30-something

When I woke up this morning, I was no longer 30; I had become 30-something.  Once people pass 30 they stop counting the years and either stay 29 for the rest of their lives, at least in number if not in body, or they don’t talk about it. I have a long-term aim to live forever, so I’m not too worried about it, in fact being 30-something sounds nice.

Just like last year, there were no big physical changes or any psychological trauma involved with adding a year to my age. When I took stock last year, I didn’t have a proper job, didn’t have a car, wasn’t married, didn’t have kids, and was wandering seemingly without aim through life. I always claimed there was method to the madness and from the looks of it, I must have done something right last year: I now have a good job as a writer that I really enjoy. I also have a sensational new girlfriend, Steffie. Well, new is perhaps exaggerating; especially for me … we’ve been together for close to 7 months now in what will soon be my longest relationship ever. I’ve never made “plans” for the future with a girl, but find myself doing it now … the best part … it doesn’t really scare me … well, not that much anyway!

That’s not to say that I’ve gone soft or that age has finally caught up with me, I’m just evolving. Some would probably wish for my musical taste to evolve as well, but there I stay firmly entrenched as a proper metalhead. As I commit these words to the harddrive I’m enjoying the musical playfulness of Enslaved. Music like this gives life meaning.

Speaking of giving life meaning: I’ve set two very important goals for myself: 1) I will start a circumnavigation in 2010. I’ve devoted an entire blog to that, so I won’t go in to detail about it here. 2) I plan to travel to every country in the World, including most colonies and out of reach places as well. The deadline I gave myself may be VERY tough, since I said I’d like to do it by the time I’m 40, but I’m allowed to give it a shot. So far I’ve visited 44 out of the 192 countries I need to visit. A long way to go, but that’s what makes it fun. It’s not the destination, but the journey that’s important.

Since I’m in the goal setting mood now, I’ll set one more: By my next birthday I need to have written a book or another feature film script… Good … That felt great. It’s like getting a weight lifted off my shoulders, because I’ve thought about setting this goal for a long time and now that it’s done it just means that I need to get cracking on it.

I feel good. I’m 30-something and I can really see my life going somewhere. I’ll be circumnavigating the globe soon, I’ll be traveling to new and exciting locations and I’ll be sharing it with someone. Right now I can’t complain. I’ll probably get a reality check soon, but that’s fine … you need them to move forward and that’s exactly what I’m going to do now.