Climb for Hospice

Just got a GREAT song recommendation to add to my KiliClimb Playlist:

“Barney Fade” (Future Loop Foundation mix) by Fragile State

I’ve been listening to it on repeat, and I am completely in love with it. It’s very inspiring, uplifting and emotional. It’s exactly what I need for my playlist.

Speaking of inspiring, uplifting, and emotional…

I am so thrilled that I can FINALLY let you all in on the BIG FAT SECRET that I’ve been forced to hold in. Ladies and gentleman, I can now officially announce my Kilimanjaro climbing partner:

ALISON HOGG! (*wild applause*)

That’s right, my hiking partner has now become my climbing partner, and we are going to kick some serious Kilimanjarse! Yah, baby!

Now, as cool as this is going to be for me, (to be able to travel to the other side of the world with my life-long friend and hike up the world’s largest free standing equatorial mountain with her), Alison is just totally blowing my mind. Y’see, Alison is doing more than just conquering a mountain; she is conquering her greatest fear: herself.

An extremely private person, Alison has decided to make the most of her journey by inviting the world into her heart, her head, and her home. Her website FatGirlClimbsKili.com is a daring, open space for her to face her fears and admit some things to herself that she didn’t necessarily want to. As you can tell from her website, Ali has a very slick, self-depreciating sense of humour, and she’s braving the openness of the Internet, and the world, to show herself as she really is.

Alison has decided that she is going to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in an effort to raise $10,000 for The Heart & Stroke Foundation. As an overweight woman, Alison is well aware of the importance of heart health, and is willing to show her own personal struggle with weight, fitness, and motivation to the world – friends and strangers alike – to increase awareness to all.

Alison, I am so happy that you and I are climbing this mountain together, and I am honoured to be a part of your journey. I support you, I love you, and I think you’re incredible.

ROCK ON, FAT GIRL, ROCK ON! xoxo

Usually when I hike Ali is with me, and (between creative strings of profanity) we yabber on about this, that and the other as we hike up there, and walk over that way, and carry on down.

When I tackled the Gingell Grind a few weeks ago I was all alone, and so decided to take my ipod with me for company. It so adeptly blocked out the sound of my humiliating wheezing, that I figured that maybe it would be a grand idea to take my iPod up Kilimanjaro, too.

The problem is that I only have an old (“old”, as in four years old) iPod Nano which has limited space, and more importantly, limited battery life. So, I made the decision to use some of my tax return money to buy a big, fat, file-thirsty, extendo-battery iPod for my trip! I went on-line, ordered my new toy, and in a moment of sentimentality-inspired genius, I had it inscribed with: “Kili 2010 – Climb for Hospice“.

So now I have space for 40,000 songs!! And although I can fill the space with music, some audio books (I already have books by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on there), and a Spanish Language Tutorial (nothing like learning Spanish while walking through a Swahili-speaking country), I wanted to try something a bit different…

I need you.

Until August 1st, I will be taking music suggestions from you for my Climb Kili Playlist. The playlist will be comprised solely of music suggested to me by all my readers. I was going to create the playlist by myself, but after adding “Eye of The Tiger” four times, I kind of got stuck.

What should I have on my playlist?

What music inspires you?

What song makes you want to work hard?

If my climb were an 80’s movie montage where some geeky friends and I were fixing a car or making a science project, what music would you put in the background?

I would love to hear from you! I’m excited to see how creative and diverse this playlist is going to be! When my website gets up and going, I will have a running list of all the songs that have been suggested to me by readers, so that you can all see what the list is looking like.

Until then, feel free to comment here, or send me an email at [email protected] with your suggestion.

Rock on, readers!