ode to the fizzer:

with all the free time i've had,

i've been able to get stuff done.

like finishing photo albums.

(i am really good at procrastinating.

i even procrastinate fun things, like photo albums, 

just because i am so good at procrastinating)

anyways, i used to think i wanted to scrapbook,

but then i discovered what i really wanted was to want to scrapbook,

not to actually scrapbook.

and it turns out, i really hate scrapbooking.

i'm not organized enough and i don't have the patience 

and i just don't understand all the lingo and gizmos.

so, i've embraced simple photo albums

(and given all of my confusing scrapbook stuff to goodwill)

one of the photo albums i finished is was my australia album.

i spent a summer in australia...four years ago.

i am not ashamed it took so long to finish. 

well, i'm a little ashamed--but like i said earlier, i'm embracing it.

i opened up that box of aussie memories,

and i found some major treasures:

the friendship anklet from the isv girls, coasters from all over australia and fiji with random quotes and notes on them, every hostel's business card, maps of cities, plane ticket stubs, my travel journal (obviously i may be a hoarder) and that beauty up at the top: my last fizzer. 

fizzer's are candy bars. 

they are usually found in south africa, but also in australia

i know this because my south african friend told me

(ashleigh was from glasgow, but she lived about half of her life in south africa. 

at first when she spoke she was very hard to understand, but it got easier)

so, ashleigh bought a bunch of fizzer's one day 

and she let me try one. 

and then i would not stop eating hers.

i know, i know...i'm such an american. 

but--they were really good

so obvi i saved one to bring home

but then i guess i just wanted to save it for a memory?

i have no idea. but one survived for four years in the pages of my travel journal

and 3 days ago, i tried to eat it.

which was not possible, but it was fun anyway.

so then i went through photos and photo cds and just had the best time 

it was such a great trip, and i made such great friends, and i learned so much about myself and about the world, and now i sing "down under" by men at work at the top of my lungs whenever possible because it just feels so good

like i said, i am getting. things. done.

a couple of isv 2008 gems: