Steady

It went something like this:

Text Message from Annie - "Hi x"

** Ring ring.... ring ring... ring ring....**

"Hey".

"Hey you alright? Can you talk?"

"Erm yeah sure, but I might laugh all the way through because I'm completely stoned."

Is it wrong to think I got out at exactly the right time? Before I met her, she was a loose cannon, a wreck-head, a liability. And now, she has resorted to type. For the first time in the last year, I think I'm beginning to thrive. I have the world at my feet, I have all the tools I need to do everything and anything I want. I've never felt more wanted or attractive, even when Annie and I were together. I get alot of interest from women and I feel good about myself. My savings are going better than I could have ever imagined and I have plans. I HAVE MY OWN PLANS! My life plans have never consisted of anything more than 'Get Married', 'Get a half-decent job', 'Have a family'. I have thrown myself in the deep end at work, taking every single opportunity available. System Testing? I'll take a stab at it. Overtime on a Sunday? Of course. 2 more CII exams by the end of the year? Hell yeah! I'm even doing Broker and Underwriter visits, which I HATE. 

My life is travelling at a blistering pace at the moment and I've never felt so energised or invigorated. The gym is awesome. I am finally making the gains I wanted to make this time last year, and the sprinting is fun and rewarding. 

I've changed alot over the last year. Subtle changes, but I feel like a new person. I've got alot closer to my family and, in particular, my Brother Aaron. He's my only older Brother, and he got back from a 6-month tour of Afghanistan with the Army. He's an inspiration to me, and a bloody hero and we are closer than ever which is pretty darn awesome. 

I'm still a soppy hopeless romantic who amazingly still believes in true love, despite what happened with Annie. (Cheers for that gene, Dad!). I still get butterflies and I know full well that I WILL fall in Love again. I hope it's not before my travels. Maybe it will be on my travels. Which brings me to my next point...

Something odd has happened. I am finding myself increasingly attracted to foreign women. Black, Asian, Eastern-European, you name it. Yeah. That's my strange development of the month. Hello cute Asian girl jogging. Wait, WHAT?!

A bit of diversity can't be bad, can it?

"How can you love 'Valentine's Day' but hate 'Love Actually'?" they ask me. I don't flipping know. I just hate 'Love Actually'. I've watched it one and a half times and I can never get that time back! 

Ella has been a tad distant. Maybe I'm just being a tad ridiculous. She has had exams etc. but I love our little Skype sessions. It's always nice to have someone to talk to and she's brilliant at it; she always cheers me up. 

Anyhow, this post has pretty much been a disjointed mess. I'll end on a high note. Today I stumbled across a post on the Gapyear.com forums discussing people who doubted you. When you said you wanted to travel and that you were going to work in Australia, or you were going to save £10,000 and move away, there were always people trying to knock you down. I guess it applies to anything good in life. Maybe it's jealousy. But one poster made my day with this: 

"Just SNIP. Smile, nod, ignore, proceed". 

Love it. 

To end on a song, because quite frankly, music is bloody awesome and the thought that perhaps someone reading this will listen to this song and fall in love with it, well, that's pretty great if you ask me. I love to sing along to this song, and it always makes me smile. I hope you like it too, and I hope you all have a wonderful week.

"It's your flawless soul that bleeds my stone"

Luke

Hangover

Man, sometimes I wonder whether it's worth it. I mean, at the time, 6 black Sambucas in half an hour sounded like a great idea. Maybe I'm getting old. I'm 23 now, and it feels like these hangovers are getting worse and worse as the years go by.

Unsurprisingly, I haven't had a great deal of time to plan anymore of my travels this weekend. Aaron's BBQ was absolutely fantastic yesterday afternoon, and I think we all got abit teary when they bashed out the banner and the champers. It was such a lovely afternoon, and I couldn't be more proud of my big brother. He's a legend and an inspiration. A hero.

Luke

Spring

Usually I'm pretty bummed about losing an hour sleep. But not today! I don't remember my last hangover-free Sunday, and if I'm being honest it has been absolutely bloody brilliant and I can see myself growing accustomed to it.

I've been pretty productive today, which makes a change! Nice to leave Wallow Central for a day and actually get things done. Annie and I had a really nice walk around town and she told me all about her plans for Australia in the new year. It's strange because the last week she has been really sweet and loving towards me. She has been checking up on me and calling every other day for the sake of calling. A part of me believed she was trying to win me back, but after today and the Australia revelation I think it's safe to say that won't be happening, which is probably for the best! I'll be honest, I really don't know what I would have done if Annie had said she wanted me back. My head would scream 'No' but my heart would always be drawing me to her and I've always been one to let my heart rule, which has perhaps got me in trouble in the past!

So that got me thinking even more about travelling. It's a scary coincidence that an hour or so before Annie told me about Australia, I was in the loft clearing out my wardrobes. Today I've been in the mindset again that the things I have in the house are exactly that: things. Stuff. Does any of it really matter? I don't want the fact I have sofas and clothes and bedside tables to stop me from travelling. I mean, 3 black sacks of old clothes that I never wear. Ridiculous. I've been walking round the house thinking to myself "Would I be bothered if I didn't have this or that?" and 95% of my possessions really do not matter. I have personal things, mainly Annie things which I want to keep, such as Prague Tram tickets, holiday tickets, photos etc. But I have my parents for some storage and I'm hoping that by the time I get back from my travelling, Leigh, Conor or even Bethany may have moved out so I could potentially have some back-up accommodation. 

Rocky IV is on. My evening is set. I love my life. 

"I MUST BREAK YOU".

Apart from travelling talk, I've had a great little FIFA session, I phoned Martin to check up on him after he was hit last night at Casinos. I hate that. Completely unprovoked. It could happen to anyone, and I guess I should count myself lucky I haven't been on the receiving end yet (Touch wood!). So yeah, I think I earned some Bro points on that. You have to look after your Wingman, and in return he will look after you. This is what happens when he goes out without me!

Anyhow, Rocky IV has finished now, which means it's time to return to Orange County. I'm hoping some day soon I'll have something interesting to write as opposed to just writing a diary. I'm thinking of starting to use my Blogger app on my phone more, and start posted shorter, more frequent blog posts when I have a spark of inspiration rather than just rambling at the end of the day when I'm typically running solely on caffeine. 

Oh and Aaron came back today. Bloody awesome. Time to stock up on whiskey :)

Luke