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.