Bucket List Failures

No, I'm not dead. The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated and my bucket list is still alive and kicking, thank you. Unfortunately, there are a few things on the list that I'm not fully in control of. You think you have time, you pass up on opportunities you should sieze because of money or schedules or whatever. Then, you realize years later that was YOUR CHANCE and you let it go by.

That makes me absolutely crazy. I'm a list maker anyway, so having a bucket list really appealed to me. It gave me a chance to really think about and list all the things I want to do before I die. I get immense pleasure from checking off items. Knowing there are items I can never check off makes my completion-driven heart die a little bit. Swim with dolphins? Check! Take a cruise? Check! See R.E.M. in concert... hmm...

It seems that if you're going to include an item like that on your bucket list, you need to account for the fact that said group is aging like you are. And they may not want to tour with their wheelchairs and oxygen tanks. Not that R.E.M. is that old. But apparently they have a bucket list of their own that includes something other than music and they've decided to break up and focus on, instead.

Crap. Crap. Crap. R.E.M. was my first CD when I as ten. When I finally got a CD player six months later, I nearly exploded finally getting to listen to Out of Time. Since then, I've acquired about five other CDs of theirs. But never managed to see the show. When I was in high school - no money. Then I moved and they never came close enough to make it convenient. Would it really have killed me to drive over to Atlanta? But it was a Wednesday night show, I'd miss work, blah, blah. I always had time to see them later. Until I didn't.

You'd think I would've learned from the Simon & Garfunkel tour. They weren't on my bucket list because they swore they'd never tour again, but then, magically - 5 shows. One in Atlanta. Tickets were upward of $300-$500. I passed it up. Stupid. It was Simon & Garfunkel! They hate each other and will probably never ever do it again. There goes that chance.

I can only hope that in a few years, R.E.M. will get nostalgic or need money and will put together some kind of reunion tour like the Eagles or the Stones. Until then, I'll have this glaring failure on my list. Do you have a bucket list? Are there any items on there that you'll probably never be able to do through no fault of your own?
SP

Carolina's on My Mind

I'm going to be out of pocket today because last night I went to the James Taylor concert and spent the night with a friend so I didn't have to drive home so late. I'll blog later and let you know how it was, but I wanted to share with you my absolute favorite JT song accompanied by pictures of my home state, North Carolina.

North Carolina is a vacation paradise with beaches on the eastern end and mountains on the western end. It has skiing, whitewater rafting and some of the best golf in the world. The central, or Piedmont, section is home to the Research Park Triangle, the largest research park in the world (and Huntsville's research park is second). This is the section of the state where I grew up. When I was young, the Piedmont also had a thriving textile industry as well as a large furniture industry. The textiles are mostly gone, but there's still a fair amount of furniture made in NC.

The state is home to a number of top-notch universities and boasts any number of famous sons and daughters, including the late, great Dale Earnhardt.

North Carolina is filled with history from the Lost Colony to Old Salem, the first manned flight of Wilbur and Orville Wright and the Trail of Tears when the Cherokee were forced from their homeland.

Want a great place to visit on vacation? How about the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which has the most visitors of any national park in the US. Or you can drive the Blue Ridge Parkway for some of the most beautiful scenery you'll ever see. Visit Biltmore Estate and see how the Vanderbilts lived or climb Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi.

North Carolina is also home to Krispy Kreme doughnuts and Pepsi Cola.

The state bird is the beautiful cardinal, and the state flower is the dogwood.

The state motto is "Esse quam videri" -- "To be rather than to seem."

And we ARE the great Tarheel state!



Just in case you're interested, here's a list of the slides in the video:

North Carolina map
The Outer Banks
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
The Wright Brothers Memorial
Concord (my hometown)
A cardinal, the state bird of NC
Dogwood blossoms, the state flower of NC
Fort Raleigh, site of Sir Walter Raleigh's Lost Colony
USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial sign
USS North Carolina
Western Carolina University logo (my alma mater)
NC State Wolfpack logo (my sister's alma mater)
UNC Tarheels logo
Giant chair in Thomasville, which is representative of the state's furniture industry
Dale Earnhardt
Old Salem in Winston-Salem, NC, a Moravian settlement
The Smoky Mountains
Biltmore Estate
Maggie Valley skiing
Rafting on the Nantahala River
#2 son and me at Newfound Gap
Blue Ridge Parkway sign
Cherokee Indian Reservation sign
Carving of Sequoyah, native American who invented the Cherokee alphabet
Great Smoky Mountains National Park sign
Grandfather Mountain sign
Mile High Swinging Bridge atop Grandfather Mountain
Linn Cove viaduct, part of the Blue Ridge Parkway around Grandfather Mountain
Mt. Mitchell, highest peak east of the Mississippi River
James Taylor
North Carolina sign

The Bucket List

Last Thursday morning, I sat poised at the computer, waiting for concert tickets to go on sale. I wanted to put in my order as quickly as possible, hoping for a decent seat. And why did I do this?

Because it's a James Taylor concert. I've loved JT's music since a friend introduced me to his music waaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 1971. Back in my college days, I had all his albums and knew every word to every song. The albums are long gone but I have his greatest hits on my iPod and I need to brush up on my Fire and Rain lyrics before May 24. Attending this concert has been forty years in the making.

JT grew up in North Carolina, my home state, where his father was Dean of the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine. Every trip back to North Carolina begins with JT's song "Carolina in My Mind" playing in the CD player.

So why the sudden urge to go to a James Taylor concert? Maybe it's a Bucket List thing, though I've been hesitant to make an official bucket list because I don't want to think about kicking the bucket. But I suppose if I had to make a list, it would include the following in addition to seeing James Taylor in concert.

~ An "adventure trip" all by myself just to prove I can do it. I'm thinking maybe Sedona, Arizona where I can immerse myself in red rocks and vortices and become one with nature.

~ Going back to Europe to re-visit where I lived during the late 70's and seeing some things I didn't get to see then.

~ Seeing Barbra Streisand in concert (though I doubt this even stands a chance since she rarely performs now and given what the JT ticket cost, I doubt I could bankroll a Streisand ticket).

~ See Barry Manilow in concert. Laugh if you will, but can you hear Copacabana without singing along or at least tapping your foot?

~ Ziplining. This was going to happen last fall but circumstances got in the way. I'm certain it'll happen. I do not, however, have any desire to sky dive or go bungee jumping.

~ Learn to dance the salsa. Maybe the samba, mambo and meringue too.

~ Swim with the dolphins. Ever since watching Flipper as a kid, I've thought this was just the coolest thing.

~ Visit the 18 states I haven't been to: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Oregon, Vermont, Wisconsin, Indiana, North Dakota, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio (I thought I'd been to Ohio until I learned the Cincinatti airport is actually in Kentucky), Rhode Island, Washington, Idaho and Utah.

I could think of more if I wanted. But in researching bucket list ideas, I realized I'd done a lot of things on those lists like riding a camel at the Pyramids in Egypt, seen the Mona Lisa, seen the Acropolis, prayed at the western wall in Jerusalem and saw where Jesus was born in Bethlehem, skiied the Alps, seen a Broadway play, visited the Grand Canyon, watched the Space Shuttle launch live, stared in awe at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and more.

Do you have a bucket list? Tell us about it.

And here's another JT song. I always imagine he's singing it to only me.