Just a drop in the bucket

Yesterday I was reading through Facebook and one of my friends had a link to a video of one of her friends bungee jumping. My daughter calls me a stalker because she catches me checking out friends of friends all the time. "Who's that?" she'll say, to which, I'll sheepishly answer, "I dunno, some friends, of a friend, of a person I used to go to highschool with." But c'mon, we all do it, don't we? Don't we? Oh well, I suppose I just outed myself.

My friend, who I actually didn't go to high school with, but whom I haven't exactly seen in person in about 15 years, made a comment about going bungee jumping herself and checking it off her "Bucket List", and that got me thinking. I'm always planning to start one of those lists, but never get around to it. So I decided to start it right there, right then. That's my OCD acting up ... Push everything else aside! Mama's got a new obsession!

A "Bucket List" is one of those lists you are supposed to make with all the things you want to do before you crawl off and die. I started Googling the term and came up with a ton of ideas I wanted to add, which gave me more of my own ideas. I started off just doing the list in Notepad, but then found a site that makes it a little more fun. Your100things.com allows you to add goals, and group them into different categories. I believe, for a fee, you may have more than one list, but one is enough for me. Sometimes a strong constraint is a good thing for me to have. On the site, you can surf through other people's goals, and add them to your own list, chat in the forums, and post or read about goals you and others have accomplished.

I'm at 97 now and still going. Obviously this would need to be a changing thing as I come up with more ideas of what I want to do all the time. You do something new, which brings you in touch with new people, who then tell you of the things they have done or want to do, which then puts it into your head as well. My parents have spent a lot of their life shaking their heads at me, because I'm always talking about new dreams and ideas I have for my life. I must have grown up some, however, as they actually encourage me to follow through these days, instead of thinking all my ideas are mere fantasies.

I've already started critiquing this new web site. I'd like some changes to be made. First I'd like more and better categories. Most of mine fall into the Play/Leisure category, I need sub categories. If you plan to travel to every country in the world, you definitely need a Travel category, and then I'd like to split off into "Hiking Travel", "Cycling Travel", "Resort Travel" etc. Additionally, I'd like a way to just click someone else's goal and have it added to my own list, and I'd like to click a "Done" button which would finish the goal and add my story to the stories page.

Another option that would be worthwhile is to have sub-goals of a goal. Say for instance, I want to become a world class swimmer, but I can't do that in one step. I need many small steps to get me way up there. I might start with working on specific skills, such as breathing or form and then work on endurance, and speed, and competing. If I could list those and then check them off, I could chart my progress. I'd especially appreciate an option that would allow me to prioritize my goals, so I could have short term and long term goals, as well as goals I decide are more important than others.

The site appears to be quite young still and may grow to become something more. I've only just begun this new list myself. I'll be fine with the way things are, for now, and if not, then maybe I'll just create the app myself ... should I add that to my list?

That brings me to why I am writing this post. One of the items on my list is "Write a journal entry every day for one year." This then completes day one, just a drop in the bucket.