Pseudo Bucket List.

I hate the term "Bucket List," and although I never saw the movie, I think I would hate that too.

I'm usually all talk about the projects I want to do. I've wanted to write an opera, a concept album, a rock opera (which, I guess all three could be the same thing), study abroad, be a radio DJ, live in a big city for a year or two, learn a second language, write a novel in a month, write an album's worth of songs in a month, write a book of poetry. After I saw Run Fatboy Run, I even wanted to complete a marathon.

Despite all these general, whimsical yearnings, there are a few things that keep coming back to me and keep calling out to me.

1) I think I could write a cohesive album's worth of material. Technically, I have much more than that (I haven't been keeping count but I'd guess 70 songs or so), but I think the goal for this would be to be working towards an end product. Not even necessarily a concept album, just begin with the intent to finish a good 40 or minutes or so of music. I feel the need for it all to be my compositions (and words), but if I could work with some musicians to record it all that would be splendid.

2) Record #1. I think this would be much more difficult than #1 itself. If I had the opportunity, though, I think 1 & 2 could go down simultaneously.

3) Conversational and reading understanding of another language. I'm not settled on one yet, but I feel that this is within my reach. Someone once told me that I was too old and shouldn't consider learning another language. He usually had good advice, but I labeled that comment under "hooey".

4) Book. I don't feel a novel calling out to me, but I think I could combine some creative essays with some poetry and a short story or two (maybe even some news articles) to make some sort of super-book that spans genres.

5) Comic strip. Sometimes I get an idea that I think would make a decent stand-up joke. Other times I think of something funny I could write in an email or essay. I think a comic strip would lie somewhere in the middle -- a not-too-serious playground where I could process all of my extraneous humor into a few panels.

These are the major ones. Sure, I'd like to learn how to play piano, but it's not really calling out to me. I've already built a makeshift website, which was previously one of my major goals (and now I'm working on getting a newer template!). But these aren't like new year's resolutions are anything -- they will be done, just when they want to be.

Then I can blog about it.