What are your Top 3 hopes right now?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Not big things like world peace, but more like your personal ambitions or hopes in the future - i.e., child getting into a good college, getting to retire, etc.

Mine are:

  1. Finally be able to read Chinese (spent many years on this and the characters just won’t get into my head; I hope I don’t have Chinese dyslexia or something of the sort)

  2. Become debt-free (I should be all paid off by the end of next year)

  3. Get married

2

  1. Eventually reach a point where I’m confident enough to retire. I could do so theoretically now, but the current economy, etc. have me too worried and I’m doing the OMY dance (One More Year).

  2. When #1 finally happens, hope that I’m able (both health and $$) to do a few of the things on my bucket list.

  3. That my inevitable position as family patriarch doesn’t keep me from #2. My parents are in their 80’s and beginning to need constant care, and my only sibling is disabled and unable to help.

3

  1. We are having an entry/mud room re-built (down to the foundation). It’s a MAJOR job that includes drainage work. I’ve worked with the contractor before a number of times so all should go ok. There is always something though… been there done that.

  2. Trump is impeached and imprisoned. It would be hard on our country, but this type of bullshit needs to be nipped in the bud.

  3. On a lighter note. We are leaving for Key West for a needed week of R&R. My Wife and I are great at traveling together and planning these trips. So all should be fine. Supposed to be quite rainy, but what are ya gonna do. I have been teaching my wife how to play chess and she really enjoys it, so if nothing else, we will get a few games in.

4
  1. A kidney. I’ve been waiting over 5 years now. Dialysis is not a way to live.
  2. My mother to do what she needs to do (sell the house and the cabin, move into a townhome or something more manageable), which would lower the stress levels between us greatly.
  3. My daughter to get the job she’s interviewing for today, so she can finalize her moving out date. Then for me to not be completely miserable without her here.
5
  1. We have about a 1/10th acre of undeveloped land in Dandy, VA that we’re trying to sell. Sooner would be better than later (nudge nudge)
  2. I hope my daughter gets bored with wasting her youth and decides to do something with her life she can be proud of. She’d make an excellent poacher hunter.
  3. I’m unemployed at the end of November. I’d like to land a similar-paying gig that is NOT at an insurance company (the industry is going to hell in a handbasket)

I’m over it. I only hope Cascadia will be willing to admit Colorado.

6
  1. Continue to heal from my hip replacement surgery. I had it done back in February and the recovery is going very well. I hope to be completely pain free and have full range of motion within 1 year.
  2. Grow my magic business even more. I’m a magician and over the past 2 years I have really been focusing on developing my act and getting more gigs. Last year I earned the most I’ve ever earned doing magic, more than I ever did before. So this year I decided to turn it into a formal small business. I just last week received the LLC info, so now it’s all legal. I hope that it will continue be successful.
  3. Start fixing all the small problems with my house. Because of my hip pain (See point #1) over the past 13 years, I have not been doing much to fix and maintain my house and a few things have really started to fall into disrepair. I hope that this year I can start fixing some of those things and really start making my house look nice again.
7
  1. It would be awesome if my personality stays the same now.
  2. I should finally figure out what I like in jobs. Do I really like mine? Do I want to stay with it?
  3. Becoming really more open with the family would be great for all of us.
8

To live past the age of 79. My mother, sister, brother and cousin all died at that age.

To get any cardio-vascular problems resolved, which should be by the end of the month. See above.

That my son is finally free of his substance addiction.

9

  1. To see the Firebug grow up and have a happy, productive life.

  2. To see some actual solutions to my wife’s assorted ailments, so she can live a pain-free life.

  3. To have a long, active, and happy retirement, starting in just a few years.

10

I’m going to limit myself to plausible hopes. So no marriage - and no getting down to a healthy weight. :stuck_out_tongue:

  1. To get into a house at some point in the next five years.
  2. To finish writing my third (and fourth? and fifth?) novels someday.
  3. To be financially solvent until I die.
11

Forget #3. My daughter just told me he’s back in the ER. Fucking asshole.

12

Personal goals:

#1 Continued happy family life, including children (married 8 years, no kids yet, but hopefully soon)
#2 To become a successful sci-fi/fantasy author
#3 Continued health and long life

13

#1 to be free of cancer
#2 That my son finds someone to be happy with
#3 I’d be a great grandpa

14

I just hope I die peacefully in my sleep.

15

1- To get back into showing dogs in the obedience ring. It was fun and I miss it, and I have the perfect dog for it now.

2- That my job settles down and stops adding stress to us all

3- To get my finances under control once and for all.

16
  1. That the current geopolitical situation doesn’t actually spiral out of control - there’s great tectonic movements going on right now that are raising all kinds of alarms. Like, we’re overdue a world war alarms.
  2. More parochially - I hope that Brexit ends up not happening, or happens in name only.
  3. Even more parochially - I hope we can continue to find enough funding to keep the place I work open.
17

  1. *I don’t want to die alone and lonely * I have no kids, two sisters my age, and two nephews. The latter are good young men, but they won’t feel a lot for me in my old age.

  2. I don’t want to die in a painful manner, like my dad, when a careless driver killed him. I’m scared of heights, but I’d jump from a tall building before I’d burn.

  3. When I die I want my pets to be taken care of.

18

My mom died two years ago, and my dad is in rough shape too (could be months to maybe a year or two left), so this has colored my immediate hopes…

  1. that Dad doesn’t suffer between now and the inevitable end
  2. that lil bro and I have the strength to deal with losing our second parent a couple of decades sooner than most Americans do. strength to get through grief, to get this house squared away and sold if Dad dies before we move etc. etc.
  3. I look after my dad, and I’m not married or even dating anyone. So my last of three hopes is that I’m not alone after he dies. At least not for long, you know? Learning how to look after myself, and only myself, is going to be hard. And I hope that I don’t get too used to living alone once I’m handling that well.
19

  1. I want off this damn night shift. What a stupid, career killing mistake I made. I have some serious thinking to do about perhaps changing companies if things don’t get better in a hurry.

  2. Travel more. Airfares are insanely low right now and I’ve got a lot of vacation time available.

  3. Finish my apartment. I’ve been here since 2014 and yet the apartment is still only about 85% done. The barren walls get annoying at times.

20

  1. I’d sure like to meet someone to spend time with. It doesn’t have to be romantic, but it could be.

  2. I’ve never cared much for travel. Until now. I so want to travel more, but it would be more fun if #1 would happen first. I want to go to Cuba in the worst way.

  3. Figure out what to do about my living situation. Buy something, keep renting where I’m at, something else? I just feel frozen about this decision. I wish the universe would tell me what to do.