(4) A Flight Purchased and A Lesson Learned

I kind of feel stupid admitting this but I had no idea I had options until early this afternoon when I was standing in front of the giddy blonde travel agent who had pictures of cows littering her desk.

Let me start at the beginning.

I started work yesterday and I hated it. It's standard telemarketing and I would only be there for a month before heading up North with my new traveling buddy, Dovi (he's a chiller). Call after call these Australians politely told me "take me off your fucking list, thank you so much for calling". I felt like I never left BPS.

So that's why when I woke up this morning depressed out of my mind, to make matters worse, I went out for a run and it was a frigid like 25 degrees (F) and I still have not found the beach. Today, I told myself, today is the day I find the beach. After hopping on the tram, hopping off, getting on the wrong one and headng right back to where I started from and then giving up and just running in the direction of where I thought the beach should be.

Alas!

That worked....I found the beach after only 20 minutes. I was so relieved to see the water that I practically dropped on the cold sand (or from being so out of shape) and had a silent yet effective cry. I haven't cried in months yet I am here less than a week and I'm blubbering away. But no matter, the point was, I was not having the Australia experience that I wanted.

I felt like I was in a fucked up pseudo-NY just bootleg! It's like using air freshener as perfume when you're used to Dior....

The beach in Melbourne is nothing special. Since you could practically SEE Antarctica and definitely feel it - there were no waves and I was outta there. It took almost an hour and two almost car accidents later to get "home". I found Dovi snuggled in bed and I started in on him.

"I'm fucking depressed. This is not the experience I want to be having. I want to change it. I am going to do something about this. I did not travel across the world to do this shit!" (At this point I am nearly hysterical). Australians don't get frazzled, they don't even blink an eye.

"Ok, so you want to go North sooner?" Dovi responds smoothly, all chilled out. "Like in two weeks perhaps?"

Ha!

I needed to do some food shopping and open a bank account with a quirky teller named Cody so we headed to Chapel Street (the Park Slope 5th Ave but Aussie style) and came across the travel agent with the cows who seemed WAY to excited to be sitting behind a desk.

Well, one hundred and fifty dollars later, I have a ticket to Cairns for Monday the 11th of August (less then 6 days away!!!!) and Dovi has been persuaded to join me so he has a ticket too.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have changed my destiny and I have directed my journey in a more positive, enlightened and spiritual direction.

Tomorrow I quit my job and tell my (hot, young AND black) boss that after a long tenure of two days, I can no longer telemarket and waste peoples time with products they don't need to make them more frustrated and stressed and send more negative karma into the world. Fuck telemarketing, what a shitty job.

Now, fruit picking (probably bananas) and backpacking and hostels and SUN SUN SUN....HOW I MISS YOU SO....where is the preference? What's the question?

To all my adoring and loving friends, I know why G-d has placed me in this situation and it taught me a huge lesson. It doesn't matter where I go in the world...I will always have the same struggles and the same obstacles - I cannot run away from it.

But what I can do is make a choice to say no, to remove myself out of places that are not of truth to me and that I do not connect with. Without a community of connected and spiritual beings, I cannot grow.

GOOD BYE MELBOURNE, HELLO CAIRNES!!!!