The five-year plan, revisited

Because it's winter and it's cold and I don't go outside voluntarily when it's snowing/the temperature is under 20 degrees, I've been doing a lot of thinking about my life. I'm probably too introspective as it is, but such thoughts cannot be avoided in February. Here's the five-year plan I came up with recently:
This year: pay off credit cards.
Next year: pay off private student loans.
Year 3: save all that money.
Year 4: quit my life and go backpacking around South America until all that money runs out.
Year 5: come back, move somewhere warm, become a bartender and write crazy things on the side.

I'm pretty happy with this plan. But I noticed what WASN'T on the five-year plan.
1. Marriage. I'm not opposed to the idea of marriage. If I met the right person and he was really gung-ho about getting married, I could be convinced. But left to my own devices, I wouldn't seek it out. It would seriously cut into my ability to drop everything and go traveling.
2. Kids. Ditto above. If I met the right person, right now, and he was gung-ho about it, I could be convinced. But I'm definitely not seeking it out, and if five years go by and I have no kids, I'm fine with that. The older I get, the more small children seem like alien life forms to me. Scratch that--small children have always seemed like alien life forms to me. As do most men, for that matter.
3. A career. That's "a career" as opposed to "a paycheck." In my halcyon youth, I wanted to work for a theatre. I still do, but there's no way I could and still pay my bills. So I think I can now effectively cross that one off the list, as I can write play and theatre reviews in my spare time and get my theatre groove on that way. Having worked day jobs lo these many years to pay the bills, I can safely say I never want to work under a flourescent light, in a suit, ever again. Hence the appeal of bartending. My dear friend K quit the corporate world many years ago to become a day trader/dog walker, and she's very happy with that. She's my hero.
4. New York. I love New York. I will always love New York. No matter where I am in the world, I will always have to come back here on a regular basis. But it's cold in the winter, the summers are too short, it's way too friggin' expensive, it's hard to meet people, and I can't get good barbecue. I will admit to leaving New York once before, and it was a disastrous mistake--however, it was not of my own volition, and it was to a place I would never have picked on my own. If I moved for my own purposes, to a city I wanted to move to, I think I'd be much happier than the first time around. The Southerner in me is crying out for a slightly slower and much warmer way of life. Also for good barbecue.

Those that know me well won't be surprised by any of this, except possibly #4. But I still feel a little guilty for not wanting #1-4, like there's something wrong with me for rejecting the life path of most everyone else. While the rational part of my brain says, "Everyone takes a different path in life, you know perfectly well you don't need a husband/kids/house/career to be happy, quit throwing happiness away with both hands and crying for the moon," the non-rational part of my brain still says, "Why can't I be like everyone else? What's wrong with me?" Especially when I see how many of my friends are married/paired up/have kids these days.

So those of you reading this, who have struggled with the same issues, drop me a note to let me know I'm not alone in the world. I know the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, but right now, I'd be happy to see ANY grass. Damn snow.