So, I've been doing this almost every two years now, and updating this list so it stays at the back of my mind. Here's this year's update.

Getting there! Getting there!
*Phew!*

Simple Rules:

1. Things I have already done - Blue
2. Things that i would love to do - Red

Here we go!!

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with dolphins.
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive (It was SMOOOTH!!)
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone.
08. Said “I love you” and meant it.
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea. (Definitely from the shore.)
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game.
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa.
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables.
18. Touched an iceberg.
19. Slept under the stars.
20. Changed a baby’s diaper.(It's definitely not pretty! Well, pretty smelly, yes.)
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment (quite a few times actually )
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger.
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse.
34. Ridden a roller coaster.
35. Hit a home run (A Cricket Six?)
36. Danced like a fool and didn’t care who was looking.
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day.
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment.
39. Had two hard drives for your computer.(Three at the moment :D )
40. Visited all 50 states (Well, 29 for where I am from)
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk.
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country.
44. Watched whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Taken a midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs (Once!)
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud (Absolutely!)
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theatre
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business (LIFE GOAL ACHIEVED!)
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight (Make that CS and we're good!)
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Done drugs
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest.
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on a television news program as an “expert”(Aspiring...)
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music(which song....you don't wanna know :P )
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Said Goodbye and never looked back.
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in a play
96. Raised children (Rhea Amin)
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Passed out cold
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over .
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking with the windows open.(Nikhil n me...russel peters tickets!! :P )
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds (Not needed anymore :P)
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a TV game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol (Except the shotgun)
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon (I wanna!!!)
122. Slept for 30 hours in a 48 hour period
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. States
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi

128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach (LOL!)
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read.
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Visited all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language.
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream(halfway thru...getting there)
142. Said No even though you didn't want to.
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Sometimes we need to be hurt to grow, Sometimes we need to lose to gain,
Some lessons are best learnt through pain.
But what when the loss is far too much?
What when the pain becomes your crutch?
What then? Do you brace it all?
Do you stand when you want to fall?
Things are easier said than done,
To gain something good, the bad must be undone,
Maybe the bad is not meant to go away,
Maybe those very lessons are then here to stay,
Never let go of something so good,
Not a moment spent misunderstood,
Some say you should fight for what you love,
Some say these things need an extra shove,
A million people speaking of their own views,
A million people waiting for a hint of good news,
Mine is a voice amongst those scores,
A little broken symphony of olden lores,
Holding onto hope, for time to heal,
What may not be broken, but just the seal,
But if it ain't broke, why does it need fixing?
Why do these emotions keep on mixing?
The mind and heart are at constant war,
You want to keep going, but the journey will be far,
In search for a heart lost its way,
To hold her hand, never lead her astray,
Time is all she wants for now,
Time is all my heart can allow,
I strain my eyes for a glimmer of hope,
Darkness abounds as I trudge the rocky slope,
One word, one smile, a familiar kiss,
It just takes a moment to realise what's amiss,
Take the leap, my love, I am still here,
With my hand to hold, you shall have no fear.

Mistakes, one too many, that’s what it takes
For a belief to transform, a cynic it makes
Sitting at your corner, sipping on a cup half empty,
Remembering the days gone by, a lost lifetime of self-pity.

No sleep, no peace, no arm to lean on
Never a moment spent without regret,
The cup reads Coffee, it reeks of rum
They told us time and again, never drink to forget.

Time goes by, the world goes on,
And here you sit, a figure forlorn,
A merry giggle lifts your brow at last,
A hint of a smile, all light is not lost.

The world imploded. A million stars shone brighter than they ever had. The melody of a thousand violins playing symphonies unknown. The smell of wet earth after the first rains, intermingling with the faint fragrance of jasmine and vanilla. The comfort of a warm piece of chocolate melting in your mouth. The simplicity of childhood puzzles and the complexity of what they seemed to be back then. Every quake, every shiver, every single imperfection, perfectly defined. There was everything and in that very instant there was nothing at all. The universe heaved up, then down. The lights grew dimmer till it was just stardust in the wind. The music paced itself out to a lull. Jasmines, vanillas, chocolates, rains. What rains? No memory remained. No record of the past or the future except the now. Perfections, imperfections alike seemed meaningless. There was none but that one moment. 

And their lips parted.

Ok, so I did this one quite a while back, and thought coming back to it would be fun!
Here's where I was a few years back - Achievements of a Younger Me

Simple Rules:

1. Things I have already done - Blue
2. Things that i would love to do - Red

Here we go!!

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with dolphins.
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive (It was SMOOOTH!!)
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone.
08. Said “I love you” and meant it.
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea. (Definitely from the shore.)
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game.
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa.
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables.
18. Touched an iceberg.
19. Slept under the stars.
20. Changed a baby’s diaper.(It's definitely not pretty! Well, pretty smelly, yes.)
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment (quite a few times actually )
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger.
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse.
34. Ridden a roller coaster.
35. Hit a home run (A Cricket Six?)
36. Danced like a fool and didn’t care who was looking.
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day.
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment.
39. Had two hard drives for your computer.(Three at the moment :D )
40. Visited all 50 states (Well, 29 for where I am from)
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk.
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country.
44. Watched whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Taken a midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs (Once!)
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud (Absolutely!)
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theatre
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight (Make that CS and we're good!)
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Done drugs
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest.
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on a television news program as an “expert”(Aspiring...)
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music(which song....you don't wanna know :P )
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Said Goodbye and never looked back.
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in a play
96. Raised children (Rhea Amin)
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Passed out cold
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over .
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking with the windows open.(Nikhil n me...russel peters tickets!! :P )
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a TV game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol (Except the shotgun)
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon (I wanna!!!)
122. Slept for 30 hours in a 48 hour period
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. States
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi

128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach (LOL!)
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read.
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Visited all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language.
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream(halfway thru...getting there)
142. Said No even though you didn't want to.
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

The earth, as they say, is a living being. A massive body with a mind of it's own, and we're just mere parts of it's living ecosystem, much like cells of our body, or the billions of beings that live on our body without us knowing it. 

Back in the days of old, the times when ever person, ever sentient being was connected to the Core, the Earth's life energy, things were different. Every single living breathing sentient being was connected to each other and shared urges, emotions and thoughts in synergy, always in touch with the larger scheme of things. The Golden Era, they called it. It was a time of peace, of harmony and joy. 

Then came the usurpers from a planet beyond, or so the scriptures said. 

One day, the sky turned grey, a cloud of unfathomable darkness blotting out the last specks of sun as the vessel dropped down from the heavens, setting the air ablaze as fireballs rained down from up above. It wasn't quite a vessel as they found out later, but a rock of massive proportions, that glowed white and grey, forever pulsating, almost alive and breathing. Yet it did nothing; at least for sometime; and for that while, all was well again with the world as they knew it.

And then it started happening.

At first, it was just small things that appeared out of place in the harmonious society of then. An angered butcher raised his knife at his wife. The neighbourhood dog bit a child playing near it. A horse threw its rider off and ran away. Lovers got into arguments over the littlest of things. Jealousy became a thing of reality. No one seemed to suspect it had anything to do with the rock. After all, it had been years that it had been there, a glowing presence against the night sky and a glimmer in the daylight haze. 

The elders across families started noticed this change slowly. As they traced it back to the first instance of such anomalies, it dawned upon them and their eyes grew wide with fear and disbelief. It became clear as to what they needed to do. 

Destroy the rock. 

Harnessing the elemental powers they gained from the Earth, they tried their best, focusing all their energy at the rock, but no amount of concentration would breach the outer crust of the glowing behemoth. So they decided to build an army. 

Never before had an entire species come together to achieve something as impossible as this. But then again, never before had such a need arisen. It took years for the elders to discover the ways to focus the elemental energy into four distinct elements - Earth, Fire, Wind and Water. 

Earth-Shakers were the farmers of their time. Deep rooted in their connection with the soil and what lies underneath, theirs was the faction with the strongest connection to the Core.

Fire-Breathers were the smiths, the metal workers. Harnessing their knowledge of different earthly elements and how they got along with each other, they focused on the ways fire burned and affected things around them. Together with Wind-Whisperers, they made a formidable force, setting the air ablaze at a whim.

Wind-Whisperers were the messengers. Fleet footed and quick in thought, they could talk to the wind, making it move to their command. 

Water-Movers were entertainers. A faction of oddballs from the look of it, theirs was the largest and most united faction, able to stop rivers and move seas in large groups.

The elders led the factions, each taking over one and leading them into a united front to destroy the rock. But it wasn't without resistance. A revolution never is. 

As they attacked the rock, it fought back with pulses of negative energies that created greater and greater rifts in society. The Water-Movers went down first. An entire new generation drowned in their own jealousy and anger. Being the most diverse group, the rock's influence struck them harder than most others. Then went the Fire-Breathers, but not without a bold stand. With the Wind-Whisperers' help, they set the crust of the rock ablaze in columns of white hot fire. They would have succeeded too, if the effort hadn't spent them so much. Such concentrated fire for long amounts of time took their toll on the soldiers' bodies as they started burning up slowly from the inside. It wasn't long before they could go on no more, having lost enough men and women to the attack. But their valiant efforts yielded an opportunity that won them the war. Earth-Shakers sank the soil around the rock and pressed on it's sides as it sank down deeper and deeper into the soil. Wind-whisperers sang their eerie war songs as they focused wind into a hurricane of electricity around the rock. So strong was this hurricane, they almost blocked out the rock's radiations. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Earth-Shakers concentrated all their energy into one beam of pure green-gold that emanated from the Core and went straight up through the heart of the rock, shattering it into billions of pieces that flew in a thousand directions. The Wind wasn't slow to respond and caught all pieces in it's gust before flinging them into the dark abyss of space that it had come from.

Well, almost all pieces.

And this remained buried, lodged among the rubble that resulted from the Core's attack. As the factions celebrated their victory and mourned their losses, this piece of rock dimmed into darkness, apparently dead and decaying. 

Till it pulsed.

Once. 

Waiting.

Since I promised, here's one for my dear friend N ;)

Staring at the starry night
I'm thinking of all the times
I've wanted to say what my heart feels
But it all just stays inside of me
However hard I've tried.

Staring at the starry night
I see the twinkle in your eyes
The way your hair falls down your face
The way you slowly rise.
The way you wink at me
With a playful little smile,
The way you hold me in your arms
It's been such a while.

I've seen you move to rhythms divine,
I've been at your side,
and you've been at mine,
We've seen time fly,
From the time we first met
To the day we said goodbye,
Not once my feelings did I confess
I knew not if you'd say no,
Or if I would hear a yes.

I wish I'd said those three little words,
And then you'd have known
How much my soul yearns for you
But now the bird has flown.
And here I sit, under the stars,
Thinking about you,
Of all the times I wanted to,
But never thought it through.

If I had a second chance,
I'd ask you out to one last dance,
Twirl you around into a spin,
The world blurs around to a world within,
A sparkle of fairy dust, a glimmer of joy,
A moment of fantasy, just you and I.
And then you'd know, this much is true,
My heart beats only, and only for you.

But here I sit, under the starry sky,
Thinking of the times gone by,
A silhouette etched against the night,
The setting moon my only light,
Yearning for just one little chance,
To take your hand for one last dance.