Z for Zap.

As in, done. Zap. Zing. Etc.

As in, this A to Z thing. Yay! I've managed to do a blog post every day for the last 26 days from A to Z. I'm pretty happy with that. And I'm now wondering about what to do next...if anyone has any good ideas about the next series (or any future ones) of blog posts that I could do, that would be fantasmagorical. Just spam me with ideas, better than getting none.

Oh, and here is a list of what we've gone through in the last 26 days:
Z for Zap.
Y for You.
X for Xenophobia.
W for What?
V for Vlog.
U for Understanding.
T for Talent.
S for Special.

R for Repetition.
Q for Questions.
P for Problem.
O for Opportunity.
N for Nought.
M for Modnarama.
L for Lazy.
K for Knowledge.
J for Joy.
I for Important.
H for History.
G for Girls.
F for Failure.
E for... Everything!
D for Drama.
C for Cooking.
B for Botched.
A for Anger.

So, if we add it all together, we get an Angry, Botched Cooking Drama about Everything that results in total Failure, largely due to the Girls' History. Which is Important, because Joy (who's always on about getting Knowledge) is actually fairly Lazy. Modnarama! [How else would I put that in?] But as said, it was all for Nought because of a wasted Opportunity, a Problem that raised many Questions. The frequent Repetition of these called for some Special Talent to arise, that had some Understanding of how to Vlog. What? I hear you say, that just makes no sense. Well, just because you have an acute Xenophobia, doesn't mean it should get You down. Zap!

:P Oh well, I tried. I find those things fun/ny to do.

Anyway, that's it from me for today. Tomorrow I should be uploading another vlog, I believe, for those interested.

Y for You.

As in, you guys, which is what this post is going to be about.

This is my 100th post. Yay! Yahoo! Yippee! OK, got that out.

This post is basically a thanks to you guys for sticking around. Some of you have been here for ages, and keep coming back and commenting and stuff, and some of you have only just started reading my posts. But I haven't scared any of you off, and I'm grateful for that.

So, in this post, I'm going to give you guys a few things. Firstly, my newest recording I've put up on SoundCloud, but it's as a private, so only specific people can view it. Unfortunately, it's not just a link that I can give to you; I have to add each person that can view it individually. Unless I've got it wrong, and this link actually takes you to the audio file: http://soundcloud.com/bjraymond/about-you
But if not, then I'll have to add each of you individually by email addresses, if you're interested in having a look. (Already got yours, Mozart.) I reckon it's probably one of the best songs I've written, as an aside.

Also, if you're interested, my version of the well-know 4 chords song, with 100 songs in it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN-NZJEhxIo

And a little gem from the classic Tim Hawkins. If you haven't heard of him before, I suggest you check him out, some great comedy stuff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO2eh6f5Go0

That will be all from me for today. Oh, and if anyone can think of a good one for Z, that'd be great. At the moment, can't think of anything.

X for Xenophobia.

Basically because there wasn't much else I could think of that began with X.

Xenophobia, if people don't know and can't be bothered looking it up, is of course defined as the word that gave us the phrase "please explain" from Pauline Hanson.
OK, OK. It's a fear of foreigners/strangers, though can be extended to just a fear of the strange.

It seems to be quite rife amongst people these days. Strange is not good. It scares us. And that's not necessarily just whatever the "mainstream" is - because that's like an "anti-stream", which is predictable in itself that it always goes the opposite of where the mainstream goes.

If you've watched the Dark Knight, it's a bit like what the Joker said in it; "Nobody panics when things go "according to plan"… even if the plan is horrifying. If tomorrow I told the press that, like, a gang-banger will get shot, or a truck load of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all part of the plan. But when I say that one little old mayor will die…well, then everyone loses their minds!"


Strange is whatever isn't in the plan. It's what we can't account for or plan into what we've got organised. And that's what we fear. That the plan will get disrupted....that our perfect little picture will get blown up. Or maybe we accept that it's not perfect, but it's still ours, and nobody else is going to break it.


Thing is, there's only one picture, and it's not mine or yours. It's one on an infinite canvas, and it's God's. We're each just standing on a little piece of it and we like to frame it and call it "ours". Those people that do things that are, or are in themselves deemed "strange", aren't messing up the big picture. They're just intruding on our little ones where we don't want them to.

W for What?

These days, there are a lot of opportunities to make it big. There's a million and one versions of the TV show, the contest, the lottery, whatever.

In these, people will (generally) take one of two stances:

1. I really think I can get this, I'm going to give all I've got into getting it!

2. I know I probably won't get it, but I'm going to try anyway.

Either of these two stances face a thorny issue if they ever manage to get there. (Of course, the other issue is if they never get there; but that's another matter entirely.) And that's this question: What now?

Because in this situation, people have either spent so much energy getting here, or just never thought they would, and so when they do, they don't know what to do. Either because they never expected to be here, or because their entire purpose up until now was defined in getting here; they never thought about afterwards.

I think that's happened to more people than it should've. People always think about just getting to X, never about what they do once they get there. (Unless they just travel continuously, but that's like the previous bracket.) Admittedly, I'm as guilty of this as the next person. I don't want to think about what happens when I finish this course. I'm enjoying just being in it right now, thank you very much.

Probably something I'm going to need to start to go over with God, if He doesn't make something pop up for me in the near future.

V for Vlog.

Today I thought I'd do something a bit different. This is a link to today's blog, which is in fact a vlog.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lsJm-WaRuY
It's something that I'm planning to do on a fairly regular basis, though it will be more related to me as a musician than this blog.
It's all in the vlog there. Check it out.

Also, if anybody has ideas on what to do for my 100th blog post (which is Y), please post. Or do people think I should wait until 101 (Z), which will also be the end of this A to Z series?

U for Understanding.

It's something that's pretty rare in this world. Some might argue that true understanding is never found. Knowledge is all the rage and in abundance. The more knowledge you have, the better. It's crammed into you from birth till death.

But understanding is difficult. Particularly when people are involved, which they often are. And even more so when we turn introspective and attempt to understand ourselves...

It's often said that those closest to us surprise us the most. Because we think we know them the best, so when they do something we don't expect, it's even more of a shock. It's so much more the case with ourselves. Every now and then, we do something that makes us realise how little we really know ourselves.

And it scares us.

Which is why God's grace is so much more the amazing, given that he knows us absolutely...

T for Talent.

Tonight was the high school that I went to (Macarthur Anglican School)'s Talent night, based loosely off AGT. (So they call it Macarthur's Got Talent.) This one was number 5. When I was back there, I played in number 2 and 3.

For number 2 what I did was actually a song originally by a friend of mine, from a Crusaders camp I went on - I figured out the chords at camp, but when I got home, I couldn't quite remember how all the lyrics went together. So I mashed it all up together with bits that I made up, and ended up with some sort of patchwork quilt version of my friend's song. It was called, quite simply, the Balloon song. Went down pretty darn well, a good comedy one. Will probably put up a vid of it on Youtube at some point.

Following the success of the Balloon song, a few nights later I wrote the Plastic Bag song, which ran off the same basic idea and structure. You kinda had to hear it, so I should probably put up vids of these soon, otherwise people will just be confused...and confusion is confusing... :P So that's what I did the following year, which they liked even more. They liked it enough, in fact, that I was asked to do a mini-encore.

This year I did Teacher's Pet, one that I wrote a year or two ago, I think. Can't quite remember....anyway, I've been honing that song up a fair bit, because that's what I'm planning to do (well, shortened version of) for my AGT audition. (Which I've just today received word about; they're late next month.) So this playing of it was easily my best, I think. And my Dad (who'd heard it played a couple of times before) thought that as well, so I must be doing something right :D

There was some other pretty darn good performers as well. One of the guys (one of those types that just always gets this sort of stuff, till it becomes obvious/unquestionable) did an original song that he wrote. Got a semi-standing ovation, it was pretty good. As an aside, later he said that he had 2 1/2 (:P) originals written, including that one. Which is interesting, given that I think I had about - well, maybe a dozen - written by that stage, I think. Guess that shows it's quality, not quantity. And, of course, the audience you play it to. I've always found that bigger audiences inevitably give you a better reception (unless you're bad :P), because then each person feels less awkward about clapping/laughing/cheering/whatever, because they're a much smaller portion of the crowd. Just an interesting thing I've noticed...

S for Special.

Everybody knows that saying, accompanied by the cutesy voice, "Everybody's special in their own special way!" :P

Then, if you're familiar with The Incredibles (Disney ftw :D) you'll also be familiar with the phrase, "Then if everybody's super.....no-one will be. *evil laugh* "

They seem slightly contradictory. One says that everyone is special, one says that if that happens then that special becomes the normal. Well, in a way, they're both right. Everyone is special; but each in different ways. Each person has unique talents/skills/abilities etc. So that doesn't mean that just because everyone is special, no-one is; because not everyone is special in the same way.

Which is a good thing. I mean, there are some things we all have, which are great to have; but it's great that we have diversity as well. That's what makes us human. Too little diversity, and we have the nearly 7 billion Joe Bloggs problem. Too much diversity, and we cease to be able to communicate nearly as effectively with each other. We're about right. But heck, who am I to say what's right? :P

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.