Adventures of late.

Hey dudes.
So a lot has been happening lately. A lot a lot.
Christmas, New Year...we're in 2013, peoples. It's weird. Really weird.

And I have a new job, which is awesomeness :D It's a trekking/camping/expedition company thing. And I've got a two year apprenticeship with them. Full time job. Going all over the place. Lots of Duke of Ed trips. Learning quite a bit. So yeah, I'm really looking forward to how this year is going to pan out with that.
But that's just kept me very busy of late - intro camps and such, another of which is this coming week, and then another camp the following week. So yeah, busy busy.

Then this weekend, youth leaders got together to plan what youth is going to be looking like for our church. And it's looking pretty awesome, I think. Really looking forward to that as well.

Then I've had a wedding of a best friend, another one find someone to hang out with and such, and a 21st. Got another of those coming up too. Hopefully work won't make that difficult.

So yeah, had a bit of stuff happening.

Oh, and I've been working on a little project. Hopefully you guys will be seeing the fruits of it within a few weeks. :)

Integral to One's Self.

Sorry I've taken an age to get to this one. Things like happening all at once, and I'm lazy. :P

Trust, honesty and integrity. Perhaps before I wax too lyrical on these three, I should briefly on how I define them. Essentially; trust is what you put in someone else when they're honest with you because they have integrity. I'll expand on that in bits within this post.

Trust is sometimes called the basis of all relationships. After all, if you have no trust in someone (on some level, at least - there are many levels of trust), how could you relate to them?
And many try to seek out the trust of other people - it's one of their foundational things, that they have to do. It can become an obsession for some. And what starts as a search for friends can easily spiral downwards into something quite desperate - a cry for attention, or a deep desire to be loved or valued. In some senses, these aren't inherently bad things in and of themselves; but they can sometimes drive people to a point that is not too great.

Honesty is an interesting one. It can be taken to some very different places. You can have a sort of radical honesty, or be a bit less...harsh.
Radical honesty teaches to be always honest, even when it seems blunt, direct or impolite. Fairly simple idea, quite difficult to keep up. Depending on your personality, of course. However, this sort of honesty can lead to a rift between you and other people; this won't always be the case, and some have and do use this successfully, but it's very difficult to pull off.
But just because you always tell the truth, doesn't mean you have to be blunt, rude or critical. You can instead try to be helpful; uplifting and more choice about the fashion in which you tell the truth. That doesn't mean sugarcoating something that hurts so that it goes down easier; but it does mean helping someone get up from the blow.

Integrity is a bit more difficult to put your finger on. It's like a sort of morality, or moral fibre - a sense of needing to do what's right, because you should. Something like that.
And honestly, it's a bit hard to fault. Perhaps the best way of putting it is that, even if you have this integrity and you always do something for the right reasons - you can still do the wrong thing for the right reasons. Sometimes other things have to come first, like trusting someone else's ability, or someone else's integrity. That's where, really, these three kinda weave together.

Because each of these three by themselves can be good, but you really need all three - they're made for each other, that's how they work at their best.

So essentially, each of these can have their individual drawbacks, but these are largely overcome when used together.

The Hobbit: A Journey worth making.

The Lord Of The Rings has created quite an epic to it. In more senses than one - if you want to watch all three of them, you will need all day. Particularly if you are watching the Extended Editions (which are amazing, and make the movies make so much more sense - but once you've gone there, you can't go back). Once I heard that Peter Jackson had decided to split The Hobbit into three movies, I knew that these weren't going to be short episodes either. And the first one, An Unexpected Journey, certainly lives up to that.

If you're not used to Lord of the Rings, you may want to see at least one of the movies beforehand. Not so much for the backstory - because these are prequels, after all - but because of the pace. If you're expecting it to be all action in the first five minutes of the movie - you will be disappointed. There certainly is action, but the movie likes to tell a good story first; it builds up to it very nicely.

If you're not familiar with the story of The Hobbit, it's essentially thirteen dwarves, a hobbit and a wizard going on an adventure to a faraway mountain to fight a dragon and get back their treasure. Sounds simple enough - but, of course, a million things lie between them and the mountain. Trolls, goblins, and wargs (big wolves) all waylay them in this section of the journey. The eponymous hobbit is your typical Reluctant Hero, who eventually finds his self-worth, along with the One Ring and a mysterious riddling Gollum. The dwarves are each quite unique, if you can manage to keep count; you have old battle-scarred ones, young fiery ones, blunt Irish ones, hearty Scottish ones, wiser and whiter ones, and ones that eat everything. To name a few. Their leader is essentially a dwarf prince, trying to reclaim his lost kingdom from the dragon. And the treasure, of course. If you're wondering where the wizard comes in - well, he basically makes sure they don't get in too much trouble.

Old fans will recognise a few familiar faces, as well as a couple of ties in to the original trilogy - most notably Frodo going to wait for Gandalf, whom he then sees minutes later in the Fellowship of the Ring. But also squeezed in are Saruman, old Bilbo, and Galadriel. There's still plenty for new Ring buffs, however - Radagast's Rhosgobel rabbit sled, the gargantuan Goblin King, the general dwarven antics (particularly Bombur), and the hobbit's constant grumping.

While the Lord of the Rings trilogy was very Men-dominant, this story is very Dwarf-heavy; a refreshing change of character for the series. The feel is also very different; it's a little more light-hearted, and a bit more of a family tale. It's very well done, and the use of 3D is integrated extremely well - it's never used gratuitously, but instead really fills out the amazing landscapes that the movie uses.

All in all, though this movie may seem very slow-starting and very long-lasting (particularly new Ringers), this is defintely worth a watch; and certainly in my top 5 releases of 2012.

I Just Don't Know.

I've always got the answers;
Practiced all the questions.
Done all the research -
I don't need your suggestions.

I know all the possibilities;
Thought of every contingency.
I'm the master of back-up plans,
But this is an emergency;
And I have to say the words I fear the most.

I can recite endless facts and figures;
Dance a dazzling ring around your brain.
Think and puzzle with the best of them,
But can I go through this pain?
And I have to say the words I fear the most.

But He does;
He knows present, future and past.
And He knows and loves me;
Even though I am the last.

But perhaps - a little glimpse?
A ray of hope from my future?
Something that can get me through these times of uncertainty....
Joy and suffering....
To you.

On Pies.

Or, more specifically, having fingers in a fair few.

I've mentioned before my diverse, multi-faceted nature. I'm the sort of person that could live out a cat's number of lives and still have things left that they wanted to do.

Not having that many, of course, makes things difficult. For example.

At the moment, I work at an Italian restaurant as a kitchen hand. Usually three nights a week, maybe another shift thrown in. Then I have church, Sunday afternoon/night - afternoon because I'm also on the worship team, communion team, tech team and leadership team. Then I have choir on Tuesday nights. Then Bible Study on Thursday nights, though that might change this year for all I know.
Then I've got a few music projects I'm going to be involved in - firstly my own writing and performing, plus getting involved with someone else who's gotten in touch, plus possibly writing some music for a short film, plus a composition competition (Ha!) I'm hoping to do.

Then I've got this new job starting in just under three weeks, and someone else asks me about possibly doing another thing that I'd love to get involved in.

And that's not counting the innumerable things that I've picked up and dropped over the past couple of months, and will probably continue to do.

Also hoping to get involved with a play this coming year. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the CTG have any decent ones until the end of the year, so I might have to look a tad further afield. See how we go.

Another Year.

Hello readers. We've found ourselves at the beginning of another year - 2013. That's pretty cool. I don't know what you did on New Year's Eve, but I had a seafood dinner with some of my family at their beach house in Dunsborough. And it was quite nice.

But at the same time, it just reminded me that another year has gone by without me managing to find someone to spend it with. Though, admittedly, I'm not the sort of person that actively looks - but I don't think that's something that you should do. Perhaps I'm a bit idealistic, but I think that the right person finds you, not the other way around. You kind of stumble across them when you don't expect it.

But yes, that's one of the main things that the time had me thinking on. I'm hoping that it won't be something I'm dwelling on again at this time next year - that would be really great - but it will be what it is. I can't really make it anything else, you know.

But I do think that this year is going to be a big year for me. Whether it will be because of this, I have no idea. But whatever happens, I know that God has it figured out. And he's got my best in mind.

Some new developments.

So. Awesome people.

For a little while now, I've been looking for a job. Partly because I want a job that I'm a bit better at/am more happy with than my current job (not that I don't like the job, but it is a bit of a downer when you know you're the worst one at it); partly so I could actually save up some money to get my own place sometime soonish; and partly because my uni degree was finishing up, so something a trifle more regular would be cool.

The main problems were that I had a) basically no experience; and b) basically no qualifications. I mean, I've done stuff, and I've learned stuff, but not really relevant stuff to jobs, in the main. So when I see a job, and I think, "Oh, that one looks good!" I click on it and see - requires 5 years of relevant experience and a degree in whatsisname. Twas a bit annoying.

But.

Then I managed to chance across this other one. It was a two year trainee position, that gave you Cert III/IV in Outdoor Recreation. With a company that did treks and such. I looked them up, and discovered that the guy who founded and ran the company had actually worked at my old high school. (Among other things, he ran the Chess Club while he was there. Twas good.) So that was interesting.

So I got in touch with him, asked him a few questions about the position, went back and forth a couple of times. Eventually sent him along my resume. A bit later - early this month, I think - he rang me up and asked me to come in for an interview. I'd actually only just woken up, so that was somewhat interesting. Thankfully, I'm a bit of a morning person, I can wake up in a snap if I need to. So I went to the interview.

It was at a place about half an hour away from where I live, and a nice scenic drive. The place it was was essentially a warehouse/shed type shenanigan, with an office rigged up the top. He and his office-person (can't remember her name) did the interview, and it went pretty well. I've had a total of two interviews before this one; one lasted less than a minute and only had a couple of questions, the other was pretty laidback. And, to be honest, this one was too, to a degree. Not in the sense that they weren't taking it seriously, but in the sense that they didn't try and make it too business-like. They were quite relatable, which was good. I fuddled round a bit (apparently, spellcheck accepts fuddled, but not relatable; I think there is a problem here), but I tried to be honest. True, I probably focussed on some things more than others; but not in such a way that would say I was someone that I wasn't. And, in a couple of places, I did say that I wasn't too great at something.

But I think it went pretty well. I went out of there feeling quite positive, and went over to Common Grounds Cafe for morning tea. (Had a macadamia and apple slice/cake type thing, was delicious!)

And then, last Friday, I get another call, offering me a job.

:D

I think you can guess as to my response.

I was a bit hyper after that. I recall possibly jumping around a bit. Or, at least, being quite bouncy.

It's a full time job, five days a week. I start on January the 22nd, and it's with these guys here: http://www.boomerangadventures.com.au/ And it's going to be awesome :D

Oh, and God seems to like changing things round a bit, just when you get used to them. After all, if you get too comfy, you're not really learning, are you? :)

Thoughts on friends.

I've been spending a bit of today just watching Dr Who. Because there was a lot of episodes on TV, so was just watching them one after the other. Then lunch interrupted it, though, which meant that when I got back, it was in the middle of an episode. No good coming in in the middle of an episode, particularly for drama type stuff. So I just wandered around. There wasn't much else around to do, so my mind started to do what it likes to do when I'm not doing much. It started drifting. Off to things that get me somewhat depressed.

As such, I thought I'd come on here and chat to a friend of mine, who's generally pretty good to chat to for this sort of thing, even just to keep me distracted. But they weren't on, which was a bit annoying. What they had done, however, was put up a few posts since I'd been on last. So I went and read those. And I was interested to note that they basically had the same effect - well, not exactly the same - but they cheered me up, and distracted me a bit.

I suppose that made me think that that's, perhaps, a good way of telling how well you relate to someone - if they can cheer you up even by the breadcrumbs they leave behind - maybe not even ones specifically for you - then actually interacting with them must be pretty darn good. Just a thought.

All the best for all the rest.

Sorry I haven't posted up recently. Been busy here in Perth. In Perth, actually, it's not Christmas Day yet.

I'm sitting outside, there's a nice cool breeze blowing; I've got a great view of the city, the river, the sky. The latter is quite spectacular at the moment, actually.

I'm aware that some of you may not be having Christmasses as nice as mine. Perhaps your family don't get along, or you don't get along with them. Perhaps a sadness of late still hangs over you. Perhaps you don't have Christmas.

But whatever the case; I pray that you, and those around you, will have the best of times; both now, and ongoing.

Have a good one. :)

The Search For Happiness.

Sorry I didn't get this post up sooner, guys; I was away for one week, and then this past week I've had various things happening - actually had an interview for a job, and will be let know shortly if that works out! :D So that's pretty cool. And it's sounding like a really nice job as well. But more info on that soon, hopefully. Back to what this post is actually about.

Happiness is a great thing to have. It can, however, be somewhat difficult to keep at times; remaining optimistic through troubled times is tricky at best. And happiness can come from so many different places, for so many different people: sometimes its in circumstances, in actions, in people, in objects, in places - it can be so varied that its a bit hard to pin down. That's not necessarily a bad thing, of course; sometimes things need to be like that, and if we try to pin them down, they lose a lot of what makes them so amazing.

If you see happiness as the most important thing, you can take a couple of different approaches; you can try to chase after it, or let it come to you. I'll elaborate a bit on them both.

People, generally speaking, are pretty aware of what things make them happy. If they think being happy is important, often they'll simply doing it by having a lot of those things; whether that means doing the same thing many times, having large amounts of something, being around a particular person a lot, going to a place frequently - there are different individualities and specifities, but essentially, they're the same. Seeking out, chasing after happiness.
And the problem with that approach is that, after you start doing the same thing, or having the same thing, quite often - it begins to grow a bit more tedious. That's just the nature of us as people - we like new things, something original and different. Perhaps if that in itself is what gives you happiness, you might do a bit better; but even then, I think it wouldn't last. It wouldn't be able to keep you through the tough times. That's the problem with this sort of happiness; you instigate it, so if you can't do that, it fails very quickly.

But what if you don't do that?

Well, you can do something a bit different. Instead of searching for happiness, you let it come to you. It's other-centred, rather than self-centred. In serving, helping and loving others, they will often do the same back to you; and in this, a greater happiness can be found than any that could by searching for it yourself.

So, in summary; happiness is fantastic, as long as you aren't going about it the wrong way.

I am heading off to Perth this Tuesday afternoon; I may be able to get up my next post before then, but if not, the last two in this series I'll do over there.