the self-discovery adventure of brett taylor
The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side. Hunter S Thompson
And with that said, go listen to Cory Doctorow’s Digital Rights Management (DRM) talk he gave in Antwerp earlier this year.
Also Relevant: MPAA Logo Goatse
After hearing the sermon at my church on Sunday, I was inspired to write this little devotion in time for my bible study group this week. Some of the members of our group asked if I’d give them a copy, so here it is. I hope you like it, even if you’re not a christian.
Imagine your heart as a room, a room you have prepared for God to live. This room is perfect in every way — clean, spick and span.
You live there too. It’s your heart, and you and God share it.
It didn’t used to be clean. It was once like a dirty old store room, full of dust and dirt and some big old cardboard boxes you didn’t really want to open.
But here you are, in this room with God, sharing the space. You are both having a good time.
God decides to take a look around. He sees a white cloth that seems to hiding something. He takes the cloth off gently, and reveals the boxes, still crusted up with the thick grey dust of years gone by. He also sees some brand new boxes, still kind of shiny.
You’d forgotten you had put the boxes there. Just remembering that they are still there after all this time is painful.
You know what is in the boxes. He knows what is in the boxes. You know you should have gotten rid of the boxes, but you can’t put the boxes anywhere else — no-one will take them.
Except Jesus.
Jesus pops in and spies the boxes. Wanting to get the boxes out of your life, you run over and grab a box, giving it to Jesus. He gladly takes it, and starts prying apart the flaps on the top of the box. Afraid, you quickly hit the flaps out of his hand and hold the box shut.
“I know it’s painful to remember what you’ve done, but if you want to stop doing it, you’ll need to understand the reasons behind why you continue to do what you do.”
You know he’s right. The box is there, and you know he’s here to help. Together, you open the box and begin unpacking it, sorting through its contents.
It really hurts. Countless times during the time that passes you are brought to tears. And the more you dig through the box, the more things you find. The box is deeper than it looks.
After a long time, you find a long forgotten memory. It hurts so much to recall it. You want to just close the lid and forget it ever happened.
But Jesus takes it in his hands, and shows you that he was there.
You struggle to take it in. Do you believe it? He was there. In one of the most painful memories of your life. It’s unbelievable. But it’s true. He was always there. He is always there.
. . .
There’s a lot more boxes in the corner, and the memories of what lies within start flying around your head. Dealing with those boxes is gonna take some time. What will you do with the boxes?
… do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? …1 Corinthians 6:19 ESV
Christmas today was pretty good 🙂 Mum and Neil were happy about their presents. I got Mum the Fly My Pretties album on Loop Records, along with a pedometer and a can of L&P (a soft drink only available in New Zealand), and Neil a digital wall thermometer and hygrometer. Rapt.
I had already recieved my christmas present: a return flight to Brisbane, so not much was under the tree for me. I did get this neat gel neck cooler thing — you put it in water for about 2 minutes, and it soaks up and becomes pretty solid, then you chuck it in the fridge, then you velcro it around your neck — so beautifully cold!
Today’s weather was forecast to be 38°C. Neil’s new thermometer reports 38.8°C o_O;
We went swimming at Streets Beach again today — a huge turnout for Christmas Day. Lots of beautiful women. I got a little depressed about how I didn’t have a girl to share the day with. After talking with Mum a little, I guess I lack confidence to approach the ladies.
Mum also said that she thought I’d changed; “like you’ve lost a part of yourself – I used to be able to talk to anyone”. That touched a nerve and I didn’t know what to think about myself anymore.
I don’t think I used to talk to HEAPS of people, but I guess I don’t say much anymore.
I hate making judgement calls on people.
I’ll usually only pipe up when I have something to add to a conversation, like a fact or something funny.
I really like to talk about things I know about, like computers, the internet, christianity, creative commons and copyright.
I don’t start conversations. Maybe that’s the problem. I guess I feel I don’t have anything relevent to say that will be interesting. And that’s probably a lie; I’m an interesting person. I am, right? I don’t know. If chicks find out I’m a hard-core geek, I tend to get judged and stereotyped. I don’t look like a stereotype geek, but I certainly can behave like one.
Mum said I needed to boost my confidence. She said I could look at losing some weight and I should do the things I enjoy to make me feel better about myself. I don’t care too much if I have a beergut. And I do do the things I enjoy.
I work. I love to get on a computer and punch out a website. I love to help others with their computer problems. I love to do the things I do well, and I love learning to do them better. Reading about my industry online. Attending conferences. Stuff like that.
How do I boost my confidence in something I suck at? Getting rejected hurts. I feel like I have so much to offer to some special lady. But putting myself on the line only to get burnt really hurts. I work my courage to go over and say hi, and I put effort into it over a few weeks, and then I figure out that she’s probably not interested in me. That’s a bum deal.
But I guess it’s life. The only way to build my confidence up is to take the chance and try talking to a girl.
So here I am in Brisbane for Christmas.
The first thing I noticed about Brisbane at this time of year is how GOD DAMN HOT the place is. I mean DAMN, this place is freaking stinking hot. I’m sitting here with my shirt unbuttoned, shoeless and sporting my three-quarter shorts, at 8pm at night!
The second thing I noticed about this place is the different bird sounds you hear. They have some pretty random bird sounds here in Australia, and some really weird birds to go along with them. The Ibis, for example.
My Mum lives in South Bank, which is a really nice place. They have the right idea too: to combat the heat, they have countless New Zealand Natural ice cream booths along the promenade along the river. And if that doesn’t do enough to cool you off, there’s a pool near the riverside which is done up like a beach, along with real sand. We popped down there around 3-4pm today and the water was really really warm — like a good bath — but it was still the coolest I’d been that whole day.
At dusk, the fruit bats come out to move around or something — Mum’s apartment is on the 3rd floor, and the bats swoop past the balcony about 10m away! It’s crazy seeing real bats flying around in an urban area!
I haven’t seen much of Brisbane yet, but it’s a really nice place. I’m here for 5 more days. Christmas Day tomorrow – so Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
After an incredibly short interview process I’m now employed as a tutor at Natcoll Wellington until the end of the year. They have me taking practical labs in Macromedia Director 4 days a week and a theory class once a week. The work is pretty fun, and the class I’m taking are neat. My fellow tutors are good value, and seem to be really switched on with their specialties, and enjoy a lot of the random internet entertainment I do.
Everyone in my department (apart from the course co-ordinator) owns a PSP. So I figured I should make the most of it and bite the bullet myself. Mind you, it wasn’t cheap :/ Anyway, I got the PSP value pack, a USB cable, a 1GB Memory Stick Duo and the game Mercury, and I have GTA Liberty City Stories preordered.
I also bought a UMD Movie of Steamboy, which is a great anime film — you should see it if you get the chance. But I don’t think that the PSP is a great delivery platform for a two-hour movie, unless you’re stuck on a plane and are sick of playing video games.
Also, hooray for Homebrew! After upgrading from 1.52 to 2.0 and then downgrading to 1.50, I got a Genesis/Megadrive emulator running on there!
And OMG PHEAR LUMINES. That game, once you get into it, is intense. You go into it all relaxed and you come out of it all tense and powered up. I love that game.
