Sunday, July 25, 2010

Have you ever...



Found this somewhere, can't remember where. Just found it again, as an unfinished draft on my blog. After reading over the list, I thought it was ridiculously redundant with vaguely snobby "Have you ever gone to Europe" references. So I took out some of those and replaced them with a few of my own.

You're supposed to copy the list onto your blog and bold the items you have done in your life, so I did. Didn't think you could see the bolded text very well, so I started to do it in pale blue.. but it's too much work, so, oh well. Who's really going to read this anyway?

I'm pretty pathetic on the travel questions. I'm such a stick-in-the-mud when it comes to travel. Maybe as school visits build, I'll be doing more of that, too. Already have, in fact.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (well, sang anyway. Still do. Oh yeah, tamberine! That's playing, right?)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower (under the same stars!)
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (Well, Disneyland, no, but Disneyworld, yes.)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis (love those little guys!)
10. Sang a solo (Good heavens yes.)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Traveled to Europe
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child (not me, but grew up with those my parents fostered and adopted)
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Swung out and jumped into a lake from a rope swing
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort (the coolest -- it was an igloo!)
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Visited Haiti
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (do now; not that much, really)
38. Picked apples and cooked something delicious with them
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Homeschooled your children
50. Gotten a ticket
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Taught a class
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle (well, maybe 55 or 60 mph)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book (Wheeee! Yesss!)
81. Written/composed a song
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (how famous is famous? Famous authors, yes.)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swum in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone (jeesh. how old is this list? Owning a cell is so exotic?)
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day.

The above is kind of heavy on travel, (especially European travel) which I haven't done much. But there are other joys in life that are more homey. How about these I just added? (All things I've done)...

101. Jumped into a haystack from the hayloft
102. Hosted a foreign student
103. Been on a naval ship
104. Slept in a barn
105. Flown in a small plane (2 person)
106. Kept a journal for more than a year
107. Lived in Cuba (So there! I AM a world traveler!)
108. Taught a class
109. Touched the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall
110. Kissed another actor/actress onstage
111. Accidentally fallen in front of an audience
(I stayed in character and managed to make it look like a prat fall. Ah, what grace.)
112. Won a national contest. (Hey, I didn't say I won FIRST prize!)
113. Rescued a wild baby bird
114. Caught a lizard with your bare hands
115. Baited a hook or scaled & gutted a fish
116. Seen a moose in the wild
117. Cared for a foster child
118. Worked with mentally challenged youth and/or adults
119. Found more than $200 (Found it in a 25-cent 2nd-hand book; 20-year-old bills)
120. Painted a theater set
121. Run a printing press
122. Developed film/paper in a darkroom
123. Fainted (couple seconds anyway. An inexperienced tobacco inhaler. So much for looking cool to my high school friends!)
124. Spoken or sung in front of more than, say, 350 people
125. Held a baby raccoon (They have a lovely spicy smell.)

Photo by by Public Domain Photos

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Writing in the Pool


Hey, call me crazy. I love writing outside, but it's 98 degrees today. Don't fret; my laptop is dry. It's on the deck BESIDE me. Ahh. What a great way to make a living.