The List of Fifty

The List of Fifty started in high school.  A motivational speaker came to my school when I was in the 10th grade.  He inspired me to start a list of things I’d like to accomplish in my life.  So I did.  The “list” started as fifty things, but my twist was that everytime I checked one off, I had to add another, so that the list was always fifty.  Some things lean to the mundane (Try Skiing), some are lofty (Go to Space), some just plain time consuming (Go to Every State).  On this page you can see my progress!  But it’s currently under construction…forever!  I still have any number of things to add both done and still yet to do!  It’s a start though…

In no particular order:

• Meet Magic Johnson (DONE – entry posted 2/21/06)
• Host, or be on, a radio show – (FAILED, so far – entry posted on 2/22/06)
• Fly a plane – (DONE – entry posted 3/1/06)
• Go whale watching – (sort of still pending, see entry “Fly a Plane” posted 3/1/06.  I still want to do the whale watching thing from a boat)
• Go to space – (Still pending, see entry posted 3/9/06)
• Sell a work of art (DONE – entry posted 3/26/06)
• Drive the old Route 66 (Still pending, see entry “I Want a Teardrop Camper” posted 4/20/06)
• Go to All the Continents – (6/7’ths completed.  Antarctica pending… – entry posted 5/26/06)
• Ride an Elephant – (DONE – entry posted 8/30/06)
• Go scuba diving – (DONE – no post on it yet!)
• Get a radical new look – (DONE, but not done exactly like I intended yet – entry sort of posted 3/4/07)
• Try rock, or at the very least, rock wall, climbing (Chickened out on rock wall climbing on RCCL cruise to Ensenada 9/21 – 9/24/07.  That fear of heights thing, you know….)
• Go to all fifty states – (I am nearly there!  as of 12/07 I have only four states left…Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and Alaska.  I really do need to do a “quick” roadtrip and knock off those three remaining contiguous states…)
• Go canoeing – DONE (once in a shallow river in Wisconsin, and once in a traditional filipino canoe off the island of Bohol)
• Get driver’s license – DONE (hey, I made this list before I was 16!)
• Go on an African safari – DONE, sort of (Click HERE for post) in August, 2007.
• Try snow skiing – DONE and didn’t like it.
• Try water skiing – Also DONE and didn’t care much for it.
• Go white water rafting – DONE (June 25, 2010)
• Ride in the cab of a train locomotive – DONE (November, 2005 on THIS train!  Awesome.)
• Go sky-diving – I wasn’t yet afraid of heights when I made the list.  I’m doubtful I’ll get to do this one!
• Hike a glacier – I hope to knock this one off when I get to Alaska!
• Climb a mountain – Colorado is full of 14’ers, some I hear are a pretty easy climb.  Hope to check this one off soon!
• Go to Timbuktu – (DONE, spring 2011)
• Get married – I am considering removing this from the list!  Hey, I added that one when I was first creating the list in the 10th grade.  Now it’s just a hope for someday, not something I’m assuming I can “achieve” just by putting my mind to it!
• Have kids – see above!  And I’m getting pretty old now.  Maybe some day I’ll adopt, but I don’t want to give birth anymore.
• Go fishing – DONE (deep sea AND fly!).
• Snowmobiling (is THAT how that is spelled???)
• Walk on the great wall of China – DONE, September 1982.
• Have a book published – I have a number of books in progress, none even close to being ready for submission to a publisher.
• Get skinny – Riiiiiiiiiight…..  😉
• Meet Dan Quayle
• Go on a sailing adventure – DONE, but not as I envisioned.  Did a weekend sailing thing with friends back in 2000 to Catalina island.  I’d still like to do a BIG sailing adventure.
• Enjoy financial independence by 40 – DONE, pretty much anyway, by the grace, and through the generosity, of God.  It lasted briefly, until I made a bad financial decision by getting into a business arrangement with a relative and got taken…but it felt good enough so that I am working my way back again!  🙂
• Learn to golf – Hmmmm.  I have golfed and own clubs, but have I truly learned how to play?  If you ever watch me golf, you’ll probably say, “Uhhhh, that’d be a big NO.”  I always forget that you can’t take a practice swing when you’re trying to hit the ball out of the sand trap!  🙂
• Go to Machu Picchu – DONE.  Check out a few of the pics HERE.
• Go to Cuba – DONE.  I put this one on the list originally because it was the only country at the time, at least that I was aware of, that Americans were not allowed to visit.  I never dreamed I’d actually get to go there.  But I did!  Will post more on the lovely people and country later, but here’s one opinion post I did on Cuba that you can check out.
• Have a white Christmas – DONE Christmas of 2006.  It wasn’t even expected by the weather forecast!  I never dreamed when this was an original on the list that I’d get my white Christmas because I’d moved to Colorado!
• Go to the annual Assateague to Chincoteaque pony swim and penning in Virginia
• See the northern (or southern) lights
• See a total solar eclipse
• White Water Rafting in Class IV rapids

I still have so many things to add here, it’s ridiculous!  🙂  I should really spend some time getting this page up to date…maybe tomorrow!  🙂

In the meantime, check out Lady Luck’s “List of Twenty One” on her blog “A Curious State of Affairs.

…