What are some of the things you always wanted to do in life?

[LadySmith]

Me:
Unrealistic, but if I had the time & money&
1. See the 7 Wonders of the World
2. Learn to fly a helicopter
Could, but never seem to get around to it&
3. Go hunting
4. Take an Alaskan cruise
5. Read the Bible from cover to cover
Just might actually get off my behind and&
6. Rent & shoot full-auto in Las Vegas
7. Learn to ride a motorcycle & buy one

Yeah, the threads about Stilletto Null (R.I.P.) are getting to me.

[Snowdog]

Be the first to discover other intelligent, sentient life... then declare war against them on behalf of Earth.
Take about a common rally point.  LOL

I'm just kidding, of course. 

I suppose I'd like to contribute to some technology or philosophy that will benefit all mankind in the future.

[Declaration Day]

1. See the Pyramids
2. Climb Mt. Everest, but I don't have a death wish so that's not happening.

I guess that's it.  I've done most of the more profound things I wanted to do.  I'm pretty happy running my business, raising my family and enjoying my guns.

[Jamisjockey]

Me:
Unrealistic, but if I had the time & money&
1. See the 7 Wonders of the World
2. Learn to fly a helicopter
Could, but never seem to get around to it&
3. Go hunting
4. Take an Alaskan cruise
5. Read the Bible from cover to cover
Just might actually get off my behind and&
6. Rent & shoot full-auto in Las Vegas
7. Learn to ride a motorcycle & buy one

Yeah, the threads about Stilletto Null (R.I.P.) are getting to me.

Nothing unrealistic about it.  Set a goal each year to accomplish one task.  I think you can do it.

[HankB]

Me:
Unrealistic, but if I had the time & money&
1. See the 7 Wonders of the World
 . . .

Nothing unrealistic about it.  Set a goal each year to accomplish one task.  I think you can do it.

Theres only ONE generally accepted list of 7 wonders, and that's the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World. As for being unrealistic . . . seeing the Pyramids won't be hard. Let me know how seeing the other six Wonders works out - you might be a little late to get the best view.  (Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassos, Temple of Artemus at Ephesus, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Colossus of Rhodes, Pharos at Alexandria.)

What I'd like to do . . . but in most cases, almost certainly won't:

1. Complete my Big Five (Elephant and rhino are a bit too expen$ive.)

2. Take Siberian and Bengal tigers. (I don't expect to see hunting for these reopened - at ANY price - in my lifetime.)

3. Take jaguar. (Same as #2, above.)

4. Get a pilot's license  . . . and my own plane that I could fly out of my own private airstrip.

5. Go on a world trip for a year or more, visiting just about every place I won't end up beheaded by jihadists or simmering in a soup pot. 

6. As an addendum to 5 . . . I'd like to visit "famous" places, where great battles were fought. Midway, Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, including where MacArthur landed. (Long story, but my father filmed the landing, though he wasn't part of MacArthur's entourage.) Normandy of course, but that and too many other places require a trip to France - ugh!

7. Retire to my own piece of real estate while I'm still young enough to enjoy it . . . a hilly area with some interesting terrain, and enough land so I could step out of my house, fire a shot in the air in any direction, and be sure that when the bullet comes down, it can't possibly hurt anyone but a trespasser.

[JonnyB]

HankB:

Item 4 on your list is within the grasp of most people, provided they care to make the sacrifices.

I got my Private certificate in 1994 (at 40) and a seaplane rating in '97. In March 2003 I bought a wrecked 90-horse Champ and rebuilt it over the course of 2 1/2 years. I've been flying it for 20 months or so and enjoying the heck out of it.

As a friend says, though, "It only costs a little more to do it yourself" as opposed to buying an example that's already flying. The up-side is that I spent the money over the course of the rebuild.

In '92/93 I spent around $4.5K (I was a slow learner) to get my private. The seaplane rating took a few weeks and cost around $750-800. The total cost of the rebuild of the Champ was about $35k but I ended up with a new airplane - engine, prop, interior, fabric & paint. It's a beauty.

Number 7 is not too difficult, either. Mrs. B. and I owe nothing on our home (just under $300K value) and have only a payment on an '06 Toyota Corolla. She's 'retired' but not drawng a pension yet. One thing to consider - you can't get ahead by paying interest. My son is learning that you *really* can't get ahead by paying credit card interest!

I'm 52 years old. What would I like to do?

1. Fly the Champ to Alaska

2. Hike the Appalachian Trail

3. Make a <7-second quarter mile run. (Even sub-ten would rock!)

4. Ride a bull (hell no, I don't know why. Probably 'cuz I'm a guy)

5. Really be able to play the guitar (I'm a beginner)

jb

[RocketMan]

There are bunches of things I'd like to do if there were time and/or the means.  But then again, I look back at the many things that I have already done that most people never get to do, and there are no complaints.
God forbid, but I could kick off tomorrow and would have led a full and interesting life.  I'm only 50, and that realization makes me feel pretty good.

[RadioFreeSeaLab]

7. Retire to my own piece of real estate while I'm still young enough to enjoy it . . . a hilly area with some interesting terrain, and enough land so I could step out of my house, fire a shot in the air in any direction, and be sure that when the bullet comes down, it can't possibly hurt anyone but a trespasser.

That's high on my list.

[Gewehr98]

Have a son or daughter I could take fishing, teach to shoot, learn to ride a bicycle, carry on the family name, the usual stuff.

After 5 miscarriages to date, I've somewhat given up on that.  Meanwhile, across town, the foodstamp mommies just keep spittin' them out like some weird take on Monty Python's Meaning of Life...

Other than that, I've lived a whole measure, seen and done a lot of things that others haven't or would pay a lot to do.  I've considered it borrowed time since a near-hit with a mountain in 1989. 

[Ezekiel]

1.  Steer an aircraft carrier.
2.  Have a great espresso, in Paris.
3.  "Sit in" with Bruce Hornsby's band: even if it's on triangle.
4.  Be grotesquely overpaid.
5.  Address a crowd of 10K, on any topic, and have them in my palm.
6.  Smoke a fabulous cigar, on the porch of my downtown loft, in some great American city.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Travel.  Everywhere.  And never have to come home sooner than I want.  Whenever I go somewhere new, it always seems like the return flight is leaving way too soon.

[grampster]

Pilot an F-18 full bore about 100 feet off the deck.

Drive a formula car around my lake.  6.5 miles of paved, curvy, hilly road.

Be wealthy enough to own my own G-5 jet.

Own a small cabin in Michigan's Upper in the middle of 3 sections of mixed forest containing swamps, small lakes, meadows, streams and waterfalls.

[charby]

1. Visit every continent in the world
2. Learn to fly
3. Own a WACO
4. Own a DC-3
5. Hike the AT
6. Learn to sail
7. Restore or build a wooden runabout
8. Restore a 66 mustang convertable for my wife
9. Have a hunting/fishing cabin in NE Iowa.

Realistically I'll probably accomplish 1, 2, 5, 6 and 9

-C

[Sindawe]

Drink my morning coffee while enjoying the light from the morning sun glisten on the drew drops that festoon the spider webs spun between the severed heads of my enemies that I placed on pikes the day before.

Watch the Earth rise over the rim of the Tycho Crater on the Moon.

Base dive off the highest cliff of the escarpment of Olympus Mons on Mars.

Take part in the Hajj.

Genetically engineer the jumping spider species Phidippus audax to the size of a puma with the temperament of a good guard dog.

[charby]

Genetically engineer the jumping spider species Phidippus audax to the size of a puma with the temperament of a good guard dog.

I would hate to see what it weighed from all that exoskeleton, and what would you do when it shed?

-C

[wmenorr67]

Have a son or daughter I could take fishing, teach to shoot, learn to ride a bicycle, carry on the family name, the usual stuff.

After 5 miscarriages to date, I've somewhat given up on that.  Meanwhile, across town, the foodstamp mommies just keep spittin' them out like some weird take on Monty Python's Meaning of Life...

Hey Gewehr98, have you and the wife thought of adoption.  There are plenty of childern out there just looking for someone to call mom and dad to do all those things with.

[crt360]

2. Learn to fly a helicopter
Could, but never seem to get around to it&

That's one of mine.

7. Retire to my own piece of real estate while I'm still young enough to enjoy it . . . a hilly area with some interesting terrain, and enough land so I could step out of my house, fire a shot in the air in any direction, and be sure that when the bullet comes down, it can't possibly hurt anyone but a trespasser.

That's another.

I got my Private certificate in 1994 (at 40) and a seaplane rating in '97. In March 2003 I bought a wrecked 90-horse Champ and rebuilt it over the course of 2 1/2 years. I've been flying it for 20 months or so and enjoying the heck out of it.

As a friend says, though, "It only costs a little more to do it yourself" as opposed to buying an example that's already flying. The up-side is that I spent the money over the course of the rebuild.

In '92/93 I spent around $4.5K (I was a slow learner) to get my private. The seaplane rating took a few weeks and cost around $750-800. The total cost of the rebuild of the Champ was about $35k but I ended up with a new airplane - engine, prop, interior, fabric & paint. It's a beauty.

This, too.  I actually took the ground class and exam in '90, but was a poor college kid who didn't have $7500 to do the flying part.

I could do most of the things I want if I could figure out how to make more money and work less.  Along with getting my pilot's license, I'd like to go to racing school and build a decent recording studio.  As it is, I can't figure out how to take off more than a day or two without s#!t hitting the fan.  The way things are going, I'll have to settle for racing wheelchairs/scooters and playing the piano in whatever retirement home/asylum I end up in.

 . . . and I'll be staying far away from Sindawe's place.

[grislyatoms]

I essentially lived on a boat every summer from the time I could crawl until I was about 15. So, for me:

Round-the-world solo sailing trip. No time limit.

I had a chance about 15 years ago to crew "a boat goin' to Southern islands". I didn't take it. Damnit.

Now here I am living in the desert. Any hope for this Parrothead?

(My Mother says I bleed Chesapeake Bay seawater instead of blood)

[Monkeyleg]

I've accomplished most of the goals that I set for myself years back.

Looking forward, I would like to:

1. Get back on my motorcycle and get back into Utah (not hard to do, just need to free up a little cash).

2. Spend a Christmas with my wife in a small English village, preferably in the vicinity of Cornwall where I have many distant relatives.

3. Retire part-time when I'm in my early 60's. (I don't want to stop working completely).

4. Move down south. This has been my wife's and my plan for several years. Whether it can happen...?

5. Have the Rolling Stones stop over at my house for a few drinks after one of their concerts.

4.

[DJJ]

1. See Bigfoot

2. See the Loch Ness Monster

3. Build a Van's Aircraft RV-8

4. Have the time, space, money to do #3 - even if I don't actually do #3

5. Find out who stole my Mustang, and chop his/their arms off

6. Find out whatever happened to those keys I lost that time

[glockfan.45]

. Make a <7-second quarter mile run. (Even sub-ten would rock!)

I have almost been there @ 10.46. I used to work part time for a guy that owned his own shop back in high school. One day he invited me to the track with him to wring out his 69 El Camino. Stripped, tubbed, blown 468, and loud as hell  . I nearly bit the rail on my first attempt (it was far more car than the 91 5.0 I was tooling around in at the time.

High on my list of things to do in life is fly a Mig over Moscow. Theres a company out there that will send you to a week of flight school, and then turn you lose in a Mig 29 (under supervision of course). That seems to be my whole life Guns, Planes, Motorcyles, and scary fast cars. For some reason if its loud and socially unacceptable I am drawn to it like a moth to a flame.

I want to try sky diving someday as well.

Drink my morning coffee while enjoying the light from the morning sun glisten on the drew drops that festoon the spider webs spun between the severed heads of my enemies that I placed on pikes the day before.

Thats a relief, for a minute I thought you were getting all gay on us. Oh I am stealing that as my new sig line.

Oh and at some point I would love to punch an ex-president in the face. Clinton would be good but I'd be willing to hold out for Bush   .

[Moondoggie]

I had 3 goals in life that I identified when I was about 16 or 17....

1.  Be a U. S. Marine (served 26 yrs, retired as a Master Gunnery Sergeant)

2.  Be in a mutually satisfying loving relationship with a woman (Been married for 27 yrs, and have managed to achieve a very excellent relationship with my beloved.)

3.  Know God or know who God is (I have a very well defined belief system that satisfys me.  Buddhist/Taoist or "Zen Existentialist" would be good descriptors.)

The God thing was the most difficult of the 3.

I'm 54 and in a pretty good "place".  No major health issues.  Financially better off than I ever expected to be.  I only work 2.5 days/wk and really enjoy what I do.  I enjoy a hobby (IPSC) that provides some goals to be achieved. I have all of the toys/gadgets I desire.  My wants are pretty simple.  I've never had much interest in owning the "best" or "flashiest".  Anything I've ever wanted to do, I've done.  Learning to sail would be one example.  Owning an exceptional roping horse and competing in local events would be another.

My time in the Marines provided all of the "Thrills, chills, and spills" that one could ever wish for, all at taxpayer expense (thank you very much!)

The only thing left on my list of things I'd kinda like to do is check out Europe, home of my ancestors.  Given my responsibilities to aged family members, don't know if I'll ever get around to Europe.  I'm not going to lose any sleep over it if it doesn't happen.

[Boomhauer]

Ladysmith, HankB, crt360, listen up...

One of the biggest things that I wanted to do was to earn my pilots license...All of y'all that want to earn your licenses, pay attention...

So, I finally was able to save up some money and started taking lessons in July 2005. Took me about a year to get it, because I was flying only once a week. I passed the checkride on August 21, 2006. It ended up costing me about $6000 dollars and it took me 50 hours. Average times to get a license these days seem to be in the 60 hour range. I also suspect that my time might have been influenced by the green instructor, who was fresh out of school- I was the first student she took from 0 to licensed. I taught myself ground school (you might want to see if you can find a mentor to help you, someone other than your instructor), flew the crappiest planes in the fleet, and borrowed equipment to get through it.   

Getting a helo license is a bit more difficult, though. It will cost more, and helo instructors and available aircraft are not nearly as available as fixed wing. Another option, although less common, is a gyroplane, which is like halfway between a helo and a fixed wing. It has a very short takeoff distance, and almost zero landing distance.

I also want to get my helo license (but it just costs way too much money, and without an aircraft available to fly- what's the use?. I would be far better served with an instrument rating)

Another thing I have always wanted to do is get a tank, and drive it through town, and blast several of those rolling boomboxes off the road, or run 'em over.

[mfree]

-get Lasik
-get pilot's license
-build car from scratch
-build plane from scratch
-do so in my freshly expanded dream home
-while perhaps raising family
-fly, drive, and teach my kids how to do the same.
-die with a big smile and a big estate to bequeath, and those to bequeath it to happily.

[Monkeyleg]

mfree: "build car from scratch"

I pretty much did that with a '69 Jaguar XKE (E-Type, for those who know British cars).

Started with a rustbucket that was burning and blowing oil, overheating, and God knows what else.

Spent four years and over 2,000 hours building it into a trophy car.

Doing a ground-up on a car, and having an E-Type, were both one of my life's goals.

In hindsight, it was good to satisfy those goals. But the cost in terms of my marriage (didn't hear about this until a couple of years ago), and simply in terms of time, was out of line. I could have worked a couple of hours a night at McDonalds and used that money to buy the #1 trophy Jaguar E-Type in the country, a 1967 convertible. At the time I bought my rustbucket, that car was selling for $18,000.

Ah, well. I satisfied a couple of dreams. Now I just have to deal with my wife.