On Holiday - Be Back Soon

Melbourne, home of the cultured Australian, the tennis (I think I'm getting behind Andy Murray for the Australian Open title), and temporarily - me.

I'm here for a mate's wedding and have been doing the rounds. In lieu of my promised blog overhaul, I'm going to regale you with things I've learned since returning to my homeland.

Facebook is a Complicated Whore
It's pretty safe to say I haven't mastered the thing. I've tried deactivating it, oversharing, public posts, and adopting my online persona all with ill-fated timings. I got scolded last night for deleting family friends and this morning I got scolded for being incessant. I've been told that my status updates are disgusting and deranged, yet I still persevere with my tripe. I feel like a fat kid eating cake who only wants more pie. And when you offend them, a simple "welcome to the Internet" - doesn't seem to cut it. What gives?

If only people at their keyboards were escorted by this fellow.

You don't have any news

You could have:

*Gone on 20 dates (did happen)

*Been to eight different countries since seeing them (did happen)

*Got a new job (did happen)

*Rode on a unicorn made of bacon and vomited magic rainbows (may have happened)

But thanks to the above this news is müt. You could say that this is due to my affinity for sharing the news on aforementioned platform but shutup.

You've been told.

Australian TV is really, really shit

I used to read about the abomination that was The Project. But never thought I'd be exposed to it. Until my stint at my Mum's in Traralgon. It was left on and it was like being anally compromised with a pine-cone (hasn't happened). The self-serving drivel seems to be an institution in this country. All I can surmise is that the collective amount of bile produced from watching Charlie Pickering's smug adulation has export value.

A more smug, self-adulating wanker I am yet to come across.

Australia's still home

I may be jetsetting Australasian these days, but I still love getting back to my town and knowing where to go, walk around, and eat. I took secret pride in the fact that my sister was asking for directions through the Melbourne CBD, and being able to get from a friend's house to my Mum's in less than five minutes in Traralgon almost makes it better than Changi Airport.

Almost.

There's stuff going on with the usual stuff, but I'll revisit them next time.

Writing a Wave

I make no secret of the fact I like attention, and online I'm even worse. Between my time on Inthemix, to my slightly crazy videos on YouTube, and my engagement with the likes of Twitter and Google Plus, it's safe to say that I'm a fan of jumping up and down online.

But what about the blog?
In a bid to resume my love for sharing, I switched from my blogging birthplace at OpenDiary and relocated here. I started off in earnest, with a bold declaration about what I set out to achieve. Boldly declaring:

Lastly, I want the attention. I crave the attention. I thrive on my ability to capture someone's attention. It's why I write... I want your eyeballs, and this blog intends to suck them out of your sockets. 

What went wrong?
I don't think I got there. I treated this space like a stream-of-consciousness recorder. While I started blogging very early on, I didn't really adapt. The way I wrote didn't change. I failed to capitalise.

So what?
You're bold aren't you titular writing device? Well I don't have a problem with simply recording what's going on as such. I quite enjoy using using this medium as a record that I can check back on, reflect, and utilise. But there's a problem with this, you see I keep mentioning something called the book.

54 mentions from 40-odd entries - obsessed much?

A new focus

The more sharp-eyed among you might have noticed some changes to the blog recently. Besides some cosmetic changes, there's an assurance that my book will be published in April, 2012.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Now there's a bit of pressure. An imposed deadline. And failing a publishing deal I need to make this happen. I'm not a complete failure, so I've been reading up on what I need to do to get there. And boy it's a lot of work. But it's also exciting.

A year for improvement

2011 was satisfying, the best year I've had in ten. I could just sit back and let it be. 

But why not strive to make 2012 better?

I've been reading a lot of blogs lately. Ones that have stood out include ProBlogger, 1000 Awesome Things,   Jeff Goins Writer, and Nerd Fitness. While they all cover different interests, what was consistent among them is a tale of self-improvement. They're successful because they didn't settle for being good. They're all properties that continually self-improve.

It's time for me to do the same.

Change is coming

Picture this, but in the written form. Yeah!

This year I'm stepping things up again. In the coming days I'll be writing about what this new focus will be on, and this blog will record it all. I hope you can come along for the ride.

Ever undertaken self-improvement yourself? What inspired you? Let us know!

A Befitting End, A Spectacular Start, and a Target

I really need to find a more varied way of blogging abroad. As has become the norm when I'm away, I generally begin with a banal statement about where I currently am (Saigon) and then a remark about my surrounds (a hotel room) and get started. It's a lazy writing device, and something I'll have to step up my game with if I'm to get the book published, but more on that soon.

For a channel that didn't exist in most people's lives ten years ago, social media has been something that's almost become a compulsory tune-in. My feeds are inundated with self-reflection, well wishes, and varied takes on 2011 and the year that was. This entry, will be no different, so if you had high hopes I hate to be the bearer of ill news.

It's not like I have an aversion to this form of contemplation anyway. My own writing, tweets, status updates, and emails to my friends are full of this kind of stuff. And I enjoy articulating my thoughts, sense-checking them, and recording, in order to keep myself honest, accountable, and most importantly, have something to look back on and remember.

As I look back on 2011, I find it quite befitting that I'm sitting in a hotel room in Asia bashing away at a computer. I'm here with a friend I hadn't met before this year, in a place I hadn't been to before this year, and feeling a strong sense of satisfaction that I hadn't had before this year.

Not since 2001, have I felt as satisfied with a year's efforts. I had a couple of beers this afternoon before my disco nap, but let me assure you, I will be downing some more to commemorate the year's that's been.

2012 is also looking like it will be quite the start. I wake up tomorrow morning with a hangover in a country other than Australia, I set off for another working visit to Tokyo, and then get to go back to Melbourne to see one of my best friends get married to his beautiful fiancee. All in the space of January, all in a sense of awe.

I intentionally made reference to the book at the start of this entry, and the sharper-eyed among you might see a declaration on the right of this page with a few words about me. I will have my book published this year. The deadline I've set is April 2012. It's ambitious, but a deadline is what I need. I've got a few leads I'm following up on, and have had a few doors shut in my face, but I'm gunning for this to happen and will see it through.

There's a lot of work going on behind the scenes to make this happen, so keep watching this space to hear more.

And that's really it. Tonight we've got drinks at a sky bar, dinner at a restaurant and then a table at a bar. I've been laying low the last few hours but as I understand it Saigon really converges on its CBD on New Year's Eve and I look forward to seeing it. Judging by the sound outside my hotel window it's going to be loud, confronting, and in my face.

Bring on 2012.