Some things I want to do and some things I've done

I really just want to do everything before I die, and I don't think that is a feeling that is specific to me. 

I have done a few things, but it is a scary small fraction of what I actually want to do. 

See, even though I am introverted, I still like to see the world and do things. I just always weigh the energy that I will have to invest by going out into social situations against the value I will get from the experience.

For instance, after a long, hard week, I do not want to have dinner with the gang or go to a party or go clubbing or drinking. One of my ideal scenarios to relieve stress is to buy good-quality chocolate, pour myself a tall glass of iced coffee and watch back to back episodes of the latest t.v. show I am "obsessing" over. And if I am at home, to watch them with my cat.

Some may say, (actually a girl told me just two weeks ago), that doing what I would rather do is wasting my life away. But to me, going out is not worth the exhausting process that it is unless I get a unique memory from it.

Some include:

 

Going to what is called a Beast Feast, eating assorted game meats, meal worm cookies and cricket brownies. The cookies were not bad as long as the worms were crunchy and blended into the cookie. I would not recommend the brownies, especially because the crickets were not entirely crunchy and antennae were sticking out everywhere.

 

Going to a meat plant. This is the least graphic picture I have. The process started with a live pig. What is funny about this experience is I thought the facility just cut meat from a cold cadaver. When I entered the facility and heard squealing, I started shaking and told myself it was just squeaky machinery that needed some WD40. Nope, it was the sound of animals being "tazed" and slaughtered. Yippee! Definitely memorable.

 

 

Eating Ethiopian food for the first time. So good... If you haven't had it, it is served on this spongy flat bread called injera. You are also given a roll of injera that you tear pieces off of to grab at the food. The custom for eating the food is to feed someone else as a sign of respect. I do not know how I feel about that one.

 

Doing the traditional Ethiopian dance with the cook.  She liked us so much she gave us free dessert. I believe it was fried dough with powdered sugar and drizzled honey.

 

Photographing a fashion show. The stuff that happens behind and on stage is hilarious.

 

Going to a Pride Parade

   

Talking to this guy, who is famous for his Burn a Quran Day. 

 

Going to Primitive Earth Skills Gathering. 

 

I know you don't want to, but look closely at this one. Nice timing right?

 

Working on an organic farm with very unique individuals with super illegal stories.

 

Photo credit to Jessica's.

 

Going spelunking.

Ignore my facial expression here. I had a good time. There were bats, and beautiful clear pools of water and slippery mud mountains and colorful fungi and crevices much tighter than this and stalagmites.

 

I'm the "C."

 

I stood in the little look out and pointed out the rays. And annoyingly, there was no ladder, so I jumped down to that net and let it out, helped catch the ray and then pulled the net back in. 

 

In the above picture, researchers are measuring the spotted eagle ray to see if it is healthy.

Photo Credit to Mote.

 

Playing with dogs with inmates. This was also so much fun.

 

Hiking part of the Appalachian Trail with my dad. You gotta love him for it. Such a bonding experience. 

Those are just a few. And I would like to add that most of these activities were free or cost very little.

A lot of things I would like to do:

1. I have had the opportunity to do a little bit of traveling, and I greatly appreciated it, but it is a fraction of what I want to do. 
2. I also briefly did scuba diving. I would like to take a refresher course and then immediately go on a trip to put my skills into practice. 
3. There is not much opportunity to surf in the area of Florida I am from, unless a hurricane is on its way, so I would like to go somewhere where I can really learn.
4. On a whim, I went salsa dancing a few times and surprisingly enjoyed it. I meant to go to fencing and archery and boxing, but scheduling and transportation never worked out. I mean to try these out before I graduate, as well as take the women's self-defense course
5. Do a live drawing, work on a potter's wheel, make a sculpture, make a pinata, make a painting I can hang and be proud of and put up a piece of street art. 
6. Write and publish a novel, some type of non-fiction and a book of poetry.
7. Publish an article in a major news outlet whether a follow through with journalism or not.
8. Eat as many foreign foods as possible, whether they look detestable or delicious, just because.
9. Run in the under wear dash, a mud run and maybe a color run. 
10. Go to a football game...
11. Seriously figure out my major/what I am doing with my life.
12. Go to the Netherlands to practice my Dutch and Spain  to practice my Spanish. And no, I am not ignorant and know there are other places that speak these languages...just in case you were thinking that.
13. Snow skii. I haven't done this yet? really? I have always lived in the south and have only ever water skied...bummer
14. Skydive really? I haven't done this either? I know, I have been meaning to for a while. My parents did not really want me to, but now I am 19 so I should. I will! Maybe this summer? I went parasailing with my dad which was neat. My dad freaked out which was funny. 
15. Also, another one which is ridiculous that I haven't done is go to a concert. I don't know why I haven't. Hmm...I guess I need someone to go with. I need to get on this. I don't want to go to my first one when I am old.
16. Get a gun license and improve my aim
17. Finally go back to Tae Kwon Do and finally get that black belt
18. Find my throwing knives and work on that 
19. Go somewhere awe-inspiring for New Year's Eve
20. Volunteer at a nursing home
21. See a broadway musical (when I went the writers were on strike)
22. Spear a lionfish (As an aside, scallops are so cute, but sad to catch. However, I have no sympathy for lionfish)
23. Go in a hot air balloon
24. Go on a long train ride
25. Hike the tallest mountain on one of the continents
26. Go noodling
27. Learn how to sail
28. Learn how to play the guitar
29. Zip line through a rain forest
30. Go hardcore bird watching
31. Bike through the Alps
32. Learn how to ride a motorcycle
33. Backpack
34. Stay in a supposedly haunted house
35. Visit a fancy schmancy winery 
36. Go to a spa 
37. Go truffle hunting
38. Make a wearable outfit from scratch
39. See all of the major historical sites
40. Learn as many languages as possible ... 
41. Die my hair light pink or blue
42. Ride a small plane that does spins and such. (Dad...take me?)
43. Learn how to play the violin like fiddle and perform on a street corner
44. Knit something other than a scarf...
45. Go to one of those world food challenges
46. Swim with big sharks (not Nurse or Reef sharks)
47. Take a plane trip to first available destination
48. Jump in a fountain like in a movie
49. Get my own kitten
50. Be one of those people who helps makes the floats for the Rose Bowl Parade
51. Fill up a room with books I have read
52. Be independent and not be homeless
53. Do some kind of craft apprenticeship 
54. Go on a safari
55. Paint a mural 
56. Build a house with Habitat for Humanity 

Gosh, I keep thinking, and I really just don't have enough time for everything.

Hmmm...I have always been indecisive. Well, many of these things I can do before I graduate.

This post has inspired me to live more aggressively. 

Will do, 

LA