When I was a freshman in high school, one of my teachers gave an assignment called "50 Life Goals." Somewhat like a bucket list, the task was simple: think of 50 goals for your life and write them down. I remember thinking, "50 things I want to accomplish before I die? Should be easy peasy, lemon squeezy," but the more goals I added, the harder it became to come up with new ones. I will admit, they eventually got a bit ridiculous.

While rifling through some old files on my flash drive, I found the list and decided to go through it. Maybe I've accomplished a few of them, as five years have gone by, maybe not so much. Either way, I'm sure it'll be nice to laugh at freshman me trying to make up 50 things to do in my life.

1. Get all A’s (quarterly grades) in all four years of high school.

I did end up accomplishing this in high school but definitely have broken the streak since then. Ah, the beauty of college.

2. Become more organized in preparation for college.

This most certainly did not happen. One might even say it anti-happened.

3. Constantly use my date book.

Every semester I get a new one, every semester I start off really strong, filling in assignments and meetings and whatnot, and every single semester I either lose it or stop using it.

4. Don’t forget about an assignment/turn in an assignment late.

Oh, you silly little girl.

5. Don’t fall asleep in class.

Ditto (unfortunately...don't look at me like that, I'm not proud of myself).

6. Graduate High School.

Number one in my class, #likeaboss.

7. Get into a good medical college.

I mean...yes, but I'm an English major in said college. But why quibble?

8. Get a good roommate.

None of them have stolen from me or tried to kill me, so I call this a win.

9. Survive/Graduate college.

Attempting to, at least.

10. Get all A’s in college.

I supremely overestimated myself back in the day.

11. Get an apartment that doesn’t smell like cabbage.

Still the goal for when I do get an apartment.

12. Have a dog (a black lab named Reggy).

If I could only accomplish one thing on this list, it would be this.

13. Figure out what I want to do with my life, career-wise.

Currently, I would like to open up my own coffee shop/used bookstore, but who knows? Maybe I'll want to be an acrobat next week.

14. Become a Neurologist-thing.

I'm not sure what I meant by "thing," but I can assure you that this won't happen.

15. Go skydiving.

Gotta be basic sometimes.

16. Visit/live in Italy.

This would be the thing to accomplish second (after the black lab). I'm learning Italian currently, and the more pictures I see of their architecture, their mountains and beaches, and their FOOD, the more I want to go.

17. Get a motorcycle driver's license.

I have a leather jacket, so I'm in line to accomplish this one.

18. Be like Jane Goodall and study primates for a bunch of years.

*Shakes head* I was a goofy kid.

19. Learn how to fence.

Still would like to do. I feel like it's a nice party trick.

20. Learn more Latin.

I'll stick with the Italian for right now, then I'll look into it.

21. Travel the world.

Please click here to read about some of the places I want to go.

22. Watch the sunrise and sunset at least once.

I've done this, multiple times. Very soothing, I highly recommend it.

23. Pet a cow.

This would be ranked number three. Fun fact: the cow is my favorite animal and my favorite food.

24. Backpack across Europe.

Also would love to just backpack across Italy. I just want to see the world!!

25. Write a book.

I'm an English major and taking a creative writing class this semester, so I have a pretty good start.

26. Visit the Library of Congress.

As much as my family traveled when I was younger, we never went up to the 13 colonies. I think being around that many books might possibly do me in though...

27. Visit/live in Alaska.

Even though I'm a weenie when it comes to the cold, I think the experience could be amazing. Also, northern lights, anyone?

28. Buy out Google.

A) I highly doubt I will ever make enough money to do this. B) What would I do with it once I bought it? Continue the search engine business? Come on, freshman me, ya gotta think these things through.

29. Paint a pretty picture.

I did. It was lovely.

30. Have a business in which I give donkey tours in the Grand Canyon.

Ya know, if the shop doesn't work out, I'll try my hand at this.

31. Read Pride and Prejudice (and finish IT!!!)

I AM SO CLOSE!

32. Get over 10,000 on 2048.

Goodness gracious, I had forgotten about that game. I guess this will never happen.

33. Beat my mother at Scrabble.

This has not be accomplished. For being a math teacher, my mother is oddly good at Scrabble.

34. Paint my nails in a rainbow.

I quite enjoy painting my nails, and it helps me not bite my cuticles (oddly enough), so I've done this multiple times.

35. Make up a word that winds up in the dictionary.

Haven't checked recently, to be honest.

36. Publish the book that I wrote in goal 27.

This is, I believe, when I started to run out of ideas for goals.

37. Take a mission trip to some foreign country and do mission work in said country.

Still would like to do this at some point.

38. Work for Habitat for Humanity.

I actually did this last year, and it was much more fun and rewarding than I thought it was going to be. I was scared that I wasn't going to be able to do anything, as I have little to no experience building structures that aren't built with Legos, but it actually worked out well, and I learned a thing or two as well. 10 outta 10 would recommend.

39. Visit the Tennessee mountains again and go to the highest point.

Did visit Tennessee again, but did not go to the highest point, unfortunately. Maybe next time.

40. Take a cruise to somewhere.

Not many opportunities in Kansas, but I'll work on it.

41. Read Wuthering Heights (and finish it!!).

I have to finish Pride and Prejudice first.

42. Get this list done (Just kidding; I want to sing a solo in front of a group of people and not just my mirror).

I accomplished both the real goal and the fake one. Senior year of high school, I was in the musical All Shook Up as the Mayor and sang "Devil in Disguise." If you decide to look the song up, listen to the Broadway version and know I sounded nothing like it.

43. Reach my money goal for my dream car.

As my dream car is Mushu, my Ford Taurus, I'd say accomplished.

44. Buy said car.

See above.

45. Read The Scarlett Letter (and finish it!!!).

I gotta finish Pride and Prejudice and then Wuthering Heights first.

46. Go to a real concert (I don’t care for who, I just want to go).

I just recently went to a Saint Motel concert with a good friend of mine. It was a completely amazing and mind-blowing way to experience the music, and that's all I can really write about it.

47. Don’t break my flute/piccolo in my entire high school/college career.

That one time my pic broke was totally not my fault, I'll have you know.

48. Work/volunteer at a pet shelter.

I honestly think this would end very badly, because I would totally try to steal the dogs.

49. Be nice to everyone (well at least try my best).

I have at least tried.

50. Remember the word for today: pied-à-terre which means a house away from home. Like a hotel or a vacation home.

And I have. Every time I remember this list, I remember this word. How much useful information have I lost because I remember this one French word, I will never know.

And there you have it, folks. An interesting peak into me as a freshman in high school, so beautifully innocent and unaware of life as an adult. I can honestly say that if I made a list like this now, I'd have goals like "keep my scholarships" or "sleep at least three hours a night every night," not goals involving donkey tours and reading books. Even so, I'd still like to try to accomplish the ones I haven't yet but still could. I'll check back with it in five years, and hopefully, I'll be able to cross some of them off. If I don't, I'll still have the pleasure of laughing at my 15-year-old self and now my 20-year-old self.