97 Things to Do Before You Finish High School

by Erika Stalder

  How to Do It

  You can spend the rest of your life planning the perfect opening line, which you'll most likely blow anyway, or you can be spontaneous and rely on your natural charm to carry you through the first few potentially awkward moments. Either way, break the ice with a brief intro — your name and something about where you've seen each other before, maybe in a class or at the community pool. Chat about school, mutual friends, and the upcoming weekend's game or concert. If you get the cold shoulder, back off, and try again another day, when the mood or surroundings are more conducive to flirtatious banter. If all goes well, stay calm and keep the conversation going. If you get smiles a lot and some flirting back, that's your cue to ask him or her out on a date.

  Breathe Easy

  The last thing you want to do is scare off your potential date with the breath of death. Keep mints handy and pop one before popping the big question — “Wanna hang out sometime?”

  90 Tell Someone Your Darkest Secret

  Have you done something so sinful, stupid, or just plain strange that it's keeping you awake at night from excitement, embarrassment, or fear? Is there a skeleton in your closet whose rattling bones remind you of a one-time mistake or ongoing transgression? While many personal activities can and should remain private — revealed only to the pages of your diary — some deeds deserve to be shared with a confidant. So, whether you have a crush on your best friend's girlfriend, shoplifted makeup from Target, cheated on your history final, or like to dress up in drag, unburden your conscience by confessing your deepest, darkest secret.

  How to Do It

  First of all, if you've done something seriously illegal, or are participating in an activity that is dangerous to you or others, it's crucial that you talk to your parents, guidance counselor, or another adult who can help you before the situation gets any further out of control. That being said, if your secret isn't jeopardizing your health or leading to your appearance on America's Most Wanted, then spill the beans to your BFF, a close sibling, a coach you connect with, a family friend, your doctor — anyone who you know you can trust not to betray your confidence. Once the words are out of your mouth, you'll most likely feel a strong sense of relief. Discuss the situation with your confidant and calmly decide what, if anything, you need to do next.

  Online and Anonymous

  If you really want to confess your secret but can't bring yourself to tell anyone face-to-face, there are websites where you can anonymously submit your wrongdoing or personal quirk — and read those of others.

  91 Go Skinny-Dipping

  C’mon, admit it: You've always wanted to do this. It's a completely understandable instinct. Being immersed from head to toe in fresh water, sans clothing, is an incredible feeling — after all, you started life in a similar state, surrounded by water while in the womb. There's nothing harmful about skinny-dipping, as long as you don't expose yourself inappropriately or confuse natural nakedness with sexual stirrings. While skinny-dipping can be an intimate and sensual experience, it's more about getting in touch with nature and honoring your body in its unadorned state than it is about a Girls/Guys Gone Wild audition.

  How to Do It

  The best thing to do is to get together a group of friends (same gender! — it's hard to relax when you're conscious of being checked out or creeped out by exes or potential mates) and devote an afternoon to a clothes-free swim. The most challenging part of skinny-dipping is shucking off your modesty, but that's also the whole point. Baring all in front of friends is a great way to get over your societally imposed body issues and feel comfortable in your own skin. If you really hate the idea of stripping down in front of your pals, you can also go it alone. Either way, don't just unhook and unbutton any old place. Try and find a secluded but safe place where you won't be stared at and your clothes won't be stolen. It's cool to do it in your backyard swimming pool, or that of your friend, but just make sure everyone in proximity is OK with a clothing-optional policy. As for public beaches and ponds, skinny- dipping is appropriate only when these sites expressly permit it. Swimming or sunning in the buff where it's not legally allowed might earn you a hefty fine for public indecency (but only the most uptight cops or park rangers would dream of hauling you to jail for a harmless dip).

  Did You Know?

  The term “skinny dipping” was first used in English in the 1960s. Previously, nude bathers sometimes were referred to as “going starkers.” By the way, “skinny” here refers only to your skin and has nothing to do with weight. Bodies of all shapes and sizes should enjoy a suitless soak.

  92 Get an Astrology Reading

  Saturn is in the sixth house, the moon is waxing, and celestial bodies are lining up across the night sky. Believers in astrology will interpret these seemingly random cosmological conditions as undisputable evidence of one's state of health or impending romantic bliss. For eons, superstitious stargazers have attempted to explain the mysteries of life and the meanings of human behavior by linking the position of the planets to birthdays and personal fates. Every star sign has its own mythology, characteristics, and symbolic animal or archetype — Capricorns are goal-oriented goats, Taureans are headstrong bulls, Aquarians are idealistic water-bearers, and so on. Ultrarational types insist that there's no truth to the astrological system, while zodiac followers won't make a move before consulting their horoscope. Are you a skeptical Scorpion or a progressive Pisces? Regardless of your sign or belief system, it's fun to indulge the cosmos by consulting with an astrologer.

  How to Do It

  Even the smallest towns have resident astrologers. Make an appointment with a reputable one — check references and confirm a price before committing to a session. During your meeting, the astrologer will ask when you were born and some questions about your family, school, love life, and future goals. Based on this info and an intuitive sense of your personality, the star seer will create a customized astrological chart for you. The chart is a big circle with lots of lines running through it. The chart's southern hemisphere relates to your external life, while the northern hemisphere deals with your inner life. Signs of the zodiac are placed around the circle, each linked to traits, parts of your identity, and aspects of your daily existence. As the astrologer fills in the chart with various symbols and lines, he or she will tell you what it all means. You also can ask specific questions such as, “Will I meet the guy/girl of my dreams this year?” If you're not happy with the answer, you can either choose to accept that life doesn't always go as planned — or decide that astrology really isn't for you, and seek your fate elsewhere.

  Get Your Cards Read

  Though Tarot cards were developed by Italians in the 1430s, they didn't become linked with fortune-telling until about two and a half centuries later, when French clairvoyants assigned meanings to each of the 56 cards. After shuffling and picking a few cards from the deck, you can have a reader decipher how business, love, money, and spirituality will unfold in your life. Don't let the death card scare you — it often means the death of some aspect of your life, perhaps a bad habit or relationship you've been meaning to kick.

  93 Ride a Horse

  You've read Black Beauty, watched The Black Stallion, and bid on a highly collectible Hopalong Cassidy lunch box on eBay. It's safe to say you've got a thing for horses, but have you ever actually ridden one? Roaming hill and dale atop a majestic mare or awesome Appaloosa is a thrilling experience. Humans and horses can form special bonds based on mutual respect and a yearning for freedom. Whether you climb into the saddle just once as part of a family outing or a school trip to a dude ranch, or get more seriously involved with four-legged gamboling (which means frolicking, not gambling), going horseback riding is definitely an experience to be had.

  How to Do It

  You can get trotting at any number of parks, resorts, and local stables. If you want to pursue equestrian interests more seriously, take a series of classes with a professional trainer. Find a suitable instructor by asking around for referen
ces and visiting boarding facilities. Make sure your trainer works with beginners, and be honest about your lack of experience. You'll most likely start out by learning English or Western style riding. Both styles of riding demand a certain posture, careful balance, and a keen understanding of the way horses move, think, and respond to your signals. English, however, is a faster style of riding in which the saddle is smaller, there's no horn to hang on to, and you use both hands to control the reins. Meanwhile, Western is more relaxed with a roomier saddle.

  Don't Horse Around

  Wear protective gear such as a helmet, boots with a heel, and durable clothing every time you ride. And treat your horse with care. Jerking the reins hurts the horse's mouth (the reins are connected at the corners to a metal piece in its mouth called a bit). Also, quick movements and yelling may spook some horses, so avoid skittish behavior to help ensure your equine does the same. And, of course, it never hurts to use a comforting voice to sweet-talk your horse or feed him carrots and sugar cubes to make him happy.

  94 Build a Bonfire

  As one of the primal elements — along with earth, air, and water — fire is a mysterious, powerful, and creative yet potentially destructive force of nature. Many cultures celebrate holidays by building fires. In Japan, bonbi fires are set to bring back ancestral spirits. On the last Wednesday of the year, Iranians celebrate Chahar Shanbeh Suri by jumping over small fires set in the streets, a custom that is believed to bring good health in the new year. Here in the US, modern-day hippies and artists flock to the Nevada desert for Burning Man, an art show and symbolic fire-burning ritual that happens every summer. Can't make it to any of these places at the moment? Make a simple bonfire with some safety-conscious buddies. Whether basking in its hypnotic glow or circling around it in a tribal dance, you should experience a bonfire at least once in your teen life. It's a great bonding experience with friends and can be really romantic, too.

  How to Do It

  Gather with a group that includes some outdoorsy people — older family members or buddies who did time with the Scouts. Make sure that your chosen spot is at least 60 feet away from anything that might be flammable — you don't want the fire to spread. Bring plenty of kindling (like twigs and branches) as well as big pieces of wood (up to 6 feet in length and 5 inches around). Wood should be nice and dry, but not rotted. Bring more wood than you think you'll need — it's easy to underestimate the amount necessary to get a good blaze going. Bales of straw work, too. Also bring a shovel, rake, or other tool that you can use to stoke and control the fire. Make sure plenty of water is handy, and, if possible, also bring a fire extinguisher. Gather the kindling in a teepee formation about 4 feet high and around (and don't let the fire grow bigger than 5 feet). Carefully start the fire by lighting the kindling with paper and a lighter or long matches. As the fire begins to burn, add more kindling and wood, graduating to larger pieces. With proper maintenance and some luck, the bonfire should burn for a couple of hours and gradually die out on its own.

  Don't Play With Fire

  If you are undertaking the task of building a fire, you must also undertake the responsibility of being safe about it. That means:

  Do not build a bonfire on a windy day or evening. If the wind suddenly picks up while the fire is burning, keep a close eye on your flames, and extinguish them immediately if your fire starts to spread in any direction.

  Don't add flammable liquids, fireworks, aerosols, or batteries to a bonfire.

  Don't leave the fire unattended.

  Never leave a fire still burning — use water, dirt, and extinguishers to put it all the way out, and scatter the embers so they will not relight.

  95 Watch the Sunrise

  So many things in life are completely unpredictable, but there's one thing you can bet on without fail: The sun sets in the west and rises in the east. Since the sun sets in the evening, we're often around to watch it sink westward and show off its beauty in a display of vibrant colors. Watching it rise from the east is more challenging since we're usually asleep when it happens. But witnessing a sunrise is an awesome and humbling experience. You'll appreciate the sun like never before and realize just how dependent you are on this almighty star as Earth cycles around it again and again. So forget sleeping in for at least one morning, and get yourself out in time to commune with the early birds to watch the sun soar into the sky and light up the planet.

  How to Do It

  Check the newspaper or a weather website, like www.weather.com, for the exact time of the sunrise. The surest way not to miss it is to stay up all night (on a weekend) and make sure you're positioned in a prime viewing spot at least 30 minutes before it's set to begin. If you don't want to pull an all-nighter, set your alarm for at least an hour before the sunrise is scheduled to start. Plug in the alarm clock far away from your bed so you won't be tempted to hit the Snooze button and miss the magic moment. If possible, you can head to a broad, flat landscape (out in nature, not in a deserted parking lot), where nothing will get in the way of your eastern view, or scramble up to the peak of a small mountain for a bird's-eye view. (Just be sure to bring a buddy and flashlight to help navigate terrain in the dark.) Resist the temptation to snap a ton of pics during the sunrise — they never look nearly as good as the real thing, and you're better off fully experiencing the dawning of the day without worrying if the flash is set to auto. Spend a few moments contemplating the great big world and your place in it as you gaze in wonder at this big star shining from 93 million miles away.

  Quite the Sight

  Solar eclipses, when the moon blocks sunlight by coming directly between Earth and the sun, are rare but truly spectacular happenings. Read up on their infrequent appearances and farflung whereabouts, and see if you can be in the right place at the right time to view an obscuring of the sun. (Hint: Do an Internet search for “NASA” and “solar eclipse” for upcoming eclipse dates.) Just don't look directly at the eclipse — view it instead through special glasses made for the occasion. Scientists tell us that the power of the rays can damage our vision.

  96 Spend a Day in Silence

  Have you heard? Quiet is the new loud. It's time to tone down the nonstop noise of daily life and return, momentarily, to a state of silent grace. By escaping the usual cacophony of voices, car alarms, commercials, and bass-booming hip-hop for 24 hours, you'll realize just how precious the quiet moments really are. Try going an entire day without talking. Do it for yourself as a much-needed break from gabbing with friends and relatives about trivial matters. You'll find that you choose your words more carefully when you begin vocalizing again the next day. You also can remain silent as a political gesture. By not speaking for a whole day, you can call attention to the millions of people worldwide whose restrictive governments, religions, or families prevent them from speaking their minds. Whatever your motivation, button your lip, and see what happens.

  How to Do It

  Pick a day when you won't be required to speak for school or work. Sundays tend to be slower-paced and more conducive to silence (unless you sing in the church choir). Let your friends and relatives know ahead of time that you'll be unusually quiet, and ask them to respect your silence and privacy throughout the day. Find a relaxing environment — if that's not your house, hunker down in the middle of a tranquil, uninhabited park for the afternoon. Spend the day reading and meditating. Focus on sounds that are usually obscured by noise pollution or your own yakking, such as the chirping of birds or the crashing of waves. Put some headphones on and listen to particularly soothing music such as minimalist Estonian composer Arvo Pärt's delicate piano piece “Für Alina” or French pop duo Air's classic chill-out debut “Moon Safari.” If you must communicate with others, use some sort of sign language or write things down.

  Retreat Into Silence

  Achieve further clarity by participating in a silent retreat at a meditation center or monastery. Retreats can last from one day to two months, with only very short periods of conversation allowed the entir
e time. Now that's some serious silence.

  97 Bury a Time Capsule

  Average Americans spend much of their time shopping for stuff, making stuff, and getting rid of stuff, but how many people put their stuff in a box to bury it? It may sound weird, but people have been burying time capsules — collections of important items that represent particular people and time periods — for millennia. Have you ever seen a mummy's tomb at the museum? Or that of a saint at a basilica? People used to be buried with all sorts of things that represented who they were and how they spent their time on this planet. But you don't have to bite the dust to gather a few of your favorite possessions and hide them away for posterity. You can dig them up yourself years from now as a reminder of what was most important to you when you were a teenager.

  How to Do It

  Get together a select group of items that you want to preserve. You can also get a group of friends to join you — it will diversify the collection and bring you all back together later for the unearthing. The items you pick should be important to you, and also uniquely representative of your time and place. Newspapers, magazines, mix CDs with your favorite songs, DVDs, and books (including the one that told you about all of the awesome stuff you should do before finishing high school) are telltale signs of your era, as are photos of yourself, friends, relatives, and people in the news (what will future generations make of Obama or Brangelina?). That letter you wrote to yourself on page 138 can also be a good addition. Put everything in a sturdy, airtight box made of plastic, rubber, or metal, and bury it. Where? If your family owns a home with a backyard, ask if you can dig a hole in an unused plot of dirt. If not, maybe a neighbor or close friend will let you shovel out a portion of their yard. Way out in the woods will work, too. Just be sure not to upset any wildlife or leave a mess. Plant a marker near the buried capsule so you'll remember where to find it, and store a map with the location of your time capsule in a safe place.