Life List

So this weekend, in between bouts of sleeping and randomly searching the Interwebs for useless shit, I got the idea to create a "bucket" list...then decided that sounded too depressing so I changed it to my Life List...or Things to Try before I Die.

Now some of the things on my list are awesome/awe-inspiring (at least to me) and others are rather mundane, however they are all things that I have not done before. My goal is, I think, to complete everything on the list before I turn 60. Math: that's 20 years from March.

Here's the first 20 items on my list:

1. Camping.
2. Hiking.
3. White water rafting.
4. See Yellowstone National Park.
5. Walk on a glacier.
6. Ride a gondola in Venice.
7. Learn to ride a horse.
8. Visit the Rodin museum in Paris.
9. Learn to play golf.
   
10. Learn to ski.
11. Go rollerskating again.
12. Learn to sail.
13. Learn to play tennis.
14. See the Great Barrier Reef.
15. Walk on a volcano.
16. Tour the Taj Mahal in India.
17. Go on safari in Africa.
18. See the pyramids at Giza.
19. Visit a rainforest. (preferably one that still has trees.)
20. Become fluent in French.
    

In the immediate future I'm trying to knock out: #1-3, maybe around Spring Break of this year.

2010...What to do with it?

A new decade has begun. Most people are reviewing the past year/decade and analyzing what it all meant. I can't be bother with that, so instead I'll take a look at what I did this decade, no analysis involved.

What did I do?

• Moved 5 times: San Diego (2000-01); back to Austin (2001-02); Houston (2003-05); Austin (2005-now);
• Law school for a brief year and a half;
  
• Grad school: earned a Master's degree in Literature;
• Began teaching 8th grade English.

Where did I go? The list is somewhat chronological (to the best of my memory):

• Denver, CO
• Utah - remind me to tell you about trying to outrun a blizzard and driving only 20 mph across most of the freaking state
  
• Las Vegas, NV
  
• San Diego, CA
• Tijuana, Mexico
• San Francisco, CA
• Los Angeles, CA
• New Orleans, LA
  
• Lexington, KY
  
• Baltimore, MD
• New York City, NY - 3 times!!
• New Haven, CT
• Virginia Beach, VA
  
• Seattle, WA
• Memphis, TN
• random parts of Kentucky
  
• all over the Texas Hill Country
• London, England
• Paris, France
  

My mother died in 2004 so no matter what else may have happened to make the decade great and interesting for me, it still sucked more than I can ever say.

Plans for 2010?

There are several ideas on the table for what to do with this year; as much as I like to plan, I'm not crazy enough to plan the whole decade. This past decade did teach me that randomness is a major part of my life and there's no getting around it.

So here's what I've set in motion for 2010, much depends on the outcome of #1

1. Doctoral program in Literature at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, or
   
2. teach in UK, or
   
3. move to NYC, or
4. move to Philadelphia anyway.
   

UPenn sends out the decisions in late February/early March, so no plans can be formulated until I know what's happening with them. On the one hand, I would dearly love to be admitted; on the other, I want to move to the UK. Of course the two are not mutually exclusive, it would just take me a little longer to do both.

And NYC, well, that's a huge, huge move to make considering the cost of living and how crowded it is. But it's fantastic there, okay, so it's a little uriny during the summer and it snows and is very cold during winter, but it's NEW YORK CITY! And I can get a job there.

Honestly, I need to live somewhere that is exciting and interesting and dynamic in a way that I like and crave. Austin's okay but it's not me and I really can't figure out why I'm here. I think that's the best indicator that it's time for me to leave.