The idea of a Bucket List has always irked me a little bit.
Lists are my jam, but to attempt to accomplish a list of things before I die just seems so limiting, so constrained to the probable. Aren’t we going to feel like failures if we don’t manage to cross off every line? Won’t it be sad to watch our lists shrink as we age? Doesn’t it seem like more fun to dream big and see where life can take us?
So I was thrilled to stumble upon Joel Runyon’s idea of an Impossible List, a to-do list for your life that includes all of my wildest dreams AND the attainable ones. Now I get to create an always expanding and hopefully inspiring map of my life, to remember what I’ve done and remind me of what is yet to come.
Sure, winning an audience choice award for my film at Sundance may be improbable, but I have no doubt that it’s possible. And as much as I love the rush of crossing things off, the real reason I make lists is to distill big ideas into more manageable tasks. I wanted to make a t-shirt quilt for years before I decided to take the time to write out the steps and get started; I finished it less than 6 months later.
I like to think of the written word as this magical way to make things happen, and with so many things I want to bring to fruition; I’ll take all the help I can get.
So I give you My Entirely Possible (though not always probable) List!
Milestones
Graduate from high school [PCHS 2007]
Move to Seattle [2007]
Study Abroad [Greece 2009]
Graduate from College [UW 2011]
Move back to Utah [2012: 2, 3]
Get a masters degree
Backpack Europe [5 months in 2014: 2, 3, 4, 5]
Live Alone [May 2016]
Live in an apartment with a window seat that looks over the city/roof access
Ruth [2001]
Marlowe [2012]
Del [2013]
Own a home
Buy a couch [July 2016]
Become a mother
Become an aunt
Vocation
Teach as a camp counselor [2012 PSC]
Coach Basketball [2011-12 Freshman/Sophomore Head Coach, JV Assistant, Varsity Assistant]
Work at an engineering company [SES Nov 2013-Feb 2014]
Be a truck driver/delivery person [Flower shop]
Stage Manage [high school]
Get Published [Daily] [local Seattle Papers] [Kaplan Award]
Be a radio DJ [2005-2007]
Be a tour guide
Work for a magazine
Become an archaeologist
Become a geologist
Act in a local production
Be in a musical
Be a ski instructor or lifty for a winter
Become a paid photographer [news photos]
Work for PBS
Skill
Learn to drive a stick shift [I’m as good as I’ll ever be…]
Learn how to play the guitar
Learn Final Cut Pro [2012]
Learn Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator [2011]
Learn AutoCad [2013]
Learn a new language: Greek, Latin, Dutch, Spanish
Learn to blow glass
Become an expert at something: Greek mythology? Spiderman trivia?
Take a graphic design class
Learn to metal work
Get Outside
Go backpacking for at least a week.
White water raft [Gates of Lodore] [Middle Fork Salmon] [Cataract Canyon 2013]
Raft the Grand Canyon [21 days in 2013, 2, 3]
Kayak a river
Ski [Utah, Whistler, Jackson, Steamboat, Grand Targhee]
Bike across America [my friend did!]
Great Salt Lake [Julia 2013]
Hike timp
Backpack to Havasupai falls [2016]
Climb Suicide Rock at Sunset [Bryan 2013]
Lead a camping trip. [Tetons with Julia] [Arches/goblin/capitol reef with c4]
Hike donut falls [2016]
Body
Shave my head
Drastically cut/color my hair
Get a tattoo
Paint Body for event [turning 22]
Naked Body Paint
Go Do
See a major musical in the front row [Book of Mormon 2013]
Attend Comicon and Vidcon
Volunteer for Sundance
Be a programmer
Attend a concert in a country that doesn’t speak English [Kooks Barcelona 2014]
Purposely miss a flight to do something better
Hangout with the band [Reel Big Fish 2014] [Con Brio 2016]
Attend the Glastonbury Music Festival
Attend a taping of Austin City Limits
Attend the Olympics [2002]
See UW beat Washington State in Pullman
Sit courtside at a big basketball game
Buy musical season tickets [2016 Eccles]
Go on a hot air balloon ride
Go on a cruise
Ride a train for more than 6 hours [so many all nighters on that euro trip]
Really get to know my grandparents [Lived with 98-year-old grandfather for 6 weeks]
See the Northern Lights
New Years Eve Hike and Sled [2013]
Watch one of my friends compete [2010, 2014]
Watch Rosie win a race [2014 National Classic Sprint]
Tailgate Huskey Stadium by boat
Circdu solei
ski on a glacier in alaska
Create
Build a fort (a secret hideout) in the mountain trees
Set up a photo booth at the entrance of my house and suggest (read: force) guests take a picture every time they come over
Fill a wall of my house with portraits of the people in my life (or who have entered) (have a separate section for past)
Participate in our own Olympics. We’ll make team outfits and invent awesome competitions over two weeks
Write a novel/screenplay/play/composition [C4 novel 1] [C4 novel 2] [the letter]
Keep up with a journal [this blog totally counts] [3 things]
Write a song
Make a music video [so many in college]
Finish the college overall video
Build a stained glass piece
Restore the old theatre in Seattle. Own the Moore.
Keep up with Friend Appreciation Day
Have a great conversation with a stranger on the bus [2012 perfect man] [woman letter] [woman smile] [woman bless you]
Create and bury a time capsule [2008] [2011]
Start my own company [2012 Aurelia]
Sell something at Pike’s Place Market
Make a documentary
Submit a film to Sundance
Make a T-Shirt Quilt [PreCollege Life 2013] (college) (bryan) (meg) (ann)
Make a Scrapbook [Letters of Love 2013] [UW Graduation 2013] [2014 College] [high school][the early years]
Design and help build my own house
Risk
Sing in front of people (karaoke doesn’t count)
Explore abandoned buildings [2009]
Be arrested
Put everything I’ve owned for 5 years into one rental car and drive it to Utah [2012]
Quit my job [Marketing weird thing, bball, pacific science, pcmr – now that i think of it i’ve quit every job i’ve ever had.. does opting to not return count?] [SES 2014] [SES 2014]
Give blood
Perform a choreographed dance routine
Join a protest [2009]
Swim in a public fountain [2011]
Explore off limits places [Vegas Gallery]
Crash a wedding
Run to catch a plane [Seattle 2013] [Dublin 2014]
Happiness
Get drenched with dirty water by a car or bus PRAUGE
Hop on a bus loop and read for hours as it circles
Hang out on rooftops [Denver 2013] [Bryan 2016 pc main street]
Heights [Rigi 2014] Havasu climb 2016]
Talk to George, the statue in Seattle that only responds while under the influence
Be in a movie/TV show [extra in Everwood!] [drove through Macbeth set in Scotland]
Participate in a flash mob [Glee] [no pants train]
Gather everyone I love in one room for a party [close with thanksgivings with farah and kath]
Connect: [Guy on the Bus 2012] Airplane kid , park ranger (mindy michelle loufah)
Go to a meditation class [2008]
Talk with Strangers [Bus 2012] [Vegas 2013] [Denver 2013] [Edinburgh Bus Guy 2014] [Highland bus tour 2014]
Dance [Vegas 2013] [Denver 2013]
Buy a dslr camera [2012]
Road trip with friends [2010]
Convince everyone that math is cool
Stand at center field of a football stadium at night [2009]
Explore graveyards
Spend more time around bonfires
Reoccurring Events
Live Theatre
Pre 2007: [Oklahoma] [Crazy For You] [Once Upon A Mattress] [Starmites]
College: [Wicked] [Spring Awakening] [Oklahoma] [Phantom of the Opera]
2013: [Book of Mormon],
2014: [Gawain the Green Knight]
2015:
2016: [Heathers]
Unknown: american idiot, avenue Q, dogfight, cinderella sneak in, les mis, white christmas (2), peter and the star catcher
Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival [2000-2007, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016]
Prauge [2014]
Sundance Films (Favorites)
2016: [Green Room] [Love and Friendship]
2014: [I, Origins] [Dinosaur 13] [The Disobedient] [the short film My Sense of Modesty] [The Voices]
Music Festival (Glastonbury)
Opera/Ballet: Romeo and Juliet, that one with meg and kat, Copelia, Swan Lake?, Sleeping Beauty
Concert
[Grace potter 2015?, 2016] anna nalik, whoever she opened for. 311 lumineers [KT Tunstall Sundance 2014] kt tunstall [Lady Antebellum 2014] [OAR 2014] a bunch, deathcab, los lobs, con brio, that one with laura, carly rae jepson, nashville, [Wicked songs at the Gateway 2013]
Wedding
Participation: court, michelle, mindy, meg, ann, Marybeth.
Attend: yetive, steve, amy, court, case, carly, annie, anna, michelle, mindy, ann, meg, sarah, mb, sam
Airport: SLC, SEA, LAX, Denver, portland?, msp, long beach, las vegas, atl, houston, jfk, florida, small one from nyc to boston. boston. abroad
Sports [UW football, UW basketball season,
Museums [NYC Modern Art 2014] [London Victoria and Albert 2014] [Camera Obscura] [LA The Getty 2013] amsterdam, paris, oxford,
Brewery/Distillery/winery: [Coors Factory Golden Colorado 2013] [Distillery Highland Bus Tour 2014] ireland scotland austria,
Palaces/Castles/really cool houses [Blenheim Palace]
Churches [Oxford] [St. Giles Cathedral]
Colleges [Oxford] [Dartmouth] [Cal Poly] [Northeastern] [Princeton] [University of Denver] [UW] [U of Oregon] [NYU] [Uof U] [BYU]
Visit
South Western Asia
Turkey: Istanbul(not Constantinople)
Jordan: Dead Sea, Petra
Nepal: Himalayas, Mount Everest
Israel: Jerusalem, Dome of the Rock
Thailand
North Eastern Asia
Russia: Emily’s graveyards, Moscow
China: painted veil river/mountains
Japan
Africa
Egypt:Cairo, pyramids, Nile, catacombs
Zimbabwe: Victoria Falls
Europe
Italy: Rome, Coliseum, Florence, Venice
Ireland: [Dublin] wild horses
Scotland: [Edinburgh] [Highlands] St. Andrews
England: [London] [Oxford] watch a football match, Stonehenge, the Globe Theatre
Greece: [Athens] [Skopelos] [Olympia] [Naxos] [Evia]
Denmark: family
Switzerland: Alps, Geneva-Rousseau
Czech Republic: Prague
Austria: Sound of Music
Oceania
Sydney, outback, beaches, Olympic stadium, Sydney Opera House
New Zealand
Americas
Canada: [Whistler ski vacation] [Vancouver with Emily] [Whistler with Kathryn 2016] underground streets
Mexico [Cabo 2005ish]
Galapagos Islands
Panama
USA States [23/50]
Alaska: Winter and Summer
Arizona: [Tucson] [Grand Canyon rafting 2013] [Grand Canyon road trip 2016]
California: [San Diego bball] [Pacific Coast Highway adventure]
Colorado: [Steamboat] [Denver with Ally 2013] [Golden Colorado 2013]
Florida: [Disney world]
Hawaii: [Maui] pearl harbor
Idaho: [Bruno dunes]
Illinois: [Chicago]
Maryland: [Washington D.C.]
Massachusetts: [Boston] [Cape Cod]
Michigan: [Mackinac Island]
Minnesota: [Minneapolis]
Montana: [Bozeman]
Nebraska: [that place I went]
Nevada: [Vegas 2010] [Vegas 2013] [Vegas 2013] [Vegas 2013]
New Hampshire: [Dartmouth]
New Jersey: [Princeton]
New Mexico: [4 corners?]
New York: [NYC Lacey] [NYC 2009] [NYC 2014] Niagara Falls
Oregon: [Portland]
South Dakota: Mount Rushmore (I think I’ve been? Black hills? Was that Molly’s life?)
Texas: Austin
Utah: [Great Salt Lake]
Washington: [Seattle College] [Seattle Halloween Weekend 2013] [Seattle Ann wedding prep?] [Seattle Ann’s wedding] [Seattle Feb 2016]
Wisconsin: [Green Lake]
Wyoming: [Jackson Hole]