This list was inspired by Lorraine Hansberry’s series of birthday notes, written annually from when she was 23 to 33. You can see these candid, intimate glimpses of her life on display at the Brooklyn Museum until March 16th.

I love:
The Park Slope Food Coop
My office “family”
Learning obscure skills (blacksmithing)
Traveling to foreign countries
Efficiency (though not at the cost of human relationships)
Handwritten letters, and making time to write them
Carbs: bagels, pizza, pasta, rice, beer
Biking year-round
Lucky Peach
Sherlock Holmes (BBC)
Being fit
Being alone
Sleeping on the floor
Brooklyn

I’m bored with:
My glasses
Hunter x Hunter
Game of Thrones books
Swiss chard
Marijuana
Trying and failing to get Cronuts

I hate:
Not being able to recognize people readily (face blindness)
Cockroaches in my building
Too damn high rent in NYC
Oxford commas
Mixed signals
Being lonely

I’m proud of:
My ability to emotionally move on (after a breakup)
My ability to physically move on (since everything I have can fit into one car)
My family, who accomplishes crazy feats, feeds me well and behaves with rational insanity
Friendships, many of which hit their 10-year anniversary last August
Decisiveness, ripping off bandaids and not looking back
Zen, achieving inner peace when NYC tries to make that impossible

I wish:
To again write words that will spur laughs, inspire wonder, incite anger or change lives
To evolve from being a cook to a chef
To live in East Asia someday (Hong Kong?)
To be in love again someday