try at least one new thing a month

This month’s new experience was a day out helping with the piloting of a very nice, big catamaran. Navigating was easy at first when we had a decent breeze out on the bay, but then it died down a lot and I learned some good lessons for how to read the wind. I think I want to take official sailing lessons now.

I broke my own rule and visited not just one but two countries whose languages I do not speak. I visited the Netherlands and Barcelona. Thankfully in Amsterdam they mostly spoke English or said something that sounded familiarly close to it. While in Barcelona my scary attempt to speak Catalan, combined with my rusting handle on Portuguese, mixed with my nearly non-existing skill in Spanish got me interesting looks but miraculously answers none the less.

Well not as much as the rest. So I attended the first technology user-group meeting since in a really, really long time. And I survived it. It was painful, but I got through it.

I cannot explain what drove me to agree to go on a white water rafting tour with my friends. Well, I survived it and that’s what is important. It actually turned out not to be too bad. One guy got ejected out of the boat, he missed the boulder and we eventually got him back unscathed and grinning for some reason.

Sooo… this month’s new thing to try is canoeing. I’ve been told it’ll be calm and laidback. Shyeah. We’ll see…

I was teased into trying kayaking in a Marin bay. I can’t believe I went through with it, knowing my swimming skills are not good. I don’t know if that was gutsy or stupid. It’s a done deal now, so no use in crying over spilled milk now. It was fun and frightening at the same time; boy do my shoulders and hands hurt from the paddling.

Since I am trying to knit regularly I’ve decided to learn to knit left-handed. It’s supposed to be a faster way to get ‘er done. I went to knittinghelp.com website, watched the 3 minute video and got a hang of it in about 10! Sweetness!