Bucket List

So it's been awhile since I've posted. I'm pretty sure I'm going to try to make up for it by posting twice. (It's like when you eat a salad after eating a steak to even out your diet, right? That makes sense I'm pretty sure...)

So I was extraordinarily motivated late one night while I was daydreaming about my new goal to travel the world. I came up with a loosely-organized plan, listed all the places I want to visit, tried to find the cheapest way to do it all, and wrote it all down in an Evernote list.

Then while I was motivated I came up with a bucket list. I expected to forget all about it and procrastinate doing any of it. But it turns out when you're unemployed you've got lots of free time (that which isn't being spent applying places, that is...) to do the stuff you've always been meaning to do.

Anyway, here's my work-in-progress list. I'm currently working on four of them. These are not in any kind of prioritized order.

• Travel the world
• Chop down a tree with an ax
• Mona rope swing one more time
• Ask out a complete stranger
• Build a computer from components
• Learn to make beautiful websites
• Go to culinary school (or at least a few great culinary classes)
• Get married to the girl of my dreams
• Move out of Utah
• Learn/memorize how to fold a fitted sheet
• Fly a kite from a mountain
• Leave a message in a bottle with my contact info
• Do as much family history research as I can get information for
• Go on a date in a foreign country
• Learn Spanish
• Learn French
• Learn Italian
• Learn Japanese
• Learn to do a kick flip on a skateboard
• Learn how to do a backflip
• Make money from selling an iPhone app
• Start a successful business
• Learn to sing like I've always wanted to be able to
• Learn to play the piano
• Start practicing violin again and perform again at least once
• Try growing my hair out
• Ride an elephant
• Be in a place with 24 hours of light/darkness
• See the northern lights
• Throw and catch a boomerang
• Take a road trip on a motorcycle
• Learn to sail
• Learn to tie all those knots from boy scouts I forgot (and know when they're used)
• Learn to pick a lock
• Learn to hot wire a car (if reasonably possible...?)

Can you guess which four I'm currently engaged in?

I'm not a sugar daddy

Starting tomorrow Kellie "the Bone" and I are going to refrain from eating anything with refined sugars in it for 5 days. I am positive this will turn out to be MUCH harder than I think. Pretty much anything that comes in a box will have sugar added to it, and I won't be able to eat it. I may end up starving tomorrow until I get a chance to go to the store on Monday to buy stuff I can actually eat. Or maybe I'll just eat oatmeal all day.

Just thinking about it makes me realize that I definitely don't eat enough fruits and vegetables. And that makes me think that maybe I'm not as healthy as I thought I was. Or maybe I just say that because I ate half a large pizza today. Yeah that's probably the real reason.

Anyway, I guess it'll be an adventure. It reminds me of when I was in high school and my mom and I decided we were going to eat like vegetarians for one week. The only thing I remember is that I went over to a friend's house and told his family about it (it came up in regular conversation) and I overheard them talking about it to each other and they thought it had something to do with me being Mormon. (I had recently converted.)

Anyway, I'm done writing. Maybe tomorrow I'll blog about my conversion, because I realize I haven't really said much about it on here. Yay!

August goals

 I think I like the picture at the beginning of the post. It adds feeling.

Alright, well a recap of my August goals:

Body - Improve my posture: I've done pretty well. I've been much more aware of how I hold myself, and have tried to straighten up (physically, not behaviorally). I can't tell how much it has helped, but I like to think I've start to make it a habit at least to notice my posture every now and then.

Mind - Improve my memory: I haven't done very well with this. Fortunately with the new semester starting and my increased responsibility to remember names of ward members, I think September may be a better month for this. I will make it one of my mind goals again.

Spirit - Improve my scripture study: It has definitely improved a lot! I really like the read-less-write-more technique, and will definitely be continuing it (hopefully with even more regularity) until I find something better. I think I made it a little more than every 3rd day in August, which I think I can attribute to the business of travelling. (Attribute, NOT excuse...)

Misc. - read more: Definitely doing well. I finished The Glass Castle a couple of weeks ago (thank you unnecessarily long routes to Detroit! SLC - Phoenix - Atlanta - Detroit) and I am about halfway through Ender's Game. I think once school starts it will be more of a challenge to read for recreation, but I will try to continue it. If I see myself trailing off, I may have to make it another misc. goal again.

Keep me accountable! I'll try to come up with some really good September goals now.

Photo from here