T4: Salamanca Markets

L to R: Mel, Tori, Alex, Cass, Caz, Jojo, Duff, Joe, and Sam at the Salamenca Markets in Hobart


Boutiquey shops lined the street


Tori's surprise birthday cupcakes


A rousing game of twister featuring Joe, Cass, Alex, and Duff

The massive bonfire Hughie built in the field near the house

Cassie's deluxe marshmallow roasting stick

Alex made the rounds to wake us all up and get the group moving Saturday morning. We drove into Hobart to go to the Salamenca Markets. They are proclaimed to be the best markets in Australia, with lots of homemade food in additional to crafts, clothes, and one-off eccentricities. The strangest discovery was moon pads – the hippy environmentalist alternative to disposable sanitary napkins, similar in some ways to a cloth diaper. Yuck! We had lunch at a café called Sais, then headed back to the farm. We had a relaxing and scheming afternoon, as it was one of the girls’ birthdays and we made cupcakes to surprise her. Hughie grilled steaks for dinner, then we played twister, jenga, charades, and had a giant bonfire in the paddocks.

T3: Tahune Airwalk

We start our walk into the Tahune rainforest

What would a rainforest be without a little rain and HAIL?!!

The Tahune Airwalk cantilevers over the river

The upside to the intermittant rain was this magnificent rainbow

The swinging bridge was the highlight of the hike

After a quick communal breakfast at the B&B, we drove south along the Huon Trail down to the Tahune Airwalk, a cantilever steel walkway 45 meters high, above the tree line. As we headed into the rainforest to hike up to the airwalk, it started raining and HAILING. Fortunately, we’d had the foresight to purchase cheap plastic bag ponchos, but it was rather humorous to be hiking in such inclement weather conditions. One advantage of the on again, off again rain was our sighting of a spectacular rainbow over the river that cut through the forest. Some fellow hikers recommended the swinging bridges hike, so after the airwalk, we headed along the trails onto the swinging bridges. The trek was well worth it. Cassie and I spaced ourselves across the lengthy span and double bounced each other on the bridge, then swung from side to side. It felt more like a trampoline than a reliable supportive structure. We left Tahune in time to return to Hobart for our “Wild Thing” jet boat adventure, which was a tour along the southern coastline of Australia at 100km/hr. Unfortunately the tour was cancelled due to the rain and strong winds. We were disappointed but already wet and exhausted.

Another girl we work with, Alex, took a five week leave of absence from work to help her boyfriend Hughie on his tulip farm in Tasmania. We were planning to meet up with them and seven of Alex’s girlfriends at the airport late Friday night, then drive out to the farm all together. However, Alex’s invitation to come to the farm house early was extra appealing with the bad weather and cancelled boat cruise. The farm house was a little more than an hour’s drive into rural Tasmania from Hobart. We drove up to a massive brick farmhouse with a circular driveway. We had a warm welcome and a tour of the mansion. The house was built 70 years before and had been passed through the family. There were heaps of bedrooms, many of which were formerly the maid’s quarters. With twelve of us in the house for the weekend, we still each had our own bed with an electric blanket, a great novelty in a cold farmhouse! Following a dinner of spaghetti bolgnese (that’s what they call meat sauce in Australia), Cassie insisted we make self-saucing chocolate pudding, a big farm tradition. It was a fudgy chocolate cake with chocolate sauce, topped with cream. Yum. The girls arrived at the farm around midnight, and after selecting bedrooms, we turned in relatively early.

T2: Port Arthur

Red rocks at Sleepy Bay in Freycinet National Park


A jaw-dropping sight en route to Port Arthur


Our cruise tour around the islands at Port Arthur

The old convict's quarters at Port Arthur

Cassie models the hot 80's disco bed in our budget B&B

We started off with homemade corn fritters, chutney, and bacon at the bed and breakfast, then headed off for a few more quick walks around Freycinet. We saw Cape Tourville and Sleepy Bay. The day was overcast and foggy, but the red rocks were still quite a sight, offset by the striking color of the water.

Then we continued down the coast to Port Arthur, with many oohs and aahs and scenic detours en route. The roads were all very curvy and I had to laugh at the speed limit signs which said “it’s a limit, not a challenge”. Port Arthur is a historic sight of the prisons and keeper’s quarters from when convicts were originally deported from England to Tasmania, many for petty crimes, and others for more serious offenses. As it’s right on the water, our historic tour included a boat cruise around nearby islands. Port Arthur abuts the dangerous Southern Ocean which leads to Antarctica (only 800 nautical miles away… I think). We did our own walking tour and tour of the prison and homes before we were caught in a torrential downpour. We raced back to the museum and decided to forego our guided tour as we would be completely drenched. The museum was surprisingly interesting as it explained different roles and assignments the convicts had. Skilled craftsman all worked in their trade, be it shoe smithing, cooking, or medical. Others were on chain gangs, chopping trees or building structures. Many tried to escape, but were caught, some returning to more acclaimed roles than previously because of the admiration they received from other inmates.

We drove onto Hobart, the capital city of Tasmania that evening. We checked into our bed and breakfast accommodations just before dinner. Our more economical lodging was rather entertaining – we had a very 80’s bed with a vinyl headboard with built-in radio and swivel, dimming lights. Matching furniture cluttered the large room. An adjacent converted veranda contained an additional bed, seating, and the bathroom, which was all leaning at a 10-20 degree slope and felt rather unsafe.

We walked along the port and Salamenca Street to find a place for dinner. We’d found all of Tasmania to be rather quiet and dead, wondering where all of the people were. This area seemed to be a little more active, but still not thriving as you’d expect in a capital city. We settled into a delicious Thai restaurant and retired early.

T1: Wineglass Bay

Cassie testing the bridge at Cataract Gorge in Launceston


me in front of the Cataract Gorge in Launceston


Wineglass Bay in Freycinet National Park


The three sisters (self-dubbed)

I was literally less than a foot away from this wallaby and her joey but thought better than to extend my hand to pet her.

Our classy bed and breakfast was right on the bay.

I went to Tasmania with my friend from work, Cassie. We spent three days touring the east coast, then met up with some other girls for the weekend. We arrived in Launceston at 10:30AM Wednesday, had a quick walk around Launceston, went to a café called Relax for breakfast, and headed to Launceston’s sole attraction, the Cataract Gorge, with the world’s longest single span chairlift. We bypassed the chairlift as it was crackling and creaking along and less than impressive, but the gorge was beautiful, the result of earthquake movement.

We drove onto Freycinet National Park, where we hiked up to the Wineglass Bay Lookout. The drive was “scenic”… there are NO signs anywhere in Tasmania. Okay, maybe a slight exaggeration, but we drove (I drove) 40 km beyond our turnoff before we realized we were headed in the wrong direction. The good news is we had the delight of driving through Ross, a very quaint historic town. A slight detour never hurts. Wineglass Bay is touted as one of the top ten beaches in the world. Deep blue and turquoise water rolled into the silvery sand coastline. Apparently the sand is so clean that it squeaks below your bare feet as you walk along it, as it would on a gymnasium floor. The beach was offset by mountains and jagged rocks. I think the unusual thing was to enjoy both the beach and the mountains in a single experience. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough daylight to make the trek down to the beach, and my quads were probably thanking me for that. Our hike to the lookout was only 1.5 hours return, but I was regretting my personal training session from the day before, where I had done three sets of 20 squats. Cassie had a deep appreciation for the nature and took lots of artistic photos along the way, of the banksy men in the trees, the fire spitting caterpillars, and the swirled tree trunks. I spotted a wallaby hopping across the trail in front of us and swiped a picture with me within 5 meters. Then, we came across a wallaby with a joey in its pouch at the bottom of the trail. I could have pet this thing, we were so close. We also sighted an echidna crossing the road.

We went to the only viable dining venue in the area for dinner that night – the local pub which felt much more like a veteran’s cafeteria than any kind of bar or restaurant but the food was surprisingly good. We spent the night at a swank bed and breakfast with a view of the bay. We cozied up to the furnace after hot showers with hot tea and magazines and fliers to plan our next day’s adventure.

Six Degrees of Separation

Jade’s boyfriend Joe’s housemate Liam’s brother Damon had a housewarming party last night in Fitzroy. Yes, I went to the party not knowing anyone who actually lived in the house. Jade, Joe, and I decided to go with a Bohemian theme, for which Jade prepared daisy head pieces, which were, I dare say, the hit of the party. A smashing success! Dan did my hair for the evening which was such a treat for me. Let me set the scene a little. There was a great courtyard that wrapped around the house, with a fire pit going to keep us warm. There were a couple kegs and a basin of 21 bottles of champagne. The champagne was left over from their parents’ party so it was high end bubbly. People were dressed in various self dictated themes. I met a couple people from New York and Canada, and lots of unemployed people who work only enough to get by. Every person I met was very friendly. I decided to head home around 1AM since I really needed a productive Sunday. Good thing I left when I did. The rest of the crew returned this morning at 8AM. We sat on our roof (accessed via an upstairs window) for a couple hours in the sun and chatted, I the only sober one who’d slept. Ah, the excitement of our house.

Farewell Kingo

me, Louise, Gabe, Kingo

The Texas contingent - Casey and me from Austin with Sara from Houston

Rocco's "Blue Steel" imitation

Out for a spin on the dance floor - Dills crouched behind Cass, Rocco, and Tuffy

Friday was “Walk to Work Day” in Australia, so I did my duty and walked to work. It took me an hour and ten minutes. It was a nice walk, a good way to start the day. I figure I’m actually making time by walking to work. It takes me about half an hour, sometimes longer, via public transport, but I’m getting an hour of exercise and not having to spend wasted time commuting to work or to the gym. I am going to try walk to work a couple times a week.

One of my project managers, Kingo, bid farewell to URS on Friday. He was a well-liked guy and plenty of people joined in the celebration to see him off. It started with a very extended pub lunch, in which I unfortunately was not able to fully participate. Too much work! After Friday Night Drinks and the traditional stop at the neighboring bar Blvd, we headed to A Bar Called Barry in Collingwood, on the south end of Fitzroy. The bar was Kingo’s pick due to their 80’s music selection and dance floor. I decided not to drink alcohol for the night, though the guys attempted several times to cut me off from the diet cokes. “Jen, take it down a notch!” is something I’m very used to hearing from these blokes. They say it’s a sign of affection. I feel very loved. The caffeine kept me going till about 3AM. It was a fun night with lots of dancing.

The Week's Happenings

Monday night Jade cooked a yummy vego dinner for all of us at the house, we had a quick “family” meeting, and spent the rest of the night chatting with our new model friend Genevieve. The stories she had, the life she’s led! It’s a whole other world.

Tuesday night I had the wrap up session of Landmark Forum. Dan, Jade, and Joe came with me, along with my coworker Signe. Seeing all my new friends from the weekend felt a bit like going to a high school or college reunion, which is particularly strange given I met every one of these people only five days prior. It’s amazing the connection you can make with someone when you are open and vulnerable and really listening.

Wednesday night I went to a boxing class at my gym. I walked into a room of nine burly men… and me, the lone girl. I initially felt a little intimidated and out of place but quickly dismissed that thought and realized there are distinct advantages to working out with nine men. The class was sensational. The instructor and guys took a real interest in helping me and challenging me, and told me where to buy my own gear after class. I followed through on that during my lunch break today. No more stinky shared gloves for me!! At home that night, I enjoyed chatting with Dan’s friend he knew from Sydney who now lives in London (from France originally), who’s just visiting Melbourne for a few days. It seems our house has a steady flow of interesting strangers. I really like that about it.

Today I attended the hip hop dance class, but rather than my one-on-one cameo I scored last time, there were a whopping two other people in the class. The instructor is actually really great with really funky cool routines, a different one each time, so I can’t understand the low attendance. If I can dance anything like her one day, it’d be amazing. Maybe in two years… After the class, I headed over to Zoe and Ned’s house in Port Melbourne. They’re the owners of Tyr, the dog I watched a few weeks ago. Ned caught a 60 cm snapper yesterday so he cooked up a gourmet dinner for the three of us. He stuffed the thick slab of fish (eye still in) with tomatoes, onions, white wine, lemon juice, and rosemary. While that was on the grill, we made the yummiest fresh salad with a balsamic/olive oil dressing. The food was gourmet looking and tasted divine. We finished off with grapes and strawberries tossed in balsamic and sugar (who knew?). The whole meal tasted so healthy and delicious, and amazing knowing Ned had caught the fish himself. It was so fun to see Tyr again too. I got a great greeting – a hug around the neck (one paw lopped over each shoulder) with lots of kisses on my chin and cheeks.

Landmark Forum

This weekend changed my life… forever. My housemate Dan, friend Kathryn, and others raved about a course called Landmark Forum. It’s a three day seminar followed by an evening session in living powerfully and living a life you love. In my constant search for ultimate satisfaction and fulfillment, I figured I’d give it a try. I’m so happy I did. Where to start? This weekend was filled with epiphanies, one after another. Due to intellectual property, I’m not at liberty to disclose the specifics of what I learned, but what I can do is tell you how it affected me. We learned different concepts and ways of looking at our past to unveil the things that had been in our blind spot, things that affect the way we think without us even realizing it.

My whole life I’ve been searching for the root cause of my issue with weight, to no avail, until now. I had a perfect family life with the best parents, no abuse, no neglect, nothing but continual love and support, nothing to point to. What I realized this weekend is that when I was young and taken to doctors and nutritionists, I made it mean that I was broken and needed to be fixed, that they were telling me I could never be happy and successful and have a good life unless I lost the weight. I resisted and resented that idea and set out to prove that I could be happy and successful in spite of my weight. The more I weighed, the stronger my counter statement would be. This brought about inauthenticity in my life. I took on a false sense of righteousness and pride. I started thinking if someone doesn’t like me because I’m fat, then they’re missing out and they’re in the wrong. They’re judging me and they shouldn’t be. Of course there were huge costs of this mentality. Primarily, I didn’t care about my health or losing weight. Having started and stopped dieting more than 20 times in my lifetime, it was huge for me to realize that my lack of commitment to a healthy lifestyle was related to this meaningless need to prove I could be happy fat. If I really lost the weight, I wouldn’t get to make my point anymore. I wouldn’t get to be right and make other people wrong. Of course there were other impacts to my dating life, in having to overcome the fat first impression, and in blocking my parents from loving and helping me in this area. It was a really off limits subject for me. I was right, and everyone else just needed to shut up about it, enough already. I am inventing a new possibility in my life to be vulnerable and transparent with my family and with everyone in my life, and also to be responsible for my health.

I had a huge revelation regarding work as well. I’ve always felt that engineering wasn’t the perfect fit for me, that I would be better suited for another career. I was never sure what that was, and hence I stayed in engineering exploring different areas, attempting to find the right fit. I even took a very sophisticated aptitude test in August 2006, which ironically listed civil engineering as my top consideration. In my third year of college, I botched a big project, missing a very basic and key civil engineering design principle. The professor said he couldn’t believe I missed that and that he expected more of me. I didn’t even fail the project. I got an 83, but in my warped interpretation, it meant I would be a bad engineer. Throughout my career, I’ve strengthened my story every time I made a mistake. Every time I missed something or didn’t figure out something as quickly as someone else, every time I missed a deadline or went over budget, every time my thinking or approach was challenged reinforced my belief that I was a bad engineer. This thought has prevented me from being really invested in my work, from giving 100% and risking another big failure. No wonder I am not satisfied and fulfilled by my work. I’ve been resigned to the idea that this just wasn’t it for me, that I was treading water until I figure out what to pursue next. I am inventing a new possibility in my life to be invested. I could be a really great engineer, but I’ll never know until I really try, until I really put it out there and risk missing something again.

And all of this was by the end of the first night. There was so much more that followed, so many more huge breakthroughs. I had a complete shift in my way of thinking and my life will be forever changed because of it. I really understand how to separate what happened in the past from my interpretation and perception of it. I now know how to be present in the moment without letting any concocted meaning rule over a situation. I identified the moments in my childhood and adolescence that produced my strong suits, which make up my personality. I understand how those strong suits affect my daily life, both positively and negatively. I acknowledge the distinction between change & transformation and between deciding & choosing. I grasp the power of integrity, especially living my word - doing what I say I’ll do and being who I say I’ll be. Perhaps the biggest thing was really realizing I don’t have to discover who I am or find myself. I've been wondering about this for so long... really trying to figure out what my purpose is and how I'm uniquely equipped to do something extraordinary based on my aptitudes, personality, and experiences. What I realized is that I am whoever I want to be and say that I am. I don't have to have a reason to explain why I want what I want; I can simply want it. And if I invent it as a possibility in my life, I can be it.

If you’re the slightest bit intrigued and think you may get something out of it, I highly, highly, highly recommend it. Check out www.landmarkeducation.com. They offer this course all around the world with lots of classes in the U.S. I can’t begin to tell you the profound difference it’s made in the way I think. Let me tell you, I thought I was pretty great to begin with (there goes the righteousness!). But I am now in the process of being radically transformed from pretty great to extraordinary.

Casey's Big 3-0 Surprise

The sparklers on this carrot cake nearly set off the office fire alarms on Friday. Whoops!


Tuffy was rummaging through the wild west show bag before Casey (Texas) even arrived.

Casey sporting his wild west cowboy hat whilst drinking a sensational margarita.

Cass threatens to shoot. And with that scary face, who wouldn't back down?

Robo, Sharon, Greg, Sam, Rocco, Cass, Keithy, Casey, Tuffy, and Fi.

Tuffy and Sammy show there macho men side as they suck down chili beer. I believe the quote was "it tastes like burning".

It took a while to blow the candles out on this lemon meringue cheesecake. White powdered sugar was flying everywhere.

Tuffy arranged a surprise dinner party at Coyote Cafe on Nicholson St to celebrate Casey's 30th birthday. I was the decoy having made plans to take Casey for a mexican birthday dinner at 7PM Sunday. Everyone else was to arrive at 6:30PM, but there were many stragglers. Unfortunately, timely Casey overestimated the time required to walk to the restaurant, and arrived TWENTY minutes early. His arrival was more of a surprise to the five or six of us already there than to him. Despite our blown cover, it was a happy surprise for him to be surrounded by so many friends. Of course, he was overjoyed with the bag of goodies in his seat and delightfully wore the cowboy hat. Okay, I'm not sure he was overjoyed or delighted, but he was definitely a good sport. The margaritas were sensational - best I've had in Melbourne for sure and in my top 10 ever. This is a huge discovery in a city where good mexican food is hard to come by. The food was alright - it was an Australianized version, better than I'd had before but still not up to Texas quality. The slow service was the thing most related to mexican style. Tuffy's girlfriend Fi brought a yummy lemon meringue cheesecake for non-chocolate eater Casey.

The boys went out for a drink after dinner and I returned home to the non-stop party at my own house. There was one group in the lounge and another in the courtyard with a music DVD competing with the cranked up stereo in the neighboring kitchen. When I headed to bed that night, I tried to block out the sounds of Jade's stamping foot and clapping hands directing Dan to walk the kitchen runway to her beat. It amazes me how much the boy practices walking.

Royal Melbourne Show

Dan's not only modeling, but also styling all the models' hair

A few of the "real" professional models

Dan starts his strut down the runway

A snapshot of rides at the show

This is what prize winning cows look like. Huh?!


What style! Her ear is covering her blue eye shadow - a real looker!

Each year, the Royal Melbourne Show takes place at the horse racing fair grounds over an 11 day span. It's a county fair type event with rides, livestock, dog shows, fashion shows, vendor booths, fair food (cotton candy = fairy floss), and infamous showbags (described later).

As a finalist in the model competition, Dan walks the runway for the fashion show held at 1PM, 2PM, 3PM and 4PM daily. The 10 finalists follow about 20 professional models that cycle through several wardrobe changes. I accompanied Dan to the backstage model area Sunday morning. As his underpaid assistant, I worked wonders with the straightening iron. The hair style of the day was a puffed mane - yuck. The models were all very sweet and talkative, some of them eating ice cream, and others throwing away the bread from their sandwiches. They immediately assumed I was the next supermodel. I had to correct them; despite my good looks and obvious charm, I am simply committed to engineering. There were two stylists hired to do hair exclusively, but the models were lined up with special requests for Dan, despite the other two being available to work. It was sweet to see how much they really admired Dan and respected his styling skills. It was great to get an inside peak at what goes into putting on a fashion show, seemingly a whole lot of hurry up and wait.

Phill met me at the show around 12:30 and we toured around all the attractions, whizzing by most of it and stopping for the odd cow or singer or billboard. Phill and I were surprisingly fascinated with the livestock pavilion, the cow and goat showings in particular. It's so hard to understand what goes into the judging rationale for these things. We watched Dan walk the runway twice, at 2PM and 4PM. I did a little bit of hooting and hollering at the end of the show. The models smirked, as we had agreed before the show that I would be the audible cheerer.

A showbag is similar to a ready-made trick-or-treat bag filled with complete garbage and sold at bargain basement prices. The mile long lines of people waiting to enter the showbag pavilion were atrocious and enough to offset Phill and I. I'm sure we missed out by stopping by one of the smaller booths along the perimeter of the fair. I purchased a couple showbags including a Wild West themed showbag for Casey's birthday dinner. He's nicknamed Texas here, after the Texas Ranger. This enormous bag bursting with a cowboy hat, rainbow Indian headdress, spurs, four guns (one of which lit up and had sound effects), a pick up sticks type game, and other miscellaneous junk cost a whopping $12. It was amazing to see how much junk they stuffed into one showbag. Another $10 bag I bought for the primary chocolate lover and provider at work was filled with various chocolate lollies and a stuffed bear.

Lygon St

Dan, Jade, Will, Joe at Il Gambero on Lygon St

I started the morning at Vic Market bargaining for some new runners (tennis shoes). After starting to walk away nearly ten times, I finally scored some $120 Asics for $85. I headed to the gym to give my new shoes a workout but the gym was practically empty and it was a beautiful sunny day so I decided to walk home, about 6 km from the city. It was a nice walk, one I should try to do to and from work more often during the week. When I got home, I actually turned on the footy game to see how the other semi-final games were going. I know, ridiculous! I actually enjoy footy a lot more than American football. I could get into it, though I still haven't chosen a team to barrack. Maybe next season.

Saturday night, I went to Lygon St with Dan, Jade, Joe, and Jade's friend Will. After a stop at the clearskin factory for some cheap but tasty BYO wine, we headed to Il Gambero. I'd only eaten on Lygon St twice previously but we went to one of the two restaurants I'd been to - must be a local favorite. We had a real Italian waiter which is actually rare along this stretch of Italian restaurants and gelati. Jade, Joe, and Will left fairly early, but Dan and I carried the torch. After finishing up on Lygon St, we went to The Retreat (a bar on Sydney Rd not far from our house, where I'd seen Tuffy play about a month ago). We met a few of Dan's friends and made some new ones. Surprisingly I also saw three coworkers that night, one on Lygon St and two at The Retreat - made me feel like such a local.

Strike

Our group took over the middle section of the bowling alley (four lanes).

Henry and I went gutter for gutter.

Maria, Mel (who I walk with at lunch sometimes), me

Andrew, Robo, Cass intent on the footy game at Oxfords

Mr Jigga jamming out at Miss Libertine on Franklin St (Sam is in the gray/green shirt in the middle)

URS treated each workgroup to a mid-year social function. The water team elected to go bowling at Strike. There were about 25-30 of us who made our way across the city, traded in our shoes for some silver velcro gangsta bowling shoes, and launched heavy balls towards the pins. I was more than a little rusty. I bowled 10 gutter balls within one game, with one fluke strike. Despite a disastrous but not ultimately worst score of 52, my game was on an upward swing at the end. However, I had no chance to redeem myself with a second game. Instead, the entire group retreated to the karaoke room, where each and every person proceeded to sing. At first no one volunteered, but most unexpectedly, a quiet, reserved, workerbee of the group boldly sang with extreme enthusiasm, volume, and swinging of her body. Her very bad, VERY BAD singing (we're talking worse than Cameron Diaz in My Best Friend's wedding kind of bad) inspired the group to rip through a myriad of 80's pop rock mixed with the occasional Britney Spears rendition.

After the bowling function ended, a group of us continued onto Oxfords pub to watch the end of the semi-finals footy game, and from there, onto Miss Libertine's, where our coworker Sam had an EP launch (CD release) for his band Mr Jigga. It's an electronica band, but very vocal and instrumental, with musically complex and interesting songs. I danced for hours straight through their awesome performance. It was one of my most fun nights here.

Happy Birthday to my sister Katie!!!

Shapes

I joined Shapes Health & Fitness Monday night. It's located in the Banana Alley Vaults across the river from the office. It's on my way to work and home from work - no excuses!! It's a funky little place comprised of several long tunnels with hidden passageways (I sometimes cannot find the arched cut out doorways in the curved walls linking the tunnels together). One tunnel is lined with cardio equipment, another with weights, another with classrooms, and a fourth with locker rooms and the spa area. I've been smothered with loads of personal attention since joining. I attended a Thai kickboxing class Tuesday night with only three other people - two guys who'd been doing it a while, a petite cute girl who'd only done it once before, and me. I took great satisfaction in destroying the teacher's initially low expectations of me. Those many years of body combat/kickboxing classes were not wasted! My technique was strong and my intensity stronger. Hiya!! The instructor barely spoke English but kept shouting "face!", "when I say face, you like this", indicating that we move into a defensive position guarding our face from attack. Thursday night was an even more intense experience as I was the sole participant in the hip hop dance class. I initially thought that I would be in for some major humiliation, but then chucked that thought aside and realized I was getting some premium one on one training. Dancing queen has acquired some new moves!!