My Very Own Bucket List

I saw a friend's post on facebook today, and it asked for a return of her post which was entitled "Bucket List". I started to respond to it (copy and paste it on my own note page, checking off which things applied to me), but then I stopped. The list was really not full of things that mattered to the friend who posted it, just to the original creator (if even to that person?). It was full of things that didn't really matter to me either. For example, going ice fishing isn't something I want to do, nor is going to an NFL game. So why the heck would I repost it on my page - to see which one of us had checked off more things??

I have done some things and been some places that I would have liked to have on my bucket list (but have already finished them, so wouldn't put them on). I have learned to scuba dive; competed (and won!) in a choir and as a soloist; held a tiger cub; ate seafood just out of the ocean; visited to the Great Wall; taught indoor rock climbing; had Chinese food in China, Thai in Thailand, and Indian in India; volunteered in a cancer hospital; fell in love and got married; have seen Angkor Wat; have gone scuba diving in Thailand and the Philippines; climbed a (small) mountain; swam in the ocean; climbed through underground tunnels used in the Vietnam war; visited the Terra Cotta Warriors while they were on display in Daejeon; gone sky diving; been on a jet boat, a ferry, and a catamaran; got a tattoo; swam with dolphins; visited North Korea before they closed it to the public; taken a canoe trip through a rainforest; rode an elephant; went scuba diving with (well-fed) sharks and sea turtles; ate an orange right off the tree; gone to the waterslides; been in a helicopter; tried ice climbing (yuck!); had a picnic outside; played in a waterfall; went horseback riding; been to a vineyard (in California); been to Disneyland (US and Japan); rode a jet-ski; visited the Taj Mahal; worked and volunteered helping children in trouble; taken an around-the-world trip; sponsored an international child; sang karaoke with a group of friends; done home renovations; have driven across Canada, across the northern US, and North-South Alberta to Arizona in the US; rode in a tuktuk/rikshaw; had clothing tailored for me in Vietnam; been on 3 different continents... I'll add to this list when I think to, to remind myself that I have done a lot of cool things already in life...

It did get me thinking though, that there are a zillion different things I would like to do in this lifetime, and maybe now's a good time to start writing them down somewhere! My wife, S, has a Bucket List of sorts. I think it began as a list of a hundred things she wanted to accomplish. Her rule is that she has to cross off 5 things per year, and add 10 - her list will be ever expanding, and she will always have things to reach for. I'm going to follow her lead, and see if I can (eek!) come up with a hundred things to start with, without consulting the web or looking in books... my own ideas for the first 100. So here we go...

My Very Own Bucket List
To grow by 10 each year, and shrink by *at least* 5

As I complete things on the list I will change their color, and add the date!

1. Finish my master's degree
2. Become fluent in Korean
3. See something from at least 6 of the 7 continents (antarctica, not sure!)
4. Creat a list of 100 books I would like to read
5. Learn piano
6. Learn functional Spanish
7. Enter a 5km race and finish it
8. Enter a 10km race and finish it
9. Make myself a nice dress
10. Plant a garden of wildflowers (June '09)
11. Take a yoga class and finish it
12. Experience Bikram yoga to see if I like it
13. Learn to make 3 Korean dishes well
14. Creat a list of one hundred places I'd like to visit
15. Be certified as an Advanced Open Water Diver
16. Be certified as a Divemaster
17. Take the 4-week course in Thailand to finish diving certification to become an Instructor/Course Director
18. Dive the Great Barrier Reef
19. Have a baby, become a mamma
20. Start a diveshop with an attached coffee/sandwich shop somewhere hot and beautiful
21. Go on a temple stay to a Buddhist Temple
22. Learn how to fly a plane
23. Learn how to sail
24. Ride a camel in the desert
25. Kayak into a cave to explore
26. Dive a shipwreck
27. See a big angelfish in the wilds
28. Lounge on a beach along the mediterranean
29. Make a trek through a desert
30. Exercise regularly (3 times per week) as a habit
31. Grow a vegetable garden (June '09)
32. Skate in Central Park
33. Live in India
34. Go to Mardi Gras
35. Visit an old section of the Great Wall, and hike along it
36. Spend a 3-day pass exploring Angkor Wat in SiemReap
37. Scuba dive somewhere in Canada
38. Spend the day at a spa luxuriating in spa treatments
39. Take a sketching class
40. Take a digital photography course
41. See the terra cotta warriors in China
42. Explore the pyramids and the sphinx in Egypt
43. Learn to surf
44. Take S to a WorldCup soccer game
45. Go to Machu Picchu
46. Study a martial art (for at least 6 months)
47. Ride a motorcycle in Vietnam
48. Go cliff diving
49. Keep a travel journal
50. Learn how to bellydance
51. Take a hot-air balloon ride
52. Learn to play badduk
53. Camp in a country other than Canada or the US
54. Go horseback riding in the mountains
55. See the Grand Canyon, take a horseback ride through it if possible
56. Carve something nice out of wood
57. Take my mom on a vacation somewhere
58. Go on a multi-day kayaking trip somewhere beautiful
59. Visit a floating village
60. See a cave of crystal
61. Keep a journal going for one year (electronic or paper)
62. Design and make a piece of jewelery
63. Take a wilderness survival course
64. Order lunch from a floating market vendor
65. Learn how to paint with watercolors
66. Consult a medicine person or traditional healer
67. Ride in a horse-drawn carriage
68. Go parasailing
69. Go spelunking
70. Teach scuba diving
71. Take a cruise somewhere (maybe when I'm old!) :)
72. Learn to be a decent chess player
73. Visit a tribe of people somewhere who still live traditionally
74. Learn to make paper with flowers
75. Visit the ruins of a famous Greek/Roman temple
76. Learn to ballroom dance and perform in front of people
77. Take a gondola in Venice
78. Go on a photo safari on a wildlife preserve in Africa somewhere
79. Participate in an active (i.e. real) archaeological dig
80. Go to Carnival in Brazil
81. Live in Italy
82. See an otter playing in the wild
83. Build a birdfeeder that birds actually use
84. Take some great photos underwater
85. Go rafting (whitewater or not)
86. Live on an island somewhere
87. Volunteer in a country other than Canada
88. Climb to the top of a "famous" mountain
89. Become a "Dr." of something (psychology? counseling? teaching? photography?)
90. Learn a song in a foreign language
91. Grow my own roses
92. Maintain my blog on a regular basis
93. Host a dinner party for friends
94. Get a henna design done on my hand or foot in India
95. Sell some of my hand-made cards
96. Live somewhere in Africa
97. Visit a volcano
98. Go on a bicycle tour
99. Try snowboarding
100. Go to the coliseum in Rome
     (2009 List)

Ok, I did it, all by myself (harder than it might look!). So there, is my list. My head is still crawling with ideas - I need to make my lists of places to go now, and I'll start thinking about books I would like to read! Now though, I am going to go clean up the kitchen and listen to some music. Have a beautiful day!