5. Buy a new car

I did it. I found her, the one for me. Sleek, red, sporty and a bargain. So I took her home, gave her a name and Ruby and I have been smoothly driving along ever since.

Until now.

Ruby and I have one tiny problem, I'm too small to see out through the back windows when I reverse. So Ruby and I came to an agreement, she would beep when I got near anything and I would trust her. But she broke my trust and now she has a scar to prove it.

And now to make matters worse she has decided to lock me out. I blipped my key cheerily, heels clicking as I strode towards her but as I took the handle she rejected me. Nothing happened. So here I stand, cold, outside, confused. And I wonder, was I seduced by her supple leather and gleaming paint work? Did she mislead me to believe we were meant to be?

The List

 Not quite up to 100 yet but getting there.

1.    Accept that I have the chest of a teenage boy and that is never going to change because I am not brave enough to get implants.
2.    Bare all on a nude beach.
3.    Become a published author.
4.    Buy a house.
5.    Buy a new car.
6.    Come to terms with the fact I am probably the palest non albino person in the world.
7.    Come up with an ingenious invention.
8.    Create my own art.
9.    Dance on a roof top under the stars.
10.    Do something to help people less fortunate.
11.    Drive a fast convertible sports car and speed along the road with the top down and my hair blowing in the wind.
12.    Commit to an exercise routine, even if it just means dancing around my room every day.
13.    Find a job I love and that I am good at.
14.    Finish all those writing projects.
15.    Finish my novel.
16.    Finish my screenplay.
17.    Floss my teeth.
18.    Gamble in Las Vegas.
19.    Get a better camera and take beautiful photographs.
20.    Get married.
21.    Get over my fear of the telephone.
23.    Give a speech.
24.    Go champagne tasting in France.
25.    Go cheese tasting.
26.    Go for a carriage ride.
27.    Go horse riding on the beach.
28.    Go on a road trip.
29.    Go on holiday to the Caribbean.
30.    Go on holiday to the Maldives.
31.    Go sea fishing and learn to fillet and cook my own fish.
32.    Go swimming outside at night.
33.    Go to a vineyard.
34.    Go to Australia (avoid spiders) and experience the chilled out atmosphere.
35.    Go to Brazil.
36.    Go to Bruges and drink all different flavoured beers.
37.    Go to China and experience the buzziness and crazy fashions.
38.    Go to Cuba and go Salsa dancing.
39.    Go to Greece and eat olives.
40.    Go to Hawaii and Hoola dance.
41.    Go to Iceland.
42.    Go to Japan and eat sushi.
43.    Go to Jersey in the springtime and eat lots of seafood.
44.    Go to Madrid.
45.    Go to Mexico and drink Mojitos.
46.    Go to Monaco and see how the rich live.
47.    Go to more art galleries.
48.    Go to Prague and photograph all the historic buildings.
49.    Go to Seville and eat oranges.
50.    Go to the Seychelles.
51.    Go to the top of a snowy mountain.
52.    Learn how to use photoshop.
53.    Learn how to throw a punch.
54.    Learn how to edit films.
55.    Learn my alcohol limit.
56.    Learn self defence.
57.    Learn to shake a cocktail like a bartender.
58.    Learn to speak a foreign language.
59.    Learn to think before I speak.
60.    Listen to a wider variety of music.
61.    Make a cake that rises.
62.    Make a short film.
63.    Master salsa dancing.
64.    Record a song and preferably edit it so you can't hear how bad my voice is.
65.    Research my family tree.
66.    Ride a camel in the desert.
67.    Ride in a helicopter.
68.    Ride in a hot air balloon.
69.    Save someone's life.
70.    See the Northern Lights.
71.    Shoot a gun.
72.    Sleep under the stars (although I hate camping, hmm).
73.    Stand under a natural waterfall.
74.    Stay at the top of a mountain.
75.    Stay in a French farm house.
76.    Stay in a ridiculously over the top hotel.
77.    Stay in a snowy lodge with a hot tub.
78.    Stay in a villa with friends.
79.    Stay up and watch the sun rise.
80.    Stop being afraid of children.
81.    Stop giving in to my anxieties.
82.    Successfully sport a different hair colour - success being defined as it not going horribly wrong or changing colour of its own accord.
83.    Surf.
84.    Swim in the sea without being afraid.
85.    Take a month long trip somewhere far away.
86.    Tell a great joke.
87.    Tour Italy - Venice, Verona, Milan, Valencia, Rome, Pisa, Tuscany, Florence.
88.    Tour the USA - Boston, LA, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Washington, and Miami.
89.    Understand how the government works.
90.    Visit a haunted house.
91.    Visit a rainforest.
92.    Worry less about stupid things that don't matter.
93.    Write a recipe book.

where to begin?

I'm one of those list people. I continually add more and more things I want to do, so instead of getting shorter, it never seems to end. And then when it starts to look a little messy I rewrite it neatly, removing the things I've already done. Well, this isn't one of those lists. This is a list I'm desperate to complete but know I'll be sad when I do. This is a list I never want to wipe clean. This is a list of all the things I want to do with my life while I still have chance to do them, before I get too old, or too tired, or too tied down. Before I'm 30 or at least before I die.

I know I'll keep adding to the list almost because I'm afraid of what happens when I finish it but also because what I want is always changing. So I guess this is my promise to myself that I will do it. I will succeed.