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…

30day challenge: 7.

Day 7: What has had the biggest impact on my life?

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Om. Aum. The sound of the universe. The sound of the vibration in every cell of every thing. This beautiful symbol has changed my life.

 

The most major thing to happen to me occurred when I met my first serious boyfriend at the age of 17. From each relationship I’ve inherited a little of the other’s philosophy, or musical taste, or in this case, spirituality. I really believe the direction of my life took a turn for the better after meeting him.

 

I started to learn a little of the philosophies and ideologies of Hinduism and Buddhism and they just seemed to make sense to me.

 

Now when someone asks me what my religion is, I say I don’t have one specific religion, I have spiritual ideas of my own made up from a few different religions. Maybe I should call it a choose-your-own-adventure religion. Pick-and-mix. But all of the ideas that resonate with me lead back to the idea of OM.

 

There’s nothing but Om. Good, bad, solid, liquid, alive, dead – it’s all just OM.

 

That’s why I wear two around my neck and one on my arm. It’s my power symbol. A nice reminder that I’m just vibration and stardust, and so is everyone and everything else.

 

 

om shanthi

30day challenge: 6.

Day 6: Your favourite superhero, and why.

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Wonder Womaaaan!

 

Oh yeah, I wanted to be Wonder Woman when I grew up. How could I not look up to a beautiful, strong brunette?

 

My youth was filled with Spiderman, He-Man, She-Ra, The Incredible Hulk, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, The Greatest American Hero, The Wonder Twins and the occasional Danger Mouse, but it was always Wonder Woman I wanted to dress up as. I wanted my own invisible plane, lasso of truth, and kickarse tiara. I wanted those legs and that perfect hair and a waist off the hook.

 

I’m actually glad I grew up when I did, right after feminism had gone through its psycho teething stage and women were starting to stride forwards, in slacks. Girl power!

30day challenge: 5.

Day 5: A picture of somewhere you’ve been.

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My favourite travel photo is from Sri Lanka in the early 90’s – also my favourite destination, but unfortunately it’s old-school and I don’t have a scanner, so you miss out on that one. Just take my word for it that it’s mighty purdy, with the sun rising through palm trees and beautiful green grass. It also holds a special place because it’s on the south-east coast of Sri Lanka, right where the tsunami hit and I’m almost certain the little village would have been levelled.

 

In its place I offer you one of my recent trips, Beijing.

 

 

China is a place I’ve never been interested in visiting, but when a free trip is handed to you it’s very hard to turn it down.

 

I rate this trip as my biggest culture shock out of all of my travels so far. I’ve done a little bit of Asia so I’m used to dirt and pollution, but China is in a class of its own. The smog is unbelievable! I felt like a pack a day smoker by the end of it. Not exactly great for taking photos either.

 

It was also the first time I had travelled somewhere without knowing at least a little of the language. There is almost no way to connect with a place when you have no idea what’s going on. It also made the task of trying to find vegequarian food to eat super difficult – I mean fun, super fun. I still feel sorry for the poor bloke in the foodcourt having to put up with my mime and sound routine trying to order noodles - “no moo. mmmooo” *shake head* “no moo. fish good!” *nod head, swim hand through the air*. Ah me.

 

 

The Forbidden City was pretty cool I guess, but I really lit up when we went to the Great Wall of China – definitely my highlight. The air was cleaner, there were actual green things growing, the wall invoked awe. Who knew bricks could be so fascinating?

 

 

Perhaps I’ll go back to China one day – there is something about Shanghai that interests me, but there are so many other places I want to go first. Travel is my life. When I think of all the places I’ve yet to see it frustrates me. I can’t watch travel shows because I end up in tears at some point – true story.

 

The world is an amazing place and I really believe you only discover who you are when you fling yourself at its far corners.

30day challenge: 4.

Day 4: A habit you wish you didn’t have.

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Just the one? Ok I’ll go with the first one to assault my brain. Boys are my weakness.

 

It’s no secret that I tend to favour the younger men, the ‘boys’. There’s just something about their awkwardness that seems to draw me to them time and time again. A buff, youthful body helps too (pauses… recalls images… swoons…).

 

Or maybe it’s just because I like feeling young…

 

No, I’m going to go with my other theory that I have anti-father issues. I don’t think much of authority.

 

I’ve had a strange saunter through my relationships, each one holding a special spot in my heart, the young’uns even more so. Strange that my relationships kicked off with a man 7 years my senior when I was only 17. He was a capricorn though – they regress as they get older.

 

Since then my little flings have all been younger guys, and although I’ve enjoyed it (oh, have I ever…), I think it’s time I grew up and found someone on the same page as me. The boys are never going to go the distance with me.

 

For me that’s still probably going to mean a man a few years younger. At my age that’s not going to be hard!

30day challenge: 3.

Day 3: A picture of you and your friends.

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I bet most people had no problems with this one. For me it’s proving a little tender. I could have gone the non-tender route, plucked some pithy photo from a recent music festival or random night on the booze, but I think I’d be missing the point. And so, I present for your amusement, a tender spot.

 

 

This photo’s about a year old but I just love it. The whole night was magical misted. Every single photo was blessed with awesomeness. It’s like everything aligned to create a perfect moment in time.

 

I’m second from the left in case you don’t know, and the other three were my partners in cheekiness. I say were, because I haven’t seen any of them for quite a while now.

 

The lovely lady on the right is a very talented flautist who moved to Melbourne to continue her career (*shakes fist at Perth’s inadequacy in holding onto talent*).

 

Not long after that I had a pretty major falling out with the girl next to her, the one who brought us all together. I’ve known her since 1999. We still haven’t spoken and I fear it will never be resolved now. It’s probably a subject for another post, but in short, she inferred I was something I was not – one too many times for my liking, and I spat it. One of my failings is that the closer you are to me, the bigger the grudge I’ll hold if you do me wrong. I’ll psychoanalyse that for you another time I think.

 

The cheeky monkey on the left is a total bundle of awesomeness that I don’t get to see anymore, by proxy.

 

Before these three I didn’t really have girl friends. I just seem to resonate better with men. Men are straight up and down, what you see is what you get, no tricksy multi-layering, no double meanings. Then I discovered the awesome peeps above and realised how important it is to have close female friends. Life was good. Every fun moment was spent in their company.

 

People are in your life for as long as they need to be to teach you something and then they go. I haven’t decided whether these three lovely people have taught me all I’m meant to learn yet; who knows, maybe that means we’ll cross paths again in the future. All I know is that it’s left a very bittersweet taste in my mouth.

 

As I get older it’s getting harder to make friends, so losing friends I already have is especially heartbreaking. Every time I break up with someone they take their friends with them. I hate these package deals!

 

So, on the subject of friends, I’m currently in a lull, severely lacking content. That’s why I’m loving twitter so much and actually making the effort to meet all these crazy people in the real world. But to make firm friends takes time, and I feel like I’m a late bloomer.