Done, Not Done

So very much is Not Done Yet in these weeks — hectic at work, lots of Audubon stuff, knitting is consuming me (current project, for instance, pictured at left; it’s not, in fact, a bra). I haven’t posted a bird for a week. Yet:

From Rana, by way of Pilgrim/Heretic:

Things I’ve done are in bold.

1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice (No. I was asked to by a gondolier, but I declined on account of being “sola.” “Anch’io son’ solo!” he replied. “Si, però,” said I.)
29. Seen a total eclipse (Of the moon, not sun)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors (Some of them…)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language Several, with limited success, including Irish, Morse Code, Classical Greek, and Hebrew. Only Hebrew can I read well enough to be able to follow prayers during Jewish services, but that’s because I have followed up the self-taught with paid-taught, or else I just learned the prayers… I have made it through 3/4 of the first Harry Potter book in Swedish which is enough to understand, as though I didn’t already know, that my formation in Germanic languages is lamentably lacking and ought to be remedied. It can get in line behind everything else, though. Maybe when I retire.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
39. Gone rock climbing (Are you kidding? With my accident proneness? See #77, and that was just DANCING.)
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke (No, but I’ll confess I’ve been tempted, and I did sing in a blues bar in La Grande Motte in the South of France before karaoke was invented.)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa (Does Morocco count?)
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted (No, but it’s been sketched many times, especially during Sketchcrawls)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (No, but having just seen Ninotchka for the first time, I regret it)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud (YEAH!)
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (Nearly. Glad I avoided that one.)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar (Ugh.)
72. Pieced a quilt (No, but crocheted a bedspread, thin cotton, which was enough of piecing thank you)
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades (If you’re a birder, you have no choice but to run the gauntlet of mosquitoes on Snake Bight Trail if you want to see the flamingoes out in the shimmer. Every North American lister I know who has been to Florida has done this. Each of them has their own “the mosquitoes were the size of B52s” story.)
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (Nah, but ruptured my achilles tendon, which was quite as dramatic)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book (Many, but none written by me. On the other hand, I’ve made lots of books, which I suppose counts as “publishing.”)
81. Visited the Vatican (School trip. We misbehaved.)
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (No, but we apparently saved the feral kitten we trapped a couple of weeks ago)
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (This was not all it’s cracked up to be.)
92. Joined a book club (Never, ever again.)
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby (No thanks)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone (Don’t know the number, don’t really know how to get the messages off it, but it’s useful when I’m being picked up at an airport. I think.)
99. Been stung by a bee (Had a major allergic reaction back in the 70s. This ought to make me paranoid about living in a house surrounded by thousands of milling bees, but we’ve lived there for nearly ten years and so far, so good. They’re well-behaved.)
100. Ridden an elephant