When I was 13 years old, I made a list of things to accomplish. I have since lost that list, but I more or less know what I want to do. Some more dreams have been added, and some have been cut as well.

I have accomplished several dreams. I love flying, and I always wanted to fly a plane. Well, I've been up in the air twice, once even doing half the work involved in a takeoff. (That means I basically guided the plane down the runway.) Another one of my goals expands on that, and that was to get my pilot's license. Well, I still need to fly 38 more hours before I can even think of doing that. There are classes and things I'd need to take too. I suppose that will be put off until I have some extra money to burn, as it's quite expensive.

I did, however, manage to get SCUBA certified in February of 2002, and that was a dream of mine. I absolutely love diving. There's a special freedom to it. Moving in three dimensional space instead of being confined to the earth is wonderful. I'm still a bit nervous with it sometimes, though I chalk that up to inexperience. But I do find it very relaxing. I only wish I could go more often and stay down longer when I do go.

Now that I'm SCUBA certified I can accomplish two more dreams of mine. I'd love to go to Hawaii and dive around the humpback whales, but I think that's kind of illegal, so I'm not sure I can do that one. I'd also LOVE to swim with a manta ray. I saw a photo of a diver hanging onto a manta once, and ever since then I've wanted to ride a manta as well, but I'd be content just seeing them swim around me.

My list also included visiting all 50 states of the US. So far, it's up to 15. I think I'm off to a pretty good start, though two of those were techinically not visits as I didn't get further than the airport.

There are lots of other things I'd like to see and do.

I love orcas, but I've never seen one in the wild though I've certainly tried! I done many whale watches, though I didn't see my first wild whale until 2002 - it was a juvenile grey whale. I've seen dolphins out there plenty of times though - common dolphins, bottlenoses, and lags. I still would love to see a pod of orcas in the wild, perhaps by kayak, and be able to just sit and watch them.

Of course, there are three places I want to see wild orcas at. I want to go to Norway, and see those orcas. I don't know why I want to go to Norway so badly, but I do. The orcas there are simply beautiful. I'd also like to go to New Zealand and see those orcas, though I also want to see New Zealand just because it's New Zealand. I've wanted to visit that country since I was about 10 years old. And then I want to see the famous orcas off of the coast of British Columbia. My favorite orca was named Top Notch, better known as A5, and I wanted to see him for years, but he died.

As long as we're on the subject of visiting other places - I'd like to go back to England too. I think I just want to find a little house to stay in for a month or two. I have this vision in my head of a house with a field across the road, and I can sit and look out on that field, or find a calm lake to watch a sunset on. Well, I did see something like this while I was there, and I know more or less where it is. I'd love to go back and rent a house there for a bit and perhaps just paint for awhile, or something.

As you can see on this site, I also write, though I find the stories here rather silly. They were primarily written for my own amusement, and I didn't bother with seriousness or proper language and whatnot. One of my dreams is to eventually write a novel and perhaps get it published. I've tried writing novels before, and actually started about five of them. I get bored with the story, and if I'm bored, anybody reading it will surely be bored. So I've never actually finished writing a novel, though I'm currently working on another one.

Heck, I'd be happy just getting a short story published. =P

Perhaps it's a little off the beaten track, but I've been interested in falconry since I was about eight years old, and I'd still like to somehow be involved with that. I don't know if I'll get my own bird, but I'd love to work with raptors to some degree - perhaps at a zoo. Maybe some day, if I can put the time into it, I'll look into getting my own bird. (It's a long process just to get certified for that, and I don't know if I can really dedicate all the time I need for that right now.)