R for Repetition.

Repetition, repetition...repetition, repetition....
That's what I've been looking at this last hour or so, as it's what I'm doing a presentation on tomorrow. The idea is that money has lead music to lose creativity, and become repetititititititive...

It's hard to argue against it. It's not like there's any one amazing composer that you can point to and say, "They were creative, and not repetitive!" because chances are, no matter who you point to, you're going to have an angry mob come after you.

I'm hoping that at some point we will actually get some exceptional creativity. That there won't just be minimal change. But I don't think there's much chance of it :P

Q for Questions.

Following the influx of people to my blog (I know, only two, but for me, that's an influx) plus because there's not too much starting with Q that I wanted to do, I thought I'd answer a few questions people had. I attempted putting it to good old Facebook, and - well, they weren't serious in the slightest. Which is sometimes good, but they were also decidedly weird. Which is also sometimes good, but not in this situation :P
As such, I've gone for Plan B and gotten Mozart to rustle up a few questions at late notice. That is, a couple of hours. He got back to me within half an hour or something though, so all good. :) Hope this is somewhat informative/interesting.


1. What is your favourite piece of music?
Difficult, difficult...coming back to this one last :P But honestly, I've been thinking and thinking, and I can't go past this piece I composed recently called Jubilation (originally written for piano/violin, but I'm re-writing it for piano/voice because the only violin player in my course [who actually plays viola :P] was already playing for 4 other people). It probably wouldn't sound that much to anyone else who heard it - though it doesn't sound half-bad either (otherwise I wouldn't use it for uni :P) - but it's related a lot to the composition of the piece, more than it is to the performance, if that makes any sense.

2. What is your favourite passage from the Bible, and why?



Jeremiah 33:3 "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." To me, that's pretty special; because there are things I'll never be able to figure out by myself, and it's great to know that God does always know that, and is willing to share that with me.

3. What is something that you would like to do before you die?
Just one? Well...I think to be able to hear some of my music played live, with full instrumentation, as they were meant to be played/heard. I mean, there's all those things like Mt Everest, the Grand Canyon... but as a musician, this is something I really want to be able to do before I head up to God.

4. Do you have a favourite television program?

A few. The way I'll know if it's a favourite or not is whether or not I'd be willing to buy the whole series. There's not many of them, and it pretty much rules out most CSI-type ones (which are a hefty chunk of the TV I watch), because there's not a whole lot of storyline in them, so there's not much point in buying the series over just watching the new episodes. Difficult to say which is my most favourite; but perhaps Heroes. I started watching it when it started, and was pretty disappointed when it finished up. Maybe I just like a superhero story, who knows :P
Find that question interesting coming from the guy who doesn't watch much TV, though :P

5. How old were you when you first start getting into making music?
I really started writing songs when I was in year 11, so when I was about 15. I'd written stuff before, because I had to when I did Music at school, but it wasn't quite the same.

6. What is something you really dislike?
Olives.

7. What is something you really do like?
My bed.

8. What do you think of "celebrities"?
I think that as they are, I'd certainly never want to be one. But what the word sounds like it comes from - celebrate - would be a lot better, I think. So a "celebrity" would be someone worth celebrating. I think that would be a lot better, myself, than all this "fame and fortune" stuff.

9. If you could hang with any person (still living) for a day, who would it be?
Tim Minchin. Firstly, just because he's cool. Secondly, because I've recognised (and been told a few times) a few parallels between my music and his. And thirdly, just to try and understand him better. Because if you know much of Tim Minchin's songs at all, you'll know that he's quite a bit pro-science/atheism and - I think I could say - anti-religion. And so I think it would be intersting to try and figure out a bit of where he's coming from, so that I could perhaps be able to explain what I believe a bit better.

There we go. If anyone has any more questions, feel free to post them below. And suggest an R for tomorrow. Haven't had any suggestions for any of my letters yet, so that would be cool :) And for those new to the blog, checking out the tabs at the top "About the Blog" and "About Me" should give you more of an idea of what to expect in future.

P for Problem.

Problems seem to be everywhere in the world of today. That's how people often see the world; problem, solution, poroblem, solution.

But it shouldn't always be that way, I don't think; I think that sometimes problems aren't meant to be solved. Sometimes they're just there to make you think. Sometimes they're just there to make you act; to startle you into doing something, even if the problem has no solution.

People don't usually like it when problems have no solution. They like things to always work out neat and tidy. But I think when we're presented with a problem with no solution, it challenges us to rethink, reposition ourselves to suit. It teaches us flexibility; and that some problems are unsolvable. Or at least by us. Just cause we're human.

O for Opportunity.

These days, as I write in one of my songs, "the choices, they are so numerous; but the opportunities they are so few..."

We get a million and one choices to choose from. But rarely ever do we get a true opportunity. The most annoying thing, of course, is when you get more than one opportunity at once, and you have to decide between them...

A while back, I mentioned the "Seeds of Change" idea. it's something that I'm still working on, but admittedly haven't done a lot on for awhile. Partly because I don't really know what to do, I think. The thing is, I know that the idea could work, if it gets off the ground; the trick is in getting it off the ground. But I don't even know if I'm going to be the one doing that anymore. Mainly because I just know myself too well; because I came up with the idea, I'll feel weird about anyone else working on it as well as me. I'll try and 'babysit' it, keep it to myself. I can be a bit overly protective of my ideas. And so I've been thinking about passing it on to someone else at some point, possibly. I don't know. Still a bit further down the line, though, I think.

The other thing that I'm hoping to really get into, though, is my music. I really want to go somewhere with it; either to make people laugh, or make people think. Or both. That'd be good too :) But I just love being able to do that, and I'd love to be able to do that more than just the occasional gig to a couple of dozen people, when one in every half a dozen I'll get a few laughs out of. (OK, maybe that's exaggerating a little.) But I'm hoping to be able to actually make an impact with my music. I'm planning to audition for the next AGT. Not to try to win (because the competition would be too damn good, look at this year's one); not to just get attention, or get my name known by a few more people (because as I've said a million times before, I really don't like the attention) but just to make some people laugh. That's why I never went on it before, by the way, because of the first two. Though, admittedly, I only really thought about the third the day after I put in the application, but oh well. I think I should get a laugh or two. If I can even manage that, I'll be happy. :)

N for Nought.

It can often feel like things amount to nothing. You never really see any good come out of all that you've done; it's like you're just beating your fists against soundproof glass, and nobody hears a thing.

Let me tell you something: at least one (or three, I suppose) always hears.

M for Modnarama.

This blog has been around for a while now, getting closer to a year. And nearly 100 posts. (#100 will be Y, by the way.) Currently have 5 followers, and I know at least two of them check reasonably regularly, which is good. Nice to know that this stuff I put up gets read.
This post will be in keeping with point 6 of my original seven-point-description of my blog. Randomness. This is something I found recently, which I found both interesting, random and hilarious. Some of these are just gold :D

The wheel of love had left its tread marks in his chest once too often, like a knobby mud tire on a monster truck, or like a really big ponce wheel, the kind that tailors use to punch little holes in patterns and that would leave lots of nasty little welts if you were to run it up and down your arm. (Peter Loughlin) 

I saw her sitting at the bar. I approached. "Hello," she said in a voice so husky it could pull a dogsled. (Dan Yell) 

Mitzi's wet T-shirt clung to her torso like paint on the nose cone of a jumbo jet. (James Macdonald) 

Captain Burton stood at the bow of his massive sailing ship, his weathered face resembling improperly cured leather that wouldn't even be used to make a coat or something. (Bryan Semrow) 

The sun rose over the horizon like a great big radioactive baby's head with a bad sunburn, but then again it might just have been that Lisa was always cranky this early in the morning. (Debra Allen) 

Jane was toast, and not the light buttery kind, nay, she was the kind that's been charred and blackened in the bottom of the toaster and has to be thrown a away because no matter how much of the burnt part you scrape off with a knife, there's always more blackened toast beneath, the kind that not even starving birds in winter will eat, that kind of toast. (Beth Knutson) 

As Fiona slowly drew the heavy velvet curtain aside, her eyes smoldered black, deep, and dark as inside the lungs of a coal miner, although it would be black in anyone's lungs if you could get in there because there wouldn't be any light, even in the pink ones of people who don't smoke. (Lou A. Waller) 

Having O.J. try on the bloody glove was a stroke of genius unseen since the debut of Goober on "Mayberry R.F.D". (John Kammer) 

Losing is like fertilizer: it stinks for a while, then you get used to it. (Tony) 

From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and "Jeopardy" comes on at 7 p.m. instead of 7:30. (Roy Ashley) 

Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze. (Chuck Smith) 

Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center. (Russell Beland) 

They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth (Paul Kocak) 

He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree. (Jack Bross) 

Just like (or as) a bicycle rider lifts his butt from the seat when he sees a bump coming, so Bob pulled back, emotionally, when Alice got angry. (Jim Caughran) 

She danced with the grace and elegance of a pregnant cow. (Patricia Kilday) 

The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease. (Gary F. Hevel) 

The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't. (Russell Beland) 

After sending in my entries for the Style Invitational, I feel relieved and apprehensive, like a little boy who has just wet his bed. (Wayne Goode) 

Her date was pleasant enough, but she knew that if her life was a movie this guy would be buried in the credits as something like "Second Tall Man." (Russell Beland) 

Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph. (Jennifer Hart) 

The moon looked like a discarded toenail clipping submersed in a puddle of saliva on a black formica countertop. (Lindsay Robertson) 

She caught your eye like one of those pointy hook latches that used to dangle from screen doors and would fly up whenever you banged the door open again. (Rich Murphy) 

The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the period after the Dr. on a Dr Pepper can. (Wayne Goode) 

We are all like those little pink and blue plastic people in the game of Life. (Meghann Olson) 

John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met. (Russell Beland) 

The thunder was ominous-sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet of metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play. (Barbara Fetherolf) 

His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free (Chuck Smith) 

The red brick wall was the color of a brick-red Crayola crayon. (Jennifer Frank and Jimmy Pontzer) 

She was sending me more mixed signals than a dyslexic third-base coach. (Jack Bross) 

She felt used and unwanted, like the two chocolate halves of an Oreo cookie after someone has already licked the cream out of them. (Kristi Herd) 

My underwear stuck to my backside like an All-Pro cornerback to a rookie wide receiver as I browsed through the seed catalog that had mistakenly found its way into my mailbox. (Ron Calabrese) 

Chicken: it's like a cow, but different. (Ben Olson) 

His fountain pen was so expensive it looked as if someone had grabbed the pope, turned him upside down and started writing with the tip of his big pointy hat. (Jeffrey Carl)

L for Lazy.

Laziness is something I've got a bit of a problem with. I'm not too good with it.

Yesterday was Wednesday, which is the day I usually do my catalogue distribution. I split my round up into five runs, based on how much I can carry at a time and how it naturally plays out. This week I got a lot more stuff, so they were thicker piles, and I couldn't carry as many. So I had to split each run into two smaller runs. I also had samples, which are an extra run. One run usually takes me about 50 minutes - this time it was taking me 1 hour and 20 minutes, about half an hour longer. So I was pretty annoyed.

Then sometimes the piles just weren't fitting in the letterboxes. By then, I was just too annoyed/fed up with it. Catalogue distribution is a shit enough job as is, one I'll hopefully be leaving ASAP.

So I started just putting the piles on the ground. I was lazy. Thankfully, it was neither windy nor wet, so the piles more or less stayed put and didn't make too much of a mess. But when I was part way through my 4th run (out of 5), a guy came up and stopped me, said for me to put them in the holes/slots/whatever, and he wasn't too happy. Asked me who I worked for, said he was going to make a complaint, and they'd better be back in their holes/slots/whatever next time round.

Well, I did start putting them in the holes again, though some of them needed some pretty darn good coercing. But the guy did make a complaint as well, so I got a ring from my boss, I guess you could call him. Head for this greater area, whatever. Just told him the piles not fitting bit. Hopefully I don't get fired before I can find another job.

I'm not too happy with what I did. It's pretty inconsequential, but I'm still quite annoyed at myself. Now very much hoping I can find another job very, very soon, or I don't know how I'm going to keep doing this damn job...

M tomorrow, and then I'll be half-way through. Oh, and I think I get to 100 posts at some point during this thing. If anyone has any cool ideas for that, that'd be cool. Cool ideas are cool. :P

K for Knowledge.

Some say that knowledge is power. Others say that no news is good news. Slight conflict there.

As I've said before, I think that flexibility is always a better way to go than generality, if that makes sense. So either can work in different situations. But I should probably expand on those, or that's kind of a let down...

Instances where knowledge is power can seem quite obvious. In a hostage situation, for example, you're only valuable as long as you have knowledge that is valuable. But most people won't have that happen, so something a bit more common, perhaps...
In our academic world, every job you go for, they take a look at your knowledge, and you demonstrate that through experience. Knowledge is power. The more knowledge you have, and the better you can show that, then you have power.

But in some cases, it's better not to know. Generally, that's when it's something bad. For example, in a job again, a lot of the time you don't want feedback, because you'll often anticipate bad news. Similarly, if someone's doing something, and they've said they'll contact you if there's a problem, you don't want to be contacted. No news is good news.

L tomorrow. I'll figure it out between now and then.

J for Joy.

More recently, I've actually had a bit more of a spin towards optimism. Which is good, I think. I used to be - well, pretty much whatever. Now I guess I'm more optimistic in general. Perhaps realistic/pessimistic in some places, but always hopeful. I'm good at that.

Many people find it very hard to be joyous. Sometimes that's because of the world we're in, all the pain and the suffering in it. Sometimes it's because of the specific situation that person it is, they've just been having a bad time. Sometimes it's because they're naturally depressed - that's just their usual state.

If it's the first, then yes, there's a heck of a lot of pain and suffering. But there's also a lot of good, and I think it's worth fighting for, and putting on a brave face for. Being happy, being joyous, because there are actually things out there to be joyous about.

For those struggling with the second, people often say that life's like a rollercoaster, it will always come back up again. Sometimes, though, you're in such a bad place that that mentality doesn't really help you a heck of a lot. If you're in a really really bad situation, I think that memory can sometimes be more powerful than hope. Remembering an amazing, happy time rather than only hoping for one. You hope for one as well; but until then, you can feed off this great memory you have.

If you've got the third, I'm not going to pretend that I know how you feel. I don't. I've heard it described, but that's never the same as going through it. But I do know this; the two most fun, laughing and happy people I know both have depression. So don't ever let it stop you. If you want to, you can beat it. It is hard. But it can be done. And remember, you have friends and family there for a reason. Use them, damn it. You're going to need them.

That's me done for today. Tomorrow is K for Knowledge, I think.

I for Important.

People often think they're very important. And ads like to tell us that a lot - "For number one...for the most important person in the world..." etc etc etc. And also, for quite a while, people have often tried to give other people a big dose of perspective by using the massiveness of the universe. If you've read Douglas Adams, you'll be familiar with that. In fact, you'll probably be familiar with that argument anyway, because it's gotten around enough.

Thing is, this is where it's very easy to get words confused. Perspective shows that comparatively, we're extremely small, yes. But not necessarily that we're very unimportant, though that would seem reasonably logical (since we often correlate size with importance, which is wrong, but :P). Because we are important.

Though that is a very difficult case to argue if you don't believe in God. I suppose you could try and argue that we're the highest evolved beings in the universe or something like that, but that's the sort of thing that could be disproved at any moment. (Don't know if it ever will be, but it's one of those contant things rather than an absolute.) But with God, at least, you can know that you're important to him, and more important than all the other stuff out there.

So small, yet so important. Cool, yet scary.

How about J for Joy tomorrow? Sounds like a plan.

H for History.

History is always something that I've been interested in. I've got nearly a dozen Horrible Histories books, and read about half a dozen more. Usually more the medieval or ancient times, though, rather than modern history. WWI and II never really interested me as much as Ancient Egypt, or knights and such. Perhaps I just read/watched too much of King Arthur/Excalibur...

Anyway, I think history's pretty darn important, regardless of whatever my reasons were for liking it... History is something - I know it's the classic line, but it's true - that "we can learn from, so we don't make the mistakes of the past." It is something that you don't want to get lost in, and there are some people that will take it too far and become obsessive. But as they say, too much of anything is bad for you.

Not only that, but history can help us to learn more about ourselves, through looking at choices and decisions made by those of the past. And, of course, there's always a few good stories to be found as well. I never could resist a good story.

I is a bit more difficult, and I'll have to think about it a bit...and no, I'm not going to do I for I. Too damn obvious.

G for Girls.

Or women, as the case may be.

I know I have at least one female viewer who will quite possibly read this, so I'll attempt not to say anything that might get me into trouble...not that I ever plan to, of course. :P

I was a bit of a late bloomer, I guess you could say, in a lot of ways. Partly because I both started school young and skipped a year, which is why I'm only 18 and yet in my second year of uni. As such, voice breaking, growth spurt - didn't really start happening until about year 9 for me. And it was similar with girls - I didn't really start to get interested until around then.

But year 9 was a long time ago; 5 years back. And yet - as those who actually know this have frequently been surprised to find - still no girlfriend. Why is that? Well, probably because of a couple of different things. Partly because I am extremely socially awkward, and a massive introvert, as I've discussed before; but mainly, I think, because of choice. I've had opportunity - if I wanted it, I probably could have had a girlfriend by now. (Though that's really just a guess. Can never really know with What Ifs.) I've just chosen to wait.

I'm probably a bit idealistic in that sense, waiting around for the right person. But I don't think that's so much of a bad thing. It can be hard, waiting - but then I know so many who go in and out of relationships like a duck in water; and I think I've made the right choice. Even if it isn't a terribly realistic one.

Whew. There you go. A look at part of me I don't usually put on display. H for History, is what I'm thinking for tomorrow.

F for Failure.

Failure is something that I'm quite familiar with. I do it a lot, and often in the same spots. I think that's true of people in general, though - they'll excel in some areas, and do poorly in others, sometimes no matter how hard they push at it. Failure's a part of this life, this world.

One day, of course, I'll be going to a place where all that's gone; but until then, I've got to try my best to not let my failures rule me, which can be difficult at times. It's an easy thing to dwell on. And usually I'm fairly laid back about how well or not well I do in things; it's just a few things that I beat myself up a bit over, which isn't really too good. Can be difficult not to, often, though...

Tomorrow I'm thinking G for Girls. Topic I very rarely touch on, so we'll see how I go...

E for... Everything!

Couldn't think of a topic, so thought that this would do for now.

Everything is kinda big, just in case you didn't know. Though it is different to infinity; infinity means something goes on forever in either time or space (in time, if it goes infinitely in either direction it's called infinite, as well as if it does both. In space, it has 3 different dimensions that it can currently be infinite in, but it's quite possible that could change at some point in the future when they discover a spiral dimension or something), while everything means...well, everything. It's a little hard to define, really.

But people seem to be quite quick these days to say, "It's got everything!" Even the kitchen sink? How about Pachelbel's kitchen sink? Didn't think so. :P People often don't seem to get that "everything" really means everything. And nothing's got everything. That is, nothing has...er...

That's the other annoying thing. As soon as you start using words like nothing and everything, it's darn hard to say what you're trying to say. For example, saying that nothing's got everything could mean one of two different things: either there is actually nothing around that has absolutely everything, or it is nothing that actually has everything. Which makes no sense, but that's partly a fault of the words, and partly the English language. Gotta love it.

D for Drama.

As you may be aware, I like drama/acting. A fair bit. It's probably my second passion, after music. (My third, as an aside, would probably be comedy/humour, which will probably be my H.) And I think it's one of those few things that people naturally do from a young age, without needing to be taught too actively. It's just something they pick up.

But my interest is more in the acting in a drama/skit sort of sense, rather than the daily acting of people, putting on a mask sort of sense. (Though that's quite interesting to think about as well.) I haven't been in a lot of drama-type stuff, actually. Three musicals and one play, all school-related. But I'm not too bad at it, really. Have thought of doing a bit of it on the side at some point, doing musicals or acting or something. Would be interesting.

Though something that I've found is perhaps a bit unique to me with regards to acting - I wouldn't take a role that had a female partner/love interest/etc involved, unless the interaction between the two characters was minimal. My reasons why - simply put, if I do that sort of thing, I only do it for real, not acting. That's not saying that I can't do it; it's that I won't do it. Unless it was in a very, very obviously sarcastic manner, and only after a bit of thought. Thankfully, haven't had to make that choice as yet, as I've never been offered that sort of part. Anyway, that's my idea.

I find acting interesting in that, in the main, you're very much performing someone else's ideas; but how you do that is a lot of the time in your hands. So the original creation is done, and the only creativity you input is in the refinement. (To what degree that is will probably depend on the part/the director.) Which makes it fairly unique amongst the 'creative' arts. But anyway, that's my little post for today, or rather yesterday now. 16 minutes late, not too bad.

Tomorrow...will be decided between now and then.

C for Cooking.

This topic is quite a lot left field from the stuff I usually do, which is slightly more in-depth. What the heck, need to do something a bit lighter every now and then. :P

I actually like cooking quite a bit. I just don't like the washing up afterwards :P Hence, I have not really done much. Mostly I've just come up with random milkshake combos which I like. I get stuff with like a dozen different ingredients and such...

But I also come up with random new flavour combos every now and then. For example, a while ago I came up with avocado and honey. Could be a dip/spread thing, don't really know. Just know it works :p Then I found the epicness of the raisin toast icecream sandwich. Which was epic. Just works with the big difference in textures and temperatures...yeah, I can talk Masterchef :D I've also tried half-stewing apple bits in both caramel sauce and honey in the microwave before, which both worked quite well. Liking.

Anyway, those are pretty much my sole efforts in cooking, apart from a couple of times that I've done dinner, which has usually been spaghetti (where I've pretty much gone straight with what Mum/Dad says, except a couple of times I've put in chopped up walnuts, and once I put in some sausage as well), or pasta whatever (chuck in cheese/ham/bacon/potatoes/egg/mushroom, pretty good). Yeah. Not quite Masterchef, but I like it.

Tomorrow I'm going with D for Drama.

B for Botched.

I tend to notice my mistakes and shortcomings a fair bit. Not that I'm depressive about them or anything; I suppose I just often keep them a bit out of plain view most of the time, so I'm more alert to them than other people. And I can tell you right now, for all the people that think I'm some kind of perfect Christian guy, I'm not. Trust me. I've just had a lot of practice at acting. Trying to change that.

(I've now come back to this after a few hours and completely forgotten the original direction I was going to take it, but I know it wasn't this one. Oh well.) (Hang on - remembered. Yay!) Christians can generally take two very different tacks on mistakes. (Well, they're more two extremes on a continuum.) One - God can fix whatever mistake I make, I can't do anything to help myself. I can't fix it, I just need to let Him fix it. Just sit here and wait for Him to fix it. Two - I've gotten myself into this mess, so I need to actually do something to get myself out of it. If God lends a hand that'd be great, but I've got to put in the hard yards here.

I don't think that either of these two attitudes are the way people should go about it. They've both got something going for them, though,  and I think we should combine the best of both. Yes, we can't fix it ourselves, and we need to ask God's help to fix it, otherwise we're in deep deep doodoo. But that doesn't mean we sit on our backsides either - a lot of the time, God will work through us, and we need to do something too. (The classic story of the man on the roof with the waters rising comes to mind.) If you don't know exactly what that entails, just ask Him. He may not reply in a booming voice down from the sky above, but He'll let you know somehow. We just don't always get the message - but that's a whole different topic.

Tomorrow I think will be C for Cooking (I know, a bit left field, but there you go), unless someone suggests something else to me that I like.

A for Anger.

This post marks the start of my A to Z posts, where each post subject will start with the next letter of the alphabet.
This one is on anger, an interesting topic. Anger is something that is pretty prevalent in today's society. Road rage; civil wars; debates and trolololols. There's a lot of angry people, angry about a lot of different things.

I suppose I really got lucky here. I don't get angry; I really don't. You could shout and yell at me all you like, but I wouldn't get angry. I'd probably find it funny, actually. :P

Anger is something that, generally speaking, won't take you places you like, or anywhere helpful. A fair bit of the time, it'll alienate a lot of the people around you, and land you with a crowd that aren't too great.

But how on earth do you fight anger? Perhaps I'm not the best person to ask, since I don't really feel anger, but I think I've got an answer. I mentioned it before; laughter. Laughing at something that usually makes you angry is I think a pretty good way to avoid it.

A thorny problem.

Today I'm not so muc tackling a misconception non-Christians have; I'm more taking a look at one particular issue that some - possibly a lot - of Christians find it hard to know exactly what to do.

Dating a non-Christian. I would guess that the majority of Christians would say "Don't do it", it's in the Bible ("Don't let yourself be yoked with unbelievers" is I believe the verse to be quoted), and even if by some miracle they don't drag you down in your faith, they probably won't build you up.

But then they fall in love, and their opinion dramatically changes, a lot of the time. "No, this person's different. They'll change, I know it! They're even saying they're going to come to church with me and everything!" *Sigh* The problem is, how on earth can you argue against someone who's in love? It is very difficult. (Well, to get anywhere with them, that is.)

The other thing is, sometimes it does work out. And people who are in love will most kindly point that out for you, and say that God's going to do the same thing here. Thing is, I also know some other people who have dated non-Christians, broke it off because they believed it was wrong, and said that it was the best thing they could have done.

So far, you may have noticed that I haven't really given my opinion on the issue. Cause it is a damn tough one to call. My gut says that it's between you and God, if you're in this sort of situation. Problem is, a lot of the time, when you're in this situation you can often turn a deaf ear to God, and prefer to listen to the voice in your own head. I guess that's where God starts using other people.

But you want my final opinion on whether it's right or wrong? Sorry, that's not my call to make, that's the big man's. But this would be my word of advice: if you can (which most of the time you can't, but anyway) make it a bit easier on yourself and think about it, if you're going to enter into this sort of relationship. Probably better, stick to Christians. Don't know if that's strictly right or wrong, but it may save you a bit of heartbreak or trouble later on.

In the absence of suggestions, for my letters, I'm going to start tomorrow with 'A' for 'Anger'.

A fiery debate...

I believe I've mentioned before that, at present, I do catalog delivery. Yeah, it's not fun, but it pays for the petrol. Anyway, last week, I noticed something on a letterbox that I haven't seen before which intrigued me: "No Labor Carbon Tax Advertising Material No Exceptions". I actually found that quite amusing, that this person had been hit by enough ads about it that they'd put up something on their letterbox specifically against it...anyway.

The carbon tax has sparked up a heck of a lot of debate. It has been getting an absolute nailing from most people, with lots having their say as to just how @#$% they think it is. The PM tried to lessen this a bit by saying that people will be fully compensated for any losses caused by the tax.
Now, this part doesn't make sense to me. So you're saying I pay $X because of the tax, and get $X worth of compensation? So, er...doesn't that just leave us exactly where we started, with not much point of the tax in the first place? If it's going to happen, let's not make it a big game of Pass the Parcel with the money, where it just goes around the circle not doing a heck of a lot.

As an interesting point, I get emails from this group called AYCC, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition. Don't know how much of what they say I agree with, but I think it's interesting to hear their opinion. In regards to the carbon tax - they have been trying to push at it for ages. I've been getting emails from them for almost a year - just from a quick check - that mention trying to get some sort of carbon tax happening. They've been absolutely rooting for it, and now they've got it. I hope they appreciate it...

Does make you wonder, though, I guess. As they say, there are two sides to every story.

Thinking of doing a series of blog posts fairly soon from A to Z - the subject starting with the next letter of the alphabet each day. If you've got some that you really want me to talk about, go ahead and suggest them. For this, I'll probably actually be trying to go every day, but we'll see how we go. I think I'm going to try from this coming Sunday, but I'll play it by ear.

Complaining.

"There seems to be a lot of people who do [Action XYZ].

I don't really like [Action XYZ], I like [Action QPR].

You should like [Action QPR] too."


Hopefully, I'm not quite like that. It does sometimes seem that all I do here is point out things that I think could be better, and suggest my own alternative (which, is, of course, much better *sarcasm dripping*). Hopefully I'm not just going vent vent vent about my own issues and stuff either. What I do hope is that this blog is actually contributing somehow to people out there. (With my vast number of readers, of course. *more dripping* [In fact, I don't even know if I should have 'readers' as a plural any more.]) I think it is, which is good. And I think that the people/person (:P) who do/es read this should be able to sort through all the junk pretty easily anyway, so no real problems, I guess. So, of course, no point that I should be posting this anyway. But think I should. I dunno.

Occassional.

Decided I'd have more luck doing this in advance, since Sunday will probably be fairly hectic.

I find different peoples view of occassions interesting. Some won't turn up to one without sprucing up a bit, some always wear a suit, some just won't go, and some don't really care. In some cases, people see them as quite serious affairs, whereas others think they should be taken a bit more light-heartedly. (For instance, at the weddings I've been to so far, there was a significant difference in the bridal marches; one was composed by the groom [who plays a fair few instruments and is in a big band] and the other used I'm Yours. Slight difference.)

Personally, I think there's a reason they're called occasions. There's a dual meaning to the word, and one is inherent in the other. Occassions are good on occassion. Too often, and the good parts of them can be lost. That's my view, at least.

Normal.

Thankfully, managed to grab this PC for long enough that I can do this post. Don't know about tomorrow, though. May need to do it in advance.

Normal's a bit of a weird word, and it can be difficult to know what it means sometimes. Does it just mean what's most common? What the average is? What the ideal is? People seem to have differing ideas on it, but so many seem to want it.

I think - well, this is my own guess - is that normal is just without anything going wrong, as such. And even then there's a heck of a lot of discrepancy over what's "wrong". Then some people define it as anything that's not normal, and we're back in a nice logical loop.

Personally, I've never wanted to be normal. But never wanted to really stand out as such, either. It's a difficult line to attempt to balance on, sometimes. I suppose it really depends on what exactly you're "not normal" in. Some things are a lot more obvious than others.

And, as an aside - though I think those few who actually read this really already know - "not normal" is really a lot more common than "normal". And it would be pretty hard to find anyone who's completely "normal". I know that a lot of people can often take the approach, "Well, it's such a smll chance of happening, it won't happen to me." It always happens to someone. Chances are, with the number of people that you get to know in your lifetime, if it's not you, it'll definitely be at least one of them.

A difficult choice...

One question that I've always found interesting to wonder about is this: if there was no way to regain either of them - even a little - which would be worse: losing your sight, or your hearing?

Most people, I'd guess, would pick sight. Which is fair enough. Kinda important for getting around and such.

But I see it more this way - which would be worse: not seeing your friend's/family's faces ever again, or not hearing their voices ever again? For me, it would be the second. Voices are a crucial method of communication, and also part of a person's identity. People's faces can change over time, but their voice will stay fairly similar. Perhaps a little more raspy or something, I dunno. But I'd honestly prefer to be blind to being deaf. Perhaps that's just me being a muso as well. Is there anyone else out there who thinks along the same lines, or am I alone out here?

Also, I'm going to be in Perth for the next few days, so not sure whether the Saturday/Sunday posts will make it. We'll see.

Secrets.

I'm the type of person that's kept a fair few secrets from other people. For numerous reasons, some more arbitrary than others. Some fairly significant. But I've been doing my best recently to be honest, and I'm struggling with this question - is it honest to keep a secret? I mean, if someone asks you about secret X, you can still say "I don't want to talk about it," instead of the "What on earth's X?" line, which avoids the lie. But is it still being honest?

It's a question I think I still don't have any real answers for, though I think they'll come, in time. And I suppose that's my attitude to secrets as well, for now. I know there'll be a time when each secret that I have will be either somehow discovered, made redundant, or I'll feel free to disclose for whatever reason. It's just a question of knowing that right time when it comes, I suppose.

Sorry for the slightly late post. Anyone else have an opinion on this?