Thirty Things
an excerpt

I stepped forward, looking down at the faded but distinctive curl of Jones' cursive. At the top was the date – February 3, 1987 – almost exactly 20 years ago – and indeed I had been deep into studying for my LSATs, hoping that the third time writing would be enough to get me into law school. (It was.) Just below the date was a heading, “Thirty Things to do Before We're Thirty”, printed all in capitals and with extra-firm pressure. This was followed by, in Jones' script, a list of forty different things, ten of which had been crossed out and the numbers adjusted until they ended up with the requisite thirty items. Among those which missed the cut had been “Serve on a jury” and “Vote”, presumably because these were either beyond their control or hardly worth pursuing.
As for those items that had been preserved, they made up a fairly inclusive pantheon of the kind of things that matter to young men in their early twenties. Number one, naturally, involved nudity: “Go skinny dipping with someone worth bragging about.” There were numerous others relating to relations with women, and others that were simply reckless (“Spent the night in jail”), materialistic (“Own your own home”), narcissistic (“Look great naked”), humiliating (“Wear a Speedo in public”, presumably a corollary to “Look great naked”), impossible (“Give up porn”), silly (“Master air guitar”) and quixotic (“Be taken seriously”). Down at the bottom, under number thirty (“Sing in a rock band”) was four signatures, all slightly wobbly but clearly with solid intent of purpose. Enough room had been left for the fifth signature, the one never sought until this evening.