Item Number 6: Have a business card from a well established organization

This is one of the easier attainable items on my list, if not the easiest. I joined the workforce here in Kuwait around 3 years ago, with two different organizations. My first job lasted a few months, in which my job description required me to have a business card due to my frequent interaction with the organization's clients. This organization to put it more simply, was not what I would call well established. The company was established around 15 years ago with a total of 20 employees, and has not seen any growth (client-based nor employees) till date in spite of the high demand. And with the recent decline in the economy, I'm pretty sure it went bankrupt as their two major clients that were keeping them afloat have shut down. So owning a business card from such organization was not enough to cross of this item off my bucket list. My second job is with a very well reputable and well established organization. I've been with them for the past 2 years and have yet to receive a business card. The job description is completely different, my responsibilities rarely requires me to interact with clients, and the majority of the communications are done through emails. 

I loved the idea of a business card since I was a kid so much that I asked my mother to print me cards when I was 8, with my name and pictures of my favorite cartoon characters, and I would stick them on all the gifts I gave out to my friends on their birthdays. I still have those cards :)

Status: Ongoing. I have a feeling this will be checked off very soon...

Item Number 5: Consistently Maintain my Blog!

It's been 11 months since my last post.........!

Ok so Item Number 1 should not have been crossed off so hastily, but the year 2011 (so far) has been challenging to say the least. So here I am trying to re-maintain my bucket list. So let's see if I can recap those past 11 months in as few statements as possible:

1. Out of the four items mentioned below, only item number 2 has been crossed off (paragliding...FINALLY!). Still working on item 4 (tried various techniques but failed miserably), and no signs of ever checking off item number 3.
2. Two items from the un-mentioned list have been crossed off as well. More on that once the items are mentioned in the hopefully near future.
3. I started writing down my bucket list (on a piece of paper at work) a little over a year ago. Since that time, I have crossed 3 items off out of a total of 30. I have also added several items to the list during the idle time. 
4. I realized that writing down the list has helped me achieve some of my goals, as well as reconsider others which where later removed.

Status: Work-In-Progress. Here's hoping the "consistently maintaining" will last this time. 

Item Number 4: Control My Uncontrollable Temper

Gotta admit, this is much easier done after the eleven day zen-like state I have been in during the Eid vacation (I've counted up to last weekend as part of the Eid holiday since a three-day work week doesn't really count). Ever since Ramadan started, I've been short-wired like I've never been before. The slightest thing will get me going and ruin my whole day/week (depending on the intensity of the situation on hand). I spent most of this vacation reflecting on this. Why am I doing this to myself? At the end of the day, the only person I'm hurting is me. Not the **** who didn't bother taking proper driving classes before getting his/her driving license, nor the **** boss who doesn't know the difference between "there" and "they're" and keeps arguing that he's right (he's English BTW), nor the colleague who doesn't bother showing up on days they know they are needed just to drop everything on you and enjoy a day of relaxation in the SPA! No sir! They place their heads on their pillows at the end of the day with no worry in the World! And me? I spend the rest of the day sulking, complaining, and displacing my anger on my family and friends. And adding to that, there's no coffee to keep me calm!! (during Ramadan).

So I decided this (now that coffee is back in my system)...I need to get rid of my temper. Simple as that. Half an hour later, I realized that it's much easier said than done. But a person can't change over-night (or over a vacation). It will take time. But I have made some positive progress over the course of a week. We'll see how it goes...no organized plan on how this will be accomplished yet, but it's a work-in-progress.

Status: On-going...if all else fails, will seek professional help or take an anger management course =)

Item Number 3: Learn to speak Italiano

ITALY! The land of pizzas and pastas and romance and gelato and culture and the list will go on and on...

I just love the way Italians speak italian. It puts a smile on my face just thinking of it! I don't want to learn from those listening-and-repeating books, nor take a class here in Kuwait, or self-learn online. Item number 3 on my bucket list is, to put it more precisely, to learn to speak italian (not necessarily read and write), from a handsome Italian gentlemen, in Italy. Gotta be that exactly. And preferably while eating pizza :)

This is how I feel whenever I think of Italy:

Status: Indefinitely pending...Don't think this item will be checked off anytime soon.

Item Number 2: Paraglide/Parasail/Para-anything-that-gets-me-up-in-the-air

I've lived a good portion of my life next to a paragliding school (literally next door!). It has always been a dream of mine to experience that feeling of dangling in mid-air without the horrifying notion of jumping of a plane or a cliff (that's why parachuting/sky diving will never be on my list). My mom is the obstacle here, she hated the idea of having her child's life in the fate of a few strings and a few meters of fabric. It took me around 5 years of research and pleading, cuz no amount of science could really convince her. She finally gave up :)

Status: Pending. Will be checked off the list in the very near future.

Status Update: CHECK!! Typed with the biggest smile on my face! Nothing I have ever experienced in my life has been as satisfying as paragliding. There are really no words I can think of to describe the feeling! I loved it so much that I'm trying to paraglide on regular bases.

I'll leave you with this:

Item Number 1: Create a blog

Status: CHECK! Well partially check. It's create and maintain a blog. We'll see how it goes in a couple of months!

Welcome to my Bucket List. Bucket List, for those of you who don't know what it is, is basically defined as list of things to do before you die. This concept was made famous by the movie starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman of the same name. I loved the concept so much that I was inspired to create my very own list of things that I wanted to do, but soon found out that a traditional list did not do the trick. I needed something more visual, something that constantly reminded me of my life-long goals. And so this blog was born...

I will be updating each entry as an item on my checklist and revisiting the ones that have been accomplished. Hope you enjoy it.