The List

2005-11-10T12:24:00.000-08:00

(last updated: June 17, 2008)

1. Run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain
2. ~~Finish my Bachelor of Arts Degree~~ Done! I wrote my last exam on the 14th. More here.
3. ~~Apply to graduate school~~ Completed February 11, 2008 - I've applied to two graduate school programs, got accepted by both and have since selected one. I start in September, 2008.
4. Be ‘conversant’ in Nuu-chah-nulth
5. Begin learning my mother’s language (Tsimshian)
6. Jump out of an airplane (with a parachute)
7. Learn how to scuba dive
8. Shoot a moose (Although my brother-in-law, Gord and I went for moose, we didn't see any this year, but I did take my first deer).
9. Visit South America
10. “Kick it” with the brothers and sisters in Los Angeles
11. ~~Live completely on my own (for at least a month! Ha-ha)~~ Completed November 1, 2006 and still going strong!
12. ~~Climb to the top of a mountain~~ Completed April 13, 2006 - Mt. Lau Wel New in territory of the Tsartlip peeps
13. Complete a triathlon
14. ~~Go camping~~ Completed May 13th - camped on Long Beach in Tla-o-qui territory
15. Hike to Della Falls
16. ~~Participate in a polar bear swim~~ Completed January 1, 2006 at Shell Beach in front of Uncle Arnie's house. Details here.
17. Learn how to surf
18. Learn how to play the guitar
19. ~~Get a tattoo~~ Completed December 20, 2005. Read about it here. I got my second tattoo, a Ganhada/Ko-ishin, in April!
20. ~~shave my head bald at least once~~ Completed July 5, 2007 space monkey
21. Go to Jazz at Pearl’s
22. ~~Ride my motorcycle over 200km/hour and live to tell the tale~~ I completed this one this morning, April 5, 2006 when I reached 201km/hour. Woot woot!!! Read about it here.
23. Visit Jana in Paris, France
24. Go to a Canucks hockey game
25. ~~Write an article or editorial that gets published in a newspaper or magazine~~ My "Why Wal-Mart Is Bad For You article was published in the last Redwire Magazine.
26. ~~Go to a concert at the Commodore Ballroom~~ Completed December 28, 2005 - Bedouin Soundclash
27. ~~Win a poker tournament~~ November 27, 2005 - Small game but I still won! I cleared $45 haha. I'll let you know when I win a bigger one.
28. ~~Ask a complete stranger to dance~~ completed December 3, 2005 @ Club Sonar - Samaya Photography Calendar Launch Party
29. ~~Run a 10km race~~ Finished the TC 10km in 1:15:26 :p More here
30. ~~Join a competitive/recreational sports team~~ - Completed this semester. I'm playing volleyball with Team Stomish, and I've played in two intramural soccer games for Joe's team - 1 win, 1 loss.
31. Fire an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon
32. Go spelunking
33. Ride my motorcycle to southern California
34. ~~Buy a digital camera~~ November 30,2005 - I bought an Olympus Stylus Verve :D
35. Give my dirty dogs a bath (I have to come up with a new one here, cause I've since had my dogs adopted by a family in Ditidaht, and I never did give them a bath! :I)
36. ~~Visit my family in Terrace~~ Thanks to my mom and her Airmiles, I had the honour of visiting my family in Terrace during reading break (Feb. 17-22, 2007)
37. ~~Sleep on a beach~~ On July 1st (Indigenous Survival Day), some (non-communist) comrades and I camped on the beach of Esowista, of the Tla-o-qui-aht Nation. That sand gets everywhere.
38. See the northern lights from the north
39. ~~Build a website~~ Completed May 1, 2006. www.stoptheviolencencn.org
40. ~~Go to the opera~~ Ly and and I went to see The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart) at UBC, Sunday, March 5, 2006.
41. See a foreign film at the Vancouver International Film Festival
42. ~~Write a letter and mail it the old fashioned way~~ I wrote my Mom a letter and mailed it from her home territory, February 21, 2007 :D I've also sent letters to my Dad, Sister and several close friends.
43. Make a short film
44. Swim with animals bigger than me
45. Help build a house
46. Paint a picture
47. ~~Paddle in a dugout canoe~~ Completed May 14, 2006 paddling from Tofino to Opitsaht as part of the www.stoptheviolencencn.org march.
48. ~~Not use my mobile phone for a whole week (7 days = 168 hours)~~ Completed July 10, 2006. Read about it here.
49. ~~Read “Gandhi An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth”~~ Completed March 19, 2006. Some brief thoughts here.
50. Go to ~~Sturgis~~ or Bike Week at Daytona [Given my recent awareness of the Sturgis event encroaching on sacred land of my Dakota brothers and sisters, I will scratch that option and stick with Daytona]
51. Go to the Kentucky Derby
52. Swim in the Atlantic Ocean
53. Tell a story to friends around a campfire
54. Write the first chapter of a book
55. Write the Forward for a friend’s book
56. Eat something worthy of Fear Factor (I had some haggis recently, but people are split on whether it counts)
57. Deliver a speech to hundreds of Indigenous people
58. Visit Africa
59. Go snowshoeing
60. Go to a Kwakwakawak’w Potlatch (I go to Nuu-chah-nulth ones all the time)
61. Ask a strong, intelligent, beautiful woman to marry me (Indigenous ceremony)
62. Get nominated for an Aboriginal Achievement Award and decline
63. Make it onto the “Spiffy Indian” list
64. Go to an outdoor music festival (I DID go see De La Soul at an outdoor concert series in the Fall...does that count?)
65. Make a dinner for at least 6 friends all by myself
66. Go kayaking
67. ~~Get hired again, because of my “radical” views~~ Completed Dec. 2-4, 2005 - Facilitation contract for the BOLT youth gang even though I had to restrain myself to facilitate properly, there may have been a leek or two
68. ~~Fall in love~~ :o I know! I did, sigh...love you Hilababy
69. Go fishing again
70. Finish reading “Our Word Is Our Weapon”
71. Inspire at least 10 Aboriginals to covert to Indigenism (I think I'm working on #4 now)
72. Start an Indigenous book club
73. Appear in a film by Fish
74. Go bungy jumping (again)
75. Learn 5 Nuu-chah-nulth songs, word for word
76. Float in the Dead Sea
77. Eat lobster in Mi’kmaq territory
78. Visit Denendeh
79. Learn how to do an oil change on my motorcycle
80. Go rappelling
81. ~~Reach the 100 blog mark (have about 45 so far)~~ Completed March 20, 2006. click here for post.
82. Ride a horse at a gallop (and not fall off)
83. ~~Overcome my fear of the dark~~ I'm fairly confident I have overcome this fear, aided by my late-night navigating of Mt. Lau Wel New in Wsanec territory earlier this year.
84. Take a yoga class
85. Post a blog in Nuu-chah-nulth (International phonetics)
86. Have a glass of “first growth” (Bordeaux) wine
87. ~~Buy a sketchbook and begin drawing again~~ Completed November 14, 2005
88. Chop wood for an elder
89. Help revive the House of Nish-hai-waas
90. ~~Give away 10 books to my friends and family members~~ Completed December 26, 2005. Click here for the details.
91. ~~Take my Mom out to dinner~~ Completed January 1, 2006 - although I sure hope to do it more than once in 3 years, so I will keep updating this one and the one below as appropriate.
92. ~~Take my Dad out for breakfast~~ Completed June 18, 2006 - Father's Day :D
93. Visit Machu Picchu, Peru
94. ~~Get in a snowball fight, remembering what it was like to be 8~~ Completed February 26, 2006 - with Hiish-miik, Dianna and Mianna in their front yard
95. Carve something out of anything
96. Publish another issue of “Goin’ Coastal”
97. Create/Arrange an instrumental track I can rhyme over
98. ~~Mentor a bona fide protégé~~ Old Man Rivers agreed to be my protégé and I his mentor, December 11, 2005 (You can also add Risky and Kitten, although handing the torch to Roots on the latter...I was just an intro)
99. Hablo Espagnol
100. Give away something I cherish
101. Complete all of these things without compromising my principles or integrity

Your Life is Ending One Minute at a Time...

2005-11-10T11:56:00.000-08:00

I got this idea of completing a list of 101 goals in 1001 days from a friend. First of all, completing such a list is challenging period, nevermind the considerations of an Indigenous man. It is basically an exercise in planning the next three years of my life; a life in which I am striving to de-colonize and become more authentically Quu'as.

Some of my goals are big, some crazy, some simple but I think I did a pretty good job in crafting the list. The biggest thing I noticed was how ridiculous some draft goals seemed through the lense of being Indigenous such as "live on the land for a week" (which did not make the cut). My list ended up being a blend of crazy fun stuff, "Run with the bulls" and more profound life goals, "Be conversant in Nuu-chah-nulth."

Another friend found the idea of a countdown stressful, but I believe that any potential anxiety is alleviated by the fact that these are things I want to do and not stuff I have to do or should do. Welcome to my roadmap to the tales of Jiggs.

W's 101 in 1001

The List

Your Life is Ending One Minute at a Time...