If you're bored, you're not paying attention
(I didn’t. And he’s about to become famous for all the wrong reasons.) With regularity, the one thing that pulls at my heartstrings and emotionally overwhelms to the point that tears are guaranteed to form and spill is when I see ‘community’ getting together; when people put aside their differences for a common good and a united effort. Many of you will have...
Read MoreDutch airline KLM has taken social networking one step further by not only letting you pick your seat on its flights but letting you pick WHO you sit beside. KLM’s newly launched service, Meet & Seat, allows those with facebook and/or LinkedIn accounts to share their profile details pre-flight with other passengers. So when it comes to choosing your seat, in...
Read MoreWhether working from home (unstructured), or at the office (structured), or knee-deep in a project (oblivious of the time) the importance of taking a lunch break can’t be underestimated. Not only is it a chance to refresh your focus, replenish your body with fuel, and with any luck an opportunity to get some fresh air, but it can also be a time for exploring and...
Read MoreI think I might be slightly crazy, but I’ve decided that today – March 1st – is the day I will give up sugar. Apart from the inherent health benefits of reducing my intake of the delicious white stuff, I’m doing this because I want to exert control over my body, overrule desire with willpower, prove to myself I have an inner fortitude and strength – a...
Read MoreToday I swung. I walked by an empty playground and realised it had been ages since I’d hopped on a swing. (Why is it an activity that imparts such a sense of freedom – of exhilaration – is relegated to children? Why aren’t more adults hopping on swings and flying high?) I got some amused looks from the people in the neighbouring dog park as I walked up to the...
Read MoreFunny how time flies. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was living and loving life in Guatemala. (What an amazing country for anyone who’s looking for an action packed destination that fits so much variety – topography, culture, history – in one postage-stamp sized country.) Unfortunately, life started getting lonely & isolated there and heeding the...
Read MoreTen years ago to the day I thought my life had come to an end. As I ran from a collapsing building that looked destined to fall upon me; as I was swallowed by a barely breathable black cloud so dense that no light penetrated, I thought ‘this is it’. For nearly 3000 people that was indeed the case. As pitch black gave way to a lesser grey, I emerged from the cloud to...
Read MoreI’ve been reminded recently by a friend about the importance of staying in the present … … and how sometimes if your mind is already in the future then perhaps it is better to fast forward to the future so you can get back to the present. Anticipation is one thing. To look forward to something is a treat sweeter than spontaneity, despite the immediacy of...
Read MoreExcuse me if I don’t smile for the next 4 months I’ve just had my face selectively paralysed in the name of beauty, the pursuit of youth, and most importantly because it was something I hadn’t tried before. Actually I’m joking, not about the Botox, but about being able to smile. I can still smile. A doctor friend who youth-ens, beautifies, and...
Read MoreIn a poetic tale of hedonism, guest writer Aram McLean recounts drunken days & free-loving nights in Laos and still manages time to experience the country’s raw beauty. The way is a mix of clay, mud and manure, making a soup of epic slime. Leeches roam the path. And they jump! Yes, jump. Curling their bodies like some blood-sucking mutant of an inch-worm, they...
Read MoreMotivated by a lecture, guest writer Vicki Dawson, realises a dream by climbing one shallow breath at a time to Everest’s Base Camp. On October 25th 2010, something that had started as a vague idea and then became a full blown obsession, led to me standing at Everest Base Camp crying my eyes out… Armed with 80 wet wipes, two pair of trousers, two tops and some...
Read MoreVancouver Airport (YVR) launches a contest to find a correspondent to live, eat and sleep at the airport for 80 Days ~ without leaving. Following in the footsteps of Queensland’s hugely successful viral campaign to fill the World’s Best Job, earlier this week Vancouver Airport launched a web-based contest to find a storyteller who would live at YVR for 80...
Read MoreMy fear of dentists is so great that I went to my veterinarian for a follow up check up. This past week I was in the dentist’s chair and as usual I didn’t recognise the person sitting there. Between cries of pain, wiping my sweaty palms on my shaking legs, and struggling to keep my adrenaline-fueled, anxiety-pumping heart from jumping out of my chest I had an...
Read MoreA travelling companion from more than 20 years ago reaches out and says G’day after stumbling across The Experience Junkie website. I’ve always maintained that experiences are best shared: for the enriching perspective a companion provides – seeing things that you might not have noticed; for the energy they offer at the time, and even better for the shared...
Read MoreI’m frequently asked two questions: Where’s your favourite place in the world? – and – Where would you go tomorrow if you could? I loathe the first question. It is impossible to answer. There are too many incredible places on this magnificent planet of ours to narrow it down to just one destination. I like different places for different reasons and even then...
Read MoreMy pets come together each morning and bestow their affection on me at the most inopportune of places and times. My street puppy Cenizo follows me around all the time. At first I thought it was insecurity. It’s a big world out there and as Dad I offer sense of safety. But then he started to get brave, and now if left off the leash the distance I can walk before he’ll...
Read MoreImagine my surprise this past weekend when I logged into my savings account via the internet only to find that my bank balance read a big fat $0. I had been robbed; my account emptied over the past month via a number of ATM withdrawals in Bogota, Colombia. I wasn’t completely shocked, resigned rather to the frustration and hassle that would, and has, ensued. You see...
Read MoreThanks for the insight, for the inspiration … we’ll take it from here. I just watched the final Oprah episode. (Thanks to a neighbour with Tivo and a television – I have neither). Her last show was simply Oprah, no guests, standing in front of the camera giving thanks to her audience the world over that have supported her these past 25 years and sharing for the...
Read MoreSo here I was a couple of months ago humming along quite fine. My life had rhythm, it had structure. I was writing regularly, I was getting to the gym – gaining weight – eating healthily, sleeping well, and challenging myself by learning Spanish here in Guatemala. Most importantly I was content. That was the last time that most of you would have heard from me. So...
Read MoreThe buzz about the world for some years now is that Mother Nature’s mad. The question being posed is: Are we just being super-sensitive to her moods or have we gotten up her skirt and enraged her with our careless disregard for her home? Whatever the answer, wild weather is afoot. It seems recent years have seen a normally hyped-up media legitimately using phrases...
Read MoreSometimes life’s curve balls force a temporary timeout but don’t let a slowdown in momentum mean a loss of determination. Who would have ever thought that playing Ultimate Frisbee would result in a cracked rib? I mean it’s only frisbee, gosh darn it! But that’s exactly what happened to me last week after a giant Thor-like opponent tackled me to...
Read MoreI can see again!! Last week, I picked up my new glasses and a whole new world opened up for me. No, truly. It was like I had arrived on a new planet. Sure, I expected to be able to see better, farther, but I wasn’t prepared for the intensity of colour, for the brightness of my surroundings, for the details of things that suddenly flooded my vision. I’ve since spoken...
Read MoreI play a game of golf once a year. I’m not bad for only playing once a year, but let’s be honest I’m not great either. I once took a golfing lesson from an Australian golf-pro in Vietnam so I know the basics of how to stand, swing, and stay focussed on the ball despite the distraction of the swing and the overriding desire to see where the ball went. Sounds easy...
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