What is a tree?

So the other day 'Spiral girl' asked me what a tree was. I smiled and said I didn't understand the question. She said the word 'tree' was a label but gave no information and she wanted to know what a tree was.

That night I was looking at the bathroom sink after washing my face and I thought how beautiful all these glistening little clusters were all around the sink... I failed to see just water around the bench as my education would have me believe and I started to consider, what is a tree.

Thick, hard, ugly brown casing. This is surely to protect something very, very valuable, something inside that is soft and vulnerable. So what is this protective outer shell sheltering?

Life?

Hmm... If it is protecting life, who's life is it protecting?

What is this stuff at the top? These soft, thin, green, dancing fans... These are happy workers, engaged in a flirtacious love affair with the sun, embroiled in a disguise that conceals their job of converting carbon diaoxide to oxygen and thus giving me air to breathe....

And what is below? Long, deep, fingers that search and source a more grounded connection, provide a home for hidden critters and a stability for the revealed marvel above.

Wow. What wonderful discoveries... learning to forget what I know and making my own solutions...

k
p.s. No, no drugs at all. Ever.

Australia Day Long Weekend

Happy Australia day all!

Friday was great! Headed out to whoop-whoop for a BBQ bonanza, to (kick ass on) SingStar and Nintendo Guitar with random and not so random good company! Although ditching the traditional BBQ flesh feast, I did eat so many lamingtons I started burping them... gross...

In the evening I headed to local BBQ bonanza with the old high school crew. It was FANTASTIC to see everyone together again after so long away in various parts of the country and world. We caught up on each other's worlds, talked about future plans and laughed at random crap before playing some bizarre Japanese game that had people looking very strange doing weird activities...

Saturday was one of the high school crew's birthday party. Part way through the evening (which was going very well) tension between university friends and the old crew came to a head and proved awkward and slightly offensive to most... It actually turned out to be a pretty funny turn of events that resulted in the old crew feeling more united in our animosity towards the 'newbies'... good times. It has been so long since we have all been able to hang out together so much!

Tomorrow night, as with most Monday nights there is a little touch of the Woodford Folk Festival happening at The Shire in West End (off Russel Street). It is a really cruisey out door open mic session that everyone should come and enjoy, contribute to or dance with.

Big love.

k

Retreat revelations...

I spent this week at a Buddhist retreat in the Sunshine Coast hinterland on a 160 acre property, just meditating and reconnecting.

What a wonderful thing to have done!

I have so much more clarity now!

Here is the low-down:
1. Australia is a fantastic country, a land of diversity and innovation, a stimulating place from which I gather much joy and inspiration. It is a wonderful place to grow up and to settle but since I am technically 'grown up' and not willing to settle just yet, it is not the place for me. As soon as is viable, I am still wanting to get back to Southern California.
2. I want a job that allows me to make a significant contribution to the betterment of society and also allows me to earn a decent wage. Although money shouldn't be that important, it is relatively important to me to afford me the lifestyle I wish to lead and the freedom to choose where I want to be.
3. Although the Sydney job sounds absolutley awesome and I have no real reason to reject it, I am not going to be chasing it. I am just not 'feeling' it and that is what makes sense to me.
4. Love is not enough. If love was enough I would never have left the States (I would have found a way to stay), if love was enough the person I was in love with would not have found someone else. Love is not enough and that is okay. I am very, very grateful for having had such a beautifully bountiful (and complicated) experience with love this last year, I have learnt a great deal and am very, very lucky to have experienced what I did.
5. I discovered my religion. It is you. You inspire me every day. I am challenged and provoked by your divinity and reminded of how much of an affect each and every person has. It is you that reminds me of how lucky and wonderful I am and how truely excellent this life is. THANK YOU.

And that about sums it up, folks.

I hope you know how amazing you are to me and everyone around you.

Loving it.

k

Today

There once was this (clearly crazy) Dutch girl who said to me, "I wondered what your flaw was, and now I realise it is that you miss flights".

Well, not one to live down expectations, I lasted 15 whole days into 2007 before I missed my first flight. Gah, I don't know why I do this so often but I really need to work on this... It happens far too often...

Anyhu, Sydney was good, got to learn more about potential job situation and realised it probably encompasses just about everything I could possibly ask for from a job AND organisation EVER... except pay... I am in the process of negotiating the pay situation and will let you know more about it shortly.

For now, it is a beautiful day to save some lives people!

kristiana

The world is my oyster, I just have to work out how to shuck it...

Today I went and saw a Careers and Employment counseller at QUT. She was so angry that I was unable to secure an American Visa which made me feel better. She also reckons I have a tonne of employment options which added to me feeling quite excellent.

I know, I know, due to the experiences I have had and the qualifications I have accumulated, the fact that I will not have to worry about securing a job seems obvious, but I've been a bit down lately and just needed to hear a relatively objective person tell me that I could do whatever I wanted to do. So today I am powering on and deciding what I will do this year, where I want to be and in what capacity. It feels good to be back in the game!

Hope everyone else is feeling equally great or better (preferably better)!

Don't forget to keep me updated!

Oh! And let me know if you think of any jobs for me to take up!

Lots of love.

k

Happy new year!!

To everyone celebrating this year with the Western calander - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I hope you had a wonderful greeting for the new year because my best friend Jess always says that how you spend your new years is indicative of your new year...

I spent the new year having a lazy day until dad left for a party and I went to go and meet mum down on the banks of SouthBank. We watched the 9pm fireworks together there before having a boogie at the various stages nearby playing old school party mixes, 80's and latina hip-hop. We danced together until we decided to leave while still on a high note and head off to our respective parties before midnight.

As the countdown ended I told everyone at the party I was at to get up on a chair and literally LEAP into the new year with me. We all did and the ran around my best friends yard and danced.

A quiet new years but a good one. It's nice to be surrounded by some of the Aussie people I love again.

Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

k