EA Challenge #4

Well now that I've finished regaling you all with my own most recent adventure, it's time I got back to pursuing the original purpose of this blog, which is to discuss ways that we can incorporate adventure into our daily lives. And what better way to do that than to issue another challenge, especially since it's been (gulp!) almost a full year since the last one!

The idea for this particular challenge actually originated during my trip to Antarctica. If you remember, I mentioned that on the long flight between L.A. and Santiago, we each had our own video consoles, so we could choose our own entertainment. One of the films I picked was The Bourne Ultimatum. Normally, this wouldn't be my type of movie—I hadn't seen either of the first two in the series—but I really enjoyed it. That is, until I was about 15 minutes from the end and the pilot announced that we were beginning our descent and so the video screens would be turned off!

Unfortunately, I was on a different type of plane for the trip home, so I never got a chance to see the end of the movie. And since I was now going to have to rent it after I got home (I was dying to know how it ended!), I decided I might as well rent the first two as well. And then I finally got to see how it all wrapped up this weekend.

Turns out, they were all good! Although the last one was (surprisingly) the best of the three—I think Matt Damon had really grown into the role by then.

So what does all this have to do with today's challenge? Well, as I said before, normally I never would have seen the films because “I don't like action adventure movies.” I put that in quotation marks because, in fact, there have been a few action films I've loved over the years: Die Hard, Speed, and one of my all-time favourite movies, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

And it's not just action-adventure flicks that I have this not-always-accurate preconception about. I remember going to see Wayne's World, only because that was the one my friends wanted to see, but totally expecting to find it completely moronic. But I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life!

So it's those type of experiences that have inspired me.

Current Challenge

Go to (or rent) a movie from a genre you normally avoid.

As my experiences have shown, in every genre there are some examples that rise to the top, but if you don't normally watch films in those genres, how do you know which they are? So I'm going to suggest a few options below to help inspire you. The links for each film will take you to the IMDb Web site so you can learn more about them.

• Think romances are too sappy? Hotel de Love and Sabrina (the original, NOT the remake) aren't your typical heart-tuggers.
• Thrillers too predictable? The Usual Suspects and Memento will keep you guessing to the very end.
• Foreign films too dull? You won't be sleeping through France's Le Diner de cons (The Dinner Game) or Germany's Lola rennt (Run Lola Run).
• Slapstick comedies too formulaic? Young Frankenstein and The Gods Must Be Crazy created their own formulas to keep the audience in stitches.

Well, you get the idea. The suggestions above are just a small sampling of films that transcend their genres. You still may not like them, but at least you'll have given them a chance, and you never know what will come from that. For example, Knocked Up was pretty much as mediocre as I was expecting it to be, but I thought Kristen Wiig, who played Katherine Heigl's character's passive-agressive co-worker, was hilarious. So I'll definitely be keeping my eyes out for more movies that she's in.

Note: I'm not suggesting that you watch something you're virtually guaranteed to hate. That would just be a waste of time. After all, I can't imagine any scenario in which I could end up being pleasantly surprised by Jackass. :)

Once you've watched your chosen film, I hope you'll come back and tell us about it. Let us know what made you pick that particular movie and, of course, what you thought of it.

In the meantime, I'd love to hear about any surprises you've had in the past, whether it's a movie you thought would suck but turned out to be fantastic, or vice-versa. God knows I've seen my share of movies that I was really looking forward to but ended up being spectacularly disappointed by! (American Beauty, anyone?)

Okay, time for me to start wading through Netflix...

Just a Wee Bit Late on This...

I was looking back through some old posts and realized I never followed up on Embrace Adventure Challenge #3, which was to find a Web site that provides inspiration for our own adventures. And, as it happens, I actually came across a site today that will definitely find a home on my Bookmarks list.

It's called Everything About Travel, and it has lots of great travel ideas and tips. But what really caught my eye was this piece, titled Less Extreme Adventures, which will probably sound familiar to anyone who's been following this blog. To wit:

“Adventure is any activity you engage in that is somewhat new to you and doesn't have a predictable outcome.”

The article also lists some fabulous examples for inspiration—definitely worth checking out!

And don't forget, if you've found any great inspirational sites yourself, I'd love to hear about it. You can add a comment here or shoot me an e-mail and I'll write it up and add it to the Links page.

EA Challenge #3

Well, it's been a while since I posted a reader challenge (did I ever really think I'd be able to do this once a week?!), so here's one to finish off the last full month of winter and/or celebrate Hump Day.

A couple of weeks ago, I started guest blogging for Nomadik Fanatiks and invited their team to do the same for Embrace Adventure. One of my main goals for this site is to build a community of people who share a similar interest in increasing the adventure quotient in their lives, and the readers of Nomadik would certainly fall into that category. I'm hoping this challenge will further help achieve that goal.

Current Challenge

Find a new-to-you Web site that provides inspiration for your own adventures.

As always on this site, we define adventure in the broadest terms possible, so your chosen site may relate to any aspect of your life whatsoever. Here is just a small sampling of possibilities:

• A course catalog for a community college that offers classes in an area that interests you
• A personal or biographical site about someone whose zest for life you admire
• A recipe for a complicated dish that you'd like to make
• A listing for a volunteer opportunity that supports one of your favourite causes
• A video of someone engaging in an activity that you'd like to try for yourself

Once you've found your site, I'd love it if you'd come back, and post the URL (or URLs if you've found more than one!), and tell us what about the site inspires you. I'll also be sure to add your find to my list of Sites To See.

Happy surfing!

EA Challenge #2

Now that we're all “sufficiently suffonsified,” (at least my American friends, since my Canadian cohorts had their Turkey Day about six weeks ago), it's time for the next Embrace Adventure Challenge.

When I wrote about The Five Senses of Adventurers, I left one sense out—a sense of community. That's because you don't necessarily need to have other people involved to have an adventure. In fact, sometimes the very act of doing something all by yourself can be the adventure.

But at the same time, there's no doubt that adventures can be a lot more fun when they involve other people, even if (or especially if) they're perfect strangers. Hence the inspiration for this challenge.

Current Challenge

Initiate a conversation, however brief, with someone you've never spoken to before.

NOTE: Asking the bagger at the grocery store to use paper instead of plastic doesn't count. Nor does screaming at the jacka** who snagged your primo parking spot. :)

However, complimenting the cashier on his/her sweater does count, as does offering to take a customer's shopping cart back to the store entrance.

(Oh, and bonus points if you say hello to your CEO in the elevator.)

Once you've given it a go, please come back and share your story so we can all be inspired. I promise to do the same.

Good luck!

Challenges Redux

About five seconds after I uploaded my first post about Embrace Adventure Challenges, I knew I was being overly optimistic about issuing them on a weekly basis. So I hereby replace the expression “once a week” in that post with “once in a while.” And I'm certainly not going to issue a challenge the week of Thanksgiving—I'm sure everybody's got more than enough adventures going on right now. :)

But stay tuned...

In the meantime, another update on my experience with challenge #1. Last night I used the raspberry chipotle sauce I bought as a sauce for my baked chicken breast. The result? Yum!

Embrace Adventure Challenge #1

One of the main themes of this blog is that you don't have to spend a lot of time or money or effort to embrace adventure. So, with that thought in mind, once a week I'm going to issue an “Embrace Adventure Challenge” and I hope you'll keep it in mind as you go about your daily business.

You have all week to give it a shot. My hope is that, by the end of the challenge period, you'll report back in to share your experiences with the rest of our community. Did you try it? If not, why not? If so, what were the results—the good, the bad, and the hilarious? And, just in case there's any question about it, I will also be participating in the challenge.

Since my last couple of posts have been food-related, I thought I would start there. So, here goes.

Current Challenge

Eat or drink one thing this week that you've never had before.

Here are just a few examples of really simple things that might trigger your own ideas:

• Mix a different kind of lettuce in with your salad
• Replace your morning OJ with guava/mango/passion fruit juice
• If you always have canned peas, give frozen ones a try
• Buy a different brand of bread or a new type of fresh loaf
• Pick something up from the “scary” ethnic food aisle that you normally walk right by

And here are a few questions to consider while you're chowing down.

• How would you describe the flavour and texture of this new food or drink?
• What effect does it have on the other foods you're having at the same time?
• Will this experience inspire you to try other new foods in the future?

And don't forget to check back in and tell us all about it. Good luck!

What is Adventure?

About a year and a half ago, I had the occasion to interview Phil Keoghan, host of The Amazing Race and author of No Opportunity Wasted, for an article in Real Simple magazine. Here's a quote from him in that article:

“Adventure is anytime you step outside your comfort zone and do something new.”

I couldn't agree with Phil more.

Adventure has a lot less to do with what the activity is than with the attitude that you bring to it. So, for example, if you wouldn't hesitate to jump out of a plane at 10,000 feet, then bungee-jumping or whitewater rafting might not be a big adventure for you. But if you've always avoided speaking in public and you sign up to teach a course at the local community college, voila! You're officially an adventurer.

Here are a few other examples that may or may not qualify as adventures in your life:

• Signing up for a swing dancing class
• Trying a new recipe that calls for ingredients you've never heard of
• Going to a speed dating event
• Going on any date
• Traveling to a country where you don't speak the language
• Writing a letter to the editor
• Volunteering for a committee at work

Oh. And, um...

• Starting a blog :)

What examples do you have? What kind of adventures have you done or hope to do in the future? What is it about them that makes them an adventure in your mind?

Share your thoughts in the comment form below. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!