#44 - Bodies

I've been saying I wanted to go see this exhibition for just over a year now - and FINALLY, now that it's on my list, I went...

So, was it everything I'd expected? Yes, and no. It was fascinating, seeing every tendon, every muscle, every blood vessel and every bone in this amazing machine of ours. It made me feel that my body was even more precious and more magnificent that I'd ever imagined. And further, I had a sort of out of mind/out of body experience when I started realizing how much goes on in my body without second thought, without me having to actually tell it to do something. Isn't that scary? We think ourselves so powerful, so "in control", and yet things that make us so, are completely out of our control, even out of our conscious thought process. Creepy.

And so the exhibits went on: Muscles, Blood Vessels, Resperatory System, Digestive System, The Fetus, Reproductive System, the Brain...

As the exhibition came to an end, they had a booth where you could actually touch and pick up some organs. The girl stationed there was nice enough, and well enough informed. She first showed us the brain and let us handle it for a bit, and then a liver. This liver was heavy! So I say, "Holy shit! Forget this crazy diet, all I need to lose 10 pounds is to get rid of my liver!" Well, of course, everyone on my side of the booth got the humour in it and laughed heartily... but the girl stationed there was almost insulted. I couldn't get if she thought I was being serious, and was therefore a complete moron (but even that would've been funny) or if she was genuinly affronted by my silliness. To try and mend the situation, I got all serious again, and started asking more intelligent questions. So I asked, more just to confirm what I'd already thought, if all the bodies had been donated by the people themselves or by their families for the greater good of science. And here is where my day at the museum went south... These bodies were all unclaimed bodies and all donated by the Chinese Governement for the project. I highly doubt anyone would've minded if scientists were deep in research using their bodies in a lab even without their consent. But to have them publicly displayed, so de-humanized without their permission? It's an abomination. Where before I thought that them leaving the lips and eyebrows and nails on the bodies as the only remanants of what the person must've looked like was interesting, now I found it insulting. Where before I thought seeing a woman's breast ravaged by cancer an homage to her battle, now I felt it was a perfect invasion of her privacy, her life and everything she must have suffered though. I think that had I know this prior to going, maybe I wouldn't have gone. Or maybe I just would've looked at everything differently, perhaps somehow in a way trying to imagine the life that those muscles and heart and brain had seen. I think, at the very least, I would've cared more. 

Is this allowed?

So I've been thinking, and thinking, and thinking... and there are more things I want to put on the list. There are some things that I always say I'm going to do... and then never do. I have no idea why, maybe's it's forgetfulness, or laziness, or good old-fashioned procrastination. Who knows? But the point is, I figure if I added them to the list then I would have to do them. All of that to present to you #s 40 through 50 of this year's "To Do" list.

#40 - See Cirque du Soleil (because if have to hear myself say "I want to go see Cirque du Soleil" 1 more time, I may jump off a bridge)
#41 - Express my creativity in the most possible ways (super vague I know, but I have lots of ideas for this one)
#42 - Fly a plane (again)
#43 - Go skinny dipping
#44 - Go to all those art shows/exhibitions that I always say I'm going to go to but never do
#45 - Have a slumber party like in the old days (including pillow fights, gossipping about boys, junk food, movies - and this time we don't have to sneak the booze)
#46 - Paint a painting
#47 - Get my big tattoo finished
#48 - Renovate my bedroom closet myself (OK, OK, maybe I'll enlist a little help from Rosie and Luis)
#49 - Visit a province I've never been to before
#50 - Ride in a hot air balloon

OK - Now that's it, no more additions to the list. Now I gotta get on it!

OK... so it's out there

Now what? I don't even know where to begin... I'm kind of thinking I should learn how to tie those scout knots pretty quick because it's going to take me all year to figure out how/when to put them to practical use. I don't even know what they look like. Pause. I'm googling it - let's see what I got myself into here...
Hmmm... OK - watching the guy do the monkey knot actually made me dizzy.
Wikipedia says I can either use it as a weapon or give it to a friend to ward off evil. Well, of course they can ward off evil with it, they just need to use it as a weapon to beat evil down, so it's really like 2 gifts in 1. That's it, everyone's getting monkey fists for Christmas.

Let the Journey Begin

It's only been 1 week from the time this idea was conceived to now, the time it's hatched. 1 week has not been enough time for the impact of what I'm planning to do to sink in... which means I haven't been struck by the fear yet.
Here's the deal. I've compiled a list, ideas I've collected from family and friends, and my own imagination. Some are completely random and maybe meaningless today, some are much more profound, some are quick things to check off the list, and others might take the next year to complete. My goal is to complete all the items on this list before I turn 30... so that gives me 347 days. The purpose of the blog is to document the adventure and bring you guys along.
Don't get me wrong, I am not scared to turn 30. I by no means think that life ends once the 20's are over. Nor do I think my ovaries are going to shrivel up and fall out or my skin's going to fall off and that I'd never be able to do any of these things later in life. I just think that there are so many things we need to experience in life and so many moments we need to cram into our short time on this earth that I need to make sure I wade through it bit by bit. I do not want to ever look back on my life and say "I wish I would've..." I don't want to live unintentionally or to just let life happen and then see it pass me by. My goal over the next 347 days (but who's counting) is to grow, and to learn more about myself in the process, I want to have a blast and make memories, but above all else, I want to have no regrets.

So... Here's the list in no particular order:
#1 - Plant a tree (starting easy)
#2 - Go sailing (still not too nuts)
#3 - Give a lottery ticket to a complete stranger (and never check the numbers)
#4 - Scuba Dive (ahhh, I have fish-in-the-wild phobia)
#5 - Finish my photography course and get my diploma (when will I have the time to blog?)
#6 - Grow a plant from seed to full bloom (this could take a while, me and plant-life don't normally get along)  
#7 - Cook an ethnic meal from scratch (and feed it to someone - ha! conch penis anyone?)
#8 - Name a star
#9 - Be fully marathon trained
#10 - Knit a scarf (I guess "learn to knit" should preceed this)
#11 - Milk a cow
#12 - Reduce my carbon footprint - Park my car for 1 week (Boss, I'm going to be late for work)
#13 - Go back to Paris and at least 1 other European city I've never been to
#14 - Double my income
#15 - Learn a new language
#16 - Volunteer at a soup kitchen
#17 - Reconnect with (name withheld)
#18 - Brew my own beer (and then get smashed!)
#19 - Drive a convertible with the top down and music blaring (sounds like fun to me!)
#20 - Go fishing and eat my catch
#21 - Take a vow of silence for 2 days (as if the voices in my head aren't loud enough as it is)
#22 - Take a dance lesson ("a" because I'll be too mortified to go back after the first one)
#23 - Sleep under the stars
#24 - Read at least a book a month
#25 - Sell one of my pictures
#26 - Do a Stanley Kubrick marathon (60's +)
#27 - Test myself: parasail, bungee jump, i don't know, something along those lines (have already done the sky-dive)
#28 - Hula Hoop for 30 minutes consecutively (thank God I have the Wii to practise on)
#29 - Learn to tie the diamond knot and monkey's fist (and find some occasion to use that knowledge)
#30 - Go on an orienteering run (and really just use a map and compass)
#31 - Start a charity
#32 - Sing in public... sober
#33 - Stay up all night and watch the sun rise
#34 - Build a snowman
#35 - Make special brownies and forget to tell the person eating them that they're special
#36 - Try out vegetarianism for 40 days
#37 - Go out to dinner alone (and turn off the blackberry)
#38 - No shopping for 2 months (no clothes, shoes, make-up, bags, scarves, jewelery or anything else that my wardrobe pines for)
#39 - Throw a huge bash for my 30th

P.S. I mentioned earlier that the fear hadn't sunk in yet, but the reality is that I've re-read this 100 times and am now just staring at the screen wondering if I should publish this post. Wondering if anyone will ever read this and hold me accountable to everything I've committed to do. Well, here goes... who cares I guess, it's just the world wide web, there's a lot stupider things floating around out there than my blog.