A mere month (or so) ago, I had put “meet Oprah” as my Before I Die aspiration, thinking it would never, ever happen. Sure, I may have deluded myself into thinking that Oprah and I were totes going to become BFFs, or the next incarnation of a buddy cop comedy duo like Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, after she tweeted me back in October. But let’s be real, there’s us mere plebeians and there’s Oprah — these paths rarely cross.

But, the stars must have aligned because on April 13th, 2013, I did end up meeting Oprah-freakin’-Winfrey. Alas, this meeting didn’t result in her asking if she could adopt me or inviting me to a sleepover where we would braid each other’s hair and chat about cute boys (then eventually offering me a show on OWN to try out cupcakes, burgers and pizza all over the world). It was still a remarkable experience, one that I cannot put into words how awesome it was, but I will try to in this post. Weeks later, I am still in disbelief.

Since I took this little journey of trying to exercise more a year ago (as documented in my sparse blogs on this topic), I can say that I really do now get how people say they are addicted to the gym. Well, maybe not the gym per se because people are gross at the gym, but the feeling of accomplishment post-gym visit is exhilerating. Follow that feeling up with a protein shake, and you really do feel like you are hitting a stride in health and wellness.

After many group exercise classes, purchases of various gym accessories (like weight-lifting gloves and an armband for my iPod), weights lifted and more than a bajillion spritz from the antibacterial spray to wipe down all the gym equipment used, I think I am seeing results.

When I first entertained the idea of joining a gym, it was in the summer of 2011. I had a body composition analysis done back at Extreme Fitness and I got my results, as shown below:

I’m on the precipice of a new age bracket — my thirties. I’m just going to postpone that for a few months since I’m not ready to turn 30 yet but that’s besides the point. I think this significant milestone in my life has made me think about my own mortality (also, because looking at the world, and the crazy things happening in it as of late, it’s something I think about more often).

The Before I Die project is kind of inspiring. It’s basically the idea of a bucket list but a more collaborative feel to it. So instead of doing a boring old new year’s resolution list that I know I will break in a month, I thought I’d just put together a bucket list of things I want to do before I am dead.

Yes, I realize how it may seem kind of ironic to write about a bucket list after a post about how YOLO annoys me.

Once upon a time, before Drake’s The Motto came along, YOLO wasn’t really part of the everyday vernacular. Whether people use it ironically (which I’ve been guilty of every so often) or legitimately using it as a guiding principle in life, YOLO just annoys me.

There was a quote I came across a few months ago, attributed to C.S. Lewis.

There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.

After I read it, I instantly liked it and felt it resonated with me. I have a tendency to fear the next step and making commitments to things happening in the future has always scared me. Maybe I’m scared of failure or the unknown, but it’s mainly apprehension that makes me want to stick with what I know. But as hokey as this may sound, reading this quote accompanied by the visual really inspired me.

So I sat on this idea for awhile.

My best friendship with Oprah began on September 30th, 2012 when I was watching The Next Chapter with Stephen Colbert (my other love) on OWN. It was unreal, my two favourite people, together. My head was about to explode in excitement. If you’ve ever read my About page, you’d know how big of a deal this was.

I just wanted to write a random blog and nothing more random than what songs I currently consider MY JAM which, when played in a bar or club setting, watch out for my drink spilling on you because I AM GONNA BUST A MOVE (or something).

But probably mainly just spill my drink because I can’t dance. Enthusiasm counts for something.

I saw Salt-n-Pepa perform at Toronto’s Festival of Beer a.k.a. Beerfest on July 27th, 2012. Years later, and frankly after seeing their episode on Oprah, I didn’t even know or think they were still touring and performing. Even though they are in their mid-late 40s, you really wouldn’t know it – they looked and sounded great, still as talented as ever!

DJ Spinderella wasn’t there though, it was just Cheryl ‘Salt’ James and Sandra ‘Pepa’ Denton from the original group.

Here are some photos and videos from their performance.

Continuation of Part 1 – Italy and Part 2 – Greece.

Lastly, the Greek islands! I think this part of the trip would have been 100X better if I hadn’t done it via cruising. We only had three days to visit Mykonos, Kusadasi, Patmos and Santorini and in those three days, majority of it was traveling time. I would one day like to do a re-do of the Greek islands.

Overall, I would say Santorini was one of my favourite places I visited on this trip. I mean, I rode a donkey and drove an ATV (without killing or injuring anyone), that is pretty awesome.

Continuation from Part 1 – Italy, next up on the Mediterranean Trail is Greece, more specifically, Corfu and Athens (the Greek islands are in part 3).

While in Italy I learned some phrases (my favourite being ‘scusi’) that to this day, still remember. But the only Greek phrase I remember from this trip? Pretty much just OPA! And I intend to start using it more often in everyday conversation now that I am back home (similar to how I will throw in ‘scusi’ whenever it feels appropriate). So opa!! Let’s go!