My to do list

Our current Family Bookclub selection is a book called "The Next thing on my list." In short, the book is about a woman that accidentally kills a girl in a car accident and then discovers the girl's list of things to do before she is 25. The woman, racked with guilt, decides to accomplish everything on the list for the girl. 

A thought that actually just occurred to me is, "had the girl not gotten into the accident and lived a normal life, would SHE have finished everything on that list?" Because I have been making these "To do" lists my whole life and I rarely accomplish everything that is on them. And I am not talking about "to do" lists filled with things like running errands and vacuuming the living room rug. I am talking about things that I want to accomplish before I die. Things that I think will improve my life. Make my life worth living. 

I enjoy making these lists because it helps me plan out what I want to do with my life. Instead of it just being a castle in the sky, it becomes a goal that I need to accomplish. And the other reason I love making these lists is because I love to go back and reread them years later. I like to see the things that I have wanted that have repeatedly shown up on list after list. I like to see the things that I don't even remember wanting to do. I like to see the things that I have accomplished and give myself a little pat on the back. It's fun to sit back and think, "wow, I made my dream come true!"

I admit, a lot of people would look at my life and not be that impressed by it. I don't make a lot of money. I am 29 and single and living in my parents' house. I don't have children. I'm not famous. I am still in debt. 

But I have lived. I found things that I wanted to do and I did them. I challenged myself. I went outside of my comfort zone. I dared.

And yet I still get scared to go outside of my comfort zone (hence why they call it "comfort zone") even though I know what great things can happen if I do. The best things that have ever happened to me in my life are because I took a chance and tried something that I was scared or nervous to do.

I was looking back at some of my old "to do" lists, some of which go back to 1993. Some of the things on those lists were pretty momentous. Some were quite inane. There were many things on those lists that I accomplished like...

* become a massage therapist

* go to Carleton

* grow out my bangs

* buy a puffy Northface vest

* go scuba diving

* learn French

* live in France

* fall in love

* make out with somebody from a foreign country

* get my black belt in Tae Kwon Do

* learn to like yogurt

* ride on a motorcycle

* bungee jump

And, of course, there are things that were on there that I have not yet accomplished like...

* get my master's degree (this was on several lists but it never specifies in what- apparently any ol' one will do)

* meet George Lucas (pretty random, not sure what I was thinking when I wrote this one, still, it would be nice)

* volunteer giving massage to preemie babies

* have kids

So now I am making a new list. I'm not going to limit it to things that I think I actually will or can get accomplished in the next year. That is thinking too small. I am making my "Grand, amazing list of things that I want to do before I die." 

To do:

#1- ride in a hot air balloon

#2- learn Spanish

#3- do ten pull ups in a row

#4- swim with dolphins again (I did it once when I was younger in Key West but I was so terrified that I didn't fully enjoy and appreciate the experience

#5- get Lasik eye surgery

#6- become a Reiki master

#7- study Thai massage in Thailand

#8 -play at a high rollers table in Las Vegas while super dressed up

#9- milk a cow

#10- go to Australia

#11- make out with a really hot Australian guy

#12- learn to be a ventriloquist

#13- have 1000 count bed sheets

#14- eat at the Jules Vernes restaurant at the top of the Eiffel Tower

#15- increase my vocabulary by 1000 words

#16- get married

#17- play in a soccer game against Mia Hamm

#18- live on a farm

#19- work at a vineyard/winery

#20- find a white wine that I really love

#21- learn to sew my own clothes

#22- have a cameo appearance on The Simpsons

#23- be a question to an answer on Jeopardy

#24- hang out with Ellen Degeneres

#25- floss at least four times a week (cuz let's be realistic, it's not gonna happen daily)

#26- never have another cavity

#27- be in a num chuck (sp?) competition

#28- find a treasure map

#29- win the Lotto (at least a $1000 jackpot)

#30- write a best selling (or at least published) book

#31- beat Dakota's top score on Scramble (this is actually attainable, I realize that beating June will never happen)

#32- get pregnant

#33- give birth (meaning not via c-section)

#34- when a homeless person asks for money, give them $100

#35- get a perm

#36- visit the Whitehouse

#37- forgive my ex-boyfriend

#38- see my Pookie at least once a year

#39- do either stand up comedy or improv comedy in front of a live audience

#40- learn to swing dance and do the sweet moves where I get between my partner's legs and around his back

#41- write a poem every week

#42- write in my journal at least three times a week

#43- start a blog

#44- keep writing my pen pals until I am old and gray

#45- buy a bottle of really good sipping tequila- and then drink it!

#46- get a (consistent) killer serve in volleyball

#47- have a secret garden with a hidden door

#48- get in a food fight

#49- be an extra in a movie

#50- watch all the Seinfeld episodes (because people are FOREVER referencing them)

#51- become a good cook, to the point where people actually say, "oh yeah, Nikki- she's a really good cook!"

#52- go back to the fondue restaurant in Annecy, France and order the Chevre Chaud and see if it really is the best thing I've ever eaten in my life

#53- have my head carved out of a 50 pound block of butter like Princess Kay of the Milky Way at the Minnesota State Fair

#54- be a guest on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart

#55- learn sign language

#56- foil a bank robbery

#57- go to Hawaii

#58- go to New Orleans

#59- overcome my fears (of drowning, being smashed on the coral or being eaten by a shark) and learn to surf

#60- get completely out of debt

#61- learn to fence

#62- have something named after me (a building, a disease, whatever)

#63- learn to see people's auras

#64- learn to drive stick shift

#65- kiss a snake

#66- mud wrestle someone

#67- make an exercise and stretching video

#68- make Chicago wooden blocks

#69- ride a camel in a dessert

#70- see the Pyramids

#71- see Eric Clapton in concert in a small venue

#72- have a message sky written by a plane

#73- forgive myself for all the stupid things that I have done/mistakes that I have made

#74- go on a cross country road trip in either a convertible or a VW van and stop at all the little road side attractions that catch my eye

#75- be on the cover of a magazine

#76- own a really cute pair of Jimmy Choos (not that I would ever wear them since I never bother with heels, but maybe if I had the right shoes I would!)

#77- build and open "Jaimeland"- our very own amusement park

#78- write my grandma a letter every month

#79- get rid of half my possessions

#80- read War and Peace

#81- learn to play the violin

#82- learn to do a really cool magic trick that I can impress drunk people with when I'm out at the bars

#83- see the Redwood forest in California

#84- give an elephant a bath

#85- see the Northern Lights

#86- spend a night in the Ice Hotel in Scandinavia

#87- study with a Native American medicine man

#88- learn to carry a tune

#89- dunk a basketball

#90- get photographed by Annie Leibovitz

I think this list is a good jumping off point. How many will I accomplish in the next year? In my life time? Will accomplishing these things make my life great?