30day challenge: 14.

Day 14: A picture of you and your family.

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No can do. Well, not one picture of us all together.

 

I’m related to most of New Zealand and they’re all still over there, breeding like there’s no tomorrow. Every time I check Facebook another cousin’s had another baby. I’m sure they think I’m letting the side down with my childless living, but I choose to see it as doing my bit to restore the balance.

 

Ironically with such a large family I’m not very family oriented. I don’t catch up with them much, even though my mum, sister, niece and one of my aunties live less than 10minutes away. It really is tragic.

 

Every family has its issues and I don’t really feel like going into any of mine, so here are some happy snaps to fill the rest of the page. Hover over them for how they slot into my life:

 

 

 

30day challenge: 13.

Day 13: Write a letter to someone who has hurt you.

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Dear everyone who has hurt me,

 

From the father who left to the stepfather who battled me until I left at the age of 17, to the boyfriend who walked out of an engagement, to the many boys who used me and never called me back, to the friends who betrayed me,

 

I forgive you.

 

Because you didn’t know any better, because if I don’t forgive you I will never get over it, because not letting go of the hurt will make me the loser – I forgive you.

 

Because my life is richer for the lessons you have taught me, because of the strength you’ve made me discover in myself – I forgive you.

 

Because you have shown me my guardian angels – I thank you.

 

Hugs and kisses,

Me.

30day challenge: 12.

Day 12: Why do you blog?

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Blogging is my therapy.

 

I don’t do it for fame or fortune or even acknowledgement, I do it to keep myself sane.

 

Though it did take me a while to pluck up the courage to start.

 

For a while social networks like Myspace and Facebook were providing me with a good enough outlet for the extrovert within and acting like literary leeches for my mental blood-letting, but I knew I needed something more structured and without all the frou-frou.

 

I also wanted to write. Just write. Put words together in some sort of structure that amused me. I needed a creative outlet.

 

So, one evening with nothing better to do, this blog was born.

 

Here is my little corner of the internet where I unload the thoughts in my brain, play with words, understand what’s going on in my head even as I’m writing the thoughts down.

 

Then one day I felt like balance was required, and lifeonmirth was born.

 

Now I have two little corners of the internet where I can come and play or pout or poeticise or poke fun at myself – to what end I still don’t know.

 

My only hope is that my writing improves and sanity ensues.

30day challenge: 11.

Day 11: Another pic of you and your friends.

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We’ve already done this. Let’s talk about Twitter instead.

 

It’s kind of related – I can’t believe how many awesome friends I’ve met lately because of Twitter. It flies in the face of the usual image of people with active online lives having no real life to speak of. Untrue, happily.

 

This little community really looks out for each other. When someone’s down there’s always someone ready to help them out, prop them up, distract them, whatever needs to be done to make them feel better.

 

If you happen to be in the same city there’s even a willingness to grab a cup of coffee or a beer or two and just have a nice little chinwag, IRL.

 

Twitter is what you make of it and I choose to make it the place where I find inspiration and amazing people to weave into my life.

 

I wish I had more pics of you all. I’m sure over time I’ll get you!

 

 

 

 

30day challenge: 10.

Day 10: Songs for when you’re happy, sad, bored, hyped, mad.

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Music is my therapy, my saviour, the salve for my soul,

my sanity, my safe place, my green padded room,

the electrical current to jumpstart my heart,

the life raft I cling to when everything’s dark.

 

In short, without music I would have a full-blown case of the crazies.

 

Electronica is the flavour I listen to most because it’s such a broad category. It can cover everything from rage to bliss to chill to background sound to down and dirty barefoot dancing.

 

If I’m happy anything goes. If I need to get happy I’ll probably put on some Beastie Boys (always guaranteed to get me smiling), Mr Scruff, Axwell, Kraak and Smaak or this song by D*note.

 

Sadness would be a Massive Attack, Portishead, Radiohead or similar moment – something low, slow and throbby.

 

Bored is a weird one. I don’t understand bored. I’m changing this to just chilling out, which would be when I’d stream some house, or funk, or put on some chillout. Pool beats, laidback tunes, nothing too assaulting.

 

Hyped – to get hyped it needs to be fast and phat. Lots of beat and bass sprinkled with cheeky smiles, like MSTRKRFT, Prodigy, Underworld, Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers.

 

Mad for me is similar to hyped – I need the musical equivalent of a punching bag. I need something to help me dump the rage, either through yelling at the top of my lungs or dancing like a crazyperson until I collapse. Karnivool, Birds of Tokyo, Prodigy, Pendulum.

 

This only scrapes the surface of my likes. If you want more there’s always my little musical playground at blip.fm I guess…

 

nnss nnss nnss.

30day challenge: 9.

Day 9: Something recent I’m proud of.

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Or should that be, something I’m recently proud of? Or, something I’m proud of recently? Meh.

 

Today I did something I hardly ever do – I took a sick day off work.

 

This is a big thing for me, because I usually have to be unable to walk or remain upright for any length of time before I’ll stay home.

 

This stupid cold has been nagging away at me for a couple of weeks now.  I’ve watched it phlegmatically rumble around in my chest supplying me with wheezy coughing fits, then move up into my nose supplying me with enough mucous to power a small mucous-powered village (and keep Kleenex in the biz, fo shiz), then slide down into my throat with what feels like an army of midgets redecorating the walls of my throat with their needlepoint efforts. Funtimes.

 

Yet through it all I’ve still – even if only barely – been able to function. The problem is my energy levels by the end of the day are nonexistent and I'm almost in tears at the full body aches I get by 3pm.

 

So, after yet another shithouse sleeping effort last night of only around 3 or 4 hours, I decided to listen to my poor body and keep it horizontal for a day.

 

By going to work I just prolong the time it takes for my body to repair itself. Body was starting to kick me in the arse with impatience at my continued petulance.

 

I’m proud I finally decided to listen to it and give it the time out it needed.

30day challenge: 8.

Day 8: List some short term goals for this month.

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I’m the least goal oriented person I know. One day I’ll have to see a life coach and get that in order.

 

I see all these people powering through life with their short and long term goals and wish I could be like them, but I can’t pump the care factor up enough to float me there.

 

At work my boss is always telling us to have five short term goals each month and every month I fob him off. I’m so lazy! I drift like a dandelion seed and if I bump into something I just see what comes of it.

 

Perhaps it’s a fear of failure? It also has to do with the fact that I tire of anything once it gets down to the nitty gritty. I like coming up with ideas but the follow-through makes me yawwwwn. Plus, I have zero personal discipline. I just can’t make me do anything I don’t want to do, no matter how much I yell at me. Stubborn little so and so.

 

But, for the sake of this exercise, I’ll humour you.

 

 

1. Have at least one week of sobriety.

If you know me, you’ll know how hard that’s going to be, but I’m cheating a little on this one – I already designated this week booze-free and I’m already at the halfway point. Oh yeah, I’ll be able to red texta this one for sure.

 

2. Do the 30day challenge every day.

Or at least, only ever be one day behind, and if so, do two blogs the next day. So far so good.

 

3. Read a book.

From start to finish. I have so many half-read books lying around. I think it’s about time I finished at least one of them, even though they’re all re-reads. Books are nice. Yes, I think I’ll try and get in the habit of reading in bed before I fall asleep, instead of twittering in bed.

 

4. Wash and vacuum the car.

Laaame! But seriously, it needs it. I’ll give myself a deadline of the end of the month to actually do it.

 

5. Lean one new fact a day.

Any fact at all. As random as can be. My brain seems to be losing a lot of the useless information it used to hold. I think it’s time to top it up again.

 

Well that was relatively painless. I should do it more often… if I manage to get through these first…