Vicki's Epic Quest!

[blkhole24601]

This will be edited/updated as I think of more things, and as I accomplish what's on the list!

 

Vicki’s Epic Quest!

 

Career: Engineer

·         Get a job either working on interplanetary satellites or in human spaceflight. [GET! Offer extended 7/23/2014]

·         See a launch at Cape Canaveral in person.

·         Go part-time to focus more on acting and writing

 

Career: Actor

·         Learn how to tap dance

·         Learn jazz dancing [IN PROGRESS]

·         Learn stage combat [IN PROGRESS]

·         Learn at least three different dialects (ideal: British, Welsh, Southern and/or perfect the Japanese accent) [12/14/14 British, Cockney, Japanese]

·         Brush up on my instrumental skills so that they’re at least respectable again

·         Be cast in Les Miserables

·         Be cast in Into the Woods

·         Be cast in a principal role in any professional stage production

·         Be cast as Princess Jasmine in Aladdin (a girl can dream!)

·         Be cast in a respectable regional theatre company production

·         Be cast as an extra in a Hollywood blockbuster

·         Be cast in a commercial

·         Be cast in a film/TV show/miniseries

·         Become eligible to join one of the actor’s unions

 

Passion: Running

·         Flying Pig (Half) Marathon in Cincinnati

·         Run Nike Women Series (Half Marathon)

·          Wineglass (Half) Marathon

·         Fort Lauderdale A1A (Half) Marathon

·         Little Rock (Half) Marathon

·          Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend at Disneyland!

·         Maui Paradise (Half) Marathon

·         Big Sur International Marathon (other distances)

·         Garden of the Gods 10 Mile Run

·         Martha's Vineyard 20 Miler

·         Big Wild Life Runs

·         Avenue of the Giants (Half) Marathon

·         Leaf Peepers Half Marathon

·         Catalina Island Races

·         Capulin Volcano Run

·         Fueled by Fine Wine One-Half Marathon

·         Little Grand Canyon (Half) Marathon

·         E.T. Full Moon Midnight (Half) Marathon

·         Las Vegas RNR (Half) Marathon

·         Firefly/Rave/Glo/Electric Run

·         Midnight Sun Run

·         Great Wall (Half) Marathon

·         Athens Classic (Half) Marathon

·         Sparkasse 3-Country Marathon

·         Hershey Half Marathon

·         Hot Chocolate 5K/15K

·         Do a sprint triathlon

·         Sub 2:00:00 half marathon

·         Sub 50-minute 10K

·         Sub 20-minute 5K

 

Passion: Writing

·         Finish a novel

·         Publish a novel

·         Publish a short story

·         See your novel turned into a movie/play/TV series (again, a girl can dream!)

 

Passion: Traveling

·         Visit a country that's not the United States or Japan [August 2015]

 

North America

·         Move to California. Alternatively, New York City.

·         See a show on Broadway

·         Spend a week vacationing in Hawaii

·         Run-explore all of Central Park

·         Visit Alaska during the summer solstice

·         Visit Mount Rushmore

·         Visit the Molly Brown House

·         Visit the Smithsonian

·         See the Northern Lights!

·         Visit New England in autumn

·         Go to an All-Star Game!

·         Watch the Troopers perform at the DCI World Championship finals in person this time

 

Japan

·         Move to Tokyo

·         Visit Japan during the 2020 Summer Olympics

·         Visit Okinawa

·         Visit Hokkaido

·         Visit Kyushu

·         Go back to Kyoto

·         Go to a Tanabata Festival!

·         Visit the Aomori Prefecture and all the places you visited when you were a kid

 

Asia

·         Visit China

·         Visit India

·         Visit South Korea

 

Europe

·         Torchwood Tour in Cardiff!

·         See a show on the West End

·         Les Mis tour in Paris!

·         Eat pastries in France

·         Eat gelato in Italy

·         Eat pizza in Italy

·         Eat everything ever in Italy

·         Visit Pompeii

·         Track down family history in Germany

·         Oktoberfest in Germany

·         Eat baklava in Greece

·         Drink ouzo in Greece (opa!)

 

Africa

·         Visit the pyramids.

·         Avoid getting the mummy’s curse.

 

South America

·         Visit the Galapagos Islands

·         See a soccer game in Brazil
 

Non-Running-Related Fitness Goals

·         Pull-ups [IN PROGRESS]

·         Chin-ups [IN PROGRESS]

·         Splits [IN PROGRESS]

·         Handstands [IN PROGRESS]

·         Cartwheels [IN PROGRESS]

 

Other Goals

·         Become conversational in Italian

·         Pass those crazy Japanese proficiency exams. For funsies.

·         Pay off student debt

[goodbye_farewell]

Is there a word that is more epic than epic? Because that would describe this quest. Wow! Lofty goals that I hope you achieve. Oh, and my ancestors are German as well

[Jawad170]

woohooo, fantastic quest!! That's a great list, heck, I'd want to do most of those things for myself some day! xD

Seriously, good luck with all of them, you're gonna have a lot of fun! ^^

[blkhole24601]

Is there a word that is more epic than epic? Because that would describe this quest. Wow! Lofty goals that I hope you achieve. Oh, and my ancestors are German as well

 

Legendary, maybe? I do want to live a pretty legendary life, lbr here. I'm hoping to set all of these things in motion sooner rather than later but we'll see how things go! And woo, Germany! My aunt managed to trace our lineage back to the guy who immigrated here in the late 1800's, and I want to see if I can track our line further back than that. Here's to hoping!

 

 

woohooo, fantastic quest!! That's a great list, heck, I'd want to do most of those things for myself some day! xD

Seriously, good luck with all of them, you're gonna have a lot of fun! ^^

 

Thanks, and best of luck to you, too!!

[blkhole24601]

Part two of this list is based off of Steve's blog entry for today: How to Use Time Travel for Success. Going to go ahead and repeat the exercise here for prosperity's sake.

 

If I could go back ten years in time, what would I tell my 17 year old self?

17 year old me is just about ready to start her senior year of high school. Eep! She's faced with a hard decision of what she actually wants to do, and it's accompanied by parental pressure to pursue engineering and to stay in-state, as well as things going on at the one in-state university she's considering. IB exams are an inevitable thing, too. She has also just completed her rookie year of drum corps and... it wasn't the greatest, and she knows it.

1. You have flat feet, that's why your knees suck. Go to a running store and get fitted for the shoes you'll wear over the summer, and consider orthotics.
2. Also, train for a 5K during the interim between drum corps seasons. Hell, train for a 10K! Trust me, it'll do you wonders.
3. Lift weights, or do bodyweight workouts. Just do it. You'll thank yourself ten years later that you did so; you'll thank yourself five years later, and even at the beginning of all-days you'll be thanking yourself.
4. As for college, I have two pieces of advice: pursue a dual degree since you're going to want to stay in school for that extra year anyway, and just go to CU Boulder. It's actually a really good school for all that space stuff you love. One of the best, actually.
5. And don't forget to study abroad! This will become your biggest regret if you don't do this.
6. Drop. Out. Of. Comp. Sci. for your sixth subject. You know that IB theatre class you were considering? DO IT. Just... do it. That's your sixth subject. Unless I'm remembering incorrectly and for some reason you can't. In which case, psychology, or music theory, or something. IB Comp Sci will mean nothing even in the short term. And don't be so concerned about what others think of you; of the people you see now, you're only going to be in touch with five of them in the long run anyway.
7. Depression is a real disease, and you will be suffering from it. Go get help as soon as you realize that you might have it. Don't wait until you're 25 years old.

What will my life be like ten years from now, when I'm 37 years old?

Let's dream big, shall we?

1. I will be working on the first manned mission to Mars. I'll be in that mission control room, and it will be awesome.
2. I will be a successful actress. I am regularly cast in shows as a principal even if it is just local theatre companies, I do commercials on occasion, and I sometimes, when I have the time, go and be an extra on TV or in a movie. Alternatively, if engineering winds up not working out in the long run, I'm a regular face on TV and/or movies -- not a superstar celebrity because I don't want that status even a little bit -- increasing the presence of Asian Americans and destroying the Hollywood stereotypes of what an Asian woman's role in someone else's story is. Or, better yet, being the Asian American whom the story is about, and her race or gender is not an issue. Either dream will do.
3. I will have published one, or three, books.
4. I will have gone to Europe finally at least twice.
5. And, okay, fine, I'm married with maybe a kid or two.

What will Future Me tell Present Me?

This one's hard. It's not like I can see into the future or anything. But I imagine she'll say something along the lines of:

1. Be the best damn engineer you can be -- now. Don't just "get by" anymore; you have your almost dream job, and you keep getting closer and closer to what you really want, so do not stop now.
2. Never stop auditioning, taking chances, learning, practicing, etc. Do more with your daily practice sessions, be more efficient with what you do, and never, ever stop dreaming.
3. Stop making excuses as to why you're not working on your novel and just sit down and do it already, damn it.
4. Make plans for Europe now. Don't wait.
5. Don't wait for the perfect guy or girl to come stumbling into your life naturally. Sometimes, you really do have to create your own destiny. It won't be perfect, I know you intellectually know this, but you're living your life like the movies in this regard: you're hoping for some attractive person to sweep you off your feet and that is not how life works. Grow up already, and the right person will come to you.

I've been tailoring my life quests towards this, but it's time to get more serious. I know what I have to do. The specifics are for me, but I'm going to pursue all these things. Even if I fail and achieve none of these things, I know I'll pick up new dreams and new goals along the way.

[CelebrateCeleste]

Remind me what part of the world you live in now?  Because I may be able to find you combat resources.

[Hong WeiLoh]

Epic quest is Epic, hopefully doesn't take an Epoch, though (because setting times is important for goals!) -- as you said in the later post (which I really liked btw, and wish I could have told HS-age me a few things too lol), start now -- because otherwise you're Counting Underpants (one of Steve's really early entries).

[blkhole24601]

2015 looks like it's going to be my year of travel! Which is perfect, really, because 2016 might be extraordinarily busy because of work (and that's supposed to be the year my parents and I visit family in Japan) and I might be able to squeeze in one or two trips and I'll definitely try, for sure!

 

Some of these things aren't on my epic quest, but they really ought to be, so I'll be updating the original post accordingly!

 

2015 Tentatively Planned Trips

• Ireland for the Rock n Roll Half Marathon (likely August)
• England (Liverpool) for the Rock n Roll Half Marathon (June)
• Spain for the Bilbao Night Marathon (likely October)
• Cincinnati for the All-Star game (July)
• New England in the autumn because colors (September-October timeframe)

Not all of these will happen, of course. If I go to Ireland for the RNR, I won't go to Liverpool, but depending on the vacation I can take I might wind up going to both countries anyway. Or I might not and just take in as much as one country as I can. The other thing is Cincinnati vs. New England. My parents don't think they can afford two domestic vacations, but they're debating between the All-Star game regardless of whether we can get tickets for it since it's my father's hometown or New England in the autumn because of all the obvious reasons. So a lot of things to consider, but it's exciting to look at this and imagine that I have a chance at two international trips (Spain with friends, Ireland/England maybe by myself maybe not) and one domestic trip (with my parents)!

 

... yeah, good thing I've been dedicated to tightening up on money recently.

[blkhole24601]

Remind me what part of the world you live in now?  Because I may be able to find you combat resources.

 

I'm in the Denver area. I know a couple of people who teach combat but they're so busy it's difficult getting in touch with them. ;;; If you can find me any resources, I'll be happy to have them!

[Anaticula]

You've got some amazing quest goals here!