Real Talk and chasing dreams

Well here I am again.

I have some work to do to get back into full Wannabe, but I think that I am inspired to do so. Looking back over my list there are some changes that are going to have to take place. There are some others that I am going to have to wrestle with did I actually accomplish what I set out to do or should I give it another shot. For example, I completed a screenwriting course online that wasn’t associated with MIT. Does it really matter that it wasn’t a MIT course or was the point to complete an online class? More to come on that.

This last Monday I was invited to speak on my first podcast. It was a great time and really inspirational to get off my ass and back into accomplishing some things while I am on this journey. Chris and Austin from Real Talk Live both decided that they wanted to put something together and have done just that. Simply by deciding that they wanted to give a shot at creating their own podcast show. You can find my episode here: Real Talk Live Podcast. If you enjoy help those guys out by using their amazon link or giving them a good review.

As far an crossing something off the list… here is one. I started a club of sorts. Last year the Squeal’n Pigskin Syndicate was born. It is a fantasy football league that I put together with 11 of my “friends.” I use that term loosely because we are ridiculous and brutal to each other through the season. Trades are overanalyzed. Arguments are heated. Not to mention the insane betting that goes on through out. I am currently in a horrible losing streak and sit at 2-4 on the season. I owe wager pay ups of a Dinner that I only purchase at the dollar store, I have to host one of them overnight at my house. I also had to perform a dubsmash everyday for a week following a loss. These are very benign wagers for this league. We have had worms eaten, scandalous music videos, and paintball firing squads in the past. I have also been known to produce a weekly video recap of the syndicate that all of the other ridicule relentlessly.

That being said I am very proud of my Syndicate and feel that it more than qualifies as a club that I’ve started. I hope that all the fellow owners would agree with my as they have high expectations for how we play after a season and a quarter.

Our Championship Trophy: The Slop Trough

-John

Well hello there,

And here it is again. My annual “I’m going to get back to blogging post.” Hopefully this year I mean it.

Last night I made Moscow Mule’s for my wife and I. I was flipping though the recipe book that I have been trying to cook everything out of and it sounded perfect for the ridiculously hot weather Northern Cali is experiencing this week. Of course then I began to think about Adventure Wannabe and how neglected it has been. Sad really, because I really am excited and love this project. So here we go again…

To be honest it’s not like I don’t have my list in the back of my mind everyday. I have accomplished quite a few items on the list that hasn’t been updated. (I know I know, what is wrong with me?) I have decided I am a complete and total procrastinator. One of the worst ailments in life. Who wants to sit around talking about what they would like to do in life instead of actually getting off their ass and doing some of it??

Time is not on my side though. I am raising two incredible sons and need to pay more attention to the love of my life and best friend. Is there any way to negotiate for a 25 hour in the day? These really are just the excuses I use to rationalize my lack of accomplishment though. I am a master of killing time. I love movies, tv shows, sports and most forms of entertainment, that is just a fact. Each one of those can kill hours upon hours in a day though. Time that would be much better exploring, educating, building, producing or creating.

Not all of my days are wasted though. I have coached my kids in several sports for the last couple of years and it has been a blast (most of the time.) I have completed a couple of online courses that should help me conquer some of my items. I have written a bit, I do have a monthly assignment for a recipe article in a regional family magazine that I have been doing for just over a year now. I have attended multiple sporting events in a journalistic capacity, even making it to Vegas for a PPV show which I thought was a pretty big deal.

What I am getting to is that I am not feeling that I make the best use of my time. This endeavor illustrates just how much I would like to get done in this life and I feel I am unbelievably behind schedule. So in the annual tradition of this post I will once again commit to getting more done, learning more and most importantly exploring more. Hopefully that will all lead to documenting more.

Hopefully sooner rather than later.

-J

4 years old

I got a email from my blog yesterday. It was an alert to tell me that Adventure Wannabe was turning 4 years old. Of course it got me to reminiscing about all that has happened in that time. In addition to all of the noted excursions and experiences that I have had that were a direct result of my blog I have had so many countless others. 

I became a father again. 

I have been blessed to continue living a life with my best friend as my wife.

I have made numerous new friends that have made life so much more interesting. 

I have become a published magazine journalist. (Sonoma Family Life)

I have gone to events that I never would have before. (Ringside at UFC)

I walked up to one of my heroes. (Willie Mays at the final 49er game in the ‘Stick.)

In addition to all of the documented adventures that you have read about in my posts.

However I think that the most lasting impact that AW has had on my life is that I no longer have as much hesitation to attempt new things. Life is way more crazy than when I started this. I had no idea what raising two little boys was really going to entail. That is the best adventure that I have been on though. They have given Dani and I a life filled with something new each and every day. For that I am blessed. 

-J

Extended break

I know I know… I’ve been away from you for over a year.

I have no reason to ask you to come back and check on me. I would have moved on by now. It understandable.

However, I am going to attempt to resurrect my little blog and get back to writing regularly. Life just got a little too complicated and there simply wasn’t enough time to dedicate to my project here. It doesn’t mean that I’ve been slacking on my listed goals. I’ve actually put a few to bed in my time away. I just haven’t made the time to share with you.

I needed a little time away to get some things in order, prioritize and give time to the people in my life that deserve it. Chasing my two sons around with my wife is also the most important thing that I can do with my time. They aren’t going to be this age ever again. Wouldn’t want to miss anything I don’t already with work and other distractions.

But I’m coming back to the AW. No promises or anything, but I have missed putting my pursuits down, and quite frankly writing anything semi-regularly feels good. Theraputic if you will. So I hope that I can win you back. Let you know that I do appreciate that you give a moment or two of your day to see what’s new in my zoo.

Changes are coming to my list. Seems like an annual update is in order. Drop an item or two that isn’t as important to me as it once was and add some that have grabbed my attention at this point in my journey. I will also start updating the accomplishments that I’ve checked off in my time away from the keyboard.

Starting now with #139 Become a Personal Trainer. Back in May I was recovering from a ankle injury that had sidelined me for several weeks. An opportunity to test for my personal trainer certification came up locally and I just didn’t want another opportunity to pass me by. Thankfully my mother bankrolled my enrollment and I attended and passed the test with flying colors.

I didn’t think that I was ever going to work full time as a trainer, but might take a client or two in flexible circumstances. One such circumstance presented itself and I was training a girl to gain some speed for her soccer career. Her hard work paid off tremendously and she just completed a terrific season. I did take some pride in watching her improve with the little guidance and encouragement that I was able to give her.

So I’m hoping to win you back with more of my adventures. The tone of them may be evolving with the growth and maturity of my family. The boys are now forming their own ideas of what is “cool” and “fun.” I am just going to strive to stay in that category for as long as I can in their worlds.

My certification as a Personal Trainer

Ink’d up

I put this item on the list with only a half-hearted belief that I would actually go through with it. I never really considered myself a tattoo man. Probably because it was drilled into my head that “good” people didn’t have tattoos. They were the marks of thugs, criminals, and low life’s. What a crock!
What I had actually said was that I would never get anyone’s name tattooed on me…especially a girl. I believed that as soon as anyone did that the clock was ticking before they split. Dani and I had talked about it many times and it was always the same. She thought I wasn’t really committed to her…even though she has a wedding ring, two adorable kids of mine and we have ridden more than our fair share of ups and downs in our relationship. I always answered that I would NEVER get anything permanent because then she would be headed out the door.
Then Valentines day arrived. Dani has been “saying” that she wants to get a tattoo to symbolize our boys, but she never did anything about it. (Kinda like I did about a lot of things before I started this list, and still do about most things.) I usually gave her a pretty hard time about getting a tattoo. How I was against it, it might be trashy, what if she didn’t like how it turned out. So I figured she would be pretty surprised when I went and got her a gift certificate for her tattoo.
The more I thought about it the less I could see any reason to not have something for Dani tattooed on me. She is the love of my life, my best friend and the mother of my children. No matter what the future holds I know we will be together. I simply cannot fathom a life without her…enough of the gushy stuff. I found a copy of her signature and took it with me to the tattoo shop. I had decided to get it placed on my wrist. She was going to flip!

I felt bad because it took a lot longer to set up the station that it did to do the tattoo. Less than 10 minutes and I was done. Permanently branded as the property of Danielle Corippo. I love it though. I can’t imagine not having it now. It just fits. Oh, and she flipped out. I don’t think she really believed that I had gotten an actual tattoo of her name. For a few days I wondered if she was expecting it to wash off eventually.

I ran into a dilemma afterwards though. I didn’t think that I had truly gotten “enough” of a tattoo to claim on my list. Sure it meant the world to me and I think it’s pretty awesome, but it took less than 10 minutes and really is just a couple of squiggly lines. Dani has gotten to the point that she can draw it out in a second or less.
Leave it to her to solve my dilemma for me. Fathers day I received a gift certificate to get another tattoo. This one was going to be something that I had been kicking around since we got married and went on our honeymoon to Hawaii. The problem I always had was that I would add things to it. I knew I wanted a tiki god, one of the love gods that are protecting their family. I also wanted to incorporate my fire fighting badge. My department has adopted a pretty unique badge, not one of those that every firefighter has that you can bulk order out of a magazine, but a true Maltese cross. I would have to include something for our first child, Daisey our lovable yellow lab. Then we went and had our boys, no way could I get out of having them in it.
So it never seemed to be rock solid, but now I had been pushed up against the wall.
Mark Phillips at Trust Tattoo in Ukiah nailed it though. It turned out more perfect than I could have ever imagined.

After more than three hours of pain and suffering as the needle dug in and out of my leg I had it. Mark had taken a pretty simple line drawing and idea and turned it into a remarkable piece of art…on my leg! He incorporated all of the things that I was asking for and I think it’s badass!!! It has made me think I’m pretty awesome strolling around in shorts this summer. Everyone has had great things to say about him. I really don’t know what took me so long to go for it, but I’m glad that Dani finally pushed me into it.
And just like that my list is smaller by one more item…

Page turners

Time to catch up the old library. This is going to be sort of a long list so we’ll run through them quickly…

Scared Stiff by Annelise Ryan

This was a fast read about a murder in a small town. You know one of those that everyone knows everyone else’s business? It was enjoyable and I really liked that the protagonist wasn’t taken too seriously throughout. She had more than her fair share of embarrassment which made for a great change of pace from the perfect heroes in most stories. 6/10

A Band of Misfits by Andrew Baggarly

I had to relive the great postseason run of my San Francisco Giants after the disappointment of not making the playoffs last year. What a fun ride! 9/10…but I’m really biased.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

The second in the Hunger Games trilogy. Started out great and kinda fizzled at the end. I just expected more before I ran out of pages…7/10

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

The conclusion of the Hunger Games. Don’t know why, but I wasn’t satisfied with this one. Wanted more from these characters I grew so fond of in the first two books. 4/10

The Long Run, by Mishka Shubaly

This was a mildly entertainingly narrative of a man that transformed from a drunk, druggie, couch potato slob to a long distance runner. 5/10

The People of The Mist by Haggard H. Rider

Mr. Rider has taken me on a few great adventures now and is becoming one of my favorite authors. They are page turners that a filled with adventures of explorers and treasures. This one didn’t disappoint. 8/10

The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

Another great classic from THE great American author. I wish I could spend one day in his imagination. 8/10

Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens by J.M. Barrie

The origin story of Peter Pan. Just had to find out how the story started, could have lived without it. 3/10

Sons and Princes by James LePore

A gritty story from the New York mafia and protecting your children. Was a good decent read that kept me interested from start to finish. 7/10

Dust by Arthur Slade

Off the wall story involving missing children and a Piped Piper type character. I didn’t want to like it, but I kept coming back to see what was going to happen. 6/10

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

The basis of Apocalypse Now. An journey on a river of chaos and insanity. 7/10

Under Your Skin by JR Chartrand

Teens are literally scratching themselves to death in this mystery novel. One that you have to keep reading to see what is going to happen. 7/10

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, John LeCarre

The best spy novel ever written, even though it’s a bit dated now. I couldn’t put it down and agree with all the hoopla over it. Think that I am going to have to read it again though, I’m sure there are parts that I will love rediscovering. 9/10

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

I had stared this book a handfull of times and stopped in about the same place each time. Just couldn’t get into it for some reason. This time I put my nose down and powered through and was pleasantly surprised that is got really good after that stopping point. A different perspective on the typical Dracula myth. 8/10

Birdmen by Phil Williams

The only reason that I picked this out was that I have met the author. He is the husband of my best friends cousin…full disclosure. What an incredible surprise when I became completely immersed in the story. The twists and turns of a military tour were incredible and I truly came to care for the guys and what they were going through. I would highly recommend and hope that there are more stories to come from this yet pretty much undiscovered author. You’ll thank me for it. 9/10

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

I went for this because of the movie trailer starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock. What a weird journey I was taken on. Sad, disturbing and somewhat depressing. Then I tried to watch the movie and was incredibly disappointed, should have never been attempted as a film. I would give the book a 7/10.

Superbia by Bernard Schaffer

A cop mystery that deals with cop killers, child predators and police corruption. 7/10

The Girl That Kicked The Hornets Nest by Stieg Larrson

I just hand to finish the trilogy. While I was into what was going on in the back of my mind I had a nagging voice repeating “this is nowhere close to the first one.” While I am going to miss Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander and where their adventures might have gone. I think it might be best that they separated ways after three books. 7/10

The Parrot Talks in Chocolate by Everett Peacock

Wanted some lighter subjects and this was just the ticket. Nothing can beat tiki bars, Hawaii, surfing and bar stories. No plot to follow, no deep meaning to unearth, just observations of life in an island bar. Good fun read that brought a smile to my face and a desire to get back to an island ASAP! 8/10

Whew…caught up on my reading. Hope I don’t get that far behind again.

Til next time…get out and live!

Short note

Just checking in for a short note to report that I weighed in at 211lbs for the weight loss challenge.
Some other notes:
Having some issues remembering all the books that I’ve read in the last 6-8 months. I should have kept better track, but I’m working on it.
I have some other bigger news, you know…things to cross off. Just have to get used to using my iPad or go get my laptop. The app is a bit different than the website, but I’m having a chance to watch the ins and outs of it.

I’m Back!! and this time I mean it…

Hello again…

After months of exile from my beloved blog I am making a (hopefully) triumphant return. We have a lot to catch up on so I am hoping to fill quite a few posts in the next week or so. I deluge of activity that will bring my journey up to date.

First off an explanation. I fell off the face of the web for a few different reasons. Work issues, life changes, exhaustion, and needing to reprioritize what is important in my life all played a major part. I kind of forgot how to enjoy life there for a while. We moved into a new house and still had a newborn in the house to care for. Needless to say, Wannabe got lost in the shuffle. Enough of the excuses though, after some careful thought I rediscovered my love for my list and it can help me be the man I want to be. It also is an excellent outlet to get some of the craziness out of my head.

To the current…Today I will be weighing in for a weight loss competition that is being put on by some of the police officers down at our station. While I have dropped some of the unnecessary weight I pack around I am not even close to my stated goal of 185lbs. I will return soon with my official weigh in start. We have done these competitions before and I have found them to be very effective for me in staying on course for getting in shape. I am really hoping that these trend keeps true this time.

Some other things to look for in the future…

I am obsessed with food and eating. So I plan on sharing some of my favorite recipes. Ironic that I put this directly after I declare a battle of the bulge, but I firmly believe that you can eat well and still work out and become fit. I WILL NOT be eating tasteless cardboard wafers to lose weight. I’m sure that I could lose more if I did adhere to a strict diet of rabbit vittles, but life is too short to not enjoy each meal that you have while your here.

Changes to the list…

I was looking it over and in line with some of my new found gusto and prioritization I will be changing a few items on the list. Some because they are no longer possible, and some because I am in a different place than I was when I first put the list together. Mostly because I have things that I would rather accomplish now than I did 2 years ago.

Kids…

My 2 boys and wife encompass 95% of my life. That is the way life should be. The other 5% is work, friends, hobbies (blog), and all that other junk. So if you visit your going to see a lot of my fam and our adventures. One of the reasons I started this in the first place was to be a better dad and show my sons that life is meant to be lived and celebrated. Not trudged through and living to work. That being said some of the big deals in my household are The Avengers, Batman, Spider-man, Maldonado Crazy Monkeys, and lots of toys to play with.

New Found Things…

I will also be sharing new things, places and people that I discover in life. Recently I posted about my good friends Charlie and Cindy Miller and their family’s McCloud business, McCloud Outdoors. I will be sharing more and more items like this in hopes that someone finds and reads this and decides to visit some of the things I enjoy in life. I have another waiting to go already…Just waiting for The Cartman to launch. (I hope he still reads this)

 

Thats it for the moment. I pledge to be consistent and rededicate myself to documenting this journey, just so my boys have a way to go back and look at some of the things that we did in our lives. Thank you for stopping by and please feel free to drop a comment, even if it’s just to say hello. Everyone like to see comments on their page.

 

McCloud Outdoors

A good friend of mine has fulfilled a dream and opened up sporting goods and excursions business in McCloud California. McCloud is near the base of Mt. Shasta and is a great base for all sorts of outdoor adventures. It is surrounded by rivers, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, and more. Which makes McCloud Outdoors and Gear Exchange the perfect spot to gear up or sign up for one of their guided excursions. They have caving, rock climbing, shooting, hiking, camping, kayaking and rafting to name a few. I will give a personal recommendation that this family owned business will go out of their way to get you what you need while treating you like a good friend. And on their guided trips they will treat your and yours like one of their own.
You can find their site at McCloud Outdoors and Gear Exchange. So do yourself a favor and like them on Facebook at McCloud Outdoors or follow them on Twitter @mc_outdoor to find out about great deals on equipment and outdoor adventures.
Remember that you will only regret the things in life that you did not go out and do.

A return to Wannabe??

It’s been over half a year and a lot of things have gone down. Many times I have sat down to post and then dropped it. So as I’m sitting here now I’m wondering if I should continue with Adventure Wannabe or move on to something else? I’m not dropping my bucket list, but wondering if blogging about it is worth the time. Looking for any ideas and comments? If your reading this what do you think?