New Hero

I've discovered Casey Neistat. The guy is a year older than me, living in NYC, travelling the world, and making a living as a self-proclaimed "YouTube filmmaker." He's doing pretty much exactly what I want to be doing, and living pretty much exactly the life I want to be living. I want to meet him and find out how I, too, can make the awesomeness happen.

I'm going to write him a letter.

Mouse, please!

I was this close to getting one of these today:

I'd love to have a fancy mouse or rat. Call me crazy, but I've heard they're great pets. They're smart, clean, affectionate, and only live about two or three years, which is about all the time I want to commit to cage cleaning at this point in my life. Of course, I really, really want a dog. A Border Terrier or a Boston, I think... but not yet. Way too much responsibility.

When I was a kid, my family's house was a veritable menagerie of guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, cats, dogs, fish, canaries and other assorted wildlife we managed to catch and keep for a while. These days, my folks have but one cat and one dog. But the dog is half cat and the cat is half retarded, so to me, they're nice, but not sufficient for my personal pet preferences. I want a little furry creature that's just mine, that I can maybe teach some tricks, and that will go for car rides with me on weekends. Rats love car rides, right?

Anyway, waking up this morning, I suddenly had an epiphany: I could get a pet if I wanted to. After thinking about it carefully (for about 30 seconds) decided that yes, I do want to. So I went to the animal shelter, all ready to cross off bucket list item #15, but found there were only a couple of pit bulls, a few skittish rabbits and about 37 million cats looking for their "forever homes." Yes, I would love to see all of these animals get picked up by some loving folks who will pet them tenderly and feed them scraps from the table... but I was hoping for a mouse.

Then again, maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and realize it's not mice, but medical school, or hot air balloon rides my heart is truly after. My mother always says to "sleep on it" when making any decisions (even rodent adoption), so I'll do that. But if I wake up wanting a mouse I'm gonna go get one right after breakfast.

30-Day Photo Challenge

I got the Canon 7D for making sweet videos, and it turns out it's pretty good at taking sweet still shots, too. Not wanting to waste my camera's capacity for sweetness, nor allow my photography skills acquired in journalism school to wither, I've decided to take it upon myself to take some pics every day and post the best on Facebook (one frame per day). I started the project on May 1, which means I've got six pics now. Here's today's best shot, taken at Rocky Point Park in Port Moody:

My bucket list includes #91 - Take a photograph good enough to frame... I realize now this is rather vague, because technically, I've accomplished this already, what with an engagement photo already framed and hanging on the wall in my brother's house...

But I think if I'm specific about this goal, it's to really get a handle on the technicalities of shutter speed, aperture setting and ISO setting, and be able to know just how to set the camera and how to frame a subject so I can get a really amazingly sweet shot. I want to feel like a pro, knowing I can at any moment get my camera set up in five seconds to be ready for the shot as soon as I see it. Then, I dunno, maybe I'll know I can cross this one off the list when someone's wiling to pay for the framed photo. Maybe that's the goal.

Paralyzed by Indecision

Okay, so I haven't posted for almost a month because I've been trying to make a million decisions about a million things. For example, to climb or boulder? To commit to weekly Toastmasters meetings yet or put that on hold? Go for a one-year reporting contract or stick with my business plan and be self-employed?

There are daily choices to be made and with all of these comes F.E.A.R. of making the wrong choice. 

At least, that's the way I feel. I want to live a big life, and do everything, but of course that means doing something, anything, starting today. Instead I often find myself sitting here at my desk doing a whole lot of sitting and thinking about what to do. Argh! I want to be more like this guy and JUST DO IT! Something! Anything! 

Life = movement = action. Do one thing that scares you. Every day. Make a list if you have to, but then start crossing things off.

To climb or boulder?

Went to Cliffhanger with my brothers on Saturday. My oldest brother and I took our middle bro for his birthday. Little did I know when I booked the two-hours with a belayer, we all have an intense fear of heights. It was like an acrophobics anonymous meeting. But we all made it to the top and nobody puked or passed out. Way to go, guys!

It'd been a while since I've been top-roping, and I was beginning to think I'd never get over my fear of getting up that wall, but it wasn't so bad. I did a 5.9 route and made it up without having any kind of deer-in-the-headlights panic attack. Those are awful.

Since I had a good time, I'm now undecided about whether to get a pass and keep top-roping or go to the Hive and just focus on bouldering. I love the idea of totally conquering my fear and getting good enough to climb a sheer rock face outdoors (as in "real" rock climbing), but I think I'm just more fascinated by the technique and skill needed for bouldering. Not to mention it seems to take a hell of a lot more upper body strength, and I could really use that kind of workout. These grover arms are keeping me from knocking off the "Do 50 push-ups" item on my bucket list...

A Taste of Toastmasters

Checked out a Toastmasters meeting in Port Moody on Thursday. It was just as delightfully nerdy as I'd expected. About 15 people, mostly middle-aged, sat around wearing business casual and sipping water from dixie cups. The meeting began at precisely 5:30 p.m. and ended at exactly 7 p.m. The anally retentive part of my personality was overjoyed at how well this group kept to the scheduled agenda, which included introductions, a formal welcome of the guests (me), a prepared speech about whiskey, a "table topic" section, (three or four people speaking off the cuff about various things), and some other random house-keeping items. A brand new member received her name badge, which she will wear at every meeting, or suffer the consequence of having to pay a dollar fine. Nerdfest!

Towards the end of the meeting I was asked if I wanted to speak for a couple of minutes during the Table Talk. I thought about it for a quick second and declined. I wasn't ready. There are a few things in life... okay, there are a LOT of things in life that scare me. Public speaking is one of them. I know I'm not alone on this one. But this is the first step on the path to enjoy, rather than avoid, speaking in front of a crowd. I have visions of one day, when I become a Toast Grandmaster or whatever it's called, being asked to speak at events all over the world. Just like this guy:

Going to check out one or two other clubs to see what kind of vibe they have going on, then pay my dues and start on the path to perfect diction and awesome anecdotes.

365 days of Dining in Richmond

So Tourism Richmond has come up with a brilliant marketing scheme, in the same vein as last summer's Live@YVR campaign. This time, it's finding a blogger to eat a great meal every day for a year (yes, that's 365 consecutive days of free food!) and exclaim about it online so the world can find out about the variety of amazing culinary options the city has to offer.

They're looking for someone who's already into blogging, Tweeting, and Facebookery, with a general love of food, travel and adventure. Sign. Me. Up. Doesn't hurt it pays 50 grand and comes with a gym membership!

I think this one's awesome. Everyone in this city loves food. I think the term "foodie" may even originate in the Metro Vancouver area. If not, it should have. We like our food, and we like it good.