Doing

50 Crazy Things in my 50th Year #43 – Ladies’ Choice

/ Vesta Giles / 2 Comments

So, a couple of my crazy things were (are) very weather dependent and the odds of me being able to complete them before my birthday are very slim. I’ll still do them, just later. Thus I needed a couple of backups. In a moment of insanity, and these three women bring out my insanity in ways I can’t even describe in print, I said to my very good friends Jody, Krista and Monica… hey, this would be crazy… how about you guys pick something I have to do. Now, if you recall, I may have some control issues so letting go of control is a bit of a big deal. They were thrilled. They level of their thrill actually made me panic a bit, making this thing even crazier. These women have done a lot of my crazy things with me this year and I doubt we’ve even scratched the surface of what is crazy for them.

You want me to what????

They agreed on something and told me about it when we were at the IHOP in Kelowna before we went into the Escape Room at Exit Canada. Their idea… Karaoke! Brilliant. I sing in public a lot for children and their parents, I’ve been in choirs, and I don’t have much trouble singing in front of people but I’ve never tried Karaoke. This will be awesome! Me and my freaking big mouth! Once they heard my experience with singing their faces dropped. Then Jody’s voice cut through the crowd and my jaw hit the table. Jody said, “We should make her get her nose pierced!” Then Krista said, “I have a gift certificate for Instinct Adornment – we could do it together!” And Jody and Monica said, “And we would come to document it!” I swear I couldn’t breathe. Getting my nose pierced has NEVER been on my radar. I’m sure this state of shock affected my performance in the escape room!

After a few days I started to come around to the idea. When I told a few friends what I was going to do they universally approved, saying I had the perfect nose for it.

Theo… so, who are we doing?
Vesta… fine, just fine… so not fine!

So, Monica made the appointments for the following Saturday, February 20th. We showed up and Krista and I had to pick out the jewels we were going to stick through the cartilage in our noses. Once Jody saw the bling she couldn’t resist. And then Monica, who wanted to do it but planned to do it after her next tattoo, couldn’t be the only one who wasn’t doing it. All four of us did it and created some chaos and pandemonium at the store. We do have a lot of energy when we’re together.

Theo and Jenna own the store and they are awesome. Theo even waxed his moustache when he found out I was going to blog about it. Jenna, though, wore a surgical mask the whole time. Not sure if I totally trust someone I couldn’t pick out of a police lineup. She rocks the photobomb though, so that makes up for it.

Monica and I both chose blue sapphires. Jody got a sparkly white one and Krista got a star. I was the first to go. Apparently, this was a bad idea. Theo was sitting in front of me, his hands in my face and his gloved thumb stuck up my nose. I was expecting him to say something like “Ok, I’m going to count to three…” but oh no! He jammed it through my nose when I least expected it. I was holding someone’s hand (not sure who?) and I may have screamed. It hurt like bloody hell! Theo says I have thick cartilage in my nose which may have made it hurt more. I felt electricity going down my arm and I was catching my breath. I was sure he shoved a sharp telephone pole through my face so I was surprised to see this tiny blue piece of crystal sticking out of the crease in my nose. It looked kind of cute. The shock only lasted a few minutes but it was long enough to freak out the rest of the girls. It turns out they don’t have thick cartilage and didn’t even feel it. Jody was practically beaming the whole time. I only wanted to kick her a little bit. I may have been called a weenie for my reaction. I told them it hurt way more than my tattoo did.

20160220_103442

J0dy – such a good friend, always there to document my torture and hold my hand!

And to answer the question I always had, it doesn’t have a butterfly piece on the inside like a stud for an ear does. The post is bent 90 degrees. It’s been two days and I’ve blown my nose and it wasn’t any more gross than normal. I haven’t had a cold, though. Krista got one so maybe I’ll wait for her report.

did it!
Jody
Monica
Krista

True to us, we had to go out for food after and ended up at Swiss Pastries. Sugar helped calm my pain. I’m sure that’s what the cure was. My nose piercing was my birthday gift from these wonderful ladies and I have to admit I’m thrilled. I think it looks awesome and so do theirs. It was so great to do another crazy thing together. Looking forward to more in the future, although maybe not quite so tightly scheduled!

20160220_112003

It’s really all about the food!

Why was this crazy?

Oh come on! What part of it wasn’t crazy??

Would I do it again?

No, I think I’ve gotten all the extra holes I need now.

20160220_110141

With Theo and Jenna (masked)

50 Crazy Things in my 50th Year #42 – Volunteer somewhere scary

/ Vesta Giles / 2 Comments

Since I started compiling a list of things to do in my 50th year I knew all along that a good portion of them had to make me uncomfortable in some way. Most of them, like Trapeze School and Downhill Skiing, make me physically uncomfortable. Some, however, just make me completely uncomfortable. I decided I would expose myself a bit more and volunteer somewhere scary. I have done a lot of volunteer work before. I thought about volunteering with the homeless, or with animals, but I pretty much work with a lot of the homeless crowd on Mondays at the library and I’m fairly comfortable with that. With the animals, I would most likely feel the need to adopt all of them and until I buy a place, we can’t have any more pets. I started to think about what I avoid (aside from olives, jumping and going fast). Then an opportunity arose and after thinking about it for a long time and talking with some good friends, I realized what I needed to do.

I have been volunteering already as the Publicity Director for the Overlander Ski Club for over a year. It started with “I’ll volunteer with publicity” and ended up with me on the Board of Directors as Publicity Director. I have enjoyed my time on the board a lot. I love the club, it provides access to one of my very favourite activities and I appreciate the work that goes into making the Stake Lake Ski Trails as successful as they are. When then President Alan Vyse announced he was stepping down a void was created in the room. A couple of my friends who are very involved in the club each started to nudge me, having long talks with me, and working very hard to convince me. I was, in the beginning, unconvinced.

The board is made up of a group of passionate skiers who all love different aspects of the club and the sport. They are all very talented, well spoken, hard working, and… very opinionated. This includes me, by the way. They are also very strong willed. That might include me as well. Besides a love of skiing, the thing they all have in common is a love for the club and a desire to see it be as strong as it can be. But they all see, and support different paths for arriving at that common goal. This is actually what makes them an excellent, yet slightly intimidating group of people.

Before I put my name forward I had to look long and hard at what my role would be. Eventually, I realized my job is to help the group focus and move toward the achievement of the shared goals of the club. Once I framed it like that it started to look more doable and less frightening. I kind of see it like being a boarder collie trying to herd a group of squirrels. I will most likely pay for that remark in the future although I’m pretty sure only one other board member and two staff members are likely to read this. I think I can bribe them all with cookies and coffee.

I consider this to be a scary thing, yet I know I am naturally good at it. Although I’ve avoided leadership roles for years, they always seem to find me anyway no matter how I try and avoid them. My mom told me once that one of my teachers in high school described me as a reluctant leader. People would want to follow me, which I wouldn’t like, so I would hide in the back of the room, and they would just go to the back and find me anyway. I guess it’s time to just own it and do it.

I put my name forward as President (and still keeping Publicity) and at the AGM everyone seemed to sit on their hands. Nobody ran against me. I did hear from Alan that in his memory there had never actually been an election with votes at the AGM because they were always so happy to have someone volunteer. I heard from some board members and the staff that they have my support and are excited about the new blood (like they can smell it????). Great, now I’m picturing hyenas ripping the flesh off my corpse. “What happened to your last president?” someone might ask. “We ate her! Aargh!” Active imagination alert, and now they’re sounding like pirate hyenas. I may not be able to look at the board members without laughing again!

Anyway, on February 15th I became the President of the Overlander Ski Club. Our first board meeting with me as President is in March. I may bake some cookies to sweeten their dispositions…. Oatmeal or chocolate chip?

Why was this crazy?

I’m an introvert and a reluctant leader. Trust me, this is crazy!

Would I do it again?

Let me get through the next year first!

A daunting list of former presidents
Oscar and Oscette have told me I can count on their support

50 Crazy Things in my 50th Year #41 – Wing it for a half marathon with Jody

/ Vesta Giles / Leave a comment

Since my year began with running a half marathon (21K) I figured it should end with one too. Because Jody is always up for an adventure, she agreed to do this one with me. Her husband, Gerry, shook his head in disbelief.

Not only were we going to run (actually more walk than run) a half marathon on our own with no crowds, medals, t-shirts, or any kind of fanfare, we were going to do it without any training.

I cross country ski a lot in the winter and Jody had done quite a bit this year as well, so it’s not like we’re not fit. Running is like any other activity. Muscles like to do things they’ve been practicing. Our muscles have been practicing gliding, or showshoeing with our legs in a different position than running. Neither of us had actually run at all since December 15th when we did our 5K virtual cupcake run. Really, though, how hard can it be?

6:30 am!
Tomena, me, and Jody – 9K done
hearts
more hearts

We made plans to meet at 6:30 am on Valentine’s Day at my house. We could run on the rivers trail and use my house as a washroom stop / aid station. Tomena, much to our shock, decided to join us for the first 9K. So the three of us reminisced about the slush run of last year and training for half marathons we all did last year. We watched a brilliant sunrise, and had a great time.

Then we got back to my place, reloaded our water, etc. and said goodbye to Tomena. 12Km to go – no problem!… actually… problem!

20160214_092833

Don’t be fooled – this is ice not water!

We agreed that we would walk the rest of the way because that would be easy… right? Wrong! By the time we got to 16K we were hurtin’ girls. My hips were sore but I think Jody was suffering a bit more than I was. It was a damp morning, which does nothing for either of us, and it was also icy. We didn’t discover that until Jody found what looked like a puddle and was actually polished ice. She went down backwards in slow motion and there was nothing I could do about it. After that we still had 5K to go. We managed to finish but I wouldn’t say it was our best run or walk. It took us four hours!

Of course, some of that time was spent doing what we do best – enjoying the scenery and taking pictures. Some of the highlights that distracted us from our pain were the awesome hearts strewn along the trail by artists wanting to brighten up Valentine’s day. We saw wildlife – a beaver underneath the Overlander’s Bridge and swans coming in to land. We met and interesting guy collecting cans and bottles, and we had lots of time for great conversation.

Looking forward to running season starting again, but not until I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every second of ski season.

Why was this crazy?

We spend a ridiculous amount of time training for runs – what if we just did the runs?

Would I do it again?

Probably not… I think training and building gradually to a distance is a good thing! I was in serious pain the next day!

20160214_105534

Finished! We got that sh#t done!

 

50 Crazy Things in my 50th Year #40 – Do an Escape Room

/ Vesta Giles / Leave a comment

20160213_140221

What is an escape room you might ask? It’s a puzzle room – a room with a theme, filled with clues, and you have to escape from it by solving the puzzles.

I had heard about the popular Escape Room trend for a year or so but it never occurred to me to go and do one. There was one briefly in Kamloops but it was a popup store and didn’t last long. Then there was an Exit Canada franchise in Kelowna and as puzzle rooms go they were considered to be among the best.

Exit Canada is a pretty polished operation with puzzle room franchises across Canada. The rooms are themed – Black Ops, Ninja, Mannequin and Mystic Jungle. Black Ops and Ninja are given three out of five stars for difficulty. Mannequin and Mystic Jungle are given five stars. Each room has a soundtrack playing that matches the theme of the room. Think ticking time bomb – it added a bit of pressure to say the least!

I put it out to some friends that I wanted to do the one in Kelowna. No surprise, they leapt at the chance and organized their schedules to make sure we got it done before my birthday. There were seven of us – Me, Jody, Gerry, Krista, Jaydan, Monica, and Ethan. Five adults and two kids / teens. Four women and three guys. We picked Black Ops and booked our time. Each time slot is 45 minutes and you don’t get one second longer. I might add here that nationwide the success rate for players at Exit Canada outlets is a mere 1%. Only one out of 100 efforts is successful.

We got to Kelowna on February 13th and immediately loaded up with sugar and carbs at IHOP. We got to the location and were quickly given instructions about how the devices and clues in the room worked. Padlocks – seems pretty straight forward. No cell phones or recording devices are allowed and they have lockers to put your stuff in.

We entered the room at our allotted time and all of us were at first a bit stunned. Then we started to get to work. I’m not going to tell you about the clues and puzzles but they were good. The room was laid out like a military bunker in the 1940s – maps, clocks marking time in different locations, a dead guy in the corner… you get it. Everything could be a clue and the premise was we had to crack the combination to the lock on the door that would get us into the next room. There were three rooms in total.

escape room 3

Tick tock… there is a clock counting down your 45 minutes…. Tick tock

We made it into the second room and then had a bit of a misunderstanding regarding how one of the locks worked. This probably cost us 10 minutes of trying to solve a puzzle that really wasn’t that hard. We finally had the pieces of the puzzle to get us into the third room but figuring out the door lock set us back another few minutes.

By the time we got into the third room we only had three minutes left. We were doomed! Our time was up and we were all so pumped it was like we were on a caffeine high. We finally understood how the concept worked and then we were out of time.

20160213_150103

We had our picture taken with props indicating we were in the 99% and then went out side. I swear if felt like a gambling addiction – we all wanted to go right back in.. This time we could defeat it! If only this had happened… blah blah blah…

We’re still talking about it and strategizing for our next visit a week later! I think the coolest thing was how well we all worked together. I can think of some collections of people who wouldn’t work that well together, but we rocked and I so want them on my team again!

escape room 1

Not us!

Why was this crazy?

It was just fun, and a bunch of people I care about took almost a full day out of their lives to do it with me. That’s crazy awesome!

Would I do it again?

Hell yes! The only problem is they change up the clues every few months so even if you knew what worked last time, it might not work the next time. At least this time we have a feel for how it works – we won’t have that 15 minute time loss based on a false assumption, and we won’t have that two minute beginning where we’re just stunned about where to start. Next time we will hit the puzzles running!

 

50 Crazy Things in my 50th Year #39 – Get a tattoo

/ Vesta Giles / 1 Comment

tattoo 2

Probably one of the most clichéd bucket list items on everyone’s list is getting a tattoo. I have resisted body art for many years although I have appreciated it from a distance. My brother has some awesome tattoos – some of which he designed himself. Almost all of my friends have tattoos, and I’ve known for awhile that my time was coming. The problem was finding what I wanted to put on my body, figuring out where on my body I wanted to put it, and finally who I wanted to do it.

In my extreme youth, two cousins and I talked about getting tattoos and at the time I thought a dancing pig on my foot was about all I could handle. I loved pigs, and I still do. I am thankful, however, that I have evolved since then.

Tattoos also always make me think of the Dr. Seuss story, The Sneetches, and the starbelly sneeches with stars upon thars. I was about to become a star bellied Sneetch! Except my tattoo wasn’t going to be on my belly, and it wasn’t going to be a star, and there would be no have / have not moral to be learned. It’s still one of my favourite Dr. Seuss books, though.

sneetches

I started my quest at the beginning of my year. At that point whatever I was having I was going to put on my lower back… essentially so the general public wouldn’t see it. When I told my friend Tammy she replied, “Oh, you’re getting a tramp stamp!” OK, next…. I know lots of people with beautiful tattoos on their lower back, but I would always hear Tammy’s voice saying “Tramp stamp.” I also realized that I couldn’t get a tattoo and just hide it. What would be the point?

The idea of a gryphon started to catch my attention. I love gargoyles, and I love old mythical images. The gryphon kept talking to me, making its presence known

The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Greek: γρύφων, grýphōn, or γρύπων, grýpōn, early form γρύψ, grýps; Latin: gryphus) is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion; the head and wings of an eagle; and an eagle’s talons as its front feet. Because the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle the king of birds, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature.

(Source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffin)

I knew I didn’t want an angry tattoo and gryphons are often portrayed in a very angry or violent light. Most of the images I found were of a gryphon in a fighting stance – not what I was looking for. I kept looking for inspiration.

Finally, as time was running out, I came across some images that were game changers for me. They weren’t necessarily the exact images I wanted, but they were the perfect idea.

One was a logo for a series of lectures on youth and literature. This was the concept I liked and it took my breath away when I saw it. The idea of books entered the picture. I’m not going to include the image because I don’t have the rights to it, but if you click the link above you’ll see it. The image features a gryphon and a child who is reading. I didn’t like the head on that one though, it looked too angry and the beak looked too sharp. I found another with a head and beak I liked.

I had seen my friend Tomena’s sketch style tattoo that she got at Fu Dog Tattoos and it really resonated with me. I wanted that style, and old master’s sketch style. I didn’t want any colour, just shading. I went to book with Fu Dog but Kelsey, the owner, was booked when I wanted to have it done. She asked what I wanted. I sent her the pictures, and she said that Riley at Pirate Palace Tattoos would do a great job with that style and might have a bit of time free. I checked him out online and a lot of his images looked angry. Kelsey reassured me that he had done other stuff and I just had to ask to see more of his portfolio.

When I went in to meet Riley he showed me some drawings that weren’t angry. I was sold. We made the appointment I left the drawings with him and circled the parts of each I liked. He sent me a preliminary drawing a few days later and I loved it. I really loved it. I asked for a couple of small changes and he came through right away – it blew me away how it was exactly what I wanted.

So, on Tuesday afternoon, February 9th, I joined the ranks of the inked. I was a bit nervous but I really like Riley, he’s a bit of a renaissance guy with a lot of varied interests. The first thing I noticed when I walked into his enclosed booth was the big screen TV on the wall. He was playing Planet Earth on Netflix. As he sat down he looked up and said, “Oh, look! Birds of paradise… they’re awesome!” Right away I knew I liked him.

We chatted the whole time and had a great time. I asked him lots of questions about art and tattooing. When I asked if he had ever made a spelling mistake he looked up, laughing, and said, “Yes, and if you ever meet a tattoo artist who says otherwise they’re lying!” I really liked him. He said he’d never done one that couldn’t be easily fixed. I also asked him if there was a busy season for tattoos. He said for him it was always when people got their tax refunds.

tattoo

The process didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. A friend described it to me as the same sensation as if you dragged a steak knife across your skin. I think that was a pretty accurate description. I was amazed at how fast the image turned from a drawing to something very real.

Riley from Pirate Palace Tattoos

The end result, located on my right calf. I’m in love with it! I highly recommend Riley. I think he did a brilliant job of interpreting what I wanted and translating it to a drawing.

Fresh tattoo
Pretty much healed 12 days later

 

Why was this crazy?

Just think about it!

Would I do it again?

Yes! As I had heard would be the inevitable outcome of my first tattoo – I’m already planning my next one! I doubt it will be a dancing pig, or a star on my belly.

Citation:

Wikipedia contributors. “Griffin.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 27 Jan. 2016. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.

50 Crazy Things in my 50th Year #38 – Be seen – Let Dani Photograph me

/ Vesta Giles / Leave a comment

 

vesta beach 4

photo by Dani Johnson

Along the lines of Crazy Thing #37, Dani Johnson and I completed two crazy things when we were out at the beach by the airport. The first was the portrait (#37) and the second was to let her do whatever she wanted with me for interesting pictures. Not necessarily pictures that made me look good, but interesting photos. She could do whatever she wanted and I wouldn’t complain. I have a bit of a reputation as a slight (understatement) control freak and I am pretty skilled at controlling how I’m seen – or at least living under the illusion that I do. Even for the portrait / head shot, I knew it had to be outside, I knew the colours I wanted to wear and the type of photo I wanted it to be.

vesta beach 2

photo by Dani Johnson

Out in the world I am somewhat stubborn when it comes to not being seen exactly how I’d like to be seen. See Crazy thing #19 (Drive home in my pajamas) – this was mortifying. Having to sit still while Dani picked how I would be portrayed made me want to scream.

So I knew I had to just give up control and be seen. Now, I trust Dani and giving control over to her was a bit easier than it would be to a stranger.

vesta beach 1

photo by Dani Johnson

The results are interesting. Not the photos, I love the photos, buy my reactions to them. Oh sure, I have the reaction that most of us would have – still have some weight to lose, my hair looks stupid, my glasses magnify the lines around my eyes… blah blah blah. After I got over those reactions, or at least parked them in a different part of my brain, I started to see some other things – things I liked. I look like someone who likes to laugh, is strong, smart, and maybe a bit of a geek. I like the intensity of my focus, they way I notice small and simple things. I like the fact that I’m serious and quiet at times. This was the surprise to me in this exercise. I saw things I liked and Dani and her camera saw them too.

vesta beach 3

photo by Dani Johnson

I’ve included four of the pictures here. There are lots, and there are lots I like. I think these ones caught different parts of me.

Why was this crazy?

I had to park the controlling part of my brain and let myself be controlled.

Would I do it again?

Under the right circumstances.

 

50 Crazy Things in my 50th Year #37 – Have my portrait taken

/ Vesta Giles / Leave a comment

For years I’ve been asked for head shots to go along with magazine articles and other things I’ve written. For years I’ve come up with creative excuses along the same lines as “My dog ate my homework” for why I don’t have one. My resistance to having my picture taken comes from not liking what I see, for one thing, and the other is not liking being vulnerable, or being seen. But I knew that’s what I needed to do. There is a difference between a great portrait and a picture. I needed to step up.

I asked a co-worker, Dani Johnson, who has tone professional photography in the past, to help me out. She takes great photos of people, and food. Not sure why but that mattered in my decision. We’re good friends so it’s a bit easier to stop moving long enough to be seen by her. She took her job very seriously

We got together February 8th, Family Day, and went out to the beach near the airport. I told her ahead of time I wanted casual pictures, think book jacket cover, something that accurately reflected me. I don’t like corporate headshots and I will never ever be a corporate type of person. I wanted something outdoors in settings where I feel the most comfort.

Getting there was easy. Staying there was hard. I really hate sitting for pictures so she had her work cut out for her. She’d get in my face with the camera and I wanted to run away screaming. She took a lot of pictures in a lot of different settings. Looking relaxed was not really an option. We were out there for a few hours, completing two crazy things (see the next one) and tracked about a billion tonnes of sand back with us. It was a great experience to give up control… something I need to do more often.

Me by dani 1

This is one of the ones from that day.

Why was this crazy?

I had to give up control, sit still, and be seen. A good photographer brings more than the skin to the surface of a picture. I had to let what’s under the skin be seen. Not an easy thing for me.

Would I do it again?

With the right person, yes. It would have to be someone I feel comfortable with, though.

50 Crazy Things in my 50th Year #36 – Downhill Skiing

/ Vesta Giles / Leave a comment

20160207_102327So, to completely mess up my head and my body I decided to take a downhill skiing lesson the day after I took a cross country ski lesson. Let’s be clear here, I have NEVER downhill skied and I always swore that I wouldn’t. What part of this sounds like fun… down a steep hill? Speed? I even had a hard time getting off the chair lift at Sun Peaks in hiking boots – I thought I was going to throw up! But this year is all about doing things that have traditionally stopped me from joining in the activities of life. Seriously, most of my friends don’t cross country ski. They all want to downhill ski and a few have either consented to try cross country, or they are of the rare breed that can’t wait to get out there with me. I wanted to have the option to say, “Sure” if someone invited me to go downhill skiing instead of automatically saying no all the time.

So, I enlisted Jaydan Dick, who also desperately wanted to go. This will be fun… Jaydan will be skiing circles around me as we hurtle down a mountain. Fun times!

I assumed Harper Mountain would have an easier terrain than Sun Peaks for learning. I also assumed that all of my friends would be at Sun Peaks so the public humiliation risk was pretty low. I picked Jaydan up and we drove up to Harper very early in the morning. Harper has discovery lessons – one time only lessons to introduce you to the sport so you can see if you want to commit to more lessons. We thought this would be perfect and it was. We got there early and got fitted for our equipment. We also heard that our instructor, Cam, had been there since before motorized vehicles existed. He was the most senior of the instructors.

About the equipment – yuck! I had never worn ski boots before and I was not impressed. They are angled forward so you can’t straighten your legs, and they are super heavy. If I was thrown in water in those I would drown instantly… they are like cement boots! And the skis are super heavy too. I was wearing Gregory Griffiths ski jacket, which his mom had graciously lent me, and ski pants so by the time I had my skis and helmet on I looked, and felt, like the abominable snowman in cement boots!

Cam, our instructor, is 69 and an awesome human being and outstanding teacher. He was able to quickly figure out how Jaydan and I each thought and learned and he tailored our instruction to suit our individual styles. It turns out the wicked snow plow I had mastered on cross country skis served me very well… in the beginning. That was the ‘pizza’ stage of our learning – when your skis make the shape of a piece of pizza. Unfortunately, I had a harder time relaxing into stage two – French fries – where your skis are parallel and make you go faster.

I mastered (sort of) the rope tow, the T-bar, and I only fell once and that was coming off the T-bar. Jaydan fell more because he’s all legs and arms and because he grows so fast his centre of gravity is not as well established. I, with a firmly set centre of gravity, had a bit of an easier time of it. Finally! Being built like a bumble bee was an advantage over his 14-year-old spider physique! This is a reversal of fortune from our rock climbing adventure.

I was shocked when Cam was riding the T-bar with me and told me that the terrain for beginners at Harper is much harder than the one at Sun Peaks. Doh! He also told me that I would benefit from going to Sun Peaks and doing the Five Mile run there. He said my biggest problem is I would be just about down at the bottom of our run when I would start to relax. He said I needed miles under me to relax and get a feel for it.

I now have two friends who are desperate to take me to Sun Peaks and do the Five Mile with me. I am cautiously willing… cautiously.

My feet and shins were really sore from being super tense in those horrible boots so I stopped after our lesson and Jaydan continued with some friends from Logan Lake who met us up there.

It was an awesome lesson and experience and I think I will fell brave enough to take more lessons next year.

Perhaps the biggest thing I got from this experience, however, was not just the experience of downhill skiing. One thing Cam told me, and I’m sure it was just a casual comment for him, was that when you keep your head up and look ahead at where you’re going the world doesn’t whiz by so fast, you feel like you’re going slower. When you look down at your skis, at where you are, everything seems to be moving faster. Paying attention to the big picture while glancing down to check where I am occasionally, makes the world a bit more manageable. I’ve tried it cross country skiing since then and he’s right. It’s a hard habit to break – staring down at my feet, but focusing on where I’m going has a calming effect on me and makes the speed of the world, or life, a bit more manageable. Who knew?

Why was this crazy?

I have avoided downhill skiing for my entire life. Speed + Hills + Vesta = bad combination

Would I do it again?

Yes. I felt more in control than I thought I would and I want to take advantage of that before I forget it.

 

50 Crazy Things in my 50th Year #35 – Cross Country Ski Lesson

/ Vesta Giles / Leave a comment
20160206_142850.jpg

Me, Jody, Gerry, and Lisa (front) – all survived my first official ski lesson.

I have been skiing for a few years but I would never say I’m a good skier. Senior citizens regularly pass me and kick snow in my face when I’m skiing. They’re always very polite about it of course, but none the less, I see them shaking their heads sadly at me. It’s really quite pathetic!

A few years ago I was a bit more daring on skis but then I had a couple of epic falls and it’s like my body has a memory that associates going faster with crashing. When it fell we were night skiing and it was about -20C – way too cold. My glasses weren’t just fogged up, they were frozen and I couldn’t see. Since then I have become a very fearful skier when it comes to speed and my technique is pretty much self taught. I’d wanted to do lessons for a few years – to improve my skills and techniques, maybe speed up a little bit so seniors didn’t kick snow in my face any more. I also wanted to get better, and feel safer, doing hills (see crazy thing #28). Each year, though, the timing doesn’t work, etc. I didn’t make the effort. This year Jody and Gerry wanted to do it too. I figured a private lesson for the three of us would be as good as 4 lessons in a large group and way easier to schedule.

We enlisted the services of Lisa Pahelchuk – the outstanding instructor with the Overlander Ski Club. I had no idea how great this was going to be. The first thing she did was teach us about hills as we slowly made our way out to Hoss – one of the trails I do all the time. Almost the first thing we did was a slow gentle downhill. It’s one I almost always put my foot out of the track to use as a brake on. I was determined. A lot of the going downhill instruction focused on balance, centre of gravity, and body position. I was stiff as a board but I made it down the hill… already I had progress! We worked on glide as well – she took away our poles, made us ski with one ski at a time and we went back and forth on a tiny stretch of flat trail for quite awhile. It was super hard work but it was amazing. Then we tackled more hills – my biggest fear, and I concentrated on body position. Mentally and physically the whole lesson was very tiring. As we made our way along the trail and back to the day lodge we kept working on footing, glide, and balance and the entire lesson ended up taking two hours. It was amazing and I can’t believe I didn’t do it before. Jody and I agree we’re going to work on the stuff Lisa taught us and then take another lesson next year to keep improving.

Why was this crazy?

I’ve wanted to do it for years but never got around to joining a class. This time I said what I wanted and made it happen in a way that worked for me instead of trying to fit in with someone else’s schedule. In the past I let things like this stop me all the time. The whole time I was fighting the memory of falling when I started going fast. It’s a gradual process, letting go of a memory like that, which seems unfair since the memory itself was made in almost a single moment.

Would I do it again?

I would definitely put out the effort to get better at something, particularly if it is important to me.  Skiing is very important to me and I don’t want to be tense or scared when I’m doing it. I am definitely having more lessons. I think it’s a good thing to do in just about any endeavor.

 

50 Crazy Things in my 50th Year #34 – Snowshoe race

/ Vesta Giles / Leave a comment

20160131_101053 1Because this is the way I roll I got up early after being out at a passion party the night before and did a 5K (actually 4K… thank God!) snowshoe race. I’ve only been on snowshoes a few times but I enjoy it and find it relaxing. It works different muscles than my usual activities and I have a shorter stature which makes it pretty tiring, but I do love it. I’ve heard about the North Face Dirty Feet Snowshoe races before and, when in a crazy year, one must do these types of things.

Jody and I – photo by Dirty Feet Trail Races
Photo by Dirty Feet Trail Races
Monica, Krista, Trisha and Shawna – Photo by Dirty Feet Trail Races

The race was at Stake Lake and a bunch of friends and I were all going to do it. Originally we were going to do it in costume but we didn’t get that organized. Hopefully next year we can make that happen.

 

20160131_101443 1

Crazy things are always better when shared with friends!

The course was a lot more difficult than I expected it would be. The trails at Stake are pretty packed down so shorter snowshoes are fine. The shorter the snowshoe the better they are on packed snow and the worse they are on deep fluffy snow. I chose to wear mom’s snowshoes that are about 4” shorter than mine. After all, the trails are packed… right? Wrong! The course veered off the packed trails and into the deep, two feet in some places, untouched powder. The track was narrow and Jody and I found ourselves in the middle of a pack of about 20 women we didn’t know.

I don’t know one person who didn’t fall at least once on that course. I fell a bunch of times. I would put my foot down and it would slide sideways and down I would go. One woman behind me fell and I turned around to help her up. She was going uphill and her friend was holding her from behind. It was a major effort to get up again.

Lee and Matt, who work in the ticket booth for the ski club cheered us on when we got close to the parking lot – that was sweet. I had already brought them a thermos of coffee so they were probably celebrating how warm and dry they were while I was lamenting how cold and wet I was becoming.

The guys who came in the top three for the 10K race lapped us right near the finish line. One of them, we noticed, wasn’t wearing socks. My boots were drenched from getting so much snow in them when I fell. Trying to get over so they could pass was an obstacle course in itself. For Jody and I, I wouldn’t actually call this racing. It was more like a really fast walk. We were stuck in the middle of the group and the people behind us didn’t want to pass so we were stuck with this pace that was a bit quicker than I was comfortable with.

Snowshoe race – Jody had a pretty crazy year too!
Photo by Dirty Feet Snowshoe Races
Photo by Dirty Feet Snowshoe Races
at the finish! Photo by Dirty Feet Snowshoe Races

Towards the end I could smell hot apple cider from the finish area. I think that propelled me forward. When we got to the finish line we weren’t even last (I was shocked!) and they had the best banana bread ever. They also jelly beans. I don’t often eat them but when I do they are heaven! I had been worried about this being super competitive and me coming in last. I realized quickly that it wasn’t like that at all. Everyone was in a partying mood and Jody and I, and all of our friends, agreed that it was awesome. We had a great time.

Why was this crazy?

I was “racing” in a sport I was an extreme beginner at.

Would I do it again?

Oh yeah, next year I might do a couple of them. It was a tremendous workout and a lot of fun. It was a challenge to keep someone else’s pace for that long and still finish with a smile.