The End

It was on November 20th, 2010 that it ended. It only took 3 years and 15 days to do it, but it's finally over.

Sadly.

Yes, sadly. As you can imagine, being on the road for so long, you become accustomed to the lifestyle of the living on the road. Which, as you may know, is disturbingly addictive? I mean, come on. I was only meant to be gone for 6 months, but instead, I was gone for 3 years, so that must mean something, eh? Or it was just a great time for me to run away from all the growing up that is socially expected of me. I even want to progress a bit more in life, so it needs to end sometime. However, I guess I could argue that by running away to see the world is far better than just sitting around and doing nothing, or? I mean, I'm culturally expanding my horizons, and meeting heaps of people with other life experiences who in some way may inspire me to go in the right direction.

However, has it?

Since I've returned, actually being able to talk about my trip isn't something I'm dying to do all the time. For example, some people will pretty much brag about their time overseas, but instead, I don't really have a lot to say. It all boils down to "so how was your trip, Chris? Tell me about it!" How do you sum up a 3 year trip into a few sentences? This is how: "Yeah, it was good." I will tell a story about my trip if the occasion arises and is in context with what’s being talked about around me.

Before I left to New Zealand, a friend of mine gave me an assignment, or better yet, several assignments. However, the most important one was to do three things that I had promised myself I would never do. I ended up doing a fair bit of random fun stuff! And has opened my mind a little bit more, and even bent my otherwise disturbing straight moral and ethical compass. Not that I did anything that would put me in jail...I think, but I did a fair few things which I wouldn't of done before. I know that just writing about it, without any real details is a bit of let down, but as you can imagine, I would prefer not to write every minute, intimate, and possibly incriminating detail about my trip. Moving on...I ended up falling in love with two girls, and wow, it is quite the experience. I also got my heart crushed too, which, to say the least, is quite the experience. I never fully understood why people were so why people got the way they got once a relationship had ended, but now I have a better idea.

As I said, it was a whole lifestyle bumming around New Zealand and Australia. It's not your typical 3-5 week vacation you get from work year after year. And just for the record, "yeah, it was good" is not an adequate summary of the whole trip. It was amazing during some parts, sad during others, and mundane too. What does that sound like? Yup, you guessed! Like life! Hence the reason for me calling it a lifestyle. And, I guess lifestyle could mean something else, however, this is how I'm going to be using it for now.

So what am I doing now? Working at my old job at Ericsson, doing the same thing I was, which is, entertaining to say the least. Mainly because I now work with one of my best friends, which means that we're joking all the time and just having a good laugh pretty much all the time. However, it still feels pretty much the same as when I was working here last, but we'll leave that topic for another time.

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I started writing this a couple of months ago, and now I have decided to finally finish it.

As I said, I work at my old job, but I have changed assignments. I was working with one of my best friends, but now I have taken on a different assignment which will be on the grave yard shift. It wasn't an easy decision to make, but I felt it was the right one. I'll be earning a fair bit more money, and I'll be working more by myself, which is something I fairly enjoy. I don't like having to rely on other people to get simple tasks done. Or having to take care of others either. I can get fairly annoyed if people can't pull of simple tasks. I will always take the time to patiently teach someone how to do something, and do it so they understand. And I'll do this about 3-4 times. After that, it gets really annoying. Especially when you've asked them to start taking notes on what's happening and then they leave their notes at home - permanently.

Sigh.

Anyway, I have a new adventure planned. Canada! I want to bike across Canada or do some serious mountain biking in Canada. Or mountain bike across Canada. Not too sure just yet. That's one of the main reasons for me taking the grave yard shift: to earn a bit more cash to pull off something pretty wild. However, I do have my doubts about Canada, mainly because of the wild life. Apparently, cougar attacks aren't all that uncommon, which scares me a fair bit, espcially since they like mountain bikers. So, I need to think a bit more about that potential trip.

Man, I don't even know what to say anymore.

Did the trip change me? I would like to think so. I try to be more adventerous/active in my daily life and even more out going. I try to say yes a bit more than what I used to, and try to hang out a bit more with my friends and even do some more activities with them. Basically, try to live my life with my friends instead of living an individual life, if that makes sense. Along with trying not to limit myself, push myself to do things I know I would hesitate to do/say.

Do I have any advice to give to you before I finish this? Yeah!

Get out there and live the life you want to life! It’s only as complicated as you make it to be and you are freer and more capable than what you fully know or understand. People generally don’t know their full potential, nor are they willing to explore and find out. I say explore, find out. If you fail, so what, who cares! Some of the most successful people in history were complete failures at some point in their lives!

And now, I bid thee adieu!