Creative Loafing has some ambitious readers. In response to our August 10 cover story, “Things To Do Before I Die,” we received lists from folks who’d like to die having done everything from paying down their credit card to winning a Nobel Peace Prize. Here’s a sampling:
Ashley Perryman
Journalism Student at UNC, Cartoonist
• Win the Nobel Prize for literature for a book I wrote under a clever nom de plume.
• Get Carey Hart to teach me to ride (and jump) on a BMX bike.
• Help to write and star in a cult classic comedy movie.
• Marry the love of my life without being late to the ceremony.
• Write for The Onion and The Daily Show.
Liz Luke
Radio personality, singer
• Pay down my credit card.
• Balance my checkbook.
• Achieve my black belt in tae kwon do.
• Watch my daughter grow up, graduate from college, get married, and become a mother.
• Travel.
• Obtain my dream job — teaching communications at a university level.
• Laugh more and often.
• Learn to let go of the stuff that eats me alive.
• Get back into my high school cheerleading skirt.
• Love more.
Lori R. Lavely
College & University Program Director
• Read the entire Bible and actually understand it all.
• Raise at least one child.
• Meet Jake Delhomme.
• Create a political party for “moderates” like myself.
• Still be able to work out 4-5 days a week when I’m 80.
• Get over my fears of confrontation and bugs.
• Open a luxury home for abandoned and/or neglected animals.
• Open a store called “Frog Frenzy” in historic Charleston, SC.
• See a tornado.
• Have a joyous marriage with my husband, Tommy, until it’s our time to go.
Dave Potts
Video Production
• Live to see the bigheaded folks downtown stop taking so much of my money to make Charlotte a “world class city” and focus on making it a good and decent place to live.
• Make amends for the hurt I’ve caused others in my life.
• Pass on a little of my knowledge every day.
• Gain a little of someone else’s knowledge every day.
• Wake up excited.
• Ride the first space elevator.
Clay Fowler
Investor Operations Supervisor
• Skydive solo, instead of tandem.
• Stop talking about and actually act on my conservative political opinions.
• Live, work, and play in New Zealand for an extended period of time.
• Open and manage a Unit Trust investment vehicle for my family and friends, investing in only ethical and socially responsible corporations.
• Snow ski overlooking the ocean down the Andes in Punta Arena, Chile.
• Stop analyzing life and just live it.
Sheila Crump
• Travel more.
• Buy a house in Jamaica.
• Marry the man God has for me.
• Raise my two children with my ex-husband the way God would have us to.
• Listen to God more.
• Do God’s work.
Joe Brosius
Security Officer at the Hilton Charlotte Center City
• Complete my BA and earn an MA in History.
• Buy my wife a luxury convertible.
• Get my weight down to around 208.
• Visit Italy and see where my mother’s family is from.
• Tour Germany.
• Party with Bill Clinton.
Amanda Porter
Licensed Massage Therapist in Uptown Charlotte
• Learn everything I can about massage therapy and help everyone I can to feel better until my hands give out.
• Marry and have children, live somewhere quiet and somewhat secluded while possibly doing massage in my home so that I can be with my kids.
• Make sure that my parents are well taken care of financially — no nursing home for them.
• Meet Sally Field and Richard Gere — not because of great looks, they’re just phenomenal people.
• Take care of myself physically, mentally, and spiritually so that I can be healthy for my clients and my family.
• Work on a cruise ship doing massage therapy or travel around the world.
This article appears in Aug 31 – Sep 6, 2005.
