So literally 2 weeks from today, I will be on a plane to my new life. I have so much to do here that I haven't even let myself start to think about all of the things I'm going to have to do when I get there: Find an apartment, get a bank account, get a new orthodontist. Fortunately, I have my wonderful brother Ben headed to SF on Tuesday and I'm SO excited to see him (and have him help me with everything). Based on my recent conversations with Ben, I don't think he realizes he's flying directly into indentured servitude.
Ben: so whose picking me up from the airport?
Emily: Um, super shuttle?
Ben: hahahaha
hmm last time you needed a ride from the airport i think i got you a limo... im just saying
I essentially plan on handing him my credit card and a list of shit that I need done during the day. Cause what are younger siblings for if not to completely exploit them? I didn't spend the better half of my childhood convincing him that I was his superior for nothing. It's time to cash in on those years of manipulation and sibling torture.
Ben is actually on his way to Taiwan and then Cambodia to teach English to kids who look different (his quote, not mine) while I head down to Australia. I do wonder if there isn't some genetic driver that makes both of us so eager to explore the world and see everything it has to offer. Though obviously Ben and I have found different means to reach the same end.
I am excited about this cause over the last few years I found myself very jealous of Ben and his adventures in Southeast Asia, while I had my corporate job selling pay-per-click ads, however I've always felt my job was too good to justify leaving it to travel with no real direction or end in sight. Ultimately, I am glad that I didn't ever run off on a whim and leave everything since it is my corporate job that offered the opportunity for me to live in a different country. Not only that, our Sales Conference this year is supposed to be held in Tokyo, so I am beyond excited that I'm going to be able to go there. Also, for the last few years, all I've wanted to do is visit Thailand. I'm not totally sure why. I got hooked on the idea after I saw the move 'Brokedown Palace' which if you have ever seen it, you may wonder how that is what made me decide I want to go to this place. (The plot of the movie is about how two American girls get drugs planted on them and wind up in a Thai prison). Anyway, I digress, my point being I'll finally be closer and have that be much more accessible to me. I also am dying to visit Fiji, Bali, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and everywhere else. Though I've always loved traveling, the last few years I have become very complacent and not done as much as I would have liked. As San Francisco started to feel more and more like home, I got more and more comfortable here and had a harder time getting off my ass and going on an adventure.
I think this new adventure in Australia, which I'm sure won't feel remotely like home for some time, will give me the jump start I've been looking for. Even in the months since I've found out I'm going to be going, I've started to identify things that I want to start doing to become more of the person I want to be. I'm looking forward to this like a fresh start. Not that I have anything to run away from or that there is anything I dislike about who I am now, but there is something invigorating and refreshing about staring at the blank page in front of you and knowing that you control your own destiny about where you go from here.
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"It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power."
-Alan Cohen
Origins
"Sydney or the bush" equates with such terms as "Hollywood or bust" to mean staking total success or failure on one high-risk event. Given the circumstances surrounding my newest adventure, I felt that this was a quite fitting title for my blog. I've put everything that is comfortable or safe to me on the line; My San Francisco life, my friends, my family, and I'm risking it all for the unknown. I'm nervous, excited, terrified, thrilled, happy and sad all at the same time, and I figured this blog would be a good way to document all that I am going through. (That, and a good way to keep my parents updated in what I'm doing since I'm awful about answering the phone. Hi Mom and Dad!)
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