what next?

Flowers outside a temple in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

I'm so grateful I have such fantastic people in my life! Today was full of them.

My parents accepted an offer for the house today, which means in four weeks I am out of a place to live. I'm sure this should ordinarily be a concern... but I'm so excited! Anything could happen! Finding a semi-permanent place for my things may be more of a chore, but I've no doubt it will be fine so I haven't really given it a second thought.

My lovely cousin visited this evening, so as always after our chats I am very excited about life and all the up and coming adventures! You should go and visit her blog, piece of sunshine!!!

I miss my funny traveling companions and our wacky Thailand adventures... It's strange to think an entire year has gone by since we were over there.

meow

I love my beautiful little Jinxy Cat.

and


Funny signs the local 7-eleven advertise.

The day after my misadventure with the puppy dog and my motorcycle, we had a paraplegic patient who had become so after a motorcycle accident 30 years prior... I haven't been back on the bike since. I thought perhaps that was the sign i needed and that my adventures were over, but I have decided not to give up just yet. However I think I will wait until the swelling from getting my wisdom teeth removed has gone down, there will be less difficulty when putting my helmet on that way.

I came across this site while exploring the crafty areas of the web today, and i think it's fantastic! It makes me very excited about things, even if it's exploring and talking to people about the different things they are creating:

http://www.extremecraft.com/

I also found this while looking for sites on budgies for a friend and it made me giggle lots, if you listen to the song it gets stuck in your head! or at least it did mine...

http://www.budgieman.co.uk/

they come in three's?

Determined not to give up on my riding endeavours i ventured out again this evening, cautiously. Dad rode the bike up to the quiet industrial area at sunset, and i followed in his car... then we exchanged. The sunset was beautiful! Fleeting thoughts of how I should be somewhere beautiful to see this passed as I realised that it was fantastic that no matter where I was, the sunset still made everything beautiful and that I was continuing on to learn new things and beat my fears despite earlier deterrence's.



Riding around was fantastic. I practiced the things that I felt were most important, and the lessons I had learnt from earlier on in the week determined to have a good evening out and something positive to report. Without turning it into a long winded story, I hit a dog! Oh my goodness. It was the quietest possible part of the area. A lady had let her two small dogs out of the car and was letting them run around behind it as she drove slowly on. As it was a culdesac I had no choice but to turn around and go past them, but I slowed right down and kept watching them. But it looked at me and darted in front of me! I ended up dropping the bike, yes... that does make it three out of three times this week. And the lady was very nice and concerned about me, while I was simply concerned about the dog who had jumped back inside the car as she stepped out of it. She must have realised she was liable and she seemed like a lovely lady so she wasn't paying any attention to the dog. Admittedly for a fleeting moment I did think that having the dogs chase your car instead of walking them was not going to do anything for the obesity problems, and it did not help that she was not exactly a slender person. Thankfully that quickly passed though, getting cranky does nothing for guilt (it was a horrible feeling!) and in the great scheme of things just didn't matter!



I guess now I decide whether I learn from this in the sense that I shouldn't ride anymore, or I take it as lessons and practice and prepare myself for every possible thing. I have to decide if it matters enough to me. I do thoroughly enjoy it. I can see myself having a great deal of fun with it. Massively super amounts in fact. But there is only so much you can prepare yourself for, so the risk factor comes into it. But the guilt that came along with possibly having injured that little dog, and what could have happened is big! I'm not sure I can do that. It's one thing to put myself at risk, and it's another to put others. Driving as a form of transport is different to going for a joy ride. That didn't need to happen! Luckily the little dog was ok, and the first thing my brother said when I mentioned I hit a dog was "did it chase the wheels?"... so it's a common occurrence with dogs.

In any case, I am a rather lucky duckie!

I am missing my camera at the moment, it is in the shop getting fixed.

I haven't set out for a sunrise in a long while. Too long! I miss it. Chasing it in the morning with my camera to different spots and then off exploring somewhere. Even when I went and watched them before work... I wonder when daylight savings ends... It's not as fun driving to work in the dark.


I'm really excited about studying at the moment. Or study prospects at least. There's a lot I want to study, but there are also a lot of places I want to go and things I want to try... I was thinking of studying overseas the next time I committed to a course, but at the moment I'm excited about doing an outdoor recreation course... and I'm quite sure I wouldn't want to do that somewhere other then Australia... so I'll stay here and just travel to another area. Maybe I should do a survival course first. Maybe tomorrow I'll change my mind again. I still want to take off, without commitments, with my swag and my camera, and chase the sun as it rises and falls around Australia, with out time and dates and anywhere I have to be. So many possibilities!

This is the one and only picture of me on my bike, and it's the first time I ever got on it. I say that like it was a life time ago, but really it was only three attempts ago (which was a week ago). While Sunday was good and I ventured out of the car park, Monday was... less good? The bike went over again. heh, oooops! This time I found it more concerning because I was starting to feel a lot more confident, and it was at an intersection. It had me doubting whether I even wanted to ride, and if the risk was worth it, and if people with a daydreamer disability should even be allowed to ride on the road! Which would certainly count me out. However I wasn't able to go out on it this evening, and I really want to! So I think that answers that question. For now I shall just stick to the industrial area and empty car parks... I also think I have to come up with a name for my bike.

No more procrastination....

I found this birds egg while exploring and taking pictures in the same burnt bush I found the car in. It was my most favourite find.

Admittedly I have been at a bit of a loss the last little while. I'm up to date with everything. There is not one little thing that actually needs doing. No bills are due, or over due which would be normal, no assignments, no paperwork, no errands and organising... not even cleaning! I can't procrastinate, because there is nothing else that I should be doing! Theoretically this should be fantastic, but instead it just feels uncomfortable and I'm not doing any of the fun things I would usually want to be doing or that I'd usually do instead of doing the things that I should be doing! I'm happy to learn and get used to it though, having nothing specific that needs doing is not unpleasant.

I did venture out of the car park today on my motorcycle, and actually made it all the way home! That was a very exciting feat in itself and something I've been avoiding. Riding is far more scary then I had originally thought. Hanging over the side of a cliff on a rope or jumping out of a plane scares me a lot less. I feel bunches more confident after today though, thanks to my lovely friend who took me out and didn't give up on me even after I dropped the bike in the first few minutes!

Nine weeks until I leave for London! I haven't decided on the places I'll be visiting yet. Nothing is really organised. But I don't really want it to be... in fact I'm really not keen on the idea of having to book accommodation, transport and lock things in, it doesn't seem to leave enough leeway. But I suppose nothing is permanent.