I’ve never been a fan of the phrase, “to kick the bucket”--stand on a bucket, strap a noose around your neck and then kick the bucket. Maybe I’m too much of a happy-go-lucky person, but if I’m going to create a list of things to do, I’m not going to call it a bucket list.
Hence, my list of things to do while I’m alive (please note that I created this list in 6th grade when I was holed up in a full body cast thanks to a broken femur. Obviously it’s been added on to and tweaked some, but I left some of the silly ones on).
1) Walk
2) Burn my walker or at least smash the crap out of it
3) Sleep in my own bedroom--upstairs
4) Play a Class A Solo at State
5) Graduate high school
6) Go to college
7) Visit all 50 states
8) Learn the capitals to all 50 states
9) Leave the country
10) Get on ESPN
11) See a Broadway show--on Broadway
12) See Cats on Broadway
13) Climb a mountain
14) Climb Timm’s Hill (highest point in Wisconsin)
15) Ski in Colorado
16) Go to the Super Bowl
17) Go to an NFL Playoff game
18) Go to the World Series
19) Go to a Brewer’s Playoff game
20) See the Brewer’s make the post-season
21) Go to an NBA Playoff game
22) Go to an NHL Playoff game
23) See the Masters--Live
24) Go to the U.S. Open (Golf)
25) Go to the PGA Championship
26) Go to the British Open
27) Go to Wimbledon
28) Eat Strawberries and Cream
29) Publish a novel
30) Read War & Peace
31) Read Mein Kampf
32) Read Hemingway’s works
33) Live abroad
34) Study abroad
35) Learn another language--fluently
36) Backpack Europe
37) Take a round-the-world trip
38) Visit all 7 continents
39) Take a gondola ride in Venice
40) Climb the Spanish Steps in Rome
41) See the Great Wall of China
42) Go to the Olympics
43) See the Taj Mahal
44) Go to mass at Notre Dame in Paris
45) Go to the top of the Empire State Building and don’t
fall off
46) View Chicago from the top of the Sear’s Tower
47) Go to the top of the Eifel Tower
48) See the Mona Lisa
49) Visit the Sistine Chapel
50) Go to a Papal Mass
51) Visit Vatican City
52) Watch Citizen Kane
53) Read On the Road
54) Collect Disney movies
55) Go to Oktoberfest
56) Run with the Bulls
57) Finish the Sunday New York Time’s Crossword
Puzzle
58) Attend an NCAA Basketball tournament game
59) Go to the Final 4/Championship game
60) Learn Pinochle
61) Head to Pasadena to see the Badgers in the Rose
Bowl
62) Run a marathon
63) Compete in a triathlon
64) Scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef
65) Visit Ayers Rock
66) Go to Vegas
67) Read Little Women
68) See the Tour de France
69) Be on the Price is Right
70) Become a winner on Jeopardy
71) Get on any gameshow
72) Learn all of Jacob’s Ladder
73) Volunteer at a homeless shelter
74) Swim in all 5 oceans
75) See an opera
76) Take dance lessons
77) Camp out for tickets--to see anything
78) Go to a concert
79) Mosh in a mosh pit
80) Take a donkey ride to the bottom of the Grand
Canyon
81) Have a pen pal
82) Keep a journal
83) Paint a piece of artwork
84) Take an African Safari
85) Plant a garden
86) Keep my garden alive
87) Question my religion and explore multiple faiths
88) Be a part of a protest
89) Work on a campaign
90) Vote because I want to, not because I can
91) Read the whole Bible
92) Visit Vietnam
93) See the beaches of Normandy
94) Reflect on life and human nature at Auschwitz
95) Walk the Red Carpet
96) Thank the Academy
97) Make the pilgrimage to Mecca
98) Live beyond my means
99) Attend the grand slam of tennis
100) Build a house with Habitat for Humanity
101) Dream as if I’ll live forever, live as if I’ll die today 102) Be a big sister (the volunteering kind)
103) Make people laugh
104) Learn the Rosary
105) Learn to drive stick
106) Drive on the Autobahn
107) Ride in a convertible with the top down
108) Drive Route 66
109) Ride along the Pacific Coast Highway
110) Live on the beach
111) Hitchhike
112) Ride the Trans Siberian Railway
113) Learn to knit
114) Knit something somebody can/will use
115) Learn to sew
116) Learn to play the guitar
117) Play the piano--well
118) Write an article for Sports Illustrated
119) Learn to French Braid
120) Go on a scavenger hunt
121) Win an NCAA Tournament Pool
122) Celebrate St. Patty’s Day in Dublin
123) See the tortoises at the Galapagos Islands
124) Go to Mardi Gras
125) Walk the Appalachian Trail
126) Watch the movie “Gone with the Wind”
127) Learn CPR
128) Go Wine tasting in Napa Valley
129) Spend 4th of July in Washington, DC
130) Spend Bastille Day in France
131) Build a sandcastle
132) Get a manicure/pedicure
133) Laugh so hard I cry
134) See the Pyramids
135) Take a cruise
136) Do a pub crawl
137) Sing Karaoke
138) Get flowers as a surprise
139) Visit Cuba
140) Go to Carnival in Rio
141) Spend New Year’s Eve in Times Square
142) Get on TV
143) Live in the moment
144) Live up to all my promises
145) Have a one-night stand
146) Attend “La Tomatina”
147) Find the perfect little black dress
148) Attend an English Premier League Match
149) Go to a World Cup Game
150) Learn the rules of cricket
151) Be able to fit into my skinny jeans
152) Read every book I own
153) Catalogue my library
154) Learn the lyrics to “Louie, Louie”
155) Do everything because I want to, not because
somebody told me to
156) Run on a daily basis
157) Build something functional
158) Make the perfect drink
159) Own my own home
160) Walk down the aisle for my wedding at St. Ambrose
161) Skydive
162) Bungee Jump
163) Ski the Birkie
164) Learn to really cook
165) Perfect homemade chili
166) Learn to can tomatos
167) Build a snowman
168) Make a naked snow angel
169) Camp in the woods
170) Go Christmas Caroling
171) Tell my family I love them everyday
172) Have kids
173) Live in 5 different time zones
174) Stay in a villa in Tuscany
175) Be buried in my Kimberly t-shirt
176) Go on a shopping spree
177) Start a stamp collection
178) Scrapbook my travels
179) Sneak into an event
180) Crash a wedding
181) Pull an all-nighter
182) Be the life of the party
183) Have what she’s having
184) Never forget where I came from
185) Really listen to what people are saying
186) Think before I speak
187) Sing in the rain
188) Tube down a river
189) Learn to water ski
190) Jump off a cliff into water
191) Make no excuses
192) Learn something new everyday
193) Try anything once
194) Don’t make the same mistake twice
195) Make a New Year’s Resolution and
keep it
196) Go to Oprah’s show
197) Streak
198) Always write a thank you note
199) Eat a piece of humble pie
200) Rescue an animal
201) Always give change to somebody
who needs it
202) Find a cause worth fighting for
203) Fight for that cause
204) Call Delilah some night and ask how
she’s doing
205) Slow roast a marshmallow
206) Always look both ways
207) Have great make-up sex
208) Go spelunking
209) Get Packer season tickets
210) Own stock in the Packers
211) Take an amazing photo
212) Dance like no one’s watching
213) Write a poem
214) Visit the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior
215) Make a wish on a falling star
216) Hang glide
217) Go zorbing
218) Watch a sunrise
219) Experience a sunset
220) Visit Old Faithful
221) Go to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival
222) Catch a game at Wrigley
223) See a game at Fenway
224) See a game at Yankee Stadium
225) Visit the NFL Hall of Fame
226) Learn Chess
227) Watch a game in every NFL stadium
228) Go to Alcatraz
229) Go to Burning Man
230) See the Matterhorn
231) Hike to Machu Pichu
232) Visit the Cathedral in Cologne
233) See the Kremlin
234) Trace a name on the Vietnam Wall
235) Visit Robben Island
236) Walk along the Hollywood Walk of Fame
237) Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge
238) Walk the length of the Brooklyn Bridge
239) Drive along the Great Ocean Road
240) Cage Dive with sharks
241) Participate in Darwin’s Beer Can Regatta
242) Meet Mr. Right
243) Theatre Hop
244) Take a brewery tour
245) Run the sausage race for the Milwaukee Brewers
246) Stay organized
247) Walk the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage
248) Take a haunted tour of Edinburgh at night
249) Visit Easter Island
250) See ancient ruins
251) Explore Zion National Park
252) Enjoy the wonders of Alaska
253) Visit the 7 Wonders of the World
254) Watch a game in all of the MLB stadiums
255) Keep in shape
256) Visit Hoover Dam
257) Figure out what I want to do with my life
258) Lay on the beach in Fiji
259) Put together a family tree
260) Learn where my ancestors came from and visit there
261) Visit Ellis Island
262) Read the entire Declaration of Independence
263) Be Happy
264) Understand that shit happens, get over it
265) Don’t hold a grudge
266) It isn’t whether your judgment of someone was
correct, it’s that you judged them at all--so never
judge a book by its cover
267) Hit a home run
268) If I ever say what if, just do it--unless I think it’s
going to kill me
269) Stay away from the ER
270) Have a savings account--with money in it
271) Stay out of debt
272) Get an autograph
273) Give an autograph
274) Don’t do drugs
275) Go to Gettysburg
276) Take a tour of the White House
277) Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes
278) Be a mentor or tutor
279) Realize good advice and take it
280) See Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest in Berchtesgaden, Germany
281) Do the waltz in Vienna
282) Sit on Abe’s lap and kiss him for good luck
283) Be in a scrum
284) Learn how to mow a design on my lawn
285) Write for a newspaper
286) Learn to surf in Hawaii
287) Cross off all the items on my list
