The day I flashed 100 people.

One year ago (nearly to the day), I was on the other side of the world with 2 of my closest friends. Oddly enough, the rainy, cold weather I am currently experiencing here is very similar to the weather we were experiencing there. While one would expect the African coast to be warm, I can say that it definitely was not warm, and actually bordered on being cold. Nevertheless, my friends and I decided to visit the beach.
Thinking back, it seems ridiculous that we didn't give up on the whole idea sooner.

1) We drove by said 'beach' 3 times before we were convinced that it was a place to swim, or that even allowed people;

2) There was no parking, rather an extended area on the shoulder of the road;

3) Walking down a hill with a topographic relief of maybe 3 feet... I tripped on something in the sand and literally fell flat on my face. There was no 'trip recovery' that could have even occurred. It was almost like time jumped ahead 2 seconds, and all of a sudden I was sprawled out in the sand. Upon searching for whatever it was that tripped me, I came to the conclusion that it was an invisible wire placed strategically to trip unaware tourists (this might make sense if I was a cartoon, or in some sort of Disney flick.... and it might be believable if my friends hadn't walked in the exact same path just seconds before...).

4) The first thing we saw on the beach were 2 signs warning us of sharks. Ahem.

5) There were no changing rooms/bathrooms (or anything of the sort), no trees/bushes/sand piles that we could hide behind to change. We opted to change into our swimsuits right there in the open..... IN FRONT OF COMMUTER TRAIN TRACKS. Granted, I don't think anyone knew that there were tracks there, or that a train would be rounding the corner at approximately the same time my towel fell from my waist and my top had gotten tangled in my hair/arms/neck area, allowing me to flash an entire train. While I may have tricked myself into believing that no one saw, I am pretty sure someone did... I know this because soon after, the train honked (presumably in approval) followed by the hysterical laughing of my friends (thanks guys).

6) I watched my friend dip her toes into the water and decide against going any further. Now, I, no novice at swimming in natural bodies of water, decided to jump right in. Well. Needless to say kids, it was cold. Colder than you would expect the AFRICAN coast to be. We lasted approximately 2.7 minutes in the water.

7) Now wet, cold, bruised, and a little embarrassed.... we sat on the beach shivering while one of my friends, B, made us sandwiches. Now, despite the sand which accompanied them, they were arguably the best sandwiches we had ever had. A bird (some sort of hybrid between a pelican and a seagull) apparently thought the same thing, and attempted to scare us away..... it was sort of creepy.

8) A local walked past us while walking her dog and gave us a look that was some combination of confused/worried/intrigued/impressed/scared. This was presumably because no sane person goes swimming at the beach at this time of year/at all.

Soon after, we retired to our gorgeous honeymoon-esqe apartment/guest house we had been staying at and consumed a ridiculous amount of alcohol. Good times.

It is one of my most favourite days.

#9 I wanted to be a marine biologist between the ages of 9-12. Mostly because of the YTV show Flipper and because I had a crush on the marine biologists 14 year old son. True story.

Crappy lit.

So I've been thinking.

I am becoming less and less interested in blogging. If I have a really funny/disturbing story that I am excited to write about, then less than 3 lines in, I lose all interest and stop.

I am thinking it is just a rut.
I am thinking that my life is becoming so routine that I can't focus long enough to follow through with anything...let alone blogging.
Well.
Today is the day that I will jump out of my rut. Things are changing. I am changing. Well, I am trying.

I have nothing interesting to blog about today, but I do have something to say.

I hate the shopaholic series.

Hate.
Do not tell me you like them. Do not tell me that they are 'SO good'. Because they aren't.
My best friend, E, LOVES them and gave me the first one to read. I was about 1/2 way through the book and literally called her to ask if she was joking. She wasn't.

This is the first book that I think I've ever read where I grew to despise the protagonist to a point that I was rooting for her to fail miserably in all aspects of her life.

If you have never heard about the series, here is a quick synapse.

Girl spends money she doesn't have on things she doesn't need.
Girl gets majorly in debt and lies, and cheats to get out of it.
Girl dates rich guy... but secretly despises him.
Girl lies to rich guy to get money out of him, then leaves him because she doesn't love him.
Girl falls for another rich jerk, who also falls in love with her.
Girl gets everything she wanted because she snags a rich husband she loves and can spend money all day.

Are you kidding me?

Seriously.

Don't read them. I think they actually lower your IQ.



#8 I have a goal to get to hit all 7 continents by the time I am 27. Although, I am debating whether or not I need to get to Antarctica. It isn't exactly populated, and there is an actual hole in the Ozone layer in one area (which is completely inhabitable), not to mention it is freaking cold (please note that I am not a baby about cold weather, as I have survived a winter where temperature dropped to below -45 degrees Celsius. Yes, you heard me. -45. The temperature at which your body freezes within 5 minutes of exposure. No joke.).
Moving on, I have already knocked 3 off the list. I have 4 years to do this... and I am entirely convinced I will do it.

I hate computers

I think I have mentioned in the past that I do not have a good relationship with computers. Maybe it is my electrostatic charged being that throws the programs out of whack when I touch the keyboard... or maybe just that I have no patience to try and understand things like:

'Your computer has experienced a fatal error, to fix the problem you will need to defragment the mainframe memory patch board and reconfigure the portal device used to connect your notebook to the central system'

[NOTE: I have no idea if this is actually a possible error. I just made up it up using random words that I have read in error messages]

Regardless, the above statement (or variation there of) accompanied with the sound effect that sounds like a hybrid of a 'BOP', 'DING', and 'THWAP' is one of the most irritating things I can think of.

I spent 3 friggin hours trying to set up a feature on my computer that would not require me to constantly back up my work manually. Seriously, it should have taken me like 10 minutes. I am not computer illiterate, nor am I a complete idiot; so you are probably wondering 'what the hell is wrong with this girl?'

Well, if windows didn't have approximately 70 thousand different versions, I would have been able to figure out what the hell was going on. Instead I had to go on to some sort of online community and feel like a total idiot because I am the visitor who asks a question that is pretty much the same caliber as someone asking 'how do you peel a banana?'

Anyway, less than 45 seconds after I posted the question, I got a reply. Seriously.... 45 seconds. Some guy read my question, thought up a response and posted back in FORTY-FIVE seconds! Who are these people!? I was about 10 minutes away from throwing my computer on the floor and dancing on it interspersed with pouring hot coffee all over it...and this guy answers the question in less than one minute. Infuriating!

I also think it is a little ironic that I am talking about how much I hate computers, on a computer which is connected to billions of other computers. If I don't post for a while, it is because my computer has conspired with other computers to steal my identity/erase me.
It happened to Sandra Bullock in The Net, and that was like 15 years ago. Just imagine the possibilities.

#7 In high school, one of my best friends boyfriend wrote me a love poem. I never told her about it, and soon afterwards, she lost her virginity to him. I still haven't told her about it, and I stopped talking to her boyfriend. (they are now broken up)

Renewing the vows.

Apparently, I am not the greatest blogger. I am no expert, but I am pretty sure that one post a month is pretty pathetic. I vow to change my blogging habits. I know, I know, I may have made this promise in the past, but this time I mean it.
Why is this time different you ask?
Well, I have completed my course requirements and will no longer need to spend countless hours on impossible assignments/projects. Ahhhhh.... the freedom I feel today is amazing.
Anyway, with no immediate due dates in my future I am sure I will be able to blog at least a few times a week.
I also promise to blog about more interesting things than myself being super busy. As interesting as I am sure it is to listen to someone complain about there being too few hours in the day... I am sure I can find something more interesting to write about.

#6 I played the flute for 8 years.
[insert bandcamp joke here... but believe me... I've heard them all]
I haven't attempted to play it for about 6 years... but I am pretty sure I could fumble through a few pieces.