Creating adventure

Like most folks these days...I am pret-ty bored. 

Interestingly, most of the last 18 months- I've been oddly content with the reduced social activities and condensed social circle. And after many decades/years of go-go-go, staying home felt peaceful and relaxing. Although losing travel for a year certainly wasn't my desire, it seemed a fair trade off for the reduced stressors.  

But that was then...and this is now. We're over a year and a change into this, and things have gone from bad to better (vaccines!) to suddenly- abysmally worse with no end in sight. Knowing we will likely go another six months or more without international travel is frustrating. 

Travel is what I live for. Not concerts or movies, fine dining, designer clothes or fancy homes/cars. It's travel. Specifically, international. But, it's clearly not happening in 2021. Our brief trip to CA this year, did not even begin to satiate my fire in the belly for adventure. I mean, outlet malls and endless Chipotle indulgences are certainly fun, but they don't excite me like a haunting call to prayer bellowing from an ancient minaret...or weaving through traffic in a rusted, crumbling tuk-tuk through the streets of Manila.

So without travel on the horizon, it has become abundantly clear that if I am to break free from this 'rut'/monotonous routine, then it is incumbent on me to find new ways to interest/excite myself.

Weekdays are tough to try and accomplish new and exciting things. They pass in the blink of an eye. They're bleary-eyed 5am wake up calls to work out, hustling a semi-comatose Ryan to school, working 9-10 hours, retrieving a sweaty/hungry Ryan from sports, getting dinner ready and lunches packed...grabbing a shower, reading, sleeping and repeat. Hardly a rough life, and certainly still a very blessed one...as I have a job and family that I love immensely. 

However, it can feel monotonous, and I need to shake things up and quit the bitchin' that I'm bored...because that's my own fault.

So this weekend was my first attempt to introduce a few new things to the routine. I can't say I have a full two days- in fact, Sunday is toast. It's a long run of a few hours, followed by hours of yardwork, hair coloring and meal prep. But I do have a half day on Sat- once the lite cleaning, loads of laundry/=, Costco run and bill paying are done...I have time.

So this weekend, I did something that most would call boring, but I call epic, because I actually got off my arse to do them:

• I made shrimp scampi. (Can't eat it, but it looked good and Rich liked it. I don't want to brag, but I used fresh garlic. Not the minced Costco one. Also learned Ryan has inherited by allergy to shellfish after he sampled it. Very unfortunate! Although with Vegas buffets falling out of fashion due to COVID, this makes the loss not sting quite as bad.)
• I made spaghetti with meatballs. (Ry ranked them as 'on the high end of mediocre', which is hands down, the single greatest compliment my cooking can ever hope to achieve!)
• I planted yellow beans (Green beans are peasant food. Yellow beans scream artisanal and edgy and avant garde. And that's me- effing bougie in all things.)
• I planted eggplant. (It has been too long. There are few veggies as beautiful as black beauties, and they are wildly popular gifts to give out to other hippies/foodies. I plan to dazzle and amaze with my first crop in three months!)
• I gave our citrus/avocadoes some love (fertilizer). (I have been thinking of doing this for weeks. But today I pulled the trigger, because I live on the wild side.
• I found the time to watch my niece at basketball and hula. (This was a scheduling victory!!! Aunt of the Year status firmly established, competition obliterated. The other aunties can read this and weep.)

Is this punch list impressive and hard to beat? Yes.

Might I lose friends who will now suddenly feel inadequate being in my presence? Yes.

But I shared this with you all for one very important reason (and I know what you're thinking...it was for the fame). But it's not that. It's for accountability. I will look like a SAD big fat loser with a big fat mouth if these are the only goals I accomplish this year. 

So I hope to hit a few more in the next few months:

• Find a new hike(s).
• Go on my first real actual bike ride outdoors (I indoor cycle three days a week). I will get my friend Rose or Ryan to come with me as I'm afraid. Very afraid.
• If I can get this LAME plantar fasciitis (this Oct makes two years), I *WILL* run a race again! Thanks to age, Achilles tendonitis put me out 2.5 years, and PF for nearly 2.0 so far. Which means less races!)  
• Writing more. In journals. Blogging. For work. I don't care. I love writing, and it makes me happy. I need to do it more.

So let's see where this goes. I've thrown down the gauntlet to myself, and the sky is the limit. With a start like the one I've had above, it'll be tough to maintain this momentum without intimidating everyone around me. Not everyone can accomplish all of the above without their head expanding and exploding, but I'm managing to stay humble because it's what the Lord wants.