Would you like a bag for that?

Today is a special day, the day I came to believe that someone besides myself wants an adventure! Yesterday I quickly wrote a post about monkey noses, and even had a fairly busy stickering day, but I still had a lot of doubts about this whole adventure venture. Which meant I didn't check my email inbox, or even look to see if anyone had left a comment on a previous post. Recently when I've looked and found no new mail and 0 comments I've been demoralised. To be honest it's got to the stage where some days I don't even have the courage to log into Hotmail. Call myself an adventurer? Well no, actually I call myself a 'would-be-adventure'. If I knew what an adventure was it might be different.

My monkey nose sticker was still in place this morning which cheered me up no end. And so today I braved my IWAA inbox, and guess what? 'I want an Adventure' said Bronwin! She then said. 'What do you mean by an adventure?' Good question, annoying, but good. And finally 'What do I do now?' Er, right...

I then noticed the comment from 'No Longer A Virgin'. He wants an adventure too! He has ideas for some adventures! Plus he says he'll help with the stickering! Wow!

Well he is a student, probably has a lot of time on his hands.

Thanks 'No Longer A Virgin' and I will be in touch. So now that I've found a couple of would-be-adventurers, the next stage of my plan should begin in earnest! Er, right...

A lot of personal and upsetting-ish stuff has been going on in my life recently. Sorry but I couldn't go into personal stuff on a public web page. But right now IWAA feels like a good 'something to do', something to take my mind off all of this. It's distracting, totally unserious, and yet still feels like it has the potential to be meaningful and optimistic. Surely adventures, if you can ever attempt to define them, must be in some way life affirming and inspirational?

Yet still it seems like it could go very wrong. I mean, take swimming in the Thames? When I did that it was the ultimate in distraction from a fucked up life. When I was hanging on to the side of that boat, not for one second was I feeling sad, or lonely, or worried about where the rent was coming from. It made me strangely proud. It was both silly but bold, and although I failed, I failed because I realised that my fucked up life meant a lot to me; although it was also because I thought it would be embarrassing to be drifting down the Thames clutching onto a John Lewis float.

I can see the positives in attempting the Thames 'Mission' but the bottom line is I failed at this, and when I think about that I know I need to try it again. But swimming in the Thames near the London Eye is both tricky and very scarey. I'm not plagued by sleepless nights worrying about river dangers, I don't spend ages trying to come up with clever plans, but my real problem is that I worry that the trickiness and scariness might lead to it never happening. I might fail through inertia, and then feel even worse about my fucked up life. So in many ways my 'first mission' doesn't make me feel good at all.

IWAA could go that way too, I could fail with this, fail Bronwin and NLAV, and anyone else who hopes to find an adventure from somebody who doesn't even know what an adventure is. For now I don't think I need to worry too much, I can mindlessly sticker, and I have a vague sort of plan for Bronwen and the none-virgin. And my plan hasn't failed yet, at least.

I thought I might have been feeling negative today because I'd had too little sleep last night, and because I was working today, and I hate working Saturdays. I decided to go to Boots in my lunch hour. I was feeling run down so I pinned my hopes on something from the vitamins aisle to revive my adventurous spirit. (I know. Sad, isn't it? If I was a cooler person I'd do the drugs that Boots don't sell.) I was excited by 'Neurozan' a special compound to maintain brain function. Aha! I thought, would-be-adventurers need to be clear thinking and clever. Then I saw Eye Q a supplement designed for improved vision. I could do with better eyes! 'Cardioace' was designed to help maintain a healthy heart and circulation. Yes please! Adventurers need a strong and Brave heart. Mel Gibson was an adventurer I'm sure. There was Jointace too, for the maintenance of healthy joints. I need a supple body I thought; adventurers might need to do some physical stuff. Although I personally hoped to avoid the parachute jump and rafting side of things. So I had my basket stacked full of adventuring vitamins, unfortunately it looked like it was going to set my back around £50. Then I noticed the small print, 'Not to be taken in conjunction with any other vitamin supplements.' There was a dilemma, did I want a healthy mind, or eyes, or heart or supple limbs? Tough choice. I returned the 'Jointace' quickly to the shelf. Still big choices with the rest... Too tough. I put all the vitamins back. Instead I revived my adventurous spirit by simply leaving a 'Please stick me' set of stickers amongst the 'Pregnacare' supplements. And personally I think it's shocking that pregnant women are forced to choose between the health of their unborn child and having a decent mind, heart, eyes, or supple limbs! And did I even mention the Tan Optimizer supplement?

I ended up buying just one item from Boots, and I mention this even though I don't think this product will be of widespread use to most would-be-adventurers. As I handed my money the assistant asked, 'Would you like a bag for that?'

I felt my pocket with concern, wondering whether I had an IWAA sticker hanging out, as I often do. This seemed a likely explanation for this shop assistant assuming I was the sort of person who's unfazed by threats of public ridicule.

'Yes, I'd like a bag' I told him firmly. I really didn't want to walk down Oxford Street with a Canestan Thrush Pessary in full public view. (Did I say I don't go into personal stuff on a public web page? Ooops...)

Oh well, it did make me wonder whether walking down Oxford Street boldly displaying your thrush pessary wasn't some sort of adventure in itself?

Bronwin does need her first mission.