My Life To-do List
For those of you who saw my first episode, you’ll know that a great deal of my young life is spent thinking about this life-to-do list I made when I was 14-years old. Well, I actually got to cross off some things here in Japan, and I thought you might be interested to see what I had planned to do long before I decided to study here in Tokyo and what I actually got done. [See a blog that chronicles My Life To-Do List here.]
In October of 2005, I made an addition to the list that, in many ways, brought me here: to visit Tokyo, Japan. Two years earlier, after I first discovered sushi, I decided I wanted to eat the Japanese delicacy in the country’s largest city. I was fortunate enough to do that just like I was able to see a Geisha, which I did in Kyoto and sing karaoke in Japan, two other goals I made in October 2005. I guess I was thinking a lot about Japan a year ago, for some reason.
In June 2006, realizing that I had done a great deal of outdoor orienteering without scaling anything much larger than a few thousand feet, I decided I wanted to simply “climb a mountain.” In late August, I completed that, along with another goal I set in October of 2005, I reached the summit of Mount Fuji to see the Japanese sunrise, as you’ll know if you saw my third episode.
When I was in the Nikko National Park a few weeks ago I finally got to fulfill one of my list’s original goals; I saw a monkey in the wild. A few weeks later I stayed in a Buddhist monastery, an addition I made to my list after I stayed in a Trappist monastery in South Carolina. It may have been a small one, but technically, I survived an earthquake large enough to feel, a goal I made in May of 2004. Having read about it in an article describing a competition for a new list of the Seven Modern Wonders of the World, I added visiting the Kiyomizu Temple to my list, something I got to do when I visited Kyoto. (You can still see pictures in my Kyoto Photo Album).
Some of the list’s components that I managed to complete here in Tokyo didn’t have much to do with Japan at all. I finally memorized the geographical locations of all 50 of the U.S. states well enough for me to be confident I won’t forget and can produce under pressure. In October of 2003, I decided that I wanted to teach in a foreign country, something I got to do when I taught at an English camp in the rural Gunma Prefecture a few weeks ago (Read the blog). Finally, I also got to attend my first international film festival, when a Sociology professor I have befriended offered me a ticket to Tokyo’s globally known cinematic convention (Read the blog).
All told, I made 13 additions to the completed side of my life-to-do list. I suppose that is something to be proud of, seeing that this was through just a few months. With those new completed goals, I have finished more than 60 on my list. I would be a lot more enthusiastic about that if my I hadn’t added almost 70 new goals to my list while I have been here! I guess in some ways that means I didn’t even break even while in Japan.
Still, I am happy with my additions, though now, I am even further from completion. Wish me luck.
Jaa ne,
Christopher