemingly, pretty easy to accomplish. We have a boat at the cottage, and all I need to do is pay to take and pass the boating license test for Ontario which is pretty basic. Probably not this year, maybe for next year.

55. Language learning with DuoLingo. I haven’t quite figured out the specifics of this one. I have DuoLingo, and I do it for awhile and then get out of the habit. The “streak” motivates me but they have these options where you can “save” your streak if you miss a day. Which I don’t want to do, but you can’t turn them completely off. If you miss a day, it’ll ask you on the next day if you want to save it. If you say “no”, it says okay, and then if you have a free save already earned, it will use it anyway for you. To “help” you. I don’t want the help. So the last time this happened, I had three earned “saves”, and I had to wait at least 4 days to kill the streak after I missed a day. I don’t mind using it if I happen to do it at like 12:30 at night, just timeshifting. But if I totally missed doing it between the time I woke up, and the time I went to bed, that’s a miss for me. And so I got out of it, and never went back. It’s not a few seconds, it’s a good 10-20 minutes of practice. Sometimes I have the commitment to do that time, sometimes I don’t. Anyway, regardless, I’d like to complete all the training for French before I retire (for no real good reason), and maybe start on either Spanish or German. I’d love to try something like Mandarin, but I definitely don’t have an ear for tonal languages. That might be a really really tough one.

56. Go see professional fireworks. I thought about committing to this as an annual event, as just “any fireworks”, but well, that wouldn’t require much of an effort. So I upgraded it to “professional” fireworks but downgraded it from annual to at least once. Ottawa has options put on by the Casino du Lac Leamy. They offer four to five countries each year a chance to compete, and they are put on their display in the river behind Parliament Hill. It’s a huge crowd that gathers all along each side of the river, and there’s an option to reserve and pay for the “perfect” seats behind the Museum of History. But there are other venues too (Montreal, Vancouver).

57. Curate the best root beer. Recently, I became really interested in root beer choices. And so I want to do a side-by-side choice sometime to contrast and compare them to choose the one that I like best. Just something fun to do.

58. Curate the best vanilla ice cream for home. I like vanilla ice cream, as it seems like the purest form. Any vendor might come up with a great combo for cookie dough or raspberry or a host of other flavours, but to me, I judge their offerings when there isn’t extra flavouring, toppings, sauces, etc. added. How good is the purest form of the ice cream? That’s the test. And recently I saw an article that did the same in Ontario with everything they could find easily available for take-home ice-cream. But my immediate thought was, “Hmm, would I agree with their choice?”. Hence a new goal to repeat the process myself. I know, it’s a dirty job, but someone has to take the hit for the team.

That leaves me two open slots. One that I’m still considering, but which is likely to remain confidential until I’m certified, if I do it at all (59. Get certified as blah blah blah). And number 60 which is still “open”. I suspect that I’ll fill it with something “event-ish” or a “one-off activity” like the scooter or jet ski options. I’m not sure what it will be yet. But I can think of it as “60. Do something interesting” for now.

Earlier, I talked about my “writing goals” for 5 books, which is obviously a pretty ambitious creativity goal already. Some of that will be back-ended most likely, and I have a lot of other creative outlets that I’m pursuing. But many of my other goals are activity-based — exercise, cooking, events, etc. While some of them, like cooking, may seem creative, they are not really what I’m thinking of when I’m tapping creativity. So today I’m going to list a LONG set of new goals designed to push my creative juices to the forefront.

25. Make 60 items with 3D printing. I have a 3D printer, and I haven’t got it up and running yet. There’s a lot of psychology tied up in the “why not”, too long to address here, and besides, I’ve already talked about it before. I’m sure everyone was taking notes on previous posts hehehe. Annnnnyway, I want to do more “fun” things for the future when I get it going, BUT for some of it, I want to design the prints myself. I was tempted to commit to more items than that, maybe one a week, or to require that the items be designed entirely by me, but that’s a bit unrealistic. I suspect in most cases, I would take an existing design out there and tweak it to what I want.

26. Make 60 items with other methods. That probably sounds vague, but it is a bit of an odd grouping to categorize. I have Lego kits to assemble. A plan for a Raspberry Pi. Repurposing old computers into a video game option with Jacob. A robot. Oh, and just for fun? I’ve had a very long commitment to wanting to learn more origami. Like, all the way back to Grade 6 when I first saw it. I’ve got paper, books, diagrams, everything else except apparently the will to commit to actually doing it.

27. Play 60 (physical) games. I want to call them board games, but well, there are card games in there too. Now, I could JUST play the ones we already have in the house, and that would reach 60 right there. But most of them wouldn’t count. We play them too often. No, for me, this is a bit like the restaurant commitment — it can’t be somewhere we would go without effort, and it can’t be a game here that we would play anyway. It has to be something that takes a bit of effort to do. For instance, I played Camel Up with friends a few months ago and really enjoyed it. But finding a copy to buy is almost impossible, it’s out of print currently. Soooo, if I want to play, we have to make time to go to their house and play. Assuming they’re willing to play again. Equally, I’m getting into Print ‘n’ Play games that I’ve found on the internet. Full games, ready to play, or at least ready to play once you download them and print them. With lots of fun little hobby-like tips and tricks to make it more creative when doing the assembly.

28. Design 5 board games. Jacob has lots of ideas about board games, and has already created a few at a camp he was part of during previous summers. I want to turn them into playable games, using the tools from the above hobbies. In a sense, I’ll use the techniques of 3D printing and the tools/approaches for PnP games to support building and designing 5 board games with Jacob.

29-34. Complete six learning courses. I’m assigning them by calendar year, so there’s a bit of a glitch in the planning where I get 6 calendar years including the current one for learning. I know the first one is going to be learning to use GIMP. I’ve already started, in fact, although I went a bit sideways of late. The other 5? I have some ideas, but not sure in which order or if my plans will bear fruit. I might decide I want to do something on Greek history and then realize it’s really boring. So it is more the commitment than knowing “exactly” what it looks like yet. But they are going to be significant enough that I want to treat them as separate commitments, not simply 1.

35. 260 new blog entries (not including reviews). There are times when I get away from the blog, just sort of drift. By contrast, I know there are people out there who commit to one post every day. And I might average out to that in fact when some things are posted. But I’m not talking simply about counting ANY blog topic, as many of them are out of bounds for the goal. For instance, posting my writing for books contributes to other commitments, not this one. Equally, I’ll have a separate one just for reviews. So those will be out. Mind you, somewhat ironically, this blog post itself DOES count. Basically, I want to blog about my thoughts and what I’m doing, not just meeting quotas. Call it free-range blogging. 🙂 About once a week.

36. 300 new reviews. Remember those board games I’m going to read? Books? Movies to go to or TV shows to watch? Recipes to curate? Well, I’m going to blog about them in the form of reviews. All added up, I’m aiming for 300 reviews. I haven’t quite decided if it is 60 per topic or just 300 in total, as I could probably meet most of it just from reading books. Or posting old TV show reviews of seasons. But we’ll see as I go. I would like a bit of a balance.

37. Curate a list of 300 of my favourite songs. I think the final list will ACTUALLY be a bit longer than that, but not sure what the rate will be for the next 5 years. I want to commit to 600 songs on the list. Maybe even 1000. But I’ll commit to 300 for now.

38. Learn to play the piano. Okay, this requires a bit of explanation. No, I’m not going to start the Conservatory plan and try to do tests or anything. I will rely on books, videos, maybe a lesson or two here and there, plus guidance from Jacob and Andrea. My goal, such as it is, is basically to get to the point where I could play 10 songs relatively well, albeit with errors. I don’t want it to be cringe-y I guess. Kind of songs that my mother would have enjoyed hearing, even if not perfectly played. Yes, it’s a separate goal from the learning courses above. Those are more knowledge, this one is more creative. And the goal is in-house performance, not some recital or public performance. Maybe a random video for evidence.

39. Do a memory challenge. Do you remember way back in high school when you took chemistry? I don’t, because I didn’t take it. Not because I wasn’t into science, or wasn’t intrigued by chemistry, but in part because the idea of memorizing the periodic table looked really hard and seemed ridiculously stupid. If you watch Jeopardy, you frequently see people talking afterwards about how they learned x or y, and often it was flashcards to help them get ready. There are whole internet sites and fora where people debate the best ways to prepare. For me? I am not very good at geography. I probably couldn’t label more than 15 states on the US map, maybe 20. European geography? Probably 10. Asia? Here and there okay, other areas would be a total wash (particularly islands). And Africa? Fuggedaboutit. Soooo…here’s my thought. I want to be able to turn myself, for a one-time performance, into … wait for it … Yakko Warner. Remember the Animaniacs? He did two renditions. All the US states and their capitals AND all the countries of the world. It was updated a few years ago for the list, although set to the same music. Jacob did it a few years ago, and I want to follow suit. Except that part of my learning is not just the words to the song — I want to be able to memorize where on a map they actually are…when we play trivia together, I avoid geography questions like the plague while Jacob and Andrea double down on geography, worldwide, and travel and leisure. Soooo, I’m going to do it. I’m going to memorize the US states AND the countries/nations of the world.

40. Do a brain challenge. This one is a bit harder to figure out what to do. Lots of articles out there talk about using your brain, challenging yourself, doing Sudoku or crossword puzzles to stay fresh and active, don’t let your mind turn to mush. I have an app on my phone called The Puzzle Page. I wonder if I should use that, it’s simple, and I enjoy doing the puzzles. I used to do the puzzles on my Android app, and the status didn’t transfer over, unfortunately, so I restarted from scratch. Back when the app started, they had about 4-6 puzzles per day of different types. Now it’s closer to 8-10 from a longer list of x puzzles. Some are really easy — Armada is a bit like a picture cross except there are only a set number of “blocks”, almost like a negative-space picture cross. Circuits, Ox and Xs, Picture Block, Picture Cross, Picture Cross (Colour), Picture Path, and Word Search round out the list of 9 easiest ones. For a medium level of challenge, I would put Bridges, Charge Up, Cross Out, Cross Sum, Futoshiki, Picture Sweep, Quote Slide, Wordy. and Word Snake on the lower end while Codeword, Kakuro, One Clue, Sudoku, and Word Slide at the higher end for me. I find Crossword, Killer Sudoko, and Link Words the hardest, just an extra set of parameters or more the need to see “letters” in permutations and combinations that are not the way my brain thinks. I’ve always struggled with more advanced crosswords. And this one has three or four variations of crosswords for their daily. Call it about 26 official types, around 30 unofficial types. According to my progress, I have completed 4800 puzzles on this app, 322 days worth of puzzles, 158 special pages, 14 special issues, and 17 events. It takes me to level 199. Some I find easy and boring, others I find hard and boring. Others in the middle are fun, but the completist in me wants to keep going. Is it the best way to keep my brain stimulated “formally”? Or do I do something more test-oriented. Like downloading some math contests from various sources out on the net and completing them. I like logic puzzles, could do more of those, but often my challenge is how long they take to work through the hard ones. I’m not looking for an activity that takes me 45 minutes a day to do. The app is good, I can try something out for 5 minutes, and move on. I don’t know if it’s the right “set”. Is my goal 10 a day? Or do I do something really off-beat. Like set myself up that at some point in the next 5 years, I’m going to pay to re-write the LSAT or GMAT that I last took when I was 23. It’s certainly an external arbitrary standard way to gauge change in brain power, at least by focusing on the percentile aspect.

41. Learn to juggle. I don’t have very good hand-to-eye coordination. But I’ve always thought that it would be fun to be able to juggle, at least basic stuff. Three balls. I’ve thought about other things like rolling coins on my knuckles, the pen spin people used to do in school (and which Jacob does now), but I never really had the dexterity for it. I think I can do juggling? Or at least try and create some funny embarrassing videos of myself. And no, I don’t want to develop a routine with 5 oranges, a knife and a chainsaw. I just want to try the basics.

It’s more creative than I am now. Maybe there will be other things to add, but that’s my list so far.

My last few years have not been stellar (hehehe) for astronomy. I just haven’t been into the effort required to get out there and observe, and I don’t have a great setup at home. Jacob has a trampoline in the backyard that takes up some decent ground space, but more problematic are the mesh sides that surround the trampoline and go up almost 8 feet in the air, above the trampoline itself.

But I want to get back into it more, and so my first commitment is ambitious.

19. Observe 60 times. Initially, that might not seem like a big commitment, once a month for five years. Except I’m a warm weather observer, not really into the super cold realm. This means that I am likely to stick to May through to October as my main viewing months. Only half the year. But, on the positive side, one of my other commitments will knock off half of them all on their own, so I’m hoping it works.

20. Complete an RASC certificate. The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada has a number of observing certificate programs, including one called Explore the Universe. I already have the materials for it, and I was hoping to do it with Jacob, although I’m not sure he’ll be interested enough to stick with it. You could do a good swath of the requirements each night you do it, but it does take a few nights over the year to get all the targets and record the information. I find myself on the fence about doing the RASC certificate. I don’t really need much of a “support” network to do this, no “accountability” organization like with the Conqueror Challenge for walking. I can pretty much create my own “certificate” list, and even my own pin as a reward when I finish. So I am likely to do one of their certificates and then do just stuff on my own.

21. Enjoy an eclipse. I didn’t feel fully prepared for the last eclipse, didn’t even use my telescope. But I really found it cool, and I’d like to do something a bit more elaborate for the one coming up next year. If the weather doesn’t hold, that could be a challenge to complete, but hopefully, I’ll be able to do something within 5 years.

22. Take 300 astrophotos. I am not entirely sure what this will look like as a goal. For example, I know that I want a collection that does the moon throughout its entire monthly phase. That likely means 27-29 separate photos of the moon from a little sliver to a full moon and then back to a little sliver. For the planets, I can capture Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn relatively easily. Neptune and Uranus will be almost impossible with my setup, but I might be able to get a dot on the screen. And Mercury can be hit or miss. Let’s call it 14 shots, with 2 per planet. There are 110 Messier objects, and I would LIKE to capture them all. Those alone put me slightly above halfway, and I haven’t done the sun (for the eclipse or just normal), any constellations (including Indigenous configurations) or started to play with double stars and DSOs. If I tie it to 60 astro observing sessions above, that just means 5 photos per outing. It won’t quite be that way, I know, and I may fall short. Taking 300 AP images is easy; having 300 relatively different targets and results is more challenging.

23. Build a telescope. That sounds a bit grandiose, I know, but there are lots of designs online for simple small Dobsonians, and I do own a 3D printer which should make printing parts easier. I can order lots of things online like the mirrors, or various screws, as needed. Oh, and to be clear, I am NOT looking to polish my own mirrors. That way lies madness. I also have a handful of other 3D-printing-astro-ideas that I want to do, but the big one is a telescope. Online, the acronym is ATM — amateur telescope maker, although, in the past, some of that was a punny banking reference given some of the costs involved. With a 3D printer, many of the struts and trusses are easy to do. And I’m not looking to sell them, just make a functional one as a learning exercise.

24. Create an AstroLog. Lots of people have astronomy logs, layouts, notebooks, etc. But I want mine to be electronic, likely on my phone. Ideally, I would like to be able to preload a bunch of information into the app or tool that is about MY equipment options, and then when I’m observing, just go click-click-click. I’m toying with the idea that I would be able to take pics through my smartphone at the eyepiece, and then just add them to the app as my “observing” result. I don’t know if it’s a full app, or a website, or more likely, a tool like JotForm that lets me treat the entry like a remote sales log.