A Brief Note

Dear members of the female gender,

If for some reason you ever have to break up with a guy or break his heart, please refrain from using the phrase 'You are so nice and the right girl for you is out there'. We know you're trying to be nice, but the fact is usually we were interested in you because we thought YOU were the right girl.

Thanks in advance,

Males.

Love.

"You can close your eyes to the things you do not want to see, and your ears to the things you do not want to hear, but you cannot close your heart to the things you do not want to feel."

One Down, Twenty To Go...

GOAL #13: Ride the Indian Pacific - COMPLETE!

Realistically, the list now looks like this in terms of what I've actually completed:

1. Record a five song EP
2. Get my motorcycle license
3. Donate blood
4. Busk for a day
5. Take a solo road trip
6. Cook dinner for me and five friends
7. See a game of sport, a concert, a comedy show, a musical and a theatre production
8. Paint a self-portrait
9. Learn a song on piano (or any instrument that's not guitar)
10. Read 12 important books
11. Create a 10-minute arthouse film
12. Do a 365 Photo Challenge
13. Ride the Indian Pacific
14. Do City 2 Surf and the Perth Freeway Bike Hike
15. Spend a month following a type of meditation
16. Write a NaNoWriMo novel
17. Get a tailor-made suit
18. Get kissed on a beach at night
19. *Hidden goal*
20. Begin learning Sign Language
21. Spend New Year's Eve at Times Square, New York

Onward, to more goals!

-Adam

Dear Future Wife...

Dear future wife,

Hey! I’m your future husband. I realise this is kind of awkward, but I love you.

Now, that’s a big statement considering I may not have encountered you yet, but if you think about it, at least I’m being honest. And honesty’s a good quality in a husband, right? I digress. I am CRAZY about you.

So I guess you probably want to know a little about me. I’m only two weeks off of turning 21 years old, and I was born in Sydney but I’ve lived in Perth since I was only one and a half. My mum’s Australian but my dad’s English, and a lot of the time I use this fact to lie and tell people I’m from London because London’s a more interesting place than Perth, really. I live in suburban Western Australia, and I study an arts degree at the University of Western Australia, majoring in history. It’s only because I enjoy it, though – my goal (and dream) is to become a sports journalist for the BBC. I’m a Christian, and I actively attend Riverview Church, and love serving there. I’ve got a great sense of humour (and modesty!). I’m a bit alternative but probably a bit try-hard, too. My fashion sense is getting better.

I love football (soccer, not AFL, although I’ll still watch the latter) and support Burnley Football Club passionately. They’re from England, but you’re forgiven for not knowing who they are. Not many people do. I don’t mind if you don’t support them, but I think it’s important that you at least put up with me when I’m overzealous or overexcited or over-anything about them because it’s my hobby.

I play the acoustic guitar. I don’t think I’m very good at it but I can play and write songs, and they’re not horrible, which is better than nothing. I’m a member of the UWA Pantomime Society and I enjoy performing on stage. I love music, usually a blend of pop, rock and punk, but if you don’t like the bands I do, that’s okay. To each their own in music tastes. Forgive me for enjoying Taylor Swift and the Vengaboys occasionally.

I’m an emotional person, not a logical one. Sometimes this means I overlook simple things and I make stupid mistakes when it comes to relationships. I hope you can forgive me for the mistakes I will undoubtedly make and want you to know that they are never intentionally done to hurt you – and that I want to avoid making those mistakes ever again, so please give me a chance to fix them. You won’t regret it if you do.

But along with stupid mistakes comes someone who will love you unconditionally. Someone who will love you through the very hardest times. Someone who will be there to support you when you’re really struggling, even if it takes them a few seconds to realise. Someone committed to enjoying life with you and doing more than making you feel like you’re the most beautiful girl in the world; someone who lets you know that you are the most beautiful girl in the world.

Try and drop by sooner rather than later, if you can. I want to be selfish and spend as much time with you as possible.

Yours forever,

Adam.

Life's Reset Button

I don't know if anyone's ever told you, or if you've ever thought the same thing at some point, but life can be very, very frustrating, difficult and confusing at times.

I'm not looking for pity, but I've struggled recently. I feel kind of lost. Not that I don't have anything to do, because I'm plenty busy, but just lost amongst everything. There's so much on my mind at the moment and I think at the forefront of it all is God.

Anyone who knows me knows what I believe. I'd rather call myself a follower of Christ than Christian but the latter is easier to use in conversation so I'll run with that for the sake of typing. I remember being asked when I was a bit younger whether being a Christian makes life easier or harder. I don't think there's a definitive answer. But at the moment, it seems so complicated.

I'm sure I'm not the first or last to have what I call a 'pagan point', that point in time where you just have no desire to follow what you believe. But I have most definitely had one recently, and am probably still in one if I think about it. I want to know where I fit into my youth group, my church, God's plan for everything. In the past, I've found that God sometimes pulls away - keeps himself at a distance, for example - in order for us to be tested. How we respond is up to us. Maybe I'm going through one of those points at the moment.

It seems like I can't even get the motivation to do the small stuff right. I haven't read my bible or been to church on a Sunday night recently because I just feel like I don't want to be around something I don't understand when everyone else seems to be getting it, even though they're probably struggling with their own stuff too.

The thing is, I WANT to want it. I want to feel that enthusiasm and have the desire to go to church and help the kids at youth and invest in their lives, or be a conduit for God to move in them. But I just feel confused instead, and conflicted. I need God to rescue me, and soon, because I don't have the strength in me to do it alone. I'm not enough to save myself.

I'm searching for that moment, God, if you're listening - I could use a hand if you've got one spare.

And the winner is...

"The Swan", with six occurrences during my two week trip through various parts of England!

A few posts back I said that I'd write down the names of various pubs, country houses etc in order to find the most popular name. And lo and behold, that I did! Here are some of the most popular names:

The Swan: 6
The White Lion: 4
The Royal Oak: 4
The White Horse: 2
The Pack Horse: 2
The Black Horse: 2
The Bay Horse: 2
The Crown: 2
The Rose and Crown: 2

And here are some of the more interesting:

The Lord Moon of the Mall
The Spread Eagle
The Akbar (I kid you not!)
The Craven Heifer
Fanny's Ale House
Don't Tell Titus

During our many car rides through the country, I wrote down a few notes on stuff:

My dad says 'it's a nice little town is this' a LOT. Like, so many times. Every time we entered a small town. England is full of 'nice little towns'. Apparently.

I want to be eighty years old and still drink chocolate milk because that's pretty badass.

What's in the middle of West Ham and East Ham? Just Ham? Is it a Ham sandwich? AHAHAHAH moving on.

England has these things called 'services' which are basically petrol stations and a few restaurants on the side of the motorways every now and again. While driving down towards London from Lancashire, we went past one particular services with a sex shop right next to it. Was strange. Why do you need to stop at an adult store on your trip down the motorway?

I am most definitely a city person and not a country one. I'd love to live in London one day.

I had pancakes one morning. I described them as 'a reservoir of maple syrup'.

Waiters would make good motorbike riders because of the way they turn (like they lean into corners and stuff).

That's all I got. Be back with another video next week. Possibly a humorous blog entry sooner!

-Adam

#04: London Calling

So I went overseas a few weeks back, here's the resulting blog!

I guess I should probably update people on my progress on the Project, which is really what this blog should be about in the first place (and not really my bad attempts at comedy). So here's a few progress reports:

#2: Motorcycle Licence. I'm three lessons in now and it'll probably be another two to four before I can go for my test but I'm enjoying it and very much looking forward to getting my actual licence and being able to ride around. It's a fun feeling riding around on your own with the wind in your face and all that.

#7: Be Cultural. Inadvertantly, while going to England/Spain etc, I actually went to see a game of sport AND a concert! First off was watching Barcelona vs. Atletico Bilbao at Camp Nou in Barca central:

And then went to go watch Lifehouse at the Roundhouse in London:

So yeah. Approaching completion of this one!

#10: Important Books. Have finished the first two of the Hitchiker's Guide series and the first Lord of the Rings, almost finished How To Win Friends and Influence People. I feel inspired and whatnot.

#12: Photo Challenge. Must increase photo taking to more than one a day! Slackness has caused this one but there will be 365 photos, I guarantee it!

#13: Indian Pacific. I booked my ticket and leave on April 10! Yeah!

#14: Charity. I do the Freeway Bike Hike next week! Need to get fit asap.

PROGRESS! I has it.

So yeah. Keep following, more regular updates are returning.

Everyone's Got An Opinion On Love

Valentine's Day.

How many different opinions, feelings or emotions come out of so many different people when those two words are mentioned?

It's no secret that Valentine's Day is a divisive holiday. There are those in the camp that support it as a day to express your love to your partner, and to shower them with gifts and flowers and chocolates and all sorts of goodies, not to mention extravagant dates, weddings and proposals. On the flip side, there are plenty of people of the opinion that Valentine's is an overly commercial excuse for a holiday, promoted by Hallmark and similar companies with the intent to scam as much money out of our gullible nature towards love as possible.

But who says you can't realise that Valentine's has been commercialised and celebrate it anyway? Why argue against a day on which we should show more love to people? Are people not aware that love goes beyond the relationship between a loving couple? Don't friends love each other platonically? Is there anything that stops us from performing an act of love to someone you don't even know, i.e. putting money into a vending machine for the next person to use it?

I've been on every side of this holiday over the past few years, from the 'hating single person' to the 'cutesy couple person', and I guarantee you that everyone on this planet is searching for love - not necessarily from a partner but from anyone.

If you're in a relationship, then who cares if it's Hallmark Day? Instead of buying flowers, pick one and give it to your boyfriend/girlfriend. Instead of giving them a store-bought gift, make them something. Instead of chocolate, cook them dinner. Why not celebrate love? If you're not, spend some time with your friends! Go out for drinks or play cards or just show each other you love each other by doing anything! I can't stand how some people are so afraid of love. Yeah, it hurts, but when you know you're loved, it's the best feeling in the world.

Just because it's Valentine's and I don't have much to offer, I thought I'd give a few of my favourite examples of love from movies and tv and music and whatnot:

Music: 'With or Without You' by U2 is always a favourite. Love can be great, but it also really hurts sometimes. I've always interpreted this song as exploring that idea. At the right moment, it's an incredible powerful song.



Music/TV: I love the final scenes of the last episode of Scrubs. J.D.'s expression as the scenes of his future play out in front of him is great, and (for anyone who's watched the series) J.D. loves with everything he has when he does love. He's very aware he's not perfect but he gives everything he has anyway.



TV: The Friends finale is a great moment after so much messing around. Not much needs to be said.



TV: There's no clip, but the end scenes of the first episode of How I Met Your Mother have resonated with me, and Ted's honesty in what he says to Robyn after telling her he loves her on the first date. Here's his speech below:

"You know what? I'm done being single, I'm not good at it. Look, obviously you can't tell a woman you just met that you love her, but it sucks that you can't. I'll tell you something though, if a woman, not you, just some hypothetical woman, were to bear with me through all this, I think I'd make a damn good husband, because that's the stuff I'd be good at. Stuff like making her laugh and being a good father and walking her five hypothetical dogs. Being a good kisser..."

Movie: Love Actually and Valentine's Day explore the same kind of scenes - I'm not a hater of the movie Valentine's Day and Ashton Kutcher's performance, particularly at the airport, is one of my favourite movie scenes.

I'll be the first to admit that love hurts like all hell sometimes. But it's so worth it for the moments after the pain.

I'm single this Valentine's Day, but it won't stop me from using it as an excuse to love people just that extra bit for 24 hours.

A New Adventure

Hey all. Adam checking in again and once again without a video.

It's rather hard to record the same things over and over again - the 365 photo challenge, for example, is harder for me to do because I feel like it's pretty stupid taking photos of possessions, what I'm eating, or where I'm working more than once or twice. I've postponed a few photos because I'm going to England for a holiday in a week and this way I'll have a lot of photos to take. Admittedly it's not a fair representation of how interesting my year was but I figure I'd rather remember the good stuff than 100 days of 'I worked today' or 100 things I know I own.

Anyone heard of Geocaching?



I figure maybe this will put a little spark in me if I ever get bored. Who knows, it may become an interesting hobby, or at least a way to get me out of the house.

Still no major progress on any of the goals - my motorcycle license is still in the works and I'm still taking lessons, and once I get back from my holiday (which will have plenty of footage, I assure you), I'll be able to really get full swing into uni, the project, and having fun with it.

Wish me luck!

-Adam

What's In A Name

Is anyone else a huge fan of just naming stuff? If my job could be 'official street namer' or name of anything I'd totally do it.

And because I'm not really any closer to achieving any of my goals due to the aforementioned 'workworkwork' that is my life, here are a bunch of fun things to do with my name or names I've come up with for things.

MY NAME IF I WAS A...

Pirate: Keel-Haulin' Palgrave Smythe
Gangsta: Chewy tha Canadian
Mexican Wrestler: El Griego en los Pantalones
Taxi Driver: Smóggindakrak Smith
Ninja: Katekarin Rikukano
Fairy: Spider Demonembers
Dog: Ixub (wtf?)
Roman: Caecilius Aemilius Valensus
Anime Character: Camui "Hairspray" Yamada
Prince: Prince Nicolas Daniel Octavian di Petrodale
Superhero: Corporal Rusty
Supervillain: Escar Black

I WOULD NAME MY...

Pub: The Splendrous Ocelot
Band: The Superior Siberian Economy

If I think of more I'll add them later.

On a quick note, if anyone reading this has been to England, have you noticed how many times the same names show up for pubs? I usually visit Hebden Bridge/Burnley area in Lancashire and I swear I've seen no less than three 'White Lion' pubs. When I go over this time I'm going to keep score of how many times I see each name and will post the results. For great justice.

-Adam

#03: Shouting, Singing, Swan Diving

Failure can be awesome, folks.

-Adam

Thoroughly Uninteresting

A week without a post. Has he given up, you ask?

No, it's just that over the last week there has been NOTHING INTERESTING to report.

Sad, I know. Mostly it's just been a lot of work as I hammer the hours during holidays, but I have made a bit of progress - through two volumes of HHGTTG with three to go, and I've had two motorcycle lessons which were quite scary but fun at the same time.

This week, however, promises to be considerably more interesting as I disappear on youth camp for a while - my camera will definitely be coming with!

This time next week I will have another video up, although the quality of its editing may be shoddy due to how exhausted I will be :P

See ya soon!

-Adam

#02: Making Progress

It's a second blog! I am MAKING PROGRESS! So watch and enjoy my grandiose failure at blogging.

I get the feeling it might be a while before this blog gets interesting. I need to learn how to film better.

-Adam

Someone Call Social Services Already...

... I've been neglecting a goal! Argh!

Completely forgot that I'd changed #13 to the '365 Photo Challenge' so I've now taken my first photo - I'm only five days short so I'll make up for those five days with five awesome days where they require more than one photo! To save myself a lot of hassle I'll likely upload these photos when I upload my vlogs. That said, the photos are on the right of the blog if you wanna take a look. Most likely they'll all be taken from my iPhone as it's the easiest way to do it and the camera's also HD.

Of my life, what will they say,

what will adorn my tombstone?

What was my contribution?

Of my eulogy, what will they speak,

what will bring the tears?

What is my legacy?

I cannot leave songs, for I cannot sing.

I cannot leave art, for I cannot paint.

I cannot leave great works, for I am mere man.

But a word, a phrase, a paragraph,

an idea, my friend,

that shall be my monument to this world.

-Adam

Midweek Philosophies (See: Ranting)

Just wanted to post a couple of things I've been thinking.

First, I'm four days into the project and already I feel as though I'm not doing enough to change. I'm still sitting back and procrastinating on tasks I should be doing. Not on the goals; mind you, but on things like reading my bible regularly or rehearsing my music and mundane things like that. Have I not changed at all? Call me impatient, but this is the kind of thing I'm trying to eradicate from my life, and it frustrates me that I'm still no more inclined to do important things like these and others than I was last year. Why can't I find that motivation?

I've come to realise that I really like living for those big moments. I love feeling... how to describe it? 'Grandiose' emotions? That climactic scene in a movie where the guy and the girl kiss, or standing on a hill watching the sun rise, or meeting a loved one at the airport. Seeing new things. I figure that's kind of what I'm trying to do with the project, especially with things like the Indian Pacific and New York goals. I want to have experiences, to actually live instead of exist.

They're just some things I wanted to say.

-Adam

#001: Brand New Day

Vlog number one is complete!

So the project's begun. Number one on my list is attempting to get my motorcycle license, gonna book my theory test asap. Went to the center the other day and asked about the process - she gave me the questions and answers! Easy. Just have to memorise them and remember that common sense is usually the answer.

I didn't expect to feel different the minute it turned 2011 - and I don't - but it's definitely going to be an interesting year. Got to remember to film that introduction soon too. I have to learn to edit videos - harder on a windows computer than a mac. Maybe I should invest in a macbook...

Catch ya round for now!

-Adam