So I wrote this post on January 12, 2010. My list has changed now. I don't have the updated list with me currently, but I am going to go ahead and highlight what I have already completed in yellow and I'm going to put in grey what I have since decided isn't really that important for me to do anymore. Not that they wouldn't be nice things to do or anything, but I just don't think that they are things that I really care to exert myself to do. I've made some nice progress in just 3 years! That's what actively seeking to achieve goals can do.
Goals.
Goals are important.
I enjoy them.
One of the things I've studied that I have a particular interest in is innovation and its importance. You always have to keep on growing.. keep on developing past what you were before. A business fails if it stays stagnant and unchanging, closed to new opportunities or ideas.
One thing I've decided to do is live in the 'Growth' zone. What's the Growth zone, you ask? Well.. picture it this way. Picture you are a dot, surrounded by a small circle. Within that circle is everything you are comfortable with and everything as you know it. But you don't want to just stand in one boring place do you? It doesn't give you much to look at.. all you can do is travel within that small little circle you've created for yourself.
Now.. imagine that around your small circle, is a HUGE circle with wide open frontiers and new possibilities. After crossing the border of your circle, you are in the Growth zone (hahah "you've crossed into... the Twilight Zone" just popped into my head. he he he anyways...). Try to stay in the Growth zone. Before you know it, your small circle has expanded past what anyone could have anticipated!
Why am I talking about this?
....................................Because I decided to make a list.
YOU should make a list.
What kind of a list? Well.. I'm sure many people have made them including you guys. It's called a list of things to do before you pass from this realm into the next - aka death. It's kind of dreary to think of it that way... I just think of it as my list of things to do because I Wanna. It started out as 50... and expanded to now a list of 150. And now, LISTED IN NO ORDER, allow me to present mine :)
67. Own an expensive, big clock
88. See a lunar eclipse
Aaaaaand there it is. Some of it may be edited as the years go by... I doubt I'll do everything on it, particularly because of all the travel and um.. lack of funding. But its good to dream and have something to work towards and to develop skills. I encourage any of you who haven't written lists to at least write a 50. And those of you that already have lists - pull them out, dust them off, and get working!
And there's an additional assignment I have for yall as well. One of the funnest things to do - for me anyways - is to hear what other people have on theirs, so I want you all to tell a minimum of 5 things from your list. It doesn't have to be the top 5.. just any 5. More than that is totally welcome, go ahead and post your whole list if you so desire. I had my roommates make lists too and I really enjoyed reading them. Also, those of you that have worked on it, feel free to tell me the things you have already done for yours.
Anyways. I'm going to go do homework. And attempt to sleep. And later I'll continue working on that other blog. Sorry about the delay. Life is INSANE.
And just to give you a preview of next time (be prepared, its scary):
Goals are important.
I enjoy them.
One of the things I've studied that I have a particular interest in is innovation and its importance. You always have to keep on growing.. keep on developing past what you were before. A business fails if it stays stagnant and unchanging, closed to new opportunities or ideas.
One thing I've decided to do is live in the 'Growth' zone. What's the Growth zone, you ask? Well.. picture it this way. Picture you are a dot, surrounded by a small circle. Within that circle is everything you are comfortable with and everything as you know it. But you don't want to just stand in one boring place do you? It doesn't give you much to look at.. all you can do is travel within that small little circle you've created for yourself.
Now.. imagine that around your small circle, is a HUGE circle with wide open frontiers and new possibilities. After crossing the border of your circle, you are in the Growth zone (hahah "you've crossed into... the Twilight Zone" just popped into my head. he he he anyways...). Try to stay in the Growth zone. Before you know it, your small circle has expanded past what anyone could have anticipated!
Why am I talking about this?
....................................Because I decided to make a list.
YOU should make a list.
What kind of a list? Well.. I'm sure many people have made them including you guys. It's called a list of things to do before you pass from this realm into the next - aka death. It's kind of dreary to think of it that way... I just think of it as my list of things to do because I Wanna. It started out as 50... and expanded to now a list of 150. And now, LISTED IN NO ORDER, allow me to present mine :)
1. Get Lasik surgery
2. Go on a mission
2. Go on a mission
3. Visit & travel through New Zealand
4. Own a miniature pig
5. Fall in love
6. Visit Disneyland Paris
7. Have a home near mountains
8. Grow a berry garden
9. Get hitched
10. Own a Bed n Breakfast
11. Hold a baby sea turtle
12. Learn to love others
13. Visit J.M. Barrie’s birthplace & Peter Pan experience
14. Study or teach abroad
15. Visit Japan – Especially Harajuku district
16. Tour Europe
17. Learn Tai Chi
18. Eat a Beignet
19. Become proficient in sewing
20. Kiss someone in the rain & underwater
21. Sleep in the wilderness under the stars
22. Learn to scuba dive
23. Have a kid
24. Travel landscapes of China – Stone Forest, Huangshan, Great Wall, Jiuzhaigou, Wulingyuan, Guilin, etc & sketch
25. Study Buddha in China
26. Cross a glacier on foot
27. Become an optimist
28. Do some volunteer work concerning animals
29. Learn & speak another language
30. Ride with a dog team in Alaska 
31. Learn to paint
32. Adopt a child or be host parents for foreign exchange students
33. Attend a real luau
34. Learn metal work
35. Become freelance photographer
36. Straighten my teeth
37. Host a full family Christmas at my own home
38. Learn to ride horse back
39. Learn to play bagpipes
40. Read all of Jane Austen’s books
42. Dance on top of a building
43. Go on a cruise
44. Visit Israel
45. Cross a country on a bike
46. Learn to play some hymns on piano with 2 hands - kind of started/stopped on this one
47. Swim with beluga whales & manta rays
48. Make all recipes from a cookbook
49. See America’s wonders like the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls etc
50. Travel India by train
51. Rediscover the euphonium
52. Avoid the need to go on welfare
53. See the rainforests
54. Go para-sailing
55. See a spacecraft launch
56. Pan for gold/mine for gems
57. Name a star
58. Use a camel as a legit mode of transportation
59. Send a message in a bottle
60. Road trip
61. Go backpacking
62. Visit an active volcano
63. Throw a dart onto a map & then trip there
64. Go boating
65. Read the Qur'an, Tanakh, & Tao Te Ching
66. Ride in a helicopter
67. Own an expensive, big clock
68. Donate a huge chunk of money
69. Fall asleep to the sound of waves on the ocean
70. Have a screaming fight in a grocery store to create a public disturbance
71. Do a marathon of some sort - working on doing this one next year (Wine & Dine Half Marathon at Disney World)
72. Go to a drive-in movie theater
73. Visit the San Diego Zoo
74. Write a '100 Best Movies' list to satisfy me
75. Attend a professional opera
76. See Cirque du Soleil in Vegas
77. Write my will
78. Have a splash fight in a public fountain - I would actually still like to do this, but I've since really discovered how unsanitary and gross public toilets, er.. I mean fountains.. can be.
79. Plan & execute a beautiful wedding
80. Finish family history work - can you ever finish? I've made progress!
81. Attend a Star Wars convention
82. Learn how to aim and fire a hand gun
83. Go to a good beach on all American coasts - almost!
84. Take a trip without planning
85. Visit a temple on every applicable continent
86. Shower in a waterfall
87. Go on an African safari
88. See a lunar eclipse
89. Experience weightlessness
90. Visit my hubby’s mission
91. Learn to ride a scooter/motorcycle
92. Kiss the Blarney stone in Ireland
93. Make a quilt
94. Create my own website
95. Learn to drive stick
96. See a foreign professional soccer game
97. See a show on Broadway
98. Learn to yodel - I still want to, but I find it highly unlikely.
99. Learn how to play the pan flute & violin & guitar & bongos
100. Take a drive in a Smart Fortwo car
101. Create my own cookbook
102. Let go of the past – & trash junk left from it that my parents are storing - NO DAD & MOM THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU CAN GO THROW ANY OF IT AWAY RIGHT NOW - Doing this in August
103. Visit every temple in Texas
104. Stay in a super nice, upscale hotel suite
105. Have an Asian garden & pond w/ bridge
106. Rescue a duckling
107. Design, create and wear a piece of clothing
107. Design, create and wear a piece of clothing
108. Re-memorize Articles of Faith
109. Throw an over-the-top Halloween party 
110. Go without technology for a significant period of time
111. Go on a senior mission with my spouse
112. Learn to tell a story
113. Make my own fruit juice & jam
114. Visit all states & relearn capitals
115. Build a SWEET sturdy tree house
116. Read the Grimm brothers’ fairy tales
117. Learn how to throw a Frisbee correctly
118. Treat myself to a full spa day
119. Building homes in another country
120. Shop at a street market
121. Be given unexpected flowers - This one is just kind of silly, and doesn't require my effort
122. Visit a Choctaw reservation
123. Improve my math skills
124. Learn to carve 
125. Make my own root beer & ice cream
126. Learn embroidery & how to weave
127. Create a huge snow fort
128. Write the story of my life, sparing no details
129. Donate my hair
130. Hike weekly for a period of time - I'm not going to include the mission for this one
131. Learn to appreciate vegetables
132. Improve on drawing/sculpting
133. Have my own porch
134. Read ALL Shel Silverstein/Dr. Seuss books
135. Interact face to face with a monkey
136. Drive on the “other” side of the road - Legally
137. Go zip-lining/canopying
138. Be embarrassingly serenaded in public
139. Shop for and eat local food - veg, fruit, etc
140. Sleep underwater
141. Make a movie
142. Work at a zoo
143. Visit the Ben & Jerry’s Factory & get Vermonster
144. Work on my weaknesses - Ongoing
145. Visit or stay at an ice hotel
146. Make a difference in people’s lives
147. Run through a field of wild flowers
148. Have a floor to ceiling library
149. Be successful enough to pay for all of this
150. Live for the day
Aaaaaand there it is. Some of it may be edited as the years go by... I doubt I'll do everything on it, particularly because of all the travel and um.. lack of funding. But its good to dream and have something to work towards and to develop skills. I encourage any of you who haven't written lists to at least write a 50. And those of you that already have lists - pull them out, dust them off, and get working!
And there's an additional assignment I have for yall as well. One of the funnest things to do - for me anyways - is to hear what other people have on theirs, so I want you all to tell a minimum of 5 things from your list. It doesn't have to be the top 5.. just any 5. More than that is totally welcome, go ahead and post your whole list if you so desire. I had my roommates make lists too and I really enjoyed reading them. Also, those of you that have worked on it, feel free to tell me the things you have already done for yours.
Anyways. I'm going to go do homework. And attempt to sleep. And later I'll continue working on that other blog. Sorry about the delay. Life is INSANE.
And just to give you a preview of next time (be prepared, its scary):
iloveyou. Goodnight.
