Many years ago, I once found an article about things you should do before turning 30. Although I don’t remember the particular items in that article, other reflections came to my mind as that age rapidly approached. Today, when I turn 30, I wouldn’t dare to tell you what you should do before you get this age, but I can share with you some of the stuff I’ve lived before or achieved so far. One thing I can tell you in advance: I’ve had fun, I’m happy to reach 30, and I hope to live many more things in the years to come.
#30 Break a Bone
This is about things I’ve lived. Breaking a bone doesn’t sound exciting, and certainly isn’t, but I managed to do it 5 times. That’s enough to make it a vivid memory from my childhood. With three times my left arm, once the right one, and once the left leg, I’m an expert on casts, and their power to avoid homework. Basically, I would leave for vacations, and come back with one. Luckily, my uncle is an orthopedist (and a great one, by the way)!
#29 Write a Book
This one you won’t find in Amazon. During the 80s, I believed I could write (and the delusion persists, as I now blog from time to time). Back then, I wrote three [very] short stories, involving fantastic main characters such as a cute mini toaster. I was so proud of the stories, that I decided I would publish them. So, at my dad’s PC, we typed and printed the stories, leaving room for a hand-made drawing I added to each (colors and all, making sure each story was a page long!). After that, with my mom and grandpa, we bounded the stories in little books. The whole run was sold… I bought all of them, and gave them away to my cousins as Christmas presents. I wasn’t the only one proud. Years later, one of those copies came up. My grandpa had saved it as a little treasure of his, and handed it down to me, so there’s evidence I once wrote a book.
#28 Parachute from an Airplane
Fortunately, not in an emergency. However, it wasn’t a tandem jump either. After finding out I could skip it and do a solo skydive, I decided I wanted it that way. It was a little frustrating at first, as everyone in my group was jumping very rapidly, while I was taking a full course to avoid mistakes… and be prepared for malfunctions! These in particular, being what you cover the last couple hours from the course, makes you wonder if you’re doing the right thing by skipping the tandem. Once you’re up there ready to jump, you have practiced the procedure so much, that letting go is kind of mechanical. Nevertheless, once you’re speeding down, you can enjoy the added awareness of the whole deal, which you only get to know by taking the full course. I would say that if they allow you, skip the tandem… but that’s just me speaking.
#27 Represent Colombia in an International Event
Oh, nerdy me! It was the 39th International Mathematics Olympiad. It happened in the Republic of China (not the People’s one – this one’s better known as Taiwan). The continental Chinese, traditionally some of the best at these olympiads, refused to attend. I was able to witness then how intolerant people can be, while getting in contact with their amazing culture and historic accomplishments.
#26 Witness Dawn
I have done this one many times. Not by waking up early, but by going through the night. I will dare to say it this one time: you need to do it. Do it by going through the night. You’ll be tired. Your senses will be numb. This last fact increases the pleasure when they get overloaded by the magic in such a daily happening. An opportunity for contemplation, available every day of your life. Thank you, nature!
#25 Read a Book with 1,000 Pages
The first one you read this long, looks initially challenging. It was made easier for me, since it was Presidential Orders by Tom Clancy: a fast paced political thriller. It was erie to see it’s opening chapter come to life a couple of years later, when the tragedy of 9/11 occurred. It’s still frightening to think how we humans can learn the determination to destroy each other with what could just have been an imaginary scenario built to generate tension in fiction, but abominable otherwise. However, once that first brick-book was read, others came after it, like Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. These are perhaps some of the most interesting ones that have gone through my hands, regardless of -maybe because of- their still interesting portraits of human nature.
#24 See a Nobel Prize Laureate
Even after seeing a couple more afterwards, including the recent laureate from my dearest Haas School of Business, Oliver Williamson, the first one I met left me the fondest memory. One morning as I was living in Washington, DC, I was having breakfast while gazing at the newspaper, when I found a short note highlighting a talk by James Watson and Francis Crick for the 50th anniversary of their discovery of the molecular structure of the DNA. That’s when my high school’s emphasis in science paid off: I knew who they were! I called work, and got permission to attend the talk. Francis Crick, who is older, was ill, so he appeared via webcam. On the other hand, James Watson was there in person, old as well. Unlike a 1,000 page book, he showed the good in human nature. His talk was inspirational. You can achieve anything if you put enough passion into it. His book The Double Helix is highly recommendable. I hope the implications of his discovery are put into good use.
#23 Graduate Magna cum Laude
The real achievement here is being able to do it and still enjoy my time during college. Too much focus on grades has the potential to make college (or any other studies) burdensome. By focusing on enjoying the process, the grades were a side benefit. If I would have achieved it at the expense of the enjoyment, it would be meaningless; just a reminder of the time wasted on something I didn’t like. I was lucky to count with wonderful friends that nurtured that enjoyment. My achievement is as much theirs, as it is mine.
#22 Get an MBA from Berkeley
No latin for this one! The enjoyment was compounded by exploring classes in the larger university, reading related and unrelated stuff, and working for a great SF internet start-up called Brightstorm. And again, I was lucky to count with wonderful friends, with whom I celebrated my last birthday, and yet I already miss them as if I haven’t seen them for years. Of course, enjoyment was a given for all of us. After all, it was the Berkeley MBA: people claim we lack the attitude.
#21 Gaze at a Meteor Shower
I went to Iguazú, Argentina, for one of my math competitions. One of my friends and I went at night for a walk around town; the 4 blocks of it. Quickly, we found ourselves at this spot where the Iguazú river meets the Paraná, at the same point where Argentina meets Paraguay and Brazil. On the horizon, you could see the glow from the closest municipality in Paraguay, while the rivers had a silver glow of their own, magnified by the reflection of the full moon above. Everything else was darkness, as the thick surrounding forest sucks all light. Full darkness; the perfect canvas for a starry night. In such a setting, not even the full moon dares to challenge the beams from the stars. As we gazed to the sky, we saw a shooting star. Then another one. And once again. We ran back, and called others. Some of them knew the stars and shared their knowledge. We all went through the night and witnessed dawn. It seems we were gazing at the Leonids. Unaware, we amazed at Earth.
#20 Get Mugged
In fair justice to my great country, I’ve never been mugged in Colombia. I had to go to Berkeley to get it done. With a gun. A shiny one. A beautiful, cold one, pressing against my chest. Surrounded by four guys. After they went through all this trouble of setting up such a wonderful mugging, why not beat me up as a bonus? Start it with a fist on my jaw. Get me a bleeding nose. Get me a black eye. Cut my lip. Don’t stop until I’m on the floor. You have a question. Yes, you. To answer it, yes, they were African Americans. As with darkness, I faced African Americans the days after it happened. Neither one was the reason for it happening. Not the darkness, nor African Americans. It was poverty, and intolerance, and maybe drugs. From these three, I’m still scared. I later moved to Oakland, and was neighbor to African Americans. Lovely ones. I also love to walk. Even in the dark. But I keep something in mind. We humans are vulnerable. Life is ready to sneak from us if we let our guard down. Embrace life. I was mugged. I am alive. Thankfully alive.
#19 Attend a Surgery
Although I’ve attended a bunch of my own surgeries, I’m talking about someone else’s. At some point, I wanted to be a medic, so I got myself invited to a surgery. I got squirted with blood after an incision was made on the patient, and it made me feel sick for a while. Then I came back to the surgery. Our bodies have a great ability to recover from trauma, and I’ve always been amazed by the workings of our bodies. A year later, I was discovering I had some talent with numbers, so I started searching for a career that would take advantage of such talent. I’ve loved all of my jobs, so I’m sure it was a great decision, but that’s how I ended up attending a surgery, and not being a medic.
#18 Don’t Watch TV… Anymore
I did watch TV. I watched Thundercats, Mission Impossible, Saved by the Bell, El Chavo, and many others. Some years ago, I stopped. I still watch TV shows, but I only watch them when they’re available on DVD. I don’t miss watching broadcast TV. I found many other things I enjoy doing that can replace it, and not watching TV opens time for all of them. I still own a TV, only because I love movies and video games, but those I can use at my pace, instead of depending on schedules imposed by others.
#17 Start a Philanthropic Organization
It’s name was Los Bonachones (the good ones, but in a way it gives me an association of chubby ones). I was still in elementary school, and its mission was helping other kids. Its biggest event was a movie night at my apartment, where we would charge for admission and food. It was a major success. Next day, other kids from the neighborhood started a for-profit organization to compete with Los Bonachones. We were kids, with little disposable income, so both organizations went under very soon. Our competition never realized that “a great success” in our event really meant that there were a lot of other kids, but costs were heavily subsidized by our parents. The main learning was that philanthropy needs to be sustainable. As a kid, as an adult, any time.
#16 Attend a Concert
Actually, I’ve been to a couple of them. My brother has been my concert partner in many. Music is an universal communication tool, as emotions conveyed by it seem to surpass the barriers common to language, expressions, or signs. However, it isn’t enough just to listen to it. You need to feel the waves coming at you; the energy as they reverberate in a large crowd, and you feel closer to those around you, but not the kind defined by the tiny space that you usually get between you during concerts. If music was ever meant to be lived, it was meant to be live, as the music player creates it, feels it, and communicates.
#15 Get a Position by Popular Election
On my last year of college I decided to run for the Superior Student Council. This is an undertaking usually done by law students, and we engineers were very rare. The university was divided into two student parties, each with a candidate, and I was the candidate for the “independents.” After a good performance on a public debate in which the other candidates wasted their efforts attacking each other, the leading one approached me with a proposal to split the votes. How? I don’t remember, as I didn’t even care about the details; I was disgusted by the whole thing. I turned him down, knowing that if I were to win, it should be by the merit of my proposal, and not because of some arrangement. But I made two mistakes. The first one was neglecting the other University campus. The second one was that I decided to run too late. I could find excuses, but they were mistakes. I still got elected as Vice-president of the council, but was short to avoid getting the student population represented by someone who failed to gain the respect of the council, and as a result, failed to represent the interests of his voters. It was a sour way to learn how politicians believe that their votes validate them, instead of learning what votes really are: a vote of confidence; trust that, once elected, they’ll continue to communicate with their voters, by listening and talking to them the same way as it was done while campaigning, and they’ll keep faithful to what they claim and claimed.
#14 Get an Executive Position
I was Chief Planning Officer of Telebucaramanga for more than 3 years. I’m glad that maybe I was young enough not to have the power cravings I’ve seen in many people who have achieved such positions later in life. Perhaps it isn’t age. Whatever the reason, it isn’t enough to justify your own interests being the ends for getting the position. You get paid not for being powerful, but for getting the job done (which might require the exercise of power, probably through influence, but to fulfill a corporate strategy, not a personal benefit). I was lucky to receive the position from a person with a results oriented mindset, and a boss with the same motivations. Unfortunately, the company and its leadership faced unforeseen challenges that resulted in high leadership rotation. I’m glad most of those leaders came to do the job, and in my role, with their help and that of many talented people around me, we saw the company grow from a 10% market share, to over 60% by the time I left for my MBA, and right on track to close the year with Bucaramanga as the major colombian city with the most broadband Internet penetration in the country, surpassing even Bogotá. In telecommunications, that’s getting it done, and it makes me incredibly happy to have contributed in providing my city with a capability that will surely give it a competitive advantage in the years to come.
#13 Walk Under the Rain
Rain is unavoidable, so most of us have probably experienced this, unless you live in a desert. Colombia has deserts, but as the past months have shown, it also has far too much rain. So much it turns into disastrous proportions. I certainly wish it was a lot less. But still, I find beauty in rain. When rain comes, and it doesn’t catch you exposed, getting wet is suddenly something you can choose. If it does catch you, embracing getting wet is also a choice. The one time that makes it show up in this list, is maybe a little bit of both. I was at the office, with no car, when it started pouring. I could have just waited, and have someone pick me up, as I was 20 blocks from home. I didn’t even try calling. I just started walking, enjoying the mild temperature from the water, the tiny droplets running on my skin, the weight from the wet clothes. I loved having all the sidewalk to myself, and was even happy of not being in one of the cars that were stuck on the heavy traffic that always results from rain. We spend a lot of time, resources and effort avoiding rain. When it doesn’t turn into a destructive force, that which we avoid, turns out to be one of those life’s little hidden pleasures.
#12 Write a Play
I liked to write plays when I was a child. I wrote them for my school’s Role-Playing Contest, which my grade won a couple times. I wrote them for Christmas and the neighborhood novenas (Catholic ritual popular in Latin America, which consists of praying and singing the nine days leading to Christmas). Most of them were attempts at humorous plays. I would be afraid if I could have an accurate vision of them now, but at least I remember people laughing. I can also remember not all of the humor was my own. This leads me to the two things I learned from this early hobby of mine. The first one, was that you need to practice a lot to achieve great results. Happily, this was not something I had to learn through failure, as we never had major mistakes on our final presentations. And the truth was we had so much fun practicing, we never avoided it (it also helped that being in school, we also had plenty of time!). The second thing I learned is that allowing experimentation would improve the result a lot. Many times while rehearsing our plays, one of my friends would come up with something really funny and totally spontaneous. If I would have been more protective of my scripts, we could have missed the opportunity. But since we were doing it for the fun of it, we would always keep adding ideas to it, until it was no longer practical to keep adding (meaning we had the final presentation sometime soon). The laughter and fun I remember were collective achievements, but I still got to write a play (or a bunch of them!).
#11 Lose 45 Pounds (~ 20 Kg)
The first step to achieve this is earn the overweight. Obviously, if you haven’t, this is the one item in this list I will tell you not to try! The problem is it happens without trying. So, if it already happened, I tell you it can be lost. I did it without surgery or crazy diets, but it did take a lot of time (at least 6 months). The secrets? Lots of water, not too much salt. I used only healthier ingredients such as whole wheat pasta, brown rice, low fat cheese, low sugar marmalade, traditional peanut butter, among others. I mention these, as they are some of the stuff I rarely hear people dieting eat. I also ate whatever I craved, when the craving came. I never allowed it to become something unbearable, that might result on a binge of other stuff. Still, I was cooking a lot at home. I don’t know if there were other things I was doing right, except that I would weight myself everyday. I accepted the fact that some days it wouldn’t show progress, or sometimes it would show new weight, but this way I was never surprised. Today I don’t drink as much water, don’t mind the salt. I don’t cook as much, and seem to have more cravings. The only thing I keep from the old practice, is I still weight myself daily. And I know I’m not gaining weight.
#10 Live Abroad
I already mentioned many things that happened to me while abroad. However, just living abroad is meaningful enough to be part of this list by itself. I lived in Washington, DC, for a semester, and in the Bay Area of San Francisco for two years and a half. Both cities are very diverse on their own right: DC for its international community from multilateral and diplomatic organizations, and San Francisco for its open minded society. With a broad generalization, one could say that the first keeps them together through negotiation, and the second through tolerance. Both gave me the opportunity to come in contact with people from everywhere in the world, see a portion of the world through their eyes, and attempt to understand their backgrounds, needs, wishes, and motivations. Both gave me the means to accept difference. And both contributed to the hunger for exploration and the curiosity that drives continuous discovery. Traveling defines you by undefining and redefining you. Living abroad makes it a stronger process.
#9 Skying on Snow
Living in DC, I wasn’t eager of snow. I’ve never been eager of cold weather, to say the least! But taking the fun approach to it, helps its case, specially if you have it at reach when you want it, but don’t live covered by it, as is the case in the Bay Area. I’ve only been once, but on a great day, when it was slowly pouring, keeping it fluffy, as I learned to sky. I don’t know if those with better knowledge would say that those aren’t the best conditions to learn, but it certainly made it an scenery of great beauty. That was enough to make it worthwhile.
#8 Windsurfing at the Beach
In this case, I got a warm weather that I like. We tried it with my brother in Cartagena for a couple of days, and seizing the wind to move you forward is really fun. Above it all, the view is also outstanding, as you see the sun reflect on the waves, while enjoying the warm water on you. The only thing I don’t really enjoy is the sand, as it clings to my hairy body, but windsurfing makes it worthwhile to go through that.
#7 Go Diving in the Ocean
For most of us, daily experience occurs on land. We are also easily exposed to the sky, although we can live it in a different way if we go up a tall building, walk up a cliff, fly on an airplane, or go for a skydive (see #28). However, there’s a veil of mystery for life under water. If you get to live near the coast, or have had the luck to visit a beach, you seem to forget that there’s a lot of people that live very long without being able to see one. Even less people get to experience it from underneath. Salt water makes it hard to see without goggles, even if some movies tend to show it otherwise. At least I tried it, but it stings. However, once you get your mask, and an oxygen tank on your back, you discover a world that seems beyond our own, even as it is right within reach. I wish I had done it more often, but I still have many years to do it.
#6 Discover Spirituality
I have a friend who was kind of hypochondriac. She taught me about her fears from death, and in the process, I learned not to fear it. Not the lack of fear often associated with youth, but the one that comes from realizing that the consequences of an interrupted life have no relationship with the age when it happens, but only with the life you lead. Certainly, most are things beyond our control, like death itself, but life has been enjoyable to me to the extend that I’ve learnt to accept and make the most out of that which I can’t control, while working hard to gain those experiences that I may influence to happen. That’s all I can hope to get: the power to influence. There’s probably nothing in life one can control. Knowledge of God is one of those. I can’t say one exists, nor one doesn’t. I can choose to believe either alternative. I’ve never experienced an undeniable proof for any of them, and I haven’t met anyone who can provide me with one. Hence, I respect everyone’s choice, as long as they recognize it is an alternative of their choosing, instead of an absolute truth. We are all as limited, we all lack control. Believe what you like, and allow others to do the same, even if they decide different from you. Chances are, none will be able to prove right. Simply, live a life that provides you with no regrets, once it gets interrupted, and you are exposed to that bigger truth.
#5 Read a Novel Aloud
I don’t know where the idea came from, but I decided I wanted to read aloud for my girlfriend. One of those days I was reading it, my throat ended up sore, as I probably read a hundred pages in a single sitting. But as you approach the ending, there’s something I can’t describe about the experience. The usual feeling of plenitude one might feel when finishing a good book, gets multiplied by the feeling of giving that emerges from those hours reading for someone else; from reading for someone who doesn’t need to be read to, but doing it for the sake of it. The words you are reading gain additional power, claim a life of their own, breath through you. And I can assure you it wasn’t just the book, because this one I had read twice before for myself, but it only had that strength the third time.
#4 Start my Own Business
In this list, we just started it, but in the years to come it will surely play a major role. The name is Eosch, and we make games. Our first one was Firebreather, which is undergoing a major update that’s bringing its quality to new levels. And we also have a second game under wraps, but we are going slowly, as the company is our second job for my brother and I. Starting a company is a great and rewarding experience, but it is even more fulfilling when it is build around one of your greatest passions, as is the case for us. If you want to learn more about it, or would like to get involved, don’t stop yourself.
#3 Build a Bicycle
Starting to write this, I realize I need to get a bike. Biking was something I really enjoyed for many years. For this reason, one year, when I had the chance to pick a topic for an oral presentation, I chose biking. As I wanted to move away from the traditional poster as a visual aid (I’m 30 years old! Why would I say PowerPoint?), I decided to build a small bicycle to scale with my grandpa. We paid attention to many of the details, using cooper tubes for the frame, and rubber wires for the tires, modified buttons for the gears, thin chains around them. The teacher loved it, and I got the highest marks for my presentation. However, my real reward came from the several weeks I shared with my grandpa, working on this project. It could only be surpassed by the next item on this list.
#2 Live with Grandpa Horacio
The final years from college, I moved in to live with my grandpa. As we get older, we get kind of set on our ways, and I fondly remember all the issues this created, although with time we found ways to bridge the gaps created by so many years between us. More importantly, I wouldn’t trade for anything the opportunity to share with him his last years among us. He was just as active as any of the other single men in the apartment (my brother and I). He would come out for walks, buy wide varieties of fruits, fill crossword puzzles (only on sundays, but allowing us to share the challenge), read a lot (during these years he read about 80 books from a Literature Nobel Laureate collection, among many others), visited other family members from his generation and friends. He was a warm man, eager to shed a tear every time joy filled his great, but unfortunately weakening, heart. I would guess many in the family inherited his happy crying. He would always look for a positive word to those around him, even if his age would play tricks on him from time to time, dropping an occasional not so positive word. Even after the last of his health incidents drew much of his energy, he kept fighting to live a fulfilling life, regardless of how incomplete he was after grandma Nena died. Today, as I turn 30, saying goodbye to the younger years of my life, he is one of the main reasons I’m happy to welcome the more than 30 years of youth still ahead of me. He was old, but he never aged, and certainly, never left.
#1 Love
A list like this one doesn’t come out easily. It requires some reflection around events of our life, and an attempt to discern from those things that seem ordinary, but are not. The most powerful thing about it, is that once it is done, you may come to realize, as I did, that none of it is worthwhile, unless you have who to share it with. If you came this far, I’m happy to count with you as one of those who care. Life is beautiful, as long as you get to feel loved, give love back, and find love. I’ve been able to do all three, and my life has been a happy one, through the best and the worst, because of love. As I said at the beginning, I don’t think I have the right to tell you what to do, or how to lead your time. But if in my 30th birthday I was granted a wish, it would be for all of us to fill, give, and find love. I’m deeply grateful for the way it has enlightened my life, and as part of my wish, I hope it will continue to fill the years to come.
