Saturday, August 2, 2014

Thinking of Hiring a Life Coach.

"I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Jay Cee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs i couldn't quite make out.

I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet."

-Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Departures / Arrivals

Got on the plane at JFK terrfied.
Of leaving everything I love for something unknown. 
Looked at pictures,
Read friends' farewells,
Listened to Bon Iver
cried.

Stopped Over in Shanghai
Everyone spoke to me in Chinese
Thought it was funny
Until I had a problem with my baggage.
Was glad to get on the next plane.

Sat next to a chick from Brooklyn
Who shared her headphones with me
As well as her collection of episodes 
Of Bobs Burgers
Gave her my info.

Looked out the window
Saw vast deserts
And a blue ocean
The color of the sky
Landed in Australia.

Lent my lighter to an Aussie woman
While i waited for my shuttle
Told her I was on working holiday
And the weather was beautiful

"Do you have family here?"
"No, just hoping to meet different people
 and make new friends."
"Give me your number, I'll take care of you
 We filipinos always have each other's backs."
She winked. 
I gave her my number. 

Watched my travels through the window
on the way to the hostel.
Felt far from home
because cars were on the other side of the street,
And I was after all.


Sunday, December 15, 2013

Overdramatic Aussie Animal Fears that are Completely Legitimate.

I could be eaten by:

Sharks: "Australia ranks second highest in terms of global shark attacks, with 689 unprovoked attacks; and ranks highest in terms of shark fatalities, with 219."
Perfect.


Saltwater Crocodiles: "The largest living member of the crocodilians and reptiles, the saltwater crocodile can grow up to 18 feet (5.45 meters) in length and is often found in Thailand, Vietnam and Northern Australia. They have been known to take on animals such an adult water buffalo and have often attacked people. It is usually well camouflaged both underwater or on dry land and strikes at an amazing speed. Its most powerful attack – the death roll – consists of grabbing its prey and rolling powerfully until it dies." The successful conservation of crocodiles following the population plummeting of the 1960's now leaves Darwin's ratio of humans to crocodiles at 1:1. Everybody gets one. Lucky us.


Nibbled on by:

The Taipan Snake. 
Red Back Spiders.
Brown Snakes.
Tiger Snakes. 
Funnel Web Spiders.
All which contain stings and bites dispersing poisonous, potentially/and/or/definitely fatal venom. Whoo!


Stone Fish: the most venomous fish in the world. Can be found in the Great Barrier Reef, camouflaged as a rock on the bottom of the reefs. "Its venom causes shock, paralysis and tissue death. The pain is said to be so excruciating that it may lead to amputating the affected limb."
I'll have to remember to look and not touch. I always had a problem with that.






The Box Jelly Fish. "One of the most extremely lethal animals in the world. Found on the coast alongside the Great Barrier Reef..stings are terribly painful and often fatal." 

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Self realizations and proclamations: 2013 in a nutshell.



Two months ago, after quite limited research and impulsive thoughts I applied and was granted a working holiday visa to travel and live in Australia. My flights booked. On January 14, 2014 I leave my hometown in New York and depart for Sydney. That leaves me one month to finish planning my itinerary, update my iPod, buy things I probably don't need (but want to need), prepare my goodbyes, gather my thoughts, and mentally prepare for the adventures to come. I am both extremely excited and scared shitless. I am heartbroken over the idea of leaving my loved ones behind and immensely enraptured with the concept of exploring parts of the world I have never seen.


So much of my young adult life has been spent in front of a computer screen, a tv, a phone. I've spent hours stalking people from my past on Facebook, staying updated to Miley Cyrus's latest behavioral mishaps, reading articles about the benefits of kale and watching an embarrassingly large amount of cat videos on youtube. I've been a textbook example of a Y-generation kid. We grew up with digital gadgets and came of age during the invention of smartphones. We panic in places where 3G and wifi is unavailable. When I lost power for 3 days because of hurricane sandy I was devoted to find power sources to charge my iPhone at the nearest Starbucks. The place was packed.


We are described as a generation who prefers emails and text messages over face to face communication. (I blame my mild social awkwardness on all of this.) I came to realize these unfortunate facts in the beginning of 2013. Harsh breakups tend to lead to an immense amount of self-reflection. After I acknowledged the fact that I had been wasting too much time googling memes (mexican word of the days are the best) and playing clash of clans (which may very well have been a factor in my ending up single), I promised myself I would get off my lazy ass and do more with myself. Because there I was, almost a quarter into my short life with barely any passion or experience to show for it.


Don't get me wrong, I still spend plenty of time on the internet. I'm IG obsessed, and lets be real, I'm sitting here blogging as we speak. But this giant epiphany resonated in my head and I stopped nowhere short of fulfilling this self proclamation. I stopped watching SVU marathons and deleted some apps on my phone. I spent my year running outdoors, reading more books, saying yes to pretty much any invitation I got, meeting new people, picking up new hobbies, improving old ones, and bettering my relationships with my friends and family. With 2013 coming to a close, I am happy to say that I am that much closer to being someone I am proud of, and I am so looking forward to the exciting yet terrifying events that I have planned for the future.


Life is too short to wait for my wants, and during this period, while I lack any serious obligations, I find it's a perfect time to travel. I want to get my hands dirty. I'm ready to watch sunsets on the coast of Melbourne and carpool with strangers on the Great Ocean Road. I have plans to celebrate Mardi Gras in Sydney, cuddle with koala bears (if they'll have me of course,) and snorkel with turtles in the Great Barrier Reef. I'm ready, I'm going, I'm panicked and I'm stoked. 32 days until my Big Aussie Adventure.