Regathering

It's my last day at work this year. I've been ready for this day every day for the past 2 weeks.
Each day I've woken up and felt that today would be a great day to be on holiday. Each day I have gone to work.
I love my work - and I'm almost always looking forward to being there - but in recent weeks I've been more keen to be anywhere but. I've had no drive, no abundance of energy, no buzz about the idea of being there - and in some cases quite the opposite.


It's a sign that I need to abort - get out and get out quickly. This past 2 weeks have been the slowest in the last 10 years. People keep saying how fast Christmas has come along - for me it's seemed an eternity.


As you may have noticed, I've not had a lot of drive here at Superchilled either. I've stared at blank 'create post' pages and they stare back at me saying 'yeah, I'll take you on, punk!' And they have, and they have won. And I haven't minded. I've moved along quietly and been quite happy to be absent. I've felt an increasing need to find my 15 minutes of anonymity.

Right now I'm in an anonymous airport in the middle of, well, nowhere really, or everywhere perhaps for some but I'm in transit off to somewhere else so it means nothing to me today but a chance to stretch out and finally finish this post I started in the wee hours of the morning back at home. Normally when that accelerating force on takeoff presses me into my seat I'll feel like I'm on holidays, but today I don't, not yet, perhaps it because I've worked today and have been on a mission to get to the airport and I still have a thousand things going through my head. Regardless I've seen a few movies including Wanted - which I'd never heard of before with Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman & others that is really quite stunning. Probably better still on a big screen, because it was already impressive on the small plane one. The Bose Noise cancelling headphones loaned me by my very good friends (as well as one for The Frenchman) are fantastic. I'll have them for the next few weeks of travel which is fantastic. After just one leg of testing I'm convinced I'll need my own for the next trip.

I'm going to be under the radar for a while now. My few weeks of radio silence, with perhaps occasional static if I feel so inclined, until mid January while I regather in various locations on this big planet. In the meantime have a fantastic Christmas with people close to you. Celebrate the New Year like it is really something fresh and new and exciting, and enjoy the time out to regather your own thoughts and ideas and plans for the year ahead. It's been a pleasure being a part of your lives for 2008 and I look forward to loads of exciting things in 2009.

Pass the ball?

Nick Youngquest is seen here on the cover of the latest release from the guys over at Gods of Football. These guys bare all, or almost all at least to raise money for women with breast cancer. I don't know about you but I know loads of women close to me, friends and family,  who have or have had breast cancer and any support for them is welcomed by me. Check out more at their website linked above, the photos are by Pedro Virgil who is increasingly making his name photographing such ugly brutes, poor thing. 

Good Old Fashioned Fun.

I'm very ready to not be working for a while. I've put enough into work for a while and weekdays are for preparing for the weekend after all. This past weekend was the perfect weekend to prepare for, in most respects, so I'm going to turn work off for a few weeks , very soon.

I woke this morning somewhere new. A few gusts of westerly wind rustling the towering gum trees above me. It was in Sydney's northern beaches region. A family beach house, family included. There followed a pleasant and slow start to the day with the Bilgola Ocean Swim the morning's focus.

It was a lot of fun. I even had energy to sprint to the finish, which is always good. Chatting with friends old and new followed and some surfing after that not too far away. It was like being on holiday already. Sunny, warm,  just lazing about by the beach & in the water grabbing food when desired and not too worried about anything in particular. 

I've been taking long walks with The Frenchman and The Hound regularly of late - power walks I guess, along the quite grand sea cliff bridge here, often in the late afternoon or early evening. It has been sensational in a lot of senses. The beauty of the location, the changing light & moods of the ocean, the varying breezes and air temperatures. Tonight it was just warm enough to not feel cold and to not get too hot with a fast walk. Perfect really. It's also a great time to talk about all manner of things, and talk we do as we absorb the surroundings and maintain our elevated heart rates. 

It's the simple pleasures that have been true pleasures of late. 

My old fashioned summer has started. 

photos from oceanswims.com click the link for more. 

Bondi to Bronte Ocean Swim

Sunday was my first ocean swim for the season. From Bondi Beach to Bronte Beach in Sydney. All up it was 2.3 km and there were around 1800 competitors. A fantastic swim, a great day and despite early cloud a very summery feel to the day. 

I'm loving the weather right now - very summery with the classic feel I knew as a kid. Southerly busters coming through after hot days cooling things down and starting the cycle all over. I'm ready to be on holidays already - but they will come soon enough, and after today I feel like I'm on holiday already. I've hiked, I've swum the ocean blue and the training pool. Driving around today it was all with the roof down, wind in my hair, even this evening in the balmy weather. It feels fantastic, I've felt like laughing out loud, maybe I have. It's the crazy time of the year, but I'm especially busy, planning to move house (yes we sold up) travel a few continents and get set for a host of life changes in 2009. But it's all looking like a lot of fun and a lot of excitement with the changes to happen. 

Next weekend, despite being crazy busy already we're likely to head to the Northern Beaches - on the other side of Sydney and compete in another swim there. it's a reasonably short swim at 1.5km, but I'm going less for the swim and more for the social stuff that's going to be happening with friends & newly acquired family. 

Despite the financial gloom and the international issue I'm feeling decidedly optimistic. People have complained in the past that everything is always just perfect for me, that I'm lucky with everything in my life blah blah blah, and I used to try to camouflage when things were going well as a result. I think I'm over that now, if people want to be negative - they can do it in their own time - there's too much good stuff out there to waste time on the negative. And while I'm contemplating putting Wild Wednesdays out to pasture, if you are a die hard WW fan, then optimism is today's theme. Be optimistic about everything - make it happen. 

photos are from the Bondi to Bronte swim website

Matt Mitcham Update

An update for Matt Mitcham fans: Here is a link to an article / interview with Matt in today's Sydney Morning Herald. Definitely worth a read.

Click here for the article.

antiwild wednesday

Today is a calming Wednesday.  A time to escape to your own space. 

In a world of constant movement, constant change and frequent contact with colleagues, family, friends and electronic bleeps updating you on the comings and going of everyone in your world, it can be refreshing to get away from it all and find your own space. A place you find quiet & peaceful, a calming place for the soul. 

Take 30 minutes out of your day and give it to you. Take yourself to a place that relaxes you - it might be the park, a museum, it might be a railway station or airport, or by a stream in a forest. My place is on the rocks by the surf just near home - a place that takes me away from it all and makes me feel invigorated no matter how much time I spend there. 

Forced Relaxation

Give me 30+ degrees air, 32+ degrees water, humidity feeling over 100% and it's a sure fire recipe for 'not much is going to happen' and as it turns out, not much did. 

We escaped for a long weekend in the tropical north and got a long weekend of tropical heat. When you get outside and plan to be active - your energy is rapidly depleted and you don't think in terms of how fast or how far you can run, but how you can slow down and yet get to somewhere cool quicker. Of course if you sit down in the shade with a fan blowing - you don't sweat quite as much - but you still sweat. 

It may sound unlike it, but I quite enjoyed it. It was good to just chill and watch the world go by, very slowly. To read a little, turn the music up loud, swim repeatedly, shower repeatedly, chat, go shopping, occasionally explore tropical and oceanic things, and eat out a bit. Oh and there were a few cute men to ponder over as well, which is never a bad thing. Though just a tad less energy to anything much more.

But there has been a lot happening to think about , to plan, and to ponder. And this weekend away was good for just that. 

Arriving back in the relative cool of Sydney was invigorating.

It's nice to go away, but it's oh so nice to come home.