***NOTE: I have no idea what's going on here.. why i posted this or where i was going with it or what kind of attitude or.. i'm just sorry.. I have lost all feeling in my blog. arg.*** I guess there's a "usual" list - run a marathon Half Marathon, go to Paris, parachute from perfectly functioning aircraft, clean out all the Porn from my your computer. But c'mon - everyone does *that* stuff. I even found a list on the interweb thing. My useful comments have been added. chris has suggested "don't die" which is a very good first item on this list Attend at least one major sporting event: the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the U.S. Open. [snore] Throw a huge party and invite every one of your friends. [you're gonna need *more* than 5 people - dumb idea] phone Rent A Crowd. 0800 FASTMATES Swim with a dolphin. [yeh yeh how about swim with Great White Sharks - now yer talkin'] Skydive. [pft, whatever - how about base jumping?} Have your portrait painted. [with goats blood in Central Africa] Learn to speak a foreign language and make sure you use it. [learn to speak the language of the village in africa where they're painting your goats blood portrait - you're going to have to alert them to the fact the fire ants are devouring your leg] Go skinny-dipping at midnight in the South of France. [go skinny-dipping at mid-DAY at Lourdes when you try'n have some restoritive religious miracle on the stump of a leg left over from the fire ants episode] ok this was a dumb idea made worse by actioning it. what do YOU want to do before you die? go straight to the comments it doesn't get any better from here Watch the launch of the space shuttle. [go INTO space - stow away on board the Shuttle] Spend a whole day eating junk food without feeling guilty. [this is unusual, how? it sounds like every other Tuesday] Be an extra in a film. [LOTRs took care of this one for most people in NZ] Tell someone the story of your life, sparing no details. [anyone who sits next to me on a bus] Make love on a forest floor. [one word for you - well two actually: wetas and centipedes] Make love on a train. [the 8:12am from Papakura to Downtown's a good one] Learn to rollerblade. [snore] Own a room with a view. [cheesus, who wrote this] Brew your own beer. [pointless busy work] Learn how to take a compliment. [shut up butt features] Buy a round-the-world air ticket and a rucksack, and run away. [that's more like it] Grow a beard and leave it for at least a month. Give your mother a dozen red roses and tell her you love her. Be a member of the audience in a TV show. [I'm beginning to wish i *was* dead] Send a message in a bottle. Ride a camel into the desert. Learn to ballroom dance properly. [the mashed potato *is* properly!] Eat jellied eels from a stall in London. [eat my shorts] Be the boss. [AM the boss] Fall deeply in love -- helplessly and unconditionally. [yes cos putting that on a list will make it happen - "hi michelle, whatcha doin?" "Oh, I'm falling in love" "Oh, yeh? how's that workin' out for you?" "Not bad, but the guy keeps hiding and it's getting harder and harder to find him with that restraining nonmolestation order thingie but I'm workin' on it."] Ride the Trans-Siberian Express across Asia. Sit on a jury. [everyone I know spends most of their time avoiding this civic duty] Write the novel you know you have inside you. [oh shut UP about NANOWRIMO already would you!] Go to Walden Pond and read Thoreau while drifting in a canoe. [oh now you're just being silly] Stay out all night dancing and go to work the next day without having gone home (just once). [hello? monday morning??] Drink beer at Oktoberfest in Munich. [mmm be'or] Be someone's mentor. [a blazing ball of molten metal melting up in Earth's upper atmosphere? oh OH.. a MENTOR. *sucks teeth and goes to yoga*] Shower in a waterfall. [do you have any *idea* how *cold* the water would be?? you have _got_ to be kidding] Ask for a raise. [well, *duh* "can i have more money?" "no." "can i have more money?" "no." "can i have more money?" "no." "can i have more money?" "no." yeh, that was definately worth doing before i die] Learn to play a musical instrument with some degree of skill. [i can play the spoons] Teach someone illiterate to read. [cheesus,, I don't even read] Blow all your savings and take a flight on the Concorde. [man that's just getting old] Spend a night in a haunted house -- by yourself. [spend an evening with my ex-mother-in-law] Write down your personal mission statement, follow it, and revise it from time to time. [To Never Put Anything That Isn't Delicious In My Mouth] See a lunar eclipse. [tick] Spend New Year's in an exotic location. [can't get more exotic than Highland Park Countdown Supermarket] Get passionate about a cause and spend time helping it, instead of just thinking about it. [or, just get passionate and wound up about stupid stuff that doesn't matter, that's good too] Experience weightlessness. [too busy experiencing weightfulness] Sing a great song in front of an audience. [Wednesday night is Karaoke night YEH] Ask someone you've only just met to go on a date. [hey, i actually did that except I missed out the "meeting" part and went straight to the "asking out on a date" part] Drive across America from coast to coast. [sigh] Make a complete and utter fool of yourself. [every _ day] Own one very expensive but absolutely wonderful business suit. [snore] Write your will. [won't] Sleep under the stars. [yes yes we've all been homeless at *some* stage] Take a ride on the highest roller coaster in the country. [thanks goodness i live in New Zealand and that'd be the corkscrew at Rainbows End] Learn how to complain effectively -- and do it! [i have taken complaining to an artform, in fact, mostly only dogs can hear me now] Spend a whole day reading a great novel. [does just looking at the pictures count?] Forgive your parents. [now you're being really silly] Learn to juggle with three balls. [shut up] Find a job you love. [shut up!] Overcome your fear of failure. [SHUT UP] Accept yourself for who you are. [@!!*%] Learn to use a microphone and give a speech in public. [you have to *learn* to use a microphone?] Scuba dive off Australia's Great Barrier Reef. [refer item 4 on this list] what do YOU want to do before you die?

Great. The first entry for me in *ages* and it is going to be a rant. And a *long* rant at that. Sorry about that. And before I start, I have to apologise to all nice, honest and forthcoming landlords and real estate agents. My family has recently moved in to a new rental accommodation. We had been there about a week, when early one Saturday morning, we get a knock on the door. To cut a long story short, the gentleman at the door was offering to help with our finances to try to save the property from going to mortgagee sale. Excuse me! That is correct, this property is up for mortgagee auction in 2 weeks. Oh. Really. I'm glad the landlord told us *that* when he was out last week. We make some enquiries and the real estate agents that tenanted us had no idea this was going to happen. Then, we get contacted by the estate agent wanting to organise an open home at our house. We also find out that the owner has put out a trespass order against agents showing the property. Nice. The agent discussses thing with my wife, and he is told that he should discuss things with our tenanting agent, then get back to us. We hear nothing further. Then, early Saturday morning we get a call from the mother in law. Hey guys, there is an open home at your house tomorrow. Oh. Really. My wife calls and talks to the estate agent and hears about how he "had to move quickly to get the ad in the paper" and how he "tried everything humanly possible" to contact us. Um, excuse me, ever heard of a *cellphone*. So, we agree to the open home but, my we are pretty angry about the whole issue, and don't really want another one. The mortgagee agent tells us we are totally within our rights to refuse entry for the open home. Oh. Really. We then get a phone call from him, asking when would be a good time for the *next* open home. I try to be polite, and create exuses as to why certain days are no good. He knows I'm lying. He starts his spiel about how the week before the auction is the most critical time, and he is trying to do his best for the landlord, and he wouldn't wish this situation on anyone, and would we reconsider the open home as the poor landlord is not likely to get finance, and will lose the property. Oh. Really. You are working *so* hard for the person that took out a trespass order against you? The person that lives in Sydney, and is losing his *rental* property, not actually the place where he is living? You are so interested in geting a good price so that the *landlord* will be looked after, *not* the agency that is ordering the mortgagee sale, and certainly *not* the tenants who have been moved into a property one month before the mortgagee sale? I politely explain that I am trying to look after *my* family, and have limited wish to have our lives disrupted, so that we can be mucked around further by people and organisations that we have no control over. I politely decline his offer of another open home, and exercise my right to deny him entry. We do have rights, you know, and I'm *sure* it will be a condition of your tenancy that we are allowed to enter the property if we have given you reasonable notice, which I think we have. Well, if that is the case you will have to talk to our tenancy agent but we are *still* denying you permission to hold an open home at the property, thank you for your time. Merry Xmas, to all and to all a good night.