Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Everything I Want?!

An old friend sent me a birthday greeting this year on Facebook. He said "Make sure you work on your bucket list." Yes, maybe I should.

Tonight, I rummaged around some old files and found a list I made in 1991 titled "Everything I Want?!" It's not a proper bucket list, because I wrote it when I was 23, in the full flush of adulthood. I dug it out to see if anything got accomplished from that list. Instead, I got a few laughs. Two items: 1) have a washboard stomach, and 2) spend time in an Oregon dude ranch. Who was I back then?

Without further ado, here are a few of my bucket list items:

1. Watch a baseball game at Yankee Stadium.

I have watched many games at Fenway Park in my baseball days. The Yankees, their great rival, should have been the team of my youth. I should at least visit their new stadium (since I never saw them in their old one)!

2. Visit Tokyo with my wife.

This trip would be out of both our comfort zones, so it's something we have to do together. Besides, we both said we would!

3. Visit the Grand Canyon.

One of the great sights that I missed seeing with my family. I'll have to make up for it!

4. Finish Super Meat Boy (a video game).

I always play this game on vacation, and I love its humor and speed. Please, let me beat the final boss!

5. Read "Infinite Jest" (David Foster Wallace).

I'm proud to have have read some big literature: "Gravity's Rainbow" (Thomas Pynchon), "Ulysses" (James Joyce). Someone suggested "Infinite Jest", and when I saw that it was over a thousand pages, I said sign me up.

Will I be able to look back on this list 23 years from now, and say that some of those items got crossed off? I guess we should stay tuned.