End of an era.. maybe?

Hello followers, I haven't wrote for a few weeks, no real reason, i just guess until my actual journey begins there isn't a lot to talk about and i don't wish to bore you all even before I set off on my travels. However i thought i would write today because it my last day at work until February 2012!?! WOW, reading that back made me sit back in my seat and ponder that thought, OK, i agree its not a life time, whats 7 months out of work? well actually it is quite a long time, how many people take even 3-4 weeks at a time? I am sure many people have taken career breaks for 6-12 even 24 months but there also many, many people that will work there who whole lives taking there statutory annual leave every year and that's it. I know a few people who's life is to work, that they live by the saying 'live to work' they would be lost without it. I must admit that this once was myself, i started work at the tender age of 13, of course i was only a mere paperboy but for those of you who have been paperboys/girls know that getting up at 5.30am every day at 13 in all weathers in no mean feat especially when most your customers read the 'Daily Telegraph', paper? more like an A4 size daily 'book'. From that point on I seemed to have got the bug to work, or perhaps greedy for money!! I progressed (in the same shop) at 14-15 to shelf stacker and then working on the tills at 16. So as i was serving milk, bread and the usual local shop rubbish my mates where out enjoying themselves, drinking, getting high and generally being teenagers! Of course i didn't work every night and I did partake in drinking down the park and getting high also and actually enjoyed it that little bit more as i could actually afford it! OK, i could go on here and describe my working 'carreer' but I will spare you the boring details and brieflyy say that from 'shop assistant' i progressed to supervisor and at 18 running my own store! So by this time i was fully with attitude of 'live to work'. I stayed in this role for a year and unfortunately things started to go downhill working at times 90 hours a week, I then for a number of reasons got myself into a large amount of debt. I left my position and at 19 joined the company i am with now, Orange. I started as humble customer service agent and soon got back into working every hour i could, this time not because of my 'live to work' attitude but more 'work to survive' my salary had taken a huge dip and i had debts coming out of my ears, i actually acquired the name 'overtime king'. After a few years i was getting back on track and was actually able to buy myself a pint or 2 now again even a packet of fag's rather than 'scabbing' from friends! Mmm i just realised that i earlier wrote 'i'll spare you the details of my working career' so i will try and sum up, after 4 years on the call center i applied for a role i am in now in Technical, supporting call routing software which delivers calls into the call centers. Again in this role i took on the attitude of 'live to work' and i progressed very quickly within the team, it was however at around 26 that my attitude changed to that of 'work to live' why i hear you ask? a 2 week trip to Brazil, amazing! up to this trip i had only ever been Europe, you know normal destinations like Spain, France and such like, Brazil opened my eyes and i soon realised Bristol, England was just a tiny drop in a huge Ocean of the world! My bug for travelling had begun! So over the next few years my hard earned cash went towards extended holidays, OZ, Thailand, Fiji, America.

So, that brings us up to the present day, with me now sat at my desk writing this post thinking 3 things, firstly, i really went of on a tangent, secondly how many of you have fallen asleep? I guess my point is, that life should be lived, that the world is not big but it is Huuuugee! Now i don't just mean that you have to go on exotic and adventurous holidays, roaming the planet looking for the next 'high' or that it will make you happy, however 'work to live' don't 'live to work' you only get one life and its short, at some point we all i am sure have to 'live to work' or even 'work to survive' but if you get the opportunity to do something you have always wanted to do, believe in yourself, trust yourself, grab life with both hands and LIVE IT!!

Some of you maybe thinking 2 things, whats the title of this blog all about? and what was the 3rd thing i was thinking about? well they are sort of encompassed into one. I have been at Orange for 12 years, i have worked hard, made some great friends, earn good wages, Orange has been good to me no doubt, however the last 2 years i have lost my 'Orange mojo' I must admit as much a i love my job over the past years it has drained me, sucked the life right out of me at times, which is why the career break. I am now in a position where i am debt free, no ties, so as i sit at my desk with only around 5 hours left of work the only question i have to ask myself... will i come back??

''learn from the past, embrace the present and live for the future''

Step Closer to being branded a 'Flashpacker'

It would seem that my fears from my last post of becoming a 'Flashpacker' seem to be coming true as this week i purchased myself a 'Netbook'. I have debated for sometime whether to invest in one to take with me on my travels or not, did some online searching, weighed up the pro's and con's and the general consensus was that people that had taken them would have been 'lost without one', i am not sure i like that phrase, it sounds like those people that update their Facebook status with 'lost my phone, i feel like i have lost my right arm' a phone's a phone we went thousands of years without phones and everyone seemed to get along just fine. So i was a bit skeptical about purchasing a Netbook however i think the pro's out weight the con's. Most internet cafe's, cafe's, hostels and hotels now have wireless and majority are free, even in countries such as Cambodia and Laos i have read that a lot of the hostels have wireless, so this saves paying for internet access in hostels and internet cafe's which lets face it usually have PC's as old as my grandad are as big as a house and so slow that your first hour's worth of access is taken up by just opening the internet browser, so that was a tick in the box, secondly and also just to booster my 'flashpacker' status i am taking a DSLR camera, the Netbook has 250GB of disk space so i will be able store quite a number of photo's and not worry about having to burn to disk or upload to a photo site which again in an internet cafe in some countries will just be painful. Of course their is the risk of the Netbook and even my camera being stolen so i will be sending back home at convenient times USB sticks full of photo's. On the note of theft i have actually insured my Camera at a small cost of £3.16 a month for theft and damage, the website if interested is listed on the right hand side of my blog. The final couple of pro's are that on long journeys i can play films/music and of course even prepare my next blog for all you lucky readers out there who i know will be everyday waiting in anticipation for your daily dose of 'ruffysworld', OK, well maybe not but i like to think that will be the case. So whether i am branded a Flashpacker or not I believe and hope it will be a good investment even if at the same time it makes me prime target for wannabe thieves and muggers!!! Keep well. Ruffy.

Came across the below song while watching an episode of 'House' (which i love by the way) I thought the song was very 'apt' and i think its great! enjoy.