BUCKET LIST ITEM No. 390: Watch a meteor shower with the wife and kids
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had an interest in stargazing and astronomy, but until last Thursday night I couldn’t honestly say that I’d ever watched a full blown meteor shower. I put this item on my bucket list months ago, and when I read last week that this year’s Geminid meteor shower was supposed to be especially good, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to scratch this off my bucket list. I wanted my wife and kids to experience it too, and it eventually worked out so that we all got to see more than a few meteors as they streaked through the night sky last Thursday night.
The Geminid meteor shower is an annual event that takes place every December with the peak viewing time usually occurring on Dec. 13 or Dec. 14. The Old Farmers Almanac predicted this year that most people would be able to see an average of 75 meteors per hour last Thursday night, that is, more than one meteor a minute. Viewing this year was supposed to be especially good because of the moon’s absence during the peak viewing times. In Southwest Alabama, the peak viewing time was last Thursday between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., depending on what source you happened to be reading.
My son was in a Christmas play last Thursday night at church and instead of rushing home after the play, we set off for the darkest place I could think of, the Red Town community between Frisco City and Megargel. We parked at the end of a dirt road that’s surrounded by large, flat cotton fields, got out and began to watch the night sky. As our eyes adjusted to the dark, it didn’t take long for us to see numerous “shooting stars” as they streaked across the night sky.
Viewing conditions were perfect. The weather was clear with not a cloud in the sky. The only drawback was that the temperature had dropped down into the 30s, which made things a little chilly for the kids. Despite the fact that they were wrapped up in a thick quilt, they eventually retreated to the car, but not before seeing their fair share of meteors. After about 20 minutes or so, we all loaded back up and headed home.
Once at home, my son and I grabbed a lawn chair, wrapped ourselves in a blanket and continued to watch the meteor shower in our front yard for another 15 minutes or so. This was a little later in the night and the meteors seemed to be falling more frequently around this time. To say that it was unforgettably impressive would be an understatement.
BUCKET LIST ITEM No. 433: Read “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey
I don’t know where I got it, but I’ve owned a copy of Ken Kesey’s classic novel, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” for years. For a long time, it was just one of those books that stared back at me from my bookcase. That all changed though last week when I finally took the time to read this outstanding novel.
Published in 1962, the novel is set in an Oregon psychiatric hospital and describes the antics of a patient who fakes insanity to keep from serving a criminal sentence for statutory rape in a state prison. This patient, Randle Patrick McMurphy, eventually begins to butt heads with the authoritarian head nurse, Mildred Ratched. Throughout the novel, they play a dangerous game of one-ups-manship that is at times funny but later deadly serious.
You’ll find “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” on numerous “best-of” lists. Earlier this year, ShortList.com listed the novel at No. 40 on its list of “The 50 Coolest Books Ever.” In March 2011, Esquire magazine ranked the novel at No. 35 on its list of “75 Books Every Man Should Read.” In 2005, TIME magazine listed Kesey’s novel among the “100 Best English Language Novels from 1923 to 2005.” It can also be found among the books listed on the Advanced Placement (AP) Literature Recommended Reading List.
More than likely, I still wouldn’t have read this book if not for a particular set of recent circumstances. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” was listed among the books that a coworker of mine was required to read as part of a graduate-level literature class at Auburn University in Montgomery. I loaned her the book for the class, and she returned it a week or so ago. She said she enjoyed it, so I put it at the top of my list of books to read in the near future. I have little doubt that the book would still be sitting on my shelf at home – unread – if she hadn’t borrowed it for her class.
Having now read the book, I can see why it’s considered a classic, and I was surprised by how little it differed from the award-winning film version of the book that came out in 1975. Starring Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd, the motion picture version of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” won five Academy Awards, including the Oscar for Best Picture. If you’ve never read the book or watched this movie, I highly recommend them both.
BUCKET LIST ITEM No. 521: Watch “It’s a Wonderful Life”
With Christmas just a little over a week away, I decided to watch this classic Christmas movie for the first time. Some of you are probably wondering what rock I’ve been living under, but for whatever reason, I’d never seen the theatrical release of this popular movie. It was just one of those movies that I’d seen bits and pieces of over the years, but never the whole thing. With the help of NetFlix, I remedied this situation a few days ago.
“It’s a Wonderful Life” was released in 1946 and was directed by Frank Capra. Starring Jimmie Stewart and Donna Reed, this movie was based on a 1939 short story called “The Greatest Gift” by Philip Van Doren Stern. Stewart plays the role of George Bailey, a man who has had to give up most of his dreams in order to help his friends and family.
A crisis leads him to rock bottom and he comes to the brink of suicide on Christmas Eve. In steps a guardian angel, who – in reverse “A Christmas Carol” style – shows Bailey what his small town would have been like had he never been born. He comes to realize how much good he’s accomplished, and instead of committing suicide, he finds himself being pulled out of his crisis by his loving family and numerous friends.
As with “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” you’ll find “It’s a Wonderful Life” on numerous “best-of” lists. One of my favorite Web sites, The Art of Manliness, listed “It’s a Wonderful Life” on a list called “100 Must See Movies: The Essential Men’s Movie Library.” In 1990, the Library of Congress selected “It’s a Wonderful Life” for preservation in the National Film Registry. In 1998, the American Film Institute ranked “It’s a Wonderful Life” at No. 11 on its list of “100 Best American Films Ever Made.”
I’d placed this movie on my bucket list months ago, but I almost waited too late to put it in my NetFlix queue. Only after I recently read “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, did I put it in my queue. Shortly thereafter, I began to wonder if I was going to be able to receive it before Christmas. It wasn’t available as a “Watch Instantly” selection, and it bounced back and forth between “Short Wait” and “Very Long Wait” in my queue for the better part of a week.
Finally, through a stroke of good luck, it broke loose and came my way in the mail. I sat down and watched the entire, 130-minute-long movie on a Sunday afternoon. Like “A Christmas Carol,” this movie left me wanting to be a better person and put me in the Christmas spirit in a big way, despite the fact that it’s been warm enough outside to grow oranges.
Christmas is a little more than a week away, so you should be able to catch this movie on TV in the coming days. If you’ve never seen it, I highly recommend it. You will not be disappointed by this classic Christmas movie.
In the end, I enjoyed scratching three more items off my bucket list. How many of you watched the recent Geminid meteor shower? How many of you have read “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” or have watched “It’s a Wonderful Life”? What did you think about them? Let us know in the comments section below.
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