Manifestations Of Luck

Welcome to my day job. I am a flight attendant. This has been my career for the past 3 and a half years. For the first year and a half, I would fly around Australia, overnighting in numerous of our wonderful cities. I absolutely loved my job. I had my days where I didn't feel like getting up at 3am, or felt like being home instead of in a hotel in Perth on some weekends, but generally everyday at work was the time of my life.

Early 2008 after much mental preparation and a rigorous interview process, I received the news of my life, saying that I was chosen from a pool of applicants to complete a year long exchange with the Mother to our Aussie company… A British International Airline (I shall leave the name for you to guess)! I would be based in London for a year, and fly to destinations around America, Africa, The Caribbean, and Asia. I remember receiving the phone call saying I had got it. I pulled my car over from a bumper to bumper drive and cried. Uncontrollably! When I got home, I was still uncontrollably crying and shaking. Every inch of my body was experiencing an energy I had never felt an intensity of before. I called my Mum and I remember her voice on the other end concerned, saying "What's wrong? Are you ok?" It took ages to get the words out and when I finally did I cried "I'M GOING TO LONDON!" and cried even more. It took weeks for me to come down of my high!

People my age go to London all the time, so I guess you're wondering why I was so ecstatic about something that sounds as common as getting a sprinkle of hot chocolate on your Cappuccino. The thing is, moving to London had never even crossed my mind. It had never been something that I was yearning to do. But for some funny reason, I knew this experience was right for me, that it would build character (and it did in ways I never even imagined) and be a good way for me to see the world.

I will put it out there and say because of luck, I was successful in being chosen. I only believe this because I subscribe to the idea that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Not many people will admit that they are lucky. But I do believe in luck, because I was prepared for this, and I was given the opportunity, it resulted in luck. It is also my personal belief that anyone that experiences good luck, will also experience bad luck. I didn't have as much of an understanding of this at the time, so when I was dealt this opportunity, I didn't think of the after effects that would come with riding down the hill after a trip of good luck.

The year in London was indescribable. It flew by in a whirlwind. It went so quickly that now it feels like it never happened. It feels like it was all just a dream. I had a desirable job. I made the most amazing friends in London, and New York, Paris, Brazil… Everywhere I went I seem to carry a carefree demeanour that had no worries in the world, no real responsibilities, no ticking time bombs. Every day, every country, every holiday, even every work day was an adventure. A time to put myself out there, give my all and take every opportunity I could to network and make worldwide connections, to have fun, and to create memories that would last a life time.

I have been back in Australia for 8 months, and since my return I have not had the best of time settling back in. Perhaps it's an episode of bad luck, or perhaps it is riding the after effects of my good luck. I've even considered the idea that bad luck is only a manifestation of the retrospect of good luck. What are your thoughts on luck?

Everyone who has lived overseas at some point in their life, or even spent an extended period of time in a location that they desired, will be able to relate to the way I have felt . "Displacement syndrome" as one of my friends labelled it.

Having opened up my eyes to the world, and given me a experience that counts beyond my years, A part of me wonders whether I would be more satisfied in life if I had never fed this hunger. Before this tenure, I was slightly hungry to see the world, but not ravished. Now that I have seen the world, I am always ravished, I am greedy, I am hungry, and feel malnutrition being stationed back where it all began, no longer travelling.

I met two of my best friends, Diana and Ceri in London. I believe both were by episodes of good luck. I was prepared to meet them, and the universe dealt me the opportunity, so I struck lucky. On the two instances I met them, both were after I had eaten at a Brick Lane curry house. Whether this has any relevance to luck, or whether it's a random occurrence I will never know.

You see, I had the creature comfort of knowing that I was in the same position as the 20 other flight attendants that I went over to London with. If I lacked support, or felt homesick, I knew that there were 20 other people who I could hang out with. But my intentions were clear from the beginning. To go to England, and not hang out with Australian's, but to make English friends.

Just before I met Diana in January 09, I had forced myself to cut myself from my Australian friends. I was spending too much time relying on the fact that they were there, and because I was overseas a lot with work, I'd not had the opportunity to make the friends I thought I would. The night that I met Diana, I had gone to curry with some Australian friends. I'd given into seeing them because I was feeling alone at the time, I hadn't made the solid friendships I had dreamt about so I think I went for dinner perhaps only for the idea that I thought they would stay out with me, and it would give me a boost of confidence to go and make some new friends. After curry, they announced that they were going home. I begged them to stay out for a few drinks, and this is when I met Diana.

I had lost faith in London at the time. Thinking that nobody in London was friendly, nobody wanted to make friends. On this night, I saw this beautiful girl, and in my half drunken state I left everything behind me, all of my pretences about the world, about London, and I walked up to her and started chatting. The first thing that came out of my mouth was "Wow. You look like Michelle Obama".

This girl could have laughed at me. I was after all wearing a feather in my hair, and a pyjama top as a jacket (as you do when in London!) and what a silly thing to say to her! But it was her birthday, she was happy, she was beautiful, she was lovely, and I later found out, she was in the same position as I was, wanting to make some new friends. We only chatted for about 5 minutes, and as I was about to go back to my friends, she awkwardly said something like "You know what, I don't want this to sound weird, I'm not hitting on you or anything, but I'd really like to swap numbers. I think we should hang out". I felt somewhat restored in the faith of people in London, but I truly believed that she would probably discard of my number and not bother calling to hang out. The next day she messaged me. We first hung out a week or two later, and a few times after that, then a month later we went to Paris for a week, 2 months after that were holidaying in New York.

Diana and Ceri are two of the best friends I have. I will go into how I met Ceri in another post (this is getting too long!!). Even though we're now on the other side of the world, and we only occasionally speak on the phone, we stay in contact almost every day on Facebook, and I still feel such a close bond with them.

The thing is I am now back in my same job, feeling bored, and at point in my life, where I have milked as much satisfaction as I can out of this career. I am moving home to my parent's this April to pay off my debts that I have not been able to tackle since my return, so I will be in control of my finances, and hopefully have more financial freedom pack up and do whatever I desire in the next couple of years. If you spoke to me a year ago, I'd have said I would NEVER move home. But now I'm actually excited to move home. To get out of the city for a while, and clear my head. Reaffirm my goals.

I want to go to university in Sydney for 3 years, and then move to New York for one year (longer if I can find a way of extending the visa!) and then do my working holiday in London. Although a part of me just wants to pack it all up now, and go back to London. I miss Diana and Ceri so much, I know that they will always be in my life, and although they are not the sole driving force in why I would like to go back to London, they are definitely a big consideration in where my life satisfaction is right now. In the friendship side of life, these girls complete me. I know that wherever I go with them, we have this force that allows us to have a great time, be in fulfilling company, and make amazing new friends. The experiences I have shared with them are invaluable. I have never met any two people like them.

I feel like I am in my own little 'Make you own adventure book' at present. I have so many options, but if I could only turn to a page and find out that path's destiny (and be able to turn back and start over if I didn't like it) I would be able to make a firm decision about my future.

I know university isn't the be all and end all for a foot in the door for a career, but i want to go to university. I want to get a Bachelor degree to feel an an accomplishment from this strange academic desire I hold. But I also wonder: What if I complete my degree, and I have no sense of accomplishment at all, and I feel I've wasted 3 years of my life when I could have been having the time of my life in London with my two best friends?

My friend's tell me not to worry so much. I do feel like by going to university and having 3 years to grow as a person might teach me ways to be able to control my powerful thoughts, and turn them into effective thinking, rather than thoughts of worry. I will have to take each day as it comes. If I prepare myself in every way possible, so that when I am provided with the next big opportunity, I will be riding on another wave of good luck. I'm grateful for the good luck I've had so far, without it I wouldn't have met these two great friends. Any bad luck that is a manifestation of the effects of good luck, is simply just this wonderful game called life!

A photo I took of Diana the night that I met her

Us In Paris - A week of partying and fun, and living solely off Wine, bread and boursin cheese!

Sole Dilemma

The reason women love shoes is an argument we will never get to the bottom of. We cherish our collection, guard them with our life, can never seem to have enough pairs, and even when we have 50 pairs of unworn shoes in the back of the wardrobe, we can't bring ourselves to part with them.

I looked in my wardrobe the other day and wondered why it is that I have held on to so many shoes that may look great, but are completely unbearable to walk in.

We buy shoes that we know we will wear once and never again, that look adorable, but have a completely impractical design. We put them on display (or in the back of our wardrobe) for unbeknown reasons, yet refuse to discard of them 'incase they come back into fashion', or incase we need them for that dress we never wear that only matches with those particular shoes!

Over our lifetime, I estimate that at least 80% of our shoes will be put on display in the back of our wardrobes, more than the time they spend on our feet. Should we start to consider shoe collecting as an art seeing as though they are more of an exhibit for the major part of their lifetime?

Designs of modern footwear are developed with functionality, history, practicality, and current trends of the market in mind. In the high-end fashion world, some key elements (note: practicality) often seem to be overlooked.

Traditionally, footwear are garments that are worn on the feet to protect against the environment. Designs in shoe making have evolved throughout the decades, following trends and manufacturing popular styles to meet the high-demand of the current market. In our contemporary world, designers seem to be pushing the boundaries and verging on the edge of what is no longer considered functional and what most consider to be impractical.

Throughout the the decades, there have been typical advances in footwear, however in the 21st century, I question whether some modern footwear designs have been made with humans in mind, or made for some incredibly rare species of life, who have been born with the ability to run marathons in 12" heels, and withhold the balance and coordination issues involved in wearing such ridiculous heights of footwear.

An 'ordinary' shoe, whether it be oxford style, moccasin, mary-Jane, or loafer all serve a very functional purpose. To protect and support the feet in a very traditional, sensible design. Modern designs such as the 'Croc' are desired by a fraction of the population, and could be considered by some as a colourful, comfortable necessity. However most people that I know, or rather, most people over the age of 5, view them as a fashion disaster.

Alexander McQueen attempts to defy gravity with his current celebrity-in-demand Armadillo shoes. Measuring in at 12" of terrifying height, one has to question are we honestly living in a world where we consider this to be practical.

For those of us who do not have an immediate death wish, we choose to observe such terrifying shoes from afar, and consider them to be more of an art form than everyday fashion. Even McQueen's models refused to wear the shoes in fear of tripping over on the runway. This just proves that if the boundaries of footwear keep being pushed, unless we consider shoe making as a serious art form, advances in footwear will be perceived as more 'fashion disaster' than 'fashion forward'.

Nobody wants to be seen walking down the street with Kleenex boxes as shoes, so how do you draw the line between fashionable and practical?

I say, if you have fears for your life, are wanting to take out life insurance before you strap them onto your feet, or have a fear of impaling yourself on your heel, then save it for the back of your wardrobe. Considering we will only actually wear about 20% of our lifetime footwear collection, you can choose: sign your life away on the dotted line, or keep them for a nice little work of art in the pool room!

iPad - And we thought iSnack 2.0 was silly!

WARNING: This topic may be sensitive to males.. Possibly even offensive to some females!

There is a lot of content floating around the internet at the moment about Apple's new launch of the iPad. It's a huge trending topic on twitter, marking a huge humiliation for Apple and the branding (note: ingenious) team of 'professionals' that came up with the name iPad.

Some of us fortunate enough to be born without a functioning amygdala gland in our brains may believe that this name is somewhat 'cute'. With a pet frog in town and that thing sounds just like a giant lily pad. Cute right?

For the 99.9% of people who actually have a functioning amygdala gland (the gland in your brain that controls thoughts, fear, memory and human emotions) we can hardly get our minds off the fact that this new piece of Apple technology reminds us of a feminine hygiene product.

I was at a bar in Melbourne last night, when I walked into the bathroom, and found the packaging and remains of a ladies sanitary pad. This got me thinking about preferred methods of hygiene products. Whilst growing up, like most pre-virginised girls, inserting a finger into your own belongings let alone using a tampon was a very daunting task. But in a post-virgin world, most girls can't seem to keep their finger out!

I have discussed the use of tampons versus pads with some girlfriends, and while a few seem to still be stuck in that pre-virgin world, or health conscious of the effects of using a tampon the whole time Auntie Flo is in town, I myself, like most women who prefer the conveniences of the modern world, would never use a pad unless it was the last resort.

As Apple have a lead on the consumer market in technology, I feel many people will just go out and buy a new iPad, without realising the consequences. Like their female hygiene product counterpart, people will soon start to realise that the iPad can do everything that the iTampon can do, and when their iPads are leaking, they'll be wishing that Apple made an iPad with wings.

If Apple actually sold feminine hygiene products, with their foolproof savvy branding, I would say they could probably sell banana's, brand them as a hygiene product, stick an Apple logo on the side, and you have a whole new useless trend of hygiene product.

The void between what my iPhone and my Macbook Pro can do is not going to be filled by this useless iPad.

I even shudder to say the name iPad. Or I feel like tagging 2.0 to the end, to remind us all of that horrible vegemite mistake (that seems to be so miniscule in comparison to this iPad mistake) that was iSnack 2.0

When Apple have mastered augmented reality technology (Read this: http://www.behance.net/mac_fun/frame/591) then I will buy into it. Perhaps by then they will unveil the next generation of iPads: The iBanana (wings an extra $199).

"I wish I was that young again!"

I have a lot of friends who are older than myself. Predominantly in their 30's. When I mention the fact that I am 23 they say "you have plenty of time to figure out what you want to do. I wish I was that young again!"

While comments like these temporarily alleviate of my fears of getting older, and not having ever found the perfect career, life, or love, I still wonder why people that are only ten or so years older than myself, who are in a comfortable career, relationship and position in life are making statements that warrant assumptions that they would take it all away to merely be younger.

If only they remembered what it was like to be 23. Little sense of certainty about the future, and the lacking wealth of knowledge that you will acquire on your way to your 30's.

My Mother once told me that the best years of her life were in her 30's. I've never asked her what her 20's were like. She married young (in fact she had been married 3 years by the age I am now) so I'm guessing that I couldn't really make a comparison between the two of our lives anyway.

The fact that my Mother told me that her 30's were the best, has always stuck in my mind. I think some where along the line, like a game of bad chinese whispers, I misinterpreted this statement as "The 20's will be a long, hard, battle"

While I'm only in my 4th year of my 20's, I've awoken to the fact that the larger parts of life, the things with real responsibilities and consequences replace the little things that used to matter, that used to upset or frustrate me, but that I now realise were insignificant in the scheme of things.

Why is it that as youngsters we always used to drop the toast on the ground (buttered side down of course), we always had scabby knees, got rocks stuck in our shoes, got blood noses, had untied laces, and stepping in dog poo seemed to be an unavoidable occurrence. Why did these things seem to happen almost on a daily basis, yet if any were to happen now it would be a strangely rare event.

What about all of the fun things we used to do, like mixing all the shampoos, body washes, soaps and shaving foam together in one concoction whilst in the bath, putting your head underwater, following an ants trail and looking for four leaf clovers. Why do we not do these things anymore? Where would we even begin to find the time?!

Being younger is to some advantage in figuring out our options, and the direction we want our lives to go. But the sense of responsibility replaced the ability to be completely carefree as soon as we moved out of home. As adults, we sometimes long to be carefree, but we know in doing so it wouldn't be practical as we need to work to make money for rent and pay the bills. In this instance you could say that our lives begin to cease at 20 as much as they do at 30!

Our adult lives do have similarities to our youngster days, for example, by following other species (i.e. men/women!), looking for the perfect career, relationship, life, in lieu of following an ants trails, or looking for four leaf clovers. Same concept, but with complete difference of importance and relevance to our corresponding ages.

Whilst we can search all we like for our career, love and sense of completeness, as an adult in our 20's hopefully we realise by now that preparation pays off more than luck. Finding a four leaf clover is sheer luck. We had the time to spend hours searching for one when we had no responsibility or time concerns. If we wanted to find a four leaf clover now, I would say that half of us wouldn't even bother, and the other half would pay somebody to look for them! It seems nothing in our adult lives appears by sheer luck. A philosopher named Seneca, once said that "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

So for now in our 20's, I guess all we can do is prepare for the years ahead and wait for the right opportunities to arise. Then I am certain, that the 30's will be the luckiest decade of our lives, and hopefully we won't be wishing that we were younger, like my superiorly aged friends!

Dear Marc

This is a letter I wrote to a dear friend of mine at the end of 2009. He had posted a blog that highlighted the good the bad, and the people and events that shaped his 2009. It made me smile that he even thought to make mention of me.

The universe had thrown him quite a lot of unfortunate things during the year, and in times when an ordinary person may have lost hope, he found a way of holding it (and everyone else) together. He is a great friend and a great inspiration in my life, and I felt it was important to let him know this.

My dear Marc...

That note you wrote really made me laugh and smile! I love how reflective everyone gets as the New Year approaches. So I just wanted to reflect a bit on what you mean to me.

I know we have a funny little friendship, seeing bits of each other here and there, but in some funny way it works. I know that if everything in my life were to crash and fall, you would be one of the first friends I would go running to, and I know for certain that you would be there for me.

I have been going through a bit of a rough time since being back from London, and I just keep thinking about this year hasn't been so great for yourself, you have lost one of your closest friends, you have had the most amazing experience travelling Europe, only to come back home where the grass doesn't seem so green.

It's tough settling back into home, or adjusting to a big change, especially losing someone close in your life, but you Marc, always seem to pull through! You are much stronger than you think at times!

I just wanted to let you know that you always inspire me. Sometimes I don't feel like getting out of bed, and I will look at your facebook, and see that no matter how good or shit of a time you are going through you will always make an effort to get out and life live (and look fabulous doing so!)

I really admire you as a person, and a friend, because if you are not happy with something, you don't waste your days doing it. This is why I guess you are constantly looking for a job!! But I love that you won't spend your days doing something you don't love and I am confident that in 2010, because of all the people you have touched and inspire everyday, good things will come your way.

xxx

Much love, and here's to more fun times in 2010..

Emerson

Dear Bronwyn

Dear Bronwyn,

I am writing this letter in regards to your concern of the music played on a very infrequent basis, and the private social conversations that take place within our private household at XX XXXXXX Road.

On Tuesday January 21, you abruptly addressed me about the chatter and music that was emitting from my household. This was shortly before 3.30pm which was the time that the police you had called arrived. I feel that the comments that you made to me were inappropriate, and rather ill-natured.

When my companion suggested that we stand across the street, outside of your house to see if we could hear the music, you commented that we were "young and desensitised to the music." I feel that this comment was quite misconstrued as you have absolutely no knowledge of my health and the precautions that I take to preserve my hearing. Being 'young' does not mean that our hearing is less competent than any other individual of any other age.

My housemate and I are both mid-late 20's, and labelling us to be 'young', does not automatically warrant an assumption that our lifestyles are inconsiderate, irresponsible, or damaging to our health and hearing.

I have worked in the airline industry for several years, and I am more than educated in how to practice and adopt safe hearing practices. Being that my hearing is integral to my career, I ensure that I take very cautious measures not to damage it.

We will ensure to be more considerate in the future, especially during times within the prohibited hours, however I feel that our music was not considered to be unreasonable, and if the police had found it to be so they would have undertaken further action. I also feel that it is more than reasonable to be able to partake in social conversation within my own residence at a reasonable time of the afternoon.

I would appreciate that if you do have any concerns in the future with our noise levels, that you take professionality in your actions. Comments based on a fictional assumption constitute as a very serious form of defamation of character.

From the residents of XX XXXXXX Road