Note to self

I've been getting some interesting email over the past few days. An example:

Dear future self,

I'm reminding you about your stated goal on 43 things, to
"publish a book of stories or a novel".

How's it going?

Sincerely,
Your past self

This message was indeed initiated by the Waveflux of a few days past at 43 Things (founded by Robot Co-op), a kind of social networking site built on the concept of publicly listing personal aspirations. This goals are tagged and linked to similar goals posted by other members. The result is part motivation tool, part Friendster. I found it interesting enough to give it a try and pretty much ignored a report that the sole investor in Robot Co-op is Amazon.com. There are few Internet ventures that don't benefit some heartless corporation or other.

The conceit of being gently chided by a past self is oddly appealing. You can set the program to prompt you via daily emails or less frequent messages: every couple of days, once a week, once a month, twice a year...

I'm having some trouble coming up with 43 separate goals. That might mark me as a bit of a slacker (which could itself give rise to a goal: stop being such a slacker); then again, I haven't been doing this for very long. Here are a couple of topics I expect to hear about from my earlier self in the next few days:

lose 20 pounds
quit my job (terribly appealing to me today)
adopt a child
learn to swim

I look forward to telling young Waveflux "mission accomplished" now and again.