Liz working on her exploration skills.

I normally start daydreaming about all the things I want to do—read more books, eat more sushi, take long walks, attempt a tan, launch my country music career—when I shouldn’t be. I have an incredible knack for making these lists under deadlines of all sorts—exams, papers, applications—you get the point. Since it is Rosh Hashanah though, and the New Year is all about making new, exciting, sometimes better, sometimes fun and sometimes more difficult choices, I thought I’d take a crack at my ever-changing, ever-expanding list at perhaps a more appropriate time.

1. Learn American Sign Language (or at least start).
In second grade, I became fascinated with Helen Keller and her extraordinary example of a life fully lived. I read every biography out there and absolutely, positively immersed myself in deaf and blind culture. I learned how to read braille (very slowly!) and attempted to learn American Sign Language (ASL), but never got far (I believe it was interrupted by a Nancy Drew craze). With expanding appreciation of deaf studies as an academic discipline and of ASL as a legitimate linguistic study, the time could never be more perfect to learn a new language.

2. Learn to cook.
I’m more of a preparer (I make a mean bowl of cereal), but I’m running out of excuses. It’s time to be a grown-up and learn how to cook that grown-up chicken. Step one: get over my fear of handling uncooked meat…or become a vegetarian!

3. Get in touch with my inner truck driver.
Have you ever noticed the kindest drivers on the road? The ones who always let you merge, pass, drive slowly or bang a left when the light turns green? Truck drivers! I wish to emulate this noble attitude both on and off the road. Bottom line? Small things do count. And when no one says thank you, that’s all right too.

4. Keep fresh flowers in my great new apartment and water my plants without killing them.
I just moved—I now have two bedrooms and two baths—and it’s a sweet deal! I refuse to be the only living thing that lives in my bedroom. Solution: greenery and flora. (I’d go the cat route, but I’m secretly afraid of them.)

5. Master that je ne sais quoi of fashion.
OK, so I’m more likely to catch Nazis (see No. 10). I’m never going to master Sofia Coppola’s demure little-black-dress look or Kate Moss’s I-haven’t-showered-and-I’ve-been-up-all-night-doing-God-knows-what-but-I-still-look-fab look, but I can at least stop biting my nails and remember to iron my clothes. 

6. Keep in touch.
When an old friend writes me, I will write back promptly. I will write, Skype, chat and call often the friends I’ve made but do not live near. I will be hospitable to all visiting friends. I will remember birthdays.

7. Explore my own home.
I read a quotation once that stuck with me: “A man should know something of his own country, too, before he goes abroad.” All right—so I’ve already been abroad, but it’s never too late, right? I’m going to hop in my car, head down the Mass Pike and learn more about and explore the commonwealth in which I live and grew up. First stop: Worcester.

8. Get back to Scotland—soon!
I just loved it there, and there are some people across the pond I really, really miss! Winter break is looking good to me. I knew my mom’s credit card miles would come in handy for something ….

9. Be the best big sister in the world (or somewhere in the top 10).
Word’s out—I’ve hit the jackpot when it comes to having an awesome brother. We’re both seniors—Dave’s in high school and I’m in college—and we’ve been really fortunate to go to different schools in the same town (yay for Waltham, Mass.) for the past three years. September 2009 will probably put us hundreds of miles apart, so I want to milk this year for all it’s worth.

10. Start small and think big.
I’d like to hunt down the world’s remaining Nazis, stop sex trafficking and shut down all puppy mills (with help, of course). I think I can, I think I can, I think I can ….

Liz Imber is a JVibe editorial intern. She loves singing, Scotland and reading crime thrillers.