splish splash

[sideways]

Tam braved the ocean film festival with me last week - I was worried she would be bored stiff, but she seemed to find it at least as entertaining as I did the rodeo the year before. Successful cultural exchange? We also affirmed we're both musical fans, and picked out a couple of upcoming performances from the convention centre's yearly roster that interested both of us. (Kinky Boots!!)

The festival included 7 films from around the world, which I overall found very enchanting:

1. Tiger (Shark) King [Mexico, 5 mins]: The experiences of a man who has spent years befriending a population of tiger sharks.
2. Eyre & Sea [Australia, 18 mins]: Grizzled South Australian runs ecotourism trips where visitors can swim with dolphins and rare Australian sea lions.
3. If You Give a Beach a Bottle [USA, 4 mins]: Very charming appeal to deal with plastic pollution, told through a series of gorgeous watercolour paintings.
4. Wave of Change [France, 32 mins]: Some adventures of the crew of the Nomade des Mers, which sails around the world seeking and experimenting with low-tech innovations. They fixed a surfboard using mushrooms...
5. Normal Guys [Poland, 40 mins]: Two guys, a self-built yacht, and a trip across the Atlantic.
6. I Am Ocean [Australia, 9 mins]: A woman diagnosed with a terminal illness shares the comfort and fulfilment she finds in the ocean.
7. Mar [Portugal, 19 mins]: The story of a big wave rider, including footage that made me yelp out loud.

So I'm very glad I went! And I hope the films end up public eventually, there are a few I would like to rewatch. If nothing else, the people behind the Nomade des Mers have a website where they share their low-tech trials. There were some clever ones in the film; very solarpunk.

In other watery news, I've finally plunged into the pool in my apartment complex - only took me just shy of three bloody years! Lol. The main driving force at this point is I desperately need some exercise in my life but am also very tired of continually injuring either my back, my knee, or both, and swimming is widely recommended as a low impact solution to that exact problem. Like most Australians I learned to swim early on and most school holidays were centred around either pools or beaches, so I genuinely enjoy it once I push past the intimidating vulnerability that comes from self-consciously splashing around half-blind in my togs. Plus it costs me nothing that I'm not already paying via body corporate fees, since I don't have to spend fuel on driving anywhere.

At present I can manage about 120m before I run out of breath (ye gods, stamina whomst) and have otherwise been researching some basic aquarobics exercises to play around with. I also performed my first somersault into the water in years and immediately got water up my nose. I think it'll be fun!

The only downside is I'm officially going to have to keep my legs shaved because I'm just not up for being stared at by my neighbours u_u Farewell, sweet fur. We had a good run.

Comments

[weirderwest]

SWIM SWIMMMM

those films sound fun! i think i'll check out the solarpunk frenchppl 👀👀

i was a water rat as a kid but i went swimming last summer and i've lost ALL of those skills... well, not lost, but they're very rusty. disappointing, but i could work on it This summer, assuming i could get over myself long enough 😖

but! i hope you have fun working on those water aerobics :^)

[sideways]

WATER RAT SOLIDARITY! It's worth the effort!

[merit]

It has been yonks since I went swimming! But it is very enjoyable once the whole process of getting into the water is over.

[sideways]

Haha, my coworkers keep suggesting it's 'too cold' to swim... now that we've dropped below 30 friggin' degrees. Works for me, fewer people to fight for pool time :P

[merit]

A colleague noted people were swimming and said it was too cold. I was all, "uh, it is 30 degrees." She doesn't like swimming below 40 degrees.