Every six months or so I sit down and update my life list.
Life lists have become rather popular of late and have also acquired a certain cheese factor. That's ok though, I like popular cheese, on occasion.
Heaven forbid that you call them bucket lists, however, a name which is even more awful than life list.
That said, I've had mine for years and I take great pleasure from checking things off.
I'm a list kind of person.
Since I last updated, I've crossed off a few things:
□ Travel to all seven continents and swim/dive in all four of the world’s oceans:
■ Africa (September 2009)
■ Attend an Olympic Games. (Vancouver, February 2010)
■ Go on Safari (September 2009, Botswana and Zambia)
■ Buy a house. (April 2009.)
■ Become a beekeeper (April 2009)
This one is a mere month away, once I get that dirt hauled up onto the shed roof:
□ Build and maintain a sod roof
I also added a few new ones, including this one:
□ Write letters to myself to be opened in 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years.
Isn't this a sweet idea? Now I just have to sit down and write the letters.
(some guy's random list. He has some good ideas, a few others I think I might skip thought)
So, without further ado, here's the current list:
(see more after the Jump)
Sonja’s Life List
□ Travel to all seven continents and swim/dive in all four of the world’s oceans:
■ North America (Duh. My whole life)
□ South America
■ Africa (September 2009)
□ Antarctica
□ Australia
□ Asia
■ Europe (August and September 2003)
■ Pacific Ocean (Again: Duh)
■ Atlantic Ocean (Maine, Summer 1985-ish)
□ Indian Ocean
□ Southern Ocean (Maybe not swimming, specifically. I’ll settle for dipping a toe.)
■ Tour the Smithsonian and the Natural History Museum in DC (February 2009)
■ Surf (Costa Rica, Fall 2001)
■ Bicycle at least 100 miles in one day [STP, July 11, 2009. 115 miles]
□ Design a water garden with fish, turtles, and frogs
□ See one really great concert (There are a few contenders for this one: Indigo Girls (when I was 10ish), Dave Matthews 2002)
■ Attend an Olympic Games (summer or winter). (Vancouver, February 2010)
□ Dive with whale sharks (An attempt was made near Gladden Spit in Belize, April 2008. No whale sharks spotted.)
□ Restore a riparian habitat with native vegetation
■ Ride in an hot air balloon (Willamette University Campus, Spring 2003. Irvine Great Park, Spring 2008)
□ Travel to the Galapagos Islands. (Mecca de Darwin)
□ Visit McNeill Park, Alaska to watch the grizzly bears
■ Travel around Europe with a backpack (August and September 2003)
□ Build a rammed earth structure
□ Dive the Great Barrier Reef or the reefs around Papua New Guinea
□ Use solar energy and give back to the power grid
□ Go watch a hamster race
■ See a blue whale (Long Beach, September 30, 2007. 7 blue whales)
□ Dive with great white sharks (cage diving)
□ Read the Bible and the Koran (oh boy, this isn’t going to be a fun one)
□ Design and implement a gray water system
■ Go on Safari in Africa (September 2009, Botswana and Zambia)
□ Grow an organic vegetable garden
□ Take a bicycle repair/maintenance class
■ See a turtle lay eggs on the beach (Costa Rica, winter 2001)
□ Ride an elephant
□ Learn how to meditate
□ Take a trip with the Nature Conservancy
□ Renovate a home
□ Volunteer (more than once, natch)
■ Take a pottery class (November 2008)
□ Perfect one really great 5-course meal
□ Have lots of dogs
■ Plan my wedding (2005 and 2006).
■ (This one was probably more important than the one above). GET MARRIED. July 15, 2006.
□ Paint a house
□ Give blood 10 times (1 down. Have to wait a year, thanks to Africa)
□ See molten lava
■ Go horseback riding on the beach (Costa Rica, Winter 2001)
■ Have my own website (August 2007)
□ Lead an active, fit life.
□ Take as many photographs as possible
□ Watch the start of the Iditarod in Anchorage
□ Dive the Crater, Salt Lake City, Utah. (www.homesteadrestort.com)
□ Participate in a protect march in Washington DC
■ Own at least two live chickens and possibly a goat or an alpaca (or both) [Still working on the goat/alpaca part but we have THREE chickens so I'm crossing it off]
□ Scuba dive during the hammerhead shark migration
□View polar bears in the wild. Before they’re gone.
■Buy a house. April 2009.
□Hunt something and eat it. A fish does not count.
□Volunteer to help rebuild hiking trails
■ Eat fried ice cream (December 2008. Last day of work at Waterstone)
□ Buy something from the guy selling food from a push cart
□ See a stage of the Tour de France
■ Learn to drive a stick shift. (It’s not graceful, but I can do it. Instructors: Aunt Rhonda and Melissa Hill.)
□ Learn to knit.
□ Stay a night in an ice hotel/igloo
□ Find and cut my own Christmas tree (December 2009. Not crossing it off though because it was my Uncle Bill’s Christmas tree)
■ Become a beekeeper (April 2009)
□ Be a loving daughter to my wonderful parents.
■ Swim with dolphins. Wild dolphins, not those tame pansey ass dolphins in tanks. (Ballena beach, Costa Rica Fall 2001.)
□ Ride a camel
■Take a pottery class [Aardvark Pottery, Santa Ana, CA. Fall/Winter 2008]
□ Volunteer at an animal sanctuary in a foreign location
□ Learn about portrait photography. Set up a home studio.
□ Build and maintain a sod roof (so close!)
□ Hike the Grand Canyon
□ Vote in every presidential election for which I qualify. (so far so good)
□ Own a business
□ Be creative everyday (I think this is the slogan for a paper company but it’s good so I’m stealing it)
□ Swim the width of Lake Washington (approx 1 mile). Convince my dad to go with me.
□ Convince my mom to lend me her triathlon suit for the above expedition.
□ Tour a temple in Southeast Asia
□ Save someone’s life
□ See Yellowstone
□ Climb a mountain. A serious mountain.
□ Have a baby. Someday. Not necessarily soon.
□ Go river rafting in Alaska
□ Go river rafting in Alaska
□ Have Lasik eye surgery
□ Explore the Amazon
□ Ask my grandparents about their lives. Take lots of photographs.
□ Show Chris the Sierra Club’s Clair Tappan Lodge
□ See the pyramids.
□ Travel to Peru and see Machu Picchu.Publish Post
□ Write letters to myself to be opened in 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years.
So, what's on your list today?
