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That's some to-do, to-be list
By MICHAEL KRUSE
Published September 14, 2006
People in and around Tampa want to write a novel and finish their project at work and work for peace. They want to buy a projector and a home theater and they want to be an amazing dancer and also be authentic and captivating. They want a different hairstyle. People all over the world want to pet penguins and talk to strangers and write love songs and do yoga and back flips and kiss like they kiss in The Notebook. They want to get a bike and a job and a dog and a tan. They want inner peace. Says so on 43Things.com. That's a Web site that's two years old and Seattle-based and Amazon-backed. It lets people list up to 43 things they'd like to do or be, or try to do or be, or just think about, and then pairs those people with others who seem to want to do the same stuff. They can "comment" on their progress, or lack thereof, and they can "cheer" each other on. What's online is what's offline too. Maybe the html just makes it easier to see sometimes. People want to be smaller or taller or thinner or different from what they are right now. That's not new. Also not new: Those things are easier said than done. What is new, though, is this kind of collected critical mass of human hopes and goals and dreams laid so utterly and publicly bare. " 'What do you want to do when you grow up?' People stop getting asked that question," site boss Josh Petersen said the other day from Seattle. "There's not a lot of infrastructure out there in the world that asks people: What do you want to do? Where do you want to go?" People want to go to London and to Hawaii and to the moon. Also to the gym more often. People want to lose 10 pounds, lose 20 pounds, lose 30 pounds, lose 30 pounds in a month, lose 100 pounds. People want to learn Russian and Spanish and magic and origami and how to mix drinks and blow smoke rings. People want to be in love and fall in love and find everlasting love. People want to "fall in real love: ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can't live without each other love." People want to tell her how they feel and sweep her off her feet and say I love you and hear it back. People want to have a better marriage. People want to get over him. People want to be better bloggers and to drive 200 miles per hour and to stop swearing and drinking soda and to build a bonfire on the beach and to get excommunicated from the Catholic church. People want to organize their comic books. People want to move out of their parents' house. People want to be a model or an actress or a famous singer. People want to fix their teeth. People want to see the world. People want to save the world. People want to get a good night's sleep. People want to start a family. People want to be a good sister. People want to be understood. People want to stop procrastinating. People want to spend less time in front of their computer. There's a "refinement process," says Petersen, one of the site's founders. He sees the goals go from "grandiose" to a bit more realistic. Sometimes goals get nixed. "We've kind of backed into this self-help industry," he said. "But there's no smiling guru or Tony Robbins promising a solution. It's just you and all of your suffering peers who are also trying to make progress in life." "I need to do something different," someone called sabryn wrote recently. "Haven't quite worked out what that is, but I'm giving the matter much thought." She says she wants to sew but has no idea what to sew. She wants to bake stuff but doesn't know if muffins and breads hold up in a freezer. She wants to grow a plant but can't find a good-priced plant stand. She tells whoever wants to know that she's had very little fun in the past decade and that she put all her time and effort into tomorrow and that tomorrow fell through. "I used to get myself through thinking that someday things would be great," sabryn wrote. "And someday never came. "I'm taking my 20s back," she announced. "I need a do-over." The people of 43Things.com responded with three comments and five cheers. Goals popular in Tampa, listed on 43Things.com 1. Living instead of just existing 2. Not procrastinate as much 3. Do 75 hours of community service 4. Rock out with Weezer 5. Be an amazing dancer 6. Buy a projector 7. Take some kind of dance class 8. Get a different hairstyle 9. Be more authentic 10. Be more accepting and less judgmental 11. Be the best lover 12. Watch the aurora borealis 13. Be captivating 14. Earn a master's degree 15. Visit California 16. Work at a hostel 17. Finish my project at work 18. Be an inspiring pianist 19. Help in a Third World country 20. Kiss in the flames Michael Kruse can be reached at mkruse@sptimes.com or 352 848-1434.
[Last modified September 13, 2006, 18:12:38]
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