~Bucket List (Fourth Update)

Originally posted 14 Feb 2017

By now I figure most of you have already read the previous BL posts and are just here to see the updates that I’ve made so I won’t waste any more of your time, here is the updated list of items that I did prior to getting the book.

#4- Plant a tree

#5- Learn to play an instrument

#6- Learn a new language

#11- Write a song

So… Have I mentioned yet that I was certainly NOT one of the “cool kids” before? Well, I wasn’t. My friends (for the most part) weren’t all that cool either. Not nerds, just not the talk of the school or neighborhood. Anyway, when I was younger my friend Kev and I would write music. I REALLY wish that I could find some of the raps that we came up with back in the day. I remember one we wrote to go with Biggie Smalls Hypnotize, I actually think that one might have been ok. Well, obviously we did not grow up to be a famous duo. So now I have to write a song for this list? Maybe I’ll write a song about the list… Maybe not… Who knows?

#14- Ride in a helicopter

#15- Meet a celebrity

#16- Ride a train

#24- Play a round of golf 

#33- Attend a drive in movie

#42- Be in a play

#44- Skateboard

#53- Sing at a karaoke club

I’ve sang (I actually had to look up whether I should use “sang” or “sung” for this, because I’m a nerd) karaoke at many a bar. But for some reason when I read this the first story that came to mind was a night out in Bensalem (I think it was Bensalem) with Drew (that’s his name and I’m sticking to it), Tim, Ashley, and Ashley’s equally attractive but incredibly ornery sister. We met at the bar, immediately started downing pitchers of mixed drinks, and got our names on the list to sing. I really don’t remember remember how that night ended. I wasn’t blackout drunk, but trust me I do have a good number of those stories as well, It was just a party night in a time when I was doing a lot of back to back partying. I don’t want to mix stories. Anyway, It was great hanging out with them. Actually, next time I think I’ll try to get the same group together, hopefully with a couple additions.

#57- Earn a medal or trophy in a competition

#59- Do a road trip across the USA

#61- Try a martial art

#108- Attend a toga party

Right before my first deployment my company randomly decided to throw a toga party. From what I remember there were only a handful of guys who actually dawned the toga. Of course, I was one. Our barracks was a big square surrounding a courtyard so we could party there pretty hard without the outside world seeing us. This party is in the books as another one of the nights I can’t remember but wont soon forget. Next time, less shots / more toga!

#124- Dance on a bar

#132- Go camping

#135- Dance on a conga line

#148- Inner tube down a lazy river

By now I’ve probably posted the “nights I wont soon forget” blog. One of the stories that came to mind while writing that blog was what my friends and I refer to as “the accidental drunk”. I’m not going to go through the entire weekend here, that’s definitely a story for another day, but I will say that at one point we ended up at a water park floating on a lazy river. Some of us had tubes, some of us were sharing tubes, and some of us got kicked out of the lazy river for not using a proper flotation device. Next time, I hope that I have a weekend half as good as this one… And I hope that I remember twice as much.

#157- Have a summer romance

#163- Visit a castle

#180- Learn to juggle

#209- Play charades at a party 

#214- Start a collection of something

#215- Go on a zip-line

#217- Ride a mechanical bull

#221- Jump on a Pogo stick

Again, I had a childhood. I actually did that whole “laugh and play” thing. I’m pretty sure that I never actually owned a Pogo stick, but I had friends that let me use theirs. As an adult, my son’s cousin had one. I think I used it once or twice and was afraid that I would break the thing. I guess I can do some asking around and see if I can find one, but I don’t think I’m willing to buy a Pogo stick for myself. I have to draw the line somewhere.

#227- Teach a class in any subject

#230- Sit in the very front seat of a roller coaster

So there I was, on one of my first dates (4th, 5th, somewhere around there I think) with Christy. We went to Dorney Park (she previously worked there, it was one of her favorite places). I really wanted to impress her so I spent most of the time trying to win her one of those cliche amusement park stuffed animals. I did. During the date we discovered that we both liked roller coasters, I told her that I had never sat in the front seat of one, and she immediately took us to the line of Steel Force (longest coaster on the east coast). It’s a whole new world up front. Somewhere on the ride my stomach flipped and turned and didn’t return to its original state. I spend the entire rest of the date sick to my stomach, on the verge of throwing up, trying to play it off and make her think that I was ok when I really wasn’t. Next time I’ll start with the smaller ones and work my way up.

#237- Live in another country

Blah blah you’ve probably read this same boring ending before already blah.

Until next time, the stars at night are not as big and not as bright, but we love them just the same here in Pennsylvania!