2. Get a Brazilian Wax (Oct 14^th, 2010 accomplished)

It’s embarrassing I know. The idea of waxing some part of your body is always a little awkward and done a little hush-hush. And it always seems to be a bit of a taboo no-no when it comes to talking about it. It admits to people that you are shh… hairy, that you are not perfect. And who wants to admit to themselves, let alone other people, that they aren’t ideal. Which is a ridiculous idea because of course you are not perfect and people don’t want you to be. Maybe it’s that stereotype that has been engrained in us since we were little. Women are supposed to be smooth and sexy, men expect it. So waxing is done but maybe not so much flaunted or talked about.

So here I am. Embarrassed. Not only was I going for a wax but I was going all the way (or as far as you can go in the waxing world). They call it a Brazilian.  It is the most known of bikini waxes, and involves the removal of all hair in the pelvic area, front and back, while sometimes leaving a thin strip of hair in front. Now being a novice in the waxing world I have never gotten anything done before. It’s only been a couple of years since I started getting my eyebrows done. So the idea of a Brazilian was a crazy one.

Now I’m not going to lie. I was also terrified, embarrassed and terrified. Cus not only was it an area not talked about it was going to hurt…a lot. As I mentioned before I had gotten my eyebrows waxed numerous times and had endured one underarm waxing that I almost stopped in pain.  They all hurt, every time. Now that was something I had gotten used to. It wasn’t too bad. But let’s just say the area I’m talking about now…way more sensitive.

The underarms I figured were similar in sensitivity so I did that first as a try. It killed and hurt so bad I almost made her stop. Granted I feel the place wasn’t the nicest and didn’t have good wax. So I convinced myself that it wasn’t an accurate description of how it would feel.

To deter that incident again I decided to go to my salon in Waterloo where I get my hair done. They have a pretty nice spa and I’ve gotten my eyebrows done there with very little pain. I was sure my experience there would be a better one. So it was a whole day at the salon and spa for me.

Getting there I was nervous and told them so a lot. I undressed and they gave me a paper thong like thing to put on. This above all was the weird thing for me. It was so loose and large (I’m guessing one size fits all) it just seemed a bit of a moot point. But I guess it gives people a sense of privacy. With a special kind of pink wax my lady waxed away my privates till I was bald.

Taking longer than I thought let me assure you, it hurt. Oh my god it hurt. It was the scene from 40 year old virgin and I was cussing out the spa lady. This was a bit awkward as she was 7 months pregnant and I threatened to maim her. But we both got by unharmed, relatively as I was in pain.

I immediately felt very naked. I don’t know why but I was very aware now of my neither regions. After a day or two I did tend to like it. It was nice not having to keep it trimmed and pretty and I didn’t have to worry about shaving for weeks. And may I add the boyfriend didn’t mind it a bit, it was only rave reviews in the bedroom.

I don’t know if I ever mentioned why I wanted to do this. Why go through all this pain, especially when I know that it is going to hurt before hand. The answer..I don’t really know. I think it was I was afraid, I knew it was most likely going to hurt a lot and I wanted to conquer my fears. Facing fears, isn’t that was all this bucket list is about. Doing something you normally wouldn’t. I also thought it’d be a win win as not only would I be facing my fear and pain but I also wouldn’t have to the chore of maintaining that area.

In the end, while embarrassing and very awkward it was worth it. I did feel so excited that I accomplished my goal. A painful experience I don’t know if I would do it again, however I do entertain the idea every once in a while.

1. Donate blood (Sept 23^rd Accomplished)

Now I know this doesn’t sound like such a big deal. A lot of people give blood and do it often. Not too life accomplishing or goal worthy. But for me it was just this; A goal on my bucket list and something that I thought of as terrifying.

I don’t know why I wanted to do this so badly but I did know that it scared me. In my books doing something that scares you, getting over that fear, is something to strive for. So donating blood was put in as the first thing on my list.

Why did it scare me so much? A lot of reasons I guess. I had given blood once before years ago in high school and I don’t remember having any trepidation about it. But I do remember getting very sick afterwards. There was an adventure of blacking out and throwing up on multiple occasions that day at school. Fun. After that I was sick for months. Nothing serious but life wasn’t too great. Even with that I don’t think it was the reason I was so afraid of donating blood. A big reason was needles. Who isn’t scared of needles, and this one is big and stays in your arm for a while.

When I sat down to make the list this was something I knew I wanted to try it again. Firstly to get over my fear but also to help people. I know giving blood is important and saves lives. In my own little way this will help and in the end I know if I was ever hurt and needed it someone did it for me. It was a karma thing I guess in my head.

So one fateful Thursday I headed down to the King and University blood clinic. There was a lot of bulking but Mike kept me in line and going to the clinic. It’s strange how easy it is to say you’re going to do something and how hard it is to follow through. That’s why I love Mike so much. He gives me the gumption, the motivation to follow through.

There is some prep you should do before just heading to give blood, and from my last experience I wasn’t taking any chances. If you want to give blood you have to take care of you. For instance no gym on blood day. Most importantly food is key. You have to make sure you have a good big meal before you go. One that is high in iron and protein is the best way. We had a huge steak stir-fry with heaps of pro iron veggies and I indulged in some sugar as well.

The clinic was pretty empty so I didn’t have to worry about not having an appointment. After filling out a bunch of questions mostly regarding sexual matters or using drugs, needles or having AIDS (One surprisingly asked if I had ever handled monkeys or their excretions. What?! Haha), the nurse took a blood sample. Lucky me I had a good iron count and everything was good for me to donate. Was I a baby for thinking the prick on my finger hurt? Man I am not prepared for this needle.

Now it was time, no more questions, no more delaying. I sat down on the big reclining chair and prepared to meet my fate. I was so nervous. Mike sat with me and held my hand. Again, I was so glad he was there with me. The nurse sanitized my arm with some sort of new wipe stuff, it took forever to dry. This dragged out the anticipation more so by the time she was ready to put in the real needle I was shaking so much. My legs were visibly shaking. She told me she was ready and I looked away as she put in the biggest needle into the crook of my arm.

Ow. Ok so it only lasted a couple of seconds but it was a strange feeling it staying in my arm. It kind of pulled / pinched a little but I think that was the tape and needle at a bad angle. Earlier the nurse explained to me what they do with the blood afterwards. There are three bags attached to your main blood bag that gets filled up. When they take the donated blood they divide up the different platelets n such and put them into the three different bags. So when you donate your blood goes to three different people.

My bag filled up in about five minutes. I was fine the whole time, I can’t believe it went so fast. So relieved she took the needle out and put a Band-Aid on. I was so happy and so proud to have accomplished that. I was so scared and I did it anyway and it turned out to be ok. It just lets me know when I’m afraid to do something I just need to guts to get it done. In the end I’ll feel better about doing it or getting it over with. There is kind of a moment of clarity where you understand everything better.

So I had some cookies and juice to make sure I wasn’t going to pass out afterwards. With a big smile I went home to relax and enjoy the rest of my day. Not once after did I feel dizzy or sick. Very happy about that! I just left with such an elated feeling of accomplishment. Can’t wait for the next goal…

Who the hell is Jacq?

I know there are so many people out there blogging away so one might stop and think who is Jacq and what is this list?

I'm not going to divulge a lot of personal information here so I'm just going to explain what I'm doing.

I have always been a lists person. Writing down what needed to be done, or bought etc. Here and there over the years I had thought about what I would want to do before I died, accomplishments and goals. You know the deal..we've all been there. But I'd never made a bucket list or ever really went about actually doing them.

A year or so ago I was really inspired by the show "The Burried Life" on MTV and decided to make a list. Probably the most important list I've made, and I don't know why it took til now to make it. So I sat down and the list was written; and every once in a while I add to it. But what made this different was that I was making an effort. That's what changed for me. I was making a concious effort to do the things on my list.

I decided that I would write down my experiences, why I had done them and what had changed for me afterward. Every accomplishment gave me such an elated feeling and more confidence in myself. I wanted to share that with people. Knowing that facing fears or crashing and burning can let you learn so much more about yourself and what you can do. And on top of that they are a bit of comic relief for everyone.

So that's what you guys are getting. My experiences. I'm not going to show you the list and they wont be accomplished every week or even every month. But the most important is that they are accomplished.