The Life List

I wrote me a life list!



This is a list of 100 things I'd like to accomplish. As I grow and change, so might this list, so I am less beholden to each item and more endeared for the time being.

1. Write a short story.
2. Get an article published in a print magazine.
3. Publish a book of non-fiction.
4. Publish a book of poetry.
5. Publish a book of fiction.
6. Get a new mattress that kicks all the other mattresses' asses.
7. Sleep overnight in a big museum.
8. Invent the best chocolate chip cookies of all time.
9. Accrue living room furniture I enjoy.
10. Ride in a hot air balloon.
11. Pay off my last outstanding debt.
12. Garden my own vegetables.
13. Get all my laundry completely done at the same time.
14. Drive a paddle boat with the Palinode at Waskesiu.
15. Add to my Kiva donations until I have $1000 in continual circulation.
16. Ring a real bell in a real belfry.
17. Be an extra in a Hollywood movie.
18. Create a reading corner for myself that is not within eyesight of a television.
19. Live in another country for at least six months.
20. Go through my mother's photo albums and scan my childhood photos.
21. Fire a gun.
22. Have all my leg hair lasered off.
23. Build a really cool kite and fly it.
24. Visit or go so far as to move to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
25. Learn to bake great savoury bread.
26. Knit myself a pair of armwarmers.
27. Make homemade cheese.
28. Interview and photograph 1000 strangers.
29. Witness the ins and outs of a crematorium.
30. Climb a tree.
31. Take up yoga as a regular practice.
32. Design my own small house.
33. See fireflies while sober.
34. Go to a Jewish synagogue.
35. Spay our cat Lula.
36. Have sex outside again (and it doesn't count if I'm inside a tent).
37. Stay in an underwater hotel.
38. Guest star in a soap opera.
39. Stay sober for a minimum of five years.
40. Move to a new city.
41. Go to outer space.
42. Hear my nephew, born on 10 August 2011, call me by name.
43. Witness and photodocument the birth of a baby.
44. Be able to do 50 push-ups in a row.
45. Finally go on a honeymoon with the Palinode.
46. Hone my tarot reading skills.
47. Be on television.
48. Own a collection of fabulous eyeglasses to choose from.
49. Sleep in a yurt.
50. Go to Portugal.
51. Write and perform a song.
52. Explore my end of the metaphysical/paranormal activity that apparently populates my life.
53. Learn to paint.
54. Have a font made of my handwriting.
55. See the inside of a stone castle.
56. Use my skills to help others realize their abilities and possibilities.
57. Go through a corn maze.
58. Hold a live chicken.
59. Attend the World Domination Summit.
60. Attend a huge celebration like Holi in India.
61. Post a photograph every day for a year.
62. Have enough money to live without financial worry.
63. Take a road trip around North America.
64. Learn to make stop-motion videos.
65. Own and learn to play a theremin.
66. Learn to play the ukulele.
67. Never get cancer again.
68. Go on a cruise.
69. Start smoking again when I'm 85 years old.
70. Change a stranger's life.
71. Get an in-person psychic reading.
72. Go on a small retreat with other bloggers.
73. Photograph my parents' hometown where I spent time as a child.
74. Go on a ride-along with a police officer.
75. Finally get my second tattoo.
76. See the east coast of North America in the fall.
77. Write a personal manifesto.
78. Ride a train.
79. Cancel our cable and give up commercial television.
80. Deliver a TED Talk.
81. Cook a traditional turkey dinner with stuffing and mashed potatoes.
82. Attend a slam poetry event.
83. Ride on a float in a parade and wave at all the people.
84. Learn how to shoot and edit my own videos.
85. Win a trophy.
86. Help build a house with Habitat for Humanity.
87. Speak in front of 500+ people.
88. Learn to make homemade ice cream and invent my own flavours.
89. Ride in a real submarine.
90. See Big Muddy.
91. Go to the dentist.
92. Have tea with royalty.
93. Eat turducken.
94. Read Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, the first book the Palinode ever told me to read.
95. Watch Daniel Johnston play a song live.
96. Set up an office/creative space for myself that I love.
97. Find a good full spectrum lamp and test it out to see if it helps with my winter depression.
98. Own a little shop that sells whatever I happen to like at the time.
99. Save a life.
100. Invent a self-cleaning house.

What's on your list?

Grace in Small Things: Sunday Edition #51

1. That colds end

2. and that the sun still comes out on the coldest days

3. and that my apartment's been warm for two days running

4. and that there's officially only six more weeks of this winter crap

5. and that, even though I'm late to the party, the Palinode pointed out this particular anteater internet meme to me:


Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace in Small Things.

Reverb 10, Day 30: Gift

Over the month of December, I am taking part in Reverb 10, and the daily prompt for today from is this:

Gift.
This month, gifts and gift-giving can seem inescapable. What's the most memorable gift, tangible or emotional, you received this year?

OH. MY. GOD.

My bad attitude isn't waning.

I QUIT DRINKING, AND REVERB 10 KEEPS BRINGING IT UP, WHICH, FINE, OKAY, I GET THAT, BECAUSE QUITTING DRINKING WAS PRETTY DAMN DEFINING AND SPECIAL AND LIFE-CHANGING, BUT I'M JUST NOT IN THE MOOD TO KEEP TALKING ABOUT IT, AND I'M ALSO JUST NOT IN THE MOOD TO DEFLECT THE TOPIC BY PRETENDING SOMETHING ELSE WAS MY GREAT AND PRECIOUS GIFT, SO, GODDAMNIT, MY MOST MEMORABLE GIFT THIS YEAR WAS GIVEN TO ME BY MYSELF, OKAY, AND IT WAS SOBRIETY.

I almost feel driven to run to the kitchen and suck down a bottle of vanilla extract, except I won't, because a) that's disgusting, and b) we only have the cheap stuff, which would probably make me go blind or something.

*throws down mic*

*stomps off stage*

----------------------------

PS.  I hello-kittied the Palinode.