Make it Your Own

            One of the ways I survived the school system was by taking assignments and making the suit myself. I was always an incredibly odd person, and I tended to find projects boring and stifling. Most of them were along the lines of “Read these books and then tell us what they say in your own words”, which is stupid. It’s intended to prove that the student has learned from the material, but it’s really reaching how to find creative ways to reword things so you don’t plagiarize.

            So, whenever possible, I found loopholes that would allow me to make projects truly my own. In tech class, when instructed to make a boring mousetrap car, I made a mousetrap car that was conveniently a sword once I took the wheels off. In drama, when told to write a play about a situation that could actually happen, I time-traveled it back to a medieval setting so I could actually write something interesting. However, my crowning achievement in this was when I was 16 and I was instructed to make “visual essay”.

            This was in my Introduction to Sociology, Psychology, and Anthropology class (try saying that ten times fast). We were to research a nation of our choice and prepare a visual display that presented the information – the example we were given was a mobile with snippets of information balanced and hanging from threads. We were then to make a presentation on our research, and there were bonus marks for bringing in a snack from the researched culture.

            I started off annoyed at this project, but then an image for a project started to form in my mind – and I became delighted by it. I was pushing the boundaries a little, but that’s when I did my best work. Instead of choosing a country I was particularly interested in, I chose one that fit my vision: Fiji.

            Then I started to construct a paper mache palm tree. A 6 foot tall paper mache palm tree. It took a very long time, even with the help of my parents. From the tree hung several paper mashe coconuts. It was completed the night before the presentation.

            The next day, I stood before my class, with them and the teacher gaping at this monstrosity beside me (and munching on the Fiji-related coconut-based snack I’d brought in). I pulled out a knife, and cut open the paper mache coconuts, revealing inside the points of information and pictures on the required research topics. It was one of my strangest projects, and will always be one of my favorites.

            The favorite part of the story, though, came when the marks were being handed out. The teacher handed me my grading paper, saying that it was a really neat project, but there was no visual presentation of the information like there was supposed to be. I just looked confused and said, “The information’s all there in the coconuts.” She paused for a moment, a look of dawning realization on her face, then calmly changed the mark to 100%.

            And that’s how it came to be that I created a 6 foot tall paper mache palm tree. It sat around the house for years after that, until someone finally had the heart to get rid of it. But, in the intervening years, that tree did have one more glorious moment in the sun (so to speak). It was the middle of the winter, with some snow freshly fallen, and I looked at the tree in the house beside me and said to my friend, “You know what I’ve always wanted to do, ever since I made that thing...?” And he said, “Let’s do it!” And that’s how one of my favorite pictures of me came to be.

            I call it “Tropical Canadian Vacation”.

Check out my YouTube channel where I tell the stories of my D&D campaigns.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Keep on Rolling

            Continuing on last week’s theme of shovelling snow, I must now share an event from this past week.

            The night after I wrote my last blog post, we just happened to get a fairly heavy snowfall. Upon going out to shovel the driveway (this one also quite large), I made a discovery. This was perfect packing snow, the likes of which I hadn’t seen in years.

            For those of you less versed in snow, packing snow is snow that can easily be compressed into shapes – such as balls for throwing at people or to roll into snowmen. However, the important thing to know about packing snow is that it is much heavier than regular snow. So, while it is ideal for playing with, it is considerably more trouble to shovel – especially when there is a decent amount of is, like we had.

            So, I promptly experimented and discovered a new way to clear the snow from the driveway – by rolling snowballs. That’s right. Along with my wife and sister-in-law, I made snowballs and rolled the driveway clear.

            It wasn’t by any means perfect, but it was fun. The important part was that it got rid of the majority of the heavy snow, allowing the remainder to be cleared away with ease. Plus we ended up with an impromptu snow fort.

            So the next time you find yourself with a shovel full of heavy snow, try rolling your driveway instead. It could make your life easier and bring some fun to the dull task of shovelling the driveway.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her life coaching website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Tunnelling Through The Snow

            Around this time of year, I always used to hope for a huge snowfall. Not just because it would mean school would be cancelled, but because I needed a lot of snow for my favourite winter activity: building snow tunnels.

            Of course, at the time, I didn’t call them snow tunnels – I called them igloos. This is a misnomer, because real igloos are constructed using blocks of ice (or packed snow), whereas what I made involved tunnelling out a mound of snow. Since we Canadians live in igloos year-round, it’s an important distinction to make. For the purposes of this blog, I’ll periodically call them igloos for simplicity’s sake.

            Anyway, the first time I made an igloo, it was a big family project. My parents, brother and I all worked really hard on it. To this day, I couldn’t say for certain how big that igloo was, because I was rather small at the time – in my memory, it was at least five-feet tall with a diameter of ten feet. Big enough for my entire family comfortably fit in, at least according to me. In reality, it was probably significantly smaller.

            After that initial construction, my brother and I got creative. We built a second, much smaller, igloo and attached the two with a tunnel. My poor mother nearly got stuck in that tunnel – it turns out adults are bigger than kids, but we were so proud of our accomplishment that we wouldn’t let her alone until she’d crawled through it.

            In future years, my brother and I became experts at tunnelling through the snow. This was, in part, for safety reasons. Around this time, there was a great deal of concern about kids getting injured in collapsing snow tunnels. One of my friends (you know who you are, and I know you’re reading this) was only allowed to play in our tunnels with us as long as she kept her head outside. My brother and I felt this was unnecessary because none of our igloos ever collapsed (unless we jumped on them or they melted) – we believe that the any that did were poorly constructed.

            Here are the guidelines we used for making our tunnels:

-          First, only use snow that packs decently. Light, fluffy snow won’t hold together well enough to form a solid structure. It is a good idea, once your pile of snow is ready to be tunnelled, to ensure it s sufficiently packed. To do this, carefully (so as not to leave footprints) climb to the top of the pile and roll down the hill. If the pile isn’t too high, it is also possible to jump lengthwise onto the top before rolling down. Repeat this until the hill is sufficiently packed on all sides and feel free to continue for as long as it’s fun.

-          Second, when tunnelling, make sure the walls are the correct thickness. If they are too thick, they could collapse from the weight. If they are too thin, they won’t be strong enough to hold up the structure. The ideal thickness is right before the point when you can see sunlight through the walls. The best way to achieve this is to tunnel until you can see a bit of light – then pack some snow over top of that and use that location as a guide for the continued tunnelling process. It is especially important to focus on getting the roof the right thickness, since that is the most likely part to cave in if there is a structural problem. In that event, a thinner roof is less dangerous.

-          Third, the don’ts. Don’t freeze your igloo – the process of freezing it will make the structure weaker and, in the event of a collapse, more dangerous. Don’t fill the walls with windows and doors – one entrance is enough, maybe one or two tunnels if you have a complex structure. And whatever you do, don’t jump on top of it – especially if there is another person inside.

Using these guidelines, my brother and I crafted many interesting snow tunnels. From a triplex of interconnected igloos to an igloo fort with a tunnelled outer wall, we had a great time every year we got enough snow (right up into out twenties). It helped that we had a large driveway – big enough to hold 6-8 card or 3 (friendly) dogsled teams. The snow needed to be shovelled anyway, so why not put it all in one place?

            So, if you’re stretched for things to do this winter, and you happen to get a lot of snow, try tunnelling. It’s a great deal of fun – just make sure you stay safe.

Disclaimer: To the best of my knowledge, that driveway has never had a dogsled team parked in it – and no, all Canadians don’t actually live in igloos.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her life coaching website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Snow Insight

            I was sitting in the car while my wife ran into the bank one day and I found myself staring at the snowflakes landing on the windows.

            We’re taught at a young age that no two snowflakes are alike. I've never doubted this, but since I had nothing better to do, I started to compare them. It is true that no two were the same, but I noticed something that they all had in common: every single snowflake had six points as their primary structure.

            Each one was completely different, yet at their centres they were all the same.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.