100 Things To Do

I've only gotten 35 so far, but it's a work in progress.

1. Go skydiving.
2. Handgun lessons.
3. Taste caviar.
4. Adopt a puppy.
5. Get a passport; use it.
6. Learn Italian.
7. Swim in the Caribbean; maybe snorkeling, maybe scuba diving.
8. Tour the Louvre, the entire Louvre.
9. Tour the Smithsonian.
10. Carnival in Rio.
11. The Incan ruins in Peru. The Mayan ruins in Mexico.
12. White water rafting.
13. The Grand Canyon.
14. Yosemite National Park
15. Take a class; history or literature or anything in the arts.
16. See a geyser.
17. Explore the rainforest.
18. Bungee jump from a bridge.
19. Memorize the (major) constellations.
20. Get a tattoo.
21. Get another tattoo.
22. The Sistine Chapel.
23. The Palace of Versailles.
24. Walk across hot coals.
25. Visit Greece.
26. (Re)Learn Greek mythology.
27. Try absinthe.
28. Study yoga.
29. Attend an opera.
30. Attend a horse race.
31. Attend a dog race.
32. Learn to dance.
33. Learn to play craps.
34. Visit Amsterdam.
35. Bonnaroo Music Festival.

this is my list. it's taken a while and it's nowhere near complete. but i figure, it's a start. there are a few items that i would love to add, but know, deep down, that they would never happen. so they got cut.
this list, in itself, is an accomplishment. up until five years ago, i hadn't done anything on this list, nor did i realize that i was capable of anything on this list. now i know. i can travel by myself to a foreign country. i can try foods that i irrationally fear. i can drive cross-country. i can make spontaneous decisions and not regret them. i can accept a challenge. i can embrace an adventure.

my most recent escape

looking out from the seawall in Reykjavik, Iceland

like sand through the hourglass

WOAH.

it's been 4 years.

that's scary.

happy blogoversary.

outside influences

Instructions: List the names of the 25 writers who have most influenced you. Except I'm only listing 10. Thank you, Lessons Learned.

1. Oscar Wilde, "The Picture of Dorian Gray"
2. Ray Bradbury, "All Summer in a Day" (short story), "Farenheit 451"
3. Aldous Huxley, "Brave New World"
4. George Orwell, "Animal Farm", "1984"
5. Harper Lee, "To Kill A Mockingbird"
6. C.S. Lewis, "The Chronicles of Narnia" (series)
7. F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Great Gatsby"
8. William Shakespeare, "Macbeth"
9. William Goldman, "The Princess Bride"
10. J.K. Rowling, "Harry Potter" (series)

failure

i thought i was stronger than it turns out i am.
i thought i knew more than i know.
i thought i could do what couldn't be done.
i thought i had something to show.

how could i think i was better than that?
how could i be so naive?
how could i trust in all that there is?
how could i so blindly believe?