Tuesday, November 11, 2008

My Bucket List

When I was 16 I made a list of things I wanted to do before I died. I wrote this list in my journal (which I still have... the other entries are a ridiculous and embarrassing glimpse into my 16 year old mind), and I titled the list "How To Live A Good Life." These were all the things I thought were important to a full and happy life. Essentially, I wrote a "bucket list" years before Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman got involved.

So here's what was on my list then...
*Get a dog
*Live abroad
*Learn to play piano
*Sing in public
*Learn to cook

That's it. That's the whole list, as written in 1999. This seems like a pretty easy life list, right? (Guess my ambitions were not so high back at the turn of the century.) Well, low ambitions or not, I have accomplished exactly NONE of my goals.

To be fair to my life so far, I can play a few simple songs on the piano and can read sheet music, I have sung at a few friends' weddings, and I know how to make a few meals (with varied degrees of success).

So, as Morgan Freeman said in another movie, I better 'get busy livin' or get busy dyin'" already! But more importantly, (more important even than living the advice of Morgan Freeman's movie characters) I think I need to revise the list to reflect my adult ambitions. Here goes.

1.) Meet and become friends with Tina Fey. (Obviously. Just meeting her would be amazing, but these are life goals, let's shoot for the stars.)


2.) Get a dog. (This one stays. My parents repeatedly ignored my pleas for a dog my entire life... time to take matters into my own hands.)

3.) Sing in public. (This one stays too, but to clarify, no church event counts. Ideally, this would be where the attendees paid to get in. And karaoke doesn't count.)
4.) March in a protest. (I don't know why... but I think this is important. To get checked off the list, the protest must be something I actually care about.)




5.) Fly an airplane. (This will be checked off if I get to hold the controls for a minute while in the air... and realistically, visiting the cockpit will do the trick, pretty much anything that would get a 3rd grader plastic wings from a flight attendant.)


6.) Cook a holiday meal for a large group of people (at least 10). (Has to be Christmas or Thanksgiving.)

I think that's it for now. I like to think Morgan Freeman would be proud. Any suggestions? Or better yet, what's on your list?

p.s. Confession: I've never seen the movie in the poster. And seeing it is not going on the list.
p.p.s. Brian, I'd like to read your list, and then probably steal it all for my life.

2 comments:

Brian said...

I might just have to photoshop you and Tina together, just to see what it'll look like.

Unknown said...

Kate, when you eventually fly that airplane, I want to be right there with you...getting drunk in first class, of course.