Day 5: Something You Hope to Do in Your Life

As defined by oxforddictionaries.com/us/ a bucket list is a number of experiences or achievements that a person hopes to have or accomplish during their lifetime.

I never really considered making a bucket list until I watched the movie “The Bucket List” with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson; however, I didn’t actually compile a list until much later.

See the original concept for this blog was to chronicle my journey towards completing my bucket list. I would post the original list and add or delete items as I saw fit. It was going to be GREAT! But uhhhh that was two years ago and I have yet to accomplish anything on my bucket list.

With this being Day 5: Something You Hope to Do in Your Life of the 30 Days of Truth challenge, I figured it might be time to revisit my bucket list, make some much-needed revisions and perhaps condense it from thirty-items to perhaps seven.

Here are some things I hope to do in my life.

• Spend Christmas with my oldest brother in California
  
  • My brother and I are so close one would never know we’ve only seen each once in our entire lives. We fight and poke fun at each other like we grew up in the same house or at least spent time at each other’s homes every summer. I thank the Lord every day that I have such a pain in the ass brother who loves his beautiful and intelligent little sister to pieces. Go ahead tell him what I said. I don’t care. LOL I’ve called him worse to his face. The plan is to save at least $1500 by October 2013. Yes it’s a lot of money but I really want this. But mums the word okay?
    
• Attend Rose Bowl Parade and Game
  
  • Year after year without utter fail, I watch the Rose Bowl and Parade. Well, lemme rephrase that statement. I watch the Rose Bowl Parade without fail; the game is a different story. Since the game is not the grand puba of college football games, I really haven’t “wanted” to watch. But it would be fabulous to attend the game.
    
• Buy an alto saxophone
  
  • During my junior high, high school and freshman year at Baylor. For you collectors out there, I have played a Bundy and Yamaha tenor saxophone and a Yamaha alto saxophone. I would love to purchase a silver alto saxophone. One of my Alpha Phi Omega brothers has a breathtakingly beautiful silver saxophone. One day when I have a house and a study/office/music room, I’m going to buy one. Yes I understand it may take some time but hell all I have is time nowadays.
    
• Learn another language
  
  • Hablo Español pero me gustaría mucho aprender un otra lengua. J’aimerais apprendre le français.
    
• Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
  
  • One of my favorite artists in the whole history of art is none other than Cheri Lynn Fojtik. Never heard of her? You will one day. Just wait. Who is she? My sister. She is the reason why I have such a strong interest in art. She is the reason why I can appreciate all genres of art and creativity. I am interested to see what other worlds I will be exposed to if I were to visit these museums.
    
• Visit the stadiums of my favorite pro sports teams as well as Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field and Fenway Park.
  
  • I do not have a very long list of favorite teams so my stadium tour will be mildly short. However, I can already cross two off the list: Minute Maid Park (home of the Houston Astros) and the Toyota Center (home of the Houston Rockets). I have visited Reliant Stadium but not for a Houston Texans game. Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field and Fenway Park are only on the tour because these are iconic stadiums. However, please note that I would only go if the Astros or the Dodgers were playing the teams that reside in these stadiums. So here’s the list: Dodgers Stadium, Staples Center (not for the flakers ain’t nobody care about them pansies but for the LA Clippers) and Lambeau Field.
    
• Fully learn to swim
  
  • One would think since I have taught three-year olds to swim that I would be able to swim myself right?! Not a chance. Don’t give me the side eye cuz I’ve heard it before. It is easy to teach kids because you’re at the shallow end and that’s deep for them. Besides I almost drowned once. If I do get in the water, I sit at the shallow end.
    

———————–

The revised list is much shorter than I originally thought it would be. Not that I do not want to accomplish the other items on my original list but I have to be realistic with myself sometimes. So we shall see.

Until then, thanks for reading.

The Southern Yankee

The List

My life has been fuelled of ‘i wishes’, ‘ooooo maybe one day’ and ‘oh man that would be a great trips’. I have told my friends a countless number of times that ‘one day i will __________ (fill in the blank) when i have the ____________ (fill in the blank)’. of course i almost always either never do what i say i want/will do because… well… hmmm as i think about it now i don’t know what really stops me from doing the things my heart, mind, body and soul want to do. There are days i wake up and say I’m going to do this today but do i? HELL THE FUCK NO!

But i have decided to do something. Well ha i took the first step in doing something.

Let me explain…

I was watching Joel Osteen one Sunday afternoon. Forgive me but I can’t even begin to tell you what he was preaching about that day; however it made me think. I thought long (lmao five minutes because at the beginning of the sixth minute my head was hurting) about where my life was going and all the time my girl and i have wasted doing absolutely nothing while consistently being dissatisfied by our current lack of funds and ganas to do anything in this world we call home. (say that shit ten times really fast… LOL what a mouthful) it was on this day that i decided to make a bucket list.

A bucket list is all the things you want to do before you die. Of course there are TONS of things i would like to do before i leave this world. And like usual i don’t know where to begin. At least the hardest part is over! I’ve already begun making my list which is below and in no particular order.

1. Graduate from the University of Houston – i am currently 39 hours shy of completing this goal. and while it wouldn’t be hard to accomplish this goal in a timely manner; it will be hard for me because i work full time (meaning i only take 3 to 6 hours a semester) and will be paying for it myself (no financial aid or help from family).
   
2. Obtain a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing and/or Journalism – i have to accomplish the above goal before i can do this. my GPA from Baylor sucked ass so I’m struggling to get it up to at least a 3.80 (not the requirement for graduate school btw)
   
3. Travel overseas – traveling overseas would be the ultimate vacation!
   
4. Write a book(s) – i keep saying I’m going to start but my problem is where I start. What do i write about first? I also have a severe case of writer’s block.
   
5. Reconnect with my mom – this has been on my heart for a while now. I miss my mom like crazy. I email her every now and then but it isn’t the same as seeing her. Of course i know that reconnecting with my mom means reconnecting with her family too but i will address that when the time arises.
   
6. Spend more time with ALL family members – i have a really broad sense of what the world family means. My blood family is my family of course but my friends have always been more of a family to me than most of my blood relatives. With that said i have at least 20 siblings. Don’t make me list them all because i almost always forget someone.
   
7. Complete my family tree – this isn’t just for me but for my daughter who was adopted by my Aunt Laine and Uncle Mike. She’ll be eleven this September. This is so hard because i don’t even know where to begin.
   
8. Visit the stadiums of my favorite pro sports teams – wouldn’t this be awesome? So far I’ve been to minute maid park home of the Houston Astros. I don’t have many favorite pro sports teams so this won’t be hard to accomplish it just takes money. I’ve been to Reliant Stadium but the Texans weren’t playing that day.
   
9. Visit granny and papa’s burial sites – i know this is morbid but granny (tutu’s mom) and papa (mom’s dad) meant (still mean) everything to me. There is so much of them in me it’s scary. I miss them both so much.
   
10. Attend the next class of 1997 reunion – yeah i know… no preguntas please.
    
11. Have at least one more child – i say at least one more because i gave birth once but i gave her up for adoption.
    
12. Adopt two children from the US – I’m so damn tired of all these celebrities adopting kids from other countries. UGH! I’m not saying those kids do not deserve to have a home; it is just that there are sooooooooo many kids here in the states that deserve a home too. With that said i applaud Sandra Bullock for adopting a baby boy from Louisiana.
    
13. Become financially stable – sigh i don’t think this needs explanation.
    
14. Give blood (again) – i gave once in high school and had a weird reaction. My whole arm went numb. I couldn’t move it for the life of me. Since then i have indeed tried again. if i remember right i have given at least once since i have been employed at fox but not again since then because I’m anemic (i.e. my iron hasn’t been at the level needed for donation)
    
15. Visit the Grand Canyon – I’ve flown over going to California but have never been.
    
16. Learn to dance – i LOVE to dance. I’m not great at it but i love it nonetheless. With that said, i really want to better learn how to dance Latin (i.e. bachata, salsa y meringue) and learn hip hop. I love watching shows like Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance and MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew. And I really love watching the female hip hop dancers/dance crews. Those bitches are FLY! Don’t get it twisted by no means am I hating on the male dancers. They can get down too… just look at the Jabbawockeez!
    
17. Own a house – home is where you make it but it is a whole other animal when you own your own home. How awesome will that be to have friends and family at MY house for thanksgiving and Christmas or birthdays, barbeques and such?
    
18. Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City – my sister Cheri and friend Sophie are artists. They inspire me to look at life differently and view it in all kinds of color and not just black and white. I love going to the fine arts museum. There’s something about looking at someone else’s interpretation of the world or even what is in their imagination. As a writer, i can escape through words easily but to create something like a sculpture or a painting is truly amazing to me.
    
19. Learn another language – hablo Español pero me gustaria mucho aprender un otra lengua.  J’aimerais apprendre le français (i would love to learn French *giggling* I love Google)
    
20. Obtain a teaching certification – so the LORD put this on my heart years ago when my girl and i were living with my friend David. Plus my papa (pronounced pawpaw) and my Uncle Jr were teachers. I fought this notion when i was younger but perhaps i might be good at it.
    
21. Become a sports writer – it would be great to write about something i truly love doing and watching and i would be traveling everywhere. Wouldn’t it be awesome to cover the Olympics?!
    
22. Fully learn to swim – you would think since i have taught 3yr olds to swim that i would be able to swim myself right?! Not a chance. Don’t give me the side eye because I’ve heard it before. It is easy to teach kids because you’re at the shallow end and that’s deep for them. Besides I almost drowned once when I spent summer 1993 in Austin at Youth Opportunities Unlimited at the University of Texas at Austin. I’ll get in the water but I’ll sit at the shallow end.
    
23. Visit Canada – one of the nicest people i know lives there. And it is a beautiful country. Montreal, Toronto, Québec, Vancouver man! OOOO it would be awesome to see a hockey game up there too!
    
24. Take a cooking class – the sure fire way to my heart is through my tummy!!! Now again don’t get it twisted… I can cook! But it would be great to cook like a gourmet chef. I’m convinced that Food Network in particular Good Eats and Iron Chef America get most of its ratings from me. I will watch food network before i watch any other channel. Plus a cooking class would be uber fun!
    
25. Visit Nawlins – home of good food, crazy nightlife, jazz, Mardi Gras, wicked hauntings and lots of deep southern Cajun history.
    
26. Attend a NCAA Final Four (both) – nothing beats watching a battle to the finish. Plus basketball is my favorite sport. i also used to cover college ball when i work at the Baylor Lariat
    
27. Attend Rose Bowl Parade and Game – every year i watch and every year makes me want to get a huge group together to go. If i lived in California you best believe i would make it a yearly tradition.
    
28. Take a cruise – ahh the open seas, boozes, and shows. Yep that would be relaxing. Hope I wouldn’t get sea sick. 😦 That would suck!
    
29. Go skydiving – my friend David, my sister Cheri and several APODOUH brothers have gone and well it looks fun. You only live once (sort of) right?!
    
30. Take a vacation with sisters – what an evilly fabulous time that would be. We used to take road trips when we were younger all the time. We had soooo much fun. Not to mention got into sorts of trouble.
    
31. Lose weight (current weight: 220lbs) – yeah i put myself out there. No woman would ever do that but as I’ve always said I’m not your ordinary girl. I’m heavier now than when i was pregnant. I’ve gained 68 lbs since 2000. Not good. I’m not interested in being a skinny bitch; I just want to be healthy. Be proud of the body i reside in. i would like to be fierce all the way around and not just in my sarcastic unruly evil attitude.
    
32. Perfect my writing skills – i admire writers like Eric Jerome Dickey, my friend La and Muze (another blogger whose personal and fiction blog are really captivating). Their natural ability to tell a GREAT story is a goal of mine. La has a way of making you cry, laugh and get mad all in one post. Muze’s fiction blog is vivid and leaves the reader mad because the next installment may not come as quickly as he or she would like it. Eric Jerome Dickey just sucks you in. it is drama that you can really imagine happening. One day I’ll be as good as they are now.
    
33. Make a scrapbook – i love scrapbooking!!! I am a packrat from hell. I keep almost everything. Hence the reason why i need to scrapbook. I just have so many memories of so many things and people and i need to chronicle everything.
    
34. Own an apple MacBook pro – for as long as i can remember i have wanted an apple computer. To me apples are very user-friendly. Also software like adobe creative suite seems to work better on a mac than a pc.  
    
35. Buy a saxophone – when i was younger i played the saxophone for eight years. Seven of those years was spent playing the tenor while the last i played the alto. My ears perk up whenever i hear someone playing a saxophone. Kenny G, Charlie Parker and Dave Koz are a few of my favorite saxophonists. I don’t think i would ever be as good as they are but i still would like to play again.
    
36. Go to a Janet Jackson concert – oh em gee… what a day that would be if i won or was given or bought tickets to a Janet Jackson concert. I literally grew up listening to her and her siblings. Whenever a “Jackson” song comes on i start dancing and singing. I have heard her shows are awesome!
    

Damn this turned into a long ass post. Longer than I originally thought it would be but i couldn’t just blog my list without explaining my rationale. My goal is to chronicle my progress and completion of each item. HA that’s my goal. We’ll see if i do it. This list is HUGE and will probably get longer as time goes by. I can already tell. I just hope I’m able to accomplish everything because I’m not getting any younger…