Alright look it, there is nothing challenging about 6' 9" men slam dunking baskets. They are all tall enough to stand underneath said basket, reach up and touch it. What I'd like to see is full contact on ice basketball with no one over 5' tall on the teams. Now that's a sport.
I recently returned from our nation's Capital of Ottawa for a trip to fulfill a life long goal of skating on the Rideau canal. The skating was fantastic, the food was delicious, the company was terrific and the drinking was of shit show proportions. Nothing short of what I anticipated. But the trip brought up an interesting discussion, and that is the "bucket list," which seemingly has become cliched since the release of the major motion picture starting Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. One of the people I was on the trip with has a friend who is fighting leukaemia. She has recently been trying new things that she had never done before, from new foods to learning to ski. It took this fight with cancer to bring that out in her. So the debate became about waiting to make that list and saving your pennies until you have a massive life altering experience, or is it better make that list and check off those things on your list whenever the opportunity comes along. I know a lot of people who sit on both sides of the fence. On one hand, there is a certain risk with trying to fulfill life long goals which can often be costly and sometimes dangerous, say if you're life long goal is to climb Everest or to fight a sumo wrestler, but on the other hand, how do you want to look back on your life? I am no stranger to impulsive decisions, some of which have been costly, such as the purchase of a brand new vehicle on a whim and a trip to Ireland after the trip to Vegas got cancelled because everyone else bailed. Both of those events took place within two months of each other. Do I regret it? Sometimes when the car payments come out I wonder if I made the best decision possible, but ultimately there are few experiences I wish I hadn't had.
When I look back at my life I want to be able to say I did everything I wanted to do and that I wasn't constrained by money or, more importantly, fear. And while it may be folly to squander away every penny on excess, I would much rather die poor having lived, then die rich having done nothing but squirrel it all away.
As to the case of my friend's friend, I say good for her. She is taking something challenging and turning it into something incredibly positive, something that gives her purpose. Regardless of what caused her to make this decision, I can see no downside to it and I wish her all the best in everything.
So as for Ottawa, I can put a big check mark next to skating the canal (one of my less extravagant items on the list) and move onto the next big thing. I'm thinking maybe hand gliding in the Alps....
Cheers,
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