Background: After reposting the same New Year’s Resolution from 2008-2012 without success,  I had to rethink it. I replaced my resolution with a bucket list in 2013. I went from incremental goals (i.e. lose 10 pounds) to life-changing goals.

Preface: At 12:05am on January 1st, 2013, I was lying face down in a cul-de-sac in Mililani Mauka after a fireworks accident (don’t ask.) I was thinking, sheesh, can 2013 be over with already? Unlikely as it seemed then, I was blessed to meet up with my Compassion sponsored child in the Philippines and walk across the Great Wall of China by year’s end. All things are possible.

I believe that there is intentionality in writing things down. And in putting it out there…

Life Goals:

• Seek after God’s heart
• Learn to speak Japanese
• Appear in a TV commercial
• Go snowboarding
• Own my dream car, a vintage VW bus
• Change the world

School Goals:

• Tie a kihei
• Run an international TED-Ed student speaking event

Ministry Goals:

• Go on a missions trip to Japan
• Start up a friendship ministry in Kakaʻako

Travel Goals:

• Visit Kumamoto
• Dim sum in Hong Kong
• Attend Taikai in Okinawa
• Eat phở on a plastic stool in Vietnam
• Sunday roast in London
• Get lost in Istanbul
• Travel to Angkor Wat in Cambodia
• See the Taj Mahal
• Witness the Aurora Borealis
• Attend a World Cup Soccer match

Completed Goals:

√ Visit my sponsored child in the Philippines
√ Travel to Machu Picchu
√ Walk across the Great Wall of China
√ See Gaudí’s work in Barcelona
√ Pasta at a sidewalk café in Rome
√ Ride the trains in Tokyo
√ Hold up the Leaning Tower of Pisa
√ Visit koalas in Australia
√ Witness the haka in Aotearoa (NZ)
√ Enjoy the busking in the streets of Seoul
√ Learn to surf
√ Ride an elephant in Thailand
√ Learn to skateboard
√ Take a solo (YOLO) trip to Paris
√ Visit my “homeland” of Okinawa
√ Find the best bowl of ramen in Hawaiʻi
√ Launch a homeless outreach ministry in Chinatown
√ Run a TEDxYouth event at school
√ Play guitar in a café
√ Publish a TED-Ed animated lesson
√ Own a condo near Ala Moana Beach (lifelong dream)

I am so grateful that I have been blessed with things that I never even imagined.

あけましておめでとう ㊗️ & God Bless 🙏