A better To-Do List

Y’all keep a list of things to do, right? Groceries, fix that screen door, have the oil changed, and on and on. I have one too and it has some important stuff on it: some personal, some professional, some in between.

I’m finding that I need a second list. All the things on my current list fall under the same category: If they don’t get done I will not die unfulfilled. For example, right now it’s a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I could be working on finishing up a web site, I could be doing laundry or mowing my lawn. But I’m not. Instead I’m trying to find out what’s involved in taking piano lessons and also reading web site forums on the philosophy of photography.

The normal list is full of those things that keep life and career moving, without which all other lists are made irrelevant. Probably a good idea to keep that one, then.

The new, second list will contain those things that I absolutely must get done before I die. So then, in no particular order…

• Learn to play the piano. How hard can it be to learn to plink out a couple tunes here and there.

• Learn to speak Spanish. I’ve tried this before with almost no sucess.

• Scuba off the Great Barrier Reef. I’ve done it in the Muskegon river, but that’s not really the same thing is it.

• Reread the entire Bible. This time I’m gonna cheat and skip all the “begat” sections near the beginning. Or maybe I’ll just skip to Revelations, which is the cool chapter anyway.

• Surf in Mexico This might be cheating because I’ve already got this one booked, thanks to brillian planning by Steve and Bryan for celebrating my 40th birthday.

• Actually understand the difficult books I’ve read. Godel Escher Bach, Infinite Jest, The Elegant Universe, Gravity’s Rainbow, etc.

• Create better photographs – at least by my standards.

• Survive parenting a teenage girl. It’s the most difficult, challenging, frustrating and absolutely wonderful thing I’ve ever done

• Write more poetry. They’re like emotional bookmarks along the way.

Gotta run. Stuff to do, ya know.