Bucket List

High School: this probably sounds super silly, but before I leave Lexington for college I want to go to Goodfellas, order the largest pizza, and eat the whole thing. Maybe I'll set some record while doing it, but that's beyond the point.

College: I'd like to study abroad, see the world, and make unforgettable memories. I'd also like to join the Peace Corps and help those in other countries. I also want to learn to sail.

Life: I want to make a positive difference. Whether that be as a doctor helping impoverished global citizens or as a businesswoman pushing the use of alternative energy or as an astrophysicist discovering the combined law of the universe, we have yet to see.

Assignment 18: plastics

Most of the advice we receive in our lives is unsolicited and quite frankly inane.  However, every once in a while we get a real gem and changes our trajectory.  What is the one piece of advice given to you that has stuck?  Explain its effect.

(Prompt inspired by Mary Austin)

Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday, February 3rd at 11:59 pm

#1) Live

In life or in personality inventories (don't judge. personality tests are my favorite thing ever), when I come to the question "Do you have trouble making decisions?" I initially answer no, and then I feel the urge to say yes, but in the next moment I want to say no again, so there I sit for a good 30 seconds, oscillating between no and yes, thinking of all the times I have had to make decisions. The irony is not lost on me, making the answer obviously no. I offer this long, pointless story as an explanation of sorts for why my answers to the following three questions contain a million things. Because I can't choose just one. 

High School- Survive with humor and sanity in tact. I would like to emerge from the cinder-block hell with a better understanding of myself and what I want to spend my finite time on earth doing. I often feel that I have little to show for my time in high school, but this is okay, as long as my time spent over the last four years has given me insight into myself and my passions.

College- My number one for this category would most likely be considered crude and inappropriate for a school blog. Kidding, of course. not really. So I will tell you my number two item on my bucket list. I have never been extremely involved in artistic expression but in the past few years a desire to create has arisen in me and I want to do some playing around with arts of different mediums and see if there exists in me any possibility to create beauty. If  I end up creating things that even a toddler would be ashamed of,  I would then like to find what I can devote my life to in order to make a difference in lives of other people. Oh, and I want to vote for Hillary Clinton for President, although that is slightly out of my hands.

Death- My items for high school and college are extremely vague because I find it dangerous to plan the details of ones life so rigidly that you miss out on the side attractions that pop up along the way. However, there are a number of things that I want to have accomplished before I die. I want to fall in love with someone so deeply that it hurts to be away from them (Hi, my name is Josh and I am a hopeless romantic.(I blame Disney. I still can't decide if  I will let my kids watch the princess movies when they are young and impressionable.)) Anyway. I want to travel around this beautiful country of America and see the rest of the world as well. I want to have a positive impact on the world, although I have no idea how that might  look like. Ultimately, I want to be able to look back on my life and know that I sure as hell did not waste it. 

*did I even answer the prompt? idk. But I really dont have the time to care. Its 11:35 and i am so drunk (tired) that the computer looks like it is sinking into my table. oh well. night


**Micheal Summer I just read your post and I am stealing one of your bucket list thingys. Never retire. Whether or not I do one profession forever is unimportant, but I do not want to retire at 62 and sit on my ass watching reruns of honey boo boo eating cheetohs until I finally keel over at 75. I'll be damned if I go out without a fight and that fight shall include working passionately on something, so passionately that I will need to be buried with my work in the event that consciousness remains after death, so that I can continue to work.--However, I may re-examine this sentiment when I reach 62 and am dog tired.


okay. im done. 

not worth reading

Disclaimer: I am limited in the amount of time I can spend on this blog post because as of yesterday I have a newly acquired Canis lupus familiaris who has not spent much time on this earth and accordingly likes to defecate in the wrong places. As a result I’ll make this relatively quick.

Number one? I don’t know. Be independent. Grow a spine. I feel like a Felis catus some days. I need to take more initiative. I need to be more proactive. I need to go after what I want. It’s just so hard when it’s second semester of junior year and really I just don’t feel like doing anything.

I need to get some confidence. I’m ashamed to say that, even after writing an entire blog post addressing my desire to never once more give a damn, I have given so many damns that I may as well hand them out to the needy. Not giving a damn and learning to be confident are crafts that must be mastered carefully, so I promise myself that I will continue to practice.

I also need to get my license. And figure out how I’m ever going to pay for a car. Essentially I’m going to have to dedicate my life to the research of combining  Sus scrofa domesticus and birds to make one fly.

Before I finish college, I’d like to have taken steps toward being someone whose life is dedicated to philanthropy. I want to live life without seeing myself. I have one life to live, and if I live it for myself then I’ll have meant nothing in the grand scheme of things.

I want to have a direction. I don’t want to meander meaninglessly through life. I want to have mastered Chinese and visited China and Taiwan. I want to know Spanish. I want a job. I want friends who’ll last. I want to write well. I want to write with conviction. I want my writings in a newspaper or magazine. I want my short stories published. I want to have a talent I never even envisioned myself being capable of. I want to be able to speak comfortably in front of large crowds (I’m actually a reasonably calm public speaker, considering what the norm is. But still.)

Before I die, I want to have published at least two books. I want to have read almost every classic I can think of on a plane or train or boat headed to another country. I want to keep and hold dear the friends I have always known would be instrumental in my life. I want to adopt a kid. I want a significant other I have a mutual understanding with. I don’t know. I figure I’ll figure it out on the way. Hopefully. Probably.

Another of my goals is to not write boring, cliché blog posts like the one above. Sorry if you had to read that. I’m usually more interesting, honest.

Very Boring and Utilitarian. Consider yourself warned

High School-

1.      Get accepted to an awesome college

2.      Learn to whistle

3.      Grow a fake mustache

4.      Run from the tardy team

5.      Be impressive

This last one sort of ties in with the first one. I think it is the goal of everyone in the academy to look impressive on their application, and this is something that really has defined a lot of my goals and the activities I choose to reach those goals. To achieve this would be to have a successful high school career.

College-

1.      Choose a good, practical career plan

2.      Have fun

3.      Get good grades

I understand that this is a pretty lame and ambiguous list, but I really don’t have many big plans for college besides to do well in school.

Life-

1.      Be completely economically self sufficient

2.      Have a pet with a normal name

3.      When I get old and weak, replace my failing body parts with neurorobotic prosthetics, allowing me to live well beyond normal human life span

This first one has always been important to me, as you might remember from my last blog post. Money has become a great limiting or empowering factor in our time, and I don’t want that to negatively affect me. I also like the last one. Some people say that living forever would be a curse, but I don’t think it’d be so bad.

 

So much to do, so much to see

High School:
1. Stop worrying so much
2. Get accepted to George Washington University
3. Get a car and get driving already
4. Attend a music festival
5. Go on an adventure, just me and some friends, no parental supervision
Number 1 there is something that really could be a life goal for me, and in all likelihood it will be, but its something that I would like to have mostly completed by the end of high school. It seems sometimes as though anxiety and worrying have taken over my life, and by the time I go to college I want to be able to deal with stress and doubt without it turning into a crisis. This is something I need to do for myself, but I think in a lot of ways it will also help the people I care about even more.

College:
1. Find my passion
2. Travel abroad
3. Pursue a cause with unbridled vigor and passion
4. Become involved in a community
5. Find an exercise activity of some kind that I enjoy and do it regularly
Number 1 on this list is something I worry about now, but I've gotten to the point where I at least recognize that it can wait. Oftentimes I worry that I've so far failed to stumble upon my passion, that one thing I feel I can dedicate my life to and never regret it. It might be that I've found it already and just don't realize. But college is a time for self-discovery, when so many new opportunities open up for one to try. I hope that in exploring different subjects, activities, and areas of interest in college that I will come to find that special passion I long for.

Life:
1. Leave the world better than I found it
2. Spend it with people that make me happy
3. Hold public office (at some level)
4. Become fluent, not just in a language, but in a culture
5. Have my writing published (in a newspaper, in a journal, in a magazine, whatever)
6. Never retire
Whatever that passion is that I find, I want it to let me leave the world a better place than I found it. At least, as far as my actions are concerned. Whatever scale that might be - whether it's improving the life of one adopted kid, or being at the front of a movement that makes a whole class of people happier - that is my ultimate goal in life.It's the measure of my success. The question I'll be asking myself on my deathbed: "Did I do this world a favor by living in it?" I hope the answer is yes.

What a Pathetic, Mostly-Empty Bucket...

I don't have many goals or dreams.  So have a series of very small lists.

High School:
I think my number one priority in the next year and a half is to find some sport, any sport, to get back into.  I've played like four or five different sports in my life, but stuck to none of them.  It's past time to try something new.  Maybe cross-country?  I dunno.  Other smaller things include attending a con, going on a long car trip solo (or combine the last two!), going hunting (never actually done that...), and backpacking in the Rockies once more before I go off to college.  And speaking of...

College:
The biggest thing on this list is to hike a significant portion of the Appalachian Trail.  Like... at least over 200 miles.  I could probably do that in a good two weeks... maybe even less.  Who knows?  Other stuff on my list: eating Ramen for every meal for a whole week, just to get the full college experience.  Also, I want to get completely hammered and wake up face-down in a stranger's front lawn, invent something completely useless but file a patent anyway, go to Europe (specifically Great Britain (specifically Cardiff)), and run into some random celebrity in a Starbucks and pretend to have never heard of them (Spoiler Alert: I may not be pretending).

Life:
My number one priority in life: have fun.  Yes, I know.  Cheesy, but so true.  And if that fun leaves me homeless and/or in prison?  Whatever.  No regrets.  Now, the minor stuff on the list.  I wanna climb one of those big peaks.  Either one of the 8000+ meter ones or one of the biggest on each continent.  I've heard Kilamanjaro is the easiest of the latter (maybe I can catch a lift with one of Dr. Swanson's expeditions...).  I also want to... uh... be famous?  Start a chain of Chinese take-out joints and convince everyone that they're authentic?  Piss on some famous monument?  I'm running out of ideas here...


So yeah.  Clearly, some of the above things are facetious.  More are not.  The difficult part is figuring out which are serious and which aren't.  We could make a game out of it!  Write down on a piece of paper all the things you think I was joking about and give it to me between now and Wednesday.  Highest score gets... something?  I'll think of it later.

Bucket List

High School

Since I am not 18 and need to get into college, this one is probably the most boring sounding. My number one thing is to get into a good college and be happy and blah blah. Other weird bucket list things would include professing my love to a stranger, stay up all night before school (never been someone like Harris who does this every night, much less one time), and sneaking into some park or pool or lake at night and going swimming. Ohh, going ice skating downtown in the middle of the night.  and show up to a very formal occasion in pajamas.

College

Everyone says college is the craziest times of your life, so this is the time for some "I'm young" fun bucket lists. Number one:go skydiving!! i love heights and the thrill of this. Number two but more like number one: qualify for the olympic trials. This has been my dream ever since I was little and went to them as a spectator, so I hope to achieve this in 2016!! There are lots of other weird things I want to do in college, but I'm unsure of the specifics of each of these.

Life

Number one: Do an iron man, I mean how cool would it be to say you've done that? Go to all 7 continents and every state! Antarctica may be tough.. Before having kids, play a joke on someone and act like their kids are yours. Get a match.com, put reaaallllyyy weird fake things about yourself and go on a date with the most eccentric person I can find. This would be hilarious, and I half have done this, making a match called "bigpapa69" to stalk a family member's match. LOL but actually going on the date would be hilarious. If you can't tell, I really like bucket list things and really get a thrill out of doing stuff that would probably be considered bucket list material, so I hope to do lots of things!

Maybe a little too ambitious

To be completely honest I know what I want to do with my life but yet I don't really know. There is a hundred or so things that are primarily a little far fetched but I dream big.
1. Miss Dance of Ohio
    Before I finish high school, I want to be a title holder. I've been participating in dance title scholarship competitions since the 6th grade when I was in Junior Miss and now I am in Miss and honestly, I want to win. Its shallow, and I know it but I've come too close to give up now. I took a year off due to injuries and my mom made me and I came back to win and didn't, but next year I am coming back with vengeance.
2. Radio City Music Hall
    Before graduating college, I would love to be Rockette for a year. The rational behind only being a Rockette for a year is that I would honestly not be able to go to school from September to December and I really want to graduate on time. So if I could possibly take a semester off from school and either take classes online or the dreaded summer school. I want to be seen on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and the Christmas Parade and dance at Radio City Music Hall. I've been dancing since I was three and I don't want to dance professionally as my career, so essentially after high school, if I don't become a Rockette or be on a college dance team, I am quitting cold turkey.
3. That Person
    I actually have a bucket list note on my phone, but the only thing I have on my bucket list is the learn par-core. I would love to be able to be walking down the streets and just run and back flip off a tree trunk. Yes I want to grow up and get married, have a family, a successful career and live a happy, meaningful life. I want that cookie cutter life, but ever since I learned what par-core was I have wanted to learn. I have no deep motivation for wanting to learn other than its cool and I don't think I need any deeper rational. I just want to and I do pretty much what I want.

Lists

High School:
Before I graduate high school, I want to learn to play a song on the guitar. This might seem like a small goal, but I have always wanted to be able to play an instrument, but I have never had the time. I also am not putting "learn how to play the guitar" because I probably won't have enough time to learn it well. "Twinkle, Twinkle" will suffice.

College:
Spanish!!!! I want to be fluent in Spanish by the time I graduate college. I am planning on minoring in Spanish (if my major allows), and spending a semester abroad in Spain. Hopefully, with these two things, my goal will be reachable. I think being bilingual will help me a lot in the business world, and Spanish is a widely-spoken language. On a side note: its kinda sad that I am not already fluent considering the fact I have taken Spanish since 1st grade, oh well!

Life:
I want to travel to all 7 continents. I have always loved to travel, and this goal had been a dream of mine for a long time. I think people need to see the world in person, not just in pictures, or else it doesn't count. Yes, this does include Antarctica.  

Bucket Lists

High School Bucket List 
I really don't know what I want to put on here. I'm not exactly creative so... I've always wanted to do a handstand. This is perhaps not the biggest achievement ever but people at Wildcat Aquatics would probably know what I'm talking about. I cannot get myself to stand upside down. It freaks me out and I quite literally fall on my neck every time I try. So while I am still somewhat in my childhood I would like to do a handstand.

College Bucket List
By this time hopefully I'll be a good enough runner, swimmer, and biker to complete a triathlon (maybe an Ironman since we're dreaming big here). I've been a swimmer most of my life and I loved it when we ran for dryland at swim practice. Can't say I've biked that much but hey, it's a bucket list. I've always like challenging myself (physically and mentally) so doing three sports at once for the hardest race in the world seems like a good place to start.

Life Bucket List
Since I am the youngest of four kids I've always had somebody to take care of me. I want to be able to take care of somebody else. I've never been considered a leader alongside my fellow classmates - I'm not outgoing, I don't teach very well, etc. - but that doesn't mean that I don't want to make a difference in life. The top thing on my bucket list for life is probably to make an impact on others for the better whether I'm stopping childhood obesity or training therapy dogs (very cliche but who wants to end life without being able to say "I helped save a life" or "I've made somebody happy in life?").

Future Goals

1. High School: Read the Bible.
    This might sound foolish, but I've always wanted to read the Bible completely through. It may not be in the right order, (because I started in Psalms) but the point is I want to be able to say I've read the entire Bible. I'm a Christian and I'd like to be able to know more about what faith is about. I don't want to just turn to God when life gets a little tough, but I want to be able to have a specific time set aside for being in the word and learning more about my religion. 

2. College: Learn Spanish.
    I started speaking French in sixth grade and when I got to high school I decided to just keep up with it (well my parents decided, to be more exact). I'm really big on doing mission work, and the summer after my freshman year I went to Guatemala. The language barrier was a little more than tough. While I still had a great experience and we communicated through more than just words, I'd like to be able to communicate while visiting these countries. This summer I'm going to Honduras and I know the language barrier will yet again create an obstacle, but in future mission trips, I'd like to be able to speak to the people I'm working with in their own language.

3. Life: Create and be happy with myself.
    There's a lot of things I'd like to have accomplished  before I die, but the main one that will ultimately lead to all the other things I'd like to do is to simply create myself and be happy with whatever I become. Someone once said that life isn't about finding yourself, but about creating yourself. And I think that is exactly right. Right now, I don't really know who I am or where I stand on a lot of things. Maybe I'll end up creating the person I'm supposed to be tomorrow, next year, or maybe not until I'm over 30 years old. But whenever that time comes, I want to be able to be happy with myself and know myself better than anyone else does. 

Goals

Bucket lists are somewhat depressing to me: They are akin to New Year's resolutions in that they can be overly optimistic in their ambitious proposals. While it may be natural to strive for and purse such grandiose dreams, unaccomplished goals can often leave one feeling discouraged and unsatisfied.

Despite my cautious attitudes towards ambitious undertakings, I have nevertheless generated a bucket list of my own for goals I would really like to accomplish in my life. For now, I will focus on those goals I would like to accomplish before graduating from high schools. I already accomplished one of these goals by making the Henry Clay Baseball team last year, yet I still have numerous endeavors left unfulfilled. For instance, before graduating from high school, I would like to make the cross country varsity team (as opposed to the junior varsity team in which I have been a member fro the past three years). I would also like to compete in a hot dog eating contest, or something else ridiculous of that nature.

My high school bucket list is rather boring—I must admit. My college ambitions, however, are anything but uninteresting. Before I finish college, I hope I will have become amazingly awesome at guitar, reveling in my newfound ability to jam to my favorite rock anthems. I would also like to travel across this vast country by motorcycle and experience life on the road in other states, with nothing but a few meager essentials and sanitary supplies, money, and a restless need for adventure without the heavy burdens of responsibility. Lastly, a mullet or a beard would be sweet.

As for general ambitions that I wish to accomplish at some point in my life, I would like to go mountain hiking with my dad; we have been planning this trip for a while now, so it might even happen before I graduate from college. Far more ambitious than my desire for traveling across America, I would like, at some point in time, to travel to various important sights and cities across the globe. Basically, I'm a dreamer who yearns to experience it all, although this is in no way anything to feel ashamed of. To quote a great man with a similar longing for adventure, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."—Ferris Bueller, Ferris Bueller's Day Off