Karma-charmelion

"You reap what you sow"

"What goes around comes around"

"You get out what you put in"

"Live by the sword, die by the sword"

"Never eat yellow snow"

" 'i' before 'e' except after c"

Well the last two don't really apply to the theme of this blog, but they are equally as important. 

I don't know  if my outlook on karma is always strong. Sometimes I don't think twice about the universe's opinion on my persistence to fare-evade on trams and ignore hobos asking for change.

But other times I go right out of my way for randoms and just believe that positive attracts positive. I guess that makes me a karma-charmelion.

Karm and see this example:

 On my last day in London I had a few activities planned. Things went down at the ticket booth where I bought tickets to 'Once' ( an amaze musical definitely worth seeing; story sucks you in, music is really organic and there are no jazz hands or fat ladies singing.)

One man came up to the booth from the internet cafe  below needing more time on his computer. It cost £1 and he only had 50pence. I guessed by the urgency in his voice that he was on Skype or making a booking or something and I gave the man who put the extra time on £1 and when he said I don't need to do that I told him that maybe something good will happen to the man using the computer because I helped him; and maybe something will come to me in return. Also at the booth I gave my advice to some kiwis who were fresh off the flight and had never seen a show as rugby is the main form of live entertainment in my motherland.

Anyways... Further down the activity list, when I was starting to enjoy my Eaton mess (a British summer desert) at my swanky lunch in Chelsea, I found one part of the meringue was way too chewy to be meringue. I swankily spat it onto my silver spoon,  to discover a piece of plastic, like the pull tab from the top of a juice or cream carton. Considering I have had worse things in my mouth, I was mildly put off and just rather glad I didn't swankily swallow it.

 Though I have swallowed worse things.  

Well I told the waitress, had the manager come over and apologise and they handled the situation well, except the replacement Eaton Mess sans plastic cap they gave me didn't have the same cream to meringue ratio but that doesn't qualify as something to get clotted or whipped up over. 

 They completely voided my £25 bill. 

I felt like I had stolen a grape from the supermarket when they told me I was free to go without paying.

But I also knew it was because that day I was a karma-charmelion by giving that guy Internet money and those kiwis theatre advice. Not only did I save £24 (£1 for Internet man) but I saved the NZ embassy and my family a lot of worry by not choking to death.

I'm not sure whether it was me being a karma-charmelion or the vigour I was putting into applying sunscreen to the inside of my thighs that won me a free sangria on the beach in Alicante, but I guess karma and the laws of attraction will always just be one of the many mysteries of this world.

Like why does "i" go before "e" except after "c" 

Why "c"

WHY????

Jj

Sun-thing good

Sun shines on my face

I hope it shines on you too.

The sun brings warmth, light, and health. It makes things grow. The sun is my smile.

I smile

 when I think of you. I wish I could transmit the happiness I have onto you.

I wrote that a while ago about someone who is close to me, and well,

I have been fortunate enough to have fantastic weather considering I am in England.  I have actually lived in this historic country famous for much more than the Queen and the Spice Girls, and therefore know that I am not overgeneralising when I say the weather really affects the people here. That is to say, when the weather is good, the days are good. Less queues, fewer frowns, not as many uphills, more downs. 

Sun is out, shirts are off. Regardless of if you are at the beach, in the park, or if it was cloudy 20min ago. And as the locals say "all the birds look fitter with a tan"

"The sun is my smile"

This couldn't be truer this week. Because of the sun, I have been able to do so many of the things that make me happy, like be outside in nature, sweat, have BBQ and beer with my brothers, and go on night walks. 

Sunshine, along with helping prevent cancer, boost immunity and lowering blood pressure, boosts our moods, therefore fair enough that Henry Ward Beecher said

"The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers,

but for the wide world’s joy."

If I could take any souvenir back home, it would be the feeling of the sun on my back sitting in great company

Or sitting alone

If I could put it in a jar and give it to you, I would in a flash.

If I could invent a sunshine app, I'd have all the cash.

If I could have it in a drink, it would be just a dash,

Because a little sunshine is all it takes 

To warm our bodies and hearts,

And what a difference that makes.

Jjx

Friends are fantastic and wifi is wonderful

So I've made it through the first week of E.S.C.A.P.E trip, without losing anything apart from sleep and half of my voice, and experiences, memories, new clothes and probably about 2kg gained.

I have spent the last week in Denmark and Sweden, catching up with friends I haven't seen for years. With many of them, it has been like I saw them last weekend. I have been lucky enough to be able to pick up these pieces where I left them, and arrange them into a perfect picture of partying and playing. When I think back to when I last was here, it seems so long ago, updating someone on the last 4 yrs is pretty fun, especially when each year has been as full as I was after the brunch buffet in Åhus. 

Anyways, it was really hard saying goodbye to these guys the first time. I never thought I would have such special people in my life again. Well, thanks to an upbringing filled with love and my ever-optimistic outlook, my heart is like a big hotel, with a ton of rooms. Of course, there are a few in the VIP suites who get the deluxe love and constant service. There are a few more basic suites with guests waiting to be upgraded to having 24hr spa access. Then there are some international guests like the ones I have recently had check in again. These guests may have only had brief stays in VIP suites, but once they have stayed in "Joana's Heart Hotel" I will always care about their wellbeing, they are the ones who receive the complementary fruit basket when they check in again.

Now I wouldn't have been able to find lots of these friends if it weren't for wireless Internet. Really we live in a pretty magical age. I was seriously afraid of causing an aeronautical disaster by using the wireless they had free on the aeroplane. To break down the concept that I was sitting in an aircraft moving the speed of sound, the  communicating with people in 3timezones and transferring currencies is just too difficult for me right now, writing this whilst sunbathing and enjoying 'the view' .

I've been able to connect to wireless in busses, trains, planes, restaurants, airports, town squares, parks and houses. Connecting to wireless has led to connecting with friends, family, employers, banks, airlines, dance studios and tourist sites. No more lonely planet guidebooks and Internet cafes. 

And speaking of Wireless, that's the name of the first music festival I'm going to go and see in London. I'll make sure I ask Kanye and Justin Timberlake to have a look at my blog if their iPads are connected to wifi at the Olympic Staduim. Who knows, if we become friends on Facebook, Justin Timberlake might finally be able to check into his room at the Heart Hotel I have reserved especially for him since 1999.

Jj

Things beyond our control....

The easiest way to make me angry is to make me take the bus to work. And make the bus run late. Then have one passenger with terrible body oder, 2 talking on the phone loudly, and one staring at me. 

The reason why a situation like this makes me grumpier than a grandma who can't find her glasses, is that there is nothing I can do about it.  Being someone who is used to riding a bicycle or waking everywhere, I don't get angry as the circumstances are mostly in my control; I peddle faster,cross the street,  run a red light,  or trip that annoying person on the phone over.

In the past whilst on a bus from hell (or somewhere slower than hell coz what with the Devil cracking the whip and his pointy tail down there I imagine things would get done pretty quickly)  I have actually done a quick web search to see what other options I have to hopefully get me to my destination faster.  

I've also had time to send in a few job applications when I realise that I am going to need to find a new job after the bludger bus makes me so late I get fired.

Well that is a slight exaggeration but when stuck in traffic on my way to the airport for E.S.C.A.P.E trip (European Summer Catchup And Personal Education trip) departure it got me pondering what we feel during these moments when the situation, mostly a sticky one, is out of our hands. This morning common sense did not resonate as loudly as how I was instructing my driver to just go cross country over the footpath and through the roundabout so I could get out in the middle of the intersection and run to my check in, amazing race style.

 In fact, to ensure I do have control when relying on other people for transport, any time I take a taxi I tell the driver it's the amazing race. Speaking in an accent sometimes helps, especially when they can't understand how the Rooftop Bar in the city is an Amazing Race checkpoint.

But realistically, accents and red lights aside, you just have to breathe and do what you can, and in lots of situations like getting a flat tyre, having a friend who gets really drunk at their birthday party and vomits on your shoe, forcing you to go home and take care of them, or even if your mobile phone runs out of battery when you had to use it as an alarm clock and you slept over and woke up super confused with your head at the wrong end of the bed, half happy that you got an extra few hrs sleep but not sure why...it's not much.

 I guess it's like when I got Pityriasis Rosea, (a benign skin condition that just randomly comes in the spring) the more you think about it the more it irritates you, and you just have to sit tight and wait for it to go away.

And sorry to jump on the #firstworldproblems bandwagon to put things in perspective and hopefully help with your temperament next time times become testing, having your wireless Internet stop working at your house days before you are about to go on a 7-week holiday and needed to book stuff online really isn't something to do a song and dance about when there are people in the same suburb who can't afford food.

So next time you find yourself in a kerfuffle because things  beyond your control are going to affect the workings of the merry-go-round that is life, breathe, tell yourself "I can get past this" rather than "this is the worst thing everrrr" then make a funny face and hold it for 1 minute, or until the idea that looking like whatever face you are pulling would be worse than what kerfuffle you are in. 

Jj