18

No, this man is not 18. But I am.

I have been on this planet for a little over 18 years, if you count womb time. Today, I turned 18, and will never, in my life, be a child again. I don't feel any different, so it is strange to think that I am regarded as such a different person by the legal world, now.
Today, so far, has been the best birthday ever. It is only 10.30am, but I can already say this. It started off at my year 12 Formal, which finished at 11.30, but I stayed until 12 so that I could turn 18 with my beautiful girlfriend, Lauren. Then, I went with my parents and Debbie and Warren Winkler and Lauren, to Crown Casino, and I learnt how best to get rid of money. Now I need to learn how best to get it. That was fun, and being asked for ID was also very exciting. Especially watching the guy's face when he had to double check my ID card, and then check his watch before letting me in. Awesome.
I went home, and had a good 6.5 hours sleep, and then woke up to my family, and got presents form the etc. Normally, I would be excited about getting presents, and look forward to them, but recently I have become less excited, and this year, I truly felt like I didn't need anything else to satisfy me at all. I have everything I could need, especially materially, so I didn't and don't feel like I need presents to make my day good at all. This simply means that when I did get stuff, I felt the love that was in them, and was so thankful for everything. But what have I got so far? Well, I got many shirts. Awesome. Some shorts. Very awesome. The last Harry Potter book. Yes, that is what I will spend the rest of my birthday doing. Maybe. I got my Certificate III in Christian Ministry from Vetamorphus given to me in a frame. I got P plates. And I got a life size replica of Narsil, but I knew about this one, and actually bought it myself.
Anyway, best presents ever. Also, I have got many messages from people wishing me a haopoy birthday, which is cool. Especially when they wake you up.

So, I am 18. I can now vote for Sir Ian McKellan as Prime Minister for Australia, if he ever runs for it. Awesome.

Google Failing to Meet Expectations

What a dissapointment. Google really is not all it's cracked up to be. It didn't even have the decency to give my question a response. A simple "no" would have sufficed.

25 Things I have not done

I am turning 18 next saturday. That makes me an adult, and it made me wonder about all the things I have not done as a child, that I possibly could have done. Some of which I am glad I havn't done, some I regret not doing. I'll leave it up to you to decide which ones are which. So, I shall begin: I have never...

1 - Dived from >5 meter diving board.
2 - Purchased a movie ticket on my own.
3 - Been Drunk.
4 - Used a fake ID.
5 - Broken a bone.
6 - Learnt anything in Latin.
7 - Slapped anyone with a fish.
8 - Slapped anyone with a wet fish.
9 - Eaten Lobster.
10 - Got Jet Lag.
11 - Slept in until 11:30 or later.
12 - Swam with any sort of large shark.
13 - Been able to open my eyes underwater.
14 - Been parachuting/hang-gliding/sky diving, etc.
15 - Been to Europe.
16 - Been to America.
17 - Been to Africa.
18 - Seen Santa.
19 - Shot a gun.
20 - Hated somebody for something they've done.
21 - Watched the second half of Start Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
22 - Been on a horse.
23 - Had a girlfriend... for longer than one month.
24 - Broken up.
25 - Been dissapointed with who I am.

Once again, there are plenty of other things that I have not done, but the number 25 is so nice, and I don't want to exceed that number. Lists with 25 items are the best. While writing this, I realised that it would have been a lot easier to write about 25 things that I HAVE done before I was 18, but I have previously written another post that was similar to this one. Maybe, one day soon, I will write another list of 25 things that I have done, that is different to that first one. But not today. And not now.

Lauren

Once upon a time, there was a very special person called Lauren. Seemingly unrelatedly, I thought, as people do when writing blogs. And after this thought, I realised that blogs are good for a few things, one, just writing down feelings and thoughts, two, amusing people who read them and three, informing people who read them about stuff, that maybe they would otherwise not know. True? Yes. That is why I thank that it may be appropriate to share some of what happened as mentioned in a previous post named "Holiday Aftermath", during my period of elongated lack of sleep spanning from wednesday morning through to thursday night. Well, basically, there was this girl who I had my eye on for a little while. Yes, my eye was actually no longer in it's socket, but stuck in her hair. So I had to go and get it out. And while I was getting it out, I realised that I also liked this person. So I managed to eventually ask her out one morning. Very early in that morning. And now, for the first time in my life, I am not single. And it is awesome. I am so glad that I am now in this relationship, and am so happy. Smanbastical. Yes. And also, that is a word. Look it up. On Google. Actually, if you havn't heard that word used before, then you... should learn what it means. Now!
So, I really have no idea what I ever intended to write about by naming this post "Lauren", which, mind you, is a very unrelated name to what I have discussed above. Oh no, wait, it may not be. I am now fairly sure that it is related. Strongly related, possibly. Definately. But anyway, yes, I don't know what I was going to write about. I guess all I wanted to do was share this fact/event of my life to the world of bloggers, or the few bloggers that do, indeed, read what I ramble on about on this site. Most of which already know. Stupidheads. Also, because it is a significant occurance, and my blog deserves to have stuff in it about significant things in my life, given that it is a blog mostly about me. And occasionally about other people. Like Batman. Actually, I am also fairly sure I have never, before now, mentioned Batman on this blog site. Now I have. Batman! Yay! That is all for about now, I think. Yes. All. Schmall. Stall. Book Stall. Book Store. I want to buy a book store. Then sell it for 50c more than what I bought it for. Yesss! Good idea!

SDM

SDM has finally arrived, yes. For all those who don't know what it is, you should find out! Right now! Now now now now now now now now now.
But first, I will tell you what it is. Basically, it is a serial drama, much like the sort of serial drama we would perform at McCrae Beach Mission, but it is not at beach mission, not in summer, and it is a movie! So each episode is like anotehr installment of the serial drama. SDM = Serial Drama Movie. Yes. Awesome. Follow link.

Serial Drama Movie!

Link = serialdrama.com save it as one ofyour favourites now.

Holiday Aftermath

Well, so concludes the school holidays. I am now sitting at school, school uniform on, loud noises all around, typing this post. Period one of day one has just began, and this is the official first thing that I am doing for term three, 2007. Exciting, yes.

Anyway, I thought I may recap what happened over the holidays, as I have not posted much over them, and there is a fair amount of what I could say. Most of this blog's readers already know about much of the stuff that ahs happened, because they have been involved in it in some way or another, but I shall still share stuff, so that there is somthig to read, and I feel like I have made use of my first period today, giving me a reason to have got up for it this morning. If you want to know what happened during the firts week of the holidays, scroll down a little bit, and you will find a post named: "Home Home Home" Which pretty much summs that up. The second week was very different, and full of lots of stuff. To kick the week off, I had church on Sunday, which included technical set up/pack up/mixing and managing throughout the service. Following this, I had much preparation to do for SDM, which was something I am doing through Beach Mission which is very cool. On tuesday, I had a friend over, and a driving lesson. Wednesday was filming all day for SDM (Serial Drama Movie -http://www.serialdrama.com/) and Uno all night. Thursday included trying to sleep all morning, filming again all day, cleaning up from the mess caused by filming, then relaxing, finally, at night. Friday, again, was filled with having somebody over. Saturday was procrastination and some working for school, went out at night. Sunday was church and more of the saturday stuff. This may not sound like much, but for me it is a lot. Busy week.
Although, even though it was a busy week, and I know that I require time to myself and what not, I found myself enjoying this week far more than I enjoyed the week before, and I really discovered again how much it is I love spending time with friends, doing things and getting them done, as well as still having a little time on the side for myself.
Now, that it is back into school, I really would rather the holidays were still here. They are awesome and I want more. I have a small feeling I have just rambled on about nothing for this post. Oh well, at least I have another post. Yay! Post! That feels refreshing, yes.

Other things happened during not sleeping on thursday and watching movies that I still need to psot about, but not just now. E.g. what transformer would I be/what would I transform into? Hmmm. Will think about it. And also, to anybody who does go and watch transformers, you should watch it twice. There is so much more you get the second time around.

Post #50

Well, I never thought I would reach this point, but yes, I have. This is officially my fiftyth post, here, on Jono's Exemplary Notepad of Significant Importance. Me and my blog father, Ben Chong, decided that we would write a bloggaversary post when we reach our one year of blogging mark, where we will give posts awards and the like, so I will save all that for then, but in this post, I want to simply look back on the posts that have been done to this point, and comment on them. Yay! Fun!
It is funny, when I first constructed this site, I had no intention of continuing it after the first one post. Then I thought I'd do a second just for kicks, because I had an idea. The fourth post was just there to make Ben laugh. The fifth post was there because Ben said he though the other ones were funny, and weird. Haha, Ben was so influential in my blog career starting! The sixth post I only included so that I could upload pictures for another blog site that I had created. After that, I decided to actually run this blog as a propor blog, and look at how it has turned out now! Wow. It is the best thing ever.
I have also found it interesting to note how the nature of my posts have changed over the first 50. I will comment on this while listing all the posts I have written so far, to date. Here goes.

1 - First Entry
2 - 1 = 2
3 - The Destruction of Words
4 - Do Not Eat that orange
5 - The Nature of Fact
6 - Read it NOW!
7 - Australia means to me...
8 - 25 ways to annoy canteen ladies
9 - My Synesthesia
10 - They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard!
11 - 25 things that I've done
12 - The Jabberwock
13 - 25 fun things to do on a train
14 - A couple of paragraphs...
15 - Dear Cupholder...
16 - Air
17 - Asterix...
18 - Re-Lenting
19 - Photography
20 -25 reasons myspace is stupid
21 - Characters
22 - Good / Bad
23 - How well do you know Jono?
24 - MSN
25 - Books
26 - Happyhat
27 - Dilemma
28 - Conundrum
29 - Wikipedia Race
30 - ps
31 - 25 things I love doing
32 - Bats, Bats, Everywhere
33 - Dr Zaius
34 - Update
35 - Quote of the Month
36 - Minesweeper Mastery
37 - Procrastination
38 - 25 things I like about SYG
39 - SYG aftermath
40 - Annoyed
41 - Failing Minesweeper
42 - INFP
43 - Alfragooglewak
44 - Dear Readers...
45 - Nothing Time
46 - Diamond
47 - Movies
48 - Mineswept
49 - Home Home Home
50 - Post #50

NOTES ON POSTS:

• Ok, first thign I noticed was how my posts have changed from being stupid and random all the time, near the beginning, to being actual blog-like posts that somewhat resemble more serious things.
• Did you notice the Minesweeper Saga? It managed to take up a whole of three posts! ha!
• I was also quite proud of all of my '25' lists. The first one I did, I couldn't make any more than 25, and the seocnd one I made, I thought i would be cool to have the same number. It grew form there, and several bloggers have used a list of 25 on their blogs. I was the original. Awesome.
• If you look at my archives, there were two posts in November, and none in December 2006. This was because I set up the site, posted a few times, then decided not to continue with it. Ha! That plan didn't go through.
• There's probably more I could say, but can't be bothered.
• All the posts that have links coming from them are ones listed as 'Jono's Favourites'. These ones are the greatest of all my blogs that I am proud of. Some started out asd favourites, and some earned it after many comments etc. If you havn't read any of these posts, these are the ones you should read. They're awesome. There are otehr ones that should qualify for this list, but I just never labeled those ones with the 'Jono's Favourites' label.

And that wraps up the 50th post on Jono's Exemplary Notepad of Significant Importance. I hope you all have enjoyed it so far, I know I have.

Cheers.

-xox-

Home Home Home

I love my house. My home. If I don't get enough time at home I begin to get agitated and frusterated. This is the same if I don't get enough time to myself. I have been looking forward to these school holidays as they give me a change to catch up on some solid home time, and some solid me-time. But I have now completed a whole week of it, and I am starting to go crazy.
In about 4 days, I think, I have not left my house for any reason other than taking the dog out for a bit. I have not achieved anything great, while sitting here, in my home, but have just done nothing. I needed this time, yes, but now it is over. I need to actually do the many things I am meant to do, now. But I did leanrn a few things in this me time. I will share with all what it is that I learnt:
1 - When the temperature is too warm, I feel uncomfortable, unclean and unmotivatd. Maybe that's why I manage to wear shorts a lot of the time, because everything is always too hot.
2 - I get much satisfaction outm of actually doing things, and acheiving them.
3 - Sleeping in, while good to an extent, is not something I could ever be proud of, or enjoy doing very much.
4 - I love spending time with people.
5 - Lots of time does not mean lots of progress. Rushed and chaotic time means lots of progress.
6 - I don't want holidays to be over.

There, some of these things may conflict, but I don't care. This is what I have learnt from this whole week at home. I am now ready for a whole week of doing stuff.

Mineswept

Yes, I have finally done it. Minesweper has been defeated by the almighty me. Haha! I am the winner. Now, all I have to focus my eforts on is doing the same thing, but faster. I may be slow at the moment, but that was because I was being incredably careful, making sure I actually finished the whole thing. It indeed feels so good to see that little yellow face with sunglasses on, after so much work. I am so happy. I will go off into the world and rejoice now. Awesome.

This may be the end of my Minesweeper blog saga, unless I manage to get any sort of ridiculous fast time is is worthy of being blogged about.

Movies

Well, I suddenly felt the need to share some of my favourite movies here. What a good idea. It may be of some sort of interest to people, somehow. Anyway, I probably have forgotten some, but that doesn't matter. The following movies are in no particular order.

• The Shawshank Redemption -Frank Darabont 1994
• Ocean's Eleven - Steven Soderburgh 2001
• The Lord of the Rings - Peter Jackson 2001
• The Lion King - Walt Disney Pictures 1994
• The Sword in the Stone - Walt Disney Pictures 1963
• The Princess Bride - William Goldman 1987
• Anchorman - Will Ferrel, Adam McKay 2004
  

There. Wow, aren't these the best movies you've ever heard of/seen? If you havn't seen any of them, go, right now, and watch. They are honestly the best ever.

ps. Did you notice how many fo the started with "The". It is so stupid and unoriginal. More movies should start their title with something different.

pps. If there are any others that you think I have forgotten, that are clearly in the list of the best movies ever, make sure you remind me, and I will add them to the list, providing I agree with you.

Diamond

I am a lover of analogies. I make them constantly, and I use them lots. Many people will know how much I like giving everything an analogy. Well, I was on the phone the other day, and I came up with a particular analogy that I have since used again, and I think is fairly cool. I alos think people can take a lot form this one, as it applies to almost anything, and is something that I've sturggled with, being a perfectionist and all.

Basically, the analogy is about perfection, and how quality is not found in perfection, but is found, in fact, in the flaws. Something that is perfect, is not perfect at all, as it lacks all the qualities that make something good.
The analogy I used was of diamonds. A diamond is simply lots of compressed Carbon. (And for those who understand a little bit less, that is, compressed graphite, or the stuff used in grey lead pencils.) And we all know how valuable diamonds are, yes? Yes. Well, because diamonds are also the hardest solid thing around, they function very well as tools and what not, like drills and stuff. At the same time, it is very easy to manufacture diamond, as it is simply compressed carbon. So many high quality tools are made form artificial diamond, and the diamond used is not really very valuable at all. Then we look at the diamonds used in jewelery, which are natrual, and are filled with cracks, dirt and imperfections, hence, coupled with the way they are carved, the reason that they shine. These diamonds are worth much, much more. For a diamond to be filled with natrual imperfections, that diamond cannot possibly be man-made, and is rare and expensive.
So, from this, we can see that the invaluable imperfections of a diamond are what make it valuable. Basically, what I'm tryign to say is that if somthing is not perfect, if you are not perfect, then there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, you are who you are because of your imperfections. If everybody was perfect, then what would the world be? Bad bad bad bad bad.

Sindrome, from the awesome movie: "The Incredibles" wants to be "super", like many of the superheroes of the time, but is not, and feels inadequate. He is quoted as saying that he wants to supply goods to the world that make everybody a superhero, and says that "When everybody is super, nobody will be." And this is so true. If everybody was perfect, who would be?

Nothing is perfect. And don't think that anything ever should be.

-xox-

Nothing Time

The other day, more specifically Sunday morning, I did something, or had a moment that I had not had for a long, long time. Basically, for a small period of about three hours, I experienced the sort of feeling that you get waking up on the first day of the summer holidays at the end of the year in primary school. Yes, you should all know that feeling. You generally have nothing to worry about, all the time in the world, and you could just do exactly what you wanted to do. Actually, this moment wasn't quite like that, but I at least felt like I was relived of everything for a small three hours, and I could just lie there, in my bed, and think about stuff. Everything/nothing.
One of the things I did for those hours was look up above my bed at a new piece of artwork that I hung on the wall a few days earlier. It made me feel happy, for some unknown reason, and I thought about how good it was, when I was younger and had no issues hanging over my head all the time, to be able to just sit, and spend time making art and drawing and the like. I used to do it all the time, and I would produce what I (and, I am fairly sure, a considerable number of others) thought was some fantastic stuff. But I just don't do this sort of thing anymore.
I used to get fired up, passionate and so immensely excited about spending a day, sitting outside, on the grass, or in my tree house, or anywhere, just drawing, and spending time with myself. Why don't I ever do this anymore?
All I want is to be able to spend some time living in the present again, and possibly go and just draw again, like I remember I used to love doing. I want all my issues, the ones that prevent me from feeling like I can spend carefree time doing what I feel like, to just float away, even for just one day, and for time to stop.
To be able to just be, and forget about the rest of the world for a moment is the greatest. I am hoping I can at least have some similar time to this over the holidays which are coming up next week, but I know it will be immensely hard, as I have just to many things to think about. And when I have things on my mind, they stay there, and my brain talks through them to no avail for hours on end, causing me to not often concentrate on everything else I am doing. This only adds to my lack of concentration that is making it very hard to do a lot of things.
All I want is some time alone. Not necessartily on my own, but away from all the dilemmas and problems of life. Some time away from thinking, for a change. Some enjoyment time. Some drawing time. Some nothing time.

But it is so hard.