Ma List.

I've been thinking about my bucket list. And coincidentally, I saw a post on MyFace today that was a tad bit perplexing to me. How can you "stop by" England for two days and then cross it off your bucket list? If one of those days is the day you arrive, you really are losing a bit of that day, so you really only have like a day and a half. Plus if you leave the next day, you lose time. So you really only have 24 hours. Um, what exactly are you doing out of this? Now, I have travel on my bucket list. But seriously? I haven't lived until I've seen a few streets in England? Um, that's just silly. I went to London for about 2 days, and Paris for about 3, and I got just enough of a taste of them to put going back long enough to do some stuff on my bucket list.

I did the whole see the crown jewels/Tower of London/London Bridge thing while I was in London I went to Herrods. I rode the double decker (tourist) bus. Saw Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard. And I believe I had fish and chips at one point. But I did NOT get to go to Bathe, and see the Jane Austen museum, and run about the streets of Bathe in mocking of the terrible 2008 rendition of Persuasion. Also I didn't get to go wherever it is all my ancestors came from. I want to figure that out and go there. Go see the ol' homestead or whatnot.

I did the whole Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Louvre thing. But I didn't get to sit at a cafe and watch all the parisian-ness go on. And I feel like i should have had more French food instead of just tourist food. So, yeah, France is still totally on my bucket list. Also I could get all down on the homestead there, too.

Basically I will always have travel on the bucket list. I will never finish it. I better hurry up and get independently wealthy.

And By Kick it I Don't Mean Hang Out

I have a friend who always used to say "kick it," as in, "we can just kick it here and watch a movie if you want." When I say kick it, I'm referring to the bucket. I'm a terribly unhip individual.


As previously mentioned, I am putting together my list of things to do before I kick the bucket. Some of the things I thought of actually harken back to my "I Never" post:


1. Ride a horse.
2. Fly a kite (up to the highest heights...).
3. Learn to ski.
4. Swim for enjoyment. You know, instead of feeling sheer terror that I will certainly drown in four feet of water.
5. Go to Disneyland.
6. Go to Hawaii.


The "I never" topic that didn't get added to my list of things to do before I die was "break a bone." I"m okay with not having that experience. I'm sure I'll manage it at some point, though.


Also on my list:

7. Visit Italy, Greece, Ireland, Scottland, Australia, and New Zealand.
8. Revisit and further visit France, England, and Germany.
9. Own a cute house.
10. Take a cruise.
11. Take a photography class.
12. Attend the Olympics.
13. Sit on a jury.
14. Spend New Year's in an exotic location.
15. Have a porch swing.
16. Have a library in my cute house that is covered in books.

And the list goes on...

Things to Do Before I Kick It

While browsing movies on Netflix, I came across The Bucket List, with Jack Nicholas. I am not a huge fan of Jack, so I've really had no desire to watch it. But after reading the description I've been contemplating the concept on which the movie is based. As I understand it, the whole movie is about how one of them is dying and he has a list of things to do before he kicks the bucket. I know it's more complicated than that, but that's the part I care about.

I googled the movie to learn more because I didn't feel like the description was telling me what i wanted to know about it, and I found an interesting pattern. There are all these websites cropping up where you can have your own little profile, and have your own list of things you want to do before you die. I'm not sure if they recognize the movie, or even if they started as a result of that movie, but I found them through an article about the movie. They all require you to join, even if they are free, and you get to create a profile, blah, blah, blah. (Topic for another blog: How many profiles on various random websites with all kinds of odd angles can a person create without going insane?)

I really don't have any interest in joining any of these websites. Some of the goals they showed on their home pages as samples I found very annoying. Apparently no one explained to these people that if you say something like "eat healthy," it's very hard to determine when you have reached the goal. You should say "eat 5 vegies a day," or "cut out sugar from my diet," or "I'm one of those nuts that thinks I can cut ALL carbs from my diet." To have a goal to "volunteer" before you die is kind of silly. You could pick up trash in a park for half an hour and technically have completed that goal. That wouldn't be so meaningful but you would have completed it. You need to put "volunteer at the food bank at least 4 hours a month for the next year." That you could measure. Or even to say "become an active volunteer for Camp Fire USA and win an award for it" would be measurable, even though "active" is kind of an ambiguous term.

So I am now working on a bucket list, which I will post. My goals will be be worded in such a way you will know when I have accomplished it. So, nice three people that post on my blog, what's on your bucket list?

(Ooh, ooh, first on my bucket list is to get a lurker to post. A lurker, for you blog challenged individuals, is someone who reads my blog who I don't know is reading because they never say a peep. You should peep.)

Give Me a Sticker!

I have realized recently that I respond really well to reward systems. My mom was smart and figured that out when I was little. If she really wanted me to do something I would get a sticker for each success. I was an enthusiastic participant in Read and Lead every year because it involved filling in a chart and tracking your progress, and prizes. I like tracking progress for prizes almost as much as I like writing lists. If you let me write a list to track my progress and then give me a prize for it I will be so excited. Today I was googling "life organization" and I came across a site called joesgoals. It's pretty simple but it lets you enter in goals and makes a chart where you can put little check marks. You can put in habits to break and habits to build, and the bad habits get frowny faces while the good habits get smiley faces. You receive or loose points depending on if it's a good or bad habit you are feeding. You can give goals more points if they are ones that you really should (or should not) be doing. If there were stickers and prizes involved it would be better, but I am strangely drawn to the idea all the same. It might help me not to procrastinate.

I'm still trying to decide what all to put on the goal list, but so far I have:

To do:
1. Exercise
2. Read Books
3. Blog
and other ones I'm not telling you.

To not do:
1. Eat Out

That's my only frowny face. I feel like there's more that I could put there, but I can't think of it right now. I think most of the habits I want to break I put in positive terms.

They had a list of goals other people had recently used, and I found it amusing/alarming to see that among goals listed was brush teeth. I didn't see any with the goal to shower. Maybe they don't know how smelly they are because their breath is so bad.

Some runners-up for my goals:
1. Watch a show with british accents
2. Weekly massages
3. Bake Cookies
4. Pedicure
5. Be rich

Now I get to go put a checkmark next to "blog."