It's rare when I toss an idea into the blogsphere in the vain hope that it will be picked up and "run with" by bloggers, but I actually think my Thursday Thirteen this week bears repeating by many.

I was thinking about various things I could "blog" about for today... and about this blog and it's goals in particular... and I thought a good idea was...

Now, believe it or not, this is a well-planned "two-fer" Thursday Thirteen as I will re-visit (and, in a way,) re-post this on Thursday, September 25th, 2008 and see how I did.

So, in a nutshell, I'm posting thirteen "plans", "ideas", "dreams", "concepts" that I wish to have completed or under-way within the next year... and then, in twelve months, I'll come back and see how I did!

I really, Really, REALLY want people to "steal" this idea... perhaps even next week... and let's see how we do.

It DOESN'T have to be things like I want to drop twenty-pounds or I want to steal Brad Pitt away from Angelina Jolie... it can be, but it can be mundane things... big dreams... whatever... but in ONE YEAR, let us know how it's going!

So, without further adieu... IN REVERSE ORDER from "Most Important" to "Not-As-Important"...

#1: Buy or at least "get" a proper house for my family...

Both Sue and I refer to our current abode as "The Palatial Didier-Darroch Compound".

In honesty, it's a smallish two-bedroom apartment... but it is in an area of town we love and it is our home for better or worse. Still, with two adults, one "tween", two dogs, four cats... it's a bit of a cramped existence.

We need to "upgrade" rather badly and ALL of us want a more "permanent" home to call... well... home! So yeah, the most important thing I need to work for this year really is a proper home.

Besides... before she's too old, the kid needs a backyard to play in!

#2: Manage our debts...

For non-regular readers, we're STILL un-burying ourselves from the debts we incurred during my stint being unemployed... the good news is it's not all that bad and is manageable... but it still hangs over us like Damocles sword... every month gets better, but I'd love to "fast-track" it and just be finished with it.

#3: The BUS! The BUS! (...or any bus...)

You knew it had to be here... and I'm sure MANY of you EXPECTED it to be #1... well, I'm honest... and no, it can't be... but it IS important... and it's importance in terms of expedience grows daily.

Since making the (believe-it-or-not) VERY tough decision to go "public" to try and obtain this dream of ours, our little one has grown older... and more-and-more, "teen-angst" is coming into play... and the idea of showing her that dreams CAN come true before teenaged-cynicism takes root is more important to me than ever.

Sure, it's something that really, in terms of importance, is about me, then her mom... and LASTLY herself... and between fifteen and eighteen, I'm sure the concept of being in a family that owns an old bus will probably not fly all that well in the "cool" world of teenagedhood... but for the next couple of years, I have a chance to PROVE that if you dream and try and work, you just possibly stand a chance of making something special happen.

Sound sappy, but it's true.

This is why the "joint" decision was made between Sue and myself that, although RLH 3 is our bus, if push does come to shove and ANY other bus comes available within our means, we'd do it... but obviously, we really WILL try to fight to make the absolute dream a reality.

Click here to really get a taste of what I mean about "time" being of the essence with the kid in mind...

#4: Take Sue (and perhaps even our little-one... although a romantic and "historic/work-related" get-away is also goodly!) to see England for at least three weeks... and MAYBE a little of France thrown in for good measure too...

Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to ensure that Sue sees things like The Tower of London, Hampton Court, Berkeley Castle, The City of York, Ms. Demmie, Andy... and generally get a GOOD taste of England... and perhaps a trip to Paris and Versaille tossed in just for good measure.

This has been something of a plan/dream of her's and mine for some time now... and not only for historical, but our other hobby reasons... and personally, a lot to do with #7 on this list too.

#5: Spend at least FOUR weekends doing re-enacting...

Click here if you're wondering what I'm talking about...

Self evident thing here... and something I have not been able to do for going-on three years now. I jokingly told my fellow living historians that the next time we'd be in the field, we'd be arriving in our bus... I didn't realise how honest a statement that might have been!

I need to re-purchase a musket (rifle) though... and some other stuff... but it's do-able. (I actually talked about this in this post... so it is on my "agenda", so to speak...)

#6: Visit at LEAST three "haunted sites" I've never been to before for a write-up and investigation for my website...

Kinda a gimme... I love visiting historic sites or places with an interesting story to tell and playing the part of the sleuth... and it's something I rarely (personally) get a chance to do because, when it comes to our study, I'm usually wound up in server maintenance, scheduling, accounting, and general upkeep.

#7: Do marriage vows with Sue in a "kooky" setting... (...possibly related to #4...)

"Possibly Related"??? No, COMPLETELY! I want to "get married" to Sue in an ancient old chapel or church in England...

#8: Grow a pair and cancel a disaster before it happens...

This is a REAL short-term one... and if I don't do it, I WILL be sorry... mark my words...

I try to make people happy... and with my "ghostly doin's", I used to throw "birthday parties" (anniversary parties) in October to "celebrate" something that bled me physically and financially was my pride and joy and my fun hobby. Trouble is, on average, I personally lost (out of my own pocket) a little over $1,000.00 for each of the four years I had these events... and, when I was laid off, they came to a grinding halt.

Well, I kept saying we'd do SOMETHING for our TENTH anniversary (which is this year) and after a bit of brainstorming, we thought we'd come up with a boffo idea and, on "paper" and in "conversation", it seemed EXCELLENT!

The deal WOULD be that we'd rent out a really nice space that was an old town hall in Toronto... it actually is laid out as a proper council chambers with a stage, podium, and good seating arrangements... best of all, it was CHEAP!

Next, despite the fact that we do NOT deal in "fiction" on our ghostly sites, we have acknowledged that in Victorian times, when Halloween wasn't celebrated by the majority, Christmas was the time to tell ghost stories! (Hence why Charles Dickens wrote "A Christmas Carol"... this was only the best known Christmas ghost story... but there are MANY!) That said, we figured we'd throw A TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS GHOST STORY SESSION IN THE OLD TOWN HALL! We'd bring in professional "story tellers", give them traditional stories, and invite people to come in to hear them and share some coffee, cocoa, and cookies with us in November! (Close enough to our "real" anniversary to count!)

See This Link for a little more about this tradition...

Great idea, eh?

Yeah, you ever try to hire story tellers for ADULTS??? Worst yet, some of the ones we spoke to really seemed interested in SHREDDING our studies too! A few openly mocked the idea of ghosts and hauntings! (Some great "heritage and history" folks we dealt with, eh?)

Either way, over the last three weeks, I've become so THOROUGHLY disenchanted with the whole thing with the realisation that it WILL become a festive "fart in church" that I absolutely have to take the slings and arrows from those who really, Really, REALLY want us to do an event and cancel this schmoz before it becomes a QUALIFIED disaster.

Oh, and although I'm SURE there are exceptions to the rule, my opinion of professional "story tellers" is IN THE TOILET right now! Apparently, if you're a party for children OR a "real historic site", they're great... but have a taint of the "paranormal", and they become very... problematic.

#9: Get in better physical/health shape...

Quit Smoking: Check!

Now, lose the spare tire and improve my cardio!

#10: Help at least one good cause or one needy person...

The key words are "at least". Despite not having very much, we both like to try and give and do what we can to improve someone's (or some people's) life who has it a little worse than we do.

#11: Smile more...

Simple. Be happier and try to smile and enjoy more in life.

#12: Make better friends at work...

I admit to being kind-of aloof at work... not being "social". But I hate forced "social" behaviour and prefer to make friends and whatnot through natural discourse... meaning, I don't do a lot of "pub-nights" or work-related social events.

To be honest, I have NO intention of changing this... but I will try to get to know more of my coworkers and chat with them about non-work stuff during breaks and whatnot.

Hey! I spend well over eight-hours per day with these folks and not enough time with Sue and Schnookie... so I relish my time I escape the "day-job" folks and go home to my family!

#13: Continue to entertain or at least SOMETHING with this here blog...

I hope certain nay-sayers know that even if we get the bus, THE BLOG STAYS! I will be keeping up on things... and as I've always said, it will probably revolve around our adventures fixing up the bus and eventually travelling with it.

Click Here to read about how this is more than one person's dream... but a whole family's...

Click Here for one of our ideas to help raise money for our dream...

Click Here for another idea to help us raise the funds for our dream...

Click Here for One Old Green Bus SWAG!