31 Oct – Halloween

Tell us if you’re going to dress up tonight for Halloween. (And better yet, show us a picture of your costume!)

Sorry everybody, didn’t do anything for Halloween this year, I was kind of pre-occupied working over in Auckland for almost 2 weeks, and trying my hardest to fight off the flu.

Surprisingly though, the people in Auckland really seemed to get into the spirit of Halloween which I really didn’t get, because it’s such an American tradition, but I saw costumes all around me on the way back from buying cold & flu tablets at the chemist near my hotel.

Daily Prompt – Road Trippin’

‘Tis the season for road trips — if time and money were out of the equation, what car-based adventure would you go on? (If you don’t or can’t drive, any land-based journey counts.)

There’s three continents that would make an excellent driving adventure: Europe, North America and New Zealand.

Daily Prompt: Write Here, Write Now

Write a post entirely in the present tense.

Tired.

Oh sweet baby cheeses am I feeling tired.

My mum arrived in Melbourne yesterday and is staying with us for a couple of days before she heads off to stay with her sister for a few days, and we head off to Auckland for a few days.

It’s 41degrees today (105.8F) and mum arrived early this afternoon. Rather than go back to our place straight away and get the keys from Hulk, she instead chose to stay in the city and wait for my to finish work. Then the 2hrs that I ususally spend before class doing exactly this and catching up on writing my overdue blog posts! Instead, I had to spend time entertaining mum in this stinking heat. I just don’t understand why she didn’t just go back to our place and be in the cool air con.

I actually feel guilty for not really wanting to be stuck spending time with her. I know that I haven’t seen her for quite some time since she moved to Queensland, but it wasn’t exactly the best time for her to be here. I have a very set schedule, and I think that perhaps she was expecting me to cancel everything so that we could spend time together. It made things worse that we then didn’t actually get to have dinner until after 10:30pm.

Being hot, exhausted, rushed, and hangry (hungry + angry) is already a recipe for disaster. When you throw family obligation into the mix, it just makes it worse.

As much as I really wanted to, I would have loved to have been able to take those two days off work – hell, I would have been happy with just having one day off, but I couldn’t manage it, and in the end, the time that we got to actually spend together was very, very limited. And to keep digging the hole a little deeper, whenever mum is here, her and I always end up staying up late chatting away. I really do love being able to just kick back and talk about all kinds of things with mum, and completely lose track of time… it’s just so much hard to recover from it when it’s during the working week. *lol*

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/daily-prompt-now-2/

Feb 3: Today’s Event Perspective

Write about an event that happened today. Now write about it from the perspective of someone else in the room — your child, your partner, a person dining in the same restaurant… your choice.

I’m currently sitting on an Air New Zealand flight back to Melbourne from Auckland. We were up this morning at 4am, with a taxi booked for 5am so that we could be checked-in at the airport by 5:45am for an 8am flight.

Given that we had 2 hours to kill, I suggested that we go and spend that time in the Air NZ Koru lounge. That way we could sit somewhere that’s actually comfortable, we could have a decent breakfast, watch a tv episode or start a movie etc on my iPad, or even have a bit of a nap until we board the plane.

Hulk didn’t want to.

After learning that the cost to do so was going to be NZD$55, he immediately dismissed this suggestion, as he refused to pay money to go and be comfortable. It can be hard to negotiate with somebody who can be quite bull-headed and stubborn, especially when they’ve already made up their mind about something and refuse to budge or listen to reason. I suppose from his point of view, he didn’t want to spend any more money, and no doubt viewed spending another fifty bucks as an unnecessary expense. However, in hindsight, I should have just organised and paid for it all myself and not said anything to him, and then he’d probably be more accepting of it, because it didn’t cost him anything.

I wonder if you can buy lounge access online… Perhaps next time I should just do that and not say anything??

Daily Prompt: Beyond the Pale

When was the last time you did something completely new and out of your element? How was it? Will you do it again?

I usually don’t have the time or the opportunity to do something new and out of my element, because I work two jobs and work six days a week. As much as I would love to be able to be out trying new things, I simply don’t have that luxury. The closest I would get is more along the lines of trying a brand new type of processed food, like a new flavour of chocolate, or packet of chips, or smoothie combination… Pointless and insignificant crap.

I’m one of those people who has foolishly subscribed to those coupon newsletters, the ones that usually advertise a 90min massage for $30 at some dodgy massage place in somewhere obscure that nobody has heard of…

There’s a reason that nobody has heard of these places… And there’s a reason why these coupon deals are so cheap.

In saying that though I have actually been fortunate enough to bag a bargain with a couple of coupons, but I’ve also had more than my fair share of disappointment. But other times, I see certain offers come across my inbox from time to time that make me think ‘oh, if only I could take x-amount of time off work to do such-and-such a course, then I’d do something different’ but then I do a bit of research into the course and the provider and the location and it all ends up in the ‘too hard basket’.

I’d love to go and do a cake decorating course. I’d love to do a massage course. I’d love to go and do a creative writing short course. All creative stuff that will allow me to switch off from everything else and allow me to focus purely on myself for a little bit.

But like I said, it ends up in the ‘too hard basket’. I just don’t have the luxury to be able to do something like that.

The last time I truly stepped out of my comfort zone was July / August 2013 when I was in New Zealand. I went to a freestyle house-dance class. I had recognised a few faces who were also in NZ for the same week that I was there but for years I’d always talked about how much I would love to go and do a freestyle class, rather than the dance classes I do at the gym, and this was a moment that I truly saw as a perfect opportunity to take advantage of.

I remember walking down Queen Street in Auckland city to this address and realised that I had walked past this dance studio almost every single day and had never actually noticed where it was. I climbed the twisting wooden staircase up to this narrow set of hallways and was shuffled into a tiny room to pay for a casual class, then ushered to another even smaller corridor and followed some others into a studio, is was small and narrow and full of people. I remember walking in and instantly sweating profusely – a combination of my brisk walk there from the gym in the cold Auckland night air, and the lack of air conditioning in the studio. My top was half drenched before the class had even started.

The class started off with a warmup and then straight into the beginnings of an intricate and complex house dance routine. Having an extensive dance background, I managed to pick up the choreography a lot quicker than some of the others, but at the same time, there were a number of others, ‘the regulars’ who already knew the routine from previous classes. It was so challenging and frustrating and exhausting and complicated, and as annoyed as I was getting, I was loving every single moment and didn’t want the class to end. I had missed this feeling so very much.

One time we’d run through the routine, and I’d totally nail all the choreography, but then we’d do it again, and I’d make so many mistakes because I’d get distracted.

I miss being able to do that. I wish I could do it on a more regular basis.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/04/daily-prompt-new-2/

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/