Collie's Bestiary

The Celebration of Fifty New Things

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.
– Allen Cohen

This page is to celebrate the 50 new things I'm going to try in my fiftieth year on this wonderful, beautiful old planet. I started with my birthday on October 5th, 2011, and I hope to have them all completed by the same date in 2012. Those I've accomplished will be in bold, while possible things to try are in italics. I'm going to have to do about five new things a month, so please feel free to offer suggestions!

Later edit: on the prompting of a friend of mine, I should point out that you don't need to worry about whether I've done something previously or not, in your suggestions. For example, I'd gone kayaking previously, but never with manatees. So please feel free to make your suggestions! Even if I have done one of them before, I can still try them out in some new way. :)

Another edit, later still: it hit me today that many of these things would be more fun to do with friends. Therefore, if you'd like company and you're trying something new, or doing something you suggested to me, give me a call, please? Doing new things in a group is often more fun! Also: goodness, some of these things are rather pricey! I'm going to have to start saving up money, or figuring out who might be interested in helping out in doing some of these things, I can see. :)

1. Learned to use a vinyl cutting machine. Not only did I do so in October shortly after my birthday in 2011, but I also made a nifty cut-out based on a rough sketch of a Russian shamaness's spirit horse. The cut-out decorates my little laptop, which I call my Valkyrie — because she is very mobile and takes me to wonderful places any time I want. Photo! :)



2. Kayaked with manatees. In December 2011 I visited my parents in Florida, and they took me kayaking on the beautiful Crystal River. So cool to paddle lazily around such big, peaceful creatures!



3. Participated in microfinancing through kiva.org; December 2011. I love this concept — not only do I get to help others, but I can keep reinvesting over time and end up helping even more folks. My first investment was to the wonderfully named Amigas de Fe y Alegria. Later edit: they're fully financed now — yay! Repayments start in March, I think. Even later edit: Got my first repayment — woohoo! Think I'll wait until I can refinance someone else through kiva.org with it. This is nice. :)
4. Tinsel & feathers! It's funny… in making up potential things to try for this list, I find myself adding on all the ideas and events I've wanted to try for a while, but never got around to doing. Some of them are bigger, like "climb Halfdome," but some of them are small and simple. I guess what makes the difference is they're full of meaning for me personally. I like that. :)

   So in that vein I decided to try something I've found vaguely intriguing for a while: I looked into getting pretty feathers and tinsel in my hair. Anna, the lady I decided on, is very good — I highly recommend her! She runs Hair Tinsel and Feathers by Anna, and she's patient, very reasonably priced, helpful, and just a generally nice person. Because she's not in a salon I feel she's much more attentive to you as a customer, and she helped me pick out what were the best colors for my hair. Also, the cool thing about "tinsel" is it's really silk, which means you can wash both it and the feathers with your hair, with no problems. It was astonishingly easy to have put in, it lasts for several months, and I've already gotten several compliments (yay!), and handed out all the extra cards Anna gave me.

   In the photo you can see a few of the tinsel strands wound through the bun. The two feathers — one dark blue, one purple — are down low and curling up into the swirl of my hair, by the back of my neck.

   Anna also teaches both Zumba and pole-dancing, so if you go to her and are interested, don't forget to ask about them. I'm considering pole-dancing as something I've never tried before, although I confess I'm waffling a bit due to its "reputation." Then again… it would certainly be different and new for me.

   Any moving's from the Mover
   Any love from the Beloved
   – Rumi

5. My first American Tribal Style belly dancing class! Ever since I learned about it I've wanted to learn ATS belly dancing, or American Tribal Style — I've just been a little shy of doing so. Thanks to Janice, a good friend, I've finally located a good teacher in an excellent local dancing group! This last Saturday I attended my first class with Natalia of Persephone Dance Company, and very much enjoyed myself. Admittedly, the next day my arms and lower back were yelling at me, but it's definitely worth it. I'll be doing my best to regularly attend the Saturday morning classes.
6. A wonderful but accidental first here: successfully took photos with my new xoom, then uploaded them to our server — all by myself! This might not sound like much to the heavily geekified, but it is for me. The xoom arrives with absolutely no help documents worthy of the name, which is an appalling lack if you ask me. As one of my sweeties is fond of saying, "If the user can't find it — it doesn't exist!"

   So (with a small growl of irritation) I checked out the Xoom for Dummies book from the library. However, despite the stupid title, the book has proven its worth for me. Today I used it to take some photos, troubleshoot an issue with the camera right afterward, beam happily at the Gallery, then figure out how to download the photos onto the house's server. Once that was done I uploaded them here, so readers can also see and admire my (*cough*) totally rad awesumsauce mad l33t skillz! Heh… figured why not go overboard, for my first try. :)

   An interesting side-thought: is a (very nice) possible unwitting byproduct of endeavoring to fulfill this "new things" list going to be more confidence and reliance on my own abilities? If so… I should have done this decades ago! :)

7. Woohoo! I am now certified on the TechShop embroidery machine! Our practice to prove that we'd mastered the teaching was to make these cute little patches (the photo is slightly larger than life-sized), which I promptly gifted to one of my ever-deserving housemates. :)

   The embroidery machine is surprisingly flexible, even though it can take forever for it to work through the programmed stitching. However, the instructor mentioned that it is perfectly acceptable to set up the run, then sit next to the madly stitching machine while you're working on something else on your laptop or tablet. Also, I've been assured custom stitching is both feasible and easy to do once the stitching program has been learned, so that's next on my to-do list for costumery. I suspect, with some glittery thread, that really nice hip sashes could be made for belly dancing! Things are progressing nicely!

8. Lots of great firsts on this particular weekend! First, I was a passenger on the Hawai'ian Chieftain, a two-masted tall sailing ship, which was a great deal of fun.
9. I also helped crew the tall ship, by assisting in the handling of the ropes for the mizzenmast.
10. Finally, I got to steer the ship! That was a lot of fun — especially dodging the (very indifferently crewed) little sailboat that seemed determined to nuzzle up against us.
11. The next day, Sunday 19 February, I learned how to tie a sari.
12. On Wednesday 22 February, the night of the new moon, I attended a Pongala ceremony to Devi, at ITP!
13. I also saw the Vagina Monologues for the first time (on Friday the 24th of February), contributing to V-Day's international campaign to eradicate violence against women and girls. Amazing bit of data: the Monologues (with slight variations to keep it up-to-date with current events and to offer data relevant to the geographical area it is being offered in) has been on-going for fifteen years now!
14. Another wonderful first today, March 4th: a women-only rock climbing lesson, where I did a chimney climb high enough to slap the top, woohoo! Firmly in the "well, DUH!" department: rock climbing is hard work!
15. This was fun: Sunday 18 March, on the request of two of my former ITP profs, spoke as a graduate to one of their classes about the thesis writing process. Never been a teaching adjunct before! :)
16. Saturday 3/24 attended a "Creative Transition" workshop in Berkeley, focusing on art and dance. Fascinating workshop & lovely location. Clearly I must slide more creativity into my life, to balance the delightful intellectual swamp of doctoral work. :)
17. On Wednesday 3/27 had cranial-sacral massage therapy for the first time. Startlingly relaxing — I think I dozed off at one point!
18. Attended a poetry circle workshop on 4/4 at the Campbell Library; rather enjoyed that. It was reassuring to discover (unsurprisingly) that I don't suck. :) The workshops are bi-monthly, and I think I'll be attending the next one as well.
19. Attended my first shamanic journeying circle at ITP on Saturday the 7th, after donating blood — also fascinating! I love learning all these new things, and even more so when I get to learn about myself as well. This too, I think, will become a fun regular thing for me.
20. This was a busy week! The next day, at the urging of a friend (admittedly not a lot of urging, as I was curious :), attended a sexuality workshop taught by Midori. Love the way she clearly explains the psychological aspects of what's hot, what's not.
21. Tonight, 4/11, attending a class at REI on how to use a map and compass, so I'll never get lost while backpacking.
22. On Saturday 21 April at Los Gatos Creek County Park I and a housemate happily participated in a Campbell Community Cleanup Event hosted by the… Campbell mayor, I think? Seemed a nice guy, and there were quite a few more folks than they expected, which was nice! Park got well cleaned up, too. Yay! :)
23. Later the same day, attended an absolutely wonderful taiko class with San Jose Taiko! I really want to figure out a way to take more classes with them — taiko is surprisingly thrilling!
24. At the ASWM Conference, on Friday 11 May, made my very first scholarly conference presentation — with great success, woohooo!
25. A surprising and unexpectedly entertaining new first: a lockpicking class gifted to me by one of my housemates! We attended the class at the San Jose TechShop; quite fun! I definitely need to practice. Bit startling how easy it is to pick padlocks, though… maybe I should try the front door too. More details soon! :-D

    Future possibilities:
    

26. Dance in a Burlesque show in the City (suggested: go to HUBBA HUBBA. What is that?)
27. Cook with herbs grown in my herb garden
28. Get my song played on the radio (?!)
29. Dance in an ATS show (ask John about him MCing these!)
30. Kayak with the otters in Monterey
31. Waltz in Vienna (love to, but… financially unlikely, alas)
32. Teach a course on women's spirituality
33. Design and build a temple (hmm… should see if I need a license to be a priestess — that'd be another first if so)
34. Perform a wedding
35. Hold a signing session for a book I've published — love this one!
36. make soap
37. plant an herb garden
38. ride a zip line
39. rappel in a cave
40. pan for gold, crack a geode, & mine for gemstones!
41. Mardi Gras in N'Orleans? (next year maybe)
42. Burning Man? :)
43. Try shamanic journeying?
44. Tour on bicycle / kayak / horseback / motorcycle?
45. Publish a novel! Maybe a book of poetry?
46. Sekhmet temple outside LV!
47. ATS belly dancing performance?
48. Hike Yosemite! Climb Halfdome?
49. Learn more fascinating new skills at TechShop?
50. Post an Instructable
51. Set up an Etsy shop
52. Growing/planting organically?
53. Train a puppy to some specific skill, e.g. tracking?
54. Volunteer at a woman's shelter?
55. Act in a play? Sing/play in a band?
56. Bake a pie
57. Host a holiday-themed party (Halloween will be after my next birthday, after all).
58. Make a really good Sarmatian-themed costume — definitely.
59. Make a pair of boots?
60. Silkscreen a tambourine
61. Silkscreen a 4-color design onto a shirt
62. Make a ceremonial rattle
63. Finally see the Northern Lights?
64. Learn to weld: arc, mig, tig, whatever (also learn what those mean! :) ?
65. Cosplay an anime character — would this be new if I've already cosplayed comic book charas?
66. Take the Road Cycling class from REI — definitely.
67. Take the Sea Kayaking Class (the wet entry/exit one) from REI — definitely.
68. Go to a hot springs
69. Sleep in a yurt
70. Go to the Grand Canyon?
71. Get a job as a tour guide? Hakone, someplace new to me, maybe?
72. Drive across the country!
73. Innertube down the Ichnatucknee in FL?
74. Learn a new foreign language — Russian, Icelandic, something else?
75. Wear a bikini in public — mmmaybe. Must tone up first. :)
76. Skydive (or go to iFly)?
77. Go to a nudist resort
78. Get paid to give a speech or presentation (where, on what, to who? Research this).
79. Color my hair an impossible color – definitely! :)
80. Go up in a hot air balloon?
81. Learn to change a flat bicycle tire
82. Learn to use a wood lathe
83. Learn a new art or craft or new aspect of a current art or craft (look into this more — bookmaking, maybe?)
84. Learn to make an ethnic dish in a new style?
85. Learn to develop my own photos?
86. Create a ritual to share with family/friends for a holiday I don't normally celebrate — definitely!
87. Visit a live volcano? (find the closest one)
88. Put a message in a bottle and either send it up in a balloon (use a plastic bottle) or throw it in the ocean?
89. Try to live one day without my sense of sight?
90. Write and then record/perform a song — definitely!

What are your thoughts and suggestions? What amazingly cool things have you done for the very first time? :)