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Practicing gratitude: Lessons learned from duct tape and diarrhea
Gratitude. What’s so special about it, how can we cultivate more of it in our lives and what does it have to do with a wicked case of diarrhea?
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Why “Never give up” can be awful advice: Lessons learned from sleeping on a woodpile in a snowstorm
Perseverance and commitment are awesome. But as an ill-fated camping trip in March taught me, sometimes we just need to know when to quit.
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Benefits of Camping: Lesssons learned from five farting men in a yurt
Farts. The butt of so many jokes. The joke of so many butts. Growing up, I firmly believed that flatulence was infinitely funny; that cranking one out and laughter went hand in hand. Always. But a winter camping trip with some friends proved I was wrong. Dead, stinking wrong. Emphasis on the stinking.
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Thinking Things Through: Lessons learned from nearly swallowing a severed human toe
There are 3 items on my ultimate bucket list. Joining Captain Dick’s World Famous Sour Toe Cocktail Club is one of them. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this… unusual… drinking tradition, Sour Toe cocktails are found exclusively at the Downtown Hotel bar in Dawson City, Yukon, Canada. Entry into the prestigious club…
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Failing Your Way to Success: Lessons learned from being blindfolded and left in a farmer’s field
Whenever my extended family gets together you can usually count on three things: a lot of boxed wine, a lot of Euchre and a lot of jackassery. Our Easter celebration a couple years ago delivered on all three counts and included an activity that my Van Osch cousins came up with: the Blindfold Game.
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![[Blog] 20 awesome activities involving 1 item or less](https://badgeofawesome.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/cards-222x160.jpg)
[Blog] 20 awesome activities involving 1 item or less
Editor’s note: This post was originally published on my Josh Martin Ink blog. In an age of iPads, Xboxes and $200 shoes, our sources of entertainment and activity require increasingly sophisticated technology, equipment and infrastructure. But there’s something to be said for the simpler activities. Activities that nurture creativity, ingenuity and imagination. In 2005 the…
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Visit the museum of broken relationships: Zagreb, Croatia
Ah, love. The heady surge of endorphins. The joy. The companionship. The matching tattoos. The disgustingly sweet pet names that make your friends want to punch you in the throat. But of course, love and break-ups go hand-in-hand. The pain. The binge eating. The binge drinking. The sweatpants. The Sarah McLaughlin purchases on iTunes. The…
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Have a Glow-in-the-dark Fight
Picture this. You’re in a pitch black room. You strain your eyes in an attempt to see something–anything!–but it’s no use. Fear and adrenaline course through your veins and you just hope the enemy can’t hear the heart pounding in your chest.
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Do a jungle tour, drink some jungle beer: Banos, Ecuador
Is it a problem that so many of my memorable travel experiences involve alcohol? I’ve already told you about the gin I shared with a chief in Africa, and the shot of whiskey I had in the Yukon that contained a human toe. For this week’s Blue Marble Badge, we head to the jungles of…
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Play the Fan Game: A bedtime activity for kids
What’s funnier than a pair of underwear landing on someone’s head? Nothing. If you’re looking for a unique way to entertain your little kids, consider the Fan Game: an underwear flingin’ good time.
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Catch and eat your own shrimp dinner: Chiayi, Taiwan
It may not be as hardcore as hiring a ship in the Louisiana bayou to catch your own dinner. But still, the shrimp pool restaurants in Taiwan are pretty awesome. I can’t remember the name of the one I went to, (and likely couldn’t spell it if I did remember) but you’ll find these unique…
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Take a Delicious Road Trip
Road trips rock. Road trips that end in deliciousness rock even harder. For a lot of people, summertime means great local food is in season. Whether it’s an established farmer’s market or a roadside stall selling homemade pies and sweet corn, local food tastes better, supports our farmers and helps connect us with the food…
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![[Blog] I am a Hobo Torpedo: Friends over stuff](https://badgeofawesome.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/blog-hobo-222x160.jpg)
[Blog] I am a Hobo Torpedo: Friends over stuff
By Josh Martin “My friends are my estate.” – Emily Dickinson Waterloo, Ontario—It’s ten-thirty at night and I’m hurtling down a deserted street inside a shopping cart, like some hobo torpedo. As my mobile, metal coffin rattles down the road at mach five I suddenly realize something—I’m an idiot. It had all started two minutes…
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Play the Blindfold Game
This week’s Backyard Badge goes to the Blindfold Game – one of the most disorienting and entertaining activities you’ll ever play. Thanks to the Van Osch family for submitting this week’s winner – your Backyard Badge of Awesome and free ebook are on their way! I recently had the pleasure of joining the Van Osches…
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Go for a Canyon Swing: New Zealand
My Dad built a kick-ass swing set in our backyard when we were kids. It was pretty awesome. Awesome as it was, however, it still pales in comparison to this week’s Blue Marble Badge recipient: the Shotover Canyon Swing in New Zealand.
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Ride a 400-metre Jungle Waterslide: Costa Rica
Waterslides aren’t always awesome. Take for instance the “waterslides” I used to play on as a kid: a length of cheap plastic stretched across our gently sloping lawn and a garden hose.
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Build a Human Foosball game
In recent years the “dude-that’s-awesome” factor at my extended family’s Thanksgiving get-togethers has increased 10-fold. Why? Two words: human foosball. You may have seen this Backyard Badge recipient at a corporate event or summer festival. But as my Aunt Jackie and Uncle Art demonstrated, there’s nothing stopping you from bringing it to your own backyard.
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Sip Gin at the Stilted Village: Nzulezo, Ghana
I’ve woken up in my fair share of strange places after a night of drinking. But looking out my window at 6 am and seeing this has got to be one of the strangest. And, incidentally, one of the most awesome.