When murderer James Rodgers was asked if he had any last requests before being executed by a firing squad, his needs were simple. "Why yes," he said. "A bullet-proof vest."
And while the hero of Cuban independence Jos Mart did not include "Liberate a country" in his list, he did name three other important tasks: Plant a tree, write a book, have a son.
Stop procrastinating. There are a thousand reasons to put off til tomorrow what can be done, well, tomorrow. But forget about them. Think about the thousand good reasons why you should just get started now, and begin:
#Attend at least one major sporting event: the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the U.S. Open.
#Throw a huge party and invite every one of your friends.
#Swim with a dolphin.
# Skydive.
# Have your portrait painted.
# Learn to speak a foreign language and make sure you use it.
# Go skinny-dipping at midnight in the South of France.
# Watch the launch of the space shuttle.
# Spend a whole day eating junk food without feeling guilty.
# Be an extra in a film.
# Tell someone the story of your life, sparing no details.
# Make love on a forest floor.
# Make love on a train.
# Learn to rollerblade.
# Own a room with a view.
# Brew your own beer.
# Learn how to take a compliment.
# Buy a round-the-world air ticket and a rucksack, and run away.
# Grow a beard and leave it for at least a month.
# Give your mother a dozen red roses and tell her you love her.
# Be a member of the audience in a TV show.
# Put your name down to be a passenger on the first tourist shuttle to the moon.
# Send a message in a bottle.
# Ride a camel into the desert.
# Get to know your neighbors.
# Plant a tree.
# Learn not to say yes when you really mean no.
# Write a fan letter to your all-time favorite hero or heroine.
# Visit the Senate and the House of Representatives to see how Congress really works.
# Learn to ballroom dance properly.
# Eat jellied eels from a stall in London.
# Be the boss.
# Fall deeply in love -- helplessly and unconditionally.
# Ride the Trans-Siberian Express across Asia.
# Sit on a jury.
# Write the novel you know you have inside you.
# Go to Walden Pond and read Thoreau while drifting in a canoe.
# Stay out all night dancing and go to work the next day without having gone home (just once).
# Drink beer at Oktoberfest in Munich.
# Be someone's mentor.
# Shower in a waterfall.
# Ask for a raise.
# Learn to play a musical instrument with some degree of skill.
# Teach someone illiterate to read.
# Blow all your savings and take a flight on the Concorde.
# Spend a night in a haunted house -- by yourself.
# Write down your personal mission statement, follow it, and revise it from time to time.
# See a lunar eclipse.
# Spend New Year's in an exotic location.
# Get passionate about a cause and spend time helping it, instead of just thinking about it.
# Experience weightlessness.
# Sing a great song in front of an audience.
# Ask someone you've only just met to go on a date.
# Drive across America from coast to coast.
# Make a complete and utter fool of yourself.
# Own one very expensive but absolutely wonderful business suit.
# Write your will.
# Sleep under the stars.
# Take a ride on the highest roller coaster in the country.
# Learn how to complain effectively -- and do it!
# Go wild in Rio during Carnival.
# Spend a whole day reading a great novel.
# Forgive your parents.
# Learn to juggle with three balls.
# Drive the Autobahn.
# Find a job you love.
# Spend Christmas on the beach drinking pina coladas.
# Overcome your fear of failure.
# Raft through the Grand Canyon.
# Donate money and put your name on something: a college scholarship, a bench in the park.
# Buy your own house and then spend time making it into exactly what you want.
# Grow a garden.
# Spend three months getting your body into optimum shape.
# Drive a convertible with the top down and music blaring.
# Accept yourself for who you are.
# Learn to use a microphone and give a speech in public.
# Scuba dive off Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
# Go up in a hot-air balloon.
# Attend one really huge rock concert.
# Kiss someone you've just met on a blind date.
# Be able to handle: your tax forms, Jehovah's Witnesses, your banker, telephone solicitors.
# Give to a charity -- anonymously.
# Lose more money than you can afford at roulette in Vegas.
# Let someone feed you peeled, seedless grapes.
# Kiss the Blarney stone and develop the gift of gab.
# Fart in a crowded space.
# Make love on the kitchen floor.
# Go deep sea fishing and eat your catch.
# Create your own web site.
# Visit the Holy Land.
# Make yourself spend a half-day at a concentration camp and swear never to forget.
# Run to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
# Create your Family Tree.
# Catch a ball in the stands of a major league baseball stadium.
# Make a hole-in-one.
# Ski a double-black diamond run.
# Learn to bartend.
# Run a marathon.
# Look into your child's eyes, see yourself, and smile.
# Reflect on your greatest weakness, and realize how it is your greatest strength.
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Learn to Survive in the Wilderness
Put your survival skills to the test and learn what it takes to make it in the real world.
Skydive in a Spectacular Place
For the brave souls who dare, skydiving offers a chance to get about as close to flying as is humanly possible.
Visit an Active Volcano
Bubbling lava, paths of fire cutting through the trees — it's a sight most people only witness on television or in books.
Visit a Nude Beach
A midnight skinny-dip might actually seem prudish compared to the sensory overload of visiting a nude beach in broad daylight.
Go to a Nudist Colony
Want to shed those extra layers, feel the sand between your toes, the sun on your skin?
Scuba Dive the Great Barrier Reef
It is half the size of the state of Texas and is considered to be one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
Climb Mt. Everest
Once the domain only of the most seasoned mountaineers, Everest today is accessible to people from all walks of life.
Race in Alaska's Iditarod
In Alaska it's called the "Last Great Race on Earth," a 1,150-mile course that pits man and dog against nature.
Learn How to Be a Clown
Running away to the circus may be as easy as visiting the city by the bay.
Go to Japan and Eat Fugu
For those who like to inject a little danger into everything they do, the Japanese and Koreans have the perfect dish.
Go On a Safari
One million trips to the zoo cannot compare to the sights, sounds and smells of a safari.
Take a Swamp Tour and Learn How to Wrestle an Alligator
Visit the land of all things reptile: Central Florida's Gatorland.
Swim With Sharks
Dive into the waters of Cocos Island, one of the world's most famous diving locations.
Learn How to Ride a Bull
Visit a fantasy bull riding camp and be a real cowboy — if only for a few hours.
Get Close to a Wild Animal That Could Kill You
Approximately 250 miles southwest of Anchorage is a pristine wilderness where animals are the priority and humans come second.
Run With the Bulls in Pamplona
Trying to outrun an angry half-ton beast with sharp horns is probably high on the list of life-endangering adventures.
Swim With Dolphins
Take a dive with Flipper.
Travel to Michoacan, Mexico to Witness the Migration of Monarch Butterfly.
The tree are alive — with butterflies! One million Monarch butterflies, actually.
Go Whale Watching
Spot whales in the waters around Washington's San Juan Islands.
Visit Africa's Serengeti Plain
Hop in a hot air balloon for a bird's-eye-view of the great wildebeest migration.
Go to a Writers Retreat and Work on Your Novel
Generations of writers have learned the same thing: the best way to wrap up a novel is to get away for a while.
Learn to Paint a Landscape Like Van Gogh
It's never too late to pick up the brush again — or even for the first time.
Read "Anna Karenina" and Explore Tolstoy's Moscow
Get to know the author by visiting his Moscow home, now a museum.
Attend a Shakespeare Festival and Bring the Bard to Life
Spend a midsummer night's eve in the company of star-crossed lovers and feuding families.
Participate in a Pow-Wow With American Indians
Get a glimpse of North America's heritage by visiting the Gathering of Nations Pow Wow in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Explore the New York Public Library
Only in New York would the public library boast that it contains the "largest and most comprehensive collection in the world on the history, literature and lore of tobacco."
Spend a Week at Burning Man
It's the seventh-largest metropolitan area in Nevada, but don't bother looking for it on the map.
Visit Michelangelo's David
Even 500 years after it was completed, Michelangelo Buonarotti's "David" stands tall in the world of fine sculpture.
Visit the Hershey Chocolate Factory in Pennsylvania
Hop in a cocoa-bean-shaped car and learn all you ever wanted to know about chocolate.
Visit a Prison Museum
Walk the hallways of America's most infamous prison.
Volunteer to help others.
The biggest challenge may be finding the most needy cause or the most fulfilling project.
Ride a Cable Car in San Francisco
When San Francisco constructed its cable car system 125 years ago, no one was trying to build a historic landmark or a tourist attraction.
Watch the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace
Don't miss this quintessentially British ritual.
Visit Paris and Skate Through the streets at Night
Join 10,000 Parisians as they hit the streets for Europe's biggest street skating party.
Take in Memphis Elvis-Style
The best place to get to know Elvis circa A.D. 2000 is at his self-appointed mansion.
Enjoy New York City at Christmas Time
See the Big Apple at its holiday best.
Get a Taste of High Fashion in Milan
From the moment you land at Linate Airport in Milan, you know you have arrived in the fashion capital of the world.
Learn to Tango in Buenos Aires
To really feel the soul of the tango, head to Buenos Aires, the birthplace of the dance.
Sip Tea in a Traditional Tea Garden
The ancient Japanese tea ceremony is steeped deep in religion, history and mystery.
Dance a Waltz at the Vienna Opera Ball
The ball transforms the Vienna State Opera into the world's most shining example of life as art.
Visit the World's First Public Art Museum
Completed in 1787 by Catherine the Great, the Hermitage was originally home to the empress's private collection of Western European art.
Visit the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C
The black granite wall was constructed as a place of healing and reconciliation for the families, friends and supporters of the more than 58,000 slain or missing soldiers.
Visit a Former Concentration camp
Visit the Memorial and Museum Dedicated to the People Who Lost Their Lives in the Holocaust.
Explore the Routes of America's Underground Railroad
Learn about the network that helped 40,000 to 100,000 slaves to escape brutal lives in the south.
Visit the Crazy Horse Monument in South Dakota
See the legend immortalized in a 563-foot-high, 641-foot-long sculpture.
Walk the Great Wall of China
Take a long walk along the wall, or just marvel at its ingenuity.
See the Ruins of Pompeii
In A.D. 79, Pompeii was a bustling town, with a full complement of homes, markets and temples. Walk along the ancient streets, roads that still show the marks of horses' hooves and chariot wheel ruts.
Visit the Athenian Acropolis
A spectacularly preserved site representative of ancient Greek civilization, the Acropolis in Athens is an architectural and historic treasure.
Participate in a Traditional Tet Celebration
Grab your sparklers, bring along a party attitude and plan a trip to Vietnam for this year's Tet celebration.
Celebrate the Day of the Dead in Mexico
In Mexico, families come together to remember the deceased in an annual celebration of DÃa de los Muertos.
Re-live America in the 1950's: Go to a Drive-In Movie Theater With Your Sweetie
Revisit the days before multiplexes and DVDs, when drive-in theaters reigned supreme.
Eat a Meal With a World-Class Master Chef
Get a personal demonstration and tasting with a master chef.
Tour a Vineyard and Sample a Good Bottle of Wine
Where can you go to sample fine wine?
Stay at the World's Fanciest Five-star Hotel
Pamper yourself — hour-long, in-room massages, seven-course room service and butler-drawn baths.
Enjoy the Oscars Like the Movie Stars Do
You don't have to be a Hollywood star to have a stellar Oscars night.
Vacation Like James Bond
Live just like the famed 007 or at least like the novelist who invented him.
Be a Rock Star for a Day
Even if you can't carry a tune, you can still enjoy 24 hours just like the real rockers do.
Crash a Hollywood Studio
Get a guided tour to see the scene behind the scenes.
Rent Your Own Private Island
Getting away from it all doesn't mean sacrificing the finer things in life.
Spend a Weekend in Vegas
Anyone looking for cultural immersion with a touch of class and a load of crass will luck out in Vegas.
Bask in the Sun on a Beach in Rio
Relax and live it up at trendy Ipanema Beach.
Soak in the mud and waters of the Dead Sea
Visit the world's oldest health resort.
Sleep in a Haunted Castle
Mortals live until they die, but ghosts hang around long afterward.
See Stonehenge
Even though it has been there for 5,000 years, no one knows the who, how or why of its origin.
See the Seven Wonders of the World (or at Least the Great Pyramid)
Seeing the Seven Wonders of the World would be quite an adventure — considering that it's not even clear what they are.
Visit Machu Picchu
The mountain-top ruins of Machu Picchu — the mysterious sacred site of the Incas — are so remote that for 400 years nobody knew about them except for a handful of local farmers, shepherds and the llamas that graze there.
Visit a Magnificent Temple
When in India, do as the Hindus (or Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Jews and others who live there) do.
Visit a Spiritual Place
St. Suplice is a 17th-century church named for the seventh-century Bishop of Bourges — who was born to wealthy parents and dedicated his life to the poor.
Kiss the Blarney Stone
Five miles from the Irish city of Cork, intrepid visitors can find their voices in historic Blarney Castle.
Visit the Mysterious Blue Grotto in Capri
Any number of boatmen will be happy to row visitors through a small hole in the rocks that is the only access to the cavern.
Bathe in the Blue Lagoon
Find out why Iceland is the hottest destination in Europe — literally.
Witness the Thaipusam Festival in Singapore
Come along as devotees of the Hindu god Lord Subrani gather to practice ritual piercing in a festival atmosphere.
See the Southern Sky
Visit an observatory and see the night sky in its purest form.
Rediscover Evolution the Darwin Way in the Galapagos Islands
For a tiny handful of islands floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the Galapagos Islands sure have made their mark on history.
Help Dig for Dinosaur Bones
Known for its harsh beauty, Argentina's Ischigualasto Basin is five miles wide, 40 miles long, 3,000 feet above sea level and a paleontologist's gold mine.
See a Tornado or Hurricane and Live to Tell Your Grandkids
Only a nut would choose to head straight into the eye of the storm, right?
See the Northern Lights
Alaskan legend describes the northern lights as torches carried by the dead as they move into the next life.
Visit the Amazon Rainforest — While It's Still There
Explore the Amazon from an aerial perch.
Float Along the Nile
Experience the Nile's changing rhythms — sail from Aswan to Sehel in a traditional felucca.
See the Sunrise From Maui's Mt. Haleakala
There's a reason Hawaii's best sunrise vantage point is called Mt. Haleakala, or "House of the Sun."
See the Birth of a Baby — Human or Animal
What if there was a place to go to bear witness to the birth of an animal?
Volunteer to Help Save the Environment
Sometimes the only way to revitalize a sagging spirit is to throw body and soul into a project that expands your horizons and lends a helping hand at the same time.
Ride a Leg of the Tour de France
Riding the toughest race course in the bicycling world isn't for the faint of heart or soft of tush.
Be a Basketball Star
Lace up your high tops and hone your skills at a fantasy basketball camp.
Hit the Links at St. Andrews, the Birthplace of Golf
It's just you versus 600 years of history.
Drink a Mint Julep at the Kentucky Derby
How did a simple two-minute horse race become one of the most important events in the American South?
Take in the Indy 500
Auto racing may be an international sport, but one internationally famous race remains purely American.
Run, or Walk, in the New York Marathon
Surviving not only the 26.2-mile run, but also a weekend in the Big Apple must be one of the most rigorous physical challenges in the world.
Try to Hit a Major-League Fastball
The chances of hitting the game-winning homer are probably slim for most people, but there still may be a way to buy a trip to the diamond.
Climb Mount Olympus
One visit to the mountain of the gods in Greece is enough to remind any visitor of the true nature of the competition.
Watch the Sumo Wrestling Championships in Japan
Like the Super Bowl or World Series, the grand championships of sumo are more than just sporting events.
Take a Train Ride on the Orient Express
Consider a journey where luxury and leisurely pace are the goals and getting there is half the fun.
Ride a Harley Across the U.S.
For a nostalgic taste of one of the last remaining slices of Americana, there's no better place than America's old highway to the west, Route 66.
Ride the Biggest, Meanest Roller Coaster in the World
Find out which of America's amusement parks are home to the best coasters.
Raft Down a World-Class River
For novices and intermediates it's hard to find a course that is manageable without forsaking the whitewater "hard-core" aesthetic.
Ride a Gondola in Venice with the Love of Your Life
True romantics know the most effective displays of affection require a lot of imagination and a dash of tradition.
Ride a Mule Through the Grand Canyon
Travel into the depths of the canyon aboard a mule, the ride of choice for prospectors of old.
Test Drive a Ferrari
Pipe dream or not, some drivers just can't seem to shake the urge to get behind the wheel.
Take a Steamboat Cruise Down the Mississippi
Travelers who want to recapture the Mississippi life so eloquently described by Mark Twain can still do so aboard a steamboat.
Take a Ride at the Pushkar Camel Fair
The Pushkar Mela is a boisterous gathering of traders, drivers, buyers, gawkers and tourists.
Train like an astronaut at space camp
Learn what it feels like to be an astronaut in training.
****And last but not least, accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour. Your eternity depends on it.****
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