Have you lived today, really lived?

This year I was struck with that feeling that I haven’t achieved anything. It was as though 2009 would be a write-off, the year that you go, ‘Yeah, nothing memorable happened.’ So, in order to rectify this, I actively sought out opportunities to spice up my life, in small ways, so that 2009 would not become just another year.

So in the later half of this year I:

• Dyed my hair blonde
• Took up Pole Fitness
• Tried BBQ Pork Ribs
• Tried a Noodlebox that wasn’t my ‘regular’ (The Combo box FYI, it dominates)
  Drove on the Gateway Motorway (You’d think working near there I would have done this sooner!)
• Enjoyed a Deep Fried Mars Bar with Ice-Cream

For the future:

• Make Chocolate Ganash (It’s like a chocolate cupcake icing)
• Try Thai Takeaway
• Eat at the revolving restaurant at Crowne Plaza
• Taking the STI down the quarter-mile
• Complete a photography course (Maybe at the end of my degree in Summer 2010/2011)
  

A Legacy of Hope
Despite our best intentions and bravest faces, we’re all afraid sometimes. We all struggle with our own definition of adversity; we each have different monsters under our bed. Though in spite of this, we search for small portions of hope in our lives. Small things that remind us what it is we live for.

I found Hope on Monday morning, in a gum tree ten metres from my bedroom. She represents the good that exists in all of us: the hope that we have for our own lives and for those we hold dear.

We all need a bit of hope sometimes.

Much anticipated (by Camille) photos of our October Hervey Bay Trip.

Two quick hopes for the future:

A lifelong friend.
When I was 11 years old I held a colouring competition at my school raising funds for the Moggill Koala Hospital. Considering that entries were 50 cents each, our thirty-eight dollar profit blew my mind. Eight years on I’m still passionate about our furry friends and look forward to the day I can teach my own child appreciation of the koala. I only fear that they will be only found in zoos when that day comes. What a sad state the world will be.

Zap lives at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and can always be found in her favourite sunny spot.

Decadence.
In my favourite reality I would own and be the most loyal customer of my own cafe gift shop. Where guests were treated like family and were greeted by decadent cupcakes, cheesecakes and slices. Washed down always by the finest coffees, old fashioned spiders or hot chocolates with complimentary whipped cream. Modelled on Sandgate’s Mei Li, Aspley’s Top Nosh, Chermside’s Carousel’s and Cupcakes and every other establishment dedicated to the finer side of life.

Stop believing that you have all the time in the world to achieve your dreams. You don’t.
There’s a time for eloquence and there’s a time to go wild.

Our story starts on an unseasonably warm August afternoon. The plastic folding chairs look out of place on the freshly cut grass, but it doesn’t matter. No Doubt is the mantra of our Friday nights, such self liberation a product of not taking ourselves too seriously, how fulfilling it is to do something entirely for yourself.

Our minds and bodies nocturnal, windows down, volume up, beating out the urban rituals we idolize. Leave your regrets at the red light, only bring your ambitions past the green and orange. What’s your excuse for not being exactly who you want to be? “You’re too young not to believe everything will be alright.”

Why live but to challenge the impositions that otherwise dictate our lives. Life’s too short to be afraid, to be only half your potential.

My verbosity conceals the fact that I really have nothing to say.

Resistance is not futile.

Wednesday 27^th May 2009 was a very sad day in my life. We had seen it coming for some time now, the tell-tale signs were there, we were second guessing our future together. Of course I’m referring to my beloved pair of navy havianas that have been with me for an estimated four years now. I tried to deny that the multiple breaks and occasional let downs were a sign of the times. That perhaps it was time to move on.

You laugh, but these thongs have been on my feet for a fair few important occasions, including my first date with Brendan. We were inseparable, and as time wore on, they wore in and we became comfortable together. I bought other pairs, to have variety, but these just grew dust in my cupboard – because none were as incredible as my navy blue pair. Aunty Lana and I bought a pair at the same time, the same size, the same colour. So I am sure at some point we switched and who knows, maybe switched back.

When Havianas changed their sizing I knew my precious navy pair needed to last. As the new sizing was either too big, or too small for my precious feet.

But I walked across Edward street the other day and only one thong made the whole journey, the other stopped traffic and caused a bit of embarrassment when I had to quickly pick it up and hop across the road to safety, poke the tow-bit back in and replace it on my foot.

Brendan has been urging me to get a pair for some time. When we walked into City Beach the other day I protested and complained and fortunately they didn’t have my size. I won! But... they got worse and worse and I knew it was time. So on Wednesday I found a pair, too big but the closest fit possible and I took them to the counter and a reluctant $26.00 later my love affair with my perfect pair had come to an end. I had ended it.

They sit there in the entryway to the house, neglected and on the verge of being thrown out. But I can’t do it. They were the perfect thongs.

RIP my beauties.

100 proof vodka, a whip and a couch in a stranger’s front yard.
Everybody wants to be wonderful. For what are we if we don’t? I’ll write endless words to try and account for morality, for times like these. But we don’t need explanations on nights like this – at least not expectations of the philosophical kind. We do not exist for slavery tonight. Tonight we exist solely for ourselves. For the times that made us weak, the times that made us inadequate – the times that are nothing compared to tonight.

Isn’t the best thing about the night before the stories you recall for weeks to come? We co-author the moment, ‘Did I really say that?’ [To be continued....]

The knowledge that all is only intangible.

Before I die, I’m taking a car down the quarter mile.

There is enigma and calmness is riding solo.
Driving by myself along Forgan Road from Petrie to Joyner in the few hours before sunset with the windows down and Bliss N Eso music playing at volume 14, in particular ‘Sea is Rising’. All I know is the sun is shining yet we fight all through the night/ It’s all about Peace, Love and Unity. When I get home the kookaburras and the cockatoos are competing and it’s beautiful. I love living here.

Lick my fingertips of sweet icing, there is not a moment more perfect.
A baby pink mug filled with hot coffee and Mum’s freshly baked patty cakes, sitting on the front veranda with my pups just looking out into a beautiful day. And it is always a beautiful day. The sweet smell of love and baking wafting through the air; we know that morning tea is the most important meal of the day. Cream coloured cushions, giftbooks and casual conversation.

Songs to surprise us: Mark Ronson Ft. Amy Winehouse – Valerie

Quote: A dog naps so much because it loves so hard.

Stop waiting on the world to change.