Tuesday, December 19, 2006

I've Done These Things

I was working on a post in the wee hours last night and Blogger ate it. Sigh. It was too late then to start over from scratch and now things are going to be busy for the next several days, so in lieu of that (sadly) unsaved post, I had this sitting around as a draft and decided to post it instead. What's a girl to do?

I got this from LeeAndra at A Mom and Her Crazy Ideas... I will answer any questions about highlighted thing's in comments. Feel free to ask or comment about anything.

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with wild dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid
6. Held a tarantula
7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
8. Said “I love you” and meant it
9. 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
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
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
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
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 of the moon
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared 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 wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
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
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. Got 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
93. Been on a cruise ship

94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
99. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
100. Lost over 100 pounds
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. Lived in a foreign country
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
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and 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


Well, there you have it. A smattering of my life experiences. Any thoughts?

21 comments:

  1. Where to begin...?

    an easy one...

    which is the first CD in your alphabetized collection and which is the last?

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  2. Evil Blogger - I just posted about how much I'm not loving it right now!

    You watched wild whales? Wow!! I would love to know more about the uncontrollable giggling fit at the wrong moment - what caused it and where were you? Is it like some of mine - makes no sense to anyone who wasn't there?

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  3. s.b.-

    Let's see... it begins with Abba Gold (no joke) and ends with Zydeco Essentials, though Yello is the last individual artist.

    My husband wanted me to say ZZ Top, but that isn't my cd and it's never even been up on the shelf. The cd's are all in a mess now because we've been ripping them and a few hundred of them are in boxes.

    I swear that they will be alphabetized again, or my name's not velvet! ;)

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  4. thisisme-

    Into every blogger's life these things must fall, eh? It's what I get for blogging at 2am and not thinking clearly. It was probably my fault anyway. Oh, well.

    I did see wild whales during a ferry trip to the tip of Cape Cod in Massachusetts... my husband was upset that he didn't see them. Afterwards, it became a big joke, even on dry land. "Look, honey! Whales!" Guess you had to be there for it to be funny.

    There were two memorable giggle fits...

    The first was at the symphony with my husband when we were first dating. The two of us were giggling so badly about an incident at the gift shop during intermission (I'm afraid that I can't elaborate) that we had to leave the performance.

    The second one was while I was standing at the graveside at my grandmother's funeral. I did a post about that (Sept. 8th) if you want to know the details.

    You're not alone... my giggle fits are always brought on by something that strikes me funny, but I'm the only one who thinks so. The looks that they give me when I try to explain only make it worse.

    -velvet

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  5. What facial part is pierced o ther than your ears?

    Steve~

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  6. Did you appear in the newspaper when you danced with a stanger in a foreign country, thereby whacking two off this list? Do tell! I love dancing foreigners...and photos in newspapers!

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  7. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope.

    OK, were you tempted to bring the focus downward, like towards your neighbor's open window? In fact, did you? ;)

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  8. Steve-

    I got my nose pierced in London so long ago that if I told you when, I'd have to shoot you. Suffice it to say that it was not a popular thing to do here yet.

    I haven't worn anything in it for years and recently tried to see if it was still open, but had no luck. Maybe I'll try again some time so that I can freak out my uptight neighbors. ;)

    -velvet

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  9. jocelyn-

    Ooh, so close! No, I danced with both a Parisian banker and with a British Royal Airforce Pilot while on a vacation in France... while getting drunk on champagne (it was New Year's Eve in the Alps... how could I not?). Then there were several London dance clubs, but those were crowded dance floors... who could tell who was dancing with whom?

    The pic in the paper was when I was a kid. They did a feature on our family (and one other) in the Sunday paper as a special interest feature on families who ski. Not as exciting as making it into the paper for dancing with tall, dark, and handsome foreign men, I'm afraid. Maybe in my next life. ;)

    -velvet

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  10. Dan-

    The house on one side was being built (nothing to see), the neighbors across the street are roughly 80 (eek!), and the neighbors on the other side... well... let's just say that no amount of therapy would be able to erase the psychological scars. So, that would be a no, then. ;)

    Thanks for stopping by!

    -velvet

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  11. Yay that you did this, bleh that you lost your post. I hate when that happens. I had a terrible time yesterday posting as well. I finally gave up. So...what author did you miss in school and what did you read? Then English teacher in me wants to know. :)

    I graduated with my BA in English and NEVER read the Iliad or the Odys. guess who I went back and read? *a couple of others who I skimmed in college as well*

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  12. now then...

    ...you piloted a frickin plane????

    bleagh!

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  13. This is such an interesting list. Thanks for sharing.

    I have also seen whales off P-Town, MA, several times when I lived near the Cape.

    Do you remember the Land Shark skit from the original Saturday Night Live cast?

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  14. LeeAndra-

    I took 11 literature courses in high school, so there wasn't too much that I missed (I got so burned out on analytical literature courses that I didn't actually take any in college). Let's see, there was Alexandre Dumas (The Three Muskateers, The Count of Monte Christo), John Steinbeck (Grapes of Wrath (in progress)), Victor Hugo (Les Miserables (still working on it, actually)), and Henry James (Portrait of a Lady). I can't remember if I read any Edith Wharton in high school (Ethan Frome, perhaps?), but decided to read several of her novels in the past decade (The House of Mirth, The Age of Innocence, The Reckoning).

    These are what I can think of off the top of my head. Good luck with the Illiad and the Odyssey. ;)

    -velvet

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  15. LeeAndra-

    Went back and read your comment one more time... You went back and read the Illiad and the Odyssey, I'm guessing? ;)

    That's what I get for trying to comment when I'm distracted. My bad!

    -velvet

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  16. heart-

    That's so cool that you saw whales off the Cape, too! Did you see them from the P-town ferry or were you on another boat? Just curious.

    As for the Land Shark skits, I don't actually remember seeing them (I probably did at one time or another), but I do remember what they were about.

    LOL Yes, I guess that we do have sort of a Land Whales thing going on here.

    -velvet

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  17. s.b.-

    Chris, I'm not quite sure how to read your comment... not a fan of flying? ;)

    I learned how to fly before I learned how to drive. How bass-ackwards is that? I was taking lessons as an independent study in high school, flying mostly single engine planes, but I got in some multi-engine time, too. Then one of the small plane owners at that airfield crashed and they hauled what remained of the plane back to the airport. I had to walk past it every time that I went out to fly and it quickly squelched my enthusiasm.

    It did have its perks, though. Way back when, it was easy to get to visit the cockpits of airplanes on international flights by being a student pilot (being a young, blonde, female student pilot made it even easier, I'm sure). I even got to sit right behind the pilot of a 747 during flight and landing. How f-ing cool (and no doubt illegal) is that? Of course, that was a long time ago and not in this country.

    I haven't cared for flying for a while now (for several years before 9/11) and haven't been on an airplane since just after 9/11 (for reasons not related to the attacks).

    There you have it!

    -velvet

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  18. Jocelyn-

    Did that sound like bragging? Jeez, I hope not. Just proves what a dork I am sometimes and bad writer at others. ;)



    LeeAndra-

    Yes, Iliad, I-l-i-a-d. Iliad. Bad brain day.



    Chris (s.b.)-

    Thinking about my reply to your comment, when I was saying that it was f-ing cool, I was referring to the situation, not myself. I was quiet as a mouse on the outside so that I wouldn't distract the pilots, but was giddy like an schoolgirl on the inside.


    -velvet

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  19. I went on whale watch cruises several times. Whenever I had out-of-town guests, I took them out, although they usually got seasick. Since I don't, I was free to watch for whales.

    On one venture, a whale actually snugged up alongside the boat, and several of us leaned over and patted it.

    My parents had a cabin cruiser when I was a child, and we went to Nantucket and the Vineyard, where I also saw those wondrous creatures.

    Your post brought back great memories.

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  20. heart-

    What wonderful experiences you had! That really sounds amazing.

    I want to take the kids out on a whale watch cruise sometime, but want to wait until they're a little older. I'd love for them to have great memories of something like that.

    -velvet

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  21. kimberly-

    There's a lot of great stuff to do out there, isn't there? I loved this list, so I had to borrow it. It reminds me how different one person's experience of life is so different from another's and how we all have a unique story to tell.

    Thanks for coming by!

    -velvet

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