In reviewing various life lists of others I noticed some popular items I already completed before this blog, and...before the idea of a bucket list became so chic. I'm older than a lot of these other list makers anyways and had more time to do some of these things.
I am not here to either encourage others to do a list or disparage those who like life lists. All have their own unique approach to life and that's great. As for myself...rather than ignore these wondrous things I didn't know I did, here are some completed life list items. Below that is a current life list of cool things to do.
I noticed some people put things like "get married" or "have a baby" on their list. While I am blessed with a wonderful wife & daughter it is my own opinion these life changing events are too important for any list. And conversely, having to sit through a stage production of "Dora the Explorer" with my then 4 year old; while entertaining for her is part of "life's rich pageant" of banality which is better left unsaid. :)
I am not here to either encourage others to do a list or disparage those who like life lists. All have their own unique approach to life and that's great. As for myself...rather than ignore these wondrous things I didn't know I did, here are some completed life list items. Below that is a current life list of cool things to do.
I noticed some people put things like "get married" or "have a baby" on their list. While I am blessed with a wonderful wife & daughter it is my own opinion these life changing events are too important for any list. And conversely, having to sit through a stage production of "Dora the Explorer" with my then 4 year old; while entertaining for her is part of "life's rich pageant" of banality which is better left unsaid. :)
Here are some bucket list items already done. Some of the items below will be used for blog pages. In no particular order:
✓ = photo and link to this activity
1 Hike part of the Appalachian Trail
2 See and get a piece of the Berlin Wall
3 Walk on the Great Wall of China
4 Go white water rafting
5 Attend a World Series Game
6 Attend the Summer Olympics
7 Attend a rugby game
8 Sleep in a bungalow over the water
✓ 9 Visit Hong Kong
10 Get a professional massage - wonderful activity in which if I had the disposable income, would be a monthly item.
11 Participate in a food drive
12 Get a piece of art into an exhibition
13 Meet someone with your own name
14 Kiss someone in the rain - ah, my wife :)
15 Kiss someone at midnight on New Years’ Eve - my wife again. :)
15 Kiss someone at midnight on New Years’ Eve - my wife again. :)
16 Fly around the world (completed over a week)
✓ 17 Visit a South Pacific island - Bora Bora on our honeymoon.
18 Open a safe deposit box - yep, another grown-up thing done in my early 30s
19 Swing on a jungle vine ala Tarzan - did this in the Amazon. I was not graceful at it. :)
20 Stay at a hostel - did this in Ireland, Amsterdam, Italy, Greece and Scotland.
21 Learn how to play chess
23 Travel abroad alone
24 See a Space Shuttle Launch – goal amended to see an Apollo spaceship launch
25 Take my daughter to Disneyworld
26 Sleep in a train car - slept in a sleeper car and on Florence-Rome overnight, on the hallway floor of the train due to overcrowding.
27 Visit historic Ebenezer Baptist Church
28 Played paintball - I felt the welts but it was fun.
29 Play in a dart tournament (local) - I was lousy as can be but played.
30 Have some of my photography published (in a book that I did not make myself)
31 Visit Rome’s Colosseum
32 Traveled on the Amazon River/Sleep in the Amazon Rain Forest
33 Visit Stonehenge - underwhelming, sad to say.It was fenced off.
34 Eat a hot dog from a NYC vendor - a regular activity when I worked in NYC.
✓ 35 Skinny Dipping - of course in Bora Bora...and in Greece and in...
36 Hitch hiking - I don't recommend this to anyone but I did this in Ireland.
37 Visit Ireland - hitched hiked to driving my own rental car
38 Visit catacombs – went to one outside of Rome
39 Bet on a horse race
40 Get a free upgrade on a plane - which I gave to my wife
41 Tour the Guinness Factory and drink a Guinness
42 Go target shooting - was lousy but fired away and didn't hurt anyone.
43 Gatecrash a fancy party - did this in college all the time. It was an effective way to eat for free on my limited student budget.
45 In various languages, learn to say…(please, thank you, your welcome, I’d like a beer, etc)
46 Go without drinking alcohol during Lent
47 Go without eating chocolate during Lent - giving up alcohol was tougher than chocolate.
48 Attend a NASCAR race
49 March in a parade - marched with my daughter's school.
50 Relax in a hot tub - we had one at a previous house we owned. It was soothing for the body and spirit...
51 Go to an awards show - Golden Globes is major enough for me.
52 Attend a big event concert - I went to Live Aid in Philadelphia.
54 Investigate Irish (dual) citizenship
55 Drive a car on the “other side of the road”
56 Attended Mardi Gras (in Mobile, home of oldest Mardi Gras in North America)
58 Camp at Yosemite Park - did this when I was 13 years old so perhaps it doesn't count. :)
59 See the Giant Sequoias - another 13 year old activity.
60 Visit the Anne Frank House - very sobering reminder of the preciousness of human life.
61 Tour a concentration camp - again, very sobering reminder of the sanctity of human life.
62 Go on a haunted ghost tour
63 Attend Jazz Fest in New Orleans
65 Attend a ballet (Nutcracker ballet)
66 Visit the Sistine Chapel
✓ 67 Pray the rosary
68 See the Eiffel Tower
69 See a Broadway play in NYC
70 Kiss the Blarney Stone - no big deal...
71 See the Acropolis
72 Go jet skiing
73 Swim with stingrays
74 Own my own house - but I could do without the mortgage. :)
75 Have my palm read - nothing special
76 Go snorkeling
77 Ride a mechanical bull - got knocked off but it was fun, and it made my daughter laugh.
79 See the changing of the guard
80 Walk across a suspension bridge
81 See the Mona Lisa
82 Go “all in” at a nude beach - and I did not get sunburned. ;)
"Nudism is NOT about seeing or being seen. It’s about de-stressing, relaxing, and returning to innocence. It’s about accepting yourself and others for who you are, how you act, and what you say, rather than what you look like, wear, or own. Nudists usually remove sunglasses when talking with someone new. It’s polite. It’s simply the feel-good feeling of the air, water on you without the constriction of clothing.” – Cheri Alexander, on Bay of Plenty Times site
83 See Niagara Falls
84 See the Empire State Building
85 See the Statue of Liberty
86 Ride on the Staten Island Ferry
87 Attend a film festival
88 See the Golden Gate Bridge
90 Take a vitamin every day for a month - do this as part of my morning routine
91 Attend church every Sunday for a month - I usually attend church every Sunday; not bragging but it's something I just do.
92 Ride the Coney Island Cyclone
93 Cross the International Date Line
94 Cross the Equator - did this when I traveled to the Amazon
95 Stay at a bed & breakfast
96 Gone camping/sleep in a tent - done this with the family a few times
98 Ride a cable car in San Francisco
99 Couch hop; stay on someone’s couch and have them stay on mine - did this in my 20s
101 Go without soda for a month - did this for Lent
102 Sing karaoke
102 Sing karaoke
103 Be awoken by a rooster - happens at our cabin in the Georgia mountains
✓ 104 Complete a 52 Weeks Photography project
105 Visit a winery - done on Long Island in my 20s
106 Go skiing - fell down most of the day but had a blast.
107 See the Statue of Liberty
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
✓ 104 Complete a 52 Weeks Photography project
105 Visit a winery - done on Long Island in my 20s
106 Go skiing - fell down most of the day but had a blast.
107 See the Statue of Liberty
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A New Bucket List?
Real life always trumps any "list". That being said, lists of activities can be a fun diversion. My list below might be a bit boring because I already completed items on other people's bucket list as noted above and there are some things on others' list I have no interest in doing, such as sky diving. So, this "bucket list" is a bit different from some others. My age and current life situation as a 51 year old husband & father also play a factor. I also add in some local and photography items. I will also not put any time constraints such as "101 things to do by end of ----"; that just seems silly as real life is always more important than any list. In no particular order:
1 Visit the Grand Canyon
2 Visit Yellowstone Park
3 Go on an African Safari
4
Visit Cumberland Island, Georgia - we spent a couple of days at St.
Simmons Island and a day on Jekyll Island but really want to devote more
time to this part of the Georgia coast.
5 Stay at an ice hotel
6 See Mount Rushmore
7 Take photographs with the expired film in my house
8 Try TTV Photography
9 Try Geocaching
10 Do 1 crossword puzzle a week for a month
11 Go to sleep no later than 11pm for one straight work week
12 Go to sleep no later than 10:30pm for one straight work week
13 Participate in a multi-day fundraising walk
14 Brew my own beer
15 Ride a zip line
16 Attend the Bristol NASCAR race
17 Read the entire Bible - I read sections of the Old and New Testaments...
19 Attend a college basketball game
20 Walk to work from my home
21 Bike read to work from my home
22 Attend the Winter Olympics
23 Visit every major league ballpark
24 Hike the Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail
✓ 25 Lose 20 pounds
26 Visit Quebec City
27 See an Erupting Volcano
✓ 28 Go zorbing
29 Learn to play an instrument
30 Storm Chase A Tornado
31 Experience Weightlessness
32 See the Aurora Borealis
33 Go panning for gold
34 Learn to ballroom dance (or another fancy dance)
35 Attend the Kentucky Derby
36 Visit Every Continent – 3 to go
Africa, Antarctica and Australia
37 Make Fire Without Matches
38 Swim with Dolphins
39 Write a Novel
40 Scuba Dive
42 Take my wife & daughter to Ireland - I've been there when I was single.
43 Complete a Coast to Coast Road Trip Across America
44 Visit New Zealand
45 See Machu Picchu
46 Use the old cameras which I have but have never used
47 Visit all the Smithsonian Museums
48 Visit the White House
49 See Christ the Redeemer in Brazil
50 Visit Easter Island
51 Visit the Galápagos Islands
52 Put a message in a bottle and toss it in the ocean
53 Visit Hoover Dam
54 Go to a natural hot springs
55 Visit Bryce Canyon and Arches National Park
56 Visit Monument Valley
57 See the pyramids
✓ 58 Buy absolutely nothing for one week
59 Visit the World Trade Center September 11th Memorial
60 Ride on the Circle Line around Manhattan
61 Visit Japan
62 Ride in a helicopter
63 Complete our family tree as far back as I can
64 Drive the length of the Florida Keys
65 Swim in major bodies of water – partial
- done Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, Mediterranean
- need to swim in Indian Ocean, Dead Sea
66 Go on a mission trip
67 Visit the Holy Land
68 Read the entire Harry Potter series - read books 4-7 to my daughter; need to read 1-3 by myself.
69 Read some classic books
- for example, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, A Confederacy of Dunces
70 Get a mud bath
71 Go 30 Days without eating fast food
72 Go 60 Days without eating fast food
74 Visit Cumberland Island
75 Sell something on ebay or craigslist
76 See a Civil War reenactment
77 Be in Mexico for the Day of the Dead
78 Catch A Fish With Your Bare Hands
79 Visit Every State in the U.S.
80 Complete 50 States Quarter Collection
81 Dip in Iceland’s geothermal spa (Blue Lagoon)
82 Floss every day for a month
83 Visit the Taj Mahal
84 Rappel down a cliff
85 See the Nile
86 Attend an opera
87 Go on a cruise
88 Go to a gun range
89 Ride an elephant in India
90 Grill at a drive-in theater - not done, but mentioned here.
✓ 91. Spend the night on Cape San Blas on Florida's panhandle. We visited there and were impressed by the isolated beauty of it all.
88 Go to a gun range
89 Ride an elephant in India
90 Grill at a drive-in theater - not done, but mentioned here.
✓ 91. Spend the night on Cape San Blas on Florida's panhandle. We visited there and were impressed by the isolated beauty of it all.
No comments:
Post a Comment