The Final Curtain

I'm retiring. It has happened.

Whilst I have loved sharing my ramblings with the world here, I am leaving for bigger and better places.
So instead of the occasional essay on my thoughts and beliefs, feel free to join my daily adventures in the labyrinth of life on my new blog https://onefinemorningblog.wordpress.com/.
Together with my buddy Moy we are gonna share our loves and our non-loves on a range of different topics including fitness, food, music, films, news and more!
So farewell, it's been good.

To quote the god himself John Green:

“Thomas Edison's last words were 'It's very beautiful over there'. I don't know where there is,but I believe it's somewhere, and I hope it's beautiful."

-Kate

Timshel

So it's been a while. That's an understatement, its been close to a year. Maybe not. Anyway it's been a period of time since I last posted. So to make up for it, im letting you in on my latest soul-searching pointless ramblings. 

Mumford and Sons, let's discuss them. My friend once told me he didn't like them because they sounded like a shipping company. Upon reflection they do rather, but that doesn't make them any less admirable. I digress. They're my favourite band, by far and my favourite song by them goes by the name of Timshel. I'll be I've always loved this song, it's more than beautiful and seems applicable in every circumstance. After doing a bit of background reading I discovered the song was inspired by the John Steinback classic East of Eden (also a film with the one and only mr. james dean). 

In the book the characters are discussing religion and various translations of the bible. The passage goes as follows:

“Don’t you see?” he cried. “The American Standard translation orders men to triumph over sin, and you can call sin ignorance. The King James translation makes a promise in ‘Thou   shalt,’ meaning that men will surely triumph over sin. But the Hebrew word, the word timshel—‘Thou mayest’— that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if ‘Thou mayest’—it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.’

 And now it all makes sense. As a christian I've always struggled with the concept of free will and how that's played out. And it finally makes sense. J. K. Rowling once said that "It is our choices who show who we really are, far more than our abilities" and i agree so greatly. I'm so very thankful that I have the choice. The choice of icecream when i go to a cafe, the choice of lipstick colour when I go out. And  beyond such topical things, the choice to do what's right. I can choose God at any moment, and similarly , I can choose sin. 

A song that always makes me nostalgic for the days when I first read the Harry Potter series is called The Last Call by a band called Oliver Boy and the Rememberalls. In the second verse, highly reminiscent of rowling, the lyrics say:

"We have the power of choice. We have the power to define our own future.
We merely have to step up to the plate and take hold of what we care for,
Not letting go of our dreams and wishes just because people tell us this all has a life span."

Now yes, he may have been talking about the Harry Potter fandom at the time, but I think these words still ring true.

So, in conclusion, celebrate your choice, whatever it may be. Furthermore, be humbled with the realisation that you're not forced to do anything, you can choose to be a better person at any time. And with that, some final words from Steinback are definitely needed:

“And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good.”

-Kate

The Fear

No, not as in the Lily Allen song (which is a great song, let's be honest). But fear in general. Marianne Williamson says that "Love is what we are born with, fear is what we learn". I couldn't agree more greatly.

The list of my fears is endless. From the somewhat normal fear of spiders, snakes and heights to the slightly more unusual fears of eating my yoghurt tub with the peel off lid completely removed (this may be just an obsessive habit, rather than a fear but oh well).

Then there are the more profound fears. The ones that keep us up at night. Fears about money, jobs, school, family, health, weight, appearance, romance, friendship, acceptance etc. etc. etc. We are completely bombarded by all of these fears, every single minute of the day and at times (ok, all the time) it can seem completely unbearable. But where do these fears come from? We're not born with them, we didn't come out of the womb scared shitless about which university course we would get into, or if we would be accepted by the people at our work. We learnt fear along the way. We're told what and who to fear by society. I definitely don't think it's deliberate but rather we subconsciously are influenced by the pressure of everyone and everything around us. At the same time I think we also subconsciously contribute to the fears of others.

If no one ever told us we couldn't fly, would we still be afraid of falling? What would you do if you knew you wouldn't fail?

And seeing as though these thoughtless ramblings are not really reaching an end point I'll finish it up neatly with another great quote. Williamson perfectly sums the whole fear thing up in this killer quote from her book A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

"“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” 

- Kate 

New Year, Same Me

So yeah it's the new year which is wonderful! To be honest I am mildly surprised we made it this far. But all that aside, lets chat new years resolutions.

Every year I make them, you probably do too. And I've noticed a trend. Every year they're basically the same things, just slightly different wording. It seems to be one the biggest cliches ever. Tat whole "New Year, New Me" attitude that everyone adopts on the first of January and forgets completely by the second.

Your resolutions are most likely along the same lines as mine, which are usually along the same lines as Bridget Jones'.

But this year I've decided to stray from tradition. Instead of having my usual "Get fit, stop swearing, start smiling" resolutions, I've decided to adopt a much more simple mantra: Be Good.

Luckily this is about the most ambiguous you can get, so there's lots of room for life there. I really cannot be more fed up with every year new years day, sitting in my room trying to picture where I will be this time next year and hoping that since i've followed my resolutions that I will have evolved into this Beyonce-like Goddess that  looks and acts like pure perfection. I figure there is no point striving for such perfection as I know I'll never get there, and whilst its a lovely ideal, its not practical. We can try all we want to be perfect each year, but being humans we'll likely fuck things up thousands of times. The reality is, we will never be perfect. But we can always be good. And should always strive to be.

So that's my New Years Resolution. I'm looking forward to a good 2014.

“And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good.”

-John Steinback, East of Eden

-Kate

You Can't Hurt Christmas

Yep. It's that dreaded time of year again. That one month where everybody thinks it's acceptable to blast holiday tunes throughout the shopping centre and cover their houses in every possible lightbulb they can find. It's christmas.

Don't get me wrong, I love celebrating the birth of baby Jesus. But there's celebrating and having a good time, and then there's celebrating. Call me a grinch if you must, but I really don't see the appeal. Why would you want to dress your house in grotesquely illuminated baubles for the entire world to see? Why do we all of a sudden love C-list celebrities that sing the same carols every year and pretend they're the next beyonce? Why is michael buble's CD stocked in every single shop you can imagine including the grocery store? Why do we dress our cars up as reindeers? THEY ARE CARS.

Most of all I think the thing that annoys me most is despite my protests every year, I still end up sitting around with my crazy family, belting out an assortment of Mariah Carey's carols, wishing every day could as good as this. As much as I say I hate it, the truth is, you really can't hurt christmas. No matter how many times I refuse to decorate the christmas tree, or refuse to sing carols at church, or refuse to smile in every family photo showing our bonbon prizes, I still end up loving it.

So whether you're a grinch like me, or one of those psycho's that actually willingly attends carols by candlelight every year, have a swell holiday season.

-Kate

The Green Light

Lets talk about Gatsby. It's high time this was discussed thoroughly. First of all, yes. Yes it is perfection. The book. The movie. Leo. Carey Mulligan. All of it. Absolute Perfection. Not to mention the soundtrack (marry me lana del rey).

I've always been a sucker for romance books. Every time, even when they're predictable I still end up in tears. But I think the thing that got me about Gatsby, was how hauntingly true it was, whilst at the same time, being so romanticised it was almost unbelievable (Baz Luhrmann, you've done it again.)

 I think it was eerily accurate as to the way we view people in our lives. Gatsby's love for Daisy Buchanan was tragic and beautiful all at once. His absolute dedication to her, his obsession with her reminded me so much of the silly crushes I've had over the years. I think it made it all the more real. The idea deep down it could still happen. The past could be re-written. That we can re-capture the moments we missed out on. That those we love will always find a way of coming back to us.

"There are all kinds of love in this world but never the same love twice"

The symbolism of that green light at the end of Daisy's dock was almost too much for me. That Gatsby, or we even, will always reach out for more. Always reach out but never quite grasp it. Every time we feel like we get closer, our dreams slip away from us. Unfortunately we will never be satisfied with just loving and being loved. We always want more. The absolute significance of our past to the dream of our future. 

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

I feel like there is so much more I could say. But alas, that quote is perfect enough as it is.

-Kate

It's a Man's World

It really is. Don't get me wrong I'm not some sort of hard-line feminist who's gonna preach not shaving for four years and not wearing deodorant like some sort of high on acid-nature seeking hippie. But as a general statement, I'm all for equality, and feminism is definitely a massive part of that.

I guess I'm just a bit fed up with the whole "you must look like a victoria's secret model at all times of the day" stigma that is present in our society. As a girl who is definitely not 100% happy with the way I look (which girl is, lets be honest) I am so sick and tired of hearing comments like "oh you look tired, are you not wearing makeup?" or "I prefer your hair straight you should straighten it more often". NO! Look, don't get me wrong I love to hear the compliments. But I'm always thinking, why do I need to change the way I look because you prefer me another way? Why can't you just be happy with me?

To all the ladies out there I say: Don't ever think you have to change to please someone else. You're pretty much already great the way you are, and no guy ever has the right to tell you otherwise. Feel proud, to walk out of the house without makeup, flaunt your 'haven't shaved in three days' legs, embrace those few days your hair gets a bit frizzy or messy. 

As my girl Christina would say: "We are beautiful, in every single way. Words can't bring us down. So don't you bring me down today"

-Kate