Updates from May, 2010 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Unknown's avatar

    abstractangel7 12:16 am on May 9, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Time to Get Back on the Horse 

    Unfortunately I fell off the adventure wagon a while ago. Probably got sick or busy or something like that. But I’m looking forward to starting again! My upcoming adventures are each longer than a day, but I’m counting them as adventures nonetheless. One is for the whole month of July. I’ll be taking an intensive class, 8hrs/day, to become TEFL-certified. (Kim, this is probably what you have, to have taught English in Japan?) Wish I could travel the world, but since I have young kids I want to see if I can become an ESL teacher here in Chicago. Maybe for refugees? I don’t know, but I’ve gotten kinda burnt out on being a drug counselor. Too much to write here…but it may be time for a change. From volunteering as an ESL teacher I already know that I love it, and want to learn more!
    Another upcoming adventure will be taking my kids to Costa Rica in August. Navigating a foreign country for a week is sure to be full of many adventures, not to mention the ordeal of just getting there in the first place with a couple of shorties with limited attention spans. 😉
    Past adventures (since I just started contributing to the blog) include: Learning how to knit, traveling to San Diego, attending a medieval-themed wedding, learned how to use a sewing machine, Lasik eye surgery, and lesbian speed-dating. I think there were a couple more, but I can’t remember right now. Funny, I lived my life like this before this year, so I’m remembering other “adventures” but they’re not associated with this project.
    This past week I ended up getting a cold, so I had to postpone my adventure: cooking (and eating) cactus! Cacti? Whatever. It’s another thing that isn’t an adventure to a lot of people, since they sell it in the grocery store and SOMEbody must be buying it, but for me it’s something new. My ESL student told me how to cook it and I promised her I’d give it a try. Wish me luck!

    Hope everybody has a wonderful day! Keep up the great work… I like reading the posts. 🙂

     
    • faolan01's avatar

      faolan01 10:17 pm on May 11, 2010 Permalink

      working on a TEFL certification? quite an adventure indeed! best of luck with the certification and becoming an ESL teacher. Are you going to write up some of the other adventures you’ve had? I’d especially love to read about the wedding and I’m really curious about the Lasik since I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of years.

    • Kimberly Hula's avatar

      yearof52adventures 10:05 am on May 12, 2010 Permalink

      So happy to have you back! I want your adventure post REPLETE with pictures from Costa Rica (swoon!).

  • Unknown's avatar

    Kimberly Hula 9:40 am on May 6, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    There is no I in adventure 

    Wow!  Check out this darling news segment on some fellow adventurers.  Their enthusiasm helps me to get out and adventure every week.

    Kudos to jean Ann and Jackie!

    http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=164251

     
    • mjperry1's avatar

      mjperry1 2:39 pm on May 6, 2010 Permalink

      Love this! You guys sounded so erudite!

    • faolan01's avatar

      faolan01 1:23 pm on May 11, 2010 Permalink

      love it!

  • Unknown's avatar

    skywatcher 10:13 pm on May 4, 2010 Permalink | Reply
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    New Places, New People #2/52 

    The word “adventure” has gotten me thinking lately – and I’m a great one for over analyzing.  The word seems ubiquitous on the Internet, and I wonder why.  What is it we’re all after?  I’ll admit I’m a little bored with my life right now – it’s too settled and too predictable.  It isn’t that I’m not thankful for all that I have (two fantastic teenagers, nice home, stable income, etc.), but it just isn’t…enough.  What’s important to me right now  is to seek out new experiences…shake things up…step outside my comfort zone.  I don’t necessarily need to make waves with every adventure – but I can sure as heck make some ripples.

    Which leads me to last weekend.  Without going into a lot of detail, I’ll say that I took a my longest bike ride ever on a new route. It was not without its challenges (which included a big black dog named “Rambo” – but let’s not go there!)  I will also say that the lovely hills of the Virginia Piedmont seem a lot more scenic when one is riding down.

    The following morning, I joined a group of total strangers on a Habitat for Humanity fund-raising hike.  The trail was beautiful and the people I met were fantastic.  (Meeting new people is definitely at the top of my list of adventures; I don’t know how, as an introvert, I can crave social contact so much, but that seems to be the way it is!)  Finally, I took my kayak out on a lake I’d never visited before.  It was very windy but sunny and warm…and I’ll confess that I spent more time aimlessly floating around than I did paddling!

    Exciting? Not really…but what a great weekend!

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    abstractangel7 1:47 pm on May 3, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Hi, everybody! 

    Ok, so figuring out how to post on here was an adventure in itself.  Now that I’ve managed to do it, I thought I’d introduce myself.

    My name is Jackie, I’m 28, and I live in Chicago with my two boys (aged 5 and 6).  I’m unemployed, and not ashamed to admit that I love it. I know it won’t last forever, but I’ve gotten to know myself, been able to spend much more time with my kids, and done things I could only dream about having the time to do when I was working. When I AM working my typical title is, “Substance Abuse Counselor”. 

    This challenge to complete 52 adventures really appealed to me because in a sense it was how I tried to live anyway- experience new things/people/places, but not as conciously.  It sounds kinda morbid, but I’ve always felt like death is right around the corner.  It makes me want to live life to the fullest, tell people how I feel about them while I can, go out and do things while I’m blessed enough to be healthy and able.   At first, my adventures-on-purpose didn’t seem exotic enough when I started to check what everybody else was up to.  My first adventure? Learning to knit.  But it’s so individualized, anything can be an adventure to anybody, and there are no limits or rules (other than maybe not to purposely harm anyone). 
    To me it’s an individual journey of growth and self-discovery, shared with others and I want to thank Kim for this great idea. It’s good to meet other like-minded people unafraid of LIVING.  Doing what excites you, what scares you, what reminds you that you’re alive. And what a beautiful thing that is.

    I look forward to reading the posts and sharing my own on here. Have a wonderful day, everybody!

     
    • jeindeer's avatar

      jeindeer 1:09 pm on May 13, 2010 Permalink

      Welcome on board, Jackie! I think living life to its fullest is a great way to live it 🙂

  • Unknown's avatar

    mjperry1 3:24 am on May 3, 2010 Permalink | Reply
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    Adventure 8 – being honest with the internet….and attaching my name to it. 

    Initial disclosure. This posting isn’t so much about an adventure as it is about the concept of adventure. Second disclosure. I don’t consider myself a writer as such. I can write things, certainly … subject verb object … and it generally works rather nicely. I even use things like metaphors and similes. But a writer in the real sense of the word – the sense of being able to communicate profound human truths in interesting or perhaps pithy ways … this is not something I do in a written form. But tonight I’m going to make the attempt. Because tonight is my birthday. And I’m slightly drunk. And I’m alone. And if we combine those three things into a single metaphor, you kind of have my life.

    Now, I’m not actually depressive. I’ve been through counseling, and I’ve worked through most of my issues, and I’m really in a pretty good place in my life. I think. But as I face the big 2-8, I can’t help but feel a certain sense of “I’m an adult now.” Which is so damn scary. (More …)

     
    • skywatcher's avatar

      blueskiesinva 10:15 pm on May 3, 2010 Permalink

      Your post is brave and inspiring. Don’t worry about being an adult (whatever that means). I’m about halfway through this life now, and I spend very little time thinking about what I’ve “accomplished.” It’s more important to, as you say, “plunge in and live life from day to day.” Happy Birthday!

    • Kimberly Hula's avatar

      yearof52adventures 11:17 pm on May 3, 2010 Permalink

      I’m so proud of you. I can’t wait for forthcoming adventures!

    • Jean Ann's avatar

      Jean Ann 3:19 pm on May 5, 2010 Permalink

      Thanks for referencing Our Town. (And no, I wasnt in Our Town, I tried out, and didn’t get cast.)

    • faolan01's avatar

      faolan01 12:48 pm on May 11, 2010 Permalink

      This is very courageous! Thank you for sharing this adventure with us, and happy birthday!

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