I immediately regret this decision

Fear is a funny thing. It gets a bad rap, but when you think about it, it accompanies all the really great moments in our lives. I know it seems counterintuitive, but rather than strategically avoiding situations cloaked in fear, we should indeed be seeking them. I did this--I sought out adrenaline spiking activities--for two weeks, and became a bit of a junkie real quick. I started simple, nothing too crazy, and went snorkeling with some sharks. I know what you are thinking, and the answer is yes, I have this much free time. I coerced Tucker into joining, which at the time she wasn't pleased about, but ultimately thanked me for enriching her life. We were freaking out in the moments leading up to it, and even in the moments after we were in the water with the giant man eaters, but once you accept that death is probable, you find you become shockingly liberated. We were in the water for about 45 minutes with the 10 or so sharks, sting-rays, turtles and other freakishly large fish. Seriously. I don't know if these fish compete in athletics for their schools (see what I did there), but if they do, these were the Shaquilles of each. At the end of our fear factor thrill, we were issued certificates demonstrating the completion of our impressive experience. Those bad boys went straight to the fridge when Tucker and I got home.

Next stop on the adrenaline train was a little cliff diving. One of my new Australian friends actually suggested this and when opportunity knocks, well, you answer my friends. And so, on a lovely Thursday afternoon I met Taryn at the train station and we headed to "Blackies", a popular cliff line near Perth just along the river. I was really looking forward to this and wasn't scared at all. That moment was fleeting, unfortunately, and as we approached the rocky cliff I suddenly felt as though I might throw up my intestines. Pretty graphic image, but that's what good writers do, we put you in the moment, and in that moment it felt like projectile vomiting was a virtual certainty. As with any moment involving the upchuck reflexes, witnesses are always ideal, so I was rather pleased when I saw that there were two guys fishing while we were preparing to jump. Amused and eager to watch, the guys became instrumental in our jumping as photographers. Anyways, back to the throwing up, it didn't happen, luckily, but that doesn't mean I didn't find alternative methods of embarrassing myself. Like screaming. Man can I scream. It's frightening, honestly, and typically scares me more than I was originally scared. The worst part of the jump, hands down, was the piercing temperature of the water. It truly takes your breath away as well as your ability to swim without flailing your arms dramatically about. I understand it's winter or whatever, but someone should do something about it. Unacceptable.

After successfully jumping off Blackies, I decided I wanted to be scared like that again. Cliff diving on steroids essentially, so the natural progression lead me to skydiving. Fifteen minutes later I was booked for the following week, though this time I found myself less persuasive in convincing Tucks (or anyone else) to join me; however, Tucker wouldn't miss the opportunity to be there for what could be my final morning. The days leading up to the dive I actively avoided thinking about the jump. My check-in time on Thursday was 8:30am in York, about 2 hours away. Eesh. That was both the longest and quietest car ride I've ever experienced. Neither of us knew how to say our potential good-byes, and both of us surely couldn't be bothered to figure that out at 6am. I think the insanity of what I was about to do truly hit us as we turned onto the dodgy dirt road leading to perhaps the tiniest and presumably hazardous plane you'll ever see. I immediately regretted this decision.
I wanted to back out, but that would mean losing my 300$ and I couldn't live with that. What can I say, I was raised to appreciate the dollar more than my life. So I boarded the death trap, begrudgingly, and thought of all the things I'd miss. I had skipped breakfast that morning (admittedly, I was worried the jump would strip me of my ability to control my bowels) so most of my thoughts drifted to my favorite meals: In n Out burger, Sushi, Chipotle, breakfast foods, leftover stuffed-crust pizza, Thanksgiving, Haribo candy, all other candy, the large green olives found at bars, Girl Scout Samoas, Magic Mountain funnel cake, and cherries. The basics really. Things happened really quickly once we had reached 14,000ft. In addition to myself, there were 3 other paying jumpers and 2 who, I am guessing, were jumping to save us in case our parachutes didn't work. I wasn't reassured by this for some reason. I was last. As I scooted down the bench towards the false door on the plane I was grateful I was both dehydrated and starving. Strapped to my master jumper in what can only be described as an adult-bjorn, my legs dangled from the plane along with my remaining hope for survival. And then it happened: he leaned forward and we were plummeting toward the ground, somewhere between flying and falling, and I couldn't help but be overwhelmed with excitement. We were free falling for a minute before the parachute deployed, and then for four minutes we just floated among the clouds. It's unlike anything else. It was the longest and shortest 5 minutes of my life and I can't wait to do it again someday.

There is something to be said for finishing strong and in our final four games of regular season we did just that. Sure, it wasn't always pretty, but we worked through it and came up with 4 wins heading into our bye weekend and playoffs. The final games of the league will be played this weekend, so I don't know yet who we will face first round or even what position we finish in (2nd or 3rd for sure). So I will briefly recap the last games instead. The Cockburn game was close for a bit, but we controlled most of the game and as I mentioned, having Darcee back was fantastic. Half time turned into a 45 minute delay thanks to their Super Bowlesque lighting malfunction. I stunk but Tucker was awesome and saved us. The Mandurah game was ugly. We won by 30 or so, but nothing about it was pretty so I'll spare you. Bunbury was certainly the most challenging of the games. Bunbury beat my team last year for the championship, but earlier this season we killed them by 49 at their place. We suspected this game would be more competitive, especially since we were missing Darcee this time. We were down 5 at half and at some point in the 4th it was a double digit deficit. Fortunately, we rallied together and got stops and converted on offense and managed to get within 2. With under a minute, our point guard hit a deep 3 to give us the lead which we kept. It is always a bit more rewarding beating Bunbury than the other teams. The next night we travelled to Lakeside for our final game. I was especially keen to win since it was my birthday and no one wants to be a loser on their birthday. We opened the game on a 13-0 run and never looked back. It was a really fun way to end season.

This is the first year I've celebrated my birthday outside the country. I assumed that would mean it would be a very unremarkable one since I'd be away from my closest friends and family, but I was happily mistaken. Tucker, my lovely teammate and roomie decided to throw a little surprise party for me at her place on Sunday afternoon. The surprise was successfully alarming and the party was equally fun! There was even cake and presents like birthdays in America--who knew? It was a great day and another happy reminder of how blessed I am. I missed my mama, who always takes me to sushi dinner with family, but it was still a great time.

Although I pretend to not be, I am still a tourist of this fine country, and so I still do touristy things once in a while. As I approach my final month in Australia, I am doing my best to ensure I have seen all this place has to offer (at least Perth area where I live). All the locals repeatedly informed me that a visit to Rottnest Island for the day was a must. It's only a 30-minute ferry ride away and it's meant to be remarkable. Taryn, my mate that jumped Blackies with me, was the lucky volunteer who gave me the tour. We snorkeled, biked and played with Quokkas and it was nothing short of brilliant. All that is left on my list of Aussie adventures is attending a footy game, Australian Football Rules, and thanks to our bye this weekend, I will be doing just that on Saturday.

Some people have to work.

I’ve been negligent. And I don’t have an excuse for not writing—actually, that’s a lie, I have heaps of excuses, but I’ll spare you…mostly because they are pretty pedestrian and you deserve better. I find myself spectacularly overwhelmed at the moment with the amount of information I have to cover (a months worth), so if this post becomes progressively unimpressive and vapid, well, tough crap. Some people have to work alright, and just because I don’t happen to be one of those people, doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to use that argument. Annnnyways, here come the goods, so stay sharp.

Last I left you, we were about to play Perry Lakes and East Perth in a double-header following my first lost since I got out here. My summary of the Perry Lakes game is simple—we got out-worked. Our effort was atrocious, and that’s all I have to say about that. We faced East Perth the following night at home and decided we could be bothered to work hard this game and won by a fair margin. We headed to Kalamunda the following Saturday night and despite an embarrassing first quarter that finished with us down 27-7, we got our poop in a group and tied the game up by half. We dominated the next 20 minutes and won by 20, giving Kalamunda their first home loss of the season. We followed up a great win at Kalamunda with an appalling loss to Willetton at home. I reckon Willetton is the best team we’ve played, but I still think we should beat them. We either play very well or just shockingly poor, it's interesting. And by interesting I mean completely maddening. Long story short, we turned the ball over and didn’t defend—not a winning combination. After the disappointing loss to Willetton, I had to do my least favorite activity: feign cheerfulness. It’s frustrating and I am revolting at it, but it’s part of the gig I suppose. It was my teammates birthday party following our game and it was costume themed, so there was really no way out of this one since I’d spent very little time and money on my costume already. Still, I couldn’t let either go to waste, so feign I did. We were meant to dress up as something starting with the initial of your name—so “s” for me. I considered “single white female” or “sunburnt” before landing on Sandy from Grease. Throw on some black leather and red lipstick and bingo-bango, Sandy. I don’t recall why I thought this would be a good idea, cause it wasn’t, but people seemed to recognize who I was, so yay me. Despite myself, I did end up having some fun, though I made sure the fun was limited, after all, we did just lose.

We had another double-header this past weekend against Perth and Wanneroo. Perth is not a very talented team but they kept it close until the 4^th quarter. Fortunately we were able to string a little scoring run together and get the win at home. First place Wanneroo was the following night and we now sat just behind them in second. We beat them at home by 26 the first time around, but I knew this game would be much closer. For a half the game was much closer, in fact, it was tied after 20 minutes. It stopped being a close game after that. I don’t know if it was fatigue or lack of focus, but we stopped executing on both ends and ended up losing by double digits. Eesh. So after not losing for 9 games, we have now lost 4 of our last 7. 

I’ve been at my job for about 5-6 weeks now, and I am still not allowed in the kitchen. Of course I can be in the kitchen, as an observer or distraction (semantics), but not as a cook or something productive. Look, I don’t blame them, but it is mildly insulting. Surely I can be helpful somehow! Last Friday, however, I was working with one of our chefs, Lisa, and she decided to throw me a bone: skinning the carrots. This was it, I’d finally been called up, I thought. Sure, a 5-year old could do this job, but that wasn’t important. This was my moment to show them I was just as capable, if not more, than a 5-year old, so I needed to bring my A-game. I was going to be the best carrot skinner ever. Obviously this little anecdote wouldn’t have made my blog if that last statement came to fruition. Somewhere in the midst of all my excitement (it was palpable) I must have stopped listening, so instead of skinning the carrots I went ahead and just peeled the carrots… every last one. Too keen, Sam. There’s really no coming back from that either, in terms of a quick fix. Lisa wasn't amused at all. As she approached me, I peered up at her, proudly, anticipating her approval. Instead I got a disgusted if not confused gaze and an escort back to the register.  Looks like I’ll be working there for a bit longer. It’s better this way, not everyone can hack it in the big leagues.

It hasn’t been all work though for me this past month. I’ve been rock climbing (indoor, but still, feel free to be impressed), golfing and dog walking! The golfing turned out to be a bit of an adventure since we decided to rent carts AND let Sami drive one... eventually. I went with a few friends, all of them named Ryan, which was an irritating coincidence, and played a round of 18 for only the 3^rd time in my life I’d guess. We rented carts though, as I mentioned, so I wasn’t too worried. As a matter of fact, being the speedster that I am, I was really excited about potentially driving. I rode with Ryan (haha, obviously) and he took the wheel first—I was fine with this because I knew my moment would come. Well, two holes in and I still hadn't touched the gas pedal; I was starting to worry that maybe Ryan was a bit of a sexist and I’d never drive. I decided to take things into my own hands and 2 holes later I usurped Ryan as the driver while he was searching for his ball in the rough. Boom. I started out slowly, easing my way into things, following the paths and avoiding people. It wasn’t till the 8^th hole that things got disastrous. Ryan hopped out to retrieve his ball and I was feeling entirely too confident behind the wheel when I overlooked a giant sandpit and dove right into it. Just like that, I was the clichéd, incompetent female driver, stuck in a sand ditch. And I kid you not, the 3 Ryans had to dig the cart out for about 10 minutes before it would move. To be clear, I didn't drive into a bunker next to the green in plain sight, no no. I'm not some sort of idiot. This guy came out of nowhere and was suspiciously located alongside the fairway. Needless to say, I was stripped of my driving privileges and viciously mocked. Good times.

We play this weekend at Cockburn and, finally, with our stud post Darcee who has been gone playing internationally for Australia nearly the whole time I've been here. Must be nice. Anyways, she will undeniably be a huge boost for us so I am excited to have her back. We only have 4 games or so until playoffs start, which is both exciting and hard to believe.

Happy Independence Day everybody! If my memory serves, and it usually doesn’t so fair warning, this is my first 4^th of July outside America. I am incredibly bummed to be missing it, but I know I can count on all of you to do some extra celebrating for me. Go USA!