I did a lot of what I wanted to do this year. I hope you did too.
All the same, my Bucket List 2012 will be left incomplete. I didn’t manage to run 16 miles in one session, but I set a new personal record of 11.2 miles! I didn’t read 52 books this year, but the ones I did read were enlightening and awesome and I’m a better person for it. I didn’t have dinner with my friend Amy Leah, either. If all you need in a relationship is a spark and timing, the timing was all off.
This is okay. There’s always 2013. I’m still going to be running towards the big 16 and reading as many books as I can. And I have no choice but to do everything in my power to see Amy Leah. The only way you can fail at bucket-listing is simply not trying, so I’m happy to report I haven’t failed.
A new year means a new Bucket List:
1. 52 books (New year’s optimism and naivete is at work here)
2. 16 miles
3. Dinner with Amy Leah
4. Visit some important people on the West Coast
5. Get to Southeast Asia (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma, Bangladesh, at least)
6. Learn to make: Tom Ka Gai, Pho, and Tsuivan
7. Rediscover America – visit the steaming town in PA (inspired by Bill Bryson)
8. Master the mystery of the Hasselblad and organize 2 photo projects
9. Photo series of SE DC
I’ve already gotten started on #6. This soup of mine, Tom Ka Gai, is easily one of the best things I’ve ever made. No more chicken soup when I’m sick. How boring! I’ll make myself pots and pots of Tom Ka Gai, a concoction that is sweet, sour, salty, and spicy all at once. And sinister >:)
Okay, that was stupid. The point is, you’ve got to do what you want. More than that, you’ve got to actively work towards what you want, not leave it on the back burner only to simmer and evaporate! Even if that means saving up money to go bungee jumping off a rickety bridge in the Himalayas or putting forth the effort to make that one soup you’ve been dying to try. It’s the little things, but the big things too.
I wish you a Happy New Year, a happy, healthy, and action-packed 2013, and full buckets.
