71 Awesome Things I’m Gonna Do: My Bucket List
A lot of things other people want to do in their lives I have no interest in. But here is my list of the Here are the ideas I’ve had so far, that I’d like to do.
I’d want to:
1. Learn to play the guitar, write a good song and sing it.
2. Help build a community centre, a school or homes for poor people. Done. I took a team of 27 students and 2 other teachers to Vietnam last year and we built 4 homes.
3. Throw a party on a tropical island. I’d like to go somewhere really out there, like French Polynesia.
4. Write a book that I’m proud to recommend.
5. Visit 100 countries. In my 20′s I was making a lot of progress on this one. So far the countries I’ve lived in or spent a decent amount of time in number about 56: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominica, Eqypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, England, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Slovenia, St Kitts and Nevis, Spain, Scotland, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the UAE, Uganda, United States, Vatican City, and Vietnam.
6. Become semi-fluent in 5 languages (Be able to have a 5 minute conversation in each of them). Update: Just spent a year in Brussels. Learned a little French. This year (2010) we’re off to Singapore, so I guess I’ll be giving Mandarin a go.
7. Go to the Olympics Update: Just attended the first ever Youth Olympic Games, which was held in Singapore (August 2010). Not sure if that counts.
8. Volunteer after a natural disaster
9. Climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge
10. Run a marathon. Update: Done! I ran the Toronto marathon with my friend Peter Noseworthy and finished in the more-or-less-adequate-for-an-unfit-guy time of 4 hours and 15 minutes. But, never again.
11. Paint an abstract painting that looks expensive (or at least looks good). Update: taking some art lessons, one Saturday a month.
12. Give a nearly perfect speech and/or get a standing ovation
13. Scuba dive somewhere amazing. Update: Done! Bettina and I went to Fiji and found a guy who let me scuba dive alone through caves and coral. He didn’t tell me he was going to abandon me down there, but it’s hard to argue with a guy using only scuba sign language, 30 feet under water.
14. Be acknowledged or thanked in a book. Anyone?
15. Fly a plane
16. Build a piece of furniture.
17. Host a fun family reunion
18. Kite surf. I’ve done this. but I’m not counting it yet, because I failed pretty awesomely. It was fun though. I’d love to be great at kite surfing.
19. Walk or cycle across a country. Done! Today (April 20, 2013 I walked across Singapore. Here’s the video I made at the end. It was not easy.
20. Run for a government office. I’m not saying I’d like to win, but one of my history teachers at Fort Frances High School convinced me that everyone should do this.
21. Help on a sustainable building project
22. Raise $10,000 for a good cause. Update: Some some baby-steps toward this one. We’ve started to get involved in Kiva, making small donations/loans to aspiring small-business owners in developing countries.
23. Cook a romantic five-course dinner for my wife
24. Go on a week-long sailing trip
25. Fly or boat to Antarctica
26. Build (and sleep overnight in) a hut made of sticks and leaves
27. Help to change a law
28. Do an orienteering race
29. Raise a chicken
30. Have a vegetable garden
31. Build a real wood oven and make my own pizza in it.
32. Swim with sharks
33. Spend a night in the outback
34. Plant 1000 2600 trees. This is apparently the number that would make up for my carbon footprint.
35. Either build my dream house or transform a house in a dream house. Something really calm, with a reflecting pool, a room to write in, and a bed with a view of the water.
36. Make a fire the old fashioned way –the really old fashioned way, by rubbing sticks together.
37. Read the Bible, Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, the Egyptian Book of the Dead (though that sounds kind of depressing) and Mao’s Little Red Book Update: So far I have read the Bible.
38. Skydive and bungee jump
39. Make my own maple syrup
40. Learn to spit fire and do it myself. Probably just once though.
41. Fly over the Grand Canyon. I’ve heard you maybe can’t do this any more, but hopefully I can.
42. Ride in a fighter jet. Apparently in Russia and South Africa go can ride in old fighter jets, but it’s slightly on the pricey side.
43. Swim with a whale
44. Visit Machu Picchu and the Taj Mahal We visited the Taj Mahal this past April (2010). The picture of me on the website header was taken at a nearby Monkey sanctuary. Yes, there are monkey holy-places in India. Monkeys can be holy too.
45. Go hang gliding and paragliding
46. Ride in a hot air balloon
47. Make a piece of pottery. I almost did this in Belgium, but the piece didn’t work out.
48. Learn to make a pot of chili that’s so good people find themselves at a loss for words and in awe of my culinary greatness.
49. Skate in that rink outside Rockefeller Centre at Christmas time and sing a carol
50. Surf (decently)
51. Swim with dolphins
52. Do some original, serious research that really helps people.
53. Do a fire walk
54. Visit Victoria Falls (which I believe is somewhere on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe)
55. Go to Disney World or Disney Land (or Euro Disney).
56. Ride the scariest roller coaster in the world. I’m not sure where this is though. I’ve heard Michigan has some good ones.
57. Bring attention to a worthy stranger (i.e. see that a good person gets a prize they deserve)
58. Mentor someone. Done.
59. Hit a home run in a baseball game again. (Last time I played I struck out more times than I hit the ball. Not cool. Really not cool actually.
60. Rebuild an engine
61. Get a free upgrade to First Class. Done. The lovely people at Delta graciously upgraded us on our honeymoon. Try it. And fly Delta!
62. Go a week without electricity, maybe on a canoe trip in Northern Ontario, or maybe on a sailing trip somewhere warm.
63. Spend at least a week boating (and snorkelling) around various islands in the Caribbean. Barbados looks incredible.
64. Ice Fish.
65. Go deep sea fishing. Done! I just did this in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. (February, 2010).
66. Take a capoeira lesson
67. Start and develop a successful small business.
68. Drive a dog sled.
69. Ride in a real glider
70. Make my own wood oven (by hand) and then cook some pizzas in it. Yum.
71. Go on a hot air balloon ride.
72. Any ideas for me?
