POSTSCRIPT
I did it, and I feel proud. 52 weeks discovering new things. 52 posts. I did so much freaking cool stuff. And yet, there is more to do and to say.
Most surprising about this project is how much fun I had — not only in the exploring but also (and perhaps more so) in the writing. This project gave me the power to claim myself a writer. I did the work to put words on paper — 41,324 words to be exact – and a (small) audience of people read those words. My writing wasn’t all great or even good, but I kept at it. I studied and practiced and started to form my process. That’s legit.
I have always lived with a spirit of curiosity and adventure, and I am confident that spirit is not going anywhere. Learning and exploring will drive my days as long as I am able.
But through this project, I discovered very quickly that when you set your mind to bring something new into your life every week, you create a world of possibility. There is no place for boredom in that world.
So, as the next years unfold, I plan to keep doing what I love, and doing less of what I don’t love, and filling that time with new things.
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A starter list of what’s left to do…
- See a standup comedy show
- Go to an NBA game, preferably at the Chase Center in San Francisco
- Get a tiny tattoo
- Take a course in map making
- Hear a performance in Carnegie Hall
- Attend a live art auction at Christies or Sotheby’s
- Bike on Governor’s Island
- Visit The Cloisters
- Walk the boardwalk at Coney Island
- Visit the Philip Johnson Glass House in New Canaan, CT
- Ride the Staten Island ferry
- Eat lunch in all five New York City boroughs (left to do: The Bronx and Staten Island)
- Walk the entire length of Broadway in Manhattan
- Fire a gun at a firing range
- Visit the Mitsuma Japanese supermarket in Edgewater, NJ (and go by ferry)
- Publish a piece of writing
- And …