From the desk

At the halfway point in the semester, reality is starting to hit me. Come May, I will be starting a new chapter of my life.  At the age of 21, the whole is ahead of me. Yet, my path in the world is still unwritten and uncertain.

It is time for me to share with you the list of things that I would like to do before I die. Sure, everyone creates this cliché list, but why not? We only have one life to live, so it’s time to start planning.

First, I want to bungee jump off a really high bridge. It does not necessarily have to be well known, like the Golden Gate Bridge, but it does have to be really, really high. I am incredibly frightened of heights so the higher the better.

Next, after surviving that jump, it’s time to keep my feet planted on the ground and prepare for a marathon. I have never attempted to run 26 miles in one stretch.  If a 70-year-old man or woman can finish the race, I am sure that I could give it a try.

Third, I want to learn how to swim. I can doggie paddle, but that does not count. After learning how to swim, I will go snorkeling, preferably nowhere near sharks or jellyfish.

After swimming, I will need a change of pace. Since I have conquered my fears of water and heights, I should have no problem skydiving. Well, that is my hope.

After surviving that tumble through the air, I want to drive a racecar, and the faster the better. I would have to do this on the German Autobahn, because I have always dreamed of a driving in a land far, far away with no speed limit.

If I am going to be driving really fast in another country, I will need to speak a foreign language. That means I will need to live in a foreign country, actually one country is not adventurous enough. How about five or even 10 countries?

Backpacking around Europe should fix that problem.

Now that I have seen the world from the ground, air and sea, it is time for me to adopt. I admire how Brad and Angelina have adopted children from nearly every continent. I will follow in their footsteps. Instead of adopting kids, I will adopt animals, starting with a pet monkey.

I hope I have inspired you to create your own list, and I will let you know in 20 years if I have completed my own.