I know, I know! it's been ages since I posted last. I've just been preoccupied with other things, okay? Anyway, at the moment, I'm just catching up on all the Plinky prompts that I've missed in the last month and a half. (I'm gonna be a while!) While I was poking around on Plinky though, I took a look at some of my old posts. Specifically my answer to the "Bucket List" prompt. It had asked for five things that I'd like to do before I "kick the bucket" so that's what I gave, five. Looking at it though, there's a lot of other stuff that I'd like to do. So, I decided to do an update with a revised list. Here goes...
In case you'd forgotten, my first five items were: Hang glide, visit the Darien, see the Outback and the Great Barrier Reef (okay, so maybe that's technically two...), have a house with a library, and get published. I'd expanded on each of the five at the time, but I'm not going to go back over them now. The post should be floating around somewhere in the month of March if you really want a refresher.
Anyway, what would I add?
Learn/improve languages:
I'd like to improve my French and Spanish to the point where I could be considered fluent, or at least very close to. I've also started learning Tagalog recently. I wouldn't mind being fluent in that as well. At least I have native speakers to help me along with the Spanish and Tagalog.
I'm decent with simple Attic Greek at this point, but I still can't handle anything really advanced. I'd like to improve it to the point where I can pick up and read pretty much anything in that dialect and make a decent guess at other dialects as well.
Sanskrit is a root for so many other languages; I think it would be fascinating to learn.
Of course, Old English makes the list! I want to be able to read Beowulf in the original. I want to know where my language has come from. See what it used to look like. See how it's grown and changed over the centuries. On a related note... I'd also love to learn Frisian or Old Frisian. That's where English has its roots, right? I'd love to take it back to the source.
I wouldn't mind doing a few formal lessons in Portuguese... I'm not necessarily looking to be fluent here. I can already read/understand it decently well. I just want to know enough that I can speak it a little bit... string a few sentences together.
On the "If This Hasn't Taken Up All My Time and Brain Power" list: I think it would be cool to learn Afrikaans, ASL, and Yiddish.
I'm sure other languages will occur to me in time. I'll come across other tongues that capture my interest. But those are the ones that have made the list for now.
Earn my black belt
It would feel good to go back and earn my black belt in Karate (or possibly some other form of martial arts).
Learn fencing
I'd love to learn fencing or some other form of swordplay.
Master archery
I've done a little bit, but it's been a few years now, I never went very far with it in the first place and I've forgotten most of what I did learn/practice.
Take a wilderness survival course
Bookbinding
I'd love to be able to bind my own books. I've got instructions for it. I know the basics of how it's done, but I've never actually tried it. I think it would be a great way to preserve letters and things that you wanted to keep.
Travel:
There are all sorts of things I want to see and do. For now, I'm just going to list the countries and the first few things that I think of that make me want to visit them.
Costa Rica - Arinole volcano, rain/cloud forests, wildlife
Argentina - culture (music, dance, food, etc.), Iguazu Falls, penguins
Brazil - Amazon River, Amazon rainforest, wildlife
Chile - Andes
Peru - Machu Picchu, history, culture, wildlife
Ecuador - Galapagos (wildlife!)
South Africa - wildlife, pre-history
Madagascar - lemurs!
Egypt - history, Giza pyramid complex, history, Nile
Kenya - wildlife, volunteerism
Iceland - volcanoes, geothermal energy, history, language, glaciers
Romania - culture, scenery/landscape, history (want to get there before the country changes too much. Might already be too late :( )
Czech Republic - Prague, architecture, history
Greece - history, culture, history!, language, scenery/landscape
Italy - architecture, art, Venice, Florence, Rome, history
Russia - language, architecture, scenery/landscape, culture
China - culture, history
Mongolia - culture, history
Thailand - culture, history, religion, beauty (landscape/scenery)
India - wildlife, language, culture
Nepal - beauty (landscape/scenery), culture, language, history, Kathmandu
Philippines - Xen, language, culture, scenery/landscape
Australia - wildlife!, Outback, Great Barrier Reef, wildlife, landscape/scenery, Sydney, Adelaide, Uluru (Ayer's Rock), wombats, kangaroos, platypus, echidna, camel, emu, koala, bush baby...
New Zealand - hang gliding, rafting, culture, landscape/scenery
Vietnam - beauty (landscape/scenery)
Malta - culture, language
Hungary - history, culture, language
Cambodia - Angkor Wat, history, beauty (landscape/scenery)
Read all the books on my "to-read" list
Become proficient in:
C++, C#, D, Ada, Lisp, Scheme, Haskell, Ruby on Rails, Perl, PHP, SQL...
Pay off my debt
You know? That big, honking debt I'm gonna have once I finish school? Yeah, wanna get rid of that as quickly as possible.
Athens Classic Marathon
I think it would be cool to try... just once. Regular marathons in other places don't really hold any appeal for me. If I wanna walk or run somewhere, I can do that, I don't need to sign up to some big, ol' special event for it. But the historic connection of the Athens Marathon appeals to me. I'd do that. I'm in no shape to attempt it right now, that's for sure! But someday, if I'm ever in Greece, I'd like to try it.
Drive through a redwood tree
Ride a bull
Or at least try to... Alright... maybe just a steer then.
Don't know if I'd manage the full eight seconds. (Haha, that's when you know a sport is hard, when "winning" counts as being able to do it for eight seconds in a row.)
Learn metalsmithing
So freakin' cool!
Attend the Calgary Stampede
Play the cello
I don't mean just draw the bow across the strings. I want to be able to play it well. Get a decent sound out of it. Now that doesn't mean that I have to be expert. But adequate, passing well, would be nice. Cellos have such a lovely, deep sound, so beautiful, I'd love to be able to produce that.
See a Cirque de Soleil show
Just once
Learn belly dancing
Come on! Tell me that wouldn't be fun!
Ride a train across Canada
Learn ballroom dancing
Part of any proper Renaissance education...
Gotta be well-read, elegant, educated, refined...
Should be able to speak two or more languages. Should know how to ride a horse and play at least one instrument. Should know how to fight (with honour). Should know and practice proper etiquette. And... should know how to dance.
Donate blood
Visit all 10 Canadian provinces, all three territories, and all 50 US states
Try some unusual/interesting foods:
fugu (pufferfish), roadkill (just once, just because), moose, cat, dog, kaolin (edible clay), phaal (a very spicy Indian dish), Rocky Mountain/Prairie Oysters (bull testicles), chicken feet, boar, pigeon, quail, haggis (ground lungs, liver, and heart of a sheep mixed with oatmeal and spices and stuffed and cooked inside its own stomach), squirrel, fried twinkie, insects (fried grasshoppers, chocolate covered ants... something like that), sea urchin, sweetbreads (thymus and pancreas of a sheep, breaded and fried), crocodile (curry), absinthe (the real stuff, with wormwood), steak tartare (chopped, raw steak mixed with raw egg, black pepper, and onion), mahi mahi (dolphin-fish != dolphin), polenta (boiled cornmeal dish), soft pretzel, blood orange...
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