The Bucket List

From the Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES - Dave Freeman, co-author of "100 Things to Do Before You Die," a travel guide and ode to odd adventures that inspired readers and imitators, died after hitting his head in a fall at his home. He was 47.

He apparently had done about fifty things on his list of things to do.

I myself had a rather more modest list -- I think I had about ten things that I wanted to do before I died -- although that got expanded and built upon as I got out in the world and did more things and met more people and took more LSD. Let's say I ended up with about twenty-five things.

It wasn't, perhaps, even a very imaginative list -- mostly just to see a good swath of famous monuments and cities and beaches, that sort of thing. And a few big festivals, although again not a very imaginative selection of them. (I lived through seven Mardi Gras and eight full moon parties in Thailand, and, like every good English major, nearly got trampled by bulls in Pamplona, Spain.)

I'd pretty much accomplished everything on my list by the time I was thirty. But the problem with this as a life philosophy is: what do you do once you've done all the things on your list? By that time, you're probably pretty burnt out on travelling and partying and such. Also, you realize that doing everything you've ever dreamed of leaves you without any fucking dreams at all, and that sort of just leaves you bitter and world-weary. . .

Maybe I just needed a more creative and difficult list. Or some normal ambitions like money, family, etc.

It's a problem. Although, I guess, one worth having.