50 Before 50: Who Needs A Bucketlist Anyway?

My 43rd trip around the sun begins today. I feel old.

Last year, I did a weird thing and tried to break this list out by categories, but that seemed stupid and clunky to me, so I'm throwing the whole damn thing out and starting over from scratch, y'all.

1. I have a control resolution for my yearly goals, so I figure: 'Make it to 50' should probably be the first on the list here-- I am anticipating no troubles on that front, never fear, but life is life and you never know what could happen.

2. I want to fix my diet. I don't want to be on GLP 1s forever and if/when I do come off then, I want to have locked in new habits to make sure I don't instantly gain all this weight back.

3. I would love to get out on the river and row. Or learn to kayak. That seems like it would be an amazing way to view the world, as rivers are present

4. Get into Yoga/Tai Chi to help with hip pain and general flexibility. (Get in = do it on a semi-regular basis to the point where it becomes an integrated part of my routine.)

5.  Solo trips for one/both of us (holistic retreat, etc.): the problem here is that I don't know what solo trip I'd want to take. Which seems sad to me. 

6. When I turn 50, which seems to be coming up far too quickly for my liking, the kids will be 22, 18,16 and 12, respectively. (If I'm doing the math right, which is always debatable) If there's one thing about raising kids that I've learned is that it just goes by far too quickly. It's abstract, and I have no idea how to measure this, but I don't want to turn 50 with one out of the house and another heading out of the house and have regrets. I want to soak up every moment of this time, because you can't get it back.

7. Run a 5K: I honestly don't think I'll do it more than once, because I'm not a runner by any stretch of the imagination, but I'd like to do it once, unless there's a walking challenge or something I can do?

8. Call me crazy, but I want to go back to Zion and hike Emerald Pools, Canyon Overlook, and yes, Angel's Landing.

9. My big-picture Misogi Challenge is the Manitou Incline

10. My current Misogi Challenge is a 30 Hour Fast. I'd like to do one of those.

11. Hike up a mountain (like a proper 14er type of mountain, not Everest or anything crazy, though)

12. Ride the whole week of RAGBRAI:  Again, I did a day, so why not the whole week? (Plus, I know it might seem silly, but I still have my brother's bike and I'd like to take it the whole route at least once. Even though it's a mountain bike and entirely the wrong kind of bike for RAGBRAI.)

13. Lose 50 lbs and keep it off: probably need to do more than this, but I'm gonna start here. 

14. Learn how to kayak with the Missus: I would LOVE a rowing machine, like a genuine real one, because I would not get off that damn thing, and I would love to learn how to kayak.

15. Learn How to Use my Heelys: Use 'em or give 'em away. One of the two. 

16. Well, my wood-burner died from lack of use, but I do want to create things. I just don't know what. If that means getting another wood-burner or a 3D printer or something, that might be what I've got to do. 

17. Expand the flag collections, join NAVA, and get some quality flag poles

18. Get better at grilling. (I can do the basic but I could learn how to do more.): We got a meat thermometer! I'm a big fan and have been whipping it out every time I grill. I'd like to experiment in charcoal smoking, but I'm not sure how complicated it is or is not. 

19. Get a really rare bottle of whiskey for my 50th birthday: Going to define what this is... might embrace the cliché and go for Pappy. 

20. Drink some Japanese whiskey, and see what it's all about: I've got one Japanese whiskey under my belt, but I want a few more. 

21. I miss my eyebrow piercing, goddamn it. 

22. Get three more tattoos (I know what 2/3 of them will be and have a rough idea of the 3rd)

23. I was a mythology nerd growing up, so obviously I want to go to Greece. I want to see the Ruins of Troy. I want to go to Cyprus and see the ghost cities and the last divided capital in Europe.

24. Visit NYC

25. Visit All 50 States (37 states, 13 on the board: WA, OR, ID, MT, ND, MI, DE, NJ, CT, RI, ME, AK, HI)

26. Solo Trip For All The Kids To The UK/Family Trip: The 14-year-old had his; next up is the current 10-year-old. 

27. Visit Isle Royale National Park. I should explain this one-- the Missus wants to visit ALL the National Parks, which I'm down for, but this one is my bucket list park because we did multiple years of vacation on the North Shore, and as a map-obsessed kid, seeing this big-ass island right there, I always wanted to go check it out, but never did.

28. Take the family to a World Cup game in 2026. (We watched the World Cup and did this instead, which I think is probably better than getting bent over for FIFA and their ridiculous ticket prices, so I'm going to count it.)

29. See Angel Falls in Venezuela

30. See a total Solar eclipse

31. Publish two more novels. (I've got at least two planned, so I'm going with two-- novella should be coming out hopefully by the end of this year/early next year.)

32.Build My Substack... I'm loathe to set an actual number here. 50 subscribers would be nice? I'd be super happy with 100! I'd be even happier to build to a point where I can offer a robust paid tier and get some paying subscribers. (50 subscribers and 1 paid subscriber! I'd call this achieved!)

33. Experiment with form a bit: consider an anthology collection, serialized fiction on Substack, audio fiction on a podcast.

34. Read at least one Banned Book a Year: I'm using this list to draw from and I'm a couple behind, though I did knock off Tropic of Cancer earlier this year. (Got some work to do here)

35. Read Malazan Book of The Fallen by Steven Erickson (All 10 Books): Gardens of the Moon, check. Deadhouse Gates, check. Memories of Ice, check. On deck: House of Chains. 

36. Read Jane Eyre, Great Expectations, and The Count of Monte Cristo

37. Read at least 350 books total. (I had this at 500, but crunching the numbers, 350 seems more achievable and still kind of impressive. I've honestly never kept track of how many books I read.)

38. Get a really good, lush green lawn going in the front AND backyard: going to put a pin on this, because the backyard is doing pretty well and I have no complaints about the front. (I'm calling this good. Two giant dogs in the backyard are going to lead to some patches and pathways, so I'm saying it's as good as it gets-- at least for now.)

39. An ensuite bathroom would be great, but that might take winning the lottery.

40. Create a mudroom/entrance to the garage in the back of the house

41. Replace carpet in the basement: carpet is out, going to epoxy the floor for a better surface and replace the baseboards-- extend the carpet demo to the bedrooms, get new laminate and redo the wood on the stairs.

42. Paint the brick at the front of the house!

43. New front door! (It's time.)

44. Redo the back patio/replace it with a deck

45. Plant (and maintain), a native pollinator/English garden/paradise spot 

46. Redo the living room: new couches, fresh coat of paint, new curtains, built-in bookshelves.

47. Make our bedroom an actual bedroom and not just the eye of the hurricane of chaos where we sleep: work on this is underway! (I'm going to call this one complete. We need to replace the door, but that's about it.)

48. Before we can think about solar panels, we're gonna need a new roof. (It's time.) I also keep hearing about plug-in solar, so maybe if Iowa gets around to legalizing that, maybe we'll go that direction.

49. Replace the privacy fence in the backyard

50. Get the deck out front stained/protected.

Hobby/Foodie/Life Goals

1. Learn how to Golf with the Missus: Sort of dipped our toes into this earlier in the summer with a vist to Pinseekers over in Tiffin. Will see if we want to do more.