When a Simple Dinner changes your Life!

You know when you think you know everyone? I don’t mean you know every single person in the world, but you think you know all the types of people in the world. You put people into categories as they share this trait, or that characteristic. It allows you to make quick judgements based on a few observations whether it be from their walk, their mannerisms, their beliefs and so on. But every once in a while there those who you meet that surprise you. They make you question your knowledge of others. They make you add a new category into your category system. Sometimes for the worse, but sometimes for the better.

From my trip last week I was lucky enough to have experienced the company of two lovely people, who I have had to create a new category for. Currently this category is unnamed and it shall remain that way as I feel it would be an injustice to how amazing they are. If you must, find your thesaurus and look up the word “amazing.” I feel this is an accurate word to describe these two.

Now, I am not one for fancy, expensive, gourmet dinners produced by the most renowned chefs who are so fancy in the pantsy they name their restaurants after their first name. Give me a jar of peanut butter and a spoon and I’m good to go. Hell, forget the spoon, I have hands. But during my trip to Melbourne, I was lucky enough to be involved in a dinner that I will not soon forget.

Cutlery? You mean hands?

These two people only know me via friend association, that is, they were friends of friends. However, I was treated as if I was a very close friend, even a best friend. At least that is I how I felt. My friends and I were there for dinner and we were treated to refreshing water, and delicious corn chips (including gluten free chips) with salsa as a starter. Pizza would be headlining tonight, and I’m not talking about your store bought, frozen, cheap imitation of what a pizza should be. This was to be a real pizza. Made from scratch. Even the dough bases (some regular and some gluten and starch free) were built from the ground up. Never did I realise how many extra ingredients were needed to construct a gluten free dough. But this humble abode catered for both. While the man of the house battled the dough, fist to dough face style, the lady of the house was making the dessert; ice-cream. Armed with cream, sugar and a whisk (among other things) this lady was creating this cream of ice from scratch as well. In the midst of all this, my friends and I were welcomed and humbly encouraged  to taste some house apple cider, made from the apples from the tree in the backyard. Never before had I experienced so many homemade food items.

Next, we had the difficult task of choosing, from a buffet of ingredients, the toppings which to grace our own dough slabs with. All your typical toppings where there for the taking including mushrooms, onions, mozzarella cheese (and gluten free cheese), ham, and gourmet salami. There were even some choices I had never thought of decorating a pizza with such as pumpkin, spinach and anchovies.

While decoration time is happening the room is filled with storytelling, laughter and conversations. I’m talking real conversations and not your extended and polite head nodding of acknowledgement small talk. Real conversations. It was such a refreshing breath of fresh air. I know it might seem strange to think so highly of this, but I have to say I appreciated it so much. Such a contrast it is to the kinds of “conversations” I have at home.

In between stories, the man of the house is darting back and forth between the outside barbecue and the indoor oven. Never have I seen someone care so much for the status of my food. Each pizza was to be cooked just right, and that’s exactly how they were done, and they were absolutely delicious. I was even offered a couple of beers courtesy of the house to drink with the man. I felt more than welcome. I am lost for words with how good it felt to have been accepted into such a lovely home the way that I was. Already in food heaven, bowls of ice-cream graced the table, and our lips. Never before had I tried a “Blue Magic” topping before, but combined with this homemade ice-cream all I can say is Peters or Bulla or Ben and Jerry’s had better watch their backs.

Don’t you just want to roll around in it? Trick question! Of course you do!

After dinner I was offered the sofa bed for peaceful night slumber. I was even given the opportunity to switch off the resident fish’s water filter for the night so that it would not disturb me. I’m sure that fish was not overly fond with sharing the living area with me. Upon awakening the next morning, a note alerted us that we were welcome to anything in the house for breakfast, including a freshly cut pineapple, grape, apple and watermelon fruit salad prepared by the lady herself. In addition, as I returned from my morning run, in unfortunately freezing typhonic weather, I was offered to use the house’s hot water shower and towels. To witness and be a apart of such hospitality, generosity and company I feel truly lucky and blessed. I have never meet the kind of people that I did  on that Melbourne trip and before then never thought these kinds of people existed.

On my trip I met many people, and learned many things, about others and about myself, especially from these two individuals. The experience made me realise that in the grand scheme of things, I know very little about people. It made me realise that some people are inherently good and are willing to help even when it might be inconvenient for them. It made me realise that generosity is out there, and that I myself wish to be more generous in the future, whether it be in giving my resources, knowledge or time to others. It made me realise that I wish to aspire to be as good an individual as these two people. They make me want to be more like them and aspire to treat others the same way.

If they happen to read this I would like to take the opportunity to thank them again. Thank you for taking me into your home and treating me the way you did. It was not unappreciated. Thank you for the great memories, experiences and stories which you have shared with me. My life is now richer from it. I can honestly say if there were more people in the world like you two, the world would be a better place.

I hope this story finds you well. Keep being amazing.

– Sash

Immortality Butter or Mortality Butter?

I am given one out of two options. Two jars of magical peanut butter are in front of me. The label of one jar reads “Immortality” and the other “Mortality”. Easy choice, right? Immortality butter would allow me to live forever. Not one hundred years. Not one thousand years. Not one million years. Forever. I’m talking till the end of time forever. I would be able to see how we, as humans, evolve. How our bodies evolve. How our minds evolve.  How our technology evolves. How our planet evolves. How everything evolves. I would be able to experience everything that this conscious reality that we call life has to offer. How amazing does that sound? Incredible, right? I would be a fool not to consume the immortality butter. Why do I even have to think about this?

I pick up the jar of immortality butter and throw it in my basketball hoop bin.

Welcome to your new home immortality butter!

Devil on my shoulder: “WHAT THE FFFFFFFF……?”

I open the jar of mortality butter, my hand imitating a giant ice cream scoop and take a whopping handful. And by whopping handful  I mean I measure out a tablespoons worth because this stuff is calorie dense and I have to watch my figure.

I would choose mortality butter because I do not wish to live forever. Not because it might be the right thing to do morally or whatever, but because I just don’t wish to spend my entire life (which would be forever) just existing. If I was immortal I don’t feel I would be living. I would just be existing in time and space. Everything would be less beautiful because I wouldn’t have to fear that this moment might be my last. That is what makes life beautiful. It’s because I am so fragile, that makes life so precious to me. I appreciate my life more when I know it can end in the blink of an eye. So for the time that I have left I will try to live while I can, the best that I can.  If I lived forever, if I was immortal, my life would be less precious. Less special. I wouldn’t appreciate the beauty in it because I would be sure that I would experience a similar moment in the span of my immortality. I wouldn’t appreciate the little things that might seem trivial.

Like today, driving home in my furnace of a car, dripping so much sweat I was having a bit of difficulty turning my wheel without my hands slipping. I wind my window down, and lean over to wind down the passenger side window which would allow the most glorious draft of wind to flow through. Beautiful air slapping my face, weaving between the follicles of my hair while being accompanied by some catchy tunes that I will never admit to liking and singing out loud.

MORTALITY RULES!

Now I’m sure if I was immortal I would still feel all those great sensory stimulating things, but I wouldn’t appreciate it as much. Because the mortal me knows that I could be hit by a car and killed on my way home. The mortal me knows that I could be jumped and stabbed on one of my night runs. The mortal me knows that I could trip over badly and hit my head on a rock. The mortal me knows these things. The mortal me knows these risks. But it is these risks, no matter how big or small that make life that much more exciting. Even just typing this blog right now is so great, because this might very well be the last thing that I type because I may have a stroke in my sleep.

And what about the moments you share with people. Are these moments not precious knowing that they might be the last time you ever experience them? That might be the last time I have a drink and tell stories with my friends. That might be the last time I play a game with them and have a laugh. That might be the last time I hear that terrible joke, but like the joke anyway because it was so terrible. That might be the last time I help a friend move stuff to a new place. Or the last time I wish someone a good night. Or the last time I kiss or spoon someone. Or the last time I lift weights and eat peanut butter (perish the thought).

On top of life being less precious to me, I feel I would be very alone if I were immortal. Knowing that you will never die. Knowing that you are going to experience emotional pain forever. Knowing that you are going to live through the life and deaths of your friends, your family, your children, your children’s children, forever. I don’t think I could bare the constant pain of loss like that, knowing that I will outlive everyone I meet and have an emotional connection to.

So for me, mortality butter all the way baby.

I’d like to hear others thoughts on this topic. What jar would you pick, and why?

– Sash

Living Life in the Limbo Lane!

Limbo.

That strange and depressing feeling that you get when you feel that you are alive, but are not living. You are just existing in time and space. You’re moving but standing still and going nowhere. You feel like you are not controlling what is happening around you. Something else is controlling you to do things, or even worse, not do things. You feel guilty everyday about not accomplishing as much as you think you should. You compare yourself to others who are doing something with their lives and you envy them. They might not be happy but they are at least doing something. Better to be unhappy doing something than unhappy doing nothing, right? At least by doing something you are exposing yourself to the elements of life that might spark that one idea that could change everything. Just the action of giving your physical body to the world, to other people, and to other experiences seems like a step in the right direction. All these great characters in movies start from somewhere and it isn’t until they have this life big adventure that things in their life start moving

We should blaze this trail!

.Have you ever watched a movie, and wish that you were a character in that world? Sure the characters might live in a dangerous environment but their lives are filled with drive, direction, meaning, and purpose. They are having the adventure of their lives where they learn about themselves and the world, and come back as different people, for better or for worse. I know I have wished to be a character in so many worlds. I wished to be a Samurai after watching “The Last Samurai”. To commit myself to a life of discipline, to master my art and to be at peace with my body, mind and spirit. I wished to be a Pokemon trainer and have adventures with my dragon Pokemon companions. To fly to different places, battle other Pokemon trainers, defeat gym leaders and be the very best (like no one ever was).  I wished to be a wizard in the Harry Potter universe, to hone my skills, teach others the ways of magic and be known as a wise wizard. I wished I was the ability to bend earth, water, fire or air like Ang or Korra in the Avatar series.  I wished I had the power to teleport anywhere at will like Nightcrawler in X-men, or like Hayden Christensen in “Jumper”. I could be atop Mount Everest in the morning, Okinawa Japan at lunch, and Rio De Janeiro at night.

Want to go to Egypt now? Give me two seconds to get my coat!

The closest I’ve become to being someone else was in the virtual world of Azeroth in the Warcraft Universe. World of Warcraft was the opportunity to be someone else. The opportunity for a fresh start where no one knew who you were, what you looked like, what your age or gender was, what your occupation was, what your education was. None of that mattered. You were your in-game avatar and nothing else mattered. You had the chance to be a brave warrior, a cunning rogue or an intelligent mage to name a few. What you think you lacked in the real world could be personified in the character that you played. If you were not a brave and strong person you would have the opportunity to be one in the game. You even had a story to follow, and an adventure to embark on where you would decide how your adventure unfolded. You would fight great foes in dangerous dungeons with other great warriors being piloted by other real life people around the world. Friendships would develop and you would go on adventures together and have great stories to tell, even if it was in a world of pixels. I think from all of this it, is lack of adventure that it making me so depressed. The lack of the “new”. I don’t know at what point that I stopped wanting to experience new things and stop learning. To just go through life being content and thinking that what I knew was enough to get by and that I had experienced all that life had to offer.

I have never traveled out of my country of birth: Australia. I have spent all 25 years of my life on this island with no interest in travel, at least that is what I have been telling myself. When people talk of travel the first thing that comes to my mind is wondering how much it cost. What does this cost, what does that cost? A person I used to know told me many times that I should just travel, it does not matter where. Because there I will be experiencing things that I would not have otherwise been exposed to and I will most likely see life and myself in a different perspective.

This year I will be travelling for the first time. I will be going to Spain and will be partaking in the pilgrimage known as the El Camino de Santiago. I am in no shape or form religious but I feel a good thirty to forty days of just walking will give me a great opportunity to reflect, meet new people and just have an adventure for the first time in my life. Maybe it might even be better than the ones in the movies that I watch. Who knows?  I think it is adventure that I yearn for. I think this is what I need, and I’m going to make it happen.

ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE!

– Sash