One girl’s bucket list

A few years ago, I came across the 30 Before 30 challenge and decided to go for it. My thirtieth year is now almost over, and no, I didn’t cross out even half of the things on my list; I lost steam about halfway through my 29th while I stared at the heavier, more involved items on my list.

But life does not stop at thirty; as they say, it’s “thirty, flirty, and thriving”.

So I decided to turn my “30 Before 30” list into my bucket list instead. Of things I want to do, things I want to try, things I want to experience at some point in my life, whether I’m 30, 40, 50, or 60 (or even later). Things don’t have to end at thirty. It’s only just beginning.

Without further ado…

Angela’s Bucket List

1. Win NaNoWriMo by coming away with a novel that eventually gets published.
2. Start, and maintain, a community-driven website.
3. Experience a long-haul flight. I went to France and Italy in 2011!
4. Find my personal go-to alcoholic drink.
5. Try an obscure sport or fighting art.
6. Sell one of my hand-bound (note)books.
7. Have a second source of income from creative pursuits.
8. Finish The Wheel of Time. Done; that was a long journey and it wasn’t all peachy, but I’m glad I went through it.
9. Get used to wearing light makeup everyday. I still don’t wear it every single day, but I’m used to wearing them now.
10. Make eyeliners work for my lopsided eyes. That would be my everyday makeup look nowadays, actually. I don’t use black eyeliner, as it’s a bit too dramatic and stark, but I use eyeliner to emphasize my eyes underneath my glasses and keep the rest simple.
11. Watch an opera.
12. Try a dance class or workshop.
13. Get a bookshelf photo up at Bookshelfporn.
14. Get a pixie cut.
15. Create a video post. I video blogged for a month on my NaNoWriMo 2010 experience. I don’t think I’m going to do that again.
16. (Re-)Learn to draw/paint using the tablet.
17. Bungee jump.
18. Sky dive.
19. Attend a big non-tech “fun” convention, like BlizzCon, Comic Con, etc.
20. Obtain and learn how to use an SLR camera. In January 2011, I bought my first interchangeable-lens camera, the Panasonic Lumix GF2 micro four-thirds camera. Yes, it’s not an SLR, but the m4/3 format cameras fulfill the same purpose for me.
21. Wear a coat and boots for the greater part of a day. I wore the aforementioned coat and boots all day while I was in Melbourne at the start of summer. Yes, you heard that right.
22. Take a tour in a publishing/printing house.
23. Obtain a Bubblegum Crisis Priss Asagiri Knightsaber bust/action figure. In 2011, a couple friends and I got into making model kits. I was able to find two of Priss (something like this), and I’ve made one. The other one is still undone.
24. Participate in an outdoor photography shoot.
25. Visit Kim in Australia! I spent about half a week with Kim during my Australia trip in November 2013 :)
26. Make a ring using silver clay.
27. Make a wire-wrap cuff bracelet.
28. Host a decant circle for Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfume oils. I’ve held a few decant circles, and all of them quite fun. I would love to continue doing it, if it weren’t for the expense of having to float all that excess perfume.
29. Attend a Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Will Call event.
30. Get boudoir shots done.
31. Attend the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, UK. Join in an Austen/BBC tour.
32. Walk the moors in Brontë Country, UK.
33. Lie down on a beach at night and watch the stars with someone I love.
34. Be a mommy to a golden retriever.
35. See the ruins in Greece with my own eyes.
36. Walk the beaches in Palawan, Philippines.
37. Run through the hills in Batanes, Philippines.
38. Run a marathon.
39. Ride a gondola in Venice, Italy.
40. Visit the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
41. Walk above the clouds in Nepal. My friend and I did a one-day hike from Nagarkot to Dhulikel while we were in Nepal in 2014. Not quite so high as Everest, but we were quite above the clouds as we started off, and for a portion of our hike.
42. Walk or cycle around Bagan, Myanmar.
43. Relax and recharge in Luang Prabang, Laos.
44. See the Angkor Wat in Cambodia. I went to Cambodia in 2014 with a friend.
45. Walk around Hobbiton and see New Zealand. Go on a LOTR tour.
46. Obtain a good LOTR sword replica.
47. Build my own lightsaber.
48. Attend a Shakespearean comedy in London, UK.
49. Watch the Cirque du Soleil at Las Vegas, USA.
50. Walk down the Times Square, New York City, USA.
51. Participate in a flash mob.
52. Become a kid again in Disneyland.
53. Walk down Diagon Alley in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
54. See the aurora borealis in person.
55. Look out of Anne’s bedroom window in Green Gables, Prince Edward Island, Canada.
56. Do the Cinque Terre.
57. Hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.
58. Learn to swim. (Like, actually learn. Not “pass because the instructor doesn’t fail people”.)
59. Get another pair of piercings in my ears.
60. Stand in the middle of a cherry blossom petal shower in Japan.
61. Walk around the city ala Maria in Salzburg, Austria.
62. Build a snowman.
63. Ice skate on an actual lake.
64. Ride on a steam train.
65. Learn to drive and get a driver’s license.
66. Cosplay.
67. Fly business/first class on the A380.
68. Ride a hot air balloon.
69. Ride an elephant.
70. Learn to shoot.
71. Eat only vegetables for a week.
72. Open an Etsy shop.
73. Live as a local in a Schengen country.
74. Meet Joseph Gordon-Levitt in person.
75. Watch a play with/by Kenneth Branagh.
76. Listen to The Corrs live.
77. Listen to Lisa Loeb live.
78. Narrate an audiobook.
79. Kill Garrosh Hellscream. I went with my guildies and killed Garrosh on the tail end of Mists of Pandaria.
80. Level a Horde character to endgame.
81. Knit a beanie.
82. Sew a dress.
83. Open a liquid nitrogen ice cream shop.
84. Take a relaxing luxury cruise.
85. Sleep on a water bed.
86. Take a formal bookbinding course.
87. Roam the church halls in the Polare bookship in Maastricht, Netherlands.
88. Read a book in a theatre box in El Ateneo bookshop in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
89. Wade through books at the Libreria Acqua Alta bookshop in Venice, Italy.
90. Visit the Librairie Avant-Garde bookshop in Nanjing, China.
91. Climb the staircase at Livraria Lello bookshop in Porto, Portugal.
92. Browse books outside Bart’s Books in California, USA.
93. Visit Borderlands Books in San Francisco, USA.
94. Lose myself in books in the streets of Hay-on-Wye, Wales.
95. Ride camels in Morocco.
96. Ride a hot air balloon in Cappadocia, Turkey or Bagan, Myanmar.

Last updated: 05 January 2015