Your life list, non-sportswriting version

Had a little time to reflect the other day, and it occurred to me that I've had a pretty good life so far. I suspect that for most on here, it's difficult to work in something like that. We're always chasing the next story, next paycheck, next job, next ... whatever, and the experiences of the past can easily go unappreciated. So here's a sampling of some of the things I've done (I'm dancing around outing here), leaving out the sportswriting stuff because, well, virtually everyone here has seen big events live, met famous people and done big stories. What are some of the things you guys have done?

Mine, in no particular order
Served eight years in the national guard, which took me to Germany for one two-week stretch
-- had rides in a C-130 and a Chinook
-- been interviewed by a TV reporter on the fourth of July.
-- been blessed with a better family than I probably deserve
-- been blessed with better friends than I probably deserve
-- went on a mission trip to Mexico.
-- threw a no-hitter when I was 14. Hit two homers in a high school game.
-- played college baseball. OK, I watched more than I played, but still, I wore the uniform and got eight hits.
-- faced at least one pitcher who played in the major leagues
-- run one 10k (that was enough)
-- went deep-sea fishing and won the big-fish pot with a fish that outweighed the sum total of all the fish I'd caught previously (I'm not much of a fisherman), much to the chagrin of all the experienced fishermen on the boat
-- had my picture taken with Dale Murphy
-- seen a heron catch and eat a fish
-- survived a brown recluse bite

I hope, by the way, this doesn't come off like me bragging; I know there are a lot of you have done and seen more than I have. Was just hoping to encourage some proverbial rose-smelling.

 

This thread is gonna make me feel wonderful.

 

Good idea, NW.

I don't want to out myself, but I will say this: I grew up in BFE. I've been lucky to do many things in my life that weren't even on my radar growing up. Things I never thought possible to be part of. And I'm still young, relatively speaking, so it almost feels like everything going forward is a bonus.

 

I was given my nickname by a current NFLer while he was in high school. It might count under what I've done workwise, but it's all I got.

 

Mine is kind of lame.

Saw the Grand Canyon, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest etc... (Thanks MOM)
Went to a poetry convention in Reno
Spent a few great weeks in Myrtle Beach during bike week
Visited the Greyhound Hall of Fame

Like I said, that was lame, but I think this thread has lit the fire under my ass to do something cool with my free time.
Thanks NW

 

Cool thread...

• scored my one and only soccer goal, game winner, against Warren High; made game-ending catch (eyes closed) in my shining moment in Little League
• rode in a speedboat during my first writing gig in Long Beach to do a preview on a water-skiing event; rode in a helicopter in Montego Bay
• covered a luncheon at Dodger Stadium; Boog Powell sat at my table and farted
• echo novelist on having better friends than I deserve
• interviewed Pete Rose a few weeks after he got out of "the facility"; interviewed him the next year at the same event
• when I was 16, somehow snookered my way into a bar in Springfield, Mass., and lip-synched to "White Lines"
• ate a "bacon"-wrapped "hot dog" in Tiajuana
• saw between 25-30 Grateful Dead shows; had great seats for the last one at Soldier Field; the journeys across America with my best friend were the best part
• at clinching games when the Lakers went back-to-back in '87 and '88
• Vegas! (too many times to count)
• finished a 5K in Bennington; after which a bee stung me in the belly 3 times
• having a 52-year-old former Marine named Larry hit on me during my midnight shift at the Pleasure Palace in Iowa City by buying me a McDonald's hamburger and telling me his intentions by putting a handful of jelly packets in the bag
• standing in the Trench Town jail
• falling in love a few times
• winning a pair of L.A. Kings tickets by answering Scott St. James' trivia question on the Channel 9 news; Kings lost that game to the Blackhawks 6-3 even though Bernie Nichols scored 19 seconds after puckfall
• finding "the flag" during a night game of Capture the Flag at summer camp
• beating the guy who taught me how to play chess and then him stomping off in anger refusing to play me again
• eating 200 McNuggets in one sitting
• a mountain bike ride in the Sandias
• seeing Millikan beat Poly 15-13 in football
• winning several games of Photon

probably more I'll think of ...

 

And I've been to 46 of the 50 states. That's kinda cool. Plus I live in Montana, and that's cooler than a lot of things in the world, even if it's far away from everything.

 

i'm a professional eater

 

-Was raised by jackalopes
-Toured with several bands
-Danced in a dress onstage in front of thousands
-Worked on a few albums
-Had a son I don't think I'll ever see again
-Got married to someone who turned out to be my perfect best friend...but not my perfect wife
-Had my heart broken more times than I've broken hearts
-Was in a #1 video on MTV Europe
-Mastered the art of being able to disappear for months on end
-Promoted the destruction of the world
-Has a kickass phone # [not 867-5309]


That pretty much sums it up thus far.

 

saw pearl jam five times in the last year.

 

Which of the states do you not have? That's very cool