February « 2012 « Drozdadigital's Blog

Archive for February 2012

The List

Hanging out at the Cliffhanger

Back in the late ninety s while sitting in my cubicle on the SaskEnergy help desk I clicked upon an article on the web about a List. This was a list about 100 things that the interviewee was revealing to the author of this article.(Note: this was long before the notion of the Bucket List came to the movie screen) This was a great idea, so over the next few weeks using this article as my framework I wrote down my list. I never did manage to get 100 but over the years about 75 ideas have been thought about, some have been attempted and others have been completed.

Over the next few months Im going to look at this list and revisit some of the ideas and blog about how I may have attempted them in the past and I how I will tackle them in the future. So sit back and I will set the scene.

Date: About 1998 two years before Y2K

While searching the depths of the Internet cyberjungle, I came across an article on the Outside Website about a fellow who conjured up a list of 100 things he wanted to accomplish in his lifetime. I thought this idea was very interesting and went about creating a list of my own. Mixing my ideas with some of his I started plotting out my future on this “To do list”. With time, this list will take on a life of its own and I hope it becomes an interesting journal about my life. The list constantly evolves. Things always change as does life.

It has been several years since I have looked at the list. Life has changed tremendously. As I read thru the list things have changed some for the good and some not so good and it is time to continue on before my time runs out. At any moment, a blink of an eye or a like the slow erosion of an ancient valley stream bed, time waits for no one. We are now looking at 2012 and we shall never see that year again.

My physical location is now out on the west coast, my job has changed dramatically, love has been found and lost. Great memories as well as not so great have whittled away at my outlook on life, some as big as the ice age’s affect on the landscapes of yesteryear and others like water droplets on a dusty back road. Now lets look at number 21 on The List.

On Jan 6^{th, Perry} and I took our first lessons at the court club. We learned the how to’s as far as the double figure eight goes and how to belay. I battled the wall for two hours and managed to climb different ascents. At the end of the lesson, we talked about bringing Janet along the next time. He said sure now that we both know everything. That very nanosecond we looked at each other and just roared. Feb 10^th Perry, Brad, Joyce and I wedged our feet into shoes resembling retreaded ballet slippers and buckled up for life. The local rock pro checked our harnesses, knots and wiped our nose. Brad was quite aggressive on the wall tackling technical holds like a kid on a new jungle gym. When climbing you depend on the bottom guy belaying your assets. Nothing installs more confidence than when you are at the top of your climb, all peaked out, ready to repel down and your belayer says he is not ready. What would he do if you fell suddenly? Never mind that, what would I do? Answer: Fall several feet and have your testicles become good friends with the climbing harness. Nov 8/2000 Perry and I went climbing again. I had done my endurance workout routine at noon that day and after about 6 climbs, my forearms were done. Perry was able to climb the 5^th wall while I battled fatigue halfway up.

About 12 years later I tackled another climbing gym, this time in Vancouver. Twelve years later, not nearly in the same physical condition but I did manage to do 5 climbs. I now have a climbing bar in the backroom where I work. Every second day I manage to do some sort of a work out on it. Who knows, one day I may come to a point where I can stroke this item off my list.

Written by drozdadigital

February 25, 2012 at 10:20 am

Posted in The List