h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Inspired by a book on making goals, I'm making a list of 100 (preferably exciting) things to do in a lifetime. They can be a little fanciful. Any offers here?

So far I've got:

Canoe down a river
Travel on a steam train
Hold a tarantula
Visit a nuclear power station
Drive a juggernaut
Have my portrait painted
Have my caricature done
Be hypnotised
Be an extra in a movie
Boat on the Thames from London to the estuary

Well, I have a few of my own. Some of them I have done.

Climb a mountain
Go scuba diving
Walk in Borneo's jungle
Watch the sun set over the Serengeti
See the Chinese Wall
Stand on top of an Egyptian pyramid
Eat snake meat
Ride a camel in a desert

Well I've cannoed down a river and Hold a tarantula, heck I've had my tarantula crawling on my head One thing I've always wanted to do just because its a daft thing, is jump into a taxi, and shout follow that car; and point at a random car driving down the road Getting so wasted you don't know where you are and waking up somewhere where you don't know where you are is good for a laugh, especially if you wake up on an unknown train platform in the middle of no where (it was a little frightening at first) Give a talk/presentation/lecture to a few hundred people (very cool and enjoyable) Be abducted by aliens Have a burger king/Mc Ds meal with Elvis. Join a religious cult just for a laugh and one I'd like to do and keep putting off is to go visit the houses of parliment and see me MP there I've not driven a juganaught but I have been hit by one, I don'[t recomend that though Go skinny dipping in the North sea in december at 3 in the morning good laugh I think Another one I keep meaning to do is to go to a big main train station, and just get on a random train and get off at a random stop and just see where it takes you

I like that last one! It reminds me of diceing that. Diceing is something I've always wanted to get round to doing but never have.

Diceing? whats that? I think I'm having another 'blonde moment' I wouldn't mind but I'm not even blonde Having sex with several people at once is always a good one to put on the list, though its rather disappointing in reality compaired to ones vision of what it should be like Oh thought of another: playing a musical instrument live on stage I've done that a few times

Oh you've probably heard of it. You write a list of six options (or 36 with two dice) and toss the dice and do the one that comes up on the dice. You have to commit to whatever will come up beforehand.

Do at least sixty miles an hour in/on a vehicle with no engine or brakes.

Juggle fire.

Have sex in a public place.

Lie on your back in the middle of the night watching the sky at least a mile from any streetlight during a meteor shower.

Jump off something high (i.e. at least five metres) into water.

Sing a small child to sleep.

Fly, without the aid of an engine.

Swim with a dolphin.

Win an argument with one of your parents.

Lose an argument to one of your children.

Read a book that changes your life.

Write a book that changes someone else's life.

Fire an assault rifle and hit a man sized target half a mile away.

Write a poem that makes someone laugh or cry.

Tell your boss where they can shove their job.

Not done all of these, but I'm doing OK so far.

H.

Have a one night stand with someone who you cant *speak* to because of a language barrier.

Do something that scares the crap out of you just to prove to other people that it can be done.

Go naked in front of consenting adults.

Swim or just paddle in the sea at night when the luminescent placton are in season.

Knock down a door with your shoulder.

Pretend your a monkey in an inappropriate place.

Pretend to be French and see how long you can get away with it. Pubs are a good place for this, passport control is a bad place for this.

Take a substance that changes the way you think and have yourself filmed.

Record you and a special friend having sex.

Eat a raw turnip.

Sleep in the woods.

Roll around in mud.

Grow a full beard.

Meet someone you admire realise they are human like you and set out to be an inspiration yourself to others.

GO to a live music performance.

Be in a live music performance.

Crowd surf.

Listen to wild nights by Van Morrison then go out and do whatever it inspires you to do.

Try drugs. Even if you have no inclination to keep taking them, at least try them.

Dive into a random car pulled up on the street and ask them to drive you home.(Been done a couple of times after a night out down town, it helps to have a girl with you as you're less threatening)

Swim under a rainforest waterfall, then slide down the rapids to the beach

Stay awake for 3 days solid

Lose contact with reality through the aid of hallucinogens.

Go on a road trip with mates with f*ck all money, several crates of beer and camp in a farmer's fields.

Try group sex.

Go clubbing totally alone and end up partying till dawn with new friends.

Go on a lads/lasses holiday with mates.

Put a sock in a toaster.
Put jam on a magnet.
Throw your granny in a bag.
Treat your neighbour as someone who lives near to you.
Lean over a bit like this.

(Apologies for those who don't know what I mean)

B

I know exactly what you mean!

On a similar note:

Hold a chicken in the air
Stick a deck-chair up your nose
Buy a jumbo jet
Bury all your clothes
Paint your left knee green
Extract your wisdom teeth
Form a string quartet
Pretend your name is Keith

RTC

have no idea what you two are on about...

I'd quite like to pretend I don't know what ReddyFreddyCurtis is on about.

B

...But I know you do, B!

Skin yourself alive
Learn to speak Araphahoe
Climb inside a dog
Behead an Eskimo
Eat a Renault 4
Wear salami in your ears
Casserole your gran
Disembowel yourself with spears

RTC

I would imagine a Renault 4 is quite hard to get hold of these days.

B

Good list! I have done two of them (rode on a steam train, there was a tourist trap one near where I grew up) and I have been hypnotised...

Some goals I would like to achieve.

Have a novel published.
Travel down the Rhine.
Visit the Egyptian *and* Mayan pyramids.
Talk to a tiger up close.
Stay up all night to watch a Formula One Grand Prix live on TV.
Have a slim volume of poetry published and reviewed (one that isn't all self indulgence).
Finish a Final Fantasy game.
Write a song.
Build your own website from scratch.
Graduate from university.

Things I've done that I'd recommend:

Go stunt flying in a fighter jet. (woooohooooo)
Help 3 random strangers feel really, really good. Today.
Go night snorkeling alone, when it's kinda scary, and come back to shore with a lobster dinner.
Start an 'air band' with friends in a pub, and have the whole place join in. I 'play' accordion. oom pah pah
Take a few days and follow the wind, no expectations, and just go with the flow.
Learn to get along with your family.
Spend a week as if you have only 3 months left to live.
Build something you want, even though you have no idea how to do it.

To do list:

Skydiving
Totally bliss out during a week of 'normal' life.
Take my nephew on a Great Adventure.
Experience a few minutes of perfect physical balance and grace.
Become so accustomed to the idea of abundance that I'll not restrict my movement in the world because of fear.
Fall in love with someone who's big enough to catch me.
Own a sailboat, sail the seven seas, change my name to Magnolia Thunderpussy, make my stuff, eat well, drink fine wines, and live happily ever after.

I really like 2legs' get on a random train and get off at random, I've done that a few times, can highly recommend it. As for mine:
Go scuba diving in very cold water with low visibility
Cycle across a mountain range, or any other impressive physical local (plains, desert etc)
Fall hopelessly in love with someone who doesn't love you back - not fun at first but wonderful in retrospect
Go on the biggest, scariest ride in the theme park
Leave home for a month with an Inter-Rail pass, a few clothes and nothing else. Tell people you're going but then keep out of contact until you get back
Go to University
Go to an all-nighter at a gay superclub
Find somebody you love and tell them that you love them whenever you feel the urge to
Have sex with somebody of the opposite gender than what your sexual preference normally goes for
Find beauty in the most unlikely places (inner-city Liverpool does it for me)
See the Himalayas
Get fat and find that beauty has nothing to do with looks, nor does confidence
Go on the Internet and book yourself on a flight that leaves the airport that hour/day (depending on how close you live to said airport) and be on it
Eat the special dish of every culture you come across, no matter how gross
Tell your boss to shut up and don't get fired for it
See the flaws in friends and family and learn to love them regardless
Set yourself a goal everyday and achieve it
Discover what makes you truly happy and do it for a week
Buy something you really can't afford
Watch a storm at sea in it's full ferocity
Develop at least one unusual/interesting hobby
Get into a physical fight because someone disagrees with something you strongly believe in.
Meet your hero
Witness a large-scale religious ceremony or meet the head of a religion
Experience absolute silence and darkness
Passionately kiss a stranger
Live in another country for a year
Learn a foreign language (handy for the one above)
Scream profanities at you boss
That's all I can think of right now, might come back if any occur to me

Do something that scares you - every day.


az

Use sunscreen.

RTC