I've been working on a "bucket list" post for here for a few months. Weird, huh? Months spent on a list. I almost no longer want to post it because everyone I know has recently started to create and post theirs online.
But I refuse to be shut down. So the list now has a preamble because I refuse to be just one of a slew of people and not pretend to be oh so cool and at least kind of on top of what else has been happening on the world wide web.
This list doesn't include things from my previous list(s) that I've already accomplished, such as "saying I love you and meaning it" (Kevin) and "meeting someone you look up to"(Taylor Momsen)and "seeing an overwhelmingly amazing concert" (Green Day, July 3 2009). Others, like "make my father proud of me" have been proven impossible, and as such removed from the list.
Regardless, the things on this list are 100% true and honest wants of mine. Even ones that seem a bit silly.
So, preamble over, I'm going to get down to the list.
MY BUCKET LIST:
1) Learn French, completely, so that I can think in French if I want to.
2) Learn Italian, but mostly just conversational Italian.
3) Re-learn Latin because I hate loosing information that was once upon a time in my head, and because once you know Latin so many other languages aren't that far out of reach.
4) Take a philosophy course at a foreign University.
5) Take at least a semester off and go urban backpacking in Europe, mainly in France, England, Ireland and Scotland.
6) Go to a foreign University for at least one semester. Goldsmiths of London or Central Saint Martins, perhaps?
7) Spend a week in a youth hostel.
8) See the Eiffel Tower lit up at night, preferably with the love of my life.
9) Go to England with my mother and see the town she lived in when she was living there with her family as a kid.
10) Visit the part of Scotland that my mothers mothers parents came from and see if I can find any relatives.
11) Spend a summer at the beach in the South of France.
12) Become an expatriate and live somewhere exciting.
13) Vacation abroad without seeing any touristy things, just going to the "real" parts of town - like little markets and family owned businesses.
14) Got to the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, and meet as many street performers as possible.
15) See at least one musical written by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.
16) Meet Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and tell him how much his work has inspired me.
17) See a play/musical on Broadway that can rival the impact of seeing RENT live on Broadway a few years ago with my family.
18) See a play/musical on The West End that can rival the impact of seeing RENT live on Broadway a few years ago with my family.
19) Go to at least one open casting call for a movie or television program, regardless of nerves or what I consider my ability to be hired.
20) Join a paranormal investigation group for at least one investigation, even though I'm afraid of the dark.
21) Live in a flat in New York and spend all of my free time doing artistic things like painting, photography, music, etc.
22) Own a classic car collection that would make the mostly manly of men drown in their own drool - vintage Mustangs and Mercury Comets and Chevy Impalas... all the good ones.
23) Get a vintage convertible Slug Bug and paint in robins egg blue.
24) Do a road trip across America, visiting all sorts of interesting places.
25) Spend a summer doing nothing but going to concerts.
25) Have a band and perform songs I've written in front of a rapt audience.
26) Exhibit my art in an art show that people actually come and see.
27) Sell a piece of art to someone who will really enjoy it.
28) Be involved in Doctor Who, be it as an extra or a walk on role or whatever it may be.
29) Write a screen play.
30) Be a staff writer on Skins, even if it's just for one episode. If Skins is no longer being produced and I still haven't accomplished this, then I'll write for another show. But Skins would be best. Skins will always be the best.
31) Get a reading done by a psychic I don't know. (I've had one done by a psychic who's known me all my life, but somehow that seems less legitimate...)
32) Meet my birth father. And don't let the things my birth mother has said about him color my opinion of him.
33) Have a conversation with my birth mother. We met and things didn't go as well as I'd hoped, and I think we both walked away from our time together let down. I'd like to have a conversation with her and have her respect me as a woman, as an artist and as a politically minded young person, among other things.
34) Reconnect with my friend Claire. We had a falling out over things she never really understood (I was trying to protect her from things that I had suffered but wasn't at a place to tell her what had happened to me so she just got angry) and I wish it hadn't happened that way.
35) Become friends with (or at least connect with) my half-siblings (my birthmothers children, and any kids my birthfather might have) and expand my "family" to include all these people, in some way or another.
36) Either work with children or be a foster parent, try to make the same impact on their lives that people (my mother, my high school English teacher Mrs. Hillman, my former therapist, among others) made on mine.
37) Work with a group that helps victims (of abuse, of rape, etc) deal with what happened to them.
38) Do everything I can to help legalize gay marriage.
39) Go to a movie premier.
40) Attend an awards show.
41) Go to all of the Carnival celebrations: New Orleans, Quebec City, Rio de Janeiro...
42) Cook a full Thanksgiving dinner for my (extended) family. From scratch. Pie included, no skimping and using store bought crust.
43) Buy my mother a house on the beach somewhere, paying her back for all of the things she's given me over the years. Not that a house can pay back "love" but you know what I mean. She deserves a nice view and no house payment.
44) Get married in whatever I consider a dream wedding at the time. Currently, that would be "in a rose garden" but things change. It used to be "on the beach" and before that was "completely traditional".
45) Meet and have a conversation with Joan Jett. She's always been an influence for me and a real inspiration as an artist.
46) Go to a Joan Jett and the Blackhearts concert and know the lyrics to every song. I don't know all of the lyrics of everything yet, but I've been working on it since I was... really, really little.
47) Meet the members of Green Day. This has been on my "list" since I was seven and heard their music for the first time.
48) Go to Burning Man. More specifically, road trip to Burning Man.
49) Attend ALL of Coachella and camp out between days instead of staying in a hotel.
50) Follow Warped Tour through several states, if not the entire tour. Punk Rock Summer Camp!
51) Go to T4 On The Beach and spend at least part of the day at the T4 Sessions Stage seeing up and coming bands, even if I'd rather be at the main stage.
52) Over the course of two years, attend both the Leeds and Reading Festivals, and camp for the weekend.
53) Go to Viretta Park on the anniversary of Kurt Cobains death to celebrate his life with other diehard fans. Born and raised in Seattle, Nirvana and Kurt are part of my cultural DNA, and even though I was barely two years old (literally two years, three weeks and five days) I'm proud to say that I lived in the same universe as him, however briefly it may have been. RIP baby boy...
54) Learn how to ride a motorcycle.
55) Go to the World Cup and remind any American's I meet that it's football not soccer. I think I'm the only kid in my town who by habit calls it football, and the amount of confused looks I've gotten is VERY telling.
56) Spend the World Cup in a British Pub.
57) Pick a foreign football club to support. Currently, I support Seattle Sounders FC but that's a little too local.
58) Visit Australia and document the whole thing with both a video camera and a still camera.
59) Have kids. At least two, though possibly three. Unless I really don't like pregnancy... but I can always adopt. Still, having kids is a MUST.
60) Get my kids names tattooed on me. I got my mothers name on my ankle on my 18th birthday, so maybe they'll return the favor some day.
61) Get something I've drawn as a tattoo.
62) Get my drivers license. I know, I'm 18, I should have this covered already... but I'm terrified of driving. Don't know why, just am. I'm working on it, though.
63) Attend at least five different kinds of religious services and challenge my own views (however warped they may be) on religion and it's role in the world.
64) Own a beach cruiser (bike) and ride along the bike path at Venice Beach, California.
65) Write a tell-all autobiography because my life is actually a lot more interesting than I give it credit for being. It doesn't have to get published, just written.
66) Write and publish a book that I'm proud of.
67) Be in a band and do a cover of The Beatles "Revolution" at least once.
68) Be part of a real protest. I was part of one sophomore year of high school (it was anti-censorship, which I totally believe in) but it was sort of a flop because a) teenagers don't have rights and b) it was at a high school, where even our opinions don't matter. I want to really stand up for something next time.
69) Learn to play the guitar. I can sort of play at the moment but want to be able to write my own songs some day. Or at least play songs other people have written. I'm more of a lyrics girl, myself.
70) Go to New York Fashion Week and see at least one big-name show, but definitely see the up and coming designers who are showing.
71) Go to Paris Fashion Week and revel in the beauty. Take my mother, who used to be the most fashionable woman I've ever seen (then she met my father), with me.
72) Go to Venice and walk EVERYWHERE. The occasional boat is of course allowed, since there are some places that it's hard to get to on foot when you're on a collection of over 100 islands...
73) Drink champagne straight from the bottle while lounging on a couch at a swanky club in France. Straight out of a movie, no?
74) Watch all of the Harry Potter movies (once both parts of the seventh come out) back-to-back.
75) Read a book of poetry written by someone I'd never heard of until I found it. Once finished, give the book to someone else to enjoy.
76) Decorate an entire house to the best of my ability, from wall color and flooring to furniture and what gets hung on the walls, and don't let anyone tell me that it isn't "right" or "good enough".
77) Make a life-long friend in an unlikely/awkward situation.
78) Loose weight. I want to do this not just so I'm skinny but because I want to be healthy, and not end up with health problems like most of my genetic family.
79) Direct a short film.
80) Sit down and talk fashion with Rachel Zoe. And examine her collection of Chanel. Oh. My. God. Jealous doesn't cover it.
81) Learn how to shoot a gun, but not one that's for hunting. Hunting still bothers me on a lot of levels.
82) Get back to my natural hair color. I'm working on this right now, but I had black hair then red hair and I'm naturally blond... this might take a bit of work.
83) Actually attend my high school reunion. Even though I don't like most of the people I went to high school with.
84) Throw a raging party for all the people I actually want to have around.
85) Kick people out of a party because I don't need them around me then or ever.
86) Say something meaningful (or spontaneous) that people will then quote of their own volition. Like the lyric "everyone will quote me on this line" from the song Say by Girl In A Coma. There's some things that just WANT to be quoted, and I'd like to give at least one to the world.
87) Paint over a canvas. That's hard for me because I have trouble letting go. But I'll do it some day. Take a painting I don't like and just... go over it.
88) Attend the Sundance Film Festival in Salt Lake City, and see a film that at first glance doesn't appeal to me.
89) Send someone a dozen red roses. There doesn't have to be a reason, but it just has to happen.
90) Receive a dozen red roses. Whatever the reason is, it'll be a magical thing. A dozen red roses... what's more touching?
91) Join a Roller Derby league. Learn not to have "crying" be my natural reaction to startled pain.
92) Help at least ten people cross something off their bucket list.
93) Jump, of my own volition, into a pool while fully clothed.
94) Jump into a pool while fully clothed and take someone with me.
95) Learn how to fold origami cranes.
96) Get a group of friends together and fold 1,000 origami cranes, then give them as gifts to strangers.
97) Take time off school to be a Roadie with Invisible Children, a group I've been helping/following/speaking about on my own for years.
98) Learn to play pool. My boyfriend has been trying (and failing) to teach me since the first day we met, and I'd like to actually sort it out so that we can play pool together.
99) Visit the Hollywood sign and have a drink to the memory of all of the stars that didn't quite make it and all of the stars who died too young.
100) Expand my bucket list to 200.
