I had a realization as I traveled through Australia. I had, up until that point, been living my life with 100% certainty that modern medicine would advance to the point where, in 50 years, I wouldn’t have to live with the consequences of my actions. That’s a decent way to life, if not the longest way. I thus wrote down everything I wanted to accomplish in my life before I turn 70. Here’s my bucket list. I’m making headway.
- Save a life
- Jump out of a plane alone
- Publish a book
- Self-release a music album (any genre)
- Have a child
- Ride a motorcycle across a border in South America
- Walk from the Shire to Mount Doom
- Go to Burning Man
- Have a successful business
- Get an awesome scar
- Get a tattoo
- Take a bullet (preferably for somebody else)
- Get a standing ovation
- Scream at the top of my lungs from a mountaintop
- Befriend a wild animal (not just meet one)
- Kiss a celebrity
- Get a broken vehicle running
Run into a friend by chance in another country, with no idea they’d be there.
- Have my heart broken
- Break a leg
- Organize and hold a music festival
- Go to a festival every week for an entire summer
- Design and live in a kickass apartment
- Spend a night in jail
- Marry a foreigner
- Visit both poles
- Catch (and release) a marlin
- Swim with a wild whale
- Do something incredible and keep it a secret
- Give a Best Man’s toast at a wedding
- Create a family recipe and hand it down to my children
- Complete the Mongol Rally and/or the Rickshaw Run
- Run a marathon in a stupid costume
- Get over my fear of jellyfish
- Swim with sharks
- Get bitten by a shark and punch it back
- Shoot the shit with a local in their own tongue
- Meet idol Chip Conley
- Hike the Appalachian Trail
- Homebrew a beer and don’t spit it out in disgust
Fly a plane
- Longboard bomb down a long and winding road
- Fill a journal with the signatures of people that I meet
- Sleep in a port-o-ledge
- Protest for something I believe in
- Rescue a dog and nurse it back to health
- Go to space
- Eat food prepared by a master chef
- Appear on a television game show
- Pick up/be a hitchhiker
- Snowboard under the Aurora
- Visit (maybe die gallantly in) the exact antipode of my birthplace