Fantastic Voyage - Coolio

And with the sunshine comes renewed ambition!

I'm back, I can feel it. For the first time since August 29th I was outside in the sunshine, NOT RAIN and I could feel my spirits instantly lifting. Since returning from Saskatoon three weeks ago, I have endured day after day of rain, snow, and cold, 70 hour work weeks, and the only thing that kept me going was the knowledge that I got to return to SE Asia at the beginning of October to film my TV Show. Well that just fell through a week ago as well!!

To fight my sunless depression I did what many people have done in the past, I turned to a drug...caffeine. Leave it to me to discover the oh so artificially enhanced joy of coffee at the age of 25. I don't even have to get a real coffee, I go with the Mocha, because my caffeine tolerance lacking body would go squirrely with a full dose. But just like any other drug there is the inevitable comedown a few hours later immediately followed by the run to the bathroom to pee like a school girl who just won the local beer bong chugging contest.

So yah I'm back!! What I have done with my renewed solar energy and vigour? Well I went for a one hour run two nights ago, followed that up yesterday with a hike up Mount Fairview, and now today is a rest day to enjoy some of the finer things in life like caffeine. Slurpees...fuck off, Caffeine, make yourself right at home!

In my life at this moment...
Movies: A movie with one of the funniest cameos in history...Matt Damon in Euro Trip. "Scotty doesn't know!"
Music: What music am I not listening to these days, but I did buy a CD this week in Banff, the new Sigur Ros album, Takk, and its an instant classic. I dare anyone to listen to this album, anyone I have ever played their music to thinks I have endured serious head trauma in my younger days. The Icelandic band's, who sings in their own made up language "Hopelandic", music is so melodic, melancholy and malicious all at the same time! I listen to all of their albums all the time, but I think most of you would find it good bedtime music.
Girls: I have met a really amazing girl here a few weeks ago, the coincidences and similarities involved so far in our relationship are freakishly abnormal.
Books: I am reading a book right now called Amazon Extreme. Its the journal of a Canadian man and two friends who crossed South America by sourcing out the beginning of the Amazon River at a glacier in the alpines of the Andes Mountains and white water rafted the entire length of the river to the mouth on the Brazilian coastline. This is the shit that drives me!!! If anyone ever wants to fully understand me, read this book. I think it is also part of the reason I am ready to announce my next adventure to everyone.

It is something I have been plotting out now for almost a year. Hemming and Hawing, the Malaysia trip last year was my test to see if this is something I wanted to really do! Since then, I have been discussing the rudimentary plans with my travel mate. Last week, I finally slid the final piece of the puzzle into my operational plan. Riding high on the adrenalizing excitement I forced myself to sit on the excitement for several days to give it a chance to dicipate, but it didn't. So my walls are now covered with giant wall maps, month by month to do lists, budgets, fincing plans, route outlines for my journey AROUND THE WORLD by bicycle to begin in the summer '06. Oh yah and along the way I am going to give a go at climbing the highest mountain on each continent, the so-called "Seven Summits". Denali, Anconcagua, Vinson, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Carstensz, and finally Everest. When sucessful on our charitable journey, we will become the first people in the world to climb the 7 Summits while riding our bikes to each of the seven peaks.

Like I alwasy say...Go Big or Go Home. And for those of you that are laughing at me right now, its not like I haven't heard it before, like when I rode my bike through Asia right after the tsunami last January. If anyone has any contacts with any media companies, magazines, newspapers, internet sites, please please please help a friend and keep me in mind! Or if anyone else wants to come along for the ride or parts of at least, don't be afraid to give me a shout.

Adventure: The Pursuit of Life...time to start pursuing I guess.