The Bucket List

i've been thinking a lot lately about the things i want to do versus the things i should do. whether or not those two things are mutually exclusive? i'm still figuring out. but it got me thinking of a bucket list. i wrote one for my psychology class right before graduating from high school, and stored it in my culminating psychology project which was supposed to be a look back at my life from the end of my life. (it was a very creative project). unfortunately, the project was found, but sometime in the last seven or eight years, i took the bucket list out and it has not been seen since. hence, i've written another. and i think it's useful to write another every so many years, keeping on the list the desires that still remain true, and replacing the ones that don't with new desires as you grow older.

i've tried to remember as much of the old list as possible, and have included those items in my new and improved bucket list to make sure that the record is as accurate as possible. i've crossed out the ones that i've already accomplished.

i guess it's this whole, "what do i do now?" thing that's got me realizing that these things are really important, you know? i think too often we forget about what we've also wanted to do in the face of what we feel we need to do. but the thing is, all we really need to do is lead a fulfilling life. i think you'll see where i'm going with this in my next few posts.

do you have a bucket list?

100 Things To Do Before I Die

1. graduate from college
2. travel to ireland
3. get married
4. fall in love
5. get out of hawaii
6. return to hawaii "for good"
7. do an "around the world" trip
8. sky dive at the bay of islands, NZ
9. bungee jump
10. cage dive with great white sharks
11. go zip-lining
12. work for the U.N.
13. see U2 live
14. get my PhD
15. stand next to the eiffel tower when it's lit up at night
    
16. go to the old city, jerusalem
17. see the northern lights
18. pet a tiger
19. write a novel
20. get published
21. go to cape cod and martha's vineyard
22. meet someone famous
23. wake up in positano, italy
24. study abroad
25. learn to snowboard
26. work for a magazine
27. white water rafting
28. play in the snow
29. open a bookstore/cafe
30. go on an archaeological dig
31. live in a foreign country
32. work on a ranch
33. give birth to a child
34. adopt a child
35. go to the greek island
36. go diving on the great barrier reef
37. own a home in hawaii
38. work at a wildlife reserve
39. lose 40lbs
40. get a tattoo
41. swim in the dead sea
42. raft the grand canyon
43. go to crater lake, OR
44. sky jump from the sky tower, NZ
45. take a black and white picture of the great wall of china
46. swim on a beach in tahiti
47. camp at yosemite national park
48. see the great pyramids of giza
49. go to NYC
50. ride a horse
51. work at a publishing house
52. write my dissertation on indigenous issues
53. run with the bulls in spain
54. go to the vatican
55. go rock climbing
56. learn to salsa dance
57. learn to surf
58. run another 10k
59. climb a redwood tree
60. get out of debt
61. work abroad for an ngo that fights for human rights
62. learn hula
63. have a home library
64. go to alaska
65. ring in the new year in NZ (it's the first place to experience it!)
66. own a room with a view (preferably of the ocean)
67. restore a fixer-upper
68. drink beer at oktoberfest in munich
69. go ghost hunting
70. own a horribly expensive, but utterly fabulous, pair of shoes
71. spend an entire day reading for fun
72. find a job that i love
73. grow a garden
74. go hot-air ballooning
75. trace my genealogy
76. learn to love and accept myself just as i am
77. go to a renaissance fair
78. sleep under the stars
79. write a "postsecret" letter in a bottle
80. crowd surf at a rock concert
81. visit machu picchu
82. paint a self portrait
83. bury a time capsule
84. see the ruins of a lost civilization
85. wear lingerie and feel sexy doing it
86. raft +5 rapids
87. go scuba diving
88. spend a few guiltless days doing nothing on a beach
89. take a girlfriend trip out of the country
90. hire a personal shopper/stylist for a day
91. get to know a foreign city like the back of my hand
92. visit a place i've read about in a novel
93. dance in a thunderstorm
94. watch a sunrise and sunset
95. read the Bible
96. participate in la tomatina in spain
97. learn the skill of photography
98. follow my dreams each and every time
99. ensure that everyone i love knows i love them
100. live a life of little regret