chookooloonks life list #80: taste 50 types of rum (no. 1 - tommy bahama golden sun)
Here's something sort of cool: writing down the life list has already changed my life. Kind of.
A couple of nights ago, I made plans to meet my friend Victoria for happy hour. Victoria and I have been friends for over 15 years, and it had been a few months since we'd seen each other. So we decided to get together at a bar near home.
I arrived earlier than expected, so I sat at the bar to order my usual glass of wine. But then, as the bartender approached, I remembered my life list.
Taste 50 types of rum.
"What would you like?" she asked.
"Um... what kinds of unusual rums do you have?"
"Rum?" she sounded surprised. "Well, I have... Tommy Bahama Golden Sun..."
"Sold," I said. "I'll have that."
And so I did. Unexpectedly and despite its name, Tommy Bahama is actually a Barbadian rum, according to the bartender -- and when I googled it, it turns out that it's also a clothing company. Who knew? Nonetheless, the rum was quite tasty -- smooth, slightly sweet. Very good.
After I took a sip, I pulled out my camera (from my new camera bag, words cannot describe how much I love this thing), and took a photograph. One of the other bartenders standing nearby looked at me with curiosity.
"Oh, I'm a photographer, and trying 50 rums is on my life list," I explained. "I'm taking the photograph to record it. In fact, taking 1000 portraits is also on my list. May I take your photo?" And she surprisingly agreed.
Are you getting this?
I mean, think about it: if I hadn't written down my life list, I would've never slowly savoured that single shot of rum that night; instead, I would've asked for my usual pinot grigio and been done with it. Since I've taken lots of photographs of wine, I probably wouldn't have pulled out my camera if I'd ordered a glass. And I certainly wouldn't have asked a total stranger if I could take her photograph.
I'm starting to think that maybe the magic of writing down a life list is simply the setting of intention in motion. Because even that little scene in that bar -- a scene which, ultimately, couldn't have lasted more than 3 or 4 minutes -- made my life just a tiny bit more interesting.
Giddy-up.
Song: The Bacardi Mojito "Muddle" song. This song sounds exactly how the bar we were in felt.