☀ West Coast 🏜

I lived one of my dreams.
I did it.
I went to the other side of the ocean.

I went to the west coast for month all by my lonesome.

wow did i just really use that grammatically weird sentence? where'd i even get it from? ... more questions for the unanswering universe.

☀ Well, I nearly cried and saw the Grand Canyon. I saw Yosemite and the Sierras and felt I was the luckiest girl in the world.  I met such beautiful people, beautiful amazing american people and travellers.  I was meeting people, then missing them after only a few days.  I was constantly happy and elated.  I saw huge beautiful trees, wild deer and elk, tiny squirells everywhere.  I watched a desert sunrise, a west coast sunset, a san francisco heat wave, and the real foggy mist of monterey.  I went to 'tourist traps' but I didn't feel cheated. Some still have their treasures.  I got comfortable in each new city,  I even became a 'regular' at some places.  But will I ever go back? 

I felt I was in a dream, but that dream became reality.  Then I came back, and home felt like it was a dream. One I didn't care for, and I'd rather wake up soon and be back in the life where I was somewhere new every three days.

Will I ever go back though? USA is definitely on the list someday.  I really want to see more national parks, and deserts, and canyons.  I'm sure i'll still enjoy it, but it won't be the same.  My first full trip was so amazing, the definition of the word.  The worst that happened was some bad mosquito bites, seriously.  I only cried twice;   when i was close to missing the Canyon bus, but a nice life-saving taxi driver decided to turn around and get me as his first passenger.  And at week three when I was thinking of each person I had met until that point - and how many more amazing people i will fall in love with in the future and will only have one or two days with them and how there will be so many 'first and only goodbyes'.

How long i have wanted to just go, and get out of this place. A couple of years ago I bought a blank book for a dollar at the lifeline book fest. The first page of writing has a list of American cities I wanted to see, and five out of nine places were had W for west beside it.  I even wrote "but i'' have to choose sooner than later or it will be pushed aside, and it will be a dream forever"  It did get pushed aside more than a few times, but I kept going for it. I made up my mind and just bought the tickets after only wanting to see how much it might cost to go to LAX.  I didn't even want to go to L.A, but I still got it, and just fixed the right flights later, and I'm so glad i did!  Seriously, If i hadn't purchase it that night I might never have.  Also, L.A wasn't too bad. I miss the people I met there the most, and the sunsets were so beautiful.  I swear to the gods I had gone at such a perfect time, the weather throughout my whole trip was perfect nearly all of the time.

And I wasn't really alone.  I met so many others doing a very similar trip, where as I thought I was doing something weird.  I went by myself to every destination, but at each stop I met others who had done the exact same.  I was oddly part of something.  Lots of people don't realise it but it happens naturally in this world.

I have this bucket list also. It's not written, and it's not definite.  Anything on the list is everything.  And everything on is something that's been ticked.   I'm really revealing my mind here.

So where to go next.  Now I have to make up my mind all over again. But I'll definitely be getting out of here, again.🏜

Grand Canyon sunset

San Francisco post sunset twilight

New Things

Life update!→

I still have the same job and soon it'll be a whole year since i've had it!  I've only ever had one other job that I had for a year, and even that was mostly 1 to 2 days a week :/

Also booked tickets to go for a long vacation overseas! woot!

And recently started classes for a short course in fashion.  It's pretty interesting, very casual, and kind of only really worth it of you do lots of the assigned work on your own effort.  It's one full day a week, and  in an interesting place by the city.   You get given homework but it's not checked.  Only if  you show it to the teacher who will give you feedback.  So, like, if you really wanna get good, you gotta do it on your own terms, which I guess is realistic and good if you wanna make it from scratch in any industry.  The thing is last weeks homework, I spent 10 hours on it, and I reckon i'll spend more on this weeks.

͓

+picture of Helen Mitchell

Visiting Cebu

After being in a smaller city for so long, I felt like a country girl experiencing the metropolis for the first time.  I guess I've also spent most of my life in a smaller city mostly made up of suburbia. It was more exciting than I thought it would be mostly because the place was bigger than I ever thought.  All I knew was that the city was on a smaller island and there were more tourists and resorts.  I had no idea the whole place was actually more than a few densely populated 'cities' side by side.

I'm glad also that I didn't do much research before I went.  It was a very spontaneous trip, with only 1 page worth of notes to prep myself for.  One rainy day I simply voiced my thoughts to my Mum and everyone there that I wanted to visit Cebu.  Main reason was my Mum had experiences there and her stories are always interesting.  Another important reason is her mum, my Lola, originated from there. And me always hungry for family history like I am for old or vintage things, just wanted to walk in the place and get a feel for the place. 

So I voiced my thoughts and my Mum told me how to get there like it was no big deal.  My sister etc actually went before me so they could trip around other places first.  I went a week later so I could help my Mum with some things first.  But I still didn't do much research.  I didn't even know completely the details of getting there, and my Mum just let me put my trust into the casualness of wonderful Philippines transportation.  And meeting up with the other didn't go quite as planned.  I deeeesperately wanted to take the boat, but I couldn't get enough information and so ended up flying.

The experience of getting there I think was also more interesting than I thought it would be. I woke up early, missed the first schedule, got really sick, got candy from a stranger haha, ate alone and TOOK ONLY ONE BITE of DELICIOUSSS FRIED CHICKEN :((((.  I went over mountains and farms, and saw so many little villages and trees I've never seen before, tried to navigate myself in a town I knew nothing about. I didn't even know how to say the name properly.  Talked to some old high rich ladies and plasticlovers, and attempted going into a roof because I saw a rusty old ladder and was tempted. After I met up with the rest we found a hotel, where the receptionist ended up taking us to another location closeby, and it felt like we were the only guests there.  But even though it was a town we didn't know anything about, we still kind of felt at home and were able to easily find food and go shopping etc.

After a one hour flight we went straight to shopping again haha!  Then we looked for good affordable accomodation.  The downside to not planning a trip; it becomes more expensive and a little rougher, but still this keeps it interesting.  We looked at a small hotel that was fancy inside but somehow dodgy on the outside.  We took a crazy taxi drive that gave me a feel for how big the place was, because the driver was really fast on a straight road, and it still took a while to get to out destination.  He told us interesting stories about the hotels, and it's owners and all the bloody drama around it.  For the whole ride I was nervous as fuck and hoping my paranoid thoughts wouldn't become true.  But we got to the hotel and it was awesome!  It was kinds funny we stepped out and there was a late night starbucks right there. 

The hotel was one of those fancy 4-5 stars that you know still has shady shit going on.  But anyways, on to our favourite thing.  We saw the price and decided no, but we still were shown the best and highest room, and told all the fancy features which were actually more interesting than most nice hotels I've been in.  So we moved on.  I checked out the streets and it was more interesting than I thought, like more lively (first paragraph).   We ended up in some dark honestly shady industrial area.  We walked into 'hourly' motels, and even though we figured it out eventually, we still checked out the rooms hahaha!!!.  We then decided to go to 'that nicer looking high building over there', and actually found decent accommodation, right across from more 'hourly' motels, and 'clubs'.

This first night we just chilled and crashed.  The next day I got up earlier than the rest like usual and checked out the close 'view' across the road.  Again, interesting, but the whole picture including the horizon was actually quite beautiful.  The hotel was a bit empty so I decided to 'tour' it alone.  I walked up all the steps to the top, and went in some rooms I probably shouldn't have.  Something inside me was sooo happy and satisfied. The hotel was quiet, with the city hum in the distance, the industrial views, the early morning sun and cool air.  I got so excited I walked around more, found a window and clumb out onto a warehouse roof and saw the city sprawling along with the mountains to the horizon.  Then I got back in and sung my heart out in an empty function room with old windows framing the view of shipping docks and the sea.

Anyways I was there for like 4 days, I forgot.  Different hotel every night.
On the second last night we were supposed to leave but the plane cost half price if it wasn't last minute, so we bought tickets for the next day and stayed an extra night.

I ended up typing more than I planned to, but I think I'll even add extra later.  Right now I'm distracted and need to do something else omg.

2016 New Year's resolution???

I spent New Years in asia town.

I couldn't be bothered with a NY resolution last year, because I was actually feeling quite okay, happy with myself, etc.  I thought I'd just let things be.  It ended up being one of my calmer years, maybe even the calmest.  Probably because I was less involved with other people's shit, and spent more time on myself.
I also became more aware of myself without doing any soul searching on purpose.  I became even more comfortable, but i still got a few more trials to get through.  I realised so many other people just don't care or think the way i do, even though they say such things.  I became more understanding of other people, but i also learnt to not deal with other people's bullshitiness.
My interests also changed a lot.  I've made long term plans in the past but they've gone through so many changes.

Now I decided i should go with a resolution this year, just to see if i can achieve it.
So here is some things i'd like to do:

Be more artsy: more time drawing and actually try to paint well and do a good canvas artwork. I got to experiment more to improve.
&
Backpack and travel! for a decent amount of time.  Over a month all together would be great. Hopefully I can find a place to stay in and explore for a three month period!  I'm thinking a week in New Zealand, and a week in Japan.  Maybe even go to Spain.