# My Life Goals

Last updated 2023-07-13

My life sucks. That's why I constantly think about dying. Don't worry,
I won't do it *right* now, but it's a prudent act to list out all the
things I want to try before I do. And when I've tried them, I cross them
out.

These may be unrealistic but I don't give an imaginary shit. I might
remove some if I please. I might, at one point, go "screw it" and abandon
the list altogether. Future Me is unpredictable.

There's some cross-referencing among the items, so I've added labels in
__boldface__ and/or dependencies (dep) in parentheses where necessary.

## Art
- <s>Learn bass</s> (__bass__) (learning it right now)
- Get enough vocal training to not sound terrible
- Learn basic music theory
- <s>Record a song</s> I covered [Early Sunsets Over
  Monroeville](../../projects/early-sunsets-over-monroeville/) by My
  Chemical Romance
- Start playing drums again (__drum__)
- Join a rock band as bassist (dep: bass) or drummer (dep: drum)
- Go to a twenty øne piløts concert (dep: umich)
- <s>Buy Trench (2018) on CD or cassette</s> I bought a CD!
- Go to an IDKHOW concert (dep: umich)
- Go to a MCR concert (dep: umich)
- Go to a Green Day concert (dep: umich)
- Learn to properly rap the entirety of Car Radio
- Learn to play Jesus Of Suburbia on bass
- <s>Get more stickers</s>
- Get a few figurines or little artifacts on my desktop
- Get a hammer and a sickle to put on my wall
- Commission an artist
- Have something signed by, or take a photo with an artist I know

## University
- Get a bachelor's degree in ECE
- <s>Get offer from UMich</s> (__umich__)
- Get a bachelor's in CE at UMich
- Get a master's
- Publish a paper of some sort somewhere and snail mail my friends signed
  copies of it
- <s>Become head of tech dep't of student union</s> I already am since
  August!
- <s>Become TA of Intro to Comp Engr</s> I got the job and made it through
  the semester!

## Engineering
- <s>Get access to a machine shop</s> There is one in uni
- Use the lathe (WIP: training)
- Use milling machine (WIP: training)
- <s>Use electric drill</s>
- Learn to make PCBs like a professional (__pro-pcb__, dep: reflow)
- Get an oscilloscope
- <s>Learn to use an oscilloscope</s>
- <s>Learn reflow soldering (__reflow__)</s> Check out [Reflow
  Workshop](/projects/reflow-workshop/#2023-04-09-sunday)
- <s>Host a reflow soldering workshop (dep: reflow)</s> (It's finally over)
- Try more embedded development
- Get a PinePhone Pro and hack it
- This is gonna sound like an sponsorship but it's not. Get
  a <s>Pinecil</s>, PineTab, PinePower, PineNote and PineBuds
- Make a submarine. Around 2 liters in volume, uncrewed (obviously)
- Make my kid(s) a custom calculator to avoid those lame Casios, assuming
  they'd still use those for math 20 years later (__calc__, dep: kid,
  pro-pcb)
- Go to my high school machine shop and help out my engineering teacher
  and his FRC team
- Learn to make better 3D models
- Learn to operate a 3D printer
- Design a PCB namecard that is functional in at least one way
- Document development of a project in a video
- Use the V-USB library somewhere
- Make a portable electronic musical instrument
- Make a computer keyboard do something else while looking the same
- Use an e-ink screen in a project, probably the custom calculator
- Make an elliptical reflector dish
- Write some assembly
- <s>Try an ARM SBC</s> I just realized I have a Raspberry Pi
- Try writing STM32 C
- Try a RISC-V SBC
- <s>Make a weird-looking USB flash drive</s> I made one out of a covid
  rapid test box
- <s>Give someone something handmade as a gift</s> I gave a [blobcat
  PCB](/projects/blobcat-pcb) to my friend
- Use an Espressif SoC on a PCB

## Computer
- DIY a desktop computer, which conceivably will run Arch Linux and KDE
- Get a proper OpenWRT router at home
- Configure neovim "just the way I want" and not change it in one year
- Get a secondhand ThinkPad T420

## Travel
- Visit Köln (Cologne)
- Visit the Netherlands
- Visit Shenzhen
- Visit Taipei
- Go to the beach

## Miscellaneous
- Attend a convention of any kind
- Observe a furry convention (but not participate)
- Learn CW (a.k.a. morse code)
- <s>Get a ham radio license and buy a handheld station</s> DE BH4FXW 73
  sent from my UV-5R
- Eliminate as much meat as possible from diet
- Declare myself expert in at least one thing
- Own a cat (probably two)
- Read all books by Karl Marx
- Get a semi-professional filming rig with a greenscreen and stuff
- Have one or more kids (__kid__)
- <s>Get my own credit card</s> (at least it's got my name on it)
- Install solar panels somewhere
- Seek revenge on that one roommate whose gaming noise keeps me up at
  night
- Drink tiny amount of vodka
- Participate in a protest, verbal or physical
- Host a technical talk on a conference
- Steer employer (if any) into FOSS'ing a software project
- Co-author an IETF RFC
- Get a tiny tattoo
- Restuff my blåhaj
- Make something that is not, but looks like an electrolytic capacitor
- Flip off a conservative
- Do standup comedy at an open mic night