30 Before 30

I think this is kind of becoming a cliche, but I like lists and goals, so I'm doing it anyways. 

I started this when I turned 27 on January 27, 2012, and, clearly, the point is to finish by my 30th birthday on January 27, 2015. I'll donate $100 to [yet-to-be-decided organization] for each goal left unfinished.

1. Ride Amtrak across the country.
2. Build a computer.
3. Drive a stick shift.
4. Take a flying lesson.
5. Shoot a gun.
6. Build a ship in a bottle.
7. Run a marathon. 10/6/2013
8. Go to an opera. 5/17/2012
9. Perform in a play or concert.
10. Do 50 consecutive push-ups.
11. Make pad see ew that’s as good as Thai Basil’s.
12. Change the oil in my car myself.
13. Visit a country outside of North America.
14. Do NaBloPoMo. November 2013
15. Eat raw for a week.
16. Spend 24 hours in silence.
17. Take a fencing class. 11/2/2013
18. Donate hair. 11/23/2013
19. Swim 1,000 yards.
20. Go rock climbing.
21. Run a 5k in under 30 minutes.
22. Bowl a game over 200.
23. Watch all of the Best Picture winners.
24. Read all of the Booker prize winners.
25. Ride in a hot air balloon.
26. Go whale watching.
27. Go spelunking.
28. Get a non-earlobe piercing. 2/12/2012
29. Donate blood. 5/24/2013
30. Get a manicure and pedicure. 7/26/14

Best Picture Winners

2012 - Argo
2011 - The Artist
2010 - The King’s Speech
2009 - The Hurt Locker
2008 - Slumdog Millionaire
2007 - No Country for Old Men
2006 - The Departed
2005 - Crash
2004 - Million Dollar Baby
2003 - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2002 - Chicago
2001 - A Beautiful Mind
2000 - Gladiator
1999 - American Beauty
1998 - Shakespeare in Love
1997 - Titanic
1996 - The English Patient
1995 - Braveheart
1994 - Forrest Gump
1993 - Schindler’s List
1992 - Unforgiven
1991 - The Silence of the Lambs
1990 - Dances with Wolves
1989 - Driving Miss Daisy
1988 - Rain Man
1987 - The Last Emperor
1986 - Platoon
1985 - Out of Africa
1984 - Amadeus
1983 - Terms of Endearment
1982 - Gandhi
1981 - Chariots of Fire
1980 - Ordinary People
1979 - Kramer vs. Kramer
1978 - The Deer Hunter
1977 - Annie Hall
1976 - Rocky  
1975 - One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
1974 - The Godfather Part II
1973 - The Sting
1972 - The Godfather
1971 - The French Connection
1970 - Patton
1969 - Midnight Cowboy
1968 - Oliver!
1967 - In the Heat of the Night
1966 - A Man for All Seasons
1965 - The Sound of Music
1964 - My Fair Lady
1963 - Tom Jones
1962 - Lawrence of Arabia
1961 - West Side Story
1960 - The Apartment
1959 - Ben-Hur
1958 - Gigi
1957 - The Bridge on the River Kwai
1956 - Around the World in 80 Days
1955 - Marty
1954 - On the Waterfront
1953 - From Here to Eternity
1952 - The Greatest Show on Earth
1951 - An American in Paris
1950 - All about Eve
1949 - All the Kings Men
1948 - Hamlet
1947 - Gentleman's Agreement
1946 - The Best Years of Our Lives
1945 - The Lost Weekend
1944 - Going My Way
1943 - Casablanca
1942 - Mrs. Miniver
1941 - How Green Was My Valley
1940 - Rebecca
1939 - Gone with the Wind
1938 - You Can't Take It with You
1937 - The Life of Emile Zola
1936 - The Great Ziegfeld
1935 - Mutiny on the Bounty
1934 - It Happened One Night
1932/1933 - Cavalcade
1931/1932 - Grand Hotel
1930/1931 - Cimarron
1929/1930 - All Quiet on the Western Front
1928/1929 - The Broadway Melody
1927/1928 - Wings

Booker Prize Winners

2012: Bring Up the Bodies (Hilary Mantel)
2011: The Sense of an Ending (Julian Barnes)

2010: The Finkler Question (Howard Jacobson)

2009: Wolf Hall (Hilary Mantel)

2008: The White Tiger (Aravind Adiga)

2007: The Gathering (Anne Enright)

2006: The Inheritance of Loss (Kiran Desai)

2005: The Sea (John Banville)
2004: The Line of Beauty (Alan Hollinghurst)

2003: Vernon God Little (DBC Pierre)

2002: Life of Pi (Yann Martel)

2001: True History of the Kelly Gang (Peter Carey)

2000: The Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood)

1999: Disgrace (J M Coetzee)

1998: Amsterdam (Ian McEwan)

1997: The God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy)

1996: Last Orders (Graham Swift)

1995: The Ghost Road (Pat Barker)

1994: How Late It Was, How Late (James Kelman)

1993: Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (Roddy Doyle)

1992: The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)

1991: The Famished Road (Ben Okri)

1990: Possession (A S Byatt)

1989: The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)

1988: Oscar and Lucinda (Peter Carey)

1987: Moon Tiger (Penelope Lively)

1986: The Old Devils (Kingsley Amis)

1985: The Bone People (Keri Hulme)

1984: Hotel du Lac (Anita Brookner)

1983: Life & Times of Michael K (J M Coetzee)

1982: Schindler's Ark (Thomas Keneally)

1981: Midnight's Children (Salman Rushdie)

1980: Rites of Passage (William Golding)

1979: Offshore (Penelope Fitzgerald)

1978: The Sea, The Sea (Iris Murdoch)

1977: Staying On (Paul Scott)

1976: Saville (David Storey)

1975: Heat and Dust (Ruth Prawer Jhabvala)

1974: The Conservationist (Nadine Gordimer) and Holiday (Stanley Middleton)

1973: The Siege of Krisnapur (J G Farrell)

1972: G (John Berger)

1971: In a Free State (V S Naipaul)
1970: The Elected Member (Bernice Rubens)

1969: Something to Answer For (P H Newby)