Rootie is throwing meme-themed gauntlets around (Rootie, do I link to you or not?!!)... she seems to have put my name on one in a roundabout way, and given she's pretty persuasive, and still carrying a cane since her hip operation, I guess I better make this one of the ones I do.

"List me 8 of your finest accomplishments. Don’t be shy, or modest, You know you’ve done some cool things in your life, now list them."

OK, so this sort of thing is hard for me, because I tend to qualify things as not being as good as they could be, or as good as someone else does them.

1. My HSC (Higher School Certificate -ie. secondary school leaving certificate) score was 432/500. In that era with the way they marked the HSC, anything over 400 was considered a damn good mark. I think it put me in the top 10% in the state.. and top 10 in my school year. The marks were scaled, and I got 100/100 for French Z (two years of French - a new unit introduced that year), which meant I must have got top in the State. Voilà. C'est bon, non?

2. I was a Rotary Youth Exchange Student the year after I left school. I spent 11 months in Central Java, Indonesia. Having done Indonesian for 5 years at high school I had a bit of a head start with the language, but conversational Indonesian was very different to classroom Indo. Still, when I visited other students in Jakarta, an Indonesian there told me I spoke Indonesian with a Javanese accent. I took that as a big compliment. When having a go at Javanese, the regional language that everyone spoke around me, my school friends and their mother once laughed. I wondered what I'd done wrong. "No, no", they assured me.. "It was perfect. It just sounds so incongruous coming from a white person."

3. I've done numerous canyons (what we call 'canyoning'), abseiling down waterfalls and slippery cliffs; wading, swimming or liloing through deep pools. Some of that involves a bit of adrenalin.

4. I've rafted the Franklin River - on a 10 day private rafting trip with Marc and friends. (Couple of photos). ie. no tour guide.. just us. Fantastic experience. (I couldn't find a link that really encapsulates the significance of being able to raft this river - this summarises it a bit...)

5. I've paddled a few canoe marathons - The (404 km Murray Marathon four times, and the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic (111km) four times. Both in a double kayak, mostly with Marc, but once (the Hawkesbury) with another girl. I wouldn't mind doing them again some day.

6. We owner-built a house, from the ground up ; yep, the whole blood, sweat and tears thing. OK, so Marc was the boss, but I was his sidekick - mortar mixer, circular saw operator, 'gofer', holder of gyprock, lifter of heavy things, painter/stainer... and for a year before we moved in, new mum to baby #1.

7. Mother of three very attractive, sporty and smart girls who are a credit to us when they are out.

8. OK, so yes, recently we've ridden a few biggish bike rides on tandems with the kids. Two eight-day rides of around 500km, plus various smaller ones. Marc and I have also ridden 100 MILES in one day on our tandem.


OK.. so consider the gauntlet thrown down, and double-dared, etc etc...

Labels: meme