Lotta Livin’ To Do: My Life List

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Lists seem to be something of a popular art form in the blogosphere. I recently discovered onmylist.com, which publishes thousands of lists; some listers even get paid for them. Also, a lot of individual bloggers post lists of their favorite books, movies, even things like “what’s sitting on my desk”, though for the life of me I can’t figure out why anyone would be interested. Yesterday I happened upon a WordPress post, “What are the 100 Things You Want To Do Before You Die,” and it reminded me that I myself made the same list–though unnumbered–two years ago.

I pulled it up on the computer and discovered that, in the two years since I wrote it, I’ve done absolutely nothing on it—which begs the question: what is the point? When I wrote it, I thought that having it all laid out in front of me would somehow magically make it happen. Hah! Anyhow, rather than let my brilliant plans go completely to waste, I thought I’d share them with readers.

Take classes in:
Dreams
Meditation
Painting
Psychic phenomena

Travel:
Alaskan cruise with son
Rome and/or Paris with daughter
A cruise with grandsons
India
Ride a bike in Amsterdam late at night in summer (when it’s light out past midnight)

London, to see, among other things:

Doris Lessing
Bloomsbury
Vita Sackville West’s home and gardens
Vanessa Bell’s house

Stonehenge

Spend a month or more on a houseboat
Ditto in an RV
Go to a real New England clambake on the beach
Take a long train trip in a sleeper car
Fly first class

Miscellaneous:
Publish a novel and go on tour, paid for by publisher
Own a brand new car
Hire a secretary, even if it’s just for a month
Go on a writers retreat

Live in a house near water (ocean, river or lake), with plenty of guest rooms, where I can own and foster rescued dogs

Miscellaneous Thrills:

Water park
Kayak in McCovey cove during a Giants game
Hang glide
White water rafting
Hire a male prostitute at an upscale brothel in Nevada

Now that I’ve made myself vulnerable–I expect some people will think it’s wild, and others will think it’s way too mild (i.e., “how come she never did that??“), I hope some of you will be inspired to write and share yours. I’m really curious about the things people want to do, so consider this an invitation to flood my comment boxes with your wildest–or mildest–dreams.

Note: I’ll be damned! Immediately after posting this, I went over to my pile of unread newspapers, and what did I find? In the Sunday New York Times Style section, an article on this very subject, Life Lists, “Ten Things to Do Before This Article Is Finished.” I swear to you, I hadn’t seen it before. I’m feeling very prescient, or at least in touch with the zeitgeist.

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Filed under Life, Lists, Personal