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A 29 year old’s race against time is over. Did I win, or lose? I failed to complete all my tasks, even the heavily revised version. Do I feel like I’ve missed out? No.

Today is my birthday. I’m spending it in Vegas.

This morning I was in the Grand Canyon

And tomorrow I fly to Atlanta to start a new adventure…

Lesson learnt  from 30 by 30 – this decade I’m going to write my 40 by 40 earlier. I’ve entered a new stage of life – I’m calling it a 30-something’s race against time.

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Sadly my raw food inhibited mind has been unable to work out how to load photos on the computer. I am clueless as to why it hasn’t worked and my only thoughts are that the computer must be broken as it doesn’t seem to register my photo chip. I have taken some photos. You’ll all have to eagerly await seeing my new car (of which I am a proud 30% owner) and my new bike (of which I am the proud 100% owner).

 

Become a rawist for 2 weeks.

 

Task – Done. Or will be on Wednesday at exactly 12 noon. I admit that just before starting this task I crammed a cream egg in my mouth at 11.59am.

 

Effect – weight-loss, glowing skin, scattered mind (couldn’t remember anything), a shadow of my former personality (which oddly enough Laurie thought was a HUGE improvement), no hunger. Generally I felt a bit like one of those vacuum robots that turn around when they hit a wall and wander aimlessly in the other direction before hitting another wall, having no idea that they are vacuuming. And that’s after I went through the detox phase, which was so much worse.

 

Rawist Guru – Guy Kerr. I don’t think I could have done this without this guy, he answered all my presumably stupid questions about tea, coffee and maple syrup. Gave me amazing recipes. Raw Lemon Cheesecake is so much better than real cheesecake – in fact I ate it for morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner one day. Guy was super encouraging. So emphatic was he that raw thai soup made vegetables amazingly delicious that I struggled through it 3 times before deciding that I didn’t like it, and vegetables are not improved by dipping them in the soup. I have discovered that I don’t like coconut water though, so there is always a bright side.

 

What will I take away from this? Quite a lot. Or so I’d like to think. It’s really nice having so much salad in my life. And a super smoothie is a great way to start the day and really does keep me full. Although it has sometimes taken me up to 7 hours to finish the sludge (which after 30 minutes needs to be eaten with a spoon), it definitely makes my insides happy. I have lots of energy (although not the mind to do anything with it) and I’ve enjoyed not experiencing extreme sugar highs and lows all day ( and so has Laurie enjoyed my not experiencing these highs and lows). In fact Laurie has started to talk about taking up a similar diet himself.

 

Will I continue? Some of it. But I’m never going to be a rawist. I’m so excited to experience the joys of fish again.

 

 

Go to a concert, comedy show, culture event monthly.

 

Task – done.

 

This month I have been to the Big Hip contest, the Mountain Culture Variety Show and Cat Empire (with the biggest crowd of Whistler-style rejects I have ever seen – I’ve never seen such an audience before in my life, and I hope never to again) and very briefly The Beautiful Girls and The Sheepdogs (at least I think that was their name). Does spending 3 minutes at a free concert count?

 

Next month I will be experiencing the joys of Holly Madison’s Peep Show in Las Vegas.

 

J I’m pretty sure I’m covered for cultural events.

 

Develop a winners outlook on life.

 

This month I won several mini cokes from the Coca-Cola van. I had to have 1 of 2 squishy balls land in a bin to win. Sometimes I lost, but I just lined up again until I won. It seems everyone is a winner if they just keep on trying.

 

Spend less than $30 per month on clothes, shoes, accessories.

 

Task – Incomplete

 

I hadn’t spent a penny since February, I was on track to complete, and then in one day with just one dress and some shoes I blew the budget completely. And it felt sooooo good. I week later, I was at the Whistler-Blackcomb discount store and it had Roxy clothes, nice Roxy clothes, at ridiculously small prices. $40 later I had myself a top and some trousers. The budget was obliterated. But it felt so damn good.

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I may look drunk, but I can assure you I am just merry. You'll notice that that bottle of wine is closer to full than empty. And it's still in the fridge.

Despite my title quote for me last blog entry, ‘Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever’, I’ve decided that it’s time to quit. Or not so much quit but change. Some months ago I had 30 goals, mostly not made up by me, to complete prior to my 30th Birthday. I enjoyed it, it gave me a new lease on life… and then time passed and the tasks lost their meaning and the continued completing of them became tiresome and soul-destroying.

I was raised to believe that quitting is failing and failing is weak. Actually I’m not sure if my parents raised me that way, but that is what I firmly believed until the ripe old age of 21. When I was 21 I had a job I hated, living in a place I hated, and all I thought about doing every day was leaving. But I stayed, telling myself, ‘as soon as I’ve mastered this, I can leave.’ But one day, after a big fight with a big fat man (irrelevant? yes), I quit, the next day I left. 1 month later I was living in a place I loved, doing a job I loved. I never regret leaving, although I still harbour some resentment towards my sister (who indirectly was responsible for my predicament) and I never, so long as I live, wish to see Fitzroy River Lodge (or whatever it was called) again. Since then, if something’s not working for me, I quit. I am yet to regret it.

But, I don’t want to quit here, I just want to change a few things. Just so I can enjoy my 1 month and 1 week til 30 that little bit more. And, of course, complete all my 30 by 30 tasks – because I’d hate to fail.

So…. my amended list of 30 by 30 is;

1.   Do my very best to win lotto.  COMPLETE. I won nothing but I don’t care… that much.

2.  Run a 10k race.

3.  Cook a dinner for 20. COMPLETE.

4.   Paint a picture and try to sell it. Failing that, write a book, poem, article, short story and try to get it published. COMPLETE.

5.  Only get merry. Don’t get drunk AND most importantly never do an alcohol related spew. COMPLETE.

6.  Change my hairstyle totally.  Soon to be complete – the next blonding session is in the pipeline. And I’m sure everyone will actually notice a change afterwards.

7.  Stop to help everyone who looks like they might need it.  COMPLETE. If I keep having to do this I may never leave my room again.

8.  Spend 20 minutes beautifying myself everyday for a month.  COMPLETE. Some days I even spent 50minutes in the shower.

9.  Stop hiding my true feelings and tell several people what I really think of them. COMPLETE.

10.  Get pregnant and engaged. Can be same or different person. – I’m going to scrub this. Last night Laurie and I tried to make a baby and it was very disturbing for me. I’m fine if it happens of it’s own accord but I’m not sure either of us want me pregnant before I’m 30. And I have no current plans to make a proposal of marriage to anyone, ever. Call me old fashioned but I’d like to be proposed to. Considering it was actually Laurie that made this one up and Laurie who must make it happen, I don’t think that it’s fair that I should fail for something I never really wanted and am not in a position to make happen.

11.   Go Skiing or Snowboarding once a week. COMPLETE

12.  Visit Peru This isn’t going to happen pre 30. My time is all planned and this isn’t on the plan. I think I’ll change this to ‘visit the Grand Canyon via helicopter and drink champagne at the bottom of it‘ – which is on the plan, and is booked, for the morning of my birthday itself. Thanks Mumsy, love you x x x

13.  Develop a winner’s outlook on life.  – a very worthy goal 🙂

14. Start using an anti-aging product.  COMPLETE

15. Be sure to tell at least one joke a week. I may be old, but I’m not dead yet.  COMPLETE – this completes itself every week. I’m a frequent joke teller.

16. Take 1 photo every single day.  Take 1 photo a week. At first I loved taking a photo a day, it showed me how lucky I was and what a good life I live…. but for the last month or so it’s been showing me how dull my life is and that there is nothing but the same old pictures to be taken, over and over. Stifling my creativity, every day having this picture taking task hanging over my head when I’ve already taken a picture of everything here, it’s not the life for me. I’m pretty sure I can handle 1 a week. Not to mention I’ve missed a few days recently so I’ll still be on track if it’s once a week.

17.  Give up something for lent (40 days – 22^nd Feb 2012 to 5^th Apr 2012).   Lent schment. I’ve always thought it was stupid to give up something for lent, why stop now. So, I gave up not giving something up for lent and now I’ve failed it. Maybe some day I’ll just give something up, and I won’t need lent to be the reason.

18.  Visit Las Vegas – Hell yeah!!! So excited to be going in May! Can’t wait.

19.   Blog my 30 by 30 achievements. – this has been good. I’ve learnt a lot about blogging. I’ve started reading two blogs regularly for inspiration;

Caroline Coxon’s http://crlncxn-quirkyworks.blogspot.ca/ – for me it’s kind of like a nice thought of the day, everyday, without the preachy mumbo jumbo of something that actually calls itself a thought of the day. It’s fun, and light, and let’s me know what is happening in Laurie’s mum’s life and is always very positive. I’ve even taken to finding quotes for my blog entries like Caroline does, although sometimes I just make them up myself, and I never actually credit any authors as Caroline does. I’ve also discovered that the quotes I find almost never say what I want them to, but are very good for thinking about topics, and having a discussion without any at all.

And the second is http://arlynnpresser.wordpress.com/. It’s by a 50 something who was/is afraid to leave her home, and last year she decided to meet (face to face) all her facebook friends around the world, and blog about it. I like it a lot. I’ve never read blogs before this year so it’s been very enjoyable to see how they work.

20.  Get my 30 a day of exercise (also known as ‘sit on my arse for less than 23.5 hours a day’). This is not cumulative.  I’ve taken this a little too literally, as in – as long as I get out of a chair/bed for 30 minutes every day, I’m a winner. Kinda pointless, don’t need any goal to help me do that.

21.   Discover 1 new album per month.

22.  Spend 2 weeks as each of the following; Pescetarian, Vegetarian, Vegan and Rawist.

23.  Try 2 new foods every month.  Another goal which happens easily of it’s own accord. And why do I need to do this pre 30????? Will I only be able to eat foods previously tried… I think not.

24. Start learning a new language (2hrs per weeks for 3 months).  I watched a couple of French movies, and then my free Netflix subscription expired. Regardless, I’ve not learnt any new French. It’s a shame and I guess this is a goal I have genuinely failed and I’m a little sad about it.

25.  Spend maximum of $30 per month on clothes, shoes & accessories. – On track, in fact I’ve still got my $30 from this month.

26.  Go to 1 live concert, theatre or comedy show per month.

27. Drink alcohol at least twice a month.  Complete

28.  Read the karma sutra and put at least 2 moves into practice.  Who was I kidding? I’m not going to do this. To be honest, I’m still working on mastering missionary so I’m in no need of trying to master something new when I’ve not got the basics.

29. Talk to and relate to a young person every month (no one likes an out of touch 30 something).

30.  Decide what I want to do with the next 10 years of my life.

So, I guess that leaves me with 13 very achievable goals to complete in the next 1 month and 1 week. I’m excited!!!! Again.

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Oh, Alta Lake, you are so pretty.

The blinding headlights of one of my 2 ovens.

My crocs, with a pretty croc flower that laurie gave me. Laurie and I love our crocs 🙂

On the bus, after skiing, my knees hurt but I’m happy 🙂

Walking home from town

An example of what it looks like to be very drunk, Laurie after being led astray by his work buddies. What you can’t see in this picture is all the hard work I had to do to prepare dinner whilst he pranced about in town, arriving home well after our 9pm bed time. My next picture might be of Laurie getting up at 6am to cook pancakes… I hope.

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My progress on my 30 goals…

1. Do my very best to win lotto – I have done an awesome job here. I have bought 5 lotto tickets, all losers. And each one was accompanied by the anxiety of possibly winning and not being about to claim my prize as a non-Canadian citizen. I’ve spent hours planning and plotting for my eventual win and who I will ask to cash my prize for me and how much of my winnings I should offer the Canadian citizen to cash my winning ticket. Would that person bargin me up? Would I be forced to give them half of my millions!?!

Although the lottery win remains illusive, I have managed to win a couple of tickets to a comedy night (where the comedians were offensive and the audience heckling helarious! very refreshing). I’ve also managed to win the pique valentines day competition for the second year running and have about $500 worth of goodies. I am very pleased with my wins and I hope they keep on coming 🙂

4. Paint a picture and try to sell it. Failing that get something published. COMPLETE! I have skipped straight to the publishing and have had my winning answer for the valentines day competition published in the Pique Magazine – under my pseudonym ‘Laurie Coxon’. What a relief as I was intending to write a childrens story for the Canadian Writers Association competition which came with all the same ‘non-Canadian citizen anxiety’ as winning lotto!

5. / 27. I am doing a wonderful job of drinking alcohol regularly and lightly. I’m up to 1-2 drinks 2 or 3 nights a week. Often over dinner. Very civilised. And I have not felt the least bit ill. I often even have the craving for just one drink as I serve dinner, and it makes me so much more pleasant to guests.

6. Change my hairstyle totally. Half complete…. I’m going blonde and I am currently half way there. So, lighter brown. I have had so few people notice the change that it can’t really be called changing my hairstyle totally… just yet.

7. Stop to help everyone who looks like they might need it. Failed for the month 😦 A chap asked me directly when the number 5 bus would arrive. I replied, ‘I don’t know’ – despite standing next to the timetable. The next person he asked ended up asking the chap all the right questions, walking him to his destination, missing their own bus and, from what I could see, getting very little thanks for going completely out of their way to help someone. Having forgotten this goal, I looked on feeling only relief that I had not been more helpful to this annoying tourist who shouldn’t have left his hotel in the first place if he didn’t know how to get back to it. Definitely a fail. Must do better.

8. Spend 20 minutes beautifying myself everyday for a month. I was loving this! Until Heath said that she didn’t think that showering counted in the 20 minutes beautifying. However, having seen Michael Fuller’s attempt at this (which, from memory, involved watching a documentary and jumping out of bed in the morning), I think I have completed this exceedingly well and I have seen many benefits from spending this time daily showering, and doing other things too.

10. Get pregnant and engaged. I have made some progress with this, I have decided I would like Laurie Coxon to be my partner in both and I’ve mentioned it to him. I suppose now I can only wait.

12. Visit Peru – currently winning the award for most likely to fail.

13. Develop a winners outlook on life – totally loving this one! It’s amazing what can be achieved by a winning mentality!

14. Tell at least one joke a week. Doing well 🙂 Told some classics over breakfast yesterday, all involving ski instructors and lightbulbs 🙂

And last weeks, which didn’t get a laugh,

‘Why can’t you get a blowjob in Australia?’

‘Because all the cocksuckers are in Whistler’.

Hit a little too close to the truth I think.

A friend of mine, lets call him Michael Fuller to hide his true identity, has given up this goal in his 30 by 30. Michael Fuller, after trying for the last 2 months to tell just one joke a week, has decided that ‘jokes are for losers’. I assume that he was not trying to evoke laughter with this comment. Odd, since Michael Fuller likes to laugh and make people laugh, at least once a week. Perhaps Michael Fuller thinks the ‘post 30’ world is a humourless one, and he’ll be practising being humourless for the last few months of his 20’s to ease the transition… I guess in just 2 months I’ll know if this is true. I wonder, if Michael Fuller does accidentally evoke laughter from folks once a week, will he have double failed this task?

17. Give up something for lent. I was going to give up dairy… but that’s a bit dull after being vegan for 2 weeks. So I’ve given up procrastination and saying no instead. I’m enjoying it. Laurie is too.

18. Visit Las Vegas – currently winning award for 2nd most likely goal to fail.

21. Discover a new album per month… so far I’ve failed this. I’m going to have to discover 3 albums this month. I have wanted to do this but I’ve struggled to download albums. Laurie has also struggled. It seems technology is moving beyond our reach as we near our 2nd 30 years. With technology becoming unusable and humour being for losers, our 30’s may be a much more dark place than I was expecting. And my dreams of an iphone are dashed.

23. Try 2 new foods every month. Laurie and I won a 3 course meal for 2 at Kazi Sushi and there was a least 2 new foods in there, I’m still not sure what most of it was but it was wonderful. And saki margarita is delicious!

24. Learn a new language. I think I should probably just put a fail next to this one. I’ve watched a French movie every week for my first  month. Some I have not enjoyed and done other things whilst ‘watching’ them. I do repeat a phase or 2 after the actors – like ‘je ne sais pa’ which is in EVERY movie!  🙂

29. Talk to a young person every month – I spoke to an 18 year old the other day, for about 30 minutes, I even related to her!

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Photos from a very behind blogger – the past 3+ weeks

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Goal Achieved! And surprisingly I found it much easier than my various failed attempts at being Pescetarian. I really enjoying this challenge and found it to be a fantastic diet. I ate constantly, lost weight, had loads of energy, was less moody, highly motivated and had no problems waking up in the morning and getting straight out of bed. Since becoming non-vegan again I’ve lost all these qualities, and according to Laurie I’ve become more doe-eyed and distant. So generally I got a lot out of this goal, and it kind of confirmed what I’ve suspected for the last 15 years and never done anything about – I probably suffer from lactose intolerance.

Whilst on the vegan diet, in my highly motivated state, I decided I would continue to be vegan for 5 or 6 days a week but after the first bite of ice-cream I’ve barely thought about that again, and when I have it’s seemed much too taxing to bother with further thought. So, to discover if it really is dairy giving me my personality defects, I’m going to give up dairy for lent and see what that does to me.