Things I'd Like to Do (Before I Die)

The idea of making a "bucket list" always seemed weird and gross and mostly pointless to me until the second I turned thirty when, suddenly, it occurred to me that yes, although life is finite and scary and often unfair, that doesn't mean I can't cram in a lot of awesome experiences before its over. That's probably pretty obvious to most people, but for me, I'd heard about this kind of desire, but never really felt it in my bones until that moment.

In 2013, I started a "Things I'd Like to Do" project to get myself actually working on creative projects and personal growth. I definitely want to continue that in 2014, but I think it's time I also started a list of the bigger, long-term stuff in order to at least get thinking about it all and work on preparing my skills and confidence accordingly. So this is just a rough draft. I think it will stay a rough draft until I die, or at least until I'm a perfectly actualized and completely satisfied human being who has done everything wonderful that there is to do in the world. You know, whichever comes first.

1. Visit South Africa and
- see the veldt from a speeding train
- step down from the train and onto the veldt
- lie down on the veldt and become one with the veldt beneath the massive African sky

2. Master the cello and
- play the Bach suites as I hear them in my soul, from memory

3. Appear in a feature film, in any capacity

4. Run a marathon, even informally, in less than four hours

5. Date, live with, or even marry a man who is very handsome, very smart, very kind, very loving, and possibly even rich (i.e. "out of my league") and just be like, "Yeah? So?" (i.e. confident and secure), while at the same time never, ever taking him for granted and
- be able to lift him off the ground or at least lift his weight in a gym (this is probably some weird psychological thing)

6. Get a perfect score on the GRE, just for fun

7. Actually learn to play the piano and
- be able to play long, beautiful pieces from memory
- be able to compose and improvise
- be able to play and sing at the same time

8. Take up archery for relaxation, since it's the one sport I was ever naturally good at

9. Learn to play at least one seriously beautiful piece of music on a concert harp

10. Challenge myself with longer and longer hikes and
- see if I can actually hike a major trail, like the Appalachian, or the Pacific Crest, or even...
- see if I can hike off-trail on other continents

11. Go to Australia, for goodness sake, and
- remember to take a jaunt down (or up!) to Tasmania
- see New Zealand while I'm in the neighborhood

12. Go to Ireland and
- ride a white horse on a green hill

13. Canter a horse through the surf on a sandy beach (again. And again and again.)

14. Ride in a pontoon plane, preferably between islands in Alaska and
- maybe even learn to pilot one or just take a lesson
- basically I want to land a plane on water

15. Do some kind of lasting, self-renewing good for people who need help

16. Dance