A lot of think time

It's been a long time between blogs and now is a good time to catch up on the last month or so.

Work has kept me very busy but I have also dedicated my time to a few things that I feel are important for myself and my walk in life.

Reading books, studying them and then trying to apply them has meant a great deal of time that in the end I feel has helped me recharge the batteries.

Health wise apart from a cold sweeping through the household, all is well with the family as a whole. This is nearly a year after our family faced a hard slog of life changing the perception to reality. If you don't know it is in previous blogs.

I really have thought a lot lately about what my life means to others and to where I believe I want to be.

I have found some great quotes and inspirations over the last couple of months and will post on these within the next weeks, but I encourage you all to look for the things in your life that stop you from being you, look for the things that you dream about, care for the ones that love you regardless of who is around and what is happening at the time. When you find them, cherish them and remember that it is with their help and support, the day will always be good. My closing thought; Even the sun still shines when it is hidden behind the storm clouds!!

Peace

Not Known for sitting back and not saying much :S

So I've been thinking a great deal lately about what people know me for.

It's easy in some ways to be bland and say that people know me for my career as a teacher or my career and passion for Music. I don't think this cuts it though because even though that is what I might do that obvious to people, there may be many things that they don't know about me.

They might know that I'm a Hawks fan, loves building models of boats or planes, have a fascination with The Titanic or a love of flying and heights. They might not know that I am quite a deeply spiritual person and tend to spend most of my time when I'm by myself study theology and how to apply that to my life, listening to God and what plans He has for my life.

I have always said that I don't go out of my way to tell people about my personal life because deep down I believe it, well a personal life for a reason. I have found that for the last year or so, I have been deeply challenged to share about my life more and more and how my life can help or show others a little more about who I am and what makes me tick.

So I've thought about this and realised that I might be known more for my diplomacy than my thoughts on what the world is doing and what people are doing in relation to their possibilities in life.

Below I have listed some things that I think might help people get a feel for who I am.

* I am a Christian first and foremost. That means that I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sin and that he rose again to secure a place in Heaven for me.

* I don't judge you on your beliefs or your actions in life, for I am not the one who judges... This being said I do believe in INTEGRITY and ACCOUNTABILITY. Both are a two way street.

* I am a musician who believes that through God given talent and many many hours of blood sweat and tears, I have been able to achieve what I have and what I will continue to have in this career.

* As a Teacher it is not my Job to tell you what the answers are, but to help you find the answers. This is more than the classroom. This is life my friends and each day the Teacher is also a Student in a lesson that has no correct answers and has a unique lesson to teach every moment of every day.

* I love my family and I will do what I can to make them have the best possibility to make life awesome that I can.

* I have many people I know, many I call friends and a tiny few that I call Brothers and Sisters in my extended family. It is a lesson in Trust and one that I learnt long ago is not bought, but shown in what we say, how we live and a natural connection to life.

* Life is a blessing and people are inspirational if you let them be. We learn from both the good and bad in people.

* Truth is the bit in the middle of what two people say and what our brain processes. I believe the 7 points above this to be truth.

* This is but a fraction of my thoughts so this will not define who I am entirely. If you want that there is only one way to find out. Hang out and observe!

memories are still swirling

It's been a little while since my last blog. A lot has happened and for some of the time, I've found myself caring more about the precious time I have and less about the people that consume my time.

Life was never meant to be easy.... That's what the old saying says. Well Life isn't easy and it's not always fun. It's not always positive and it's not at all uneventful.

Over the last month, I have slaved my life away at work, taken the time to spend time with the people I love dearly, let people go from my life, found wonderful new friends and even looked at life in a new perspective.

One thing that always comes back to me in my thoughts is the amazing journey that I walk. I have been reminded lately that life is not permanent. At some point we all leave this world. I personally  know that one day I'm going to chill in God's Backyard, but I hope that those I have farewelled lately will be there waiting for me.

People can say what they want about me, but I truly believe what I say I believe. It's the choice I make and even when life is not going well, I know that I am carried in those moments.

My mind is swirling because that is where my mind is.... trying to sort out the many compartments of data into something that is clear. It might take a while but I'm thinking.... LOOK OUT!!! I'm on a mission.

what a last few weeks

over the last few weeks I have suddenly found myself (due to some plans being changed with performances) having some time to myself. This concept sadly is a strange one to me. It is something that many of my friends and even family have told me that I should be doing more of as I need to recharge the batteries.

I have found that it isn't a lie when I say that I get bored easily. In fact I tend to get really bored if I'm not on the go. Maybe it is just a quirk in my personality but I find the following things:

1. I love to spend amazing amounts of time by myself in my own head.
2. People who say things to impress others actually don't impress me at all. In fact they irritate me!
3. I constantly have a melody in my mind or at least a musical fragment.
4. I tend to really dwell into the scriptures more when I'm not doing anything but keep on being challenged to do more things to live what I read.
5. I still love to practice my music eventhough I would much rather be playing at gigs and filling up my calendar.

However the biggest thing I've discovered in the last few weeks. Silence and the lack of urgency. Even when I do become busy again, I think I'm going to remember that top gear is not always the gear I need to be in. Sometimes I just have to sit on idle, allow myself to tune into the task and then let it run it's natural course.

much peace!

Don.

sadly, this says it all about my current feelings

maybe it's just about space...... in time!

maybe it's the time that I spend thinking alone, or maybe it's just my observation, but I tend to think that my mind is much more active in the thinking about life quest that it ever has been.

I tend to have more discussions with people now about my life, the choices I have made and what it means to be me....

so I have had a thought:
"life is not measured by achievements or even how people are treated, it is measured by how well you run the race, how well you stay living to your moral judgement and most of all, what leagacy you decide to leave behind to the next generation about what is important and how to live your life to the best you can, even if it means standing alone in the face of popularity." Sometimes it's the only way to stand.....

Happy Birthday to the toughest but most inspirational guy I know.... DAD!

In life, there is always people who inspire you, teach you lessons and most of all demonstrate to you what it means to battle life with all your might. Dad has taught me many lessons throughout my life and as you can see from the pictures, it really has been a crazy but amazing life so far. From humble begginnings to a champion boxer, to a football umpire, husband, father, uncle, grandfather, mr fix it man, painter, artist, musician and most of all advice giver (even when I didn't want it). So lessons learnt are important... living wisely is important to. So what advice did he have for a son.

1. Never ever give up on the important things in life.

2. Always strive to do the best you can in all that you set your mind too.

3. Don't be bullied into doing what others do, but stand by principles.

4. Always know how things go back together if you are going to pull them apart (I learnt the hard way with the mower as a teenager).

5. Treat others with more respect than you plan on getting back.

6. Always believe in yourself and the abilities that God has given you.

7. Smile at the moments in life that are special.

8. Art can soothe the soul.

9. Even in illness, when others count you out; prove to the world that it's not good enough to sit and suffer. You have to fight to be fit, to be healthy and to be strong.

10. Life will end one day, but it's about what you leave behind as a legacy that is in the end the most important.

Dad is not perfect, he is not always right, he is not always strong. Dad however shows me everyday that life without the journey that we walk together would be incomplete and not as special if we didn't take the time out to sit and share a laugh. The years have softened all of our family and especially the males in the househould. Two of us in total (5 females) have had to stick it out sometimes but I know that Dad will power on and try his hardest to make the best of his life!

Happy 71st Birthday Dad! My hero, my inspiration and one of the toughest guys I know in the World!!

So it's the end of 2011??? My Reflection!

So another year is about to end and I am once again sitting pondering just what to get out of this year. The year after the 2010 or as I call it 1.5 year (maths people might get what I mean).

2011 started just like any other year. It started with lots of hope in a year ahead, a quest to improve myself, and a love of people and all things music.

Then the floods came. Now I don’t think it was big enough to get an ark and in comparison to Qld and all that was tragic up north. It meant that I spent some time doing what I know best, helping others who needed help rather than care about my life.

Work wise it was much the same and although I was not to know of the challenges ahead, I was excited about what was to be an interesting year in retrospect.

One of the rare positives of this year, have been joining a wonderful group of young musicians in the Territorial Big band of the Salvation Army in Melbourne. These guys and girls are amazing in a number of ways and led by Brian they have reengaged my love for too things sharing the gospel with whoever I see and playing the wonderful music of Big band and Jazz. This led to some amazing moments across the year, and has developed many good friendships along the way.

I wish looking back on the first part of the year, that I was able to see what I see now, as this was shaping up to be the biggest challenge that I have faced in a long time. For those of you who follow me on Twitter and Facebook, you would have noticed quite a dark period of my life around June and July. What many of you won’t realise is the extent that life was eating me up. As I’m going for an honest account, I think it’s important to share some of this with you. My Hero, the person I have always looked up to for life advice before anyone else, the person who to me is one of the toughest guys I know became sick, very sick.

For my family this was something that we had never had to deal with and because it was not a physical sickness but one of the mind, we had no idea how to deal with it, what to do, who to turn to and how to pull ourselves out of the hole. It was really six weeks of frustration, lots of tears, an ordeal that took a huge amount of a toll on my physical and mental wellbeing. Luckily, there was a moment of growth in this season of life. This moment is when I realised just how amazing some of my friends were. They wiped the tears from my eyes, sat with me, showed me that life will go on and most of all, showed support to my family and myself in more ways than I could imagine and ever repay.

Professionally, I have worked on many music projects this year. Some have involved me working for many hours often for nothing more than seeing others do what I feel are amazing jobs performing and displaying their skills to all that came to watch. 2012 is shaping up to being much the same.

So how do I feel about the end of 2011 and start of 2012? Well I am happy to see the end of 2011. I have considered it one of my worst years in general, but can see that there are many positives to celebrate as well.

2012 for me is hopefully going to be a continuation of the journey that is life. I hope to continue doing the professional aspects of my music and continue to develop my skills and also play and write more and more for myself and others, so that I can find some fulfilment in this amazing skill.

I hope to improve my teaching beyond what I have already done over 2011. I’m used to going over and beyond because I believe that is important to students and to the growth of education, but there is a line and I haven’t quite found it in the sand yet. Hopefully 2012 will erode it a bit for me.

I hope to find some new friends and reignite some old friendships. I have learnt this year, that some people I previously spent a great investment in, are maybe not the people that I care to focus on developing life with in 2012. If this is you and you read this, know that I have enjoyed our times together, but sometimes in life people close doors and sometimes they are slammed shut. Sometimes the slammed doors have woken in me a need to not try and open those doors but leave them closed. Thankfully the slamming of some doors has led to others creaking open and those doors I look forward to investigating in 2012.

As in all years, I have read a lot of books, shared a lot of thoughts, given deep insight and sometimes cracked a smile at life. I have cried, sighed, shook my head, lots fights, won battles, learnt that life is like war but mostly in peace, fought for what I thought was important and let the little things pass me by. I have loved, lost, turned away, brought others closer and most of all, learnt that some things are important in life and others, are merely steps to a greater prize.

To you I wish you all a wonderful New Year and 2012. May the year not be one in which we regret challenges and life, but may it be a year that we embrace those moments and celebrate a life that hopefully gives you a greater insight to who you are, what you want to be and how much you all mean to me.

Love you all XOX

Don.

Post Halls gap and Christmas

Hi all,
Sorry about the very long delay in posting, but I must bring all of my readers up to date.
The Bigband was really firing on all cylinders on the saturday night and I'm happy to say that my playing was able to keep up with what was going on in my head. I believe they could hear me from the pinnacle which is not a huge when you are playing at the bottom of the mountain range and it echoes but exciting non the less.
The Sunday morning though was a little bit more eventful. I had concerns my car was playing up and what was to happen possibly was a disaster for me but comedy for a lot of other people. My car stopped dead in the middle of Grampians Rd an hour before I was to hit the stage. The Mechanic told me it could be a timing belt.... great; that equals some money to repair... Well the RACV came to the party and a tow truck with me in it and the car on the back, made a journey from Halls Gap back to Mildura.. It was in Ouyen when we discovered that a touch (mine) had possibly caused it and that it could be worse than I thought.

Well fast forward to now. It took 7 weeks to get my car back. In the end it cost me just over $4000 and out of it I have basically got a brand new head for my car, new seals and new pumps and gaskets etc.... it pretty well blew apart the engine..... so in the end, it was a rather frustrating journey from Halls Gap to Now.

Musically and spiritually it was an amazing weekend and I encourage you all to keep an ear out for the Territorial Bigband of the Salvation Army.

TODAY is Christmas day! The day that christians mark the birth of Jesus Christ hence CHRISTmas.

I had the amazing honour of playing for both the morning service and also for the community lunch that we put on each year. This year had over 150 people at it.

Below is a presentation I performed for them, I made the vid out of some stock photos I had found.....

Enjoy!

Don.

Halls Gap 1

Well I've settled in and had a peaceful night in Halls Gap all ready for a great weekend of Gigging with the Southern Territory Bigband. It's going to be a great weekend and hopefully the 5 hours I spent on the road yesterday getting here will be only a minor point in this weekend. I was greeted by a heap of Kangaroos on the front lawn of the motel last night and one even came right up to the door.... The view out the window is amazing and the sun is so beautiful coming over the mountain.

Most of the guys are coming up from Melbourne today and we have a rehearsal later this afternoon... I hope the lip holds out. It should be a great gig and then tomorrow is all about leading worship and doing some performance pieces, then it is home.

I will try and right updates across the weekend!