"He's making a list,

Checking it twice, Gonna find out who's naughty & nice.." - if you need a reference, then you have some serious issues...

Lists can be nifty, eh? Often, it's much better to use a list than to write out an entire...um, paragraph thingy to describe something. Plus, when things are put into list form, it's much easier to check things off, feel a sense of accomplishment, or glance by quickly to see what needs to be done.
I don't make lists often.
The hard thing about lists is that I never know how much room I'll need-- I often follow the pattern of the Mouse in the children's book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, where one thing leads to another, & you never know what you want until you're partway through your first task... Then, on random occasions, I'll see a list that someone else has made & it will inspire me to make one of my own. Case in point: This past September or so, I saw my roommate's "Bucket List". For those of you who are unaware (including myself at the time), a bucket list is a ... list... of things that one wants to accomplish before they die or become too old to do stuff. It was neat, & I could see how that would help to make fun goals in life, other than the usual stuff. Anyway, I decided to make my own. & here it is:

Cosas Para Hacer (antes de morir...)
Amanda Jane Bowen (age 23.5)
written during Fall semester 2009 @ BYU
(& in no particular order)

1. Go to a shark aquarium
2. Have roommate pictures
3. Learn how to surf
4. Visit a planetarium
5. Go to a Green Bay Packers game
6. Hug a redwood tree
7. Get my picture taken with the President
8. Become an aunt
9. Go to the Timp caves
10. Paint a portrait of someone in my family
11. Have pizza delivered to my classroom
12. Ride on the London Underground
13. Go to all of the women's restrooms on campus
14. Make a scrapbook
15. Go to a professional soccer game
16. See a performance in the Disney Concert Hall
17. Kiss someone I love during the Bellagio water show
18. Go to an opera
19. Attend a midnight release party, completely decked out
20. Become a mom
21. Take a shower in the women's bathroom of the 11th floor of the SWKT
22. Go hang gliding
23. Have a pet bunny
24. Ride in a small personal/non-commercial plane
25. Paint a mural on a bedroom wall
26. Learn German
27. Play trombone off the top of a mountain
28. Make a music video
29. Spend a weekend getting to know the "in-laws" better
30. See the lights on Temple Square
31. Go to grad school
32. See a musical on Broadway
33. Watch the Clippers play (live)
34. Pet a tiger
35. Go camping in a National Park
36. Build a snowman
37. See All of the Smithsonian (that's available to the public)
38. Dress up like a princess for a fancy ball
39. Have a picnic in the middle of a random field
40. Go to a hockey game
41. Stand at the top of a lighthouse
42. Sing jazz atop a piano while in a sexy dress
43. See every museum that's part of campus
44. Welcome a missionary home in the airport
45. Get a puppy!
46. Visit all 50 states (if I'm ever exceedingly wealthy, then in alphabetical order)

& there you have it. I've only done a few of these-- #'s 11, 15, & 21. I'm super close to checking off #14, & 13 is waiting for me to just go & do it. As well as 43. & some of these are contingent upon someone else doing something, & while I can't control the agency of others, I really want them to happen. So, if you want to help me on my quest to perform/accomplish/experience any of these things, let me know. It's gonna be fun.