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It's my third eye, loudest voice and most receptive ear.  I've laughed with it, learned from it, been upset by it and even hit it (only to apologies a second later). It wakes by my side and watches over me as I drift to sleep. I am of course talking about my iPhone. Thanks to the genius of the late Steve Jobs, to whom the modern techno world owes big, this device is as much a part of my life as me.

Resembling a global invasion the iPhone swiftly took over the population of nearly every country in the world, not many brands can claim such a feat. Its attraction based on a global trend. The iPhone’s success can be summed up by one of its advertising slogans.

‘If you don’t have an iPhone, well, you don’t have an iPhone’ (youtube it)

A simple enough message, but effective beyond belief. However for all of the phone’s idolised brilliance, it isn’t really that brilliant. There’s a number of smart phones that better it in every aspect, yet against all logic, I didn’t get one of those, as a matter of fact I didn’t even look at another option.

I knew the iPhone was sure to crash numerous times, like I know Coronas aren’t a good tasting beer, Coca-Cola rot’s my teeth, Nike shoes fund child labour and Ray Bans were designed for girls with shoulder pads and ankle warmers. But still, they’re in my fridge, my closet and displayed right on my face. So like the iPhone and so many other brands, how do they do it?

Branding? Advertising? Marketing? Yes they conjure the desire for a product but I didn’t just want the iPhone..... I needed it. It comes down to a combination of globalisation and an innate desire to belong. We are essentially pack animals. Don’t believe me? Well watch the David Attenborough documentary. We have a natural instinct to conform and as the world slowly struggles toward solidarity it’s becoming more and more obvious.

I didn’t want this phone for its features or applications. I needed this phone because my friends had it, because everyone had it or at least I believed so. I needed this phone like I needed that last tequila shot on Saturday night, all my mates were lining one up so it must be a good idea. The hangover's a cracked screen and an app the crashes my phone daily but it doesn't matter because If you don’t have an iPhone, well, you don’t have an iPhone.

And I love this concept, it ‘s what I plan to build a profession on. You can’t be angry at the idea, it’s built into us to keep the world rolling on. Imagine if the guy that invented the wheel showed it off to his mates and they didn’t feel the need to get one? As soon as we stop needing what our neighbours have, the world will stop progressing.

Not another attempt to be philosophical.

To be honest I’ve got a few of these backed up now, some finished, some started and some just with a title and an idea, but I’m sure I’ll run out of inspiration soon so why scull when you can savour.

Half the time they’re started because I’ve had a thought that’s worth rumbling on about or I’m in some foul mood over something pointless. Like yesterday I saw a guy’s teeth literally kicked out of his head on a kids’ TV show, seriously society, what the fuck! But I’m sure I’ll get to that another time. 

Basically this little piece is a quick thank you before the next thing comes along to steal your attention. For some reason nearly 200 of you have checked out this blog over the past few weeks, some have even made the mistake of coming back and I appreciate it.  It’s half the reason I’m still doing it (the other half is because I’m an exceptional procrastinator when it comes to uni). However this is a little more than just a pat on your back.

Right now my life is in limbo. After 17 years of ABCs, attendance roles , times tables, Shakespeare poems, libraries, lectures and tutorials I’m about to finish my education and enter the ‘real world’, beginning a new era away from the safety and security of the familiar and the Sunshine Coast.

The original plan would’ve seen me settling into Hamilton Island for a two month stint before moving down to the only place I love more than home, Melbourne.  However, as some of you know life’s thrown a few curve balls my way to rattle the cage and disturb my balance. So I’m on a new path, one that’s faithfully followed not built. The end goal remains the same but beyond the next 3 weeks there are no plans.

Yet this uncertainty has given me time to reflect, look back on a life I’m so thankful to have lived and yesterday I realised the obvious. It’s the people in my life that have made it so wonderful, the friendship we’ve built, times we’ve shared and stories we’ll never tell. I’m not going to say I have no regrets or wish things weren’t different now but as I hopefully stare at a formless future, I can look back on a past with contentment and be happy to have shared it with all of you. 

So here’s to the future, may I not fuck it up.

the R word

I'd consider myself a religious man, but not by standard definition.

Growing up I was lucky enough to have a very diverse family, attend a Lutheran school and be loved by a mum that is borderline spiritually fanatic. So the abundance of religious beliefs I’ve witnessed have all been thrown into a blender and out came my delicious perception of God.               He exists, or rather, it exists.

 (I’m about to go off on a wild tangent here, but bear with me)

Just think for a moment what it would be like if there was no good, if we had no concept of morality or righteousness. Would that make life bad all the time? But then if there was no good, how could we even fathom what bad is? And if you look at it from the other point of view, if there was no bad, would that make your life only different shades of good? But good compared to what? Let’s face it, good relies on bad as bad relies on good. Like weights on a pivot they coincide, slowly swaying back and forth with the motions of life.

To me good is God. Even if there is no “God” we’d still have good. So I believe God represents the good in people and if you want a role model, as the scriptures read, you can’t find a better bloke than God. In the same perception, evil is the devil. You know that if the devil didn’t exist, evil still would.

So if you haven’t picked up on what I’m saying, to me, God is a face given to the opinion of good.

The only way I can think of explaining it, is if you imagine you’re six years old again, tucked up in bed, waiting for dreams filled with play dough and Pokémon. Creaks and scratches suddenly startle you. Realising it’s coming from the cupboard you instinctively think it’s the Boogieman, giving the fear a face.

 It sounds silly now but that nightmare-ish creature is how you imagined fear, without the fear taking a physical form, you couldn’t see it in your head. You can’t imagine nothing. And with a firm grip on teddy, when you eventually muster the courage to open the cupboard and nothing jumps from the depths, it doesn’t matter, because the seed is planted, when you hear that noise again back comes the Boogieman.

To me God exists in the same presence that the Boogieman does, except on a far grander scale. God is how we see good, not acts of goodness like charity and compassion but the actual form of good.

So even if I don’t believe in God, I believe in the good he represents. Whether like me, you see that as religious or not is entirely up to you. But then again, religion is merely a person’s perception anyway and I guess you’ll never know if I’m right or wrong until it doesn’t matter.

Genesis

So with no task set, no academic criteria and nothing to subliminally sell, I have to admit I found it difficult to begin this new post. Wondering what to do I had a browse of some other random blogs only to find out a good 50% is absolute boring bullocks and the rest is a labyrinth of messy feelings and heated topics. However, there are a few gems amongst the shambles, but perhaps they're better left unmentioned until I get better at this blogging thing (don't want my two followers ditching me for an upgrade just yet).

So here I am back at the beginning without a clue for a beginning, which leaves me with only one idea, to write about, what I don't want to write about.

My life.

But first I think it's important to set some principles, just to keep us both on the same page. This will not be my diary, I'm not going to confess my love for Billie Jean or get on here to have a bitch about this weeks X-Factor results (I'd marry Mel B).

I aim to inspire thought and fuel passion. I want to educate but in a manner that achieves that priceless awwWWww moment and leaves you feeling like you did back in kindergarten, when you first figured out the square peg doesn't actually fit in the round hole.

But can I deliver?

Probably not, I guess we'll just have to wait and see

A favourite of mine

This isn't a sell, this isn't educational, and this isn't opinionated............... well maybe a little.

This, to me, is music at its best. Raw, emotional and lyrically genius.

and to be honest I spent an hour deciding which of their songs to put up

A night in the fast lane

The streets of L.A. are never quiet, especially not at night and definitely not when The Circus is on. But it’s not the kind of circus you’re thinking of, it’s another kind, a louder, faster kind.  It’s the kind were people like Jason, one of The Circus’s founders, are seen as warlords and a customized Nissan 370z his weapon. The Circus is one of L.A.’s largest (unofficial) car clubs and tonight is a gathering.

Tucked away in the city’s industrial area, away from the snooping public and the despised fuzz, the entire length of the main road looks like a set from the Fast and the Furious. From start to finish without a gap, the street is lined with cars each worthy of the next Street Machine front cover. Skylines, Mitsubishis Evo’s, Dodge Chargers, even a Lamborghini Gallardo and a Bentley have turned up along with hundreds of others, all tuned to their performing peak with customised bodies that look more like artwork.

One of five founders, Jason looks over the spectacle without any sign of bewilderment. In all my travels so far I’ve never met a cooler character. He leans on his car at the crest of the road overlooking a kingdom he’s helped to build and indulges in the atmosphere. Jason doesn’t race anymore and hasn’t for some time, he’s more of a coordinator now days and on tonight is a main event that has a prize bigger than my monthly salary. As we wait for the course to be set up he takes the time to answer a few of my questions.

Jason tells a story that could be converted into a prequel for the Fast and Furious movies. A rough childhood fuelled by a passion for everything fast but survived by natural street smarts, a small stint in jail for some minor offences and the inevitable wake up sadly caused by the death of a close friend. Jason along with the other founders started The Circus as a sort of sanctuary for people, like my cousin, who share the same passion but don’t particularly like the scene that comes with the standard street clubs. They have developed a sort of unspoken agreement with the local police, as long as violence is kept in order and gatherings are kept to the barren parts of town no one is disturbed.  Races however are still very illegal so the whole setup has to be fairly organised.

Jason offers to drive me down to the start line at the end of the street. With all the lights, switches and gadgets, the inside of his Nissan looks more like a submarine built to entertain than a car. Retired from the lucrative races and without pulling off the bank heists or being a drug runner like in the movies I wondered how he made his money. Even though it was none of my business, I still couldn’t help but ask and to my amazement he said jewellery. Jason’s day job is designing rings and chains based on car models for an online business called Fast and Furious Jewelry. He showed me the pieces he had on. Each one was based on some cars he’s had growing up, a couple 1970’s classics, an old Mitsubishi Lancer and his current Nissan 370z.  

From start to finish the race lasted about two minutes and unfortunately didn’t live up to the expected hype. An Audi R8 creamed the rest from the beginning and was never caught. The celebrating was brief before the crowds moved on, most headed into the city to party through the night and I was taken for the ride. Much from this point on becomes blurry thanks to the rapid pace of L.A. drinking but the memories that have remained are golden and I’ll save them for another day.  Right now I’m headed back to bed.

Special thanks to my cousin Max for giving me a taste of the fast life and Jason for taking the time to chat with a country kid from Aus.

Cancer in another light

Cancer is defined as the pernicious, spreading of evil...... but is it really?

Modern humanity is becoming nothing more than a mass consuming machine. A destructive machine, that spreads over earth harvesting resources until they dry up. So if you think about it, People, could be defined as the same as cancer. Our lives, now days, are no more than simple cogs in this machine. We are a disease.

The real point is that we’ve forgotten to appreciate the beauty of life and its frailty. We’ve become stuck in a false sense of security, a materialised common existence that moves along to the undying drone of everyone and everything stuck in the same looping rut.

Our potential and optimism is what makes life meaningful and creates our purpose for an existence. However while we are aware of this we don’t act on it. People are too content to play it safe. We fall into a standardisation and abide by the social norms.

Go to school. Get a Job. Get a family. Get a House and so on.... until we finally get the wake up call.

Cancer.

‘OH NO’ you say? Why?

Because you’ll die? HA.

Survival rates are increasing every day, and didn’t you see the news a few weeks ago? Modified ecstasy (MDMA) is showing great promise as being a 100% cure for various strands, so it could even be more fun than a night on the gin and juice. 

Cancer breathes new meaning into life. It creates vibrant colours, new sounds, amazing tastes, inspiring sights and gives new light to the day, but the rest of us can’t even understand this, I don’t.

We will never fathom the real beauty of life until we’ve dreamt of death creeping over us in the night.

Cancer is the cure to our disease.

The definition of cancer should be; the start of realisation, the acceptance of real life and the beginning of new hope. Ask a cancer survivor if it has changed their view on life.

Watch them smile. They know what it really is to be alive.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-31/modified-ecstasy-could-treat-cancer/2862632