List update

Just a quick update. Went and saw Jersey Boys and it was great. Need to pull my finger out and get some more done over the next couple of months.

1. Read 50 30 books in the year. Doesn't matter what type but as long as its 50 and I will be able to keep track with my new kindle.
2. Do another cooking class. At least 1 but hopefully 2. So far done 6, one of which was with Jamie Oliver and one on the ship
3. Go on a holiday, hopefully to Melbourne. I was last there in 1984, so just a few years ago lol
4. Go to a horse 'cup' day
5. Go down another 20kgs (gotten a bit stuck at the moment)
6. Get a lot more writing from my autobiography done - Been doing heaps of that
7. Have lunch or dinner at Bretts wharf or Aria Brisbane - Peter's boss said he is taking me for my birthday
8. Go through the glow worm caves at Springbrook hopefully when the glow fungi is out as well or the fireflies
9. Do a charity event - with not a lot of walking done today MDAQ walk
10. Have a tarot reading - have the name of someone really good in Fernvale
11. Go to a musical (booked for Jersey Boys in July)
12. Go to gold class movie
13. Go on a cruise - booked and leaving in April
14. Get a fish - either fighter or gold fish or two. Now have Elvis my blue suede fighting fish
15. Go to a zoo
16. Go to brisbane city markets
17. Brisbane's koala and river cruise
18. Toowoomba carnival of flowers
19. Attend a dawn service
20. Go to Q1 lookout
21. Get my bonsai started
22. crystal castle at mullumbimby
23. finish a crocheted rug. I start them all the time, just never finish
24. have a facial Have had a couple now
25. have a massage
26. try a new food Tried dragon fruit and poppadoms and some vegetarian dishes so far and now macaroons
27. aqua aerobics classes.  Done and going to do more
28. be part of a flash mob - now where does someone find these people
29. Drive a convertible with the top down and music blaring.
30. Get family tree in order - got heaps of this done
31. Go on a retreat
32. Go to the comedy club 
33. Play blackjack at the casino - done and won
34. Swim in the ocean - haven't done this for many many years
35. Go to an opera or listen or an opera singer - don't know if I could sit through a whole opera.
36. Spend a night at maleny/montville
37. Hold a snake - to overcome a fear (Went on the Brisbane wheel to overcome fear of heights but had to get off, so only went around once. Never again lol )
38. Attend the good food festival
39. feed the homeless - was looking into this a couple of months ago but didn't do anything about it. (contacted agencies but none have gotten back to me yet)
40. do a belly dancing class - well I have enough belly to wobble haha
41. try a new drink  tried lots of new ones now lol
42. queen mary falls walk
43. drink a cocktail done and dusted
44. host a murder mystery dinner party - have the game here, now to organize
45. Put $5 a day into money box - use it for something special at the end of the year. - been doing this
46. Have a games night with friends
47. Put $50 on black at the casino for my first and only bet at the table. and won
48. Trike ride from Gold Coast to Mt Tambourine wineries
49. Ride on a carousel
50. Have a kick arse birthday party (venue, dj, food sorted. Decorations started)

Books

Everything evokes a memory within you. Today it was talking about Puberty Blues the book. It had me returning to a journey of years past.


Mills and Boon. I (and any of my friends from school also will) remember a friend Belinda, who use to sit in class pretending to read a text book, all the while a Mills and Boon was hidden inside it. She was always getting into trouble for reading them in class. My thoughts were always that I would never read that dribble. Hmmm, well I think Belinda might of been ahead of her time, as here I am some 30 odd years later and yes, I read Mills and Boon. I must say though, that they are a lot more racy now than back then.


When Puberty Blues came out, it was THE book to read. A story that told of how things really were with a lot of young girls at the time. Also a book that had my mother asking 'why I was reading that rot'.


The books that I was reading that I didn't let my mother know about - she was a mills and boon reader - were Valley of the Dolls, and Jackie Collins books. These books were all about the things that you couldn't, or rather were not allowed to talk about: drugs and sex.


These days, when you compare the once tame Mills and Boons to them, they are getting pretty much on par of content.


Its funny when you start to think about the time when you read those books. You get a happy warmth through your body and a smile on your face. Whether it was the content or that it was a time of freedom and fun, it brings on a great feeling. One of being relaxed and carefree.


Another book from that era and one that I wish to get and read again - Sunshine by Norma Klein. Based on the true story of Jacquelyn Helton and her battle with a terminal condition while raising her young child. One that whether reading the book or watching the movie, you needed tissues. 


As a young girl, I always use to take The Diary of Anne Frank, out of the library. The library use to be on the corner of Nicholas and Limestone streets in Ipswich. The Diary of Anne Frank was in the adult section upstairs from the children's books. The librarian use to say 'you're taking it out again!!' Must be where my love of autobiographies started.


Way back in 1997 I think it was. I met a woman on the net called Constance Foland. I can't even remember how I met her to start with, but she asked me to help her with a book she was writing. It was about a young girl with a friend with muscular dystrophy. She wanted my imput as to what would and wouldn't be possible for this boy to do. 


When the book was published she sent me a copy of the book. It was really interesting to read the things I had said to put in and the changes I had said needed to happen. It made me feel a real part of it.


And although I have enjoyed all the books above, you can't beat a good biography. I tend to go more for those that aren't of famous people. Broken - the story of a survivor of child abuse, so bad that most others would not have come out of it as strong as Shy Keenan. 


Don't tell mum I work on the oil rigs:she thinks I am a piano player in a whore house - a story by and about Paul Carter. This one had me laughing so much at times that I was crying. It tells of his travels around the world working on oil rigs and what they get up to off work hours.

Reading can teach you, transfer your mind to fantasy worlds, make you happy, sad, angry and every emotion in between.  It can let you remember times now gone and keep your memories alive. 

Its also one of the biggest gifts that you can give to your child.