YOLO | Laundry Detergent Sucks, and Other Tales

Archive | YOLO RSS feed for this section

My Bucket List

Stemming from my previous post about other people’s accomplishments, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on things I have done and would like to do. Because YOLO. To be honest, I don’t really get this YOLO thing, or understand why it’s popular or why some people are annoyed by it. But trying to be as un-annoying as I can be (and because you really do only live once), I think it’s good to make a bucket list of sorts to reflect on the goals you want to achieve. If I were to have made this list 10 years ago during my final year in high school, these are the things I could have crossed off by now:

Live in London for a semester – During the fall semester of 2005 I studied abrad through my college in London. The only regret I have of that time is that I didn’t go with friends. I didn’t think it would be a big deal, and though eventually I did make some pretty great friends, the first half or so of the trip I hung out with/traveled with my roommates. I call them the 2 H’s from Hell as both had H names (which you probably deduced using your context clues…you so smart). I also hung out with a dude who I liked for the most part, but due to his crush on H#1 became a total wet blanket. But despite the bitches, which could honestly be a blog post in itself (filing away for later), the trip was amazing. I would LOVE to just pick up and vacate my life for a few months, traveling and discovering things about myself and this incredible world we live in. I got to do a lot of traveling throughout Europe during my time in London and I believe it truly shaped the person I am today. I know my desire to travel will never go away, and I hope to always make it a priority in my life.
Lived in Phoenix – The summer after graduating college I took a job as an intern with a theatre company in Phoenix. I discovered my talent and excitement for arts management and somehow found the courage within myself to live in such a new place alone, as in not with family or friends nearby, though I did meet some amazing people during that time.
Traveled to Guatemala – Seeing a theme here? My first “solo” vacation, as in not with my family or through school. My friends and I planned the entire thing ourselves and paid for the whole thing ourselves. How grown up!
Moved to St Paul/Got into grad school – When I was living in Des Moines, a cool city – I don’t care what you say!, I didn’t like the way my life was heading. I had a good job, but working in insurance was not what I saw for my life indefinitely. I had a strong “now or never” gut feeling, applied for my current grad program, got in, packed up my things, and headed north. This move, honestly, was harder than Phoenix. Though closert to home, I had an inexplicable home sickness that took a while for me to get over. I’ve got my groove back eventually and now love where I live. Of course, Des Moines, will sort of always feel a little like home to me.

And for the things I hope to do while I’m still kickin’ it:

Sky Dive. Maybe cliche. But honestly, I’ve wanted to sky dive for a very long time. Just need the occassion and someone to experience it with me.
Graduate with MA – One year left and so much work to go. I need to complete an extensive (more than likely unpaid) residency and finish a Capstone class and huge paper. Daunting. But I will be quite proud of myself when it’s over.
Get a job I love – I left insurance in Des Moines only to end up in, what do you know, insurance…and with a paycut wah wah… BUT… I’m in grad school and I feel like that’s a good justifier of my present circumstances. The arts are a clique-y, clique-y group here in the cities and it’s quite difficult to break into the scene. Even with the grad school connections, I have about, um, zero time to volunteer. You know, got to work with bills and all that nonsense. So to get a job I am excited about is my version of total awesomeness. I have a lot to give, a lot of knowledge, and a lot of enthusiasm. So yeah. It’s just got to work out eventually, right?
Travel even more! Places I have yet to go, but want to with a huge passion include: Greece, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Croatia, Peru, Hawaii (and tons more if I was to reeeally dream big)
Married/Babies – If Kris is reading this right now, don’t have a heart attack. This is a while away, but these are things I really want someday.

And you guys, here is one that I will accomplish soon. Scarily soon. I’ve been nervous to announce because of some obvious reasons, but yours truly will be running in the Chicago Marathon on Oct 13 of this year. I KNOW! WHAAA? This coming from the girl who totally chickened out of the half I said I would do last year. Just in November, I huffed and puffed my way through a 7 miler. How will I do a marathon? Well training has begun, my friends. Starting slowly with dedication, adding distance, resistance, and strength training will get me there. This is a big one for me, and frankly, something I would never, never, never have thought for myself just a few years ago. So yeah. I’ll keep posting about it because that will help my accountability.