I made it through November with my 30 posts for 30 days. (40, if you want to add in those I did for the Ministry of Silly Blogs.) It wasn’t particularly hard for me to come up with topics for daily posts (though it was sometimes hard to work up the motiviation to post at all.) I didn’t manage to do too well on the list of my intended topics.¹
Another thought I’d had was to do a meme I’d seen at Stretched to the Limit, which had a big old checklist of things done in one’s life. Many of the things I’ve done on the list have some sort of story behind them, and I thought I’d work my way through some of them. In fact, I still might do that. But probably not for last month.
The instructions are to bold the “done” things. I’ve also gone and italicized things that I haven’t quite done, but where I have a story related to that thing. (It’s kind of a weird list of things, and it makes me curious about the origins. It reminds me a bit of the drinking game “I never,” or a related game where people state something they’ve always wanted to do but haven’t done.)
01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg [I’m assuming this doesn’t mean the lettuce]
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper [duh]
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity [possibly]
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope [probably]
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse [maybe]
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and didn’t care who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach [may not have been actually midnight]
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain [probably]
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents [not taking this literally]
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children [I don’t think quite yet]
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Passed out cold
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach [possibly]
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad – and the Odyssey [just the Odyssey]
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life
So it looks like I’ve done 56 things on the list. How many have you done?
I’d love to take requests for stories or details on any of the above listed items. You could just pick a number, or several. At random, even. And I may even treat you to the tale of how I once ate sushi when I had dyed hair.
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¹ I guess this is my NaBloPoMo Post Mortem. My NaBloPoMoPoMo, if you will. It’s probably not post modern enough to be a PoMoNaBloPoMoPoMo, though.
collecting tokens 
#43 and 53, please! Well, you could have deconstructed the experience, too, I suppose– and then you could have shuffled the abbreviation, too.
I skipped literature and criticism in college, and now am wishing I hadn’t, since I don’t know what counts as Post Modern.
#82 (Been on television news programs as an “expert”), please! :)
“So it looks like I’ve done 56 things on the list. How many have you done?”
Does that qualify as a tag? ;b
I didn’t find NaBloPoMo painful or a trial…I found it enjoyable on the whole. Glad to have found someone else who felt the same.
I remember the game I Never…oy LOL.
And interesting to run down the list. What a lot you’ve done.
Like you I’ve screamed, danced, changed diapers, taken care of friends, and cooked…but I also milked a cow.
I’ll have to think longer and harder about that list. :)
Julie
Using My Words
I just did this, it was kind of fun!!
I’d like to hear about 79. I’m hoping to visit Venice while I’m living in Europe…
Interesting! Think I’ll try doing this tomorrow.
And when you have a moment … piloted an airplane??? Do tell.
NaBloPoMo came easily to me, I cheated a little, posting music each weekend on either Sat or Sun, but it was all enjoyable. In fact, I’m having a hard time not thinking “Must post today!” now.
BLC-
I can’t recall what counts as post modern, either, but I’m pretty sure this post isn’t it. I’ll be sure to fess up the details on 43 and 53, though I fear that 53 will be much less interesting than it looks on the list.
YTSL-
Yes, consider it a tag! Please!
As for #82, I’ll gladly share, but I hope you noticed that it was only italicized. Meaning I have not ever actually appeared on TV as an expert.
Julie-
Thanks for dropping in again. NaBloPoMo was largely fun. It was the month itself that was hard on me.
I’d love to see your version of the list. (Of course, these lists really make me curious about the explanations.)
Dragonfly-
Hurray! I’m glad you did this, too. And I’ll see about getting you a bit of 79.
azahar-
I’d love to see yours, too. And as for “piloted an airplane,” please note the italics. But I will share my almost/sort of story.
Kyla-
I don’t consider posting music cheating, especially if it’s got some sort of meaning associated with it. And I know what you mean about feeling the residual “must post today” feeling.
‘kay, stolen and done. 76 that I’ve done. And quite a number that I won’t ever do… :-)
Okay, Alejna, done! :b
http://webs-of-significance.blogspot.com/2007/12/have-you-ever-meme.html
Hm…the italicized ones seemed to be the most interesting.
Strangely, Joe and I were just talking this morning about a high school friend of his who has an interesting list of his own like this. Some of the items include: work as a bartender, fight fires in remote area in northern Canada, build a canoe (and those are just the things he HAS done so far).
NotSoSage-
Well, the italicized have interesting associated stories, but most of which are only tangentially related to the item. But there’s a story, dammit.
Your friend’s list sounds pretty cool. I bet you could put together a pretty impressive list yourself.
amusingly enough, it’s exactly 56 for me as well. and when i get back up to speed recovering from blog-o.d., i’ll tag myself with your list, too. chock full of stories for everyone!
I definitely want to do #2, 14, 44. #68 would be mighty nice too.
ive only done 47 =[
i guess thats ok considering im 16 and have plenty of time to experience these things, but still it would be nice to complete more