Day 24 - See a Traveling Broadway Show

Date: January 30th, 2010

One of the neat things about growing up in Connecticut was just how close we were to New York City.  That made seeing a Broadway show no big thang.  That might be an exaggeration.  It was definitely a treat to go see a show.  A big part of the experience was the trip though.  We'd take the train into the city, get dinner at a semi-fancy New York restaurant (I call them eatin' parlors), walk around and look at the lights, and then hit up the theater.  I think the best part for me was getting dressed up all fancy for it.  I was never a big girly girl, but it really did feel special to put on beautiful clothes and go see a play.

So much of the experience was wrapped up in the New York City aspect of it.  To be completely honest, I don't actually remember much about the shows I saw.  I remember loving Showboat, crying like a baby at Les Miserables, and being annoyed at the cats... in Cats.  Other than that, the shows are somewhat of a blur.  I wanted to see a show of Broadway quality without being blinded by those bright, beautiful lights, so I started looking for a Broadway style play outside of Broadway.

 

Look what I found.

Day 23 - Go to the Ann Arbor Folk Festival

Date: January 29th, 2010

My taste in music is fairly limited.  And by limited I mean limited to whatever the radio station is playing this month.  I like tons of different music, but I've always been really lazy about finding new things.  So, when Tim asked if I'd like to hit up the Ann Arbor Folk Festival with him, it sounded like a brilliant idea.

 

I've never heard of any of these people.  That's awesome.

Day 22 - Write a Comedic Monologue

Date: January 28th, 2010

When I was in high school I used to write satirical pieces criticizing the news.  I never wrote something creative on demand and I never wrote something with the intention of seeing it performed by someone else.  As part of the "do new things" campaign, I'm trying to get a spot in something called "Kamikaze".  Its a 24-hour production put on by the RC Players at the University of Michigan.  Once a semester (about), they will take auditions for actors, writers and crew to completely produce a play from scratch in one day.

Day 21 - Use a Neti Pot

Date: January 27th, 2010

I had to call in sick to my project today.  I felt like crud.  Stuffy nose... sore throat... watery eyes.  The same way I felt after Titanic, but without the benefit of three solid hours of Leonardo DiCaprio followed by the most ironic death line ever uttered.  She said she'd never let go and then she pushed him into the ocean.  I mean, come on!

Don't worry though - by call in sick, I don't mean that I failed.  I just ended up doing something illness related that I've never done before.  Its called a Neti Pot, and its gross.

Meet JP

Do y'all remember day 15?  I definitely do.  As a brief refresher, for those of you who don't believe in clicking links, day 15 was the day I got to send birthday presents to a wonderful little boy named JP for his second birthday.  The presents got there safe and sound and his mom was nice enough to post some pictures so I could see him opening his presents.

I'm not gonna bore anybody with witticisms and purple prose.  We both know you guys just wanna see the pictures.  So, without further adieu...

Day 20 - Build a Robot

Date: January 26th, 2010

I learned something amazing today.  Wait for it cause I'm gonna drop some knowledge on ya.  I... am a cyborg.  Not the cool kind like with lasers, but the "technically its true and isn't that nifty" kind.  So what makes me a cyborg?  My contact lenses.  You thought I was going to say secret laser, didn't you?  Well, no such luck.

That being said, even before I knew that I, personally, am the mechanical herald of the future, I had decided that today was "build a robot" day.  Why?  Because I've driven past the Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair about a hundred times without ever going in and looking around.  That's right.  Ann Arbor has a robot store.  Jealous?

Here's the thing about the Robot Supply & Repair... its so much more than a robot shop.  The store is part of a larger, nationwide network of non-profit tutoring organizations dedicated to helping young writers.  The branch the store is a part of is called 826 Michigan, which is part of 826 National.  They have great, ongoing volunteer opportunities to help kids and teens reach their full, creative-writing potential.  Sounds amazing, right?  Yeah, that's what I said.

As for the actual robot building...

Day 19 - Decorate for a Random Holiday

Date: January 25th, 2010

Today something happened to me that has never happened before.  At about 4pm, the doorbell rang (not that part - that's happened before).  I answered it to find a bouquet of flowers waiting for me.  Don't get me wrong; I've gotten flowers before.  Before dates and after plays and other situations like that have all garnered some botanical goodness for me.  But I'd never gotten a bouquet of flowers just... because.

I know what you're thinking.  Big shock - she's got a boyfriend.  That's so last week.  We broke up a couple days after I posted pictures of him on this delightful blog, for reasons unrelated to said pictures.  Ya know, because of Murphy's Law.  The flowers were from someone else.  He shall remain nameless.  His gender is your only hint.  Hint: he's a he.

The card was not blank.  It has been self-destructed.  By photoshop.

Day 18 - Attend the North American International Auto Show

Date: January 24th, 2010

As American cities go, Detroit needs some work.  The economy is not fantastic and, up until recently, a man who thought this was a good idea was running the place.  But if there is one thing Detroit does amazingly well (besides being directly north of Canada), its cars.  Detroit knows cars like Maine knows lobsters, DC knows politics and Lubbock knows shoveling.  So when I found out the auto show was in town, it seemed silly not to check it out.  Especially because I'd never been before.

Day 17 - Beta-test a Game

Date: January 23rd, 2010

Perhaps the Holy Grail of nerd-dom is the opportunity to beta-test a game.  You get to see it before anybody, you get to help fix problems keeping it from reaching its full potential for awesomeness and did I mention that you get to see it before anybody else?  As a recoving Warcraft player, I understand the deep and abiding honor that is the chance to beta-test.

So when my friend Ryan asked if I would help him test out a game he invented, I recognized it as the crowning jewel in my dorky dorky crown that it was.  No, actually, his game just sounded really cool.  Plus, I don't know if you've met Ryan, but he's one of the nicest, most brilliant people that I've ever met. 

Here we see him dealing with the complexities of the modern trash bag.

Day 16 - Judge a Speech Tournament

Date: January 22nd, 2010

I like to think everyone has a skill that is uniquely theirs.  That's not to say that there is only one person in the world who can play jazz trombone or pan-fry a mean tuna steak.  Instead, what I mean is that if you think about all the people you know, there are a few characteristics that speak most highly to who they are as a person.  For example, my friend Lisa can do the worm.  If I want to give someone some quick, surface insight into who she is, I tell them that.  It lets them know that she's fun and goofy.  Its the elevator pitch of my friendship introductions.

As for me, I always felt like mine would be talking.  What's Kristen into?  She really likes to talk.  I didn't realize until high school, that people will actually give you prizes for doing that well enough.

Day 15 - Grant a Wish for a Stranger

 Date: January 21st, 2010

I am delightfully, deliciously OCD most of the time.  To that end, when I started organizing events for this project, I broke them down into groups based on a few categories in a color-coded spreadsheet.  What?  I thought that's how everyone handled life-changing journeys of discovery.  Anyway.  I placed experiences into two major categories and then broke them down from there.  Those categories were "planned events" and "experiences of opportunity".

The way I figured it, there are a few things that are just... going to happen.  Sometimes its just the right place at the right time or kismet or, I don't know, the will of Zoltan.  In any case, I had discovered a website a few weeks back that essentially set up a one-on-one charitable exchange.  It looked like a simply brilliant idea.  So I immediately put the site on my list.  While I got going on other things, I'd check in every once in a while and see if anything caught my eye.

Day 14 - Go Feather Bowling

Date: January 20th, 2010

The country of Belgium has produced a variety of fine foods, amazing folklore and, of course, the incomparable Henri Carton de Wiart.  He's real.  Look him up.  It is also the original home of feather bowling, which can best be described as Belgium's version of bocce ball.

Brussels?  I'm a big fan of your sprouts.

My friend Tim mentioned feather bowling as an idea for this little project thing I'm doing.  I don't know if y'all know about it?  Anyway... we went to Cadieux Cafe in Detroit last night to try it out.  There are a few things to know about Cadieux Cafe.  The first is that it is the Belgium-iest place on earth.  Other than Belgium.  The second is that its the only place in the country where you can go feather bowling.  And the last major thing you absolutely need to know about Cadieux Cafe is that its known for its mussels.

They're the tiny, hard-shelled, miniature chickens of the sea.

In all seriousness, the mussels were fantastic.  I was surprised they were featured so prominently on the menu, but apparently that's "very Belgian", according to my mom.  So that's good to know, right?  But we weren't there for the mussels.  Or delightful Belgian ambiance.

Day 13 - Get a Flu Shot

Date: January 19th, 2010

Up next in our series: "things I really should've done by now"... getting a flu shot.  Don't worry kids, I'm vaccinated.  However, I generally avoided getting a flu shot for one of a few good good reasons.

Day 12 - Self-Install a Cable Package

Date: January 18th, 2010

There are some days that doing something I've never done before is amazing, enlightening and new.  There are some days when doing my new things feels comfortable and familiar or spiritual.  Then there are days like today.

A lot of the things on my to-do list this year are life skills that I probably should've mastered by now, but haven't for whatever reason.  I'll be doing my own taxes when the time is right, for example.  To that end, when I found out my parents needed their new cable package set up, I decided it was time to learn how to install cable.

Day 11 - Write a Letter to Myself at 60

Date: January 17th, 2010

When I was in middle school, I had a teacher who wanted all the students to write letters to themselves when they graduated high school.  We were given notebook paper, envelopes, stamps and everything else it took to write a normal letter.  I got bored and doodled all over mine.  I can draw an awesome sarcastic owl.

When the end of high school rolled around I was actually really disappointed when my letter never arrived in the mail.  Not that it would've actually said anything since I just drew pictures all over it, but I didn't remember what I drew and the not knowing was killing me.  Since then I've thought about the exercise and wished that I took it seriously.  I found myself wishing I knew what I wanted when I was 12.  Did I change a lot?  Would 12-year-old me like 18-year-old me?  These are important questions.

I decided it was time to take the exercise seriously and actually write a letter to my future self.  I also figured it would be a relatively easy exercise for the day.  Sweet mother of pearl was I wrong.  It is easy as pie to write a letter if you don't care about what it says.  But then what's the point?  What I wanted to do was give myself a look back at "Kristen at 25" and see what I think.  I wanted a chance, years from now, to really see who I was and how I thought about things.


For the most part I ended up finding it to be a deeply personal experience.  I was very careful to tell the truth to myself.  I'd love to project a confident, perfectly cheerful young woman, but that would be short-changing myself.  The fact is, while I am confident and cheerful, I have a lot of personal fears and apprehensions.  I want to remind myself that those were there when I look back on my life.

There is one paragraph I feel comfortable sharing, so people have an idea of the kind of soul-bearing I'm talking about:

I don’t know if, at 60, I will care so much about having everything figured out. Maybe it’s unrealistic, but I really hope you will have figured out life and family and career by now. I want to know where I’ll be a week from now, a year from now and a decade from now. I’m finally getting to where I can go with the flow a little bit more, but there are so many things that I want to do that take planning and work. I’m afraid that if I don’t figure out as much as possible now, I’ll fail to do the things I care about. I hope you were able to do the things you wanted by now. If not, I hope that you still have time to do them before you die.

 It was a great exercise to go through.  Especially because I was careful to be raw and honest with myself.  There didn't seem much point to write myself a note that was all sunshine and ponies.  What would that show?  At 60, I'd have to look back and roll my eyes at my fake young self.

I would highly recommend taking the time to write your future self a letter.  It can be highly illuminating.  For me especially, I noticed what areas of myself I tend to hide from people because I had to make a conscious decision to include those parts.  My habit has been to leave those, more personal, thoughts out of my communications to people.  It was deeply cathartic not to have to hide those worries anymore, if only for a few minutes.

I've left the letter open because I want to revise it in the next couple weeks.  Not to remove any of the honesty, but to make sure that I put everything in that needs to be in.  I will print it, seal it and put it in a box for myself at the end of February.  Until then, I'll be spending a little time every couple of days looking it over and adding things I forgot before.  I need to put them in now.  Lord knows I won't remember these things at 60.

Day 10 - Send a Postcard from Hell

Date: January 16th, 2010

If you've never been to Hell, MI, it is definitely worth the trip.  I had the pleasure of going with a couple friends of mine from church (oh the irony) in my freshman year in college.  What I didn't do was actually send a postcard or letter through the Hell post office.  I know that's a little silly, but there's a good reason it is an experience to remember.  Besides, I wanted an excuse to take my boyfriend to Hell.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

The drive to Hell is actually quite beautiful, even in winter.  From Ann Arbor, you just hop on the highway, take the Baker Road exit, drive for a while and then turn left on Darwin Road.  You read that right.  If you want to get to Hell, take Darwin Road -- it'll get you there.  I find this infinitely amusing.

Hell is a tiny little town.  There is a hotel, a country store and ice cream shop, a post office and a chapel (Remember, a marriage that starts in Hell has nowhere to go but up!).  The last time I was there I heard about their policy concerning mail.  Any time you send a piece of mail through the post office in Hell, they singe the edge of it for you.  They were nice enough to singe some post cards for me last time, but I never mailed them.  This is the card I chose this time.

Truth.

I wrote out a nice, short note to Nathan on the back of the card and put his address on the other side of it.  That is generally how the first step of mailing a postcard goes.

It says: "Dear Nathan, You were here when I sent this.  I find that amusing.  Love, Kristen"

There is more after the break.  READ IT.

Day 9 - Donate to Charity in a New Way

Date: January 15th, 2010

With the rise of internet communications, a lot of new and creative ways to donate to charity have emerged.  The newest charitable fad to pick up steam?  Text message donations.  For today I decided to donate $10 to the relief effort in Haiti.  I would prefer for my new experiences to last more than 15 seconds, as a general rule, but today I'm pleased that it was so quick and easy.

Why?  Because it shows how easy it is for people to make a difference.  $10 from me will help bring much needed supplies and personnel to Haiti as the people get back on their feet.  That being said - $10 from me, $10 from you, and $10 from ten of your friends will do a whole heck of a lot more.

As with any new technology, it is important to be careful of spammers and scammers so pick the number you send your money to carefully.  A list of reputable organizations and the number to send your message to can be found here.  For the most part, the major cell phone carriers have waived the text message fee for people using texts to give donations.  Sprint seems to be the only carrier insisting on profiting from other people's generosity.

I would highly recommend making a text message donation.  It only takes 15 seconds and a cell phone to make a difference.

Day 8 - Make Chili

Date: January 14th, 2010

For the most part I'm not going to do things that overlap with similar experiences in my life.  However, there are certain things within their... let's call it genre... that are absolute must do's.  Arena concerts and Ethiopian food both fall into that category.  I'd been to concerts and eaten food before - but those particular forms of concert and food are unique enough that they bore trying.

The same goes for making chili.  I've cooked before.  I cook quite a bit, actually, but chili is the kind of recipe everyone should know.  I'm not just saying that because of chili cook-offs and the breathtaking allure of cowboy culture.  I'm saying it because chili, like a good red pasta sauce and homemade pie, has so many variations that learning to make it just scratches the surface.  I know the basics now, but perfecting my own personal chili is going to be more of a journey than a destination.

Pictured: Journey of a thousand miles.

Day 7 - Eat Ethiopian Food

Date: January 13th, 2010

Today for my 'thing I've never done before', I... went to lunch!  Ta-Da!

In actuality, there's a little more to it than that.  I only had one foreign cuisine on my list as a "thing I've never done before" and that was Ethiopian food.  I put it on there for two reasons.  The first is that I've never even had cuisine from that continent, not to mention the region.  The second is that Ethiopian food has a little bit of a reputation for being spicy.  Spicy food is my kryptonite.  For I... am a SuperTaster!

Not that kind of super taster.  This kind.

The non-medical/less-than-awesome term for being a super taster is what I like to call "wussy tongue".  You know how puppies will start whining before you even touch them if they think they're about to get a shot or get their toenails clipped?  Yeah, that's what my mouth does with spices.  "Something spicy?  Run!"

So imagine my just absolute delight when 95% of the things on the menu had one of the following two ingredients: jalapenos or spicy berbere sauce.  I found one of the two things on the menu that did not list said items in its description and ordered it.  My friend Justin, who also served as my witness so the skeptics will know I didn't wimp out, ordered the other thing without spiciness specified.

Proof.

The meat I ordered is called Zilzil Wat.  Essentially, strips of tender beef in herbed butter and sauce.  In addition, we got Gomen (collard greens with onions, garlic and jalapenos) and Kik Alecha (yellow peas with herbs and butter).  Justin got something that was essentially stuffed chicken with rice from their seasonal menu.  I'd tell you what its called, but its not listed on the restaurant's website menu, which I'm totally using as a cheat sheet to remember what I got.

Let's talk about Zilzil Wat for a second.  I didn't read the menu close enough because that sauce its marinated in... spicy berbere sauce.  Here's the thing though... it was so delicious.  The heat came a few seconds after the flavor.  The first bite was intensely, amazingly delicious.  Then I started to feel it.  My usual reaction when that happens is to wash down whatever I ate and stop eating it.  Cause, ya know, pain is a bad thing.  Good rule of thumb.

I've never eaten a food so delicious that I was willing to deal with mouth burningness.  Today was different.  It was insanely good.  But to give you an idea of how hot it was... I used the Gomen to cool my mouth off.  The Gomen was cooked in jalapeno juice.  So.  There's that.  But it was totally worth it.

Hotter than the sun.  Significantly more flavorful.

Essentially stuffed chicken.

Also.  This happened:

Waitress: Would you like dessert?

Me: Do you have any traditional Ethiopian desserts?

Waitress: Well, they don't really use sugar in their cooking so... no.

So what's the verdict?  Well, for the first time in my life I love a spicy food.  Will this open new doors to fabulous cuisines I've never tried before?  No.  No, my tongue is still just as wussy.  But if anyone's ever in the mood for some Zilzil Wat, you know who to call.

Day 6 - Go to an Arena Concert

Date: January 12th, 2010

There are many kinds of concerts in the world; each of which is a vastly different experience than the others.  Granted they're all musical showcases, but that's like saying I should go worship the Giant Spaghetti Monster because its all just religion.  Before last night, I had been to a couple different kinds of concerts.

- The concert hall concert: This is the most common kind of concert for the music I like.  That's where you're going to see your Jimmy Buffett's and Steely Dan's.  Its a concert in a venue made specifically for musical performance and the purpose of the show is to display the musical stylings of the artist on the stage.  I started in on these kinds of concerts early.  Steely Dan was my first, followed by Jimmy Buffett with the fam.  I slept through most of it, but managed to wake up in time for the dirtiest song in his line-up.  That's because my timing is impeccable.  I think it goes without saying that if concerts were religion, I'd be a concert hall follower.

- The hippie-coffee-house-mediocre concert: I was thankfully unacquainted with this form of concert until midway through high school.  Then, I discovered that diamond in Saratoga, California's vast vast rough known as Blue Rock Shoot.  I tease now, but there are a couple of performers there who weren't bad.  That seems to be the most common positive coffee house review you can get: "I was surprised, he wasn't bad".

- The open-air-no-shoes-bring-a-cooler concert: I love these.  For anyone that hasn't gone before, I would highly recommend them.  They are very laid back, generally with a lot of vendors and activities nearby.  It turns a concert into a festival and that's always cool.

Until last night though, I had never been to an arena concert.

Day 5 - Make a Bead Necklace

Date: January 11th, 2010

Today was all about lessons learned.  Those lessons include, but are not limited to the following:

- Plan more than a day in advance, even for the smaller tasks on the list.
- If someone doesn't answer their phone over the course of several hours, their event is probably cancelled.
- Have a back-up plan.
- Don't talk about the list to people unless it is 100% certain that the thing of the day is actually happening.

I mention those lessons because the people I talked to on the phone/online today will probably see the title and be surprised to see that it doesn't read "Learn Scottish Line Dancing".  That was totally the original plan.  It was listed as a public event on the Ann Arbor events calendar so I figured I'd pop out, learn some kickin' moves, grab a smoothie and call it a night.  No, seriously.  That was my plan.

Turns out I'm neither brave nor foolhardy enough to go walking down an unlit street to an unnumbered house with no cars parked out front in hopes of learning how to dance like a Scotsman.  Not gonna lie, I'm pretty sure its that kind of intuition that makes me law school material.   ...anyway...

It was 8PM before I realized that my thing for the day didn't happen.  No back up plan.  No supplies bought for another option.  No one standing by to come teach me judo or something.  Nothing.  Wanna know my solution?  It was sheer and utter idiocy.

My exact thought: "I'll just drive around until something interesting happens."

THAT WAS PLAN B.  Yeah.

After about 45 minutes of driving around Ann Arbor, looking at shop windows and thinking to myself "is there anything in there I haven't done before?", I ended up in a parking lot with a Chuck E Cheese, a Pet Smart, a Target and a Jo-Ann Fabrics.  It definitely could've been a worse selection.  I'd have assumed God was mocking me if, in answer to "help me find something I've never done before", I ended up in the parking lot of Lover's Lane or something.  Just saying.

I wandered aimlessly around Jo-Ann Fabrics for about 30 minutes.  After a while I called my mom for some much needed assistance.  She helpfully pointed out that I had never done a paint-by-numbers that she knew of.  Just so we're clear.  I have never done a paint-by-numbers.  I have ridden a camel.  I have not done a paint-by-numbers.

Been there, done that.

Not so much.

I'm saving paint-by-numbers for finals, by the way.  I know there'll be a day where I'm cramming for exams and I just won't want to do my thing of the day so I'm saving my cop-outs for that time of year.

Instead I went with jewelry making.  Specifically, making a bead necklace.  Pictures of the process are below.

Pictures from Day 4

I managed to build my model car yesterday, like I was supposed to, but I didn't finish the last coat of gloss until today.  I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that it counts.  I'm still finishing today's activity/project so I'll write about that in the morning.

For now though, here are some pictures of the car-making process.

Day 4 - Build a Model Car

Date: January 10th, 2010

After the seriousness of yesterday's adventures I decided it would be a good idea to regress completely into childhood.

I went over to Rider's Hobby Shop in Ypsilanti to get the supplies I'd need to build my car.  While I was there, I talked to the guy working the register and found out that on Friday and Saturday nights they host RC car races that people can watch and compete in.  He showed me the track they have set up in back of the store - it looks a lot like a dirt bike track.  There are a lot of jumps, dips and turns all around it.

Honestly, the idea of serious RC car racing just sounds epic, doesn't it?  I'm highly considering going and watching one night.  Word to the wise though - go on Friday, not Saturday.  That's straight from the expert.  As my temporary tour guide explained while he was showing me the track: "Sometimes the Saturday folks forget they're playing with RC cars.  Its a lot more laid back on Fridays".  So, good to know.


As for building the car itself... I found it highly satisfying.  While it was possible to make it work and be sloppy, that's not what I wanted to do.  So I tried to sand it as close to perfectly as possible, paint in even strokes and do my detail painting just right.  I wanted to be proud of my little car.  And I am.  Not unlike bull riding, today wasn't exactly life changing, but it was fun and satisfying.

Once the last coat of gloss dries, my little car is going to sit on a shelf in my office as a reminder of what I'm trying to do this year.  Like a personal party favor.  Good times.

I promise I will post pictures as soon as I can get them off my cell phone.
I also promise to actually go buy a new battery for my camera ASAP.

Day 3 - Get a Numerology Reading Done

Date: January 9th, 2010

My little experiment has progressed very unusually so far. In three days, without meaning to, I've managed to have three categorically different experiences. What I mean is this:

- On the first day I helped bake a cake. Though I'd never done it before there was something deeply familiar about it. I was with wonderful people, in a homey environment, doing something that families have done together for centuries. The great benefit of that experience was not its newness, but its surprising familiarity.

- On the second day I rode a mechanical bull. Rather than seeming oddly familiar (which I suppose is a good thing), it was one of the farthest things from my comfort zone that I've ever done. By the same token - it was fun. There was not some great personal awakening I got on the back of a mechanical bull in a smoke-filled bar in Ann Arbor. It was just... fun.

Today was something altogether different from both of my previous experiences. In part out of an indulgence of curiosity and in part because I thought it would be funny, I went to a numerologist and had my numbers charted. Rather than having a giggle when I was done, I found myself genuinely considering the possibility that there was some important insight to gain from the woman I talked to.

This is going to be a particularly long entry so I'm hiding the rest of it.  You know you want to read on.

Pictures from Day 1

As promised, here are some delightful photos of my first ever cake-baking experience.

I hid them.  Because I can do that.  It was fun.

Day 2 - Ride a Mechanical Bull

Date: January 8th, 2010

Shifting gears a bit from yesterday, I decided to do something a bit more adventurous. There is a lot of hype around riding a mechanical bull. So much so that when I told my gramma (because I love her) that I'd be doing it, she insisted I let her know I was ok when I was done. My family is adorable.

So its got a reputation for causing serious injury and/or death.   So what.  I mean, anyone who has seen the movie Out Cold knows that bull riding is, actually, highly seductive.

Then again, anything this woman does is probably highly seductive.


As for us regular folk, it was not quite as exciting (either for me or for the crowd). It was, however, really fun. I was both nervous and cocky before I got up on the bull. Why? I blame Jimmy Fallon. Its a universally acceptable way to deal with any problem. But this time there's a good reason. You see, Fallon had a couple of professional bull riders on his show the night before I went to ride. I had just gotten a mini-lesson in riding a mechanical bull from Jaad while we ate cake and then I came home to a visual tutorial on the Jimmy Fallon show.

The pros demonstrated the exact technique that Jaad had described to me less than an hour before. The pros took their off-hand (whichever one they didn't write with) and looped it under the part of the saddle they were supposed to hold on to. Jimmy I-laugh-at-my-own-jokes Fallon, by contrast, took his stronger hand and grabbed the saddle on top. No looping. He lasted a hilariously short time.

So I walked into the bar, called the Fifth Quarter, confident that the universe intended me to wow people with my first timer bull-riding abilities. I hopped on, looped my left hand under the rope they had for holding on and flashed a smile at Bob, who was taking pictures. (Yes, I'm aware that means I now owe people two sets of pictures. Both will be forthcoming.)

I stayed on for about 20 seconds and thought to myself, "man, this is so much easier than it looked on TV. It feels like its in slow motion." At which point it stopped being in slow motion. I was off in about a second and a half. On the bright side, I conquered easy mode. I didn't think that was much of an accomplishment until later in the night.

As the line piled up I watched all sorts of people take their turn on the bull. There were a lot of guys that look like they fell out of the Jersey Shore taking their turns. The operator gave them all what-for very quickly. There were also a lot of girls who jumped right on and couldn't make it through the easy mode portion of the ride. Katya, on the other hand, made pretty much everybody in the entire bar, male and female, look bad in comparison. She stayed on a solid 30+ seconds, with the bull going as hard as I saw it the whole night. Impressive.

I would highly recommend trying this at least once for anyone who hasn't. It was a lot of fun and if you go to the Fifth Quarter and tell them you haven't done it before, they'll generally let you ride on easy mode for a few seconds to get the feel of it. That's all for now. I'll fill y'all in tomorrow on what I do today.

Day 1 - Bake a Cake

Date: January 7th, 2010

Yesterday was my 25th birthday. For those who don't know, a couple weeks ago I made a decision that I would do one new thing, every day, for an entire year. I decided to start on my birthday and end on January 6th, 2011. In putting the list together I wanted a mix of challenges and basic life experiences that everyone should have.

I decided on a basic life experience to kick things off. Before yesterday, I had never baked a cake; so some wonderful friends (Jihan and Josephine) taught me how to bake a delicious chocolate cake with homemade frosting. We then ate said delicious chocolate cake with homemade frosting for my birthday.

It was a really fun experience. Baking seems like two parts cooking and one part chemistry. As we put together the cake, using Jihan's recipe, there were certain ingredients that we could just "put a little more in" or "use this instead". Others were measured very carefully to make sure the cake actually ended up a cake.

And boy did it end up a cake. I would love to say I've got a knack for baking and therefore made the best cake in the history of mankind, but I can't. What I can say is that I've got a knack for following directions and that Jihan's cake recipe and Josephine's frosting recipe are the best in the history of mankind. That's a much more fair assessment of the situation.

The girls were kind enough to take pictures... including action shots of the baking extravaganza (I can call it that if I want to, the cake was that good). They will be posted soon so you all can see the process unfold. Tonight is going to be a significantly different experience so I won't spoil the surprise.

Seacrest out.
(Yeah, that sign off isn't working. Like, at all. I'm sorry for doing that to anyone reading this)