101 Things to Do Before You're Old and Boring

"101 Things to Do Before You're Old and Boring" was written by Richard Horne and Helen Szirtes. The introduction caught my attention, and I felt compelled to buy this book. I have been struggling with the fact that I am now 31 years old. My 30th birthday was really hard, and I refused to allow anyone to make a big deal about it, I didn’t even have a cake. My 31st birthday, I was 9 months pregnant with Monster, and didn’t feel like much of celebrating anything then either. Besides, I think that if I did celebrate these things, those days would stick out more in my mind, and I would be reminded of them more. I am starting a hard, hard mission to complete the list of items in this book before I truly become old and boring. I just hope that I am not already too old to do some of them. I am always looking for something exciting to do, I may not do it, but I am still looking. I think this will help me deal with my age issues. I may no't feel younger, but I will feel that I have not lost my youthfulness.

Introduction:
“Certain things in life are guaranteed. Firstly, we will get old, and secondly, without realizing it, we’ll probably become boring too. Surly you have noticed how much time old people happily spend talk about when they were young? Well, this book offers a way to ensure that you also have hundreds of great memories to sustain you and plenty to talk about when you become old and boring. If you don’t do these things now, the chances are you never will. So best get going before it’s too late.”

The List

1. Send a message in a bottle.
2. Run up an escalator the wrong way.
3. Make an origami crane.
4. Learn how to tell when someone likes you (and when they don’t)
5. Keep a dream diary.
6. Touch these creatures.
7. Prepare yourself for fame.
8. Learn to play an instrument.
9. Play a computer game to the end.
10. Have an embarrassing moment and get over it.
11. Get your school involved in a world record attempt.
12. Paint a picture good enough to hang on the wall.
13. Learn to whistle (and make other noises).
14. See a ghost.
15. Fart and burp.
16. Make a swear box.
17. Act in a play.
18. Win something.
19. Make a t-shirt.
20. Stay up all night.
21. Sleep all day.
22. Invent a secret code.
23. Learn to do a card trick.
24. Grow something from a seed.
25. Start a collection.
26. Help save the planet.
27. Turn back time.
28. Learn to do a party trick.
29. Climb to the top of a mountain.
30. Make a one-minute movie.
31. Host a party.
32. Visit…
33. Learn to bake a cake.
34. Hide a treasure and leave a map for friends to find.
35. Learn how to ask someone out (and how to dump them)
36. Start your own blog.
37. Write lyrics for a song.
38. Make a time capsule.
39. Be a genius.
40. Take care of an animal.
41. Learn to like these foods.
42. April fool someone.
43. Do something charitable
44. Teach your grandparents something new.
45. Invent a new game.
46. Go as fast as you can.
47. Make your own buttons.
48. Watch these films.
49. Read these books.
50. Pretend to be ill convincingly.
51. Save your allowance for a month and spend it all at once.
52. Learn to swim.
53. Succeed at something you’re bad at
54. Be a daredevil.
55. Invent a new trend.
56. Know who your friends are.
57. Plant a tree (and climb it when you’re older)
58. Start a band.
59. Camp out in the backyard.
60. Learn to live without something you love for a week.
61. Join a club.
62. Cook a meal.
63. List the things your parents say they’ll tell you when you’re older.
64. Make your bike or skateboard look cool.
65. Learn to juggle.
66. Have a snowball fight and fun in the snow.
67. Build the ultimate sandcastle and have fun in the sun.
68. Take part in a TV show.
69. Make a scene in a public place.
70. Spend Christmas in another country.
71. Do something nice without being asked.
72. See your music idol perform live.
73. Have a sleepover.
74. Become a spy.
75. Watch a tadpole grow into a frog.
76. Learn to say useful phrases in other languages.
77. Make your own greeting cards.
78. Hold a garage sale.
79. Build an igloo.
80. Start your own secret society.
81. Research your family tree.
82. Learn to skip stones.
83. Dye your hair.
84. Lobby your local representative.
85. Write a story and get it published.
86. Sing in front of an audience.
87. Learn to use long words (and drop them into conversation).
88. Blame someone else.
89. Learn to stick up for yourself.
90. Get from A to B using a map.
91. Send a valentine card.
92. Have your own plot in the garden.
93. Build your own website.
94. See your name in print.
95. Make a unique milkshake.
96. Glue coins to the floor.
97. Learn to take great photos.
98. Drive something.
99. Be vegetarian for a week.
100. Meet someone famous.
101. Decide what you want to be when you grow up.

There are several that I have already done, and some of those were long, long ago--- so I will do some of them again for the fun of it, and so I can properly document it. There is at least one that will be impossible for me to complete, and that is number 57 (plant a tree and climb it when you’re older). If I were to climb a tree now, it would take 15 years or so to support an adult, that would make me 46+…. I don’t see myself being able to climb a tree then. Or even being somewhere I can plant it now, and then go back to it. If I were to move, do you really think I could go to the new owner’s house and say “hey, can I climb the tree in your back yard?” Lots of them sound like great fun, and others will take some planning and creative thinking. I am looking forward to this project. I hope you are too. Stay tuned for progress reports on each individual item number.