1000 THINGS NOT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE

A THOUSAND PLACES* NOT TO SEE BEFORE YOU DIE

Introduction

It was my fiftieth birthday party! What a landmark and all my closest friends there. My good friend Mary, with whom my wife and I have often fantasized with over exotic vacations we might take ‘some day’, gave me the book, “1000 places to see before you die”. I laughed, thanked her And put the book on my shelf with the thought of reading it soon.

Later, I couldn’t quite shake a small nagging feeling of something

Wrong about the book. I didn’t pay too much attention to this feeling for a

While and just enjoyed reading about all the fantastic fun places one might

Go ‘before dying’ that I might go to.

But I couldn’t shake that nagging feeling. Then I realized why… first

What a cosmic bummer to be given a book about ‘when you die’ on your

Fiftieth birthday. That’s a day that already is freight loaded with a lot of feelings about mortality. I didn’t really need a book about what I ought to do yet before I croaked.

Then I started thinking about what a bummer the book REALLY was.

First, assuming I lived another twenty years (a big maybe for me given my

Family history) I would have to visit 50 of the places I “must see” each

Year, to see all of them before kicked the bucket. OH MY!!! There was no

Way. That is, for all practical purposes, one place a week, from now until

I die. NO freaking way!! So here was the message…dude, you are too old,

You are going to die without seeing all the cool places you MUST see to have lived a complete life.

Then, to make matters worse, I started looking at how much it would

Cost to see all these places you MUST see. At an average of about $2,000

Per place (that was a very low estimate of the costs by the way) at 1,000 places, we are talking about $2,000,000 bucks. That’s without a job because

I got to spend all my time traveling to these exotic ‘must see’ places.

So, it was clear I was a loser and wouldn’t make it. (Even though I

Did look through and see a bunch of places that I actually had seen and which were unforgettable places).

So, I thought, ‘what kind of book would be an uplifting book’ one

That people could actually have a chance of achieving? One that wouldn’t

Cost a fortune? What would be the opposite, of ‘A Thousand Places to see

Before you Die”?

Thus the idea for this book. For those who want to live a full and

Fulfilled life. For those who want to minimize the pain, ennui and aggravation of life, I could identify a thousand things not to see or do while You are alive. This would be in reach of all. It would be positive. I had been To many of the 1000 mandatory places, but, in my life some are offset by some of the horrible life experiences I had. Maybe I could contribute and list things ‘not to do’. Just as important to life fulfillment and happiness…and a lot cheaper and far more achievable.

So, with that introduction I present “One Thousand Places not to

See before you Die” (And with places, I include things not to do and

Situations not to get into).

To be continued.