I’ve seen this floating around, but Donna has it up today. I think I’ll play along.

The object of this list is to highlight the things that you have done.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone – With the Bear when he was an infant. He screamed bloody murder the whole time if he wasn’t latched on.
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards) – Go Broncos!
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment – This happens on a regular basis. I am generally pretty content.
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk.
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales.
45. Stolen a sign. – When you see a real estate billboard on public lands, you’re kind of obligated, I think.
46. Backpacked in Europe.
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow – Okay, no. But I’ve milked goats.
56. Alphabetized your CDs – How else does the world function?!
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites.
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch – My chlocolate chip cookies are nearly as awesome as my Uncle Floyd’s. I am approaching greatness.
78. Won first prize in a costume contest – I went as a pile of dirty laundry
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason – Got to tell you…It was kind of creepy.
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children – They’re a work in progress
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking – I waved.
103. Had plastic surgery.
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds.
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth – I didn’t really help, I just watched our cat give birth. She pretty much had it covered, no help needed.
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse.
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad – and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair – Heh.
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Hmm, I had more in bold than I thought I would. Unfortunately, they’re pretty much the mundane ones.

I just love The Teaching Company. I love love love it. I love it so much, I want to bake it a pie.

Free for you and me, here is a lecture by Professor Greenberg – my favorite! – on Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, just in time for Halloween.

Enjoy!

!!Now with super-duper UPDATE action!! (See Below)

First of all, let me say what a spoiled Navy spouse I am. I just want to make clear that I am truly aware of this.

We have lived in the same state for ten years. We have lived in the same town for six of those. Out of the various moves in that time, the Navy only made us move once, and it was to where we are now – and we never want to leave.

My first year as a Navy wife, we were stationed in San Diego – long enough for me to know that I hope to never go back. I hated the bugs (you can never totally win the war on roaches and fleas), I hated the year-round sunshine, I hated the heat. And, coming from rural Colorado, I didn’t really dig the big city Southern California lifestyle.

Then we got stationed in Washington, and life started to get better. They have seasons here. It’s green, even in urban areas. And since it’s rainy and dark for a lot of the year, hair and clothes are very relaxed. And pale skin is normal! Woo-hoo! This is my kind of place. And don’t get me going on the food, and the wine, and the coffee. We will be here all day.

Eventually, both sets of our parents moved to town. (This is a good thing – we all get along very well. I mean, both sets of in-laws go places all together without us. True story. We are an odd but happy bunch.) We found a church that we love and have been part of through good times and bad. And homeschooling is normal here – no one even bats an eye when I have the Princess with me at the store in the middle of the day. There are so many homeschool support groups and clubs that no one can belong to them all. This place is paradise.

And then there’s my house. I freaked out plenty when it came to looking for a new place, but then God gave us where we are now. It’s not brand new, but it really is my dream home. There are so many little details that make it seem like it was created just for us. It is the nicest house I’ve ever lived in, and there isn’t a thing about it that I don’t like.

So I really do know how spoiled I am. Navy families do not usually get to live in the same area for years, in a house they adore, with extended family and friends around them. I feel incredibly, overwhelmingly blessed. Every day I wake up, I thank God for the life I have.

Which is why I am so confused as to why He might want to move us now.

Because Mr. MG made CPO, the Navy may have plans to move us. Like to Japan, San Diego, or – if we get our way – to a ship just across the pier. (There was much weeping and wailing when it looked like we were locked into Hawaii. I think I may be the only human on earth who sees orders to Hawaii as torture. Talk about big bugs!)

Would God let us settle here and get comfy, only to rip us up by the roots? Am I doomed to a sudden spiritual growth spurt by force? Oh, man, I hope not. Because I dearly love it here. This is my home…

UPDATE

… aaaaaaand I get to stay. Mr. MG called to say that the orders we were praying for were being typed in, even as he spoke. We get to stay in our beautiful green, mossy corner of the world.

Now I can stop mournfully walking around my house late at night, touching the surfaces and asking, “Why, God?” Now I can get on with things, waddle around the house making plans and saying, “Yay, God!”

I didn’t think it was possible, but I’m even more grateful now than I was before.

I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around the recent school shootings. It was bad enough, the times that a kid or two would walk into a school to kill and maim. But when grown-ups start in on it, I just don’t know what. I am without words.

They were discussing the Pennsylvania shootings on the CBC2 news while I was driving the Princess to swim class, and I just had enough. I turned it off. When she asked what was wrong, I told her about what was happening around the country, and that I didn’t want to hear anymore about guns and schools and dying kids.

“Why would anyone do such a thing?!” the Princess asked.

I said I didn’t know. I talked a bit about the Columbine shootings that happened when she was just a baby. I told her that sometimes kids think that there is nothing left to do but get revenge and then die. And that it was too bad because, if they could just make it past high school, they’d find out that high school is not the real world. It gets better.

(Which totally stumps her. After all, we school in the real world. Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise, she’ll never know that artificial hotbox of social pressure called state school.)

“But I don’t get it about the grown-ups, babe. Something is very broken in the world when adults walk into a school and hurt kids.” She agreed, even though she still didn’t quite understand about the world being broken.

“I’m glad we homeschool.” She said after a while.

“Well, I can’t lock you up in a box all your life to keep you from getting hurt. But if you are hurting, I want to be there to help you.”

The scariest part of it is that there is no way to prevent it, to make a law big enough or adamant enough to stop this from happening. It is already illegal to go on a shooting rampage. And exactly how do you penalize someone for raping and killing school children after they commit suicide? Presidential conferences aren’t going to stop this thing.

Could it be our subjective society? Maybe it’s a popular culture that reduces kids – or, really, all human beings – into expendable units. It might have something to do with a rejection of God, government, or anyone at all with rules that cramp our style. I don’t know how to fix it, but I do know that it makes me want to buy land in northern Montana so I can build a bunker and hide out with all my loved ones.