Before I begin, I feel that some people haven’t got the capacity to take into account all sides of this issue. So let’s set things straight.

Every time a celebrity or well-known person does something outside what we are used to seeing, there is always a group of people who will whinge about how what they have done is demeaning and offensive to greater society.

One example is when Daniel Radcliffe, who we all know and love as the actor who plays Harry Potter, appeared in a stage of production of Equus. Equus is all about a boy’s love of horses, and features Radcliffe fully nude in one scene.

Another is Lindsey Vonn, the American alpine skier. She was on the cover of Sports Illustrated recently, and not only that, but also had a section in the Swimsuit Issue.

Also from the Winter Olympics, the Canadian women’s ice hockey team were caught out on the ice drinking and smoking after their win against the United States for the gold medal.

The problem arises when someone or a group of people (e.g. a parents’ organisation) makes a lot of noise about said well-known person and condemns their actions.

Parents (especially from England) said that Radcliffe was setting a bad example to children, by encouraging them to do something risqué (possibly something related to nudity). Likewise, people said that Vonn was no longer a role model for young girls getting into snow sports.

The first thing these narrow-minded people need to realise is that celebrities and people in general mature as they get older. Daniel Radcliffe can’t play characters that are geared towards children forever, he has a career path to follow that leads to bigger and better things.

In Vonn’s case, athletes like people in general like to have some variety in life, and it is completely harmless doing a fashion shoot. Especially when you just happen to look good.

As for the Canadians, they deserved that gold medal because they won the match. So what’s wrong with celebrating? I’m hoping you’ve been to a party before.

For parents, what they need to realise is that by over-protecting your children, you are exposing them to higher risk activities in the future. For example, if your kid climbed up and fell off a tree when they were young, would you think that they have learned not to put themselves in such a risk in the future?

For narrow-minded people, if you think something is socially acceptable, shouldn’t those in the public eye be allowed to think the same?

Why are we so selective about what is correct and what isn’t? Why have we not said anything discouraging about Emma Watson becoming a major figure in the fashion world?

Have we forgotten how society learns from the risks it takes?

In most Western restaurants, the idea of sharing a table with someone you don’t know seems so foreign. But in Chinese restaurants, sharing a table can be quite common.

I had dinner tonight in a cha chaan teng (diner) and Dad and I found ourselves sharing with four other people. Besides the often degraded service of shared tables, here’s what else I noticed.

I often minimise my conversation when sharing a table with strangers. However, this is often an indicator to the other party to talk as loudly as they want. This makes it seem like you are listening in to their conversations, as it is often loud. Besides that, the usual rules apply; don’t talk about sensitive topics and don’t make a fool of yourself.

I’m really tired now. I don’t know why I wrote about this, but I wanted to get something out. Good night.

What’s interesting is that at the start of every year, we say that the year ahead will be the best one has ever seen. It begins to wear off about 20 years after (you don’t see older people make such a claim do you?) but for now the statement still holds.

2009 has been a fantastic year. I’ve finished Year 12, that’s something. Next year begins the next step of many steps into this wide world of ours.

I’m not a fan of talking about the past. Although I do it often, looking back on it, it has been a very foolish act. Instead, now I will talk about the future more often.

I guess this is what many people do at this time, in the form of New Year’s Resolutions. (Mine will come tomorrow)

But for now, I’m here to tell you what I’ll be doing differently next year. It’s not a big thing, but it has a big impact.

Tell the truth.

Yes, it’s that simple. This past year, I’ve realised that in order to please others, the truth had to be manipulated in some way.

From now on, it’s the raw truth, whether you like it or not. It is undesirable to see a web of lies and cover-ups cloud one’s thoughts and judgement. It is undesirable for one to believe that everything is okay. Nothing is perfect, it shouldn’t be. After all, if the world was perfect, there would be nothing to make us think.

Obviously someone or something will be upset or disturbed by truth in any case. This is not a concern, because when such truth is divulged, it teaches one to deal with the consequence of the truth and to move on.

It is not right for someone to influence or dictate the direction of one’s thoughts or life. Everyone is unique and this is what preserves the diversity in society.

Thank you for reading my blog in 2009, and a Happy New Year to you all.

This is another photography related rant. (Sorry Mark)

Whilst looking around Facebook yesterday, I saw some photos of a particular formal had turned up. Obviously they had a good time. But what I noticed (and this is not new) is that people nick the photos from the photography company’s website, watermarks and all. I think this speaks volumes about me next point.

These photography companies are contracted by organisers of the formal to take photographs and document. This is in the hope that cash-strapped people buy their photos for ‘keepsakes’. It is like as if they expect you to look back in a few year’s time and say, “Look at me, this was at my formal back in year 11! Wow!” But they clearly don’t seem to notice that people are “stealing” their photos and recognising the hard work of others.

Mind you, I don’t have a problem with this happening. I think it is stupid how photography companies and afford the time and resources to shoot an event where they don’t expect their clients to buy their work. I mean, who spends the few dollars getting a low res file without a watermark? Wouldn’t it just be better to just offer the product pro bono?

This is the principle that I follow with my recent photography work. I don’t feel I have the authority nor the capacity to charge people for photos of themselves. I believe that I have done a good job offering my best service for the greater good of the people. All I ask in return is some recognition of the hard work that has gone into making a good product. Why should people have to pay for something that they may not look at in a few years? Granted, it just keeps the moment lasting for longer.

Well, the first two weeks of term 2 have passed. I have to say, that it hasn’t been as pressured as last term. Finally I have some free time on the weekend (at least that’s why I’m writing tonight). I’m glad that this time has been sufficient to plan how this term will unfold.

You know, I’ve been doing those KenKen puzzles that started to appear in the Sydney Morning Herald last week. They’re quite fun, and they also help with developing basic number theory. (Quick, 4 numbers between 1 and 6 that multiply to give 160!) Do these puzzles really make you smarter?

While my logic develops, my social is on the backburner. Though this next term is quiet, unfortunately it isn’t time to let my guard down. I think everyone wants to be able to fast-forward to some time in November, after the last exam. For now, can I suggest to get each milestone through, one at a time, and still feel good about it?

Here ends.

This post is mainly for the Barker folk reading on Facebook, because it contains a lot of customs and lingo known to them.

Last Thursday was the CAS Swimming Championship. Now, Barker makes all their prefects and Year 10 go watch either this carnival or the ISA Championship. The ISA is the one the girls swim in, and that was held the Friday before.

As with any School event, there is always a lot of rallying to get as many people supporting and cheering on the respective team. That’s all well and good, except there seems to be a little known thing they weren’t aware of. (For the record, I went to the ISA carnival, so I’ve done my fair share of supporting).

It was heard around the place, that some people (some of the prefects), had tried to avoid going, for some oddly stupid reasons. They had wanted to avoid spending a late night in Homebush, doing almost nothing.

I think that this makes some people (and me), a little bit disappointed, especially those who are enthusiastic about supporting the Reds. (I’m thinking of you Mirko). It only takes a few people to let the team down. I don’t have the capacity to rant this morning as I am writing this, but hopefully that’s all that needs to be said to get tongues moving.

So, select your option from the title. Up the Reds, Down with the Reds, or I don’t care about the Reds.

So yesterday was a relatively free night. Therefore, I spent some time looking around on Facebook at people’s photos. Only several minutes later, I noticed some pictures that I had taken on people’s profiles. This triggered a big thought.

I hate the photo nickers.

Now, I am a big believer of photographer’s rights. All the photos on my flickr are licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA. That means that you can use this photo for whatever you want, as long as you don’t make any money from it (unless you ask me) and you license your work the same. I believe that creativity is something that should be shared by everyone for them to enjoy. Almost in the same spirit that photographers have when it comes to sharing techniques.

The copyright laws in major countries around the world state that every self-made work is copyrighted immediately. So technically if you use a photo from a website where no copyright notice is placed, you are breaking the law. It’s that simple.

Anyway, back to the point. A good example of this was the recent Europe tour that our school choir and orchestra did last December. We had website (run by yours truly), with photos from some of the students, plus our tour guide, who is an accomplished photographer. Now, people nick these photos and dump them on Facebook or some other site, and people treat it as if they took that massively sharp and beautiful shot. There’s no recognition either!! I find that a bit disrespectful, really. It saddens me that people treat photos like that silly shot of your cat or dog. They don’t respect the hard work and effort that someone has put into composing and taking that shot.

There is my short-lived rant. I hope you understand to look into the copyright status of photos if you want to use them, then give the photographers credit where credit is due!

Last night was the formal. I thought it was going to be a great night. Unfortunately for me, it mostly wasn’t.

To put it simply, the formal was a great idea at first, but it quickly loses its panache as the night progresses.

We started off with a three course dinner. Entrée was a green salad, then the main course was a steak. The steak was done really well. The atmosphere was very positive (as it usually is). Once dinner was over, things went from good to bad.

I was asked to nominate someone to ‘cut the cake’ symbolically and to say thanks. That was slightly surprising to the special someone, but the speech was terrible. (Almost) everyone cheered their head off every few seconds and I felt the spotlight taken away from me. Then came the dance.

In my opinion, the DJ really didn’t satisfy anyone. The music was this new stuff, I couldn’t tell. It did get better towards the end, then it was the end of the night.

I was beginning to question whether the night was worth it, but I didn’t let that get in the way. It is a problem of being under-recognised when you do so much for everyone.

On a lighter note, if you are reading this via Facebook, don’t feel offended. I thank you very much for all your support! In my opinion, the best form of recognition in this situation is a thanks, and a nice hug.

Link to photoset on flickr.

Tonight, I had debating at school. The topic was about health, but it was pretty hard. My team put up a very tough case, but the team from the other school, just got the better of us, but not because of how they spoke, but what they spoke about. Anyway, I took the loss fine and we should be doing well next debate.The real story comes after. I was in the common room having snacks and talking to friends. Then this woman comes up to me and asks where is the toilet? I didn’t know, then… well I forgot what I said.  A girl who was chairing the debates took her to the toilet.OK. In all honesty, why ask a guy where the girls toilet is? It is WRONG!!! Guys only know where the guys toilet is. Girls know where everything is. Cool with that?!!Now I have put this rant on paper, I hope I can get some sleep and get up tomorrow to go to work. 

Well, on Sunday morning at about 9:30, the power failed. At first I thought, this is odd, a power outage in the morning! However as the hour went on, this was not an ordinary power outage.

I was cooking breakfast for my parents and I, as I usually do. Suddenly, the kettle stopped working. I stopped and saw that everything else wasn’t working. It has looked like a fuse tripped, so I went outside and checked. The fuse was still on and the safety switch didn’t trip. Ok, so its not only us, it’s the whole street. The power’s out! Now I was only cooking breakfast, but that was difficult now. No power, no stove, no kettle, no fridge, and eventually, no breakfast. Luckily, Dad has a contingency plan, use the barbecue, and so we did.

For about half an hour, Dad cooked on the barbeque. Breakfast was almost ready until, yes, the power was restored. This was when the penny dropped. Our alarm system sounded, and it had ‘forgotten’ the code. Minutes went by, the alarm sounding randomly. Dad eventually turned the alarm off at the wall switch. Even then it still bugged us. There was a battery inside the control box. We took it out and the alarms fell quiet. That was the end.

When we have (rare) power outages, it is hard to imagine life without electricity.