5. MAKE A DISCOVERY

So here is what I have discovered - it's not the Higg's Boson or the evolution of a new mammal. It's not that men act like children when the tables are turned and you are the one who doesn't want to be in a relationship... 

It's that I like alcohol!

Not in a "I can't function without it" or even a "I have to drink every day" kind of way. It's the ritual and habit of alcohol that I like.

This discovery didn't come as too much of a surprise to me. I like to think I'm pretty self aware and I know how much I enjoy a glass of wine and a good cocktail. What I didn't realise was how much the lack of ritual has shaken me.

Here's how it works:

1. Work all day
2. Public transport home (the bus trip 11 kilometres home is enough in itself to turn any sane human being into a wine guzzling machine)
3. Enter house
4. Make decision about dinner
5. Pour wine
6. Sip
7. Cook or reheat (let's face it - Nigella Lawson, I am not)
8. Sip more
9. And more
10. Eat dinner
11. Watch television
12. Sip some more
13. Unwind from day
14. Go to bed
15. SLEEP

Occasionally there is more than one glass of wine involved. But one glass is enough to flick that switch in my brain from work to relaxation. And I like that switch.

The reason I have made that discovery this month? - Well, it's Dry July. 

My reasons for taking on the DJ challenge were twofold - one, I have been drinking a lot more than normal the last couple of years (it's helped get me through some pretty rough times) and two, the money raised is for charity. Cancer charities to be precise. And given that there have been 5 people in my extended family lost to cancer in the last 3 years - not drinking didn't seem like much of a sacrifice.

But it kind of is. A big sacrifice.

My night time routine is all out of whack. My brain doesn't switch over to relaxation, I find myself thinking about projects and work and I'm boring. I sit like a zombie in front of the television for an hour before declaring myself tired and going to bed. It's usually about 8.30pm. 

You'd think all that sleep would make me feel great and it does - I'm a lot perkier and bouncier in the morning than I have been in years. But it fades quickly. Usually just after lunch. Usually when a colleague is begging me to go out for a sneaky lunchtime meal and pint. 

I can't go out because I'm scared that the temptation to drink will be too great and that my resolve will crumble. Surely I can get people to donate to a cancer charity without having to give anything up? How is not drinking relevant to those suffering from cancer? Dad loved a drink (or two or three) - surely if he were here today he'd encourage me to have that glass of wine or pint of cider?

And on the weekends - oh the weekends - well my bedroom has never been cleaner... But the days drag and I don't know how to fill in my time. Other than shopping. Or perhaps blogging (in my pyjamas at 2pm) or sleeping or watching copious episodes of Masterchef (thanks to an encore screening). HELP!?!

This is what I have discovered about myself:

1. I like wine too much to give it up for any longer than a month
2. After 3 weeks, I'm starting to go a little stir crazy
3. I ramble whether I'm sober or drunk
4. Sacrificing something to help raise money for charity is noble but maybe I should have just donated the $400 I have raised so far directly to the Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation 

Please support me in my vain attempt to steer clear of alcohol for the next 11 days by donating:

https://www.dryjuly.com/profile/greernagle

EPIC FAIL

I just found this - the blog I started two years ago. Like a lot of things in my life (learning the piano, cleaning my room, online dating), I started this with every intention of continuing - of trying to accomplish everything on the list. But life tends to get in the way.

First it was study and work, then it was family and work and then it was grieving and getting over losing the people I love. Now it's just work!

And so here I am, over two years older and hopefully two years wiser - trying to remember what prompted me to start a blog in the first place. 

If I read back over my first couple of entries, the idea of creating this blog was to put into action suggested "life activities" from a book my brother and sister in law gave me called 101 Things To Do Before You Die. I still have the book (somewhere) and I have the list. And if experience has taught me anything in the past few years, it's that LIFE IS SHORT! You can wander around thinking you have unlimited time to do everything - only to one day realise that you're getting old or that you're sick or that you let opportunities and people slip away.

I'd like to sit here and say - NO MORE! No more will I think my time is unlimited, no more will I start something I have no intention of finishing and no more will I put off something today because it can wait until tomorrow. 

Let's face it - I'm lying to myself. That will always happen.

But in the interest of trying to have as many experiences as possible - I am going to try and get back on track by working through this list.

1. Write a Bestseller

2. Swim with....

3. Win an Award, Trophy or Prize

4. Catch a Fish With Your Bare Hands

5. Make a Discovery

6. Throw a House Party When Your Parents Are Out

7. Be Part of a Threesome

8. Realise Your Childhood Dream

9. Learn That Instrument

10. Leave Your Mark in Graffiti

11. Storm Chase a Tornado

12. Get a Piece of Art into an Exhibition

13. Meet Someone with Your Own Name

14. Ride the World's Biggest Rollercoasters

15. Stage Dive or Crowd Surf

16. Get into the Guinness Book of Records

17. Own a Pointless Collection

18. Study the Kama Sutra and Put Theory into Practice

19. Master Poker and Win Big in a Casino

20. Get Backstage and Get Off with a Rock God

21. Be a Human Guinea Pig

22. Go Up in a Hot Air Balloon

23. Get Arrested

24. See a Space Shuttle Launch

25. Capture the Moment in an Award-winning Photograph

26. Bungee Jump

27. See an Erupting Volcano

28. Sky Dive

29. Meet Your Idol

30. Stay in the Best Suite in a Five Star Hotel

31. Experience Weightlessness

32. See the Aurora Borealis

33. Get to Score a Hole in One

34. Design Your Own Cocktail

35. Play a Part in Your Favourite TV Show

36. Visit Every Country

37. Make Fire Without Matches

38. See These Animals in the Wild....

39. Go to the Dogs

40. Get a Free Upgrade on a Plane

41. Be Friends With Your Ex

42. Hit Your Targets

43. Throw a Dart into a Map and Travel to Where it Lands

44. Attend a Film Premiere

45. Do a Runner From a Fancy Restaurant

46. Scuba Dive

47. Milk a Cow

48. Be Present When Your Country Wins the World Cup

49. See Both Solar and Lunar Eclipses

50. Write Your Name Over a Star on the Walk of Fame

GROUNDHOG DAY

I love that film... There is something so great about Bill Murray in that role - he brings the perfect blend of anger, humour, irony and downright craziness to the role of a man repeating the same day over and over again...

I know how he feels. That's my life... Every day...

91. Publish a Cult Website

Alright people - I have decided that whilst I am boring - Oomfufu the Travelling Barbie is not, so as my assessment piece for school I have decided to defer to and write about 'fufs adventures rather than my own.

Tonight I have created an Oomfufu the Travelling Barbie blog in the vain hope that it will one day achieve the 'cult' status that I require to accomplish number 91 on my list.

And why wouldn't it, I ask you? 'fufs has friends in high places, has attended the Olympics, met distinguished Australian people (David Koch, Kevin Rudd, Hilltop Hoods) and travelled to quite a lot of places that I haven't. She is something of a living (if plastic) legend.

Please visit her (our) blog and join in her adventure as she transverses the globe, makes new friends, seeks new adventures and looks for Mr Right (Ken need not apply)...

58. Live in the Place you Love

I love my apartment.. Okay, so it's old and now that winter is only a week away, and it's been raining all week, it smells musty... but it's my apartment. I pay the rent - it's set up how I want it - it's my apartment and I LOVE IT!

At least I did until I got an unwanted visitor.

My Dad has been staying in my spare room for almost 4 weeks. What started as a 1 night visit as he was between houses has turned into 4 weeks of shared bathrooms, diet coke in my fridge (he is the only man I know who still drinks diet coke when coke zero is far more black and masculine), and the lid being up on the toilet. It's killing me!

I mean I love my Dad but we lived together for a long time and it soured faster than an iced coffee on a 40 degree day.. So now, when our relationship is back on track, it's kind of difficult to be back in the same boat again. My question to him is - when are you moving out? My question to all of you is how do I delicately and diplomatically ask him to leave? It's a tough one... And I'm not sure it's one I can answer in a blog post!

So, I'm 50/50 on whether I am living in a place I love - ask me again in a couple of weeks and I'll let you know.

62. Join the Mile High Club

So, I fly a lot... And I mean a lot.

Today is May 18 and so far this year, I have flown from Sydney to Melbourne 4 times, I have flown from Sydney to Brisbane and back, from Sydney to Cairns and back, from Sydney to the Gold Coast and then back out of Brisbane and then there was a private charter from Sydney to Albury (do not get me started on how much I hated that particular flight)...

So, I fly a lot... And I hate it. But that's not the point of this post.

I'm curious - how does one go about joining the Mile High Club? Do you have to fly with someone you're involved with for it to happen? Is it a surreptitious wink to some random stranger in Business Class as you board the flight (please - economy is so passe!)? Is it something only flight attendants on those bawdy British sitcoms do?

I've had a fling with a Pilot - he flew for British Airways, we met in Singapore when I was there working and he was about 10 years older than me (silver fox is the most often used phrase for that hook up). It all took place on the ground though... But it was the uniform, the power and his thrusting jet engines (sorry Mum - I promised someone I'd write that)...

I met another pilot in Melbourne a couple of months ago (also what one could dub a silver fox) and not once did he say "fly my friendly skies...a mile high"...

So I'm curious as to how it happens. There was a hot guy that I sat next to on the flight to the GC on Saturday night - no ring, nobody flying with him, we smiled politely and took our seats, careful not to touch. How do you go from that politeness to a quicky in a room that is a quarter of the size of my wardrobe?

I'm throwing the question out to the world (or to my readership at least).. Have you ever joined the Mile High Club? Do you know anyone who has? I want a story - it just may not necessarily be mine....

My Tattoo