THE TALES OF LIVING

Rule No. 1
You got to have fun, but when you are done - you got to be the first one to run.

Rule No. 2
Just don't get attach to, someone you could loose.

Rule No. 3
Wear you heart on your cheek, never on your sleeve.

Rule No. 4
Look pure, kiss him good bye at the door.

A song from the lovely Jared Evan, it's quite outspoken but it is something about it -  that is very catchy and really hits the spot.

It's free to download from his SoundCloud, so I recommend it!

Laying on a fake beach 

You will never get a tan

In the night your heart is full 

And by the morning empty

But baby, I am the one that left you

You are not the one that left me 

Normally, I get on the tube before the morning has rolled around to 8 am. However, the other day I overslept - like a stupid person and suddenly found myself on the tube with the just-before-10-am-start commuters and let me tell you they are a different breed from the ruffle of the 'push or be pushed' - 'as long as I get on the train' commuters of Early Risers.

Let's just say that this never happens on my normal train:

One Track Mind, One Track Heart 

If I fail, I'll fall apart 

Maybe it is all a test 

'Cause I feel like I'm the worst 

So I always act like I'm the best

When I first hear this song. I went and bought it, and in the first few days I listened to this song about 152 times (yes I checked!) It is just something about the sound and the very simple lyrics that attracts me to this song.

I must admit I have tried to listen to other song by Tiesto and they have really not caught on to me, like this one has

Sometimes I ignore you
So I feel in control
But really I adore you
And I can't leave you alone

So I would recommend this song, by mr. Jared Evan. It is just something about the song that keeps catching on in my head. It is catchy and has a good hook, without being cheesy.

Nice try Charlie Brown!

I have realised that I keep doing something now, when it comes to guys - that I didn't used to do before...

As soon as I meet someone who could potentially be interesting. You know, those first few times you meet someone and you are mentally sizing them up. That little moment where a spark might ignite leading to romantic feelings later on. I find myself in those moment, thinking of reasons as why I won't work out if ever I would be in a relationship with that person.

Talk about jumping 50 steps ahead of time. Here as some examples of when it has happened lately.

Example 1
I met a guy at a friends birthday party. He is the housemate of another friend of mine making the whole situation a bit awkward. These are the reasons my brain thought of in less than 20 minutes:

•  He lives with one of my friends - there is no point of starting anything up because it will end in an awful situation of "he said - she said" in no time at all.
• He has just started his university studies and I am just done with mine - we are in different stages in our lives and having dealt with that in relationships before I am not in favour of it.
• When I went to the bathroom, coming back he was just as interested in the next girl as he was in me - clearly if he is not that interested than why should I be?

Example 2
We work in the same building bur for different companies. He seems really enthusiastic in person and even asked my email address so that I could send him some music suggestions. These are the reasons I have come up with so far:

• We work closely together - what is the most important to me right now is my new job and I would not want to put myself in a position where I am viewed as unprofessional
• He works in a child oriented field and I am not really a child person - looking at this long term it could be an issue
• He seems really keen in person but has not responded to my email, but did apologise about it the last time I saw him because he's been on holiday/been really busy - if he is not that bothered than why should I be?

Example 3
This is a guy that has come in to my life quite unexpectedly, but as I get to know him more I keep finding reasons as to why it will not work out:

• He wants a job where he wants to travel and live in loads of different places - what is the point of starting something up if ultimately I will expected to sacrifice my career or him?
• I find myself wanting to be someone else around him - I keep wanting to be more put together around him, which is never a good sign. It indicates that I feel like I am not enough for him.
• I don't know his relationship status - it could be awkward finding it out, as we will see each other multiple times every single week for the foreseeable future. It is a sticky situation and I don't feel like I want to jump into that.

So I guess that this behaviour could be psychoanalysed to death. I would say that it was to do with 3 factors:

• My last relationship
• My tendency of over-analysing and my mind working at million miles an hours speed
• Maybe I am just not ready for new relationship.

Ultimately, it just seems like I am really good at shooting myself in the foot or shutting something down before it happens.

This is a song that I have been listening to quite a lot lately. Made by the lovely Chlöe Howl, it does certainly say something, this song.

London public transport, in the underground at least (the subway trains) have something called buskers.

A busker can be found the lower levels of a tube station, when you have already passed the ticket barrier and half way down to the lower levels to the platform. They will stand there and play music for you.

The definition of a busker is
a person who entertains people for money in public places (as by singing or dancing), usually while asking for money.

On the public transport in London, they have these little Name Tags/Id Cards on them - to show that they are licensed by Transport for London. I find this stunning, even if it must be a hard life. It is lovely that something as big and bureaucratic as the London Transport can so endorse 'street' performance as well as culture and creativity.

Traveling on the tube may sometimes be a necessary evil and it can be testing to say the least. But passing someone however briefly playing live music always succeeds to put a smile on my face.

To read a full lowdown on the life of a busker, read this Guardian article.

So I went shopping the other day on Oxford Street and I must say as much as it is very touristy it is still a wired one...

The frenzy in the shops
The most common example is Primark, even if when you go on off peak times it is still horrible. There are so many people and the queue to the fitting rooms is ridiculous. It is to the point where when I go, I don't bother to try things on. Mostly because it would take me 30 minutes to go to the changing room and partly because things are so cheap. If it doesn't fit alright you can always give it away to charity.

Energy levels
One thing that is good about the stress of Oxford street is that it completely drains you. You will end up making very tough decisions. "I really do not want to walk another 2 blocks, so I really do not need to buy that necklace" So in a way going there to do shopping really makes you save money. Once you are there you will make some cut throat decision in regards to what you really need - because you really just wanted to get out of there.

Characters
You will inevitably meets some strong and well, let's say unique persons when you walk down Oxford Street. This time I met a slight disheveled looking woman selling what looked like dried up branches of thyme, wrapped around the stem in foil to imitate the look of a bouquet of roses.

The ones taking up the whole pavement
I nearly walked into a woman crouched down to tie her 16 year old boys shoelaces, which was very odd. To be honest he may have had some kind of medical condition and was in need of her assistance. So I will not go hard on her. However, one of my pet peeves is tourists/stupid Londoners that think that there is no one walking behind them. If you wanted to stop to look at the buildings/talk to each other/play with your phone - then walked to the side of the pavement. Don't stop in the middle of it blocking up it for everyone else causing congestion!

I have come to the conclusion that true friendships are hard to find and all include the key ingredients of time, commitment and situational aspects.

Time
Friendships grow slowly and the really strong ones usually takes years to build. I found this out when moving to a different country. The new friends that I made were so much more important and significant to me, who barely had a social circle. Compared to the friends I made, who were still living in their hometown and very much had their social circle intact still.

Commitment
Like most relationships, friendships take commitment. You have to work at it, keep yourself involved with each other and actually stay in contact. Sometimes this may be harder than it looks because friendships are never an equal tango and normally one person will be bearing the brunt of the work.

Situational aspects
Sometime a friendship can only go so far, something in the situation will make the friendship crumble - an argument that you can't get past, someone that can't forgive a past indiscretion, an ocean placing you in different countries or a change in interest/work creating a divide. Sometimes these situational aspects will pull you apart - again if one person in the friendship finds this too hard...


All these components need to be there and working in humming harmony in order to brew the potion called true friendship.