Last weekend was a long weekend. That is to say that we got a glorious extra Monday off. That Monday I happened to be a Snells Beach, where friends have a cute little bach that sits right on the water.

Sunday night was filled with red wine and catching up and eating and ALOT of memories. Mostly from 3 years ago, but I don’t want to go there. On Monday things had perked up, and everything seemed a lot less dire (I suspect this is due to the lack of red wine in my system).

Anyway, Rob + John, the wonderful people that they are, took The Second Quarter, Liz and I out on the boat for some ‘it’s almost summer’ fun.

I say almost summer, because it didn’t feel like summer. It was cold, and overcast, and we were all in wetsuits and I still got blue lips in the end. But the point is, it may have been cold, but we went WAKEBOARDING, and SEA BISCUITING! (And The Second Quarter, the ski ponce that he is, also went waterskiing). We also rescued some kina before they got eaten. We’re good lovely people and all that.

It was brilliant. Really, it was. Wakeboarding is a ridiculous amount of fun, and getting up on the first try was SO BRILLIANT! And by the end of my turn I was grinning from ear to ear, and would cheer empathetically during everyone else’s go. It was a ridiculous amount of fun.

There was much cheering for falling over (or off, in the case of the sea biscuit). There was much cheering all round, really.

It was such a brilliant, brilliant way to spend an hour or two, and I was just so PUMPED after! Sure, there were sore muscles the next day (clinging to a sea-biscuit will kill your shoulders, seriously) but it seemed such a small price to pay for getting to partake in such an AWESOME sport. Seriously, check out the grins after:

I have to say, that wakeboarding? It totally made my weekend awesome. :)

A while back I said that I wanted to get more involved with the 20SB.net community, and so I signed up to participate in their 6th Blog Swap! I was paired with the lovely Amy from Just a Titch. It was a pretty sweet deal, I emailed her a post of mine, and she emailed a post of hers and tada!

Just quietly I think I got the better end of the deal. :) You can find me over at Amy’s blog today. Hope you enjoy her post as much as I did :)

Sometimes, on those perfectly quiet afternoons, I find myself missing, longing for the past. I sit and think back, flipping through my memories like an old book. I start at the beginning, in my old house, with the dark brown carpet with raisins squished into the carpet from my tiny, grubby little hands enjoying snacks and crawling and life. I turn the page to my brother, a baby, coming home from the hospital with his blonde hair and big blue eyes. I see kindergarten, with my tiny backpack and my shoes tied tight, a pocket-sized, curly-haired cherub.

Even as I grow older, I see my middle school self, awkward and strange, unsure of myself. I hear myself playing my once-treasured clarinet and piano, and all the while wishing I was cheerleading or playing a sport or doing something that would make me cooler. I remember high school’s awkward pains and growth and joys and most of all, it’s firsts: first kisses, first dances, first time driving, everything fresh and new and exciting. I remember what it was like to sleep in my tiny twin bed, to hear my parents talk late at night, to see them every morning, and to know, even when I was sad or hurt or angry, I was safe, simply because they were there, and they were my world and it was okay.

I remember days when my toughest questions were what color popsicle to eat on a hot summer day, or who to invite to my sleepover. There were no serious questions, big decisions, bills and real concerns. There were hugs, and someone to smooth my hair and make me dinner, and just down the hall if something bad happened.

As the book grows short and I reflect on the past few years, I see pain. I see a rollercoaster of pain, lonliness, extreme happiness, complete sadness, joy, fear and community. It is a jumble, but it is my life, my story. I think back and remember how much I hated certain moments that I would trade back in a heartbeat now. Little did I know: things get more difficult, and there is always so much to be thankful for. And sure, things may be better tomorrow, or worse next week, and we never know. All I have is now.

So, today, I promise myself that I will stop, take a mental picture, and look for all of the good in today. Because some day, sooner or later, I may look back on this time in my life, remember it’s sweetness, and wish I’d stopped to enjoy it, just as it is.

This post is a part of 20SB’s Blog Swap, and has been graciously sponsored by Bouncer, the latest in cellular and Internet-based privacy services.

Everyone has an infinite capacity to love, and you will never run out of love for one person by loving another.

I’m halfway through documentation that never seems to end, sitting in my grey cubicle breathing the air conditioned air, ipod headphones in my ears, volume up as high as it will go, ignoring the people who sit in the other cubicles.

It’s almost mid afternoon when my concentration starts to wane. I rub my eyes and try understand what it is I’m meant to include in this documentation. What’s important, what’s not.

I stop, for moment.

Yesterday events unfolded that I didn’t understand, events that hurt and showed me to be a little naive. If I’d gone home early last night like I’d planned then the thoughts in my head this afternoon would be gloomy and sullen.

But I didn’t go home early. And my thoughts aren’t gloomy or sullen. Last night I let a boy buy me two glasses of the 2008 Stoneleigh and we talked. The conversation quickly became animated and we debated, laughed and conversed until the bar staff started packing up the chairs and sweeping the floor.

We left the bar and drove, instead. Down the back streets through town, where we pointed out places of interest. A friend lives down this road, he took long-exposure photos from this bridge and I lived once in that apartment. We played ‘up’ songs. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, I think.

We ended up down an empty dead end. And in the dark stillness something shifted. He told me I was drunk and endearing. I can’t quite remember what I said. The wine had tangled my tongue a little, and made my emotions a little buoyant. What happened after was enough to make me smile in my grey cubicle. To take a moment in the afternoon dullness and remember last night in all its sweetness.

I haven’t forgotten the events previous to last night. But I think right now I’d rather bask in the sweet, than dwell on things that are not so.

What are you thinking about this afternoon?

Two of my best friends are due home on Friday afternoon. And I am ridiculously excited that not only are we going to be in the SAME COUNTRY, in the SAME CITY, bit LIZ IS BRINGING ME SETH GREEN IN A BOW FOR MY BIRTHDAY!

Okay, she’s not really. She’s providing me a ticket to the cocktail party so I can be in the same room as Seth Green. And can pretend haughtily that I don’t care while I squee like a little girl on the inside.

It’s going to be grand! And that’s only Friday night. I plan to be in their company on the Saturday, and the Sunday and probably the Monday too.

There will be beaching, and drinking and gossiping and a ridiculous amount of squeeage while I go “ZOMG WE ARE IN THE SAME PLACE!”

I’m a bit excited, is all.

We talk often enough during the day, and we can pass hours and hours and hours skyping . . .

It’s just, that on Friday? I get to be in the same place as my best friend. The person who started a business with me, and talks me through my fears and squee’s over the same tv/books/music I do, and when we shop together?

The last time we shopped together I had a hairband in my hand, one that I was almost positive was too pretty for me and that I should put it back. Liz saw it across the store, and her face immediately said that if I had one, she wanted one too. So much so that she told her husband that she wanted one, and he talked her out of it.

But that she thought it was cute and wanted one? Best shopping moment ever.

Just one of the many reasons I love her. And on Friday? WE GET TO BE IN THE SAME COUNTRY!

I’m so excited! :)

Over the weekend JB and I took a walk around the domain with Quinn, and with our fancy SLR’s (of which I’m still stoked that Siblings boyfriend let me use his old one) and started snapping some shots. The idea was that he’d be able to show me how to use this brilliant piece of equipment with all of its brilliant buttons, but instead we ended up walking around, with our hangovers, taking random photos.

Some where hilarious (and to save some of my dignity are not shown here. You don’t need to see me pulling a funny pose in front of a fountain with a clever perspective), others where just pretty. I’d forgotten how nice it was just to walk, and talk and snap.

We lasted until the skies opened and I got a phone call that meant dashing off into the day. All in all, I got some good shots, I think. It was a pretty wonderful day for wandering around and smelling the flowers as we went.

I posted a while back about Steve’s Orientation Challenge, and I got a few nibbles. I know @Luc_is_Live was keen, and I think The Third + Fourth Quarters were keen too (there may or may not have been some persuasion, but keen is keen!).

The idea is that once a month you get three itty bitty photo challenges. Something to encourage not being on facebook, a reason to get outside and be a little random.

This months challenges are quite easy:

1. Furry Love – Get a photo of yourself getting all up close and personal with a fuzzy mammal.

Me and Quinn, much puppy love going on :)

2. Spreading the Love – Do something nice for someone else, spread the love this October!

This guy knocked on my car window at the gas station, asking if I had any spare change because he’d run out of gas down the road unexpectedly. I kindly put $10 into his little gas canister.

Yay for being nice!

3. Educational Imitation – Visit a place of educational amusement (ie your local library, zoo or museum) and imitate an item, animal, person, art or exhibit.

Found this with The Fourth Quarter while were randomly driving out and about, on our way to dinner. It seemed like as good as any to imitate :)

Fun, right? If you’re interested in taking part, it’s pretty easy to do. Join the Steve’s Orientation Challenge Flickr Group, and upload your photos! Easy as pie. :)

Note: There is much personal venting going on, right now: another protected post went up today. The password is the same as the others. If you don’t have it, or would like it DM me on twitter, send me an email or leave a comment, and I’ll email the password out.

Note: I had written another entry for today, but I felt it was a bit too personal for public consumption. The password is the same as the others. If you don’t have it, or would like it DM me on twitter, send me an email or leave a comment, and I’ll email the password out.

I didn’t realise that I worked so close to the edge of the city. Sometimes on my lunch breaks I drive around randomly, and today, a mere 10 minutes away from work I found a ridiculous amount of fields. Fields filled with buttercups, it honestly looked like yellow carpet.

So I pulled over near one, and jumped the fence to get a closer look. And for a while I stood, knee deep in buttercups. All fresh and sweet smelling. The sun came out for a bit, and I managed a quick catnap. It was pretty lovely. It really was.

Right up until I tried to leave.

What I hadn’t noticed when I jumped in was an inside wire around the fence. I tried to use it to keep my balance while I attempted to climb over a post. Instead of being nimble, there was a loud BANG, and I fell off.

I had electrocuted myself.

I flapped around in shock for a bit and my arm felt a bit weird, but after a minute or two of freaking out I was fine.

Apart from getting out of that field.

The electric wire was at my chest height, because the fence was built on a little ridge. There was no way I was going to be able to climb the fence without touching the wire.

I walked down the length of the fence, and noticed a herd of cows. I hadn’t realised that there were cows, in my field, either. And then a red dusty ute turned off the main road, and down the gravel drive, and stopped where I was standing.

An old old man wearing a floppy fishing hat and a grin got out and laughed at me. He asked if I’d gotten myself stuck, and I explained that I’d wanted to see the buttercups up close and had jumped the fence and that yes, I was stuck. He laughed, a rich, delighted laugh. He told me he didn’t like the buttercups much, and pointed me down the end of the field where the ridge wasn’t so high.

He draped a towel over the wire, and helped me clamber over. He held my hand for a moment, and we grinned at each other. I was ridiculously relieved that I was now not stuck in a field, and he, well, I think he was just the kind of man who liked to smile.

We walked over to his truck, and he showed me the basket of grapefruit he had sitting on the front seat. He offered one to me, and I took it. It smelt of the earth, and the sharp tangy smell of fresh fruit.

He walked me back to my car, and I watched him drive his dusty red ute down the drive.

And I drove back to the office, thinking that that lunch hour was an adventure that was much better than sitting at my desk.

:) Yay for random adventures!