You know, some people say their school years were the best years of their life. They say that everything becomes a lot harder, a lot more difficult after you finish school, when you, as they say, enter the big wide world. And many of us who are still in school & who are told this do not believe it. I mean, I myself didn’t really believe it to be honest. I personally thought that everything would become a lot easier after I finished school. The pressure & stresses of assignments, homework, exams, & the HSC (for NSW) or its equivalent gone, & the freedom to do whatever you want to do with your life taking its place is what many of us would associate with the end of our school years. But it seems that is often too good to be true. Because once the pressure & stresses of school are gone, the pressure & stresses of life take their place.

I myself have now turned into one of those who see the bigger picture quite clearly. If you asked me what my feelings were towards school & life during my school years, I would’ve told you that I couldn’t wait to get out into the world & live a life of freedom, just writing whatever came to me. I would have added that I wanted to be an accomplished author, writing books, telling stories, exploring new worlds, making people feel excited, amazed, happy. And in saying I couldn’t wait to get out of school, it’s not like I didn’t enjoy school. In fact, that’s where I forged friendships that have transcended many years, & learnt many lessons, many of which I carry on with me throughout my life & pass on to others. And I had some of the greatest teachers to help me along the way, & one of them even follows my blog (thanks Ms Jones!). School is a great place to start your journey to your ultimate goals. It’s a great place to meet new people, forge long-lasting, even lifelong friendships, and gain insight into the world, constructing your future & helping build the future of others. It’s great. It does carry with it some pressure & stresses in the form of assignments, homework, exams, & the final Year 12 examinations, however, it is worth the ride. And there is so much truth to people saying that your school years are the best years of your life. I would even agree with those people now. Here’s why.

When people leave school nowadays, after completion of their Year 12 studies & their final exams, they celebrate. They celebrate getting through 12-13 years of school, & completing every last piece of a pretty significant puzzle in their life. They celebrate because the stresses & the pressure in school is now over, & they are excited about the future, about their freedom to do what they want to do in the world, what they may have been planning to do for all those years. But after the celebrations are over, the real challenge begins. Some decide to go to university & study courses in which they can build a path to their dream career. Others get down to business right away. I’ll use myself as an example. For many years at school, I said that all I wanted to do was write. I said it was my passion, & that when I finished school, I was going to get right down to business & start writing stories, work on books, & just write. And that I did. In fact, I began earlier. I started writing playscripts & monologues & stories before I finished school. I even began work on some novel ideas, & I started planning them out, developing them. I began to create characters to fit the stories, & plots to draw readers in. And, aside from that, I created this blog. I thought, why not get my name out there, & write about current issues & events, about life. And I could share some stories as well. And so, JJ’s Outlook was born. But that’s enough about me, this is about everyone.

No matter what you do, whether you decide to go to university or not, whether you get straight down to business, or take a gap year to explore the world & explore your own personality & who you are as a person, you will be successful in life as long as you believe in yourself. When you enter the world after school, you do have the freedom to do whatever you may choose, no matter what anyone else tells you. After school, you might feel there is a lot of pressure on you to do something amazing, to work hard, to get a job if you don’t already have one, to go to university, to do your family proud. You might feel as if your family is watching you, that their eyes are now focused very much on you, & that they are waiting to see what you do next. They might even ask you what you’re doing with your life, & what you’re going to do next, multiple times. And you may feel like there is pressure mounting on you, & you may become stressed because of this. But as long as you believe in yourself, you will be fine, you will be successful, you will be happy. You can’t give in to the pressure you’re feeling, & the stress that accompanies it. In the modern day, there seems to be this generalized expectation that, once an individual finishes school, they will either go to university or go to work straight away, no questions asked. And I honestly believe expectations like these need to be eradicated. Because this is what causes people to stress out about their lives & about their futures. They might want to take some time off, they might want to do something spectacular with their lives. They might even just want to put their ideas to paper & write to their heart’s content. And expectations cannot, & will not take that away from them.

And so I say this: believe in yourself. When you finish school, celebrate, because you have just accomplished one of the biggest achievements in your life. Whatever you do next is up to you, don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise. Dream about the future, your future, where you will be successful. And when you feel the weight of the world bearing down on you, when you feel that your family or friends or anyone else is looking at you, watching for your next move, & when the pressure begins to build, & the stress starts to take over, dream & believe. Dream about the amazing, bright future you’re going to have, & believe that it’s going to happen. Believe in yourself. Because that’s what counts. If you can believe in your dream & in yourself, you can make the future that you dream a reality. You can live your life to the fullest, & not look back with any regrets. Believe in yourself. Make that future happen. And don’t let the pressure of the world overpower you. Believe.

JJ

Hello and a Happy New Year to all my followers and supporters. I hope you’ve all had a great start to 2018 and I’m glad to be back for another year of writing about events and writing more stories. So I’m just going to get straight into it.

Earlier today, it came to my attention that a tragic incident had occurred up in Queensland. At Brooloo Lookout, located near Gympie in Queensland, a koala was found appearing as if it was climbing a wooden gazebo pole. And so a state group, Koala Rescue Queensland, was called in to take a look at the situation. When they arrived and saw what had actually happened, they were shocked. What appeared to be a koala innocently climbing a wooden pole was in fact a dead koala bolted to the pole with screws. In all honesty, this has got to be the most sickening thing I have ever heard of when it comes to animal cruelty. The rescue group was absolutely appalled by the situation, but did say that they have seen cruelty like this before, where koalas have been shot or beheaded. It makes them feel sick, and it sickens me to know that there are people out there, living in our country, and in various other countries in the world, who do this and think it is ok. It is not ok. Now the rescue group do not know whether the koala was still alive or not when it was quite cruelly attached to the pole. The RSPCA will be doing an autopsy on the koala to determine the actual cause of death and if any cruelty was involved or not, however I don’t think it matters either way. Because if it was, that just makes it so much more cruel, and if it wasn’t, whoever did this is still so cruel for carrying this sick act out. An investigation is now under way, and I sincerely hope that the sick person who did this is caught.

I’m going to be very sincere and real here now about this. This is an act of cruelty, and animals, especially our innocent natives, do not deserve to be tortured or cruelly harmed in any way, shape or form. Actions like this must be condemned and the individuals, or indeed groups, who do these things must face consequences for their actions. Animal cruelty is one of the most vile and sickening issues in this world, and realistically, shouldn’t be. The fact that it still is an issue is quite concerning. And we really need to fix it. We need to make sure that all animals, including koalas, are protected against cruelty and violence such as what occurred in Queensland. So, I encourage you all to think about this, and, if you want to, you could even make a donation to a charity for protection and prevention of cruelty to animals such as the koala. I myself have made a donation to Save The Koala after hearing of the horrific incident this morning. If you would like to do the same or donate to a similar charity or organisation, I’ll leave a few links below.

Once again, hope everyone has had a great start to 2018, enjoy the year ahead, and be kind to animals.

JJ

Links:

Home

http://www.animalsaustralia.org

https://www.worldanimalprotection.org.au

https://www.rspca.org.au

http://www.wwf.org.au

Well, 2017 is just about done. And what a year it has been in the world. So many things have happened in 2017 locally more close to home, and worldwide. From Trump to Turnbull, from North Korea to the Citizenship Crisis, it’s been a pretty big year. And so, in this somewhat comprehensive review of the year, we are going to cover the big events of the year, and maybe even some of the more minor things that have occurred throughout the year. So, for the last time this year, let’s get right into it.

We’ll begin with the leadership news of the year. At the commencement of 2017, we had the major news rolling in from the US, with Trump being sworn in as the 45th President of the United States of America. With his presidency becoming official, we saw many emotions being displayed by all sorts of people, particularly the Americans. There were those who were triumphant, becoming so elated at the fact that such a man had been elected and sworn into office, and there were those who simply could not bear the news, becoming irritated, upset, or even protesting the matter. Leaders around the world congratulated Trump, including our own Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull. However, although Trump had now been sworn in, and the people would just have to come to terms with it whether they liked it or opposed it, it would not be an easy Presidency, as the world was soon to discover. Throughout the year, President Trump came across many issues, and was faced with many trials and tribulations. He talked to the leaders of many countries, and a phone call between him and Malcolm Turnbull became infamous, with reports surfacing that he had become irritated at our Prime Minister and hung up on him. He faced tensions from China and Mexico, and within his own Cabinet. In fact, many members of his administration either resigned or were fired throughout the year. So let’s quickly take a look at this list. In no particular order:

⁃ Michael Flynn: National Security Adviser

⁃ Preet Bharara: US Attorney for the Southern District Of New York

⁃ Derek Harvey: Top Middle East Adviser for National Security Council

⁃ Katie Walsh: Deputy White House Chief of Staff

⁃ James Comey: FBI Director

⁃ Reince Priebus: Chief of Staff

⁃ Michale Dubke: Communications Director

⁃ Walter Shaub: Office of Government Ethics Director

⁃ Anthony ‘the Mooch’ Scaramucci: Communications Director

⁃ Sean Spicer: Press Secretary

⁃ Michael Short: Press Aide

⁃ Steve Bannon: Chief Strategist

⁃ Sebastian Gorka: Deputy Assistant to the President

⁃ Tom Price: Secretary of Health and Human Services

⁃ Omarosa Manigault: White House Office of Public Liaison director of communications

What a list. As you can see, it’s been a big year in the US. And for Trump, it just keeps coming. During the year, a Special Counsel with former FBI Director Robert Mueller at its head was established to launch a probe/investigation into ties between Trump’s campaign/administration and Russia. And whilst the investigation is ongoing, there have been multiple developments throughout the year, with both Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. and son-in-law Jared Kushner being involved and making some revelations about what occurred. However, we’ll move on from that for now.

One other major ongoing issue for the US, and indeed the world, has been that of North Korea and their nuclear weapons. The country’s leader Kim Jong-Un, has been at the centre of a war of words with countries such as the US and South Korea throughout the year. And their nuclear weapons have been developed much further than ever before, with the development and testing of a hydrogen bomb, capable of mass destruction and wiping out entire populations, the EMP (electro magnetic pulse) bomb, capable of destroying susceptible electronic equipment over a wide area and therefore being able to wipe out the electricity of an area, and potentially destroying power needed for factories to produce essential goods for people to survive, and more recently, attempts to attach the anthrax virus to their bombs and nuclear weapons so that it will disperse upon impact and infect the surrounding area. And so, throughout the year, numerous attempts have been made by other countries to try to come to some sort of agreement of peace with North Korea, even just to chat about it. And whilst some say North Korea may be just about ready to open talks, others believe a war is imminent. It would however be best to do everything possible to avoid a war, let alone one that could escalate and become nuclear.

Continuing on with the politics of the year, closer to home we had a very interesting year to say the least. Parliament was, as always, entertaining, and it sure did have its talking points this year. Whilst Malcolm Turnbull continued to do what he could with his Prime Ministership and his small majority government, it was inevitable really that something else that was highly problematic would come along. And of course, as always, issues relating to Parliament never cease to amaze. And so, 2017 became the year of the mass debacle that became famously known as the Citizenship Crisis. Earlier in the year, a barrister just happened to be doing some investigating into the New Zealand registry for citizenship, and discovered that now former Greens Senator Scott Ludlam happened to be a citizen of New Zealand. And to almost anyone else, this minor detail probably wouldn’t have mattered. But lucky for us, this barrister was experienced in law, and even better, he was particularly experienced in constitutional law. And so, he knew that under Section 44 of the Australian Constitution: ‘any person who is under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power, or is a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or citizen of a foreign power shall be incapable of being chosen or of sitting as a senator or a member of the House of Representatives.’ And so the barrister informed Ludlam. And soon after, Ludlam resigned as a Senator and Deputy Leader of the Greens. And the Australian people thought that was it, just a one-off incident. But nothing is ever that simple in Australian Politics. And so it showed, as the other Deputy Leader of the Greens, former Senator Larissa Waters, discovered she had Canadian Citizenship, and so she resigned. Over in the governing Liberal Party, Malcolm Turnbull was feeling amused, seeing this as sloppy errors being made by the Greens. Barnaby Joyce was also joking about the matter in interviews, thinking it was funny and saying that when you woke up from sleeping you’d have to make sure your mother hadn’t made you a citizen of Botswana. How ironic. Because the Citizenship Crisis didn’t stop there. No, it claimed many more Parliamentarians, in both the Senate and the House Of Representatives. In fact here’s a full list of those it claimed:

⁃ Scott Ludlam: Greens Senator, Greens Deputy Leader

⁃ Larissa Waters: Greens Senator, Greens Deputy Leader

⁃ Matt Canavan: LNP Senator, Cabinet Minister (returned)

⁃ Malcolm Roberts: One Nation Senator

⁃ Fiona Nash: LNP Senator, Deputy Leader of the National Party

⁃ Nick Xenophon: NXT Senator, NXT Leader (returned, but resigned from Senate)

⁃ Barnaby Joyce: LNP MP, Leader of the National Party, Deputy Prime Minister (returned)

⁃ John Alexander: Liberal MP (returned)

⁃ Stephen Parry: LNP Senator, Senate President

⁃ Jacqui Lambie: Independent Senator

⁃ Skye Kakoschke-Moore: NXT Senator

⁃ Katy Gallagher: Labor Senator (referred to High Court)

⁃ David Feeney: Labor MP (referred to High Court)

As you can see, it’s been a chaotic year for federal Parliament in Australia, with Malcolm Turnbull almost losing his majority in the Lower House twice, and many Senators being forced to resign from their positions. And whilst many other events have also occurred within federal politics, in particular the debacle surrounding Michaelia Cash, issues surrounding Bill Shorten, the CFMEU and GetUp!, the Sam Dastyari Saga, and world issues such as relations with the US and China, the Citizenship Crisis has been one of the biggest events of the year in Australia in terms of politics. And in conjunction with that, the process to legalise same-sex marriage took to the stage, as federal Parliament decided to let the people have their say and use a postal plebiscite to decide if they should legalise same-sex marriage in Australia. And so the people voted, the votes were counted, and a Yes majority was declared. And after a couple of weeks of Parliamentary sittings and determinations over the Dean Smith bill and potential changes that could be made, the final Parliamentary vote was taken, and same-sex marriage was legalised in Australia, to the celebrations of many.

2017 also saw immense tragedy, with terror attacks in London, Manchester, Paris, Las Vegas, Barcelona, Manhattan, Stockholm, St Petersburg, Westminster, the Louvre, Coptic Christian churches in Egypt and the Middle East, and at a Christmas market in Germany. Many people lost their lives, with some Australians among those who sadly died in the attacks, including 7 year old Julian Cadman, who became one of the faces of the Barcelona terror attack, a very very sad loss, especially for his family and friends. And there were major tragedies that occurred more close to home in Australia, in particular Of note the tragedy that occurred in Melbourne, which resulted in one man sadly losing his life, and the crash that occurred on Bendalong Road near Sussex Inlet on Boxing Day, in which 4 people have died and 1 remains in hospital. The family involved in the crash was the Falkholt family, known due to Jessica Falkholt being an actress who appeared on Home & Away in 2016. Sadly, she is the only survivor, as her mother, Vivien, and father, Lars died in the crash, and her younger sister, Annabelle, passed away in hospital a few days after the crash. Jessica remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital, still comatose, with doctors uncertain as to when she will wake up from her coma. I know that you would join with me when I say our hearts go out to all those who have been affected by tragedy this year, and we will keep all of you in our thoughts and prayers.

And now to a bit of entertainment news. This year saw the release of many films, many new television shows, the return of many television series’, and many big happenings in the world of entertainment. The 89th Academy Awards (Oscars) were quite the show, with the Award for Best Picture being awarded to La La Land, before the realisation that a mistake had been made, and Moonlight was proclaimed as Best Picture for the 2016 year. And more recently, the news broke that Disney, who own Marvel and the rights to most of the Marvel Superheroes, and who created the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), have finally made a deal with Fox amounting to somewhere around $52.4 billion, which sees Fox sign over many of their own cinematic productions, as well as studios, and which means that Disney now owns the rights to the X-Men Universe, the Fantastic Four, and Deadpool, which ultimately means that they outright own the rights to almost all of the Marvel Superheroes, and which also means we could see all of the superheroes finally appearing together in a major cinematic production. So big news. And apart from that, in television news, Doctor Who has seen yer another big change, with Peter Capaldi’s time as The Doctor coming to an end, and the announcement of the first female Doctor in the form of Jodie Whittaker. And with that, a new set of companions, and a brand new TARDIS. We anticipate what is to come in this famous long-running television series.

In sport this year, we saw some triumphs, and some losses. The Socceroos, after a long, hard-fought battle through the qualifiers, and after two lots of international qualifiers, finally made it to the World Cup that will be played in Russia in 2018. With the qualification came major football news, with Ange Postecoglou deciding to call time on his international managerial career at the Socceroos, ending months of speculation that he would leave the post. He later signed to a J-League club, one which is part of the Manchester City Group. And with that the FFA had to find a new coach for the Australian National Team. And whilst many names have been thrown into the mix, the search continues. And whilst we’re on the subject of the FFA, it’s been a chaotic year for them, with failure to commit to reform, with the General Meeting they conducted failing to gain the vote they so desperately wanted and needed. With the threat of FIFA stepping in to take over, its been a tough time for them, and the future of Steven Lowy and David Gallop was thrown up into the air with the loss of the vote. However, FIFA are giving them another chance for now, although with the controversy that has surrounded them in the last year or so, it’s going to be a tough road ahead for them. And with repeated threats from the A-League clubs to rise up against them, it’s only going to get harder. In other sporting news, Chelsea won the English Premier League, Arsenal won the FA Cup, Real Madrid won the Champions League, Manchester United won the Europa League, and, closer to home, Sydney FC won the Premiership and the Championship in the A-League, as well as the FFA Cup. And staying in the A-League, Western Sydney Wanderers had a rough year, with the departure of their long-time and only coach, Tony Popovic, departing the club one week before the commencement of the 2017/18 season, resulting in a search beginning for a new head coach. Hayden Foxe took the reigns as Caretaker Coach for about 6-7 weeks, until finally Josep Gombau was reeled in and took over the position of head coach permanently. Everyone began to think it was a good move, however, as of now at the end of 2017, the Wanderers supporters, and indeed some of the players, are uncertain as to whether or not Gombau is the best man for the job, and are questioning some of the moves he is making, and indeed the changes he is making to his squad and line-up each week, after the many major losses he has recorded during his time as coach. And so we’ll see where 2018 takes the Wanderers.

And finally, in a bit of miscellaneous type news, it’s been an entertaining year, with some really humorous and odd things occurring, as well as some out of the ordinary events. There was the eclipse in the US, which saw many looking to the skies in their special glasses to catch a glimpse of this rare event. Except, of course, President Donald Trump, who decided to look at the eclipse without the glasses, something which is highly advised against, but he did it anyway. And has anyone heard from Shaun Davidson recently? The Australian managed to escape Bali’s notorious Kerobokan Prison back in April/May this year with a few others, and hasn’t been caught since. As far as anyone knows, he’s still on the run 8 months later. There was also a guy on the internet who was claiming to be from the future, circa 2050, and who had come back to collect information and apparently chat to people about the future and answer some of their questions, which was really ridiculously funny. There was, as always, a large collection of memes and trends that were created in 2017, and so I’ll list a few below:

⁃ The Floor Is Lava Challenge

⁃ Trump’s First Order Of Business and the Trump Orb

⁃ The Apple Glitch (which saw an ‘A’ and a question mark in a box replace an ‘i’ when people tried to type it.

⁃ The ‘Cash Me Ousside’ Girl (who appeared twice on Dr. Phil)

⁃ Salt Bae

⁃ IT Pennywise Gutter Meme

⁃ Porgs (the famous new Star Wars sidekicks)

⁃ Spotify Playlists

⁃ The Snapchat Hot Dog

⁃ The ‘He Protec But He Also Attac’ Meme

⁃ The Ting Goes/Man’s Not Hot Meme/Song (Big Shaq/Michael Dapaah)

So as you can see, there was quite the bit of humour in 2017. In addition to the memes and trends, there was the infamous Facebook event created by a Sydney resident who decided he wanted to go get some chicken nuggets from McDonald’s on George St in the city. And it turned into a massive event, with many deciding to say they were going, and about 9000 people interested. The man’s name who started it, Corey Dunkin. And so Maccas had a big night of people eating chicken nuggets and sweet n sour sauce. They even had a designated line/cashier for chicken nuggets. And then there have been those funny politicians with their odd remarks, like Bob Katter. Katter’s just about the most odd politician you’ll come across probably. This year in particular, he’s become known for his quick changes in tone, in particular in his infamous speech/interview where he was discussing the same-sex marriage issue in a light tone, and then changed rapidly to talking of people being attacked by crocodiles in North Queensland every 3 months in a quite aggressive tone. It’s quite amusing really. And then there was that time when the Central Coast Mariners mascot, the BBQ Sauce Bottle, decided to flip off the Newcastle supporters at the F3 Derby a few months ago. That was quite the And that’s the humour for the year I think.

Anyways, I know this has been quite a long post, but I wanted to just do a bit of a wrap up on the year’s news, and it definitely has been a big one with lots to talk about. And as the year comes to a close, I want to thank each and every one of you for keeping up with the blog this year, and for all of your support. When I started this blog, I wasn’t sure what would come of it, and I wasn’t too certain of what I would actually write about, but it’s come a fair way, and I really do hope that we can expand the audience a bit more in 2018, and gain many new readers and followers. At the start, it was just a simple Facebook Page, but now we have a website, and we are gaining a few followers on there, so it’s great to see. So make sure you continue to share the blog, tell people about it, get people to follow it. I’d like to attempt to gain an even stronger supporter base, and have larger numbers if we can do it, so that I can get more and more people thinking about issues surrounding our world, and the possibilities that could be out there. Again, thank you all for the ongoing support, and I’ll be back in the New Year for more writing, more news, and more stories. I hope you all have a very happy and healthy New Year, enjoy the celebrations, and remember, if you want a perspective or something new JJ’s Outlook is the place for you. (Yes, I’ve got a catchphrase.)

JJ

Note: Originally Published on June 13th 2017

The Message

It had started out as just another regular day. I had become accustomed to a sort of, routine, that I would carry out without fault every single day. I had woken up to the sound of some birds chirping at the window of my room inside the cozy single-storey house that I lived in. The dog was once again barking at them, just as per usual. I got up out of my warm bed & got changed into one of my usual outfits. I proceeded down the hallway & made myself some breakfast, then walked into the lounge room & sat on the plush sofa. I decided to watch a bit of television before my morning walk, something I usually wouldn’t do, but hey, it was past time for a slight variation to my morning routine. And so I turned on the television, intending to watch something interesting, maybe just something fun, something that would humour me slightly. Maybe just watch the news or something, although there were always without fail distressing & depressing stories aired on the news, with some feel-good ones scattered between them. It was probably a waste of time really. So I went on to the TV guide built into the television, & scrolled through the various channels featured until I came across a sci-fi television show that I’d seen once before, but hey, it was entertaining, so why not? And so I clicked the remote, fully intending to witness some supernatural stuff. And boy, was I in for something else.

When I hit select on the remote, the television changed channels to show me the sci-fi show I wished to view. And yeah, the show did play & was good entertainment, for about ten minutes at least. Ten minutes in, just as the action was getting good & the tension was building up, I witnessed something that was absolutely astounding. The show stopped midway, the screen went black, & then there was a flicker & some words appeared on the screen that seemed out of this world. It was a message, one that read ‘Hello, you have been in a coma for eighteen years. We have managed to develop a new technique using newly created technology, capable of delivering messages such as this to comatose individuals who have shown no sign of awaking any time soon. We don’t know where this will appear in your dream, or even if it will actually appear. But if it does, & if you are reading this, PLEASE WAKE UP.’

I couldn’t believe what I had just read. What was this? Was it true? Was I really comatose? Was this ‘reality’ that I had been living in just a dream? Was it all inside my head? And if it was true, how would I wake up? It was all so confusing. I could barely get my head around it. So I decided that it wasn’t worth pursuing. It wasn’t worth a throbbing headache. And so I decided to just switch off the television & get to my morning walk. So I grabbed the dog’s collar & lead & fastened them around his neck. He was a good little pup. He jumped up & down as soon as he saw me grab the lead, & so he was bounding & ready to go when we walked outside. I locked up & off we went on our daily walk through the streets of the little town we lived in. Trance hopped along in front of me, sniffing out all those familiar smells he’d identified each day we took our walk. I decided after about fifteen minutes of walking that I’d grab a coffee from the local café, & so that’s where we arrived about five minutes later. And as fate would have it, it was there that I bore witness to more strangeties.

I had ordered a cappuccino, & as I sat there waiting for my order number to be called, I quickly flicked through today’s paper. Everything was pretty much just same old, same old. But then something caught my eye. As I was rustling through the pages, I came across an article titled ‘Man In Coma For Eighteen Years, Doctors Attempt Wake Up Using New Technique’. I was astounded. Twice in one day. And yet it wasn’t over, because just as I had decided to ignore the article & throw the paper in the trash, I heard something on the café’s radio. Someone was talking about motorcycling accidents, how they were becoming all too common, & how some were resulting in comas. I thought nothing of it until they just happened to mention a man who had been involved in one such accident who had been in one of the longest comas that medical professionals had ever witnessed. Eighteen years. That’s when I began to freak out. What was happening? Just as I had gone into a flurrying state of nervousness, my order number was called out; number eighteen. I went over to grab my cappuccino, & saw that the workers here had apparently employed one of those coffee artists. There was a little drawing that had been done on my cappuccino. It appeared to be an image of a motorcycle driving along a road which had the number eighteen in a sign at its end. Ok, that was it, now I was in full blown panic, chaos, whatever you want to call it.

I ran out of the café, leaving my cappuccino behind, & quickly taking the lead of little Trance. Wait a minute. The dog’s name. Trance. Did I name him that? I don’t remember calling him that? Wait isn’t trance another word for a sleep. Oh great. As if I needed addition to the panic that was already bubbling over inside me. I ran, with the dog of course, even if he wasn’t real he was still cute & I wasn’t just gonna leave him behind. I made it back to my home in ten minutes flat. It was then I noticed something I’d never thought about before today. My house number was 18, 18 Fantasia Drive. Well this was just great. What was I supposed to do now?

At this point, I almost fully believed what was being conveyed to me through these messages, these little hints scattered everywhere, all over this world which seemed real, but was potentially just a fantasy, a hallucination, an image that my extraordinary mind, my avid imagination had conjured up after the accident. Even though I believed all of this now, & I had discovered the truth, I came to a very sudden & scary realization; I didn’t know how to get out of here. If this ‘reality’ was all just a dream, how was I supposed to wake up?

Note: Originally Published on June 14th 2017

Football – commonly referred to as the beautiful game. A game of skill, possession, and tactics. There are many a talented footballer out there from countries such as Spain, England, France, Argentina, and the list goes on. All of these international footballers have prospective talent, and many show great skill in what they do and how they play. There are some players who just amaze and leave in awe anyone who watches them play. For example, the masterful likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Coaches/Managers in a range of different countries also show great tactical precision, alike to those of coaches such as the renowned former coach of English Premier League side Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson. There are also former players who have turned to coaching after their initial retirement from playing football. The likes of former FC Barcelona coach Luis Enrique and current Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane have both played and coached for their respective clubs. So international football summed up in one word, brilliant.

And then there’s Australian football. Now of course the Aussies aren’t all that bad, but they do have a lot of work to do in order to get things right. The Aussies just aren’t as skilful as many of their counterparts the world over. Now that’s not to say that all the players that Australia produces are terrible. No, there are actually a few decent players in the mix. We have a recently turned English Premier League star in Aaron Mooy, who has previously played with teams like the Western Sydney Wanderers

and Melbourne City, and the well known Tim Cahill, who has played for teams like Chelsea and Everton in the Premier League before doing a stint in China and then returning home to play for Melbourne City in the A-league. The problem: Tim Cahill is getting to an age where his football career may be coming to an end. And the question really is: who is going to take his spot in the Socceroos?

And so Australia needs an answer to the question of who will play for us in a side that actually has a chance in the coveted FIFA World Cup. The Socceroos have played in the regions of Oceania, too easy a feat for them, and then Asia, in which they have won the Asian Cup, but are now somewhat struggling to get through the World Cup Qualifiers. And Australia needs to produce home-grown top-quality footballers in order to outperform other international sides. We were very much subject to this lesson last night, in which the Socceroos suffered a 4-0 loss to the spectacular Brazilian international side, who put one in the back of our net after playing for only 12 seconds. They showed great skill, and Australian football should aspire to become like that of other great international sides, such as the Spanish and the Argentinians. These countries produce the highest quality players, who go on to be highly sought after by clubs in league-based competitions the world over. And our Australians need to keep up.

The Australian Football League, known as the A-League, is not particularly one of the greatest the world has seen. It consists of ten teams, nine of which are from around Australia, consisting of 2 teams from Sydney, 2 from Melbourne, as well as 1 from Newcastle, the Central Coast, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as a New Zealand based team in the Wellington Phoenix. The League basically goes like this: 10 teams, 24 rounds, Finals Series, top 2 teams as well as a third will go to play in the Asian Champions League, happy days, right? Wrong. It’s really not good enough. The A-League is one of, if not THE only League in the world football to have a salary cap. Why? Because of one man: David Gallop. Gallop may sound familiar because he was once the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Rugby League (NRL). He possessed this job for 10 years or thereabouts, from 2002-2012, before taking up the position of CEO for the Football Federation of Australia (FFA). Yes, the FFA. Probably what could be considered one of the worst, if not THE worst run football federations in the world (Although FIFA did a pretty good job of being horrendously run there for a while with the corruption that took place). The FFA practically run the A-League, and in saying that, in simple terms, David Gallop and his co-authoritarian and fellow dictator Steven Lowy basically run the A-League and get the final say on anything and everything to do with it. This ruins the League. The A-League should be like all leagues around the world, united and together, democratic, and fair, with absolutely no salary caps. If this was the case, we would see a major improvement in the A-League, the players who are involved, and the quality of football that results from it.

At the current time, A-League teams sign players who have previously played for either their own club, or another club within the league. And if current A-League players get an overseas offer, most of which come from China or another Asian country, they will more than likely jump at the chance and take it. Why? Money. Players in the A-League earn a significant amount less than that of players in overseas leagues, inclusive of leagues in Asia. And naturally, players want to earn a high amount of money, so displaying the incentive for international transfers. But we have to ask ourselves, why can’t they be offered enough to stay in Australia? And so we come back to that detested idea that is the salary cap. Every year, at the end of another season in the A-League, teams must, somewhat regretfully, offload some highly respected players in order to make room for new players, or simply because they cannot afford these players anymore. Teams then purchase players who are at a skill level decreased from what has been lost, inevitably resulting in an occurrence of the skill level in the League decreasing. This is the exact reason for which the salary cap must be eradicated, and an expansion should be on the cards, so that talent already formed can be kept, and high quality players can be brought in from overseas. Sure, the marquee and visa spots each team has allows for international players to join up, but it’s not enough. Then there’s the guest player position that was created more recently, most likely an excuse for the FFA to bring Tim Cahill into the A-League, proven through the way in which the FFA have rejected requests from the Western Sydney Wanderers to bring in Bulgarian former Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov. The reason given by the FFA: He wouldn’t draw a big enough crowd to the A-League. This really does display how incoherent and ineffective the organisation known as the FFA is. The guest player spot is now therefore classified by some as the Tim Cahill spot.

Expansion also needs to occur in order to bring in new players and grow new talent in Australian football. Expansion has been on the cards for the FFA, with many teams from around the country putting in their applications for joining should there be an expansion. The FFA has previously promised expansion, but have inevitably and not at all surprisingly delayed this necessity, again showing how unnecessary this football organisation is. In fact, current clubs have considered breaking away from the FFA should the need arise in the future. That is, if an intervention from the reformed FIFA organisation doesn’t step in first. The addition of more teams to the A-League, as well as a second division, accompanied of course by the concepts of promotion and relegation, would be promising for Australian football, and for the future of the international team in terms of stability and growth. So it should prove a definite for the future of Australian football.

On another note, the A-League has some very passionate supporter bases, with active support groups such as the Western Sydney Wanderers’ prominent (or infamous) Red and Black Block, and Sydney FC’s The Cove. These groups cheer and chant, powerful and strong in number, but sometimes there are members who get out of hand, and so need to be kept in check. Derbies, particularly the Sydney and Melbourne varieties, pull a strong crowd, with tensions being high every time. It’s great to see the world of football growing in Australia, becoming one of, if not the, biggest sport in the country.

So that’s it from me on football for now. Make sure to check in later for more stories, and I hope you enjoyed this somewhat thorough and detailed analysis. Let me know any suggestions or ideas in the comments and thanks for reading!

JJ