Positivity

I have been in a shit mood most of this year. Largely work-related, somewhat missing home-related, partly just being a cynical bitch. I have also found a great volume of stuff on the internet to reinforce my increasingly-strongly held suspicion that people are mostly selfish bastards, and that there is not much good in the world. FML, passive-agressive notes, It Was Over When..., Perez Hilton and various other celebrity gossip websites are all on my list of daily internet activities, and they are all full of bad stories, sad endings and people treating each other badly.

Someone referred me to GMH (Gives Me Hope)

last week on twitter, citing the site's tagline line of "Like FML, but for optimists". I clicked through, and started reading. And reading. And reading. I had the site open in a browser window for days, reading snippets whenever I had a few spare minutes, before I finally lost my place. I had tears in my eyes many times while reading (shut up, I'm allowed), and it really made me want to be a better person. It has really changed my outlook (at least for the short term), and made me feel like there are some good people hiding somewhere in the world. I am inspired to try to help people and just reading other people's stories of positivity have made me feel a lot more positive. Isn't that lame? But it's true. I'm going to listen to more happy songs, read more happy stories and never go near a forum again.

On a side note, I found it interesting that most of the GMH stories start with terrible things happening - sickness, death, lost jobs - but people's perspective on others actions or outlooks make these stories uplifting. In contrast, lots of FMLs seem to be set in happy or potentially happy situations - dates, weddings, or just every day life.

December blogging

So some of my friends are doing Blogapalooza, where they will blog every day in December. I'm going to be away for lots of December, so I can't really join in, but I can make a bit of an effort for the time I'm here.
So, what's been going on? I have been through a frustrating patch with work, but I think I'm out the other side now. It did prompt me into deciding to give something other than science a go, though, and Sam and I have applied for a year of teaching in Japan with the JET program. We have our fingers crossed, and it would really work out well if we did get the opportunity to go.

I am applying for some science-type grants for next year, but more on that later.

For NOW, the exciting news is that we are off to Thailand in 1.5 weeks! We are going to fly into Bangkok, have two nights with Orawan's friend, then fly south to Surat Thani. From there we head into the Khao Sok National Park for some canoeing and trekking around the jungle, then down to Krabi for the beach resort thing. Then make our way back up to Surat Thani airport, fly back to Bangkok and maybe through to Orawan's home town (around Prachin Buri) for a day? Or possibly just hanging around Bangkok to see the city all dressed up for the King's Birthday, and getting ready for the New Year celebrations! Either way, I am starting to get really excited about getting to experience a whole new country, and getting to do it with a native.