Adventures @ MindSay

So ... I copied this from rgb   ... cool survey, yes?

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain not the Mt Everest
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game ~ I live in Pittsburgh, for pete's sake!
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg ~ Does a glacier count?   
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and didn’t care who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually, felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states in the US ~ close, 49 ... haven't made it to Hawaii yet!
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched whales
45. Stolen a sign  ~ still have it!  lol  a NO PARKING sign!
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them ~ in Germany, it's common practice!
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie - Yes, the Jessica lang version of King Kong!  lol
74. Crashed a party ~ crashed my high school PROM!  lol
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas - didnt gamble, but enjoyed the floor show and food!
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Passed out cold
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Written articles for a large publication.
106. Lost over 100 pounds ~ I wish!
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane Sort of.

109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Para-sailed
132. Touched a cockroach
134. Read The Iliad -- and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read them
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language

139. Been elected to public office
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who did not know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life.

~ B

In a random turn of events, I switched over to the kitchen this week.

I really was on the schedule for Day Camp this time, honest. Usually the schedule gets changed, and I just don't get the email until late, because I don't check my email at a decent time. But in this case, my dear friend J got back from the land of Aus a week earlier than we were all expecting. Considering that our bunch for that week was composed of nine boys and three girls, we rather gladly switched out one of the girl counselors for J.

No one is quite sure why, but whenever J walks in the room, we all light up and yell "J-y!" at the same time. It's just great to see him. And it's fun to say his name. He's a bass player with a goofy streak, that should give you an idea of his personality.

But, yeah, so we needed help in the kitchen, so I hopped on over there (no pun intended - J's started calling me 'wallaby'.)

Monday, I made approximately three hundred cookies. Approximately. I didn't count, the recipe was supposed to be for 6-8 dozen, and I quadrupled it. They were gooood cookies. Of all the cookies that have been made this week, those were the favorites. There you have it, I am a worthwhile human being: I can make kickass chocolate-chip cookies.

Tuesday, I spent most of the morning and part of the afternoon preparing hamburger for something else we did today. About eighteen pounds of it. I have worked out a system, and the most important part of it is that you never try to have more than three pounds of hamburger in the pan at a time.

Wednesday, I didn't have any particularly fun kitchen adventures, but my family came by to visit! I love having people come to visit. I kind of have to know that you're going to, so I can actually meet you, but people love me and come to see me! Eeee! Actually, Reese was going to come by that night, too, but we'd had a miscommunication wherein I thought he would be by on Monday or Tuesday (and yelled at him for not showing up), and he'd been planning Wednesday because he hadn't heard me say that my family was coming then.

Not that there's really any problem with having Reese and my family in the same place. Well, there sort of is, but I just wanted the two events separately so that I could enjoy each to the fullest. Enjoying the dynamic of Reese and my family at camp would be a little odd, and I was a little tired.

That, and as witnessed after Mom and I went to Reese and Santas' show the other night, my family doesn't really know that we're friends or how we're friends. And I'm not ready to explain the odd qualifications about Reese that make it okay to hang out with him after I've declared that I'm not okay hanging out with guys.

There are 2 guys that are the exception to that rule. One of them is in this hemisphere. That would be Reese.

Thursday, I learned something about myself that I wouldn't have thought of. Nothing major, but...let me introduce G. G is one of the two people in charge in the kitchen - she comes in around 10:30 and does the evening meal. I come in around 7:30 or so in the morning, and good grief, I just realized that I do a 12-hour day in the kitchen. No wonder I'm always so tired. Anyway, G has observed that whenever I take a quick break, like for our morning devo time, I grab a cookie. And a couple times after I made cookies, I grabbed a cookie. And sometimes, just because I'm walking by the box of cookies, I grab a cookie. These aren't just mine, we also made sugar cookies and monster cookies (which I am also very fond of) this week.

Then G observed me at lunch. Unfortunately for the sake of scientific observation, we had snicker salad for our dessert at lunch. Snicker Salad = Saxy's favorite dessert. Ever. I get more snicker salad than main course. Just make a pile of it on my tray. Love it.

Then G observed me at dinner, when I went for a double-serving of this really cool cream-cheese-strawberry-pretzel dessert that I must learn to make at home, and announced, "You've got a sweet tooth."

And honestly, that would never have occurred to me. Because I don't drink pop, and I don't eat all that much candy. For the most part, I think I eat rather healthily. But she's right, I do! I don't necessarily like sugar, but I love sweet things.

Tomorrow's last day in the kitchen. Should be interesting. This whole week has been an adventure in confidence building, and proving that I CAN actually navigate a kitchen without injury.

I'm frankly rather stunned at that. I worked at a fast food place, a coffee shop, a pizza place, a barbecue restaurant, and a buffet, and I was always the girl getting hurt doing klutzy things. I have not burned myself once this week (came close twice, but they were things anyone would have done, not being klutzy), I haven't dropped anything heavy on myself, I haven't cut myself (and I've been using lots of big sharp knives, frequently), I haven't walked into a door, I've had the sense not to go into the freezer with bare hands...it's amazing! I am not 24/7 klutz-girl!

I realize this has ramifications, like me needing a new super identity, but I'm just too excited about this. I was not cursed at birth, I am not doomed to be a klutz!!

That, and I have a fair amount of confidence from this week (learning new things always builds confidence), and I will never fear dirty dishes again. Resent, quite possibly, but I have done more dishes this week than I realized could exist in a single kitchen (actually, they don't - I'll regularly wash the same implement five or six times a day, because we need it for something else).

But yes, it has been a good week.

The trip from Modesto, California to almost into Colorado was a very long one, with all of us crammed in that little trailer, so we spent as much time out of it as possible, or in the station wagon, just continuing to drive.  I remember the weather was just beginning to get cool, so it must have been the beginning of fall that this trip was taken. Now so far, Mike & I are only argueing, no hitting is happening, so it's still an adventure for all of us. Then we found his cousin Leo. Things went downhill from there. We found a hotel run by a lovely Mormon couple, & they let us stay in they're apartment, full size, 2 bedrooms, kitchen & all. This is where the beating started. Mike spent alot of time with Leo, trust me I'm not excusing him, but I believe it made him meaner to spend time putting needles full of meth in his arm, & between all the drinking we did, & his drug habit, we started really fighting badly. I'm kinda like the old toy, called a weeble, the theme song to that commercial was weebles wobble but they don't fall down. Well, that's what I did, when he'd pull the huge yellow pages in half, stupid crap like that, trying to scare me. I was never afraid of him, the idiot. What made him the maddest is that he'd knock me down, & I'd come right back up & tell him, "does that make you feel like a big man? Hit me again, pussy" He did of course, & up I'd jump right back in his face again. I have yet in my life to ever be knocked out. I learned from mom how to protect my face & my solar plexus, so it's just never been done before. We fought like that nightly, & I didn't know it but Donna had gotten ahold of her grandma, & asked for bus tickets. She & my brother & sis in law just couldn't watch the beatings anymore. I fought back, but my arms would be black from him smashing my arm in the door when I tried to get away from him. No,my brother didn't try to save me. I believe Mike had everyone fooled but me. I'm the only one he didn't scare. So, the sad day came, & I said goodbye to my precious brother, his wife, & the daughter I had lost for so many years.  Now is when the time we spent in the bar & the fights got really crazy. I'll continue this tomorrow, I want as many memories of this horrid marriage as I can remember, there were so many. Blessed be to all of you. I'll continue tomorrow, without fail. Love, QuellyQ