airport bums

so recently, actually not too long ago, like 1 hr or so a friend of mine flew into Melbourne from Brisbane and is stuck there cause he is waiting for his friend who missed his flight from the gold coast, sad news for him is that he has too wait 4 hrs till his friend arrives. he posted something on his facebook status that got me thinking about the reason why i am posting this. its something not really thought of and its definitely something that everyone goes past especially in an airport.

I started thinking about a movie that sort of portrayed this subject, it starred Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta Jones - The Terminal (2004) - although I have not seen it myself i would assume that airport bums actually are your everyday people. So i decided to google airport bums and i was given 4 definitions. i think we can all relate to either 4, your job is to figure out which bum describes you best... if you want...

1. An invasive species of parasite infesting public spaces at airports. They are ravenous devourers of complimentary beverages and foodstuffs, and will quickly overrun habitats if allowed to establish a colony. Their loud and dissonant vocalizations drive away indigenous pilots and passengers, generally disrupting the fragile ecosystem of the FBO. There are no known means of eradicating an established colony, short of natural expiration.

Like a metastasizing cancer, the airport bums penetrated the lobby in a teeming plague of slack, wrinkley, wasting flesh, devouring the cookies and coffee in a sickening display of pigish rutting.

2. Someone who spends a lot of time at the airport. A good thing to be. Airport bums often hang around maintenance shops and flight schools, watching pilots take off and land. They often drink a lot of coffee and read the magazines in the lobby. They may or may not know how to fly. Many fine fliers started out as airport bums.

The person sitting at this computer typing this is an airport bum to the first degree. I almost never leave, actually. I even sleep here. But I also fly. It is fun being an airport bum.

3. A person who feels enjoyment by the combinational sight of tarmac (or grass), a windsack, and most importantly airplanes. This person will spend most of his free time at an aiport. Generally an airport bum will carry around a handheld radio with which he can listen into the airport frequency. Usually airport bums are of a very healthy nature as they spend most time outside. They enjoy good weather and panaoramic sights of airplanes landing.

Not to be confused with a plane spotter, these are boring people.

Airport bums are relaxing, bright, interesting and attractive people. Who by all means wish they were sitting in every single airplane that takes off and flying over the world.

4. One who hangs out at airports all day. Airport bums can be found at airports of all shapes and sizes, from a big major airport handling 747's to the airport that doesn't handle anything bigger than a Dash 8. I am one myself and am proud of it.

Airport bums are generally educated folk.

Being an optimist I highlighted the good things about those airport bums, they do seem to know what they are doing... i just think its interesting how people will take advantage of such facilities, think about it, airports never shut down, they are open 24 hrs, they provide bathrooms, comfy lounges to sit on (even sleep on) and they have 24 hr maintenance, which is almost worthy of some stars... next time you end up at the airport have a look around and see how many bums there are, you will probs be surprised at the amount there is...

B1, B2 & now introducing... B3

okay so right now i am suppose to be sleeping but for some reason i am not, in other words i cant sleep! so annoying, so what do i do?? i either check my facebook or update whats going on in this blog, only i've decided to dedicate this part of the blog to these bananas that are actually from sydney. I met these fruits when i was residing in sydney for the last two years probs around the beginning of 2008. Little came of the first introductions we had, i was an undecided fruit on a mission and they were young, single and riped. as a undecided you would always want to have good impressions on people you serve, the last thing you want is for one of them to not like you, like a pala (bruised) banana. so my earliest memory of B1 is meeting her in the punchbowl chapel foyer. Greetings are usually the same, always the usual handshake, whats your name, look at the badge, and then smile on, its actually nice when someone takes the time to ask you where you're from and what area you just came from, makes you feel included... somewhere??? i don't know where but you just do, B2 for some reason looked like you did not want to mess with from first contact, looked like the preserved kind of fruit but once you got to peel the outer layers you get a pala fa'i LMAOoo jks... you see your typical everyday joker, although you would see B1 & B2 around each other quite alot, it was just natural and there was no law in science that ever contradicted that. as every ending goes i left the picture and every once in a while i would encounter what these fruits were up to but it wasnt until towards the ending of my ripe years that i would cross paths with these fruits again and just realise how fruity they really are! (akaz...laughs) little did i know they would become some of my most cyber-texted friends that i have. these fruits have seen the best of me and to some of my shaming, the worst, but thats what happens when you're engaged in such a cause, it was never meant to be easy. cultivating bananas is a hard job, the biggest devastations to hit our green/yellow family was when a banana hating tropical cyclone called Larry tore through our beloved breeding grounds (QLD) and blew away most of our green babies, causing a banana wide pandemic, and sky rocketed the price of bananas even to $16 per kg, those of us left behind were left with the daunting task of knowing that no one wanted to buy us.... but today is proof that bananas have made a come back!.... sorry now back to these bananas... it was only till recently that a 3rd banana was added t0 the edition only out of humor and secret codes but it was all fun and games, memories came rushing back as the 3 bananas saw each other again back in september where they danced the whole night away, making fun of themselves and everyone else that couldn't dance... now these 3 bananas plan on causing more trouble in the near future, just be aware that they are here and they have a long way to go, you put them together and you make that biggest and tastiest banana smoothy there ever was! Its amazing at how much these brain cells think when they are not suppose to be! go to sleep already... anyone want to eat a banana???...

samoa mo samoa

i've posted this up because of the recent events september 29 that occurred on these little islands which devastated the southern parts of the main island, upolu in samoa and parts of american samoa. alot of the areas effected are from the districts of lalomanu(pictured) and aleipata. its was indeed a sad day for all samoans around the world. every samoan basically knows every other samoan, which makes it so small and no matter where in this world we go, we are all connected and feel a great sense of pride in some way. some of the images that are posted are some of the reasons why we call this island paradise our home, reflecting the samoan way of life and scenery found no where else but samoa. a slideshow of samoa landscape and culture will follow these. i have a lot of friends family and some of my own extended family become victims to these disasters and my prayers and thoughts go out to them all.

Genesis

So this is where the roots are from, Samoan Heritage. Not sure where it is? Wouldn't blame you if you didn't know before this its basically in the middle of the Polynesian Triangle or the Pacific Ocean. To be exact the South Pacific. I thought i'd add a map in this because I just know there are people out there that have heard of Samoa but wouldn't have the slightest idea of where it might be in this world, so take a good look :)

Both parents originate from this tiny nation, even though the size of this hidden paradise is small, the people are some of the biggest in the world, not by the amount of food that is consumed but naturally big boned, what's it called again?? ummm.... ROBUST! thats the word. I think its just a nice way of saying BIG or FAT or INSANELY HUMUNGOUS!!!... I mean I use the word to describe things that are big now, but it really means big boned and Samoans are often referred to as big boned with a closely related cousins the Tongans. Here is an example of what they breed back home - and for some reason I am finding this very amusing - but it is an image of a INSANELY HUGE matai (chief)... first impressions would be to run especially with huge guns like that but the smile says otherwise, Samoans may be big but they are some of the nicest people in the world.

Family name is Sotogi or Soatogi which ever you prefer or can pronounce (goodluck) stemmed from my fathers bush land village called Safaatoa, Lefaga. There are also traces back to Scotland under the name of Wilson, my family has a interesting background. Especially with how one of my ancestors made it too Samoa. The name was Henry Wilson, little is known about him (so greatful for genealogy) but what is gathered is that he left Scotland (1800's) in his late teens, jumped aboard a whaling ship where he learnt his skills as a whaler and sailed the world that would eventually have him cross paths in the polynesian triangle. With little pit stops along the way including Fiji, he finally landed in Samoa where he started a family and then surprise the rest is written.

My Mother stems from the village of Leulumoega which is one of the coastal villages on the northern side of Upolu, known to be the Catholic Hub of Samoa.

These are just some of the images that my parents left behind, looking for more opportunities not provided in this little country. I've been back a few times and there is so much to offer, the lifestyle, the climate, the untouched parts from civilisation, all this and more.

We, the rest of the kids were born in Aotearoa (Land of the Long White Cloud) known to the world as New Zealand. Land of the famous Haka! And later on in life made our way across the Tasman and called Australia home.

And this is where my script begins...