Category: Life

10 Things You Should Do BEFORE Your Child Begins Piano Lessons (via Elissa Milne)

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, Life, Music

Great post. Mainly reblogging this so that I’ve got a memory of this so that I can convert this to a violin post soon. Stay tuned.

I promise I’ll get back into blogging soon. Really I will. When it gets less busy. Like October. Or maybe next year. Or the year after… surely there must be some free time by the end of the decade….

This is a quick checklist of things to do, buy, learn and decide before your child has their very first piano lesson. Working your way through this checklist will speed up your child’s learning curve, possibly by months (maybe more!), and once you’ve covered every item below you will be a superbly equipped parent entering into the role of nurturing the growth of a new little (or not so little) pianist. 1. Buy a piano. This may or may not seem lik … Read More

via Elissa Milne

A Busy month ahead

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, Life

I’ve just been thinking about how much I’ve got on over the next month, and it’s incredibly busy. I’ll be at Church for only two of the Sunday Morning meetings, and possibly only one of the Sunday night meetings.

I’ve got the Chrysalis retreat on between the 8th and 11th of September, which should be a wonderful weekend of spiritual blessings for the guys and girls that will go on there.

The weekend after that is the Uniting Church Synod weekend, which unfortunately is also my 1st wedding anniversary on the Sunday. However, I will be working all weekend – Friday afternoon with a training session, Friday night with the installation of the new moderator, Saturday all day (probably until about 9pm) and then Sunday afternoon – how nice, I get to have breakfast with my wife on our anniversary.

And it’s not like I can take the Monday off after that, because not only is work in the middle of Revive – our bi-monthly magazine – production, but there’s also a fortnightly newsletter that goes out to churches, which will be my responsibility to put together.

So the weekend after, Liesl and I are having a weekend off. Some time to relax, to catch up with each other and stuff. I’m really looking forward to that weekend.

So that’s a busy month ahead, and hopefully I’ll still be alive on the other side.

Some logic to your argument please

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, Life
Rainbow flag flapping in the wind with blue sk...
Image via Wikipedia

I’m straying into difficult territory here, but I need to share my thoughts on this issue, and hopefully my thoughts will make some sort of sense. Especially as I’m talking about using logic in an argument, I hope that my thoughts are logical as well.

I read yesterday an article from the Sydney Morning Herald titled “Gay marriage ridicule ‘damages youths'”. In it, I read this quote from Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce.

Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce told the rally his four daughters would be affected if same-sex marriage was allowed.

“We know that the best protection for those girls is that they get themselves into a secure relationship with a loving husband, and I want that to happen for them.

“I don’t want any legislator to take that right away from me.”

Wait, what?

According to Mr Joyce, by allowing Same-sex couples to marry each other, his daughters (who I’m assuming are unmarried heterosexuals with a loving set of heterosexual parents) would be affected. I’m sorry Barnaby, but I’m not quite following your logic here.

I’m not certain that there are many girls out there in the apparent situation that Barnaby’s daughters are apparently in. The only way that I can see that his daughters would be affected by this proposition is if they had told their father “I’m homosexual, but I know I need to be married. As I can’t marry a woman, I’ll marry a man instead.” I’m not sure how common a situation that would be.

I’ve been married almost a year now, and I absolutely still believe that marriage is a wonderful, wonderful thing. I also believe that marriage is something that should be treated with respect, and should not be entered into lightly.

Marriage is a sacred bond between two people. That’s it. For me and my wife, it is between me and her, and God. The only people who can affect our marriage and the sacredness of this bond are those who are involved in it – God, Liesl and myself. Britney Spears had a 55 hour marriage. Does that make my marriage any less special? No – because she is not involved in my marriage. Two homosexual men want to get married, does it affect my marriage? No, because they are not involved in it. Even if a rock wanted to marry a tree, it would not affect my marriage one iota, as the rock and tree are not involved in the sacred bond I made with my wife.

The only people who are affected by allowing homosexual people to marry are homosexual people. Mr Joyce claiming that his (presumably Heterosexual) daughters would be affected defies all logic.

I read an article on same-sex marriage recently. It didn’t take a stand either way. Instead, it called for those in power (White, Male, living in a first world country, those who are never discriminated against, except at “one of those “women-only” gyms”) to take a step back, to be quiet, and listen to others. Just “Shut up and listen.”

I think Mr Joyce should take this advice, and shut up and listen.

How Facebook did its own thing, and listened to its users

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, Life
Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...
Image via CrunchBase

A little while ago, Facebook introduced its new chat sidebar. As part of a whole raft of other changes, this was the most visible. It changed the chat pop-up box to a sidebar that could be permanently attached to the right hand side of the page and contained a selection of users that you interacted with the most, whether they were online or not. As with most of the changes that Facebook makes, there was a large outcry from Facebook users saying that it was an awful decision.

Now I generally have liked most of Facebook’s changes, but it seems to me that there is no logical benefit for this change. But knowing that Facebook does what it does, I went about learning to  live with it.

Now it seems that Facebook has listened to its users, and modified the changes it made. Now, instead of showing just a selection, there is now a link at the bottom of the chat sidebar which says “More Online Friends” and clicking on that will jump the chat sidebar down to show you more friends that are currently online. You can also now scroll manually the sidebar which is a great addition.

This is something that anyone who is in business should take note of. You should always look at ways to improve your product, and when you do make changes you should stick to your guns. However, when there is an outcry against it, look at why there are complaints and see if there is a way to modify your changes to update your product to be what the user wants as well.

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5 Things I don’t love about Australia

by Ben Clapton, posted in Life

Following up on Yesterday’s post on the things I love about Australia, there are a few things I don’t like about Australia. It would be remiss of me to say the things I love without the things I don’t like.

  1. Racist. As much as I hate to admit it, Australia is a little bit racist. This has come across more in the last few years, with fears about Refugees and Middle Eastern immigrants. It’s such a shame, as Australia has such a rich multi-cultural heritage, stretching back to the Chinese in the Gold Rush. I think this issue is mostly pushed by my second point.
  2. Sensationalist Media. From our “Current Affairs” shows such as Today Tonight and A Current Affair, to our tabloid-esque newspapers, Australia’s media has a love of the blow-out story. From stories about Australia introducing sharia law (which the Federal Attorney General stated clearly that there was no place for in Australia), to scare campaigns about the number of “boat people” it is Australia’s media which effectively scares the population into submission.
  3. “Un-Australian” and Australian Values. One of the arguments that is used to shoot down anything that the population (read: Media) doesn’t like is the idea that it is un-Australian. A Carbon Tax? Un-Australian. Having Daylight Savings? Un-Australian. Not having Daylight Savings? Un-Australian. Participating in the Cronulla Riots? Un-Australian. Not participating in the Cronulla… I think you get the point. The thing is that this idea that something is Un-Australian is just used when people think the whole nation should get behind the idea, but have no real reason why.
  4. “She’ll be right” mentality. This is something that I suffer from as well, and I think it’s a good thing as well as a bad thing. The good thing about this is that we’re not worried about what happens, and whatever happens we’ll make a way through. That’s great. However, it sometimes means that we fail to plan for the inevitable. For example, Australia is currently living in the midst of a resources boom, where mining companies are reaping rich profits, and the Australian Government is reaping rich taxes from these companies. However, there doesn’t appear to be the planning for what happens once we’ve mined all the minerals out of the ground. Yes, we’re in a good position now, but what next?
  5. Homelessness and Poverty. I’ve currently started reading “In Darkest England” by William Booth, where he highlights the poverty and homelessness situation in England in the late 1800’s. It absolutely broke my heart reading the stories of these people, and knowing that nothing has changed, over 100 years later and in a different continent. Australia is a rich country, yet we still have excessive homelessness and poverty.

So that’s what I don’t like about Australia. Areas for Improvement I guess you could call them. I hope that some of these things will change over time.

What don’t you like about your culture?

Five things I love about Australia

by Ben Clapton, posted in Life
Flag of Australia
Image via Wikipedia

This prompt, List five things you love about your culture, is provided by Plinky.

I love Australia, and there is no-where else on earth that I would rather live. Sure, there are places I would love to visit, but as the song says:

no matter how far or how wide I roam, I still call Australia home

So here are five things about Australian culture that I think makes Australia great.

  1. Sporting. Australia loves their sport, and for a long time we have been successful in that sport. Around the turn of the century, Australia was experiencing a golden age in sport, being successful in Cricket, Rugby Union, Netball, swimming and more. While we are in a bit of a dip in cricket and rugby at the moment, we are still strong in Netball, and have added cycling (thanks to Cadel Evans), Soccer (well, the most successful that we’ve ever been) and golf (thanks to guys like Adam Scott and Jason Day). What I love particularly is that Australians are generally good sports, and while we will give the loser a bit of a ribbing, we have never seen scenes like is sometimes seen in English or European football, or like the Vancouver riots after they lost the Stanley Cup.
  2. Relaxed. Personally, I could never see anything like what is happening in England happening in Australia, because we’re so relaxed. I’m not going to say that it will never happen, particularly because it has happened in the past (I’m thinking the Cronulla Race Riots), however, for the most part Australians are relaxed and would rather click “Like” on Facebook or write a letter than actually step out the door to go and Protest.
  3. Peaceful. Australia is one of the few countries in the world that can say we have never had a civil war. And apart from a few attacks on northern cities (Broome and Darwin) during World War 2, we have never experienced War on our land. While that does make us incredibly lucky, it is something that is reflected in our nation and our culture.
  4. Prosperous. Sometimes it may not seem like it, but Australia is relatively rich. Sure, it’s not up there with the likes of the US, or with the “old money” of Europe, but Australians by and large are better off than many other people. While that does come with trappings, as more people are earning more money, it does mean there is more money around to help those less fortunate, and the “luxuries” are often cheaper as well.
  5. Forward Thinking. Australia is an inventive nation, and generally forward thinking in many area. For example, great Australian inventions include WiFi – such a vital part of laptops, Tablets, and now even phones – and the Refrigerator. In 1838 an Australian came up with the first Pre-Paid postal system. In 1902 an Australian invented the notepad, and in 1906 saw Australia produce the world’s first Feature Film, Ned Kelly. Staying on the film idea, it was also an Australian who invented the “Clapperboard” in 1930. Australian’s also invented the Black Box flight recorder, the Ultrasound, Race Cam (for motor sports broadcasting), Bionic Ear, and more. Because we’ve had this history of innovation, it means that as a nation we are constantly looking forward (with a respect for our history) to find better ways to do things.

So there you go, five things I love about Australia. What are do you love about your culture? Stay tuned for tomorrow when I write about the things I don’t like about Australia.

A dream day

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, Life
A Proms concert.
Can you see where I would be, enjoying a wonderful Proms concert? (Image via Wikipedia)

This topic suggestion, If you could spend a day doing anything, what would you do?, is from The Daily Post as part of the Post-a-day writing challenge.

There are a whole heap of things that I would love to spend a day on. And I think it very much depends on the situation that you’re in when you’re asked the question.

For example, a couple of years ago, while I was still focussing on music, a dream day for me would have been to spend a day in England during the Proms, and to spend the day going to concerts. I even took this dream to the point of planning a two-week holiday to England during the proms season, even budgeting it for me to go in 2012. Things went a different way, so this plan didn’t happen, but it is still something that I would love to do for an entire day. Maybe one day.

But you ask me right now, and the there are two things that I would absolutely love to be spending an entire day on right now.

Firstly, due to my knee being injured, there’s nothing that makes me salivate more right now than the thought of playing golf all day at a great golf course. Liesl and I were driving back from York on Sunday, and we drove past Burswood Public Golf Course, and I really wanted to get out there. It didn’t help that it was such a beautiful day. Unfortunately, it’s probably another couple of months before I can get out on the course, but I will certainly enjoy it when I do eventually get out there.

Secondly, something I would very much like to do is have a whole day jam session with a whole heap of my mates. Spending a day playing, having fun, making music. It would be awesome.

So that’s some of the things that I would love to spend a day doing. What would you like to spend an entire day doing?

Postaday2011 links

Coffee, the luxury I choose not to live without

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, Life
French Press
Image via Wikipedia

This topic suggestion, What one luxury do you refuse to live without?, is from The Daily Post as part of the Post-a-day writing challenge.

Coffee is one of the wonderful luxuries that I enjoy. However, my wife often jokes about trying to make me give it up. She doesn’t like the smell or taste, especially the taste it leaves in my mouth.

However, it is very much a luxury for me. I enjoy the taste, and I enjoy the process of making coffee. Having a good blend (that is sustainably grown) that smells really nice, the rich coloured crema, the patience in waiting for the coffee to brew (my preferred style is French Press), and then enjoying the brewed coffee.

What’s one luxury you refuse to live without?

Postaday2011 links

Knee Surgery recovery, part 3

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, Life

image

Well, it’s now two weeks since surgery, and progress is coming. I’ve got some rather incredible bruising that I hope the photos show up. A lot of people won’t see these, as I’m usually wearing jeans which makes viewing these rather difficult.

image

Some of the more interesting bruising is a wonderful shadow-like bruise around my ankle. Don’t know whether that was a part of what was expected post surgery, or whether they knocked my ankle coming out of surgery.

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An example of the difference in movement between my operated leg (left) and good leg (right). And yes, I was watching the footy at the time.

I’m continuing with my exercises. Here’s an example of one of them. You tighten your quads so that you push the back of your knee towards the ground. This raises your foot up towards the sky. Now, I have over rotating joints in almost every joint, so my right knee has a lot of movement there, but you can see the difference between my two legs at the moment.

image

I’ve got another week of work, by which time I should be able to take the brace off. That will make it easier to sit at work at the very least. My main priorities over the next week is to keep working on my exercises, and try to reduce the swelling as much as I can. That means icing every hour, and keeping my leg up as much as I can.

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