Personal Firsts

Adventure 85 ~ A Message Of Thanks

/ intrepidjane

Screenshot (2)I have to say it feels a little odd not to be extending my memory palace today : it really has become a bit of a way of life! It makes me giggle that when I check my bag for work, the list of essentials goes something like this now : phone, keys, diary, periodic table of elements 😛 .

For today’s adventure, I’m going to say a heartfelt thank you to Josh Foer (he was the guy in the TED talk on day 1 of my memory palace adventure). The message of thanks isn’t just for the inspiration, it’s also for the additional benefits of the technique : a genuine appreciation of the power of the human mind and a new sense of presence , a renewed sense aliveness to the world around me and within me.

I’ve tweeted a big “TY” and here’s  short “thank you” video too :

I am just going outside an may be some time :).

JT

Adventure 67 ~ My First Visit To A Salvage Yard

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salvage yardWhilst my mind is still engaged with cosmic matters, I hurtled back to Earth for a brief moment today so I could visit a salvage yard for the very first time.

I have to say, the yard had all the qualities of a black hole : it seemed to have sucked in all sorts of  objects and I’m pretty certain that there are many salvage hunters who have entered the yard and never been seen since 🙂 .

You can watch the peat cutting tool (known as a peat spade or a turf spade) in action below. By the way, this video was filmed in my local area in Northern Ireland!

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventures 55 – 57 ~ Dreams And The Sweet Smell Of Success

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I’ve been away with work over the last couple of days, so here is a consolidated post which includes the adventures from the 24th – 26th February 2014.

In Adventure 55 ~ Dream Diary Day 6 ,  I learn that sometimes you have to go to sleep in order to learn how to wake up and be fully present!

In Adventure 56 ~ Dream Diary Day 7 , I get to see how I process day-time events :

In Adventure 57 ~ The Most Expensive Perfume , I pluck up the courage to ask the assistant in Duty Free (I normally avoid the assistants like the plague and really don’t enjoy being “sold to”) whether I can try the most expensive perfume in the shop. Here’s what happened (and, for the record, it was a little too musky for me and I didn’t think it was worth the price!)

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 21 ~ Eminem Versus My Tax Return

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If you were a spy and needed to get state secrets out of me, all you’d have to do is threaten me with my tax return and I’d talk. Anything but my tax return!

In the UK, the deadline for submitting our tax returns to the HMRC (IRS) is fast approaching. It’s not  something that I ever look forward to but it is something that just has to be done. Today I was “knuckling down to it” when the ridiculous thought occurred to me : “you might be able to have fun doing your tax return!” An adventure had announced itself from the piles of invoices and mileage records – and I was up for the challenge 🙂 .

Please enjoy my tax return rap! I don’t think I’ll attract a record deal but do feel free to nominate me for an Ivor Novello award (I think the lyrics are rather powerful 😛 ). The experience brought me genuine joy : an hour after making my video, I am still glowing inside. I am still giggling too.

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 19 ~ How To Be Like Ray Mears

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Ray Mears is an expert in wilderness bushcraft and survival. Today, I am going to make Ray proud by trying my hand at learning a useful survival skill : using my watch as a compass.

winter sunYou can see that it’s rather a grim day here in Northern Ireland today. Fortunately, I could just about see the sun!

You can see how I get on in the video (and I’ve put some explanatory notes below the video just in case you want to try it for yourself 🙂 )

How I’m doing it works in the Northern Hemisphere. Use 1pm for bisection in Daylight Saving Time. When you bisect the angle to establish the N-S line, North is the direction heading away from the sun. For full instructions (including for the Southern Hemisphere), look here.

I am just going outside and may be some time 🙂

JT

Adventure 12 ~ Gutting A Fish

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One of the key ideas underpinning my 365 Days of Adventure project is that adventure can be found everywhere if we look for it . We don’t have to go to foreign places or do “way out things” to feel the sense of aliveness that adventure can bring.

When we come to the realisation that adventure can be found  in the everyday routine of life, when we are open to experiencing so-called routine with the mindset of an adventurer, then we are conditioning a constant connection to the pulse of our own aliveness.

Today I’m having grilled mackerel for lunch. I’m a huge mackerel fan and eat it at least once a week. It’s routine for me. And yet today will be an adventure for me because I’m going to gut a fish for the very first time.

I’m writing this before I gut the mackerel because even thinking about preparing the fish in this way has made me feel very differently about my food. I somehow feel more connected to the creature that has given its life for me. I’m not sure how this is going to go.

(I’ve posted a picture of my lunch underneath the video 🙂 )

fishI found this adventure to be a very earthing experience.

I felt great gratitude as I ate my food today. I thought of the fish and of the sea. I thought of my place within the system of all living organisms. I felt connected.

I’m changing my mind about something. I’m not quite sure about what yet. I’ll keep you posted.

I’m just going outside and may be some time 🙂

JT

Adventure 11 ~ Driving A Digger

/ intrepidjane

FFTalbotOne thing that you may not know about me is that I used to be a retained fire fighter in a small town in Scotland.

At this point, I should maybe explain that I wasn’t the world’s greatest fire fighter due to my gift for being totally impractical.

Fast forward to 11th January 2014 and I find myself walking into an adventure requiring some practical talent! (Oh dear).

Today I am trying my hand at working a Kubota KX161-3 ~ a 5-ton class digger (there is a picture of the digger in its full glory below the video).

This is what I managed after a 2-minute training session :

diggerHere she is in all her glory. The first part of the arm from the cab is called the boom. The second part of the arm is called the dipper. The final part is called the bucket.

You’ll notice that I didn’t talk very much during the video : I had to concentrate quite hard!

I am just going outside and may be some time 🙂

JT

Adventure 7 ~ Gone Fishing

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Today, I bought my very first copy of the Angler’s Mail (they don’t call me Intrepid Jane for nothing). I was curious to find out  if I could learn three fascinating things about angling by reading this magazine.

Here’s what I discovered  (hold on to your hats, by the way. This is pretty mind-blowing stuff. No. Really. It is.) ~

I am just going outside and may be some time 🙂

JT

Adventure 3 ~ Vegetable Fugu

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Today’s adventure was a real toughie for me. Truth be known, I’m going to have to set up a new blog category for this type of challenge . The category will be called “Near Death Experiences”.

Watch me as I taste the vegetable equivalent of poorly prepared fugu (a Japanese puffer fish delicacy).

As is the case with fugu , I am now convinced that domestic preparation of this vegetable  may lead to accidental death.

This was the first time I tasted this vegetable. It will also be the last time. I count myself lucky to have survived.

I am going outside  and I may be some time 🙂

JT (I am feeling decidedly unwell).