No Goal Left Behind

I recently hit 50 posts here on Life Before the Bucket. Unfortunately, there wasn't a processional, or even close to as much of a ruse as the Royal Wedding or when that Osama guy was killed. Maybe at 100...?

Last night was an interesting night for me. First of all, it was probably the least productive night of my life. I finally had nothing to do. Unfortunately, either my friends weren't in the same boat or were doing something that involved the use of oxygen - not one of my specialties. Thankfully I'm married, which is supposed to be some sort of lifetime contract that obliges my wife to entertain me when no one else will.

Yes, that would've been an appropriate place for the sarcasm font. Can someone get on inventing that? I'll pay you (note the necessity for such a font here as well).

So while my wife was out, forsaking her marital entertainment duties, I was sitting at home, as sedentary as a pile of cow dung. However, this is part of the reason that I created a few goals for 2011 that involved exactly that - not being cow dung, mind you. Rather, I have a few goals that are purely for fun, entertainment, and nights when no one realizes that I'm cooped up in my overpriced apartment with nothing to do.

And you thought I was going to put a picture of cow dung on here...

This would've been the perfect time for me to tackle my Goal 77 on my list for 2011: "Play all 20 "Games That Make You Think About Life" from StumbleUpon. Unfortunately, I finished that goal like 3 weeks ago. I guess I get bored more often than I realize. However, I haven't told you about it, which just isn't very fair of me, so allow me to enlighten you.

I chose to list this as one of my goals because I love games. Video games, especially. So goofy online games are a lot of fun for me. For the umpteenth time this week, I'm revealing my inner nerd. Forgive me. Anyway, so when I found this website through StumbleUpon, I was ecstatic. Not only could I play games, but they might actually make me think about life and reflect a little! What a great combination, right?

Fat chance.

A+ for theory. C- for execution.

Unfortunately, this goal didn't end up being as epic as I had hoped it would be. First of all, I'm not nearly as good at these sort of games as I should be. So when I played half of them, I quit after about 5 minutes - I lose focus quickly (which is why I have to type in short paragraphs). 

Secondly, another quarter of the games just didn't work. In addition, about a third of the games just didn't make sense to me. I didn't really get how they were supposed to make me think about life, even though the website had descriptions for every game. I'm definitely not as philosophical as my former beard would imply.

Note the beard to face ratio here. And don't worry, it's already making a comeback.

And then, with whatever fraction of games was left (5 points to whoever figures that out first), I actually thought about life a little. For that, I was grateful and pleasantly surprised. I don't want to ruin them for you, though, so Google "20 games that make you think about life" and check them out for yourself.

From setting this goal to achieving it, I learned something interesting, and it wasn't actually from the games themselves. Instead, I learned that sometimes we can misfire when we set goals. Things don't always turn out as peachy as we wish they would. 

But if we follow through with our wishes, dreams, desires, hopes, and aspirations, regardless of whether or not they turn out how we want them to, God has a way of using them to shape us, mold us, and change us more into the people he wants us to become. He has this epic power that allows him to use something as stupid as a list of 20 games on the internet to make us more like him. 

Now that is something to think about.

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Do you have some life goals that are just for fun? Have you ever accomplished a goal and been disappointed by the results? Let me hear about it (or anything else that's on your mind!) in a comment, an e-mail (awaller1990@gmail.com), or on the Life Before the Bucket Facebook page!