This Week I Wrote

Part 6: Bucket Lists

I find the idea of bucket lists a bit scary. I can be quite a nervous person, so perhaps it’s just me who finds the notion of a list of things to do before your inevitable death a little unnerving, but regardless, I’ve never made one. To my mind, people who make this sort of list are either going to be disappointed in themselves, or disappointed in the events that they chose to include. A frail old woman passing on and cursing her lack of skydiving all the way, or the most disappointing Taj Mahal you have ever seen. Myself, I don’t like either option.
I also think that I would feel an obligation to complete the things on my list, and only the things on my list, (I have this problem with lists of Books You Must Read as well) making every other fabulous experience a waste of time. After all, who wants to see Morocco if their starry-eyed teenage self didn’t deem it a necessary part of life?
Now this obviously isn’t true. I’m being cynical; people make bucket lists to inspire themselves, and keep the beauty of the world in mind. Ambitions are never set in stone, and editing is welcome. A bucket list exists to remind you of life, and not death.
Besides that, I’ve been feeling down about my current routine and total inability to change it recently, so the idea of recording everything I can do when things do start to change is suddenly enticing.
So here we go; a first attempt at recording some (not all!) of the things I would like to do in my life.

(Here there was a lengthy pause as I failed to think of a place to start.)

Write (and maybe even publish?) a novel-length piece of writing.
This seemed like the place to start, seeing as it’s obviously a passion of mine. When I left primary school, one of my teachers gave me a note telling me she “couldn’t wait for the first novel”. Honestly, neither can I.

Visit Lucasfilm.
I am a huge Star Wars fan, which makes this an experience akin to a pilgrimage. If only it were still justifiable for part of my bucket list to be meeting Carrie Fisher.

Travel to Japan.
I want to see countries in the world which are truly different to mine. Anywhere which might give you culture shock, I’d love to see.

Meet someone cool at Comic Con.
It’s difficult to narrow it down, because I admire so many people in the wonderful world of nerd-culture. Patrick Stewart would be an incredible person to meet.

Watch Green Day live.
The energy that would be in that space would be astounding. Maybe not the same as the Woodstock “riots” would have been, but I’ll take it. The same applies to seeing The Mountain Goats.

Attend a Pride parade.
Again, I’d love to be there for the experience, the show, the expression, the joy.

Volunteer at a US summer camp, and travel while I’m there.
This appeals to me, because travelling cheaply is difficult, and I’d be able to do something good at the same time. Summer camps don’t exist in the same way in England, and it would be a super cool experience just to be in that environment.

See the Northern Lights.
Everybody wants to do that, right?

Meet my pen-pal in Indonesia.
I’ve been writing back-and-forth with this guy for a while now, and we seem to have a lot in common. I would be really excited to meet him in person, and to absorb the passion he has for his country.

Be conversationally fluent in Spanish.
As it stands, my Spanish is alright, but I’m too shy to speak it, so it won’t improve. I’ve never been to the country, but I know a native speaker who would be able to help. I’ll get there one day.

Visit the Salton Sea.
I actually found out about this on Ransome Riggs’ YouTube channel- which is fantastic- and I’ve been fascinated by it since. It’s such an oddly beautiful, slightly disturbing monument to a large-scale human failure, and it would be a uniquely discomforting place to visit.

Inter-rail in Europe.
This is something my friend and I have talked about doing for as long as I can remember. We plan to save some money, fly to Eastern Europe, and make our way back to the West by train, stopping off for a few days in every country we hit. We’d live out of suitcases and take thousands of photos. God only knows if we will ever do it.