I think you're unhelpfully treating 'hope' (or 'aspiration') as identical to 'desire' (what djcapelis calls a 'whim' in his reply). To my mind, a 'desire' can b

I think you're unhelpfully treating 'hope' (or 'aspiration') as identical to 'desire' (what djcapelis calls a 'whim' in his reply). To my mind, a 'desire' can be any random thing I want - even if only briefly, weakly or despite my better judgement. A 'hope' or 'aspiration' is a desire that I actively endorse. (By 'actively endorse' I mean essentially 'take a hard look at, approve of and choose to expend effort on'. Right at the moment, I would love some sesame noodles. That's a desire. But the desire isn't particularly strong, and I'm not planning to do anything about it. I haven't in effect moved the item over from the 'random craving' box to the 'will expend effort on this' box. Just based on the little you say, your airplane thing and getting to know that band better, sound more like random desires to me. (Which isn't to say that the desire isn't sometimes very strong.) (There's a second question you bring up about whether a person's life is a failure if he or she doesn't fulfill aspirations. I don't think judging whole lives makes a lot of sense, myself, but it seems to be a popular sport.)