I know the year ended a couple of days ago but I need more time than that for reflection. So here are my belated feelings about 2009.

2009 was the year of the horrific bush fires in Victoria and the news was full of heart-breaking stories of families torn apart by this disaster. But rather than let the disaster define them I saw a side of Australia I’d never seen before as the people opened their hearts and gave so generously that I think a surplus of money was raised. We had a fund raiser at the Village and as one of the top donors I got to shave my boss completely bald, he was a good sport about all of it even the leg waxing he had to endure.

This was also the year when I got to meet some truly great people; Josh, Kat, Matt, Brittany, Andi, Adam, Callum, Cato, Cheri, Shradha, Simon, Sam, Rebecca, Sarah, Emily, Mana, Michael, Kara, Carole, Kitin, Helvin, Clarence, John, Dannia, Avi and many more. I also deepened existing relationships and although some people aren’t in my life as much anymore I still think that it was a good year for me in terms of getting to spend time with some pretty exceptional people.

Sadly this was the year that Dome cafe and I parted ways. It was an amiable split as my health wasn’t great and I was finding it a great strain to keep two jobs as well as study. Dome is a great cafe and the people there made it feel more like a family than a simple job so I did feel a lot of regret over leaving them. I feel pretty special because I can walk into Dome and get such a warm welcome and I think it really reflects well on the great people there.

2009 also saw the inauguration of Barack Obama which is, politics aside, a pretty historical occasion. I remember being up at like 2 or 3 in the morning with Avi to watch his speech and feeling so inspired by his words. Thumbs up Mr. President.

We also lost some pretty special people this year which is always sad especially when they have touched so many lives in so many ways. Michael Jackson, however you feel about him, was a spectacular entertainer. Edward Woodward was the original, and best, Wicker Man. Those two really stuck out for me, Michael Jackson because I followed his career and the much publicised trial and Edward Woodward because I really liked him as an actor.

This was also a pretty exceptional year for cinema as we had the film adaptation of Alan Moore’s excellent “Watchmen”, the re-boot of “Star Trek”, the boy-meets-girl-but-not-love story of “(500) days of Summer”, the tongue in cheek ‘historical’ film “Inglorious Basterds”, the touching story of “Up” which had me in tears and James Cameron’s simply all around excellent “Avatar”. I know there were also a lot of bad films released in 2009 but I’m trying to focus on the positives here.

In musical terms I got introduced to a heap of new bands in 2009, Davy Knowles & Backdoor Slam, Kate Miller-Heidke, Mumford & Sons, The Temper Trap, The Wagons, Art Vs. Science and many more. I love to listen to music as a form of relaxation and even meditation sometimes and learning about bands I haven’t heard before simply broadens my options.

Finally 2009 saw the blogging competition which really challenged me to write in different ways and pushed me to try untested ideas. Before this I’d never uploaded a video to youtube or really saw the value of twitter but now I’ve been show how interconnected all the social networking sites and programs really are. I didn’t win the competition which was a bit disappointing but I will wholeheartedly acknowledge that Jessica, http://unstable-stability.blogspot.com/, deserved the honour because she really showed what she was capable of. Thumbs up!

Overall I think 2009 was a mixed year, I had to deal with a lot of issues that affected my life and there were a lot of moments where I felt completely overwhelmed by circumstances that felt out of my control. There was also a profound sense of loss as some very special people in my life moved away or returned to their home countries and I certainly miss them a lot. However I think if 2009 taught me anything it’s that I am capable of a lot more than I realise and I really hope that in 2010 I will get a chance to prove it.

Happy New Year everybody, thank you for the kind words, the support and the emails. I hope each and every one of you has a great year.

Murdoch has set up a sort of quiz that determines which of the four dominant thinking styles you use is. I took this quiz and was rather surprised when it told me I was creative.

You see I’ve never really considered myself to be overly creative, while it is true I love to write I always thought creativity had more to do with painting beautiful pictures or composing a melody. This got me thinking about the true nature of creativity and what it meant to me, so without any further delays I present my thoughts on creativity.

As I’m writing this post I’m surrounded by the cardboard boxes I’ve been using to pack up my room. When I say surrounded I mean I’ve constructed a crude box fort at my door to repel any would be invaders of my realm. It sounds a bit stupid, and perhaps it is, but this is exactly what being creative means to me. It’s about taking a look at something mundane and choosing to instead see something spectacular.

With that in mind and with chalk in hand I headed up to campus with some friends and we drew a pretty cool chalk mural. Despite all the stress from packing and the left-over tension from exams I really had fun with the chalk and I think our end result speaks for itself. I wanted to show you how I see the world, a place that’s exciting and full of inspiration, even in the most unlikely places. Perhaps it’s a side-effect of having an over-active imagination but I honestly believe that my creativity comes from all around me and I need look no further than my window to be inspired.

Of course there is a down-side to all of this as I often catch myself day-dreaming in lectures and doodling all over my lecture notes. Last year during one of my foundation unit lectures I completely blanked out the lecture and instead spent the time sketching a penguin riding a motor-bike. By the end of the lecture I was none the wiser on the topic that was being talked about but I had come up with an entire back story for this penguin. He was a loner who hated the snow and ice and always wanted to escape, finally his chance came in the form of a lone hells-angel whom the penguin mugged and stole the motorbike from. It seems whimsical and pointless but I never let that stop me because if I did ideas like this blog would never exist.

Creativity also means facing every obstacle with a new approach; you don’t want to solve the problem like the hundreds of people before you have. This can lead to some fun and inventive solutions that a lot of people perhaps wouldn’t consider. It can also lead to a great deal of frustration if your solution doesn’t solve the problem or small details de-rail your efforts. I cannot count the number of times I’ve had a great idea or plan that has not come to fruition because of a small detail, or numerous small details, that I’ve overlooked. The trick is to not be discouraged by these set-backs and instead apply what you’ve learned each time to your next grand scheme and sooner or later you’ll exceed even your own expectations.

If the video is anything to go by what I am most passionate about is not getting hurt which is certainly true, however I believe the real question to me when I started thinking about this assignment was “What is passion?”

Passion is a loaded word that covers both good and evil. We see people who are passionate about causes they support and we see people commit crimes of passion. Therefore passion, to me, represents a powerful driving force. Whether we use it to build or destroy is entirely our own individual responsibility. I also strongly believe that passion is mutable, it can shift and change over time but it will always be that powerful flame within us that drives us to excel at our chosen tasks.

So after answering those questions, at least to my own satisfaction, I needed to seriously ponder what career my passion would drive me to pursue.

I’ve lived in a lot of different places, studied a lot of different things and wanted to do a lot of different jobs. I studied Law, Psychology and English Language when I was at Varndean and I was really passionate about each of those subjects so when it came to University I tried to pick a degree that would allow me, in its own way, to pursue those options. I wanted to be a lawyer, a psychologist and a writer all at the same time so it was clear to me that I’d need more time before making a serious decision on my future career.

Fast forward two and a half years and here I am, still trying to decide what I want to do with my life with only one year of university left. Thankfully a lot has happened in those two years to help shape my life and give me some direction to follow. The simple answer now is that I want to be a writer.

Writing to me represents the art of language, whether in songs, poetry or even stories. I certainly find that I am better at expressing myself in written language and I find writing sincere prose to be easier than public speaking. I also have a very active imagination and writing allows me to tap into it and express it in ways that mere spoken word could never do justice. I also really believe that writing is the most honest and open way of communication I know. It isn’t easy to put your most personal thoughts into words and share them with others but the fact you do gives weight to anything you say.

Whether it’s writing my own books or for a small newspaper is not the concern for me, the point is to be doing something that I really love and managing to turn it into a career that I can make a living out of. I have no illusions about the difficulty of this and I am willing to take on extra classes, do post-graduate studies and work as an un-paid intern all for the chance to make this happen. It’ll be a long and difficult journey but that’s usually the case when you set out to achieve something worthwhile.

This kind of undertaking also isn’t possible without friends and family. They are the ones who you trust to be ruthless with the red pen as they look through your work and highlight what works and what doesn’t work. Sometimes their criticism can hurt and learning to take it on board is hard but if you’re too afraid to show your work to the people close to you then it will be even tougher to show to the whole world.

Of course success isn’t guaranteed either, the publishing market can be fickle and so is inspiration. Thus we see the darker side of passion, you want desperately to be a writer but you aren’t published or you cannot seem to find the words to express yourself. This is a risk that cannot be idly discarded but you cannot let it paralyse you either. I know the likelihood of being a successful author is slim but I will still give it my best shot.

Also, just because I am always honest with you guys, I do my own stunts and they hurt.

I think if you’re reading this then there is a good chance that you were directed here from the blogging competition website, this post isn’t directed at you. Rather this is directed at people who may have simply stumbled across this blog through Google or even Bing.

Firstly I believe some explanation is in order. This blog is one of many that are competing to win the title of Murdoch Blogger 2010. Aside from the obvious prestige of winning such a title there is also the opportunity of an internship at Sunset Events and being paid for a year to blog about student life. I will not lie to you dear reader, I would very much like to win this competition. If the sound of this competition has caught your attention then I suggest checking out the official website: http://bloggers.murdoch.edu.au/bloggers/

From there I think having a good look at all the other bloggers competing would be a very good idea. Maybe you will decide to vote for one of them, maybe you’ll decide to vote for me. Either way I think it’s a unique idea and deserves checking out.

Regardless of whether I win or lose I will probably keep writing the stuff that I enjoy writing. I hope you decide to stick around.

I’m sitting behind my mahogany desk, one of the few left in the world, staring out across New York City. My executive office is located in one of the beautiful skyscrapers and though I am a little bit scared of heights the view is no less breathtaking. On my wall, placed so visitors can easily see, hangs my framed degree. It is a simple piece of paper that reads:

Jonathan Gurney, Bachelor of Arts in Security, Terrorism and Counterterrorism Studies.

I look up and smile at it before turning back to the blog entry I’m composing and...Freeze. None of this is real. Let the desk vanish, taking with it the fancy office and skyscraper view. My real desk is actually located in an open-plan environment; I have my own computer and company phone line (extension 8859), a rather nice desk lamp and a whole 1 metre of extra space before the next guy’s desk starts. My computer is currently showing a really boring screensaver of the company logo. I tried changing it a week ago but the IT department insisted that I keep it the same.

Pinned to the wall of my cubicle is a picture of a rather dirty looking dog chewing on a forlorn teddy bear. This is my dog Dickens, I have to pick him up from the kennels when I’m done here as I can’t really leave him to his own devices around the house. Underneath the picture is a post-it which simply has the word ‘milk’ on it in a very untidy scrawl. I gave Dickens the last of my lactose free milk this morning because I was sure I had another carton under the sink. I didn’t. No milk means no coffee which means a much slower day. I could grab a mug from the employee lounge but I will be leaving early today anyway, Tuesday’s always end early because the upper management has late lunch meetings with the competitors. It’s a civilised way to do business and as we all get the rest of the day off I sincerely hope it continues.

Let’s talk about my job. Am I a best-selling writer or an international super spy? The cubicle environment should really have given the answer away. I actually work in an advertising firm doing research on the impact some of our previous campaigns have had. Thus I have joined so many other graduates in the great tradition of doing something completely un-related to your degree but I’ve still found a lot of the skills that I picked up during University to be very useful, particularly the research practice I used to have to do. I’m also not very senior in the company, I have at least 3 bosses and each of them seems to want something different which is another thing University prepared me for as I used to have to take 3 different units at once. I guess the people in charge have taken notice of this also as they are hoping to give me extra training and give me more responsibility, there was even some talk about giving me the chance to help develop an actual advertising campaign. If nothing else the extra money would help take a bit of the pinch out of mortgage payments.

My salary is decent enough at the moment to have allowed me to take out a reasonable mortgage on a small house. It is by no means my dream home but it’s comfortable and it has a small garden for Dickens to run around in. Also it’s quite handy for a small park that is only about ten or fifteen minutes walk away. On days like today, when I get out of work early, I generally walk Dickens down to the park for a good long game of fetch. It tires him out nicely so by the time I am getting ready to go out with some friends he is fast asleep in his basket. I think we will be going to dinner and then karaoke tonight. Hopefully I won’t be expected to sing, although I guess most of my friends were there for my hugely drunken performance of ‘Build me up Buttercup’ when I was still at University so it’s not like I can really embarrass myself more than that.

As for writing, well I haven’t let that fall entirely to the wayside. I contribute the occasional article and opinion piece to a local newspaper. It doesn’t pay at all but I like it, although one of my recent opinion pieces drew the ire of a local resident who proceeded to send me some very angry letters but they have since apologised. I think one of my greatest achievements was brought about through the newspaper. There was a plan to demolish the local park where I walk Dickens and I was asked to do an article on it. I think it would have been very easy for me to simply write a scathing denouncement of the construction company, but really for them it was simply good business so I didn’t. Instead I tried to come at the issue from a different perspective, simply reminiscing about the good times I had enjoyed at the park and how I would miss it. I could not have predicted the vocal response that this article would get as it seems a great many of the elderly residents in this area also have very fond memories of the park and were horrified to find out it was going to be built upon. The sight of a hundred old folks picketing a construction company is something that I will never forget. The article was so well received in fact that, according to the editor, the newspaper was contacted by a much bigger publication asking for the details on the writer. I haven’t been contacted yet but it was still quite exciting.

So that’s really a snapshot of my life as it is right now. It may not seem like I’ve accomplished everything I wanted to when I was in University but now I am in a position where I actually know how to accomplish those goals. If I could give myself some advice I wouldn’t waste my time by telling him to work harder, he never listens to anyone that says that so why would he listen to me? Instead I’d tell him that his degree isn’t magical and most of the harder work comes after University, but if he completes University he’ll be a lot better prepared to face it. Now if you’ll excuse me I can see my boss getting up from his desk with his jacket, this is usually the signal that the rest of us can go home. I mustn’t forget milk.

Jonathan