While visiting my parents and brother/sister-in-law/niece last weekend, we sat down to watch the movie Stranger Than Fiction. This is a movie that Kevin and I have watched several times, it never gets old to me. In fact, it gets better and better on each viewing. May I present to you a scene from the movie that struck me with particular poignancy on this viewing:
Harold: Dave, can I pose a somewhat abstract, purely hypothetical question?
Dave: Sure.
Harold: If you knew you were gonna die, possibly soon, what would you do?
Dave: Wow, I don’t know. Am I the richest man in the world?
Harold: No, you’re you.
Dave: Do I have a superpower?
Harold: No, you’re *you*.
Dave: I know I’m me, but do I have a superpower?
Harold: No, why would you have a superpower?
Dave: I don’t know, you said it was hypothetical.
Harold: Fine, yes, you’re really good at math.
Dave: That’s not a power, that’s a skill.
Harold: Okay, you’re good at math and you’re invisible. And you know you’re gonna die.
Dave: Okay, okay. That’s easy, I’d go to space camp.
Harold: Space camp?
Dave: Yeah, it’s in Alabama. It’s where kids go to learn how to become astronauts. I’ve always wanted to go since I was nine.
Harold: You’re invisible and you’d go to space camp?
Dave: I didn’t pick invisible, you picked invisible.
Harold: Aren’t you too old to go to space camp?
Dave: You’re *never* too old to go to space camp, dude.
For some reason, right after that I blurted out, “Oooh… I’d got to the San Francisco Baking Institute and take their bread classes. And I’d take a photography class. And I’d go to Greece.”
It kind of surprised me that I knew immediately what kind of things I’d want to do if I knew my life were coming to a close. But then, I shouldn’t let impending death be the impetus to actually take action. Now, maybe I can’t afford to send myself to all these places RIGHT NOW because I’d probably have to quit my job to have the time for these. And if I quit my job the cash flow would cease… but I think I should probably make these things an actual priority in my life. You know, goals to work toward at some point.
My husband on the other hand, doesn’t have a list. He totally identifies with the scene from the movie Office Space:
Peter: What would you do if you had a million dollars?
Lawrence: I’ll tell you what I’d do, man: two chicks at the same time, man.
Peter: That’s it? If you had a million dollars, you’d do two chicks at the same time?
Lawrence: Damn straight. I always wanted to do that, man. And I think if I were a millionaire I could hook that up, too; ’cause chicks dig dudes with money.
Peter: Well, not all chicks.
Lawrence: Well, the type of chicks that’d double up on a dude like me do.
Peter: Good point.
Lawrence: Well, what about you now? what would you do?
Peter: Besides two chicks at the same time?
Lawrence: Well, yeah.
Peter: Nothing.
Lawrence: Nothing, huh?
Peter: I would relax… I would sit on my ass all day… I would do nothing.
Lawrence: Well, you don’t need a million dollars to do nothing, man. Take a look at my cousin: he’s broke, don’t do shit.
No, my husband wouldn’t want the three-way. (Well, maybe he would.) My husband would choose the ‘nothing’ option. My husband’s sense of responsibility would fly out the window if he had to make a decision on how to live out his life. In fact, if presented with his deathbed, he would probably choose to play video games, eat fatty hamburgers and candy all day and make a perma-dent in the couch. I told him he should come up with some kind of life goals, because I’m a naggy spouse like that!
So what about you guys? Do you have any life ambitions, or things that have always “sounded cool” but you’ve never pursued? If so, what are they?