DEFINITION:

1. The result of a yearning for exploration, education and enlightenment of the world we live in 

2. an insatiable curiosity which lends itself to an actualisation of existence through communication to others in written form

May 2024
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Murals, Museums and More in Mexico City

Murals, Museums and More in Mexico City

Growing up in the South of England meant I had minimal exposure to a true representation of Mexico, experiencing instead occasional associations including a toy shop piñata at a birthday party, sporadic meals via Old El Paso Tex-Mex kits from grocery stores, or consuming copious shots of Jose Cuervo with merry friends (followed by multiple pained facial expressions).  Venture into the City...
The Reset Button

The Reset Button

So many guises in our years, Whose to say when it all becomes clear. Signing forms and forming smiles, All the while it still reviles. One door opens; another closes. I press reset for my mind’s repose. And begin again with a fresh slate. A new chapter, A new challenge...
Elevated Splendor: Big Bend Solitude and Terlingua

Elevated Splendor: Big Bend Solitude and Terlingua

“The mountains are calling, and I must go”.    John Muir, Yosemite Valley 1873. These are the words sprawled across the minty green shirts presented by my cousin for her fortieth year celebratory trip at Big Bend National Park, which have lingered periodically in my mind since returning to Austin....
CreativeMornings Austin: A Magical Initiation

CreativeMornings Austin: A Magical Initiation

It’s 7.30am and I’m peddling through South Austin’s winding roads, greeted by the glorious pink light of sunrise.  The cool, fresh air envelops me; a welcome change after the past 6 months, more accustomed to the feeling of wearing a vest of hot coals.  With 2 different lollipop ladies (mind my British, I mean...
Let your Authentic Self be Front Facing

Let your Authentic Self be Front Facing

A TED talk delivered by the masterful David Byrne on how architecture has helped music evolve has sparked deeper cerebral churning.  Byrne went on to quote the American author Thomas Frank, regarding the voting process: “Voters (like a lot of us) assume if they hear something that ‘sounds like’ its sincere, that its coming from the...
Don't let Digital kill the Art of Conversation

Don’t let Digital kill the Art of Conversation

Speed kills.  I’m sure you’re familiar with the advertising campaigns that bolstered our road safety regulations.  Texting whilst driving has also joined the ranks in securing more consciousness for travel in order to prevent unnecessary deaths or accidents. Whether you agree with this ruling or not, the digital and velocity based...
Faith: The Forgotten Motivator

Faith: The Forgotten Motivator

Following a recent meeting of family friends, a waver in self-belief resulted in the calming retort: “Have some faith”. This simple statement came from a dear friend of my late parents, with added resonance because he has known me since youth and through to adulthood. It was not a dispersion on...
Deconstructing ‘The Block’: The Quest for Inspiration

Deconstructing ‘The Block’: The Quest for Inspiration

If you are one of those lucky people that flows creativity from every vein with as much ease as blinking, then stop reading now. If however you are like myself, at times wandering aimlessly both in mind and body to source stimuli for an article or art installation, then read...
Resolutions for Life (and not just at New Years)

Resolutions for Life (and not just at New Years)

As we enter 2015, it seems inevitable that my latest (and overdue) article relates to this existential moment and the thoughts of what it means to have a fresh new year to play with. January 1st is welcomed worldwide through a variety of ways, some of which involve many libations, with...
Longing to 'be' happy? Just let yourself BE

Longing to ‘be’ happy? Just let yourself BE

There are many things to be said about freedom.  One of the most resonant for me though is that it is severely underrated.  And I do not speak on this occasion of the reasons and wherefores for incarceration.  It is more in regards to the personal and work related restrictions...
From Darwin to Digital: A Revolution for our Species

From Darwin to Digital: A Revolution for our Species

Most of us are familiar with the graphic charting the progress of man,from ape to modernity (with variances on the present-day interpretation ranging from obese man to stressed office worker) but who would have predicted the rapidity of man’s digital evolution.  With access to more and more articles documenting our digital history with trivia...
Creative Writing as Therapy: The Gestalt Approach

Creative Writing as Therapy: The Gestalt Approach

Writing, like so many creative arts, is a discipline that needs constant attention and a variety of stimulus.  Whatever you write, you need to consider its composition, its flow.  You need to articulate its story with prose or poetry, using words as colour to activate imagination in the mind.  There may be...
A Romance Continued: Returning to New Orleans & Tasting the Deep South

A Romance Continued: Returning to New Orleans & Tasting the Deep South

It’s a beautiful thing to build a relationship with a City.  Guidebooks can offer up suggestions, multiple apps help seek out hidden gems and there are always online recommendations (incredibly useful when in dire need of feeding), however I always find my best experiences are gained by seeking out and...
I Smile at Mirrors

I Smile at Mirrors

  (Dedicated to my Mother)   The scent of your perfume fades from memory Until a stranger passes by, then I smile Closing my eyes to remember your face As I breathe in deeply   I stare at stories in the dark Illuminating the empty seat beside me But I...
Getting Older & Embracing your Age

Getting Older & Embracing your Age

How do you react when you are posed with the question “How OLD are you?”… Do you wince, mumbling the wretched number under your breath?  Perhaps you state it proudly, with the enquirer following it up with a welcomed “but you don’t look it!”.  Or do you simply change the...
A Sense of Independence in Palawan

A Sense of Independence in Palawan

There is much to be said for a woman travelling alone in the world, in my case the Far Eastern side of the planet to the Philippines.  As a demi-Filipina, one might assume I have a distinct advantage in navigating around the 7000+ island culture, versus the typical ‘tourist’ trip...
Soaking up New Orleans: My NOLA Inauguration

Soaking up New Orleans: My NOLA Inauguration

Aside from Austin, Texas and a weekend in Las Vegas, I have had no other experience of the US of A until recently, when the fine opportunity to celebrate New Year’s Eve in “N’awlins” presented itself. I am sure like many others before, I speculated upon what NOLA had to...
Stoicism: The Key to Modern Day Living?

Stoicism: The Key to Modern Day Living?

During the throes of modern life, it is easy to lose ourselves in our daily chores, occupations and moments of liberty.  The demand for our time as we get older becomes ever more engrossed by what we are expected to do but these expectations are usually projected onto the situation...
LISBOA

LISBOA

  Your children departed briefly Only to return swiftly Enticing me with their journey of smiles So much affinity Though we never met Yet And then we drank in the skies With each other’s eyes In contemplative adoration Of this feeling of elation   My feet tread upon your cobbled...
REVIEW: Prawn on the Lawn

REVIEW: Prawn on the Lawn

It occurred to me recently that I have never stated prices or budgets for restaurants that I’ve written about.  This is not an intentional disservice to the reader, I simply think it is a little tawdry to overcast the splendidness of a meal with a quotation.  Much like when I...
No Questions to Ponder

No Questions to Ponder

  There is something serene In the gleam of your eye it calms the internal chaos   No more questions to ponder as I only grow fonder of a now, somewhat altered status   As I drown in your lips Hands pressed close on my hips swaying gently in sync...
Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain

Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain

There must be many moments we re-live, whether due to failure to learn from experience or the bittersweet nostalgia of familiarity.  I raise this topic as it is one I notice within many people, including myself upon occasion (although I would also like to say a tad savvier now).  We...
Epicurean Expeditions: from San Francisco to Austin

Epicurean Expeditions: from San Francisco to Austin

Although primarily to reconnect with family and friends, my other purpose to visit the United States was to explore further cuisines and navigate the restaurant and bar scenes.  Aside from the travel itself, an integral part of the journey for me is what and where I feed.  This break in...
The Need for Sexual Revolution

The Need for Sexual Revolution

Sex: a subject historically known to raise hushes and cause blushes whether in regards to your orientation or the reproductive (although sometimes unproductive) function has had a shift.  We live in a world where previously abhorred inclinations are now becoming increasingly socially acceptable and depending on where you live (in...
Latest entries
Hunting down Hungary: Budapest Jewels

Hunting down Hungary: Budapest Jewels

There are many clichéd impressions of Budapest; some are true and some are simply assumptions however tourist books aside, there is much to be discovered when journeying purely on foot. I do not shy away from public transport, on the contrary, the passenger function is clearly alleviated when the assistance of car, tram or bus...

Inequality: Our ‘true’ desire?

As I turn over half in slumber on another hazy Hungarian morning, my cousin’s girlfriend is already busily preparing breakfast, cleaning up some other area of the apartment and putting things in the order she prefers. My cousin, laying on their bed as I slip past into the bathroom is revelling in his horizontal position,...
To smoke or not to smoke: why the question?

To smoke or not to smoke: why the question?

For precisely half of my life, I have been what is classified on many a health questionnaire, insurance claim or other inane form-fillers as a ‘smoker’. The word evokes many an image, mainly dependent on the perspective taken. My initial and continued first thought is that of a sultry Mia Wallace, gently asking Vincent Vega...

Waiting for the Sun to sleep

As I wait for the moon to rise I contemplate the starry skies Mournful reminders of birth and death Shining brightly until the last breath Amidst the dark blanket of night I am comforted by this sight The luminous skin lays peace to the earth Unable to cast shadows on a man’s worth Every day...
Come and ‘ave a Butchers!

Come and ‘ave a Butchers!

In contrast to a previous article, I now raise the subject of meat, namely the craft of Butchery.  In keeping with our reflections to the past on this site, the butcher counter used to be highly valued outing and the only place to get your choice fowl or a tender t-bone to gnaw through at...
Street Food Fashionista at FEAST

Street Food Fashionista at FEAST

Another summer and another Food Festival; aside from the Olympic screenings and ticketed attractions, there is much to tempt the tourist and local away from the Stratford end of London. This weekend (3-5 August) we saw FEAST excite The Quad, Guys Hospital in London Bridge; over 30 stalls of ingestive galore from a variety of well known restaurateurs, made...