Today at work I had one of those 'don't judge a book by its cover' experiences I thought I'd share....
This homeless man and his son came into my work for lunch (I know they're homeless, I've seen him on the streets and they definitely smell homeless), they had a couple of drinks, one pizza and a dessert, their bill came to $36, he gave me a $50 and I obviously gave the change back to the man. They stayed for about another fifteen or so minutes and once they left I went to clear the glasses off their table and there on the table was a $15 tip. I was so shocked that this homeless man left such a huge tip, especially since probably at least half of the people that come into my work don't tip (which is fine, it's not something I expect) and the fact that this man is homeless!
I think that this just goes to show you should treat people that you come across how you would like to be treated and to not 'judge a book by its cover' because they may just surprise you!
"So she had to satisfy herself with the idea of love - loving the loving of things whose existence she didn't care at all about. Love itself became the object of her love. She loved herself in love, she loved loving love, as love loves loving, and was able, in that way, to reconcile herself with a world that fell so short of what she would have hoped for. It was not the world that was the great and saving lie, but her willingness to make it beautiful and fair, to live a once-removed life, in a world once-removed from the one in which everyone else seemed to exit." - Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated.
I LOVE running. For me, I don't run because I think I have to for a form of exercise, it actually feels like more of a hobby, something that make my days so much happier. Lately my runs are generally between 70-95 minutes and I hope to increase that to regular 120 minute runs by the end of March. Here are a few of my favourite running quotes. I especially love the last one, it speaks so loudly to me :)
"The truth is you can always run faster ... sometimes the truth hurts."
"Running is a gift I give myself almost every day. Even on those days when things haven't gone great, I can come home and give myself the accomplishment of a 30 or 40 minute fun."
"Whatever the pace, run softly, run tall."
"What the years have shown me is that running clarifies the thinking process as well as purifies the body. I think best - most broadly and fully - when I am running."
"The less you cheat, the more dramatic the effects will be."
"You can take anything away from me ... just don't take my running."
"Running distils life down to its basic elements... when I am out running everything is simple ... totally living in the moment ... it's a very pure experience."
I adore these new heels that I bought for NYE. Although these heels cost me more than what I had budgeted for, I think they're the foundation for a fabulous party outfit and I know I will get my money worth wearing them on nights out.
I'm wondering whether a bit of sparkle should be restricted to the evening or whether you can get away with it during the day? Lately I've been doing a smokey eyeshadow (during the day) using a light apricot colour on the inner and a dark chocolate colour on the outer, with both colours having a sparkly/shimmery effect. Inappropriate for the day? I would never go OTT on glitter during the day, but I don't think a sparkly eyeshadow ever killed anyone!!
A small section that I absolutely LOVE from one of my favourite books: "Valley of the Dolls" by Jacqueline Susann...
'I'm talking about love,' he said hotly. 'Not begging! Love shouldn't make a beggar of one. I wouldn't want love if I had to beg for it, to barter or qualify it. And I should despise it if anyone ever begged for my love. Love is something that must be given - it can't be bought with words or pity, or even reason. I shall never beg you, Anne. I love you. You must know that. I shall always love you -'
I've already blogged about how I've deactivated my facebook in a hope to become more productive, and now another point about deactivating my facebook which I only thought about the other day was whether or not this decision might actually affect my results at uni. This is one point that I'm definitely going to follow. I think this semester will be interesting to see whether or not my facebook use in the past was indeed actually affecting the time I could have been putting into uni or not. Hmmmm only time will tell!!
Every year at Woodford Folk Festival at 11:30pm on New Years Eve the festival stops for three minutes and everyone is silent to reflect on the year that has gone past, it’s such a beautiful feeling to be a part of. For my three minutes I was thinking about what I have learned this year, and I think the major issue that I learnt this year was about being single and learning to feel comfortable with being single.
To go from being in a relationship where it felt like you were with the person who knew the most about you, the good and thebad, being with the person you felt most comfortable confiding in to just not having that is an adjustment. It was especially hard when two of my sisters left to live overseas which made me feel like there was this gap in my heart. Not having him to turn to during this time just made me miss him more. However, not just this experience but all the other times where I was upset this year after we broke up, forced me to deal with these experiences on my own, teaching me how to deal and making me realise no matter what, I will make it through anything.
There is this one song by Otis Redding which reminds me of this process, learning to deal on your own after a relationship: I’ve got dreams to remember. I think that often during a break up what people forget is that although this relationship is gone that you still ‘have dreams to remember”, things that you were planning for yourself, travelling, career, hobbies, anything, you still have all these dreams for yourself that just because you aren’t with this person anymore, there is still so much in life to experience without them.
Even though it’s been around eight months since I did break up with my boyfriend I still don’t feel ready to get into another relationship. I enjoy being single right now and I also think there are more things for me to learn about myself before I get into anything serious.
I believe that learning about how you are, discovering how you handle and experiencing being single is something that is extremely important to everyone to go through.
So to finish this post, one of my favourite quotes:
"We accept the love we think we deserve". Now for a bit of sweet Otis Redding....
