Life List

Checkin’ Boxes since ’83!

I believe a life list offers better insight into a person than any Bio ever could. These are my dreams and aspirations. I have every intention of doing these things, no matter how ridiculous they may sound. I have a strong defense for every line item and an equally workable plan to get there. You are about to take part in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind of Rich Mayfield. Presented here, in no particular order, here is the Life List of Rich Mayfield:

 

  1. Learn to Break Dance and win a break dance fight.
  2. Learn to Salsa and win a competition.
  3. Learn to play the Piano.
  4. Compose 4 original piano movements based on the 4 seasons.
  5. Dope a bullfight such that the bull wins. Name him Ferdinand.
  6. Visit the moon.
  7. Visit Mars.
  8. If I’m 80, and it doesn’t seem like this is going to happen, I will lower my standards to a one-way trip to: A. Be the only person interred on another planet, and, B. Be the first man to set foot/hoveround on another planet.
  9. Climb Mt. Everest without an Oxygen mask or Sherpas.
  10. Rock out at Burning Man.
  11. Learn to Ski.
  12. Sing Karaoke with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots
  13. Pilot a submersible to the bottom of the Marianas Trench.
  14. Discover a shipwreck with either monetary or historic value.
  15. Get licensed to skydive.
  16. Base jump.
  17. Bungee jump.
  18. Live in India for 1+ months on the beach in a hut. Visit root bridges.
  19. Walk the entire Great Wall of China.
  20. Live in Cuba for 1+ months. Avoid conversion to communism.
  21. Get Married.
  22. Raise 2 children. Take them on some of these adventures. Make them little adventurers.
  23. Sail around the world for 5 Years.
  24. Bonus: Cruise around Somalia with a mini-gun and a few SEAL friends until the piracy problem is solved…or just get through the Suez Canal as fast as possible.
  25. Do research of some sort that requires me to live in the arctic.
  26. Run with the bulls in Pamplona. Flirt with death and conquer her with charm.
  27. Hike El Camino de Santiago.
  28. Hike Te Araroa.
  29. Bonus: Throw my Naval Academy Class Ring into a Volcano.
  30. Bonus: Get a midget, a blond eunuch, and Liv Tyler to accompany me.
  31. Hike the Pacific Crest Trail.
  32. Surf in Baja Mexico, hike across the country, visit ruins along the way, and end in Cancun.
  33. Zipline through the Amazon canopy.
  34. Take a trip up the Amazon river.
  35. Float down the Nile, visit ruins along the way, avoid being ransomed by terrorists.
  36. Heli-Snowboard.
  37. Board Tuckerman’s Ravine.
  38. Adventure into the North on a dogsled. Possibly Iditarod.
  39. Build a house/castle out of stone. Old-world style. Start a sustainable farm. Leave it to my kids.
  40. Play Jai-Alai in a beer league.
  41. Sail a catamaran across the channel to Catalina Island, CA.
  42. Learn to short-board.
  43. SCUBA Dive the Great Barrier Reef.
  44. Trek across Australia walkabout style.
  45. Go on an African Safari…not in Somaila, I won’t be welcome (but will be wanted) there at some point.
  46. Wrestle a bear.
  47. Hunt big game- take home a rug or something.
  48. Discover a new species to offset the rug.
  49. Pilot a Hot-Air Balloon around the world.
  50. Orbit the Earth in some sort of Space Station.
  51. Live in an underwater habitat (like a space station).
  52. Go Canyoneering.
  53. Live on a Caribbean Island for 1+ months.
  54. Attend a funeral in which the departed is drifted out to sea on a funeral pyre that is subsequently lit ablaze by a flaming arrow. I will be the archer. This is a trial run for my own funeral. Take notes.
  55. Learn Spanish.
  56. Learn French.
  57. Learn Chinese.
  58. Hold an elected public office of some sort. Not because I’m power hungry, but because I don’t trust anyone else to do the job right.
  59. Launch a satellite on my own.
  60. Learn to Fly.
  61. Hang-Glide through the Alps in Interlaken, Switzerland.
  62. Write a best-seller.
  63. Spend a month in a monastery.
  64. Find wild Foxfire.
  65. Swim with an Orca in the wild.
  66. Re-build a classic car.
  67. Re-build a motorcycle.
  68. Run a marathon.
  69. Do a triathlon.
  70. Learn to swan dive from 10+ meters.
  71. Sleep on the side of a cliff.
  72. Own a house to entertain with. Movie theater, fire pit, large living room, full bar, commercial kitchen. Establish regular parties.
  73. Travel to every continent.
  74. Make an epic movie centered around one of these exploits.
  75. Build a grown-up treehouse to live in. Yes, just like the Ewoks.
  76. Hike Kilimanjaro.
  77. Hike Mt. Fuji.
  78. Fly in a wingsuit.
  79. Citizenship: Florida/New Hampshire State Resident, Citizenship in the US, Canada, and one country with a numbered banking system.
  80. Financial Freedom: A self sustaining trust that accrues interest I can live on.
  81. Win the Baja 1000 in a Volkswagen Beetle.
  82. Keel walk in a suit like Alex Thompson.
  83. Ride the Orient Express.
  84. Space Jump.
  85. Build a stone monument that serves as an observatory for some sort of astronomical event.

100 is the magic number, but I have 84. This list is living and will be updated as my aspirations evolve.