Sunday 19 June 2011

Bucket List

I have a Bucket List.Now I know what you are probably thinking ... "sure, well there's a lot of people out there who have a Bucket List" .. But you see the difference is, my Bucket List is mine, and uniquely mine ... There is things on there that range from adventurous activities I want to do to place I want to travel to things I want to achieve in my career to family aspects. I got up to about 250 on the list, to tell you the truth I could have kept going to 1000 or more, but I had to narrow it down.
Still, I think 250 is swinging pretty far for the fence! Wouldn't you agree?

One of the items on said Bucket List, is speak Fluent French. This one I have actually been working on ... buuut - Je ne peur paler un peu de Francais! (which means 'I can only speak a little bit of French) so far ... I love this language though, it sounds so beautiful, with every syllable and word that I learn it's like honey running off my tongue (a strange simile for a language I'm sure, unique none the less!)

English is obviously my first language, and I loved English in high school (I was an English, Art and Film person, not a Math's and Science person). I just loved the idea that there could be more than one right answer to something, I loved the fact that there was a lot more creativity involved in English and the Arts and that there was no dead set right or wrong answer .... It was the process that mattered, not necessarily the final product (although if that was good it did help).

Anyway, back to my insanely weird obsession with France at the moment .... Come to think of it, it is a little strange isn't it, me want to live in the south of France for a while and now me wanting to learn the language fluently .... oh well, guess I can't help it now!

So that's one thing on the list anyway.

I was reading the other day in a travel brochure (I think it was STA travel or something) that they offer a lot of different around the world tours ... I was reading the details of them and a lot of them are absolutely amazing! ... If only I had enough money.
There is however an opportunity to teach English as a Foreign Language all around the world. The company pays for the course that you have to take to get the qualification as well, and it's only 20 hours of classroom time .... I thought, bonus! ... There is fee's involved with the tour package of course ... I'll let you know if anything pops up that allows me to travel the world for free ... while packing my bags!

I shall keep you posted and give you various travel updates (when I do go away) .... there are heaps of places that have free WiFi!


Keep smiling!

Wednesday 15 June 2011

South America

I just went onto the Contiki Travel Tour site, and guess what! .... They now have tours for, wait for it, that right, I'm going to give you a big build up here ... SOUTH AMERICA! ... now I know that this definitely won't interest everyone, not at all, but it definitely interested me! ... I have a friend who lives over in South America, although, she lives in Chili and the tours only travel through Peru, Argentina and Brazil ... still, I thought that this was AH MAY ZING!
Machu Pichu - Peru
Being the travel bug that I am, this is the tour that I really want to do now:
http://contiki.com.au/tours/286-the-adventurer/itinerary
(take a look at the link if you want, but I'll pretty much explain what it is in this next awesome description!)

It's 24 days of pure awesomeness and inspiration. The tour goes from Lima, through Arequipa, Colca Canyon, Puno, Cusco, Sacred Valley, Machu Pichu, Puerto Malsonado, Buenos Aires, Iguassu Falls, Buzios and finally Rio de Janeiro.
How fantastic does that sound!



Rio de Janeiro
Well, I can only dream at the moment, I have almost no money, especially not enough to go trekking around the world .. YET! ... I will though, that much I know. I won't be able to stay put for long!

I am thinking though, that I will finish all my study first, then hopefully I will have enough money saved after then (hopefully) to do at least a little traveling .. I suppose I'm just going to have to see where life takes me!

I don't really have a fantastically detailed plan for my future mapped out, but I do know what I want, and I do know that my 'gypsy blood' won't allow for much deviation from that path - at least I hope not anyway!

The last thing I want is a cookie cutter job and a cookie cutter life. I don't want to be doing other peoples taxes and going home at 5.37pm to pat my dog on the head, sit down to my meat-and-two-vegetable meal and wait for millionaire hot seat to come on (or something along those lines), a beautiful life I'm sure, however, not the life for me.

That's just my opinion though, if that's what people aspire and dream about, then by all means, don't let me hold you back. I just think you should do what feels right to you and live life the way you want to live it, aspire to your dreams, not what society finds 'custom'. Be who you want to be and not a clone tainted so much by sociological views, because it's those inner complexities, the aspects that make a person tick, that's the true beauty within humanity.

Again, this is all just my opinion, and advice ... optional to listen to, or not, of course. I shall let you in on a little cliche that I've heard so many times I swore if another person said it, my ears would bleed ... but I understand a lot of the meaning behind it now, and I can't believe I'm about to write it ... but: 'Life is a rollercoaster, so just enjoy the ride, wherever it takes you!"

Hey ... Live life. Dream Big, and let the best memories engrave themselves on your heart!

Monday 6 June 2011

Secret Window

Is it weird that I am really in love with the lake house/cabin in the movie ‘Secret Window’? Because to be quite honest I really do absolutely love that house, yes, it is a little rough around the edges, and it could do with a little TLC, but seriously, I could see myself living there. Or at least having it as some sort of holiday cabin .... wouldn’t that be cool though, to turn around and say, ‘Yeah, I have a Lake house that I go when I have that inevitable crave for solitude sometimes.’

I don’t know about you, but I like to be alone sometimes, maybe not to the extent that Mort Rainey is in the Secret Window (apologies if you haven’t seen the movie. Watch it, I think you will be pleasantly surprised and enjoy it, if your anything like me you will anyway), but I think, deep down, we all crave that solidarity. We yearn for a place that we can think without interruption, a place that we can just go deep into our minds and not come out until we’ve figured out what it is that needs figuring out.
This particular lake house in ‘Secret Window’ is in upstate New York, out at a place called Tashmore Lake ... Now as far as I know, this isn’t a real lake, it was made up for fictional purposes by Stephen King (the author of the book that ‘Secret Window’ was based on) ... but again I could be wrong, it could very well exist.

To be completely honest with you, I think I would have to just have it as a vacation cabin up in the mountains near the lake because I’m the kind of person who, if given the opportunity, would live abroad ... a soon to be Architect I think that eventually, if I could start my own firm, I could be able to work from home more often and have a head office where everything was run. I would then be able to still have a home near my head office, but have that option of living in different countries if I wanted to, hell I could even expand my office to other parts of the world!! You never know what’s lying around the corner for you. That’s a long way into the future for me yet though.

Even though I want to be successful in my career and I want to achieve certain things and travel the world, and have all of these exciting experiences, at the end of the day, I’m just an everyday person, who has a dream to do extra ordinary things, and anyone can do that!    

Sunday 5 June 2011

Hollywood! On the Gold Coast.

This weekend I went to Movie World with my sister and 3 of her friends for her 10th Birthday! 
Movie World! .. Hollywood on the Gold Coast.
It was fantastic! ... I really really enjoyed it! Being the adrenaline junkie that I am, I was the one who wanted to go on all the rides and the big rollercoaster’s, however I must say, the other 10 year old girls who are into make-up and Hannah Montana, did not seem to be that impressed with my intense enthusiasm and thirst for adrenaline!
Instead, they wanted to keep going on the ‘Scooby Doo spooky coaster’! ... Now, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved that ride as well, but I wanted to go on the ‘Superman Escape’ ride, and no one wanted to go on that one with me, nor the ‘Leathal Weapon’ rollercoaster (I do apologise to any of you who don’t know what or where these rides are, no matter, I shall be talking about them anyway!) .... They all thought it was ‘too fast’, or ‘too scary’, but that’s all okay because we didn’t go there for me, we went there for my sister, and if/when I go there next, I will go on the rides that I want to go on, so I’m not stressing about that at all.
'Superman Escape' Roller Coaster!
The night before we went to Movie World, I had a very implausible dream. Saying that it is implausible doesn’t necessarily make it implausible, it just means that it’s unlikely, but not completely impossible, that it could happen. Meaning that if I had a dream that I was falling out of the rollercoaster seats because of their lack of security while being yelled at and harassed by angry Smurfs, then yes ... I would say that that dream was, in fact, impossible (although you can never be too careful!) But instead, my dream was that I went on the ‘Wild Wild West Log Ride’ with Johnny Depp, however there were added features on the ride. There was section where you had to get off and catch a butterfly to move onto the next stage, which came as a bit of a surprise to me, but hey, if I had to catch a butterfly to keep going, then dammit, I would catch a butterfly! The boats we were in were that small that I was forced to squash in next to the other person (which in this case was absolutely fine because it was Johnny Depp, after all!) Then after the ride we both walked away saturated (at least I got that part right, you do get wet in the ‘Wild Wild West Ride’) and we approached these two police horses, which, for reasons beyond my interpretation of reality, were blue and red, then the police officer that was on the blue horse dismounted and it turned out to be Christian Bale. Then I woke up!

The 'Wild Wild West' Ride - That I could possibly totally go on with Johnny Depp!
Does that seem at all strange to you? Because I think that that could quite possibly happen, I mean, why could a horse be blue or red? And is it really that impossible to believe that I could go on a ride at the Gold Coast with Johnny Depp? ..... I mean, dreams can sometimes represent premonitions ... although in this case, it could be just wishful thinking!