sKipping rocks….

I remember as a kid there were three things I always wanted to be able to do….One was to be able to whistle super loud with my fingers, two was I wanted to win a billy cart race and three I wanted to be able to skip a rock right across the local creek near my house. These three things were very important to me and I tried really really really hard to complete every one of them before my 8th birthday.

Life was so simple back then…..

The neighbour kids and I sort of had a little gang happening there was about nine of us who would form this possé particularily during the summer months. All the neighbour kids were older than me but for some reason I was allowed to tag along too! We all lived within the same block of each other in middle class suburbia with friendly, recipe exchanging and waving neighbours,  and quite roads. There was a creek that ran behind all of our houses and most afternoons in summer we would play until our parents would drag us inside at dusk….If the street lights came on we had to be home or else!!!

Our adventuers included building our club head quarters, line fishing, plum fights, billycart races, roller skating and of course tiggy. The only worries we had was if it was raining and we couldn’t play outside. Well I didnt have any worries until I set these three goals for myself as a 7 year old. I remember two weeks leading upto my 8th birthday I still hadn’t acheived skipping a rock across the creek….I tried and tried and tried but I just couldn’t get it, I could only get two skips…..What was wrong with me? Was that all I was capable of? Two skips…..I could do that when I was 6!

 Anyways two days before my 8th birthday I went down to the creek on my own to give it one more go. I really wanted to do it and this was my last chance. About half an hour had passed and I started to get really annoyed, but then I was joined by an elderly man who lived across the road from me. His name was Jack and he could see I was getting frustrated. He told me some advice that I will never forget……He said “It’s all about the rock you choose to throw” He told me that if you took time in looking at the features of the rocks and chose the correct shaped rock you pretty much had a winner. He talked about seeing things for what they are. As a 7 year old nearly 8 year old I was like “ok then”, but I got what he meant. If you didn’t choose carefully then you may not get the result that you wanted. Your rock would sink or it would fly.

He spent the next hour helping me pick out the right rocks and I DID IT!!!! I skipped a rock right across the creek! I felt like a champion! I took the tme in collecting the right rocks before I went on my mission.

We can all learn something from this…..Our choices are precious! Some people dont have choices like refugees and some disabled but we do and we should take our time in making them…..There are too many stories  I hear about the  people making siily choices and they ultimately change the course of not only their lives but somebody elses and its not for the better. Their rock sank!

There are too many car accidents involving alcohol, there are too many marital affairs and their are too many nasty words exchanged! Remember its all in the rock we choose…..Most of our choices are clear there is a good choice and a not so good choice, but its up to you which road you take or which rock you chose to throw. I know that sometimes we do make the wrong choices and that’s ok I guess we just have to hope that our rock that sank gets picked up by someone else later on down the track and they choose to throw it to fly not sink…..Basically that wrong choice can ultimately be turned into something great!

 

fOrever young….

This morning on my way into work on the train I found myself sitting across from an older lady, she would of been in her sixties at least. She looked like a lovely and gentle little granny. I truely have a soft spot for the old age….I visit the local retirement village every couple of weeks and get my butt kicked at scrabble. Geez they may look fragile and on the verge of being senile, but they know how to play scrabble thats for sure!

Anyways back to my story….yes this granny looked so cute and then I looked down and on her foot under her white sandels I couldn’t believe it….There it was a huge tattoo of a scorpian! I don’t know if there is such a thing as a friendly looking scorpian but this was definitly NOT a friendly one! It had bood dripping from its tail and the blood made out the number 13….I was astonished! I was shocked! But I was also so so so pleasantly suprised!

It made me think….This little old granny used to be a young, wild, scorpian loving, rocker chick!!!! It made me realise that our YOUNG years don’t actually last that long in the context of the rest of our lives…I thought wonder if that lady woke up one morning and realised oh my gosh ive gotten old all of a sudden….Does old age creep up on people? I do know that there are people that will always be young at heart, but there has to be some point where our bodies just don’t do the things we want them to do….

Am I making the most of my YOUNG years? How will I know until I have reached old age and I look back and go….hmmmm I wish I did ‘that’?

Anyways seeing this lady on the train inspired me to make the most of the YOUNG years I am in right now! This is the same for you that is reading….If you are on the internet and reading a thing called a Blog than you qualify as being YOUNG!!! So I hope this post inspires you to do something you’ve never done before, dance, sing, unleash yourself, maybe even get a scorpian tattoo (or not)….Old age may just creep up before you know it!!!!

 

 

 

tAke a bite….

Yesterday I was on my way into work and I was waiting for my tram with the 20 or so other people when I saw a spare seat under the shelter. I always take advantage of spare seats….I have little legs and they get tired! Anyways I found myself sitting next to a girl about the same age as me who I found out was an exchange student from China. We started chatting as she had really good english and she was very friendly. As we chatted up a storm I started to get a bit peckish and got out a biscuit I had just bought from my favourite nearby asian grocer. A biscuit this girl told me was a huge favourite within China. I started telling her about how in Australia we have a very popular biscuit too called the ANZAC biscuit. She just started cracking up laughing as she got out her morning tea snack and to my delight it was exactly that….an ANZAC biscuit! How funny and quite ironic really!

I thought it was awesome to see that two people from two totally different cultures were able to have the accessibility and the opourtunity to venture out and experience different cultures right to the core. She was able to experience Australia in all forms….She wasn’t just a Chinese girl in Australia, she was able to fit into the community and see Australia through how an Australian would experience Australia. On the other hand I was able to experience the Chinese culture without even leaving the country which just shows how diverse the Australian culture really is. 

We continued to chat and we shared each others experience of growing up. I told her about growing up in suburban Melbourne where running through the sprinkler and having plum fights with the neighbour kids next door was a usual experience during the summer. She told me about growing up on a rice farm in country China, where working hard to feel as though you were worthy enough for the family was a constant pressure. Even the fact that she didnt get to go to school until she was 15 years old which was just a shock to me. I learnt so much in that 20 minutes while we waited for the tram and I am so glad I got to share  a splash of green moment with someone else!

Before we parted ways I asked her whether she had had any experiences on her travels through Melbourne that she wasn’t  expecting. She told me that the majority of people have been the nicest people she has ever met! But she was in total shock when a couple of young men she encounted on a train ride were calling her an “asian invader”. She said she really didnt expect that because there was so much positive Chinese culture all around Melbourne. I was so angry and embarassed that she had to experience that and I felt like I need to explain it….well I didnt know how to explain it other than they are hopefully the minority and they are obviously cruel and immature individuals.

It just blows me away how some people are just so rude. Why would you want to get your kicks out of  taking a bite out of someone else’s heart?

The only bite I got out of meeting this lovely girl was realising how lucky I am to live with and meet so many different people, but even in that I found that the fact is that we are not actually that different, we are the same…We both like biscuits, we love to chat and we are both human beings!

 

 

sTood up….

The other morning I was meeting a friend at our regular cafe to catch up on things, sip our flat white coffees (why waste money on milky froth I say!) and soak in the glorious sunshine. I got there a tad early, so I just went ahead and ordered my coffee even splashing out and getting a serve of scrambled eggs. Waiting for my friend and my order to arrive I realised I didnt bring anything with me other than my wallet. I didnt think I would need my phone or a book or a magazine to keep me occupied as my friend would be there any minute and we would be chatting up a storm with the time flying past.

waiting waiting waiting….Ohh great my coffee arrived, I could at least sip away instead of fiddling my fingers.

waiting waiting waiting….Ohh great my eggs arrived, I could at least chomp away instead of playing with my empty coffee cup.

waiting waiting waiting….Ohh nope that wasn’t my friend coming through the door which I kept glancing up at every couple of seconds.

waiting waiting waiting…..

Anyways after a while I came to the realisation that my friend wasnt coming, she was never usually late….So all of a sudden I felt the awkwardness rise around me I felt embarassed, a little pink colouring filled my face… I could feel it. “Seriously Gina! SNAP OUT OF IT!!! You have been to plenty of cafes by yourself before, you have even been to the movies by yourself” I was saying this to myself  in my head as I tried to help the pink colouring to fade. 

The fact is I have been to hundeds of places by myself before,  so what was so different about this time? I know it was unexpected as I was actually intending on meeting someone but I think it had something to do with the fact that every other time I had always gone with something by my side. A book or a magazine to read, my diary to update even my laptop to get some work done. But this time I was truely alone!

So I decided to embrace it and it was AWESOME!

I was able to clear my head, sort out my thoughts and just think. It was quite a different experience choosing to think instead of being forced too! I found it quite less painful. I realised that I actually really needed that time to myself.

I was actually very thankful that this friend had ‘stood’ me up as I was able to experience something I had never experienced before. This splash of green could of quickly been pushed aside by my insecurities, fears and doubts but thankfully it wasnt! Sometimes its really hard to find splashes of green, but I think the key is to not just take things as you see them the first time you see them! You know what your parents probably told you as a kid, “never judge a book by it’s cover” is actually a brilliant peice of advice.

P.S I wasnt actually stood up by my friend….Just a bit of miss communication on my part!!!!  oops haha

bEat….

So I have just started learning the drums and I absolutely love it! I am quite suprised at how much it has changed my world!!!!!

Who would of thought that a hi-hat, kick drum and a snare would have such an impact….It’s been so fun learning something new, but it has also allowed me to explore the whole new world of BEAT…

Everyone and everything has a BEAT!

Where do you get your BEAT? and do you even like your own BEAT?

Would you prefer someone elses BEAT? and will you find your perfect BEAT partner?

Is your BEAT annoying?

Is your BEAT mysterious?

Is your BEAT a one hit wonder or a classic?

Does your BEAT encourage other beats to join in? or is it a solo act?

Who do you let hear your true BEAT?

Do you even feel like you have a BEAT?

Is your BEAT an original? or maybe it’s a cover….

Has your BEAT ever been played by someone else?

Have you even heard your own BEAT?

Does your BEAT ache?

Do you even know what your BEAT is about?

Do you know what your BEAT will become?

So you are probably wondering what the heck I am on about…BEAT???

But here is a challenge for you, read through it again but instead of using the word BEAT, replace it with the word HEART….Now see what you come up with!

 

sEarch vs. make it happen…..

It’s really easy to look around and just see so many things that are sad….Like lonely faces, busy people, crying children, angry voices, people avoiding eye contact and just plain hatred. Sometimes  I find myself wondering how the world got like this?

Seriously its not that hard to smile or even say hello to a stranger as they walk past you, or to help someone out if they are in need…..Just stopping for a few minutes and thinking outside your own little bubble of  ’self’ to do something for someone else is actually more of a benefit for yourself!

Yeah sure that other person will feel good and have a refreshed view of their surroundings, but for youself you will feel empowered, you will feel responsible and you will feel a sense of grace and forgiveness.

So my advice to you is don’t just look for those splashes of green….Make them happen for others!!!!

kAtie loves blogs!!!!

Here is a shout out to Katie….

a chick I’ve never met, but Jacinta tells me she loves blogs! 

Thanks for reading…..I was encouraged to keep writing when I heard you mentioned I hadn’t written any in a while!

Cheers, Gina xo

I tHought it was just a drizzle….

There are not many times where I am driving in my car with any passengers, usually the only occupant on my passenger seat is my loyal friend called my handbag….anyways on this occasion I was driving along with my actual human friend by my side. It was an unexpected passenger so I was a little embarrassed by the state of my car….cd’s sprawled across the floor, the backseat covered in odd items of clothing and a few pieces of evidence from the ‘drive thru’, But I got over the fact that someone had entered my little bubble and we were chatting happily on the way to our destination.

All of a sudden it started to drizzle….well the rain was definitely present, but it was at that annoying slow motion pace. Unbeknown to me my friend was getting more and more frustrated as the rain began to fall….Now I am a huge fan of the window wiper invention, but in my car when there isn’t sufficient amounts of H2O my wipers make a cringe worthy scrapping sound across my windscreen….Believe me it’s NOT pleasant! This has caused me to only use my wipers when it is entirely necessary! I know this fact that, that water is really quite see through…so I feel it is fine to have a few rain drops on my windscreen, I can deal with that!

Well obviously my friend couldn’t! She was finding it very hard to deal with, which became very evident when she just couldn’t stop her hand reaching over and helping herself to my window wiper lever! She was like “How can you even see?” I replied “I can see quite fine thank you….Now keep your dirty little fingers away from my wiper lever!”

In that moment I had a splash of green moment….

Sometimes we can be so stuck in our ways, in our ‘stuff’ that it can get quite easy to just continue to see through those ways or that ‘stuff’….Which ultimately has an effect on how we see and respond to the world. We are creatures of habit after all! but sometimes we need others to help clear away our ‘stuff” so we can realise that we aren’t actually seeing as clearly as we could! Sometimes all we need to do is change our perspective, let others clear our ‘stuff’ right away like a window wiper to allow us to see light in a situation or change our view and attitude.

My friend turned the wipers on for me that day in the car….she couldn’t see and was wondering why the heck I was putting up with that blur and was wondering why I just didn’t use the wipers. It’s really easy to see where others are stuck in their ‘stuff’, but we also need to remember that we don’t always know the full story. My friend didn’t know about the disgusting sound that the wipers made, she just wanted to help. I guess we all just need to realise that everyone has a different way of looking at things and our own way isn’t necessarily the best one!

sPlash of green moments……

There are some moments in life, everyday moments that are just truely awesome…..These are splash of green moments that we shouldn’t just let fly by! So here are a few:

1. When you return to your warm and comfy bed after getting up to pee in the middle of the night.

2. When you have a whole row to yourself on the plane. You know how it is: You can get up and go to the toilet whenever you like. Bonus: No awkward crotch-in-the-face moments!

3. When you say the same thing as a sports commentator says just before they say it. Because, at that moment, you go from being a lazy couch potato to a freaking awesome and insightful sports critic.

4. The smell of frying onions and garlic. Seriously, when you walk into a house and smell onions and garlic frying, it’s a beautiful moment!

5. Taking your bra off after wearing it for hours. It feels like freedom!

6. Peeling off your wet bathers and putting on warm clothes after swimming.

7. When you eventually remember what movie that guy is from. Aww such a good feeling….Relief.

8. Finding money in your old coat pocket.

Now that is just a few, but seriously we probably have hundreds per week and we don’t even notice them! Slow down and live life…..especially the good moments….the splash of green moments!

wOrry wart….

Yes I am a self confessed worry wart…..I never used to be one!

But oh well now that I am one I have to continue to look at my thinking and consider whether it is true or false……basically whether it is relevant! I love this picture that Marc Johns has drawn….its so simple yet very profound. I do still find myself thinking of all the things that ‘could be’ instead or thinking of the facts that are actually known right in that moment.

It’s very easy to let your thinking start to snowball, which in my case can be really  dangerous because I forget that all I can do is live right in the moment and take one step at a time…..simple advice, yet hard if you like to know what’s happening next, if you like to know plans and details.

Worry is always going to be a part of our lives….without worry we wouldn’t actually care about anything and that would be a very sad a lonely existence. I guess this post is just a reminder to all that all you can do is live in the moment and when you do you will come across many splash’s of green!!!