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Hola! 

This blog has recently moved onto bigger and better things.

Here is the evolved version of the olde humble blog you see before you:

https://ashwhittaker.wordpress.com/ 

Thanks very much x

TRAVEL THA WORLD YO

How good is a bit of travel.

It does wonders for your happiness and attitude. There is just something about staring out of a window that makes my mind go into thinking mode. Even if it is giddy/wanderlusted/philosophical mode, at least I am thinking! It’s a nice change y’know?!

Look at that cheesy grin

I find that if I look out the window of a train, bus, plane, car or whatever for long enough, the world passing by makes my brain think of all kinds of crazy things. On a recent 4 hour bus trip through Vietnam, I was convinced that I had just found the meaning of life! I scribbled down the words that popped into my head and here those hallowed words are:

Life is: emotion, love, peacefulness, happiness, adventure

Groundbreaking stuff. Notice I didn’t even write a full stop, because you never know when some more inspirational jargon will appear into your head. But I shouldn’t poke too much fun at myself for the cringe worthy epiphany- who really knows the meaning of life anyway? My guess is as good as anyone’s really.

One of the things I remember about writing these words is how content I was at the time. I truly did feel like I had just worked it all out.

Which says a lot to me about the benefits that travel can bring for your self-esteem. It can be little things throughout the journey that can amount to an amazing kicking-butt feeling. Even things like finally walking through the departure gates after waving goodbye to so many of your friends before you. Finally it is your time to venture abroad!

Once you get over the inevitable not-so-fun parts of travelling - jetlag, rundown immune system and annihilated digestive system - then the magnitude of your adventure begins to dawn on you. The treasured memories leave you feeling like you just conquered the world and are now ready to take on anything in your path!

Being Thankful

Sometimes you have those days were everything is put into perspective. 

I was mildly grumpy about being called into a 9.5 hour shift at work on the self serves. I was bracing myself for a long day of voiding transactions, relentless smiling and the countdown of hours until home time.

Throughout my entire day at work, there were about 3 things that happened which made me re-evaluate my bad attitude. But I will just briefly touch on one.

I asked one of the customers who was waiting on a price check how his weekend was going. He replied it was going alright but that he was just super busy at the moment, with heaps to organise. After asking him about his weekend some more, he told me that his house burned down about 3 weeks ago and that he lost everything. He wasn’t insured and had just bought $7000 worth of tools for his business which was all lost.

It was a reminder that you never know what is going on in the lives of strangers around you. It is so important to be positive and nice to people because you just don’t know what is going on in their lives.

There were other customers that day (and on other days) with predicaments that make me grateful to be in the position I am.

I really need to start treating work as an opportunity and a luxury rather than a chore.

Some Jams!

Here are some songs I can't get enough of at the moment!

And the lyric video is just as awesome :)

Adult Things. Boooo!

The toughest lesson I have learnt since leaving school and being in the semi-real-world is that you don't know what you've got until its gone.

For me, it wasn't that people or places or things left- in most cases I left them. Not leaving as in a heated feud with smashed plates and me storming out but rather me choosing to move to a city to pursue my goals. As many others around me did as well. 

Home is still there and not much has changed. I still have my amazing, incredible friends whenever I need them. And my family is still as loopy but loving as normal. 

But none of them are as readily accessible as they were in the past. I used to be able get my dose of everything and everyone I love in the one day. Nowadays it's only for special events that these things will line up. And even then I know that it's such a rare occasion and so struggle to enjoy it because I'm too busy anticipating the low that will follow once I leave.

But I have learnt that if you can relax and just be in the moment then it is all the more special. 

Irrelevant Anecdote

This is the more light hearted version of today's lesson in morals, life lessons, philosophy, reflections, general moping that occurred earlier. Such fun!

True Story. Since moving out of home, arguably the second most important thing I have learnt has to do with ye olde toilet paper. Call it what you will, pretend bowel movements don't happen or even defiantly ignore this potty post.

But I am here to argue that toilet paper is one of the most grossly underappreciated luxuries of our lives.

It is not until your housemates have an unspoken toilet paper standoff that results in a THREE WEEK DROUGHT that you can truly appreciate toilet paper.

And by drought I mean that we had exhausted any other form of paper that could be interpreted as toilet paper.

I'm sorry I had to tell you that. You don't deserve to know the finer details of my communal bathroom. I wouldn't normally speak of such things (not really true) but it is important to spread the word. 

No one appreciates toilet paper until it's too late!

Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous

Why do people care about celebrities so much? It baffles me to think that someone would dedicate time from their life to read a magazine article about someone else's day to day motions. 

Now I'm not talking about reading biographies or other personal accounts- often they are inspirational and fulfilling. 

I am squarely looking at media which aims to spread gossip, rumours and mind-numbing facts and pictures about famous people that we are supposed to care about.

Why do people give a moment’s thought to whether American Talk Show Host XYZ took his dog to the park? Or that Busty Movie Star A ordered a pizza and got it delivered? Or that Photogenic Celebrity Child B can now put her shoes on unassisted? Do people legitimately care?

I do not understand why movie stars, actors and actresses are held so high. I respect that they work very hard and have a lot of outside influences which can make their job difficult. But at the end of day, they are people whose particular talent and calling in life is absorbing another character. Other people have talents too- psychologists are good listeners, nurses are good at taking care of people and builders are good planners. And each of them have chosen to embrace their talent as their profession. Good for them. But why do people care so much when someone is in a movie?

Is it because deep down we all wish we were rich and famous and drove 10 cars and had photographers follow us around 24/7? So much so that we fantasize what our life would be like if only we were rich and famous and needing the media to remind us what could have been.

 Maybe people read these articles because they want to remind themselves that celebrities are just normal people. Why! Celebrities are no different from you or I here just trying to pay the phone bill, mop the floor and put dinner on the table!  How very inspiring -.-

I suppose that celebrities donate to charity, become ambassadors for worthy causes and give humanitarian aid. This is honourable and I can see why people would appreciate these efforts.

But does that mean we need to follow their every move, imitate their fashion choices and buy the same products as them? I certainly don’t think so.

Image credit to http://www1.pictures.zimbio.com/pc/Nicky%2BHilton%2BNicky%2BHilton%2BBraves%2BRain%2BPaparazzi%2ByDB4Cf-X0Cil.jpg