Year of Lexie
A couple years ago one of my co-workers turned 50. We started joking about its being the "Year of John" because he had all these special things happening all year long--Hawaii vacation, fun things with his friends, etc.
Well, this is the year I hit the big Six-Oh (not until August). I had my fantastic trip to Morocco last year, and I have another cool vacation to Southeast Asia I'm considering, but probably not until next year (a bit pricy, though totally doable). So I've been trying to think what I could do THIS year that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg but would still be kind of special.
And I finally hit on it. I am going to take four days in NYC in April to attend a couple of Robert McKee's seminars on screenwriting. There is the three-day Story seminar, and a one-day seminar on writing for TV series--and the focus will be on my all-time favorite show, Breaking Bad. I booked a room with a very nice lady on AirBnB, something that will make this affordable. I've been wanting to try to learn screenwriting for a while but never have the time to focus on it. I've got a ton of ideas floating around but never took a class and I wind up going in circles when I've tried.
So having planned that, I thought I then need some quiet time to try to write. So I booked a week on Hatteras for Labor Day at a house across the street from the beach. I can relax, walk on the beach, and write. Not think about work or anything else.
In between the course in April and the trip in September I can start jotting notes and ideas. Maybe I won't get anywhere with it but I won't know unless I try.
Of course, every band in the world is announcing their summer tour schedule, so I've already bought tickets for a few of those, which will be little treats scattered over the course of the summer.
Makes turning 60 seem positively exciting!