A long, long time ago (in the mid-aughts), I decided to make a list of 50 things I wanted to accomplish before I died. I've tracked that list ever since. And although I've made a few changes here and there, this remains a collection of my biggest goals.

1. Attend a yoga retreat
2. Be my own boss (done - June 2025)
3. Become a marathoner (done - October 4, 2009)
   
4. Brew my own beer (done - 2010)
5. Buy a piano (done - 2012)
6. Climb a 14,000’+ mountain
7. Complete a 70.3
8. Develop into a competent public speaker (done - thanks Toastmasters!)
9. Do three pull ups
10. Drink at a pub in Ireland (done - February/March 2018)
11. Dye my hair a color not found anywhere in nature (done - 2016)
12. Eat Mexican food in Mexico (done - October 2017)
13. Finish a Century Ride
14. Go to the opera in Italy
15. Gracefully and easily do headstands in yoga
16. Walk the Camino de Santiago
    
17. Host a formal dinner party (done - September 30, 2011!)
18. Ice skate
19. Kayak
20. Learn to fence (done - July 27, 2015)
21. Live in another country (done - August 2025)
22. Make my own cheese (done - 2009)
23. Not worry about money
24. Open a Swiss bank account
    
25. Photograph the Parthenon
26. Publish a novel (Fuck yeah, bitches! - February 28, 2017)
27. Receive money for writing (done - April 13, 2015)
28. Road trip across the U.S.
29. Run 1,000 miles in one year
30. Scuba dive
31. See the Taj Mahal
32. Serve homemade lefse (done - November 2009)
33. Set foot in all fifty states (15 Remain: Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia)
34. Sew a quilt
35. Speak a foreign language fluently
36. Stand in one of the great pyramids
37. Stay in the penthouse suite of a luxury hotel (done - May 29, 2015)
    
38. Stop by Stonehenge
39. Successfully meditate (done - continually)
40. Take dance lessons (done - March 31, 2015)
    
41. Throw pottery (on a wheel, not against the wall) (done - August 2023)
42. Tour Sedlec Ossuary (done - March 2019)
43. Visit Machu Picchu
44. Watch the championship singles matches at Wimbledon
45. Wear a bikini in public (done - summer 2015)
46. Finish a 50K
47. Travel alone (for fun) to somewhere I've never been before (done - Iceland August 2016)
    
48. See the Northern Lights in the Arctic Circle.
49. Attend a large conference as a signing author.
50. Open my Portuguese writer's retreat space.