Longing.au

Posted on October 14, 2008, under Other.

I’m reading Jupiter’s Travels right now. It’s about a guy who motorbiked 63,000 miles (that’s over 100,000km!) around the world…starting in 1974! His recounting of biking in Australia really made me miss Australia.

I miss the sun and warmth, the laid-back approach to life, the friendliness of most people, and of course the lizards, echidnas, and wombats. I even miss the spiders.

But I have to accept that I’ve decided to live and work in Toronto for now. As much as I love Australia, it’s not where I should be at the moment.

So as Chopper would say, “Harden the fuck up, Nick!”

PS: Matt, thanks for that HTFU reminder.

Hypothesis: Toronto is bad for my health

Posted on October 11, 2008, under Health.

I spent 3.5 years in Australia. During that time, I was only sick twice. I’ve been back in Toronto for six months, and been sick (IE: sore throat, runny nose, etc) three times.

I can think of two possible explanations:
1) Toronto’s environment is dirtier and makes me more prone to getting sick;
2) I’m under more stress in Toronto.

#1 is definitely true in comparison to pretty much all of Australia, except for areas near mines and other heavy industry.

#2 is possible, but I don’t buy it. There were many times that I was under a ton of stress while working at Voxpak in The Gold Coast, Australia.

Thus, my hypothesis is that Toronto is bad for my health.