Filed under: Philosophy of the Person
Hot Ten Things I Have to Accomplish Before I Die
Thread Starter : Me. Tagging : Doc, Serge, Ram, Heidi, Mark.
These are the things which will make me come back from the Underworld in case I die without having accomplished them. Of course, in no particular degree of importance.
-> Donate blood to a stranger
It’s like being intimate with someone you do not really know.
-> Swim in the Dead Sea
The Salt Basin of the World… for no philosophical reason whatsoever. I just think it’s fun, you know, floating like a floating thingy there and not sinking even if I kill myself in trying to.
-> Finish reading Umberto Eco’s Faucault’s Pendulum
Everytime I attempt to read this bloody book from cover to cover, I stop at chapter 100 something, lose interest, regain interest, and when I pick it up, I’ve lost thread of the story so I start from chapter 1, then lose interest… and the vicious cycle goes on. I think finishing this book is My Greatest Challenge, more challenging than any accounting final examination I took way back in college.
-> See Ramon Jacinto in flesh, and grab a photo op!
I adore RJ. As in adore. For Roman Catholics, the verb ‘adore’ is only acceptable if used for God. And I mean, I adore RJ in the Roman Catholic sense–that for me, he is a god.
-> See Juan Luna’s Spoliarium
Me and Mister Penguin went to The National Museum to be able to delete this from this list. Alas, the museum was closed for renovation and all we got to see were shipwrecks in the Finance Building. According to the museum staff, the renovation would not commence until funds are sufficient. In case I die before seeing The Spoliarium, I would haunt Malacanang Palace and punish those corrupt government officials for depriving me of accomplishing this.
-> See the monoliths of Easter Island and The Pyramids of Giza
I don’t think I have to explain this. These man-made (?) structures are awesome in photographs. What more if I get to see these live.
-> Learn how to do guitar plucking
My guitar-playing stint has led to a halt because my guitar is somewhat damaged. Thing is, my guitar is a classic guitar, and the frets are too large for my tiny fingers. What I have to do before I resume to guitar playing is to buy a jazz guitar, then start learning how to pluck… which might take a lifetime because I never seem to learn. I love the guitar, but the strings and the frets seem to hate me.
-> Learn how to speak Spanish
It’s a dying language, but The Philippines ca 1800s fascinate me–you know, things about Juan Luna, Jose Rizal, Intramuros, etcetera–and because of this fascination (that may or may not be connected to my past life, perhaps in the past I was an illustrado or something, which justifies my being a mongrel in this lifetime, by the way), I will learn the language.
-> Acquire a house by the beach, in P.I. of course
This is where I will spend my old age, where I will see my last sunset / sunrise / whatchamaccalit. I have to have this before I die because… oh never mind. I just want it.
-> Create a ‘quite acceptable’ large oil painting
Like JL’s Spoliarium? Its size is a mini bus’ according to Mister Penguin. That would be nice. It shall hug the walls of my house / my child’s. Therefore, to be able to display this painting, I or one of my children would have to be filthy rich. This is a tedious task, and I have no idea yet on what I would paint. But knowing me, the painting would merely be for family consumption.
COMMENT / VIOLENT REACTION :
I had a hard time doing this hot ten not because I have so many things to do but because when I get to think about something to be included in this list, I go "Oh, that thing I can forego, really…" Meaning? Perhaps I can go on with my life dying as a nobody, because even if we become a somebody in this lifetime, several years after, we all turn into dust. Eons after, we are faceless, traceless creatures in the immortality of time and the vastness of the universe.
Then again, there are still things which I cannot allow to pass by without me having experienced them. They are just too beautiful to be left untouched, uninfected by thecosmicmuffinapostle.
