Going Geocaching

Ok ... A slightly more fun ABC Wednesday post than last week :)

... Well - it is something I do for fun (and to de-stress :) ... I GO and Get lost finding things - lol
This week the letter is G

G is for Geocaching ... 

"What is that?" - well - I have heard it described as "using expensive satellite technology to find Tupperware hidden in the bush" ... and yes, it kind of is that, and more ... For those who want to know more, www.geocaching.com is a good place to start - you can read all about what it is and how to do it, and if it sounds fun - sign up and start doing it ... there are also phone apps for it too (the official one is probably the easiest to start with, but there are others that a lot of the more experienced cachers prefer ... although even more of those who have been into Geocaching for a while prefer to do it with an actual GPS unit - which, back when it started about 17 years ago, was the only way to do it :) 

(For those who don't know - GPS stands for Global Positioning System ... and it is what has made it possible for people to do all sorts of things, from finding your way to the nearest coffee shop with a maps app on your phone, or navigating your car to a meeting, locating where you are if you are out bushwalking or 4 wheel driving in the middle of nowhere, and playing online games that involve Geolocation - like Ingress, and Pokemon Go ... And ... Geocaching :)

I actually just use my phone to go Geocaching ... I decided I could afford an expensive GPS, or an expensive camera, or i could just buy a not so cheap phone that does all 3 of those things (and more - lol)

 ... it works ok for me ... 

I am now up to about day 319 in a row, where I have found at least one Geocache each day :)

... I am planning on making it at least 366, possibly more ... but it gets harder as I go because I can only find each one once and I am running out of them close to home ... but there are plenty to find if I go driving - there are about 3000 of them here in the Canberra area!

Who hides them? - anyone who wants to :) 

... preferably someone who has found a few, so they know what they

 are doing.

I have found over 1000 now, and I have hidden a few too :)

Why do people do it? Probably for as many reasons as there are people who do it ... To get fit, get outdoors, because they got bored and decided to try it, for something to do with the kids, for something to do to get away from the kids, for something to do while travelling, for something to do as a reason for travelling, etc.

Me? - because I got curious and read about it, decided to go looking for one, and had fun doing that and was instantly hooked ... I liked the challenge of finding them, and the fun of going to all sorts of odd and interesting places to look for them - some places I had been meaning to go to but had never got around to it, and some places I never even knew existed! I like going walking to find them - either around town, or walking out in the bush ... Has been a good way to keep fit and active, and a good way to de-stress/keep myself sane ... I think I used it as an escape when things were going pear shaped with my marriage, and as therapy after my now EX husband walked out ... and it has been good therapy/relaxation/de-stressing with the other issue I have been dealing with lately (the one mentioned in last week's ABC Wednesday letter F post )

Who goes Geocaching?

Chances are - someone in your family, or who you work with ... all sorts of people do - kids, teenagers, young adults, older adults, even some very old adults ... fit people do it to keep fit, unfit people do it to get fit, I know several people who take their dogs to find all those that are hidden where dogs are allowed. I don't know the exact reasons most Geocachers I know do it - I just know they have fun :)

I have found it to be quite an inclusive pastime - I have met Geocachers who have highly paid government jobs, low paid jobs, no jobs ... can be, and is, done by all ages and abilities ... I have met little kids who do it, and Great Grandmothers ... i have also met quite a few deaf people who Geocache, and at least a couple of autistic people, and a couple of people in wheelchairs - yes there are some Geocaches that are wheelchair accessible ... there are also some that are definitely not - like a couple I have found up in the tops of trees! 

Where are they? 

Sign up, get the phone app (or get a GPS, and upload some from the website) and go look for one - lol - chances are there is at least one nearby - they are everywhere, all over the world (there are over 2 million now) ... there is even one up on the International Space Station ... I really want to go and find that one, but somehow I doubt I have much chance of ever doing that ... sigh ...

Usually, I go find Geocaches by myself, but sometimes I go Geocaching with someone, or a Group of people ... sometimes I take my dog, and the other day I took my Grand daughter ... and one evening I even had a bunch of curious cows come with me!

MOOving right along ...?

Falling Apart?

... and putting myself back together again :)

Yes - rather a strange title for a post, and rather a strange post for ABC Wednesday ... but I figured it was about time I started blogging again, because it is Fun ... and the subject/title Fits the letter F ... so I Figured I may as well risk Freaking everyone out and post about this ... er... stuff I am posting about :)

For a while now, possibly even most of my life, I have Felt, at times, a bit like I was a Failure ... after the last time life as I know it sort of Fell apart (when the person I had been married to for 25 years decided to just walk out without even discussing it) I was a bit of a mess For a while, but after that I Felt a bit better, and thought I was Finding myself ... Figured I was starting a new life, Found and bought a new house ... but then I still Found myself stuck in the same old job I had been in For way too long ... and I was not happy. I thought I would be Fine once I Found a new job ... but that kind of wasn't happening ... and then Finally, "the wheels Fell off" ... I had known I wasn't totally happy (but I was still having Fun doing a heap of things I liked ... possibly too many things? lol) ... and I knew I Felt a bit stressed and stuff ... but what I didn't know was that I had also probably been depressed ... I do now ... also realised that I possibly had been stressed and depressed for quite some time ... but hopefully that is now something that can be, and is being, fixed - now that I have Finally got the right sort of professional help ... which eventually happened this year, at the end of a rather long and messed up process involving my workplace, after I Found myself in the Fairly Frightening situation of getting in trouble at work, because I was so stressed/etc that I was no longer able to do my job properly - and so my world kind of Fell apart ... again (that was toward the end of last year - about when I wrote the last blog post, actually) ... but now that I am Finding out a Few more things about what makes me tick, I Feel that I will be Fine again in a while, when I have Finished Finding out about myself, and can then Finally Find myself :)

This is not meant to be a depressing post - things are a bit Freaky at the moment but I will be Fine :) 

- I am on a journey, and although I ended up on a Fairly rough road again For a while, hopefully I have now Found Four wheel drive so I can get over it, and will get a GPS to keep me on track to where I want to go, and I can be a "happy camper" again :)

... maybe I should have called this post "Finding Myself" ... but I might save that for next round, when I have Found out a bit more about myself, and what direction this bumpy road is taking me - lol

(one thing I do know, is these kind of things take time ... as a certain shampoo advert says: "It won't happen overnight, but it will happen" lol)

... Hmm ... who would have thought I would be blogging (or even talking) about Mental health conditions and myself all in the same story? ... and maybe I am a special kind of weird, telling the whole world about this stuff? ... but when I read somewhere that "in Australia, it is estimated that 45% of people will experience a mental health condition in their lifetime" - then I think it is something that SHOULD be talked about more often ... who knows ... one of the 2 or 3 people who might ever read my blog posts might read this and think "I wonder if this is my problem" or "I feel depressed" or " I am a bit stressed" and be wondering "do I need help?" Or "should I get help?" ... yes - you probably should! (if you seek help and find out you don't need it - is that a problem? ... but if you don't get help and did need it - that might not work out so well ...)

Maybe I should do "Help" for my H post? - lol

(in the meantime, just do a search for "stress" or "depression" or whatever - there is a lot of information online ... almost too much ... )

and yes, I know - I am kind of talking in riddles, and might not be making much sense ... I am sure I have mentioned this before: I am weird ... lol

In the near (ish?) Future, there might be a Few more blog posts about my Feelings and things, depending how I Feel about things - lol

 ... and hopefully also a Few posts about other, more Fun, things ... like maybe next week, for the letter G, I can talk about one of the Fun thing that has sort of helped keep me sane For the last Few years - Going Geocaching :)

(but don't panic if I don't post next week, or even For a Few weeks (months?) - I am disorganised at the best of times, and my busy life might get in the way - so I might not have time to write that post - in which case I will have to do that one next time around :)

One more F thing:

#foundit 

... If you search for that on Twitter, you will probably find a heap of my tweets (and quite possibly other people's tweets as well) about Geocaching :)

...now "eff off" and go read a more interesting "F" post :)

Unless you want to look at this Funny photo of me First - lol

(One Mum recently sent to me, scanned From the Family album, taken when I was Fairly young)