Joyeux Anniversaire Richy!

Jolly Happy Birthday Rich! Hope you'll have a fantastic day doing what ever your doing! If you're having a party - don't forget to take some pictures for the drunken challenge! Rock on!

thx again buddy, really apreciated it when i got your text message this afternoon! really cheered me up, in theses lousy days.

no parties too, not feeling much like anything right now anyway... you know life's ups and downs... familly heath issues, gf issues, uny issues, etc... i just hope to be back on the road soon cause it's all starting to get on my nerves... i just wanna pack my bags and leave to where ever and change my mind for some time. know what i mean?

Dang Rich - sorry to hear that man - but try not to let it bother you today, as today's your day man! Make the most of it (even though it's over pretty much now).

Happy birthday Rich! That's a bummer that the day isn't turning out better for you. Here's to hoping it gets better!

Sometimes, i just wish i would have never traveled to Africa. Eversince i have been there, i went through various depressive states...

At first, i kept it for myself, because i thought no one could understand what i have been through..

Then i decided to start talking about it.
It was hard at first, and it still is, but the more i talk about it, the better i feel and the more i truly understand what is really going on around me. It also allows me to meet people that can guide me, and it helps me to realise who my real frinds are.

I am slowly getting over it, still hard here and there, but hey, that's life!

it is only today that i understand what merpheus was really offering to neo,

- taking the blue pill;
Continue living in the world i live in, ingnoring what is going on around me and live inside my little bubble. Not asking myself questions, talk about sky and weather, etc...

- taking the red pill;
accept what i saw, get over it, ask myself the right questions, and progress upon them. Decide to make something out of that experience and share it with people who don't have the chance to travel like it do.

i took the red pill by going to africa but i was unaware of it back then, and i believe this is why i went through all this this year. And for christ's sake, i'm only 18 (well 19 today accualy)

when i got back from africa, and after a few month, i just could not stand the people who took the blue pill, i was finding them stupid, and absolutly retarded to be that blind on life. today i understood that i had the enormous chance to go to africa, and that not everybody has it... it's only recently I understood that i was the one being retarded for looking down on these guys...

i'm not shure with what i want to go through with all this, you might understand what i mean, or not... all i know is that today, i have a gift... and that is to work in the media industry, enabeling me to talk to the world and share things with people living on it.

sorry for the monologue, and i hope it all makes sence to you...

anyway, i just want to add that life is one of the most interesting thing ever, and i shall enjoy every single bit of it for as much time as i can!

if you have anything you wanna add or go on about all the stuff i said above, feel free to, as i would love to hear your point of view on it...

Oh it's your birthday Rich? Happy birthday! Sorry I don't keep a better eye on the birthdays listed....

And as for your current feelings about Africa and what-not...well I have to admit, I felt a similar feeling about 2 years ago before I decided to move to New Zealand. Stepping out of that complacency box was a big help for me, and I've been extremely happy ever since. I plan to move to Australia in a couple of years....and who knows where else after then! I figure...we've got one life to live...might as well enjoy it!

wohoo happy bday pal

Happy Birthday Rich,

Re. the monologue, I can kinda understand. Stepping out of the comfort zone or 'complaceny box' (I like that one T ) can be a real eye opening experience. I don't really go with the whole 'travel made me find myself' nonsense, but jumping into foreign cultures and exposing yourself to a whole host of new stimuli really can (and should) make you question yourself, your values, morals etc.

But, you don't need to go to that extent (ie travel to foreign lands) to open yourself up to the world. What has happened to you is a natural part of growing up, a shift of perspective and a new opinion about the world in which you live. But take it from old papa Global, that can happen any time and anywhere (for whatever reason).

I recall an old story about Buddha leaving his wife and kids and heading off to the mountains for x number of years to meditate and be in peace etc etc... and when he came back the wife (who I'm sure was a bit miffed*) asks 'So, did you need to go to the mountain?'... he doesn't reply because he knows she has a damn good point. You don't need to go to the mountain to become enlightened - enlightenment comes from within.

So.. the people that you may think are blind to the world and have taken the blue pill either haven't had that trigger yet or they already have, but didn't need travel to do it.

*[Cultural Exchange]:
a bit miffed = a little annoyed / angry. (It is used in the above in a classic English way of understatement, as I'm sure the wife extremely angry at his long absence)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICH

-to be honest i think your happeyniess or sadness can be shaped by you, where you live or travel affects yours experiences kinda opens your eye to judge previous actions.
- Hikkukumori (Japanese for a person who secluded himself from the world) i don't know about how you use to live your life but sometimes change is good, living in the bubble a long time i think creates complex to other people.

SOZ I AM NOT GOOD AT THOSE UNLESS I AM IN PERSON

HAPPPPPYYYYYYY BIRTHDAYYYYYY (i will hide inside the cake again if you want )

"we've got one life to live...might as well enjoy it!"

indeed



"What has happened to you is a natural part of growing up"

i know yea, but mixed with that:

"jumping into foreign cultures and exposing yourself to a whole host of new stimuli really can make you question yourself, your values, morals etc."

and you have one happy person feeling shit and what not...
thanks Tyson and Global (what's your real name btw) for sharing your points of view, very much apreciated


I think it "messed" me up so much because theses two things happened to me at the same time, so i had double the questions to "solve". It also probably did not help because i am, and always been a very sensible person to what is going on around me, so that probably did not help either...
on top of that, i came back from scotland and had to start a new life in france, from "scratch".
I left boarding school (been in varisous ones for 8 years) and started living on my own (and that, is not as easy as i though it was).

the list could just keep on going, all i am trying to say, is that i would have apreciated to get a bit more time to get these different experiences and spread them over two or three years, instead of getting all that at one... cause i found it was just too much...

thinking about it, it seems i only see the dark side of it... but hell, i loved it! when i look back now, africa or elsewhere, traveling is just that much awsome that i shall keep doing it! my new drug that is

and T, come to france! my door is always oppened to a simply cg member, so imagin what it's like when it's a admin!

Que le soleil puisse embellir ta vie Richard.

i think this is something that alot of people go through, because i'm having that same kinds of feelings pass through me these last few months as you have been rich, i've found your post in here to be very easy to relate to as i too have been dropped down here in florida, an unfamiliar place not knowing anyone, etc. but i've found that friends being there can help tremendously, so that's about the best advice that i can give unfortunately.

but anyways, happy birthday rich! i didn't know you were younger than me, but only by about a year

Well, you're much, MUCH younger than me mate! Many happy returns!

C

Happy Bday buddy! I will get back to u on msn soon!

omg cam is back!

Happy Belated Birthday Richard!