Tag: 30 things

30 things I want to be before I die

The last of the three lists of 30 things my counselor wanted me to write was things I wanted to be before I died, so, in no particular order:

  1. Healthy
  2. Wise
  3. Respected
  4. Financially secure
  5. Loved
  6. Mostly happy
  7. Righteous
  8. A husband
  9. A father
  10. A teacher
  11. A mentor
  12. Creative
  13. Kind
  14. Faithful
  15. Cheerful
  16. Grateful
  17. Industrious
  18. Obedient to God
  19. Peaceful
  20. Thoughtful
  21. Friendly
  22. Calm
  23. Inspiring
  24. A role model
  25. Active
  26. Confident
  27. Balanced
  28. Loving
  29. Encouraging
  30. Constructive

Wow! That was the hardest of the three to finish!

30 things I want to do before I die

Continuing on to the next list my counselor suggested I should make, here are 30 things I’d like to do before I die:

  1. Spend a week or two in and around Rockingham, North Carolina, learning as much as I can about my 4th-great grandfather, John Stricklin, born abut 1785, died October 1849. Particularly who his father and mother were.
  2. Spend a week or two in and around Lutts, Tennessee, learning as much as I can about my 3rd-great grandfather, Thomas Stricklin (20 Aug 1805 – 9 Jun 1889), and other members of my family who lived in that area.
  3. Spend some time traveling around Kendal, Cumbria, England, where my family surname almost certainly originated.
  4. Spend some time vacationing in the District of Columbia, seeing as many museums and monuments as humanly possible.
  5. Go on a cruise with a private stateroom, preferably the Caribbean or Hawaii.
  6. Travel first class (air).
  7. Become a published author.
  8. Be CEO of a company with a real office and real employees.
  9. Teach a Bible study.
  10. Teach a high school or college-level course, probably History or Government.
  11. Build a home that I, with the help of an architect, of course, designed.
  12. Move to a larger city, most likely either the Dallas/Fort Worth area or the Austin/San Antonio level.
  13. Learn Spanish.
  14. Learn to cook. I mean, really cook.
  15. Learn to play guitar.
  16. Learn to play bass.
  17. Learn to read music.
  18. Become a certified genealogist.
  19. Play in a band.
  20. Weigh under 200 lbs. once again.
  21. Have Lasik surgery.
  22. Get cosmetic dentistry.
  23. Have the excess skin under my eyes removed.
  24. Be someone’s mentor.
  25. Be a delegate to a GOP convention. (I was going to say, “Attend the inauguration of a Republican president,” but have you ever stood outside for an entire day in Washington, D.C. during January?!? It’s cold!)
  26. Eat a pizza from from Lombardi’s.
  27. Eat a Chicago-style, deep-dish pizza from Pizzeria Uno, 29 East Ohio, Chicago, IL, 60611.
  28. Eat a deep-dish pizza from Giordano’s.
  29. Eat a chili-dog from Pink’s in Hollywood.
  30. Watch my nephew graduate college and/or get married.

Notice I said I’d like to do these things, not that I expect to do these things. Some of them, maybe. All of them, probably not.

30 things I want to have before I die

Thursday, my counselor gave me a challenge to complete three lists detailing 30 things I’d have, 30 things I’d do and 30 things I want to be, all before I pass away.
Okay, here goes with the first list (in no particular order):

  1. A Mac Pro with Two 2.93GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon “Westmere” (12 cores) 32GB (8x4GB) processors, a Mac Pro RAID Card, four 512GB solid-state drives, two ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB video cards, two 18x SuperDrives, two Apple (27″ flat panel)LED Cinema Displays, an Apple Magic Mouse + Magic Trackpad, an Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English), a Quad-channel 4Gb Fibre Channel PCI Express card and iWork Family Pack & Microsoft Office Mac 2011 – Home and Business Edition preinstalled. ($19,584.95, but it ships for free!)
  2. A Macbook Pro with a 2.8GHz Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 2X4GB memory, a 512GB Solid State Drive, a SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW), a 17-inch Hi-Resolution Antiglare Widescreen Display and a Backlit Keyboard (English). ($4,449.00, and again, it ships for free!)
  3. A Mercedes-Benz C30 Luxury Sedan, black with an almond/mocha interior and burl walnut wood trim; Premium 1, lighting and multimedia packages, illuminated door sills, keyless entry, rear-view camera, rear-seat entertainment center and sports grill. ($49,923)

Okay, let’s be serious:

  1. A wife that, for some crazy reason, still thinks I’m handsome.
  2. A daughter who is in college and dating a man who adores her the way I do.
  3. A son who makes me proud to be his Dad.
  4. Work that I find challenging but not frustratingly so, and I can’t believe people actually pay me good money to do.
  5. A house that I’d had a hand in designing.
  6. A cat that doesn’t poop or barf all over the carpet.
  7. An office with lots of nice things, like computers and a nice desk, etc.
  8. Good friends, some that I see on a regular basis and some that I call up and spend an hour or two talking about the good ol’ days.
  9. A church where I enjoy serving and worshipping.
  10. Good health, enough to be able to travel and get around by myself.
  11. Musical instruments like guitars, basses and drums, and the ability to actually play them.
  12. The ability to travel outside of the country to countries I’ve always wanted to visit, and some that I’ve missed and wish to visit again.
  13. The ability to give generously to my church and worthy charities.
  14. Elected officials that adequately represent my interests and don’t run up debt on needless social programs.
  15. Most all of my current teeth, or at least some good false ones.
  16. My hearing.
  17. My eyesight.
  18. All of my limbs and digits.
  19. My memory.
  20. My sanity.
  21. A comfortable chair in the living room.
  22. FiOS Internet access.
  23. A large, high definition, flat-screen television.
  24. A comfortable bed.
  25. Nice clothes.
  26. Season tickets to all the MSU men’s football games.
  27. Somewhere quiet, where I can read and work.
  28. A Mac Pro with Two 2.93GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon “Westmere” (12 cores) 32GB (8x4GB) processors, a Mac Pro RAID Card, four 512GB solid-state drives, two ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB video cards, two 18x SuperDrives, two Apple (27″ flat panel)LED Cinema Displays, an Apple Magic Mouse + Magic Trackpad, an Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English), a Quad-channel 4Gb Fibre Channel PCI Express card and iWork Family Pack & Microsoft Office Mac 2011 – Home and Business Edition preinstalled. ($19,584.95, but it ships for free!)
  29. A Macbook Pro with a 2.8GHz Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 2X4GB memory, a 512GB Solid State Drive, a SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW), a 17-inch Hi-Resolution Antiglare Widescreen Display and a Backlit Keyboard (English). ($4,449.00, and again, it ships for free!)
  30. A Mercedes-Benz C30 Luxury Sedan, black with an almond/mocha interior and burl walnut wood trim; Premium 1, lighting and multimedia packages, illuminated door sills, keyless entry, rear-view camera, rear-seat entertainment center and sports grill. ($49,923)

Yeah, I just had to slip those last 3 in there. Sue me.
Keep in mind that some of these things may not exist or will have been updated by the time I die, which I plan on doing May 6th, 2060. Also, feel free to purchase anything you see here for me as a gift.