26 Things I Want (but won't get) For My Birthday: 26-21

On May 31st, I turn 26. Twenty. Six. It seems like only last week I was celebrating my 18th at my parents' old house, surrounded by high school friends -- and indeed, only yesterday since I was playing a gig, hung over from my hell-raising 21st on the UO campus. If I start to think about what I should have accomplished by this point -- what my contemporaries are doing, with proper jobs and families and 401ks -- it'll be altogether too depressing for words, so instead of focusing on boring unattainable things, I'll be talking for the next few posts about superficially mood-lightening, nay, fun, unattainable things. Although I don't particularly want (or expect) anything for my birthday, it's still fun to make a wish-list, yeah? I like to think of it as a subtle hint to my non-existent wealthy friends -- you can decide for yourself if the wealth or the friends are non-existent.

The countdown begins, well, now. Numbers 26-20 are after the jump.



26. Considerable amounts of recording equipment, maybe even a full-blown studio. I mean, how cool would that be? As a music student, the merits of recording yourself play were drummed into me very early on (I even have an old minidisc recorder somewhere around here, and a stack of minidiscs chock-full of me playing scales and etudes), and as a self-styled satirist, I can't help but think of the benefits of being able to record myself ranting into a microphone for all to hear. I mean, yeah, you can read me ranting to your heart's content, but so much gets lost in the literary translation. Podcasts, audio blogs -- I'm getting all excited just thinking about it. Or, if someone could tell me where my minidisc player is, that's good, too. Have you seen me?

25. A bitchin' bike. For my 20th birthday, my parents told me that, as one of the car-less masses on campus, I could get a bike of my choice. Since I wasn't living at home, it apparently was beyond my capabilities to hop on down to a bike shop with Mom and Dad and just pick a damn bike, and eventually the whole thing was forgotten. I must note at this point that my parents have since provided me with a lot more than a bike -- including an actual car, lucky (and spoiled) child that I am -- and that I'm not angry that I am still without a set of (two) wheels. It'd just be kinda nice, you know? Maybe next year, when I'm not living on a hill.

Is it me?

24. An eighth follower for this blog. I know, I know -- pathetic.

23. A TARDIS. Or a TARDIS.(Hooray for the 9th Doctor!) Or a Dalek. Any bit of Doctor Who geeky gadgetry will do. Or even these:

Matt Smith = Win.

22. Four words: Nick Clegg, Prime Minister. This might win the "Least Likely to Happen" award, but since that's the point of the list, I'll put it here. As any reader of this blog knows, I've been following the UK election with an unusually close eye, for an American, anyway. Of the three major party leaders, Clegg's resonated with me the most by far, and when a politician actually resonates with me, it's usually a big deal. Yeah, he's a politician, first and foremost. But he's also got an interesting back story, a love of culture that is refreshing to see, and an earnest demeanour which I think will get him far in the years to come, provided some more of his policies crystallize a bit more.

21. Tickets to the US/England World Cup opener. I've been looking forward to/dreading this match ever since it's been announced; it's essentially taking my love of England, my not non-existent patriotism, and my budding fondness for The Beautiful Game and throwing it into a South African blender. I wrote in a tweet recently that my love of sport has denied me my official Geek Badge for years, but surely an exception can be made for the World-fucking-Cup, right? Right??


Part two to come...thinking of things I want is turning out to be a lot harder than I'd anticipated.