I have been woefully neglectful of my blog this year, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been making an effort on my annual bucket list. But to be totally transparent, I let the pandemic win. Obsessing over “checking off” things when I wasn’t even sure I was going to be able to travel (or even visit a new restaurant) was too depressing so I just kind of let things roll.
After bucket listing for 10 years, I think I deserve a bit of a sabbatical anyway.
So where am I when it comes to 2021? Remember a year ago, we all thought we’d be mostly back to “normal” by now? And now we realize our lives have been forever sent into a parallel universe and nothing is as it should be…
Part of the problem with creating a bucket list in January of 2021 was that the vaccine still felt like a nebulous concept, the new president hadn’t yet been sworn in, and I was forced to teach from the confines of my laptop at home. It was just too hard to gauge what my priorities would really be. In previous years, I was grinding it out with new job opportunities and fitness plans…but 2021 has been a fog of pandemic fatigue. My goal was mostly to keep my sanity (check?).
So with that, my list was adjusted as the year unfolded. Some goals seemed completely irrelevant while new goals popped up, and I even unearthed a goal from 2020 that was stolen from me. The year isn’t over so I am taking stock of what I actually want to do with my last few weeks of 2021.
First off – anything in red has been officially nixed. The dude ranches were completely sold out by mid-January, Festa Italiana was cancelled, and the Timberline Snowcat has new weird Covid restrictions.
I already wrote about some early goals, so here’s the quick & dirty on the rest:
2. Play Craps in a Casino. During the endless days of the shutdown when everyone else was baking bread, I was learning to play craps on the dining room table. When we finally got to return to Vegas this last Halloween, I made sure to spend the night at the craps table. I came home with slightly fuller pockets so I was doing something right!
6. Get my lips tattooed. I promised a longer post on this, but frankly I don’t need a bunch of people obsessing over pictures of my face. Sorry!
9. Learn the art of wood stacking. Holy moly people are obsessed with chopping wood and stacking it! They are whole forums devoted to people arguing about it. Mostly I just wanted to refine my wood chopping skills that I learned last year, and create an organized and efficient system for stacking the wood (which is probably the most boring thing to read about in a blog). I spent a week chopping and stacking in preparation for winter. Voila.
20. Learn to play a classical song on the piano. I’m the first to admit that once we went back to teaching in person, I let my piano practice fall by the way side, but for the most part I did still practice on a regular basis most of the year. I chose Moonlight Sonata as my official piece to learn (since I already knew it in my head and could play it on the flute)…but also, I have several Christmas classics (like Who’s Child Is This?, Silent Night, and Hark the Herald Angels Sing) that I can stumble through. I’m sure the neighbors really enjoyed those inn August. However, I’m not sure HOW I EVER thought I would be able to play a Lady Gaga song after only learning piano on my own in one year. I’m still working on that…
21. Get a COVID vaccine. Wow not only did I get ONE vaccine, I got THREE WHOLE SHOTS. I really blew this one out of the water.
25. See Lady Gaga’s Vegas Jazz Show. Speaking of Gaga, this was a goal from 2020 that had been cancelled so this year we instead saw the epic show on Halloween night, with seats pretty close to the front row. Was it expensive? Yes, it was Gaga in Vegas, not the county fair. But I regretted nothing and would see it again should I have the chance.
27. Tour Meow Wolf in Vegas. It’s near impossible to explain what the Meow Wolf Omega Mart exhibit is, or how you’ll feel when you leave. I had no idea what to expect but I just knew it would be mind blowing — and it was.
So overall, I have a few things left to do this year that I think I can actually accomplish, and yet, I’m not going to kill myself to do them. I’m still looking for a DB Cooper $20 and my Jeep’s Easter egg (both elusive mysteries) and maybe, just maybe, I’ll finally peek into my attic to solve another mystery.
couponbomb 