The Bucket Meme
Jeff Pulver has tagged me to write a “Bucket List,” as per the popular movie of the same name. Essentially, what are some things you’d want to do if you had X months to live before you kick the bucket. It’s a fun exercise to do, especially if you attempt to live your life based on what you come up with. I’m not promising a thing on what I think I can actually accomplish from this list, but if I had a few months to live, here’s what I’d do:
Travel
I suppose everyone’s bucket list would have travel. It’s just something we say when we realize how stationary our lives typically are. So, where shall I go? I’m about to die, or some such. Hmm. I say Ireland, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Tokyo (Japan), and perhaps Goa in India.
Sharks
Great Barrier Reef in Australia, or even closer by, the Red Triangle off San Francisco, are places where one could see a Great White shark, with some patience, or a skilled guide. I’d want to touch one. I’ve had a lifelong fear of sharks that is also part fascination. I think it would be fun to touch one before I went.
Reaching Out
There are people I’ve yet to meet that I’d like to at least communicate with in some form or fashion:
- William Gibson
- Serg Tankian
- Wes Anderson
- Kevin Smith
- Chuck Palahniuk
- Scott Ian
Create
I’d roll live video for the rest of my days, I think, creating some kind of record of thoughts and ideas and the things I’d summed up as part of my life until that point. Some of it would be silly, like movie reenactments. I’d want to create as much as I could before I shuffled off this mortal coil. Hell, I’d even get out my paints and things. Why stick with digital only?
So, the Purpose
The reason we’re supposed to do a bucket list is to remind us that time is finite, that we never know when it’s all going to be over, and that we should do these things. We’re supposed to look at what holds us back. We’re supposed to think beyond what limits us and consider doing some of these things.
What holds us back? I’d say that one part is money. Another part is fear. Another part is not knowing how to take first steps to accomplish these things. Katrina says another reason we don’t do all these things is that they’re very selfish. (Well, mine are). You can’t just be that selfish (unless of course you’re really going to kick the bucket).
And of course, one part is to dream.
So, I’m not doing many memes right now (deep in the heart of my Social Media 100), except that memes themselves are social media, and social networking, and wiring together of our human computers, and hey, if Jeff asks me for pretty much anything, I’d probably do it. : )
If you’re inclined to consider your own bucket list, I encourage you to think it over, post it, and send a comment to this post and/or to Jeff’s original post. It’s an interesting exercise, for sure.
Photo Credit, Moriza
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Comments
Great list, Chris!
Jeff tagged me in his Facebook “Bucket List” note as well. Mine is a tad different than yours though hehe.
edinburgh for haggis
amsterdam for too many things to mention
labrador for a week at the cabin winter ski-doo
host a party with my family (all 70 of them)
sledding in bowring park
break a pile of bottles while i scream
make a list of ex bfs call them all
make a list of girls call them all
sling my boy most of the next few months
do anything violette wants to do
pull her out of school
chris quit his job (extended leave)
get my license and drive to canada
make-out with chris (a lot)
get new tattoos
video tape all of it
blog all of it (have someone to write it all down and post it)
buy the most amazing bed on the planet
7000 count sheets and down pillows etc
stay at a hotel for nights on end
really really nice hotels
beverly hills hotel
eat steak as much as possible
hang out with puppies
hang out with kittens
hold baby chicks
nuzzle a big old friendly dog
take huge bubble baths with the family every night
wear silk, cashmere chenille always
massage every morning
back cracked every morning
walk on the beach every morning
never rush
ever
fly a kite
nap whenever i felt sleepy / wherever i please
go to a daniel lanois show (small club venue)
jump off a pier into a cool lake
jig a codfish
bring MIL and FIL to Ireland
slap ***** across the face
snuggle ***** til we fall asleep
choose my own death(injection)
plan my funeral
tell my dad 1 million times that i love him
have my ashes thrown into the atlantic ocean off of a Newfoundland outport cliff
I was thinking of coming up with my own list, but perhaps I’ll just hang out with Kat. Here’s hoping I’m not the ***** in “slap ***** across the face”.
aving moved over 70 times and driven across the country 4 times, I’s mostly like to catch up on my reading - then I’d never die…
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I’d like to know my dad a little better.
I’d like to do a huge mural, not quite a Sistine Chapel job but a big room I can fill with my painted figures and my narrative with homages to all the artists that made my life so rich.
I want to see that episode of the Sha Na Na show where the Ramones guested.
i’ve got a little list…
Okay, I often think how freaky it is that I’ll be thinking about something, and then wham, there’s someone else thinking the same thing. I’d been saving this post up for a bit, mostly because I wasn’t really ready to write about…
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“There are people I’ve yet to meet that I’d like to at least communicate with in some form or fashion:
* Scott Ian”
Chris, you are so bad, you should be in detention…
I got tagged with the Bucket Meme by Jeff O’Hara @ zemote.com, & have been having an amazing time tracing it through others’ posts!
Here’s my take on it–slightly different, since I didn’t know what the term meant when I first heard it:
http://mousewords.wordpress.com/2008/01/25/dreams-in-a-bucket/
Now that we all know what we want to do–let’s DO it!
[…] your life would you do if you found out you were about to kick the bucket. See some examples here, here and here. I thought about this long and hard and here is my […]
hmm…..Id definitly enjoy my last few months.
1. Climb the Rocky Mountains.
2. See Grand Canyon
3. Egg the White House
4. Rob a Bank (for the thrill, dead people dont need money)
5. Drive a car through a shopping mall
6. Skydive
7. Meet Les Claypool
8. See Japan
9. Go to Oktoberfest
10. Tell ****** I love her.
Good thing I got the rest of my life to do all this.
You hit the nail on the head with money and fear holding people back.
I would definitely say money, because for people who range from the impoverished to the upper middle-class — no matter what — they are held back by something: by simply not having the money; or, even if they have money, being trapped in the responsibilities and on the rigorous schedule that allows them that salary. Although we have personal lives outside of work, most of us are held to the old “grindstone” by an invisible noose that pretty much stays there ’til we retire, left with a short amount of time to enjoy our lives. Only a few rich, select people may have other choices.
But most of us are mired in hefty gas prices, debt and the like. Most likely all but a few of us would jump to chasing our dreams were we to be able to survive without money and dissolve our debts. It’s a sad lot we humans are in. Snatches of freedom appear here and there, but not enough to satisfy the reach of our dreams that far outweigh our daily lives.
I can’t believe I didn’t make your list of people to meet before you die. Dude, you’re dying. It’s your last chance!