#13 – Canada, coast-to-coast

Oh.My.Canada!

I've now seen my entire country from the west to the east. All 10 provinces, all 10 capital cities, and both oceans. It's been an incredible journey, and one I'll always remember. I've covered the whole trip in a separate blog, but I'll just say, if you've ever thought of being a tourist in your own country (especially if you're Canadian) DO IT! It's so totally awesome.

Road trip!!

Leaving tomorrow for Victoria, B.C., to start my cross-Canada road trip. Will be posting on my blog for this journey and will likely not be posting here for a couple of months.

(Unless I happen to go skydiving or find myself taking a scenic air balloon ride, in which case, I will, of course, update here.)

#16 – Juggle

I'm staying for a couple of weeks in northern B.C. with my good friend Lindsay. Yesterday, I brought out my juggling balls to practice and mentioned that I need to start working on my tossing skills again after a hiatus. Lindsay said, "Nobody you could look at you right now and say you're not juggling." I think she's right. So I'm just going to cross this one off the list. I made a better video of my juggling back in April, but this is shorter and more to the point:

So I can confidently say I can juggle three balls, which was the original goal to begin with. I have no illusions of ever becoming the next Selyna Bogino or challenging Jason Garfield to a duel. He's the Ball Master. I am quite content to let him keep the title and move on to bigger and better things.

On the wall

Climbed at the gym for the last time this summer. If all goes well, the next time I put on my climbing shoes will be to climb real rock in Alberta!

510.c

Climbed at the gym for what may be my last time before heading to the great outdoors to try a route on real rock. The idea scares the poop out of me, thus it must be done!

I'm climbing 10.c routes now at the gym and I even tried a gnarly 10.d last night and only had to fall about three times before making it through the crux. And, I think my belayer may have helped me a little 'cause my harness felt pretty darn snug... but still, I'm getting better consistently. But on Tuesday morning I'm heading up to Fort Saint John for two weeks to hang out with a dear friend who lives there... and there's no climbing gym in town or anywhere near town. What a bummer. 

Hopefully I'll not lose too much strength in that time. Maybe I'll buy a pull-up bar. 

Fourth amendment

Since 2009, I've had the first item on my bucket list crossed off – write a novel. While I did indeed complete a novella for the annual Three-Day Novel Contest that year, I did not win any prizes, nor did I get the manuscript published. (You'd have to be insane to publish that sentimental drivel written in a state of Oreo cookie-fueled delirium.)

So, while I'm happy I participated and spent a solid long weekend writing fiction (which is more than I've done in the four years since!), I realize I've not completed my life goal of writing and, more importantly, publishing a novel. I WILL one day write the next great Canadian novel. I will, dammit.

So, I'm putting that back on the list as unfinished, making this the fourth amendment to the bucket list since its inception in 2008.

5.10b

Climbed at the gym yesterday with a friend of a friend who's a very strong, bold climber and this gave me the confidence to push myself to my limit. Fell a lot, took risks, successfully completed the scary 5.10c overhang route with no takes and did a handful of 5.10b and c routes that maxed me out. 

Improving slowly but surely. Now that I have no problem with falling it's really about building strength. I think I can do about five pull-ups, and about 10 push-ups. Must. Get. Stronger!

Next goal is to find a group of people who are experienced outdoor climbers who will take me to do a single pitch in Squamish. That should do it for the purposes of the bucket list. Of course, I think I'm pretty well hooked and will likely keep climbing until I'm very old. Maybe I'll keep climbing even then.

To St. John's!

Okay, it's decided. I'm going to drive this summer to St. John's, Newfoundland, fulfilling bucket list item #13 – drive across Canada. Actually, I didn't just come up with this idea today, it's been mulling in my head for about a year, ever since I started a one-year contract as a reporter for a local paper here in town... I knew that once the year was up, it would be summer, and I would be doing something epic from the list. This just makes sense. I've got the time, I've saved a bit, and it'll be a good way to get in some travel writing experience.

I've started putting together a Wordpress blog for people to follow the exploits of a solo Canadian roadtripper, and I'm going to make it happen. I've got a week left at the paper, then I'm off to visit a friend in Fort Saint John (way, WAY up in northern B.C.) in early August, and then I'm good to go anytime after Aug. 18. So, there's lots of planning to do. I'd better get on with it!

An update on climbing: Progress being made, mostly in terms of getting over my fear of heights. I can fall, hang suspended 30 feet off the ground, look down, all with no problem at all. I'm also climbing 5.10a routes pretty consistently now, though on most of them I still have to take breaks at the crux and whenever I get pumped. Soon I should be ready for the great outdoors!

5.10a

Climbing 5.10a pretty easily now. Tonight after work I also tackled a 5.10c route with serious overhangs and found that I could finish it clean if I just didn't look down. That's the secret, I think. Just don't look down!

5.difficult

The word "difficult" comes from the French word "facile," which means "easy." So, difficult just means "not easy" which is kind of awesome, because in English we tend to use a lot more hyperbole than most other languages do, especially French.

And if difficult is simply a matter of being "not easy" then it's like saying "not beautiful," which is not the same as saying "ugly," is it?

Difficult is therefore not impossible, it's just... not easy.

!!!

I love words. And today, I love climbing almost as much.

Great session with Rachel, a new climbing partner. We were at the gym from 11:30 this morning till after 4 p.m. – laps and trying hard stuff and bouldering and lots of sweating and laughing. I'm getting into more difficult 5.10 routes, including a couple of somewhat confusing 5.10c routes and attempting some scary 5.9 overhangs. I can feel myself pushing against the boundaries of a comfort zone that I've been in so long it's like the walls are made of... rock.

!!!

Comfort ≠ Safety

I'm reading a book called The Rock Warrior's Way, which is all about the mental training involved in climbing. There's a lot in it, but it would take a whole separate blog to go into the details, so let's just say the mental game is huge in climbing. Huge.

Here is the biggest lesson I've learned from actually climbing, and which has been put into simple terms and confirmed for me in the book: comfort and safety are paradoxical terms.

There is a moment on the wall when you might feel totally out of control, hanging off an overhang and you can't get one foot on a hold and your hands feel slippery and everything's wrong as you try to unclip the next quickdraw. The instinct is to go for what feels the safest; pulling your body upright and in towards the wall. But that's the worst thing because you're expending energy you don't have and wasting time with awkward movements. The best thing to do would be to lean away from the wall, hang on with that one sweaty hand – with a lighter grip, in fact – and slowly and calmly deal with the clip.

What feels safe, ironically, is not safe. And what feels scary as all hell is, actually, the safest. This both drives me crazy and delights me. There's definitely a life lesson here, but one I sure haven't learned to apply. I hold on for dear life to try to avoid mistakes and end up making so many more.

Relax and breath on the way up

Fifth climbing class today – I'm clearly stronger in the bouldering cave than on the wall, which means I need to work on stamina. It's so easy to say "take" and sit in my harness when top-roping, but I've been working on avoiding that and learning to just relax and take breaks (with straight arms) on every route. Today I discovered the higher I get, the more shallow my breathing becomes. Climbing with held breath is a bad idea. Breathing deeply keeps you moving and tricks your body and mind into thinking the route is easier than it actually is. So I reminded myself to breath even deeper through the hardest parts.

Next week is the last class and Daniel said he's going to go over a lot about the mental aspect of climbing. He said Chris Sharma, arguably the world's best rock climber (at least at one time), spent two years meditating and then came back to blow everyone out of the water on the rock face. So much of any effort is in the mind, and climbing is definitely no exception.

Climbing scared

Why is it that whenever I reach a new high in any endeavour I inevitably find myself falling immediately back into a level of fear and uncertainty?

On Tuesday at the gym I practised falling and it was no problem. Neither was looking down from the top of the climb. I even tried at 5.10c and made it to the top with only one rest (or "take.") I was on fire, and left the gym feeling like I could do anything. Seriously. Thoughts of medical school applications crossed my mind.

However. Last night I tried another 5.10c, but this one has an overhang, so when I got close to the top where I took a rest and sat in my hardness, I had no points of contact on the wall and realized I was 30 feet up with only a teeny tiny little rope holding me by a teeny tiny little band of material no thicker than my finger and I started freaking out and had to be lowered back to the sweet, sweet ground. So today, I felt frustrated because the fear is back. Will my harness hold? Did I check my belayer's device? What will happen if I slip and fall? Why am I feeling nauseous and panicky at the top? My technique was fine till about 2/3 of the way up every climb and then I started "folding in," instead of keeping my arms straight and breathing slow and easy.

I was totally on my way, defeating the fear and gaining strength, balance and form, and then I suddenly seemed to lose it all in one fell swoop.

WTF?

It's amazingly ironic that the self-preservation style of facing the wall and pulling in with your arms – effectively wasting energy and throwing off your balance – is precisely the opposite of what is actually going to keep you from falling off a wall (or rock face). It's the strangest, most unnatural feeling, climbing properly. You have to keep your arms straight, leaning out from the wall and turning yourself sideways a lot of the time. You need to step with just the smallest side of your toe rather than the whole shoe. Often, you need to have one foot or hand completely free of the holds. When done in the most efficient and elegant way, climbing in no way feels safe, at least to the beginner (like me). It's also a sport that will teach you to not get cocky.

Lesson learned.

5.9

I take it back. Bouldering is not better than top-roping. Bouldering is just different. I've realized climbing a wall – where the fear of falling ads to the challenge and the thrill – is an equally valuable and often more fun kind of climbing. I spent much of this past weekend top-roping and I've fallen in love.

I can get up to 5.9 routes on the wall now, though I can't do them clean (or flash, I believe it's called, when you ascend the route without falling or resting in your harness).

Some things I've worked on and learned, both in the Saturday technique course and with friends who are awesome climbers:

1. There are three very useful moves to get you up the wall: drop-knee (in which you bring your inside knee in close to the wall and turn your body towards the hold in front of you), back step (in which you step one foot up onto a hold behind you to reach a hold behind you) and flagging (in which you counter-balance your weight by bringing one foot up to smear without using a foot hold). I can do all of them in practice, but using them on a climb... not so much. My technique goes to shit when I'm halfway up a wall and breathing hard and trying not to fall off a tiny crimp because my hands are all sweaty. I must look like a frog trying to hold onto a tiny branch that's way to small for me, rather than a butterfly gracefully floating up towards the top of a rose bush. Which is why practicing laps on a 5.6 route are ideal, and why I really need to do more laps.

2. Falling is not a bad thing once to get used to it. Falling is not nearly as scary as I'd imagined it would be. If you fall, the rope will catch you – quite smoothly in fact, because the rope stretches. This means, of course, that you swing away from the fall and drop a foot or two, but then the harness takes your weight in a seated position and your feet contact to the wall again, and there you go. You're able to take a rest, chalk your hands and re-assess your route.

3. Route reading is essential. As my instructor Daniel says, reading the route (imagining yourself climbing it, deciding where you'll place your hands and feat as you go) is a way to do it for free the first time, without expending any energy.

4. Climbing becomes a mild obsession not long after you get into it. This weekend I climbed from 1:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, and again on Sunday from noon to 3 p.m. and I wanted to go again tonight after work but figured I'd better take at least one rest day to avoid strains or injuries. The motivation to go to the climbing gym is the climbing itself, unlike a regular gym where you have to trick yourself into going to get a workout on the treadmill or the bench press or whatever.

I LOVE CLIMBING!!

Bouldering

Found this short film on YouTube that shows some great bouldering. 

Bouldering is definitely my favourite part of rock climbing. Ascending 37 feet off the ground is thrilling, but there's no way you'll challenge yourself – especially mentally – as much you will on a bouldering route. Take away the height and the need for ropes and a belayer and it's just you and your problem to work out. It forces you (at least, once you get past the easiest routes) to use proper technique, and it makes you use your whole body from the tips of your fingers to the tips of your toes to get to the final hold.

It's got to be one of the best workouts, both for your body and your brain.

Flappers

So it's been two weeks since I started climbing again and I've discovered what it means to have flappers – the little bits of skin that dangle from the spots where calluses should and hopefully will soon be.

My hands are obviously those of an office worker. They're soft and delicate and not used to hard labour. For now, I'll have to keep taping my fingers to prevent flappers and the bloody mess that comes from scraped knuckles and ripped blisters. Ew.

The climbing is going well. In fact, it's going so well I'm finding myself daydreaming about bouldering problems at work, and I realized tonight that ta-da! my fear of heights is gone. I'm not going to question it too deeply, but rather just be delighted that acrophobia is obviously something that can vanish as quickly as it appears.

Climbing again

Took the plunge tonight after work and bought a month-long membership to the climbing gym, plus a six-week intro to climbing course that starts next weekend. I may have made a foolish mistake, thinking I can jump back into this intense sport again, but what the hell, maybe the $300 investment will guilt me into not skipping a workout. I'm planning to boulder Tuesdays, Thursdays and top rope on the weekends. Also started tonight with some push-ups and sit-ups (like 20 each, which is just sad) and will do that nightly to build core strength. Right now my abs are about as strong as day-old kittens.

Mostly, I'm just hoping to have a lot of fun exercising, though, 'cause I just really can't bear the thought of having to force myself to go running or go to the gym and thinking the whole time just about getting in shape. Why not have a good time and have the fitness part be a side note?

Keen to see how much I can improve in the next six weeks...

Juggling 3 Balls

Learning to juggle is like learning to ride a bicycle. Once you've got the basic move, you can't unlearn it. I can safely say I can keep three balls in the air, but only for just over a minute or so, on average, before I drop one. Here's a bit of proof:

I started learning to juggle about two or three years ago, but after a couple of weeks I stopped practicing and then have picked away at it in fits and starts. Kind of poor that this is the extent of my ability in all that time, but then, I never was a rapid study. Also, I've realized that, as with learning to ride a bike, there's this steep learning curve in the beginning and then there's this long plateau where you just can't get rid of the training wheels for what seems like eons. In terms of juggling, that seems to be the one minute mark.

Get rich, and see the world

According to an article published earlier this year in The Daily Mail, most of the dreams and wishes on people's bucket lists involve travel or some kind of adventure activity. The top 10 items, in order:

1. Become a millionaire
2. Travel the world
3. See the northern lights
4. Trek the Great Wall of China
5. Be mortgage free
6. Walk the Inca Trail
7. See the seven wonders of the world
8. Visit the Egyptian pyramids
9. Invent something that changes lives (like an iPhone?)
10. Visit Antarctica

Unfortunately, the study (a survey done by Helly Hansen of 2,000 people) also found that most people will only fulfill five of their dreams. If travelling is such a popular dream for so many, why don't more people pack a bag and get on with it, then?

If this survey is any indication, human beings think getting the most out of life means seeing the world and having a big bank balance. Maybe that's just because getting rich means having the means to travel? Thing is, though, you don't need a lot of money to go walkabout. Here is a great article from Verge Magazine about how to travel cheap or even free. I particularly like the last suggestion – enter contests. If you don't enter, you can't win, and if you do enter, you've got nothing to lose; so why not?

If I won the Biggest, Baddest Bucket List contest, which is a really great marketing campaign by MyDestination.com, I'd basically be living the ultimate dream and getting a taste of what it's like to cross off the top two fantasy items on most people's lists: get rich and see the world.

I'd also potentially get to cross off a few of my own bucket list items, all within six months:

#17 - raft down a world-class river
#27 - drive the Autobahn
#29 - ride a camel through a desert
#32 - ride a helicopter and a hot air balloon
#61 - go dog sledding
#65 - visit St. Peter's Basilica
#79 - best suite at a five-star hotel
#85 - kickboxing in Thailand
#86 - experience a dude ranch
#93 - see the Aurora Borealis
#96 - sky diving

...and I'd be a lot closer to #14 - visit every country!

Why travel?

This is Robin Esrock. He's been to 107 countries since 2005.

A few weeks ago I met this guy and his lovely wife Anna at a house party. We got chatting, and I asked him about the hat he was wearing. It looked like a faded old Australian outback hat that he said had been all around the world with him and that it was time to let it go because it had seen better days.

Anna is due to give birth to their first child imminently, and the hat wasn't exactly clean (and had even picked up some radiation at Chernobyl). So, like any good adventurer, he took it out to the backyard to give it the only respectful end a good hat can have – with a ceremonial burning. I'm sure either hairspray or lighter fluid was used to speed things along, but it sure did go up in a blaze of glory.

Back inside, we formally introduced ourselves and I learned his name is Robin Esrock. The Robin Esrock. As in moderngonzo.com and the TV series World Travels, seen in more than 100 countries in 21 languages. He's led an incredible life, and yet he really does seem to be just like anybody else. I really enjoyed what he had to say about where he's been and where he's at now. When he told me he and Anna live in Burnaby the lightbulb went off, and I thought, hey, I could write a feature about this guy for the paper I'm working at. So I did. You can read it here.

Sometimes being a journalist working for the mass media really is the (second) best job in the world, and a serendipitous job to have when you get the opportunity to interview one of the last great travel writers working today.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained

Well, it was a bit of a rush job to get it in by the deadline, but I've submitted my entry for the Biggest, Baddest Bucket List contest. Man, that was fun!!

I had a moment Sunday afternoon, when I hadn't had anything to eat yet, and I was sitting at my kitchen table in my sweat pants, furiously editing the video, thinking, why bother, I'll never get this in on time and I'm not taking advantage of this gorgeous sunny Easter Sunday... but then, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? At least now there's a chance, whereas if I hadn't given it a shot, it would be impossible.

As my mom once told me, "If you don't take any chances, you won't have an interesting life."

Making this video, I've realized travel videos are more challenging to make than I would have expected, and yet it's reinforced that yes, making videos is what I want to do all day, every day. If I actually did win this contest (or any like it), I would be obviously be ecstatic, not only because it would mean travelling, but because I would get paid to blog and take pictures and make movies. Hell, they can keep the fifty grand, I'll do this gig for free! But, shhh, don't tell that to the good folks at mydestination.com.

The Biggest, Baddest Bucket List around

Wanna get paid to cross items off your bucket list?

Check this out. This company – mydestination.com is holding open auditions for a travel show host/blogger for a six-month, all expenses paid round-the-world trip and (for serious?) $50,000 cash. The winner will embark in the summer and be home by Christmas. Do you want this? I want this.

If you're not tied to a job or a family and you're ready for an awesome new job (and it IS a job, despite what anyone might say), then why not throw your hat in the ring and see if you can land this dream role? You pick the itinerary and set sail on the most epic adventure of your life. Personally, I think getting a platform to share my adventures online through video, photo and blogging would be the best part of the whole deal. That, and of, course, getting paid to cross off at least 20 things from my list.

To enter, submit a photo of yourself, a short blogpost about a travel experience, and a three-minute video of yourself showcasing a destination. Make it good. Make it really good.

Here's some tips for what I think the judges will be looking for:

1. Charisma on screen – don't be boring. (Obvious, and yet many people make boring videos of themselves every day.)
2. Your true self. Don't make it all about showing how "zany" you are, despite wanting to demonstrate how un-boring you are. It's a fine balance. But just have fun, because if you do, your viewers will, too.
3. Internet skillz. If you're already comfortable interviewing strangers, writing, taking great photos and writing snappy blog posts, you're golden. If not, learn quick. The Internet is a wise teacher.
4. A story. You'll want to show that you can capture the attention of your audience and inspire them to follow you on your journey.
5. An open mind.  You're going to have a lot of different experiences if you get picked for this gig. It's not going to always be a vacation and you're not going to stay comfy inside your comfort zone. Be willing to ride a horse. On the beach.

Enter Here until March 31, 2013

New Year, New Goals

Every year, on Jan. 1, I feel a wonderful optimistic anything-is-possible vibe, regardless of the weather, what I had for breakfast, how hungover I may be, or what I'll be doing the next day. There's just something about the first day of a new year that's deep in my psyche as a really good thing. The day always includes some time in nature and a sense of gratitude and enthusiasm for life. I wish I could conjure this feeling on a random Tuesday in March and feel this good for no good reason every day.

Of course, Jan. 1 is a day for Resolutions. For me? The usual: health/fitness, finances, relationships, yadda yadda yadda, but also the bucket list. For Christmas I got a book called Creating Your Best Life, about getting to your goals and fulfilling all your hopes and dreams through your life list, and how to best go about doing that. Flipping through it, I've realized my bucket list could use some tweaking. Some things on the list should be more specific.

More importantly, though, this year is going to be about having more fun. Everyone could really use more fun in their lives (except maybe clowns and Casey Neistat, who clearly already have that one down) and I think it's a good resolution.

I also talked to a couple of psychics last week (for my job at the paper) and they informed me that 2013 is going to be a good year the world over (except for Justin Beiber and the Iranian government). So I'm looking forward to getting back to working on my list and just having a raging good time in the next 12 months.