Saturday, December 31, 2011

Paintball - Check!

Yes, I realize my birthday was six months ago. Yes, I realize I went paintballing six months ago. But, for story purposes I have chosen to ignore those facts. You should try ignoring it, too; it's fun.

Two things you should know about paintball.

1. It hurts like the dickens. Don't believe people when they say it really doesn't hurt, even if those people are playing in shorts and a tank top. Your nerves aren't like theirs. It's going to hurt. Thankfully, the pain is brief* and only serves to up the adrenaline for the next round.

2. It's fun as all get out. It really is as fun as it looks, and the bruising only serves to bond you to your friends more. If it were cheaper (and closer to my house), I think I would go more often.

I first got interested in paintball while on my 8th grade camping trip. My super-cool math teacher had odd welts on her arms, and when I asked her about it she nonchalantly mentioned a paintball trip with her friends. I was hooked; I knew this was something I had to do.

My friends in high school would play paintball in the woods, but they were all too chivalrous to hit a girl. Or so they said. Time moved on, and 17 years later I still had not played paintball. Thankfully, my husband and friends now don't seem to have the same issue about shooting wads of paint at me at high speeds.

We had an awesome time, the 15 of us, playing capture the flag, cops and robbers, and other mini-games. A video I will include in a post about my birthday has some clips of paintballing, but for now I will leave you with the pictures below.

My jacket - notice the dead center shot. That was the first time I got hit, by Jon. I had five shirts on, so that didn't really hurt. The thigh shots were what killed.

*Unless you are shot at point blank range, maybe in the knee or hand. Sorry Andrew, sorry Jeff. My bad.



Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Grab zee Oocca!

More Zelda tonight; finished the "City in the Sky" board. Definitely my least favorite so far. Matt and Grant played most of it. Yes, we got the double claw shot, but everything was gray/ washed out/ hazy. Blah. Plus, there was much time-consuming vine climbing. And spinning platform-fans that were impossible to get from one to the other, even without the motion sickness they caused. It was all more annoying than difficult.

But, we got to glide while hanging onto the bird-like Oocca, so there was much yelling of "Grab zee Oocca!" I'm not sure Matt and Grant found it as funny as I did, but it made the board more enjoyable for me. We also got to tightrope walk as a wolf. And, the end guy was pretty cool. We were all glad when it was over, though.

I should mention Matt got me a Zelda wallet for my birthday. Love him.

Yes, I know the paintball post is LONG overdue. And so are my thank you cards. I'm sorry about both. Both will soon be taken care of.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Finish a Book Series - Check!

There is a reason I don't read - I can't stop. Once I start a book, or heaven-forbid a series, I will read until I finish*...whether that means forgoing sleep, food, friends, whatever. I'm dead to the world until I have read every last word.

Sure, I may go to work, school, dinner with people, etc., but my mind is replaying events over and over from the book and I cannot get closure until I have finished it. Making me not very good company.

I've found ways to compensate over the years - I read smaller books; I read only on days when I have nothing else to do (not very often); I read the last chapter about 30 minutes before I know I need to go to bed or look up the plot on the internet.

But it doesn't matter.

Because it's not about the ending - it's about every single little detail that got the book there.

Because I love to read; and reading a little only makes me hunger for more. Growing up I think I read over 100 books during a particular summer break.

Because the people in the books become so real to me, even if books aren't connected but have the same character, I want to know what's going on in their life now (hence my Nancy Drew collection).

And it's these things and so much more that give me my irrational "fear" of Barnes & Noble.

But I digress. Where were we? Oh yes, finishing a book series.

Earlier this week I started reading The Hunger Games, and today I finished the trilogy. A very good series, full of action and giving one things to chew on. I'm looking forward to talking about them at my new book club. For their sake, I will refrain from making any comments on the plots of the books here.

The books are geared toward the young adult audience, but I think people of any age would enjoy them. They are a pretty quick read; even though they are almost 400 pages a piece, the words are pretty big, the lines spaced out, and the margins wide. But wait until you have some time, because once you start you won't want to stop.

And make sure you have all three at one time. I'm just saying.

Or maybe that's just me.

*The somewhat recent exception to this is the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. I started reading what I thought was an eight-book set that turned out to be a 12-book set. And these are mammoth, 1,000-page, small print books. After being dead to the world for a few months of reading them intermittently between work and church and trying not to ignore my husband, I did the unthinkable...I stopped half-way through book nine. This is an excellent series, and I want to finish them someday. The original intent of this item was to do just that, but I don't think I'm ready to pick them back up yet. Besides, I read the last chapter; I know how it ends...**


**That was for you, Tiff. :)

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Do Things to Earn 3 Girl Scout Badges - Fail.


When I was making the master list of 30 things to do before I turned 30, memories of my sisters' Girl Scout badges floated to the surface of my mind, and I thought, "Y'know, I've always thought it would be such fun to be in the Girl Scouts; I bet I would enjoy 'earning' a few badges!"

I also thought, "Earning badges involves doing things like learning to make knots and growing a lima bean into a blooming plant; I bet I could do a few of them pretty easily in six months."

And VOILA! This item was added into my list.

Well...while I still believe I was right in that Girl Scout activities are fun, they involve much more than I had anticipated.

Every single badge (that I could find details on when I looked into starting this item in February) involved completion of six things, such as an interview, a report, an experiment, an experience, a diorama, etc.†

For example, let's say I wanted to get a "space" badge - not only would I need to go to an observatory, I would need to interview an astronaut, go to Kennedy Space Center, create a solar system made up of m&ms, write a paper comparing and contrasting the galaxies in Star Wars and Star Trek, and discover, name, and map a currently unknown volcanic crater on Io (a moon of Jupiter).* All of these things are both fun and hands-on learning experiences, but are a bit time consuming.

And while the Scouts have regularly scheduled events that help the girls get all things completed, as well as "how-to" guides, me by myself found it a little difficult to complete three of them in six months.

Subsequently, this will be one of the items on my list that I did not complete, and do not intend to complete unless it is as a Scout leader helping my girls (if I have them) one day to earn their own. Thus, I am marking this one as "failed" instead of "rolled over" for my next list.

While I did not 'get' any badges, I did earn massive respect for anyone in Girl or Boy Scouts. Not only have they done many varying things, they have learned a lot and have a leg up on their peers in being ready for the business world. I think this world would do better to have more Scouts.


†I am certain not all badges involve all of this, but the ones I found did. And, admittedly, they sounded like a lot of fun. However, doing them would have ended up taking most of the 6 months I had allotted for my list and there were other things I wanted to do.

*This particular badge with these requirements is completely fictitious; any attempt to earn it should not be made. However, I would like to note that I have gone to an observatory, talked with an astronaut, and been to KSC within the past year; I made an atom out of m&ms in middle school; I have gotten into SW/ST comparison discussions multiple times; I at least knew Jupiter had a moon named Io; and I have friends that worked on the space shuttles.**

**Come to think of it, I wish it were a real badge; I would have earned it. Well, except for the mapping of Io. Too much work. Any of my geek friends out there have any ideas for other fun badges? We could have our own club.

List Extension Approved

My birthday was this past weekend, and as you may or may not have noticed, I had only finished 26 out of my 30 things to do as of Friday. Because I wanted to finish what I started, and as the application process was pretty simple, I filed for an extension to complete my list. I received the following response:

Dear Self:

I am in receipt of your application to extend the deadline for completion of your list of 30 Things to Do Before You Turn 30. Based upon your dedication thus far in checking things off of the list, combined with your desire to have more grace for others and yourself into your 30s and beyond, your extension request has been granted.

I hope that with this extension comes a desire to continue to seek out fun and different ways to spend your time. Live each day as if it were an adventure and a gift from God, because it is.

Most sincerely,
Self


With this extension, I hope to check off the final four things from my list within the next month. I am trying to decide what to do next with the blog; all suggestions are welcome. I had an amazing birthday with family and friends (which I will be blogging about to some degree soon), and one of the gifts was a journal with a few suggestions for my "40 before 40" list, so I know that will play into the next iteration.

For those that asked, here are the things that I have not yet finished/blogged about (yes, there are more than 4; I gave myself a buffer):

_ Paintball (did on Saturday; blog coming soon)
_ Bicycle jousting
_ Finish a book series
_ Do things to earn 3 Girl Scout badges
_ Watch every movie that won "Best Picture" since 1981, allowing for up to 3 exchanges with older winners
_ Skeet shooting
_ Go surfing
_ Finish a video game (imminent)
_ Read the entire Bible
_ Make a pinhole camera
_ Get something out of a claw machine


Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Sing Karaoke - Check?

I have presented on panels, sung in front of thousands, and participated in district Toastmasters competitions, but nothing...NOTHING...makes me as nervous as singing karaoke.

Maybe it is the pressure of picking just the right song (pop-y and fun but not stupid, hard to sing yet with a good hook, classic yet relevant, and one everyone hasn't already heard that night); maybe it is the competition felt with the girl who has decided this is HER karaoke place and she just lets you sing, though of course you will never be as good as her; or maybe it is the fear of realizing you don't know the song as well as you thought you did and you will make an idiot of yourself in front of everyone, and while they may have heard you sing before they might realize that apparently you've gotten suckier. Whatever it is about it that makes my knees want to give way, it also makes it insanely fun.

So of course I had to add it to the list.

Technically, I did karaoke in the last 6 months at Matt's work holiday get together, but the song I picked just wasn't the right one; no hook, not as well known, and it all sounded the same. I needed to redeem myself with something with piZZAZ.

So when my sister and brother-in-law were in town and suggested going karaokeing (sp?) at their resort, I was all in.

That night there was a big thunderstorm - as there is every night lately - and the karaoke place was of course at a rooftop venue. I was nervous, but no one else seemed to be, and it ended up just being a nice backdrop.

The Karaoke Queen was there, but everyone was on vacation and just there to have fun. Kids sang, groups sang, and no one was judging anyone. It was the perfect karaoke venue. It was chill enough to coax my brother-in-law to sing, which is quite a big deal since he hadn't done karaoke since he came back from Japan a few years ago.
He did a...classic...version of Backstreet Boy's "I want it that way." It was a special moment in time; I've never heard nor seen anything like it. He had the crowd dancing and wailing for more, even doing a quick stag split on the ground. You are sorry you missed it, I promise you.

Matt did the best version I have ever seen of "Ice, Ice, Baby." He has never been hotter. The crowd loved him. If you ask him nicely he might do it for you sometime.

Heather and I decided to do a duet, and we wanted to pick just the right song. Maybe "I'm gonna be/500 Miles" by the Proclaimers, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," or something from Ace of Base, or "Footloose." Finally, we decided on "I will survive" by Gloria Gaynor, a solid karaoke tune. We turned in our name and waited. And waited. The pit-of-the-stomach ache grew.

Then the DJ gave us a nod that we were coming up, let one more guy sing...and said goodnight, opening it up to a dance party. Doh! We thought he forgot us, but he told Matt his time was up and he had to finish. *sigh*. We still had a great time, though, and it was so wonderful to see my sis and her hubby.

Since two of our party got to sing, we actually picked a song and got nervous, and I had sung in January, I'm counting this item as done.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Run a 5k - Check!

If you are planning on running a 5k, for goodness' sake, train a little bit in the weeks beforehand.

Don't think about it the Thursday before and ask your über-fit husband if maybe you should go running to prep. He will only slyly smirk at you and tell you that you should have been running weeks ago, and that if you were to run now you wouldn't be able to do it on Saturday.

No, training is important, especially if you end up participating in a race with only 200 people. If you are doing a race with 13,000 other people, you're fine; there will be plenty of other people who procrastinated like you. But when it is the "first annual" race, only the die-hard runners (who show up to every 5k, 10k, triathlon, and marathon) show up.

Should you choose not to train, you will be running (did I say running? I mean walking) alone. At least in a big race you will have "goal" people to pass next. 200 person race? Not so much. Oh, and you will have the people who finished at the front of the pack coming back around for a victory lap...and they will almost lap you.

And when you are done, after a few hours, your legs will tell you how much they hate you, your knees will laugh at you, and your husband will slyly smirk and ask how the race went.

Trust me on all of this. This morning I woke up at dark-thirty and had said experience with the First Annual Fighting Hunger 5k.

Thankfully, my friend Ellen, who is also über-fit, having done P90x (REALLY done, none of this half-way stuff; we're talking food and all 90 days) and trained for a marathon, took pity on me and joined me in the race. She could have easily done much better than the 46 minutes and change that I took, but she stayed right with me the whole time, encouraging me on. She is a saint. Thanks, Ellen.

I do think I deserve just a little pity, though. I have a growth in my leg (no, it is not an alien; why do I always get that question?) that I have had surgery on twice that can make running a little painful. I did run some after my first surgery, but time got away from me and then it became uncomfortable again. But running won't kill me and the pain is a lot less than it used to be; an aspirin normally does the trick. I mean, ooooh the pain; poor me....

To be fair to my husband, he may have also had a little worry on his face. But he knows I am really fine, that I know better than to not train, and that if he had tried to dissuade me from going I would have gone anyways. I'm a little stubborn.

Overall, though, it was fun. The area was beautiful, the company was fantastic, and the victory chicken minis were delicious. So was my victory nap.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Chariots of Fire

While Chariots of Fire has been one of Matt's all-time favorite movies for as long as he can remember, I am ashamed to say I had never seen it before now. And I really should have, because I simply love the Olympics. I'm so glad they are staggered now, so we get to watch them every two years! I am always spellbound; when the Olympics are on, don't even bother inviting me over unless you are planning to watch the games.

If you, like me before this week, have never seen the movie, there are three things you should know about it that will encourage you to watch it:

1. We all know the theme song by heart, and I'm sure have been inspired by it. You should know that the whole soundtrack is like that song...with awesome bits of synthesizer thrown in to remind you it was made in the 80s.

2. You will recognize people in it. The running coach is Bilbo Baggins, and one of the main runners was Spock's dad in the newest Star Trek (he was also Barnabas in Dark Shadows, a guilty pleasure of mine from early college).

3. The story-telling is great and doesn't need to rely on false tension and mini-crises at every turn to keep things moving. I kept getting so stressed out thinking that the other shoe was about to drop, being used to modern movies, but Matt kept reminding me it is not an overly tense movie. It is about the race and their reasons for running. It made mention toward the end that if they allowed their reasons to be minimized or compromised, they wouldn't run as well. Pertains to every day life, no?

For those that have seen it, I would bet many don't know why it is called Chariots of Fire. I had never questioned it when I simply heard the music score, but it was really bugging me after the movie finished. I knew Elijah was taken up in a chariot of fire in the Bible, but it just didn't seem to fit the story. Thanks to Wikipedia, I learned that it was inspired by the line, "Bring me my chariot of fire," from the William Blake poem adapted into a controversial yet popular British hymn "Jerusalem"; the hymn is heard at the end of the film (and was also in the Royal wedding of Prince William and Kate, incidentally). The other Bible reference can be found in 2 Kings 6:17. I still don't think it fits all that well.


Sunday, June 12, 2011

Pick out a book blindfolded at the library and read it. - Check!

When I put this one on the list, I thought I would pick some random book, like A History of Clowning, How to Rebuild an Engine, Dragon Song, or The Influence of Charlie Brown on Theater Thru the Decades (none of which I am sure actually exist, but I had hoped). I wanted to read something I never would have otherwise.

Instead, I picked one of the books I would have picked with my eyes wide open, at least at first blush: A Dead Man in Trieste - a work of historical fiction based on the British Foreign Service in the years leading up to World War I. It's like I have a homing beacon.

Well, I almost would have picked it. I skimmed the first two pages there, and the writing of those two pages...well, too many commas and run-on sentences. There was no flow. Or maybe, too much? Definite logorrhea. Interest gone.

The original point of this item intact, I set about to read the book. And am I glad I did! It was intelligent, amusing, just mysterious enough without taking itself too seriously, informative on political sensitivities at the turn of the last century, and long enough to be a complete story but short enough to be read in an afternoon. In the end, I understood why the first two pages were the way they were (the rest was an easy read) and everything wrapped together nicely.

Bonus: it is part of a series, making my next book choices easy.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Even more Zelda.

I had absolutely no intention of blogging about our latest Zelda night, as it was just supposed to be some general story-moving, errand-running in between big castles...but then something wonderful happened. Cats appeared on the screen.


You could pick them up and carry them around, and they would play with balls of yarn.


Kibby got a little jealous.

Matt and Grant took over to keep the game moving.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Start a Fire Without Matches - Check!

In doing this list, I have been amazed at how talented my friends are. I had no idea of the untapped wealth of knowledge that surrounds me every day. At the top of the list of talented people is my friend Terry, who among other things worked leather for a while as a hobby and is by trade an amazing graphic designer.

It turns out he was a Boy Scout for a time and knows quite a bit about starting fires, so he helped me complete this one. He began by explaining the different methods of fire starting - friction, spark, sun, pressure, electricity, etc. - and then we set out to try to make fire in three different ways: with a magnifying glass, with a flint, and with a bow and stick. The Boy Scout that he is, he already had the materials we needed (though we did bring the magnifying glass!).

We made the basics for starting any good fire: tinder and kindling. Tinder is a light and fluffy material that can be lit easily, such as grass, wood shavings, or pine needles. Tinder provides the initial flame, which catches the kindling on fire. Kindling is a little bigger and is the segue between the initial flame on the tinder and the full fire on the logs, as it burns longer than tinder. Read more on those materials here.

We started out with the easiest of fire-starting techniques - using the magnifying glass. Now, I was not one of those kids who used to pop ants with one, but I think I might try it. The glass was quick, easy, and fun. It could also be simulated with glasses or a plastic bag of water. Don't worry, we were safe and had water around with each one.

Next we used a pocketknife and a flint. Making sparks was as fun as using the glass.

The tinder we had wasn't catching as fast as we would've liked, so we went and got dryer lint. By far the best tinder. A little scary.


Finally, we used the bow method, which takes two sticks and a string - you can use a shoelace if necessary. We got a lot of heat out of it and bored through the wood, but we never actually got a flame (though some embers we accidentally smothered). But if my life depended on it, I could do it. This was the most tiring of methods.

He does have something under his hand...having a "friction guard" is probably the most important part of that method.

If I were stranded in the wilderness six months ago, with nothing but a pocket knife and my dignity, could I have survived? Undoubtedly, no. But now, having learned how to start a fire using only basic elements...well, I probably still couldn't survive, but at least I wouldn't freeze to death and could eat if I could bring myself to kill and skin something.

So basically I wouldn't freeze to death.

But I could start a fire so big I could be rescued. Though that never did work for Tom Hanks. I'll have to put "build a raft from woodland or island materials" on my next list, just in case.

Incidentally, I had a Castaway Wilson antenna ball for years, and I think I sold it at the last garage sale. I'm regretting that decision at the moment.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Go to an Observatory - Check!

I have always been fascinated by astronomy. I remember many a night gazing up at the sky and imagining what the stars and planets looked like up close. The opening credits of Star Trek: Voyager, where the ship crosses various beautiful space wonders, play across my mind before I drift off to dreamland to this very day. Had math and I remained friends after high school, instead of losing touch and only awkwardly meeting in the grocery store from time to time, engaging in meaningless conversation to acknowledge the fact that we were once close but are different people now, I may have pursued the study of galaxies as a second career.

While I did not take that path, my interest has been well fed by my parents; my dad is a science teacher and was my Google before Google, and my mom taught me science and constellations in 2nd and 5th grade. Between the two of them, there weren't many questions about space that they couldn't answer.

While I love reading about the cosmos and seeing pictures in books and online, there is just something special about seeing it with the naked eye. I had a telescope when I was younger, but it was never enough. I always wanted to unlock the mystery of the round-topped buildings and see what the scientists saw. And having an observatory in Orlando, I've been keeping my eye out for a chance to go.

And then the perfect day came: Astronomy Day at the Orlando Science Center, complete with a guided planet tour (projected on a sphere), dry ice comet demonstrations, a live planetarium show on the big cinedome, and of course solar and planetary observatory viewing. I called my parents, and they were all in for going with me and Matt.

The various shows and demonstrations were fun and educational, but what I was most excited about was viewing our galaxy with my own eyes in ways I never had.


First stop was the terrace, where the Central Florida and Brevard Astronomical Societies had a Celestron telescope set up for solar viewing. It had two different views - one that let you look at the surface of the sun, so you could see sunspots, and the other that let you see the corona around the sun. That was my favorite one, as we could see solar flares as they were happening. Simply spectacular.

Then we made it to the dome on top, where we got to look through the big 10-inch telescope at the surface of the sun again and see the sunspot even bigger.

As we waited for the sun to go down so we could do some planetary gazing, we went for dinner at Steak and Shake. I tried to check off getting something from a claw machine off of my list....but I was awful and didn't want to spend too much money without an expert advisor around. So we'll do that again another time.*

Returning to the science center for sunset, we anxiously awaited the appearance of Saturn...and the disappearance of clouds. The line wasn't too long for viewing, but it took longer than expected because the clouds were lingering. Almost too long, as closing time started looming. While this was a little worrisome for us, I can only imagine how cloud cover must affect astronomers who book these telescopes months in advance at high cost to do their research, never knowing what the weather might bring.

The dome rotated with the planet, people slowly getting glimpses, and then finally, a steady break! We got to see Saturn in all its glory.** And glorious it was! It's amazing how much it looks like the pictures, and yet it still seems special to see it for yourself. I really can't describe the feeling. Matt even saw one of its moons.

It was so neat to do that with my parents, after all they have taught me. A day I don't think any of us will ever forget.

If you want to get in on the fun, they said the Orlando Science Center's observatory is open most Fridays and Saturdays this summer. You won't be sorry.

As for the relationship between me and math, perhaps someday we will reconnect and forge a second career together. But until then, I am happy to enjoy the wonderment of the stargazing available in my own backyard.

*I just noticed the Jetsons were in the claw machine. How perfect would that have been??

**I did not take this picture there, but this is exactly what our view looked like.