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30 Things Everyone Should Know How To Do By Age 30.

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Less searchable M0rd4nt

21:05 / 14.04.05

YOUR GENERATION ASPLODE

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

21:07 / 14.04.05

Strix: I dunno, I've always quite liked the idea of hanging out in the countryside with Jenny Agutter and a bunch of cats...
...would I have to have that haircut, though?

23:51 / 14.04.05

Yes.

AND the jumper.

03:42 / 15.04.05

Mordant, have you ever considered demolition derby?

05:29 / 15.04.05

Ok, I have four years-ish to go. So how much do I know....

1. Drive a car - including standard transmission. Can't drive and no desire to learn either. Public transport isn't too bad even where I live.
2. Cook at least one meal (not spaghetti). Yea! I can cook

3. Write a decent resume. Have finally done so, thanks Jub for the help!!
4. Understand the rules of at least one sport. Errrr...football, you have to get the ball in the opposite team's net. Does that count?
5. Compose a grammatically correct sentence or two. Nope, never knowingly done.
6. Use the proper form for a business letter. Yep tick.
7. Long division. Calculator all the way here.
8. Not get ripped off by a mechanic/repairman. Actually have never been ripped off but then I don't own a car (see answer 1, and live at home where parents can get ripped off instead.
9. Change a tire (I don't!) Isn't that what you pay the AA for?
10. Wash a load of laundry. Flooded the kitchen when I tried last time.
11. Build a fire. I can set fire to things
12. Put out a fire. Calling 999 isn't hard.
13. Drive in bad weather (ie, what to do if you're hydroplaning or sliding on ice). Don't drive
14. CPR (I need a refresher!) nope
15. The Heimlich Maneuver. nope
16. Send thank-you notes. Only when I made to as a child.
17. Read a map. Yes can do.
18. Make a cup of coffee (or tea if that's your bag). yep
19. Get around on public transportation. Big yep
20. Assemble, when Assembly Required. DIY queen
21. Fix a paper jam in the printer. Yep
22. Use an email program (including attachments and fwds). yep
23. Keep a promise. yep
24. Flip the circuit breakers when you blow a fuse. yep
25. Name at least 3 politicians currently in office. Blair, Howard and actually no I can't
26. Care for a child, a pet, or a houseplant. Yes, I own a cat, have looking after houseplants and friend's kid.
27. Tip properly. Yep
28. Get out of debt. (Ha! Just kidding.) Yep, we've all been there.
29. Take a compliment. Badly but can do.
30. Tell a joke (at least one!). Yep to badly.

17 out of 30. Not too bad, I have four years to improve...

wembley can change in 28 days

06:28 / 15.04.05

I dunno, ibis - I'm 27 and that list looks rather hopelessly lame to me. If you can't name 3 politicians in office and cook a meal by the age of thirty?? If that's really what my generation's all about, we're all doomed. I'm more like:

1. Have read all of Shakespeare's plays/Dostoyevski's works/Infinite Jest (your choice) plus the Homerics, Ovids, Virgils and Dantes (not optional)
2. Hold a free-standing handstand for at least a somewhat appreciable amount of time
3. Have seen everything on the imdb's Top 200 films list
4. Have travelled to 20 countries
5. Speak at least one other language fluently
6. Know how to make a roue
7. Bake your own bread
8. Be able to play a musical instrument
9. Be able to dance in a way, regardless of whether it's ballroom or b-girl, that makes people go "hey. ze can dance."
10. Care for a child, plant, or housepet (this one I'll recycle, 'cause it's boss)
11. Know how to construct something beautiful out of wood, nails, tools, and sanding paper
12. Have made an outfit for yourself
13. Read the Tarot
14. Get something published (blogger don't count)
15. Know how to buy drugs without looking like a fool
16. Send thank-you notes
17. Get out of debt
18...

...30. Learn how to keep your friends without giving up your life as a pedant

Tryphena Absent

06:51 / 15.04.05

1. Royal Mail deadlines. "We will redeliver your package between 7 and 9 in the morning." It is 8.50 and said package has not yet arrived.

Definitely a lesson in patience.

Tryphena Absent

07:02 / 15.04.05

It is 9.01. Package is officially late. Wonder if it will turn up before 12?

Tryphena Absent

07:03 / 15.04.05

Ooh, ooh, two Royal Mail vehicles on road. One lorry, one van. Will package be in one of two vehicles?

Tryphena Absent

07:06 / 15.04.05

Lorry passes window. Package not in lorry. Apparently.

Tryphena Absent

07:14 / 15.04.05

Van passes window. It is 9.15. This is why everyone should wait for a package from Royal Mail before they're 30.

07:46 / 15.04.05

I think there may be a spot of confusion here. Ibis's list is a list of skills, things you should know how to do, not things you should have done. Having said that, I can do everything on her list except CPR and the Heimlich manoeuvre. I can't really drive a manual transmission but I've had a couple of short lessons so I could do it in an emergency.

I like Wembley's list though, and I've done about half of those. Better pull my finger out I guess. Even though it's *sob* too late for me. You've got 3 years left Wembley - how many have you got left to do?

Tryphena Absent

07:53 / 15.04.05

I'm sorry Loomis, are you suggesting that waiting for a package from Royal Mail isn't a skill? Have you ever tried it? (9:53- no package.)

ONLY NICE THINGS

07:55 / 15.04.05

Yeah, but "have visited 20 countries", say, is clearly an accomplishment rather than a skill - one could have done so in a packing crate each time and still rack up the state of having done so. Knowing how to wait for a parcel without going insane, on the other hand, is a skill.

08:01 / 15.04.05

Can someone do a list of things one has supposed to have done before they're 40, please?

08:01 / 15.04.05

But imagine if you were in a packing crate sent via the Royal Mail then you'd be in even more of a pickle.

ONLY NICE THINGS

08:14 / 15.04.05

You might well pass through 20 countries..

One of the skills I seek to acquire is discovering what happened to my tax return between the 5th, when it was allegedly delivered, and the 12th, when it actually appeared. A very special delivery.

08:26 / 15.04.05

7. Bake your own bread

This isn't a thing to do before you are 30; it's a thing to do because you are middle-class.

10:38 / 15.04.05

7. Bake your own bread

I can make dwarfen battle beard....does that count?

12:29 / 15.04.05

6. Know how to make a roue

Mm. Ahem.

.

.

.

.

.

Perhaps the word you're looking for is roux?

12:30 / 15.04.05

I know how to make a roux, but sadly that doesn't seem to translate into actually being able to do it...

12:35 / 15.04.05

No Jack, I preferred "roue" as that was the only one on Wembley's list, apart from driving a car, I managed before I was 30.

13:23 / 15.04.05

I'm 27, and can answer "Yes!" in a confident tone to the entire first list. So I'm as safe as houses, I am. Except that similarly to archraven, I make battle bread. Indeed, my repertoire includes roof shingles, breezeblocks and catapult ammunition. Plain or with sundried tomatos.

In competition to the lists, I offer you this paragraph written by R.A. Heinlein:

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

13:28 / 15.04.05

No no no. archraven makes dwarfen battle *beard*. Something like this chap's got, I assumed:

Although, you'll note, he is also armed with battle bread.

10:38 / 16.04.05

I also make good combat muffins

Whisky Priestess

11:30 / 16.04.05

I'm interested in rising to Sax's challenge but I can't think of 40 things to know how to do before you're 40, so I'll just add 10 to the above list.

(Although I've never needed to be able to drive a car. I think I'll substitute "get anywhere without driving a car" i.e. by coach, train, tube, bus, taxi, bike, plane, foot, hitching and/or donkey". Trust me, it's a *lot* more challenging. If you don't believe me, just try getting to Deddington on a Sunday.)

before 40
1. Keep a child entertained
2. Keep an old person entertained
3. Keep yourself entertained
4. Take rejection and disappointment (but don't give up)
5. Do your taxes (sorry ...)
6. Organise a damn fine party - for someone else
7. Buy a house
8. Get and keep a job
9. Acquire one skill your ten-year-old self would have been knocked out by (this relates to point 1)
10. Get around your home town on foot

and a bonus round:

before 20
1. Use contraception effectively
2. Roll and smoke a cigarette/joint
3. Chat someone up
4. Revise for and pass an exam
5. Mix a cocktail (your choice)... and know your limit
6. Write elegantly and clearly (email, poem, essay, diary entry, angry letter to bank/government - whatever) - type it, print it, save it and KEEP A COPY.
7. Compose a CV (resume for the US types)
8. Sing karaoke (at least one song)
9. Lie well
10.Tell the truth (this one's a bit harder ...)

11:31 / 16.04.05

ArchRaven - you have now become a Warren Ellis Cliche Character...

11:39 / 16.04.05

ArchRaven - you have now become a Warren Ellis Cliche Character...
er....thanks.............I think

12:09 / 16.04.05

I'm 32, and I find these lists hopelessly depressing. I also haven't done everything on the original list. Does this mean I should lie about my age?

12:48 / 16.04.05

7. Buy a house

This is increasingly impossible in the US, the cost of even starter homes has gone so high. For example, a single family 2B 1B across the street from where I live (Greater Boston, but on the fringe of the city) just sold for over a half mil. They euphemistically call this a "renter's market." The best young working people can hope for nowadays is a "condo," actually just a regular apartment, for about 300K. I don't think I stand much chance of buying a house by age 40. My boyfriend's 5 years older than me, even more unlikely he'll do it by 40.

Regrettable Juvenilia

12:54 / 16.04.05

Fuck a list.

16:20 / 16.04.05

I am sure I have made out with a "roue", but I have made a roux before.

The only thing on Whiskey's list I haven't done is own my own home. Since I will never be the recipient of any inheritances or win any lottery (what are the odds?), it won't happen soon. I have five years though and unfortunately I have earmarked them for going back to school, which must count for something. (I am going to take Sexology...weeeeeeeeee!, and thank you Barbelith). I am sure that is going to set myself back as far as these expectations go, as I will then be in debt and then purchasing a house will only further that. Fortunately, Montreal is and the surrounding areas is fairly affordable. It's just too bad we aren't part of Canada. (Heh...it is almost the truth!)

17:00 / 16.04.05

I really think that fundraising for a cause, should be on one list at least. More generally, volunteering one's time to a worthy cause, should be part of one's repertoire at some point. Probably, before thirty.

23:14 / 17.04.05

2. Roll and smoke a cigarette/joint

i'm past forty and i have always been crap at rolling. what's the secret?

[ i have nonetheless settled for my inept results many times and have never been very upset at my dearth of dexterity for too long..! and as a whiz in the kitchen, the next couple hours is usually pretty good - mmm ; ) ]

should we add to the list of over thirty (be kind) :
. read at least 20 nobel laureates
. write a will
. write, sing/play, & record a song
. speak in public to over fifty people simultaneously (and try not to be boring...)
. suffer a broken heart
. invite a famous person to dinner [not a relation!]
. create a new dish (mebbe cook it for mr/s famous?)
. learn to surf (body or board)
. learn to mean you're sorry

01:36 / 18.04.05

2... (not spaghetti).
If merely boiling noodles and heating canned sauce, I agree.
If, however, you are making the sauce from scratch, this counts as cooking a meal.
Double points if you've made the noodles from scratch too.
Double secret fatality points if you've made ravioli from scratch.

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