My Curiouser and Curiouser List
As I sit here in the quiet of the morning, before I start cleaning and cooking for Thanksgiving this afternoon, and feeling very grateful for my loved ones, I’m thinking about the year ahead and beyond, and noting all of the things I’d like to do in a list. It was just under 100 items so I spent the morning thinking about it and added a few more to make it an even 100. It’s heavy on learning and exploring, so I’m calling it “My Curiouser and Curiouser List.”
I’ve always loved the Alice in Wonderland phrase “curiouser and curiouser,” and often use it as an exclamation to describe something strange, yet here I’m using it to describe things I want to learn, achieve, and places I’d like to visit. Basically, things that make me curious and that I’d like to explore in depth, and I’ve sprinkled in some added goals.
It has five sections with twenty items each, focusing on learning, creativity, home & garden, travel, and activities & fun. As an informational aside, I do have a more expanded list in my journal including more personal topics on finances, charity, and relationships, but for here, I’d like to track these. Some of these are extremely lofty goals, like learning seven languages and visiting all of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, which could take a lifetime! But these are, indeed, things that I’ve always wanted to do, so I’d like to give them a try.
I’m still exploring what it means for me to “learn” a language, and won’t know if that means covering the basics of a language or becoming fluent in one until I really dive in. However language learning is something I’ve always wanted to do more of, but I never knew which one to start with because I love so many of them, or how to go about it, so I’ve only scratched the surface of learning languages in the past. Long ago, I took five beginner language classes in school, but have forgotten most of what I learned. This time, I have incorporated classes again, though I’ll probably start with online courses, and foreign language movie watching to make learning formal as well as fun. And while I was looking at classes on Udemy and Coursera, I found a few more that piqued my interest, so I added those to my list, as well.
This list is actually a product of a year of list refining from my journaling, and not solidified until I was finally satisfied with the realization that these are the areas I’d love to explore. It starts with taking the “Science of Well Being” class on Coursera, which I only discovered this week, but sounded like a great way to start.
My Curiouser and Curiouser List
Learning
- Take the “Science of Well Being” class on Coursera
- Learn Spanish
- Watch 50 Spanish language movies in a year
- Take a Spanish class
- Learn French
- Watch 50 French language movies in a year
- Take a French class
- Learn Japanese
- Watch 50 Japanese language movies in a year
- Take a Japanese class
- Learn Russian
- Watch 50 Russian language movies in a year
- Take a Russian class
- Learn Chinese
- Watch 50 Chinese language movies in a year
- Take a Chinese class
- Learn Vietnamese
- Read or listen to 50 books in a year
- Take all of the ABRSM piano exams
- Take a linguistics class
Creativity
- Take “Botanical Drawing with Oil Pastels for Beginners” on Udemy
- Take “How to Paint Landscapes with Pastels – Learn to Use Pastel” on Udemy
- Take “The Oil Pastel Course” on Udemy
- Take “Oil Pastel Drawing & Painting: Art Projects for Beginners” on Udemy
- Take “Guide to Oil Pastel Bokeh: Adding Magic to Your Art” on Udemy
- Take a basic art class
- Design and crochet a sea-inspired blanket
- Participate in a crochet-along
- Crochet Christmas ornaments
- Make felt Christmas ornaments
- Learn all of the songs from “The Piano” by Michael Nyman
- Learn Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” on piano
- Learn Debussy’s “Deux Arabesques” on piano
- Learn a new Chopin piece on piano
- Learn a new Bach piece on piano
- Create an oil pastel collection of works
- Write a book of poetry
- Enter the Van Cliburn Amateur competition
- Have a beaded craft party with my daughter
- Spend a day at the zoo drawing the animals
Home, Garden, & Lifestyle
- Display my own art in my home
- Eat vegan one day a week for a year
- Keep a diary
- Create an art space in my home
- Create an outdoor dining area
- Crochet a set of cute coasters
- Grow a vegetable garden
- Grow a flower garden
- Grow an herb garden
- Take “Herbalism :: Medicinal Kitchen Herbs & Spices Certificate” on Udemy
- Take “Herbalism :: Introduction and Medicine Making Certificate” on Udemy
- Take “Basic Theory of Chinese Medicine” on Udemy
- Take “Everyday Chinese Medicine” on Coursera
- Create a bird sanctuary
- Have a haunted mansion inspired room
- Have a tropic inspired room
- Create a magical outdoor living space
- Have a reading area
- Crochet a temperature blanket for a year, except include textures and possibly holiday themes
- Crochet a large, thick, chunky blanket for the couch
Travel
- Go to New Orleans with my daughter
- Visit all 63 US National Parks
- Swim in Iceland’s Geothermal Pools
- Stay on a houseboat
- Sail out to sea
- Make a wish at Trevi Fountain
- Touch all 7 continents
- Touch all 5 oceans
- Visit all UNESCO World Heritage Sites
- Visit all 50 states as an adult
- Ride a riverboat down the Mississippi River
- Eat sushi in Japan
- Eat lahb in Thailand
- Visit the Jersey shore as an adult
- Hike Mt. Mehlweg in Austria
- See the monasteries of Bhutan
- Visit Bangkok, Thailand
- Take a train ride along the pacific coast
- Take a train ride through the alps
- Take a cruise
Activities & Just for Fun
- Keep a daily gratitude journal
- Build a documented family tree
- Practice yoga daily
- Learn advanced yoga poses
- Take a yoga retreat
- Go skiing as an adult
- Learn to surf
- Attend a crochet retreat
- Photograph the cats of Istanbul
- Learn to play a racquet sport
- Hike Mt. Rainier
- Hike Mt. Shasta
- Attend a tea tasting
- Attend a wine tasting
- Finalize and publish my novel
- Start a language project
- Take an adult dance class
- Host an outdoor dinner party
- Increase my swimming endurance
- Attend a wellness retreat
