For the times which I’m extremely busy, I love sharing news articles which tickle my fancy.

So here goes with some interesting Australian news.

A lovelorn man who put his life in Australia up for sale on the Internet was one step closer to starting over Monday as bids for his house, job and lifestyle hit $2,2-million. Ian Usher, a 44-year-old from Yorkshire in England, launched the unusual auction after announcing on his blog: “I have had enough of my life! I don’t want it any more! You can have it if you like!” …[read more on IOL]

Brisbane – A man found asleep in a motorised wheelchair on a highway in northern Australia has been charged with drunk driving.

Officers in a patrol car noticed the man slumped in the stationary chair around 10am on Friday on an exit lane near the tourist city of Cairns, regional traffic Inspector Bob Waters said. Cars were swerving to get around him.

The officers breath-tested the 64-year-old man, who registered a blood alcohol reading of 0,301, more than six times the legal driving limit. He was charged with operating a vehicle while drunk and ordered to report to court on July 7, where he faces a stiff fine if convicted.

The man, whose name was not released, said he was making a 14km trip from his home to a friend’s place. … [Source: IOL]

Whenever I can’t find something worthwhile to read on one of our local news websites, I go to the science section, and usually find something interesting there.

Here’s what I found in today’s science section on IOL…

• Global warming puts king penguins in danger – King penguins that feed on fish and squid at the northern edges of Antarctica are threatened by global warming, which is cutting down on their food supply.
• Bones of flying reptile found in China – Paleontologists have discovered the fossil of a new species of tiny prehistoric flying reptile in north-eastern China, a study released on Monday said. The miniature reptile lived about 120-million years ago and was about the size of a sparrow, with a wingspan less than a foot across.
• ‘Giant baby’ planet discovered – German astronomers have discovered a “giant baby” planet in deep space which they say has a mass 10 times as dense as Jupiter but is a scant 10 million years old – a newborn by cosmic standards.
• Ancient Indian city uncovered – Archaeologists have dug out the remains of a 2 500-year old city – believed to be bigger than classical Athens – from under the ruins of an ancient fort in India’s eastern state of Orissa, a newspaper reported on Monday. The findings of the team of archaeologists from India and the United States include the debris of household pottery and terracotta ornaments showing that the city’s inhabitants led an advanced lifestyle.

The ancient Indian city which was discovered particularly interests me. If I could’ve chosen another job, I would’ve loved to be an archaeologist. I guess its the adventurous side of the job that appeals to me so much. Just imagine finding a building which is centuries old, buried by sand, and completely forgotten. Yet still there were people who walked in those building, who LIVED there, and to whom it was as normal as our shopping malls are now. I find it intriguing, and would LOVE to discover something like that. One day.

The reason why I shared this today is because I sometimes forget what amazing people are out there, and the awesome things they’re doing. I forget that there are people out there STILL making discoveries, and that its not something that only happened in my history classes. Its just a reminder that we don’t know half the secrets that our Earth holds, and that there are still so many unknown things. Even though we live life “normally” each day, there’s a whole new ‘world’ out there. Somewhere.

Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! Bill Gates gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.
Rule 1: Life is not fair – get used to it!
Rule 2: The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent’s generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

We all know that life has got its little ups and downs, and I believe I’m finding myself in a bit of a down at the moment. I will hang around, and try to keep you entertained though

I have found that no matter how tough a situation is, it is still what you make of it. I’m reading such a good book at the moment (Tuesdays with Morrie – a true story), and quoting it roughly the one character says that one should allow oneself to go through an emotion. Whether it be fear, hurt, grief, whatever. Feel that emotion, sob until you cannot sob any more, experience that emotion, and then detach yourself from it. You should say, this is fear I’m feeling, I know what it feels like, I have experienced it, but I’m not going to let it control me. Same with all the other negative emotions. There is no shame in being emotional, in fact it shows that you’re not merely breathing, but you’re alive.

I’ve also got such an amazing group of people in my life. People who are loving, encouraging, and who want me to be happy. I have so much to be thankful for!!

Recently my life has gone through a couple of drastic changes, and though its bittersweet, I try to look at it all in a positive light. Things happen for a reason, and sometimes you just have to look harder to find the reason. Sweeter than I could have ever dreamt – I’m again with the person whom I love with my whole heart, and things are awesome. Strange how you can start to focus on the bad habits and get so caught up in your own little idea of who people should be. Its ironic how, when you miss someone, you suddenly remember all the good times, and how you miss those. All the butterflies are back, and the stars, and oh how the excitement builds up before each and every visit. My mission for 2006 and the rest of my life is to never miss the special moments again. Never to take for granted the people that I love. Never to not give more than what is expected of me in a relationship, and most important never to give up. When pressure from work and other circumstances push its way into your life its hard to not let it affect your relationship. But its is possible. I wish there was an ON / OFF button for my brain when it comes to the things that make me stress. The things that upset me so much that I lie awake at night. Most of the time I can somehow trace all these things back to myself, and the decisions I make. I can somehow find a way to blame myself for all the mishaps… But there’s no need to mope about it. No need to feel guilty about it – and most importantly, there’s no one else you can blame for your mistakes! Everyone makes mistakes right? And though I would undo them all, if I could, the fact of the matter is I can’t and I have to make the best of it – at least not make the same mistakes twice. When I feel like I can’t give any more, I take a deep breath, and I go a bit further. When I feel like everyone is against me, I pick up the phone, and talk, cry, and complain to someone who loves me more than I could ever have asked for, to someone whom I don’t deserve, and someone who supports me no matter what. When I give up on myself, he still believes in me, and helps me back up, and I realize what I live for, and what makes me smile every morning when I wake up. That’s when I snap out of my misery, and feel like I can take over the world. That’s when I get the feeling that I want to better myself at everything I’m doing. I’m reminded of my true inspiration. My very reason for breathing.