So I think 2011 has shaped up to be a pretty slow year in terms of achievements, *sigh*… but hopefully the page will fill up with help from the Boy – and he has definitely contributed to one of my key highlights / achievements of the year (see item #1)

Achievements / highlights of the year:

1) Bungee-jumped! (16 July) : the Boy bought me a bungee-jumping experience (65 at Viaduc de Recoumene, France, run by CapLiberty), from a bridge of 65.6 metres. So yay, I’ve ticked off another thing on my list of things to do before I die – and for an item that I had mentally written off too – I didn’t think I would ever gather the courage to try bungee jumping given my fear of heights. It’s a shame I don’t have any photos or videos of my scary, difficult and absurd experience.

To summarise, the Boy didn’t tell me we were going bungee jumping, he just told me that we were going to stop somewhere enroute from Lyon to our dinner in Laguiole. So I happily had a three-piece chicken meal at KFC at around noon, and he told me the plan a mere 20 minutes before the 2pm jump appointment. To make matters worse, I was the only one jumping – it wasn’t a couples jump, and he wasn’t jumping – I was on my own. I was really stressed and wanted to back out, but being a traditional third world girl that I am, I didn’t want to write off the 65, and he refused to jump in my stead (later on, after I had jumped, the Boy told me that if I had completely refused to jump, he would have jumped instead of wasting the fee). And besides, I knew that this was my only chance of actually ticking the bungee jump off my list – I feel myself getting more risk-averse and scaredy-cat as I grow older. I was attacked by a severe case of nerves and needed to use the loo (to poop), and drink water as my throat was parched, but this dinky little bungee-jumping outfit was in the middle of nowhere and they neither had toilets nor sold any food or drink. I had to do my business in the woods on one end of the bridge(!!), then ask for water from the CapLiberty guy at the ticket stand. I waited for almost 2 hours and countless people to jump before me while trying to drum up the courage to jump. Finally I was fitted with the relevant gear and brought to the edge of the bridge. I kept holding on to the Boy’s hand, and refused to let him go. He took his hand away because he was afraid that in my fear, I would just jump while still holding on to him. It was terrifying. But in any event, I eventually jumped – but not quite the way I was meant to: eyes on the horizon, feet together, jumping forward and outwards, arms spread and chest expand like an eagle (“comme un aigle”) the guy said – more like a falling frog, the Boy told me, not really jumping forward much and with my legs and arms slightly bent and spread. But at least I wasn’t the worst – the worst was a guy who looked down right before he jumped (never look down, the guy said, keep your eyes on the horizon, on the hills at the other hand) and fell off like a stone. The guy said that we leave the fear behind on the bridge, once we’ve jumped, it’s all joy and the sensation of flying. Me, I was disoriented and confused by the spinning sesnsation and the upside down trees and the river-sky, and by the time I decided to relax and enjoy the feeling of flying (it was great), I was tugged back in the other direction and was disoriented again. Nonetheless, I was exhilarated that I had done it, a thing that I thought I would never end up doing in this life, and survived. Once I got back on my feet, I was so excited to share with the Boy, that I didn’t stay to watch the others jump (I wish I did), and started running up the forested hill to meet the Boy. I was out of breath, with a dry mouth when recounting my experience to the Boy, that I started heaving and throwing up. Yep, very glamourous indeed.

So there’s the scary, difficult and absurd experience in a nutshell: pooping in the forest, begging water off a stranger, and vomitting on a hill. Immediately after the experience, while still on my adrenaline high, I thought that I could do it again, and would like to do it again, with the Boy this time. Now, just recalling the day and event again… I don’t think I could go through with it another time. The Boy said that the other jumpers / spectators on the bridge were very impressed with me. They thought I was very courageous to have jumped – they didn’t think I would end up doing it. I guess the courage was in overcoming the fear. And my fear was very big indeed. Brownie point and a pat on the back for me. ;p

2) Visited the Stans – Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Krygyzstan (23 April – 8 May): all new countries for me, and a really interesting experience, although I found it quite difficult / challenging during the trip, with the taxi drivers constantly trying to rip you off, the borders closing randomly etc. I need to learn to be less of a control freak when travelling in difficult / unstable environments or countries.

3) Tried belly dancing and even performed in a school showcase (3 July): I’ve been meaning to try belly dancing since my old secondary school days, so it’s great that I’ve finally tried it. And I even performed in the school showcase – not an achievement in the sense that you don’t to be GOOD to do it, you just have to dare or want to do it, and this was a group performance – but it was an achievement for me in that I actually dared do it, bare belly and all… I’ve only danced ‘on stage’ twice in my life – once as a 6-year old in a kindergarden performance, and once as a 13-year old in an ASEAN performance to ‘here comes the hotstepper’. Anyway, I think it’s important to actually perform to really consolidate the knowledge and training. At least for me, the performance really made me focus on practising the routine choreography so I don’t look (too) silly.

4) Ate at several 3-star restos: Sant Pau (3 June), El Celler de Can Roca (4 June), Michel Bras (16 July)

5) Hosted sit-down dinners at our little flat for the first time: raclette dinner (29 January) – easy peasy, no fuss raclette dinner for a party of 6; faux ‘fine-dining’ dinner (12 June) – the Boy suggested a ‘fine dining’ dinner, but it ended up kind of average dining dinner for a party of 6…with me struggling with 4 dishes: a couple of nyonya dishes from first principles (curry capitan chicken, assam prawns), Percy’s recipe of Vietnamese lemongrass chicken, and my easy-win century egg tofy, and the Boy bailing me out by cooking a steamed egg, kangkung belacan, and the rice. It was a poor way to return P’s delicious and technically impressive dinners. But it’s a start. Maybe better in 2012…

6) Completed a 45-mile Palace-to-Palace ride – Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle (18 September): It was more difficult than I had expected it to be beforehand, and I was very happy that I finished it in quite a decent time, even though one of my colleagues managed to finish it 20 minutes ahead of me despite suffering a puncture and having had to walk it for more than 2 miles… oops ;p

7) Attended the 2011 World Pole Dance championships in Budapest (1 October): unfortunately Felix Cane wasn’t there because of her accident / injury. It doesn’t feel right, not having Felix there – I really wanted to watch her perform live and breathe the same air as her (*swoons*). But at least I saw Jenyne Butterfly in the flesh!

‘8) Had some friends over to stay / visit – XM/KF (4-5, 9-10, 21-23 June), YF/Mak (26 July – 2 August): it always feels good to spend time with old friends, especially in a kind of ‘normal’, day-to-day way, over several days.

9) Survived having my parents over for a month (!!) (11 August – 11 September): moral of the story – never again, at least not for such a long time! we spent a week in France, which they enjoyed, although they missed Chinese food and we had to eat crappy Chinese food including buffet food. I’m glad they really enjoyed several experiences during the trip, some to be expected – a helicopter ride around the Mont Blanc mountain ranges (bank-breaking!!), a cable car ride up to L’Aiguille de Midi (it was the first time my dad could see and touch so much snow), others less so – picking berries by the countryside (free! and not even on the plan. the plan was for a walk in the forest – my mom and dad just ended up stopping every time their eagle eyes spotted berries and they would pick them and eat them), and picking mushrooms (although it wasn’t a great success because there weren’t much mushrooms and it started raining soon after so we had to stop, nonetheless, my parents liked looking for them).

10) Discovered some good, interesting and/or hyped new restaurants both in London (Dinner, Pollen Street Social, Hedone, Alyn Williams) and elsewhere (Fraiche, Sportsman, The Pass, SaQuaNa, Grenouillere)

Lowlight:

1) Failing to pass L5 in pole, which was my only resolution for the year. Fail!

Okay, time for bed ahead of the first day of work tomorrow. *grumbles*

2012 resolutions / aims / targets will have to wait for another day then. Beddy byes, and happy 2012. May it be a really fun and exciting year and bring more wisdom and fresh, new and enjoyable experiences to all!