05.30.12

it is time for me to (post and) begin another list - a 101 in 1001 list, that is, of 101 places i must go and things i must do over the course of the next 1,001 days. i'm not one for bucket lists, you see, and the try-so-and-so-before-you-die formulation feels inelegant to me (who's to say my nothingness after life can't involve learning to make sourdough starter?). after my last list wound up in november, i needed a few months to stretch out and relax; i needed a few more to figure out what i was interested in this time around. then i ended up waiting so long i was knocking off potential items before they saw the light of day (hooray for finally buying a laptop)! i need help, is my point; i half-know how i want to spend 1,001 days, apparently, and i would love a few crowdsourced suggestions. what, pray, would you add to my list?

001: run 1,001 miles
002: visit bruges
003: submit a short story for publication
004: visit pittsburgh
005: refinance the apartment
006: bake pumpernickel bread from scratch
007: read gravity's rainbow (thomas pynchon)
008: take a knife-skills class
009: go whalewatching
010: see the northern lights
011: go skydiving
012: foster kittens
013: shave my head
014: visit mari in atlanta
015: visit jacob and megan in iowa
016: read ulysses (james joyce)
017: draw up a will
018: visit the ashmolean
019: invent a formidable cocktail
020: watch kurosawa's dersu uzala
021: go to coney island
022: see at least 6 more of shakespeare's plays for the first time
023: see every picture which earns a best picture, best director, best actress, and best actor award in a single oscar season prior to the awards show
024: dip my toe in the atlantic and pacific oceans on the same day
025: attend mass at st. patrick's cathedral
026: go to the opera
027: go to the bronx zoo
028: furnish the bedroom with proper nightstands
029: take trapeze lessons
030: run 8 miles in less than an hour
031: get my name printed in the new york times
032: frame my college diploma
033: take a foreign language class
034: drink nothing but water for a fortnight
035: see david bowie in concert
036: enter a cooking or baking contest
037: read 3 library books
038: go without restaurant meals and takeout for a month
039: spend the night on a boat
040: bring lunch to work for a month
041: properly shelve my OED
042: go vegan for 6 months
043: spend a night in the hudson valley
044: complete a (paid) freelance assignment
045: finish the new york times sunday crossword in less than 20 minutes [completed 06.02.12, alas]
046: swim with the coney island polar bear club
047: go birdwatching
048: use 12 new-to-me public transportation lines
049: publish a recipe in the penzeys catalog
050: visit the isle of man
051: take an archery class on staten island
052: host a blackout party
053: teach steve to leap through a hoop
054: go camping
055: make salsa with at least 3 home-grown ingredients
056: raise $1,001 for charity
057: participate in a political campaign
058: visit the new york botanical garden
059: volunteer at a soup kitchen
060: turn my wisdom tooth into a piece of jewelry

31 comments:

Lisa said...

I have no specific ideas. But Asia, chard, and Japanese clothing designers are whispering in my ears for you.

megan said...

Yay! I like 15. Also, 17, shit need to get on that too. For #47 http://www.nycaudubon.org/events-a-adventures
How about visit a jjimjilbang and get scrubbed?

megan said...

Oh, yeah and 60 I can totally get behind, obv.

Melissa said...

I'm a big fan of scuba diving, which you can do in Iceland.  Recording a book for the Blind and Dyslexic is a wonderfully charitable thing to do, especially for someone who loves reading.

anonymous said...

A formidable list! I feel inspired to do one myself :) When finals are over, I may have more brain cells with which to suggest an item.

anonymous said...

this is sara. google chrome hates me.

_M_D_F_ said...

Find a musical you can love wholeheartedly?

cara (peonies) said...

please don't shave your head. 

61. Visit Cara in London. 

jacob said...

how did you never make it to the ashmolean in all your time in oxford? 

suggestion: geode-hunting.

kidchamp said...

once more, with feeling, hedwig, rocky. i'm not made (entirely) of stone, man.

kidchamp said...

"master a lisa-recipe" might end up on there. your far-eastern cooking prowess entices me.

kidchamp said...

How about visit a jjimjilbang and get scrubbed?
YES! there's a serious dearth of bodily mortifications on this list; i knew it needed something but was at a loss as to what the something was. done and done - and thanks for the birding link!
on the tooth thing, i fantasize about getting a little faceted black stone to embed as a "cavity." i hear teeth dry out and get really brittle, so i'm not sure how well that would work, but one must improvise.

kidchamp said...

i've been scuba diving once, but it was a training dive; i never got fully certified because i biffed the written test and never got around to making it up. getting certified (particularly since my dear friend phil is a scuba instructor) is a fine one, thanks!

the book-recording idea...is fantastic, and one i'd never have thought of on my own (i didn't even know that was a volunteer opportunity). thank you so much for that! (do you recommend a specific group for it?)

kidchamp said...

no one wants me to shave my head. i have a feeling that one might drop out (my window of opportunity there might've been college, and i should probably admit that). 

will you be london by the time we're there in september? we fly in on the 13th, have wedding stuff that weekend, and then are in oxford (and can obviously come down) through saturday the 22nd.

kidchamp said...

dude, you know precisely how i spent my time in oxford. it's a wonder i made it to the bodleian. 

geode-hunting, (awesome and) added.

Melissa said...

The place that I've contacted is Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic (rfbd.org) and Learning Ally (learningally.org).  I'm on the west coast, but I think they're both national.  One of my best ladies has dyslexia and she's said many times how unanimated the readers can be.  She just got her masters in special education after graduating highschool was barely possible for her.  I know she'll appreciate it!

I dove Silfra in Iceland, and it was gorgeous.  No animal life, but you feel like you're floating over a moonscape.  Since you love the country, it might make for a good maiden dive.

anonymous said...

Once again I'm in awe of your list-ing and the wondrous curiosities that appear there.  I try not to think about how you spent your time at Oxford, but since you survived all is well, no?  On the other hand, PLEASE don't shave your head!  I'm one of only a few people who've seen you that way and you looked like Winston Churchill.

Hannah said...

I misread 028 and 029 to create "furnish the bedroom with trapezes."  So, you know, there's that.

kidchamp said...

he was a great man, mom!

jen said...

shaved my head a ways back, left only a very long tiny bit of bangs in front. my experience: cold head & surprisingly cold ears. oft mistaken for a dude. (and i am not dude-shaped). know head to be unlumpy. didn't look as bad as my mom thought, but i did not look like sinead in the "nothing compares to you" video either.

suggestions, if you haven't already done any of these things: compose a poem to commemorate an occasion, present at same. visit one or more texas show caves. come up to boston and say hi sometime.

Lisa said...

Ah. Most of my Asian cooking has been very meat-intensive. I'm going to have to consider the vegetable. My favorite is the pea shoot.

Lisa said...

I love that kidchamp's mom was here.

celia said...

i'm all about 053.

on the shaved head subject, i will say this: for years, my sister was passionate about wanting to shave her head. having very long, thick, perfectly wavy, black hair her whole life, NO ONE wanted her to do it. i could really give a shit what she does to her head. long story short, she finally shaved it and bleached it blonde about two years ago. all those naysayers ended up loving it in the end. it's just hair, it grows back. 

rachel (heart of light) said...

I get tired just looking at your lists - you aim high! 

Perhaps an emminently practical addition?
017b. Power of Attorney and 017c. Advanced Health Directive
I mean, while you're focusing on death and dismemberment, might as well go the whole way. Unless you are better than me and already have those taken care of (note to self - add those to my list, complete it this month). 

_M_D_F_ said...

???: Average one "tome a month?! I miss 'em.

kidchamp said...

that's a good one. i've been a punk lately, i know (let's blame sam lipsyte?). for now, a 'tome next week! this i vow.

kidchamp said...

i haven't, and those are excellent additions - duly noted!

kidchamp said...

well, boston and you & yours for sure, obviously. poetry and i have yet to figure out what our relationship is these days, but that's an attractive incentive.

valya said...

i was thinking something to do with a road trip, renting an RV, and/or niagara falls, but you already have several travel goals.

aside from going vegan for half a year, do you have any interest in other conscious-eating goals (e.g. eliminating artificial/processed ingredients or seeing what it's like to be gluten-free)?  it can be quite eye-opening. a particular challenge might be attempting gluten-free AND vegan, which i've tried myself. there was a lot of of lentils and rice.

anonymous said...

sadly not, we're going to be weddinging in Scotland. Next time you're in London though! 

kidchamp said...

i think that gluten-free would be more like a month for me, but yeah, i'd give it a try! i would even try gluten-free at niagara falls.