Part 2 of my 40 before 40 list, begun here.

6: Learn to mostly break my habit of palpitation panic.

I’ve previously written about my battle with heart palpitations, stemming from my larger battle with anxiety about 5-8 years ago. While the anxiety is now limited to unusual circumstances and not everyday, I still do have trouble with occasional PVCs and pounding heartbeats. The trouble is not that they happen (PVCs – sudden, out-of-rhythm heartbeats – happen in even the healthiest people), but how I react to them. Even one of these in certain circumstances can cast a shadow over the rest of my day. This goal is another hard one to clearly define, but I would like to not be spent into a spiral of panic or constant vigilance when they happen.


7: Get larger house, our forever home.

Me and my wife became homeowners at the end of last year. We were able to get into the best school district around, something which I didn’t think we would be able to achieve at this point, but it is a bit small. For the two of us, it’s fine, but a family with growing kids will not find it satisfactory. I set a general milestone: 10 years in this current house. By then, we would probably have a kid in the thick of elementary school at least, and I’d be almost 40. Now, having our next home be our home for the rest of our lives would be a bit trickier, but let’s see how that goes!


8: Become a full stack developer.

A full stack developer is someone who is experienced in both the front end (what the user sees) and back end (the hidden logic) of web sites and applications. I have been primarily a front end developer, dabbling into the back end occasionally (usually outside my job).

Interestingly enough, there has been some progress in this regard in the time between I made the list and posted this article. My new job has shuffled around teams and has placed me on a full stack development team. And even though I don’t think I’m experienced enough yet to call this task complete (I am very much the learner in the group), I do currently have the job title of full stack engineer!

9: Visit 35 US states (in my lifetime)

My wife is weighing something liketlike as one of her goals as well, so this is one we’ll try to do. In detail, this means something like spending a full day in any one place in each state, with the intent of tourism. I’ve downloaded an app to track my visited states, and it’s 17 of 50 right now, so my goal is to roughly double that number.

10: Be a competent speaker of Tagalog

Since I have a Filipino wife, it only makes sense that I should learn Tagalog. And I have been learning it on and off for years now. I currently am trying again using flashcards, and eventually, more conversational methods. But the goal is to be able to speak the language enough to carry on simple-ish conversations.

During the time between I made the list and posted it, Rosetta Stone offered free upgrades to their latest app version for owners of their older CD versions. This makes it a lot easier to actually use, and makes this goal easier without spending additional money.

11-15 coming soon!

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