It's funny, I often look at some of the friendships that my mother has, the people important to her that have been significant for longer than I have drawn breath, and I have envied that. I have envied the closeness, the reliability, the support that she has shared with them over the years. I have often doubted the likelihood of ever finding such friendships myself, putting them down to rare gems that are not common - not something that happens to everyone.
And then I realised that in some ways I *do* have that. Sure I might not see them as often as I used to, or as often as I would like. But I know I have a very few small number of friends who if I was truly stuck, would drop everything to help me - whether its something simple, like turning off my alarm, or something more important like scouring the neighbourhood for my most precious of possessions, or selling me a car for next to nothing just because they can. Too often, I think I forget those things, letting them be swallowed up by the loneliness and isolation that seems to invade my life on a fairly regular basis.
It's good to put things into perspective every now and then and to be reminded of everything, not just the more frequent...
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Friday, January 4, 2013
Karawatha Forest - trek 1
I have been inspired recently by the myriad of posts by Tara Moss (who I follow on FB/blog) with the bush walking and hiking adventures she and her family have undertaken. One of my New Years resolutions was to get out of the house more, to be a little less of a hermit. I found myself getting rather frustrated that the majority of my limited free time last year was spent at home on my own just chilling out on the couch. South East Queensland has such an abundance of national parks and forests with established bush walking tracks on them that I thought, even if the majority of these treks are done on my own, that was a much better and healthier use of my free time than simply sitting on my ass watching TV.
Hopefully some of the walks I do will be done with friends, but even if they aren't I am determined to work through the list of national parks I have compiled. Karawatha Forest is a bushland reserve area not even 10 minutes from my house so I thought, why not start there? Its somewhat embarassing to think I have lived in my home for 8 years now and this is the first time I have gone walking through this forest/park. Admittedly, when I first set off and even throughout my walk, I found myself checking over my shoulder etc but I think thats just a product of my life experiences, my work and common sense as a young woman walking on her own. But eventually I was able to settle into the walk and enjoy myself. It wasn't a stroll by any means - I had resistance bands on my legs to make the work out even more worthwhile and I hiked through the forest at a brisk steady pace.
I am not entirely sure how far I walked though I walked for a good 3 hours - I forgot to take my print out of the forest with me to know where the tracks were and whilst some of the tracks are very clearly marked out, others were not so much. I found myself walking along and then veering off on tracks that seemed to be established, only to stop after some time and wonder "where the hell am I?" I did make sure to keep an idea of my bearings so that I could back track as needed, and to be sure to turn around and head back to where I parked before I lost the light for the day.
It was a nice walk - I ended up all over the place and eventually came across some other walkers, some mountain bike riders and a few natural residents of the Forest. I have scribbled a rough idea of where I walked on my print out, which just shows how much of the forest I am still yet to see. The blue shaded area is because I know I veered in and around on what I thought were the walking tracks only to stumble across the true tracks accidentally - so who knows how far I walked through this region.
.JPG)
Eventually I came across some really nice sights - I found the picnic area along the Rocks Track which had a great view. Here are a few photos from my trek. As you can see from the above map still plenty of area in the park for me to explore. I might set off next time from the other car park area so that I can see the lower/opposite side of the park.
Hopefully some of the walks I do will be done with friends, but even if they aren't I am determined to work through the list of national parks I have compiled. Karawatha Forest is a bushland reserve area not even 10 minutes from my house so I thought, why not start there? Its somewhat embarassing to think I have lived in my home for 8 years now and this is the first time I have gone walking through this forest/park. Admittedly, when I first set off and even throughout my walk, I found myself checking over my shoulder etc but I think thats just a product of my life experiences, my work and common sense as a young woman walking on her own. But eventually I was able to settle into the walk and enjoy myself. It wasn't a stroll by any means - I had resistance bands on my legs to make the work out even more worthwhile and I hiked through the forest at a brisk steady pace.
I am not entirely sure how far I walked though I walked for a good 3 hours - I forgot to take my print out of the forest with me to know where the tracks were and whilst some of the tracks are very clearly marked out, others were not so much. I found myself walking along and then veering off on tracks that seemed to be established, only to stop after some time and wonder "where the hell am I?" I did make sure to keep an idea of my bearings so that I could back track as needed, and to be sure to turn around and head back to where I parked before I lost the light for the day.
It was a nice walk - I ended up all over the place and eventually came across some other walkers, some mountain bike riders and a few natural residents of the Forest. I have scribbled a rough idea of where I walked on my print out, which just shows how much of the forest I am still yet to see. The blue shaded area is because I know I veered in and around on what I thought were the walking tracks only to stumble across the true tracks accidentally - so who knows how far I walked through this region.
.JPG)
Eventually I came across some really nice sights - I found the picnic area along the Rocks Track which had a great view. Here are a few photos from my trek. As you can see from the above map still plenty of area in the park for me to explore. I might set off next time from the other car park area so that I can see the lower/opposite side of the park.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
See you later 2012
So....
I can't exactly put my finger on the reason why, but I have felt an annoying reluctance to post anything in my blog. I am not sure where it has stemmed from, but it probably has something to do with this overwhelming negative feeling that seems to be tainting everything at the moment. Whilst this blog is my personal space to say whatever I feel like saying, it's not somewhere that I necessarily want to come simply to spout dark, negative issues. Life has to be about balance right?
So 2012 is over and done with, and the first day of 2013 was spent doing pretty much what most free days in 2012 were spent doing. Very little at home on my own. Seems to be the sum total of my life now. If I am not working or playing basketball, or studying (which I should be doing now) - then I am not really doing a whole lot and I am more than likely by myself. It is not that I am uncomfortable in public situations - because I am not. It just seems that my lifestyle is not conducive to being around other people. At least that is the assumption I have to make....it seems if I am not the one chasing the catch up, or instigating some kind of dinner/social activity, then I don't really see anyone. My friendship apparently is not worth the effort or the invitation. So be it.
2012 wasn't all bad. It had some good points:
Toured with the National Defence Basketball squad in WA.
I played in the state side for Defence Basketball again.
We defended our title down in Melbourne and I was selected in the national Defence side again.
Blaze, my beautiful ruby cav spaniel, was introduced into my little nest.
Phoenix sailed through his 8th birthday.
Renovated my kitchen and car port.
Gave my lounge area a facelift with some new furniture.
The not so pleasant things aren't really worth listing so instead let's look at the resolutions/decisions for 2013:
Lifestyle -
* Get out of my house more often, even if it is to do something on my own.
* Put myself back out there in the 'dating game'
* Knuckle down more with Uni/consider taking a semester off if necessary.
* Actively try to spend less $$
* Minimise portion sizes of foods
* Cut sugar out of my coffee completely
* Live a more controlled paleo/primal lifestyle
Fitness -
* 5x unassisted pull ups
* 100kg Dead lift
* 1x 1 arm push up
* Crack 11 min 30sec for my PFT.
And lastly, it may backfire and blow up in my face (figuratively) and may result in my spending more time by myself than I already do (is that even possible) but I am not chasing people to catch up anymore. My friendship is valuable, it is worth something. It is not something to be picked up and put down as it suits you so I am not going to go out of my way to bug people to catch up.
If they can't be bothered, well then they can go fuck themselves.
Bring it on Life - do your worst. I survived 2012. Is that all you got?
So Happy New Year everyone. Let's see what 2013 has in store eh?
I can't exactly put my finger on the reason why, but I have felt an annoying reluctance to post anything in my blog. I am not sure where it has stemmed from, but it probably has something to do with this overwhelming negative feeling that seems to be tainting everything at the moment. Whilst this blog is my personal space to say whatever I feel like saying, it's not somewhere that I necessarily want to come simply to spout dark, negative issues. Life has to be about balance right?
So 2012 is over and done with, and the first day of 2013 was spent doing pretty much what most free days in 2012 were spent doing. Very little at home on my own. Seems to be the sum total of my life now. If I am not working or playing basketball, or studying (which I should be doing now) - then I am not really doing a whole lot and I am more than likely by myself. It is not that I am uncomfortable in public situations - because I am not. It just seems that my lifestyle is not conducive to being around other people. At least that is the assumption I have to make....it seems if I am not the one chasing the catch up, or instigating some kind of dinner/social activity, then I don't really see anyone. My friendship apparently is not worth the effort or the invitation. So be it.
2012 wasn't all bad. It had some good points:
Toured with the National Defence Basketball squad in WA.
I played in the state side for Defence Basketball again.
We defended our title down in Melbourne and I was selected in the national Defence side again.
Blaze, my beautiful ruby cav spaniel, was introduced into my little nest.
Phoenix sailed through his 8th birthday.
Renovated my kitchen and car port.
Gave my lounge area a facelift with some new furniture.
The not so pleasant things aren't really worth listing so instead let's look at the resolutions/decisions for 2013:
Lifestyle -
* Get out of my house more often, even if it is to do something on my own.
* Put myself back out there in the 'dating game'
* Knuckle down more with Uni/consider taking a semester off if necessary.
* Actively try to spend less $$
* Minimise portion sizes of foods
* Cut sugar out of my coffee completely
* Live a more controlled paleo/primal lifestyle
Fitness -
* 5x unassisted pull ups
* 100kg Dead lift
* 1x 1 arm push up
* Crack 11 min 30sec for my PFT.
And lastly, it may backfire and blow up in my face (figuratively) and may result in my spending more time by myself than I already do (is that even possible) but I am not chasing people to catch up anymore. My friendship is valuable, it is worth something. It is not something to be picked up and put down as it suits you so I am not going to go out of my way to bug people to catch up.
If they can't be bothered, well then they can go fuck themselves.
Bring it on Life - do your worst. I survived 2012. Is that all you got?
So Happy New Year everyone. Let's see what 2013 has in store eh?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)