Well, it’s about 7.5 hours to go till 2010 arrives.

I wanted to wish all and sundry a wonderful 2010.  May we achieve peace around the world.  May we take better care of our planet. Both are HUGE I know, but I figure if I have any influence available, then this is what I would like it used on.  🙂

I’ve never been one to make resolutions — but to change tradition, maybe I will.  I need to increase my fitness and also become better at using my time.  Back to volunteering, back to reading, back to blogging.  All give me much pleasure.

Thanks to whoever visits my blog.  The posts this year have been slightly down on previous years, so that is why it is important that I get more serious about blogging.  Now that I have a renewed interest in photography, you should hopefully see more regular posts.  Time will tell I suppose.

Peace!

Kim

Merry Christmas to all from Brisbane, Australia. No snow here, blue skies and heat.
The photo is of Brisbane’s Christmas tree, the lights of which are solar powered.

Just gone 2:30am on July 31 here – and I find myself unable to sleep – thanks to a dose of the flu. So far it’s not been too bad, though I am wary of anything at the moment – because this swine flu is really rampant in Brisbane right now.

I need to get better soon though because I am travelling next week, delivering training to some educational Institutions starting this coming Monday.

Some chicken soup would be nice about now, but I can’t convince myself to get out of the warm bed at the moment. It’s times like these where being single really sucks. I miss having someone caring enough to keep an eye out for me. Another downside to my recent relationship breakup.

So it’s pitch black in my bedroom – thankfully this iPhone that I’m doing this post on has a well lit screen, and I’ve become quite adept at the art of typing on the touchscreen’s keyboard using just my thumb.

Quite amazing how fast and (mostly) accurate I’ve become as well. Of course, it’s not all my doing – the phone employs a well developed predictive text system, so it kind of knows what I am trying to type. Technology is quite amazing if you think about it.

I remember well the moon walk back in ’69. I was in Grade 7 at primary school and we were given a day off school so that we could watch this monumental event in it’s entirety. We sat in awe at what was unfolding before us – and Armstrong’s now famous words as he stepped into the lunar dust held our attention well.

I wonder will anyone ever put together another mission like this. Seems it would cost a fortune, and for what gain I wonder? But I guess a lot of what we now take for granted was developed as a consequence of the Apollo mission, so there would undoubtedly be benefits.

I remember also my first look at the graphical version of the world wide web. I was working at a university and a colleague called and told me he had seen this new way of looking at the web (up until that point we had been using text-based methods).

In Australia, there was one major gateway out to the web – via a link set up at Bond University. So we connected using Opera (one of the few graphical browsers available at the time) and went to the site of the Louvre in Paris. I was totally amazed – having been there in person, here I was some thousands of kilometers away looking at the Mona Lisa. Who would have thought that this would be possible?

So many events stick in my mind. 9/11 is huge, especially having lived in the US at the time. Others still. Will pick this theme up again soon. For now I need to get some sleep.

I’ve been doing quite a deal of reading this past couple of weeks, as I have worked my way through the lows associated with a potential relationship loss.  I’ve come across a lot of great resources out there in virtual world and especially some encouraging blogs and websites.  One that I really have enjoyed reading (and have subscribed to receive the daily highlight) is called The Happiness Project, a work in progress for Gretchen Rubin.  I’ve put the links in for whoever happens to pop in to read my posting, but here’s a brief description of what the idea behind the project is:

“…a memoir about the year I spent test-driving every principle, tip, theory, and scientific study I could find, whether from Aristotle or St. Therese or Martin Seligman or Oprah. THE HAPPINESS PROJECT will gather these rules for living and report on what works and what doesn’t. On this daily blog, I recount some of my adventures and insights as I grapple with the challenge of being happier.”

So every day I receive an email with a feel good story about what someone has done to make either themselves or someone else happy.  For me, this really strikes a chord with who I am.  I (like millions of others I believe) have a FaceBook profile and tonight took one of the many surveys that people create.  One was to show me, based on some strategically worded questions, what was my best trait.  There’s no scientific method in these tests I don’t believe, however it was interesting that it decided that my best trait was my generosity.  That’s definitely me.  It also described me to a t:

“You have a very giving nature, and you think of others before yourself. You enjoy giving gifts even more than receiving them. You are a helping hand to anyone in need, and you not only give what resources you have, but you give your heart and your time. You are always looking out for the needs of others are very aware of others’ problems, situations, and insecurities. You like to fill in the gaps with your love and kindness. That is what makes you such a great friend and companion.”

But there’s also a problem with being someone like that, and I bet anyone who happens to read this and is in the same class as me, knows exactly what I am going to say.  People like me tend to get used and abused — our generosity and willingness to put others’ needs ahead of our own often comes at a price, that is, people take advantage of our good intentions.  For me, I am most happy when I am helping someone, which is probably why I have always been involved in some form of volunteer pursuit.  It’s a fine line — doing acts of kindness to make someone happy.

Gretchen makes a point at one stage that even if people do random acts of kindness, quite often their good faith deeds will be received with suspicion.  Doing something thoughtful for someone else is a surefire way to make yourself happier, but it may not result in a similar feeling for the other person.

So, something I need to learn and work on is determining if I am going out of my way too much for others — and that can be family or friends.  I need to take care of my own interests at the same time.  That’ll be the difficult piece for me.