We have been ignorant in our blogging, and as such are extremely apologetic.
However, we have gained jobs, returned to/continued University, been drinking and eating wonderful food, and meeting with long lost friends. We have been music hunting, soul-searching, running, swimming, and hiking. We have been hungover, and conversely, as mentally resolute as our faculties allow. We have consumed beer, planned travel, read, written, and received letters, and spent quality time with those we miss and love. We have had health scares, familial worries, financial barrel-scrapings, and quarrelsome frustrations at the world around us, and the people in it. We have made promises and been lack-some upon our laurels, but resolute in our means to not only meet them, but further them and exceed even our own expectations.
So when we return, we hope to regale you with a few more tales, some photos, some lists (particularly in terms of beer consumption), maybe even some videos, and definitely some crazy laughs.
Recently, on a few beer outings with mates, I’ve found that I have been inconveniently without my trusty bottle-opener keyring, much to the disgrace of friends. This prompted many funny attempts to open them while in public – and resulted in many weird onlookers and funny comments.
Well, appears we aren’t the only ones who love to shove it to the established methods of opening a beer, and these guys took it to the next level, and made a video. More than that, it is 2 minutes of crashing, breaking, shearing, popping, and ultimately, beering.
Not an easy question, especially is you don’t even know what it is. If I told you it used to be needed to open ever beer, you’d dream up images of every bottle opener you’ve ever owned. Unfortunately though, many people think of the wrong end.
That pointy thing at the other end, yes, it had a use. It used to be the only way you could get into a beer. Wow. Culture shock. Mind = blown.
So to refresh you (pardon the beer pun!), take a small gander at this, from the new start-up craft brewery Churchkey.
“Matt. For the last time, will you please get your licence. I wanna drink at these beer-tastings too you know.”
– Connor, every single time he has to drive us (well, to be honest, me) to a beer-tasting event.
Matt – enjoying not being Deso Driver for the night. Connor – not quite as impressed.
Well, as far as I’m concerned, that sounds like a challenge.
But first to explain.
I don’t have a drivers licence. *dodges abuse hurled from everywhere*.
Yes, I know!! I should!! I’m almost 23!!! But I just never got around to it. I left home for uni, moved into a place with good public transport, but no car, money to own/run a car, and no-one to sit in the passenger seat next to me and accrue the hours, without paying through the mouth for some unknown person to do it.
Sooooo, I just never got around to it, yet. Now, this is not to say I can’t drive, that I can do, but that’s no excuse. I’ve been lazy, I know. Bad Dobby.
This is Connor – DD for the past 3 months. Whoops.
So lately when I’ve been visiting Connor and we go hunting brewskies, guess who has to drive?? And guess who (teeheehee) gets to enjoy the beverages?? Cheeky Dobby.
So, after Connor so vehemently announced his desire to drink and not drive, I have decided I should get onto my licence. Well, here comes the twist, I guess I should more appropriately say, ‘a’ licence.
You see, all those highlighted reasons for me not getting it, well, they still exist. Money is a big hurdle, as is time, and the fact that I have so many hours of commitment before it becomes of any worth – the ability to independently drive.
However, I do have a solution.
Challenge #12 – To get my Motorcycle licence.
Pretty sure my dad juuuuuust had a shiver go up his spine.
Anyway, to explain. The rules associated with getting a motorcycle licence in Australia are much better suited to Learner drivers. They enable, after completing a practical course over a few days, a to Learner essentially explore the use of low-powered motorbikes and scooters as they are learning. This helps me not only gain independent mobility very soon, but means I can get out and explore and move about while I am still on my L’s, in a cost-effective means. These two things are extremely enticing.
It means that after a few months of riding, I can pass my second licence exam, and start to possibly take a pillion passenger. Ie Connor.
Although to be honest, I think in the end i would just rather take a taxi, so we can both enjoy the beverages together.
However, it does have a second, more long-term use and importance. The attainment of my licence, and the subsequent practice I undertake will hopefully prepare me for a much larger challenge to possibly be faced later on in the year.
——– ——— ——— ——— ———
After reading of Unicef through my research on last week’s post on Ewan McGregor, and finding myself a role model with which I can follow a bit of a path of self-discovery so to speak, I have avidly researched ways in which I can undertake fundraising for the organisation. 2012 is, as some of you may or may not know, a big year for my family, but probably more so for me.
It will be the 18th Anniversary of my brother Ben Orman’s passing. My younger brother died at a very young age of health complications, in a modern society where we are privileged to receive direct and high quality health care. I have been through my own turmoil and reasoning with ways to cope with the anniversary, the day my brother would’ve been free to start his own life in essence; make his own choices, decide who he wanted to be. But nothing yet has seemed to stick.
And as even more of a coincidence, it appears that I will be in India or Nepal on the 16th of December, his birthday, later this year. So the way in which I commemorate it will probably be without the rest of my family, harrowing somewhat, but meaning I have some freedom to decide how I want to approach the day.
So, plans are in the way to do something big, that maybe entails much more than just one day of celebration, but instead a journey, as much as I hate that word (courtesy of Year 12 English). Something that I can look back on and fondly remember the way in which I celebrated my own life and the pleasure I have in living it to the fullest, when he in many ways was unable to enjoy his own, himself, if nothing else but for it’s brevity.
The idea at the moment is to circle India, or rather, circumnavigate it (so to speak).
Sounds alright, perhaps even quite possible. Until I say that I am intending to do it on a motorcycle.
Yes, thrusting a somewhat newby at riding into one of the most hellish driving situations on Earth. Maybe not the smartest of ideas, but, it is just that at the moment – an idea.
Preliminary Route Plans
The initial plans focus on short days of driving, approximately 300-350km a day, along major highways, stopping at major cities that will have decent supplies and accomodation. The aim is to try and do it within roughly a month, but only requiring 25 actual days of driving to achieve the 7,500km route. It may be lengthened slightly to include the Sikkim and Bihar regions, and explore maybe as far as Darjeeling in the North. This would of course add additional time.
Connor may or may not come along for the journey, I will leave that up to him. It of course may ultimately never happen. That is just fate. But we will try our best to generate some form of grand challenge to undertake on the continent.
But before you continue on about why I would do this, my intentions are two-fold. To commemorate the passing of my brother, yes.
But also to generate awareness of the health conditions and availability of health care in third world countries, in particular the Indian subcontinent. Trying to draw perspective and understanding from friends, family, acquaintances, and unknown donors, that even with all the health care in the world, we still have children dying in the midst of high sanitation, plentiful food, water, and nutrition, and with professional health staff to advise families and friends of their options. And in doing so, show how people without all these resources struggle not only to make ends meet, but to survive all that they face, all that rises up to dissuade them from being able to enjoy life, much in the way that I am by travelling and exploring. And in the process, raise valuable funds for Unicef, supporting it’s worldwide programs and initiatives that aim to give the underprivileged children of the world a fighting chance. And hopefully Unicef will jump on board the plan, and organise some tours to see first hand what they’re doing throughout the country in it’s fight against child poverty, malnutrition, health epidemics, and education.
So, be on the look out for this later challenge. If it eventuates, then this blog will be the primary location to see it being put into action. And if it doesn’t, something else will surely take it’s place.
We are, after all, doing everything we always said we would.
I am turning 23 later this month. 23. Wow. As the pseudo-proverbial phrase always goes, it’s a weird age. I think every birthday – that isn’t a milestone of some numerological importance, such as a multiple of 10, or of gregarious importance such as turning 18 or 21 – is a weird age to be. Life is weird. We all deal with it in our own weird little ways. Weird, huh?
So, other than being existential and philosophical about the upcoming birthday, I have for a while been discussing – maybe not aloud to myself in public or anything, but discussing is still the correct verb – who I want to be. I am still fortuitous in that I believe I can somewhat mould my destiny (well, a tad), with some time still left to decide if I want to follow down the path that my studies have led, go into a pseudo-field of that study, or pursue something quite unrelated. I personally have always wanted to be an Airline pilot, and think that I would gain no greater pleasure than travelling daily in the machines that I have so aptly and passionately enjoyed working on and using day to day since that first flight as a youngen. I’d also love to be an engineer, and duly follow the career that my degree has pre-empted me thus far.
But in a completely unrelated field, yet following the lines one or two of the other early challenges on this blog, I would love to open up a small Pintxos laneway bar, serving beautiful, inexpensive, high quality food in simple mouthfuls and plantxas to those who wanted to enjoy the food they bought, down easy drinking beverages, and immerse the night in conversation, laughs, and that understated appreciation for the little things in life. In some ways, to emulate every night of my 6 months in San Sebastian, and pass on my own enjoyment of this lifestyle and cuisine to those open to trying it.
But I look back at this paragraph, and start to question things.
All of these relate to what I want to do. I have always asked that question; I guess it’s inherent from a young age that we ask it of ourselves, or others compel us to respond for the sheer cuteness of the aspiration and open-ended hope. E.g:
The old “so what do you want to be when you grow up“ scenario, when any quadragenarian (or so) sidled up to you as a young child, and felt compelled to ask existential and somewhat blind questions to you, at the time with no grasp of what it meant to actually decide on a long-term career choice, and you instead, on impulse of course, replied with the thing that most made you smile. For me that was planes and food. How times change.
What intrigues me about this question instead however, is that in being asked all those years, and in now taking my turn on the wheel of life and inquiring it myself to a generation of equally unsuspecting and unassuming 4 year old’s, that maybe our focus is all wrong. Yes it would be amazing to have the insight at that age to know exactly what you want and to follow it out through life and attain what in essence would be the perfect career, but is it just that we all heard the question wrong? Or indeed, was it paraphrased wrongly?
Because the question I’ve started to ask myself instead, is “What do I want to be when I grow up?” Emphasis on the be.
Maybe I should edit it to give more meaning.
“WhatWho do I want to beBE when I grow up?”
There, that is the inner turmoil I have been trying to sort out. Jobs can come and go, and no career maketh the proverbial man. And to some extent, wanting to do something professionally doesn’t always either a) pay the bills, or b) happen just because you want it to. Passion is one thing, but having the capacity to do something is another.
That’s where this new question is different, it simply reflects on what aspects and assets of your personality you wish to have and see as dominating your countenance. What passions do you choose to give in too, what interests do you keep to yourself, or share an enjoyment of with others. This, in essence, seems a more appropriate definition of what maketh a man. And yes, we all change over time. Parts of this personality ebb and flow, wane and grow, and it is therefore our morals and personal regard for ourselves and others that shines through.
So as a little present to myself, happy 23rd mate, I’ve got one more life-challenge to add to the list.
Life Challenge #3 – To find myself a Role Model, and thus find out who exactly I want to be.
Sounds easy enough, right? Just find a role model, I’m sure there’s one around here somewhere… It seems these days that finding a suitable role model is more easily said than done. There seems to be more of a focus to image these days, than there is towards morals. People idolise others that are in the spotlight, for the sheer desire to have the things they do, look the way they do. But not everyone can say their role model is who they say they are simply because they come across as the type of person they wish they were, morally and in personality. I mean, we are made to feel like we know the celebrities of this generation, when in fact, we know only their public image, and have no clue about who they actually are; nor in some ways do we care. Marketing & publicity FTW.
Ok, so maybe I need to classify their importance and ask a few questions first, just so that when they interview for the position I’ll know what I’m looking for. Here’s the 5 things I think I need to ask of myself and the way they would fit into the aforementioned available role:
Do I need a Role model for each facet of life?
If/when I change, will I also have to change Role Models, or find a universal one?
Which is the more important feature that they posses: Personal image, style, and identity vs morals and personality?
Is their past struggle and weakness and it’s overcoming a necessary feature, or is purity in past history and deeds a better guide?
Is emulation the key, or is it more to transcribe an approximate path with which to cast your own shadow?
Each of these just begs to ask more questions. And I can tell that I am going to just get knee deep and bogged down in the matter if I don’t sort myself out.
Luckily, I have someone in mind. Ewan McGregor.
Role-Model #1
Why, might you ask?
Recently I have been spending some time perusing my way through this Tumblr page: Oh, Pioneer!.
Oh, Pioneer! on Tumblr
It has a fantastic mix of old-world elements, raw machinery, landscapes, surfing, food, culture, gentlemanly pursuits, and to be honest it is starting to hit a bit of a tone with me. Everything on this website exudes the person that I want to be, the things I not only presently enjoy, but other things I know I want to get into in the near future. And more acutely (this will soon be discussed in a following post) a passion of vintage motorbikes, adventure, and roadtrips.
Well, having read and watched a few of his past documentaries, I was instantly drawn to Ewan. For those that don’t know, along with his best mate Charley Boorman, Ewan completed 2 long distance endurance rides. First in 2004, he completed Long Way Round, where they travelled together from London to New York via central Europe, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberian Russia, and Canada.
Long Way Round, 2004.
Then in 2007, the Long Way Round team reunited in 2007 for another motorcycle trip from John o’ Groats in Scotland to Cape Town in South Africa. The journey, entitled Long Way Down, lasted from 12 May until 5 August.
Long Way Down, 2007.
I find these journeys incredibly moving, and his work with charity organisations along the way to be the perfect display of his personality, demeanour and character.
To me he comes across as the modern day gentleman. His public image is clean, and yet in this modern era of proving self-worth, his masculinity is seemingly never in question. He’s short, much like myself, and the roles he plays in his various repertoire of films have all been of an increasingly complex level – which I think lends itself to saying that he not only exudes confidence and personal character, but a quick sense of wit and intelligence. He dresses like a gentleman, acts like one, and is a openly displays and follows his passions and beliefs.
He is also ardent in his support of charity work, including being an Ambassador with both UNICEF and GO Campaign. During his RTW trips he undertook many publicity ventures for the organisations, trying to raise awareness of Orphan’s and Children’s Welfare around the world. Last year, he even undertook work with UNICEF in a BBC production entitled Ewan McGregor: Cold Chain Mission, where he travelled by motorbike, boat, plane and foot to deliver vaccines to children in remote parts of India, Nepal and the Republic of Congo.
This sounds like something Connor & myself have been craving to do.
He has also faced downturns, publicly admitting in 2007 that he had been through stages of alcoholism, and at that point in time, had not touched a drink in 7 years. I think that this adds character to his personality, and displays impressive evidence of self-control and determination. Should I face similar problems, I would only wish to face up to them in the same way he has. In other accomplishments, he has a beautiful family including his gorgeous French wife of 17 years, Eve Mavrakis, and two daughters.
If you ask me, in a modern world of personalities in which values and morals can be somewhat lacking, I think he comes across as a man of remarkable integrity and value. I only hope that I too could be seen in that same light at some point in my life. As for who/what I want to be, I’ll slowly sort that one out – I think you’ll slowly see it develop through this webpage, and I’ll be sure to reflect on this post a few times before the end of the year.
I hope this has given you some fuel for thought, and I would love to hear of your own personal Role Model(s), and why they came about as being your personal choice.Feel free to comment away below!
Live Below The Line has been a challenge that I have been meaning to attempt for probably 3 years now. For those new to it, the aim is to emulate the diets of those impoverished sectors and demographics of the global population. By Living essentially Below the poverty Line, the aim is to raise awareness in your own mind of the challenges faced by these people, and relay this message to your friends, family, and associates, in being able to consciously relate to those who go through unnecessary periods of hunger and bouts of malnutrition and illness. The challenge in essence seems easy, feel full for a week on $2 a day = $10 a week total on food.
For anyone who saw my earlier posts and my shopping list, you can see that I primarily lived on Carbohydrates – rice, pasta, & rolled oats. Only to some meals did I add some flavour – stock cubes – only in other meals did I gain necessary fats, proteins, and vitamins like Calcium – Full Cream Milk – and in only 3 meals of the week did I have a source of vegetables – tomatoes.
Did I feel hungry all the time. To be honest, no. I could ‘survive’ by feeling full on carbs all week long. But was I healthy??
None of the above meal options at all correspond to the basic conditions of that age old standard of eating, the food pyramid. For a fresh reminder, see below:
This is pertinent when you look at my vegetable intake. I had 1 vegetable, and only on some days. No fruit. Little to no wholegrain wheat, rice, or cereal products, no protein or iron sources, and little (if any) unsaturated fats or plants sterols. My vitamin C intake was essentially nothing, and my options for micro-nutrients limited to those that survived their subsequent manufacturing processes.
This is not normal, nor healthy.
In the space of the week, I tried to maintain as normal a lifestyle as possible. This includes exercise, occasional irregularity with times of eating, and having to pre-prepare some food if I was not going to be able to cook it at a suitable time. The exercise was the big one. Having held constant weight for a fortnight or so before the challenge, during the week, I lost 1-1.5 kg. And I can guarantee that this is not water weight, I drank myself under the table in water to constantly rehydrate, especially after exercise. Mid-week, after my stomach had finally lost all previous remnants of food, it started to pack it in at the constant supply of high GI Carbs and starches, and during exercise I would cramp from the lack of salt in my diet. These are not everyday problems that I can consciously say I have experienced regularly, but something induced I believe by the diet. And even last night while out with friends, 3 hours after eating my final meal of rice and tomatoes I was fairly gone to the world – my ability to not only concentrate, but to engage with those around me – gone. The spikes of energy and the crashing lows really do affect you, and I can only imagine what it would be like to be a 15 year old boy, going through school with this kind of problem, where their ability to concentrate was diminished by simply what they ate. Not a neurological condition, behavioural condition, or even an insulin deficiency, but simply due to the lack of complex starches, protein, and vitamins in their diet.
That is the first time I can ever say I have consciously felt that effect. Wow. And I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone.
With regards to cravings – gosh I missed chocolate. I could have consumed a whole block had someone bought it for me. No joke. I love it at the best of times, but I felt such strong pangs for it that it scared me a little.
As for caffeine, less so, it was less of an issue for me to deal with, as I am not a regular coffee or coke drinker anyway. Or if I do drink coffee, I have it every so often such that the caffeine is days out of system before I have any more – my coping mechanisms for that were fine. Sugar, I could have used. However, knowing the energy crashes that I did go through, I can only imagine that my problems would be compounded if I was to include sugar in the diet anyway. And as for meat and protein, I could have guzzled milk and steak and eggs and bacon at the drop of a hat. Today’s bacon and eggs brekky will be a treat and a half!
But I guess that’s just it in the end. I’m fine, I went through a week of it, and now that’s all well and done I can skip off and grab all the things I have been desiring and fall back into my habits and eating patterns and snacking and general overconsumption.
But there are a lot of people out there who cannot.
That’s a harrowing thought. For some people, there is no foreseeable end to their problems. While I had about 3 square meals a day, some days may be without if it so goes that funds or availability dry up. In moments of need, I had plentiful clean water to not only quench my thirst, but fill my stomach momentarily – Others do not, and it may consume more bodily fluids in walking to retrieve any water, let alone a clean source – that in turn they are not only malnourished but now also dehydrated. And anyone will tell you that both of these, compounded with poor public health initiatives and availability, when faced with widespread health epidemics, people will not only fall gravely ill, but die – despite the bounties of opportunity and hope that modern medicine provides.
So to all of you who donated to his wonderful cause – thank you. I have had surprisingly a great time completing this challenge, knocking it off the bucket list, and hopefully planting some of it’s seeds of thought deeper into my own conscious actions, and of those around me. With your help, we raised more than what I could ever have hoped for!
Fundraising Challenge
To those that wrote the wonderful messages of support, thank you!! Believe it or not they made me smile at many of the hunger intervals, I’m not even kidding. To the friends, albeit they jested and taunted me with wonderful delicious food, who smiled and knowingly put up with me bringing containers of ugly tasteless cold rice to dinner gatherings – thank you. It was lovely that you could just accept the little challenge I was attempting. To the friends who joined in and actually started the challenge themselves to emulate it, wow, you guys are right up there on the commitment stakes. And to those fellow fund-raisers who combined raised over AU$1.587 million, top effort all round team.
If you still wish to donate, there is time! Follow the links through to this page, and please donate anything within your means!!
While Matt’s not eating very much at present, lets not forget Live Below the Line also encapsulates drinks. Hence, instead of drinking some wonderful beers, we’ve been doing a bit of research. There are a lot of styles of beers, but how exactly do you differentiate between them?
Well, wonder no more. This simple chart explains it all, and lists some of the more common examples:
Beers in All their Glory – Photo sourced from Etsy.com
We think we can try and tick off most of these varieties by the end of the year. We’ll get back to you on our progress!
One more day left, and then we’re back into trying as many of these as possible.
Happy Drinking!
Check out this video from the Australian wing of the Oaktree Foundation.
All funds raised from Live Below The Line go towards this generous organisation.
Almost three days through, 2 to go!! I am having serious sugar and chocolate cravings! Anything sweet. And some salt wouldn’t go astray either.
Keep donating within your means guys! Almost halfway to the target amount, let’s keep pushing!
I am starting to think that reading food blogs while on a self-imposed food restriction is a little stupid.
With a diet consisting almost solely of this, who could blame me for window shopping??
But call me a sucker for punishment, here I am spending my time reading about food, thinking about food, and dreaming of all the ‘first meals’ I’m going to have once I get past Friday.
SO Here’s a few of my absolute favourites, feel free to browse them and indulge (solely visually) in the same way I am right now!
And as for the fact that this new challenge stops me also drinking beer (unless it’s in my budget, which despite taste and current desire, it isn’t), here a few stellar beer pages to wet the mental whistle:
It has begun. 5 days with solely $2 per day to spend on food. I can already tell this is going to hurt.
For someone who spends hours a day thinking, dreaming, and ultimately consuming food, this is effectively hell. So to start, let’s hit up a small food diary, to give you all a taste so to speak of the daily menu.
So yesterday was very crazy. I had returned from visiting Connor and friends at a music festival in Bendigo (post coming soon!) late on Sunday night, and so had not been able to purchase my food for the week. This was further compounded by the fact that I had a very important job interview in the morning. So at 5.30am, I got out of bed – hungry – went to a 5 hour interview session – hungry – headed home via Woolworths and collected food. At this point I was still hungry, except unlike the rest of the morning where I was distracted, here I was presented with visible nearby means of torturous delight. Chocolate, and fresh crunchy muesli and yoghurt. Not fair. Remember that old dictum – Don’t Go Shopping When You’re Hungry – well, it is holds true.
Anyway, somehow I managed to come out of there with under $10 worth of food for the week. This is shown in the docket below, barring the purchase of the bag, damn you Woolworths for ruining the perfect picture.
As you can see, fairly Carb-laden, but hopefully that will hold me out. When you see it though in terms of quantity, $10 bought a little more than I suspected, but maybe that will become less apparent as the week goes on and my hunger induces pangs of desire for more and more sugar and caffeine. You can see all the food below:
So, in terms of food plan, here’s what I’m aiming for every day:
Breakfast – Rolled Oats and Milk.
Lunch – Pasta (later in week it will be covered with a tomato and beef stock sauce for variety)
Dinner – Rice (flavoured with stock, and later in week, canned tomatoes)
The high fibre and protein Breakfast should hold me in good stead for the early part of the day, and delay me needing to have too much more till about 1 or 2pm, and then a large Pasta meal will hold me till 8 or 9 at night hopefully.
Anyway, yesterday after returning home from shopping, I gorged myself on my first meal of the week, the oats and milk. I have to say that I was expecting it to be quite bland – I used to add brown sugar as a kid, and loved the caramel milk at the end, but it was not as bad as expected. The milk helped with flavour compared to having bland porridge, and I am a big dairy eater, so it was worth the $2.
Dinner was plain pasta. My methodology to the madness was that early in the week I put up with the blandest option available, and then later in the week I add the flavoursome items for a little reward, and also because I think my palette will be used to cardboard by that stage. So in terms of taste, by the end of the week, anything extra will taste like heaven, rather than the converse where I eat it first while I’m still in need of sugar and salt, and then find out later in the week I have to be punished and go even more bland. That’s my spin, how would you all handle it????
Believe it or not, this lasted me the rest of the day, hence only having had 2 meals yesterday, I have a little in reserve in case of hunger another day. That will also mean I can go for a Run or swim and not fear being too hungry or depleted afterwards as I cannot refuel.
So yet again this morning, I woke to oats and milk. This is going to get repetitive, but maybe that’s exactly what I need to get through it. I have been starting to have a few small headaches and weird spells, and I think this is my body readjusting to a lack of sugar and salt. It should come through. I have also been craving chocolate. Ugh, it would be amazing to have a piece right now!!
Here is the little Meal Montage I have going:
(1) Breakfast/Lunch, Dinner. (2) Breakfast
Please guys, keep donating to this wonderful cause!! Do your own little version of it, give up coffee for 5 days, or chocolate, that would seem fair to me, and put that money instead into the hands of the Oaktree Foundation who put it to better use! Follow the link below:
yearofexperiences 