JUST DO IT!

1. Ride an African Elephant. CHECK!



2. Paint a mural somewhere, maybe the side of a brick building. Or at the VPB?



3. Surf a huge monstrous wave Dude.
4. Have an art show and sell my art. CHECK!!





5. Drive across the country.
6. Have a purple Mohawk
7. Swim with GREAT WHITE sharks.



8. Send a message in a bottle.



9. Learn all the words to “Bombs over Baghdad” by Outkast.
10. Have a dog. Check.



11. Get a tattoo. Check.



12. Buy someone’s coffee behind me at the drive through. Easy enough. Tolls count, too. CHECK.
13. Go to the Oscars or Academy awards.
14. Bungee jump.
15. Run a Marathon. Wyman? lil help here?
16. Something that involves an active volcano.
17. Open a bar where I can also sell my art.
18. Watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle.



19. See my parents really get over it
20. Speak Spanish fluently.
21. Do standup comedy
22. Own a house. Or an RV.
23. Help build a house for someone else.
24. Volunteer at the Humane Society. Check. The dog pooped worms. Traumatic. Never went back.
25. Shower in a waterfall. This might call for a loofah.
26. RACE TRACK
27. Fly a plane.
28. Have sex in an airplane. Not while I am flying it.
29. Have something named after me. Preferably a beer. CHECK! Screaming Tara shot. Half Jagermeister/ Half McGillicuttys
30. Learn how to pole dance. Teri Hatcher says its good exercise.
31. Blog. I feel like I have a lot to say?




32. Skydive. Check.
33. Travel to Europe. Check.
34. Travel to Africa. Check.



35. Travel to Australia
36. Travel to a third world country. CHECK! Belize w Wyman.



37. Keep up with the Kardashians... In person... LOVE THEM.
38. Cook Thanksgiving dinner for my family
39. Be my sister’s maid of honor.
40. Live on an island and bartend and teach surfing.
41. Hug my father extra long after he gives me away.
42. Stop Biting my nails
43. Pay off my college loans!!
44. Drink beer in Munich, Germany during Oktoberfest.




45. Sell all my possessions and start from scratch.
46. Act in a legit movie
47. White water rafting!
48. Plant a tree. CHECK! Did this in South Africa during the drought.
49. Drop a TV from the top of a really high building.
50. Ride a mechanical bull
51. Model something in a magazine.
52. Go to Vegas (and hit the JACKPOT!) Saving for this now.
53. Get a tattoo on a whim.



54. Take a pottery sculpting class
55. Grow and eat the vegetables from my own garden
56. Become a licensed personal trainer
57. Adopt a child. Or a dog.
58. Live Alone. Check. 112 Maple Street, baby!
59. Honk the horn of a huge Mack truck. (Thanks to MTK:)



60. Drink wine in a hot air balloon.



61. Break a World Record
62. Go on a cruise. Check. Thanks Mummy. From what i remember, we had a blast!
63. Write a children’s book. Illustrate it too.
64. Own a brand new car. Check. 2009 Toyota Corolla LE. Magnetic Grey baby!




65. Eat spaghetti and meatballs with my family in Sicily.
66. Ride EVERY rollercoaster EVER. This will be tough but I am willing to try.
67. Ride a camel in the desert.
68. Visit the Grand Canyon
69. Get that Barbell in my ear
70. Write a book with Wyman
71. Walk the GREAT WALL of CHINA
72.

This is the best to-do list i have ever made in my life.
If anyone wants to help me with any of this, let me know. Smashing a TV from the top of a really high building will not be nearly as much fun by myself!

Vivian

I got an I phone and named her vivian. Today on my way into town I was playing w Vivian and tripped over the curb and broke my flip flop. I hope someone saw it and i hope it made their day. Together Vivian and I are dangerous. I think this is a sign of things to come.

Back to reality.

I am back to Burlington, back to work, and back to reality. Is it good to be back? Well, yes and no.

Sometimes I fall asleep thinking I can hear a blueback swinging from a tree, or a jackal crying at the moon, but I remember I am not in the African bush, I am on the corner of a very busy American street and those noises are drunk college students and suby's with the snow tires left on.

Showering bug free is a beautiful thing, especially not having to worry about any dirty water getting in your mouth, but a clean shower could never be as satisfying as the moment that day when we released the dam and watched the water pour down the trench we had just dug, to the filtration system allowing us to have shower water for the next few days. The same water that the reserve is going to donate to the townspeople because their dam has already emptied, and the rain is not seeming to fall.

I don't miss being hungry. The monkey's would eat all our food, every day. And we would have to wait for someone to drive our dinner over from the Lodge. They honked there horn at the top of the hill and we would run up like starving little children.

I love my friends and missed them so much. Since i have been back I have had a chance to hang out with most of them. I leae for a month and everyone is messing around with different people... whoa. I even got to hang out with my new best friend ALL last weekend!

I spent a lot of time in a complete state of terror while i was in africa. Whether it was driving around the lion enclosure during a lion brawl, being face to face with the biggest littlest mouse in the word, swimming with sharks while my feet were going through the cage, having to kick lion cubs in the face so they'd stop trying to eat me, walking through down town Capetown at night while the townies were making kissing noises at me rubbing themselves, not knowing what to do after losing a whole lot of money, one handed quad biking, wasp in my pants and having to take my pants off in front of everyone, and the list could go on and on.

So far back in this American world the scariest thing that has happened is almost getting punched in the face by a guy i had to cut off at the bar. That and the new gladiator trend that is taking over church street. So like.... does everyone want to fight everyone now?

So, all in all, I had a great trip. I challenged myself to the extreme and traveled two whole days to a different continent by myself to explore what life would be like living in Africa on a Private Game Reserve. I learned many things about myself along the way, and that i am capable of doing just about anything i want, whether its digging a trench under the african sun, catching a wild horse, riding an elephant, or swimming with great white sharks.

I always say that You can't build a reputation on what you are Going to do. Or in order to do something good, you have to do SOMETHING.

Well... I said I was going to do it, I did it. So there.


The question now is, what am i going to do next? And, whose coming with me?

I survived the Great White Shark.

And the French Canadian devil.

From all these years working in the restaurant business, I have become an expert on reading people.
By reading a person's body language and their style of conversation (or in some cases, lack thereof), you can adjust your own personal style to match theirs, in an attempt to have the most efficient verbal exchange possible. You can do this by thinking of yourself as a mirror. A small broken unlucky mirror.

Simply stated... youre nice to me; i am nice to you. you joke with me; i joke with you. youre a bitch to me; you better watch out while i get out my flying monkeys.

(wyman i feel bad for my semicolon key, because it doesnt get a whole lot of attention. so forgive me if i drop a few incorrect SC's. i am replenishing an ego here)

It all started at the continental breakfast at 730am. I had just driven two hours in a crowded van with a shoeless and smelly obese man. The road trip had only begun two hours after my last shot and a beer. I replayed vomit exploding from my mouth, and covering the fat dudes feet, like that would have made the two scents cancel out.

I put my stuff, ie bag, towel, and sunglasses on an open table in the dining room and got in line to get coffee. I glance back at my stuff, something every solo tourist does at least one million times a day, and its not on the table i put it on, but in some random lady's hands. She dragged my towel and dropped my sunglasses, and I am not sure if anyone noticed, but my sunglasses are smoking hot. To make matters worse, she tosses my stuff like a bag of trash in the corner of the dining room. Oh, and did I mention that every single other table in the dining room was open? This really grinds my gears.

Ok, so she is just one of THOSE ladies. (the ones you cant take anywhere, or murder) I feel bad for her husband. I get my stuff and take another table. No big deal. I am going to swim with sharks today, and i have always wanted to do that.

I drink my coffee and get in line for the buffet.

Guess who comes up behind me, doin' 50 in a 25, the Frog. She's a line creeper ( you know, those people that stand behind you in line and rub all up on you, standing SUPER close to you, thinking for some damn reason that that one inch will get them closer to the head of the line) , and a loud talker ( just a reminder, she is French Canadian, therefore is speaking really loud French). Two of my biggest pet peeves, line creepers, and anything involving France (except Goose).

Then she said, "jablahblahji do... American" and laughs hysterically. Not that i think she is talking about me, but after bitch moved my shit, knocked my elbow eighty five times, JAWAWAH'd French like a speakerphone in my ear, and all before 8am, I was beginning to lose it. I read her like a book and summons my inner witch.

I moved slower. And mentally noted the lack of mayo, and laughed at her kind in my head.

After breakfast, I waited in line for the bathroom. She sneak attacked me and somehow got behind me in line. My turn came, I went in, did my thing (number 1), bout to zipper my pants, and hear a knock at the door. Obvi, i say i will be right out.

I go to wash my hands. As i am drying them, I hear another knock (over the sound of the hand dryer). SERIOUSLY? what are you? five?

I swing open the door to the Frog tapping her foot. I asked her, "did you just knock on the door.... twice?" She looked at me with the, "so what if i did" look and didn't say anything.

I walk right back into the bathroom, closed the lid on the toilet, and sit there for the next ten minutes hoping Frog pees herself in front of all of her country club friends. Yes, I am five. You have a problem with that?

When i opened the door ten minutes later, she was gone. Victory.

I'd tell you about the sharks, but as soon as I got into the water, I just started to melt.

The Blogs will continue...

Hello.

I am back in Boston. I think. I'm not sure what day it is, what actual time it is, or what side of the road i should be driving on.

When the jet lag eases up, I am going to continue blogging about all the things that I didn't have time to share with you all while I was in Africa. I will also include my reasoning behind playing skip-it with my shoe lace for hours in the Heathrow airport.

Because, really, I owe it you.

Just a reminder. My first shift back at the pub is April 1st and i would LOVE to see you. ( well, maybe not you, cuz I think your kinda weird)

Table Mountain

Table Mountain is quite the wonder.



You can hike up to the top of the mountain in 2.5 hours, something i would have loved to do, had i had more time in Cape Town, SA. Instead, I took the cable car both ways. It only took seven minutes and it spun around 360 degrees so you could see everything around you.



The view from the top of Table Mountain, overlooking CapeTown on one side, and the Indian Ocean on the other, is one of the most breathtaking sights I have ever seen in my life.






The fantastic view also marked one of the few times in my African adventures when I really wished I had someone with me to share in the beauty of such a nature wonder.

The wind was ferocious and you had to be very cautious walking close to the mountains edge. They had a security horn that they would "hoot" if the wind speeds raised to a certain point, and everyone outside needed to come in. There was no hooting while I was there.

I passed two friends taking photos on a rock, and heard one say to the other, and this is a direct quote, " Oh. My. God. This is totally going to be your new Facebook profile picture." Ah, I know a good ol American when i hear one.

Down the path on the ocean side of the mountain, I caught two lovers attempting to procreate with their mouths, in a fashion I would like to assume they thought no one else could see. Lovely.

In a small valley of rocks, a family sat on their checkered blanket enjoying a picnic lunch, out of a wicker basket and all. Seriously.




I got sad for a hot second, I am not going to lie, at the pretty cool fact that this family got to eat AFREAKin picnic on a the top of Table Mountain, a picnic that would probably never taste as good ever again in their lives. The Dad had a glass of wine and i could only assume the assholes were eating really good cheese from inside that stupid basket.

Oh and look, there's a bar.

One short cut through the "do not enter; uneven rock zone," thirty rands, and one chilled class of white wine later, I was back to entertaining the thought of how bad it would hurt if i were to ever fall off the side of Table Mountain.


>

Later, I decided that for me, this wonder was meant to be enjoyed by myself. I cheers the facebook friends, the passionate lovers, and the cheese eating families with alcoholic Dad's, everywhere. I took a (big) sip and then Cheers!'ed the Mountain, myself, and the next breathtaking wonder I would see somewhere in the world and maybe, just maybe, be fortunate enough to be able to share with a friend, a lover, or my family.


( a bottle of wine and a picnic to boot)

At least I get to share the blog.

Message in a Bottle

This weekend I am going to Cape Town to swim with sharks and buy stuff.

I, also, decided Cape Town would be the perfect place to throw my message in a bottle into the ocean. I will be on a boat at one point ( to swim with the great whites), which will take the me and the bottle a little bit further out into the sea, and hopefully keep it from just washing right back up on the shore of Cape Town.

This is what the message is going to say:

Hi There! Today is March 19, 2010.

First of all, Thanks for opening my bottle and reading the message instead of just recycling it or collecting the five cents!

Second of all, You have just become a member of the TBV Message in the Bottle Project 2010! Congratulations!!! How do you feel?

My name is Tara Bailey Vasi and I am from Burlington, VT, USA. I am traveling through South Africa on a working holiday program at the Inkwenkwizi Private Game Reserve in Chintsa. I am 26.
I have always wanted to write a message and send it into the ocean in a bottle to see who found it and where the ocean wanted it to go. Just recently I hoped that maybe my bottle could have more then one destination, hence, the TBV Message in a Bottle Project 2010!!

Here is how it works:

Please add your name, age, and email address to the list on the following page. Also, please write the date the bottle was found, the location in which it was found, and the date and location of where it will be thrown back to the sea. Include as much or as little additional information about yourself as you wish.

VERY IMPORTANT!!!!! Please email the last person on the list to let them know their message was received!!!

Thank you!! Let's see how long we can keep this bottle alive!!!

Sorry there is not poem or love letter.


---

1. Creator: Tara B Vasi, Age 26, teetin@aol.com, also find me on FB,
todays date, March 19,2010, Date thrown into Indian Ocean off
of Cape town, March 20, 2010.
This is going to be Legend. wait for it. ARY!

----
Now I just need bottle (haha funny guys, its not going to be Jager), and a captain that doesnt consider tossing a bottle in his ocean littering.

I have no idea how the TBV Message in the Bottle Project 2010 is going to work out.
All i know is that i am going to check my email everyday in hopes that it does.