2010: Where did it go?

As if it is December 31st, 2010 as of this very moment... no way an entire year has passed. Just now I am reading my 2009 recap, and as I am reading it I can picture vividly my hands typing those words as if it was written only last week.

That's scary.

So... 2010, how did we go? I don't really know how to answer that.  Well, just after reading my 2009 recap... what has changed since last year? Sadly it appears not much at all.

Actually, and I apologize how bad this post is turning out, no flow what so ever lol, but oh well.  I was originally going to see how 2009 was, then compare it to 2010 to see on what level it has/hasn't improved.  As I was reading 2009 posts I realized... why even compare?  2009 is so far away now, I am such a different person, my life is completely different, everything has changed.

It was a nice realization.

The great thing about keeping this blog is that it allows me to look at my year like a time capsule, so, let's take a step through memory lane and see what I got up to in 2010 =)

There was heaps of awesome adventures and stories, first there was the Bonzai Tree fiasco at work, Sabbi's and mine escape from the terrifying Scouts camping trip, I was on TV, and the scarcely believable coincidental events like the time I met a girl at the cinemas or the time when the Universe was clearly against me for unknown reasons.

Then there was the events! The Taylor Swift concert, the Paramore concert and the times I got to stay in the city for a few nights for a conferences (here, here and here). Not to mention the holidays... Queensland in January, Cruise Ship in April, Thailand in June and a week in Sydney in December!

All this was squeezed in as I moved out of home with crazy housemates, got offered to and became a tutorer at my University to teach my very first class, topped off by attempting one of the greatest achievements of my life thus far... to successfully complete my Honours year at University (which I did =D).

So while 2010 wasn't the year I made new best friends, or found a new girlfriend, or decided what I really want to do for next year, it was instead the year I became more independent by moving out of home for the long run, got out to see the world more with my holidays, and completed my Honours degree to prove to myself that if I set my mind on something, I can do anything.

It was a tough year, there were certainly some stressful days (and nights) due to Uni, and some very lonely times as I left most of my friends behind, but hey, it is the end and I am still here, and I can realize now from my recap above that 2010, while not exactly what I had hoped for, still turned out pretty damn awesomely =)

Let's see what 2011 has in store... I have a strong feeling that it is going to be quite a lot more memorably then this year, trust me =P

Happy New Year everyone!

Very quiet, very loud

As I've always said, this blog is written purely for myself with no attempts to gain followers (which relax, is still true), I guess just today I've realized how quiet my little slice of the blogosphere really is.  Normally I don't care one bit, often times these posts are for my own accounts and don't really have an 'outside audience' mentality in mind when they are written, but today... this quietness of my blog has been realized to be pretty similar to my real life, and I hate that.

It's been a busy year and a half.  I broke up with my long term girlfriend, which then lead to a falling out with my best friend, then I moved out of home and away from my remaining friends so I could be closer to work and Uni. Since then my days were completely consumed with my Honours year of University.  After about 8 months of living away from friends now, and being single for over a year, I really thought by now I'd have a new group of friends and a new girlfriend.  8 months on however I've only gained about 2 good new friends and no prospects of a girlfriend.

The excuse, and my motivation, has mostly been the argument of 'Uni takes up too much of my time and effort to be worrying about friends and girlfriend right now'.  Which, as I did throw myself into my work and studies all year I guess you could say that's fair.  But... what about the things that happen by chance?  I can understand that by me not making the effort, new friends and girlfriend aren't likely going to happen, but what about those random circumstances where you just somehow fall into it? Surely more of those should of happened by now?

The problem with the above is that I am constantly thinking 'surely something good is going to come my way any day now'.  The days come, and the days pass, and I am continuing looking forever further and further into the future... which is not a good thing when I am turning a cringe worthy 23 next year.  Ha, yes I know, that is hardly old at all... I'll be honest when I say I have a bit of an obsessive phobia of growing old and missing out on opportunities and having regrets of all the things I never got to do.

Well, with that said, and with my University at an official end, I guess it is time to get these problems settled and my life in order once more.  So, what's on the agenda? Let's break it down I guess:

- Friends - There is no chance of me moving back home anytime soon, which means I will forever be away from my old best mates, slowly drifting further apart (I hate that...).  Time for new ones I guess, so, I should make an effort to connect better with the new ones I have made here (although they are no where near as cool as my old ones).

-Love - I have been single for... bit over a year now I think.  While I no longer feel I need a girlfriend, and can manage life on my own quite comfortably now, I would be lying if I said that it wouldn't be nice to have, especially with my lack of friends at the moment.  I can't stand loud music anymore therefore avoid clubs and loud bars/pubs, thus limiting one of the best opportunities to meet girls. In my day to day life I come across countless whilst just at shops, at Uni, through friends, I just seem to fail to capitalize on the opportunities, always walking away, shaking my head at myself in regret for letting another chance slip through my fingers.

-Future plans - Wow, well, I'm not sure, it hasn't really hit me that University has actually come to an end. I keep thinking that I am merely on summer holidays, awaiting the Uni year to begin next year all over.  But no, not this time. This time there is no Uni year to begin, it is just completely wide open, no dates to follow, people to contact about courses, topics to choose... it is whatever I want to choose to do. 

That's a little scary.

And there we go, summed up above is the three areas that at this point in time are of the most important.  I'm not really sure how to address all three, maybe I should just try to relax and take a week or 2 off from thinking about any of it, start it all come the new year.

Guess I will wait to see what happens.

Like always.

Sadly.

The End

The journey that was my University Honours year.

93 pages.

24,000 words.

Final year presentation complete.

The end.

Living the dream - Take three!

This is take three of my 'Living the Dream' series! A series where I get a step closer to my eventual dream of one day living in a city! A dream that, whilst originally expressed on this blog over a year ago now, has stuck with me even till now. In part one I got to spend 2 nights in Melbourne and part two I spent 1 night in Melbourne, which while was still an experience, I live only 30 minutes from Melbourne city therefore it wasn't that much a stretch.

This time however I was lucky enough to spend 3 nights in Sydney! It is only one state over from Melbourne (Australia), but it was still fairly foreign enough to get a much better idea of what moving to a city would actually be like. By foreign I mean in terms of the geography mostly (as I am not familiar with Sydney streets at all), and I guess 3 nights rather then 1 and 2 added to the immersion... yes I am aware I am still in the same country and the people are pretty much the same as back home haha.

Anyways, it was exciting nonetheless.  Spent 4 full days in Sydney on my own in a hotel right in the heart of the city.  Spent a day by Darling Harbour, then wonde... oh oh! I just remember one of the best parts of the entire trip!  The Powerhouse Museum! As I was lost somewhere I stumbled across the Powerhouse Museum, it looked alright when I checked out the website so thought I'd give it a go. Wow, is all I can say... I spent 4 hours there, they had some amazing exhibitions on global warming, the advancement of technology over the last 100 years, scenes depicting and describing some of the great discoveries and experiments in history... yes I am a huge nerd =)

Point is, if you ever go to Sydney, Australia, have a walk around Darling Harbour, then stop by the Powerhouse Museum.

The trip was funded by the conference I was attending, lately I have been right into iPhone development, so this conference (well, it was more like a workshop) was fantastic.  That lasted three days so I spent as much time as I could exploring, working in my hotel room, chatting to locals, just really trying to immerse myself and to create a better picture of how it would be like if I really do go move to New York like I currently plan to.

I feel lucky to have these opportunities =)  Below you will find some random shots I took while I was out and about.