So, this is why this blog is different. I'm not really feeling to passionate about any particular topic at the moment so maybe this is a good time to blog. A few things I've learned since blogging is that controversial or debatable topics have become much to sensitive a topic these days. We are in some tense times and it's just too exhausting debating my views and opinions anymore. Plus, everyone has an opinion and most of the time they aren't really interested in yours, but more interested in you hearing theirs. I'm guilty of this too. So, no controversial topics. I considered heading down the "Mommy Blog" path, but I've done some blogs entries about this and those are fun, but it seems like that's the soup du jour in the blog world. Plus, I'm so active on Facebook (like how I worded that? As if no one knows active is code for crazy obsessive) there isn't a lot that people don't know when it comes to my kids. Yes, I'm a self-admitted over-sharer. No apologies for that though.
How does one write a blog that is captivating, informative, humorous, not self-involved (which is an oxymoron in the blogging world) and most importantly interesting? That's a tough one. Maybe, I'll just indulge on this one. I've never made a bucket list. I find it morbid. Like once I accomplish my list, I will drop dead. But there are things I want to do and for some reason, when it gets put on a list, I'm more likely to accomplish it.
Also, to be completely honest, I started a new job in September. And I absolutely love it. My co-workers are great and my hours are flexible. But there's always that period of getting to know each other and throwing my blog out there might be a little too much Alex a little fast. And isn't it really annoying when people talk in third person? And in today's world once something is on the Internet, it's there forever. Somewhere, years from now, I could be running for office and then some blog I wrote 10 years ago will surface and I'll be asked to defend my "position" even if that position has changed and so on. But, who am I kidding? I would never run for office. I sealed that deal Spring Break '01 in Cancun. That's all we'll say about that.
OK. My half-hearted attempt at a bucket list:
1. Travel to Italy, Greece OR France
2. Visit Holland and Indonesia and look up my family
3. Start and commit to Yoga
4. Learn to meditate
5. Learn the how to play the mouth organ...hahaha..the harmonica
6. Take my children to impoverished areas and volunteer
7. Own chickens
8. Maintain a healthy weight for more than a year
9. Be debt free
10. Do a kind act for 30 straight days..even if it's just words of encouragement to someone who needs it
11. Volunteer for an organization that is out of my comfort zone
12. Travel alone
13. Raise my children to be sensitive and caring individuals
14. Shoot a gun
15. Catch, scale and cook my own fish
16. Don't something to face my fear of heights..not sure what
17. Read all the books on Time Magazine's All Time 100 novels
18. Sleep outside under the stars
19. Learn how to knit
20. Take a train further than Chicago
21. Take a cruise
22. Ride a horse
23. Open my own spice and gourmet oil store
24. Work with animals again
25. Write a book (I have at least 2 non-fiction and 1 fiction books in my head)
26. Finish my bachelor's degree
27. Obtain my master's degree
28. Run a marathon (I might need to start training for this!)
29. Visit Alaska
30. Grow and sustain a garden
31. Send both my boys to college
32. Be involved in a community organization like the PTA
33. Walk the whole Lake Geneva Shorepath
34. Rock climb
35. Give up artificial sweeteners FOR GOOD
36. Write an essay and submit it to a magazine
37. Be published in a national magazine
38. Donate an entire paycheck to charity
39. Do something I would never do...this is yet to be determined
40. Celebrate 60 years of marriage
That's a pretty extensive list and it also made me realize I haven't really done a whole lot and that's pretty depressing. I think the key is is to pick one of my items and commit myself to it. And I think many of them are completely doable. I'm about to cross one off already as I'm traveling to Philly for 4 days to visit a friend! So yay me. I know, I'm a risk taker! That is one of the things I want to work on. I'm a helicopter parent to myself! So here's to making my first bucket list!! Good luck me!
