Before I Kick the Bucket . . .

(posted two days later because my entire list was deleted.)

Did you know that the phrase ‘bucket list’ come from the term ‘kicked the bucket’? I didn’t until I just looked it up (thank you interwebz). I’m home today, hanging out and keeping Sasha (kind of) calm while we have gutter guards installed on our house. I’ve got work to do, but I’ve been at it for three hours already (and its only 9:30am), and I’m taking a break. A recent pin (on Pinterest) “5 Things That Should be on Your Bucket List” got me thinking. I don’t even have a bucket list. Do I want one?

The article (by MediaMeme) lists the five things that should be on everybody’s list — which is a hugely broad category, but . .. Anyway here they are (without comment):

  1. Start your own business.
  2. Take a dream vacation.
  3. Learn to play an instrument.
  4. Learn a language.
  5. Purchase property.

It’s a nice enough list, and, for those of us privileged enough to enjoy wealth, a good list.

But it’s not a very interesting list. Then again, I say that without having my own list, so perhaps the process isn’t very interesting?

I do, however, spend time each year (at my birthday) developing a list of goals for the year, and then I review that list and create a new one for the coming year. It’s a process I’ve done since the 90s, and is always interesting.

So, what’s on my bucket list?

  1. Take a cooking class
  2. Master knife skills
  3. cook all meals for a month (no dining out)
  4. cook all meals for a month (no dining out OR using prepared foods [like ravioli])
  5. visit all 50 states
  6. eat at the ‘top’ restaurant in every city I visit
  7. start a garden
  8. compost
  9. collect rain
  10. create a passive income stream
  11. add swimming 2x week
  12. exercise daily for a month
  13. exercise daily for 3 months
  14. exercise daily for 6 months
  15. exercise daily for a year
  16. Learn Tai Chi
  17. Improve library bookshelves
  18. Create a guest/fitness room
  19. Remodel the bathroom to be your dream room
  20. Pay off mortgage in 20 yrs or less
  21. Structurally reintegrate yr body (SOMA)
  22. Maintain alignment
  23. write another book
  24. convert a previous book & give it away to the community
  25. Teach at a ‘con (again)
  26. learn to make the dumplings of the world
  27. pet a BIG cat (Tiger, etc.)
  28. Travel (see list)
  29. learn to sing
  30. master self-hypnosis
  31. Be 100% debt free
  32. Get to your best possible place physically
  33. plan for maximal retirement opportunities
  34. Learn belly dancing (again)
  35. landscape front yard
  36. landscape back yard
  37. remodel kitchen
  38. learn to take awesome photos
  39. catalog electronic data (in progress)
  40. make a household binder
  41. clean out extraneous objects (continuous)
  42. Save (house) $10k/ yr plus maxing out 401(k) and IRAs
  43. Learn to bead
  44. paper crafts: learn/ do for a year
  45. Do 50 push ups, 50 crunches, and 50 lunges on my 50th birthday
  46. Write your biography
  47. Colelct family stories (record, transcribe)
  48. Do web videos
  49. Skype and ‘cam a ritual
  50. Give up meat for a month
  51. Catch up w/ friends more often
  52. Get a mehndi tattoo
  53. See all of Shakespeare’s plays
  54. Watch turtles hatch & run for the ocean
  55. Find a piece of pree Green Mark Belleek in Ireland and purchase it
  56. Attend the Super Bowl

That travel list? Here you go:

Visit the 7 wonders of the world:

  •  Stonehenge
  •  Colosseum
  •  Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
  •  Great Wall of China — instead: Ely Cathedral
  •  Porcelain Tower of Nanjing – Instead Cluny Abbey
  •  Hagia Sophia
  •  Leaning Tower of Pisa
  •  Great Pyramid of Giza (ancient, only one still standing)

Ride a gondola in Venice
Ride the Orient Express
See the RSC in Stratford-On-Avon (again)
Northern England & Scotland
Paris (again)
London (again)
Spain: Madrid, Barcelona
Greek Islands
Turkey
Maldives
Sunrise at the Great Pyramid
Cruise down the Nile
Visit a black sand beach
Tucson, AZ
Carmel/ Big Sur, CA
Key West, FL
Sistine Chapel, Rome
Stonehenge
Bahamas
Cayman Island
Amsterdam
Ellis Island, NYC
Chicago, IL
Washington, DC (again)
Vancouver, BC (again)
Montreal, QC (again)
Bora Bora
A week at a 5 star spa resort
Ride the West Highland Railway, Scotland
Stendhal from Paris to Venice (?)
Full Moon Party on Tortola
Burning Man
Go on a cruise
Whale watching
Sail down the Nile
Karnak Temple (Egypt)
Turks & Caicos
Walk Hadrian’s Wall
See the Garden of Cosmic Speculation (Scotland)
Ireland
Sleep in a castle

But what I think is the more interesting question is — what have I already done? 🙂  That’ll be another post.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.