Wednesday 14 December 2011

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!

8 comments:

Jo said...

Ignores all the other amazing stuff:

You're over your kissing phobia???

Kegels and pilates for the peeing issue. They're good for us all!

Jeremy Edwards said...

I love these annual roundups—and I always show them to Helia, who's also a pursuer of new experiences. Rock on!

Janine Ashbless said...

Jo, I'm glad to say it was the two bottles of diet coke that were the root cause of the unplanned roadstop!

Jeremy - high five to Helia!

Kat Black said...

Jeez, Janine you're so incredibly lazy. Do try to make more of an effort next year ;)

Janine Ashbless said...

You're so right Kat!
;-D

Craig Sorensen said...

Awesome list. I feel like such a slacker.

Here's to great experiences at 45!

Madeline Moore said...

I have to agree with Craig. My first in 2011: I suffered from the longest period of depression IN MY LIFE and I struggled back to the surface so that now, pretty much a year to the day when the depression AMBUSHED me, I am happy and looking forward to Xmas more than I have in years.

Not a very exciting first but I know you'll know - an important one.

Oh yeah and the Erotic Awards voted me "Best Story Teller of the Year" and I have the flying peen to prove it.

As for 2012 . . . sssssh. It's a secret.

Janine Ashbless said...

All my sympathy re the depression, Madeline. I know what that's like. But Yay! for the rest :-)