{"id":4713,"date":"2013-03-11T10:00:11","date_gmt":"2013-03-11T14:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theamateurfinancier.com\/?p=4713"},"modified":"2014-03-27T14:19:15","modified_gmt":"2014-03-27T18:19:15","slug":"my-bucket-list-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theamateurfinancier.com\/blog\/my-bucket-list-so-far\/","title":{"rendered":"My Bucket List (So Far…)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been thinking a great deal lately about bucket lists<\/span>, that is, lists of things that people want to do before they die. There’s quite a few reasons this has been on my mind, with my medical issues (one year ago, I was recovering from a major seizure<\/span><\/a>) and my new daughter being top on the list. Being reminded of my mortality on a regular basis helps to ensure that I consider what I want to do before I pass on. Having someone new (besides my wife and other members of my family) with whom I’d like to share many of these places and events also helps to ensure that I am all the more eager to do some great things before I die.<\/p>\n

The question then becomes, what do I want to do? There’s a lot of possibilities out there, with hundreds of skills to master, thousands of locations to visit, and millions of achievements to accomplish around the world. It would also be always increasing, as there are new things arising that I could do and new places I find out about. There’s no way to ever call it complete, at least, until I do kick the bucket and can now longer do anything else.<\/p>\n

\"Aw,<\/a>
Aw, the bucket, the thing everyone hopes to avoid kicking<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With that in mind, call this a first draft bucket list. I don’t expect this to be all the goals I would like to complete before I die, nor do I expect it to ever end. But it’s nice to have some ideas of what to do in future, if only to have an idea of the goals I would like to meet. Luckily, there are plenty of bucket lists out there to give me some ideas. I’ve included some notes where I thought that my choices might need some explanation (or simply wanted to talk about them some more). \u00a0Without further ado, let’s get onto the bucket list itself:<\/p>\n

Roger’s Bucket List<\/h1>\n

Languages To Master<\/h2>\n

There are many things I’d like to learn before I die. One of the greatest pleasures in my life to this point has been learning, and being able to speak, read, and write in languages other than English would be a tremendous experience. My first bucket list tasks are thus to master the following languages:<\/p>\n

1. Japanese<\/strong> – Why Japanese? Well, my wife Sondra and I are fans of Japanese culture and would like to visit there and communicate with the natives. Hence, top on my list of languages to learn, even thought it is probably the hardest.<\/p>\n

2. Spanish<\/strong><\/p>\n

3. German<\/strong> – My family is largely German, so it could help me talk to some distant, or even relatively close, relatives, among other people.<\/p>\n

4. French<\/strong><\/p>\n

5. Hebrew<\/strong> \u2013 I’m a big fan of Jewish culture, and it would be nice to learn more about it in the original language. Being able to read the Torah in Hebrew, in particular, would be an incredible experience.<\/p>\n

These are hardly the only languages I’d like to learn, but a complete list (which would consist of most of the languages in the world) would make this fairly long blog entry even longer.<\/p>\n

Other Skills To Learn<\/h2>\n

Speaking of things to learn, there’s quite a few things on my list that I’d like to be able to do before I kick the bucket. Before I go to write for that great big blog in the sky, I’d want to be able to:<\/p>\n

6. Ride a Bike<\/strong> – I know what you’re thinking: ‘Are you really saying you can’t ride a bike?’ As I’ve noted before<\/span><\/a>, the answer is that I can’t ride a bike…yet. I will learn how to ride a bike soon, and hopefully before my daughter learns, so I can help her to learn.<\/p>\n

7. Fly Kites<\/strong><\/p>\n

8. Ski<\/strong><\/p>\n

9. Dance<\/strong> – Being a straight white man, I’m not exactly the sort to ‘get down’ as the children (of the 70’s) say. \u00a0I’m talking more about things like classical dancing, being able to take my wife to a ball and waltz with her. \u00a0Before I can do so, though, I’ll need to learn how.<\/p>\n

10. Perform (At Least) One Martial Art<\/strong> \u2013 Not only would it be nice to be able to defend myself should I need to do so, but it would be a manly way to stay in shape.<\/p>\n

11. Make Pottery\u00a0<\/strong>– My wife has a degree in ceramics, so this would be a wonderful way to connect with her.<\/p>\n

12. Ventriloquism<\/strong> – Not a very useful skill, but one that would be kind of fun. (Plus, my wife and I are both Jeff Dunham fans, so there is that as encouragement.)<\/p>\n

13. Juggle<\/strong> – Same as ventriloquism, not very useful but could be fun.<\/p>\n

14. Fence<\/strong><\/p>\n

15. Draw\u00a0<\/strong>– As with making pottery, my wife is able to do so, and it would be nice to share this skill with her. \u00a0Add in the ability to add my drawings to this blog, and it would be a sure winner.<\/p>\n

(Thanks to the bucket list article on Daring to Live Fully<\/span><\/a> for many of these suggestions, as well as some in the following sections.)<\/p>\n

Places To Visit<\/h2>\n

There are lots of places all over this great world that I’d like to visit, just to experience them. With how many other places there are, I’m going to break them up, into natural wonders and man-made wonders.<\/p>\n

Natural Wonders to Visit<\/h3>\n

16. Niagara Falls<\/strong> <\/del>\u2013 You can’t be an American (or a Canadian, I suppose) without this natural wonder being on your bucket list. \u00a0I have actually been there already, though, so…CHECK!<\/p>\n

17. Angel Falls, Venezuela\u00a0<\/strong>–<\/p>\n

18. The Galapagos Archipelago<\/strong><\/p>\n

19. The Great Barrier Reef<\/strong><\/p>\n

20. The Northern Lights<\/strong><\/p>\n

21. The Amazon Rainforest<\/strong><\/p>\n

22. The Grand Canyon<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are plenty of other natural wonders to visit, of course, but this is a first draft, so more items will be added to it in the future.<\/p>\n

Man-Made Wonders to Visit<\/h3>\n

23. Mount Rushmore<\/strong><\/p>\n

24. The Taj Mahal<\/strong><\/p>\n

25. Easter Island Statues<\/strong><\/p>\n

26. Stonehenge<\/strong><\/p>\n

27. The Eiffel Tower<\/strong><\/p>\n

28. The Leaning Tower of Pisa<\/strong><\/p>\n

29. The Vatican\u00a0<\/strong>– Not during conclave, of course; that’s way too busy for me, particularly when I’m not a Catholic.<\/p>\n

30. The Pyramids at Giza<\/strong><\/p>\n

31. The Great Wall of China<\/strong><\/p>\n

32. Machu Picchu, Peru<\/strong><\/p>\n

Also, since it’s practically a requirement of all bucket lists, I’d like to (33) Visit Every US State<\/strong>\u00a0(and by visit, I mean go and spend a day or two, visit a major city and\/or see a prime attraction of some kind; no ‘driving through Georgia on the way to Florida’ sort of thing allowed). \u00a0Here’s the list so far:<\/p>\n