Without going into particulars – there is, lets say, a great opportunity for me at the expense of other ideal opportunities. One in the short term is guaranteed to be better for me. The other, well, there is a possibility, a chance that it will be significantly better in the future, but no guarantee. A great, fictional wizard once said “we must make the choice between what is right and what is easy”, but how are you suppose to know what the right choice is? Or perhaps, what the easy choice is?

I was in this same position almost exactly four years ago. It’s almost a case of history repeating itself, almost as if life itself is speaking to me – “I told you which choice to make, and at that time you made the right one, but somewhere along the way you stuffed it up. We’re now back to square one, so we’re going to try this again.”

It’s a moment of déjà vu. Am I being thrown a second chance to try do things properly and get things right or does life consistently throw choices at you that are dramatically life changing? If I knew the answer to this, I’d know which is the right choice and which is the easy choice. Both choices could be considered right, but they could both also be considered easy. I have about a fortnight to make up my mind, but I won’t know for a few months whether I made the right decision.

In the meantime, I’ll spend the next few days pondering, tuning into my apparent psychic abilities in order to work out which decision is the ‘right’ one.

I’m putting together a five days of the golden slipper feature. Day One is general information about the horse race, the second day was about tickets, where and how to buy, the third (which is the latest currently) is about the current field. Day 4 & Day 5 are still on their way and will be published today and tomorrow respectively.

For those of you who have no idea about horse racing, let alone the golden slipper – I’ll fill you in. The golden slipper is a 1200m race that (as stated above) will race on the second of April at Rosehill as part of the Sydney Racing Carnival. It’s a major group one race and will be an exciting day of racing, fashion and drinking. If that is something that you think sounds fun (and let’s be honest – who wouldn’t enjoy that?) then you should definitely check out my feature. The day itself is comparable to the Melbourne Cup, but on a far smaller scale. Still, there’s no doubt it will be a fun day.

In terms of betting and betting odds, all major bookmakers have Sepoy as the favorite at around $3.00 to win. This is horse racing we are talking about though, and while Sepoy is likely to win pending track conditions and health, sometimes things can go wrong – just like any sport. So if you do decide to have a bet, please remember to do responsibly!

If you have any questions or queries or about anything horse racing, or the golden slipper, head on over to www.horseracingoffers.com.au.

She recently blogged about how career opportunities for women are in the long, drawn out process of becoming equal with men and how they effect relationships. Ultimately, the question she left her readers with was “But what do you think? Man or woman, would you prefer to be the breadwinner or homemaker? Why? Why not? Would you be happier if housewifery made a comeback? And can men be happy housewives too?”.

This topic is particularly interesting to me because right now, ideally, I’d like to end up with someone who is successful in the career path they choose. Whether that be business, public relations, marketing – whatever. A successful woman – or someone I believe will be successful, is the biggest selling point to me in terms of dating and relationships.

There are plenty of ‘women belong in the kitchen’ jokes and while I find them amusing, I don’t necessarily agree with them. Now sure, a relationship is probably easier when we stick to the stereotypes of men working and women cooking and cleaning. But just because it may be easier, doesn’t make it better.

If I was to get married, I absolutely would not expect my wife to cook and clean all day. Kids currently for me are left in the category of ‘TBD – To Be Decided’ so I’m intentionally leaving that particular and potentially massive factor out of this equation.

I’ve always thought I would end up with somebody who, like me, takes their career seriously and wants to be successful at what they do. Not someone who wants to sit at home, cook for me or keep the house and yard clean. Not that I have anything against people who do this – I don’t. When kids are in the equation – I understand how it changes everything. Not to mention my ideal living place would be in an apartment rather than a house. I have no intention of gardening or spending time keeping my pool clean and my grass cut.

The thing is though, everybody is different. So to answer you Katherine, while we continue to push for equality in the world of business and careers amongst men and women, the typical housewife will naturally become a rare breed. Personally, that suits me quite well – but I understand there are people who like to respect and hold onto older fashioned values. That doesn’t mean anybody is right or wrong – but WHAT does it mean?

Ultimately you are responsible for who you choose to be with – it’s one of the great things in life. You always have choices (which I wrote about recently). In a household where both adults work, the income is stronger, but then it’s probably fair to say that the quality time spent together will suffer as a result. This is the opposite to having a husband or wife who stays at home and does all the household ‘choirs’.

It’s a personal choice and it comes down to each person individually. What sort of life do you want? Do you want to come home to a hot cooked dinner and be family orientated – or would you be content arriving home late at night, drained, tired and exhausted from a massive day? Do you want to sacrifice quality time with your significant other just to be better off financially?

Everybody is different and from personal experience – when you’ve worked out what type of person you want, and what sort of relationship you want, you’re able to save yourself a lot of time by only dating people you are compatible with and people you share the same values with.

There is no right or wrong. It simply depends on the person you are and what you want from life. If you want to be all about family and the typical 9 – 5 with a housewife and kids. Then DO IT. If you’d rather be like me, where my partner / wife takes her career as seriously as I do, then just do it. It’s simple.

I realized over the past week that you always have a choice. There are some things in life you can’t control, but you are always left with choices. You may not like any of the paths those choices lead to – but you always have a choice. I stumbled across two quotes recently that made me think – “You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.” and “Anyone can give up, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell part, that’s true strength.”

Keeping a clear and open mind is the key to being able to quickly sort out and overcome any issue. A common trait in today’s society is the way people run away from their problems. Which is interesting when you consider that the generations before us were all headstrong, determined and vigilant. Running away or ignoring was never an option – but now, it’s common for people to give up or ignore their issues. Which in the long term, doesn’t fix a single thing.

One of my statuses on Facebook a few weeks ago was – “What doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger … based on that theory… come Monday afternoon I should be the real life equivalent of superman”, and while I didn’t quite feel like superman last Monday afternoon – I sit here now, a week after that Monday and I see the big picture. This year is potentially full of circumstances that are going to lay the foundation for the next few years of my life. Next month, a five year chapter of my life will be closed.

It’s funny looking back on your years when you are actually able to remember them – and maybe that’s just because I’m at the age where those are suppose to be some of the best years of my life, I don’t know. When I was 12, I certainly didn’t remember anything about being 7, 8 or 9. Yet here I am, a month away from being 23 and I still remember what I was doing with my life when I was 18. Possibly because what I was doing at 18 had a strong influence on how I got where I am today.

Time is cruel and I often wish I could go back in time and relive particular moments over and over – I guess that’s why we have memories? It’s never worth dwelling on the past, yet at the same time it’s crucial to avoid any moments or situations that leave you thinking “What if?”. In some cases it may take years to get answers to some of the most important questions life throws at you. Rest assured, you will get answers, when exactly? That’s anyone’s guess, but in the meantime, while you wait – expect the best, be prepared for the worst, fuck what others think and do your own thing.

In closing – its true. The best things in life are free, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need to work for them. If you really want something – then it’s worth the wait, it’s worth the sacrifice. If it wasn’t – you wouldn’t be waiting.

Life is constantly full of ups and downs, and the ‘ups’ have the effect of making you feel like you are on top of the world. The ‘downs’ however, often make people feel like the ‘ups’ were never worth it – well, sometimes they do and while its natural to feel this way, it’s not ever true. When bad things happen, all we think about is the effect that some particular, negative ‘experience’ has on us. Rarely do we take the time to consider any of the good things that happened prior to any sort of emotional downfall.

Emotional pain hurts. There’s no doubt about it and it can come from the simplest, most unexpected situations or people. For example, getting fired, losing a loved one, being disappointed in someones actions, breaking up with someone, or being broken up with. We’re lucky enough to live in a day and age where we have medicines, tablets, experienced doctors, surgeons and nurses and for this reason, and this reason alone – physical pain can be far easier to tolerate and put up with than emotional pain. When was the last time someone was able to numb any sort of emotional pain? Never, and in all probability – there never will be. Emotional pain cannot be seen on the body, it can be identified in body language, facial expression and personality, but it, itself cannot be seen.

Right now, I am going through what is easily the most difficult situation I’ve ever had to overcome in my (almost) 23 years of existence. My father has liver cancer, and goes in for liver cancer surgery tomorrow morning – Monday, the 7th of March. It’s a bit of a tricky operation because it’s only 2cm or so away from the heart – this also means the success rate is 60%. Not that 60% is necessarily ‘bad’, but I don’t really consider it to be ‘good’ odds either.

There’s some things, as a son, you never want to have to talk about with your father – but when he asks to chat with you on a Wednesday night alone, about what needs to happen should he pass away as a result of an unsuccessful medical operation, your stomach starts to turn and spin. You lose your appetite completely, you go numb, you lose your focus, you are never in the right frame of mind and despite your best attempts at distracting yourself – you realise it’s practically impossible. You just can’t do it.

Fast forward 24 hours, and I lost someone who meant more to me than she will ever understand. Or maybe she does understand – I’m not really sure. She might even read this. She might not. I’ll never know. It’s not her fault either and I’ve tried convincing her of this. She’s simply done what she thought was the right thing to do. There is no right or wrong with her decision and I wish she would understand that. I don’t resent her or despise her. I’m not angry and I’m not disappointed with her. I’m upset that she’s not mine anymore and mostly I’m just going to miss her. A lot. But that’s not her fault. It’s no bodies fault.

The next time I take my car for a drive and turn my head – she won’t be there. The next time I go see a movie at the cinemas – she won’t be there. The next time we have a family function – she won’t be there. The next time my phone buzzes or flashes – it won’t be her. The next time I want to go out to dinner – it won’t be with her. This is why it’s difficult – going through the process of trying to accept that somebody you care about (more than you actually thought was even possible) is no longer going to be in your life the way they used to be. This doesn’t just apply to her, it applies to my father as well.

You can’t choose who you fall in love with. You can choose your friends. You can choose your career. But you can’t choose who you fall in love with.

Fortunately friendship is a wonderful thing, and I’ve had many friends come to my aid the past 2 days. Some I haven’t even heard from since before Christmas last year – they actually seem to understand or atleast have an idea of how difficult everything is for me right now.

I have always been the glue that keeps my family together. I inherited a lot of qualities from my mother. Her generosity, kind heart, her down to earth attitude and her ability to care. I am more like my mother than my sister is – everybody knows this. This is why I have a (stronger probably isn’t the right word) different relationship with my mum, than my father and sister do. Then there is my sister, who has a completely different relationship with me than our parents because I’m her older brother. She can talk to me about stuff she can’t talk to anybody else about. Lastly, there’s dad and obviously we have a different relationship because we’re both male.

They each rely on me a little bit more so than they do anybody else in the family, which is fine. That’s how it is. That’s how I am. I’m the glue that keeps this family together. If I fall apart, the rest of the family falls apart. Therefore, it is absolutely crucial that I stay on top of everything. I am in for one hell (quite literally) of a year.

I feel like I understand what it feels like to have the weight of the world on your shoulders. Quite fitting considering they say that “the weight of the world is love. Under the burden of solitude, under the burden of dissatisfaction” and right now I can’t think of a single sentence that better suits this post or describes how I’m feeling right now.

Twelve months on and things are naturally, quite different. I’m living in a rented house with my parents while they build their own ‘perfect’ little home just streets away. I have seemingly developed a stronger relationship with those who were already closest to me, I have now owned my Aerotop Supra for over twelve months and I have a girlfriend that I absolutely adore. However, my mother still stresses over everything, even when there has been no confirmation or guarantee that anything is seriously wrong. My sister now believes that everything she says and does is gospel and that if she disagrees with you or thinks that you’re wrong, or if she doesn’t like something you like, whether it be a song, an object, piece of clothing.. then it is forever considered ‘crap’. No if’s, but’s or explanations. If she doesn’t like it, it’s just crap. My father is still pessimistic and negative over almost anything and everything.

Yet, here I am. I rarely stress, until I know an outcome or decision is 100%. I’m open to peoples beliefs, opinions and views on just about anything and I try to see the positive in every situation. I have absolutely no resemblance to the characteristics of the rest of my family. Perhaps I’m adopted?

Towards the end of this year I tried to make more effort to be with friends. I eventually realized I was wrong, and I wasn’t what you would call a ‘good’ friend. A good friend spends time WITH their friends. Facebook, phone calls and texting are in some cases the only exception and in this regard, technology is a blessing. But when you live 15 minutes away from each other, there just isn’t any excuse not to see someone close to you. Now that I think about it, my change and desire to spend more time with friends most likely comes back to the active social life my girlfriend leads. This is ‘another’ thing that needs to be added to the list of ‘Reasons to thank you’.

This year I have been so focused on success that I ended up drowning in my own thoughts of money. Within the last month or so, I have realized that there is no point in having money if you have nothing to spend it on and no one to spend it with. What good is money if you have no friends to share it with? I need to learn to work my time better, stick to schedule and despite what my parents say, ignore the phone when it rings. That’s one distraction I do not need. I need to know when to call it quits – working until 3am just because I ‘have’ to get something done isn’t acceptable at any workplace, so why should I consider it to be acceptable? I need to stick to a 5/6 hour a day plan and commit to it.

On New Years Eve in 2009, I knew 2010 was going to be a good year simply by the places I visited and the music that played randomly over the radio. Ever since I can remember, I’ve always felt like the last hour or so before a new year begins is the best time for reflecting on everything, not just the year that’s about to go by, but the entirety of events that shaped how things occurred in that year. The events of 2010 don’t occur without the events of 2009 and all the years before it.

My understanding is that New Years is always about the celebration of the ‘new year’. Atleast, for many people I believe this is the case. I just can’t bring myself to celebrate a single year, when it is the many year’s before it that determine exactly how that year is celebrated.

For a complete list of major events that happened in 2010, Wikipedia have of course listed them all on their 2010 page.

Where ever you are, whoever you may be. Have a happy Christmas and a safe New Year.

Anyone that knows me well would be aware of the fact that I run a slot machine website with information on slot machines (or online pokies).

Well this website went under a few changes recently after I had discussions with a few people about what we can do to make the site one of the most useful slot machine resources on the internet. As a result, we’ve implemented more than 70 free to play slot machines. They are essentially demo versions of real slot games that are available at online casinos that use the Microgaming software.

We’re still adding reviews and previews of slot games from various gaming software providers including Microgaming, Vegas Technology & Realtime Gaming.

We have future plans to add jackpot and payout graphs and we are storing archives of the biggest slot machine winners from each month.

I’ll update again when I have an example I can show of the jackpot graphs.

After recent events; I’ve decided that this is the perfect place to bitch and moan about anything and everything – why hold back? Perhaps I am actually starting to understand Mark a bit better?

Like last night. It’s midnight and the home phone rings. My sister’s friend is ringing to tell us that Kelly (my sister) is stuck at a cocktail bar in Hamilton, sick and vomiting. Unable to get into a taxi. I didn’t want anything to do with it. If you get yourself sick from alcohol – it’s your own fault. You know when you’re getting drunk and you know when you’ve had too much. You need to have and use a word I like to refer to as ‘self control’.

self-con·trol
–noun
control or restraint of oneself or one’s actions, feelings, etc.

I let mum deal with it. It’s her daughter. She can deal with it. Or so I thought.

Apparently, mum didn’t know her way to this particular cocktail bar. Did I know where this place was? Not off the top of my head, no. We have no GPS for the car, but I do have it on my phone. As a result, I had no option but to be the co-driver, giving instructions on where to turn, or in mums case, where not to turn at 1 oclock in the morning.

Taking into account I had been working for an odd 11 hours prior to this taking place. My laptop died 3 weeks ago, I only just got my replacement and have had 2 weeks worth of work to catch up on. After staring at a laptop screen for 11 hours on a Saturday, the last thing I really want to be doing is giving directions to pick up my sick, drunk sister. But what are older, sober brothers for right?

Despite the drunken events that took place, the night didn’t end up as horrible as I’ve probably made it out to be. I did receive some interesting and subtly sweet text messages. But this individual was also very, very drunk, so the true honesty of their comments is pretty much unknown.

I hope the rest of you had an enjoyable Saturday night though.

Jesse Eisenberg playing Mark Zuckerberg

I recently saw The Social Network and was overwhelming fascinated by every part of it. It gave an interesting insight into (not only) the creation of Facebook,but also its creator Mark Zuckerberg. Does the movie accurately portray Mark though? Is he really an over confident, arrogant, self-centered asshole? Was he really part of a scheme with Napster’s creator Sean Parker to rip off Eduardo Saverin? The movie certainly makes it look that way.

The question everyone is asking themselves is whether or not Erica Albright ended up accepting his Friend Request on Facebook. That’s not the question I’m asking though. It’s irrelevant if she did or not, but did he deserve her ‘friendship’? Most people who have seen the movie will say no. She was treated pretty badly, and his drunken blogging was pretty unnecessary even if it did create a good side story for the movie.

Let’s assume that Erica did in fact accept his friend request. What sort of ‘relationship’ could they possibly have? She’s not likely to forgive him anytime soon. If ever. Or maybe because he’s now worth $6.1 billion she’ll make an exception? I bring this up because there was a time when his behavior was not so different to my own. Fortunately, I grew out of that personality trait shortly after completing high school.

Many people would have thought that Mark’s arrogance and self assurance would be his worst enemy. As it turns out, it’s these two things that make him the youngest billionaire today – but at what stage is it appropriate to ‘blitch’ (blog and bitch) about a partner? Or in Mark’s case an ex-partner? Surely it goes without saying – saying bad things about an ex (or anybody) in an open environment is a bad idea?

In the offline world, this would be true. But on the internet? It’s a great idea. Assuming you don’t get done for defamation.

The internet is all about creating and sharing new and exciting things and the best way to gain exposure is to do something, or write about something that is outrageously funny or unacceptable. People love controversy. The media loves controversy. All it takes is one sensitive blog post pointing out your personal dislikes for an individual and for someone to come along and ‘Digg’ or ‘Recommend’ the article.

Ok, so it takes a bit more work then that, but you get the idea.

There is one individual I could publicly write about, right now. There is so much uncertainty surrounding the whole issue with them that it’s impossible not to be confused. Not to mention that what’s going on (or in this case, maybe what’s NOT going on) is actually suppose to be one massive secret and if it were to spread to other particular individuals randomly, it could end quite bad. So why am I posting this? I feel the need to write something about it. I have no intention of writing anything bad about this person though, I don’t think I ever could. That’s not what this is about.

It’s hard to write about someone when you can’t mention who they are, or what’s going on. It’s a bit of a ‘if I told you, I’d have to kill you‘ sort of thing. Although, minus the ‘kill’ part and replace with like, ‘slap’. Or something.

Even if this complication was able to be made public. I would still have trouble naming those involved and discussing exactly what happened or is happening. Which begs the question and brings me to the point I was trying to make from the first line of this post – do you need to be drunk and careless OR arrogant and confident to be an honest blogger?

Today, 1st of February, 2010 – I (as I always do) hopped onto www.news.com.au because the site always has leading news information not just from my state and country, but on a global scale. They have great personal blogs, integration with Fox Sports and other sites that represent leading newspapers in our country. On an average day, I would probably visit news.com.au about four times.

But today, I logged on to see this -

Five advertisements in your face about ING direct. I have no issue at all with the 728 at the top in the header, or the 250 on the right under the weather forecast, but the giant, long and wide advertisements that take over the left, top and right of the website seems unnessecary to me.

Here it is again with the ads highlighted in a red border -

It would almost definitely drop the user experience, it did for me. Normally, I would be drawn to the featured article at the top left, but after logging on today, the orange from the advertisements took over and was completely overwhelming.

And before anyone decides to point out the obvious – yes, I am aware this is probably NOT an affiliate marketing program and more than likely a sponsored CPM deal.

News.com.au has been like this since (I assume midnight last night). Hopefully it doesnt last too long. As I’ve already said, I love news.com.au, I visit it on average four times a day because they are (in my opinion) the most reliable website for the latest and breaking news. I just wish they dont crowd their design too often with too many advertisements like they have done today.

What does everyone else think? Am I being unfair or overexagerating?