My Life List

Y'all know what a life list is? It's basically a list of things that you want to accomplish in your life. This week I compiled mine after being inspired by John Goddard who wrote his list at age 15. Today, aged 85 (approx) he has accomplished about 109 (some sources say 111) of the 127 items on his life list. His list is impressive and you should have a gander at it on his own website.

What I set out to do was create a list of 75 things that I wanted to accomplish. Ideally, you do not set a fixed number, but I chose to do so, so that my list would have an end date and I wouldn't add things ad infitum. At the same time, I would just stop when I ran out of things that were on the top of my head and seriously think and research things that look fun/interesting until I reached that number.

So, why 75? That's mathematics. I'll be 21 very soon, and optimistically I figured I wouldn't live more than 75 additional years (i.e. age 96). So that's where the number came from. It's not that I'm only going to fulfill one each year (though it may be the case...who knows?) but it seemed like a nice number to use.

I also set some rules for my list. Firstly, its important that this was a LIFE list, not a wish list. True love and stuff like "have the courage to speak my mind" were not included in this list. As you may gather from reading my blog, I have no problem with that last one anyway. In other words, I'm not a 13 year old. No metaphysical crap...they have to be real, measurable accomplishments/achievements. Things that as soon as I've done them, I'll know it and I can tick it off the list.

The second requirement was that it didn't have to depend on anyone but myself. So, as much as I would sincerely like to be Knighted. It would require somebody else (the British monarch) believing that I had done something to deserve it. Furthermore, it couldn't depend on external circumstances. So 'saving a life', while a life goal, is not something I could add to the list. The reason being that if no one's life was ever in danger while I was around, in order to fulfill this requirement I would have to put them in danger myself - just to save them from it.

Anyway, enough chit-chat...on to the list. I think anything else I want to comment on will be better understood once I've posted the list. I've divided the 75 items into 6 categories - they are not necessarily in the order which they were conceived.

Group A - General
1. Pilot-in-Command of an aeroplane
2. UK citizenship
3. Daily vlog for a year
4. TV/movie idea/script picked up/produced
5. Experience snow
6. Attend a Papal audience
7. Climb to the crown of the Statue of Liberty
8. Play 9 holes of golf
9. Gamble in Montecarlo
10.Gamble in Las Vegas
11.Attempt Pizza by Luca or similar challange
12.Watch a Chelsea match in a stadium
13.Experience entire standard British Natural History Museum - Complete!
14.Volunteer in some capacity
15.Participate in an archaelogical dig
16.Bake a loaf of bread
17.Bake a cheese cake (pastizzi)
18.Weave and sew a top
19.Celebrate 2 New Years in one year

Group B - Literary
20.Publish a non-biographical book
21.Publish an autobiography
22.Read the entire Republic by Plato - Complete!
23.Read Two Treatises on Government
24.Read Utilitarianism and Other Essays
25.Read A Brief History on Time

Group C - Travel
26.Travel to every country in the world as at 23/5/11 (i.e. 193 total) (In Progress:- Follow Here)
27.Spend a week in Saba
28.Visit our Lady of Lourdes grotto
29.Tour Chislehurst Caves - Complete!
30.Visit Loch Ness
31.Gondola Ride
32.Visit Antarctica
33.African Safari
34.Australian Walkabout
35.Visit a rainforest
36.Tour the Galapagos Islands
37.Swim in the Dead Sea
38.Holiday in a tree house
39.Spend a week with a tribe/commune

Group D - Knowledge
40.Fencing course
41.Tai-Chi lesson
42.Archery course
43.General understanding of drumming
44.Proficient in knife throwing
45.Proficient in First Aid
46.Proficient in Fire Fighting
47.General understanding of roping
48.Use and master a boomerang

Group E - Animals
49.Ride a horse
50.Stroke a panda
51.Ride an elephant
52.Milk a cow
53.Ride a camel
54.Swim with dolphins
55.Ride in an animal-drawn sleigh/sled

Group F - Adrenaline
56.Experience zero or low gravity
57.Scuba dive
58.Go sailing
59.Participate in a marathon
60.Skydive
61.Ride the slingshot
62.Ride a zip line
63.Ride Dragon Khan
64.Ride Goudurix
65.Ride in a speedboat
66.Walk over hot coals
67.Ride a segway
68.Go Zorbing
69.Climb to at least 2000 metres
70.Ride a mechanical bull
71.Ride the Scorpion's Tail or similar water slide
72.Ride in a hot air balloon
73.Ride a canoe
74.Ride in a submarine/submersible
75.Abseil down at least 30 metres

Of course, all progress will be documented on this blog.

As you can tell, the goals range from the mundane to the extreme. There are some items I purposely left off my life, for various reasons. For example, while I'd like to travel to outer space - it is way over what I will ever (conceivably) be able to afford. So if I do do it, great! But it's not on my list as I don't want to set myself up for disappointment. Getting elected to public office and coaching England's national team have also been left out. The former as generally, people who hold a daily vlog don't get elected and the latter as with all the things I plan to do, I question whether I'll have enough time. Again, I'd love to do these things, so it would be great if they happen, but I'm not placing them on the list, just in case.

The list is basically made up of things I can see myself accomplishing. However, I have also put down the minimum I will be happy with. For example, I do not need to become a fencing expert to cross that item off my list, merely completing a course will suffice. You may also have noticed that some items (such as Papal Audience) could fall under multiple headings. The reason one is chosen and not the other reflects the way I think of the situation. I would consider a Papal Audience to be a general achievement as opposed to a travel achievement, for example.

One item I sort of regret adding was the TV/film script. Not because I'm not passionate about it, but because, off all the items on my list, it is the one that depends on other people the most in order to be accomplished. All the others are mine and mine alone which is what makes them so great.

It will be an expensive life, but if that's what my autobiography will look like at the end of it, it will also be a rich life (see what I did there?). Do any of you have life lists? Go ahead and share them if you do!

Also, this is the 99th blogpost for Darryl's Random Rants! The next one (probably tomorrow) will mark out 100th edition and will be a top 10 countdown of all the blogs in DRR's 5 year history, so be here for that!

Darryl, from Malta - Online