Are you experienced?

For years, I've wanted to come up with an "Experience List" -- a collection of things to do. I'd have to put it online, I thought to myself, and make it interactive so people can check off the things they've done, and get an Experience score at the end. Swum with a pod of killer whales? Check. Climbed a coconut tree? Check. Driven a yellow Ferrari more than a hundred miles? Check. Run in ten inches of snow with no shoes on? Check. You are more experienced than any living person ought to be. Consider a career in outer space exploration.

[This reminds me of the fact that even though I love watching films and consider myself a movie buff of sorts, I still haven't seen Raging Bull, It's A Wonderful Life, On the Waterfront, Casablanca, Taxi Driver, Seven Samurai, Scarface, Annie Hall, North by Northwest, or Ben-Hur. Yes, yes, it's a shame...]

I haven't come up with the Experience List yet, but I have thought about the many things I haven't yet done that are virtually essential to living in -- or even visiting -- New York. Some of them are a bit "touristy" but it doesn't make them any less worthy of doing. I'm sure I will think of many more in the year to come, even as I try to check the following experiences off the list:

• Dine at Nobu.
• Get a pastrami sandwich at Katz's Deli.
• Tour the Statue of Liberty.
• Visit the Bronx Zoo.
• Attend Shakespeare in the Park.
• Run the New York City Marathon.
• Catch a major league baseball game involving these guys or these guys.
• Be a member of the Museum of Modern Art.
• Listen to Les Paul play at the Iridium Jazz Club.

"Wow," you might think as you peruse the list, "this fool hasn't done anything!" Not true -- I have done some things, including:

• Rollerblade down Broadway.
• View the city from the top of the Empire State Building.
• Hike the largest remaining natural forest area in Manhattan.
• Visit the Brooklyn Aquarium.
• See dinosaurs at the American Museum of Natural History.
• Dine at Peter Luger Steakhouse.

Anything else I should add to either list?