Basic guidelines I planned to follow included:
1. Try something new (or a more advanced version of something known)
2. Actively meet new people
3. Get out of the damn house
All names of people involved in the following have been removed, because I am currently too lazy to ask permission to use their names and in their situation I'd like to think if my name was popping up in other peoples ramblings, I'd be allowed some powers of veto. Until such time as I gain their permission, no names will appear.
This will be added to as the months roll by...
January Barefoot Bowling
February Bookbinding
March Horse racing
April Glee Club
May Burlesque Dance
June Manual Driving
July Online Purchasing
August Glow in the Dark Mini Golf
September Say 'Yes'*
October I learnt how to do this blogging thing
November
December Accidentally fall in love
Let the Monthly Adventures begin...
January - Barefoot Bowling
To start my adventures I tried my hand at Barefoot Lawn Bowls with the help of Fitzroy Victoria Bowling and Sports Club. Far more fun than I thought it would be and at times far more frustrating that it ought to be; I was in love by my second throw... well, bowl. With our shoes off and beer in hand we got a ten minute crash course from what turned out to be our opposing team. "Aim at your next door neighbors marker, bowl the weighted ball, making sure your arm follows the (completely nonsensical) line towards your neighbors opposite end. Since the ball is weighted, this completely illogical aiming works perfectly well, as the ball curves back to where it is meant to be... or curves the completely wrong way and ends up miles away having travelled across three opposing games. This crossing multiple opposing games usually only happens once, because after sheepishly retrieving your property one tends to always double check that the bowl is weighted the correct way before letting it go again. Crossing opposing team lines is a quick way to meet and alienate people in one swift move. February - Bookbinding
I love bookbinding. I love the finished product and knowing that I created it, and that it ought to last quite some time, provided I made it well enough. I completed a short (one day) bookbinding course a few years ago... this one however (at three months) was far longer. It was a far more advanced course than what I had tried previously and with far better equipment.  |
| Book from one day course |
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| Book from three month course |
March - Horse racing
As part of another adventure, I was invited to attend a Members Only High Tea at Flemington. Ooh la la and oh so posh (sounding). I found an outfit in my closet, then visited a craft store to acquire feathers and suchlike to make an all important fascinator. I made my (quite basic) fascinator during a break at work; all by myself. I was actually quite chuffed that the it turned out okay, particularly considering I had next to no idea what I was doing when I began creating it. So, frocked up in shoes that matched my fascinator and a dress that didn’t match either, off to the races I went. The only bet I put on was a $5 each way, making it a whopping $10 bet. The horses raced, hit the line in some order (while I was watching my G-son instead of the horses) and I won $7. Yay for the win, but realising I was actually $3 down after all, I decide to stop while that was all I'd lost. I am far happier living my betting life vicariously through my dear friends, who take this kind of thing much more seriously than I. They do things like actually follow the races and know the current form of particular horses’, and even more importantly, can read the form guide without a translator.April - Glee Club
Thanks to a friend’s invite, I tried Glee Club at The Butterfly Club in South Melbourne. That’s right, I spent the evening getting in touch with my inner Gleek… though I have only seen a few episodes of the actual show, a night at the Butterfly turned out to be a bit exhilarating… and a little liberating, once I decided no one would hear me over the din of other voices. May - Burlesque Dance
Dancing with feather fans, who knew it would be so taxing on the wrists. Damn those fans are heavy! I only went to one class, as part of a Hen’s Night, but that still counts. Sky-high heels and large feather fans equaled some smokin’ hot hip action*. *this does not necessarily refer to me.June- Manual Driving
A wonderful friend offered to loan me his car for nine weeks, while he was away on business. I thought ‘Brilliant!’, but for a few niggling things:1. It will have to live on the street
2. I don't know that I want the responsibility (what if someone hits it at the supermarket... or on the highway?!), and finally
3. Although I am a fairly decent driver, in a manual I am fairly rubbish.
I was taken on a few driving lessons around the wastelands of southern Point Cook (also known as Exciting Land Developments), to prove I wasn't completely incompetent with a manual gearbox, I was given the keys and told to have fun. More importantly, I was told I'd still be allowed to be a (non-religious) Godmother even if I totaled the car. So with my mind at ease, I bunny-hopped out of their lane way.
Of course I had my fair share of stalls, but that is what happens when you are first learning, isn't it? Unfortunately for my ego, I mainly stalled when there was someone else in the car; while stopped at a red light, having neglected to put the car into first (either on purpose or because I was yapping too much) I would often try to take off in second... to varying degrees of success. The more often I did it, the better I got at it, provided I knew I'd left it in second to begin with.
The car was/is a lot of fun. I felt a little like a (really unsuccessful, but eager to learn) race car driver. Which is probably why, although I have learnt to change gears smoothly, I rarely do - because it seems to take too long when I want to be all racy. With more practice and a little more patience I ought to be able to quick change them pesky gears with next to no jumping action.
July - Online Purchasing
The excitement of finally getting my hands on a Visa Debit Card was put to good use when I discovered the fun (and addiction) that is EBay. That, and purchasing flights online. Who knew a visa card would open up such possibilities? August - Glow in the Dark Mini Golf
This place sounded awesome in print ("Glow golf at the Docklands, Melbourne is the very first 18 hole indoor Black light mini golf in Australia"), but was a little rubbish in reality. I did however have a wonderful time laughing my way around the amazingly dodgy course with my glow in the dark partner in crime. Mini golf courses are not really set up for taking 'Happy Gilmore' type hockey-shots, which is my usual MO on a golf course. However, on this course, "hit it as hard as you can and see if you can make it rickersha off the kangaroo into the hole" or some form of it came up quite a few times. As did "they need a windmill, it isn't real mini golf if there is no moving sails to get past!" We finally found the windmill, but it was an outback one for getting water rather than milling and the sails were fixed and far too far off the ground to be a challenge... or were they? Ever tried to get your mini golf ball airborne enough to hit the sails of a six foot windmill? No? Me neither, but only because I didn't want to pay the lawsuit for hitting another punter in the head with my awesome, yet badly aimed, hockey-inspired top-of-the-goal undercut shot. At times like these I really miss playing hockey.September - Say 'Yes'*
This month I spent on holidays, so finding a monthly adventure wasn't really on my radar. Then I thought, why not rekindle my travelling youth and say 'yes' to all and sundry offers and opportunities. Then my more mature side took over, put an asterisk at the end and made it "Say 'Yes'* (*while keeping personal safety at the fore) - quite glad my maturity added the asterisk or you never know what trouble the Australia Consulate might have had to try and bail me out of...Did I say 'Yes' to the following options?:
1. Go for coffee with the restaurant waiter who served us dinner.
2. Take photos with random people when asked.
3. Eat more Turkish delight than is really good for one person.
4. Sit, chat, drink coffee/tea with shop assistants.
5. Become second wife to a Grand Bazaar shop owner.
6. Marry the son of a jewelery shop owning.
7. Visit the Princes Islands.
8. Drink tea offered by a stranger on a Bosphorous ferry.
9. Learn to fish with bread.
10. Go for a scooter ride with a tour guide.
11. Try all the local fruit wines (pomegranate, blueberry, strawberry, kiwi fruit, the list goes on, and on).
12. Try the strangest things on the menu, often.
13. Go home with a handsome stranger just because asked nicely... and then not so nicely.
Well?
1. Yes.
2. Yes.
3. Yes. Twice.
4. Yes. Often.
5. No. Second wife is not a position I am looking to fill.
6. No. Thanks, but still no.
7. Yes.
8. Yes.
9. Yes.
10. Yes... my love of motorcycles outweighed my love of safety on this one (no helmet, no safety gear - just positive thoughts that I wouldn't fall off!).
11. Yes. Some strange tasting wines that bit the tongue, and an interesting experience drinking wine out of a shot glass.
12. Yes, yes, yes. Strange menu items should always be given a go, particularly when travelling.
13. No. Oh hell no. What kind of skanky stop-out do you take me for? Plus I have a mean left hook, so don't go trying any funny business!
October - Create a Blog
This month I had to be reminded by a friend that I did try something new. While bored one afternoon at work (busy with too much monotonous work rather than not enough work) I decide to learn how to write a blog. Turns out to be damn easy to create a blog page but not so easy to think of something interesting to write. Hence this blog is quite boring so far... I'll try to improve on that front.November - Shooting Range (perhaps?)
At least that is the current plan... B. December - Accidentally fall in love
I'm smiling like a school kid experiencing their first crush. It has me so giddy and turned around that I'm making myself nauseous. Thus... I would like to take this opportunity to apologies to all and sundry for my current rapturous mood; I really hope that being exposed to my annoyingly happy glow doesn't actually make any of you physically ill. Though I will totally understand if it does. If you would like to suggest something I ought to try, that may or may not put my health in jeopardy, leave me a message and I'll see what I can do...
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