Friday, December 12, 2008

Our Wasted Mindspace

First a word of warning... I wrote this last year in a book, put it to one side and forgot about it. Now, I'm going to type it up here. So, what I say in it will be what came straight out of my mind and put onto the paper... only because I didn't know how to do blogs here online. Now I do, well, I don't write in the book anymore.

My life has changed so much in the past six years. I've done plenty and have a lot more to achieve to get where I want to be. However, for now, I'm happy; that is hard to achieve in this day and age of technology. Life is a gift and not a lot of us realise this until it's at risk of being lost. We don't care for our bodies, our minds; we don't keep up with educating ourselves and have the wont to learn all the time throughout our lives. Our minds have so much potential and it's a waste that we don't absorb and learn and push ourselves beyond our own boundaries of learning.

As from a very young age, we are pushed to learn and experience everything of our world. So, once we get a job and have a family, is that supposed to cease for us but not our kids? This world may not be exactly the same as it was when you were young, but then that's where your stories come into it... to fill in the spaces where school and books don't. Life is to be experienced throughout your life; not only when you're young. We must enjoy ourselves as though we're birds; free from constraints and boundaries, always willing to learn and see life from all angles possible.

It's not just learning we must keep doing; it's our attitude as well. A positive outlook to life will open doors, make the impossible possible and allow us stretch our wings fully, tilt our faces toward the heavens and take flight like the fallen angels we are. We only need to search for knowledge from the right resources and places to educate ourselves; as it needn't cost us thousands of dollars in university fees or loans. Knowledge is a powerful thing to possess; using it correctly requires tact, and when you do use it right respect follows you around. yes, if we use our wasted mindspace, fill it with knowledge - useful knowledge - each of us will learn to respect each others' faults as humans should. But the unfortunate reality is that we don't and won't; that we are in this day and age, still as self-destructive as our caveman ancestors. It is bad enough that it's to the point that eventually, we will extinct ourselves from our own home by destroying our natural resources and thus our very existence.

After that, what do we do next?

Monday, December 8, 2008

This Time

At this time of year, I get to thinking about what I'm going to be doing next year. Last year, I didn't because I had accomplished a fair bit in 2007 and so when December 31 came and went, I sat out the front of my parent's caravan at Brunswick Heads at 5am and looked around the very wet and cloudy morning wondering what the hell I was going to do with my year of 2008. I had a clean slate to do whatever I wanted... nothing... everything.

This was going to be fun!

So, what I didn't do was write out any resolutions. I looked upon this year as a year of 'whatever comes my way, I'll get in and do', and that sounded good to me. A few days later, I came home with my budgie, went shopping and paid the bills. Then, my year began in typical Queensland style with heat, rain and storms. I also began reading as many books as I could this year. Last year, I read 22 books. And right now, I'm up to my 22nd book and it's December. The one I'm reading is 'Eat, Pray, Love' and it's good so far. But I want to read more books before the next few weeks are gone and 2009 begins... I want to beat last year's record. If I can't, I'm not going to sweat it. I'll see if I can do it next year.

This year, I got into a Big Book Giveaway on BookCrossing.com, an art project that included three collages of bookmarks (all of which were donated by bookcrossers), I took part in a national study about epilepsy, migraine sufferers and art and how the three can be linked; this took up a good part of my year. I Then began pulling together my poetry book and a book I wrote last year that was all short stories and novellas and began another book on a character I knew very little about (but it's been very successful).
The collages were shown and books registered on BookCrossing.com were mass released at the showing. I've got art currently showing on the net that's for sale and I've totally enjoyed this year; even when my computer caught itself a virus and I had to move everything off all the drives, onto cds and reformat and redo everything; right up to reinstalling all my programs. Not a fun thing, but it was educational in itself.

Now, it's December, I'm looking at getting together three more books and getting them published through another publisher online, doing more paintings and reading even more books! I'm even going to work harder in the backyard on improving my garden - as it has been a little neglected this year.
This may seem like small stuff to most, but to me it's a lot. Next year, just after we all settle back into our routines, I'll be back into my Christmas shopping... sorting out who's going to get what for December 2009.... yeah, I start straight away.

So, I hope you have all accomplished all that you've wanted this year. If you haven't, there's always next year and that's a good thing. Keep on thinking positive and looking the good in all.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Mother Nature's Beauty

There's nothing like witnessing the raw and absolute rage of a Summer Storm. It howls, tearing the trees and branches to and fro; splintering them as though they are meer twigs and pelting the broken pieces through the air as though they are javelins; sharp, fast and deadly. And that's just the wind. What I love to watch is the lightning bringing the darkened skies to split-seconds of daylight only to have the thunder pound and grumble in return. This conversation starts off in the distance and get closer. It's kind of like watching a fight erupt between two good friends, seeing it come to blows then them figure it out. On the way through is the destruction of their disagreement... and what a disagreement!

Besides storms, there's other things I love about Mother Nature. It's not all violence and destruction. I love the way a flower opens and displays its most beautiful colours to the world; along with a heady scent. There's the stars in the sky that look like a scattering of diamonds across black velvet with our lunar satelitte moving across it; ever transient and ever pale with beauty, controling our tides.

The Great Barrier Reef is something to behold. Don't just go by what people tell you about it... actually get yourself there before it bleaches again and again. That dreadful thing is happening. The parts of it that are still beautiful and colourful are just spell-binding.
And it's not just the reef. The vivid blueness of the ocean is something to behold. It can change from sky blue and transcend to a teal where you've reached the deepest of oceans where the waves move and heave against the ship's bow.

Mother Nature's beauty can be found in the smallest things like a lady bug walking across your arm. Or it can be found in the possum that's taken up residence in the back of your garage. The one thing I love about it is that her creatures show up when you least expect them to; when you're having a bad day, they make you smile. When you're sad, they'll make you see something you've missed. That's what Mother Nature's all about really.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Traveling Is...

I have found that since I began traveling around the world at the young age of nineteen, I was completely addicted to it. However, you don't have to own a passport to do it. And you don't really have to watch all those travel shows to experience those places either. The imagination is a great thing. However, you must be able to use it properly.

With the internet, it's become so much easier to travel around the world and never have to leave your home, your lounge room or your office building. Everything's right there on your computer. The fun part of it is choosing where you want to go today! And then, you click your mouse or press your enter key and away it goes happily searching the phone lines to find what you asked for. Wonderful! But sometimes, it's not enough is it?
I've gotten used to not being able to travel too far. So to me, reading about a far away place or traveling three hours to the coast is - in its own way - a real vacation. It gets me away from my home, my suburb and into a place where I'm away from the television and away from everything else. I sometimes hate it... but once I get used to it, I feel okay. I guess it's because I'm so used to having the control over my own environment that I don't like being away from it.

Don't get me wrong... I have actually been outside the protective beauty that is Australia. My first overseas vacation was Vanuatu and I was nineteen years of age. It was incredibly hot, the Vanuatuans were wonderfully kind and the French were rude (even if I did speak French; which I did a little, but they didn't like it). It was Tiger Shark Season and the daytime temperature ranged between 43 - 48 degrees Celsius. In the evenings, it was around 27 - 35 deg Celsius... not very comfortable. The local water had flouride in it and I encouraged not to drink it. But the place was amazing; even if the army was roaming around fully armed for most of the day... and it creeped me out more than a little.

The South Island of New Zealand was the next place I went to. I don't remember much of this place but I do remember that it was freezing, I caught the flu and was sick for most of my tour. Then, one person I was staying with caught chickenpox when I was about to leave to come home. She had to catch a plane with them.

The UK, Scotland and Wales was my last major trip overseas. And it was my most beloved holiday. It was seven weeks long and I visited and met up with friends and relatives I hadn't seen in such a long time! The one thing I didn't want to do was come home... and it was unfortunate that I did because a week after I got back, I lost my job. So, there went my globtrotting for a long time.

But I still travel... in my mind... in my books... the ones I write and the ones I read. I believe that where there's a will there's a way to get to travel. Life is fun... learning to travel in more than one way is even more fun! Like I said, you don't really need to leave the country to travel around the world - or the universe for that matter. It's just how you look at it.