1. I got to countdown and welcome the New Year in Times Square. This was a check off the bucket list. It's incredible to be in one location with a million other people, all for the same reason. What a celebration of humanity!
2. I got laid off from my first full-time job. Yeah. Sucks. But it changed the trajectory of my life. The job was nice- nice people, nice pay, nice office, but long hours at times, lots of data crunching, and while it was interesting subject matter (entertainment), I wasn't particularly passionate about helping a movie studio squeeze a few extra pennies from their latest title. I was always afraid that I would wake up one day, aged 30, and realize that I had just worked for a paycheck since I graduated from college. This was probably God saying, "Ok. You want to do something else? Go do it."
3. I made a decision not to find another corporate job and to travel the world instead. This is such a cliche statement when you read it, but when it's happening in your life, it's scary and fraught with risk. By the time I got laid off, I had a nice-sized chunk of cash in my bank account. I had thought about investing and growing my money in a gamut of ways. Who knows, maybe even team up with someone and buy a house! But instead, without any promise of financial security in the future, I decided to use the money to travel and invest in MYSELF.
4. I got to be part of a wedding band. Another bucket list item! This was also the first wedding of close friends my age that I attended. So begins a new age of matrimony. Everyone is getting engaged and married!
5. I traveled the world and filmed it. Once I made the decision, the rest was easy. Well, relatively. There were travel logistics to plan, visas to sort out, and extra preparations to think about for extended travel (e.g. a first aid kit for when you get attacked by a wild ostrich at the Ethiopian border). And all on a budget. Still, all a small price to pay for the truly life-altering perspectives gained and people met. Yes, there are still places to discover, people to meet, food to eat, experiences to be had. No doubt, there will always be a sense of wanderlust. But whenever I see those "Top 10 places to visit in your lifetime" articles, I can happily say I've checked off a bunch of them.
6. I got to see the Olympics live for the first time. Man, another epic bucket list check-off. Especially seeing Team USA play Australia in basketball. And seeing folks from all over the world come together was just as epic. In fact, I got my ticket by doing a three-way swap with some Spaniards and a dude from Luxembourg. Another huge celebration of humanity!
7. I asked my best friend to become my girlfriend. And she said yes. After years of friendship and an epiphany that life would be terrible without this truly special woman, I asked Jessi, "Would you be my girlfriend?" at our $6 a night hostel on August 14th, 2012, our first day in Egypt. She made me ask again, more formally, and then said, "Yes!" with a big smile. I think we began our relationship in one of the toughest environments ever - on the road, through 11 different countries and 24 hours a day of being in close proximity. But through it all, I found a partner I can trust with my whole heart, someone who is patient, humble, and willing to put up with all my poppycock. I love you immensely, Jessi Paj Johnson.
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