nothing special

sweat will get you results...

I will live it.

The higher I swung, the greater the thought of how painful it would be if I were to fall right at that instant. I’m probably just a shoe length higher than Janice now but I guess I am about a shoe length taller than her anyways. As I come down, the zero velocity experience of my bum lifting off of the seat, lets me know my limit has been reached.

'You get in life what you put into it'; what did you expect?

Tell you in the morning.

99.1kg and hit 18 min and 30 secs.

3 km under 20 minutes (by the end of the year)
---> 3 km in 18 minutes and 40 seconds.

NEW GOAL - 3 km under 15 minutes.

I finished watching the most recent episode of ‘How I met your mother’ and was a little touched about the scope of the particular episode. It portrayed the lives of the main characters upon attending one of their fathers’ funerals. The episode mainly revolves around the idea of remembering the deceased last words; something which defined the person before they’d passed away and creating closure to their loved ones.

I’ve always had a thought that I would eventually pass when I reach the age of 120, on a Thursday, from a slumber I would never wake from. I would say ‘goodbye and good riddance’ to all my children and grandchildren, ‘I love you’ to my wife and ‘I’ll see you guys soon’ to all my friends and family whom hadn’t left yet. To be honest, I do feel a little iffy talking about death but as I’ve witness one too many times this year, if death comes knocking, all you can do is pack.

As life has put it, nothing you do today will guarantee you of life tomorrow. So this blog post is a selection of my sincere last words in case they ever are.

I love you so much and don’t ever let the world bring you down, embrace the bad and make the most out of the good. Life is never fair but don’t try and get even.

Grow up and look after her, she loves you very much and we are both so proud of you, especially me.

I will say hi to him when I see him and remind him of how great a person you are. You are like a brother to me, stand strong.

Teach the children about love, they need to know that if they are going to be our future. Thanks for everything.

Stay on track and never let motivation and determination be far from you. You will do well.

I love you with all my heart, thank you for raising me and being my best friend.

I’ll wait for you.

Don’t hold on but make every second count.

Don’t eat raw eggs, good protein can’t be activated unless it’s cooked.

Count.

While I passed people on the way home from an exhausting day out in the pits, receiving thumbs up from many passerby' and calls of 'good on ya mate', I finally heard the music that I was so dearly waiting for; the music of fulfillment and content. Today I am proud to say that nothing has been more life fulfilling than the seven hours or so of shoveling mud and lifting trash.

So there is a little bit more to the story than that but in the end, all it did take was a little bit of mud and a little bit of trash (probably a little bit 'more' than a little bit) to bring a whole community together. An initial crew of no more than 4 of us slid around to what looked like a war zone. Rocklea had turned into a pit filled with mud, dirt and most of all, rotten waterlogged belongings that needed to be removed as soon as possible. Arriving at our mates house, we stood in amazement as the piles of trash beside us grew pretty much instantaneously. With no time to stand shell shocked, we joined the 20 or so plus people already removing the cavities of his house to the bare. Once we joined, more followed and it seemed that with more commotion brought more help.

It seemed that Paullies house needed the most help with his garage jam packed with everything ranging from fishing gear to fish tanks to sewing materials his mum stored in case of a rainy day. From the time we lifted the first pile of trash to the time the walls were cleaned out by the next door neighbours pressure hose, nothing less of mateship and comradeship can be used to explain how we all worked together. Nothing seemed too heavy nor dirty, nor impossible as there was always someone willing to give a hand, someone who looked more dirty and someone who just kept going no matter what.

I get kind of emotional thinking how such a tragic happening can bring so many people from so many backgrounds together and work towards moving forward. When the last piece of heavy lifting was done, the people dispersed, off to help more unfortunate people, other people who needed the help. It was so moving seeing how willing everyone was in helping one another, we didn't hesitate at all to seek out those who needed our helping hand.

We finished 3 houses today and even though the completion of them made us sore to the bone and satisfied that we got through as many as we did on our first day; this is only just the beginning of an everlasting battle. One that will eventually finish, in weeks, months, even years. Today it is not the thought of how long this will last, but more a rather, when will we finish. I see an end. My faith in humanity has been restored.

Picture by: Peta Wells, facebook.
Picture by: Bill Djordjic, facebook.

Picture above by Arman Ziggles Berkett Saleh, facebook.


I walk the streets of the once lively, brightly lit city, bustling with cars and people; those whom would be out for a late afternoon stroll or heading home from a hard days work,, in silent darkness. The center of my beloved city has turned into a ghost town, one with little movement, little noise and little much else other than the smells of what is left from the river which lurks in the humid air.

Initial reactions of the water surging through the city are described as excitement and fascination. We travel to our most treasured spots on the river and were absolutely amazed by how the water has affected it. The museum where you would find us some nights walking along the broad walk, admiring the city line and finding possible fishing spots, was under, everything was under. The slight amusement in prawns jumping on the surface was the first and last positive thing we found from the flooding. Soon enough the water was too high to even walk under the road which links the museum and south bank. The sounds of glass breaking below us in the performing arts car park and water gushing in cannot be unheard. We stand there shock and awe, watching the tremendous power of the Brisbane River sweep trees, jetties, boats, parts of houses, and pretty much anything in the way, down stream, into other parts of Brisbane.

Kangaroo point, much like all the other places we visited were littered with Brisbanites, curious just as we were to witness the infamous history of the 2011 Brisbane floods unfold. A lot of people questioned how and why and what was being done but soon enough, everyone began to ask when. When will the water recede, when will the electricity be turned back on, when will we be able to return to our homes, when will be be able to go back to our normal lives.

As fortunate as I have been through these times of destruction, I share my grief with my mates whom have been less fortunate and can only imagine what they are going through. While a couple of of them live in darkness and wait out the days till the council begins their immense clean up and restore power, some have lost their homes and even loved ones. To all of them, I send my love and condolences and pray for you to have the strength to surpass such times of tragedy. We are all apart of this city and in times of need, we will band together to share the grief and move forward; there is no other option.

I love you Brisbane, there’s no place like home.

Maybe this is the direction I need to take my life.

Sticking to a budget is much like working out in the gym. At first, you begin to make your budget by considering both your combined income and expenses. The subtraction of your expenses from your income gives either a credit or debit account equating to either savings or debt.

Similar to working out in the gym, your trying to better the original. From trying to save money to losing weight, much follows the same concepts. To save money you must have income which exceeds your expenses. There are two ways to do this, either increase your income or reduce your expenses. Working out is similar. To lose weight you must have an output (calories out) which exceeds your input (calories in). You either increase your output by doing more exercise or decrease your input by eating less.

Often the main solution to increasing income is finding a second job. When this is applied to losing weight, cardio seems to represent this exactly. Given that the majority of your income comes from your main job, the second job helps to create a larger buffer between spending and saving. With knowledge that nutrition applied correctly to the equation of losing weight and having it correlate to the main job, the cardio allows for cheat meals. These buffers or positive expenses (spending or cheat meals), in my opinion helps with progress.

It feels kind of sad that my life has turned into this. But I guess when you have one aspect sorted out, others kind of follow aswell. Hopefully I’ll be able to apply these concepts to my budget and see my debts dissapear this year. Just taking it one step at a time.

Been listening to this for a couple of days now.

this is love
its written all over my face
its something id try describing
but its hard to say a thing
this is love
it seems like a world of your own
when you could feel the butterflies
fluttering theyre outgrown.

so when i see your face
it gets harder everytime
to let go of us.
do you recall when i would
tell you

i love us. i cant go. a day without
your sweet lovin
i cant hide. they all know. so lookout
my hearts runnin'
heyyou, i'm tickled up
and i know i
aint picture perfect...

this is real
hearts will start to colide
it feels like we're entwined by all our roots
to grow aligned
said i need you need you.
another way to say
i gotta have yu have you
the sound of your voice
is echoing

whats sweeter than sweeter than sugar, love.
is the taste of us x3

She reminds me of someone but I can't figure out who.

Life at the moment seems as confusing as the first time I started at the gym. With so many opinions contradicting my once straight forward mind, it seemed I was lost before even going to the gym.

Following different regimens and routines to try and be the healthiest I could be, it wasnt until I made several mistakes that I found what really worked for me. Much like many things in life that you want so dearly, it didnt come without hard work. To feed the body, sufficient amounts of protein needed to be ingested. Too much and it would go to waste, too little and your muscles would waste.

Today I've learnt that timing is so much more important than having too little or too much of something. Nutrition, supplements and a solid workout routine, even with consistency could be detrimental with bad timing; eating carbs at night and doing heavy weight training on an empty stomach.

What I'm really trying to say is that with even the stars aligning, the mindset of undeniable and uncontrollable passion, and figuring out the secret formula for what you really want, timing can take the best out of it.

Is it bad timing or is it something else?

Her large round eyes provide the sunshine in the day and the moonlight in the darkness. As a gust of wind blows, strands of her hair dance wildly in the air while the remaining frames her baby face.

Her smile moves her cheeks which moves her ears, which stops time on earth momentarily. Lips the colour of a tea rose; dark red on the inside, bright pink on the outside. Hands as soft as kittens, shows age and work, and independence. Mouth, nose, ears, cheeks, all proportions normal but seem special in this combination. She's beautiful.

But,

I don't get butterflies, and my knees don't buckle, and there is no urge to go and dance in the rain.

There's always a first!

So today was a first of many things for me. It was the first time since the new year started that I didn't do my morning cardio. It was the first time since the new year that I skipped lunch and the first time since the new year that I wore a singlet to the gym. To be completely honest, the feeling you have for a first really depends on how you look at it. I mean, instead of the morning skip, I substituted it for an afternoon hike up the Spring brook mountains. Instead of the typical lunch I'd have, I got my calories from chewing on chocolate and rum fudge. The first time for the singlet wasn't so spectacular either considering I wore them to the gym only when I finished my workout.

But like l said, it really depends on how you look at things. I'm slightly more happy with myself that I have the self confidence to wear one to the gym and workout and not care what other people think of me. I guess sometimes there's a particular expectation with the first of things. It could be a bad impression such as doing drugs for the first time or the good impression you might have of the first time you find yourself huddled next to a loved one; both of which I have never experienced. In the end, I guess it really depends on your own values and judgments. To many people, there will never be a first. I guess life is not all about making the right decisions and being comfortable.

Sometimes its essential to make mistakes and to experience what you hate before you can appreciate what you like. A good mate put it 'try before you buy and if you don't like it, you can always return it', my mate works in retail....