I don’t know if you’ve heard of a website called 43 Things. It’s a site where people create a list of 43 goals that they’d like to achieve and people cheer those goals. By giving cheers, it’s almost as if gieing the person on the recieving end the encouragement they need to complete that goal. Therefore enabling them to “cross” it off. These “goals” can be anything you like. It could be life-long goals, like being a good mother. It could be goals with end dates in mind, like move to Australia by 2014. To shorter term goals that are easy to cross off.

However, 43 Things may not be for everyone. I used to have a friend using the site, but it didn’t work for them. Like most sites, we all have ones that only we like for varying reasons. And one that might work for you, won’t always work for them.

I have an account on there that is helping me achieve the goals that I have set myself. Some of my goals are long-term one that help me to keep focus on where I want my life to go. But I also use the site to add “goals” that need to be done. Almost treating it like a to-do list. To me it serves as a sense of purpose, it makes me feel better seeing my list of completed “goals” grow.

I’m not going to link to my account from here as I want to keep my identity a secret. I like knowing that I’m kind of anonymous on there. It’s a bit like this site is not linked to my other sites, though I’m sure that people who know me would be able to find this if they tried hard enough. This allows me to almost be myself. Write about some things that I’m not able to talk about to other people. But I do have a friend who reads this and I don’t mind that as we end up talking about stuff anyway.

Going back to the original subject. If you do use 43 Things, make it work for you. You might even build some online friendships. I think I have on there. People have been commenting on some of my goals, giving me the encouragement to get out there and do them. Plus it’s nice that they have done this and I hope that I can return the favour some day.

Now I don’t mean in the sense of putting words together to make a sentence. Though I do like that side. What I mean, as mentioned briefly in the previous post, is I like to pick up a pen/pencil and write words onto paper. You see, in this day and age, most of us spend time at a PC/laptop/tablet and tap away at a keyobard producing letters and words on a screen. Whist we can’t escape from where the past has shaped us and where the future is taking us, I feel that the art of physically writing is drying out. Not many people put pen to paper much now and this makes me sad. Letter writing is fast becoming unpopular with people turning to sending emails instead. The fact that emails get delivered instantly is an attraction, and is a good form of communication. But what happened to the excitement of recieveing a hand written letter? To me, it makes me feel happy inside, knowing that someone has taken the time and effort to put pen to paper. They have made the effort and is something I appreicate. But it makes me said that I haven’t recieved a proper, personal letter in years and it’s something I’ve been trying to correct. All I get in the post now is bills, junk mail and magazines. Nothing to really get over excited about save for the odd birthday and christmas cards, when it is that time of year.

Technology has a lot to answer for and whilst we can’t escape it, why does the art of handwritting have to die? Yes I can see the appeal of tapping away at a keyboard and seeing words appear on screen, I’m doing it now. And the fact that you can easily edit something without having to write everthing again. Not forgetting it is also quicker to type words than it is to write them. But lets not let the art of hand writing die out. It’s precious, personal and makes someone like me happy.

In an attempt not to turn this blog into a diary of depression, I’m going to blog about other things as well as the song lyrics that have meaning to me. Plus other posts on my general thoughts, whether happy or sad. What you don’t know is that I have written this post by hand. I like physically writing. I’ll explain why another time. Now onto what the title of this blog is about.

For many years, in my bedroom, I’ve had a map of the world pinned to the wall. On this map I had put in pins of the places I’ve visited and lived. At the time, when I bought it, I liked it. But in recent years I’ve wanted a different one. One that has more cities marked out. The old one was fairly sparse in cities marked, but it filled a purpose. However, recently I’ve been visiting lots of places, more so on road trips and I’ve wanted to put more pins in showing routes etc. But I’m a stickler for accuracy, so I’ve not bothered adding the extra pins for fear of adding them in the wrong place.

A couple of weeks ago or so, I started scouring the web for new world maps. One that fulfilled my criteria. To begin with, I didn’t have much success. I would find ones that had the extra cities on, but they always seemed to have extra bits round the edges or at the bottom, like country flags. That was until last week, when I found a company that sold many different types of maps. Ones that just showed the earths toppgraphy, ancient maps, political ones. They also had the type of map I wanted but with all the extra crap at the bottom. Then I noticed there was a link to one that didn’t have the extra crap at the bottom, I found the map I was looking for!

Before I went ahead and bought it, I thought it best that I do some measurements. You see, this company did the map in varying sizes and I was tempted to buy the huge version. Yes, that’s how they described the size of it. But the problem with the huge version is would I be able to find something big enough to stick it to. I could always just pin it straight to the wall, but transporting it to another house, when I move, would make it difficult. Plus constantly taking it down and putting it back up will eventually ruin it. I want this to be something to keep for a long time.

I want to stick the map on a pinboard. I had my old map pinned to corkboards glued to the wall of my bedroom. But after a few years they started to fall of the wall, damaging the maps in places. I’ve done a web search for a custom made pinboard that would fit the size of the huge version. But there didn’t seem to be any places that did. I could always use cork boards again, but as I said before, taking it to another place in tact would be difficult.

Finding out that I wouldn’t be able to get a pinboard to fit the huge version, made the decision for me. The large version it will be. To be fair, the large version looked big enough. Certainly bigger than the old map I had. This also made searching for the pinboard I wanted a lot easier. I have found a pinboard that does what I want it to do. I just have to go and order it.

I have now bought the large version of the map and it’s just what I wanted. It maybe difficult in some places to add a pin but I am ok with that. I don’t have to add a pin for every location, like when I had a road trip holiday. I have another plan for that.

I’ll write more at a later date with my plans for the map. Some of them have been written on 43 Things. I wanna put these ideas in order so that they make sense and I can explain further as to why I want to do things my way. Explain the method to my madness.

I’m going to be trying something different for the next blog posts. Some coming over the few days/weeks.

Something is on my mind. And it’s different to the usual stuff that occupies it

This is not one of those I have nothing to blog about posts.

Don’t you just hate it when you have an idea for a blog post, that by the time you get to start writing it, you forget what you were going to blog about. I’m currently experiencing that same issue. Oh well, I guess it will come back to me at some point. At least I have the option to blog from my phone, that’s the wonders of smart phones now-a-days, there are apps out there that enable to you blog from anywhere. If only I was blogging from some exoctic location, or at least somewhere other than this little room which sits my PC.

I know no one reads this blog, and I’m cool with that. But I’m finding it increasingly hard not to pour my heart and soul out here. Yes I’m still struggling with events that have shaped where I am now. Some things I’m trying hard to change, but getting no where fast. Other things I want to go back to the way things were. I still cry most days, struggle to get to sleep most nights because of the thoughts going through my head. All in all nothing in my life has changed.

I admire those close to me that have made dramatic changes in their lives. I wish I was like them. I have a plan in life, but life is ticking away and I have no backup plan that I can revert to. Life certainly doesn’t live up to the movies

Tell me why
Everything turned around?
Packing up
Shacking up’s all you wanna do
If I could
Hunny I’d give you my world
Open up
Everything’s waiting for you

Sometimes I wish life was like those that I read and watch in sci-fi books/tv/movies, where you are selected for a particular job and that’s all you do. None of this life is in you own hands that people keep spouting at me.

When someone leaves you, apart from missing them, apart from the fact that the whole little world you’ve created together collapses, and that everything you see or do reminds you of them, the worst is the thought that they tried you out and, in the end, the whole sum of parts which adds up to you got stamped REJECT by the one you love. How can you not be left with the personal confidence of a passed-over British Rail sandwich?

– Bridget Jones’s diary