don't worry, i'm not dying. (at least as far as i know.)* not that you would have begun to worry, necessarily. but i'm not. dying, that is. or worrying about it. much.
anyway, i am a huge proponent of new terms entering the general discourse and also of those terms taking a new shape not identical to their original meaning. it is my hope that we can have bucket lists** for the approach of all sorts of era-ending markers, whether big or small.
you can have bucket lists for moves (as you may remember, i had a "prague bucket list") or starting school, before you get married, before the end of the year, before you have a root canal, before you turn 30, 40, etc. maybe you have a sex bucket list that you'd like to complete before you dump your boyfriend/girlfriend. the possibilities are endless.
i have a bucket list. i don't know what to name it - maybe it's a 2009 bucket list. the "oughts" decade*** bucket list. but, who knows. maybe you don't need an end date? but then what distinguishes a bucket list from a to-do list?
i think there are a few stipulations, such as:
1. must be something that can be completed by a certain time.
so, i can put "write a book" on a bucket list but not "write for at least 30 minutes every day"
2. i had a 2 but forgot it.
anyway, here goes. in no order.
-visit friends in san diego, new orleans, wisconsin, DC, and chicago.
-finish infinite jest
-have something published
-find a suitable bookcase for my room that will hold all my books instead of most of them
-make a prague scrapbook
-see 'where the wild things are,' 'mysteries of pittsburgh,' and 'the road'
-have a pierogi party
-have a quiz night
-go to Bar 11 on the South Side
-write a letter to one of my former students in Prague
-find some unique but not expensive decor for my room
-remember to buy a good knife and some measuring spoons for the kitchen
-go out to a nice**** dinner with a loved one
-get tickets for a Pens game
-think of some creative presents for friends for christmas
-think of a good halloween costume
obviously, to be continued.
what's on your bucket list?
*if you are one of those jagoffs who, anytime death is brought up in conversation, says "well, we're all dying if you think about it," i advise you to stop. you sound like a pretentious douche bag.
**this is tricky, as the element of death is inherent in the term, the word "bucket" coming from "kick the bucket," and the movie "the bucket list" was about two men dying. work with me, though.
***i hope this decade turns out to be one of my lifetime bests so in the future i an wax nostalgic about the "oughts" as i'm sure we will all refer to them. i'm so happy to have lived through the turn of a century.
****nice is relative. i have been wanting to go to Nakama (a hibachi/sushi place) for a while. this is a good example of what i consider nice - not outrageously expensive but probably not somewhere you'd go every week.
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I would say the bucket list also differentiates itself from the to do list by being exciting and pleasurable. To do lists generally denotes chores: things that have to get taken care of.
Bucket list, to me at least, means something you want to to/might regret not doing.
So, is the list here your bucket list in terms of the traditional definition, or have you assigned time limits to some of them?
I like that you included finishing Infinite Jest.
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