Walk on Stilts

 Completed April & June, 2022

(I will be going back for more lessons)

Of all of the items on my 40 Before 40 list, I never expected to like stilt walking as much as I do. I'm fairly afraid of heights and hate getting up on ladders, even step ladders. Doing a stilt walking class was going to be an exercise in conquering a major fear. Not going to lie, it definitely is still pretty scary but the scariness wears off as you get used to them.

I found that Mike Weakley with Stilt Fun offered one-one-one classes and allows you to wear his stilts for the lessons. I'd previously looked into some classes offered in Tampa, but they were peg stills and really only offered a one hour one off class, which is not what I was looking for.

I showed up to my first lesson very scared and was extremely intimidated by taking the tiniest baby steps. After several lessons, broken up by training for my summer races, I decided I really wanted my own stilts so I could practice at home. 

I'm still in the baby stage of walking on stilts, so mine aren't the full height yet, but I'm getting there. The photo below is at the lowest setting, but that had me clocking in at a little over 7.5' tall (which made me a foot taller than my brother Kyle!). I'm now at the second setting, but I really need to get back to it after my long break for all of my crazy running adventures.

Take a Blacksmithing Class

 Completed October 24, 2021

What's funny about this one is that it is the classic 40 Before 40 list item for me. Something I had been looking at for years and never really got around to it. But once it goes on the list? It's a priority. I have a deadline and there is no time like the present to get things done. I had already looked into Leslie Tharp and her amazing artwork for years, so I knew it was where I would go. 

At the workshop I made a snake bracelet! It was so cool (and sometimes scary) to see the metal turn bright orange. The malleability of the metal in that state was astounding. Seeing it wrap and twist like taffy was incredible. We turned a regular metal rod into a piece of wearable art.

I ended up with three blisters on my hand (because I'm a try hard and my body loves making blisters as much as possible), but duct tape came to the rescue. I ended up with a pretty sore arm from wielding the hammer, too. I messed up in a few ways, but Leslie was nice enough to help to make sure I had something nice in the end. Her examples of what they should look like were far and away from what any of us in the class ended up with, but that's the difference from someone who barely understands it to someone who is a master in their craft. 

I saw she's had some other really neat workshops in the past, so I may go back and do another one if it lines up well with my schedule. 

Take a Glass Blowing Class

 Completed June 10, 2022

I've always been intrigued by glass work and as a kid saw some glass blowing at a place outside of Mt. St. Helens. I found several places that weren't too long of a drive, so I booked a class where I could make at least two pieces at the Orlando Glass Center. I mistakenly booked a different type of lesson, one meant for people who had done glass blowing before, but it was all good. I'd still be able to make a couple of pieces. When I got there, an 9-year-old girl was making a piece with the help of the instructor, so I knew it wasn't going to be too hard if a kid could do it.

I decided to make a floppy bowl and a paperweight. Naturally I chose purples and blues. What I did not expect was that glass blowing would be so stressful. You had to constantly keep the rod turning or else the glass would just fall off the rod and onto the ground. When I did blacksmithing last year it was a lot less pressure. If you needed to, you could just throw the metal back into the fire or set it on the ground while you stepped away. once you had the molten glass on the rod, it was go go go! 

Luckily, they were a big help there and they wouldn't let me mess up too bad. The owner was there and was nice enough to document the experience, though the one thing he didn't get a photo of was me doing the actual glass blowing part while making my bowl. Someone had come in to pick up their finished piece at that exact moment, so no photos exist of that (which is fine, my stressed out self was captured very well). 

The building is hot as balls (as one would expect) and I had to ask about the power bill because they keep the molten glass thingy running 24/7, 51 weeks of the year. There are also the two other heaters and a contraption that slowly cools the glass overnight so it doesn't shatter into a million pieces. The owner told me their power bills typically run over $5,000 a month! Damn! I get worried when our power bill gets over $150!

Overall a really cool experience, but a bit too stressful for me and one I'm not likely to repeat...unless there's a neat workshop with a piece I really want to make.

Take a Stained Glass Making Class

Completed April 8-15, 2022

There's this one Eddie Izzard bit where he discusses people not knowing that they may be a natural prodigy in something. His example is that tigers may be really amazing at playing the bango, but no one has ever give a banjo to a tiger, so how would anyone know? For years, I've always thought about "finding my banjo" which is why I like to try as many things as possible to see what I can do and if I like it.

Stained glass is one of those things! I was looking high and low for places to do stained glass and I somehow noticed there was a local artist in Ocala that offered a three class series on various techniques, so I signed right up. Oddly enough, his studio/store was in the same place I used to do hot yoga at before it closed.

The first day I went in, I made a (very wonky) dragonfly. Then the next day I made an iris. The final class was making a mirror and mounting the iris on each. Each lesson was about 2-4 hours, but it was more of gentle guidance on what to do, then working on it while talking with the artist, Designs by Daniel.

I ended up enjoying it a lot and then purchased a starter kit to be able to do it at home. Sadly, I have only made one project since then, but I need to get back on it because I have so many ideas!

 

Swim with Manatees

Completed February 20, 2022

Despite moving to Florida almost 20 (!!!) years ago I have never gone swimming with manatees. Which meant it had to go on the list! I had coolest time with my brother Kyle! We made the one hour trek to Crystal River, suited up, and the Seadaddies (lol) took us out to hang out with some giant underwater potatoes.

My absolute favorite moment was when a manatee locked eyes with me and swam straight in my direction until it almost touched me. I stayed floating and very still while it did its thing. The guide told me right after that it was the first time he's seen one do that (and he clarified he was not bullshitting).

Underwater pictures were taken by our guide since I chose to experience rather than photograph. But wow, that was incredible!!

Walk on a Bed of Hot Coals

 Completed February 9, 2022

This is one experience where I was expecting one thing and then it turned out to be a fully different thing. When searching ways to accomplish this feat, I kept coming across ones with full day seminars attached and wanted to just do the fire walking portion of it. But then I found F.I.R.E. and saw that the event was taking place on the 9th. My dad died on the 9th of June in 2021 and many of my items have lined up with that date; I don't ignore those signs. 

It was a one day "Attain Any Goal" workshop that ended with a firewalk. The whole short trip was absolutely magical. Everything fell in to place in the most perfect ways and I got so many good signs from the universe. There was no doubt that I could walk across those hot coals and my smug ass face shows it. I even got to do it twice because there were still hot coals left. One for me, one for dad because I know he would have loved doing this badass thing.

Reflecting on this experience has me all in my feels. During the seminar, Joe (the owner and one of the speakers) dug in deep on my self-limiting beliefs and I had a big old cry in front of strangers. It was so good for me. I know who I am and what I want out of life and I just need to keep making it happen.

I can just imagine telling mom and dad about this and how much they would have been cheering for me. Whether I did crazy shit or regular shit (because I remember dad cheering like hell when I changed the pressure switch on my well by myself, lol), they always supported everything 1000% and I'm going to keep fucking going. 💜💙

Scratchy Tickets, Gardens, Mole Removal, and Driving a Stick shift (aka, some one and done items)

 

Buy an Entire Roll of Scratchy Tickets

Completed October 22, 2021

When I originally planned this one, I expected to get an actual “roll” of tickets. The reality was that it was a flat book, so that was a little less fun. I researched online of what was the newest game with the best odds and determined it was the Gold Rush $20 and it came in packs of 30. 

Yes, it was a go big or go home type of situation, so I went to the convenience store with $600 cash to ask for an entire book of them. For some reason I was a little nervous and felt like I was committing a crime. Why? I don’t even know. I just felt weird. I walked out with my bounty and took them home. After scratching off one (and winning my first $20 back!) I realized all that scratching wasn’t actually very fun.

I worked through five a day and in the end won $1200 total. Due to one of them being a big winner ($1000) I had to go to the lottery office in Gainesville for them to get me a check. It was a lot less exciting than you’d think. 

In the entire book of 30, only 10 were winners. It really shows you the odds of winning it big. I can’t imagine purchasing a $20 ticket and not winning. Overall, an interesting lesson in playing the lotto and buying scratchy tickets. Though I have purchased some of the $1-2 ones here and there, I have no big drive to do that again.

Get Moles I Hate Removed

Completed December 9, 2021

This one is not glamorous or a very interesting story, but one of the things I valued about my 30 Before 30 List was that I accomplished items that I had been putting off for a long time. This was one of those. I had a few big moles that I really didn’t care for and one that was kinda funky looking that I needed to have checked out/test. Another was also right on my underwear line and would get irritated when I ran long distances, so it really had to go. It was simple, I made an appointment with the dermatologist, she snipped and scooped, tested, and all was good! I’m very glad I took care of this one and gave myself a firm deadline to do so!

 

Drive a Stick Shift

Completed April 23, 2022

This is definitely one of my big one and done items from the list. I envisioned driving a stick shift with ease, clutching and moving the stick and doing a zoom zoom in a car. My dream car has a stick shift option, so I figured knowing how to drive stick would get me one step closer to owning a Camero in the future. I signed up for a lesson and I’m so glad I purchased just one and not and entire series of lessons.

You know how when you’re driving in your dreams and nothing is normal and you’re terrified and the car doesn’t work right? That’s how the lesson felt. I was good going under 10mph on a dead-end road, but once it came to stop signs and other cars my brain had a big STOP. NO. WARNING. light going off. My heart is racing just thinking about it. Who knew this would be the scariest thing from my list?

Have a Garden

March 2022 – August 2022

Even though the original list item was to have a garden for a one year period, I’m calling this one good. We had a lovely garden growing up, my parents had green thumbs, my sister Kandi discovered she liked gardening a few years ago, so I figured I would give it a go. This, like the others in this post are a big no for me. 

Gardens don’t meow at you when you don’t take care of them. I am lacking a green thumb in the extreme. I’ve tried to keep house plants alive, even the easy ones like cacti and succulents, but they have never survived. I planted in March and had some things sprout, but now the bed is totally overgrown. Oh well. I’ll stick with buying my produce from the store. This one is a fail and that is okay.