The bucket list

I got tagged, so here it is:

The Bucket List. Place an X by all the things you’ve done and remove the X from the ones you have not, then tag your friends (including me).

(To do this [in Facebook], go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, do the list and tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.) If you don’t see the Tag people in the upper right hand corner you are in the wrong place.)

After the list is a set of footnotes briefly describing some of the more interesting ones.  Footnotes are coded to the number next to the item in the list.

Things you have done during your lifetime:

(X) Gone on a blind date
(X) Donated Blood
(X) Skipped school
(X) Watched someone die – does an animal count?
(X) Been to Canada (1)
(X) Been to Mexico (2)
(X) Been to Florida (3)
(X) Been to Hawaii (4)
(X) Been on a plane
(X) Been on a helicopter
(X) Flown a plane (5)
(X) Been lost
(X) Gone to Washington, DC
( ) Hugged a homeless person
(X) Swam in the ocean
( ) Swam with Stingrays
(X) Been sailing in the ocean
( ) Cried yourself to sleep
(X) Played cops and robbers
( ) Recently colored with crayons
( ) Ran a marathon
(X) Sang Karaoke
( ) Volunteered at a soup kitchen
(X) Paid for a meal with coins only (6)
( ) Been to the top of the St. Louis Arch
( ) Seen the Northern Lights
( ) Been Parasailing
(X) Been on TV (7)
(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn’t
(X) Made prank phone calls (8)
( ) Been down Bourbon Street in New Orleans
(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(X) Fed an elephant (9)
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
(X) Fired a gun (10)
(X) Danced in the rain
(X) Been to the Opera
(X) Written a letter to Santa Claus
( ) Serenaded someone
(X) Seen a U.S.President in person (11)
(X) Been kissed under the mistletoe
( ) Watched the sunrise with someone
( ) Driven a race car
(X) Been to a National Museum
(X) Been to a Wax Museum
(X) Eaten caviar
(X) Blown bubbles
(X) Gone ice-skating
(X) Gone to the movies
( ) Been deep sea fishing
( ) Driven across the United States
( ) Been in a hot air balloon
( ) Been sky diving
( ) Gone snowmobiling
( ) Lived in more than one country
(X) Lay down outside at night and admired the stars while listening to the crickets
(X) Seen a falling star and made a wish
( ) Enjoyed the beauty of Old Faithful Geyser
(X) Seen the Grand Canyon
(x) Seen the Statue of Liberty
( ) Gone to the top of Seattle Space Needle
(X) Been on a cruise (12)
(X) Traveled by train (13)
( ) Traveled by motorcycle
(X) Been horse back riding
(X) Ridden on a San Francisco cable car (14)
(X) Been to Disneyland OR Disney World
(X) Been in a rain forest (15)
(X) Seen whales in the ocean
( ) Been to Niagara Falls
(X) Ridden on an elephant (16)
( ) Swam with dolphins
(X) Been to the Olympics (17)
( ) Walked on the Great Wall of China
( ) Saw and heard a glacier calf
( ) Been spinnaker flying
( ) Been water-skiing
( ) Been snow-skiing
(X) Been to Westminster Abbey (18)
( ) Been to the Louvre
(X) Swam in the Mediterranean (19)
(X) Been to a Major League Baseball game (20)
(X) Been to a National Football League game
( ) Swam with sharks
( ) Been White Water Rafting
(X) Written a book or screen play (short stories) (21)

Footnotes:

1. To Montreal when I was about 15.
2. Ensenada, as part of a cruise.
3. Many times.
4. Twice, but always to Kuai’i.
5. Got my private pilot license on April 3, 2000.
6. Often in college.
7. Twice, news interviews for work.
8. Last time I remember doing this was at AJ’s house in high school.
9. At the Bronx zoo.
10. A BB gun
11. Barack Obama came to one of our softball games when our team played Illinois.  (We play in the Senate softball league).  Of course, it was before he was President…
12. Once in the Mediterranean and once to Central and South America.
13. All the time, but the longest trip was from Los Angeles to Seattle.
14. With my sister.
15. In Costa Rica.
16. At the Bronx zoo
17. The 1984 summer games in L.A.  I was at a diving event.
18. Whoa!
19. While in Greece.
20. Although I’m a Yankees fan, I had season tickets to the Baltimore Orioles for 5 years.
21. I sold my first professional short story to Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show and it appeared in the July 2007 issue.