Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Kick off the new year by writing your own 'bucket list'

A little over a year ago, I kicked off a project that’s turned into one of the most fun things I’ve ever done.

In December 2011, I drafted a 365-item “bucket list” and tried to do as many of them as possible during the ensuing year. I got off to a slow start, but in mid-May I began making a conscious effort to scratch off at least one bucket list item a week. By the end of the calendar year, which was yesterday, I’d managed to scratch 42 off my list.

Before I go any further, I want to say that while I’ve enjoyed working on this project, it’s not all about me. One of my main goals was to show people in the reading audience that they can also do many of these same type things, many of which don’t cost a dime. I hope that my “bucket list updates” have encouraged others to get off the couch and do some things they’ve always wanted to do. With a little planning and a little effort, you can do a lot of cool, memorable stuff.

One thing I plan to change this year is to stop calling it a bucket list. It's too morbid-sounding. Some people actually read my weekly updates and thought I was dying. (As far as I know, I’m in perfect health.) This year, I plan to refer to this project as my "life list" project. I think “life list” more accurately describes what I’m trying to do here, so that’s what I’m calling it now.

If you’re reading this and have never tried to write your own “bucket list” or “life list,” you might find that writing one is harder than you would think. As many of you will already likely know, a “bucket list” is a wish list of things you’d like to do before you “kick the bucket.” Many of you will be familiar with this idea thanks to the 2007 comedy, “The Bucket List,” which starred Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.

I’ve always kind of walked around with one of these lists in my head, but I’d never taken the time to write one down until last year. Something about the act of writing these items down makes them seem more concrete and doable. Setting a weekly deadline for myself this past year also seemed to help me accomplish more of them and really ramped up the project.

How many of you out there have bucket lists of your own? What sort of items do you have on your list? How many of your personal bucket list items have you already accomplished? Which were your most memorable? Which were the most difficult to accomplish? Let us know in the comments section below.

In the spirit of the new year, what follows is my new and expanded life list. You’ll notice that it’s in alphabetical order, which I did on purpose to keep from duplicating entries. This year, I’ve expanded the list from 365 items to 1,000 items. Please feel free to “borrow” any of them that you’d like to do.

Without further ado, here's my "2013 LIFE LIST":

1. Attend a Beulah Campground service
2. Attend a Birmingham Barons baseball game
3. Attend a Catholic mass service
4. Attend a College World Series game
5. Attend a fantasy baseball camp

6. Attend a high school reunion
7. Attend a luau
8. Attend a Major League Baseball game on Opening Day
9. Attend a Mardi Gras ball
10. Attend a Mobile Bay Bears baseball game

11. Attend a Montgomery Biscuits baseball game
12. Attend a Native American sweat lodge ceremony
13. Attend an NCAA Final Four basketball game
14. Attend an NFL game in the Superdome in New Orleans
15. Attend an opera performance.

16. Attend a Renaissance Faire
17. Attend a session of the Alabama Grand Lodge
18. Attend a Star Trek convention
19. Attend a taping of Saturday Night Live
20. Attend a World Series baseball game

21. Attend BayFest in Mobile
22. Attend Comic-Con International in San Diego
23. Attend Lollapalooza
24. Attend Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
25. Attend Oktoberfest at Redstone Arsenal

26. Attend Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany
27. Attend Pensacola ParaCon
28. Attend the Alabama Book Festival
29. Attend the Army-Navy Football Game
30. Attend the ASWA’s “Mr. Football” Banquet

31. Attend the BCS Championship Game
32. Attend the Blessing of the Fleet in Bayou La Batre
33. Attend the Boston Marathon
34. Attend the Burning Man festival in Nevada
35. Attend the Dauphin Street Beer Festival

36. Attend the Daytona 500
37. Attend the Fiesta Bowl
38. Attend the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colo.
39. Attend the Great British Beer Festival in London
40. Attend the Hangout Music Festival

41. Attend the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and CthulhuCon
42. Attend the Indianapolis 500
43. Attend the June 24th Masonic Day celebration in Florala
44. Attend the Kentucky Derby, drink a mint julep and bet on a horse
45. Attend the Little League World Series

46. Attend the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Ga.
47. Attend the MLB All-Star Game
48. Attend the National Finals Rodeo
49. Attend the NBA All-Star Game
50. Attend the New Year’s Eve celebration in Time’s Square

51. Attend the New York Marathon
52. Attend the NFL Pro Bowl
53. Attend the NHL All-Star Game
54. Attend the Notre Dame-Michigan Football Game
55. Attend the opening of the Iditarod in Anchorage, Alaska

56. Attend the Opp Rattlesnake Rodeo
57. Attend the Orange Bowl
58. Attend the Republican National Convention
59. Attend the Rocket City Brewfest in Huntsville
60. Attend the Rose Bowl Game

61. Attend the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain
62. Attend the SEC Championship Football Game in Atlanta
63. Attend the Stanley Cup Finals
64. Attend the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Savannah, Ga.
65. Attend the Sugar Bowl

66. Attend the Super Bowl
67. Attend the Tour de France
68. Attend the UFO festival in Fyffe, Ala.
69. Attend the Wimbledon Tennis tournament in London
70. Attend the X-Games

71. Attend Williams Station Day in Atmore
72. Bake a birthday cake for my wife
73. Bake a loaf of bread
74. Bake a rhubarb pie from scratch
75. Be a game show contestant

76. Be an extra in a movie
77. Be a vegetarian for one month
78. Become a bonded notary public
79. Become a certified beer judge
80. Become a certified electrician

81. Become a certified/licensed bartender
82. Become a certified lifeguard
83. Become a certified NWS Cooperative Weather Observer
84. Become a certified pilot
85. Become a certified plumber

86. Become a certified private investigator
87. Become a certified SCUBA diver
88. Become a certified UFO field investigator
89. Become a certified welder
90. Become a licensed barber

91. Become a licensed/certified ham radio operator
92. Become a lifetime member of the National Geographic Society
93. Become a lifetime member of the Scottish Rite
94. Become a member of the Royal Geographical Society
95. Become a member of the Smithsonian Institution

96. Be complaint-free for 30 days and earn a Complaint Free bracelet
97. Bike a “century”
98. Bowl a 300
99. Break a Guinness World Record
100. Brew (and drink) homemade beer

101. Build a boat
102. Build a cabin
103. Build a model airplane
104. Build a model ship
105. Build and fly a kite with the kids

106. Build and launch a model rocket with the kids
107. Build a raft and float it down the river
108. Build the kids a tree house
109. Buy a good metal detector and use it
110. Buy a nice handheld GPS device and learn to use it

111. Buy stock
112. Cage dive amongst sharks
113. Camp out in the backyard with the kids
114. Catch a fly ball at a Major League Baseball game
115. Catch a piranha and eat it

116. Catch a shark
117. Cave dive
118. Celebrate the Fourth of July in Washington, D.C.
119. Climb a forestry service fire tower
120. Climb an active volcano

121. Climb Mount Cheaha
122. Climb Mount Everest
123. Climb Mount Fuji, Japan
124. Climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania
125. Climb Mount McKinley (Denali)

126. Climb Mount Rainer in Washington
127. Climb to the top of a water tower
128. Climb to the top of the Pensacola Lighthouse
129. Compete in the World Championship Domino Tournament in Andalusia
130. Complete a food challenge at a restaurant

131. Complete an obstacle course adventure endurance race
132. Complete a semester at the National Outdoor Leadership School
133. Complete a sprint distance triathlon
134. Complete an Ironman distance triathlon
135. Complete an Olympic distance triathlon

136. Complete the Alabama Hunter Education Course
137. Cross the Artic Circle
138. Cross the equator
139. Dive the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia
140. Do 10 pull-ups

141. Do 30 burpees in a row
142. Do 100 consecutive pushups
143. Do a genealogy interview with my grandmother
144. Do genealogy interviews with my parents
145. Do The Art of Manliness’ “30 Days to a Better Man” Challenge

146. Do the Polar Bear Plunge at the Flora-Bama on New Years Day
147. Drink absinthe
148. Drink a fresh lemonade at Toomer’s Drugs in Auburn
149. Drink a key lime milkshake at Stacey Old Tyme Soda Fountain in Foley
150. Drink Kopi Luwak

151. Drive across country from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean
152. Drink a Guinness Beer in Dublin, Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day
153. Drink a mimosa
154. Drink a pint in an English pub
155. Drink cognac

156. Drink goat’s milk
157. Drink milk from a fresh coconut
158. Drive Alabama’s “Civil War Trail”
159. Drive on the German Autobahn
160. Drive Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles

161. Drive the Explorers Highway across Australia
162. Drive the Great Ocean Road in southern Australia
163. Drive the Pacific Coast Highway in California
164. Drive U.S. Highway 31 from Spanish Fort to Mackinaw City, Mich.
165. Earn a black belt in karate

166. Earn a Master’s Degree in English
167. Earn an honorary degree
168. Eat a cannoli
169. Eat a funnel cake
170. Eat a hot dog from a street cart

171. Eat alligator
172. Eat an insect
173. Eat a peach from Chilton County, Ala.
174. Eat at a Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse
175. Eat at Big Daddy’s Grill in Fairhope

176. Eat at Brennan’s Restaurant in New Orleans
177. Eat at Callaghan’s Irish Social Club in Mobile
178. Eat at Corky’s Ribs & BBQ in New Orleans
179. Eat at Drago’s Seafood Restaurant in New Orleans
180. Eat at Emeril’s Delmonico Restaurant in New Orleans

181. Eat at Emily’s Café in Greenville
182. Eat a tequila worm
183. Eat at every restaurant in Conecuh County at least once
184. Eat at every restaurant in Monroe County at least once
185. Eat at Ezell’s Fish Camp in Lavaca, Ala. (Choctaw County)

186. Eat at Honey’s Hot Dogs in Dothan
187. Eat at Huggin’ Molly’s restaurant in Abbeville
188. Eat at Mama Nem’s in Thomaston
189. Eat at the Market By The Bay in Daphne
190. Eat at McElhaney’s restaurant in Atmore

191. Eat at Momma Goldberg’s in Auburn
192. Eat at Sisters restaurant in Troy
193. Eat at Tacky Jack’s in Gulf Shores
194. Eat at The Battle House Hotel in Mobile
195. Eat at The Compleat Angler Seafood Grille & Bar in Daphne

196. Eat at the Dew Drop Inn in Mobile
197. Eat at the Tiny Diny in Mobile
198. Eat at The Victoria in Anniston
199. Eat at the Wildflower Café in Mentone
200. Eat at T.P. Crockmier’s in Mobile

201. Eat at Ye Ole College Inn in New Orleans
202. Eat Baba Ghanoush
203. Eat catfish at the Stage Coach Café in Stockton
204. Eat caviar
205. Eat chitterlings

206. Eat crawfish pie at Ca-John’s in Faunsdale
207. Eat Eggs Benedict
208. Eat Escargot
209. Eat Foie Gras
210. Eat haggis

211. Eat kangaroo
212. Eat kimchi
213. Eat octopus
214. Eat peach ice cream at the Durbin Farms Market in Clanton
215. Eat penguin meat

216. Eat Pig’s Feet
217. Eat rabbit
218. Eat sautéed grouper at The Rawl’s in Enterprise
219. Eat seal meat
220. Eat shark

221. Eat turtle soup
222. Escort my daughter down the aisle at her wedding
223. Examine a crop circle
224. Experience a session in a sensory deprivation tank
225. Experience weightlessness

226. Fast for three days, drinking nothing but water
227. Feed a koala bear
228. Finish a newspaper crossword puzzle
229. Float in the Dead Sea
230. Fly at the speed of sound

231. Fly first class
232. Fly in an open cockpit airplane
233. Fly with the Blue Angels
234. Geocache
235. Get a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL)

236. Get a manicure
237. Get a passport
238. Get a pedicure
239. Get a tattoo
240. Get lasik eye surgery

241. Go backpacking in Europe
242. Go barefoot for an entire week
243. Go clam digging
244. Golf 18 holes
245. Go on a “Bigfoot hunt” in the Pacific Northwest

246. Go on a dog-sledding trip
247. Go on a ghost tour in Savannah, Ga.
248. Go on a humanitarian trip to Africa
249. Go on a mission trip
250. Go on an African safari

251. Go on an alligator hunt
252. Go on an urban exploration trip
253. Go on a police ride along
254. Go on a real duck hunt
255. Go to a midnight showing at a theatre

256. Go whale watching.
257. Grow my hair out, shoulder-length
258. Have a “date night” with my daughter
259. Have a Halloween bonfire with hot apple cider
260. Have an article published in “The Historical News”

261. Have washboard abs
262. Help an injured animal
263. Help a random stranger in distress
264. Help build a church.
265. Help build a Habitat for Humanity home

266. Help deliver a baby
267. Hike a glacier
268. Hike Hadrian’s Wall Across the UK
269. Hike in Alaska
270. Hike the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge trails

271. Hike the Continental Divide Trail
272. Hike the Grand Canyon
273. Hike the Pacific Northwest Trail
274. Hike the trails at Chickasabogue Park
275. Hike the trails at Gulf State Park

276. Hike the trails at Village Point Park in Daphne
277. Hike the Walls of Jericho at Hytop
278. Hike the Weeks Bay Nature Trail near Fairhope
279. Hike to Everest Base Camp
280. Hunt and find ancient shark teeth

281. Hunt and kill a bear
282. Hunt and kill a coyote
283. Hunt and kill a lion in Tanzania (legal there)
284. Hunt and kill an elephant in South Africa (legal there)
285. Hunt and kill a wild turkey

286. Hunt for geese
287. Ice skate
288. Interview someone who claims to have been abducted by aliens
289. Invent something and patent it
290. Join a disaster relief effort

291. Join the American Welding Society
292. Join the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society
293. Join the Knights of St. Andrew
294. Join the Monroe County Heritage Museums
295. Join the Monroe County Rescue Squad

296. Join the National Rifle Association
297. Join the Sons of Confederate Veterans
298. Join the Sons of the American Revolution
299. Join the York Rite of Freemasonry
300. Kayak the Sepulga River Canoe Trail

301. Kill a deer with a bow and arrow
302. Kill a deer with a traditional muzzle-loading rifle
303. Kiss the Blarney Stone in Ireland
304. Kite-surf
305. Launch a newspaper boat with the kids

306. Learn a magic trick
307. Learn archery
308. Learn Bartitsu
309. Learn to braze
310. Learn to cook

311. Learn to fly-fish
312. Learn to play cribbage
313. Learn to play croquet
314. Learn to play dominoes
315. Learn to play golf

316. Learn to kayak
317. Learn to play backgammon
318. Learn to play poker
319. Learn to ride a motorcycle
320. Learn to sail

321. Learn to say the alphabet backwards
322. Learn to solder
323. Learn to speak Arabic
324. Learn to speak French
325. Learn to speak German

326. Learn to speak Russian
327. Learn to speak Spanish
328. Learn to surf
329. Lean to use a sextant
330. Listen to Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” from start to finish without interruption

331. Listen to The Beatle’s “White Album” without interruption
332. Live to see my first grandchild
333. Live to see the return of Halley’s Comet in 2061
334. Log 1,000 total lifetime hiking miles
335. Make a candle

336. Make a handmade bow and arrows set
337. Make a hollow book
338. Make an omelet
339. Make an origami animal
340. Make a shillelagh

341. Make homemade wine
342. Make soap
343. Meet a Heisman Trophy winner
344. Meet a past President of the United States
345. Meet author Riley Kelly

346. Meet Bear Grylls of “Man vs. Wild”
347. Meet Bill Belichick
348. Meet David Duchovny
349. Meet Eli Gold
350. Meet Harper Lee

351. Meet Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones/Han Solo)
352. Meet Jason Hawes from “Ghost Hunters.”
353. Meet Joe Hill
354. Meet Jon Krakauer
355. Meet Kyle MacLachlan

356. Meet Lou Holtz
357. Meet Mike Mignola
358. Meet Neil Young
359. Meet Nick Saban
360. Meet someone else with my name

361. Meet the President of the United States
362. Meet Stephen King
363. Meet Warren St. John
364. Meet Will Clark
365. Meet William Shatner

366. Meet Zak Bagans “Ghost Adventures”
367. Memorize Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address”
368. Memorize “Do It Now” by Berton Braley
369. Memorize Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven”
370. Memorize the books of the Bible

371. Memorize the Greek alphabet
372. Memorize the Heisman Trophy winners
373. Memorize the Presidents of the United States
374. Milk a cow. Drink the milk.
375. Mule ride down the Grand Canyon

376. Order a Martini, “Shaken, not stirred”
377. Own a velvet Elvis
378. Paddle the entire length of the Alabama Scenic River Trail
379. Paint a self-portrait
380. Pan for gold

381. Paraglide
382. Parasail
383. Participate in an arm-wrestling competition
384. Participate in an expedition
385. Participate in a séance

386. Photograph a ghost
387. Photograph a tornado from way too close
388. Pierce something on my body
389. Plant a vegetable garden
390. Play a MMORPG

391. Play roulette in Las Vegas
392. Play rugby
393. Play the bagpipes
394. Publish a novel
395. Publish a short story

396. Pull a ride-along shift with LifeFlight
397. Put together a “vampire hunting” kit
398. Raft the Grand Canyon
399. Read a banned book
400. Read “Alabama Moon” by Watt Key

401. Read “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll
402. Read all 12 of the “Foxfire” books
403. Read all 33 books in the TIME-Life Mysteries of the Unknown Series
404. Read all 125 of Agee Films “Great Southern Books”
405. Read all of Agatha Christie’s books

406. Read all of Bear Grylls’ books
407. Read all of Carl Sagan’s books
408. Read all of Charles Dickens’ novels
409. Read all of Clive Cussler’s books
410. Read all of Cormac McCarthy’s books

411. Read all of Dale Brown’s books
412. Read all of George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” novels
413. Read all of Hunter S. Thompson’s books
414. Read all of John Grisham’s books
415. Read all of John Keel’s books

416. Read all of Louis L’Amour’s books
417. Read all of Michael Connelly’s books
418. Read all of Michael Crichton’s books
419. Read all of Richard Dawkins’ books
420. Read all of Robert Ludlum’s novels

421. Read all of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Sherlock Holmes” stories
422. Read all of Sports Illustrated’s “Top 100 Sports Books of All Time”
423. Read all of the adventure books recommended by “The Art of Manliness”
424. Read all of the books on the “101 Crackerjack Sea Books” list
425. Read all of the Hellboy graphic novels

426. Read all of the “Twilight” novels by Stephenie Meyer
427. Read all of Tom Clancy’s novels
428. Read all of Truman Capote’s books
429. Read all the Harry Potter books
430. Read “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie

431. Read “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy
432. Read “A Separate Peace” by John Knowles
433. Read “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens
434. Read “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle
435. Read “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by Roald Dahl

436. Read “Charlotte’s Web” by E.B. White
437. Read “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens
438. Read Discover Magazine’s “25 Greatest Science Books of All Time”
439. Read “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes
440. Read Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech

441. Read “Following the Equator” by Mark Twain
442. Read “Football Scouting Methods” by Steve Belichick
443. Read “Gilgamesh”
444. Read “Gone With the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell
445. Read “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens

446. Read “Gulliver’s Travels” by Jonathan Swift
447. Read “Hints to Travelers,” edited by Francis Galton
448. Read “How Good Do You Want to Be” by Nick Saban
449. Read “In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash” by Jean Shepherd
450. Read “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte

451. Read Jim Butcher’s “The Dresden Files” series
452. Read “Les Miserables” by Victor Hugo
453. Read “Life of Johnson” by James Boswell
454. Read “Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov
455. Read “Lonesome Dove” by Larry McMurtry

456. Read “Morals and Dogma” by Albert Pike
457. Read National Geographic’s 100 Best Adventure Books
458. Read Outside’s “25 Best Adventure Books of the Last 100 Years”
459. Read “Perdido Street Station” by China Mieville
460. Read Playboy’s “Top 20 Books Every Man Must Read”

461. Read “Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer” by Warren St. John
462. Read Robert Ludlum’s “Bourne Trilogy” novels
463. Read “Robinson Crusoe” by Daniel Defoe
464. Read “Savage Wilderness” by Barry Ralph
465. Read “South!” by Sir Ernest Shackleton

466. Read Stieg Larsson’s “Millennium” trilogy
467. Read “Sons and Lovers” by D.H. Lawrence
468. Read the 101 Books Recommended for College-Bound Readers
469. Read the “300” graphic novel
470. Read “The Aeneid” by Virgil

471. Read “The Anubus Gates” by Tim Powers
472. Read the Art of Manliness’ 50 Best Books for Boys and Young Men
473. Read the Book of Mormon
474. Read the books on the Horror Writers Association Horror Reading List
475. Read “The Brothers Karamazov” by Dostoevsky

476. Read “The Civil War” by Shelby Foote
477. Read “The Communist Manifesto” by Karl Marx
478. Read the complete Bible – in Spanish
479. Read the complete “Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis
480. Read “The Complete Grimm’s Fair Tales”

481. Read the complete Neil Gaiman “Sandman” graphic novel series
482. Read “The Complete Poems of Walt Whitman”
483. Read the “Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe”
484. Read “The Complete Stories of Franz Kafka”
485. Read the complete “Walking Dead” comic book series

486. Read the complete works of John Steinbeck
487. Read the complete works of William Faulkner
488. Read the complete works of William Shakespeare
489. Read “The Diary of Anne Frank”
490. Read “The Divine Comedy” by Dante Alighieri

491. Read “The Education of a Wandering Man” by Louis L’Amour
492. Read “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” by Tom Wolfe
493. Read the entire Bible
494. Read “The Federalist Papers” by Alexander Hamilton
495. Read “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams

496. Read the Ian Fleming “James Bond” novels
497. Read “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair
498. Read “The Kolchak Papers” by Jeff Rice
499. Read the Koran
500. Read “The Lands of Silence” by Clements R. Markham

501. Read “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” by C.S. Lewis
502. Read the major works of Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton
503. Read “The Maltese Falcon” by Dashiell Hammett
504. Read “The Once and Future King” by T.H. White
505. Read “The Origin of Species” by Charles Darwin

506. Read “The Pilgrim’s Progress” by John Bunyan
507. Read “The Postman Always Rings Twice” by James Mallahan Cain
508. Read “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” by William L. Shirer
509. Read “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
510. Read the “V for Vendetta” graphic novel

511. Read the “Wheel of Time” series
512. Read “The Wind in the Willows” by Kenneth Grahame
513. Read “Thus Spake Zarathustra” by Friedrich Nietzsche
514. Read “Ulysses” by James Joyce
515. Read “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau

516. Read “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy
517. Read “Watership Down” by Richard Adams
518. Read “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell Jr.
519. Read “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte
520. Receive a “Key to the City”

521. Register for NaNoWriMo and Write a Novel in One Month
522. Ride a camel
523. Ride a gondola in Venice
524. Ride a Greyhound bus from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine
525. Ride a mechanical bull

526. Ride a plane or boat in the Bermuda Triangle
527. Ride a San Francisco trolley
528. Ride a steamboat on the Mississippi River.
529. Ride in a blimp
530. Ride in a helicopter

531. Ride in a horse and carriage
532. Ride in a hot air balloon
533. Ride on the Orient Express
534. Ride on the top of a moving train
535. Ride the Chunnel

536. Ride the Gee’s Bend Ferry
537. Ride the London Underground
538. Ride the New York City subway
539. Ring the opening (or closing) bell on Wall Street
540. Rock climb

541. Run a marathon… without stopping at least once
542. Run a Spartan Race
543. Run a Tough Mudder race
544. Run a Warrior Dash race
545. Run for a political office

546. Run in 100 official footraces
547. Run in the Big Sur International Marathon in Calif.
548. Run in the EMC Health & Wellness 5K
549. Run in the Honolulu Marathon
550. Run the Alligator Trot 5K in Florala

551. Run the Battle of Mobile Bay 5K on Dauphin Island
552. Run the Chicago Marathon
553. Run the Fifth Avenue Mile in New York City
554. Run the Joe Cain Classic 5K in Mobile
555. Run the Senior Bowl Charity Run in Mobile

556. Run through the Bank Head Tunnel in Mobile
557. Sail across an ocean
558. SCUBA dive a ship wreck
559. See a laser light show at a planetarium
560. See a live performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony

561. See all of the Saturn Award winning movies
562. See a performance of Cirque du Soleil
563. See a performance of “Phantom of the Opera”
564. See a play performed at The Globe theatre in London
565. See comedian Daniel Tosh perform live

566. See Michelangelo’s “David”
567. See Mount Rushmore in Keystone, South Dakota
568. See Niagra Falls in person
569. See the Acropolis in Greece
570. See the Amazon River in person

571. See the Boll Weevil Monument in Enterprise
572. See the Bottle Creek Indian Mounds in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta
573. See the Christmas lights at Bellingrath Gardens
574. See the Congo River in person
575. See the Dropkick Murphys in concert

576. See the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri
577. See the Gingko tree in Evergreen
578. See the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco
579. See the Ignatius J. Reilly statue on Canal Street in New Orleans
580. See the inside of the Old Civil Air Patrol Building in Evergreen

581. See the Joe Louis Statue in Lafayette
582. See the Nazca Lines in Peru
583. See the Nile River
584. See the Northern Lights from somewhere in the polar regions
585. See the Seven Wonders of the World

586. See the Sphinx in Egypt
587. See the Whiskey Bottle Tombstone in Clayton
588. Send a care package to a soldier
589. Serve an enlistment in the U.S. Navy Reserves
590. Serve as the Worshipful Master of a Masonic lodge

591. Serve a term on the Monroe County Heritage Museums’ board of directors
592. Set foot on all seven continents
593. Sew something you can wear
594. Solve a Rubik’s Cube
595. Skydive

596. Sleep in a castle
597. Sleep in a hammock
598. Sleep in an igloo
599. Sleep in an overnight train
600. Sleep in a stable on a haystack

601. Slide down a firehouse pole
602. Smoke a Cuban cigar… in Cuba
603. Snowboard
604. Snow ski
605. Spend “Fat Tuesday” in New Orleans during Mardi Gras

606. Spend the night at the Hotel Provincial in New Orleans
607. Spend the night at the Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, La.
608. Spend the night in a bed and breakfast
609. Spend the night in a cave
610. Spend the night in a submarine

611. Spend the night in the Asa Johnston Farmhouse
612. Spend the night in the Claiborne Masonic Lodge at Perdue Hill
613. Spend the night in the Hybart House in Monroeville
614. Spend the night in the Old Dr. John Watkins House at Burnt Corn
615. Spend the night in the Old Lowrey Trust Store in Burnt Corn

616. Spend the night in the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colo.
617. Spend the night on a beach
618. Spend the night on a houseboat
619. Spend the night on the sandbar at Bailey’s Creek
620. Spend the night on top of “Tater Hill”

621. Spend the night out in the yard on a night there will be a hard frost
622. Stand in a red British phone booth
623. Stand on an off-shore oil rig
624. Stand on the North Pole. Look for Santa.
625. Stand on the South Pole

626. Stand on top of a mesa
627. Stand on top of the old Bank of Evergreen building
628. Start a business
629. Start a fire without matches
630. Stay awake for 48 hours straight

631. Summit Ayers Rock in Australia
632. Swim across the Alabama River
633. Swim in one of the Great Lakes
634. Swim with dolphins
635. Take a Greek Isles cruise

636. Take an Alaskan cruise
637. Take an Around-the-World cruise
638. Take an art class
639. Take an IQ test
640. Take a transatlantic cruise

641. Take a wine tasting class
642. Take flying lessons
643. Take my son to Las Vegas on his 21st birthday
644. Take part in a Civil War battle reenactment
645. Take part in an archeological dig or fossil hunt

646. Take pictures in a photo booth
647. Take the Decatur Civil War Walking Tour
648. Take the downtown Selma walking tour
649. Take the Hank Williams Trail tour from Georgiana to Montgomery
650. Take the Huntsville Ghost Walk Tour

651. Take the Jack the Ripper tour in London
652. Take the kids on an overnight camping trip
653. Take the kids to a WWF wrestling event
654. Take the kids to DeSoto Caverns
655. Take the kids to Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

656. Take the kids to Fort Gaines
657. Take the kids to Fort Morgan
658. Take the kids to Horseshoe Bend
659. Take the kids to the Battle of Fort Mims reenactment in Stockton
660. Take the kids on the Mobile Bay Ferry

661. Take the kids to the Moundville Archeological Park
662. Take the kids to the Senior Bowl in Mobile
663. Take the kids to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville
664. Take the kids to Waterville
665. Take the self-guided Black Belt Ghost Trail

666. Throw a coin into the Trevi Fountain and make a wish
667. Throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game
668. Thru-hike the Appalachian Trail
669. Touch a genuine crystal skull
670. Touch a moon rock

671. Tour a beer brewery
672. Tour a book publishing facility
673. Tour a Mayan ruin
674. Tour Prague in the Czech Republic
675. Tour the Borden House in Fall River, Mass.

676. Tour the Catacombs of Paris
677. Tour the Gettysburg battlefield
678. Tour the USS North Carolina in Wilmington, N.C.
679. Tour the Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, Ky.
680. Transcribe, edit and revise my journals from my time in Kuwait and Iraq

681. Travel coast to coast by train
682. Travel the Silk Route
683. Travel the Trans-Canadian Highway from coast to coast
684. Try 100 different types of beer
685. Try acupuncture

686. Try a scary experiment I saw someone do on YouTube
687. Try deep-fried twinkies
688. Try Hakarl (fermented shark)
689. Try stand-up paddle boarding
690. Visit 177A Bleecker Street in New York’s Greenwich Village (Dr. Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum)

691. Visit a “Forbidden Planet” bookstore
692. Visit Alcatraz prison
693. Visit all 50 of the United States
694. Visit and tour the oldest Masonic lodge in Alabama (Huntsville)
695. Visit Angkor Wat in Angkor, Cambodia

696. Visit a presidential library
697. Visit Area 51
698. Visit a synagogue
699. Visit Auschwitz
700. Visit Austin, Texas

701. Visit Bangkok, Thailand
702. Visit Beale Street in Memphis, Tenn.
703. Visit Bear Bryant’s grave
704. Visit Belcourt Castle in Newport, Rhode Island
705. Visit Berlin

706. Visit Boston, Mass.
707. Visit Canada
708. Visit Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico
709. Visit Charleston, S.C.
710. Visit Chernobyl in the Ukraine

711. Visit Chile
712. Visit China
713. Visit Cleveland, Ohio
714. Visit Colombia
715. Visit Confederate Memorial Park in Marbury

716. Visit Connecticut
717. Visit Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas
718. Visit Cuba
719. Visit Dracula’s Castle in Romania
720. Visit Easter Island

721. Visit Edgar Allan Poe’s grave in Baltimore, Md.
722. Visit Edinburgh, Scotland
723. Visit Ellicott’s Stone
724. Visit every country in Europe
725. Visit Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco

726. Visit Ford Field in Detroit
727. Visit Four Corners (Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado)
728. Visit Frankenstein’s Castle in Darmstadt, Germany
729. Visit Freemason’s Hall in Edinburgh, Scotland
730. Visit Freemason’s Hall in Philadelphia

731. Visit Gaineswood in Demopolis
732. Visit Ghana
733. Visit Glacier National Park in Montana
734. Visit Greece
735. Visit “Ground Zero” in New York

736. Visit Hank Williams’ grave in Oakwood Cemetery in Montgomery
737. Visit Harvard University’s campus
738. Visit Hawaii
739. Visit Helsinki, Finland
740. Visit Heroes Con in North Carolina

741. Visit Hong Kong
742. Visit H.P. Lovecraft’s grave in Providence, R.I.
743. Visit India
744. Visit Ireland
745. Visit Istanbul, Turkey

746. Visit Japan
747. Visit Jerusalem, Israel
748. Visit Jim Morrison’s Grave in Paris, France
749. Visit Laos
750. Visit Lebanon

751. Visit Loch Ness in Scotland
752. Visit London, England
753. Visit Los Angeles, Calif.
754. Visit Machu Picchu in Peru
755. Visit Maine

756. Visit Mammoth Cave in Kentucky
757. Visit Manhattan Island
758. Visit Melbourne, Australia
759. Visit Mexico City, Mexico
760. Visit Moscow, Russia

761. Visit Mozambique
762. Visit my great-uncle’s WWI grave in France
763. Visit Namibia
764. Visit National Geographic’s Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
765. Visit New Jersey

766. Visit New York City
767. Visit New Zealand
768. Visit Norway
769. Visit Oak Island in Canada
770. Visit Oakleigh Mansion in Mobile

771. Visit Old Cahaba
772. Visit Omaha Beach in Normandy
773. Visit Packer’s Bend
774. Visit Panama
775. Visit Paris, France

776. Visit Patagonia, Argentina
777. Visit Pearl Harbor
778. Visit Petra, Jordan
779. Visit Point Pleasant, West Virginia
780. Visit Providence, Rhode Island

781. Visit Puerto Rico
782. Visit Redwood National Park in California
783. Visit Reykjavik, Iceland
784. Visit Rickwood Field in Birmingham
785. Visit Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

786. Visit Roanoke Island
787. Visit Rome
788. Visit Rosslyn Chapel in Roslin, Scotland
789. Visit Roswell, New Mexico
790. Visit Rowan Oak (William Faulkner’s home) in Oxford, Miss.

791. Visit Salem, Mass.
792. Visit Sanders Cave at Brooklyn
793. Visit San Francisco, Calif.
794. Visit San Francisco’s Chinatown District
795. Visit San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury District

796. Visit Singapore
797. Visit Sir Richard Francis Burton’s grave at Mortlake, Surrey
798. Visit South Korea
799. Visit Sri Lanka
800. Visit St. Augustine, Fla. and the St. Augustine Lighthouse

801. Visit St. Louis, Missouri
802. Visit Stonehenge in Wiltshire County, England
803. Visit Sturdivant Hall in Selma
804. Visit Switzerland
805. Visit Tahiti

806. Visit the Adventurers Club in Chicago
807. Visit the Alabama Military Hall of Honor in Marion
808. Visit the Alabama Museum of Natural History in Tuscaloosa
809. Visit the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Museum in Birmingham
810. Visit the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas

811. Visit the Amazon Rain Forest
812. Visit the American UFO Sci-Fi Museum in Wisconsin
813. Visit the Atlantic City Boardwalk in Atlantic City, NJ
814. Visit the Ave Maria Grotto in Cullman
815. Visit the Azores islands

816. Visit the Baja Peninsula
817. Visit the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
818. Visit the Beauvior House (Jefferson Davis’ home) in Biloxi
819. Visit the British Museum in London
820. Visit the Choctaw County Historical Museum in Gilbertown

821. Visit the Clarke County Historical Museum in Grove Hill
822. Visit the Coney Island Boardwalk
823. Visit the crash site of the “Little Eva” in Australia
824. Visit the “Devil’s Soup Bowl”
825. Visit the Drish House in Tuscaloosa

826. Visit the Eastern State Penitentiary in Pa.
827. Visit the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, Va.
828. Visit the Egyptian Museum in Cairo
829. Visit the Eocene Lisbon Formation at Claiborne
830. Visit “The Exorcist” steps in Georgetown, Va.

831. Visit the Explorers Club in New York City
832. Visit the Florida Everglades
833. Visit the Galapagos Islands
834. Visit the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Wash., D.C.
835. Visit the Georgia Dome

836. Visit the Grand Canyon
837. Visit the Grand Lodge of England
838. Visit the grave of Lewis Lavon Peacock
839. Visit the grave of Robert E. Howard in Brownwood, Texas
840. Visit the Great Wall of China

841. Visit the Hank Williams Museum in Georgiana
842. Visit the Hank Williams Museum on Commerce Street in Montgomery
843. Visit the Hank Williams Statue in Montgomery
844. Visit the House of the Temple in Washington, D.C.
845. Visit the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.

846. Visit the Jemison-Van de Graaf Mansion in Tuscaloosa
847. Visit the John F. Kennedy assassination site
848. Visit the Kathryn Tucker Windham Museum in Thomasville
849. Visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa
850. Visit The Louvre in Paris, France

851. Visit the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola
852. Visit the Obscura Antiques & Oddities store in Manhattan
853. Visit the Old Appomattox Courthouse/McLean House in Appomattox, Va.
854. Visit the Panama Canal
855. Visit the Philippines

856. Visit the Pickens County Courthouse (Face in the Window) in Carrollton
857. Visit the Playboy Mansion
858. Visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame
859. Visit the Pyramids at Giza in Egypt
860. Visit the Queen Mary in Long Beach, Calif.

861. Visit the Rawls Hotel in Enterprise
862. Visit the Robert E. Howard Museum in Cross Plains, Texas
863. Visit the Roman Coliseum
864. Visit the ruins at Pompeii
865. Visit the Russell Cave National Monument in Bridgeport

866. Visit the San Diego Zoo
867. Visit the Shakespeare & Co. bookstore in Paris
868. Visit the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican in Italy
869. Visit the Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham
870. Visit the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

871. Visit the source of the Nile
872. Visit the Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham
873. Visit the St. James Hotel in Selma
874. Visit the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia
875. Visit the Taj Mahal in Agra, India

876. Visit the Templar Church in London
877. Visit the Temple of Karnak in Karnak, Egypt
878. Visit the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
879. Visit the top of the Empire State Building
880. Visit the top of the Statue of Liberty in New York City

881. Visit the U.S. Army Aviation Museum at Fort Rucker
882. Visit the U.S. Virgin Islands
883. Visit the Wall Street Financial District in New York City
884. Visit the Washington County Museum in Chatom
885. Visit the Winchester Mansion in California

886. Visit Tibet
887. Visit Tijuana, Mexico
888. Visit Tokyo
889. Visit Tombstone, Arizona
890. Visit Tuscany, Italy

891. Visit Uruguay
892. Visit Vancouver, Canada
893. Visit Vicksburg, Mississippi
894. Visit Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe
895. Visit Vienna, Austria

896. Visit Vietnam
897. Visit William Faulkner’s grave in Oxford, Miss.
898. Visit Yellowstone National Forest
899. Visit Yosemite National Park in California
900. Volunteer at a homeless shelter

901. Walk across Abbey Road
902. Walk from my house to my parents’ house
903. Walk on an iceberg
904. Walk on hot coals
905. Walk through “The Grove” at Ole Miss on a game day

906. Watch a ballet performance
907. Watch a basketball game at Madison Square Garden
908. Watch a Braves Game at Turner Field
909. Watch a Broadway play or musical
910. Watch a Cubs game at Wrigley Field in Chicago

911. Watch a football game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla.
912. Watch a football game at Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington, Ky.
913. Watch a football game at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas
914. Watch a football game at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark.
915. Watch a football game at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga.

916. Watch a football game at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La.
917. Watch a football game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss.
918. Watch a football game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Ark.
919. Watch a football game at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C.
920. Watch a game of cricket in person

921. Watch a high school football game in Odessa, Texas
922. Watch a live rocket launch
923. Watch all of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies
924. Watch all of Ken Burns’ documentary films
925. Watch all of Sports Illustrated’s “Greatest Sports Movies”

926. Watch all of the “Hellraiser” movies
927. Watch all of the “James Bond” movies
928. Watch all the Academy Award Best Picture winners
929. Watch all the old episodes of the “V” sci-fi series
930. Watch all the Star Wars movies back to back

931. Watch a Monday Night Football Game in person
932. Watch an Alabama football game at Texas A&M’s stadium
933. Watch an arena football game in person
934. Watch a NASCAR race in person
935. Watch an Auburn game from the press box at Jordan-Hare Stadium

936. Watch an “Egg Bowl” in person
937. Watch a Packers game at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisc.
938. Watch a pro soccer game in the U.K. in person
939. Watch a Red Sox game at Fenway Park in Boston
940. Watch a solar eclipse

941. Watch “A Streetcar Named Desire”
942. Watch a World Cup soccer game in person
943. Watch a Yankees game at Yankee Stadium in N.Y.
944. Watch “Brazil” (1985)
945. Watch Cartoon Network for 24 hours

946. Watch “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”
947. Watch “Citizen Kane” (1941)
948. Watch “Doctor Zhivago”
949. Watch “Dracula” (1931)
950. Watch “Easy Rider” (1969)

951. Watch every episode of “24”
952. Watch every episode of “Amazing Stories”
953. Watch every episode of “American Horror Story”
954. Watch every episode of “Battlestar Galactica”
955. Watch every episode of “Fringe”

956. Watch every episode of MST3K
957. Watch every episode of “Ren and Stimpy”
958. Watch every episode of “Walking Dead”
959. Watch Fangoria’s “101 Best Horror Movies You’ve Never Seen”
960. Watch Fangoria’s 300 Best Horror Films

961. Watch “Fiddler on the Roof”
962. Watch “First Spaceship on Venus” (1960)
963. Watch “Frankenstein” (1931)
964. Watch “Invasion USA” (1952)
965. Watch “Logan’s Run”

966. Watch my son kill his first deer
967. Watch “Nosferatu” (1922)
968. Watch Outside Magazine’s Best Documentary Films
969. Watch Sumo wrestling live
970. Watch the American Film Institute’s 100 Funniest Movies

971. Watch the “Backyard Brawl” game between Thomasville and Clarke Co.
972. Watch “The Battle of Murder Creek” in person
973. Watch the “Battle of Prichard” game between Vigor and Blount
974. Watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace
975. Watch “The Creature from the Black Lagoon”

976. Watch the Decatur-Austin football game in person
977. Watch the documentary “Kon-Tiki”
978. Watch “The Haunting” (1963)
979. Watch the Huntsville Stars play at Joe Davis Stadium in Huntsville
980. Watch “The Incredible Shrinking Man” (1957)

981. Watch the Ken Burns “Baseball” documentary
982. Watch “Them!” (1954)
983. Watch the Moon Pie Drop in Mobile on New Year’s Eve
984. Watch the Murphy – McGill-Toolen football game in person
985. Watch the Old Faithful geyser erupt

986. Watch the Opelika-Auburn football rivalry game
987. Watch the sun set at Key West
988. Watch the Super Six football championships in Birmingham
989. Watch “The War of the Worlds” (1953)
990. Watch the Washington County-Millry football rivalry game

991. Watch “The Wizard of Oz” while listening to “Dark Side of the Moon”
992. Watch “This Is Spinal Tap”
993. Water ski
994. Wear a Rolex watch
995. Win a political office

996. Work in Antarctica
997. Work on a fishing boat
998. Write 100 short stories in my Eli McMorn series
999. Write a letter to someone famous
1000. Write my memoirs

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