Over the course of the year, the list will evolve -- some things will not happen and others will be added. A friend also pointed out that I will probably end up doing lots of other new things, without really trying to, and that will be cool. I really am hoping that dong the list challenges me and makes me a better person. Those are the underlying goals for a lot of the kind of weird things I do. Evolve or die, right? Yes. Evolve or die.
Each day, I will do my best to write a blog post about the new experience, and will include at least one picture. I will try to share anything I learn and any value that comes from the whole thing.
Here is the list. Let me know if you have any thoughts or questions. I welcome any communication at all. Have an awesome day!
•
Make a list of 5 of the top
people who have influenced me and write them letters
•
Get rid of three things I never
use
•
Open a savings account for that
thing I want to do
•
Fast for one day
•
Buy a first edition book I really
like
•
Learn what my spirit animal is
•
Watch the Sunrise & Sunset in
one Day
•
Make a list of 50+ places I would
like to visit in my lifetime
•
Buy/write/mail a truck stop
postcard
•
Leave encouraging notes in
self-help books for others to find
•
Send someone a big rubber ball
through the mail
•
Read something by Pablo Neruda
•
Read Kahlil Gibran
•
Go to Orchids & Art, Columbia
•
Write a detailed zombie
apocalypse plan
•
Read only the last chapter of a
book
•
Send a virtual thank you note to
someone through the State Farm Thanks for Being There program, which will
donate to Fisher House for each thank you sent
•
Donate to a podcast I listen to
•
Shop at the Asian grocery
•
Cook a Chinese meal
•
Go to Rock Bridge Memorial State
Park
•
Spend time reading Buddhist
Sacred Texts: The Sutras
•
Donate blood
•
Pick a random name and send them
something nice
•
Make a Kiva.com Loan
•
Make a list of 10+ companies I
want to start
•
Read something by Joan Didion
•
Go to Jim the Wonder Dog Memorial
Park, Marshall
•
Spend time reading Hindu Sacred
Texts: The Vedas
•
Go to the World Chess Hall of
Fame
•
Do Sudoku
•
Go to Ha Ha Tonka Castle Ruins
(Camdenton)
•
Spend time reading Jewish Sacred
Texts: The Talmud
•
Spend time reading the Koran
•
Go to Leila’s Hair Museum
(Independence)
•
Read The Alchemist, by Paulo
Coelho
•
Visit Mark Twain Boyhood Home and
Museum
•
See the world’s largest rocking
chair, Cuba
•
Do a TED Talk
•
Participate in Earth Hour
•
Go to Bothwell Mansion
•
Attend a competitive eating
contest
•
Create elaborate Easter eggs
•
Attend Unbound Book Festival in
Columbia
•
Go to Welch Springs Hospital
Ruins
•
Go to Justus Drugstore,
Smithville
•
Write my will
•
Go to Johnson’s Shut-Ins
(Lesterville)
•
Go to Bonne Terre Mines
•
Send Donald Trump a birthday card
•
Go to an event at Show-Me State
Games
•
Do a pop-up restaurant
•
Read Columbia’s “One Read” book
•
Go to Touch, Springfield
•
Go to Glore Psychiatric Museum
(St. Joseph)
•
See the world’s largest fork,
Springfield
•
Visit Wilson's Creek National
Battlefield
•
Go to Mid-Mo Pridefest
•
Prepare a traditional Honduran
meal
•
Go to the Eisenhower Presidential
Library
•
Go to Kansas City Workhouse
•
Two laps around the Cosmo park
trail, in my wheelchair
•
Go to the Hartsburg Pumpkin
Festival
•
Celebrate my second anniversary
at BBB
•
Attend a Special Olympics event
•
Celebrate my 9th anniversary with
Leigh
•
Drink Dom Perignon
•
Go to Citizen Jane Film Festival
•
Attend the Boone Hospital
Foundation Gala
•
Shop on Black Friday
•
Celebrate my 47th birthday
•
Give to Comogives.com
•
Run a newspaper ad with a
positive message
•
50 push-ups (as a 46-47 year old)
•
100 sit-ups (as a 46-47 year old)
•
Lose 26 pounds in one year
•
Complete my New Thing Every Day
Project
•
Register for an MBA program
•
Finish the prerequisites for an
MBA
•
Submit to Asimov's Science
Fiction
•
Make an A in my first MBA class
•
Roll-A-Thon
•
Make a chocolate soufflé
•
Donate to an endangered species
•
Give Leigh some money to use for
her students
•
Give to a charity I have never
given to before
•
Leave a $10 under the windshield
wiper of a random car in a parking lot
•
Leave a 100% Tip for a Server
•
Leave money in a vending machine
for someone
•
Send a net to help stop malaria
•
Visit Bur Oak
•
After my purchase, e-mail Craig
at Craig’s List
•
Get on Instagram
•
Get on Whatsapp
•
Leave a thank you note for my
mail carrier
•
Review a book on Amazon
•
Review something I like on Yelp!
•
Tweet something @ a celebrity I
don't like
•
Write a letter to the President
•
Write a Thank you Letter to a
Company that Treated me well
•
Contribute to a business on
Kickstarter
•
Contribute to an art project on
Indiegogo
•
Contribute to my high school
•
Bake a Giant Cookie
•
Add Something Useful to Wikipedia
•
Write a letter to my future self
•
Learn 10 new things by clicking
the random articles button on Wikipedia
•
Apply to appear on a game show
•
Apply to appear on a talk show
•
Treat a cough by rubbing Vicks
VapoRub all over my feet and put on socks
•
Eat for a day without utensils
•
List 20 things I like about
someone. Now give the list to that person and make their day.
•
Bake cookies/donuts/treats and
deliver them to the staff at an elementary school
•
Tip someone at a place I normally
wouldn’t tip
•
Write a letter to an elementary
or high school teacher who influenced me and thank them
•
Visit 2leep.com
•
Visit attackofthecute.com
•
Visit brotips.com
•
Visit dearblankpleaseblank.com
•
Visit failblog.org
•
Visit fark.com
•
Visit fmylife.com
•
Visit iwastesomuchtime.com
•
Visit lifehacker.com
•
Visit oddee.com
•
Visit shitbrix.com
•
Visit sploid.gizmodo.com
•
Visit thechive.com
•
Visit thisissand.com
•
Visit thisiswhyimbroke.com
•
Visit totallylookslike.com
•
Visit truuconfessions.com
•
Visit wherecoolthingshappen.com
•
Visit zergnet.com
•
Buy a bow tie
•
Buy a fedora
•
Buy a lottery ticket
•
Buy a pair of Tom’s Shoes
•
Buy something from Victoria’s
Secret
•
Buy suspenders
•
Do a Groupon
•
Do an Uber
•
Text only in emoticons
•
Become an ordained minister
•
Try to get tickets for the
Tonight Show
•
Get a letter published in Fast
Company
•
Get a letter published in Inc.
•
Get a letter published in Vanity
Fair
•
Get my own radio show
•
Get published in Huffington post
•
Create a digital photo tour of my
most important places in Columbia
•
Publish a book (not self-publish)
•
Write a children’s story
•
Write a song
•
Post my digital photo tour on
Facebook
•
Cook a vegan meal
•
Cook a vegetarian meal
•
Cook with a pressure cooker
•
Cut up a whole chicken
•
Create a music video for the Web
•
Do origami
•
Draw a comic strip
•
Make some predictions for the
next few years, then mull a bit and edit them, and then put the piece of paper
away until later and see what happens.
•
Write a rap
•
Attend a concert for a
band/musician I have not heard of
•
Attend a poetry slam
•
Do something nice for my mom that
I have never done
•
Find an uplifting news story from
the past that struck me. Contact the principal players to show thanks.
•
Do something nice for Leigh that
I have never done
•
Make a list of 100+ things that I
am grateful for
•
Make a list of 10+ charitable
organization I want to create
•
Make a list of 10+ interesting
charitable fundraisers I want to create
•
Make a list of 50+ ways that I
waste time
•
Write a list of 10+ life lessons
•
Write a list of 100+ things that
make me happy
•
Win or settle a law suit
•
Complete one week of no cursing
•
Donate books to the Ronald
McDonald House
•
Donate some of my favorite books
to Battle High School library
•
Read to a group of children
•
Send a care package to an active
military person
•
Go on one of Cindy Mustard’s
Columbia tours
•
Go to Columbia Cemetery
•
Stay in the Tiger Hotel
•
Make a how-to video for YouTube
•
Send a Message in a Bottle
•
Boil a Live Lobster
•
Get Leigh to teach me how to make
cauliflower crust pizza
•
Grill a pizza
•
Make a Pavlova
•
Make deep-fried Mars bars
•
Make ebelskiver
•
Make homemade ice cream
sandwiches
•
Make homemade mozzarella cheese
•
Make kimchee
•
Make Kombucha
•
Make my mom’s coffee ice cream
pie
•
Make pasta
•
Prepare a meal based on Marcus
Samuelsson’s recipes
•
Prepare a molecular gastronomy
meal
•
Prepare an Indian meal
•
Souvie something
•
Crochet
•
Design a piece of jewelry
•
Design a toy and give away on
instructables.com
•
Do a podcast
•
Grow a plant I have not grown
(some flower in a pot)
•
Invent a new food/recipe
•
Invent my Own Candy
•
Knit something
•
Make a time capsule
•
Make an infused vodka
•
Make beer
•
Make wine (at Serenity Valley)
•
Name a star
•
Plant a tree
•
Produce a movie short
•
Reupholster something
•
Submit a poem to a national
publication
•
Try needlepoint
•
Try to do a YouTube meme the kids
are doing
•
Complete an Online Class
•
Learn a magic trick
•
Learn basic HTML
•
Learn how to juggle
•
Learn how to make sushi
•
Learn how to play three guitar
chords
•
Learn how to use a defibrillator
•
Learn proper knife skills
•
Learn some sign language
•
Learn to butcher an animal
•
Learn to knit
•
Learn to make crepes
•
Learn to meditate
•
Learn to tie a bow tie
•
Learn to tie a noose
•
Learn to write my name in Chinese
•
Observe surgery
•
Obsess over a randomly selected
country and write an opinion paper about one of their current issues
•
Stay overnight in a homeless
shelter
•
Take a bartending class
•
Take a photography class
•
Tie a fly
•
Using dice, choose a page in a
dictionary, scroll down to first noun, do a project related to that word
•
Visit Boone County Olive oil on
9th Street and learn about proper way to taste olive oil and identify
hemisphere it originated from
•
Volunteer to judge a high school
speech/debate tournament
•
Go to a Columbia Entertainment
Company performance
•
Go to a high school band concert
or theater play where I don't know any of the students
•
See a musician I have not seen in
the “We Always Swing” jazz series
•
Watch one of the Housewives shows
•
Do an escape room
•
Acupuncture
•
Get a facial
•
Get a massage
•
Get a professional shave from a
barber
•
Go to an MS support group
•
Have a tech free day
•
Hot stone massage
•
Manicure
•
Pedicure
•
Reiki
•
Spend a day alone, in silence
•
That thing where you are in a big
tank of salt water
•
Drink herbal tea
•
Drink Mezcal
•
Eat a cronut
•
Eat a Raw Diet for a Day
•
Eat Durian
•
Eat geoduck
•
Eat Pho
•
Eat Poi
•
Eat Poutine
•
Eat shad roe
•
Prepare a pomegranete
•
Invite someone new to lunch
•
Invite someone new to lunch
•
Invite someone new to lunch
•
Invite someone new to lunch
•
Invite someone new to lunch
•
Invite someone new to lunch
•
Bring baked goods to a fire
station to say thank you
•
Bring baked goods to the police
station to say thank you
•
Send treats to the BBB office
•
Tell a little girl she looks
smart
•
Write a Letter to an active
military member
•
File a Freedom of Information
Request
•
Fill out a FAFSA
•
Go to a Boone County Commission
meeting
•
Do that thing I have been
thinking about doing for Leigh
•
Have a Romantic Dinner on a
Rooftop
•
Help Leigh buy a new (to us) car
•
Hire a private chef to cook in
our home
•
See Notorious, by Alfred
Hitchcock (one of Ebert’s 10 Best Movies)
•
See Raging Bull (one of Ebert’s
10 Best Movies)
•
See The Third Man (one of Ebert’s
10 Best Movies)
•
Watch a silent movie
•
Watch The Prince of Arabia
•
Board meeting for an organization
I do not know well
•
Sell something on Craig’s List
•
Buy life insurance
•
Get a sword cane
•
Color in an adult coloring book
•
Go Geocaching
•
Go to a Jewish service
•
Go to a Muslim service
•
Go to a beer tasting
•
Go to a wine tasting
•
Order off the menu at Chick-Fil-A
•
Order off the menu at Chipotle
•
Order off the menu at Panera
•
Order off the menu at Starbucks
•
Create a “10 Days to Conquer
Clutter” calendar and do it
•
Take a train to another city
•
Fire a Paintball Gun
•
Go one day without speaking
•
Milk a cow
•
Play a modern computer game
•
Police car ride along
•
Shoot an automatic weapon
•
Try absinthe
•
Try to create no trash/waste for
a day
•
Try VR
•
Write a letter with a quill
•
Braid someone’s hair
•
Change a diaper
•
Get our cars professionally
detailed
•
Put vanilla pudding in a
mayonnaise jar and eat it in public
•
Ride Mo-X
•
Ride the city bus
•
Wear a boutonnière on an ordinary
day
•
Wear a kilt
•
Wear makeup
•
Write off part of a bad debt owed
us to get the tax benefit
•
Go to a Renaissance fair
•
Go to St. Louis Aquarium
•
Go to the American Jazz Museum in
KC
•
Go in an Inside Skydive Simulator
•
Go to The Block, Webster Groves
•
Go to a Boxing Match
•
Go to a car race
•
Go to a rodeo
•
Go to Laumeier Sculpture Park,
Sunset Hills
•
Eat at Port Fonda in KC (2016
James Beard Semi-Finalist)
•
Go to Gram & Dun, Kansas City
•
Go to The Rieger Hotel Grill
& Exchange, Kansas City
•
Go to the Clinton Museum
•
Eat at Le Bernardin
•
Go to City Museum, St. Louis
•
Go to Citygarden, St. Louis
•
Go to the Contemporary Art Museum
in St. Louis
•
Go to the wax museum, St. Louis
•
See The Awakening statue,
Chesterfield
•
Eat at Farmhaus in SL (2016 James
Beard Semi-Finalist)
•
Eat at Sidney Street Café in SL
(2016 James Beard Semi-Finalist)
•
Go to Bogart’s Smokehouse, St.
Louis
•
Go to The Fountain on Locust, St.
Louis
•
Go to Cement Land (SL)
•
See a live production of Rocky
Horror Picture Show
•
Be a part of a TV show audience
•
Fly first class
•
Try Air BNB
•
Fly in a helicopter
•
Fly in a hot-air balloon
•
Ride a Greyhound to another city
•
Check the public campaign
financing box on my tax form
