Daily Prompt – Literate For a Day

Someone or something you can’t communicate with through writing (a baby, a pet, an object) can understand every single word you write today, for one day only. What do you tell them?

Dear babies of the world, it’s time we had a talk…

Daily Prompt – Reverse Shot

What’s your earliest memory involving another person? Recreate the scene — from the other person’s perspective.

One of my earliest memories was perhaps when I was about 2 or 3 years old. I must have only just recently learnt how to walk, and at the time we lived in a small block of flats on the ground floor.

13 Aug – Forgetfulness

Is there anything good that comes from forgetting?

As I sit here thinking about this prompt, all that comes to mind are the negatives about being forgetful, as somebody who doesn’t have the greatest memory, all I know is that it pisses off Hulk so much, and he makes me feel like shit because I’m forgetful. 

Daily Prompt: Singing the Blues

We all feel down from time to time. How do you combat the blues? What’s one tip you can share with others that always helps to lift your spirits?

This is kinda tough – I find myself regularly feeling the blues, but I don’t actually talk about it. I know that most people will acknowledge it – call their girlfriends to talk about all their problems; or confront their issues immediately to rectify the situation etc etc. But I tend to do what most people do – eat their feelings.

Now, in saying that, I regularly make a point of telling people that I’m cold and dead on the inside – that I have no feelings… ‘Cold as ice’. But it’s not actually true. I do have feelings – I just don’t necessarily like to show them very often. I’m far too guarded.

Admittedly, I tend to be quite highly-sensitive to things that people do or say. As somebody who was bullied practically every day since I was a kid, and somebody who has been through more than their fair share of emotional shit… yes, I consider myself as being quite damaged from it all, and as a result, I generally tend to internalise everything and keep things to myself. But it has also led me to take more of a stand for those who are just like I was.

When I was younger, I suffered from depression, and that in-turn led to me suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I really struggled to get myself out of that funk and find my happy… Things that I enjoyed just seemed to be too much to handle. Even things like seeing my friends was just incredibly uncomfortable, because I always felt like I just shouldn’t be around them – and I felt as though they didn’t really know what to say or how to act around me… which made me not want to socialise with them very much.

As I got older, I began to just focus what little energy I had onto the one thing that truly made me happy – dancing. I’d run myself into the ground, to the point where I’d have to crawl home. I’d be so completely exhausted, but I’d still find comfort in happiness in being able to still dance. It’s always been my one true love in life.

Now that I’m older, I find comfort in happiness in all kinds of different scenarios. Being able to actually have some social time with friends can actually make a huge difference for me, and create a positive shift in my mood. I find that it’s generally the small gestures from others that make the biggest impact for me – I guess because it’s so unexpected, and sometimes quite thoughtful.

I remember last year when I had a surgical procedure, i was off work for 2 weeks whilst I was at home, bed-ridden and bored recovering. A friend of mine sent me a small care-package in the mail, and because I hadn’t actually spoken to her recently, it made it so much more of a surprise. I felt completely elated when I received the parcel in the mail, as I had no idea what was inside.

That was a pivotal point in my life – and ever since, whenever a friend of mine has something getting them down, I’ll do something for them as a nice gesture. For example, the same friend who sent me the care package was, one day, feeling somewhat overwhelmed and upset due to some issues with her husband. She was feeling quite sad and confused, and so out of the blue, I decided to send her some flowers. Just a simple bouquet with a small box of chocolates, and the impact that it made on her life was truly remarkable. Upon receiving the flowers, she called me to thank me, and we ended up speaking for almost two hours – allowing her to talk about everything that was upsetting her and getting her down… and immediately, she felt relieved, and didn’t feel (or sound) as upset as she previously was.

So for those of you reading this, and happen to come across somebody you  know who may be feeling a bit down in the dumps – try doing something to surprise them – do something spontaneous either with them or for them. Send them some flowers. Turn up at their house and whisk them away for an adventure somewhere. Get them out of the house, and distract them. Talk to them about what’s troubling them – show them that you care… just do SOMETHING. Even if it goes completely south and turns out to be a terrible idea, you can both at least take comfort in knowing that you tried to do something nice for them.

It’s better to try and fail, than to never try at all.

 

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/prompt-singing-the-blues/

Daily Prompt: The Happy Wanderer

What’s your travel style? Are you itinerary and schedule driven, needing to have every step mapped out in advance or are you content to arrive without a plan and let happenstance be your guide?

Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. I need to have a plan. There’s no way I’m going to be travelling anywhere, well, anywhere I’ve never been, and not having some idea of what I’m doing or where I’m going. If I’m going there for a reason, I need to know where the airport is, how far it is to the hotel, the best way to get there. Then from the hotel, where’s the closest supermarket? Can I walk there? What time does it close? etc etc.

If I’m going somewhere for a specific purpose, then I don’t really need to do much planning, because I already know what I’m going to be doing when I arrive. If I’m going on a holiday then I…

…hang on… I’ve never actually HAD a holiday, so I can’t really finish that sentence. I guess when I actually manage to have a holiday, I’d much prefer for it to be unplanned. I’ll still do my background research, but there won’t necessarily be a daily itinerary (take note, Hulk!!) of what to do each day – it will all depends on what’s available, and what the weather is like. Why plan to go snorkelling one day, only to wake up and discover that the weather is miserable. Suddenly you can’t reschedule your snorkelling adventure because you’ve got all this other stuff planned every other day, and, what’s that? You can’t get a refund on the tickets? Oh, what a shame!!

That’s not how I roll. When I go on holidays, I’ll be going somewhere to relax and maybe play tourist. Maybe.

Hulk, on the other hand, is the person who will want a complete itinerary for every hour of every day, because that’s how he rolls. But let’s just say that whatever decisions are made… I make the final say. hehehe.

I’ve always wondered how everybody around me is always managing to afford to regularly go overseas. Even people who work part time… and they somehow manage to head on over to Bali or Thailand etc three or four times a year. How?? Sometimes I can’t even afford grocery shopping and I make a decent wage. Granted, I know that I am so completely hopeless with managing my money, whereas these other people clearly aren’t.

…or they have wealthy parents.. ??!!

I’d love to be able to come back from one trip, and then start planning my next trip a couple of months later. I couldn’t think of anything more exciting – at least that would always give you something to be looking forward to – especially if you happen to have a very unfulfilling and mundane job. I’d love nothing more than to go home tonight, and say ‘fuck it. Let’s book a holiday. We’re going to for 10 days in June…’ but unfortunately, for us, life doesn’t work like that. There’s waaaay too many variables to consider… not to mention my work more than likely turning around and telling me ‘NO’.

…granted, the same work that also get on my back about not taking my leave. *sigh* oh it’s a never-ending contradiction.

You know what I need… a holiday!!

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/daily-prompt-the-happy-wanderer/

Daily Prompt: Come Fly with Me

Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home.

I’m not entirely sure where it began, but ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been quite independent. I recall that during my childhood,  I was always out doing something. Down the park with some of the other kids in the town that I grew up in, or over a friends place. Curfew was sunset. Unless I was staying over for dinner. Back then we lived in this tiny little town with about 100 people in the town. I only had twenty-something kinds in my primary school which was K-6, so when I say I grew up country, I mean I FUCKING GREW UP COUNTRY, like C O U N T R Y ! ! ! ! 

We’re talking, country as in, everybody else lived out on farms. 70%+ of the families that lived in the town were all related.

…I’ll just leave you to think about that last bit for a little bit. 

I don’t want to say that they were the kissing cousins kind of people… but… oh wait, no, that’s EXACTLY what I’m saying.

Maybe I should start this again??

Hi, when I was a kid, we lived in a tiny country town that was full of inbred rednecks. A town where if you were a boy, you played football, and if you were a girl, you played netball. If you played neither, there was something wrong with you.

Wow. Okay, so this could quite EASILY turn into a major therapy series of blog posts… but we’ll save that for later. Maybe next month I’ll start my own daily post challenge – 30 days explaining why my childhood lead to me being so damaged? *lol*

what the fuck am I meant to be writing about again?? Oh yes, travel. Right, where was I going with this…?? That’s right…

My sense of independence… Yes, so, as a kid I was always out and about. Over at a friends place; down at the dam catching yabbies; riding around the dirt hills at the tip on our BMX’s… then that progressed to going on longer rides… I wonder where that dirt road goes?? I remember one ride I went on led me down all these dirt roads and paddock lanes until I arrived at a sealed road, and for a good 5 minutes, didn’t actually know where I was. Also, this was before we had mobile phones, so I couldn’t exactly call somebody and say ‘Oh hi, mum. Um, listen, I’m somewhere where I don’t know where I am. Can you pick me up?’

Nope. Sorry.

Turns out I was three-quarters of the way to the next town. Sigh. I was tired and exhausted, and now, I had to ride home. 

This was gonna take a while.

In high-school I had a couple of moments where I would think, ‘fuck this. I can’t do this right now’ (meaning school… meaning being bullied) So I’d pack a bag, call a relative in Sydney and tell them I’m catching the midnight train, and I’ll be at their place for breakfast. Then I’d spend my time heading off to do dance classes around the place and forget about all the turmoil awaiting me when I return home.

Up until 2012, I’d never left the country. The most distant place I’d travelled to was Brisbane. Then last year Hulk and I went to New Zealand. He’d never travelled overseas either, so it was a first for us. An exciting adventure, which actually turned out to be somewhat of an anti-climax. Although we travelled to NZ, we only stayed in Auckland and didn’t actually travel.

This year we did the exact same thing. Yes, it was another trip to NZ, but no adventure. Unfortunately it was full of drama, and politics, and it actually kind of ruined the fun of going to NZ for me. It’s just a shame that the people who all-but destroyed my spirit over there were all people that I know.

Thanks guys, you pack of shunts.

And guess what, there’s talk of another trip over there in a couple of months, but ideally, we’d like to head over to Fiji, or the Cook Islands or something like that. Somewhere nice and realxing… white sand, crystal clear ocean… paradise… and then on the way home, go via AKL again. Fingers crossed it’s another soul-destroying experience. *lol* Too many selfish, childish frenemies.

 

 

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/11/13/daily-prompt-travels-2/

 

Day 7 – Trapped In A Movie

If you had to be trapped inside a movie for 5 days, which movie would you pick?

When you’re like me and you have a multitude of favourite movies, even those movies that you can recite line by line (which I think demonstrates that you have some kind of problem!!), it’s hard to choose just one of them for a scenario such as this.

Initially, my first response was Sex and the City (the first one, and not that ridiculous second one where SJP is really looking considerably older than what she actually is, poor thing) simply because it’s a favourite for so many fashion-loving gay guys and their handbag-swinging gal-pals. Let’s face it, when I saw SATC at the movies, and that scene where Big opens the door to Carrie’s wardrobe with her stiletto feature-wall, every single person in that cinema gasped and clutched their invisible pearl necklace.

Sidenote: One of my absolute favourite moments of that whole movie. I think it’s only outshone by Carrie’s deliciously over-the-top, Vivenne Westwood wedding gown (although, personally, my favourite was the Vera Wang from the Vogue shoot she does in the movie – talk about extravagant!! Oh and special mention to the Dior gown as well.)

I think it’d be so much fun to hang out for a week with the SATC girls, running around New York and shopping up a storm, surrounded by fashion – although I could handle kicking it with Samantha, she’s a bit unhappy.

After all those thoughts were racing through my head within about 15 seconds, the very next movie I thought of was Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, and that amazing scene where he leads them through that strange hallway where they seem to turn into giants and he plays the tiny piano to open the door to, perhaps one of the most iconic cinematic scenes that was ever burned into my retinas as a child (great. Now I have that song stuck in my head!)

*sigh* Gene Wilder without a doubt was the PERFECT Willy Wonka, and although I might be 30yrs old, every time I watch this movie, I’m six years old again, watching this scene for the very first time (sometimes I get a bit too emotional watching it), and what kid wouldn’t give their right arm to spend a day inside that chocolate factory, let alone five days!!? I wanna hang out with the Oompa Loompa’s, and try all the new candy that Mr Wonka was working on; hang out with geese that lay gold eggs for easter.

Damn it. Now I wanna watch this movie again.

The third movie that appeared in my head was The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Now, I think was about 7 when I first saw this movie. I didn’t really understand what I was watching, I just remember there was a lot of funny costumes, Meatloaf got killed, there was lots of singing and dancing. It wasn’t until a few years later and I’d watched it at least 100 more times that I finally started making sense of what was actually going on in this film.

Certainly not the typical film a 7yr old should be watching… but that’s another story…

Perhaps one of my absolute FAVOURITE movies ever, RHPC is forever burned into my memory. At the drop of a hat I can easily break into song, or quote a line from the movie, I’ve seen it that many times. (is there such a thing as too many times??). I’d love to hang out with Frankenfurter for a week. The ultimate party host, and creator of Rocky (No, not that rocky – with good ol’ mumbly Stallone), that mute-hottie with the incredible body and those gold briefs. Or at least hang around upstairs with Magenta and Columbia and find out all the gossip about Frankie’s latest party… who was there… what happened… etc etc.

Coming in at number four is The Never Ending Story. The movie of a generation, this is one of those cult classics for anybody who grew up in the 80’s. I would have loved to go adventuring with Atreyu, PURELY just so I could ride on Falcor, and help him save Artax. Then once I got to Fantasia, I’d be hanging out with the Child Like Empress, to help save her people. Although I wouldn’t mind hanging out with the Rockbiter, even if he could be a bit annoying at times.

Just behind that would be Return To Oz. Simply so I could go on an adventure with Dorothy to help rescue Scarecrow and keep Dorothy safe… and, also to ask her if she really had shock-therapy, or if it was just acting.