Make 'em Laugh

One of my challenges involves making a random stranger laugh every week. It has now been 8 days since the 29 Before 30 challenge began, and I have outright failed in Week 1. It's not for lack of trying. I'm just not very good at it yet. It's all a bit daunting. I thought children would be a good starting point, so I began pulling faces at youngsters on the train. This didn't work. I did a dance for the little Asian lady in the sushi store. She beamed and nodded supportively, but nothing that resembled even a chuckle. I even asked a guy at the patisserie what time it was when Sean Connery went to Wimbledon, and he said he didn't know, and I said tennish, and he looked at me blankly. I was a little disheartened after all of that.

Craig, I'm hoping that after tripping on the starting line, I am allowed to average my 52 strangers out over the course of the year to give me a chance to catch up. I'm going to find a way to do better at this, I swear...

My 'good deed a week' challenge I have sort of merged with this one, but in my defence, Jacob did set me 4 challenges instead of one. However I did exchange a five dollar note for some change for a lady who needed it for the parking meter. Does that count?

A message from (one of) our sponsors

We be riding a bike fo' charity, yo!

So, in rising to the challenge of one miss Carly-le, I have just registered for the Sydney to the Gong ride bike for MS. I was initially very excited about this, but my current emotional state on this latest action is wavering somewhere around the 'so terrified I might vomit a little bit' mark.

If you're feeling generous, you can donate some money here on my fundraising page. It will give you a sense of enormous well-being! In Australia, over 20,000 people currently have MS, but this figure is increasing as diagnosis methods become more advanced. There is no cure, so hopefully my pedal power will go a tiny way towards funding the research to finding one.

Still think I'm going to vomit... oh dear.

When you say 'snow'...

Cider, then vodka, then beer, then champagne? When was that ever going to be a good idea?

Thanks are due to the charming folks from Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem for their hospitality last night, even if I did cop abuse for being boring. James dripped with disdain. "Oh I get it. You're gonna bail. Who are you? I'm going to remember you as you were back then. I don't want to hear about your stupid boring office job. I was there when you first saw snow. You were running around like an infant. It was special."

A conversation then ensued where Ben interpreted the word 'snow' to mean 'cocaine' for its entirety, when what it actually meant was 'snow'. I don't think anybody noticed. It was funny in retrospect.

Here's a picture of the original moment as proof of my innocence, Munich, 2007:

The band claimed to be slack and still thinking of a challenge, but Pat promised to get it to us before the year is out. He asked if I knew how to surf, which I don't, which makes me slightly nervous.

I didn't get a chance to meditate yesterday, unless dance-meditation counts. According to something that popped up when I typed that phrase into google: "The goal of meditation is communion with the Spirited Self, and while in our body-mind we can feel this inner Spirit enlivened while dancing, as we hold positive thoughts and caring feelings for ourselves and all." Justification enough for me.

Dance Yrself Clean

Tonight: LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip go head to head at Hordern Pavillion. Excited, much? It'll be Ben's first time seeing a band at the Hordern and the first time I've seen the band play live since the three weeks I spent on the Tour Bus of Love circa 2007. Not sure if I'll get a chance to say hi, but fingers crossed. They owe me a challenge and while James already told me they were up for it, receiving such things as postcards while on tour, are a challenge in itself. Frankly, I'll take what I can get.

Lots of other things to say, but no time to say them in, so in the meantime just enjoy this ridiculous video of James, Pat and Nancy being beaten up and abused by evil pandas. It's a bit hilarious.

Break it on down

For those who just arrived, please allow me to explain, video style.

Meditation

It is pretty much mania at work just now. Particularly today, now that my boss has gone on maternity leave, one of the guys is on leave to go skiing for a week, and the last member of my team is, well, not here. That makes me the whole academic team (I work for a university). It's been really fun. Really.

So I have taken up the first of my challenges today. According to Jacob, I am required to "meditate for a minimum of 10 minutes a day", so I decided to take a dedicated 'time out' out of working day to try and do that.

Yeah, that worked out well.

Lesson 1: Meditation is hard. What's up with that? Isn't it just sitting with your legs crossed and thinking of nothing? Climbing into the void? Swimming in the colours?

I went up to the rooftop level, empty of students, and sat on a table in the sun, eyes closed, back straight, breathing slow. The sun's warmth on my skin was a welcome visitor. I heard the vents humming. I heard the crane beeping. Then I remembered there was a camera on the roof and thought of the guys in security watching me. A siren wailed from down on the street. I wondered if my timer was working. I fiddled with my phone for a bit to check.

So. I did ok for what I figured to be around 8 minutes, but ultimately I tried and failed on Day 1. That's ok. I didn't have a lot of time to prepare. I like that this is something I have to unexpectedly learn, and not just immediately be able to do.

I expect this will also come in handy when trying to switch off the notion of how I'm going to complete everything else on my list... which I will post as a separate page shortly.