43 Things (Bucket List)

Again, my horrible memory... I think I found the idea of 43 things here, but I'm not positive.

(as a note, the happiness project web site is some really great reading, if you're looking at ways to make your life better... not that I agree with everything Gretchen says, obviously, but the general attitude. What works for her might not work for me, or for you. Nothing is ever as easy as a step-by-step instruction book might make it seem... the important thing, in weight loss, in happiness, in life, is to find what works best for YOU!)

So, this is a list in progress (I'm working on some site redesign too, and I'll have a tab at the top of the page with things like a FAQ and About Me and My Progress Pics and stuff in easy to find links... so if you have a question I can use on my FAQ, please ask me! Otherwise I have to make up some questions, and wow, that's just silly!!) and may be updated or not, as I have time and inclination...

43 Things I'd like to Do in my Life (in no particular order)

1. Publish a novel
2. Sign a book for a fan
3. Visit England, specifically Oxford, Hampshire, and Somerset
4. Visit Italy, specifically Pompeii
5. Make a souffle
6. Do one-handed push-ups
7. Run in a 5k, even if I come in last.
8. Take a dance class
9. Learn to play backgammon
10. Go skiing, even if I spend most of the trip in the lodge
11. Be able to make a high enough donation to a charity of my choice to get on a special list
12. Meet a politician
13. Visit the San Diego zoo
14. Learn Latin
15. Learn Japanese
16. Learn to knit, even if I hate it and never, ever do it again
17. Actually spend an entire day in bed (without being sick) including having someone else bring me meals...
18. Go to the Smithsonian and not spend the entire time I'm there mooning over the Hope Diamond.
19. Look at other planets through a powerful enough telescope so that they look like something else other than stars
20. Go para sailing or hang gliding
    
21. Go scuba-diving
22. Visit the pyramids in Egypt
23. Watch several movies that I've always "meant" to see (including 2001, Dr. Zhivago, Dr. Strangelove, The Maltese Falcon, The Godfather, Citizen Kane, Frantic, The Manchurian Candidate, Schindler's List, Les Miserables, and Way of the Dragon... this is not a comprehensive list, just the ones off the top of my head...)
24. Apologize to Erin Gray.*
25. See an actual martial arts tournament so that I can get ideas of Karate Kid and Kung Fu Panda out of my head.
26. Discover a convincing answer to the question, "Why?"
27. Come up with a clever retort to the answer, "Because I said so."
28. For no other reason than because I want to, smash an entire box of china plates.**
29. Squeeze all the toothpaste out of a tube in one go.
30. Take an art class.
31. Have a water-balloon fight.
32. Surrender my regrets.
33. Walk on a battle-site with someone who knows all about the war and who fought where and not listen to a word they're saying.
34. Actually go to a Mardi Gras parade. Earn beads.
    
35. Go to a Weird Al concert.
36. Be a heckler for a dunking booth. What fun! Get to yell insults at people for charity! (Obviously, this will be more fun in the summer... )
37. Get a raincoat (never owned one) and rainboots (never had a pair) and go jump in puddles. (I never did this as a child; I've always been a little wonky about personal cleanliness...)
38. Paint something enormous. (When I was younger, I really, really wanted to paint billboards... I saw a special on it once, I think on Sesame Street? Anyway, they don't do that now that printers are capable of large-scale production, so I'd have to paint something like an advertisement on the side of a barn, or something. Once, in college, I painted the Lorax on the wall in my dorm, which covered the wall where the elevator used to be, and that was loads of fun. Like that. Only bigger.)
39. Take a tour of a submarine, aircraft carrier, and/or battleship. (My dad used to be a submariner... he has a little saying, "Any day above ground is a good day." I used to think he was being profound about life and death, and then I remembered he spent several years of his life under water... "Any day of not being in the Navy is a good day.")
40. Ride an elephant.
41. Make a piece of Machinima.
42. Be carried across a threshold. (involves weighing a little less than 20 pounds less than my husband, I rather expect...)
43. Go on an extended road trip.
    

Finally! I had, for a while, considered labeling one of these things as "Finish this list." It's kinda strange, sitting down, to think about things you'd like to do, with no consideration towards money or probability. I did try to keep things somewhat realistic, since otherwise, there'd be one up there labeled "Visit outer space." I used to think, when I was growing up, that there would be a colony on the moon by now. The likelihood of space being an affordable tourist location is... well, it's not looking so good. But if it ever becomes so, I will certainly be there.

I also tried to avoid things that seemed a money-only problem. Like owning my own home. (And then, subsequently, redecorating my own home.) I would, actually, really like that. But I do believe that's something I will do, not just something I want to do. We just need to get out from under some inherited family debt, and wait until this market crash thing stops happening. It'll happen, eventually.

I was talking the other day with a friend of mine about this list and she said "I can't imagine doing something like that, I mean formalizing it and all." I don't really think of it as a "formal" list. I'm not making a project plan, or setting a time schedule or anything. I don't think of it as a to-do list, but more like a small slice of my personality on display. You can tell a lot about a person by looking at the sorts of things they think are they'd like to do...

Anyway, hope you like the list.

*My Evil Twin asked me, "And I'm dying to know why you need to apologize to Erin Gray?" I was actually sort of hoping someone would ask, because it's a funny story and I wanted to tell it, but doing so in the actual body of the list seemed rather distracting.

Ok, I love Buck Rogers. Just so you know that. I. Love. It. I don't actually own the series on DVD because I'm afraid of what would happen if I could just watch it whenever I wanted to. I might never get off the sofa again. When I was a kid, I was desperately, desperately in love with Buck. (Ok, I still am...) Even today, if the sci-fi channel is showing Buck Rogers' reruns, I end up being unable to do anything else but stare at the screen. Especially that episode where Buck's running around in the tight black leather pants and vest. With those lovely biceps and... ok, stopping now...

Anyway, several years ago, Thomas and I took a trip out to California for a Babylon 5 convention. We spent three days in L.A. and got to meet most of the cast and crew of the show. (Billy Mumy, very nice guy. With the super-power "look at camera and smile." No, seriously. I don't have a single picture of him where he's NOT looking at my camera. Even if there was no possible way that he could have known I was pointing the camera at him. Walter Koenig? Not so nice. Rather rude, actually.) Anyway, we were doing the lines for autographs on Saturday, making our way down the table. Towards the further end of the tables were people who were either in bit parts, or from other science fiction shows altogether. Some Star Wars extras. A few Star Trek people (bit parts, not like Spock or Kirk.)

I wasn't even looking ahead, so I didn't expect this at all, but suddenly, I looked up where we were in the line.

And there was Gil Gerard. I mean, GIL GERARD! (Ok, so he actually looked more like this when I met him, but it didn't matter...)

I turned into a complete, blithering idiot.

Fan. Girl.

I babbled.

I stammered.

I blushed, gushed, and generally acted like I would immediately fall to the floor, become his slave, and happily spend the rest of my life serving his needs.

I also got his autograph. It's one of my prized possessions. If my apartment is burning down, I'm rescueing that autograph!

And, much, much later, my husband informed me that Erin Grey was sitting beside him the whole time.

I never even saw her. Years later, and I cannot remember seeing her. I didn't get her autograph. I didn't express any admiration for her. I didn't even notice her.

Which really sucks, because in addition to thinking that Buck Rogers was a paragon of all things masculine and cool, I thought Wilma Deering was a great role model. She was pretty. She was brave. She was intelligent. She didn't get all melty about Buck Rogers. She didn't generally need to be rescued. She did her fair share of saving the day. She never shrieked like the idiot love-interest in so many sci-fi movies and tv shows. I wanted to grow up to be Wilma Deering. Even if I would have gotten all melty about Buck Rogers.

It bothers me that I completely ignored her in favor of Gil Gerard.

Although, I must admit, it makes a hell of a funny story.

** Thanks to a kind reader who asked not to be named for pointing me at that web site. Guess I need to add "Visit California" to my list...