To Do Before Dying
(or some possibilities anyway)
1) Do some volunteer work of the 'really making a difference' variety, preferably quite hands-on, and preferably of some decent duration, not just a token gesture to make me feel good. Preferably involving general holistic people-helping, i.e. attending to material, emotional, spiritual needs etc. Hence long duration required. Could be overseas or at home.
Steps towards this:
--Be on the look-out for opportunities that fit my abilities.
--Do some study and/or training in the kinds of things that would be useful in such work, e.g. counselling, medical training, maybe ESOL teaching or admin or something that can get me in the door.
--Avoid setting my heart on anything that will end up crowding out this plan, e.g. high-flying career; getting married to someone who doesn't share this vision; getting too much 'stuff'.
--Get some money.
--Develop my character and faith.
2) Sort things out with Mike.
3) Sort out my theology, at least enough to be getting on with.
Steps towards this:
--Bible college?
--Study.
--Pray.
--Keep debating with friends :)
--Talk to family
4) Fix up my more glaring character defects, such as indecision, cynicism, selfishness of various kinds, laziness...
5)Write a book. Or several. Could be fiction or non.
6) LEARN as much as I possibly can about everything, and never stop doing so. On the list of things to know more about: history, theology, cooking, gardening, sewing, car maintenance, 'survival in the wild' type stuff, art, economics, photography, politics, people and cultures, languages (esp. Greek, Hebrew, Arabic - but any would do), first aid, literature (Dostoevsky, Hardy, all of Dickens, Tolstoy, Rumi...), as many musical instruments as possible (esp. guitar, drums, harmonica, tin whistle...), architecture and building, accounting, farming, sailing, interior decorating, general DIY...
7) Have a library. Like, an actual room, of the Dickensian variety, with every inch of wall covered with book-lined shelves, mahogany and crimson furnishings, a kind of musty atmosphere, a ladder for the ceiling-level shelves, a great big antique globe in the corner, and marble busts looming from on high... (or I might be able to make do with working in one)
8) Get married.
9) Have kids, ideally 4.
10) See the world. Especially the Middle East. This is in the optional category though.
11) Live simply and generously throughout life, possibly at the expense of my own financial security. This may be incompatible with 7 and 10. And possibly 9 I suppose.
12) Meet my sponsored child.
13) Sponsor more children.
14) Be the kind of friend others have been to me, and do all I can to see the people I love live good and happy lives.
15) Discipline myself in known areas of weakness: sleep habits, eating habits, exercise habits, work habits...
16) Find some mode of gainful employment that excites me. And, preferably, that I can actually do.
17) Learn to sing properly, so I can enjoy it.
18) Learn to scream.
...
1) Do some volunteer work of the 'really making a difference' variety, preferably quite hands-on, and preferably of some decent duration, not just a token gesture to make me feel good. Preferably involving general holistic people-helping, i.e. attending to material, emotional, spiritual needs etc. Hence long duration required. Could be overseas or at home.
Steps towards this:
--Be on the look-out for opportunities that fit my abilities.
--Do some study and/or training in the kinds of things that would be useful in such work, e.g. counselling, medical training, maybe ESOL teaching or admin or something that can get me in the door.
--Avoid setting my heart on anything that will end up crowding out this plan, e.g. high-flying career; getting married to someone who doesn't share this vision; getting too much 'stuff'.
--Get some money.
--Develop my character and faith.
2) Sort things out with Mike.
3) Sort out my theology, at least enough to be getting on with.
Steps towards this:
--Bible college?
--Study.
--Pray.
--Keep debating with friends :)
--Talk to family
4) Fix up my more glaring character defects, such as indecision, cynicism, selfishness of various kinds, laziness...
5)Write a book. Or several. Could be fiction or non.
6) LEARN as much as I possibly can about everything, and never stop doing so. On the list of things to know more about: history, theology, cooking, gardening, sewing, car maintenance, 'survival in the wild' type stuff, art, economics, photography, politics, people and cultures, languages (esp. Greek, Hebrew, Arabic - but any would do), first aid, literature (Dostoevsky, Hardy, all of Dickens, Tolstoy, Rumi...), as many musical instruments as possible (esp. guitar, drums, harmonica, tin whistle...), architecture and building, accounting, farming, sailing, interior decorating, general DIY...
7) Have a library. Like, an actual room, of the Dickensian variety, with every inch of wall covered with book-lined shelves, mahogany and crimson furnishings, a kind of musty atmosphere, a ladder for the ceiling-level shelves, a great big antique globe in the corner, and marble busts looming from on high... (or I might be able to make do with working in one)
8) Get married.
9) Have kids, ideally 4.
10) See the world. Especially the Middle East. This is in the optional category though.
11) Live simply and generously throughout life, possibly at the expense of my own financial security. This may be incompatible with 7 and 10. And possibly 9 I suppose.
12) Meet my sponsored child.
13) Sponsor more children.
14) Be the kind of friend others have been to me, and do all I can to see the people I love live good and happy lives.
15) Discipline myself in known areas of weakness: sleep habits, eating habits, exercise habits, work habits...
16) Find some mode of gainful employment that excites me. And, preferably, that I can actually do.
17) Learn to sing properly, so I can enjoy it.
18) Learn to scream.
...
posted by Kat | 9/22/2005 12:44:00 pm
8 Comments:
If you manage all that you certainly would have had a life worth living.
Number 7 is nice! I think I'll have to copy the idea :)
Such a library might even be able to hold enough books to keep me reading for a couple of years!
-----------------------------
7) Have a library. Like, an actual room, of the Dickensian variety, with every inch of wall covered with book-lined shelves, mahogany and crimson furnishings, a kind of musty atmosphere, a ladder for the ceiling-level shelves, a great big antique globe in the corner, and marble busts looming from on high... (or I might be able to make do with working in one).
-----------------------------
Whats with number 18 though?
Heh, I dunno, I've just never been able to do it. Ask anybody who's tried to frighten me - chucked me into the sea, crept up on me from behind, left fake spiders in my bed. I mostly just stand there and wait for it to be over, perhaps uttering a vague whimper.
But sometimes I think it would feel nice to let loose.
No. 7 is cool. Though my version probably would be a pseudo-den with a large leather chair and a drinks cabinet as well as towering shelves of books.
I don't know that cynicism is a character defect. :D
I like you! : ) have a hug!! : )
be careful when you scream, it can damage your vocal folds...but careful screams probably don't mean letting go very much so it's a dilemma.
I like you also.
Do you know what? we should learn something together. I need to learn practical stuff like fixing cars so I can be a real man. :D
what sort of screm do you want?
Just a frigthened high pitch scream, or a full on death metal growl..... personally I think the latter are much cooler.....
Argh Lyndon, if we didn't know who you were you would totally be one of the blog spammers from hell! HELL!!!!!
Uh, I likes your post, I likes the sound of your life. A lot of those things are similarish to stuff I want to do, notably most of your list of things you want to learn abouts. We should all go to car maintenance classes together & get educated in other things too. As for survival/gardening, I recently found a book in the uni library with heaps of wild NZ plants listed & different uses for them, including edible parts etc. It's SOO interesting to find out all these things about really common plants, I feel so bush-survival skillsy.
Sounds cool. I like lists. Personally I wanna scream too, but with the full on death metal growl Jim eluded to.
Post a Comment
<< Home