16 before 17

I've always been a fan of bucket lists and have always wanted to write one up. However, since I'm not dying (at least I don't think I am) I didn't think it was proper to do so. So I've begun doing the alternative. At the beginning of the summer, I started a 16 before 17 list which I almost completely finished by the due date (end of August). I thought I'd share the list and my thoughts about it.

1. Read fifteen books.
I got around eleven of them and most of them were the Harry Potter series. I had never read them before and I found the Philosopher's Stone in a library sale. I scooped it up 'cause it was only twenty five cents and I was hooked. I borrowed the rest from the library and have slowly started my own collection. I have two Philosopher's Stones, The Chamber of Secrets, The Prisoner of Azkaban, The Half-Blood Prince, and The Deathly Hallows.

2. Spend a day outside.
Okay, I admit I didn't really completely complete this one. When I wrote this down, I was thinking of waking up, having breakfast outside, going into our pool, having lunch outside, going back into the pool, and then when it got too cold, reading on our trampoline, having dinner outside, and then spending the evening in our hot tub. That didn't really happen. My "day outside" was spent at Canada's Wonderland. So although I technically completed this one, I didn't exactly follow my own rules.

3. Keep my room tidy for a week.
I totally procrastinated on this point until the very end. But I actually did it. I had done a massive cleanup of my room and decided that with a bunch of my things in storage, it would be easier to keep things tidy. It wasn't really. But I did it so, yay for me.

4. Drink only water for a week.
I did this one fully. Food and drink isn't a huge deal for me so this wasn't too difficult. Also, food was allowed for me, just no juice, milk, or soda. So it wasn't that big a deal. I might actually do this but for a period of a month for my next list.

5. Sleep in a tent.
I have to give the credit to my parents for this. I probably wouldn't have done this had they not taken us camping in Quebec, so I can't really get all the credit.

6. Sleep under the stars.
To my shame, I did not complete this. I was planning on bringing out a mountain of blankets and spending the night on our trampoline, but every night I was available, there were way too many mosquitoes. Even near the end of the summer.

7. Buy flowers.
I actually did this one. Mainly because it only took money and no time. I ended up buying some little white orchids that died after two days of having them. As soon as I brought them home, I watered them and they immediately began shedding their petals. I admit I did absolutely no research on how to care for them (turns out you should only water them once a week). So there I was, drowning these flowers every day, cursing my luck that I had to buy the only defective orchids. So I let them die. I kind of forgot about them until a guy came to out door asking about the airfield we have at the back of our property. He noticed the dead orchids and told us exactly how to care for them. So now, they are actually growing back.

8. Keep up with this blog.
Okay, I admit there were times that I didn't update for weeks and that is mainly because my camera is being a dooface and won't connect to any computer in the home. I'm still trying to get that fixed. But I'm still here, so I say I get this point.

9. Ride the Leviathan.
I actually had a pass to Canada's Wonderland last year but since I was gone for most of the summer, I only ended up going once and we didn't get to go on the Leviathan 'cause the line was simply too long.
So this summer, I finally did it! ... it wasn't as great as I thought it would be. I still prefer Behemoth better.

10. Do a Marvel movie marathon.
My parents hate movie marathons so I'm lucky that I actually did this. Okay, my parents were gone for the weekend when my older sister and I actually did it and only found out when they got home, but they weren't really angry or anything. Anyways, we ended up watching Iron Man 1, Captain America, Thor, and The Avengers. We didn't have Iron Man 2 and Iron Man 3 had just come out of theatres so we kind of left those out but I did manage to watch IM3 in theatres and IM2 only a couple weeks ago so I say they both count counts.

11. Dive off the diving board.
I wouldn't say I'm afraid of heights. I just hate doing stuff that could potentially hurt me. I've always been a little scared of diving headfirst off a diving board that is at least two meters above the pool. But I did it, I'm proud, and I don't have to do it again.

12. Finish reading the Old Testament.
Okay, when I wrote this down, I thought I would have a lot more time this summer. I was really busy with math (which I dropped for the summer), trying to get a job, and a ton of other stuff that simply doesn't come to mind right now. However, I did make it all the way to Isaiah which I'm really proud of.

13. Do devotions on a regular basis.
So, while I didn't finish the entire OT, I did read my Bible on a regular basis. This is something I've always had difficulty with so I'm happy with what I accomplished.

14. Get rid of 10 items from my closet.
This was actually one of the easiest things on this list. I have way too much clothing that I never wear. I still have a ton of stuff I want to donate to my younger sisters.

15. Go horseback riding.
When I put this on my list, I wasn't really thinking of how I'd get this done. Looking back, if my best friend hadn't surprised me with a free lesson for my birthday at her friend's farm, I probably wouldn't have accomplished this task. I hadn't ridden in a year and it was great to be back in the saddle. I rode for six years but had to quit because of the cost. I need to save up for university so I don't have funds anymore.

16. Finish Barbarian.
I have been writing my very own novel for around a year and I finally finished it. I actually got to around 32 chapters when I decided that I didn't like it anymore. So I scrapped it and restarted. So technically, I wrote two books in a year. It has 29 chapters and an epilogue and is around 95,000 words. I'm super proud of it. It is my baby. I didn't exactly finish it before I turned 17 but it was only like a week later, so I say it counts.

I only wrote this list up at the beginning of the summer and since my birthday is at the end of summer, I only had a couple months to actually do this list. I tried to keep my goals simple and fairly easy to do since I didn't have much time. I accomplished 13/16 so I'm pretty happy. For the other three, I either got close, or I have good excuses. I'm putting together my 17 before 18 list which I'm really excited to start. The goals will definitely be longer and harder but that is all part of the fun. It will be so much fun to look back in a year or so and see all that I've accomplished within 12 months.