Embrace the unsure journey

2011-11-14T03:58:00.000-08:00

Saying goodbye isn't hard.
It's pretending that you don't hurt that is.

For B, S and V

2011-09-18T09:31:00.001-07:00

I miss you
The sitting in the middle of the road at 1am with a tub of ice cream.
The running out of restaurants without paying the bill (yes i know it was wrong. both times :)
The tea rituals, the walks, the talks, the waving hands
The immensely satisfying silent conversations
Even today my heart chokes at the memory of you leaving
You were never replaced. You never could be.
Maybe one day again we shall walk, talk and share a cuppa tea

2011-09-18T09:27:00.000-07:00

Can't understand why pain is more hypnotic than joy.

2011-09-18T08:59:00.000-07:00

Moral dilemmas. Gotta Love Them.

2010-06-23T05:25:00.003-07:00

last night I dreamt of Mandalay.
They were out of peking duck.

Yoghurt has more culture than you.

2010-06-23T05:25:00.001-07:00

Jump into the unknown

2006-11-01T17:29:00.000-08:00

My last day at work and it's slowly sinking in that I'm about to leave gorgeous Sydney and wonderful people and jump into the unknown.

My good friend and fellow nutcase Zena sent me this song to cheer me up and I do love the lyrics so I'm posting it here to remind me (on those tough days) of why I chose to leave.

GREAT INDOORS: JOHN MAYER
Check your pulse it's proof that you're not listening to
The call your life's been issuing you
The rhythm of a line of idle days

Scared of a world outside you should go explore
Pull all the shades and wander the great indoors
The great indoors

Lamplight makes the shadows play
And posters take the walls away
The T.V. is your window pane
The view won't let you down
So put your faith in a late night show
I bet you didn't even know
Depends on how far out you go
The channel numbers change

Scared of a world outside you should go explore
Pull all the shades and wander the great indoors

Though lately I can't blame you
I have seen the world
And sometimes wish your room had room for two

So go unlock the door
And find what you are here for
Leave the great indoors
Leave the great indoors

The Common Touch

2006-10-30T15:34:00.000-08:00

Anxiousness, fear, insecurity, change has left us feeling burned out and craving for something deep and meaningful.

We walk amongst a sea of people yet our shadow’s the only one that walks beside us. There is no one to turn to, nobody is listening. We walk alone.

In the frenzy of our daily lives we have realised that no matter what we do and no matter how successful we are at doing it, we are still left with a profound and deep feeling of dissatisfaction.

We’re occupied with feeding our bodies whilst our soul is dying and we’re desperately hoping that someone will find us and rescue us.

We’re all unique but the common link amongst us, that binds us together, is our need to be loved, to belong, to connect and to be touched in some way.

Wake up tiger

2006-10-29T23:55:00.000-08:00

My ex-boss, mentor and good friend Richard has just finished writing a book. It's about unleashing the wild tiger within each of us and being true to ourselves. It is one of the best books I have ever read and I want to share a lil snippet from the book with you:

"Brand me is not about fitting the mould. It's about turning up, and saying "This is who I am", and then looking for the support that follows. There is only one of you in the world. It is not your business to judge yourself, or decide if it's a good or a bad thing. Your business is to make it and keep it yours".

It's time to drop the pose
Time to drop the excuses
Time to get the balance right
Time to come from a place called the "deeper me"
Time to Wake up Tiger"

Here's to all you people who are living their lives on their terms!

(Wake up Tiger will be out in March 07)

Tell me a story

2006-10-29T21:41:00.000-08:00

My very eager mother just sat upon new paint.

Does the sentence above mean anything to you? To me, it was a way of remembering the nine planets according to size. That sentence was definitely more interesting, engaging and easier to remember than having being told that there were nine planets and they were..

The simple fact is that facts aren’t exciting. Facts don’t enchant, fascinate, entertain or captivate our imagination. Stories do.

Facts are shallow and exclusive. Stories on the other hand, add meaning and depth – they are inviting and take us on a journey. They are personal and powerful.

Stories help us connect and make sense of our world. Stories make us laugh and cry. They speak to our hearts. They move us. They make us feel. Facts don’t. And that is why people remember stories, not facts.

The truth is that our universe is made up of stories and we are all storytellers.

A good story is exactly what a brand craves. Stories are a powerful, compelling and persuasive means of communication.

Brands that we love, admire and respect are great storytellers. A favourite of mine is the brand Camper. You learn the Camper story with every pair of shoes. It's usually printed on an attached tag or in an accompanying brochure. The words or pictures may vary, but the message is clear: These shoes come from Majorca, a Spanish island in the Mediterranean. "Camper" means "peasant" in Catalan, and the shoes are inspired by farmer footwear and steeped in island tradition. Fluxa, who started Camper in 1975 realised that Camper had to be about a place and the history associated with it. I buy into this story, because it connects with me on an emotional level. Camper makes me feel as though I am learning a lesson about life rather than simply buying a pair of shoes.

With people being exposed to over 4000 messages a day, the need to engage meaningfully has never been more critical and the application of the principles of storytelling has never seemed so appealing.

Most importantly stories help humanise a brand and in the present climate, people like nothing better than to feel that they are interacting with a human and not a nameless, faceless, emotionless corporation.

Also, when people interact with your brand, they are providing an opportunity to share a story. It may be their experience with your product, or an interaction with the sales staff, or how a complaint was handled. A brand that’s a good storyteller will find a good brand or consumer story and share it with others.

If we want our brand to stand the test of time and competition, we need to stop thinking of ourselves as advertisers and start thinking of ourselves as storytellers.

Arrrghhhh

2006-09-12T19:51:00.000-07:00

We have become so used to everything being complicated in our lives that there is no longer room for ANY simplicity - be it thoughts, words or actions. I feel like I should have been born in the dark ages when things were simple and taken at face value without having others attach meaning to what you said or did.

What's worse is that no matter how hard you try to explain the situation to "others" your explanation turns out to be so simple and straightforward that it can't possibly be true!!

If I have said or done something, I must know what context it was said or done in. Yes, that's right - ME! But no, why would I know? Suddenly everyone else is an expert on why I said something and what I must have meant by it.

Well you know what, I'm just going to stop writing before my brain blows up in anger.

Random Nonsense

2006-06-16T00:34:00.000-07:00

A cacophony of cocks caused a kerfuffle amongst cows.

2006-06-15T23:20:00.000-07:00

May the gaggle of geese gleefully guide you to the garden of gladness.

For Rahul

2006-06-15T19:52:00.000-07:00

A poet, a philosopher
Prim and speaks proper
That's Mr. Deewanjee

Don't call Kol, Cal
Or pay for it you shall
That's Mr. Deewanjee

He's quite a heart stopper
267 gals think he's a topper
So let's hear a whopper
for Mr. Deewanjee

For Bren

2006-06-15T19:29:00.000-07:00

If friends are like jewellery
You'd be the one I'd wear everyday
For your preciousness lies not in being kept hidden safely somewhere
But in showing everyone the sparkle you add to me.

For Shiks

2006-06-15T19:10:00.000-07:00

May the rain of happiness fall upon you..
Washing away all your previous sorrows
and may the seeds of love, laughter and friendship sprout in your garden of joy.

2006-06-06T23:04:00.000-07:00

Why doesn't any country have a national flag with a flower on it?

What Shakespeare didn't say

2006-06-06T22:29:00.000-07:00

All the world's a circus
and all the men and women merely jugglers

The Road Less Travelled

2006-06-06T21:49:00.000-07:00

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
I missed out on the fudge factory

2006-06-06T18:37:00.000-07:00

Time is ticking
Quick take out the batteries!

2006-05-24T05:28:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry i cant come into work today, my life aches.

2006-05-24T05:27:00.000-07:00

Why doesn't anyone find a cure for lifeache?

2006-05-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

Reflection is good for the soul.

2006-05-06T04:39:00.000-07:00

There are many paths to enlightenment. Make sure you take the one that sells fudge.

2006-05-06T04:36:00.000-07:00

The enemy of believable excuses. imagination.

How to lose weight

2006-05-06T04:25:00.000-07:00

Make your life a song worth dancing to

2006-05-06T04:11:00.000-07:00

May your life be a song, making your head wriggle and your fingers and toes jiggle.

2006-04-23T18:11:00.000-07:00

My thoughts are provoking.

(image of thoughts screaming 'you want a piece of me?'

2006-04-23T16:25:00.000-07:00

may you always have someone at the other end of your noodle

2006-04-23T16:13:00.000-07:00

May your spaghetti of joy neverend.

We are donuts

2006-04-20T18:51:00.000-07:00

Becoz we go nuts for no reason
and when we realise that it was for no reason
we say "DOH"

Intepretation of dreams

2006-04-20T18:41:00.000-07:00

1. If you dream you are falling - it means you have committed sin and that the sin is so grave that even hell doesnt want you, so you are being thrown back to earth.

2. If you dream of being chased - it means you have committed a sin and that the sin is so grave that you deserve to be chased so you better pray that you're a good runner.

3. If you dream of being naked - hahahahahahahahaha sorry I just pictured you naked and couldnt stop myself but it means you have committed a sin and that the sin is so grave that sweat shops have gone on strike until you mend your ways and that's why there's a shortage of clothes.

2006-04-20T18:19:00.000-07:00

Life is like pizza...
Why you ask?
Well....keep asking

OK seriously....it's like pizza because you start off with a clean base and you keep adding toppings to make it more interesting and the more toppings you have the yummier it is...but sometimes you can get carried away and add too many toppings and suddenly you're left with a tasteless life.

Work in progress...

2006-04-17T17:19:00.000-07:00

The heroic stapler
struggling to keep it together

2006-04-13T01:48:00.000-07:00

The sad lady sat by her window
watching the sadness on the faces of those who passed by
until the melody of a child's laughter awoke her from her sad slumber
and washed her sadness away

All we need is a good wash

2006-04-13T01:42:00.000-07:00

We are all like potatos
rough, spotted and dirty on the outside
but after a good wash and peeling
you're left with something pure and clean

My biggest dilemma ever

2006-04-12T23:06:00.000-07:00

Chocolate or Ice cream?

How to deal with a bad day

2006-04-12T23:01:00.000-07:00

Sit your bad day down with a cuppa tea
Have an open conversation
Freely express on your thoughts on its behaviour
Allow it to express its thoughts on you
Reach agreement that 'bad' is not 'good' for either of you
Feel liberated and at peace
Go home happy

The hypnotic french fry

2006-04-12T18:34:00.000-07:00

Seductively inviting me to mouth watering heaven
I must resist! I must resist!

Successful relationships

2006-04-12T18:15:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a relationship can be like brushing your teeth...
everything looks white and bright on the outside...
but if you're not careful and you dont go to the dentist to get them cleaned..
yucky stuff can begin growing unnoticed....
until one day your teeth and your relationship decay.

My humble cup of tea

2006-04-12T17:47:00.000-07:00

sitting passively on my desk
seamlessly integrating itself into my hectic life
soothing me with a warm and loving sensation
without expecting anything in return
Ah! my good friend.....my humble cup of tea.

The fudgeman

2006-04-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

such was the magic of his fudge, that cocoa, sugar and butter spent their youth dreaming of becoming part of his wonder.

How to seize the moment

2006-04-11T18:14:00.000-07:00

Wear your joggers and some light clothing
take a butterfly net
run at the speed of lightning
until you catch a moment
put the moment in a big jar and shut the lid tightly
mark jar "Moment".

How to live life kingsize

2006-04-11T18:13:00.000-07:00

take you life
put it in the microwave
wait till you hear a 'boom'
and voila!

I love travelling

2006-04-11T18:09:00.000-07:00

you meet new people.
you realise how peculiar they are.
you're glad to leave them behind.

The answer to all of life's problems.

2006-04-11T18:08:00.000-07:00

Hot Chocolate Fudge

Happiness is...

2006-04-11T17:42:00.000-07:00

the scent of freshly baked cookies filling you with yummy warmth and realising that the scent is actually coming from your own kitchen!

waking up to the sun shining on your face and realising that it's sunday and you don't have to go to work..

sitting on the sydney ferry witnessing the magic of the dancing sun on the rippled water and realising how lucky you are to be alive.

A true friend

2006-04-11T17:38:00.000-07:00

Is there when you need them
and there when you don't.

A wonderful life

2006-04-11T17:28:00.000-07:00

brought to you by:
clear blue skies
sunflowers
freshly cut grass
birds chirping
chocolate chip cookies

How to get rid of stress

2006-04-11T05:03:00.000-07:00

take your stress
go into the garden
dig a hole
put the stress in
cover hole
go inside
eat fudge.

Gotta love them

2006-03-24T03:50:00.000-08:00

Questions. What would we do without them?

For starters, I would not be able to use my favourite symbol "?", that would mean we would have an empty space on our keyboard..not to mention our phones..everything would have to be a statement and how confusing would that be or let me rephrase that to - that would be very confusing.

We would appear rude because we would no longer be able to ask for another person's opinion. We would only state things matter of factly - we would become an 'ordering around' society, there would be a decline in niceness and we would all become cranky because everyone talks at us not to us.

The magic of Touch

2006-03-08T15:33:00.000-08:00

"I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something". Crash, 2005

Who's not busy?

2006-03-08T15:24:00.000-08:00

Why is it that everytime you meet someone in the lift and say hello, the first thing they ask you is if you're busy? What's worse is our complusion to say that we are, even when we're not, as though if we said we had time to breathe we would be looked down upon and our value as human beings/employees would plummet!

Just Nice

2006-03-03T15:48:00.000-08:00

A friend once described me as "nice" to which I replied with an indignant stare "nice, that's all you say about me?? that I'm nice"!!!

It got me thinking...whatever happened to being plain and simply nice...years ago one would have revelled in the fact that one was nice.....but now...in the complexities that surround that, even language and emotions havent been spared.

Being nice is not adequate, not anymore. I want to be dreamy, spirited, wise, level - headed, fiesty, confident, self-expressive..the list is endless. We aren't happy with just being. We want words to define us. Words that are more complicated than nice.

Nice is simple and simple is dead.

Abnormal?

2006-02-23T04:10:00.000-08:00

Am I abnormal I ask myself on many occasions..and well....the answer is no....simply because i believe my abnormality is quite normal....it is the people that surround me who are abnormal and because they are in direct contrast to me, they believe my normality is abnormal....its like this...levels of abnormality are dependent on numbers....so if less people are 'abnormal' then other so called normal people think their behaviour is well...abnormal. However, if more people were abnormal then the rest would not call them abnormal because that would be normal.

Is your head hurting yet?

What's the rush?

2006-02-07T03:17:00.000-08:00

Have you noticed...that on your way to work in the morning....everyone is always in a rush.....a rush to get where? to work? then if they're in a hurry to get to work.,...why do they complain when they get there? After all if you hated being at work why would u rush to work? wouldnt you instead crawl at a snail's pace?

And then when the day ends....everyone's rushing to get home...first they rush to get to work....then they rush to get away from work.....i havent worked it out yet....but im sure i'll understand humans one day....

until then....goodbye....gotta rush to work...

Here's to the useless!

2006-02-07T02:00:00.000-08:00

when someone says ure useless, u shld thank them....after all useless is wonderful, useless if fun...thats why we spend all our lives collecting useless stuff..becoz it gives us pleasure.

And oh the whole idea is to Use - LESS, which means you want it to last longer...so it must obviously be something valuable if you dont want it to end quickly.

Wipe that smile off your face

2006-02-06T15:47:00.000-08:00

Why cant' I smile for my passport photograph? I have to trudge through life with this piece of documentation that makes me look like I've got the weight of the world on my shoulders,and besides, without my smile, I just look plain ugly.

And what's so wrong with smiling in your photo anyway? It's not like you stand at immigration with a frown on your face. In fact, it's just the opposite - you beam your 32 as widely as you can, so that the officer thinks your wonderful and will stamp your passport and send you through without a fuss.

It's all a conspiracy to add to the sadness this world is plagued by. I think the goverment should force people to smile in their photos.

Spelling

2006-01-31T20:28:00.000-08:00

STRESSED spelt backwards is Desserts!!

Maybe we should start saying - Im having a desserts ful day!! now how much lovelier is that?

Whoever said life was simple must have been Amish

2005-12-12T21:37:00.002-08:00

It was time to part ways with my toothbrush so off I trotted to my local Woolworth’s in search of one. As I walked through the aisles, making my way to the ‘toothbrush corner’ a wave of dread engulfed me.

Before me, were no less than forty choices. For starters, did I want a battery operated one or a manual? And if I wanted a manual, did I want a 360 degree? Whitening? Massager? Active angle? Flexible zig zag or one for sensitive teeth? As I pondered these deep and meaningful choices, I realised that I could do with my current toothbrush for just a little while longer and a smile worked its way across my face. I gave the toothbrushes a hard stare, as if to say ‘HA! You haven’t got me yet!” and walked away.

To help me deal with my toothbrush nightmare I decide to relax with my favourite show Friends. I reach for the remote and push the button but nothing happens – Doh! wrong remote. Now where’s the right one…ok that’s VCR remote….DVD remote…Music system remote…. Cable remote – Ah! Found it. Watching TV shouldn’t be this hard, surely?

Our world today is driven by choice and choice is good but only when it’s meaningful. Choice is supposed to make things easy, simpler, help enrich our lives. Instead we find ourselves like rats caught in maze of complexity and frustration. And whatever happened to the promise of technology? You will be able to spend more time doing the things you love they said. Well, “they” duped us didn’t they? Technology is surely driving choice but it’s also driving us insane.

How are we dealing with this insanity? We buy books from Amazon. Type simple life into Amazon.com and you’ve got 309338 hits on books like handbook to a happier life, a guide to scaling down and enjoying more, plain living and high thinking, 7 steps to the simple life, the list is endless.

But whilst we rave and rant about the world becoming too complicated and we talk about the simple life, we’re craving for more. More money, more clothes, more tech toys, more features on our phones. It’s not enough that we can listen to music on an ipod. We want to be able to talk, text, take photos, watch videos and access the Internet ! Perhaps one day the Ipod will go to work for us, look after the kids and cook dinner?

In his book Affluenza, Clive Hamilton speaks of the blurring of lines between needs and wants. Abundance of choice has contributed to this. We want because we can have. And the want to ‘have’ is never-ending. We are caught in this vicious maze and the scary reality is that most of us are pretty happy. Are you one of them?

2005-12-12T21:37:00.000-08:00

My perfect soulmate isnt perfect.

2005-12-12T21:36:00.000-08:00

The sky is blue. Someone should cheer it up.

Intimacy Issues

2005-11-27T03:52:00.000-08:00

I like you
Do you like me?
Why? If I dont like you, will you stop liking me?
No, but I would prefer it if you liked me too
So, you won't hate me for not liking you?
So, you dont like me?
No I never said that
So, you like me?
No I never said that
OK you are confusing, I dont like you anymore
Phew! that was close

Useless stuff

2005-11-27T03:29:00.000-08:00

They say if life hands you lemons, make lemonade - well what if I dont like lemonade? What if I'm an orange or cranberry person?

I'm walking
I pick up my pace
Soon I'm running
Running through the park
The wind blowing in my hair
Sweat trickling down my forehead
OK, now im tired.

Idealist

2005-11-22T20:54:00.000-08:00

Individuality

2005-11-22T19:57:00.000-08:00

There was once a banana, he lived with another bunch ofbananas....
they were all happy until one day the banana said he wanted to be something more than a banana.....

he said....why cant i be a peach....peaches are sweet, are nice are colourful and shapely or why cant i be a cherry....they are small but a lovely red and theyhave these lovely stems or perhaps i could be a lovely mango, with its sweet fragrance and bright colour

but his desire to be anything but a banana was shot down by the bunch of bananas...they said....god made you a banana so u will remain a banana.

The poor banana was very upset and he went into a corner and cried all night....all the tears rolled down and suddenly everything went mushy....he noticed his skin turning black....and suddenly the banana was no more.....

Speechless

2005-11-22T19:53:00.000-08:00

You are so wonderful. SO WONDERFUL that the word wonderful doesnt do justice to your wonderfulness. So I guess you aren't wonderful. You're something else...I just don't know what that something else is.

Spontaneity

2005-11-22T19:38:00.000-08:00

He asked where I was going
I said 'Im not sure'
He said ' How perfect! I'm not sure either. How wonderful it is to meet you on this journey that we're nto sure of'

So hand in hand we trotted on an unsure journey