2023 it's almost a wrap.

I updated my Fun Stuff blog post for 2023 and discovered that I did a lot more than I remembered.  The past couple of months have been slow for me because there is a drought and thus no local water.  The last time I paddled was the Coosa on Halloween weekend. 

Many decisions to be made coming up, including going back to regular exercise, because I miss it for stress relief and fitness goals; I also dread it, because I feel like I don't have a lot of time to rest and it can be a chore. 

Going skiing soon and looking at my list for skiing (I make lists to check off all the things I need for the different hobbies I have) I emphasized doing leg work for 2 months prior and toenail maintenance.  oops.  I tend to lose my big toenails from skiing if I don't trim and file them properly. TMI?  

Yes I have been properly fitted for ski boots.

The Scuba thing has been really cool to explore this year, and it was not without some anxiety at times.  I had to learn how to stay calm, and return to being calm after I got anxious, and I'm hoping this information transfers to my other sports.  It mostly involves spelling words like zucchini and pondering the ingredients to cook a nice pasta primavera. I'm not making that up.  It was a suggestion from a women's ski group and it was a good one - think about making a recipe and all the steps - it's a distraction.   Another thing that helped was remembering this phrase, "Are you breathing?  Then you're safe".  Focusing on breathing and trying to breath slower has a nice side effect of calming down.  Now I'm imagining being in a big-ass rapid and trying to spell zucchini.  No that isn't what I meant. My hope is that being comfortable underwater will improve my whitewater rolling.  I did do a nice roll below Moccasin Gap surfing in October so I feel encouraged.

I have most of the gear required now.  (of course, I'm a gear head).  I bought a used Zeagle Zena BCD from my instructor, and for regs I have ordered a special deal on the Atomic B2 for a Christmas present to myself that includes a free Z2 Octo. My mask is a Scubapro, and my fins are Mares Avanti Quattro +.  Shoutout to Scuba Ventures in Vestavia for my gear and instruction. I have a Shearwater Perdix AI I bought online on sale from Santa Barbara Aquatics for my computer, and a used transmitter and SPG I bought from my friend Scott. I have a 3mm wetsuit and liner from Amazon, nothing fancy but fine for warm water, and a nice Mares 3mm shorty I bought on sale on vacation in Honduras. The only things I don't have is a backup computer (Scott says that's overkill but hmmm) and my own tank. When I went to Roatan in November I didn't take my BCD, and I used rental regs and shorty as well.  The rental BCD was Mares jacket style, and I am familiar with jacket style so I was happy with it. The rental shorty was so nice I bought my own at the giant Mares store in West Bay. At home in scuba classes I had been using a shorty from the thrift store that was kind of annoying. It had been on a few wet cave trips and seen better days.  The rental regs were Mares Rover, and while fine, they had me thinking I wanted my own.  The set I had breathed a bit wheezy, not enough for me to exchange them but still.  Also videos like this: https://www.tiktok.com/@kenny_dyal/video/7280892118606941483  ...and other tales of things like people puking in regulators made me think that it would be nice to have my own.  It is after all a primary life support system, knowing the service interval etc. is a good thing too.  Now I'm imagining this reading like I'm some kinda princess.  Well I guess I am. A good friend recommended me buying my own regulators as my first major scuba purchase.  It was my third so there's that. I held out as long as I could on dropping that $$$.

I also have several pieces of clothing from Waterlust,  bras, shorts and leggings.  These will also work for kayaking and swimming. The designs, quality of construction, and fit are excellent.  https://waterlust.com/collections/womens

Now, this gear techy stuff is the sort of post I would have put on my main blog, but some of my postings there are picked up in kayak related blog sharing bots, and there were errors made, so here it is in my personal log instead.  Indeed this is why I created a personal log blog.  hog schmog s-log.

So anyway, in 2023 I went skiing in Aspen in Feburary, then went to Guatamala in April; I climbed a volcano and went birding in the forest while I was there, amongst other cool things.  I paddled a lot of local water this past winter and spring, went on the Ocoee, Nantahala, and Hiwassee, learned to scuba dive over the summer, went hiking in the Great Smoky Mtn. National park a couple times this fall, went to Roatan and dived in November, went back to Tumbling Rock Cave in December, and took my grand-nephews to H_ cave for their Christmas present.  I sold kayaks and miscellaneous other gear including a 600' rope I won at a caving event this past spring, to pay for the scuba stuff, and I plan on selling more gear I just don't use. Selling things instead of just adding to my collection of gear is a new thing for me and it's working out well.  I also took piano and guitar lessons, started learning basic cardistry which is magic tricks using playing cards, many tutorials available via youtube, cheapest hobby ever, and went bowling for the first time in about 25 years.  I still can't bowl well.  

Here is hoping 2024 is awesome and maybe I can make some music again sometime. 

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