30 Day Walking Challenge

Much like the 30 Day Fitness Challenge I did in September 2009, I am going to start a 30 Day Walking Challenge on June 1, 2010.

Goal:  Walk 30 minutes every day for 30 days

Rules:  No portable music, no walking buddies and no set agenda

Gear:   Appropriate attire, house keys, water bottle and a quarter (nope...not bringing my blackberry with me either! Quel suprise!)

So why am I doing this?  Well physical activity is something I recognize as one of the many ways my body and mind let go of stress.  We, as a society, seem to be complacent with the amount of good and bad stressors that we surround ourselves with.  And it takes its toll after a while.  So getting that little bit of physical activity every day as well as allowing my mind to just be is something I am hoping will allow me to focus more and keep me on track with my day-to-day schedule.

I will write about it as often as I feel necessary, perhaps extending a glimpse into what happens to hit my thought process that particular day.  I hope to gain some insight and inspiration as well.  And a little daily physical activity never hurt anyone!

For those of you new to my blog, I'm always looking for new and interesting challenges.  Feel free to suggest some!

That is all. :-)

Hey, wait a minute...haven't I done this already??

From Wikipedia: "Coming of age is a young person's transition from childhood to adulthood. The age at which this transition takes place varies in society ... It can be a simple legal convention or can be part of a ritual, as practiced by many societies. ... Particularly in western societies, modern legal conventions which stipulate points in late adolescence or early adulthood (most commonly 17, 18 and 21, at which time adolescents are generally no longer considered minors and are granted the full rights of an adult) are the focus of the transition. ... The term coming of age is also used in reference to different media such as stories, songs, movies, etc. that have a young character or characters who, by the end of the story, have developed in some way, through the undertaking of responsibility, or by learning a lesson."

I am 29 years old (30 later this year), and I feel like I've been here before.  But before I delve more into that, let me fill you in on what I've been up to since January 31, 2010 (my last blog post).

Near the beginning of February (the 14th to be exact), I embarked on a journey of exploration and music.  I entered the realm of pushed boundaries, crushed egos and brutal honesty.  I was a contestant in Numbers Idol 2010.

The competition started off fierce.  Everyone brought what they thought was their A-game only to be told that they needed to bring it a little harder next time if they wanted to stay in this competition.  No one was safe.  Little by little we were pegged off like little plastic soldiers being flicked by a kid playing army in the backyard.  Every week was a surprise as to who would be sent packing.  And every week we all held our breath for a few seconds until it was over, and what expelled from our lips was either a curse word, a sigh of relief, or a quiet sob.

We, as competitors, became close.  We rallied around each other when we needed extra support or comfort.  We sent frantic text messages to one another during the week about song choice, how our voices were holding up (there was a plague that ran through that competition...I honestly think we were all sick at once point or another), tips and tricks, and general encouragement.

For me it was like a boot camp.  I have been singing since I could make noise.  I have never had formal training, I had only gleaned from spending time with other performers in musicals, choirs and shows.  Numbers Idol pushed my limits, made me think outside the box and connect with my audience more.  And every time I held that microphone in my hand, one thing went through my head:

"This is it.  This is what I am meant to do.  There is nothing else in this world that brings this amount of joy to me.  There is nothing else in this world that terrifies me more than this.  There is nothing else in this world that I want to commit myself to 100%.  This moment.  Right now.  This is it."

And now I know what my Aunty Suzanne meant when she told me "Here's the deal.  You're either married to a man or to music.  Pick one and deal with it.  Music is a very demanding lover.  If you are blessed to find one good man who can compete with your love of music and he loves you truly, you'll be singing the rest of your life.  Tra la la la."  I have always known this was what I wanted to do - I want to be on stage performing.  But Numbers Idol truly solidified that for me, in my head.


It was such a tremendous opportunity for each of us to be a part of, and I honestly think we learnt a lot from it.

Not to be outshone, but I also started a new job on March 1!  I am working as a hybrid Legal Assistant/Paralegal at a private law firm in Vancouver.  The work is awesome, the people are very collegial, its a small firm so it feels like a family...its awesome.


But back to the coming of age thing.  Having learnt what I did in Numbers Idol, and having been given the opportunities these past few months, I honestly feel like I am coming of age all over again.  I'm about to graduate from the 3 and half year part-time program I did at Capilano University.  I am embarking on the next stage of my life...again.  Is it accurate to think that coming of age can only happen when you grow out of chronological adolescence?  Or are we adolescents all throughout our life in one way or another?  I certainly hope its the latter because I do not ever want to stop learning.


Thats all for now. :-)

Testing, testing... 1 2 3.

*ahem*  Is this thing on??

Just testing to see that the blog connection with facebook is still all up and running...

I shall provide more of a story in a bit. :-)

My Reading List

I just finished reading the book "Animal Farm" by George Orwell. Boy, did this book piss me off!! I truly believe it is our duty and right as thinking and feeling human beings to question anything and everything that does not sit right with us. Blindly accepting something as truth is infuriating! The last paragraph of this book frightened me as well!

"Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again: but already it was impossible to say which was which." (George Orwell, 1903-1950)

No truer words have been uttered about what "humanity" has become, or at least what the people who run our countries have turned into. Is there hope for us? I certainly would like to think so.

Do I recommend this book for others to read? YES! Anything that would instigate and provoke the amount of thought that this book has in me is definitely worth it! Anything that can spark debate and discussion like this book has in me should be read! I've got a copy if anyone wants to borrow it, and its a short read too!

Now that I'm finished school I do have a lot more time on my hands. I've posted this to my facebook before, but I have a list going of books I am going to read. I won't necessarily write a review on all of them, just the books that really affect me.

The thing I most enjoy about books (and movies and songs, and all things of that nature - entertainment) is that they are meant to make you think and feel. It may be something as stupid as "Wow, I enjoyed that book. It was a nice escape and it was written well" to what I've written about "Animal Farm". I am also not going to go into much detail because I don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't read it. Plus I'm not a reviewer...I just spout my own thoughts.

My list to date (in no particular order) is:

The Alchemist (read it)
Animal Farm (read it)
The Davinci Code
Angels and Demons
The Shopaholic Series
A Thousand Splendid Suns
The Kite Runner (is sitting in front of me right now as I type this, waiting to be read)
Kindred
Book of Negros
My Sister's Keeper
The Road
Fool by Christopher Moore
A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
Mothers and Daughters

Please let me know if you have anything to add to this list. I am up for anything! All genres!!

Personal Legend

I recently read the book “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. The book is about a young shepherd named Santiago whom we follow while he seeks his personal legend. From this book I gleaned 3 things:

1) We all have a personal legend that we can seek and fulfill – not everyone realizes theirs;


2) If you truly, and purely, want something, the universe will aide you in this in a positive way; and


3) Sometimes what you seek is in the most obvious and simple place, but it takes following what your heart desires to realize it.

I recommend it. I wish I knew Portuguese so I could read the original. The translation felt a bit stiff at times, but for the most part it was a good story. And as cheesy as the teachings are in this book, they definitely rang true for me. I too have goals that I have been seeking since I could talk. My determination and want of these things have never wavered. And I believe the universe has aided me in a positive way. Please understand that when I say “positive”, I certainly don’t mean it has just been handed to me. To be aided in a positive way means going through trials and tribulations – the universe is going to teach you what you need to know in order to successfully obtain what you want. Some things will come easier than others, depending on how quick you pick up on it. With other things it will feel as though you’re banging your head against a wall because you keep repeating the same mistakes over and over and over and over again, and that will keep happening as long as you’re not learning from those mistakes.


I also don’t believe to fulfill your personal legend is to achieve one thing. It’s a legend! It can have many twists, turns, pathways, beginnings and endings. It’s your story, and a story that is focussed on one thing is a bit boring, no? I certainly prefer stories with sub-plots, interesting characters and both sad and happy endings.
Have you thought about what your personal legend could be?

Thats it. I'm done!

I've learnt enough. Yes, yes, yes, sleep is important! I know this! My motivation to continue with this challenge is gone. I am tired of writing about my sleep habits, and I doubt that any of my readers are actually finding this interesting. I find it boring. Almost boring enough to help me sleep at night - how ironic. And I am tired of feeling limited in terms of whether to go out or not during the week.

During the short time that I have participated in this challenge, I have learnt that sleep is important, but this isn't something that is going to easily change for me. This challenge is creating more stress for me than I need...so I'm done.

On to the next challenge!!! Stay tuned...

Boy, I like that snooze button!

When I am a slave to an alarm clock, I press the snooze button way too many times. I don't think its very healthy, but I've become quite accustomed to pressing snooze every five minutes for about an hour before I finally realize I'm uber late and drag my butt out of bed. I've tried setting my alarm for 5 minutes before I want to actually get up so that I allow myself to get an extra hour or so of sleep, and it hasn't helped. However, the first week of this challenge was started with quite a bit of sleep deprivation. I'm going to continue to set my alarm for 6:55am and attempt to get up at 7.

I also didn't really follow the rules this weekend, but that was also partly experimental. I didn't set an alarm clock, and I didn't go to bed and get up at the same time each day. I wanted to see what my body was saying and let myself wake up naturally. On Friday night I went to bed before midnight, but I read for a bit in bed, so I didn't fall asleep until about 12:30. I woke up the first time at about 8ish, but fell back asleep quite quickly. I then awoke again around 10:30 or so, and actually felt rested. My first thought was "Oh great, my body needs 10 hours of sleep. Yay, no social life for me!" I went about my day as normally as I could (its rare that I get a day off with absolutely nothing planned - I usually fill my days off with other things I need to do that I don't have time to take care of during the rest of my time). I went out with friends and didn't drink. We had an early night (for us) and I got home at about 1:30am. I wasn't sleepy at all, so I just chilled in front of the TV for a bit and finally went to bed at 2:30am and fell asleep right away. I woke up around 8:30. I tried to go back to sleep and couldn't. I stayed in bed until about 9:30, hoping that I would just fall back asleep. Nope. So what, now my body really DOES only need 6 hours of sleep? WTF? And I feel very rested!

Well at least I get to start this next week without sleep deprivation and can hopefully get a better read out of my body. My schedule has changed a bit because I've given up volleyball until after the Olympics. I tried getting out to Britannia to play, and it worked out the first week, but the second week it sold out an hour before I got there. I don't live in the neighbourhood and thought it just wasn't worth my time to make the effort only to find out it sold out. If it were downtown, and I found out it had sold out, no big deal. But the fact that I have to take transit out there just makes me not want to make the effort. So I will wait for Coal Harbour to open again in March.

Back to my Sunday NOT at work! :-D