A few additions to the bucket list and a few explanations
1. Learn to code/design a website, move this blog to said site. - I love computers, more importantly I love the internet and how you can present information in a seemingly infinite manner. The pages are there, they can grow, change and keep record of who you were. They aren't you but they are of you.
2. Return to Puerto Rico - There are two places I hold a bond to and that is Oregon and Puerto Rico. They are in my blood and it's only natural to want o be part of both.
3. Reach a point where I can become a certified interpreter in both American Sign Language and Spanish - Matthew 25:29 "For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath." I have been so blessed to be born into a family that has opened doors with me by simply using our native languages. This has given me far more than I ever deserved and for a time I hid that talent. My mission brought me clear perspective and an opportunity to share what I have in the service of others. I want to do that again because it makes me feel good.
4. Build/Own a business (and how will i love it if it ended up being a indoor soccer place with two fields! What's that...? I can already hear Brynn groaning). - It's either soccer of I finally open Oregon's premier Mexican Buffet.
5. Continue to blog, or journal keep for the rest of my life. - So far, so good. And now that Brynn has gotten on board we are hitting the web fierce and cat like, dropping truth bombs left and right.
6. Start a family and raise them well. - This would make me so happy to bring children in the world and raise them with my beautiful wife, Brynn.
7. Build a house (or remodel it), I want to work with my hands. - This is something I have alluded to in the past but growing up I was always my dad's assistant. The man can do it all and he made sure to bring me with him to show me the ropes. Which has led to my aversion to construction and remodeling. My plan was always to always let a professional do it. But the the general principles of maintain a home hasn't changed for so long and there is this growing need to be the one who is able to fix that leak in the faucet or rewire our house. I want be able to say, "I did that". Goodness knows that I will one day end up with quite a few tools (not hoping but it just will happen) and might as well learn how to use them.
8. Program my Quidditch game, NHL '94 style. - I love Quidditch and aside from soccer I could honestly say it my favorite sport. I love games sports games that put me in control of the teams making key decisions that begin an endless dynasty. And after seeing the many iterations of Quidditch that populate the video game sphere I think I have the most amiable solution to my lack of a good Quidditch video game.
9. Finally hold my version of Muggle Quidditch. - And why stop at video games when I can get out on the field and create mayhem. I still haven't figured out the snitch conundrum but I have an idea.
10. Gain a working knowledge of cars and begin to work on my own (provided they don't all leapfrog to the future, in the year 2000!). - Especially after this week I want to be able to prevent the occasional fire under the hood of my car.
11. Twelve books a year for an average of a book a month. Start knocking out books from the list of 1,001 books you need to read before you die. - Still working on it... like the nice little loophole? - I watch far too much television and movies and though there are many great stories told through those mediums I can tell you that nothing has ever gripped me like a book. The pleasure of finishing it, the need that gnaws at you to turn each page to behold what mystery hides behind the author's prose. I love books and they need to be part of my everyday life.
12. Read the scriptures every year. - You could say that this is the ultimate book (books) and by the far the most fulfilling. It doesn't give you the satisfaction of finishing a good story, it fills your soul with the nectar of spiritual fruit which bears you up when you walk amid the deserts of life.
13. Finish my four generation pedigree chart and hoard all the information I can get on them. Digitize all I get my grubby hands on. - I remember my mom and dad telling me stories as we grew up of the important events, places, and people. These people they had known and cast shadow today, specters of the past, glimmers in the future. My family can be together forever. But I want to know what they did, how they spoke, what made them tick. I want to preserve that so that when my kids get a big head they can remember that dad was always shooting his mouth off when they played Risk with him.
14. Art projects - "The circle of life", "Faceless", "Feet". Each of these represent titles and concepts of pieces I want to do but have yet not been able to materialize. One is part never ending sculpture and the others will be using photography as my medium.
Pictures from this last weekend which share a little of the fun to be had in good ol' Portland Oregon. It all started with my companion in the PCC bathrooms which I got to admit brought me a chuckle. Then as paraded downtown looking for a bus home I got held up by a Trimet transit emergency initiated by the kind fellow seated in the wheelchair. As the story goes while the number 12 was making it's way over westbound over the Burnside Bridge he was acting funny and when the driver asked him if he was ok only to have him a few minutes later pee on the bus and pass out. From the spot where I took the picture I could smell the alcohol that may have contributed to the situation. After that an extra bus was dispatched in order to whisk away the mob that lined the street only to turn us into the bus from Speed, because if we went anywhere under 50 miles per hour we could probably see clearly the obscene gestures and foul language directed our way as the bus sped along without stopping (we were filled to the gills and I am thankful I got out from that sardine can alive). One of the highlights of the weekend was testing my mettle in the game of futsal. More like the outdoor version of the "Beautiful Game" where there are out of bounds lines it is however played on a tiny field (even compared to an indoor arena). Fast paced and you're always running trying to exploit the other's team weakness in order to press the advantage the team I played for (which is Brynn's cousin's husband's Brian team) were able to lay to rest the team that had the previous week defeated them. Well we were able to get off to a fast start and pretty much control the game throughout and I think it ended up 9-4 with two assists and goal from yours truly. What's more that served as a precursor to the following day's indoor game where I notched my first goal of the season (albeit in the motif of Henry) which helped soften the blow of another loss by the Cougars (at least we didn't get goos egg'd) and kept me searching for my first indoor soccer victory (28 games and counting).
