Bucket List
My grandmother used to call these Five Year Plans. (And I bet she didn’t even “get” the Socialist connotations of that title.) Then there have been the proliferation of books outlining “XXX to do/eat/try/buy Before You Die”. I’ve got two of them Books to Read Before You Die and Places to See Before You Die. (I recommend the latter, but not the former.) But since the Morgan Freeman movie, everyone’s calling these “Bucket Lists”. So here’s mine. Problem is: I’m adding to it faster than I can cross things off! If you’ve got a Bucket List, I’d love to see it. Drop me a line.
- Learn to play the guitar I bought with my babysitting money when I was 15
- Gather at least 70% of my meals from my own organic garden for at least one 8-month period
- Eat on the 100 Mile Diet for one year.
- Reduce my carbon footprint
- Spend a week on a dude ranch
- Become proficient in conversational Mandarin
- Wear a size 4 again
- Travel to India, Laos and Vietnam
- See Haiga Sophia in Turkey
- Retrace the path of Chief Joseph’s retreat — preferably on horseback
- Follow the Long Walk of the Navajos — preferably with a Navajo
- Learn to ride my Vespa
- Take a winemaking course at UC Davis
- Trek through the Outback and camp at Uluru (Ayers Rock)
- Successfully cook one recipe from the French Laundry Cookbook
- Go on safari in Africa (with a camera)
- Take my 12th road trip across America — but this time by the Northern route.
- See wolves in Yellowstone Park
- Keep chickens
- Take our place in Sonoma completely off the grid
- Master composting
- Travel the length of the Nile
- See the terra cotta warriers in China
- Make a difference in a child’s life
- Learn not to sweat the small stuff
PEDDLING AS FAST AS I CAN (PARTIALLY DONE)
- Make a kick-ass Cabernet
I’m calling this partially done because the 2009 Cabernet is tasting really, really good. However, it’s only in secondary fermentation and lots could go wrong. Stay tuned.
- Become proficient in simple conversational Spanish
Enrolled and completed Spanish 1A at CCSF. Got halfway through Spanish 1B and had to drop it. I’ll resume in the Spring 2010 semester.
- Nurture an organic garden
- Master photography and Andy’s Nikon D80
Finished my second photography class at Community College of San Francisco. In the middle of it all, switched to my own D90. You judge if I’ve mastered anything.
- Complete a walking marathon (I know my limits!)
Completed the Las Vegas 2008 Marathon. The Half. Walking! Read about it here.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Well, it wasn’t from my orchard which is still struggling, but I did make and can tomatoes and tomato marmalade from my organic garden.
- Attend the Olympics
DONE! See my posts on the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Now I’ve got my sights on Vancouver.
6 Responsesto “Bucket List”
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Left Coast Cowboys by Lisa Paul is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
On travelling to Laos – go!
It is truly the most amazing, challenging place. It is the closest thing you may see to being in another world, and well worth the effort to travel there!
Writing a list like this is a great exercise in figuring out one’s priorities and deciding where one’s heading in life. I’ve never been brave enough to publish mine though – probably too worried of everyone noticing when I don’t achieve the things on there!
Good luck
Have you tried Pimslers language tapes? I’ve studies the first four lessons in Mandarin, and it wasn’t that difficult.
i arrived at your site thru the gram parsons mention/google alerts…….
and i’ve been here and the skywatch site now for five minutes/two hours ago!
i have my yamaha acoustic from 7th grade all tuned up but don’t play it…..i have books about my nikon d-50 but i end up using the auto focus option instead of studying and writing down the settings. taking good pictures in the dark without a flash is something i’ve yet to manage as well.
one road trip that needs to be on your bucket list in perfect weather/if you haven’t already done so (oh there are so many)
has to be the old pacific coast highway up in big sur. park and listen to the huge trees moan in the wind.
it’s an AMAZING side trip.
i have two musicians left on my bucket list, leonard cohen (who i’ll see in los angeles in april ) and tom waits.
i spend a lot of time at Largo in Los Angeles, the best music venue in town.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34463075@N00/1470237520/
i felt like i’d fallen into a parallel universe here, as my name’s also lisa…i’d like to buy some of your wine when it’s available, you can email me about it if you’d like.
lisa
The Hagia Sophia was also on my list but was checked off just a week or two ago…jet lag… Well worth the trip. Erasin Taxim Hotel in Istanbul is verra nice.
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