Sometimes life likes to knock us on our ass, and then when we think we’re alright and we’ve picked ourselves up, we turn around and get knocked right back down. These last four and a half months of traveling have been exactly like that, every time I have picked myself up after a blow, I am pushed back down and find myself staring back up at the ceiling.
There is a point, somewhere between the fifth blow and the tenth when you start to wonder if you should try to get back up at all. I wondered that many times, thinking to myself, what’s the point? Every time I take a step forward I am pushed five steps back. After a while, when everything that has gone wrong is now a leaning tower rising in front of you waiting to fall, you start to think, maybe it won’t all work out in the end like you’ve been telling yourself. It’s so easy to be negative and think the whole world is against you, when it really isn’t, but sometimes, maybe you just need to go through that stage. No one is happy 24/7, 365 days of the year; its not possible, being human means you feel sadness and anger and depression, but it also means you feel happiness, joy, love and excitement.
I’ve come to realise, that the bad moments may feel horrible and may seem like they last forever, but we need those moments in our lives, to show us how great the good moments truly are, and they should be cherished. Everyone is in charge of their own happiness, we can not rely on someone else to make us happy. But sometimes a friendly push from someone can help us get started in the right direction.
I am going to pick myself up once more, from the horrible blows that have knocked me down this past week and look on the positive side. You can’t always choose what happens to you, but you can choose how you approach it. So from today onwards I will be trying new and old ways to make myself happy and try to figure out how to keep that feeling longer then one day. I will be asking all of you and others what makes you happy. Seeing as how I am a single girl and I enjoy being single and independent, I will call this experiment: “The Single Girl’s Happiness.”
So tell me, what makes you happy?
Tuesday, 22 January 2013
Saturday, 29 December 2012
An unexpected tip..
I have recently started a new job, it is waitressing at a fine dinning restaurant on a wharf near my hostel here in Sydney. I have no experience what's-so-ever, so its a lot to learn, but let's hope I'm up to the challenge.
The weirdest thing happened to me last night while working at the restaurant. We were almost ready to close down, there was just one table left of two people, a man and a woman. I had just given them their change and the lady, who was a little drunk, started talking about how I should get the tip and how its horrible that we have to share it. I really didn't know what to say to her so I smiled and nodded along, then she grabbed my arm and pulled me closer. She proceeded to take the change I had given and shove it down my shirt, literally her whole hand was in my shirt, I guess that was her way of saying I should keep the tip.
This was quite the awkward and uncomfortable moment for me, and in situations like that, not that there have been many, I tend to laugh, becuase my body physically does not know what else to do. Then she pulled me closer and kissed me, luckily on the cheek. I backed away and remained stunned for the rest of the night, while other co-workers who had seen this event, were left shocked.
I then proceeded to try and fish out the money stuck in my bra, I couldn't actually find it all until I got home and undressed.
Just one eventful night among many on my travels.
The weirdest thing happened to me last night while working at the restaurant. We were almost ready to close down, there was just one table left of two people, a man and a woman. I had just given them their change and the lady, who was a little drunk, started talking about how I should get the tip and how its horrible that we have to share it. I really didn't know what to say to her so I smiled and nodded along, then she grabbed my arm and pulled me closer. She proceeded to take the change I had given and shove it down my shirt, literally her whole hand was in my shirt, I guess that was her way of saying I should keep the tip.
This was quite the awkward and uncomfortable moment for me, and in situations like that, not that there have been many, I tend to laugh, becuase my body physically does not know what else to do. Then she pulled me closer and kissed me, luckily on the cheek. I backed away and remained stunned for the rest of the night, while other co-workers who had seen this event, were left shocked.
I then proceeded to try and fish out the money stuck in my bra, I couldn't actually find it all until I got home and undressed.
Just one eventful night among many on my travels.
Saturday, 1 December 2012
Paint Party!
About a week ago I went out with my roomates, because they dragged me out. I really didn't want to go, I had just finished working 10 hours and wanted to go lay down in my bed and not move for the rest of the night. They would not let me do that, they nagged me until I finally gave in and went out with them. Our hostel usually has something going on every night, usually a different set of clubs or bars. This night there was a paint party going on at Empire, a club just accross the street from our hostel. It sounded intriguing, which was also part of the reason I went out, so a group of us headed over.
There was a large line up when we got there, almost everyone was in white or underwear, for some odd reason. The club is divided into three sections, the top floor, then the middle floor, where the paint party was and the main floor, where you just drink and sit at tables. So we started off on the top floor where we got a couple free drinks then headed down to the middle floor. It was crazy in there, like any other club, it had dance music on and was a bit dark except for some random flashing lights, but it also had this mist spreading through the whole area. The DJ was at the far back surrounded by plastic wrap, with a small stage in front of him where there were a couple girls with paint guns spraying the crowd. A small bar was at the entry way and as you walked towards the crowd of people dancing, which was basically a mosh pit, you could feel the humidity and the excitment of everyone around. So me and 3 other girls from the hostel, decided to swig our drinks back and dive right in. It was difficult trying to push our way through everyone, but we managed it, and we had a lot of fun, more fun then I've had since I've been here. The floor was absolutely slick with paint, which made it very hard to walk or dance, I was in fear of falling on my ass every minute, which actually happened at one point. We had made our way through the bodies to the front of the crowd, when we were dancing, my feet slid right out from under me and I crashed to the floor, taking out one of my roomates who landed right on top of me. It was quite the hilarious moment, we both burst out laughing and this guy behind me just scooped me up and put me back on my feet, like it was nothing.
Needless to say I was completely covered in paint after that.
Around 12:30 we decided to get some Mcdonalds and call it a night. When we got back to the hostel I immediately took a shower, my hair was so hard from all the paint I was afraid I would stab myself with it in the middle of the night. All-in-all it was an amazing night that I am glad I decided not to pass up on. Although one guy at one point did pinch my ass while we were dancing, but I was having such a good time I didn't care that much.
If your ever in Sydney and there is a paint party going on, GO!
There was a large line up when we got there, almost everyone was in white or underwear, for some odd reason. The club is divided into three sections, the top floor, then the middle floor, where the paint party was and the main floor, where you just drink and sit at tables. So we started off on the top floor where we got a couple free drinks then headed down to the middle floor. It was crazy in there, like any other club, it had dance music on and was a bit dark except for some random flashing lights, but it also had this mist spreading through the whole area. The DJ was at the far back surrounded by plastic wrap, with a small stage in front of him where there were a couple girls with paint guns spraying the crowd. A small bar was at the entry way and as you walked towards the crowd of people dancing, which was basically a mosh pit, you could feel the humidity and the excitment of everyone around. So me and 3 other girls from the hostel, decided to swig our drinks back and dive right in. It was difficult trying to push our way through everyone, but we managed it, and we had a lot of fun, more fun then I've had since I've been here. The floor was absolutely slick with paint, which made it very hard to walk or dance, I was in fear of falling on my ass every minute, which actually happened at one point. We had made our way through the bodies to the front of the crowd, when we were dancing, my feet slid right out from under me and I crashed to the floor, taking out one of my roomates who landed right on top of me. It was quite the hilarious moment, we both burst out laughing and this guy behind me just scooped me up and put me back on my feet, like it was nothing.
Needless to say I was completely covered in paint after that.
Around 12:30 we decided to get some Mcdonalds and call it a night. When we got back to the hostel I immediately took a shower, my hair was so hard from all the paint I was afraid I would stab myself with it in the middle of the night. All-in-all it was an amazing night that I am glad I decided not to pass up on. Although one guy at one point did pinch my ass while we were dancing, but I was having such a good time I didn't care that much.
If your ever in Sydney and there is a paint party going on, GO!
Christmas is coming, sort of
So a lot has happened since my last blog. I finally have a job, in a coffee shop near Wynyard station. Lets just say its not my ideal job, but its paying the bills, and thats basically all its doing. I've had lots of time, since I've been in Sydney now for over 3 months, to look around and find my barrings and let me say, I would very much like to be in another city already, not that I don't like Sydney, its an alright city, but its just that, a normal big city. Australia has so much to offer, staying in Syndey is a waste, I really need to get out and explore. But my money situation as it is, will not let me.
I have been making the best of Sydney though, it has some great places to eat, such as, the Burger Joint in Kings Cross. It is amazing, their food is really good, and its not overly expensive either. I reccommend it to anyone looking for a good eat in Sydney.
Another good place to eat is Burgerlicious, which is also in Kings Cross, quite the choice of burgers, with some different toppings, especially if your vegetarian, which I am, they have really good veggie burgers.
Kings Cross is actually a good area for food and pubs/clubs, it may have a bad rap, but its alright. I'm currently living in the Potts Point area, so not directly in the middle of Kings Cross technically, but still that area.
It also just hosted a festival for a week, there were tons of stalls with people selling different things, and one I happened to come by, which was a photography stall with some amazing photographs, its called Panos Photography.
Yesterday I went to the Queen Victoria Building to see it "snow". They have a huge Swarovski Crystal Christmas Tree in the middle of the building that goes up 2 floors. We went to the top floor to the tip of the tree and at 1:00pm they made it "snow" from the dome. It was basically suds being blown in through the grates and falling gently which made it look like snow, it was magical I have to say. I really enjoyed it, it just hasn't felt like christmas here, being so hot and sunny and all, so that really put me in the christmas spirit, at least for a little while, I even got my picture taken with Santa.
I must say, Sydney does have some interesting things going.
I have been making the best of Sydney though, it has some great places to eat, such as, the Burger Joint in Kings Cross. It is amazing, their food is really good, and its not overly expensive either. I reccommend it to anyone looking for a good eat in Sydney.
Another good place to eat is Burgerlicious, which is also in Kings Cross, quite the choice of burgers, with some different toppings, especially if your vegetarian, which I am, they have really good veggie burgers.
Kings Cross is actually a good area for food and pubs/clubs, it may have a bad rap, but its alright. I'm currently living in the Potts Point area, so not directly in the middle of Kings Cross technically, but still that area.
It also just hosted a festival for a week, there were tons of stalls with people selling different things, and one I happened to come by, which was a photography stall with some amazing photographs, its called Panos Photography.
Yesterday I went to the Queen Victoria Building to see it "snow". They have a huge Swarovski Crystal Christmas Tree in the middle of the building that goes up 2 floors. We went to the top floor to the tip of the tree and at 1:00pm they made it "snow" from the dome. It was basically suds being blown in through the grates and falling gently which made it look like snow, it was magical I have to say. I really enjoyed it, it just hasn't felt like christmas here, being so hot and sunny and all, so that really put me in the christmas spirit, at least for a little while, I even got my picture taken with Santa.
I must say, Sydney does have some interesting things going.
Wednesday, 19 September 2012
The Job Hunt
Being in Sydney for a month now, with still no job, I am starting to get a little worried, I must say. I should confess that I thought it would be a lot easier to get a job. I've been, not so slowly, draining my funds and if something does not pop up soon, well this trip will be over way before I thought it would.
I have talked to quite a few people in the hostel and they all seem to have come from other parts of Australia. A lot have worked in other cities and I am thinking if a job does not arise soon I will be heading off towards Perth. It may be that Sydney is not the city I am suppose to reside in for a long period of time; I do not believe this city suites me. I think everyone has places where they feel more comfortable or feel more settled then others. To quote one of my favourite books, maybe this city and I just have different words.
I have booked this hostel for 2 more weeks, and if no job comes my way before then I am leaving and heading to Perth. I thought the Margaret River region would be a nice place to visit and see if maybe I'll find a job somewhere out there. If anyone has any advice about that region I would love to hear it.
I have talked to quite a few people in the hostel and they all seem to have come from other parts of Australia. A lot have worked in other cities and I am thinking if a job does not arise soon I will be heading off towards Perth. It may be that Sydney is not the city I am suppose to reside in for a long period of time; I do not believe this city suites me. I think everyone has places where they feel more comfortable or feel more settled then others. To quote one of my favourite books, maybe this city and I just have different words.
I have booked this hostel for 2 more weeks, and if no job comes my way before then I am leaving and heading to Perth. I thought the Margaret River region would be a nice place to visit and see if maybe I'll find a job somewhere out there. If anyone has any advice about that region I would love to hear it.
Sisterhood of the Traveling Neon Socks
Since I'm in Australia and all my friends are back home in Canada I decided to try something out to make us feel a bit more connected and know we were thinking of each other.
I had baught 2 packs of bright neon socks that I was going to take with me. As they were laying on the bed I got an idea, now this may sound a little lame, but I thought it would be fun, and my friends agreed. I decided I would give my three very good friends each a pair of socks. We were all going our seperate ways soon and I thought it would be fun if we randomly picked days while we were away and each of us wore the socks on the same day and then we would write each other and say what we did while wearing the socks. It would be sort of like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Neon Socks, except the socks technically wouldn't be traveling, we would be, well at least a couple of us would be. I would be in Australia, my one friend would be in Toronto and my two other friends would be back home in Ottawa.
So our first official Neon Socks Day came. Yesterday we all pulled on our socks and went out into the world. Nothing really spectacular happened, I had a drink with a friend here in Sydney, two friends back home went to class, but at least one friend did something remotely interesting. Our friend in Toronto played her first game of volleyball in the socks.
I am hoping that the next day we do this we will have way more interesting stories to tell.
I had baught 2 packs of bright neon socks that I was going to take with me. As they were laying on the bed I got an idea, now this may sound a little lame, but I thought it would be fun, and my friends agreed. I decided I would give my three very good friends each a pair of socks. We were all going our seperate ways soon and I thought it would be fun if we randomly picked days while we were away and each of us wore the socks on the same day and then we would write each other and say what we did while wearing the socks. It would be sort of like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Neon Socks, except the socks technically wouldn't be traveling, we would be, well at least a couple of us would be. I would be in Australia, my one friend would be in Toronto and my two other friends would be back home in Ottawa.
So our first official Neon Socks Day came. Yesterday we all pulled on our socks and went out into the world. Nothing really spectacular happened, I had a drink with a friend here in Sydney, two friends back home went to class, but at least one friend did something remotely interesting. Our friend in Toronto played her first game of volleyball in the socks.
I am hoping that the next day we do this we will have way more interesting stories to tell.
Friday, 24 August 2012
Blue Mountains
The Blue Mountains, lets just say they were amazing. It was a tour I signed up for at the hostel, they picked us up and dropped us off 10 hours later. We saw quite a bit in that time, and did a hell of a lot of walking. It took about an hour and a half to get to Leura, a small town in the blue mountains. From there we traveled to the south side and did an hour hike around the rainforest there, it was gorgeous, mostly eucalyptus trees, but there were a few others, and some beautiful water falls. But I swear we must of hiked up a good 200 stone and wood steps along the way.
Our tour guide, who seemed like he smoked a lot of pot, at least when we first met him, was actually quite good. He didn’t give information about everything, but he was funny and seemed to know what he was doing and where he was going, he was also the driver. All in all I liked him and he knew of some amazing spots to see the most spectacular views.
Once we were done on the south side we had lunch on this amazing rock lookout called, Anvil Rock, you could see everything from there. Afterwards we trekked over to the north side and did another hour long walk through the brush along side a small waterfall. There were also more stairs, lets just say the whole day was quite the workout. We then headed over to see the three sisters, which are quite famous it would seem, tons of tourists flock there to see them. They were great to see, but not my favourite part of the day. And of course half way through this tour my camera battery decided to die and I didn’t get any pictures of the second half of the tour.
All in all a great tour, very glad I did it, definitely worth the money.
P.S. I got my luggage back finally!
Our tour guide, who seemed like he smoked a lot of pot, at least when we first met him, was actually quite good. He didn’t give information about everything, but he was funny and seemed to know what he was doing and where he was going, he was also the driver. All in all I liked him and he knew of some amazing spots to see the most spectacular views.
Once we were done on the south side we had lunch on this amazing rock lookout called, Anvil Rock, you could see everything from there. Afterwards we trekked over to the north side and did another hour long walk through the brush along side a small waterfall. There were also more stairs, lets just say the whole day was quite the workout. We then headed over to see the three sisters, which are quite famous it would seem, tons of tourists flock there to see them. They were great to see, but not my favourite part of the day. And of course half way through this tour my camera battery decided to die and I didn’t get any pictures of the second half of the tour.
All in all a great tour, very glad I did it, definitely worth the money.
P.S. I got my luggage back finally!
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