Talk Without Speaking

100 things about me

My name is Colin

Although I grew up in Quebec, I now live in Vancouver. I miss Quebec but love the mountain/ocean combo of the west coast.

Although officially bilingual (English/French) I don’t like speaking French very much and, being on the west coast, I never have the opportunity to do so.

I work for an educational software company in their support department.

I’ve been extraordinarily happily married for almost 5 years now.

I’m a dog person

I’m taller than 97% of the earth’s population

I was a bike courier in Ottawa for two years. My life’s lessons taken from this job had to do with anger management.

While couriering, I once punched an undercover police car. Actually I punched it twice - once on the roof and once on the truck.

I didn’t know it was an undercover police car at the time. It’s a long story.

While couriering, I was once kidnapped by a bus driver. You guessed it - a long story.

I still consider myself a very fast and, unfortunately, aggressive cyclist.

I grew up in a very small community in the middle of a forest.

Going into ‘town’ was a huge, huge deal for me for the first 17 years of my life.

I’m still an exceptional believer in ‘community’.

I have a degree in Criminology.

I hit the 84th percentile on my LSATs. This was before I realized I had no desire to be a lawyer.

I’m a Mac guru.

I’m a very musical person. If I’m home I’m usually listening to music.

I have three things on my life’s to do list. I’m going to list them separately on my 100 list

I whistle. (a lot).

I’ve been in a burning room. It was terrifying.

One of the things on my life’s to-do list is to learn how to do an eskimo roll. That’s when you flip your kayak and then right yourself. I can do the first half - the flipping over part. (ha ha)

I am not a ‘nerd’ but I can play that role.

I am not a ‘jock’ but I can play that role.

I do not know how I come across to people.

My favorite book is Catch 22.

My second favorite book is Straight Man by Richard Russo. I picked it up in a hostel in Barcelona because I liked the cover and had finished all of the other books that I had with me.

My favourite band is U2.

I’ve seen them in concert 4 times. (Montreal, Montreal, Auckland, Vancouver). Each time was better than the last.

In Vancouver I camped out and was first in line with my friend, Jay. We arrived 22 hours early.

I played basketball though high school, CEGEP (Quebec college) and university.

I’m a better defensive player than offensive.

One of the things on my life’s to-do list is to climb a mountain called The President in Yoho National Park. Update! Done it!! 2 left!

There’s a plaque near the summit of The President which is dedicated to a good friend of mine who was killed in a car accident on her way to go hiking and climbing in Yoho.

The President is just over 10,000 feet.

I’ve never seen the plaque…but I will On Aug 18, 2005 I climbed The President and saw the plaque.

I used to live in Australia.

I still say “no worries” but not consciously.

I lived on a tropical island on the Great Barrier Reef for 2 months. I didn’t wear shoes the entire time (nor for a month after returning to ‘the city’).

I am very fortunate in that I have three ‘forever-friends’. I have no memory of meeting them because I’ve always known them. 31 of 31 years.

My ‘best man’ when I got married was a woman. see above.

We have, since that time, drifted apart and this troubles me. Like all friendships, ours needed some debriefing and TLC. We’ve done this and I think that we are all the stronger for it!

The last major item on my life ‘to-do’ list is to see Mt. Asgard which is in Auyuittuq National Park on Baffin Island.

In early July, 2003, I came within what I figure was an hour hike of being where I could see it.

It was late in the day and we were getting pretty tired. To have hiked on was to risk injury.

What’s better? To chase dreams or to meet dreams? I guess I’ll just consider it a very good reason to go back again.

I hope you can’t count (at least for now).