Journeys of A Meandering Mind

I just had a conversation with someone, and my thoughts turned to the dating scene. If you’ve read my blog, you know I am a widow after 28 years of a really good marriage. So it has been 30 plus years since I had a date. So I thought I would have some fun and investigate some options…Trying to be all current and everything, I looked at a few of the “online” dating services….

Most of these have extensive questionnaires, “scientifically” designed to find your “love match” Well, if you read my blog, you’ll know that well, quizzes don’t work real well for someones who’s mood and mind change like the wind!

And I am a visual person. So I decided to step out of the box a bit. Instead of trying to write some prosaic description of myself, and agonizing on whether I  like long romantic walks on the beach or whether that really translates to yucky, wet, sandy shoes, I decided to put in a “visual application ( after all, a picture is worth a thousand words)

Here is my “Application”

well, I haven’t had a single response…can you imagine??? ;-)
please note: this , like most things on my blog, is a joke. I’m not looking to date anyone online, I don’t want my inbox filled with porn, and I am really more into dismemberment than dating ;-)

Addendum
I just had a wonderful conversation with someone who was kind enough to write me about my blog and this entry in particular, I had this thought while talking to her.

It would be so much easier if men were like deer. Get a license. Wait for hunting season. Set up a blind in the woods. Wait for a nice looking buck. BLAM! Hit em between the eyes before he knew it. Take him home.lol. Contrary to the last cartoon, I wouldn’t dismember him..I’d want him whole…and breathing lol ;-)

Many of you know that I am going to the World Masters Games in Sydney in October.

Mostly, when people ask, I have told them    “it is the like the Olympics for old people”

I figured I might as well stop being a smart-ass ( if only for a moment) and explain a bit about the Games

The World Masters Games are recognized by the International Olympic Committee, and like the Olympics, they are held every four years. it is the largest multi-sport festival in the world. Nearly 29,000 other athletes from across the world will descend upon Sydney to celebrate, sport, culture and arts.

The purpose of the games is to promote lifelong competition, friendship and understanding between mature sportspeople, regardless of age, gender, race, religion, or sport status.

This trip has been in the works for 3 years. And now, it is a mere 3 sleeps away.

Well, I guess it has been in the works for longer than that. 35 years is more like it.

The games are 10 days long. After I celebrate sport, well, it will just be plain celebrate life..for the next couple months ;-)

I played on an amazing high school basketball team. We were very successful as a team, and in all my years of playing and coaching, I never again experienced the “magic” of a true team.

Even though I have moved around all these years, most of the gals still live in my hometown . At one of our  reunions, we decided that it might be a hoot to go to the World Masters Games in Australia.

I told them that I couldn’t go, as have had 11 operations on my knee I have a reconstructed knee,  and well, I just can’t play basketball anymore.  The Captain called , and she told me…”You don’t go, we don’t go. We are a team”

Like I said…the magic of a true team.

3 years ago, they hired a yoga teacher. Two years ago, they hired a trainer. Last year, they entered a league, where they played against twenty-somethings…and won the whole damn thing. So, I am heading over to support the team.

4 years ago, I started golfing. So, I figured….if I’m gonna go to the games, I want to play in the games!….so, I entered myself in the golf competition.

29,000 people to play and party in Sydney.

I think it’s gonna be some kinda fun!

The story of my  hometown High School Voyaguers. Basketball team going to the  World Master’s Games has become a bit of a human interest story in my hometown.  CTV is doing a feature on the team…a reporter has been following them for a couple of weeks, and today was the culmination of the story…my old high school held a pep rally and presentation, then we were playing the current school team! I mean…these kids are way younger than our kids!

My day started off SO bad when I forgot to set the alarm….I had to be out of the house by 7:00 to drive the 330 KM and get there on time….I looked at the clock..7:54!!!! SHIT!

I booted out of the house, barely coherent, as I didn’t even have coffee.  Can you imagine?  I’m not good without my coffee.

I stumbled out of the house, drove to the coffee shop, Got my first espresso of the day….certainly not the last. After a couple sips, I realized I had forgotten a few things..like my GPS, my Itouch, and My radar detector…cause they are all packed! SHIT! SCREECH! Back to my house….

I knew it was gonna be REAL close…actually, more like a miracle…. was I gonna make it to Edmonton in time or????

Thank GOD for the radar detector….but as it is, I’m pretty sure I am gonna get nabbed twice on photo-radar. That’s gonna hurt the wallet….you don’t want to know how fast i was driving…we’re talking Nascar stuff! but it was SO worth it….

I pulled into my old high school with just a bit of time to spare….just as the warm up started..the gym was PACKED!  Seriously…and parents were there…and sons and daughters, and some of our old fans…it was crazy!

The girls on the high school team were really nervous and psyched….they were playing legends ( If you are older than their moms’ you are a legend;-))….We were introduced…had a little ceremony and presented us with t-shirts …One of the “kid” players said to my team-mate..”you guys inspire me..this is what I have to look forward to in 35 years…”

What a game! Holy shit..I hadn’t seen the gals play since last year…and man…these girls still got it!  I don’t think people were expecting these old fossils to put up much of a fight…

We won..by one point…and I’ll tell you, the high school team was not just rolling over …they went to a full court press in the second half!! Which we had no problem with…when we played, we ran a full court press…all game…every game. If you know how to press, you know how to beat it ;-) We didn’t lose a game.

The “kids” gave it a great shot…but experience won out in the end…and man..the crowd was cheering like crazy! We were the “home ” team…cause hey…we were there first! ;-) and the crowd cheered every time we got a basket too…. After all, no matter what, the VG’s would win ;-) It was so cool,!

It was like being transported back in time……the game, the crowd, the excitement..the team….With the intro’s and the game and the interviews and photo’s and stuff, it took about two hours ..then I hopped back in my car, drove home at a much more sedate pace, and got home about 4 hours later. I’m still buzzing..on the drive, the game, the gals…and the 6 espresso’s I downed today!

If it’s this exciting before I go…..I’m in BIG trouble

This trip has been in the back of my mind for three years now. And now, it is three sleeps away.

You’ll know that I am not much of a planner… my go south and turn head east  trip last year ended up being a head south and turn west trip. With some North thrown in for a change of pace. And lots of left hand turns.

I’m traveling with a group, so..plans must be made. It’s a little tougher to “wing it” when you are 1/2 way around the world ..upside down…tomorrow.

Thank god for coach. She is totally organized, and me, being the geek I am..played around and made a little map of our trip

This is the trip in a nutshell…fly, drive and explore…Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. ( more details to follow)

I’m a very visual person..so making the map, and looking at it helps me imagine it.

Then comes the response from my  good friend Jen ( aka borderline on StumbleUpon)..who is a mistress of manipulating images. Jen is Australian..and I am spending a week with her in her hometown.

Yup, we’re gonna  spend a week studying wildflowers, pouring cups of tea and attending the local Ladies Auxiliary for some embroidery lessons
if you believe that, then I have a bridge to sell you ;-)

Jen has a penchant for being able to tell it like it is

And….as the trip was getting nearer, and I was about ready to burst with excitement, she sent along this little gem…

I have SO much to do to get ready for my Trip to Australia. I’m going to be gone a couple of months, and that takes some planning.

I SUCK at planning.

So I decided I’d better make a bunch of lists. a packing list…a list of contacts,a list of reservations and airline tickets, a list of things to remember to do. So many lists, I had to make a list of my lists!

It didn’t work out so well…

I really wanted to pack light for this trip.

So me, being me, I researched it on the net. I found the definitive source and that is onebag.com

This is the kind of guy who could travel around the world with a single bag! How wonderful would that be? No lost luggage, no waiting, mobility..so many advantages to one- bagging it. I have learned so many practical tips on this site..( wrap a couple yards of duct tape around a pencil…cause hey..who doesn’t need a little duct tape in their lives?)

This site inspired me! Why , I can do this…even though it requires lists! I can rise above!

I’m trying really hard..but it’s coming down to choosing essentials. Clothes? Not a big issue. I can always wash clothes, and I am not a high maintenance kinda gal in that department. Golf clothes do me just fine. And, it’s warm, so I don’t have to take winter clothes.

The problem is..I need a whole bag…for my gadgets.

Actually, I have several gadget bags.

There’s the “stuff I don’t need until I get there” gadget bag..the garmin GPS, the sky caddie golf GPS ( yes, i am directionally challenged), the spare camera and all the attendant cords and chargers.  Got a voltage adapter too. They are packed away neatly in..little ziplock bags

Then I have a bag for all the accessories for the stuff I need on the plane…my itouch, my macbook, my camera. Come to think of it, each of these has it’s own case..”special” bags ;-) I also have a little bag for all the cords and chargers and headphones and memory cards and usb sticks.

This bag is going in my carry-on bag.

So, perhaps one bag is a bit of a stretch…

and now…..I gotta deal with….the shoes….

it’s Ok..I have a shoe bag!

That’s what they call Canadians who  try to escape the frigid winters. That’s what I tried to do this winter…I mostly succeeded. But where I failed…I failed spectacularly.

I had spent the whole “detour” toodling around the southwest US…nice and warm there…so my wardrobe was pretty much shorts and shirts….one pair of jeans. I should have known better. When you are on a trip of…I don’t have a plan, I don’t know where I will end up, I’m “detouring”…I suppose one should be prepared for …anything ;-)

I headed up to Vegas for a couple of weeks…and got caught in a major snowstorm just before Christmas. We’re talking Chaos here. These people don’t know how to drive in the rain. let alone frozen rain. There was snow on the Strip…in my 30 years of Vegas..I had NEVER seen snow on the strip.

I took this picture on the golf course one day

The next day…despite the dire warnings not to drive…I went to my desert dancing place

I kid you not

hard to do a gratitude dance when you are freezing your ass off…
but I managed ;-)

So, I spent the last few days watching the Masters Tournament…and cleaning my balls.

Wait…that sounds SO wrong ;-)

I Googled “how to clean your golf balls”…and the results were…amusing.

From regular soap and water…to denture tablets, to using the washing machine ( and softening your jeans at the same time), to bleach, to WD-40..the suggestions were numerous.

The most out there was…using a cement mixer.

Sound kind of counter-intuitive.

But then again, golfers are obsessed..with their balls.

Not having a concrete mixer readily available, I settled for the soap-in-the -sink solution.

My kid came home from work, and he just cracked up…there I was, the Master’s golf on, no sound…tunes cranked to high heaven…singing away…and washing balls.

I had my golf bag in the kitchen..transferring everything from my travel bag into my club bag…and he says…I shit you not…”Ah.. you’re in your happy zen place I see..”

He smiled, and said, “You don’t even have to be on the course to be in your happy zen place..why…washing balls is enough for you!”