I’ve got a bucket list of things I want to do during the time I have left. Some are silly fun things, some are more meaningful.
1. Learn to sing at least 30 digits of pi… in GERMAN. Post the audio file on SP.
2. Get a smartphone and learn how to actually use it. (Update: phone has been purchased and activated. I’ve installed 2 apps, received a text, sent an email, and did a post on sp. Here.)
3. Drive somewhere outside my comfort zone, (At least 6-hour round trip), take pictures. (UPDATE: Done! Here are the pictures!)
4. Try grapefruit-jalapeno vodka
(update: DONE. Don’t bother. It tastes terrible.)
5. Email rocketman until he understands how to make his avatar picture show up on SP. (Read comments here and you will almost understand). (Update: DONE!!!)
6. Post audio file of me playing at least 12 measures from the Mozart Horn Concertos. (Example: 4 measures from 3 different movements would be ok. Anything that adds up to at least 12 measures.)
7. Spend this summer reading some classic literature. I’m not sure what yet. In past years I’ve already read Frankenstein, Dracula, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, a huge amount of Edgar Allan Poe, and a good amount of Sherlock Holmes. I’m considering possibly Moby Dick…? What classic stuff would you recommend? I downloaded War And Peace (Tolstoy), and Crime And Punishment (Dostoevsky), but it just doesn’t sound interesting to me. I want something my brain has to think about, but I also want something interesting that’s going to hold my attention. Feel free to offer suggestions.
(Update: DONE. Though I’ll keep reading more.)
ALREADY DONE: (#8, #9, #10 are done).
8. Crochet a blanket for someone who needs it
9. Compose music for the symphony, have it played at a concert (This has been done multiple times.)
10. Donate at least 30 items of clothing/books/household items to a local charity that helps victims of domestic violence to relocate to a safe place (This has also been done multiple times)
My list probably differs a lot from someone who is not disabled. I can’t do the usual things like run a mile or do extreme sports. Some of these things probably sound ridiculously simple to you. For example, driving a six-hour round trip to someplace that’s outside my comfort zone. For me, that’s huge. Social anxiety issues combined with disability issues make it a big deal. In a six hour round trip, all kinds of junk can go wrong. If the car broke down, I couldn’t walk anywhere for help. Even if there was a house across the road and up a hill, I couldn’t get to it. So I’ll need to prepare for this the same way you would probably prepare for a week-long camping trip. Provisions, emergency contact plans, etc.
I’ve already done three of the ten things on the list. Some may continue to be done more than once (like composing for concerts, and donating my stuff to places that need it more than I do. I have a ton of stuff I need to either give away or throw away. I need to get rid of so much stuff. I want it gone.)
33 comments
Best bucket list I’ve ever read. Social anxiety is a *****. When I was in college, I had trouble leaving my dorm to go to the bathroom and simple things like that. How the hell I wound up in a dorm… Or college… as scared as I was is beyond me. Good luck.
Thank you!
College was easier for me than high school was, just because I wasn’t surrounded by quite as many jerks. But there were definitely still squirmingly-bad moments.
I remember it was a liberating thing when I was finally comfortable going down to the dorm basement (where the TV lounge was), and watching videos on MTV. This was back in the days when MTV played actual videos instead of 99% crap.
The fact that you have a bucket list and have already completed some of it is great. I wish you the best of luck with the rest of them. O and for classic literature, I would recommend The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Count of Monte Cristo. Written by Oscar Wilde and Alexandre Dumas, respectively.
Funny you should mention that!!
I am currently in the process of reading The Picture Of Dorian Gray. I’m about a third of the way through it. So far I don’t care much for Oscar Wilde’s writing style, but the story’s premise is still interesting.
Ah, I feel exactly the same way. For me, his style has always dripped with pretentiousness, if that makes sense. And yip, I was always fascinated by it’s premise. Glad, that you’re reading it.
Pretentiousness and a bit of misogyny as well.
I remember the part where Lord Henry said “There is no such thing as a woman genius.”
God, I think I wiped that part from my mind. It is quite ironic, considering that Wilde was imprisoned for essentially being homosexual. You would think he would be less misogynistic, but that can also just be a stereotype.
Sorry, “its premise”. I’m obsessive over typos, yet still make them.
Me too. 🙂
These aren’t classic books, but have you read:
The Geek’s Guide to World Domination by Garth Sundem (Chock-full of interesting, random trivia).
The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World – A.J. Jacobs
(An American documents his experience reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, while musing over the many odd facts and definitions he discovers).
This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel J. Levitin
(A neuroscience explores how music effects the human brain).
As for classics…
The Princess Bride by William Goldman might not quite qualify (it was published in 1973), but it’s very funny. (The movie is splendid, too.)
The Lord of the Rings book trilogy and The Hobbit by Tolkien are definitely worth a look, if you haven’t done so yet.
I’ve read a number of classic novels over the years, but I’m not sure what I’d still enjoy reading today, so I don’t know what else to suggest. Heh.
I liked Virginia Woolf’s novels, but she kind of rambles. (Stream of consciousness.) Depends on if you have the patience for that.
I suppose if you like German you should read Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust, if you haven’t already. My copy is printed with German on the right page, and the English translation parallel on the left page, so that’s pretty awesome.
The next book I want to read was published in 1999, it’s a true life account about a man who travels in a 37-foot sailboat from British Columbia to the Hawaiian islands and Tahiti, etc. “The Water in Between: A Journey at Sea,” authored by Kevin Patterson.
…that was a long comment.
Thank you for all the suggestions!
Its a way cool bucket list. Keep on going and get em all done. I hope when you get all those done you will have more things you want to add to your list.
Thank you.
I haven’t exactly decided what will happen when/if I get all these done.
i strongly recommend ‘invitation to a beheading’ by nabokov. it’s short and sweet and leaves you thinking about it days after finishing it.
Ok!
Duly noted!
Here’s a page about the grapefruit-jalapeno vodka:
http://www.bevindustry.com/articles/88168-svedka-grapefruit-jalapeo-and-svedka-100-proof
Hi cordless! I love to see you posting your bucket list 🙂 however remember this isn’t a test! you DO NOT! Have to report progress every time! do you understand me? i just got home need to make coffee. put on your list help Rocketman write a story! 🙂 i’d appreciate that!!
Wait, what?
I was actually looking forward to posting my progress.
In fact, some of the items (like #1 and #6) even involved making a post.
It’s ok. You don’t have to read my progress posts. That’s the beauty of SP. Anyone who wants to skip my stuff can usually do so with almost no visits from the CIA and FBI.
PROGRESS: I got the smartphone, and called today to activate/register it. They said it will take anywhere from 2 hours to 2 days before the process is complete.
PROGRESS: Planned a map of the route I might take to my driving destination about 3-4 hours away (6-8 hours round trip).
PROGRESS: Listened carefully to the Mozart horn concertos again and started planning possible spots to include in my 12 measures. I have the music and have been practicing it for a couple years. I’ve never recorded myself playing it, though.
rocketman: “Noooo, no progress! Stop making progress!”
cordless: (*evil laughter*)
YES! This isn’t a race dammit! bucket list take time! these are thing’s that you have to do, all the thing’s, not 1,2,3! i appreciate your Planned a map of the route I might take to my driving destination about 3-4 hours away (6-8 hours round trip). but come on! to where? a beach and staying in a rental that has access to the shore, where you can sit in a lounge chair, having cabana boy’s in G strings bringing you drinks and fanning you with palm leaves!, while you pinch their asses! for a week strait! now that’s what i’m talking about! that’s a bucket list item! think big! 🙂
I will be sure to take pictures of my driving trip, so you can all see.
Sadly it will not be able to involve being on a beach.
I can’t walk in sand.
Heck, I can barely walk on pavement.
Can’t afford any rental places or cabins or hotels; plus they always seem to require a credit card for reservations, and I don’t have any. I used to, but got rid of them after a few hellish experiences of being in debt up to my ears. I have no credit cards at all now, which is fine with me because I’m also debt-free.
Instead of cabana boys fanning me with palm leaves, I might have to rely on Plan B, which was you posting a video of yourself singing Alice Cooper while dancing in a purple thong. (Palm leaves optional).
I just realized that not being able to walk in sand means I’ll never be able to stalk you all the way out there in the Arizona desert.
Feel safer?
I’m so sorry about your disablement, it really makes me sad! 🙁 poor baby! AND I MEAN THAT IN A SWEET WAY! Just because you have a hard time doing thing’s that doesn’t mean you can’t! with a little help, were all disabled in one way or another, being disabled in the mind is worse! you have a wonderful mind! you are luckier than others, anything is possible! FDR Was confined to a wheel chair yet he led the country! got reelected 3 times to the presidency! WITH LEG BRACES! We depending on him to get us through a very bad time in human history, AND HE DID! So look it up! and think about that! it’s the truth! you are special 🙂
Oh, I realize there’s still plenty I’m able to do.
I’m just realistic about the things I can’t do.
It’s ok.
On a good day I find ways to have hilarious fun with the things I’m still able to accomplish.
On a bad day I’m a highly-unbalanced freak show who considers singing Disney songs while wearing black leather and plummeting off a cliff while aiming for the sharp rocks below.
Unfortunately, there are no cliffs in Michigan.
None that I can find, anyway.
Hey! Maybe I’ll find some during my 6-8 hour trip!
(LOL.)
remember what you said in this post, funny somethings i wrote before you said them in my new story i haven’t completed yet, i’ll post it tomorrow, “take me out of the ball game”
If you are going to hit up the Russians why not hit up the Chinese classics as well?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_of_the_Red_Chamber <—amazing
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Records_of_a_Floating_Life <—–slow burner
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Sophia%27s_Diary (Ding Ling, a tragic and wonderful accounting of living as a woman in China).
Chinese literature is way under rated. It isn't a good story if it isn't a tragedy. I had a hard time getting used to that when I was working on my degree. Being a westerner, I always want a happy ending. Well happy ending aren't considered good story telling in China.
I’ll check these out, thanks.
I’m looking for something strange, weird, poignant, other-world…
You can see from my “already-read” list that I enjoyed stuff like Frankenstein, Dracula, Edgar Allan Poe, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde…
I’ve also started reading Poe-esque stuff by H.P. Lovecraft.
I have a soft spot in my heart for warped minds. 😉
Have you read any of the cyberpunk movement classics?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Stephenson Snow Crash is still my favorite.
For weird there is always Clive Barker. Imajica is my fav from his but I’ll read anything he pens. He has an amazing children’s book called the Theif of Always he wrote for his daughter. Then there are his illustrated novels Arabat. A quasi children’s book, just amazing stuff.
So many options, possibly so little time!
I have the MoonReader app on my tablet, and I’ve downloaded a ton of free classic literature from the Gutenberg Project. (and similar sources). I have stuff I’ve read decades ago (Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll, Poe) that I might want to re-read. Also more H.P. Lovecraft weirdness. Found some Poe stuff I hadn’t previously read.
Lots of obscure novels and short stories from back in the 1800’s and early 1900’s.
Best of all, it’s free to download that kind of stuff, thanks to the Gutenberg Project making it available.
http://www.gutenberg.org/
Yay for anything I don’t have to pay to download.
Well when you want to read about Candy Quackenbush from Chickentown Minnesota:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abarat
Speaking of short stories, have you read An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce?
http:// www. eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/OccOwl.shtml
I haven’t!
I’m going to have to make a list of all these suggestions you guys have had.
I can’t promise I will read all of them but I will certainly read some. 🙂