Part 3 of my 40 before 40 list, begun here.

11. Meet a sponsored child.

I currently sponsor two children, one from Brazil and one from Guinea, both for a few years now. At certain points I was investigating what it would take to visit them (I believe both child sponsorship organizations offer visit opportunities, at least in a world without COVID-19). I would love to meet the children I write letters to every few months and read letters from.

12. 450 blog posts

The Part 1 post of my 40 before 40 list was my 200th post on this blog (the count includes the 100+ posts from The Road to Damascus and the even older posts from the old blog). Going to 450 posts would require, broadly speaking, about 50 posts every two years, or one post every two weeks. What matters more than the number is the spirit behind it – I want to maintain blogging. And now that my blogging is not just about religion, I can write about a greater variety of things (the three focuses of this new iteration of my site are representative of what I’m thinking about).

13. Travel to the Philippines with my wife

This is practically 100% certain. My wife is from the Philippines, and while I have been to the Philippines already, it wasn’t with her. I would love to see some of the different places in that country.

14. Save $3000 by DIY tasks compared to shop work

This is more skill-oriented than most other goals. Originally I posted that I needed to save $1000 in car repair specifically, I decided to broaden it to include any DIY tasks. Even though my previous job involved having a hand in the creation of auto repair/maintenance instructions sometimes, I have never gotten my hands dirty (figuratively or literally) and did anything with my car myself, always just taking it in to be serviced. I can save a lot if I work on things myself, and certain tasks are very possible for anyone to do.

15. Learn to cook steak well

Who doesn’t want to cook a steakhouse-quality steak in their own home? I tried before, but let’s just say my wife had to bail me out. While her parents were there.

16-20 coming soon!

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