My Beliefnet colleague Dan Gilgoff asked today what I would put on my "bucket list" -- that is, things I want to do before I kick the bucket. It's fun to think about. I'll put mine here, and ask you to put yours. The only rules? No more than 10 items, and they all have to be things you might realistically do. My bucket list, which is all food, culture and travel:
1. Write a novel.
2. Learn how to be a good amateur cook.
3. Live in France for a year, or long enough to learn French fluently, whichever takes longer.
4. Go back to Jerusalem and the Holy Land -- this time, with my family along.
5. Make a pilgrimage to Mount Athos.
6. Spend an entire summer on vacation somewhere, preferably in a cottage by the beach, with nothing to do but read novels I've always meant to read, or complete. First up: "The Brothers Karamazov," which I swear I'll get through this time.
7. See Diana Krall live in concert. With really good seats.
8. Get a master's degree in history.
9. Live in Italy for a summer and fall, and learn how to cook Italian, and drink lots of Italian wine.
10. Christmas in the Bavarian Alps, like the little snow globe village my grandmother had when I was a little boy.
I would have put "learn to play the piano" on the list, but I know at this point, that's not realistically going to happen. I also would have put making the long walking pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela on the list, but by the time I'd have the freedom to do that, I'd probably be too old. Maybe I could take Matthew and Lucas for Matt's 18th birthday; Lucas will be 14. I'll be 50. Too old?
Your turn.
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Peter - I hear you. There's more interesting places outside of Europe. Especially the "classical" parts. Stuffy, effete, and arrogant. Waste of time. My , if it could be called a bucket list, would include:
1. get my novel published and refuse to ever option the rights for a film adaptation (though I would option off the priviledge of making it the way I say it gets made, down to the last detail).
2. visit the area where described in Kawabata's "Snow Country" and other places in Japan (forget europe).
3. see Angkor Wat before and after it falls into a sinkhole caused by growth in the surrounding area and the drawdown of the water table.
4. possibly the most critical, live for a year in what remains of the wilderness near Stanley Lake in Idaho (or that area). Do so without any outside contact or help, living on the land.
5. get a PhD in religioius studies from Todai (Tokyo University).
6. learn the blacksmith's trade in Japan to learn how to craft swords that will never be used in combat. Just for the irony of it all, and because I have a natural affinity for fine craftsmanship.
7. build a dome home and cover the entire outside with solar panels.
8. become the second (?) buddhist chaplain in the US army. There is some interesting debate about that one...
9. become a monk (if I outlive the wife, of course)
10. eat cherry cake and watch the frozen fog envelop the trees in St. Petersburg. I saw it once, and cannot adequately describe it.
Take that for what you will.
Here goes, in no particular order:
1, Return to Peru, especially to an area I haven't been to, the Cordillera Blanca.
2. See much more of Panama, esp. the mountainous areas up toward Costa Rica.
3. Become somewhat proficient in German.
4. Expand my limited repertoire of things to cook.
5. Retire from full-time employment in about 4 yrs. (I'm 65)
6. Return to Yellowstone Park (my all-time favorite).
7. Have a vegetable/flower garden in the summer in my backyard.
8. Reread the novels of Willa Cather.
9. Travel to Ireland esp. to find the town in County Cavan where my grandmother was born.
10. Go to New Hampshire to revisit places I went on vacation as a child in the 40's and 50's.
That's it. I guess I'd better get moving.
1. Learn to cook
2. Re-learn French
3. Learn the art of bookbinding
4. Spend a few months in a monastery
5. Discover answers to particular genealogical questions
6. Spend a few weeks every year in Turkey and/or Republic of Georgia
7. Completely organize journals, photos and family memorabilia
8. Build a church (by this I mean, help in building program)
9. Live long enough to see my (future)grandchildren graduate college
10. Be able to swim whenever I wanted to
Looking over the list, I would say that learning to cook would be the most far-fetched.
WhollyRoamin'Catholic.com: I'd love to visit Yellowstone. I can't think of many places that attract me less than Rome.
We have an online phonics ministry (the phonics page), I have a page titled "future goals," I get one or two searches a month along the lines of "what are my goals for the future?" My first thought was a sarcastic "get your own goals," however, it is interesting and useful to look over other people's goals for the future in this post. It is easy to get caught up in everyday problems and focus on the immediate instead of the important.
My non-phonics goals include learning Greek and Latin and updating my piano skills. The military has already sent us everyplace we want to see and more, although we wouldn't mind living in Germany again.
When I checked my online list of phonics goals, I was happy to see I had actually accomplished one of the medium term goals!
Long term phonics goals:
1. Make these online phonics lessons available for sale at cost, or free to those who cannot afford them, on 2-3 CDs in full size quicktime format and also on DVD, possibly through an established metachurch organization.
2. Start teaching phonics to the 70% of prisoners who read at the lowest 2 literacy levels, in person to some degree (limited to a few lessons a year until our children are older) and perhaps through a teach the teacher program or through DVDs or full size quicktime movies of the lessons
3. Have churches use these phonics lessons to teach everyone in their community how to read.
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