Why Not?

I've been debating whether or not to go "all out" in my quest for #26 - Learn the Thriller Dance. While I could learn the dance with some friends in an afternoon, record it, and then post on You Tube and/or this blog...I'm simply not satisfied with that approach. There's something all-consuming about this list and my quest to make the most of each and every experience.

Really, I think that's the key difference with this list versus the other various lists I keep of "To Do" items. My normal lists are pretty mundane....things to clean, errands to run, things to buy at Target (the perpetually never complete list), groceries, and the typical work "To Do" list. The point of those are to get them done as efficiently as possible. It doesn't really matter how I do them, it just matters that I get them done. However, with my Operation 30 list it's not just about what I do, it's about how I do it, and who I do it with. I'd love to look back at what will be the time leading up to my 30th birthday and think about all of the amazing things I was able to do, have no regrets about the way I was able to do them, and have shared in the experiences with as many friends and family as possible.

So when thinking through exactly how I should set out to accomplish #26, naturally my thoughts turned to how I could make it as big and as official as possible. Gotta maximize the experience, right? So I turned to one of my best friends: Google. (Love Google.) With minimal searching I found the following website: http://thrilltheworld.com/, which is a group that organizes every year to break the World Record for "Largest Simultaneous Thriller Dance". Apparently they've been successful...in 2009 they broke the world record with 22,596 people dancing in 33 countries. The totals from 2010 don't look to be as grandiose, but that total in 2009 was over five times what it was in 2008. So I can only expect that 2011 is going to be HUGE!

So...why not? Why not learn the Thriller Dance to accomplish #26 on my list and perform it simultaneously with thousands of strangers from around the world at the exact same time? I've got my calendar set and I hope many of you will too: Saturday, October 29th. When "no mere mortal can resist the evil of the thriller". :-)

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