When I was 44...

Heh heh.

Belated, of course, but I still wanted to do my traditional birthday round-up post. This is where I log all the things I did for the first time in the previous year, just to make sure I'm not sitting in a daze on my midde-aged arse.

So, when I was 44, for the first time...

• I went to the Alps, and climbed about in the snow on really really high mountaintops, and walked inside a glacier.
• I found out what snowblindness is like.
• I bought a laundry basket. (My lack of a laundry basket was regarded by my mother as a sign of my wild bohemian eccentricity.)
• One of my books  featured in a porn clip and I got a mention on the Maxim website, lol! ... thank you Jenny!
• I smoked a clay pipe, and chewed coca leaves.
• I rode in a red sports car with the top down (BMW Z4, I believe). (I'm no car-slut, but it's a pretty cool car. Sadly I disgraced myself by screaming "OH FUCK NO!!" as we overtook into oncoming traffic...)
• I pogoed! It was at my first Big Country gig. I also saw Simple Minds and Hayseed Dixie, live, for the first time.
• I met a whole slew of wonderful smutwriters at a public reading at Sh!

• I went canyoning. Okay, so it was a small, English, canyon, but we did have to leap into icy rockpools.
• I harvested chequers. Yum.
• I went to Maelstrom, the LARP fest.
• I played Call of Cthulhu via Skype. Go technology!
• I had my official photo taken as part of a professional portfolio.
• I went on a romance writing course, and it was excellent.
• I got caught short on the motorway, and had to pull in on the hard shoulder and dive over the barrier and down a bank to pee. (This is not such a good sign.)
• I got over my kissing phobia. With help ;-D
• I went to Bologna in Italy - where I was also subject to my first attempted pickpocketing.
• My first Ellora's Cave romantic novel, The King's Viper, came out.
• I sold my romantic Arabian Nights adventure, Heart of Flame, to Samhain.
• I tried a Hollywood wax. (It was the shock of my life when it grew back black, instead of ginger.)
• I wrote an e-signature. (I'm left-handed. Weirdly, I have to fake my own signature with my right hand, when using a mouse to write.)
• I filed an American tax form.
• I had champagne (and only champagne) for lunch. (Result: terrible sunburn.)
• I went to Peru! Where I went sand-boarding, walked in the Amazon jungle, and fed piranha. I saw wild condors and sea lions :-)

And I sold 5 short stories - down on last year, because I've been writing and editing novels instead. But not bad.
All other Firsts this year are filed under "Classified - restricted personnel only."
;-)
Looking forward to being 45!