R-E-S-P-E-C-T

As loud as I may be sometimes, I'm actually quite the introvert. Lately though, my world has been turned upside down and shifted to a different continent. In February and March I was bombarded with difficult days and stretching situations. I kept thinking that this was just too hard because so many doors were shut in my face. Sometimes even literally. I realized that in life you have two choices: to freeze in the headlights, or grow a pair and keep going. I have good days and bad, but today was great!

This morning we went to Flemmington Market which takes place every Saturday in a giant industrial warehouse. It's filled to the brim with fruits, veges, seafood, meat, crappy nik naks and clothes. There are thousands of people milling about; half are buying and the other half are yelling "$1" It's crazy & loud. We bought lots of goodies, and our friends bought a giant bbq. Around 2:00 we started heading out and Colin & I noticed that there was 1 guy in the whole place selling figs. Perfect, I thought, I could make a cool fig recipe that I've been wanting to try. We take a look at them trying to decide if we want the nice box for $15 or the crappy one for $10. This guy didn't have any other customers there and the market was going to be shutting down in the next half hour, so he throws the grossest $15 box into Colin's hands and says $10. hmmm...okay why not. I start digging into my pockets scrounging out my $5 bill and change that hopefully added up to $5. I had spent literally 3 seconds taking money out when all of a sudden this guy starts yelling at me and telling me to "stop mucking around!" I froze. I looked at him expecting him to smile and laugh, but he just stared me down. I took the box from Colin's arms and threw them back into this big Aussie's arms and said, "You can keep them. You're a dick." And then I walked away from my dessert.

I don't know what I would have done a couple of months ago, but I'm pretty sure it would have ended in tears. Today I felt empowered. Nobody yells at me when I'm trying to purchase figs! I wish I had done it a little different, but hindsight teaches us how to be better. Next time I'll just put the box down and tell him that I don't buy produce from weiners. And then the time after that I'll just laugh and walk away. The point is... someone yelled at me and I didn't cry! I'm such a mature 25 year old.

My birthday was last Tuesday and I didn't tell anyone at work. I told myself that it was too awkward to bring up in a new job but I still spent the day feeling a teensy bit sorry for myself. Yesterday one of my coworkers randomly asked when my birthday was, counted the 3 days in between April 30th and April 27th, realized we worked together that day, and then gave me crap for keeping it a secret. Then they took me out for lunch and we're having cake on Monday. It was overwhelmingly kind and made me feel warm and fuzzy.

E.