No one has yet cheated death, and I don’t expect to be the first. So inspired by the recent movie, I wrote my own bucket list. In total, I anticipate spending 15-20 years accomplishing everything on this list, unless a huge advance check comes knocking.

While I don’t expect to die in my fifties, I want to take advantage of being healthy now.

Also, I may add a few items in the next week, but the basic arc feels right. Where possible, I made them specific, yet brief.

1) Finish a marathon

2) Obtain Class A USPA certification

3) Backpack 100 miles of the Appalachian trial

4) Learn enough Cyrillic to read at least 10 Russian adult fiction or non-fiction books

5) Write 5 novels

6) See the Northern Lights in Nova Scotia

7) See the White Nights in St. Petersburg

8) Sleep in a pipe among the bears of Alaska

9) Stay two nights in the Ice Lodge of Norway

10) Stand as close as possible to Stonehenge

11) Drink from Glastonbury Tor

12) Ride in a hot air balloon

13) Jump from a hot air balloon

14) Tour Germany during Oktoberfest

15) Hike 2 days in the Outback

16) Scale El Capitan in Yosemite National Forest

17) Go on an African Safari

18) See the Great Pyramids under the cover of darkness

19) Walk 50 miles across the Great Wall of China.

20) Become proficient at Krav Maga

21) Photograph the Nazca Lines

22) Snowboard on the Swiss Alps

23) Spend 1 night alone in the Mojave desert.

24) Complete a bed and breakfast snowmobile circuit in Canada or Vermont.

25) Catch some beads at Mardi Gras.

26) Put a $100 bet on outside box black at Ceaser’s Palace.