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The List

Eating a Tarantula in Cambodia

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eating fried tarantula

It’s not like I grew up wanting to eat a big hairy spider but when I was looking through The Travel Book getting inspired for my trip to Asia, eating a tarantula in Cambodia popped out as something really unique and cool to do. I have a fear of spiders so eating one seemed like a stretch, which is what I love to do.

Cambodia was our first stop on our 10-month Southeast Asia trip we did back in 2012. From day one in Phnom Penh to the next week in Siem Reap and Battambang, I asked everyone if they knew where I could find fried tarantulas. No one had them. There were other fried bugs all over the place (I ate some on a bus trip) but maybe tarantulas weren’t in season or something. It seemed like my dream of french-fried-spider-legs was not going to happen.

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Trying Out for an Olympic Team

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Back in the day when I was going to college, I thought it would be cool to try out for an olympic team. I don’t know why I would want to put myself through that, especially with no chance of making a team but it sounded cool. As a Canadian who grew up under the Northern Lights playing hockey, I’ve had many dreams of scoring a goal and helping to win the gold medal for my country.

That of course won’t ever happen BUT as I was walking around the hallways of my college one day, I noticed a poster advertising try-outs for the Canadian olympic speed skating team. Sure, I had never speed-skated before but at least I knew how to skate pretty well.

This was my chance. I jotted down the date (a Saturday morning) and made sure I was ready for it.

Unfortunately, it didn’t go as planned. My original plan was to have a good nights sleep but when I came home Friday night, my roommate was throwing a party. Since I wasn’t going to sleep with all the noise, I decided to join in on the fun. Everyone thought I was crazy to wake up and try out for an olympic team. Many were already amazed that I had acted in a movie and it was this night that I realized how different I was from many people. I was a dreamer. Someone wanting to experience life in so many ways.

Saturday morning, I woke up and went to the try-outs. The morning consisted of weight-training and cardiovascular tests. I’ll always remember the bike. The evil bike. A stationary bike hooked up to a TV screen. It was only a 1-minute bike ride racing against the computer but they told me it would be the hardest bike ride of my life. I scoffed at it, wondering how hard 1-minute could really be.

Well, it was hard. Very hard. After a few seconds of warm-up, the tension kicked in and everyone around me started shouting to encourage me to keep going at full strength. By the end of the bike, I could barely walk. I was told to jump on the regular stationary bikes and peddle softly to avoid building up lactic acid in my knees. Everyone else was wiped out too. But before I made it to the other bikes, I walked awkwardly to the bathroom and puked my guts out.

But hey, I did it. I lived!

Next was the on-ice try-outs. I laced up my skates and did numerous laps around an olympic rink. This was difficult but nothing compared to the evil bike. I actually didn’t do that bad, but as expected, I didn’t make the cut. They said my skating was strong but just not strong enough to be olympic-material within two to four years.

So you won’t be seeing me with a Canadian olympic medal anytime soon but I did cross something off my crazy life list. Trying out for an olympic team and with no sleep!

Move into My Own Apartment

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Less than a week after moving to a new city, I found the coolest apartment that I could afford. Since I wanted to live nearby the college I was attending, I would walk the streets all day knocking on houses with rent signs and marking down numbers to call.

Eventually, I got a call back telling me that the current tenants of a penthouse were moving out early and needed someone to take over the lease. A penthouse sounded expensive so that was my first question. I was told $900 for a 2-bedroom. Although this seemed cheap for a penthouse, it was still quite expensive for just myself. I agreed to see it however and as soon as I did, I knew this was the place.

Sure it was old and dated but it was literally one block from college, had a loft-style design, sun windows, three balconies, two bathrooms, and a fireplace. It was also spitting distance to the most popular student bar in the neighborhood. Done.

Not only was that the start of two incredible years but it also lead to another incredible story of how I met one of my best friends. While I was walking the streets looking for rentals, a car pulled up and a the passenger asked me what I was doing. When I explained the situation, he said he was also looking for a place and to call him if I needed a roommate. Eventually, I did call him and we met for a beer. This lead to one of my best friendships to date. It’s not very often, you meet a good lifelong friend walking up and down a street!

You never know what’s going to happen. That’s the beauty of life. Follow your dreams and keep an open mind and a good attitude. Big things will happen.

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Moving into my own apartment was one of my bucket list items when I was younger. Of an initial list of 100 amazing things to do before I die, I’ve now completed all of them! Check out the list. The List 2.0 is even crazier and it’s coming soon.

Go to College

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Growing up, I was never really someone who excelled in school. It’s not that I was stupid, I was just not that interested. I was more interested in sports and partying, especially during my high school years. I always thought about college but since I associated it with high marks, I didn’t really think it serious.

But then, when I decided to move to a new city, I thought I’d apply. I had a number of interests ranging from business to journalism but was eventually accepted into a two-year business administration program. My plan was to actually do good this time and focus on school work but to also party hard, just like what I had seen in the movies. That’s what you’re supposed to do in college right?

I did both and had two incredible years. Actually, I developed many new interests such as making friends with teachers who were super inspiring and travel thanks to applying and getting accepted to study for two weeks in Denmark! That was my first time leaving Canada!

Things I learned in college

Although I obviously learned about business-related things, there were a number of other important things I learned during those two years.

  1. How to balance full-time school with work. Ever since I turned 14, I’ve had some sort of job, whether it be part-time or full-time. I think it’s important to earn your own money and by doing this, I graduated with no debt.
  2. Teachers are more important than the course. I learned that any course – even a boring one – can be made interesting with the right teacher. A bad teacher can make even the most exciting course dull and boring. When a teacher inspires you, ask them if you can meet after class. Buy them a coffee. Discuss things. You’ll be surprised how much you will learn.
  3. Extra curricular activities are just as important as the course. This could depend on what you’re studying but from my experience everyone will graduate with the same diploma. What will make you stand out is the extra curricular activities you participated in on campus. For example, if you’re in business, you should join some sort of business club. Become the president. If you’re into politics, run for student council. Organize events. Organize parties. Use your time at school to get hands-on at the same time you’re learning theory.
  4. Make friends with everyone. In high school, many people stay friends with a certain group and ignore everyone else. In college, it opens up but it’s up to you to shed those barriers you may have created in your younger years. College should be a time to meet people from all different backgrounds and expand your horizons. Just try it.
  5. Have fun. This might sound silly but I see too many people who bury their heads in work after work after work. You should care about your marks but you should equally care about meeting people, participating in activities and enjoying your life. College and university is a short but exciting time in life and it would be a pity to waste it all on studying. Also, if you’re looking to do great things in life, being able to form relationships will likely take you further than academics.

Lastly, I just want to say that college isn’t necessary in many circumstances. I’m glad I went because of the friends I made and the overall experience of being a student BUT many things in life no longer require a college diploma or a university degree. I studied business but in retrospect, I would have done better by putting that money into a starting a business and learning how to grow it from nothing into something. That hands-on learning is hard to come by and is often much more valuable than academics. Think about it.

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This experience was part of The List – a bucket list of incredible things I wanted to do before I die. Check it out.

Move to a New City

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This was basically the biggest thing that changed my life. Growing up in a small oil mining city in Northern Canada, I didn’t really think of myself doing absolutely crazy things. I was surrounded by easy six-figure jobs (not such a bad thing) and aside from some small travel plans, didn’t really think much else.

But yet, something kept gnawing at me. Something deep within me said I needed to get out. I needed to explore the possibilities of life and really test myself. As a relatively shy kid with no real plans for life, I didn’t know what to do.

Then one day, I decided that I should move. Not because I didn’t like where I grew up but because I wanted to start fresh. I didn’t want to be held back by the social stigmas I had in the town I grew up in. However, I needed another reason to leave and so I applied and got accepted into college, which was something else I thought I would never do.

Although financially it probably wasn’t a good idea, starting fresh was the best thing I ever did. I decided to move to Calgary, Alberta, a much bigger city 750 kilometres South. Here I would reinvent myself and explore life’s possibilities.

I packed my 1992 Chevrolet Cavalier with clothes and a TV and hit the road for a long 8-hour road trip south. I spent the first couple of nights at one of my parents friends house as I searched high and low for an apartment close to SAIT Polytechnic, the school where I would be studying business for the next two years.

It didn’t take long before I completed yet another goal from my life list – Living in my own apartment.

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Check out more moments from The List