“Every man dies – Not every man really lives.” ~ William Ross

I’ve recently changed the look of my life list dramatically, so if you’re linked here please check out the new list here:

Sarah’s Especially Awesome Bucket List

It’s the end of the year, and in the spirit of new years resolutions (though I’m not making any) I decided to make a Life List. This began about 2 months ago, when I discovered the lovely Chookooloonks, who got her inspiration for her own life list from The Mighty Girl. I was inspired and began my own. Life lists aren’t exactly the creation of Mighty Girl, but reading her blog has inspired many, many people to write their own. So, since then I have been adding and adding to it, promising myself I would reach #100 before publishing it anywhere online. So, at 2:50am on the 31st of December, I hit #100, “See Japan’s Sakura Festival” and I have to say I’m thoughoughly glad I’ve done it, because it’s been a wonderful thing to be able to do.

#18: Make a Tree House

For the uninitiated, a life list (or a bucket list), is basically a list of things you want to do before you die. Writing down a list yourself makes it personal, and actually makes it more likely that you’ll accomplish any of the items on the list. Also, some of the things on the list might be very unlikely (like my #53: Go into space) They might never happen, but now it’s on the list, I’ll be more likely to jump at the opportunity if it ever appears.

I strongly recommend writing your own, and I contimplated writing a “how to write your own list” here, but honestly, Mrs Chookooloonks does such a good job that I might as well just link to her article: On Creating a Life List. Enjoy!

If you’d like to help me achieve any of the items on this list, please get in touch by emailing me at sarahtops42 [at] gmail.com!

My Life List – 100 things to do before I die

1. Run the Great Wall of China Marathon

2. Go cage diving

3. Swim with dolphins

4. Be a Keeper for a Day at London Zoo

5. Take a ride in a hot air balloon

6. Take flying lessons

7. Learn at least five languages fluently (My native language, English, doesn’t count)

8. Learn how to sing and perform in front of an audience

9. Learn at least five different musical instruments to a degree of mastery

10. Teach someone else how to play an instrument

Continue reading after the jump!

11. Have children

12. Go skydiving

13. Animate a short film, in a team or solo

14. Learn how to sew

15. Make my own clothes with my sewing ability

16. Make teddies with my sewing ability  Completed 23rd March 2012! Have a look at him here

17. Stay in the ice hotel

18. Make a tree house

19. Live for a short period of time on a long boat on the canal

20. Publish a book of short stories

21. Write a comic strip

22. Visit McLeod Ganj

23. Learn Tai Chi

24. Dress up in a mascot suit for some big event

25. Make my own Plasma Lamp

26. Visit the Houston space centre

27. Visit the first ever Geocache plaque

28. Keep ants in a fairly large and awesome ant farm

29. DM a game of d&d with more than five players

30. Photograph Bunny on over 100 peoples heads – Started, Click here to track the progress!

31. Take a photograph of myself every day for one year - Started on the 1/1/11, check out the blog of the progress here: 365 Days of Sarah or read the explanation of the project here: 365 days of yuck. - After about 13 days of this I got bored and decided I didn’t want to do it any more. But you can still read up about it!

32. Create a product and sell it

33. Visit Snowdon again

34. Take care of a Bonsai tree

35. Win NaNoWriMo  Done in November 2011!

36. Visit Hohenzollern Castle in Germany

37. Eat sushi in a Japanese sushi bar (In Japan)

38. Take part in a mission with Improv Everywhere

39. Watch an Improvisation theatre show

40. Take part in an Improvisation theatre show

41. Visit the Miyazaki museum in Japan

42. Ride an elephant

43. Decorate my house for Christmas

44. Go carol singing

45. Bungee Jump

46. Go to Disney World Resort and meet Goofy

47. Go on Safari

48. Go to Antarctica and see the Penguins

49. Ride the world’s longest zip line in South Africa, Alaska and Costa Rica

50. Visit Costa Rica

51. Learn how to make chocolate

52. Fly in a helicopter

53. Go into space

54. Have a part in a play

55. Be an extra for a movie

56. Go to a Tony Robbins seminar

57. Provide the finances for a short movie

58. Compose a piece of music Done 9th April 2012! Have a listen Here!

59. Help build a house

60. Go dog sledding

61. Have a big, proper snowball fight with over 10 people

62. Visit all the continents of the world

63. Own an orchard

64. Have a pet dog

65. Have a big food fight

66. Become completely confident in advanced first aid

67. Write (without necessarily publishing) an autobiography

68. Plant a tree

69. Hide and look after a Geocache

70. Learn to do graffiti

71. Go to the Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain course

72. Go strawberry picking

73. Teach someone how to swim

74. Own and learn how to properly use a semi professional camera

75. Learn tap dancing

76. Take part in a proper DDR competition

77. Visit at least 10 National Parks worldwide (1. Bafa Lake, Turkey)

78. Do stand up comedy

79. Learn to juggle

80. Learn ventriloquism and perform a puppet show

81. Send a message in a bottle

82. Look into the mouth of a dormant volcano

83. Go stargazing

84. Stay at the Burj Al Arab (The 7 star hotel in Dubai) for at least 2 nights

85. Organise an epic treasure hunt

86. Take a professional cookery class

87. Go LARPING

88. Be a part of an orchestra

89. Attend a TED talk

90. Write a long letter to my 16 year old self

91. Make a pair of dungarees

92. Work for Jim Henson’s Creature Workshop

93. Make a calendar with photographs / illustrations I make

94. Learn to build a computer from scratch

95. Own my own studio which is attached to my house

96. Take a Lord of the Rings tour in New Zealand

97. Meet Patrick Stewart

98. Work as a voice actor on a kids show

99. Learn to play chess to a degree of mastery

100. See Japan’s Sakura Festival

101. Own an instant camera – Done! Read about it here

102. Have a location independant lifestyle

103. Attend SXSW

104. Organise a big concert for a charity.

105. Bake some variation of this awesome Rainbow Cake (Best combination of words ever). Completed on 12th April, read how it went!

106. Attend the Holi Festival in India

107: Dance with Ellen DeGeneres

108: Bake my way through my “365 days of chocolate” book and give away the goodies I bake with family, friends and strangers

109: Perform a collection of poetry that I’ve written, along with this poem by Matthew Arnold, to an open mic poetry reading / writers group

110: Speak at a TED conference

111: Swim / Scuba in the Jellyfish Lake

112: Overcome my fear of the ocean

113: Attend Día de los Muertos (day of the dead) in Mexico

114. Write an instrumental, orchestral piece of music including at least ten instruments.