It's funny, I don't remember having read Steve Kamb's blog earlier, even though it's straight to my alley, my cup of tea...
(BTW, Steve Kamb is not a selfish, egocentric a-hole, he just keeps the humanist part for himself, which I think is a pity. Just saying that what follows has not much to do with Steve, and all to do with me. A lot of Bucketlist people are actually very generous and considerate people, and Steve is one of them. SO no hate on him!)
In the end of the list he is asking for suggestions on how to make his epic adventure even more epic.
I know how.
All of this is so focused on ME, and gathering experiences and doing epic stuff and the physical part of the life; being fit and having traveled the world and done all this high adrenaline adventure stuff.
What about the rest of the world?
Becoming a human and civil rights advocate. Working for peace and conflict resolution. Taking clean water to people. Saving rainforest, one tree at a time. Reforesting USA. Working to reverse extinction of species. Cleaning the ocean. Saving the Coral Reef and Arctic for future generations.
I just went through another Big Achiever's list of over 2000 goals she has achieved.
I find that very inspiring. I, too, want to have thousands of goals I have achieved!
Now, there are some things that irritate me on the list, and some things I think are "cheating" - as if there was the One and Only Proper and Correct Way of creating bucket lists :-D
Nevertheless, there's quite a lot of things on the list that "I want to do, too!" and quite a lot of things that "I don't want to do that, but something similar..." - there are goals that make me consider my life, situation, likes and dreams.
1) Photography
- there are a couple of "30 days to better photography" on-line. Go through those lists to improve your photography
- then practice by taking one of those hundreds of "photography bucket lists" on-line, giving you a theme or subject to shoot every day of a month.
- you can have an album at Facebook with your photos, arranged in different themes, like "album with things that are yellow" or "metal" or "winter-y" or what ever you like.
2) One of the easiest things to do is food and drinks. You have to eat and drink... or not necessarily, but most people do eat and drink every day. So with a little effort, you can get quite a lot things done worth doing and bragging about ;-)
- there are dozens of lists online about things you should try, taste or eat/drink
- there are dozens of lists of specific food items, drinks, like cocktails etc.
- you can cook, bake and make anything, or learn to do that. Brewing your own wine is a very impressive skill, smoking your own hams and lox, baking your bread, making your condiments, jelly and jam, and all kinds of things. That you can do at home, without needing to travel or pay a lot for the equipment or ingredients.
3) Books, movies, tv series, music
Another great bucket list fodder. Things to do, cheap, at home, things you can do NOW.
Try to challenge yourself. That's kind of the idea with Bucket List. :-)
Some things to add to this kind of lists:
- find out data about your favorite author, actor, director, screenwriter, composer, singer...
- try out the art; write a small "play", act, write a song, sing - perform your creation at YouTube. That gives you quite a different appreciation of the art.
- create a "complete experience".
Make some movie snacks that are somehow connected to the story. Try to find some candles or potpurri or something like that so that you have an "appropriate" smell in your nose as you watch the movie. The taste and smell are the senses that are not touched in movies, but the more senses you bring in, the more perfect experience you have.
Another sense is touch - so try to find something that appeals to that sense... might be hard to do, but one suggestion is to stage the movie watching area as if you were arranging a theme party, even when it's only you watching the movie.
And try to collect 2-4 movies that "belong together". For example, same theme, same actors, same director, same setting. I feel I "get" more that way.
The same with books. Engage your senses; have some soft music in the background, some snacks, wear something that could be from the book, etc.
The same with music. LISTEN to it. Find out information about the lyrics, is there history behind the lyrics or the composition, what about the performers? How did their lives look at the time of the writing of the music, songs, albums. Read their biographies, if you can.
- Also, start writing "playlists". You know, "the best Christmas movies", "my exercise playlist", "Summer reading list". When you watch a movie, read a book or listen to music, try to come up with some events or holidays it might fit.
You know all those "100 best movies"... someone wrote the list. Someone like you. That someone has most likely a lot of experience, have seen many movies, listened many songs, read many books, but there is no other difference. So share your opinion with the world. Share your favorite movies with the world. There are bound to be people out here who agree with you, and who will benefit from your opinion.
4) Travel
- start saving for travels.
- educate yourself about languages (I'm Finnish. 99% of the world speaks different language to me :-D), places to visit, buildings and monuments to see, or natural phenomenon to experience, and learn to make itineraries, learn to pack wisely, learn different tricks and tips to make your traveling experience better etc. There is a lot you can do to prepare for the day you have managed to save enough money.
- improve your physical condition - get fit, so that you have the energy to walk and walk and walk which is quite a big part of traveling, and learn to take care of your feet.
- play tourist in your home town. That is actually a great way to prepare yourself for "real" traveling :-D
- get practice in writing travel journals, if that is what you wish.
- get better with your camera, if you want to take photos when you travel.
- plan your travel wardrobe and "test drive" it at home. :-)
5) What I would like you to do is use Pinterest.
Collect all kinds of things you find beautiful, likable, attractive, inspiring, interesting, fun, all things you would like to do, or be able to do.
Then look at it, and find out how you can learn to make those things. Everything is made by someone.
If you love jewelry, learn to make it. Silversmithy is quite manageable to do at home, and there isn't much space and equipment required to cut and polish stones, or to make glass beads.
If you love glass, learn to make it. You can start with stained glass windows or lampwork glass beads, and continue to blowing and cutting glass.
If you love cabinets, learn to make them.
If you love swords, learn to make them.
If you love motorcycles - yes, you can learn to make them, too, and at first, you can learn to drive one. Then you can learn to fix it. Then you can learn to build them.
If you notice you are mostly pinning clothes, learn to sew and make accessories.
If you pin mostly traveling, exercising and outdoors activities, do more of those things. There are no "one list fits all" lists. This is about what makes YOU happy. What YOU find fulfilling, fun and wonderful. Things YOU want to do, have always wanted to do, try, taste, experience.
Now, the whiny part - so if you don't want negativity in your life, stop reading!
Over 100 of those 2000 goals are duplicates.
Some of them are multiples; that is, mentioned several times but with different words or combinations.
Like "climb a tree", "climb a tree in ---" "climb a 10 feet tree" "climb a 100 feet tree" etc.
or "watch [movie]", "see [movie]" or "watch [list of movies which this movie is part of]"
I'm not too fond of that kind of goal counting. I feel it's cheating.
So - again, if you want to have a lot of goals on your list, list every movie you have ever seen, every book you have ever read, every place you have ever visited, every thing you have ever tasted, eaten, drank or cooked, AND find out lists where these things appear, so that you can complete lists with less things to do.
Another thing that I find irritating and not "worthy" of being on the list is different brands and labels.
"Visit this [tourist attraction] or that [amusement park]". "Buy all --- thingamajoys and gadgamathings". Collect 'em all!
Also, the lady in question has listed "become a minimalist and reduce your things" AND "have a huge collection of ---". Several things, actually, like cups, shot glasses, souvenirs and movies.
Well... the "100 things challenge" counts collections as one item >:->
Sex, drugs and rudeness...
Why would anyone want to do something stupid, mean, destructive, inconsiderate, illegal?
Why would anyone want to have "one night stand" on their "must do before I die" list? Have a quickie against a wall wearing a skirt and no underwear?
I really wish people would leave the sex in the relationship with one's SO.
(Why? Because it is better and safer that way. Quality over quantity.)
Also, this woman has "never smoke" together with experimenting with all kinds of drugs and being high and drunk in all kinds of combinations and doing things when drunk, high or both. Using coffee, alcohol, hash and cocaine but not tobacco sounds a little weird.
I wish people would keep their bucket lists "clean".
I wish people would find more kind things to do, more RAKs, helping people, smiling, sharing, donating, engaging in good things, productive, considerate, fun and lovely.
Create a bucket list, things to do list, things I want to experience list Do everything on this list! Have a "100 goals achieved" party Get/Have 100 / 1000 / any number goals (items, things) on my bucketlist make a bucketlist list that is 1,396 make a book bucketlist Tag all of my BucketList.org goals Make a bucket list of short and long term goals Hand Write my Bucket List Make enough money to complete my bucketlist items Save up a lot of money so that you can get all of the things on your bucketlist done See over a Million Bucketlist Items Added to Bucketlist.org by its Members Complete 100 goals (items, things) / 500 / 1000 / any number from my bucketlist / by --- (date) / before my ---th birthday / in year ---- / during a certain time period Have 90 percent of my bucket list done before I am 35 Complete half the items on my bucket list / Complete my bucket list / Never complete my bucket list Have more completed goals than active goals Complete 1/2/3/4/5 goals in a day / during one vacation Complete 1 goal a day for a week / 2 weeks / 3 weeks / a month / 3 months / 4 months / 6 months / a year Complete a goal a week for a year Complete 1 goal every month / at least 1 goal every month Complete at least 10 goals for every season for a whole year Make a bucket list journal / scrapbook to document my bucketlist accomplishments Blog about the Bucketlist / Have a successful bucketlist blog / create/maintain blog about all my bucketlist experiences / make a blog about every subject on the list Take photos of your goals / get a camcorder to record me completing my goals / Add a picture or video to all my completed items Buy a new booklet for my bucketlist Be a ´featured list´ on Bucketlist / Become famous/well known for my bucketlist Have someone follow me / Get/have 10 / 100 / 200 / 300 Followers on Bucketlist Encourage/convince/make/inspire someone / 5 others to write their own bucketlist / Tell at least 10 people about your bucket list and encourage them to do the same Create a family bucket list Inform people about Bucketlist.org Find someone else with the same bucket list item as me and complete it together / Complete at Least 10 Bucketlist Goals with Someone with the same Goals Do A 365 Day Photo Project With Other Bucket List Members Receive a letter from someone on bucketlist / Send a letter to someone on bucketlist / Send a postcard to ten different people on bucketlist Buy a Christmas Present for / meet / date someone on Bucketlist Fall in love with someone and complete your bucketlists together Help someone else / a friend / a sibling / a parent with a goal / complete a goal / items on a bucket list / be there to see it / complete it together with them Help a friend accomplish one of their life goals Plan at least 5 bucket list adventures for others Let someone else decide which bucket list item I do next make a bucket list wish come true for each of my family Help 101 Bucket List Wishes come true Have a bucketlist get-together with a bunch of people from this site Share my bucketlist with someone Show my future kids my Bucketlist Find someone willing and able to complete this list for me if I die before it's completed / pass down my Bucketlist to my descendants Have my loved ones complete the items I never did when I'm gone Have My Completed Bucketlist Read at My Funeral
