I'm Gonna Run Until I Forget How To Walk

So just the other day I found out that there'll be a fun run in Canberra next Sunday, September 5! It's called the Canberra Times Fun Run, it's 10km long, and I think last year there were about three and a half thousand people in it (not near as much as City2Surf I know, but it is pretty impressive for Canberra, right?). So this year, very last minute, I've decided to participate in it. I don't know why but I've been so obsessed with fun runs lately. They just seem so .....fun.... to be a part of. I guess that's why they're called a "fun run". 

I was watching the annual City2Surf race on TV the other week (This Sydney race is the biggest race in the world - 80,000 people!), and it just looks like so much fun! All the people that come out and brave the cold morning, some in really weird costumes, some seriously going for a good position in the race, and they all have such a great time! Hopefully I'll be a part of that one next year!

But anyway, back to the Canberra Times Fun Run here in Canberra. So as I said, I only just found out about this fun run the other day. But it's in only a week, so I think I'm gonna have to run as much as I can every day until then (except for today because my knee is sore :( )! At least it gives me something to do besides sitting at home writing blog posts.. Just yesterday I started a daily run around the Tuggeranong lake, a minute away from here. I've planned out my run on Google Earth (yes, Google Earth is awesome for that kind of thing) and measured it to be 8.5km, almost as long as the Fun Run. Yesterday my time was 54:27. I'm aiming by the end of next week to beat 45 mins..... so I don't know, can I do it? I'll tell you what, though, after that run I was thinking "There is no way I am going to do this again," but I know the next morning I'll wake up and say "Why was I so sore? It's gonna be easy today." I regret that later in the day, and this will happen every day! I just hope I can get up on the morning of the Fun Run! All this training is gonna kill me.......

Or maybe I should ditch the training altogether and just enter the Fun Run as one of those participants that wear the wacky costumes who aren't serious about the whole race.

Nahhhh... I'm going in this for real! Just hope that I'll still be able to walk after next week.

Sydney's annual City2Surf race, held every August. Officially the biggest race in the world. Hopefully I'll go in this one next year. (Photo by The Sydney Morning Herald)

A little smaller in scale, the Canberra Times Fun Run. This is the one I'll be participating in next week. (Photo by shaunandkristen on Flickr)

Wanna Be Famous?

Then throw a cat into a wheelie bin...

You've probably seen the video and heard the story many times in the last week now, but in case you haven't, it's right here.

My first reaction was that this was all a big hoax just to get some media attention. It could still be that and I can tell you that she has definitely gotten a lot of media attention. She's received death threats on the internet, has had reporters following her everywhere, and has even had police escorting her down the street for protection. She's even been targeted by the local council, who want to fine her for "not putting the cat in the correct recycle bin" (guardian.co.uk).

Whether it was a hoax or not, I'm pretty sure Mary Bale didn't expect all this in response. How she has become famous worldwide within a matter of days is unbelievable! I mean... she just put a cat into a bin. What's crazy is that it was up there with news stories such as the devastating floods in Pakistan and the tight election here in Australia. So if you want to be famous, just pick up a cat and put it into a nearby wheelie bin, and hope that there is a camera nearby to capture your serious crime, or maybe you can take the video yourself an then put it on Youtube! Who knows, maybe the next day you will have found your way onto the news and possibly have yourself a new bodyguard! Not bad, ey?

When a story like this one occurs, though, there's bound to be mock videos and parodies. That is what's most amusing about these kinds of stories! Here is one such parody of Mary Bale's incident with the cat:

Does Anyone Have Any Penguins?

I was looking on the Guinness World Records website the other day because I was bored and had nothing else to do. I came across this particular record which was "The Largest Collection of Penguins." This, obviously, does not mean real life penguins. It's the largest collection of stuffed penguins or any kind of penguin that's not alive...

So, anyway, I have decided to go out and try to break this record. Even though it may take 70 years to beat the current record (5098 penguins!), I am gonna give it every waddling effort I've got.

So far my collection stands at 3.

Well you have to start somewhere, right?

That one in the middle is the original of the collection and will always be my favourite. :) His name is Patrick and I've had him ever since I was born.

I don't know where I got the other 2 and they don't have names...

So here begins my journey to 5098 penguins and a new world record! Though, by the time I get there, I think the current record holder, if they're still alive, would have reached well over 10,000 :(

Oh, and if anyone has any stuffed penguins that they're about to throw out, pleeease give them to me! They might become famous! Wouldn't you love to see a part of you in the record books?

Patrick wants to be a model.

Paparazzi!!

Poses are very limited when his body is unmovable...

Independents' Day

In case you don't know, Australia have just had an election this past week and the result was the closest it's been since 1940 or something. Neither of our 2 major parties - Labor and Liberal - could pass the 76 seats mark which allows you to run government. I think at the moment they're both on 72 each as more postal votes are being counted. Out of the few remaining seats that didn't go to either of the major parties, 3 went to Independents (not part of any party). So it all comes down to these Independents choosing one of the two parties which would hopefully bring one of them up to 76 seats.

Personally, I think we should just go back to the polls in order to get a proper result. Leaving it up to 3 human beings who were voted in as independents and who are not a part of either party seems a little odd to me, maybe even undemocratic. I mean, it might not be that easy to set aside another Saturday to go to the polls, but to me it's the only legitimate way to decide who should govern our country for the next 3 years.

Plus, both party leaders are in "negotiations" with the independents which basically means that they're both trying to suck up to them. Julia Gillard, with a huge smile on her face, gave each of the independents a folder and said "We've even written out all the policies in relation to your areas for you." Tony Abbott, on the other hand, saying things like "I've always loved the bush" (as one or two of the independents are from rural areas). It's amazing that after the votes of 14 or so million people and after a long 5 week campaign, it all comes down to the choice of these 3 independents. Apparently it could take a few weeks to come up with a result! I think if we went back to the polls there could be a clear result before that...

So as the independents are in talks with the party leaders, it is beginning to become known as "Independents' Day," where the decision of 3 guys will have a huge impact on the next 3 years for Australia.

My Top 8 Internet Time Wasters

So I've decided to come up with a list on what I think are the top 8 time wasters on the internet... what's sad is that I've spent many a day on most of these sites, and I can tell you that I have gotten absolutely nothing out of them!

8. Yetisports - The site with several minigames involving yetis, penguins, albatrosses, flamingoes, and many more exciting animals that got quite bored from their uneventful lives. What a way to spend a few hours every day! With highly addictive, pointless games, you're gonna love and hate this website.

7. Hold The Button - Well this is quite self explanatory... you have to see how long you can keep the button held down. :| The longest time in the last 7 days is 6d, 23hr, 59min, 59.05sec.. sounds like someone's a little desperate to appear on an online high scores list. Too bad they remain anonymous to everyone though! I can say that this website must be the most pointless of my top 8 and luckily, it is one that I haven't spent much time on.

6. Random Fun Facts - This website's great if you want to know that "Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least 6 feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush." And then, by one click of the refresh button, you can discover that "There are only four words in the common English language that end in "-dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous." There have been some times when I have refreshed this page over 20 times! None of the facts stayed in my head an hour later though... I wonder what a high score list for "times page is refreshed" would look like here. If you're one of those people who like these kind of facts and maybe can even make a witty pick-up line out of them, then this site is definitely for you!

5. Failblog - If learning about random, pointless facts isn't enough to cure your boredom, why not watch videos of people falling out of trees and attempting to jump from one roof to another....and not making it. If you're that bored, you can watch these videos of people getting owned to make you feel better. There's pages and pages of fail videos to keep you up all night.

4. I-Am-Bored - I can tell you that this website has become extremely popular because they know that people will always get to that stage when they have nothing to do and type "I am bored" into their google searchbar. C'mon, I know you've done it before, I surely have! This site is sure to cure your boredom... and waste all your time. Every day, they add new pics, videos, and other cool websites that will waste your time. I've actually found about 2 or 3 of the websites on my list through i-am-bored.com. So not only does this site waste hours of your time, but it also leads you to other websites which waste more hours of your time!

3. Runescape - I couldn't leave this out. The biggest online MRPG (multiplayer role-playing game) in the world! Quests, skills, money, fighting, bad graphics, cooking, smithing... This has to be the site that I've spent the most time on, more than any other site, and I achieved nothing from it! I'm just glad I didn't get sucked into paying $10 a month to become a member.

2. Youtube - What can I say about YouTube? It's got EVERYTHING! It's too bad the majority of people use it as a time waster and watch Justin Beiber getting hit in the head with a bottle over and over and over again (That was actually pretty funny though :D).

There's countless video logs that are put on YouTube every day so that we, the viewers, can follow other people's lives because we're so guilty we can't live our own. People like Fred, Shane Dawson, Shaytards get over a million views every day!

Man, YouTube is addictive though. I watch a video, see another video on the "related videos" list that looks good, watch that video, see another video on the "related videos" list that looks even better, every time thinking I'm only gonna watch one more. This can go on for hours, especially when it's past midnight!

1. Facebook - Yep, you knew it was coming. It's how people interact with each other these days. Not only teenagers, but grandmothers, children, and even the occasional dog can be found on it! If you're not on it, you seriously have not been awake for the last 3 years.

How exactly are we using facebook though? I don't know about you, but I'm on facebook AT LEAST two or three a day, sometimes I just sit there refreshing my live news feed to see what my facebook friends have been up to in the last few seconds (If I'm the only one who does that, then this is quite embarrassing...). Facebook is the place where I get to read about the complaints of some person I met a year ago and decided to add on facebook to get my friend count up... even though I have never seen them since. It's the place where I get 53 notifications on a status just because I liked it. It's the place where the most serious, ongoing issue is "We need a dislike button!"

It's quite depressing that my whole day revolves around Facebook, when I get more excited over a wall post than a day out with friends, or when writing "hbd" on friends' walls becomes the new way of writing birthday cards.

I'm speaking for myself when I say that I need to get out and enjoy my life rather than liking photo albums and status comments! So much of my time has been wasted just by going down my news feed to reach the spot where I last logged off (Yes, I really do that). What's worse, I do this every day! So if you update your status or upload a photo album at any time of the day, you can be sure that I will eventually come across it. :)



So, that's my top 8 time wasters on the internet. I hope by reading this you will never go on these sites (except for YouTube and Facebook :) ). They will drain your life before your eyes and, before you know it, you will be 60 years old and still trying to sell all your dragonhide armour on Runescape.

The Rebelution

For years now, teenagers have been looked at as the troublemakers of the world. We have lost all the respect of adults because we see life as one big party. Two guys, Alex and Brett Harris, who are twin brothers both at age 20, are attempting to turn this stereotype upside-down.

They have written two books:
- Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations
- Start Here: Doing Hard Things Right Where You Are

The first, Do Hard Things, is the most motivational book I have ever read. In it, the Harris brothers talk about "Combating the idea of adolescence as a vacation from responsibility." They encourage young people to make the most of their youthful energy to "do hard things" that help improve the world instead of living a life of partying and having "fun". In their book, Alex and Brett describe how doing hard things gives your life more of a purpose and, in the end, can turn out to be very fun! Whether doing big things, such as starting a fundraiser or sailing around the world, or doing small things, such as washing the dishes for your parents or finishing that assignment that you've been procrastinating on for 3 weeks, it's all the same to Alex and Brett. It all involves stepping out of your comfort zone and, a lot of the time, swaying against the crowd.

Their second book, Start Here, is a more practical book and is a follow-up to their first book. They decided to write it after receiving numerous responses from fellow "rebelutionaries" such as "Where do I start?" and "What now?" It includes stories from other teenagers around the world who followed Alex and Brett's online blog and shared how doing hard things had changed their lives.

These books have really helped me to overcome the stereotype of teenagers that gives them such low expectations. It has motivated me to do my best at everything I do ("Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the LORD, not for men." - Col 3:23).

I would recommend these books to any young people, as they really do encourage you to go that extra mile and make your life more purposeful.

You can read Alex and Brett's blog here.

Decision decisions...

Okay so first of all, welcome to my new blog! I hope you don't get too bored-ed out by my dry posts or my hopeless writing skills. I just figured that, since I'm not doing so much these days, why not start a blog? It gives me something to do anyway with all this spare time between high school and uni...

Speaking of uni, this has gotta be one of the most crucial decisions of my life so far! It's the first time that I will be making a decision based on my own judgments, without following what my parents are doing. It's getting on to that next stage in my life where I will have to do things myself... paying the bills, calling the plumber when the toilet gets blocked, cooking my own meals..everyday! All of this uncertainty, of course, makes me nervous and also stressed. But, over all, I think I get excited more than anything! I mean, isn't it usually around this point in our lives when God really begins to uncover more of his plan for us? This stage between child and adult when we start to discover what our passions are and what we want in life. Well, that's what it feels like for me, anyway.

This is the beginning of a new chapter in my life when I ask myself, "What does God really want me to do with my life?" We so often settle for where we feel most comfortable, or where we can get the most "success". It scares us to think that God may be asking us to step away from the green meadows and to walk into the cave that we are so unfamiliar with. But with his lamp He guides us through that cave, if we trust that He knows where He's going. I just hope that I don't stay in the beautiful green meadows, but instead step out and see what God does!