Day 30: After two months...

After two months of working on my bucket list, what have I accomplished?

Things on my bucket list I am working on:

Rollerblading
I have gone four times so far. The first time my friend taught me how to blade. The second time I went around the seawall by Granville Island. The third and fourth time I went around the seawall by Science World.

Learning Mandarin
I took the Mandarin course at night school at John Oliver. It was a very quick and intense course. It was only 8 sessions and a month long. I should be practicing it more with my parents and maybe my friends too (if they are patient and willing! ).

Start and continue a blog
I have started my blog. I have made a commitment to myself to continue this blog for the next 335 days.

Make a difference in a person's life every month
I am hopeful that I have made a difference. There has been positive feedback for my blog and bucket list.

Go visit Chicago, Illinois
I have called to redeemed my voucher for a ticket to Chicago. Hopefully I will get my ticket soon. I will be going in the first two weeks of April 2010.

Finish my bachelors degree
I have called Kwantlen to see if I am able to finish my degree. I would be able to register and go in September term if I completed the application form and decide which courses to take. I won't be able to go in January term because I will be away for the first two weeks of April.

What will I try to accomplish by Dec 2009?

Learn to swim
There are swimming lessons in community pools. I will have to look into which ones are suitable with my calendar.

Aqua Fit
It's only $2.60 for the course on Tuesdays nite. I am trying to fit it in my schedule. There always seem to be something that comes up and I push aqua fit aside.

Pilates
I'm sure there is a course between now and Dec 2009 that I can take.

Be a better pool player
There is no reason for me to not work on this! There is a pool hall in Richmond that has a special girs nite out promotion. A group of girls can play for free on Wednesday nites. A group with guys and girls play for half price.

Sins of the City Walking Tour
I have to call them to see when the season of the tour ends. Hopefully not soon! I would like to go before winter starts.

Cultus Lake
We will be going (if everything goes well) this Saturday.

Day 10: Movie Night

I didn't have any plans tonight. I was going to rollerblade or go to aquafit tonight because it was a nice day out. But the end of my work day, my stomach wasn't feeling so well and I was cramping on my leg. Because I rented The Bucket List yesterday I wanted to return it today in case I forget to return it at all! At Blockbuster there was a bin with previously viewed movies. They were labeled at $6.99 each. I thought that was a good deal. There was a 30% off sale on $6.99. What a steal! I ended up buying 10 movies.

Tonight I watched one of them. It is called Flash of Genius (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1054588/). It is a very inspirational movie. It basically is about the guy (Bob Kearns) who invented the intermittet windshield wiper. He pitched the idea to Ford Motor Company. Ford said they didn't want to work with him. Ford made their intermittet windshield wiper. He took Ford to court to sue them for stealing his pantented idea. It is about the little guy beating the big corporation. Everyone said he won't be able to sue Ford. It took him 12 years to finally take Ford to court. In the end, Bob Kearns was awarded $10 million dollars. (I hope I didn't ruin the movie for anyone.) This movie was about perseverance, persistance, determination and focus. If anyone has all these qualities, they will be able to succeed in anything they set their mind to.

The second movie I watched tonight was 10 Things I Hate About You (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0147800/). It is a very fun and light movie. It stars Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles. It's a teen comedy. The underlying message in this movie was about chasing after what you want. If it is what you truely want, it is worth chasing.

Day 4: Why a bucket list?

I have mentioned my bucket list to some of my friends. Their response is 'why did you make a bucket list?' One friend actually didn't like the word 'bucket list'. He said it sounded morbid and that I was going to die soon. I can also call it '100 things to do before I die list' but that is quite a long name. I will refer to it as a 'bucket list' for easy reference. I have made a bucket list for many reasons.

Usually after break ups I feel really sad and unmotivated to do anything. I feel really sad for a few months before I can get back on my feet and start doing things again. I worked with my friend Marc Hurtubise (www.lifesuccessconsulting.ca) on some life coaching sessions a few years ago. He helped me subscribe to 'Insight of the Day', it sends me a motivational quote everyday. It has motivated / encouraged me to get back on my feet and live my best life.

My friend sent me a life expectancy calculator (http://www.sonnyradio.com/realage3.swf)(thanks Cindy!). It is more for fun than anything. But I did it and it says that I have a life expectancy of 78. With 46 years to go, what I am going to do with my life? I thought about it and I really don't want to die knowing that I didn't at least try some activities that I have always wanted to do.

One of the programs I took with Marc Hurtubise (www.lifesuccessconsulting.ca) was a Goal Achieving course. It is a program where you list your goals and work towards it. I haven't worked towards my goals since I finished the program (which was about 2 years ago) (sorry Marc). When I was in California, I brought my list of goals from the Goal Achieving program to review my goals. I thought about some reasons why I haven't worked on my goals. I'm full of excuses. The excuses are no money, no time, no one to go with, too young, too old, too hard to accomplish, etc. Now it's time to put all those excuses to rest. I have some money. I will make time for things on my list. I will do some activities by myself if no one wants to do them with me. I am not too old or too young to do anything! NO MORE EXCUSES!!!!!!!

So with 46 years to go with no more excuses and with motivational quotes to keep me going, I'm off to conquer my bucket list :)

10 things from my list (in no particular order):

1. Learn to swim
2. Learn to do aqua fit
3. Excel at rollerblading
4. Run the Vancouver Sun Run
5. Learn to play golf
6. Learn to ski
7. Learn to snowboard
8. Go horseback riding
9. Learn to play tennis
10. donate my hair to cancer / shave/cut it off to raise money for cancer
11. Go to Tofino
12.Go paragliding