It’s that time of year when I start thinking about my summer bucket list. Coming up with 100 things is no easy task, and it includes not just things I want to do, but things I should do which got me thinking about stuff that sound fun until you do it.

10 things that feel like a fun idea until I do them:

1. Eating a baked potato: When a baked potato recipe pops up online I think yum!, why don’t I make more baked potatoes? They photograph so well looking all delicious and buttery. The truth is, they’re dry and bland as heck.

2. Tenting: Costs almost as much as a hotel and way less comfortable. I like the idea of camping so much, and even an occasional jaunt through the woods is fun, but I genuinely hate sleeping in a tent. Once I am zipped in, all I can think about it peeing and how much effort it takes to do so. Then I wake with the birds at 5 am and have nowhere to go – it’s too damp in the tent and too cold outside.

3. Ice Skating (at the Oval): Round and round you go on a cold, windy oval. The Halifax Commons is a scar on urban planning – plant some trees to block the wind and add more water fountains, then call me.

4. Running a marathon: I know what you’re thinking, “you’re the one who keeps signing up for them,” which is true but hear me out. They’re so hard, the training takes so much out of you and the actual race in long, but the finish is worth it all. A marathon makes you appreciate the little things in life, like cold chocolate milk.

5. Jumping on a trampoline: Kids really sell this. They always look so happy and carefree effortlessly bouncing up and down, but it’s not that easy, and it quickly reminds you that you are too old to be doing foolish things.

6. Going out dancing (after 8 pm): Like the trampoline, I am too old to be doing foolish things. I would much rather be home, mapping out my next run on mapmyrun.com.

7. Zumba: I love a good barre class, but Zumba was a nightmare (sorry Melissa). I felt like I was on another planet – the moves made no sense; my body rejected me. PS. What’s with all the plaid?

8. Blueberry picking (low bush): Fun fact, my family owned a blueberry field when I was a child. Not so fun memory: The amount of time it took to pick a pint of blueberries. They’re so small which is why strawberries are more my jam. I also have a thing against apple picking but for totally different reasons.

9. Crafting with kids: This was when I realized I am a control freak who does not love sticky messes. Most kids are not great at crafting and all the effort and time it takes to get things set up only leads to a minimal amount of time spent crafting and an aesthetically unpleasing reward.

10. Going to the mall: I have fond memories of roaming Mic Mac Mall, eating Manchu Wok in the food court and buying nothing. Now, however, going to the mall is as fun as going to the doctor – food courts make me nauseous and don’t even get me started on the smell of Cinnabon!

And speaking of my summer bucket list, please let me know if you have some ideas! I may or may not add it to the list; it all depends on if it sounds fun.

(all Gifs)