Saturday, 23 August 2014

Late Night Pondering

Hey Blogging World

I presume (and really hope) I'm not the only person that has those nights, laying in bed thinking about every single things good or bad and end up still lying there at some crazy hour of the morning still thinking about it?

I tend to think that music will help me sleep, it usually turns into an occupational health and safety hazard. Having my headphones is fine until my eyelids begin to close and I wake up in the morning freaking out that the chord has wrapped itself around my neck, I think my mum always warned me about it when I was younger, must have turned into a fear. Or those school mornings when you wake, the music is still playing and battery is critically low and you wonder how on earth you will make it through the bus trip without your iPod. However the worst thing is waking up and believing you must have some sort of sleep disorder because your iPod has been flung across the other side of the room, but you seem to have no recollection of how it got there. Not to mention my music taste at the moment is a lot of acoustic guitar serenading me to sleep. I have been absolutely obsessed with Secondhand Serenade, only knew one of their songs (Fall For You, check it out) but just pushed on another one day and was hooked then. Their music is simple but beautiful and their lyrics are so raw they travel into you and unleash emotions you didn't know you contained. Music also helps me in pondering of course as whatever I'm pondering about, the mood of the song is chosen to fit the ponder. Funny how I know to manipulate my mood to what I would like to be.

Pondering. Well, shall we ponder about the word ponder? After all it is such a funny word to use. The dictionary definition shows:

think about (something) carefully, especially before making a decision or reaching a conclusion.

I've thought about this for some time now and can only draw to one conclusion. It made no sense to me the word ponder especially as the word has the word pond within it and I didn't know what ponds had to do with thinking. But ponds are relatively deep, not as deep as an ocean, but you would have to go a little deep or think carefully before you reached the bottom or the conclusion. That is the only thing I can think of. Otherwise ponder is just another funny word like majority of the words in the English language. At least ponder is a word that you can look at and pronounce unlike... Well I can't think of any at the moment, being awake doesn't mean my brain is functioning to its full potential.

I'm not sure if I feel comfortable using the word ponder for the rest of the post now, it's in the title though I probably should. One difficult thing to ponder then write about is the dreaded P word. No not panoramas, or pandas or playgrounds. Oh gosh I could talk about playgrounds for hours that wouldn't be hard to describe after pondering. Wait, I think I discuss playgrounds in another post. Right. Back to the dreaded P word. I really get distracted too often. P is for people. At the moment I'll say friends are going pretty well, I shouldn't jinx it but any arguments you haven't heard about but of course still worried about have been sorted so you can relax. There are people who have become a family to me and our little family has ended now, which you think would make me being the emotional person I am quite sad but there's been certain people making me oh so tired, but oh so happy this week and I hope they hang around for a while. I hope I haven't made you all too curious now, because if you are you'll be finding out nothing until perhaps my next post.

"She's going to begin posting again?!" You're thinking! Yes I would love to start blogging more often and it's going to be a huge time allowance as school is really coming first this year, I've realized I need to really start trying in order to attempt to have a lovely future. But hey, when I have a spare hour early in the morning with eyes that won't shut and nothing to do I'll be sure to jump on here because I miss you all. I know hardly any of you commented and I'm not sure if people actually read what I'm posting but I enjoy writing to a world full of people. Making new friends one anonymous reader at a time.

Signs that I should really go to sleep, I'm listening to Beyonce and Rihanna. Not that they're bad, if you like that when you're wide awake then good for you. Until next time.

La Vie Vivante.


Thursday, 17 July 2014

Whose Reality

Hey Blogging World

I know I haven't posted in forever but we're going to skip over all the fuddy duddy reasons and just get straight to the point of the post. We received essays back today from Term One and I read through my creative piece and actually thought it was decent enough to share with all of you. The context was 'Whose Reality' (Original post title right?) and the prompt was:

Reality is always open to interpretation by individuals. 

Tessa

I'd seen it on the news. The tsunamis. Giant tidal waves hitting the shoreline and raging on further. "But the people are fine". They would say, "Everything is fine." So the world kept on turning, the people here kept on going, in their reality, nothing was wrong.

Tari

They came so quickly, the water rose and crashed down on us. People fled to higher ground, hiking their children on their shoulders. All the houses, they fell down hopelessly. After it was over, the news crews came from all over the world. I watched them s they told people to smile. They were trying to provide a different reality to people, attempting to the show the world we were okay. But I sat and hoped, hoped that someone would see in a different way. Someone who could help us.

Tessa

The flight over caused me to reflect on my life. The way I saw things seemed to be different to others. Not just in the sense of the glass half full or half empty, but watching drones stare at a t.v screen, nod in agreeance and move on with life. They didn't question it, didn't want to find out more. They are content with being told someone's reality. That's all it is essentially, someone telling large groups of people the way things are going in their eyes. Why people don't go out and find their own way to see is another brain buster. We landed safely and I walked out into the humid air. I had my bags, money but all the motels had been knocked down. There was nowhere to go. That's when I met Tari.

Tari

I was looking around for pieces of lifed when I met Tessa. She had a kind face and lovely shoes. She was not from here. I stood up and looked at her, peering around to see where her camera was. But there was no one else, just her. She held out her hand and I reluctantly shook it. She explained to me what she h ad seen on the news and how she wanted to see what was really happening, She said she was finding her own reality. I led her to the main village where everyone was. I watched as her expressions changed, her reality changing before her eyes. It was almost funny to see. She broke into tears, apologizing to everyone for what had happened, falling to the ground in despair. But I picked her up and smiled at her. "That is just the way you see it, that is your... oh what's that word? Interpretation. That's it. It's just your interpretation. For us, we are all well. We are alive and we are together. That means everything is okay."

Tessa

Emotions were the only way to show how I felt today. Upon walking in to the village I was swept with feelings of grief. People standing on flattened houses, trying to find decent parts to re-use. Children crying for food and their parents only able to give remnants that they had hoped to eat themselves. It all seemed  shocking, the t.v showed none of this. The t.v could not show the emotions of these people but if it could pain would pour out of the screen. I began to tear up, but Tari stopped me. She explained to me her reality and told me to look again. I looked and at first still saw grief. I looked a little harder, people working together as one. The community coming together, bringing all their resources, and Tari with her class. She was a teacher at the local school, so in my luck spoke English. We stood and watched her students play and I noticed a boy in the background. "Who is that boy?" I asked her. "That is the boy whose parents never came." She replied. I wondered what she meant of this. Tari opened up her reality to me. My reality was changed. But I can go home now, tell people of what I saw, that will change my reality, right? Wrong. No matter how hard I try, my reality will always be mine. I cannot force it onto others. They will see the events of the tsunami differently, everyone interprets it differently. Just like the boy, how he sees things will forever be unknown to me. His reality is his and my reality is mine.

Binn

I knew it was coming, I could sense it. Everyone continued on liked everything was okay. Miss Tari was telling us it would just be a storm, waves get big before a storm. But the waves kept getting bigger. One by one children disappeared as their parents hurriedly took them away, realizing that waves ere getting bigger. Soon enough it was just Miss Tari and I. She looked worried and gave me a smile that I think was supposed to be reassuring. "Do you know if your parents are coming Binn?" I shook my head. Dad had gone fishing today, mum was at home unwell. I knew they wouldn't come. Then we had to leave, the waves crashed through everything and when it was over, my parents still didn't come. A lady was standing with Miss Tari today. She looked at me. I didn't know who she was, but I knew her reality was not mine. She kept looking trying to find something in me. Some sort of pain perhaps. But there's no pain. She can try and say there is, they all try to say my reality is pain. But that's just what they see, what they interpret. I am the boy whose parents never came. That is all. That is my reality.

La Vie Vivante.

Tuesday, 25 February 2014

The Speech of the Century

Hey Blogging World

Read it. Get angry or nod in approval. But enjoy it and leave me a comment if you have any suggestions.

Celebrities, they’re constantly in the media’s eyes. This star is twerking, that artist is using auto tune, these people are always portrayed to the public as extraordinary people, to some they are even shown as idols. But when these celebrities are found lying dead on their bathroom floor with a needle stuck in their arm, should we feel any pity for what they have done to themselves?


Most recently in the news we have heard of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, aged 46 who was found dead in his apartment with a needle stuck in his arm. An envelope was also found which contained what was believed to be heroin. Hoffman had won four academy awards and an Oscar. He was a well-known, very talented actor, producer and director. He had a lovely partner and three children who he loved dearly. He had a wonderful life filled with not only his successful career but was also surrounded by people who loved him. And yet he ended his own life as a result of a drug addiction. Hoffman had spoken openly about his drug addiction but also stated he had been 23 years sober. He had obviously tried for the sake of his family, but if you loved them that much, wouldn’t you try a little harder?

Everyone knows of the Glee star Cory Monteith who was found dead in a hotel room last year as a result of a drug and alcohol abuse. Monteith was 31, a major star all around the world, had a beautiful girlfriend and many friends, especially from the show. He had also talked openly about his struggle with drug abuse, being treated in a rehabilitation facility at the age of 19 and just three months earlier completing voluntary treatment. Yet what was seemed to be unintentional resulted in death because of reckless decisions.

The newspapers swarm at the news of a death from any celebrities, let alone drug related deaths. All we read is “found dead with needle in arm”, “a mixed-drug toxicity involving heroin and alcohol”, “leaving behind family”. But are we ever able to read the full story? Are we ever able to understand the full extent to what these people were going through at the time, what was happening in their lives? And that’s the thing, we will never know what was going on in their heads they day they decided to take drugs, if they even knew what the consequences were. Because at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if they are celebrities or not, they are just people like you and I. They made bad decisions and the only difference is that every one of their mistakes is leaked to the tabloids to take advantage of and create good news. Yes, they have done this to themselves and its wrong and what they have left behind is indescribable grief that not even the newspapers can show because it’s the people that feel. But they are just people, they make bad choices, they also have a lot going on in their lives. Imagine having to step outside your door of a morning and have paparazzi swarming you for photos, and I don’t mean on the morning of school photo day, I mean those mornings when you’re running late, rushing out the door, your shoes are barely on, it’s more than just a bad hair day and the bags under your eyes are bigger than the craters on the moon. That type of photo. Your every move being watched, waiting for you to slip up. Maybe they had had enough, maybe the only way out for them was drugs. And yes I know, there are plenty of other ways to get around situations and better ways to deal with it. But maybe at the time, that’s the only way they saw possible. Because as I was saying before, we will never know the full story.

La Vie Vivante.

Saturday, 15 February 2014

How Organised Am I.

Hey Blogging World

So I realized I haven't posted in ages, once again, and this time it meant that I wasn't just not writing to all of you, but I wasn't following my schedule! But here's my excuse:

My internet wouldn't work about two days after I started the schedule and therefore could not post. Then after the internet finally began working again, life was great the day, I had completely forgotten about blogging and my mind shifted to homework, school, friends and all of life's other first world problems. Therefore that is my lame excuse and I will make it up by attempting to write a rather long post on all of the worlds disasters and ways in which we must fix them as the fate of the world rests on our hands.

I believe that somewhere in the world, there is a unicorn. That's right, a creature that most people believe is mythical is actually real. It's just there, in a lush forest, grazing as horses look on at the strange creature with a huge horn on it's head. But what if we found this creature, what if we took it in and looked after it and somehow began a whole new generation of unicorns. That will never happen though because if we found a real life unicorn scientists would take it, dissect it and attempt to discover all of its hidden magical ability.

Why can't people know when to leave raw and pure beauty alone. When something is so beautiful that by touching it and adjusting it ever so slightly, you will ruin the beauty in an instant. Take a young child for example. When they're at that stage that everything is lovely, the sun shines every day, people who are gone are just asleep for a really long time, a trip to McDonalds was a treat and when someone gave you their spare 10 cents, well you had just won the lottery. Then you grow up. You learn that the seasons change, people die, McDonalds makes you fat and 10 cents can't even get you a yoghurt stick from the canteen anymore. Rumors are spread, everyone is talking about something else. You're judged on what you look like and who you hang out with. That's right, you hang out with people now you don't play with them because that just sounds wrong. The way you act in certain situations apparently shows the type of person you are. People are seen as inhumane. Crazy, isn't it? We are human and we are seen as inhumane. It doesn't make sense.

So we always ask ourselves why people have to be that way. Why do they have to be judgmental and rude and just everything that a person doesn't like? Maybe the question we should be asking ourselves is why we accept this judgement and nastiness. Why do we let ourselves become apart of this chain of people judging and being judged? Why can't we just let pure beauty shine through in every person. I know it's there, deep inside every person there's this thing called a heart and we use it to stay alive and to spread hope in other people and kindness. We use it (and use our brain) to see pure beauty in other people. And on most occasions, it's not something you can see by first looking at a person. It's getting to know them, knowing their quirks and knowing all their imperfections that make every person perfect. Imperfections is perfection. People just don't have enough time in their lives to stop and figure that out.

La Vie Vivante.

Tuesday, 21 January 2014

Words to Find


Figure it out. 

Hey Blogging World

So today is Tuesday and if you have been keeping up, it's Take Your Pic Tuesday. I am going to make up a page with the schedule on it to make life a little easier for everyone. It was quite hard to choose the right photo today so there may be a few. But I like this one and for me it has a small story behind it.

I was walking back home one day (I never said this story would be interesting) and in Australia the heat had been extraordinary so I was a little hot, but then a cool change hit. A calm breeze russled the leaves on thirsty trees, the sun glowed and the weather was perfect. And I take a photo of the path.

It just seemed so beautiful in the strangest of ways. The dead grass that surrounded it and the cracks in the pavement. The cracks meant something, it showed age, it showed use and power. Power in the way that it could break. The path looked so long from this angle, like it could go on forever to who knows where. I came home and immediately thought, 'oh, Instagram!' I edited the photo, put the effects on, focused it in the right places and came to a halt when I had to write a caption. Obviously I couldn't just write 'The Path'. Well actually now I think about it, that would have been pretty cool. I had to write something that explained the metaphor of the cracks and the length of the path, but I didn't want to bore them with a paragraph like the one I just wrote for you. Sorry. So I ended up posting a photo of the sky, that pretty sky. The caption read 'A change is coming'. It wasn't my best work but I put something up. Every time I look at this photo now I cannot come up with a good sentence. It's like Writers Block but on Instagram, like Instagrammer's block.

I googled 'cracks on path' quotes and they all ended up being about crack. Therefore they didn't seem like very good quotes for my particular photo. Maybe the fact of the matter is that there is no caption needed for this picture. Or perhaps just a caption like 'Figure it out.' Everyone will have their own way of looking at it. The cracks in the path will mean something different for each person and the distance will be symbolic for everyone in their own way. I don't need a caption to describe what I believe the photo is saying when I can allow others to figure out what it means to them. One should never limit another's imagination by telling them something bluntly. Life is a puzzle and it's the individuals job to put all the pieces together.

La Vie Vivante.

P.S I have recently started up an Instagram page for the blog. It hasn't got much at the moment (one post) but why not go check it out, give the photo a like and follow? I would love to get to know some of you that read my blog and also to give you a better look into my life, the places I go and the things I see. So come visit me at @lavievivante13 I hope to see you there.

Sunday, 19 January 2014

It's Monday

Hey Blogging World

Well it's time  to begin my newly made schedule with My Life Monday. May I just begin by saying how excited I am? Although it is going to be slightly stressful making sure I post something excellent each day, I am still looking forward to having some sense of order.

The thing I like about the whole Monday topic is that it can be anything about what I've done, so I basically have endless options on what to write.

My friends came over last night for a HSM Marathon. For those of you who don't know, that means High School Musical. We hadn't seen the movies in ages and thought it would be best to sleep out on the deck, sing and dance to all the songs that we loved when we were younger. It was fabulous, number one didn't work so after a brief recap of what happened we moved onto number two, then three. It was amazing actually realizing how much we remember, all the one liners, the lyrics, even the dance moves! They were all still there in our long term memories, even though we hadn't watched the films in about three years.

It's crazy how much people can remember. I retell conversations to people and remember it word for word, which seems strange to the person listening who is most likely thinking I'm an obsessed creep reading over the same conversations millions of times. I probably am. I went and helped at a nursing home once with a music therapist. We walked in, the people greeted us and she brought out her guitar and began singing, and there was this one lady who sang every word with her. The music would stop and her memory would be faded, "Yes... the um... the title to that... the one about the..." and so on. But as soon as the music started, the lyrics flowed through her mind and poured out of her mouth.

After the movies finished and our enthusiasm for Troy died down, a good ol' game of Truth or Dare broke out. The usual questions, who's your crush at the moment, what do you like about them, what's your dream date... All the soppy questions that girls ask. However this is a truth zone, so I've decided to tell you about my perfect meeting with a guy, only because I think it's the most wonderful way to meet the love of your life ever.

I'm in JB-Hi Fi. I walk to my favourite aisle (the alternative/punk aisle) in search of new music. As I turn into the aisle there's this guy browsing through albums, looks around my age. So I'm looking through albums, as is he, and I notice him pick up an album that I already own, so I tell him, "That's a really good album." He says thanks and shows me some great new bands and we each buy each others recommended albums. I go home that night and listen to the album, love it and text him (because somehow through this we exchanged numbers) saying how wonderful the album is. He texts back and says the one I recommended is even better and we make plans to meet up and listen to amazing music all day. Bam. If only my dream would actually happen one day. If only.

The most important thing to remember about Mondays is that I won't always stick to myself, the point is that I've experienced it in my life, or it was thought of by me. So from High School Musical to nursing homes, to truth or dare and dream meetings at a music store, this has been My Life Monday.


La Vie Vivante.

Saturday, 18 January 2014

Let's Get Serious

Hey Blogging World

I've decided I need some order in my blogging because it's unfair on my readers to have to wait around for me to come up with something to write. So let's see how you like this?


MY LIFE MONDAY
Mondays will be all about me, if you don't mind. Anything going on in my life, anything interesting I have done, and I will try to keep it interesting. I want to give you an insight into my life and Mondays will help you do just that!

TAKE YOUR PIC TUESDAY
I have decided I want a lot more photos on my blog, photos taken by me. Tuesdays will be all about photos. Whether I just post up a lot and leave them for you decipher, or write the story behind them, it will be very spontaneous.

WHAT THE?! WEDNESDAY
I want to attempt to make Wednesdays my comedic post, if it will turn out that way, I'm not so sure. Anything that's out there, something wacky or never heard of, I will be writing about it.

THINK THURSDAY
Think Thursday. To be honest I have no idea what Thursdays will about, I suppose it's whatever I think of. Thursdays will be the day to write whatever pops into my head, it's where I will write anything based on people's requests, show anything that people have been telling me about, anything that the people are thinking about.

FICTION FRIDAY
Every Friday a new installment of Mia and Twig will be written on my blog. You will be able to read this on the page that says Mia and Twig. I am determined to really get into this story and hopefully you enjoy reading each short chapter every Friday. If writers block hits me on a Friday for the story, I will be posting a poem or a short story on the main page for you to enjoy.

SENTIMENTAL SATURDAY
The name is sounding a bit too soppy for my liking so it may be changed soon. Saturdays will be for a reflection basically, if there's something happening I will write about it in a way that I can hopefully relate to my readers. By Saturday I should be feeling philosophical and obtain the ability to write an inspiring post on the mystery of life. Yes, I really do think this name will need to change.

SUNDAY- REST DAY
Every young writer needs their rest day, these may have to pop up more often as the year goes on and inspiration to write based on topic dies, but I am determined to give a schedule a shot.

I will also be starting a new page Which I have entitled Music Madness where I will be completing the thirty day music challenge, only that I will do it in thirty weeks and post one throughout the week. Any new music I find, old songs that I love, my favourite playlist, I'll be writing up there for you to have a look at.

I'll begin the new schedule tomorrow (Monday) and give it a trial. To those reading, get ready, La Vie Vivante is about to become ten times better.

La Vie Vivante.