Oooh, some of these things I have done! But there’re still many things I want to do.
tlw stole one of mine:
I dunno, I’ve accomplished a lot of the things I wanted to: fall in love with The One and have him love me back, run my own successful business, learn to be comfortable with (nay, proud of) who I am.
Kyla, I didn’t see the northern lights until I was about 26. They were awesome.
I want to know how many people will actually end up completing their lists. Some of the crazier things people just seem to put off, saying “oh, I have plenty of time” until it is too late. So has anyone actually completed their list?
Become rich enough to not care about money and support my mother to where she needn’t work for the rest of her life. She deserves it.
Contribute something signifigant to the artistic world, whether it be a play, a song or whatever. I’d like to make my mark with something creative before I die and have it appreciated by many after my death.
Live in a foreign country for a signifigant length of time.
Apologize to everyone I’ve made feel bad in my years of existence. May take a while.
Run a marathon.
Become flexible enough to kiss my own behind, if it need be. Don’t ask why - party trick?
Learn to pilot an aircraft of some sort. A zeppelin would be nice. Helicopter sounds cool, too, or a sailplane.
Learn several diverse languages to basic fluency and be as comfortable with my middling German as I am with my native English.
Spend time alone or with a loved one away from humanity - really far away, in the wild.
Grow my hair long.
Not necessarily in this order:
[ul]
[li] I’ve got to go with the ever popular goal to write and publish a novel.[/li][li] Get married[/li][li] Own a home[/li][li] Have sex (I suppose this would be the easiest to accomplish:D ) maybe I should amend that to “meaningful sex.” [/li][li] Fall deeply, desperately in love with a man who feels exactly the same way about me [/li][li] Grow big pumpkins (I’ve been working on this for about a decade with little success)[/li][li] Maintain a good relationship with my brother our whole lives, unlike our parents and their siblings[/li][li] Introduce a word/phase to popular culture[/li][li] Become wealthy enough to not need to worry about bills[/li][li] Figure out what to get my Masters in, and actually do it[/li][/ul]
In no particular order:
Travel: ride the Trans-Siberian Railroad (check), see the Great Wall of China (check), Easter Island, Macchu Pichu, India, and the Rio Carnival. (No checks yet for those last four. I was all set to do India a couple years ago, but I got hurt and went to the hospital instead. Haven’t done much travelling since.)
Spend a month or so alone, preferably on an island or in a sailboat at sea. (Seems unlikely, but you never know. I’ve done some merchant sailing, but it’s not the same when you’re surrounded by other sailors.)
Record a music CD, all by myself. (Working on it, little by little. It’ll never be marketed, but that’s fine. My family and friends will pretend to like it.)
Improve my Korean enough to talk to my wife about the stuff I like to read and write. (Of course she knows the topics, but I can’t discuss the subtleties in Korean, even with a dictionary. Maybe someday.)
Live in a big house, with lots of rooms, preferably in a fairly isolated place. (Unlikely, especially as long as I live in Korea.)
Live in a place where the government isn’t idiotic enough to think that cannabis is evil. The only time in my life that I’ve slept well and been healthy, productive and happy was when I was a pot smoker. (Again, unlikely–but eventual retirement in Thailand is not out of the question, and though it isn’t legal there, it’s easy to find.)
There were other things I used to want to do, but they’ve kind of faded. Publish books? Yeah, it’d be cool, but it doesn’t seem that important to me anymore. Own a Harley? I’d like that, but then I read in the BBQ Pit that they’re no longer symbols of rebellion, so what’s the point?
That’s about all I’ve ever wanted to do.
Screw all that sky-diving and Spanish shit. If I could just eat left handed for a year, I’d die happy.
(What IS is with sky-diving, that it makes it onto so many of these types of lists?)
after that I can relax and take the next 9 items slowly!
I have. I’m 28 years old, and I have a list of zero items.
If I truly wanted to learn another language, I’d do it. I don’t want it bad enough to make the effort.
I’ve already written two books and am working on a third. While I haven’t published a novel, I am a published writer. I’ll continue to try to be a published novelist, but I don’t feel it’s something I have to do.
If I wanted to travel, I’d just save up and do it.
I don’t desire to hang glide, skydive or anything like that.
I don’t want children, and I’m happily married to a wonderful man.
So, yep, I’m perfectly content. If I knew I was going to die in a week, the only thing I’d want to do is spend more time with my family.
Fully accept myself for who I am.
That’ll be enough.
Have sex with my english teacher.
Have 7 kids.
Bungee jump off the Hoover Dam.
Re-enact scenes from Monty Python and the Search Holy Grail
Host my own talk show.
Go on a world music tour.
Go to Austrailia.
Wrestle with Britney Spears. 
Throw discus as the Olympics.
Meet, and have sex with, all three guys in Blink 182.
Wow, I’m only 40, and I guess I’m ready to die.
I’ve stayed a night in a monastery (in 8th grade as paart of a relgion class to see if we had a ‘vocation’–didn’t get felt up, dammit)
I’ve spent a night in jail (drunk and disorderly charge, locked up in Coconino County jail in Flagstaff, AZ, 1988)
I’ve lived in the bottom of the Grand Canyon (worked at Phantom Ranch from 1990 to 1993)
I’ve had a teaching job overseas (Korea from 1993 to 1999, with a brief stint in Hong Kong))
I’ve been to the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall (Simatai, much farther out than the reconstructed wall all the lazy tourists see in Badaling), the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto, and skinned my knee on the Pyramid of the Sun.
I have had sex on the riverfront in New Orleans.
I’ve also had sex with guys in London, Amsterdam, and Paris, and got picked up by a German tour guide in Yangshuo, China.
I’ve been on a TV quiz show (High Q on channel 3, Louisville, KY in 1978 and 1979)
I shook hands with Vincent Price when he did his Oscar Wilde show at my college.
I’ve found true love.
The only thing left undone is a trip to Egypt.
Well, here’s a status report on my top ten list:
This one is easy, all I need is 200 bucks
Same with this one, but this takes a little courage
doable, but money is once again an issue
I’m working on it, I need to find at least 2 other like-minded couples
This is a tough one. It may not be doable in my lifetime, but I’m optimistic
This is for when I earn my first billion
The is a tough one too, given all the stuff going on right now. Then again, I can pass for an Arab, so all I need to do is learn to speak rudimentary Arabic, learn more about the Islamic faith, fly there, and pretend to be a holy pilgrim
I’m thinking of starting the process towards this goal in September
This will be a retirement thing, I think it can be done, if I get the gigantic inheritance that appears to be amassing right now.
I’m will have a paranormal experience of some kind one day, even if it kills me.
I’d like to take a nice monastic retreat. Nothing to worry about but God and silence.
I would love to become truly spiritual and be able to live in the peace I can only glimpse at when prayer is going well.
I own my home, but I’d like to build a tree-home in a huge tree, with planty of land all about.
Like many others, I’d love to find my true love and have the happiness in married life that I saw in my parents’ marriage.
I ride well enough, and own my horse, but I’d love to learn to ride really well, enough to compete in upper-level eventing.
I’d like to be able to open my own non-kill animal shelter.
Really, though, if I could do the first two, then my life would be fulfilled, I think.
StG
I’ve gotten to do two things on my “list” so far…
Hot-air balloon ride (for free, even!)
See the Aurora Borealis (West coast of Michigan, August 11, 2000 - about 3:00am - at one point the lights were streaming all the way from the horizon to the zenith of the sky - VERY cool!)
Other items: (some inspired by this thread!)
Travel to Alaska and Australia/New Zealand
Sing solo in public - paying audience or not
Spend some quality time chatting with any of the following: Terry Pratchett, Weird Al Yankovic, Jimmy Buffett, John Varley
Douglas Adams (RIP) used to be in this group - did have a brieft autograph-signing moment, at least.