Vacant Mind

New Year Resolutions

I’m sure that everyone is doing them, so why not me:

• Sell a print or digital of one of my photographs
• Do more photography, I enjoy it and find it relaxing, so why not
• Loose 10kg, get to size 34 pants, 15% body fat
• Start a small home business (photography or computer fix/repair)
• Get a job that I want
• Find and buy into a managed fun that has regular savings
• Find and buy shares into company
• Build the network that I’ve been thinking about
• Read 2 books per month
• Write more (journal and blog)
• Practice meditation
• See my friends more regularly
• Join the 365 project - take a photo per day
• Take a photo of myself everyday
• Build a stronger relationship with my fiance
• Continue to understand and believe in myself more
• Dig into my family history and record it - family tree with stories
• Learn a second language or two
• Ride to work or at least half way or to the station
• Learn to cook…better
• Develop a ‘early riser’ routine

I don’t know if I will get to them all or any of them. I’ve got it out there at least, out of my mind.

60 hour week

Wow, now that was tough. I actual week were I didn’t get home till after 11pm, I had dinner at work, I didn’t see my fiance for 3 whole days. I actually felt like that I had made it to the corporate life, the life that I had always seen and heard about. The one where people give up almost everything for work.

It’s amazing how dedicated some people can be and it became evident that I can be that dedicated, the couple of weeks that I have been doing this I realised the amount that people are prepared to give up for little gain.

I had been convinced to do this due the the great exposure and experience that I would get, I hated it at first. The mundane work, long hours and the exposure and experience that I wasn’t getting.

I stuck with it, the dinner at work, 15 hour days, 60 hour weeks. I don’t know if  made an impression or not but I”m leaving now because I couldn’t handle the work and I wanted to go back where it was easy.

Go back where it was easy, that part I don’t like, the part where I might have given up because it all got too hard. I don’t know how this will effect me in the future but I hope that I made the right decision.

What can I do in 3 hours?

Nothing. Well to be honest almost nothing. Let’s get a little more detailed shall we.

I get home about at 6.30 pm (on average), anytime between now and 7.45 pm is dinner (cooking and eating). I clean up after dinner which will normally take me to about 8.00 pm, and then I’ll clean up and get ready for the next day (shower/shave/clothes). It’s now 8.30 pm, here is where the problem starts, I have to be in bed at 9.30, I don’t think that I’ll make it to bed by 9.30 because I’ve got things that I like to do at night.

• See friends
• General surfing the Internet
• Say out after work

Anxiety Attacks

I’ve never had one before, I’m a pretty relaxed guy. I don’t let too much phase me nor to I take many things to heart. Altough recent problems with the new fiance has meant that I’ve begun to stress a lot more than I used to. 

I’ve started to have a very uneasy stomach, with it causing lots of discomfort, I’ve also had a lot of chest pain on the left side. I’m not certain if this is because I’m also unfit.

There are days that I don’t even want to come home because I don’t want to deal with the uncomfortable conversations that I know I have to have. 

I guess this is one those grown up things that I have to learn how to do.

New Years

So every year we have to go through the same old boring routine of finding out what everyone is doing for their NYE celebrations, for the longest time that I can remember no one has ever wanted to go into the city. Probably for good reason, the amount of stories that everyone tells me about how crowded it is and difficult to get a train back home make the prospect rather unattractive, but I would still like to go just to experience it all even if it would be difficult. There must be another way like parking at a station closer towards the city but again we face the problem of getting the train back out.

I have also noticed an interesting trend, as we continually follow the same old addage of house party after house party, our numbers are dwindling, less and less of our friends are joining us to do what we do, they seem to be heading off to bigger and better events. I wonder if I can get myself along to one of these as well.

As with the the new year approaching also comes the through of new year resolutions, I will be writing out mine is a new post soonish.

By the way it is good to see the Sydney is going green with this years fireworks display.

Been Away

As any recently finished Uni student (even the ones that blog) and they will tell you where they have been or what they have been doing since exams finished a little over 2 weeks ago - nothing just relaxing.

That’s exactly what I have been doing, while there were many chances to get on and blog about something and there was always something that I wanted to write about, I decided against it either because it was too depressing, indecisive or I didn’t count it interesting enough.

Well I like to think that my time of rest is over and now I would like to do something more productive…and probably some more boring lamenting about my life…but not to worry I will try to keep it as up beat as possible.

My results don’t come out for another week and as usual I’m not particularly looking forward to them not because I think that I might have failed a subject (well there is that) it’s the whole process of going through and telling everyone my results and them congratulating my like I am 15. Granted I have failed subjects and this legacy seems to have lived on not only sometimes in my results but also mentally in others.

As I have previously mentioned I have two big purchases to make - not counting Christmas presents for everyone else, if so then it’s like 5 big ones - and consequently enough there is no one out there that I have meet who supports me on this one. So I’m finding it hard to get the motivation and drive to get behind two things that I believe are important to me. I will probably talk about these later when I can better sort out what I want.

But for now I have a lot of reading (of other blogs) that I wish to catch up on.

Check back later.

One more to go

Nothing better than a catch up with people that you haven’t seen in a while.

It has probably been about 6 months in all honesty and it was great, although it did get a little bit crowded after a little while depending on the company isn’t a bad thing generally.

Had a few beers, caught up with people and talked my head off for hours, from books to travel stories - probably still a little bit drunk while writing this.

I have missed the going out side of my personality, the one that loves a drink with friends and laughing the whole night.
I will have to try that which is holding me back so that I can enjoy a few more nights out and live.

I have one more exam to go and this one is going to be a ripper, about 80% of the class aren’t even sure if they will pass and frankly I don’t think that the lecturer thinks that we will. I have ab it of a busy Saturday planned so I hope to get in a bit of work in before that happens.

On another note I am seriously considering buying a Canon 400D to see if I can take this photography any further…if anyone has any advice please let me know. Although I am thinking that I should hold off till I can actually take better photos.

Good Weather

I suppose that I am in the minority because I am actually a fan of the cooler days and in fact I don’t mind a bit of rain besides that fact that we are in need of rain. I enjoy the feel, sound and even the smell, it must be a combination of all of them that makes it a calming experience. I hear it when I am sleeping and awake and I feel more relaxed, I see the rain and I have a feeling of calm and regrowth and the smell during, before and after isn’t the best smell but if you have been in a rainforest, wetland or even deep into some of our great national parks you will know what I mean, it has that clean crisp smell to it.

Took these photos driving today, have you ever seen rain clouds and you can see the rain falling as you are driving knowing that you are going to run into the rain. One moment you on a dry road and then all of a sudden…wet, like there is a virtual line drawn that seperates web and day. Hopefully you will know what I mean when you see the pics.

ARIA

Correct me if I am wrong, but are the Hilltop Hoods the first hip hop group to preform live at the ARIA’s ever?
I think that I remember Koolism a while back but I’m not certain.

I think that this is fantastic that they have won some awards not because I’m some hip hop junkie (I am of sorts) but because it is great for the diversity of Australian music, I’m a bit sore that my favourite band Something For Kate hardly ever win often enough.

No doubt that there were some great wins tonight as well including Wolfmother! and Bernard Fanning.

What did you enjoy about the ARIA’s tonight?

17 things you’ve probably never done, but should

1. Approach and engage a pretty girl in conversation with no prompting from anyone. She might not want to talk. She might even tell you to go jerk yourself a soda. But she might not.

Not done

2. Be debt-free. Compounding interest is like a sorority girl on Ecstasy. She’ll go both ways, but you get a hell of a lot more out of it when she’s going your way.

Check

3. Try the sport that you ridicule most. Golfers and skateboarders wouldn’t be so friggin’ smug if they knew how difficult the other guy’s favorite activity really is.

Check
Used to hate golf, thought it was lazy and boring, then I gave it a shot it isn’t as easy as it looks.

4. Finish something early.

I’m not sure that I’m capable of this

5. Let someone else brag about that cool thing you did.

Not anything that I’m proud of, so I will leave that as a no.

6. How ’bout a mercy flush?

Yep done that one…yuck

7. Disagree with the person you fear most.

Not yet, on the cards though

8. Read a novel with more than 300 pages, written before 1950, set somewhere other than the United States.

I thought that I could check this one but a quick look at the bookshelf and rattling of the brain has proven otherwise. I thought that Hamlet, John Donne or Aldous Huxley would make the cut but I’m not sure about the page count.

9. Eat brussels sprouts. To make it easier, pretend a gun is pointed at your temple and you have a choice: Take them orally or another way.

Check

10. You think you’re tough? Say exactly what’s on your mind when you’re at your most vulnerable. We’ll see how tough you are.

Still to do

11. Say “Cool tat” the next time you see intricate tribal art on the small of a woman’s back. She knows what you’re really saying, but verbal subtleties like this can mean the difference between receiving an amused smile and waking up in the ICU wearing a diaper packed with ice.

Not yet, don’t think that the opportunity will arise.

12. Embrace the male carpe diem death cliché. You will die, friend, and dozens of bungee-jumping, skydiving, scuba diving, rock-climbing, boxing, surfing, and motocross outfits are depending on your “holy crap” realization of mortality to make a living. Why wait? Fix your roof when it’s sunny.

Not yet

13. Go alone. Tell no one. Strive to notice the subtleties:

Toss the ticket stub on the way out; you were never there. We guarantee you’ll remember this longer than if you got permission or went with mates.

Check and it’s kinda true

This one is a little American so I changed it a bit.

14. Go a week without quoting anyone. When you consider movies, late-night monologues, sportscasters, bosses, wives, kids, founding fathers, regular fathers, Shake-speare, philosophers, and Homer Simpson, this suddenly becomes a lot harder than you thought, huh?

Tried but couldn’t do it

15. Pursue a woman not because she’s so hot but because she’s so cool.

Check…it doesn’t always work out the way it’s supposed to.

16. Buy a stock based on research you did all by yourself, from scratch. Restaurant crowds won’t fall silent when you speak, but nailing a six-bagger on your own beats Maria Bartiromo’s sloppy seconds any trading day.

Working on this one

17. Ask questions first. Save your bullets for later.

check

Taken from Mens Health

8 out of 17, just under half. So I guess that I’ve got a few things that I can work on.
I know this seems a bit guy centric but I’m sure that you could change bits and pieces to suit the ladies side of things.
If you decide to do this as well, send me the link I would be interested to see it.