2015 – The Year of Getting Stuff Done

Everything you know is wrong

Black is white, up is down and short is long

And everything you thought was so important doesn’t really matter…

– “Weird Al” Yankovic, “Everything you know is wrong”

Stress and depression have a tendency to arise when the brain attempts to devise complicated solutions to simple problems.

The events of the last few weeks have left me wondering where I am heading in life – all the plans I had made and the life goals I had set suddenly were rendered worthless and meaningless. I suddenly found myself at an impasse, unable to proceed in any direction without tearing myself free of my moorings and returning to my starting point. I have done that once already in my life and have no desire to do it again if I can avoid it.

Part of my predicament stems from both career frustration and family obligation. I find myself needing to be able to fulfil both duty to my wife and to my immediate family, and seek a career that permits both. One that also permits me to be simultaneously in two locations 400km apart.

Unable to sleep last night, I arose and entered into a couple of hours prayer and meditation. I thought about all the tasks that I have undertaken over the years – composing music and songs, writing short stories and poetry, writing and drawing comics and cartoons, preparing and taking photos. Some of these tasks have been published and earned money.

I would be the first to say that I’m not particularly good at any of them, though – I became good enough to be satisfied with my competence and then lose interest.

But I consider that God gave me these talents for a purpose – not to taunt me with my limited competence but to forge a new way in life. My inspiration recently has been for writing articles dealing with my Christian faith (as well as my associated political and social views). During my prayers, I wondered if I should renew my artistic pursuits and combine them in a way that I could earn a living. It will be a slow process – I’ve not done any substantial drawing since JAMWAF (the JAFWA newsletter) and Xuan Xuan (a Perth-based manga anthology) ceased publication over 10 years ago. I’ve not spent much time playing music since I stepped down from the church music group two years prior to my wedding. I do still partake of photography and writing though.

So, since 2015 is My Year of Getting Stuff done, I propose to renew my creative activities as well as write more. Moreover, when I write articles, whether it be about Christianity or computers, I plan to post them in forums more visible and accessible rather than just my obscure blog.

I’ve enquired about drum lessons as well, so prepare your ear plugs.