… I am trying out.

I’m back to embroidering! I’m doing a Cross Stitch kit I bought years ago. I’ve been doing it on the train to work and it’s been really good to get that productivity again.

I’ve started knitting! I am now about 80cm into my 140 cm scarf. Granted I’m using a large yarn and size 7 needles, but it’s still an accomplishment!

I’ve now got an electric guitar! I bought cheap on ebay. I’m going to learn how to play it.

I can ride a bike! Considering that prior to this year I haven’t ridden since I was about 12, this is awesome.

Things are pretty cool right now.

What I really like about doing all these things were that these are my ideas that I just started doing struck by an odd moment of inspiration as opposed to making myself ‘improve’ myself because I have nothing better to do. And it feels fantastic.

Well in the never ending saga of my life, as I noted earlier, I now have a bicycle.

So in Round 2 of mia v.s. The Bike, the bike won again.

I cycled this route to get to the Australia Day festival yesterday at Garrison Point where we had a food stall. I got there fine, huffed and puffed up the hill and took a break at the servo halfway down Marion St because I was completely unable to fight an uphill battle.

I leave Garrison Point at 8:30pm after 4 agonising hours of rolling Summer Rolls (which were, by the way absolutely delicious). So I cycled home. Things were going fine.

I then got a flat tyre on Owen Road. Managed to get another 300m or so to the BP on Marion St to see if I could pump it up. The servo guys got the hose out for me and we noticed that it was not happening. Mind you, I’m about 3kms from home at this point.

One of the servo guys go to me “Where do you live?”

“Bankstown near the church on Northam Ave” I reply.

“I can drop you off home in 10 minutes after I shut up the shop. We can put the bike in the back of my van. I live in Padstow so its on my way home.”

Thus I was saved by the kindness of strangers yet again.

Now I have a flat tyre on my bicycle to deal with.

This morning in a fit of inspiration I decided to walk to Bankstown Markets. It was extremely hot. But two people actually stopped to the side of the road and asked me if I wanted a lift!

I declined the first offer, but took the second one as I was only about 500m from the markets anyway at that point.

I didn’t stay long but on the way back, the same guy saw me on the road and picked me up and drove me towards home. He was a nice chap, told me he had a son my age and we made small talk about the weather.

What is interesting is that I got picked up at all. It would not be standard norm for me to simply pull over to the side of the road and ask if someone wanted a lift.

Now if I was a boy, instead of a girl, would I have been picked up? I was grateful for the kindness of this stranger, but what motivates them to be kind?

Anyone have any ideas?

I had the best day ever.

In the whole celebration of blogging only about trivial things, I had a day with some great trivial things!

I walked this route to Padstow Station in the rain. I set out in my slightly waterproof jacket. It is not raining heavily, but enough for you to put your windscreen wipers on constantly.

I learned my jacket may be waterproof but it is not watertight.

I’m already pretty much soaking wet by the time I hit Gibson Ave, but by then I was committed.

I’m just so happy walking down Gibson Ave in the rain. It just felt freaking awesome.

Then onto the bike store in Padstow and bought myself a secondhand bike and a pink helmet. Go team pink!

The contents of my backpack were soaking wet with me losing my Gobstoppers because the water has pretty much destroyed its cardboard box and the edibility of said Gobstoppers. Luckily, my little camera still works.

I proceeded to ride home on my new bike.

It was awesome.

I had an accident though, I don’t know how to compensate my balance well enough yet and fell over. I now have a massive graze on my knee.

Being my house, we don’t have a first aid kit, but simply antiseptic and band aids. I have 3 band aids strapped over a cotton make up removal pad.

In conclusion, today was the best day ever.

Well it’s bizarre.

As you all very well know, I call myself mia on the internet.

I’ve now come to the point that I’m so used to signing my emails ‘mia’ that I forget to type my real name in casual emails and have to force myself to correct it.

But then again, when Nicholas calls me mia it feels like the most natural thing in the world.

It’s funny how what we identify with what with what we call ourselves.