6/21/2010

Things To Do Before I Die

Most everyone understands the idea of the bucket list, the concept popularized even more by the movie of the same name with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. This has spawned an outpouring of what people are now calling "life lists" posted on blogs across the internet, presumably changing the name from "bucket" to "life" in an effort to divorce the idea from the reality of death. Wifey wrote hers, inspiring me to do the same.

Personally I don't care what you call the list. It all boils down to essentially the shit I want to do or experience before I die. Obviously this would be during life, right, so the title of said list really doesn't matter too much. And, admittedly, the things on any list are personal and unique to the person writing it - it's not like anything here can really be judged.

Why post it for the world? Part of my reason is similar to why I posted my intent to write a novel - stating a goal or goals outside of your own head makes them a little more real. Plus, by putting them here I can reference it from anywhere at any time, checking things of and adding new ones as they come up. Should be fun.

So here it is, my "shit-I-want-to-do-in-life-before-I-kick-the-bucket-list":

  • Drive a Ferrari
  • Hike on the Great Wall of China
  • Take a ride down the Amazon
  • See Victoria Falls from a helicopter
  • See an entire college football season in person (home and away)
  • Write a novel
  • Get novel published
  • Learn passable Spanish
  • Learn passable French
  • Go hang gliding
  • Catch my own Copper River salmon
  • Go marlin fishing
  • Live in a small town I can walk everywhere
  • Live in one place in Italy or France for at least a month, living European
  • Take an extended cross country road trip
  • Create a successful home garden
  • Snorkel the Great Barrier Reef
  • See the Hawaiian volcanoes from above
  • Travel Japan without family help
  • Visit Machu Picchu
  • Take Wifey to Italy
  • Soak in the Blue Lagoon
  • Ride a zip line
  • Go to a home Bengals game
  • Attend a Super Bowl
  • Attend a Rose Bowl
  • Visit all the national parks
  • See Old Faithful pop
  • Pan for gold
  • Swim with dolphins
  • Stand on a battlefield (you know, years later of course)
  • Cross the Panama Canal
  • Create a coffee table book, doing all the writing, pictures, and layout
  • Learn to curl
  • Shoot a handgun (at a range)
  • Spend a weekend in wine country
  • Experience zero gravity
  • Make cheese
  • Make chocolate
  • Make ice cream to be proud of
  • Stay in a cave hotel
  • Visit the ice sculptures in Sapporo
  • Night dive with manta rays
  • Um, learn to dive
  • Fly over Belize’s Blue Hole
  • Tour a coffee plantation
  • Pet a tiger
  • Visit Vancouver BC’s Granville Market
  • Take an overnight train trip/tour
  • See oil fields
  • Pizza in Napoli
  • Scotch and Guinness in Ireland
  • BBQ in Memphis, Texas, Kansas City, and Carolina
  • Attend Cochon 555
  • Attend a Brewer’s dinner
  • Attend a winemaker’s dinner
  • Ghost tour in New Orleans
  • Pizza tour in New York
  • Visit Ground Zero, NYC
  • Go to Spring Training
  • Attend an Olympics
  • Immortalize the kids
  • Ramen in Japan
  • Return to Hiroshima for okonomiyaki
  • Pastries in France
  • Tapas in Spain
  • Sausage in Germany
  • Lamb in Greece
  • Try out entire 60 Hikes in 60 Miles of Portland book
  • Lay in the grass and watch the clouds roll by
  • Fly first class
  • See a tornado
  • Swim at the base of a jungle waterfall
  • See the Grand Canyon
  • Learn to use the GPS
  • Learn about beer
  • Learn about scotch/whiskey
  • Spend a week in DC visiting all the Smithsonians
  • Tour Il Collosseo
  • See the Greek ruins
  • Read all my unread fiction
  • Organize my sports cards
  • Create art
  • Invent something
  • Write song lyrics

Some of these things make sense to only me, some of them may need explanation, some of them may not even be realistic - but that's the beauty of a list like this, that it doesn't have to be realistic. Apparently, though, looking at my list, winning the lottery needs to happen first.

You know what sticks out to me? How one simple thing could actually knock a few things of the list. The coffee table book could immortalize the kids and even be considered art, if I do it right. Many of the things on my list intersected with Wifey's too - no wonder we are perfect for each other!

Anyone else ever done this?

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