{"id":6344,"date":"2025-12-07T09:35:04","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T15:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/?p=6344"},"modified":"2025-12-07T10:57:38","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T16:57:38","slug":"an-updated-ultimate-to-do-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/2025\/12\/an-updated-ultimate-to-do-list\/","title":{"rendered":"An Updated Ultimate To-Do List"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>When I was a teenager, I made a list of things that I had wanted to do, and had done. One item was that I wanted to visit Disney World, and I did, when I was twelve. On that occasion, however, the ride &#8220;It&#8217;s a Small World&#8221; was closed for repairs, so I did not get to go on that ride. So I also made a second list of things I wanted to do at some point in my life, and I added &#8220;ride the &#8216;It&#8217;s a Small World&#8217; ride at Disney World&#8221; to that list. As the years progressed, other things attracted my attention, and I added them to my list. Some of them were big things &#8211; such as owning my own home or obtaining a bachelor&#8217;s degree &#8211; and others were relatively small things, such as reading a smutty romance novel or having a backyard garden. As I accomplished or achieved various goals, I moved them from my list of things of I wanted to do, to my list of things I was glad I did. Eventually, of course, I did own my own house, and so I was able to move that item. I even read a smutty romance novel, and if you want to read about that silly adventure, <a href=\"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/2016\/08\/in-which-i-read-a-romance-novel\/\">visit this old blog post<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once, about 20 years ago, I posted online my Ultimate To-Do List, which recounted nearly all my goals in life. I say &#8220;nearly&#8221; because I left off certain personal goals, such as things about my mental and physical health. Like I said, that was 20 years ago and a lot has changed since. Here, then, in no particular order, is an updated list of things I&#8217;d like to do at some point in my life&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Obtain a Master&#8217;s degree\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I added this to my to-do list back when I achieved my undergraduate degree and, guess what? I    am on track to complete this goal by the summer of 2026.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Attend a science fiction convention<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Be a member of a TV audience<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Be a tour guide\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Probably saving this for my later years. I&#8217;d love to do this at some historic site.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Step foot in every US state\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I&#8217;m getting there! I&#8217;ve been to 40 of our nation&#8217;s states. I&#8217;d love to accomplish this within the next 8 years, because then I&#8217;ll have been to all 50 of them within 50 years. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Visit Denali National Park<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Visit the Hennepin History Museum\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Okay, this one is almost laughable. It&#8217;s not very far away, it&#8217;s not very expensive, and I could just drive there right now. In fact, I&#8217;ve probably tried to visit it 20 times since I first learned of its existence 6 years ago, but something kept postponing it. Once I actually do visit this museum, I&#8217;ll make a maudlin blog post detailing the hilarious misadventure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Visit Yellowstone National Park<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>See the Grand Canyon<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>See the big trees in California<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Travel across the Golden Gate Bridge<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Visit Voyageur&#8217;s National Park<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ride a Segway<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Visit the Wabasha Street Caves<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Visit Las Vegas<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>See a concert at First Avenue\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>As much as I love music, concerts are not really my thing. They&#8217;re often overpriced, too crowded, and take place in lousy venues. Still, I&#8217;d like to find out firsthand what is the big deal about this place.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Visit a Presidential Museum or Library\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I almost achieved this goal in October. I was in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and only about ten miles away from the Gerald Ford Presidential Library. This seemed like a good presidential library to visit, as Ford was President when I was born. Alas, the government shutdown rendered this museum closed during my entire time in Michigan. So&#8230;hopefully another day.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Try my hand at glassblowing\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I used to have a renter in my workshop who used the workshop for precisely this activity. It seemed pretty cool. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bowl higher than 150\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This should come as a surprise to no one, but I&#8217;m completely abysmal when it comes to all sports. I do, however, enjoy bowling, and I&#8217;m at least reasonably competent at it. I&#8217;ve come close to a half-perfect game, but have never quite gotten there. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Visit the Boundary Waters<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Visit the Northwest Angle<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Make something out of pottery<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Visit New Orleans<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ride a unicycle<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>See every film directed by Buster Keaton<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Observe the planet Uranus through my telescope\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This in one of those goals I could do from the comfort of my own home, ostensibly. Alas, whenever said planet is in the sky, the weather is not accommodating, or there&#8217;s too much light pollution, or I haven&#8217;t succeeded in finding it via my telescope. I&#8217;ll keep trying.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Observe the planet Neptune through my telescope.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ditto.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Attend a state- or national-level session of Congress<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Visit the Academy of Motion Pictures Museum<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Publish a second book\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Okay, so I didn&#8217;t really enjoy the process of publishing a book, but I don&#8217;t want to be a one-and-done type of author.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Visit every one of the Minnesota State Historical Society&#8217;s sites\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There are 26 sites; I&#8217;ve been to 16. I even have a water bottle with 26 spots for stickers to place on it as I visit each one. I definitely plan to visit at least one in 2026, but achieving this goal might be hampered due to some of the sites being indefinitely closed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Visit the Continental Divide\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I recently read the book <em>Travels with Charlie<\/em>, by John Steinbeck. In one scene in the book, he comes upon the Divide and gets out of his jalopy to stand astride it for a moment and he wrote about how, even though it&#8217;s not much to look at, it&#8217;s a pretty cool thing to think about. So, I wanna do that. Actually, I maybe have driven (and have definitely flown) over it during my travels, but I did not pay attention to it. I&#8217;d like to be intentional about it next time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Keep up with the Oscar winners for Best Picture\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I suppose I have achieved this goal, because I <em>have <\/em>seen every motion picture that has ever won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Still, the powers-that-be over at the Oscars insist on anointing a new winner each year, and so I am compelled to seek out and watch the latest winner each year. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Take a train ride to a destination in the US\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Okay, so I&#8217;ve probably been on dozens of train rides, but they have all been just a quick jaunt for fun (such as a 2-hour ride through Duluth and back that Brycie and I took a couple years ago), or have been in another country (I took at least 6 train rides in Germany), or have been short trips within a big city (like when I took the light rail to the Minneapolis Pride Parade back in June). But what I&#8217;m talking about here is a serious ride &#8211; one that takes hours &#8211; and go across the country.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Be in one of those olde tyme photos\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This just seems like something everyone does at some point in their lives. Everyone&#8217;s got a picture like this hanging in there house. Even I do&#8230;but it&#8217;s a picture of my kids. I wanna dress like an Old West gunslinger and proudly display it on my wall.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>There you go. Thirty-six things I&#8217;d like to do. If you are doing any of these things soon, or know a way to make them happen for me, let me know! I&#8217;d love to join in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I was a teenager, I made a list of things that I had wanted to do, and had done. One item was that I wanted to visit Disney World, and I did, when I was twelve. On that occasion, however, the ride &#8220;It&#8217;s a Small World&#8221; was closed for repairs, so I did not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6344"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6349,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6344\/revisions\/6349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}