Itinerary (as of now)

As if, I wasn't already I am officially on Summer Holiday. As in, I have no more tests to take, papers to turn in, or classes to show up for. But altogether I have been on summer break since the moment I stepped off the plane in Brisbane back in January. 

Typically, everyone know that weekends, spring breaks, and even summers go by entirely to quickly. Before packing up your weekend supplies, flying home from spring break, or pulling out of your home's driveway headed back to college, there is always a moment where you stop and think: "where in the hell did the time go,?" "I just finished class on Friday, landed at my destination, or bombed my last final of last semester." Well, my friends if you think that time passes quickly on these minor occasions... then you have another thing coming. 

I feel like I met my friends here yesterday. I remember the cold, rainy morning that I was being driven to the airport. There is a moment of contemplation when thinking about the time since I got here. I feel like I haven't done much (even though I have), and that my time has just begun. The two way street that although you know so much more then when you got here and you feel like you've been here forever, but on the other side you feel like its only been a week. 

Time since I have gotten here has sped into a warped dimension. I truly never knew that time could move this fast past my own face. Whirling by and crossing out days on my calendar, taking no time to slow down and rest for even a second. No matter how much I told myself to enjoy the moment and soak up the scene, I will never feel completely satisfied. Which is why, nowadays I sit back grin, happily realising that I'm ok with that. 

A good friend's favorite quote, who showed and proved this to me:

"They have worries, they're counting the miles, they're thinking about where to sleep tonight, how much money for gas, the weather, how they'll get there --- and all the time they'll get there anyway, you see. But they need to worry and betray time with urgencies false and otherwise, purely anxious and whiny, their souls really won't be at peace unless they can latch on to an established worry and having once found it they assume facial expressions to fit it and go with it, and all the time the time it all flies by them and they know it and that too worries them to no end..." 

On The Road, Kerouac

A Couple Updates

I leave Australia in 10 days. I will be in Bali for about a month, Singapore for a long weekend, New Zealand for 2 weeks, and Fiji for 1. That puts me back in Virginia Beach on June 11th, unless I hang out in California for a couple days which I have recently thought about. 

Although I'm ecstatic to get on the road for a while, back to travelling, I'm no where near ready to come home. (except maybe to see my dog, score a homecooked meal, and get some money) 

While in the water surfing D-Bah yesterday, in between getting barrelled, a friend paddled over and said "I'm trying to tell myself right now: 'Just remember how happy you are right now!'" I agreed, but only to show it by a big grin. I paddled back to my own peak in the water, when I thought about that comment and how I just wanted to take a little bit of that afternoon home with me in box. Somehow capturing the sun, clear water, jumping dolphins, countless barrels, and my thoughts. Then I was reminded by a quote I had heard before "somethings you just have to keep for yourself." 

March 16th- April 5th

Well I’m behind… way behind. However, without the weekend travels, I haven’t had anything too exciting to right about. Not that life in Australia has gotten dull, but overall it has been repetitive; in only the best way. The past few weeks have been filled with coffee mornings, surf sessions, afternoon naps, and late nights. The surf has been consistently big and really fun.

            School work is beginning to come up… and fast! I have some papers that I need to tend to, but due to my new obsession with Six Feet Under, they’ll have to wait. It is not Australian or even current. Six Feet Under was introduced in the States in 2001 and ran until 2005, but for me: 2009. I’ve yet to get too immersed in a new book and I think the show is to blame.

I need to spend some time in the library working on my research papers, but I need to spend more time outside… living. I’m into my final month in Australia now, and I do not like it one bit. School is winding down. I am beginning to have less and less class as the weeks continue.

            The feeling of burning flesh in my lower back along the left side of my spine is beginning to subside, although I cannot tell if that is because I have been eating Advil Liquid Gels like candy. After a fall at the local Beer Garden last weekend, I am finally able to move about, for the most part, freely and without dying. The crowd went wild went the local cover band, Punchline, began jamming the likes of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” I made a quick appearance before being in the wrong place at the wrong time and sequentially lifted up by my comrades. 

The MRI went well the other morning. I was late, but my spot remained open. I was told to drop my “tweeds” and in a mistaken translation process dropped it all. I was told to put my “undies” back on the chuckling middle aged woman who waited on me. In between moments of the horrendous loud sounds bouncing my bones and muscles around to make an image and my aching back twitching out of traditional despair, I actually found the process quite relaxing.

The cyclone has left the past week continuously overcast and the ground saturated. All the time indoors has led to some productive studying and proceedings in Six Feet Under.

I have a couple finals ahead this week, some papers the following, and a couple tests there after. Then el FIN.

As most of my friends here aren’t travelling to quite the extent that I am… Forgetting about my solo escapades of Asia, New Zealand, and Pacific islands…I am growing increasingly more excited to see familiar faces back home. I think I’ll be ready for some green money, common accents, and cheap beer by the time I reach home; for a little while anyway.