#19 Volunteer Day

#19 Volunteer Day - completed 6 March

Well its Clean Up Australia Day today so I decided helping my own community area was a good place to start as a first time volunteer - something I’d seen advertised for years but never bothered to participate in. I joined the ‘site team’ down at Meadowbank Park which is only a short walk from my place. I met a great couple Sue and Terry, the site co‑ordinator Anjan and his family (who have been doing this for many years - his wife even made scones and tea for everyone!) the Independent MP for Ryde - Vic Tagg and a few families with young kids.

Sue and I hit it off instantly chatting as only a couple of girls do (Terry realised he wasn't going to get a word in so he went off on his own). We went through the Park and was surprised at how relatively clean the area was - of course down by the water not so much. Apparently last year they collected double what we all did - I’m hoping that’s a good sign that people are not littering as much.

I certainly enjoyed myself even if it was a very early start for a Sunday! Really think this is something that I’ll do each year.

34 down, 6 to go

#5 Photography Class

#5 Photography Class - completed 1 March
I upgraded my digital camera in December 2009 and pretty much have hated it from day one, I was close to selling it on Ebay when a photography course was suggested for my list so I thought learning how to use it properly would be a good idea.

I found out about this course through one of the girls at work - it’s an outdoor session with a small group (we only had three people). Because the session was three hours it meant we were able to try the different options in both daylight and night time.

The main thing I learnt was taking photos is all about shutter speed (ISO) and I think taking a slower approach and thinking about the picture is important too - relying on the “auto” function pretty much the worse way to take a photo. I realise now that if I’m going to spend a decent amount on a camera with lots of functions then I should learn what they do!

By the end of the three hours I managed to learn heaps about my camera - I am beginning to realise my issues with the photos in the past may have been the user not the camera.

A great course and definitely worth the money.

33 down, 7 to go.

#34 Trivia Night

#34 Trivia Night - completed 28 February
Renai suggested the Union Hotel up the road from work so the two of us - along with Jesse and Renai’s friend Rachel joined in on the Monday night Trivia.

The host started the night with a coin game of Heads and Tails (which I won!) and then followed on with the Trivia. It’s quite a laugh and frustrating at the same time when you know the answer on the tip of your tongue but just can’t remember it. I surprised myself with an answer of an old 70’s song (you had to guess the name of the lead singer in the video) Colin - you would have been proud of me I guessed it - Boz Scaggs.

We did the first 20 questions which I thought we did well at until we got the answers and found we were almost at the bottom of the scoreboard oh well we tried! still a great night and I even learnt something - did you know that the only capital city in the world with 1 syllable and 6 letters is Prague - there your useless information for the day.

32 down, 8 to go

#3 Cheetahs, Tigers and Lions

#3 Cheetahs, Tigers & Lions - completed 26 February
Its been 5 days since I was with the Cheetah and I am still in shock. Talk about amazing. I often wondered if the ‘big cats’ ever had the same mannerisms as a domestic cat and now I know. “November” as she is named loved to be patted and purred as any domestic cat would. I was completely amazed at this animal this would say this is at the top of the list of things to do.

I did get a photo of a lion and a tiger but nothing will compare to actually meeting the Cheetah :)

31 down, 9 to go

#12 Golf Day

#12 Golf Day - completed 24 February
Sarah had suggested this one as she’d been there before - it’s a Par3 golf club at Terrey Hills. So Sarah, Adrian and Rosanna (our office Golf Prof) joined me on this task. We decided seems it was after work that the chances of completing 18 holes when I’d never played was going take too long so 9 holes was a good start.

All I can say is I have a new appreciation for golfers. I knew that hitting the ball would be hard - but far out! I didn’t expect to miss it that much. We had a lot of laughs in our attempts to get the balls on the green - I think only 1 ball was lost - so not bad odds. I can understand why this becomes such an addictive sport you just want to keep getting better. I managed to do one Par3! the rest were well over the 6.... in fact we stopped counting at 6. We completed the 9 holes in just over an 1 hour pretty good timing.

Once again another fun 40 thing done - and one I’ll do again.

30 down, 10 to go.