My Bucket List

I know of a couple of people who have a bucket list and going skydiving recently makes me think of the one I had in 11th grade.

On bike rides I randomly think of things, and on this ride it was about my bucket list.

My 11th grade list was supposed to be 100 items long, so I am going to list 100 things or more that I want to do in life.

None of these are in any order whatsoever.

First of all some of the ones off of the list:

1. Skydiving (I remember writing this in 11th grade and going...yeah, but you will never do that)
2. Birdie a golf hole (I did mine on a short Par 3)
3. Be on Television (I saw myself in a suit on the nightly news once when I got home...they were interviewing Coach Auriemma and I was in the background.  I was also interviewed for WTNH once...I literally turned on TV and saw myself on a suit)
4. Shoot a gun (I just did that)
5. Run a mile in under six minutes (accomplished that this spring)
6. Control/Drive the Goodyear Blimp
7. Learn how to waterski
8. Learn how to wakeboard
9. Make a three pointer in Gampel Pavilion (Thank You Greg)
10. Make a half court shot
11. Go in goal against a National Team Player for a PK (Thank You Taylor, and for the record I saved nothing)
12. Interview someone famous
13. Find out genealogical information on the Palmer side of the family (This is sort of never ending, but finding the grave of my great great grandfather was something I wanted to do)
14. Plant a vegetable or fruit, take care of it (or just pray it rains a lot), and then eat it.  (I grew a green bean and ate it...yes 1 green bean out of 25 seeds)
15. Chop down a tree with an axe  (Yes I really wanted to do that in my life.  Sad, but true)
16. Bowl over a 200 (I got a 203 once...300 would be cool, but not sure I'm going to bowl my life away trying to do so)
17. Make a 30 minute movie all by myself (Thank You UCWS for allowing me to do that)
18. Eat Sushi (most people don't know I really don't like seafood, so eating sushi once was an accomplishment.  My dad got me to eat it by not telling me what it was)
19. Touch a snake (I did that on a field trip because a kid said he wouldn't shake my hand ever again if I did)
20. Take an air boat tour through the everglades
21. Run the bases at a Major League Baseball Stadium (Shea Stadium, SkyDome and the Metrodome)
22. Go to top of a skyscraper (Went to The CN Tower in Toronto)
23. Go Whitewater Rafting (would like to go again, but I have done it)
24. Be able to play an instrument (I mean I guess you should do that before you die.  I could play the  Clarinet in Elementary School)
25. Write a press release (I'll admit it, it's cool to see something you wrote online, and even better when a news organization uses it and you see it there...thanks WMUR)
26. Start a blog so that I could share my ideas and experiences and maybe one day let family members who never got to know me, get to know me better. (I did that..almost 10,000 views and I intentionally never publicized it)
27. Community Service - (I've done some and this should be on going..leave world better place than I found it)
28. Be in four places/states at once (Hey it's cool to say I was in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah at once)
29. Go Para sailing (Did that in Hawaii)
30. Have a 4.0 for a semester (Did that for my last two semesters...I really did want to do that)


Now to things I want to accomplish, and have yet to do:

1. Become a father - seriously, I'm putting that on my list.  It's a good accomplishment in life.
2. Owning a house on Lake Winnipesaukee with a boat, two jet-skis and two kayaks
3. Go to all 50 states (I have 34 down and 16 to go)
4. Go to every continent (why not, I've only been to one so far)
5. Fly in a fighter jet (I have no idea how to make that happen)
6. Complete a Marathon
7. Complete a Biathlon
8. Bench Press 225 pounds (The most I have ever done is 215, and I can't quite do that right now, so got some work to do)
9. Attend a Super Bowl
10. Play a round of golf overlooking the water or mountains
11. Catch a Tarpon while fishing
12. Go skydiving at an age older than my grandfather
13. Drive a race-car
14. Learn how to speak German (My grandpa speaks it, and we have some family things from my moms side written in German.  My great grandpa was actually a POW in China in World War I for Germany)
15. Taking a spontaneous vacation for myself
16. Hike Mount Washington
17. Do the Mount Washington Hill Climb (I'm cringing writing that.  It's a bike ride up the Mount Washington's auto-road..atleast try it...)
18. Drive a Harley Davidson motorcycle (I love the sound of them, so why not actually ride one)
19. Fly a plane
20. Learn how to snow-ski
21. Learn how to snowboard
22. Jump the wake on a wakeboard
23. Attend a Daytona 500
24. Complete a 120 mile bike ride
25. Hit a hole in one in real golf
26. Watch a certain player play in a UCONN jersey again (we will cross that off in 2013 or 2014)
27. Help out after a practice/or our own shooting practice with a certain athlete (Didn't get to happen this spring, but will another time) 
28. Learn how to surf
29. Make a half court shot in a famous arena
30. Catch a fish with the new fishing rod I bought...because I haven't in three years...Other rods work, but not this one...this would feel like a life's accomplishment sadly.   
31. Have a full time job (would be nice to have one, you know?)
32. Go clay disk shooting (Take a rifle and hit clay disks)
33. Hit a bulls-eye with a bow and arrow.
34. Complete my collection of license plates from all 50 states
35. Meet a U.S. President
36. Have my own library in my house, including a positive book on every U.S. President
37. Learn how to Ice Skate (I've done a little bit of Ice Skating, but not much)
38. Go bungee jumping (I think this is worse than skydiving because you see the ground coming at you fast)
39. Take a part a car engine and put it back together
40. Build a potato gun
41. Attend a Dallas Cowboys game in Dallas
42. Accomplish the Seven Sacraments minus the Holy Orders because I won't be a priest (Thank You Greg)
43. Attend the UCWS's first National Championship Win
44. Run for a position in which you have to receive votes (It would be cool to say you were elected)
45. Retire one day
46. Learn how to salsa dance (Don't ask...I just do)
47. Irish Dance (Don't ask...I just do)
48. Go to Germany, Ireland, and England...(the three main Nationalities that I am made up of)
49. Attend an Arsenal Premier League Game
50. Attend a World Cup game
51. Attend a Olympic track and field event
52. Write a book (I really enjoy boring all of the people who read this so why not continue to do so with a book...on what will I write it about??)
53. Karaoke (I have zero desire to do this, so someone will need to get me drunk.  Honestly)
54. Host a Thanksgiving and Christmas for family (I hope I don't regret this one)
55. Start my own business.
56. Bake something without any help from anyone.  I can't have any life lines.
57. Learn how to dive into a pool properly, including doing a backflip
58. Learn a trick shot in pool
59. Beat someone in Darts
60. Be able to do Yoga by myself (I have high blood pressure, good way to self medicate)
61. Go camping in the woods
62. Paint or draw a picture worthy of being displayed
63. I'm stealing this from someone else's list because it's a good idea, See the Seven Natural Wonders of the World (Grand Canyon is done...but want to go back)
64. Go to the top floor of a skyscraper in New York
65. Make my own Maple Syrup
66. Go on a European Vacation including Big Ben and Eifel Tower
67. Watching the Running of the Bulls (Not actually running, because that seems stupid)
68. Go to Hollywood (already been to California...and Hollywood, Florida, but not Hollywood California)
69. Be in a movie...being an extra is fine
70. Get a photograph published (Stole that from someone online)
71. Become a Millionaire (Lottery here I come...but I should be able to earn that one day if I work hard)
72. Drive a Tank
73. Stay awake for 24 straight hours (not sure if I have ever done that yet.  Was close with red-eye flight once)
74. Eat Alligator Meat - Team manager gave me that one
75. Eat a meal that doesn't require me to go to the store to get anything
76. Go a week without having Candy, or Syrup
77. Build a dock or something complex out of wood
78. Grow and maintain a garden (I sort of have, but my grandma said I couldn't so I will now..yes I am a guy but I want to do this)
79. Catch a penalty kick with my hands
80. Learn how to play tennis without hitting the ball over the fence
81. Drive a golf ball 300 yards (I'm pretty sure I have hit them 270 or farther.  I never know if the markers are accurate or not though...I can't believe I can hit them that far)
82. Become known among my family and friends as someone who can cook/grill amazing filet mignon/steak
83.  Light a firework
84. Go snowmobiling
85. Be a known historian/expert in something...anything
86. Take a road trip across the country and only eat at local restaurants.  (Including EATS Diner in Seekonk, MA and Birch Street Bistro in Boston...Free plugs are always good)
87. If I have a family, have all formal dinners end with a good story or something that makes people laugh. 
88. Play a practical joke on my boss (but not my first boss of a paying job)
89. Buy a new car unannounced
90. Coach a team (coach anything, a youth team..I just want to coach something before I die)
91. Learn how to flip turn in a pool
92. Score a goal in a rec soccer game (11v11)
93. Score a header for a goal in soccer (could combine these two if lucky)
94. Bike across the country (my friend Meghan Nanfeldt has done this and I think my Aunt wants too)


Allow my list to go over 100 (it does now when you add what I have already done to what I want to do) especially when necessary.  Never stop, even if I complete everything

Two final things.

Add to the list
Accomplish something from the list every year.

And two extras - If I learn to enjoy swimming - then going scuba diving and completing a triathlon


This bucket list makes me think about how I want to live my life.  I want to live through the Jackie Robinson quote "A life is unimportant except for the impact it has on others."  I want to have fun and accomplish things.  I also want to teach people things and make others better.  

I'll end this with a quote from my grandpa that I try to remember "Try everything legal once before you die."