Bucket List
Monday, Feb. 25, 2013 11:53 AM

"Ad Astra per Aspera." To the Stars Through Difficulty - Kansas State Motto

It's another snow day today!!! Guess that means I get to spend the day catching up on my TV shows and playing Guild Wars 2 with Mike, Gilly and AJ. It's a great break from my addiction to World of Warcraft. WoW used to be fun, but this latest expansion has made it feel more like a job than a fun game to play. If it wasn't for the people who play the game, I probably would have quit by now.

I did get to partake in raiding for the first time ever the last couple of months. At first, it was fun and enjoyable. It was something new and different. Towards the end, though, it felt like just another job. It had become repetitive. I wonder how extreme raiders do it. It would be one thing if you were having fun doing it, but the last few times were the most unpleasant experiences of my gaming life.

My friend Dennis' raiding guild, Assimilation, fell apart about two weeks ago. They had wanted me to come heal for them but I wanted to be loyal to the guild I was in at the time. Now Dennis has changed servers and factions just for raiding. Then again, if I was asked to be in a raiding guild ranked 54th in the world and 16th in the USA, I'd probably do the same thing. On the bright side, he has an alternate toon and we plan to continue playing together. Yay!

So, as you can tell, I'm in a pretty good mood today. And my appetite is back. Well, almost. I can actually get half a sandwich down and not feel sick to the stomach. Friday was one of those Cookie Dough nights where you sit there and wallow about in a state of misery chowing down on something completely horrible for you. But it was SO good, and completely worth it. Plus, me, Rocky, De, Adam, Will, Jenn, Sal, and some random person I don't know ran my favorite raid on WoW: Ulduar. Happy times.

Enough about WoW, though. I was thinking this morning as I was lying in bed how I need to look at my past in a positive way. Ignore the negative experiences. Only focus on the good. So this is how I came to look at it about two hours ago.... I'm pretty damn lucky. I have two great parents who stayed together. I was able to know and love two sets of wonderful grandparents for many years. I am lucky enough to have siblings who are some of my closest friends - even, if at times, it feels like we're millions of miles apart in so many ways.

My parents let me have pets. I was and am a die hard animal lover... and they put up with that. I had multiple cats, dogs, birds, snakes, frogs, toads, hamsters... I saved a lot of animals from being lost or abandoned and my mother put up with all of that. She helped me find their owners or find new homes for them. What kind of mother who doesn't like animals does that? One who loves their child, of course.

And the experiences we had as a family, the travels I've been on. Not many people can say they've done half of what I've done. I mean, I've been to 39 of the 50 states! I've been out of the country once and was able to experience two Canadian Provinces in just one trip. I've experienced some of the greatest cities in the world, and in each one of them I've made a friend. How many people can say such a thing?

I've been to a major league baseball game more than once. My dad took me to see the Cubs spring train down in Arizona every spring for most of my life. I've been to multiple KU basketball games (and believe me, this is a dream for a lot of people... a once in a lifetime experience). On top of that, I've been to the Final Four NCAA basketball games the year KU won it all. Talk about luck.

There's a whole lot more, but I don't want to ramble on.

My bucket list:

1. Visit Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

2. Travel to Europe at least once.

3. Travel to Australia at least once.

4. Finish at least ONE novel/story.

Honestly, that's all I want to accomplish with the rest of my life. Strange how most of it deals with traveling - something I'm unable to do at the moment due to lack of funds and my current situation, but I have faith that one day I can check these things off my list.

Well, since I've been in the mood to write a lot lately, I'll save my other thoughts for another day.