I love a good adventure.
This happens very easily. Most people work through the week and look forward to the weekend. It is then spent relaxing by watching movies, going shopping, reading a book, or some other uneventful activity. While this may be relaxing, it is on rare occasions that memories are being created or adventures are being lived out.
Adventure is exciting. Adventure is fun. Adventure keeps the blood pumping. A life of adventure is great. Unfortunately, I don’t have one.
I do not have a bad life. I certainly don’t want to give the impression that I am complaining about my life being mundane. I have done many exciting things, but these days they are few and far between and most of them are just stories from when I was younger. In fact, most people’s adventure stories stem from their younger days. Why is that?
Before we get tied up in our lives with our careers and families, we have more energy and time and less responsibilities. Adventure and good times just happen to us with very little effort, but it begins to change as we get older and more serious about our lives and goals. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but does lead many to become unsatisfied.
John Lennon once said, “Life is what happens while you are making other plans.” In general, I have to agree with this statement. I, like many people, love a good adventure, but do not purposefully seek them out on most occasions. As I talk about the things I would like to do, I continue to age and miss another day that could have created another great memory.
This happens very easily. Most people work through the week and look forward to the weekend. It is then spent relaxing by watching movies, going shopping, reading a book, or some other uneventful activity. While this may be relaxing, it is on rare occasions that memories are being created or adventures are being lived out.
I know that these are generalities and do not apply to everyone, but I can relate. I look forward to having a day off so I can "do nothing." Then I wonder why I never got around to doing some of the things I have always wanted to do.
Before I go to the grocery store I make a list of the things I need. Otherwise, I forget half the things I went to buy. Sometimes I make a list of tasks that must be done for the day or the week. I always make lists for school to guarantee I don’t miss any assignments. So, why not make a list of the things I would like to do to help ensure more of them get accomplished? Having it down on paper and displaying the list where I can see it would not only remind me of my goals but be a constant motivation to pursue them. Therefore, a few days ago, I began compiling a list of things I have wanted to do for a long time.
As I was making my list, I realized that this is what many have called a “bucket” list. In other words, it is a list of things to accomplish before kicking the bucket. This was not what I had in mind when I started it, but serves a similar purpose.
I constructed some rules for myself concerning this index of future endeavors. The list will evolve with time and I can add something to it any time that I like. However, I may never remove anything from the list. I figure anything I put in the inventory was put there for a reason, so it may not be removed. There is no time limit for any list item, but I must always be accomplishing things on the list if I ever hope to get through it. I realize that I may never complete every task, but I will have many stories to tell about trying.
I did not restrict myself while compiling my list. I never considered the cost involved or energy required to complete any task. Some of my cataloged tasks will require travel, others will require great courage, and still others will just be something fun to do. Some will take planning, some will require lengthy discipline, and others can be done spontaneously in an instant. As you look through my checklist please keep in mind that I made this for me. Some of the items may not seem like fun or adventurous to you, but it is not your task. It is mine. On the other hand, you may want to join me on some of these adventures. I am open to suggestions for more challenges to add and will also welcome joining someone else to mark items off. If you see something you want to do, contact me and maybe we can mark it off together.
I will chronicle each accomplishment on this blog, but the list will not become the focus of my blog. I will continue to write on my usual random topics and will only return to the list when another item has been knocked out. I plan to record each event with photographic and/or video evidence to be shared here.
Here is my list in no particular order. Click the links are to see examples or definitions:
- Get skydive certified (possibly attend SKYDICE SPACELAND)
- Ride in a hot air balloon
- Walk a 100+ mile trip
- Learn to play guitar
- Write and publish a book
- Get a photo published in a national magazine
- Dye my hair a crazy color
- Fly a plane
- Fix my teeth
- Swim with sharks
- Wrestle an alligator
- Go snowboarding
- Be suspension pierced
- Go scuba diving
- Participate in an eating challenge
- Get tased
- See the aurora borealis
- Eat fugu
- Eat a durian
- Crash a wedding
- Go to Comic-Con
- Roll a car
- Backflip a motorcycle
- Be an extra in a movie
- Go noodling
- Do the polar plunge COMPLETED 02-02-14 read here
- Learn how to pick a lock
- Pet a wild skunk
- Stage dive and crowd surf
- Break a world record
- Attend a Rocky Horror Picture Show in full costume
- Bungee Jump
- Take a cruise
- Be part of a flash mob (not a criminal one) COMPLETED 10-22-11 read here
- Ride a Segway
- Go to Mardi Gras
- See a whale
- Go surfing
- Be on a game show
- Take a photography class
- Go ice fishing
- Drive on the Autobahn
- Get in a fist fight
- Kiss a stranger
- Cliff dive
- Go jet skiing
- Be in a play
- Attend Cornerstone Festival
- Go kayaking
- Witness a meteor shower
- Own a Jeep again
- Pay for a strangers meal or groceries
- Fly first class
- Drive the length of Route 66
- Go wing-walking
- Have my portrait painted
- Be in the audience for taping of TV show
- Shave my head
- Serve on jury duty
- Learn to play harmonica
- Attend Oktoberfest
- Spend night alone in a haunted house
- Visit Holy Land
- Run with the bulls in Pamplona
- Learn to ride a unicycle
- Go snowmobiling
- Get a black belt in any martial art
- See the giant Sequoia trees of the West Coast
- Fly in a helicoptor over a volcano
- Eat lobster in Maine
- Make some money as a street musician
- Sing karaoke
- Ride in a tank
- Read my huge list of books - click here for progress
- Go to a blues bar in Chicago
- Go to a jazz club in New Orleans
- Do a fire walk
- Ride in a helicoptor
- Go on a cross country motorcycle trip
- Visit the Louvre
- Go Zorbing
- Go to the San Diego Zoo
- See all 7 continents - click here for progress
- Attend a sumo match in Japan
- Ride a San Francisco cable car
- Attend Day of Dead ceremony in Mexico
- Keep bees
- Shoot a flamethrower
- Meet a U.S. president while he is still in office
- Observe the floor of Wall Street during trading time
- Visit the Mall of America
- Attend a Super Bowl
- Spar a professional boxer
- Get a professional shave COMPLETED 05-23-15 read here
- Attend the Olympics
- Deliver a baby
- Complete a high ropes course
- Visit the Parthenon in Greece
- Eat lutefisk in Norway
- Eat Philly Cheesesteak in Philadelphia
- Experience weightlessness
- Kiss the Blarney Stone
- Attend a Broadway show
- Attend a Las Vegas show
- Read every Shakespeare play - click here for progress
- See all 50 states - click here for progress
- Swim with dolphins
- Participate in a demolition derby
- Meet a person of royalty - British or otherwise
- Grow my hair out long again - I miss my hair
- Walk on the Great Wall of China COMPLETED 08-01-17 read here
- Visit Auschwitz
- Get an Ashiatsu massage
- Get something patented
- Eat Beluga caviar
- Eat Kimchi in Korea
- Own a hammock
- Climb Statue of Liberty
- Wear a tuxedo to a non-tuxedo event
- Brand a cow
- Save a life
- Do a stand-up comedy routine
- Regauge my ears - I used to have ‘00’
- Throw a live grenade
- Get a Master’s degree COMPLETED - MAY 2015
- Get a Doctorate
- Sleep in a castle
- Sit in on a funeral preparation or autopsy
- Be debt free
- See Mt. Rushmore
- Mush a dog sled
- Have a pet monkey
- Go deep sea fishing
- Drink a beer at CHEERS in Boston
- Learn a second language fluently
- See the Pyramids of Giza
- Ride a bull
- Drive a race car
- Be on Times Square for New Year’s Eve
- Climb Seattle Space Needle
- Attend the Brazilian Carnival in Rio de Janiero
- Get my pilot’s license
- Be elected to a public office
- Drive a dune buggy in the desert
- Swim with manatees
- Visit Stonehedge
- Attend a bull fight
- Attend a cock fight
- Attend a Murder Mystery Dinner
Feel free to contact me with suggestions for other adventures or questions about what some of these are or why I would want to do them. My growing list can be seen at this link. I will share with you as they are completed and feel free to join me in marking some off. I'm so excited.
Wow! What a list! I know that I can help you arrange to mark off 3 in a row! 25, 26 and 27! Ed can take you noodling in the winter at Rend Lake and teach you how to pick a lock in the same day! He would love to go noodling again, so I will tell him you want to go. I will come along to take pics!
ReplyDeleteOk, I've done some of those, but we have some of the same things! I want to visit the Louvre, sleep in a castle, kiss the Blarney, go to Greece.
ReplyDeleteI have drank beer at Cheers in Boston. I own a hammock, been to a show in Vegas (topless, yeah there's a story there. I wasn't topless, they were. No they weren't men.) Been to a blues bar in Chicago, I grew up in a haunted house. Have you ever stayed the night with me? Can't remember. Wow that sounded sleazy. lol
I find it hard to believe you haven't kissed a stranger.
I don't want to be tased, but I'd love to tase someone. I see this working out between us. I never ever want to hang on hooks. OMG!
I'd totally vote you into office, if I could!
Tammy, I would love to do those things. Let's set it up.
ReplyDeleteJessica, I don't believe I ever stayed at your house, but I am sure at some point during youth group days we at least stayed at the same place. I have kissed a stranger. Many times, in fact, when I was in my early 20's, but I want to do it again.
I know the suspension hooks thing seems sick, but I have wanted to do it for several years. I really do not know why. I think something is wrong with me.
Brett, I'm down with swimming with sharks with you. This is something I have always wanted to do. And surfing, if we can get to an ocean, I'll teach you. I spent most of my life in the ocean until moving here to the flat lands.
ReplyDeleteMarc Westerman
Sounds good. We could surf with harpoons and take out some hammerheads while we're at it.
ReplyDeleteBrett, we gotta wrestle alligators, run with the bulls, and surf together sometime. Oh, and I have a unicycle in storage. I can let you use it if you can get it, but you'd have to help move some of our stuff to Georgia. And if you want and I have enough money, we could go to Cornerstone Festival next summer, where you can dye your hair a crazy color and then shave it off. And since I'm going into the mortuary arts, I may be able to arrange for you to sit in for the embalming process.
ReplyDeleteThat will knock off a bunch of them. You're on.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I'm not going to talk about the stuff on here that I've done and will do again with you, but of the things I've not done:
ReplyDeleteI'll participate in sky-diving (don't care about certification), and in 3, 17, and fyi if you go here: http://www.887thebridge.com/connect/drive-thru-connection/ you can pay for someone's meal AND promote Christian radio at the same time. I'll do 54; I have ALWAYS WANTED TO DO 64 - a lot. That's why it's in caps.
A friend of mine in eastern SD wants me to fly into Minneapolis next time I visit her, so we can do Mall of America together (like I care about shopping) so there's 91. Also, 111, 136, and I have another friend who produces murder-mystery dinners, and she'd love to have us join her for 150.
I said I wouldn't talk about the things I've done on this list, but this year was my 9th Polar Bear Plunge, and I MUST reach 10. So next year, first Sunday in February, Delaware. Check out PlungeDe.org for details.
Cool. You like adventure.
DeleteI have witnessed a Polar Bear plunge but did not participate. A friend of mine was doing it and I wanted to check it out.
We were going to go to Minneapolis for Spring Break this year, but decided Minnesota in the spring might be a bit cold, so we are rescheduling that trip.
There is a christian station here (WIBI) that pushes the pay for a stranger drive thru meal. That may have been where I got the idea.
For some of these items, I will have to wait until I have graduates, am working and have an income to pay for them. I am always looking for people to do some of them with.