2nd Guest Blogger!

I'm like, right in the middle of a short story that's burning its way through my head, so today's blog is written by my dear friend and favorite neurotic Australian transplant, Odie:

Odie

The thing I love about Odie, besides the fact that he looked like a Spanish Kramer when his hair was long,

KRAMER!

is that he's as quirky and awkward and emotional as I am, which makes for long winded conversations waxing poetic on everything from feelings to the importance of suit vests. He's the guy you can count on to pick up your drunk dial NO MATTER what he's doing or who he's with, the kind of guy who willingly makes himself the butt of jokes (and conversely, the guy who can KILL any joke, any time, anywhere), the guy who'd drive from Baltimore to Manassas just to hang out for a few hours. And he also does things like volunteer to write a guest blog when he knows I'm having a chaotic blog month. And I miss him now that he's literally on the other side of the world. 


And so, introducing: ODIE.

Worlds Apart, or how I moved to the other side of the planet and still manage to have similar experiences as Audrey K. Turner By Jason Hird

After mentioning the idea of writing a guest blog for Audrey, I had many ideas for content. Yet here I sit, attempting to start the entry, and I find the task more daunting than anticipated. The previous guest blogger, Mrs. T has a certain reputation (or at least had a few mentions in the blog), thus enabling you the reader to connect with that she is saying right away. However, I do not have that and as such you have no connection to me what so ever. Hmm.

Quick history: Audrey and I met in the 10th grade and became fast friends. We have been making inside jokes, sitting on a stoop, talking about life experiences over too many drinks, and passing out to Swingers while eating cocktail shrimp ever since. Now that we are a world apart, we get fewer life updates and the occasional failed skype call. This seems to only add to the jokery and insanity of our friendship, especially as I try to convince her to move to Melbourne for graduate school. But I'm not sure Mrs. T would be happy with me should aforementioned plan ever come to fruition.

I've been feeling a bit homesick over the past few weeks, but I don't miss home. I miss specific people, and in that way I'm more peoplesick (you can guess who made that one up). A little known fact about Audrey is that she secretly wants to be a well-read world traveler. This may be hard to understand because of past posts on such topics as Toddlers in Tiaras, 16 and Pregnant and Dance Moms. However, she does post about Where the Red Fern Grows, 1984 (I think I'm making that one up) and all things Stanley Kubrick. So as you can see, she is a very mixed bag. (*editor's note: Odie, no one on my blog can believe that I have aspirations to be a classy world traveler who reads things that aren't gossip rags. Nice effort, though :)

How this relates to being worlds apart and homesick, you ask? Well, I never thought of myself as the person that would move out of the state of Maryland long term, let alone the country long term, but, here I am in Sydney, Australia attempting to figure out a way to stay longer and longer. Leaving MD/VA and moving to New York has always been a long term goal for her and I assume that hasn't changed. She has traveled the country, been to cities far away, and has even been an international nanny. (Ask her about it sometime she will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about getting a free trip to Europe.) My goal remains the same as it has been for the last year, to live life with no regrets and get work in a field/industry where I don't have to wear a suit and tie to work every day.

Simple enough, easy enough? Hardly. Having to break my brain of cliches and standards that have been etched into them over the years is not easy, but it seems to be worth it, and part of this determination to make it happen comes from Audrey. She is always there with her dreams, shaking things up and making shit happen, taking life changes by the balls and squeezing them until someone cries. And that keeps me inspired to stay the course and keep things happening so as not to fall into a rut. (*editor's note: see, Odie, watching trash TV doesn't discourage your goals.) Even though we are not physically close to one another at this point in time, we still share an odd sense of humor, ability to cheer the other person up in tough times by cracking the odd sexist joke about one another.

I will raise a glass of wine to you as I watch Groundhog Day and eat cheese and crackers during a day off of work.

To my best friend, may the miles be many and the journey difficult, you will remain with me always.

Odie

Thank you, Odie. May we have many more years of taking weird pictures together: