[Courses] [Spineful Living, lesson 1: Dreams]

[Mel Chua]

I'm 20 and graduate from college at the end of May. I don't know what I 
want to do with my life, but I'll type what I can anyway.

In 2 months, I want to:
  * have graduated from college with my electrical engineering degree - 
by a good margin, not just barely. (currently: barely)
  * have developed a stable strategy for dealing with ADHD (currently: 
denial) and a study plan for bolstering the areas in EE and CS I feel 
I'm weak on (currently: everything).
  * be on good parting terms with my professors and classmates - more on 
my part than theirs; I want to tie up loose ends with people I feel I've 
let down in some way during my four years here.
  * have said thank you everyone who's touched my life at college.
  * have an intelligently designed financial and savings infrastructure, 
including the beginnings of investment for retirement, which is 
independent from my parents' finances... and includes a monthly 
allowance for books.

In 2 years, I want to:
  * be fluent in at least one non-English language (currently: shaky 
Japanese and very rudimentary spoken Mandarin).
  * have contributed substantially in a technical way to at least one 
open-source software project.
  * be living in my own place (probably with roommates), not with my 
parents or an older relative as is the custom in my family.
  * be a regular practitioner of Tai Chi or some other martial art.
  * be able to run 2 miles in under 15 minutes and/or do 100 push-ups.
  * have developed and released at least one open-source hardware 
project (probably a circuit design with microcontroller code).
  * have edited at least 100 Wikipedia articles.
  * have gone on a date. (have gotten over my phobia about relationships.)
  * have started on my round-the-world trip to learn about engineering 
education (a long story; ask if you'd like to hear it).
  * be able to go on a solo week-long backpacking trip (currently: have 
never backpacked)

In 20 years, I want to:
  * have gotten or be en route to my PhD in a technical field (may get a 
degree in education or design first, though)
  * have started a startup (or joined one very early).
  * have written a book.
  * have gone on at least one cross-country bike trip (currently: have 
never biked more than 8 miles).
  * have taught a college course. (currently: hope to become a professor)
  * have a treehouse. preferably self-built.
  * have done at least one of the following: bungee jumped, hang glided, 
gone on the vomit comet, or flown a plane/copter.
  * have worked or lived in a non-US country, preferably a developing 
country, for at least a year.

When I retire, I want to:
  * not really retire, but have enough financial security to 
volunteer-work wherever I want.
  * have mentored at least several young people closely
  * be alive, active, and healthy.
  * own a house or building which I've built or seriously modified 
myself, which has living space, a workshop, a great kitchen, studio 
space, etc. and serves as a locale for informal interdisciplinary 
classes on all sorts of intellectual subjects.
  * travel, a-la Erdos, visiting friends and colleagues to tinker on 
random projects.
  * have seen engineering education become a legitimate field of study.
  * have seen design and design education become rigorous, well-known 
areas of research.
  * have made knowledge more broadly accessible to all people with the 
desire to learn, somehow.