30 Days: Day 21

We're in the homestretch here now and I'm not sure if I cheated or not, but I went to Detroit for some adventures there. I never really set any hard and fast rules about what I could and couldn't do, but I have tried to stay close to home for these forays into the world. That may have had more to do with my schedule than anything else, however.

While visiting Mike and Ramie, I saw the only bar in the United States to host the Belgian sport of Feather Bowling*. That's right, we hung out at the Cadieux Cafe for some exotic beers and a quick meal before taking in a little karaoke.

And it turns out that Ramie and Mike had a little first-timing of their own to do last night as each one of them got up to sing a song by themselves! It was so much fun to watch them get nervous and then have lots of fun.

*Apparently there is another bar in Michigan that has "Belgian Trough Bowling" so I'll have to ammend an earlier statement. One of two bars in the United States... But I guess the Cadieux Cafe will stick out for me either way as the first bar I've ever been to where the backroom has a dirt floor.

30 Days: Day 20

I tried Garlic Soup!

It was pretty basic, just chicken broth and the most garlic one could fit in a soup while still calling it soup, but it was pretty good. I was unsure of my breath for the next few days and I'm pretty sure I may even now be sweating garlic essence, but hell it was fun to try something new.

How Quickly We Forget

I'm writhing with jealousy. Ryan is tripping the light fantastic in Ireland, Molly is missing dripping bloody steaks in the Ukraine, Jen is off to Thailand for Chinese New Year, Jay is howling at the full moon in Tanzania, and I'm off to another day at the SB, where I can watch while folks trade gossip about married life, babies, and how wasted they all got last night at the cowboy bar. I was hoping to drum up some adventure here at home, but it's not working so far. I just want to feel that feeling. The feeling of being so light you could burst and you couldn't hold back the smile if you tried. It's what makes me feel alive. Travelling doesn't always give me that feeling, but adventures do. I guess I'm just ready for a big one.

I think I might also feel better if I cracked some theory again. It's been a long time since I've read any non-fiction.

30 Days: Day 19

It was cold yesterday morning. It warmed up eventually, but since it was one of the rare Toledo late-winter days when the sun is shining and the sky is blue, I decided that it was finally time to take advantage of all that winter gear I'd stocked up on in Montreal and get myself outside.

So with the MP3 player and my favorite tunes, I walked to the park I'd been eyeballing for a few weeks. At first, I thought I just might walk a few blocks, get too cold and turn around, but about halfway I decided I felt good enough to go so I kept walking and enjoying the sun. I hadn't been to this park since I was ten, riding my bike into a whole different city just to go to a different park with far superior swings to the park at the end of the street. It's only about a twenty minute walk to the park, but I met a chatty man walking his dog, saw a jogger, and said hello to two other women out for a late morning stroll. Maybe it was the endorphins kicking in around 30 minutes or so, but suddenly the sun on my face, warm feeling in my legs, chill but happy music in my ears, and talking to strangers seemed to me to be the best possible moment. I had to stop myself from singing and skipping home, but as I neared the house my energy waned a little and I looked forward to a big glass of warm water.

It was a great little walk.

30 Days: Day 18

Wednesday was shaping up to be a quiet night around the house. I cozied up in front of the TV, awaiting a new episode of my favorite show, Veronica Mars, only to be highly ranckled by the repeat eppy. I mean, I sure did just wait 7 weeks to get three new shows? And I'll be waiting another three weeks to get the rest of the season's worth. Apparently dooming this show to failure is something the network (doomed itself) is interested in.

But freed from the shackles of Wednesday night television, I joined a few friends down at the South End Grille for some karaoke times. I wasn't sure whether I'd sing or not, but as night wore on and the cheap beer tasted sweeter, I put my name down for a song I'd never sung before. I decided that since everyone else was singing the angsty early-mid nineties alt-rock, I'd get my two cents in with some screaming girl music from the same era. Alas, my performance wasn't as well received as one would have hoped as most people looked on in something akin to horror/repulsion. I guess my audience just wasn't into angry chick rock even if a cute face was attached. After hearing Stone Temple Pilots and early Mariah Carey performed back to back and receiving roaring applause each time, I decided that the audience was clearly schizophrenic and had no idea what they wanted anyway. Or maybe just drunk. Anyway, it was really fun and I was pleased as punch with the adventure.

30 Days: Day 17

Ah. Another bad choice. A rush of blood to the head after the poetry reading sent me skittering off into the night in search of companionship. I ended up at a bar a friend of mine works in, hoping he'd be working. It turns out I'd missed him by an hour, but that is probably for the best. Instead, I sat quietly at the bar drinking pints and reading the City Paper until my empty belly absorbed enough booze to randomly start chatting to equally quiet bartender. You know a bar is slow when the bartender and two patrons are all reading. There wasn't even any music. When I felt I'd sufficiently socialized, I got back in the car and found myself driving towards one of the seedier bars near my house, again looking for a friend of mine. This time, he was there and for a brief moment, I felt transparent as if he could tell the only reason I'd come to the bar was to see him. Transparent or no, he smiled when he saw me and we settled in for a night of excessive drinking, crossword puzzles, and chatting.

In the end, the decision didn't turn out so badly, although the hangover the next day was killer. But even the hangover was somehow sweeter with Walker's words in my head. I didn't just go home and turn on the TV, I went and had an adventure.

30 Days: Day 16

The Essential Big Red: Selected Poems by Lynne Walker seemed like an intriguing way to spend a Monday evening, so I headed to the Main library for a reading.

I walked into the conference hall not knowing what to expect. How many people would be interested in poetry on a Monday night? Would it be interesting? Boring? Cool? Lame? Anyway, as it got started, I realized that most of these people, about 12 of them, knew each other, and quite a few were connected to the University of Toledo, either as students or profs, and even though they knew each other they managed to create an open, inviting atmosphere for newcomers. This was definitely a different feel than stumbling into a bar where everyone knows each other and marks you immediately as an interloper. There wasn't as much staring involved.

The poetry was fantastic! It was sexy, funny, lively, touching, and it may have been the full moon, the hormones, or the Pre-Valentine's Day angst, but it made me tear up several times. It wasn't love poetry in a traditional sense, but it was love of life poetry and it made me both want to live more and enjoy the living I've done. Who knew a poem about a hangover could be so touching? It wasn't anything I expected, and turned out to be a great way to spend the night.

30 Days: Day 15

Hey, I've made it to the halfway mark! Who knew?

Today's adventure (well not really today's but sometime in the last three days, I think I've mixed them up) was a trip to La Perla Tortilla Factory. I'd seen the sign for years, and was always curious what was behind those "Open to Public" doors.

Apparently, all the Mexican products one might need: Pinatas, Mexican candies and pastries, spices, dried peppers, of course tortillas, but also Mexican sodas and other fizzy drinks, canned goods, small gifts, and lots of Spanish-language magazines.

I'd say it was a pretty sweet find and I enjoyed watching my co-workers faces when I explained where I'd gone that day. "The tortilla factory? Why?" or "There's a torilla factory?" Apparently doing stuff out of curiousity isn't something they are into at the SB.

30 Days: Day 14

Jessica and I had a beer at the Bunker. We'd heard that a new bar had the same feel as an old favorite of ours, Lenny's, which had since become well-lit and fashionable among the college jocks. There must have been some miscommunication however, because it was almost the same as Lenny's in it's new incarnation. Only bigger, even more well lit, and filled with more 'dressed-up' men in button-down plaid shirts tucked into their khakis. A bust.

So we downed our beers and headed out in the snow to find a new place for the evening. Unfortunately, things went south from there when Jessica revealed that she was hung over from the night before and didn't really want to go to another bar. I was antsy, filled with hormones (I don't usually use this excuse, but I was *bad* this weekend--the rocked me hard this month!), and generally angsty. This didn't make for a good combination, so when the anti-lock brakes engaged 3 times driving in the tiny amount of snow, we decided that we'd had enough and I dropped her off.

Lesson learned: Ignore instincts to drink beer and whinge while experiencing dramatic mood swings every 30 minutes. And if you can't ignore this instinct, do it in the privacy of your own home, protecting your friends from the barrage of ranting you would inevitably spill upon them.

30 Days: Day 13

It was a cat show.

It seems intuitive, but I just had no idea that a cat show would be so smelly. I guess 300 litter boxes in one room, no matter how clean are going to make a bit of a stink.

And even though I'd only heard of it through word of mouth, it must be pretty popular on the cat show circuit, because there were cars in the lot from Illinois, Michigan, Arizona, and other states all with cat licence plates, bumper stickers, stuffed animals, and whatnot.

It was definitely a first, although not as exciting as Best in Show had led me to believe.

30 Days: Day 12

A free caricature.

Ok, so I didn't draw it and I didn't learn any new skills, but this project isn't really about that. It's about new experiences and I had one.

Waiting tables can be boring, fun, or stressful depending on the situation. Secret shoppers can make a situation stressful, especially if you know that one comes to your restaurant every day. So when I saw a man secretly writing and putting down his pen whenever I walked up to the table, looking at me as if to judge me, and asking lots of questions, my brain went right to secret shopper. But then after presented with a flattering (I didn't know they did those) caricature of my likeness, I was pleasantly surprised, and a whole lot less self-conscious.

I was happy, until it turned out that the picture and a one dollar bill was my tip. Umm...I'd rather have more cash.

30 Days: Day 11

Due to conflicting schedules, I was left carless this morning and in need of a ride to work. Luckily, my Aunt Linda lives around the corner and is semi-retired, so she was nice enough to swing by and give me a ride to work.

Now, I'm not exactly the most talkative person around my extended family. This may strike those of you who know me as odd, but I very often feel like I have nothing good to say, so I just stay quiet. This probably seemed to them like something I would have grown out of in my teeenage years, but nearing the end of my 20's, it has become obvious that I'm a little kooky and can be quite quiet at times. They must wonder though, how I survive in jobs so social as kindergarten teaching and serving, since it can be so hard for me to have a simple conversation about vegetable dip until I've had a couple beers.

But today presented a unique opportunity. I would be alone in the car for 20 minutes at least with my aunt. What would we talk about? It was time to put my social skills to the test and make simple conversation with a family member. It wasn't the first time I'd spoken with her obviously, but the first time I can remember being with her alone for a good minute without anything to distract us, like vegetable dip, or beer. So, I tried my best to keep any conversation at all going...and failed miserably. Well, maybe not that miserably. We did finally find a topic of conversation we could latch onto when we began to discuss the difficulties of getting a good haircut. Sadly, just as it was getting rolling she dropped me off at work.

So in the end it only took 18 minutes to get a good conversation started, with only 1-2 minutes lost in uncomfortable silences, and I'm gonna say that is progress made! Now, I can try to shave some time off that and before you know it, I'll be chatting for days!

30 Days: Day 10

My hair is purple! My new thing last night was having my hair cut and colored by a woman I work with. She was a hairdresser in a former life and we'd spent many a boringly slow lunch hour discussing the ins and outs of cutting curly hair. Some of you may not know that curly hair should be cut while dry. The sad part is is that most hairdressers I've encountered don't know this either! Also, testing the bounce of the curl is very important, lest one's hair come out a *great* deal shorter than anticipated. And all that talking was worth it, because for the first time in a long time, I'm happy with my haircut. It wasn't cut too short, it has a great shape, and the colored glaze she applied has turned my hair the coolest color of dark eggplant I've ever seen! It's all comic book badass girl hair color that looks dark, but glows purple-y around the edges in the light. Plus, it's super shiny and that makes me happy. Well done!

Hiatus

I took a little break from my experiment. No good reason, other than I've been too tired to make it out after work to do anything all that exciting and I've had a bit of a time trying to figure out what to do. But, let this not stop me from continuing the project. We'll just pretend it's still Day 10 and I'll keep on from there. Besides I've got some fun new things lined up here...there's the trip to the local torilla factory, um...the possible creation of the SB Karaoke Squad, and other exciting things. Basically, I just need to get more creative with my activities. For example, I've never labelled a cooler "Human Head" and gotten into an elevator to gauge people's reactions. That sounds like a fun Thursday To Do.

A Fun Idea

A local gas station has been advertising their coffee lately with a remarkably widespread campaign of flyers, billboards, ads in print and on TV. Apparently "Bean There, Dunked That" is supposed to entice me to drink their coffee, even though the slogan would seem to suggest it is run of the mill and not really worth trying. But, since they would like some of those sweet coffeehouse customers, I would like to give them some.

I want to find some folding chairs and a table, a table cloth, and a few friends, or possibly alone, (that actually might even be better...) go to the gas station, buy a cup of joe and then set up shop outside, soaking in the gas fumes and enjoying my faux latte leisurely. Maybe even bring a paper...

The attendant would eventually come outside to see what I was up to, stare dumbfounded for a while and I would look up, somewhat surprised someone is interrupting and say "What?" Perhaps he would have to call a supervisor...it just gets more and more fun to think about.

30 Days: Day 9

Yesterday was a bad day. We're all entitled to the occasional craptastic day, I suppose and I got mine yesterday.

Nothing specifically bad happened in the morning aside from the increasingly routine "fight for naptime" I have with myself around 11am-1pm. I wake up early to take Dad to work and then try to relax enough to go back to sleep. This doesn't happen very well as I inevitably find myself right on the verge, jolting back to consciousness, and then trying to relax back into sleep mode. After a frustrating amount of time, I got up, did my laundry for work, finding my pants BBQ-sauce stained, and in need of a second washing, and took off an hour before work to pick up Dad and deliver him to another teaching gig. It's pretty routine, and I'm okay with it because it's temporary. I get a car, problem solved. Only this involves money...

Money I didn't make last night at the SB. 20 minute ticket times, cheap customers, and the most consistently bad tips of my life. Then, while trying to help out other servers, my manager reams me out. My crime? I happenned to know all the details in a situation involving some nachos. It involved neither my tables, my food running, or anything else other than my knowledge of said problem. I was yelled at for something I didn't even do! It was uncalled for. When I mentioned this, I was met with a cold stare. What I thought was even better, was this was my first night *not* screwing up some thing. Usually I make some little mistake like ringing up a drink under the wrong guest number, but last night things were running smoothly for me. So, I was understandably perturbed when she gathered all the servers to ream us all out together for 30 minutes in the back.

So much frustration later, I crawled exhausted and pissed into my car at 11pm. So, yesterday's new activity? Being yelled at by a manager for something I had no part in. It sure was fun! And sadly, extreme exhaustion has led me to no car today (I just couldn't drag my ass out of bed at 7:30 to drive Dad to work) so, it will take some brain storming for new things to do around the house.

Love Story

So I placed a personal ad of sorts. It was more completing a compatibility profile, and checking out my matches, but not paying any money to actually talk to them. It turns out, out of the 8 Million members of this website, I'm matched with 5 men. One lives in Puerto Rico, one in Indianapolis, one in Blacklick, Ohio(what?), and two in Columbus. There are all Indian, save White guy Kelly, and the most we have in common by viewing our profiles is that they feel they can't live without food. Yeah, neither can anybody else. Wow, and people actually pay for this?!

I didn't limit myself to age, weight, race, or location, so it's not like I could expand the parameters of my search. But others must have some serious limitations because I got 5 matches! Out of 8 million people! And this is reportedly the most popular of online dating services. I guess I can feel better that I never date, apparently there is only like 0.00000000625% of the population that would even be attracted to me based on personality. Ouch. But, luckily, I didn't pay to find this out, and I have my stunning good looks to fall back on. Maybe someday someone will be attracted to me based on my rack. :)

Well, it was definitely something new, and now I can rest assured that the bar is as good a place to meet people as is the internet, more so if you count the possiblity of actual physical contact!

30 Days: Day 8

While driving around trying to think of new adventures to have on a small scale (which is getting really hard after only 7 days! Suggestions?), I stopped into RamaLama Records to pick up some new tunes. This is something brand new for me, consulting the music geek and buying one of his reccomendations.

First up, Detrola, His Name is Alive. He pops it in the CD changer and so far so cross between Air and Carole King. I dig it. Next up, I ask about Rabbit Fur Coat, the new Jenny Lewis solo album, hoping to break the rules by buying a CD by someone I know and love. He hadn't heard it yet though, so after all, I wasn't allowed to cheat. His final reccomendation was the Imogene Heap solo album, "the female axis of Frou Frou," which I love and, alas, already know.

In the end, I bought the Detrola album and I'm quite happy with it. And, true to the music geek's word, it's all over the place so that each song has a completely different feel. Obviously there's notes of Air and Carole King, hints of classic country, some big orchestra numbers, and chicks singing la la la. Yes. Dig, baby.