100 Things to Do In My Lifetime (Part 1)

At school, I always tell my students to set goals for themselves so they have some idea of where they are heading. Their goals serve as a guiding light for their decisions and actions. Since I do like to practice what I preach, I have devised a list of goals I have for my lifetime. This is the first installment of my list of 100 Things to Do Before You Die. I have a list of more than 25 things, but since I believe that our goals should change as we engage in more life experiences, I will only publish the first 25 goals. You may never see my complete list because I hope to make this something that does indeed span my entire lifetime. That being said, here is the first part of my list, enjoy!

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1. Write a book.
2. Get a piece of writing published.
3. Be in a play not affiliated with any type of school.
4. Go to New York City.
5. See a Broadway play.
6. Go to the theatre once a year.
7. Experience unconditional love.
8. Marry my best friend.
9. Have children.
10. Watch a space shuttle lift off…in person.
11. Be an extra in a film.
12. Send a message in a bottle.
13. Befriend my neighbors.
14. Learn how to ballroom dance.
15. Learn to play a musical instrument with some degree of skill.
16. Spend New Year’s Eve in Time Square.
17. See a lunar eclipse.
18. See a solar eclipse.
19. Sing onstage in front of an audience.
20. Learn to juggle.
21. Find a job I love.
22. Buy a house.
23. Grow a vegetable garden.
24. Complete the Cooper River Bridge Run.
25. Read 12 books in one year.

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The highlighted items are goals that I feel I have already sufficiently accomplished.

During the summer I dabbled in writing a children's book that encompasses social reproduction and tracking in our current school system. I hope to finalize that book this summer.

I am also currently working on #25 (Read 12 books in one year). I know that sounds simple, but now that I am out of college and not required to read several books each semester, I feel that I need to impose that goal upon myself. Obviously to meet my goal I would need to read one book each month (sounds easy enough, right?). However, here we are in the fifth month of the year and I have only read two books cover-to-cover (as a teacher, I feel hypocritical saying that). The two that I have read this year to completion are Nicholas Sparks's At First Sight and Dave Pelzer's A Child Called "It." I have been searching for the next books that I will read, but I can't make up my mind. I want my book selection to be more deliberate than just going to a store and picking a book out of the minimal collection. I would also like to read a variety of genres and a variety of topics. Any suggestions? What book(s) could you not live without? I have several books that I could not live without, but I am not going to count repeat reads as part of my 12 books for the year.

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Shoot for the moon; even if you miss you'll land among the stars.
~Les Brown