...as I just found out!

I thought I was just doing sports, when a friend of mine sent me this survey about extreme sports for her to fill out. Which of course prompted me to ask her what extreme sports I am supposedly doing. "Surfing of course" she answered.

I was not aware that surfing was considered an extreme sport, so I googled the term just to be sure. Looking through the various websites I had an amazing realization: Not only do I do extreme sports, I seem to be doing nothing BUT extreme sports!

For further explanation, here is what I found by various sites to be considered to be "extreme sports":

skydiving, scuba diving, surfing, rock climbing, snow skiing, water skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, mountaineering, base jumping, hang gliding, bungee jumping, skateboarding, snowboarding, inline skating, windsurfing

Also a Dictionary Definition: What are extreme sports?

• The term "extreme sport" first made it into the Oxford dictionary in 1998. Oxford defines the phrase as "Designating or relating to (a version of) a sport or pastime performed in a hazardous environment or involving great physical risk; esp. in extreme sport. Also: participating in such a sport or pastime."
• Oxford traces the phrase to a 1974 mountaineering article about "extreme climbers" and a 1989 article in Skiing Trade News that talks of "'Extreme' sports like snowboarding, windsurfing and heliskiing." The phrase is usually applied to individual, as opposed to team, sports.

Well, let's look at my favorite sporty past-times:

Top of the list would have to be surfing. God may have created things to do that are more awesome than surfing, but if so then I haven't encountered them yet! ;)

Number two would most definitely have to be rock climbing. Even though my hands hurt like sh** tonight from holding on to boulders for 2 hours, it challenges your body and your mind at the same time, like very few other things that I know.

In third place would be inline skating, which is "surprise" another extreme sport according to the definition.

I also do snow skiing, water skiing, scuba diving and wind surfing, when the opportunity presents itself (usually on vacations).

So, I guess the more difficult question to ask myself is, what are the non-extreme sports that I am doing? And so far I have only come up with two or three, depending on which way you look at it...

Swimming and going to the gym are the only real sports that I can actually say I do and that are not in any way, shape or form extreme. However when it comes to my third choice, I'd have to say that the "extreme" is up for discussion:

The third one is biking, you see. In the city. And anyone that lives in a large North American metropolis like Montreal, which boasts few if any bicycle lanes and an average driver skill set that makes you fear for your life just hitting the streets in a car, let alone a bicycle! Helmets are not optional here, they are a must for survival! And more often than not I leave my bike at home because I can't be bothered to play another round of "avoid the cars" on my way to work.

So there you have it, only two actual non-extreme sports, but then again I couldn't think of that many sports that don't fall under this dubious new category "extreme sports" anyways.

Can you guys come up with some answers?

If so, please list them in the comments!

Or just comment for the heck of it! ;)

Cheers,

Gaby

Hey Party People,

I have also gotten myself a brand new YouTube account and have just posted my first on camera surfing adventure there.

Check it out:


I will be using this YouTube account quite frequently (I hope), so you might want to subscribe to my videos. That way you'll always be informed if I post a new one:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MissUTubes

For all who didn't know:

I have recently started surfing on the Montreal St. Lawrence river.

And being the crazy chick I naturally am, I went shopping for all new gear all over town (as far south as Chambly and as far north as Laval).

So here is my new pride and joy:

Even though I am not a Christian nor do I belong to any 12-step program, I have always found this to be one of the most profound truths ever to be put in writing.

And I am putting this in my blog today to first of all share it with you and to remind myself of its meaning.

Cheers,

Gaby

ARGH! Go away! It's March! What are you still doing here, snow?!  Don't know when it's time to quit?!

I can't even leave the house anymore, that's how bad the snowstorm has hit us!

I went shopping for groceries earlier and after I didn't get back immediately, our security guard started wondering if I'd gotten lost in a snow bank (his exact words).

Just look at the picture below. You can hardly see the bridge much less the river that used to be below it, which is now covered by mountains of snow:



*mope* *grumble*

My Mexican vacation is nothing but a distant memory anymore now.

Then again it could be worse: I could own a car!

I still remember the day when I had to shovel my rental car out of a snowbank after bad snowstorm. It took me half an hour before I could even get into the door!

Anyways, enough ranting for now. At least this way I can get away with being a lazy couch potato all weekend, after all there is no possibility of doing anything else anyways. ;)