Things I'd Like To Do Before I Die

I am not the average fun-lover. I don't like loud, noisy fun which involves a lot of fun. I have never been a purposeful rule breaker and rebellion just for the sake of it doesn't interest me. So, when I asked some of my friends about what they would like to do before they die (I know it's a little premature to be asking such questions), their choices were clearly different from mine. Almost all of them had bungee-jumping on their list and one boy had surfing (I can at the very least give him some points for attempted originality). At the time, I hadn't really thought about what I wanted to do, but once I got the answers I knew what I did not want to do- try adventure sports which have me hanging by ropes or falling from a height of thousands of feet. Now, there are several reasons for this. Firstly, I have an issue with heights. I feel uncoordinated at heights, not exactly scared, which is bad because it is fear which can be overcome, not poor hand-eye coordination. Second, trying an adventure sport isn't exactly doing something for me. If you have the money and no fear, you can pull of the stunts and you're not really achieving anything, but that really is just my point of view. If I had to do something, I would probably choose deep sea diving because I am okay with water (as long as the sharks and whales stay away) or maybe parasailing because from it looks less scary than other height-related stuff.

Later on, I started thinking about what I wanted to do in my life and the answers just kept coming.

First of all, I want my own book to be published. Preferably it should become a bestseller. Ideally, I would love to become a novelist, but I am practical enough to know dreams don't always come true. So, it is my dream to have just one book written by me out there. This desire is probably just a manifestation of my dream to be remembered after I'm dead. Perhaps someone in the twenty second century will find a dusty, dog-eared manuscript during an archaeological excavation and see my name on it. But most importantly, it stems from the desire to achieve something by doing what I love, what I'm good at.

Secondly, I want to travel. My aim is to travel through at least one country in every continent. Right now my list includes Italy, Greenland, Pakistan (the Kashmiri part), New Zealand, Congo/Morocco. As far as Antarctica is considered, well, I never really thought of it as a real continent. My father has great luck in travel. Hid work has taken him to almost every country in Europe and North America. Hopefully, I will travel more than him.

I want to meet my favourite authors. That could prove to be a problem because most of them are dead, but Ann Brashares is definitely on my list. She is an American writer and what I love most about her is that she writes stories for girls which have nothing to do with the perfect man and the perfect pair of shoes. They are real, relateable stories about school, college, love, friendship and life in general.

Last but not the least, I ant to live freely. Ask any of my friends and they would probably say I am the most tied down, serious person on the planet and they would probably not understand this dream of my life, but they should. I like living alone or with people I love. I don't necessarily need to be surrounded by others. If that makes me cold, so be it. If I ever get too competitive, it is because of my own ego, not because of what someone else says. I like taking responsibility, which is not exactly the coolest thing to admit at my age. I like not living like the other kids do, I like not having to conform. I like the fact that I am obsessed with 70s counterculture and not the present pop culture which I don't totally understand. I know that at some point, I may have to change. I may have to learn how to be friendlier in public, to feign interest, if not for myself then for somebody else, but my wish will always be to live the way I want to.

Somehow, I think jumping off a cliff with a harness and a rope would be easier than to do all things I want to do in my life, but I think I'm willing to take the chance.