List: '10 places not to see before you die'

Today’s ‘List Friday’. As a by-product of my more than passing interest in lists, I’ve decided every list can be classified into one of two categories, i.e. helpful lists, and unhelpful ones. And, intuitively, I reckon a list that’s helpful to one person’s not necessarily so to another. Or in other words, not everyone would classify the same lists as helpful or unhelpful. In October 2008 I wrote a post about a bucket list, i.e. a list of things to do before you kick the bucket [1]. Professional listmakers’ve moved into the bucket list market niche – with paper and electronic lists whose titles all end with ‘…before you die’. There are bucket lists of places to see, films to watch, books to read, music to listen to, food to eat. You name it, there’s a bucket list for it. Now a reverse bucket list phenomenon’s started. Inevitably, perhaps. The first reverse bucket list I saw was in Salon.com. It’s titled ‘10 places not to see before you die’, and it’s a 9.9% contraction of the 101 places listed in the book 101 places not to see before you die [2]. The ‘10 places’ blurb is here [3] and a slideshow of them is here [4]. Me? I think bucket lists are unhelpful – because worrying about fulfilling them’s likely to hasten death. So I don’t have a personal bucket list. I find reverse bucket lists equally unhelpful. But of no concern, because they’re easy to fulfil – by doing nothing. Ho hum.

farmdoc's blog post number 464

The first heart transplant involving a human was in the US in 1964. The chimpanzee’s heart stopped after 90 minutes. Professor Christiaan Barnard performed the first human-to-human heart transplant in South Africa in 1967. Australia’s first was in 1968. I’ve met only one person who’s had a heart transplant. He came to visit me for morning tea last Saturday. We first met a decade before his 2003 surgery. Amazingly he’s had no complications. He’s now reviewed annually in Melbourne, with a battery of tests and a consultation. His tests remain excellent. He’s off cortisone and blood thinners. He takes immuno-suppressant medication, but no heart drugs. He works, travels overseas, rides a motorcycle, sails a boat and, it seems to me, leads a normal life. He also gives talks to Rotary clubs and other community groups. A humble and sensitive man, in his talks his main theme is his gratitude for a second chance at life. He’s met the family of his heart donor – who was an athlete and a manual worker, which may explain why my friend’s exercise tolerance, he says, is the best for decades. He says he’s intent on living his ‘second’ life to the full. I didn’t ask him if he has a ‘bucket list’. I’d be surprised if he hadn’t. He tells me the average survival for heart transplant recipients in Australia’s 10 years. So he’s a little over half way there. And doing as well as he possibly could be. I wish him well. Literally.

farmdoc's blog post number 171

As I’m a list-man with more than a passing preoccupation with my death – the very first Farmdoc’s Blog post concerned death – naturally I loved the film The Bucket List which I watched last Saturday night. Add to the recipe two top-rate actors – Jack Nicholson (age 71 ) and Morgan Freeman (age 71 ) and you’ll understand why I rated it five stars out of five. Nicholson plays a billionaire tycoon, and Freeman a motor mechanic with Barry Jones-like general knowledge. Both have cancer, and they meet when sharing a 2-bed hospital room. Each has a prognosis of 6-12 months, jointly they construct an eponymous list of things they want to do before they kick the bucket, and together they set out to do, then cross off, each list item. The forgettable storyline is overwhelmed by the growing bond of friendship between the two men, and how Nicholson’s character, who has money but little else, is changed by Freeman’s character, who has profound self-understanding despite his menial job and comparative poverty. But for me the film’s highlight is Freeman’s voice-over narration. He’s a master at it – indeed I can’t think of anyone better. The Shawshank Redemption and Million Dollar Baby come quickly to mind. I’m sure there’ve been others, and I hope there’ll be more to come. Bravissimi, old guys. You’re an inspiration.