Friday, March 17, 2006
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
For every action there is a reaction
Upon hearing the news of my spontaneous adventure, different people reacted in a number of different ways.
The majority of friends smiled, shook their heads, and gave their best wishes, in the same way that one might pat an adorable child on the head who keeps stealing biscuits, and say,
"Ahh, run along now, I should have known you were the biscuit thief."
Evidently I am all too predictable in my unpredictability. (Ask Mr Cobblers)
One guy became quite anxious, but I was unable to work out if he was more anxious about my journey, or my absence.
One girl hooted down the phone in what was a startlingly brilliant impression of a parakeet, and was quite beside herself with amused hysteria for the best part of 5 minutes. I later understood that, at the time, she thought I was joking. Maybe the build up to my revelation was somehow lacking?
ME: Oh, yes, I'm fine thanks, are you feeling better?
HER: Yeah, I'm good thanks, ...so what you been up to?
ME: Oh, well, I'm leaving the country, hopefully forever, to be a scuba diving instructor in Thailand.
HER: What?!
One guy on msn messenger, with whom I was making rather forced small talk, responded to my news with, "You're in fucking cloud cuckoo land, you are." I blinked at his fairly abrasive comment, and then reminded myself that I don't like him anyway, and that he is probably just envious that I have the freedom to start a new life of travel and adventure on the high seas, with only the wind in my hair and a pink flamingo on my shoulder.
Of course, several people beamed at me when I delivered the news to them, and before the day was out, they had checked their holiday allowances for the year ahead, and researched flights to Bangkok.
A good friend from Holland responded by emailing me the following quote, which I thought was just perfect, and obviously, so did he.
"You can waste a whole lifetime,
trying to be,
what you think is expected of you,
but you'll never be free."
He didn't need to say anymore.
And neither do I...
The majority of friends smiled, shook their heads, and gave their best wishes, in the same way that one might pat an adorable child on the head who keeps stealing biscuits, and say,
"Ahh, run along now, I should have known you were the biscuit thief."
Evidently I am all too predictable in my unpredictability. (Ask Mr Cobblers)
One guy became quite anxious, but I was unable to work out if he was more anxious about my journey, or my absence.
One girl hooted down the phone in what was a startlingly brilliant impression of a parakeet, and was quite beside herself with amused hysteria for the best part of 5 minutes. I later understood that, at the time, she thought I was joking. Maybe the build up to my revelation was somehow lacking?
ME: Oh, yes, I'm fine thanks, are you feeling better?
HER: Yeah, I'm good thanks, ...so what you been up to?
ME: Oh, well, I'm leaving the country, hopefully forever, to be a scuba diving instructor in Thailand.
HER: What?!
One guy on msn messenger, with whom I was making rather forced small talk, responded to my news with, "You're in fucking cloud cuckoo land, you are." I blinked at his fairly abrasive comment, and then reminded myself that I don't like him anyway, and that he is probably just envious that I have the freedom to start a new life of travel and adventure on the high seas, with only the wind in my hair and a pink flamingo on my shoulder.
Of course, several people beamed at me when I delivered the news to them, and before the day was out, they had checked their holiday allowances for the year ahead, and researched flights to Bangkok.
A good friend from Holland responded by emailing me the following quote, which I thought was just perfect, and obviously, so did he.
"You can waste a whole lifetime,
trying to be,
what you think is expected of you,
but you'll never be free."
He didn't need to say anymore.
And neither do I...
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