An award has been sent my way

Thanks to the very cool Eleni over at RPG Called Life, she has graciously (although perhaps mistakenly ha), decided to pass on the extremely prestigious 'Blog on Fire Award' on to me (and 6 others)! Woo! The stardom is a blaze in my eyes!

Now apparently on accepting such an honour, according to the committee who oversees the handling of this award of course, I must pass this on to seven worthy bloggers of my choice, as well as divulge seven previously unknown random facts about myself.  I think I can manage that.

1. Since moving out of home two years ago, I have lived in 3 separate houses, each with their own set of crazy housemates. 

2. My two best friends are named Sabrina and Jason.

3. Being inside museums really freaks me out.  No I am not kidding.  Something about the combination of empty halls with the hardwood floors that greatly enhances the echoed clicks of high-heeled shoes, the paintings and statues that are so well created that the eyes looks like they could blink and turn their gaze on you at any moment, and the strange fact that the air always seems to carry a chilling, cold presence that stays with you where ever you go, creates a very intimidating experience for my wild imagination.

4. I have broken over 10 bones in my 23 years of life.  I was a bit of a wild one when I was younger, constantly out riding my bike, trekking through bush land, playing sports, getting up to whatever mischief and adventure I could find.  A few of them were just fingers and toes, but then there have also both arms, my left knee and my left ankle.  Ha!

5. The environment and the management of Earth's resources is a huge passion of mine.  I hate so much that, as a species, we are so blase' in the way we treat the materials and resources we use in our every day life that we are happy to discard at a moments notice.  Take for instance plastic bags from the supermarket.  Here is an item that is produced from materials, toxic chemicals, and shipped in the multitude of billions all around the world using tonnes and tonnes of natural resources, only then to be used for about 10 minutes by people who are too lazy to carry their 5 grocery items from the store to their car, to be then thrown straight into the bin when they get home to end up in landfill!

6. I have a huge fixation (some would say obsession) for Emma Watson.  She is just so gorgeous!

7. I originally started blogging as an output to help get over a terrible break-up. It has now grown to become quite a passion of mine, something I hope to continue for many years to come.  My most favourite aspect is not the writing of my own posts, or gaining followers, or watching my page view stats, but in fact is when I am lucky to find a cool new blogger to follow, and getting that little bump of excitement when I see they have posted something new.

I would now like to pass this award to 7 of my very favourite bloggers:

Jez of Intrepid Boy

Becky of Steam Me Up, Kid...

S. Love of S. Love

Didactic Pirate of The Didactic Pirate

Sue of Bay Bee Tea

Matt of matt vs. the real world

Jason of Out-Numbered

New York City trip updated

So, we are now the end of July, and I am still rather behind in the planning for my New York City trip.  Yikes!  This sounds scarily familiar on how writing my Masters thesis went last year, ha!

The page marked 'New York City trip' will now be my central hub for all things trip related.  I am hoping it will act both as a place where I can store all my researched knowledge, keep everything organized, keep me moving, as well as be a place where others could hopefully learn from my experiences, research, mistakes and thoughts on what it takes to live abroad on your own, with no job or accommodation lined up.

I will update it as often as new information arrives, or if anything changes.  Thus far I am aiming for a March departure so I expect it to get rather hectic from here onwards!

And, of course, I always love to hear from you guys, so if anyone has some tips for me, please send them!  I need all the help i can get ha =)

Us Against the World

I don't really have truly meaningful relationships with many of my friends.  I am not saying it is necessarily a bad thing, although at the same time I worry that it should necessarily be a bad thing.  

I don't know?  

Sure I have friends, lots of them in fact, but most to be brutally honest are rather disposable, meaning that if we were say to drift, or I moved away, or lost their phone numbers, I think I'd be okay with the loss.  Then of course there is the handful of about five or so, my 'group' that I am apart of if you will, whom I would miss greatly if lost and with whom I spend a great deal of effort staying into contact with.  But, are we close? As in, best buddies close?  I don't know, I would hazard a guess that no, we are not best buddies close.

Why not? Am I just a douche and my friends find it hard to be around me perhaps? Ha, no, that isn't the case, my friends love me, it's just that due to a lot of changes over the last year or two it has grown harder and harder to keep a constant level of contact like we used to. I work, they work, I moved away, got busy, they got busy.  

Sometimes growing older sucks.

I am leaving my home of Australia and flying to live in New York soon.  I often wonder how the farewell party will go; Will I be missed... truly missed?  The kind of goodbye when you know it isn't forever but it feels like it is anyway.  The kind when even though you will still most likely be able to talk to the person everyday via telephone, Facebook or even letters, in your mind a scenario of complete and utter cut off from contact conjures and you worry that they will drift, or never return, or possibly even just forget you.

Hell, I don't want tears, I'd be happy with a heartfelt handshake really.  I guess what this all boils down to is, I know how much some of the people in my life mean to me and I guess I just wonder if it is the same the other way round.

I was going to now start talking about the kind of truly close relationships that often form when in love, or falling in love, or even when you think you are in love, with another person.  The kind that if you are lucky can form an amazing bond between you, one in which you can share everything, and truly rely, depend and count on them at all times.  A team of sorts, made up of just the two of you.

Two against the world.

I had that once.  Truly I did.  We were together for a very long time, truly each others rock through and through.  It is quite a distant memory now, I barely remember how it was, with only small recollections of fits of laughter, of big hugs, of gushing tears, of stress, of commitment, of friendship remaining.  

At 23 years old sometimes I worry that I have missed my chance to form the close knit group of friends that I so obviously crave.  You know the type I mean, like the gangs depicted on TV sitcoms like How I Met Your Mother, and Friends.  I used to have that, but it kind of drifted away, and I am having a hard time finding a 'new' group to call my own.  

Luckily I make new friends easily, and frequently find myself being inducted into a new existing group of friends, and sure, this new group is awesome and exciting and friendly and interesting... but when I compare it to the old group, the group that has thrived together for literally 10 years now with some of that group still some of my best friends around today... the new group just looks boring in comparison, and I find myself missing the old days all over again.

Some day, I may have my How I Met Your Mother friendships, and if any of them were to move away, I damn well will be sure to let them know how much they mean to me, and that yes, they will be truly missed, regardless of how long they are gone for.  And that goes double for any girl I am in love with.

Us against the world.