i am angielim.

toronto to costa rica. web surfing to real surfing. pursuit of happiness.

Archive for category Life's Beautiful Pursuit

My Mandatory Surf Run to Nicaragua

Dec 7

Posted by Angie Lim in Life's Beautiful Pursuit, The Surf | 6 Comments

Angie Maria surfing nosara

The beautiful part about having a tourist visa in Costa Rica is essentially you are forced to leave the country every 90 days for 72 hours in order to return legally back into Costa Rica. While it can be an inconvenience to many, putting a hold on everything that is demanded of you, to leave the country to travel to another country (god forbid) – it is a good wake up call and reminder to relax, remove yourself from adopting a senseless well oiled daily routine to explore the other countries so close to my proximity.

For this tourist visa run, I am venturing into Nicaragua. More specifically, the tiny surf town of San Juan del Sur. Initially, I had decided to do my 90 days tourist run this weekend, so that I would have some time to plan and get ready. But yesterday, I was notified that we had a big group of surfers coming for the surf camp on Wednesday and I wanted to be back at least mid week during their camp. So as of 12 PM this afternoon, I decided this destination & booked my Ticabus ticket at the local travel agency in Jaco.

Angie Surfing Nosara

While I have the same feeling that I had when I first ventured into unknown territory back in July from Vancouver to Seattle, this feeling is a little different. I am still traveling on my own, with more unknowns (knowing very little of the Spanish language, completely different transit systems, absolutely no cell phone signals & now carrying a massive 6′3 ft surfboard with me) – I surprisingly feel more at ease this time around. Traveling solo anywhere is the same – you depend on the goodness of people around you, you learn to observe every aspect of your surroundings and you get smarter about when and where to go. With that said, if I don’t post to Facebook or Tweet about arriving in Nicaragua in the hostel by at least 10 PM tomorrow evening, please notify the local enforcements. I am staying at Casa Oro (pending availability) and they promised free Wi-Fi & Internet.

I am currently looking at a folded two-sided piece of paper with scribbled down notes from after talking with a few people about how to get from where I live all the way to Nicaragua, through a series of buses. I would have preferred to take a direct flight (snobby, yes I know) in the interest of saving time, but at least this way, will allow me to enjoy the view and truly practice my level of patience. Apparently, I will be waiting… alot.

A snippet of my “directions” from Jaco Beach, Costa Rica to San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua:

  • Take the 8:30 am / 9:00 am bus from Quepos to Puntarenas (I live in Jaco, Puntarenas is the next town north that connects to the bus lines from San Jose to the border
  • Get out at the Hilton hotel
  • Ask them to call you a taxi to take me to “4 cruces de Miramar”
  • Get out at the Shell station (that’s right, there is no fancy bus stop or sign that says “Tica Bus here”, just a bunch of people on the side of the road. I better bring sun protection)
  • You will probably be here around 11:00/11:30 am, the Tica Bus will pass around 2:00 PM (Great, 2.5 hours to kill. In the sun. With my board.)
  • Once it gets close to 2:00 PM, cross and wait for the Ticabus, as they will not wait for you.
  • The Ticabus will walk you as a group to pass the border. Give your passport to the representative and walk across the border and meet them at the other side.
  • You will arrive in Rivas around 8:00 PM

Now this is where it gets sketchy. I have a few recommendations to stay in Rivas because apparently you don’t want to travel at night in Nicaragua. And then I also have recommendations to take a taxi from Rivas (the border of Nicaragua/Costa Rica) straight to San Juan del Sur because it is unsafe in Rivas at night and nowhere to stay.

Board bag

And because I only have a board bag for a 7′2 ft surfboard, I hope my make shift board bag for the 6′3 ft surfboard doesn’t get me into alot of trouble at the border – that is, if they ask me to open my bag to check what’s inside. I have a feeling I’d be keeping the line up unraveling this rope.

Nonetheless, I shall see what the conditions are like when I arrive in Nicaragua by nightfall. Hopefully, I meet some friendly taxi drivers, or other travelers, or maybe – I meet the Nicaraguan president by fluke who will invite me to surf on the breaks on his own private island. Who knows? Oh, the joys of traveling solo.

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Hola From Costa Rica – My first video blog.

Oct 22

Posted by Angie Lim in Life's Beautiful Pursuit, The Surf | 5 Comments

It’s been a month since I’ve been living in Jaco Beach, Costa Rica and wanted to write a nice long update about my adventures so far. But with so much footage and video work I’ve been doing lately, I thought it would be a better idea to complement my thoughts with visuals so you can see for yourself the beauty that is Costa Rica. In my pursuit of happiness, this is my journey to pura vida. Enjoy!

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People Are Inherently Good

Aug 22

Posted by Angie Lim in Life's Beautiful Pursuit | 1 Comment

As I sit here in 37⁰C degree weather in an unopened, unoccupied desolate campsite in Quartzville, Arizona it is the first time since I started the California leg of this trip where I have found the opportunity to seclude myself and my thoughts to recollect all that has been seen and done on this trip. I knew before starting this adventure that I would grow as a person physically, mentally and emotionally. First, spraining my ankle on a down hike in Vancouver with a 40 pound backpack, and climbing the rest of the 8 km despite the pain. The journey continued from Canada into the States as a solo traveler, venturing into the world of the unknown and for some reason, initial perceptions of negativity prevailed. What I quickly learned, was that people are inherently good. I want to share a short story from the beginning of my trip.

A Short ‘Explosive’ Story

On the long bus ride from Vancouver to Seattle, for the most part I was largely comfortable with two seats in the aisle all to myself. Until we reached Mt. Vernon and man with longer tangled hair, wearing a loose fitting shirt, jeans (and while this all sounds normal), his arms were covered in grease holding a circular metallic contraption with both hands down in front of his abdomen. While this may well have been a regular site to see, as a lonely traveler this of course was a little intimidating. Of course, of all the empty seats around, he chose the one next to mine. To be honest, nothing about his demeanour was off-putting, but the way in which he carried the contraption hovered closely bundled next to his body, immediately sent mental thoughts eluding along the lines of “Bomb? Wtf!”. I caught myself mid thought and decided that this would be my first test towards understanding the world with loving perception and so I did. Jeremy, was a resident of Seattle and was the proud owner of a Peugeot, whose alternator broke down on him (hence why he was on the bus), and found the most reasonably priced part at the junkyard in Mt. Vernon. Of course, an alternator. We spent the next two hours talking about our own individual journeys in life and what I should go see in Seattle and just like that, I made a new friend. A smart friend once told me, strangers are friends you just haven’t met. And from that point on, I truly believe it.

Without Cause

Whether it’s the compassion for traveling souls with larger than life backpacks that has people turning their heads, the confused traveler with the day pack holding a map at each intersection or the fact that I might look just absolutely helpless when I am walking the streets of each city alone – I have had so many random encounters and interactions with strangers that have truly restored my faith in the human population. Walked into a T-Mobile store to get a new US SIM card in Seattle and spent the next two hours speaking with local sales rep, Sarah – who also happens to be a large Yelp user and foodie, and marked along all the restaurants and places worth eating and spending time at. While looking for a place to stay in Portland while at the Seattle hostel, another traveler heard I couldn’t find any hostel beds and suggested I look up his family friend for help in which he made the introduction immediately. In Portland, while traveling with my new Japanese friend Yas from the Seattle hostel, a local woman approached us asking if we knew how to get to our hostel and asked us if we needed any help finding it. In San Francisco, I met Luke Kilpatrick on Twitter months prior to my arrival and as soon as I arrived, helped me buy my new surfboard, took me to meet the shaper of my board and took me to surf three counties in three days. This is just a quick shortlist of all the amazing interactions thus far on this trip. What is most profound to me is that while people are inherently good and help is always a question away, most of us might not be as receptive to it as we think we are when a stranger approaches us. Let’s face it, we are all a little apprehensive when someone we don’t know starts speaking to us. But, when you’re traveling alone, you take all the help you can get and allow for these interactions to occur – and when they do, they usually make the highlight of your day.

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Revelations as a Solo Traveler

Aug 3

Posted by Angie Lim in Life's Beautiful Pursuit | 10 Comments

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[ Written on the Amtrak train from Portland to Sacramento. It is now 10:40 PM PST on Sunday August, 1st and after many days of thought processing, wandering journeys, turning strangers into friends and appreciating the fullness of everyday life, a message on Facebook to inspire me to continue ‘to seek, to strive & to find’ has me pouring these depths of my souls from such interactions into this. ]

Let me tell you about Johann. With the human mind that exists as the vessel that has propelled our society into the modernism we enjoy today, it is a wonder how the manifestation of thought can sometimes be the biggest challenge for this immensely powerful organ. Many times a day I feel restless, other days I feel at the height of mental stimulation with ideas so far along the horizon it is sometimes hard to contain and streamline into anything substantive. In my recent musings, I have a newfound obsession with Johann Gutenberg – the inventor, innovator, thought leader behind the printing press. I cannot imagine what the state of our society would come to without the gift of reading, the precious words without interference of characteristic writing and of course, the contribution in mass production for widespread consumption and equal opportunity. Despite how little history there is left of Johann’s legacy left on earth, I’ve been reading literary works that emphasizes in every case that he was a particular man of perfectionism, a man that wanted to make something of himself for the greater good, through his feelings of universal responsibility. Imagine being in a society where when you were told, “To love the world is to hate God. To create is to accept that God is not perfect, and God is perfect”. And through this he persisted. Johann Gutenberg was a man of the earth and through this gave himself little credit for the invention of the printing press in his name as it was his purpose on earth to create for all to use. I feel inspired and humbled by his journey he took to create one of the greatest inventions of our day through accepting failure and allowing a transient lifestyle to manifest into his visions. “To know what is in you, you must travel elsewhere”.

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Removing the forest from our minds. And for this, I feel compelled to withdraw from the demons we have created within the forests of darkness that only exist within our minds. Prior to this leg of the journey, I sat in the kitchen hostel amid leaving the one nation I maintained as my breeding ground for the majority of my human existence, afraid and fearful of the unknown that bewilders beyond my adapted comprehension of said potential torment. While I know that fear was unwarranted, it is one that we ingrain deep within ourselves without cause and to understand the world without fear, is to live without reason. I made the decision to pursue the journey with myself because if the decision doesn’t make me the least bit nervous, then I am perhaps not making the right decision.

The human heart is inherently good. The core of human existence is human interaction, understanding and learning from one another to serve the purpose of your greater existence on earth united by our fears, our aspirations and our visions for a greater good. The only difference is when we try to create & manifest diversity. One of the greatest lessons so far on this trip has been the contestation of a menial, perhaps sometimes equally judgmental question that delves into qualifiers of a person’s life that comes so subconsciously when dealing with new interactions; yielding perceptions of income, residing location, lifestyle without first inquiring about other more conversationally relevant topics. Try meeting someone new and not asking them what it is they do for a career; instead ask what are their interests, what their hobbies are, what inspires them – notice the difference?

Just like that. I see the world in a completely different light, in my own voice, with my own eyes and through my own lens. Miscellaneous encounters of kindness have exceeded my programmed perceptions of society that exists by first impressions, instinctual judgements. My premonitions of potential fear have been unjust and rightfully so. The way I see it, I’ve renewed my outlook on life and given a second chance at humanity, with a greater capacity for unconditional love trading the boundaries of negativity for the fairness and gentility we all deserve to benefit from. And this I trust, can only be done when you are at the point of uttermost independence from the world you are accustomed to, forced to truly trust and believe in the power of sincere human interaction without profit. And to do so, you have to put your mind through the trials of mental and physical loneliness – heightening the voice and taking action to the voice within without the comfort and plague of physical distractions.

Life as a transient. To be fully happy, is to know that despite any circumstance I am satisfied. As a transient, I could not have been happier to travel from Toronto to Costa Rica on my own two feet and the clothes in my backpack. Every day is a day I wake up to appreciating the explorations of new cities, new people, new adventures, discovering lands of water that I feel most at peace with. Hostels are by far the greatest assets for any traveller; at the heart of each new location you are amongst strangers who are not only likely to be in the same situation you are, but will be able to share valuable information about the same travels they’ve encountered perhaps not too long ago. In the last few days, I’ve met more new people than I have chatted with old friends on Facebook, all over different parts of the globe united with the same purpose, in the same community of gaining worldly perspective and internal exhilaration.

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We are 95% water, 100% life. A good friend once told me, the water is like a metaphor for life – it flows strong downstream and you can either be a log that flows with it or you can be the rock at the side letting it pass you by as you lie adamant. I want to be one with water, no matter the amount of ripples, the stream will continue to flow with me within it. My life as a solo journeywoman is one that allows me to appreciate the goodness of people, to discover the intricacies of life as we know it and define it within my own individual story of life – I don’t have a sense of temporary illusion of my reality that resists the truth of my life, this is my life and my journey towards ultimate fulfillment.

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The lonely journey to happiness

Jul 27

Posted by Angie Lim in Life's Beautiful Pursuit | 12 Comments

blog_waterfall jasper

As I sit here in a hostel in Vancouver before I head into the second leg of my journey traveling through the states as a solo traveler, I can’t help but have feelings of uneasiness, anxiety and fear. I have waited so long to see the wonders of the world from my own eyes at my own pace and on my own time – and here I am, in the face of this new adventure and while I am excited at the thought of new discoveries, I am desperately seeking refuge from doing this alone. They say, the best way to discover yourself is to spend time with yourself – I used to think that I spent a sufficient amount of “alone” time to myself thinking and pondering without external commentaries. Yet, here I am in a situation no different than being beside myself on a regular day in Toronto; only difference now is, I am thousands of miles away from home and feeling disheartened and dejected knowing that in a few hours when I get on a bus from Vancouver to Seattle and check into a hostel, I have no one to rely on but myself. No one I can trust, no friends to turn to, no familiarity to recognize – and that is what I will know to being completely alone. I have barely begun this phase and already feel the intensity associated with the distance from familiarity and accessibility. It is with this that I realize just how dependant I’ve become on instantaneous accessibility to things and people, taking for granted what it means to rely on yourself.

When I break my ankle and need help, who do I turn to? When I need directions to get around, who will I turn to? When I have thoughts on my mind, who will I share them with? Without the certainty to connection, access to networks or people – I am taking the chance to survive in the world that is out there based on the kindness of humans and the networks of backpackers I come across in hostels and in my journeys.

My heart is racing, my emotions are flustered, there are rats running under my feet in this hostel in Vancouver. Tomorrow, I will begin the real journey of mind, body and soul – alone.

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East Coast Canada Meets West Coast

Jul 27

Posted by Angie Lim in Life's Beautiful Pursuit | No Comments

blog_upsala campsite

What time is it? Who cares, the only time is now.

Redefining Happiness

It’s been seventeen days since I’ve left the only home I’ve ever known from the people I love in pursuit of the one of the greatest virtues in life, happiness. While I know that trying to achieve a constant state of happiness is unrealistic, I am working towards fostering an internal happiness that will for the most part, withstand and maintain a positive outlook throughout the difficult and unavoidable fluctuations in life. Yet one of the greatest challenges in this is accepting the fact that these uncertainties do exist; there are no certainties in life. Even so, we spend a majority of our lives co-existing to strive for this perception of perfection that we define for ourselves creating a greater margin for unhappiness when the gaps for achievement become larger and more unattainable. And so, while this journey is one about happiness – it is more about making the significant changes in the ways in which I’ve habituated and having the ability to ignore the trivialities of life external to my pursuit.

The only constant in life, is change.

At a very young age I knew and accepted the fact that the only constant in life is change. If I had lost a friend, moved to a different city, ended a relationship or lost a personal item, I knew that it signified that it was time to close that chapter of my life to start a new one. I saw change as the natural process within the evolution of life, and sometimes holding onto things of the past can be detrimental to the movement onwards; accepting it for what it was worth, appreciating its value and allowing yourself to take from its learnings was how I kept the onward movement in my life.  As such, change no matter how good or how bad would come easily to me knowing confidently that it was what I wanted to do.

What’s been different so far on this trip is that change occurs at a naturally faster rate than before, moving from city to city, meeting new people every day, not knowing where we’ll end up next or have our next meal. The only satisfaction of constant within this is the soul within the temple that will always be there when I need it. My old life was full of certainties leaving no fraction of worry for what were the most important things in life – food, shelter, my gadgets and online access. I’ve removed all the external elements of stability from my old life that I was used to, and now I find a greater appreciation for a wider range of things that are truly essential in life. Living out of a 60L backpack from campsite to campsite, many times there is no access to running water, flushable toilets, showers, healthy food and especially electrical outlets for my technology addiction. What’s more interesting is while I do find a greater appreciation for the elements of the natural environment in which we live in, I find technology becoming more and more obsolete as I live day by day. Without the ability to recharge what is the benefit of our gadgets deep within the woods, but water will always rejuvenate, fire will always burn.

Changes on the Trip So Far

If not just for the experiences, this trip has me changing myself in more ways than one so far:

  • I wear no make up or do my hair, nor do I feel the need to
  • I wear the variations of the same outfits three days in a row and visit the laundromat when I can
  • I want to talk to anyone who has a great smile and met the awesome Jordan Bower (@streetcarphoto) who is walking from Vancouver to Mexico to document life in a way that will bring beauty to people
  • I take time to breathe and appreciate all the moments that occur all the time around me and its amazing to realize how much life there really is happening all the time
  • I visited a clothing optional beach and had the time of my life appreciating the different shapes and sizes of people in their most primitive states
  • I use my technology gadgets less and less and rely on nature and humanity more and more to survive and get around
  • I find more and more, I am relying on my own mental strength to get me through to the next step – whether its hiking up mountain, a 10km hike, dealing with different personalities or even spraining your ankle in the middle of the forest, I am becoming stronger and stronger each day knowing my mind is working to push my body to conquer it all
  • I am content in solitude and in company, I am eager and need a balance of both

Creating New Realities

Life is not about finding yourself, it is about creating yourself – anonymous.

Since my last blog post at the beginning of this journey, I’ve written about three intended blog posts as a follow up to the current updates on this trip. But with each variation, the more dissatisfied I became. What do I really want to write about? What is the purpose of each blog post here on in? Am I going to write about the things I see and do on as a tourist in each city I visit? Am I creating an online journal to keep a running log of everything that happens? Or am I reflecting on this adventure and how it pertains to the journey to pura vida, and what that even means? I’m not sure. What I do know is that I have had to constantly remind myself that this journey is the furthest thing from a vacation. Vacations to me have expected times, must see activities and planned expectations in which value the purpose of the trip away from your regular life – it is a temporary release from reality. But for me, this is my every day reality.

Next Stop

So far: Rodeo in Saskatchewan, Calgary Stampede, Glaciers in Jasper, Banff Mountains, Surfing in Tofino, Inukshuks, Nude Beaches.

Today is my last day in Canada and now that I’ve seen more of it, I love it more. While I will be sad to depart the country where I have friends and roots, I am excited to journey into just south of the border. Tomorrow I head into Washington State on Highway 99 – who knows what’s next?

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The Road Trip to Pura Vida

Jul 8

Posted by Angie Lim in Life's Beautiful Pursuit, The Surf | 8 Comments

The Route

roadtopuravida

Moving to Costa Rica can be easy. It would be easier if you took the traditional route and bought a flight ticket and shipped the rest of your stuff there. Instead, I decide that I wanted to see the rest of my country and unseen parts of the neighboring country below. Having my heart set on making this road trip across both countries, I knew I couldn’t go back no matter how costly, long, tedious or frustrating the research process to make this happen was and indeed, it was damn frustrating. So I thought I’d share my research notes with you.

The Problem: Getting from Toronto to Costa Rica.

Why I want to do this: Toronto is all I’ve ever known & lived. When will I ever get a chance to spend each day without the thought of deadlines, need to check emails, no urgencies, no consequences while appreciating the beauties of this world that is out there?

My Options (from lowest cost to highest cost):

    Hitchhiking

  • Pro: No money involved
  • Con: Uncertainty where & how I’ll end up
      • Drive Contracting (people pay you to drive their car instead of shipping)

    • Pro: Decent vehicle, get paid to drive it
    • Con: Don’t get to choose routes, inflexible
        • Drive My Own Car (2001 Toyota Corolla)

      • Pro: Don’t have to pay, except in depreciation
      • Con: Not sure it will make it as far as Florida in extreme heads, well over 200K in mileage
          • Car Rental

        • Pro: Not my car, unlimited mileage
        • Con: High rental fees, one way fees, liability insurance, protection fees, first born child fees, ridiculous fees
            • Have also considered:

          • Renting a car in Toronto and returning it in US – not allowed
          • Renting a car in Buffalo, driving it through Canada, return into US – not allowed
          • Renting a car in Toronto, returning it in Vancouver, bussing over to Seattle, renting a car and returning it in Florida – very costly and tedious process
              • Renting an RV/Camper Van

            • Pro: No need for camping (not sure if this is a pro)
            • Con: Ridiculously expensive, no one way rentals from Toronto
                • Flight

              • Pro: Saves a lot of time & cheaper than car rental and gas
              • Con: Don’t get to see anything 30,000 feet up in the air
                  • Train

                • Pro: Saves a lot of time while being able to see the sights
                • Con: Costs more than a flight and car rental for high speed scenery
                    • Buying My Ideal Car – 1978 Volkswagen Westfalia

                  • Pro: I sleep in the van & am the coolest thing around
                  • Con: I will run into more problems with this car then I can afford
                      • Buying Any Car

                    • Pro: Flexibility, payment leads to ownership and hopefully some salvage value
                    • Con: Extremely hard to sell a Canadian car on US territory – even if I bought a US car I’d have to import into Canada only to sell it again in the States (waste of import fees). Ditching the car provided just the same amount of dilemma

The Final Plan

So I’ve exhausted almost every option I could think of and I promise, for the purposes of this trip – this was the best and only viable option. Might not be applicable to everyone looking for a road trip adventure, but hey – with every road trip comes road blocks that require great problem solving skill.

Here it is:

I found a friend who is looking to move to Vancouver while spending his summer on an adventure. Then convinced him to take his 2008 Honda Civic with less than 100K on mileage on the drive to Vancouver, store it for a month or so in a garage & rent a car in the states when we get across (likely by bus). As soon as we get to the Miami International Airport, we drop the car off and grab the next flight to Costa Rica while he takes a flight back to Vancouver.

start date: july 7, 2010
end date: aug 20, 2010
approx distance: 8800 km

And now the journey begins….

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Pop My Bubble, Set Me Free

Jul 4

Posted by Angie Lim in Life's Beautiful Pursuit | 2 Comments

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Bubble is such a funny word. If you say it a few times, you’ll realize that it really is a weird sounding word, it even looks weird.  But we’re used to it – how it sounds, how it looks. Unless you say it over and over again – it’s exciting, maybe even funny sounding it makes you laugh. My life is a bubble. I am so used to it, I know exactly what is going to happen (most of the time) unless I take the time to spice certain things up then it becomes a funny sounding word. And then, I get used to it again. But it’s not entirely my bubble.

That’s how I felt.

So, when I first saw the trailer for The Lemonade Movie, I thought about what a great wake-up call that was for people who were not only let go during the recession but for people who were lucky enough to remain in their current jobs to perhaps take a step back to realize that a) your job is not a definition of who you are b) why wait for something to happen to you before you appreciate that life has no replay buttons. The greatest realization for me through this was that, you can try and try to fulfill the part of you that “wishes” you were doing something else while working that 9-5 that you may or (may not) love – but at the end of the day, that secondary or tertiary thing almost always takes a backseat to your current job that takes up at least 1/3 of your day and 2/3’s of your energy. In my last days at the ‘Soft before I made this decision to leave, I came back from my epic adventure thinking I could apply all the facets I longed for from that memorable trip into my current life – maintaining an active lifestyle, eating healthy, spending more time with people I cared about and meeting new people while sharing stories. In the first few weeks, it was easy. Until it was too easy to make excuses for why I wasn’t maintaining my habits – soon after, I was back in the daily grind succumbing to the demands of this fast-paced life – that being busy had little to no correlation to my visions of how I wanted to live.

I was so busy, I forgot what it meant to live.

After that realization, the only reassurance I had was perspective – the newfound perspective of a lifestyle that I desired; knowing I can and wanted to do more with the life I have because there IS so much more out there. Therefore without being restrained to a job, I now truly understand the people from the Lemonade Movie – it’s not about making time to do the things you love, it’s not about finding stability before taking chances, it’s not about waiting for the right moment to do something – it’s about these people being free from the bubble of importance we live in, finding that new perspective for things that matter to you and just doing them, without waiting for that pink slip.

“And Then What?”

I want to share a story from Tim Ferriss’ 4 Hour Work Week. The ironic thing is that this book has been recommended to me quite a number of times but I never had the motivation to read it given I was already in a similar mindset. But this story was told to me by my good friend Alex Ikonn & it resonated with me because it speaks to all of us who work so hard every day without further thought into what we really want at the end of our lives.

The Fisherman Story, from the 4 Hour Work Week

American consultant was at a pier in a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow-fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied only a little while.

The consultant then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The fisherman said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.

The American then asked the Mexican how he spent the rest of his time.

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, senor.”

The American consultant scoffed, “I am business consultant and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and, with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution.

“You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But senor, how long will this all take?”

To which the American consultant replied, “15-20 years.”

“But what then, senor?” asked the fisherman.

The consultant laughed, and said, “That’s the best part! When the time is right, you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public. You’ll become very rich, you would make millions!”

“Millions, senor?” replied the Mexican. “Then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

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From DemoCamp to SurfCamp

Jun 10

Posted by Angie Lim in Life's Beautiful Pursuit, The Surf | No Comments

google_surfboard Colleague and friend David Crow put it best, this move has me going from corporate web surfing across the world to “real surfing” and ironically as I searched the interwebs for the perfect picture to represent just that, I found this. Conversely, if Microsoft branded surfboards and wanted to sponsor my surfboard for this endeavor, I would be more than happy to replace this picture with that one & surf the coast on it with pride.

Now, this move from one surfing to another, although sounds fairly similar, I’ve isolated a few differences. The benefits of corporate web surfing are abundant in that you never really have to leave your desk, you can essentially surf the world at the comfort of your own home and enjoy the sights of the sea on your screen saver. Where “real surfing” as Jack Johnson so elegantly demonstrates in his music video for “You and Your Heart”, comes associated with dangers leading to dangerously healthy muscular tone.

Albeit, I welcome the challenge the invariable way of life I’ve grown accustomed to my entire life. If the world is my oyster, why am I only swimming in my backyard? The world’s a stage and yet I re-enact the same play over and over again, the one where I know that I will wake up, likely head to work, face a few rough patches leading to working late, head home, grab dinner on the way, check a few emails, walk the dog, check a few emails again, check Facebook/Twitter, watch some TV and then head to bed. Rinse and repeat.

Where’s the active lifestyle? </Insert gym time here>
Where’s the social interaction? </Insert coffee/dinner dates here>
Where’s the relaxing time? </Insert vacation here>

All of which are temporary instantaneous solutions to a much needed lifestyle change. For a short period, I will feel relived, productive, relaxed – then the cycle of spiritual destruction happens again. Kind of like that marketing campaign, with a band-aid solution to get you through to meet your metrics for the year and to get your compensation. In the end, you haven’t fixed a problem it’s still there, just underneath a pretentious solution to make it through to the next milestone until it occurs again. But, it’s still there.

life wordleI’m going to stop covering it up. I am going to search crevices deep and wide to find exactly what lies beneath to uncover the internal source of happiness, no matter the cost. I am transitioning from a life and career that are socially accepted and expected successful milestones in this part of my life to one that possess notions of uncertainty, unconventionality all of which my soul urges in hunger for in order to define this thing I call, life.

Word cloud generated by Wordle

But why surfing?

Because of this experience that has allowed me to realize the dynamic power when the human vessel is connected to the strength of our minds. Yet we treat our entire beings everyday like garbage cans – filling it with junk. Letting it overflow until we realize we need to empty it but then it’s too late. It’s attracted the skunks, the raccoons, the maggots that have rotten right over the canister becoming one. It is with this gory amplification needed to demonstrate that we treat our bodies & minds the same way, defining both junk in the foods we eat and the negative interactions that infiltrate our minds. It is for this reason, I am prioritizing the one life, the one body given to me, to a lifestyle that will equally harness the gifts we’ve been given inside & outside our souls to grant myself the ability to live my life in the fullness I aspire to.

And what that, I leave you with Matisyahu’s inspirational, One Day.

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Goodbye Canada, Hola Costa Rica!

Jun 6

Posted by Angie Lim in Life's Beautiful Pursuit, The Surf | 66 Comments


Leaving Microsoft

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The series of cryptic activity on my networks has people wondering, what the heck is this girl up to? For those of you who follow my blog, know that in the past year, I’ve had a personal awakening that has in the least rejuvenated my passion for life and the things associated with it that I’ve always wanted to do in the pursuit of happiness. It is often that with the self imposed constraints on life and societal expectations, we somehow always find a justifiable excuse to momentarily dismiss a want from life or allow the fuel to dissolve. In the essence of my life, I have always strived for achievement, success, wins – until decidedly, I wasn’t sure if they necessarily belonged to me anymore. My success measures soon transpired from yet undetermined qualitative measures to quantitative ones. Yet, I would trade all the assets in my life for stories to tell, because at the end of my time – I won’t have my cars, I won’t have my accounts, I won’t have the things I spent my hard earned money on, but my memories, my experiences, what I did & how I lived in order to earn that dollar.

While I’ve leveraged the header from John Wood’s “Leaving Microsoft to Change the World” – I have yet to discover what the suffix of the title would be that defines the journey in which I am embarking on. All I know is that there is so much we are mentally & physically capable of doing, but whether it is the monotony of life, added expectations or perceived notions of success – we continue our lives established on the grounds of stability and falter against taking the risk to do things that exist beyond our recognized boundaries.

Bill, I am Leaving

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I love my job, I love Microsoft, I love my web geeks. For those of you who have interacted with me within the community at events or online, the best part of my job is the flexibility it provides to foster relationships and provide value to the community at a rate that I believe no other company has created the focus to invest in. Leading and giving birth to Make Web Not War was one of the best experiences and opportunities I’ve ever had to create a community uniting web developers alike in creating the one thing we all spend so much of our lives devoted to – the ultimate web experience. So the part that makes this the hardest is leaving behind a group of individuals I’ve met in the last year or so, and the opportunity to learn more. So you’re asking, then why leave? Simple, it’s just too good. If I continued to stay I undoubtedly would have learned more, grown and have the ability to do so much more – to the point where the personal investment in the company would make it harder to give up and leave to gain external exposure, international experience. I recognize that while I have so much opportunity from within the company, much of my experience has been within the company and in order to provide much more value, I have the urge to diversify my skill set in an external and completely unrelated environment to grow as a marketer.

Return to Pura Vida

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As a snowboarder, nothing excites me more than being able to conquer a single plank board either on snow or in water to test the limits of what the human body is physically capable of. There is nothing a human body that cannot be done without the determination of the mind. A story I will always remember from one of my favourite books ‘The Peaceful Warrior’ is that Ninjas are not ninjas because they possess some sort of super human capability superior to other humans on earth – it’s because they parallel their mental determination with physical implementation. Young ninjas jump over cornfields every day of their lives scaling the height of the cornfields as they grow until it is no longer a challenge. You’ll never know you can do something until you try it, practice it and succeed.

With that said – I am officially moving to Costa Rica, the place I first discovered a completely different way of life encompassed in the magical saying of “Pura Vida”. Pure life (“pura vida”) is not defined by the success in relation to others as we often succumb to in the natural human interactions leading from game theory, but pure life in the form where your inner peace and internal happiness are by products of your own creation. Not a superficial attainment of an external source. Believing that the things you accomplish are creations of your own, milestones by your definition – and for me, that is being a hell of an awesome board sport athlete from snowboarding to surfing to wakeboarding.


Ultimate Surf Camp – Del Mar Surf Camp

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And so, it could not have been a better fit than to return to the camp that made it all happen in November 2009 at Del Mar Surf Camp – that brought the experience of Costa Rica alive. I will be leading the marketing strategy for both their surf locations (Jaco Beach & Nosara) to create visibility to the surf camp from all international markets as the #1 surf camp in Costa Rica. With Del Mar Sur Camp, I am able to do employ all three things I’ve been yearning for – aligning myself with board sports, maintaining an active lifestyle and creating a ground up marketing strategy for the surf camp – which is still in start up phase. This challenge is one that I am excited for that will allow me to foster the skills in a foreign environment, promote a product/experience that I believe everyone who is anyone will ultimately benefit from spiritually and be in an environment that will allow me to cultivate my emotional growth.


Traveling to Costa Rica

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In an attempt to make every leg of the transition a journey, I will be driving for most of the trip by car visiting as many local surf towns as possible. Starting with almost 4500 KMs to Vancouver then down the West Coast through Washington, Oregan, California, Arizona, New Mexico, across to Texas and then regrettably flying over most of Central America to Costa Rica. Ideally, I’d love to be driving through Mexico, Guatamala, Honduras, Nicaragua, but have decided to heed the advice of many friends and colleagues who have lovingly cautioned against it heavily; and with the recent news about the sinkhole in Guatamala, I think I can make up the excitement with a few more sky dives and bungees across United States.

I will be officially leaving Microsoft on June 30th, rolling out of Toronto on July 7th (after the Canada Day long weekend) and will be spending the next month planning and mentally preparing for this adventure of a lifetime.

If you know anyone along the route who is willing to give up a couch, looking to sell a slightly used and sturdy vehicle or just want a post card – comment below!  I look forward to hearing from you all soon and know that you will have your very own local Costa Rican tour guide when you come for a surf lesson.

Follow me on my next journey:

  • http://www.facebook.com/delmarsurfcamp
  • http://www.youtube.com/delmarsurfcamp
  • http://twitter.com/delmarsurfcamp

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