“I’m honored just to be nominated” is such an overused phrase. But when said, it is meant wholeheartedly! At least, I assume so! Perhaps some people are upset when they don’t win, but for me, the fact that something I did deserves a nod is worth a bit of celebration.…
As I mentioned earlier, I was thrilled to find out that THREE of my poems had been accepted for publishing by Writing for Peace. Their journal, DoveTales had put out a submission request for their upcoming themed issue: Resistance. This was a perfect call for me, as I’d been writing…
I’ve been writing poetry pretty steadily during this pandemic. I find it’s a good way to channel my grief, depression and frustration. Also, since I’m still having migraines more than half of the days, it’s pretty hit-or-miss whether I’ll be able to function on any given day. Sometimes, my ability…
Update July 2020
Any of my readers who know me personally will know that this is a very difficult post for me to write. Things in my life have changed irrevocably. Of course, like everyone, I’ve been impacted by the COVID pandemic and I’ve been quarantining along with much of the world. However,…
I took a memoir writing workshop in NYC and now I’ve begun to get my poetry published!
23/3/16 I just had an amazing experience. I went on an overnight trip to a place called Turtle Island off of the coast of Borneo. I’d heard about this from a guy I met while whitewater rafting last week on the Padas River. He’d gone a few years ago and…
19/3/16 Today I am feeling so frustrated and disappointed. Yesterday, I set out to climb Mt. Kinabalu. Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain in South East Asia. From the Himalayas in the north to Guinea in the south, there is none to compare with the 4095.2 metre tall (13435 ft.)…
I’ve been having problems with my stomach since I came to Malaysia. Actually, it started before I even had left Australia. I thought maybe it was something I ate or the way I was eating that was messing up my lap-band. I thought I’d irritated it because I ate too…
There is a hitchhiker in my car. It’s a (rather large) spider that I discovered a few days ago. I’ll admit that it gave me a bit of a start when I first saw it. As I said, it’s pretty big. I’m pretty sure it’s a huntsman, and they tend…
I’ve noticed that the further northwest I travel in Queensland, the more kangaroos there seem to be. I’ve also noticed a marked decrease in Wi-Fi. (This seems to be a direct inverse relationship.) There have also been a bunch of termite mounds, many of which are clothed – yeah, t-shirts,…
Well, I feel a bit like a giant walking bruise, which is rather to be expected, given that I technically crashed a motorbike a couple days ago. The true soreness actually comes a couple days after a wreck, and I certainly haven’t been lying around in the days since my…
I suspect that today was so horrible in order to underscore how wonderful yesterday was. At least, that’s the idea I’m going to go with, since any other would make me just cringe about the suckiness that ended up being my day today. I’d planned to get up early-ish in…
I’m sitting in an Irish pub (Temple Bar) in Moscow, drinking both Guiness (yay!) and Russian Vodka (meh). Not a single staff member here speaks English. I’m not really sure why I’m surprised. Interestingly, their uniforms are halfway done over with a Scottish plaid. One of the guys looks Chinese.…
Later… I am definitely so glad to get out of China. I’m on the plane to New Zealand now. What a pain in the ass this trip has been! After all the customs and hanging out on the floor and everything in Urumqi, I went to check in again two…
“I’m like a bull… I only fly away” You know what country I find kind of intimidating? China. More than a billion people here. I can’t read or understand their language. I believe the country is still communist, but I’m not entirely sure. Either way, they have a lot of…
I’m on a ferry right now, headed back to Athens from Santorini. I had a great couple of weeks there. It would be more difficult to leave, I think, but as we were pulling out of the port, the clouds opened and the sun burst through. I am on the…
Although yesterday didn’t work out for Ryan and Wismine and I to rent ATVs to drive around the island, today we managed to get our schedules aligned. Ryan and Wismine had met up in Fira the night before with some other people we’d all met at our hostel in Perissa…
My first few days in Santorini have been great so far. Shortly after I arrived at my hostel (where the guy who works at the front desk is actually named Adonis!), I walked down the beachfront about a quarter kilometer to the nearest dive shop. It was open, and the girl…
So I’m on my way to Santorini right now on a ferry boat from Athens. I got up super early this morning and left Thomi’s house to catch the metro to Pireaus, the port of Athens. When I arrived there, I picked up my ticket and hopped on the ferry.…
Meteora is a region of Greece which is known for having mountains – giant sandstone boulders, really – upon which monasteries have been built over the centuries. There are now about half-a-dozen monasteries (including a two convents) built on these rocks. In centuries past, some of them were accessible only by…
I went back to the reggae bar last night, Juuls in St Julians. I have been sick these last couple of days with a cold and cough, so I haven’t accomplished a whole lot. I’ve wanted to go scuba diving, but it’s hard to put more pressure on your ears…
Last night, I met a Maltese med student named David at an Irish bar here in Paceville. He told me that he’s hoping to become a general practitioner (preferrably in Ireland) someday. One really interesting thing that I learned from him is that here in Malta, medical students are paid…
Last night was the perfect finale to my time in Barcelona. After a mellow day, chilling out on the beach (I hadn’t spent any time on the beach in BCN, yet), I returned to my hotel and showered, planning to head over to Gràcia for one more night of revelry. …
Wow! I’m exhausted, and a bit hung over today. And it was totally worth it! I went out last night to check out the Festa de Gràcia. This is a giant festival that happens every August in the village of Gràcia in Barcelona. Each neighborhood in Gràcia decorates the area, and over…
Today ended up being amazing! I went scuba diving in Lanzarote. Ana, the girl I’m couchsurfing with, had said she would meet Ronald, David and I at a beach at 2:30. They are the two others who are couchsurfing with her also. We got up in the morning, intending to find…
Last night, I went to the restaurant that my host Zuri recommended called Casa Camilo. It’s right on the tip of the Puntilla, to the north of Playa Cantera. He’d said they had the best seafood around, and when I got there, the waitress first asked what I wanted to drink.…
