It’s been long enough that I wouldn’t expect anyone to remember the closing note of the last post, so I’ll refresh your memory. It ends with a quick paragraph about how I was starting to fall into my usual habits when I live in a place, hanging around the house, not getting out and taking advantage, etc… The closing sentiment is a hopeful one, that I’ll manage to curb those tendencies a bit, get ahead of the process, force myself to get out of the house and exercise and find fun things to do. That did not happen!

It was a very quiet month after that last post. I did the exact opposite of what I’d hoped and settled deeply into the couch, withdrew a bit from the outside world, and felt sorry for myself for not having friends here while consciously being unwilling or unable to do the things I needed to make friends. It wasn’t the best month! But like a phoenix from the ashes, at the end of April… I got COVID. It wasn’t too bad but certainly worse than the first time I’d had it, and I was knocked out for about a week. This was extra frustrating because the internet in our apartment was out, and also because I’d just turned up the van search and had scheduled some test drives, and then had to put that whole process on pause.

But like a phoenix from the ashes… I eventually returned to society. And the past few weeks have been really good. I bought a van! I spent a weekend diving with seals and getting lots of positive social interaction! I went on a couple of dates! (Family – do not ask me about the dates. There’s nothing to tell. No one’s on the path to marriage over here.) I started up therapy again! The van needs a couple of things worked on so I’m taking it in to a mechanic early next week, and in the meantime I’m scrambling to get things lined up before my suddenly-coming-up-quite-soon departure from Sydney. The rough plan is to leave right around the end of May, though things are extremely flexible. Top priority right now is to buy a friggin surfboard!

So, that’s pretty much it. I’m feeling much better than I was last month, and depending how things shake out with freedive classes I’d be happy to stick around Sydney another couple of weeks. Otherwise I’m excited to hit the road, live in my palatial van (I’ll put up some photos eventually, but not today folks), surf a ton, and just… drift. I haven’t been doing much, and therefore haven’t taken many photos, but here’s a random dump of the trip with Sam, the seal weekend, and what I currently look like. Feel free to tell me how incredibly good my choice of head and facial hair is! Videos for this post can be found here. I recommend checking them out this week, there’s some good seal action.

P.S. A quick administrative note: the more astute among you may have noticed that the URL for this page is now aphilabroad.com, and not aphilabroad.wordpress.com. Wow! This is because I finally caved and upgraded to a paid plan so that I had enough storage to continue uploading my astonishing photos for you all. This means a few things. First, if you were seeing ads before, I think you now shouldn’t be? Second, if this somehow screws up your emails or you’re having trouble seeing the blog or something, please let me know so I can personally spend the time to painstakingly problem solve with you on the phone. Third, keep an eye out for my upcoming multi level marketing scheme that I’ll use to pay for this incredibly expensive venture 🙂