Hi everyone,
So it’s been a while since I posted. The honest truth is, I ran out of random things to say.
BUT, I’ve now teamed up with my wonderful wife to create a blog that is purely dedicated to the travel part of our lives. So there will be regular posts and photos, some of which have been posted here before, but mostly new content of course!
So please head on over to https://strachan2bewild.com/ and follow me there instead 😉
Cheers
Mike 🙂
How often do you judge strangers on a daily basis?
How often do you judge co-workers?
What right do we have to judge anyone at all?
We arrived in Vegas on Sunday afternoon, Oct 1, and we went to a show that night at the MGM at 7pm. We came out around 8:30pm. A few hours later, unfortunately, history was made…
Continue reading “What happens in Vegas travels around the world”
What’s the first thought that enters your mind when you wake up in the morning?
Do you look forward to the day ahead, or do you skip the weekdays and only look ahead to the weekend?
Do you think of those pesky tasks on your to-do list and immediately start dreading them?
Do you wake up like a zombie with no thought at all? Continue reading “Wake up & smell the coffee!”
Last year I posted about not having New Year’s resolutions… hastily constructed, alcohol-fueled, forgotten tomorrow, whinge, rant and so on. I’ll admit this post is me backtracking a little, but I’m cool with that.
A while ago, I watched an episode of Black Mirror (S1 E3 – The Entire History of You) and it was about inserting a tiny device into the base of your skull, allowing you to revisit and replay your memories. You could even bring the memories up on a screen for other people to watch. During a replayed memory, you could even zoom in on people on the other side of the room who would have barely entered your consciousness at the time. So in one scene the protagonist, Liam, applied a lip-reading ‘app’ to his memory to find out what two people were talking about.
Sometime it’s nice to get a different perspective on things.
Sitting down to dinner tonight in Ubud, Indonesia, it dawned on Sel and I that Indonesia has no concept of what a millionaire is.
Why? Because 1,000,000 rupiah is the equivalent of about 96 Aussie bucks.
I’m typing this at 10,000 feet, cruising through the clouds, bound for Indonesia. Sel and I will do our best to switch off our sources of stress, avoid avenues of anxiety, and just have a damn good relax.
Before boarding this flight though, I couldn’t help but notice my airport experience, and although it was like every other airport experience I’ve had, this time I had a keyboard handy so I thought I’d take a few notes.
Driving to work the other day, I knew a particular road on my route was blocked due to flooding. For the first 40 minutes of the drive, I knew not to take the turn off.
What do I do when I eventually reach the aforementioned turn-off? Take it of course. Did I immediately realise what I’d done? No. Not until a minute later when I came upon the ‘Road Closed’, or more specifically, the ‘stupid fool, you knew not to come this way’ barrier. Continue reading “My name’s Mike, and I’m Autopilotic.”
Before Sel embarks on her upcoming blogging adventure, my first instinct was to impart on her my advice about how to approach it. I know what you’re thinking,
“Mike, you haven’t reached 300 readers and your posts don’t get published elsewhere. You’re not exactly a blogging role model, are you?”
For the first 33 years of my life, the concept of family didn’t hold much weight. I’m reasonably close to my immediate family; mother, father, and two sisters, and sort of close to the grandparents that are still alive. But my overall feeling toward family is far removed from the “blood is more important than anything” narrative put forth in countless movies and television shows. Let’s just say, if I was Jax Teller in Sons of Anarchy, I would have jumped on my bike, and left SAMCRO and Charming midway through Season 1. Loyalty shmoyalty. Continue reading “Climbing up the family tree”
On the weekend I watched a YouTube clip while eating lunch. A mindless 10 minute collection of baseball bloopers. It’s harmless fun and gave me a chuckle while I digested my sandwich. The video ended and for whatever reason, I scrolled down to the comments section below. I should have known better. Continue reading “The trolls are rampant”
A new year means new resolutions!
I’m joking. This post contains NO new resolutions! Resolutions are hastily constructed, often under the alcoholic haze of fireworks and party hats, and ironically involve feel good quotes about healthy eating, quitting smoking, and getting more exercise. If you remember them come January 15, you’ve done better than most. Continue reading “No Year’s Resolutions”
In a society that persistently pushes us to do more, and to do it faster, how do we resist the urge to keep up?
Life is constructed of hundreds of thousands of events, some of which we see, interact with, and understand, but some of which pass us by without having the faintest clue they even happened. Continue reading “Timing is everything”
I’m 33 years old. I’ve always been male, done fairly typical male things, plus I’ve got the body parts to prove it! Biologically, I’m male. Continue reading “What does it take to be a real man?”
Standing in front of the mirror, the slow-growing bulge of my stomach caught my eye, as it seems to more often these days. The usual reflexive thought sprung to mind; Continue reading “Willpower? Forget it!”
So it’s Monday morning (or it will be soon for most of you).
Where are you headed this week? Have you thought about what you want to achieve over the next 7 days? If you haven’t, why not? If you have, is it any different to last week?
I’m not being critical. I haven’t either. Which is what inspired this brief post.
Most weeks are spent sailing on by. We sail through school, work, or looking for work, and every now and then we have events on the weekend that we can think about through the week. Playing sport, attending a wedding, having lunch with family or friends, or just chilling out and watching a movie. The weekend quickly comes to a close, and suddenly you wake up and it’s Monday morning again.
Is that an aimless way to live? Not necessarily. Life is life and everyone can live it how they choose. But sometimes it can be helpful to give your life just a wee bit more meaning.
I wrote a previous post about not hating Monday’s, but rather using them to your advantage. Monday’s are a chance for a fresh start. Most people align Monday with the start of their new goal, be it work-related, dieting, or any other personal goal. Who decides to cut out junk food on a Friday night? No-one!! The weekend is your last chance to throw down as many Big Macs as you can!
So here’s a task for your brand new Monday. List 3 things you want to achieve this week. Make sure one of those things is different to anything you’ve done for at least the last month.
My one goal for this week, which is something I haven’t done for quite a long time is go for a bike ride. That’s it. Something small, relatively easy, and healthy!
Life is one long series of accomplishments. But it’s hard to accomplish anything if you don’t set out to in the first place.
So I was sitting at work today, caught a glimpse of my socks, and thought of a new blog post. Fascinating hey? Continue reading “The oddity of socks!”
Unfortunately stress is a concept deeply ingrained in modern society, and it provides people with a quick and easy label to excuse a range of behaviours. Continue reading “The real stress reliever”
When was the last time you stretched your imagination and gave it a muscle-burning workout? Continue reading “Let your imagination off the leash”
Sel and I just arrived home from a journey that saw us traverse the vast landscape of the United States for almost two months. Culturally, it wasn’t the smack in the face that we received multiple times in Burma several years ago, but in the way that traveling always does, it opened my eyes to something that contradicted the seemingly long plane trip to get over there. Continue reading “The grass isn’t always greener”
In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Early Bird.”
Unfortunately the title isn’t a metaphor. I literally dropped our recently acquired GoPro down a 160 foot (almost 50 metres) cenote here in Mexico. Continue reading “I dropped my GoPro down a cenote”
a coffee break with mike 