When have you Seized the day?

Heres one of my stories from my surf trip to Bali:

So it all started out with a huge swell coming our way from australia. And when i say huge you have to understand that i had, at this time, only ever been out surfing in two to three foot waves and even those no more than ten times. So we (there for four of us travelling together, and two american guys who were taking lessons with us) were all just beginners. Our insructors had been keeping an eye on the movement of this swell (over the net) and had been telling us it was coming. Today was the day it was supposed to hit the little island of Bali, Indonesia. It did not dissapoint. The beach was lined with begginers and even the somewhat experienced surfers who valued thier lives. Out in the pounding surf there were the truly experienced ones...that is, the truly experienced ones and us six, whome (to all those sissy's just watching from the beach) must have seemed either incredibly good, or incredibly stupid. That was only, however, until they saw how much skill we had at paddling out through the whitewater, and it was then they realized that we were indeed just incredibly stupid.

When we first stepped into the water the waves were about five feet. But first you need to understand something about the way they measure the hieght of a wave. They (for reasons i can not understand) measure the wave from the back of the wave (yes thats right, the part you cant even see...figure that one out). This is somewhat (and when i say "somewhat" i really mean "incredibly") misleading, because at the front of the wave water is being sucked up by the rolling motion, and so when a five foot wave is setting up to come crashing down and your in its path, your looking up at a 8 foot face...and a very menacing face at that. One more point about the waves at Kuta beach: they are very thick and very heavy, and crash down very hard. The power (which they like to abuse regularly) is overwhelming. Anyways, now that you know those details i can get back to the story.

When we first stepped into the water the waves were about five feet. But this was at low tide, and high tide was coming in right about....now. By the time we managed to get through the white water and out past danger (which i'll admit was quite a feat in itself) the waves had increased in size, and were now 8 or 9 feet tall....with about a 10 or 12 foot face.

So there we were, out in the ocean, while huge hills of water rolled under us, on a crash course for the shore. It was time to try and catch one of these monsters so we paddled towards shore, and towards the zone where the waves were breaking. It just so happens that just as we got to where the normal ones were setting up, the big sets came in (a big set is a series of waves usually about 2 feet taller than the rest. The problem here is that the spot where you want to be to catch a normal wave, is exactly the worst spot to be when a big set comes in, because it will land right on your head and proceed to drown you). So our instructer yells at us "big set coming boys, hurry up and paddle out!" Well the first wave got the better part of my brother Karl, and he almost drowned. It also put him in harms way of the second wave, which also got my brother, who almost drowned again. And the third. And then he finally made it to shore with his lungs full of water and his shorts full of breakfast...just kidding.

I was the only one of us six who managed to actually catch and ride a wave that day. And at the end of the day we saw one of the Americans we were with, who had come rather close to drowning himself. He summed up his experience by saying: "I'v been in the army for years. I'v been to Iraq. I'v had bullets wizzing by my head, i'v seen my best friend get killed in action. Never...NEVER have i been so afraid that i was going to die."

To an experienced surfer a heavy, 10 foot face might sound like a walk in the park, a relaxing ride on a sunday evening. But for me, this was a personal victory. I had faced my own personal goliath...and i won.

Inspirational Thought

well i havnt posted on this blog in a while. i'v been posting like nuts on my new one...but i kinda just left this one alone. so heres an inspirational thought that i remembered while posting a comment on someone else's blog, and i thought it fits here:

They have successfully made diamonds out of peanut butter!

now if thats not motivational i dont know what is!

I am slightly frusterated. Those last two pictures of Calvin and Hobbes were SUPPOSED to go to my other blog, my new one. See Calvin? ya thats what i picture blogger doing to me right now, and through his clenched teeth he's saying "mark you suck with technology, i'v decided i'm not going to let you change your settings so good luck posting pictures on your new blog! why dont you go bang your head against a wall?" Funny but that offer seems rather tempting at the moment.

Ok this picture was supposed to go to my other blog. Lets try it again. 

This is how i feel about starting another blog. Lets get to it shall we? 

Now....bring me that horizon!

Sunset across the Rocky Mountain skyline taken from my home up in northern alberta.

Kinda New Here

Well i'm kinda new here to this whole blog thing. I was just introduced to Blogger yesterday so last night i kinda played around on here and threw this all together. I do, however, have an idea with where i want to go with this "Carpe Diem" blog of mine...but its going to require some help if its going to be at all interesting.

I want to make a page dedicated to inspiration and laughs. A page all about "living-in-the-moment". Scroll down and you'll find a section i dubbed "when have you seized the day?" which is just space dedicated to inspirational, funny, or just interesting stories that has anything to do with the name of this site: Carpe Diem. Being the first day running however there is only one story...by me...and i would like to change all that. So if you have a story that you would like to share that you think ties in with the theme, or that you think others might find funny or inspirational or just entertaining, then i would love to see it so that i could post it on this page.

If in the next few weeks it seems like there is interest out there and if theres people that would like to add to this site, or have ideas that go with this site, then please comment. I will be checking the comments frequently and maybe, just maybe, with enough interest we'll be able to put together enough quality stories, jokes, qoutes, ect to make this page really entertaining.

Looking forward to hearing from you,
Mark

Inspirational Quotes

What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.

If you're going through hell, keep going.

Man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?

If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

Kites rise highest against the wind -- not with it.

Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy

I believe every good website should have a list of Deep Thoughts to make you laugh. Here are a few:

Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words - "mank" and "ind". What do these words mean ? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind

As the light changed from red to green to yellow and back to red again, I sat there thinking about life. Was it nothing more than a bunch of honking and yelling? Sometimes it seemed that way.

Somebody told me how frightening it was how much topsoil we are losing each year, but I told that story around the campfire and nobody got scared.

I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it.

A good way to threaten somebody is to light a stick of dynamite. Then you call the guy and hold the burning fuse up to the phone. "Hear that?" you say. "That's dynamite, baby."

I bet when the neanderthal kids would make a snowman, someone would always end up saying, "Don't forget the thick, heavy brows." Then they would all get embarrassed because they remembered they had the big hunky brows too, and they'd get mad and eat the snowman.

Ambition is like a frog sitting on a Venus Flytrap. The flytrap can bite and bite, but it won't bother the frog because it only has little tiny plant teeth. But some other stuff could happen and it could be like ambition.

Probably the earliest flyswatters were nothing more than some sort of striking surface attached to the end of a long stick.

The memories of my family outings are still a source of strength to me. I remember we'd all pile into the car - I forget what kind it was - and drive and drive. I'm not sure where we'd go, but I think there were some trees there. The smell of something was strong in the air as we played whatever sport we played. I remember a bigger, older guy we called "Dad." We'd eat some stuff, or not, and then I think we went home. I guess some things never leave you.

Laurie got offended that I used the word "puke." But to me, that's what her dinner tasted like.

Children need encouragement. If a kid gets an answer right, tell him it was a lucky guess. That way he develops a good, lucky feeling.

The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought Caw.

I think a good gift for the President would be a chocolate revolver. and since he is so busy, you'd probably have to run up to him real quick and give it to him.

If you ever catch on fire, try to avoid looking in a mirror, because I bet that will really throw you into a panic.

Reminds me of home. The only thing that could make this situation better is a very powerful sled attached to a very very long tow rope attached to a very very very excited snowboarder. Open the throttle up to around 80 mph (no that was not a typo...you read right....80 miles per hour!) and feel the adrenalin kick in. Trust me, its a rush....right Dagesse?

The most amazing feeling in the world: Standing up in the surf, with the whole mighty power of the wave under your feet. Its your choice to either harness and control it, or become humbled by it. Good Luck!

Looking out my front window after an afternoon country rain. Beautiful.