Blog This Challenge 20: 10 things you want to do in your lifetime

My schedule has been so hectic lately that I just couldn't find any time to blog. I still have many stories to tell you but today I will take a break and use a little help from Blog This for inspiration.

This week's challenge is to write about 10 things you want to do in your lifetime. Let's roll!

1. Master at least 5 languages
I think I first became interested in languages at around the age of eleven. I was reading a Jules Verne novel ( A Journey to the Centre of the Earth) and came across a word I had never seen before: polyglot. Luckily, my book was a young reader's edition and included a glossary at the end. After looking up the word, I was really surprised to discover that some people could speak so many languages; at the time, I only spoke French. Impressed, I continued reading my book and the word "polyglot" found itself a nice little corner in my mind before falling asleep. In junior high school, I had to study English and Spanish; I really hated it, especially the Spanish. I wanted to be able to speak these languages, but the classes were a bore. In high school, I continued with English but quit studying Spanish as it was not mandatory anymore. I still didn't like my English class but I found it useful for it helped me understand the shows on YTV and the Backstreet boys' songs. In the meantime, however, I had a strong interest for my own language, French, and enjoyed my literature and grammar classes at lot. I finally got seriously hooked on foreign languages once I started studying Japanese in college. I dreamt of going to Japan and I knew I needed to speak Japanese to live there; I had found what I had been lacking all along: a goal. Since then I have tried to learn many languages (German, Cantonese, Korean) and I've perfected the ones I already knew. I can now easily switch back and forth between Japanese, French and English. Lately, I've been working really hard on getting back the Spanish I dreaded so much. Once I'm fluent in it, I want to tackle another language. I love talking to people and getting to know different cultures and I find that learning a new language is a good way to do so.


2. Backpack around Europe
I've only been to Europe once, but what I saw during those three weeks in June 2005 gave me enough reasons to become infatuated with the old world. History is one of my biggest passions and Europe has enough of it to last me a lifetime. There are so many places and stories to discover! When I was in France, I was so excited to see the streets that had been mentioned in all the French literature classics I had read! Lately I'm really into Ancient Rome and I'm dying to walk in the steps of the Caesar! I really want to see more!!! For the moment I can only plan a one month trip to Italy, but one day, I will do it! I will backpack around Europe!


3. Live and work in Europe
Since I want to see Europe so bad, I figured that living and working there would offer me the best opportunity to travel around at a low cost. I'm not sure yet how this will fit in my future plans, but we'll see. I especially would love living in Spain, France or the Czech Republic.


4. Buy a house in Tuscany
The book "Under the Tuscan Sun" has everything to do with this. The idea of buying an old house in Italy, renovating it and living in it after retirement just strongly appeals to me. I'm pretty sure my husband would be against this, but I still have a lot of time left to convince him.


5. Backpack around South East Asia for a year
It was in college that I first heard of people taking entire years off to travel. At the time, I thought that the idea was preposterous. I must say that I had a pretty narrow view of life and that I couldn't quite see how such a thing was possible. It was just way too off the beaten track for me; plus, it sounded really expensive. No thank you. However, now that I've been to more than 10 countries, the idea really sounds appealing. After having lived in Japan for so long, I realize that I'm already living off the beaten track and that I don't think I will ever be to go back to the ordinary way of live I used enjoy. Just like the Europe backpacking tour, I'm not sure when I will take this year off, but we'll see. I usually get what I want.


6. Publish a book
If I remember correctly, I wrote my first short story when I was in fourth grade. It was a "horror story" and my teacher (or was it my mom?) had been kind enough to type it. I had then shared it with my friends. After that I was almost always writing something. Back then, we didn't have a computer and I still have folders filled with loose leaves covered in my scribblings. Writing was great for me because I could do it everywhere; when bored in class, I would take a piece of paper and start writing. I never got caught because no one could really tell if I was taking notes or not. Most of the stories of that period have potential but are full of plot holes so big they could contain Canada! My sister likes to read them out loud to me just to embarrass me. Unfortunately, my passion for writing cooled down with college; I had no time to write. Even now, I rarely sit down to write. I still think of thousands of plot lines in my head, but sitting down to write them just feels like a pain. Luckily, last year, I found the National Novel Writing Month website and decided to participate. Even though 50 000 words in 30 days sounded preposterous, I still managed. And the best part? It felt soooooo good! So this year I will participate again. In the meantime, I'm editing last year's novel. Hopefully, one day, I will see it on the shelves of a big bookstore.

7. See a cinematographic adaptation of one of my novels
When I write my novels, I always use background music; it inspires me a lot and helps me to see the scene. It sometimes takes me a long time to find the best track, but once I do, my fingers fly on the keyboard. I also tend to mimic my characters' facial expressions with my own face (and this is one of the reasons I can't write well around people.) In other words, my novels are built around a lot of visual, and I would love to be able to turn one of my novel into a movie. That way, I would be able to show people what I had in mind when I wrote a specific scene. I know I probably wouldn't have much to say if it actually happened, but one can always dream.


8. Own a big house with a big kitchen
I looooooooove cooking and the kitchen I have right now is terrible (just another 5 months to go!!!) I wish I could have a big house in the countryside with a huge kitchen. I would, of course, design the kitchen myself and make sure I had space for everything. Unfortunately, the big house dream does not reconcile with the travelling the world dream; I will have to make choices...or become really rich.

9. Have a daughter

Lately my hormones have been telling me that I need to have children. It's probably just my biological clock ticking but I now found myself looking at babies all the time. I actually think I have almost decided to have one when I turn 30... We'll see. Anyway, if I have a child, I really, really want to have a daughter. I want to dress her up, teach her what I know and become the best mom this universe has ever seen. Now this dream conflicts many of the travelling ones but I'm sure I'll find a way to reconcile all of them... or become rich.


10. Become a vampire
Finally, becoming a vampire seems to be the best way to be able to do #1 to 9. You see, with all these projects, what I lack the most is time. If I was a vampire, I would have all the time (and money!!) I need to accomplish everything I dream of. Mind you, I don't want to become a "Twilight" vampire. No, sir! I'm a hardcore Anne Rice fan! So if any of you happen to cross Lestat's path, can you tell him to give me a call?