I thought I would share something more from Jarad Higgins. I love his depth. This is a guy who thinks a lot obviously. I find that his words speak volumes.

Love Extends

The hands of sorrow,

Dwell down beneath the sands,

Working hard for freedom,

To spread their villainous wiles.

The hope from above,

Pushes down,

On them,

In the hope to subdue,

For at least a time.

As all this chaos,

Grows and twists and turns,

The heart still knows,

Of it’s love to find.

It sees through the labyrinth,

Of hurt and lies,

Of sorrow and hope,

And twisted wiles.

The heart extends,

Its love to one,

And drowns out the world,

In vain vain hope.

Love carries forth,

It’s light floods,

The deathly halls,

Of broken hearts,

And empty dreams,

Of lost emotions,

And depressive scenes.

The soft pink glow,

It lives on forever more,

Trying hard to find,

Some sort of chance,

Some sort of vain vain fortune.

And the hands,

They wilter,

And wallow,

And move no more,

And from above,

The hope,

No longer pushes,

Down against.

And

Love extends,

Gracefully,

Out,

Enabling a spark of hope,

In a terrible terrible life.

Thanks to Dan over at My Life in the Slow Lane

WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Not that I know of. I think I was named after a biblical character.
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Yesterday
DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? No
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Chicken
DO YOU HAVE KIDS? No
IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yes, without a doubt
DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Sometimes
DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes
WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Yes
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Fruit Loops
DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Rarely
DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? No Particularly
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ICE CREAM? Hoboken Crunch
WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Their eyes
RED OR PINK? Pink
WHAT IS THE THING YOU LIKE LEAST ABOUT YOURSELF? I’m too trusting
WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? When I used to know everything
WHATS YOUR FIRST THOUGHT WHEN YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING? How much I love HB (It’s true because he’s the first thing I see)
WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Pizza leftovers
WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? HB Singing
IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Purple
FAVORITE SMELLS? Fresh bread, fresh coffee, lilies
WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My Mother
DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Yes Yes Yes
FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? What’s sport
HAIR COLOR? I have brown hair but I love black hair on guys
EYE COLOR? Blue
DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Yes
FAVORITE FOOD? Pavlova, Caramel
SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Both
LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Once
WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? White Transformers T-Shirt
SUMMER OR WINTER? Winter
HUGS OR KISSES? What’s one without the other
FAVORITE DESSERT? Pavlova
WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? A Wolf at the Table - Augusten Burroughs
WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Nothing
WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT? Family Guy
FAVORITE SOUND? Silence
ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles
WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Probably the U.K but I’m not good with geography
DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Probably
WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Parkes, NSW
WHAT TIME IS IT NOW? 7:30pm

I started reading an article today on one of my fav blogs and although I wanted to write about it I thought I would share some of my fav posts recently. So here goes:

Gay Species - About Mobile Phones

Gaytwogether - About understanding your partner

Vanyel - About Email

Michael - About a possible chance to destroy HIV

I won’t overload you with reading but these are a good place to start.

There’s a lot of debate going on at the moment over alcohol, binge drinking, the young and taxes in this country. In many ways that’s not unusual because I think it’s a continuing debate. However another young 15 year old died this past weekend from binge drinking and it’s made it to the media madhouse. Now don’t misunderstand, as many of you know I have a major issue with alcohol and binge drinking and drinking to get drunk.

The story HERE caught my eye today and not so much the story but reading through the comments just made me realise how heavy this debate is. For those particularly who are not in Australia, it may pay you to read this story and comments because there are a few factors that are influencing my view, such as:

In Australia, a new tax has been implemented to curb young people drinking, however the tax is only on premix drinks. The legal age for drinking is 18, not 21 as in the U.S and other such factors. I don’t know how to fix the alcohol issues in this country, and I don’t know how other countries are on this issue, however I know the problems are not a one piece solution. You have to take into account all factors such as the local society or culture, the legal drinking age, the alternatives etc.

For me I am concerned because the drinking culture in this country is disgusting. The young are too young to understand and manage alcohol. They are not generally responsible, but neither are many adults. I do think the legal drinking age is too young, but at the same time our liquor licensing system is off. Clubs and pubs are allowed to stay open way to late, clubs and pubs don’t really monitor drinking levels unless you become obvious even though there are laws and fines and parents have to teach, if not abstinence then responsible drinking. I mean as one commenter mentioned in the article and I’ll expand on it, maybe there should be compulsory breath testing and no serving of alcohol if you are over the limit.

The other factors are we don’t nurture strong kids so peer pressure is a big factor. So is escapism because people turn to alcohol to forget, the saddest thing I heard once was someone who said if they go to a club they have to get drunk to have a good time.

No matter what, society as a whole has to work towards a solution because I believe it’s possible. The government fund all these independent think tanks, so how about they work on some serious issues. I’m not an idiot, I know that as much as a government promotes the problems of alcohol abuse, they don’t really do much about it, probably because they make to much money on taxes. I hope the government lead the way and find a solution. By saying that I don’t believe it is there job, as it does involve everyone, however the government are our leaders and at least need to lead the way.

Courtesy of Pobble Thoughts.

Thanks to Pobble for passing this award to me. I am very honoured to receive this from such an amazing blogger. I need to pass this on now to seven bloggers I think deserve to be recognised. However since Pobble has nominated many of those in my own circle I am hoping I can make seven that I believe deserve this award. I;m quite tired tonight so I will list those that I nominate:

- Foucalt on Acid

- Engineer also muses

- Gay Species

- Jeremiah

- My Life in the Slow Lane

- Jarad

- Like Sands ……

It’s so difficult to pick seven and not include some others because they have already been picked. There are so many that have played such a big part in helping me over the time but I have followed the rules and picked seven. These seven have not already been chosen and each have touched me. You deserve this.

HAWT

One of the things I have noticed about having a high degree of anxiety is that I have quirks. When I am deep in thought I tend to tap my toes, not on anything, they just move. I had a case of being quite stressed recently and when I was trying to think the process through I found that I was doing a little fingure tap on the side of my head thing. I haven’t done that for years. I know that when I get extremely anxious I have lots of these little quirks or habits and they are not always noticeable.

Funny enough they change depending on what I am thinking about. If I am struggling with something of a work nature or something that doesn’t mean a lot to me I tend to tap my foot but if it’s of a personal nature I tend to move my fingers, if I am really struggling to come up with the answer to a personal dilemna I will tap my fingers in the air. Sort of like you would expect from someone with autism.

I know this will all make me sound quite crazy but they are just quirks and everyone has them. Do you know what your quirks are lol?

Courtesy of Post Secret

As most of my regular readers know I am a huge fan if the Free Hugs Campaign. As humans we all need human contact and four years ago when Juan Mann started the campaign I just knew how big it would become. Below is a new interactive clip that will allow you to track the campaign. I have always had my HUGS page and you can come back anytime to see this clip and see additions. Hug someone today.

I recently wrote a post called the ‘Struggle of Youth’ which was related to human contact and the Internet. After writing this post Gay Species wrote the post Breaking the Digital Barrier which I highly recommend. Reading Gay Species post really made me think about the core of our society. That core is we as humans are really more and more into commodities.

Thinking about this in relation to the Internet, Gay Species has really covered this. I just want to talk about it in general. We already know that in a work environment we are only a product. At least that’s the case when looking for work. The thing to remember is that in a work environment we are all replaceable, no matter who you are. That is a good reason to balance work and home. But in saying this we shouldn’t treat ourselves like this in our personal lives.

I know that there are people out there who may disagree with that but in my own life I am not a commodity. I am not a disposable item and I won’t let anyone treat me that way. You see people market themselves in their personal lives all the time, by putting on a front and not being themselves, by exaggerating who they are or just outright lying. The problem with this is that in the end people are getting someone who is not real. In my everyday life I see a lot of people who you can just see are not true to themselves. I guess the biggest area for this is the internet because you are generally not able to make a decision on someone because you are only dealing with one sense. There is no body language, no eye contact to help work out the truth.

However you read all of that over at the Gay Species. My point is just that how sad is it if we turn ourselves into a product that is just there to be marketed. I don’t give a crap if someone doesn’t like me. I know that the people that truly love me know me and like who I am. That’s not to say I’m perfect, far from it, but they know I am a good person and I am me. I know commercially I am a product, I don’t play into that one either. I know who I am and I know I am good at what I do. However in my personal life I will never lie about who I am, I will never call someone a friend who I don’t know just because we have a chat on msn, I value those that I call friends and I am proud of the fact that I can easily name them all and that they know me.