I want to be good at EVERYTHING
Submitted by buddy on Thu, 08/18/2005 - 09:28
Tags:
Boxing
- Boxerfit class, began at 185 lbs., 2000
- Private boxing lessons, down to 155 lbs, 2001
- 2 classes per week, 1 private lesson per week, heavy weights 5-6 days a week, cardio 6 days a week, peak at 12 rounds in the ring, 135 lbs of muscle, 2002
- *Break to go backpacking in Europe*
- Back up to speed and strength, settle at 140-145 lbs, hone skills, 2003
- *Break to live in England. Possible return to private lessons in 2006.*
Piano/Music
- Private lessons from age 4-12 on organ, fairly half-assed but several performances in front of large audiences
- Endless viewings of Warner Bros. cartoons and the classical gems they contain.
- Self-taught from 13-18, just gathering music and attempting anything and everything. Abysmal technique, but a keen interest.
- College Basic Musicianship course, 1 year total, age 19/20. Gain much-needed basic theory and technique.
- University Transfer and University degree, UBC, 5 years, age 21-25
- Loads of performances in front of peers, jurors, friends and family, and wedding ceremonies
- Faint dreams of someday performing Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in front of adoring audience
- Even fainter, much more hopeless dreams of one day singing sultry jazz ballad at a cool club. Can't sing very well, though.
Understanding Literature
- Lifetime of reading the most challenging works I could get my hands on (The Chrysalids at age 5).
- Degree in Literature, UBC, age 21-25.
- Ongoing search for interesting books, still searching for appropriate company to discuss them in.
Wine
- Begin imbibing at age 18 (that's my story, I'm sticking to it)
- Begin drinking wine at age 22, mostly to pretend to be more sophisticated than I am
- Begin paying attention to variety, label, country of origin at age 23
- Search for interesting new wine to try, every time I go into a wine shop
- Refer to Concise Wine Companion every time I purchase a new bottle, or when I feel like randoming flipping through
- Got Richard and Judy's Wine Guide for Christmas. Basic overview of wine-making techniques, varieties, regions, tasting tips, miscellaneous tips on terminology/gadgets/etc. Still reading.
- Ongoing taste tests
Beer
- Arrive in Germany at Oktoberfest, decide to try liking beer for the first time. 1 litre down and I get hooked. Try every variety available at festival. Miraculously manage to stumble back to hostel every day for a week.
- Continue travels through Europe, trying Guinness, local lagers, wheat beers, etc.
- Move to England, begin adventures in the wide world of bitter.
- Enter speciality wine/beer merchants, try new kinds of beer.
- Create list of favourite drinks on Listology, get guided into new Belgian beers by our very own cramoukji.
- Ongoing taste tests
Food
- Begin watching Food Network at age 20
- Bravely enter unfamiliar Vietnamese delis, Malaysian restaurants, Chinese markets and start asking questions and trying stuff
- Travel around Europe, trying every local specialty. Gain many pounds.
- Move to Manchester, discover the difference between Indian/Persian/Nepalese, etc.
- Ongoing taste tests
Building
- Assist father with building basement suite, age 5-10. Largely consists of pulling nails out of used boards. Also hand tools to busy father. After repeatedly handing over wrong tool, learn names for said tools.
- With assistance, design and build Lemonade stand, display for Science project on rocks, and other little projects
- Stubbornly refuse assistance with all self-assemble furniture available (even if it's not mine)
- Age 27, assist father with building basement suite (different house now), learning about plumbing, carpentry, electricity, dryingwalling and lots and lots of cleaning and lifting stuff up to move it to another location.
Service software
- Take job as receptionist.
- Get offered position as software specialist.
- Go to interview, explain that, no, I have no IT experience. But I'm smart, I'll give it a go.
- Amazingly, get the job.
- Become one of two experts in UK North, based solely on messing about with software.
- Okay, I didn't really want to learn this particularly, but I'm being paid.
Dancing
- Jazz and ballet, age 7-9. Gawky but gain body awareness.
- Pathetic attempts at shaking my awkward behind at school dances, age 12-18
- Boogie with mom in living room age 17/18, no audience, no self-consciousness (mostly to the Doors and Rolling Stones)
- Lose inhibition, start occasional clubbing, age 24. Assisted by a bit of liquid courage.
- Take swing dancing lessons with platonic friend, age 24
- Further swing dancing lessons with my boyfriend, Nov/Dec 2006
Science
- Annoy parents by asking endless questions about why stuff is the way it is
- Fail Science 9 (failing to show up to class often enough), take summer school
- Take Chem 11, due to hatred of memorising (so no Biology, please!)
- Take Oceanography at university, love the opportunity to include drawings and diagrams in my essays
- Take Astronomy 310/311 at university, get hooked on homework that involves laying on the grass at 11:30 p.m. taking measurements
- Take Genetics at university, get way too involved in nature/nurture debate. Learn that anti-bacterial products are bad
- Read Jim's quotes list, bore friends with stories about bees and their waggle dance
- Disillusion poor friend about shooting stars, shattering a 28-yr-held belief in wishing upon one
- Latch onto boyfriend's brother's Christmas present of airplane-making book with fancy paper. Together with his wife, embark on 3-day mission to create every style of plane in book and perfect launching techniques. (Christmas 2005)
Yoga
- Beginner's yoga classes once weekly on a semi-regular basis - Summer/Autumn 2005
- Take 2 lessons at intermediate level, but unable to take any more as lessons are on Tuesdays - one of the days I work at the pharmacy at night.
- Attempt Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, despite presence of granola-eating, vegan, hemp-wearing students. Feel like I've been hit by a truck, but decide to continue attending.
- Ongoing practise at above classes.
Everything else in the world
- Work in progress
I really enjoyed reading this and your "believes" list. Love the emphases on food, fitness, and travel. Doesn't it suck that those first two can be so mutually exclusive, depending on your cravings?
Thanks, Jim. I didn't expect a whole lot of people to be very interested in these lists.
I think it sucks that most peoples' interests lie in one or the other (food/fitness), and not both equally.
Yeah, I only meant insofar as fitness keeps me away from my favorite foods, which definitely lean towards comfort foods (mmm, homemade macaroni and cheese and ribs...) and a broad spectrum of desserts (too many to list).
Ah, I see. I'm a firm believer in "everything in moderation" - including being good. No sense denying yourself. I like a treat once a week, that way I don't feel deprived at all.
We belong to the same religion. :-) My stomach is a heretic though, and must be willfully kept in check.
Bees are not boring. At all.
I happen to agree, which is why I chose to tell my friends about it. However, my audience has not always agreed with me.