2017: Highs and Lows

The turn of the New Year is always a time for reflection on the things achieved, or not achieved. Whilst walking to the train station on New Years Day it suddenly occurred to me that I definitely knew what my worst moment was- probably because it occurred recently and the embarrassment still made makes me stomach sink. My best moment was harder to pin point. This year has been one of my hardest yet, and I can’t say I have come out of it a better person or with any sort of revelations, if anything I’m ashamed of how I have handled it. That said, there were plenty of fantastic things that happened in 2017- but let’s finish on the high note and delve into the disaster that was December 22. 

It was my best friends birthday, we were having a party at our house with our closest friends. It was also the last working day of the year before the holiday period and so I had headed home early to prepare for the party. To this day, I don’t know what happened to cause the awful mood I found myself in but I was on edge, angry, irritable and generally teary. Adding tequila to the mix was probably not advisable, but with some social encouragement I was happily in margarita-ville. 

A few more margaritas later and it was that time of night that birthday cake happens. My housemates boyfriend had made her birthday cake, a deliciously decadent looking cheesecake. Now this wasn’t just any cheesecake, this was the cheesecake he had referenced in his Tinder profile when they met. The cheesecake he had been building up as “the worlds best” for over a year. Being the wonderful hostess I am I fetched the cheesecake from the fridge, released the springform sides and popped the tray on a fancy looking plate. That was my second mistake (the first being tequila), the base of the springform pan was smooth metal, and the top of the decorative plate was smooth ceramic... you can see where this is going. As I walked out of the kitchen, the plate tilted and the cheesecake started to slide off. I attempted to save it by pushing it towards the table but instead it landed half facedown on the table, with the other half falling off onto the carpet. I frantically tried to salvage what I could, righting candles and shooing everyone away to sing happy birthday outside while I cleaned the mess I had made. This was my third mistake, I should have gone to join my friends, sung happy birthday to my best friend and enjoyed some slightly mashed cheesecake. Instead I sobbed pathetically while scrubbing cheesecake out of the carpet. Which then became uncontrollably crying while I stress cleaned the kitchen. I gave teary goodbyes to everyone as the party ended and apologized more than was appropriate. Not my finest moment, but out of it I realised how much my friends love and care for me. I’d be lost without them. 

The best of 2017 is harder to determine as so many wonderful things happened. I saw some of my favourite artists in concert, my favourite tv show being taped, saw friends and family get engaged, married and have babies. I made new friends and had fun times with old friends. If I had to choose one moment it would be snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. My housemate and I spent a week in Palm Cove near Cairns. We did a day trip out to the Agincourt Reef where we got to spend a few hours snorkeling and exploring. If you’ve never been snorkeling it’s hard to describe, it’s almost an other worldly experience. You’re almost weightless in the water, effortlessly swimming thanks to your flippers and wet suit and the water blocks majority of sound allowing you to be completely immersed in the experience. The visuals quite literally take your breath away as a myriad of fish float past you, the coral waves beneath you an array of colours and shapes. You start to feel a part of the ocean as the current never stops, swaying you backwards and forwards with the sea life. The experience was truly mesmerizing. It’s rare to have a time these days where you are completely focused on one thing, and I made sure to appreciate ever second of my time. We saw tiny clown fish in an anemone, sea turtles and thousands of colourful fish. It was so fascinating I forgot I was wearing skin tight Lycra in public and stopped caring about anything other than figuring how to stay submerged for as long as possible. I cannot wait to go back (assuming the reef is not dead by then)

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Posted in retrospect because holidays and technology don’t mix in my eyes.