Bucket List
A list of things I hope to do at some point in my life.
Many of these are unreasonably ambitious for someone like me who can never seem to motivate herself to do much, but I do find that I can do quite a lot by beginning something and then slowly picking up more knowledge, so I hope that will eventually carry me to many of these.
Sections
Academics Language Learning PersonalAcademics
- Get my bachelor's - This one is so close to completion that it's practically assured, but as it's still technically a goal I'll list it here.
- Get my master's - I'm not sure this will necessarily happen as I plan to go into a doctoral program and haven't chosen a graduate program yet. I may very well end up in a PhD program that doesn't give you a Master's, but getting a PhD should count as having a Master's at some point imo.
- Get my doctorate - A long term goal for sure at this point, but I hope it eventually happens.
- Learn math properly - I find that I have some degree of natural talent in math, but I also have large gaps in my ability. I hated the way school taught math, and I find it both useful and deeply fascinating, so I'd like to go back and teach myself in a better way. I've already taken the math up through calculus 2 and statistics in school as well as discrete math in the context of computer science, but I want to build better connections between them and really "get it" so to speak. My tenative goal would be feeling proficient with all of the math I was supposed to have learned so far and probably enough past that to equal about a math minor.
Language Learning
- Become "fluent" in Chinese - Fluency is the operative word in this goal, and it's a difficult word to define, so for the purpose of defining a goal for myself, it's to be able to watch/read most Chinese media without significant extra effort relative to English.
- Learn Spanish - As an American, I run across Spanish on a daily basis, and many of my friends speak Spanish either as their native language or as a second language, so I feel almost obligated to learn it. I'm not sure how good my Spanish will ever get, but it's certainly a high priority language for me to learn. Though it has its challenges, it's also relatively easy to learn coming from English compared to Chinese. As for a goal level, I think I would set my target at B2 on the CEFR test. It's a reasonable level to hit, and it would definitely be enough for most ways that I would engage with Spanish. It would also be enough of a base for me to slowly improve through exposure to Spanish.
- Learn Japanese - I'd like to learn Japanese for a lot of reasons, but one funny one is that every time I run across Japanese text, I get annoyed that I can't read it. I know enough Chinese that I know the meaning of most kanji I see, and I know how to read hiragana just because I got bored one day, so when I see written Japanese, I can often speak most of it aloud and understand what topic they're talking about, but I can't actually understand it. I also am just a big fan of Japanese art. As weeaboo-ish as it sounds, a ton of my favorite art comes out of Japan, and given that, it would be great to be more proficient with the language. This is another language where I would say I'd hope to be at least B2 at some point in my life.
- Learn Finnish - While it's not as high of a priority as Spanish or Japanese, I would still at some point like to learn some more Finnish. I've toyed with it a little before, and it's an interesting language, and I also don't find it as difficult as people tend to say, though that may just speak to my very limited knowledge of it. Finnish is interesting linguistically to me because it's one of few non-gendered European languages, and it's also the language of my ancestors on my dad's side of the family, so that adds a little spice to it as well. Finland is a really interesting country to me overall, and I'd like to visit there at some point in my life, so realistically I'll probably end up mostly practicing Finnish prior to whenever I manage to make that trip. It wouldn't be that necessary given the level of English proficiency there, but I think it's interesting either way and it's also courteous to at least learn a little of a local language whenever you travel to another country/region.
Personal
- Draw more - Drawing has never been something I'm naturally good at, and I've never had the energy to improve my abilities, but it's also a skill I really admire. I don't ever expect to be a great artist, but I do hope to eventually be able to make things that I think are worth showing people.
- Grow a garden - At some point in my life, I absolutely have to grow a garden. I have a long list of plants I'd like to try growing, and I love the idea of making such a practical and beautiful space as a garden that provides food, attracts pollinators, and serves as both a retreat and an art project. Much of that is probably going to wait until I'm in a point in my life that's more settled, but now that I'm at least in a place where I'm able to and can expect to stay for at least another year, I should definitely look into indoor/balcony growing.
- Make music - I love music a lot and I particularly enjoy strange experimental sounds. I've had an idea for a concept album in my head for a long while, and I plan to at least make that album.
- Write poetry - I really enjoy poetry, and I find the process of writing it cathartic, so I should do it more. As it stands I've only written a few poems, and I've largely kept them to myself. I often find myself having ideas for poems or lines that will pop into my head, but I only ever seem to actually write them out once I'm in a very emotional state. I'd like to write more poetry and actually post them publicly.