- Ate gelato in Rome.
- Ate pizza at an Italian restaurant–in Italy.
- Ate pizza in the commonwealth room of the centre block of the Canadian parliament.
- Attended a Calgary vs. Edmonton NHL game in Edmonton.
- Attended Winterlude and the tulip festival in Ottawa.
- Biked on trails in Banff National Park used by the Canadian National Mountain Biking Team.
- Booked a ticket for an international flight as incentive to get a passport.
- Bought a car for $500 and sold it for $1,100 six months later after putting 25,000 kilometres on it.
- Coached Team Prince Edward Island at the National Cadet Biathlon Championship in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
- Completed a co-operative education term as a lawyer’s assistant.
- Completed basic officer qualification, military occupation code, junior officer leadership and lieutenant’s qualification courses.
- Defended myself in court, fighting a ticket for an illegal u-turn that I did indeed make, and won.
- Drove a car across a rickety old train bridge.
- Drove a potato truck.
- Drove from Charlottetown to Ottawa, a distance of 1,300 kilometres.
- Explored an abandoned castle in Scotland.
- Explored an old abandoned ferry after dark in a snow storm.
- Explored the ruins of ancient Rome.
- Failed Grade 12 French class.
- Fainted at a motel when I stopped my car since I wasn’t feeling well on a drive from Ottawa to Woodstock, New Brunswick.
- Fired an automatic assault rifle and became a range safety officer, qualified to direct other people in firing on the range.
- Gave a speech at a district oratory competition on “The significance of the colour orange to the lives of Canadians.”
- Gave the valedictory speech upon graduation from the journalism program at Holland College.
- Got up at 2 a.m. to glacier-trek across a 300-foot-thick block of ice and then to a 10,070 foot peak in the Canadian Rockies.
- Had a photo shoot as a model for a professional photographer’s promotional material.
- Had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis but grew out of it.
- Helped out in a soup kitchen in Brooklyn, New York City for a week.
- Interviewed New Brunswick premier Shawn Graham over the phone and asked him for his definition of “leadership.”
- Interviewed Prince Edward Island premier Robert Ghiz in his office when he was leader of the opposition.
- Jumped out of an airplane.
- Learned to canoe in white water.
- Learned to snowboard.
- Looked for the monster at Lock Ness.
- Lost my wallet during a flight stop-over in Halifax, but retrieved it at the Tim Hortons where I’d left it on my tray.
- Lost my way in London, many times.
- Made 100 per cent on my driver’s ed exam.
- Made a phone call from a red phone booth in London.
- Met prime minister Stephen Harper when he was campaigning to be a party leader.
- Observed a mock court case at the Ontario Provincial Court in Ottawa.
- Picked up and moved on after losing nearly all my belongings in an apartment fire.
- Played the clarinet in a band in middle school.
- Put 3,000 kilometres on a rental car in one Easter weekend, visiting around the Maritimes.
- Ran a college student union campaign with a speech that said, “I’m not running on the issues. I’m running on the solution to the issues.”… and lost to a girl who handed our chocolate.
- Ran a high school student council campaign that involved screen-printed t-shirts, corporate sponsorship, an impromptu cafeteria speech, radio advertisements and 1,300 posters… and lost to a guy with a video campaign ad.
- Ran into a burning apartment building to make sure everyone was out.
- Received the silver Duke of Edinburgh award from the lieutenant-governor of Alberta.
- Rode a ferry from the white cliffs of dover across the English channel.
- Rode a shuttle boat down the Thames River in London.
- Rode a train from Dublin to Belfast.
- Rode in a black cab in England.
- Rode on the top of a double decker bus from Manchester to London, twice.
- Sang at an open mic run by a drag queen in a little club in Brighton, England.
- Sang in a choir for prime minister Jean Chretien.
- Sang karaoke in Bristol, England.
- Sang solo and a capella at a large culture show in Toronto.
- Sat at the round table in the council chambers of the city of Ottawa.
- Saw the Austrian Alps.
- Saw the grave of Pope John Paul.
- Saw the Roman Colosseum.
- Saw Westminster Abbey in London, St. Peter’s Bascillica in Rome and Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
- Served as vice president of a national non-profit organization called Youth Canada Association.
- Served on the board of directors of a constituency association of a federal political party.
- Started a biathlon team that in its first year of existence won gold at the provincial championship.
- Stepped bare-foot in the frigid water of Lake Louise.
- Stood at the foot of the twin towers, a month before the attack on the world trade centre.
- Studied journalism briefly at the New Brunswick Community College where I learned to process black and white film.
- Sued a millionaire, and won.
- Took a bus tour through the Scottish highlands.
- Took photos of Queen Elizabeth on her visit to Sussex, New Brunswick.
- Toured the red light district of Amsterdam.
- Toured the Vatican City.
- Travelled the German autobahn.
- Used the Underground, also called the tube, to get around London.
- Visited a watch store in Switzerland.
- Visited Stonehenge.
- Walked up the royal mile in Edinburgh, Scotland.
- Was a camp councillor for four years at Riverside Wesleyan Camp, a bible camp in Blaine, Maine.
- Was admitted into the VIP lounge of Heaven, a large nightclub in central London.
- Was enrolled in the Cadet Instructors Cadre, a sub-component of the Canadian Forces reserves.
- Went camping on an uninhabited island.
- Went clubbing at the set of the original Queer as Folk on Canal Street in Manchester, England.
- Went rock climbing in the Rockies.
- Went to a meet-and-greet with members of parliament on parliament hill where I met former prime minister Joe Clark.
- Went to Disney World when I was three years old.
- Went to the Calgary Stampede.
- Went to Vimy Ridge.
- Went up the Eiffel Tower.
- White-water kayaked down rapids in the Red Deer River.
- Window-shopped at high-end boutiques in Venice.
- Won a $500 gift certificate to Canadian Tire from MuchMusic.com.
- Worked as a guest services representative at the front desk of the Best Western motel in Charlottetown.
- Worked as a media relations advisor for Canadian Parent for French – Prince Edward Island.
- Worked as a newspaper reporter for the Hartland Observer, the Kentville Advertiser and Berwick Register, the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, the Miramichi Leader and the Carleton FreePress.
- Worked as a platoon second-in-command at Rocky Mountain National Army Cadet Summer Training Centre in a bilingual environment.
- Worked as a school staffing advisor for the Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council, just two blocks from the Manchester United stadium in Old Trafford.
- Worked at Canadian Tire stores in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Ontario.
- Worked harvesting potatoes for six falls.
- Wrote front page stories for the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal on two consecutive days.
- Wrote out a list of 99 cool things I’ve done.
Discover more from Daniel Mark.
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I’m Daniel Mark.
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This blog breaks rules. It doesn’t focus on just one theme and I don’t post to it on a consistent schedule. That’s OK. It’s my blog. Not yours.
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