10 Month Review: AKA Four Weddings and a Funeral
October 25th, 2007I’ve been gone for TEN MONTHS now. Wow. That is a long time. Almost a WHOLE YEAR for those who aren’t so great at counting. I am really great at counting.
Actually, in this whole unintentional process of learning about myself, I have come to a vry obvious conclusion: I really appreciate routine and stability. This might have been well-known to all my friends for years, but until now had really harboured this bizarre idea that I was a very go-with-the-flow people who enjoys frequent change. Surprise! I’m not.
I love my new monotonous job that revolves around entering data into Microsoft Excel and SAP. I like my routine of getting up, going to the gym or walking to work with the cohort of trainer-clad Sydneysiders in suits and backpacks power walking downtown to Darling Park.
I head home at 5:00 PM, to be in on time to manage the hostel from 5:30 PM onwards. I have my workout routine back on as well. My gym, the best gym I’ve ever been too (Fitness First — a big chain in Australia), has a great view of the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Life is good.
However, I have missed a lot of stuff since I left home. As the title implies, four weddings and a funeral to be exact.
When I graduated university, everyone just did the same old thing for a couple years and life was fairly uneventful. But now, everyone has gone a changin’! I told one of my friends that I take full credit for this and coined myself the Catalyst for Change (TM). Like the initial force that got everything moving along a different inertial path. (I’m aware I am in no way related to the following events, but claiming full responsibility gives me that warm fuzzy feeling that I’m still connected.)
I didn’t just miss weddings and a funeral either. A friend of mine moved to Saudi to be amongst the ninjas. Another friend moved to the UK. THREE of my friends now live with their boyfriend/girlfriend. A couple of my more acquaintance friends popped out babies. And my grandfather died… but that was the funeral I missed.
I’m going to go home to a completely different world where everyone has gone and got themselves crazy grown-up lives and I’ve taken one really long vacation and accrued a few more wrinkles. I’m homeostatic.
And along the lines of health, as I’m so wont to always obsess about… If you’re Canadian, you should note that you do in fact need your provincial health care to be extended to qualify for travel/health insurance abroad. This is a point that has become REALLY inconvienient as I’m past the 6.7 month limit of extending it, have no insurance, but now have a painful cavity, another eye issue, chronic bed bug bites, and a mole I’d really like removed. (Last, but not least. I hate that mole.)
So it’s a really good thing I’m making $25/hr and living for free or else I’d surely be broke just trying to get my old-ass fixed. Another reason to travel while young, because I’m betting getting my cavity filled (which I should have done in Bangkok) is a heck of a lot cheaper than getting a hip replaced.