A Man Reborn

This January I came up with the idea of a list of 100 things that I wanted to do in 2010.  I thought about it for a little while and came up with a varied list of things.  The things on my list were new, old, little, small and in general, things that I thought would be fun or interesting.

I ended up finishing just over half of the things on my list – which I think is pretty good.  I did a lot of new things that I wouldn’t have done otherwise and I got to know myself a lot better by taking myself out my comfort zone.

There were a couple of unexpected side effects from making this list.  The first was that I had a lot of friends step up and ask me about doing things on the list together with me which I thought was really awesome of them.  We got to spend time together and often tried something new or it was something that they were able to teach me, or the other way around.  The second was that it inspired some of my other friends to do something similar.  In particular, my friend Carolina made her own list, which then inspired her friend Jeannie to make a list.  This was all over half a year before I had even met Jeannie – but since then we’ve been inseparable and I definitely think that the two of us making our lists played a part in building that connection.

One other thing that I definitely know this helped with was boredom – I can’t think of a single moment in 2010 that I was bored, as I always had this list to fall back on for something to do.

So here’s a list for 2011.  I don’t expect to do all of them.  Some of them are things I did last year and loved.  Some are things I didn’t finish last year.  Some are completely new to this year.  They’re in no particular order and again – they’re just things that I think would be interesting or fun.

2011 is going to be amazing and I am really looking forward to it!

1. Go skydiving
2. Do something special with Jeannie on our anniversary
3. Do a 48 hour fast
4. Plant and maintain a mini garden
5. Spend a day at the beach
6. Hike part of the Bruce trail
7. Go to the gun range
8. Go kayaking
9. Get a new tattoo
10. Take some kind of dance lesson
11. Keep my blog updated while working on this list
12. Get rid of 75% of the things I currently own
13. Go running in the rain
14. Watch a thunderstorm
15. Watch the sun set
16. Play in a poker tournament
17. Ride the single track at Albion Hills
18. Try indoor rock climbing
19. Paintball!
20. Volunteer my time for a good cause
21. Give blood 5 times
22. Make a gift for someone
23. Work at a haunt
24. Surprise someone
25. Spend a weekend at the cottage
26. Play a round of golf
27. Make sure I always have time for friends and family
28. Make a short movie
29. Go whitewater rafting
30. Climb the CN tower in under 30 minutes
31. Beat last year’s time of 1:07:14 in the Niagara Try-a-Tri
32. Get back to running 5k+
33. Ride 200 km in 2 days at the Ride to Conquer Cancer
34. Try skating
35. Do 100 push ups in a row
36. Do a handstand push up
37. Exercise or do something active every day
38. Cook 95% of what I eat
39. Fit into size L shirts again
40. Try skiing again
41. Ride in the trees
42. Do both a FS and BS boardslide on a box
43. Comfortably do all 4 types of 180
44. Go on a snowboarding trip with my little brothers
45. Do a nose grab, tail grab and method
46. Put together a new snowboarding video
47. Go to the zoo
48. Go to a Jays game
49. Go to a Leafs game
50. Go to a TFC game
51. Go to the CNE
52. Go to the science centre
53. Go to the Tim Burton exhibit at the Lightbox
54. Go on a brewery tour
55. Explore an old cemetary
56. Go to the Drive-in
57. Go to Honest Ed’s
58. Go to the Art Gallery
59. Go to a big music festival
60. Go to Vermont
61. Go to Buffalo with MicHELLe
62. Go to Detroit with Myla and Nix
63. Go to Niagara Falls
64. Go to Vegas
65. Explore the following neighbourhoods in Toronto: The Annex, Yorkville, Seaton Village, Little Italy, Kensington, Liberty Village, St. Lawrence, Cabbagetown and Harbourfront
66. Go camping somewhere new
67. Move out of Mississauga
68. Spend a day at the island
69. Learn to cook a paella
70. Try 2 new recipes every month
71. Make a Turducken from scratch with Shayne
72. Make sushi
73. Go shopping at St Lawrence Market
74. Have brunch at the Hoof Cafe
75. Eat a tasting menu
76. Bake and decorate a cake or cupcakes
77. Eat 10 new things
78. Master one illusion really well
79. Learn to create a life cast
80. Take a cast of my face and sculpt it into a zombie bust
81. Make a set of clay figurines
82. Make a Halloween costume from scratch
83. Finish my Halloween painting
84. Make a haunted gingerbread house
85. Read: Rework, The 4-Hour Body, The Power of Less, Pound for Pound, The Gift of Fear, It’s Not About The Bike: My Journey Back to Life and The Real Bling
86. Redesign the zombie walk page and setup the store
87. Learn search engine optimization
88. Learn 5 more effects in After Effects
89. Learn joomla
90. Learn JQuery
91. Learn AJAX
92. Learn Selenium
93. Learn OpenID / FBConnect / Google Friend Connect
94. Launch zombiepedia website!
95. Launch portfolio site
96. Build a facebook app
97. Take a night class
98. Get a raise
99. Earn 15% of my income outside of my regular job
100. Teach someone something

Quick post – just some of my favourite memories of 2010:

1. Meeting Jeannie and our day at the CNE and all the other fun days we’ve shared
2. Exploring abandoned buildings in Detroit with Myla and Nix
3. Riding powder in Whistler and being there for the Olympics with Sacha and Ian
4. Snowboard weekend with endless park laps with Shayne and Simon
5. Shooting DVD special features with one of my favourite directors: George A Romero with Thea, Adam, Jen, Michelle, Colin and Ken
6. Finishing my first Triathlon with Anthony, Kristen and Steve
7. Having the honour of being the best man and giving a speech at Anthony and Ashley’s wedding
8. ROM / Pirate Festival / Oktoberfest / Train trip to Montreal to see Rammstein with Mike and Candy
9. Weekend in Montreal for the Heavy MTL festival with Greg, Derek and Jenn
10. Raw diet challenge with Carolina
11. Scaring kiddies at the Milton haunted house with Jen and Clay
12. Watching Canada win Gold at the Olympics with Ash, Ant, John and Brandon
13. Tremblant/Montreal road trip on my birthday with Simon, Ian and the SNS crew
14. 2010 Zombie Walk and making my costume for it
15. Riding my bike to Guelph in a torrential downpour

So I was checking out life remix and stumbled on the reverb10.com project.  It’s a set of daily prompts for each day in December that are meant to get you thinking about how 2010 went and what you want to do in 2011.  I’ve been catching up with them over the last few days and my entries for the first half of the month are below.

December 1 – One Word. Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?

My one word for 2010 would be exploration.  I feel that in 2010 I did a lot of exploring – both physically and mentally.  I did a lot of traveling and had a lot of first time experiences and I tried to open myself up to new people and experiences.  This helped me figure out what I want out of life and my word for 2011 is going to be commitment.  Now that I know what I want, I am going to fully commit to going after it.

December 2 – Writing. What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?

Multi-tasking.  I’m learning about how I work and I now know that if I set aside 15 minutes to write and do absolutely nothing else that I will write more in that 15 minutes than I would in an hour.  So from now on, when I want to write, I will set aside a block of time and just do it.

December 3 – Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors).

The moment that I felt most alive this year was while snowboarding at Whistler.  It was cold, but not uncomfortably cold.  There was no wind, few clouds and a beautiful blue sky overhead.  It was the morning after a fresh snowfall and there were few people around riding due to the Olympics.  I rode through terrain that I had never experienced before and totally lived in the moment and took it all in.  I remember feeling like I was floating through the snow effortlessly, the sense of peace that came from being in the middle of nature and the sense of danger from riding off trail in an unknown area.

December 4 – Wonder. How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?

To cultivate a sense of wonder in my life I made a conscious effort to see things in the mindset of a child.  I think this is something I’ve been doing the last few years actually.  I found that as I got older I could feel myself slipping into a cynical outlook and towards having a jaded view of things which I did not like so I decided to change it.  I now make an effort to notice little things and let my mind wander and to experience new things as well.

December 5 – Let Go. What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why?

Biggest thing would be letting go of my last relationship.  I knew she wasn’t right for me and being in the relationship was leading me down a path I didn’t want to take.  Another thing was my fear of rejection.  That one only took 31 years… and without that, I wouldn’t be in my current relationship… funny how that works ;)

December 6 – Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?

The last thing I made was a Christmas present for my friend MicHELLe.  She had her appendix taken out and we were joking about how they wouldn’t let her keep it, so I had an idea to make a diseased appendix out of latex.  I made it out of liquid latex and coloured it using latex that I tinted with acrylic paint.  She loved it!

Something that I want to make is a big halloween themed painting.  I’ll definitely need to set aside time for that in 2011.

December 7 – Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?

I am involved in a few communities because of my hobbies, but as far as a new one that started in 2010 I would have to say our Tuesday dart nights.  My old friend Steve from elementary school started it up and a bunch of us have been going almost every Tuesday for months now.  It’s good to see friends and be able to catch up in the middle of the week and it’s cheap and close by as well.

As far as connecting with a new community, I want to learn more about doing SPFX makeup and prosthetics in 2011 and I will have to start picking the brains of some talented people I know!

December 8 – Beautifully Different. Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different – you’ll find they’re what make you beautiful

This is a hard one.  I think probably the biggest thing would be that I am a very positive and easy going person.  I try not to get into pointless arguements and try to remember that I’d rather be happy instead of right.

December 9 – Party Prompt: Party. What social gathering rocked your socks off in 2010? Describe the people, music, food, drink, clothes, shenanigans.

A few come to mind here:

1) Carolina’s birthday party – good food, tasty beer (Big Wheel!), crappy music and many cleavage pictures, both male and female!  Most importantly, talked to almost everyone there and it’s where I met Jeannie for the first time.

2) Mine and John’s birthday party – got a whole load of us together at West 50 where the food is always great and the music not so great.  Almost all my favourite people were there to share it.  No drinking that night because at midnight I left to drive overnight to Mont Tremblant to continue the birthday shenanigans which included riding all day on no sleep, then a mad hunt for all you can eat sushi with the SNS crew in Montreal which almost ended in stomach bursting disaster!

3) Canada vs USA games at the Olympics – both of them.  The first one I was at the Howe Sound Brew Pub in Squamish.  There was much beer involved and we all had cowbells and fuzzy hats and it was pretty much a mad house.  The second one was the gold medal game and I don’t think I need to remind anyone what a moment that was.

December 10 – Wisdom Wisdom. What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out?

The wisest decision I made this year was to let my guard down in my relationship with Jeannie and it’s worked out very well.

December 11 – 11 Things What are 11 things your life doesn’t need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life?

11 things my life doesn’t need in 2011:

1. Cynicism – there are no successful cynics – it is a state of mind that breeds nothing but negativity and serves no purpose to me in achieving what I want out of life
2. Negativity – yes, this is almost just point 1 again, but I need to stress this.  Negativity in all it’s forms, from negative thoughts to negative people.
3. Stress – there are very few things in my life that are worth stressing about.  If it’s not something I won’t remember in a year than it’s not worth stressing over.  If it is something I’ll remember in a year, then I’m better off doing something about it.
4. Routine – routine crushes my soul and I’m happier when I’m trying new things or mixing it up
5. Drama – I like to live drama free and do not allow myself to be pulled into other people’s drama
6. TV – I cut my TV watching back by 95% and used that time to accomplish a lot that I wouldn’t have had time for otherwise.  I’m only on this earth for so long and there’s so much I want to get done.
7. Clutter – By the end of 2011 I plan to have gotten rid of 75% of my possessions
8. Boredom – I have a lot of interests and I haven’t been bored once this year – I intend to keep it this way
9. Procrastination – enough said
10. Disorganization – I will have anything major I need to do mapped out
11. Bad sleep routines – I will get into a proper sleep cycle

December 12 – Body Integration This year, when did you feel the most integrated with your body? Did you have a moment where there wasn’t mind and body, but simply a cohesive YOU, alive and present?

Again – that powder day in Whistler.  I just existed in that moment and was totally integrated into it.

December 13 – Action When it comes to aspirations, it’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen. What’s your next step?

I want to start my own thing in life and work for myself.  I’ve said that for a while and it’s time to make it happen – so my next step is to step back and take an honest look at myself and take an inventory of my skills and talents and what I can do with them.

December 14 – Appreciate What’s the one thing you have come to appreciate most in the past year? How do you express gratitude for it?

The thing I appreciate most in my life is having good relationships with my family and friends.  I express gratitude for them by doing what I can for them whenever I get a chance.  Over the last year I’ve shared a lot of awesome experiences with a lot of different friends and our bonds have gotten stronger.  I didn’t always get to spend as much time with everyone I would have liked to and will work on that.

December 15 – 5 Minutes Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010.

Meeting Jeannie / Whistler / Olympics / Roadtrips! – Tremblant, Montreal, Detroit / Exploring buildings with Nix and Myla / Triathalon with Steve, Ant and Kristen / Ant and Ash’s wedding / Sushi hunting and stuffing with the SNS crew in Montreal / Heavy MTL with Greg / Box wars / Zombie walk / George Romero shooting me / Bike marathon / biking to guelph / Rammstein in Montreal and train trip with Mike and Candy / snowboarding as much as I can / making things / eating lots of tasty food ;) / crap 5 minutes are up

December 16 – Friendship How has a friend changed you or your perspective on the world this year? Was this change gradual, or a sudden burst?

I wouldn’t say any one friend changed my perspective, but by getting to know more people better it gave me a lot of different viewpoints to see the world from.  It was definitely a gradual thing – the more viewpoints I have to consider, the more balanced my own view of the world becomes.