Tag: adventure

57 Days of My Life, Lost to Facebook

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fleetingweb

Thank you Time Tech for bringing light into my life with your recent article, painting a nice picture of the time I’ve spent on Facebook.

In my defense, it’s 57 days since 2006 and I bet most of those hours can be allocated to college finals and procrastinating at the Syracuse University library. Not that it makes it any better, that’s still an average of one week a year, for the last eight years. I’m not gonna lie, that number made me want to jump from my seat and set sail in a new adventure to the unknown (or Central Park).

Here are 10 things I could have done instead of spending 57 days of my life on Facebook:

  1. Learn German, just because
  2. Take wine appreciation classes so I actually know what I’m ordering from the wine list
  3. Read that New York Times best selling book that everyone has been talking about and is not a YA novel
  4. Learn to make that delicious recipe that I saw on Pinterest when I decided to take a break from Facebook
  5. Train a baby dragon
  6. Bike from New York to Los Angeles (according to Google maps it takes 260 hours)
  7. Read the whole Game of Thrones book series
  8. Plant a tree. Actually, plant a bunch of trees
  9. Take a photography class instead of staring at pictures for hours
  10. Volunteer at an animal shelter (without stealing any puppies)

See how much time you’ve lost on Facebook here, then get on Grupon or Living Social and sign up for tango lessons or yoga, your pick.

Image credit – http://louisetaylordrawings.blogspot.com/2010/04/losing-time.html

Wanderlust problems and other itchy feet musings

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paris3

Once upon a time, I was blessed to call France my home. I would ride a bike to school, have lunch by the river, come home to a dog and a warm family and drink good, cheap wine with new wonderful friends.

strasbourg 1

The thing about wonderful times is that they end, and as sad or exaggerated as it sounds, you never get them back. There’s something so bittersweet about it that I can’t help but smile. Sure, I could technically book a flight to France next week (I do have a credit card) but in reality it can never be the same. People and places change, but most importantly, you change as well.

That’s why we need to keep creating adventures, so you don’t miss the old ones that much. You will never get your old times back, but that is what makes them magical and timeless, the rarity and exclusivity of things that are gone.

It sure didn’t feel magical when I was stuck in my desk studying for a final exam, sad because I had ran out of money and my camera had broken. It sure was not exciting when I had to eat ham and cheese sandwiches for a week because I spent way too much money on my week at Spain, but once you leave and look back, it all sounds ironically perfect.

Sometimes things get even better when you have to look back to enjoy them. It’s almost risky though, to look back too often, as you tend to unconsciously edit the memories, add filters and suppress the mishaps (bike falls, broken cameras, hangovers, dry lunches, too cheap wines, boring lectures, train delays and scary flights).

bourgogne 1

Still, you know you would do it all again and in your future attempts to somehow really do it all again, you will get new, exciting adventures that will keep the cycle alive.

Humans are never satisfied and our thirst can’t be quenched that easily, so let’s drink on.

paris2

All photos taken by Cristina Nogueras © – Do not take without permission or credit

The thrill of the ride: “Toto, I have a feeling I’m not 10 anymore”

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sixflags

Maybe I’m getting old.

I know, I’m being ridiculous, I’m only 23 years old. The best years are yet to come, right? That’s what people keep saying so I’m gonna hold on to that.

Last weekend I visited Six Flags Great Adventure and after about five years, I got back on a roller coaster. Maybe it was that the first roller coaster I chose was a little weird since you had to stand throughout the ride or maybe it was that I’m getting old… but it was NOT pleasant. I kept feeling pain in my back, I was anxious and I thought I was going to die. I kept making up scenarios on my head of my safety bar being released and me jetting out to the sky and landing flat on my face.

What is wrong with me?

Not that I was this fearless little girl before, by no means. You are talking to the girl that used to be scared of electrical stairs, believe me there’s a story behind it, I had my reasons. But at least before I would think less of the consequences and focus more on the thrill of the ride.

Now, if you are worrying about me thinking that this poor young lady threw away her money at Six Flags, don’t you worry child, I had a blast. I made a little mantra telling myself that it was going to be alright, that if everyone else was doing it, why couldn’t I? I also released all of my worries and enjoyed the ride for what it was… a thrill.

I think riding roller coasters should be a form of therapy. You can scream without being judged (well, at least that’s what I want to believe), you can let go and enjoy the thrill without worrying about anything else because for that short period of time, you are suspended into the air, part of a wave and you don’t need to control anything… you can be free.

Sounds amazing and liberating right? It is, until you get out and see your picture on the screen and notice you looked more like a frightful chicken than a human being.