Thirty

I'm writing from my seat on a ferry coming back from Catalina Island, where Cari, Lysh and I spent the day. Today is my 30th birthday and It has been a great one. We went kayaking and saw a bunch of seals and pelicans, we found a beautiful private beach, and even came upon a group of small sharks in the shallows.

We also rented a golf cart and toured some of the island, stopping at a great overlook to enjoy a snack and some cold ginger beer.

A last-minute push on the student loan front resulted in another $1,000 payment since my last post. As you know, that leaves me well short of my goal.

All day today I was checking my email in hopes that I would get word that the grant that would enable me to pay off the rest of my loans had come through. No such word came.

As the sun (which is eclipsing at the moment) sinks into the ocean off the coast of California, it is time to officially declare that I have failed in my goal to pay off my $60k student loan debt in the 80 weeks before my 30th birthday.

When I declared this game 80 weeks ago, I was recently unemployed and I was unsure how I was going to make rent, let alone aggressively pay down my debt. I started playing in part to get me thinking bigger than just making ends meet- and it worked.

By week 14, I was off of unemployment and I have never gone back. I have been able to make ends meet and handle many extra expenses like travel, taxes and medical bills. On top of it all, I've paid off almost $25,000 in debt. To call the game a failure, while technically true, doesn't tell the whole story.

I've done some thinking about what is next for me and my goal to be debt free by 30. I considered just leaving it here, and finding other things to do with any extra income I have. In fact, that is a very attractive thought.

I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but a few months ago, my high school asked me to be this year's graduation speaker. I get to give my speech to the class of 2012 on Saturday. In preparation, I reached out to some of my class, the class of 2000, to see what advice they had for the graduates. One of the dominant themes in our shared experiences is that life hardly ever goes according to plan, but if you can work hard, embrace change and adapt your plans accordingly, it will work out in the end.

So, with regard to my goal to be debt free, I'm choosing today to take the game into extra innings. I'll continue working to meet my goal, starting next week, week 81, and continuing until I'm done.

I'm getting lots of birthday texts and Facebook posts with messages of encouragement and support. Thank you for all of that, and as the game continues, I'll keep you posted.