Week 3: Repair a sailboat sail or two (April 25-May 1)

I was told that all I needed to do was be able to sew a straight line, HA!! A few weeks ago a friend (T) was mentioning that he needed a sewing machine to fix a sail and I said I had one. Well, earlier this week I got an email asking if I could help him do some repairs. I made it VERY clear that I had never and was not expereinced in the repair of sails and couldn't guarantee my work. The first sail was pretty thick and T had already patched it, I just needed to sew around the edges and make sure it was all secured down. Definitely a workout for my sewing machine, I may need to reward it with a few simple layers of fabric this weekend!! I was very UNIMPRESSED with my work on the first sail, it was probably some of the ugliest sewing I have ever done!! T said that it would work just fine and used a flame to seal some of the lose edges. The second sail went MUCH better; the fabric was a little thinner and other than having to rethread every few minutes because of the nature of the thick waxed thread, it was almost enjoyable. It looked much better, in fact someone who had stopped by (and is an avid sailor) said that he had to do a double take to figure out where the patch was becuase it match the rest of the sail so well. My big fear is that it will rip while T is out on a sail. I hope that my repairs hold up and put off the need to drop $3000+ on a new set of sails for a while. I wouldn't want to make sail repair and career, but it wasn't too bad, in fact I would even be willing to do it again sometime in the future.

Would I have done this out of the kindness of my heard, MOST DEFINITELY, but it was great that T was willing to trade some services. While I worked on his sail he worked on my bike. He put on a new chain and cut 6 inches off the fender where it was rubbing. My bike is SO happy now!! It is Saturday and I am definitely glad that in about 7 hours the weekend will finally be here!! BEACH here I come!

Tribulations of a small island

So I am already 5 days into week 3 and not much on the front for a new experience. Isolation on my little island means that I have to get creative, hopefully there aren't too many weeks when I will need to dig into my creativity file and come up with something. I hope experiences just present themselves naturally for me:).

One possibility on the horizon is tomorrow I will hopefully get to repair a hole in sail. I have sewn a lot of things, but never something that is designed to serve as the propulsion mechanism for a large wooden and fiberglass boat. I hope that is goes well and that my sewing is up to par.

Week 2: 2 New States and Speak at a National Education Conference (April 18-24)

This week I am on a TDY trip to the states to present at the Advanc-ED conference. Advanc-ED is my schools accreditation organization and there are usually abut 10,000 people in attendance. I presented one of the breakout sessions with a co-worker on the process of developing a vision statement and helping all stakeholders embrace the vision of the school. It was nerve-racking and overwhelming and I am glad that it is over. It was also a great experience and I enjoyed presenting, as well as attending other sessions and learning all about continuous improvement.

A byproduct of my attending this conference is I was able to cross 2 states off my list of places to visit in this life. GEORGIA and SOUTH CAROLINA. The conference was held in Atlanta and I was able to stay extend my trip for a few days and drive up to Columbia, SC to visit a friend I have known for 15 years, since high school. There is such a satisfaction in crossing off a state and knowing that I have been someplace new.

Week 1: Crazy Path Running and Spinnaker Flying (April 11-17)

Well week one is only 2 days in and I have already had a highlight of my year. Sunday began with my inaugural Crazy Path Run. Invented by some friends here on Kwaj, it entails running around creating challenges and motions as a group runs in a follow the leader type game. It was one of the toughest runs I have had in a while and pushed me in good ways. We ran circles around trees, under signs, over tables, and got some pretty strange looks; I loved every minute of it!! We only had three of us, but I would love to see us try with a group of 5 or more. It made the run go quickly and I racked up 4 miles before I knew it.

The afternoon began with a sailboat race, but we sadly had to dropout after the genoa started to rip. The sailboat race should have been my new experience, but I guess it will have to wait for another month. We instead did a leisure sail and relaxed as the wind slowly took us along. As we headed back to Kwaj, the captain Trace mentioned Spinnaker Flying. I had seen pictures on Facebook of people flying through the air attached to the bottom of a free floating spinnaker sail from when he did it last week and knew it was something I wanted to try. I was all over the idea and nervous with excitement. It is exhilarating to be lifted up by the sail and float over the water. I had a BLAST!!! Sunday was so much fun that the spinnaker was pulled out again on Monday and I was able to take 2 more trips.

The Challenge

I have been 30 for 18 days and feel pretty much the same way that I did for my 29th year; I find it funny how some people fear the changing of the tens digit in their age, I was excited for a new chapter to begin and see what my 30's have in store for me!! I have always been an adventuresome person, but sometimes allow myself to be sucked into the doldrums of life and live day to day with the same cyclical pattern of work, home, exercise, eat, sleep, repeat. I need times when I have lulls in life and down time, but I also thrive on fun and adventure. That is where the next year of my life comes into play, I am going to challenge myself to try new things and expose myself to experiences that may push me out of my comfort zone.

My goal for the next 52 weeks is to try one new thing each week. I am not sure what each week will be, I will just have to wait and see what comes my way and seek out opportunities for new things. My main obstacle will be my locale; living in the middle of the ocean on a rinky-dink island means I have done most everything here so creativity will be key.