Best Year of Your Life

[thorson1987]

I don't have a best year. But I do have several top notch years.

1998- played in the state knockout in Bega for Sydney south west. Same team as Krisnan Inu. Unfortunately lost the grand final to Mackillop (catholic schools). And for the souths fans and bears nsw cup side due to not being able to afford it my family couldnt come down so I was billeted out and stayed on a dairy farm with a kid who played in the south coast side. That kid was Dion Apps.

2004 - finished high school and passed all my subjects for the HSC (even physics. 51% FTW)
Won my first grand final (besides school comps). Also made better by playing in the same side as my 3 best mates for the first time.
Made North Sydney SG Ball squad.

2005 - Ran out onto brookvale oval for the bears in a trial match against manly. One of my dreams growing up was to wear the red and black of the bears, no matter what level. (2 weeks later I got a phone call from Florimo telling me I had been cut, a week before the comp started)
Later that year met my future wife.

2009 - my son was born and Storm winning the Grand Final.

2010 - got married to the love of my life

2011 - Daughter born. Also the same week won my second Grand Final 20-0 to finish the season undefeated.

2012 - won another grand final and scoring a try in the game (also had 2 disallowed for forward passes). And for the first time I was on the field when the full time siren went)
Storm winning the Grand Final.

 

[bartman]

Good to know there were a few swansongs. It eould be pretty grim if my best years were all 4-5 years behind me :lol:

Where did you live and work abroad?

Yep, I'm hoping for more good years in front of me too!

Lived and worked in northern England. Lucked into a good job when I landed and stayed for four years, using it a base for visits around Engalnd and to Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Still so much to see, but never enough time!

 

[Bazal]

18/19 I would say...dated my now best friend, won two competitions in RL and one in cricket, just the whole leaving school excitement, starting uni and travelling a bit...just a bunch of seemingly little things that I miss

 

[Misanthrope]

Yep, I'm hoping for more good years in front of me too!

Lived and worked in northern England. Lucked into a good job when I landed and stayed for four years, using it a base for visits around Engalnd and to Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Still so much to see, but never enough time!

Amen to that. Europe continues to elude me, but my two years in Korea and almost year here in China habe been some of the best. Homebodies don't know what they are missing.

Now, do I stay here another year? Try to bottle lightning with a Korean return? Or do I try my luck in japan, thailand, or Turkey?

st world problem.

 

[Apey]

Will let you know when it happens :lol:

probably when I was back in high school, like year 10. Since then, well... not even going to get into that shit.

 

[Hallatia]

I think I prefer to feel the ups and the downs of joy and sadness rather than let life ooze by feeling comfortable and only ever mildly pleased.

I like this. You sir, seem to have good philosophies on life

I don't really understand how people can be content to as you called it "ooze by". I think I would rather die

 

[sensesmaybenumbed]

Perhaps I've been misunderstood.
I get happy. Friends, family, the simple things like a pint and a good meal.
Desperately sad when I've lost friends, family or pets, see a pint dropped etc...

What I meant to get across was that so many people want to be super happy all the time.
It's unrealistic, but somehow there's this idea in the media today that you should be.
All it does is set people up for dissapointment and doubt. Celebrity x or y is always shown as being in a state of bliss. They're not. They have ups and downs like everyone else.
The highs and lows are what test us and keep us going, but the middle ground is a great place to catch your 'breath' and get ready for the next one.

 

[Misanthrope]

Well said. The idea that we will all be rich, famous, and deliriously happy does more harm than good.

 

[sensesmaybenumbed]

Amen. I find the idea of being famous to be repulsive.

No way in the world I'd want to be famous.
As for rich, well compared to most of the world, I am actually relatively wealthy and happy.

Would I want to be twinkies exec rich? No way

Edit:

Well said. The idea that we will all be rich, famous, and deliriously happy does more harm than good.

You forgot really, really ridiculously good looking.
That Hansel is so hot right now.

 

[Hallatia]

Amen. I find the idea of being famous to be repulsive.

No way in the world I'd want to be famous.
As for rich, well compared to most of the world, I am actually relatively wealthy and happy.

Would I want to be twinkies exec rich? No way

couldn't agree more about fame, especially in this day and age. I am up and down about fortune though, most of the time I think, in terms of money, I would just want enough to get by comfortably, but then other times I see the value in having a lot of money and I think it would be nice. I don't really want to live like a rich person though, I would just like to do things in third world countries, mostly Africa. I would love to open schools throughout the region and create opportunities for the really unfortunate people over there, particularly the young people. I also want to save the rhinos. But I would really love to build and work in schools in Africa. It's really dangerous though, but if I have money I can use some of it for protection.

The school I worked at in Brisbane has a big population of refugees from Africa. It also has refugees from the middle east. What a lot of Australian people don't realise about refugees is that they don't come her to become Australian, most don't really want to live here at all, they would much rather live in their home countries, but it has gotten too unsafe there and if you have a family, you need to try to do what is best for them and take them away from dangers. From an Australian perspective, it is peculiar how proud these people are of their home countries and how much they love their home countries, because those are third world, war-torn countries with so many dangers, but that's not how they see them. Most of these people wish they could go back to where they came from but it's not safe. Unfortunately for a lot of them, they face different kinds of threats here

 

[Misanthrope]

I think.a big problem with our society is that we are brought up being told we are all.special and that our dreams will come true. Nobody is raised thinking they will wrk in a call center or have credit card debt or have to marry a girl they accidentally knock up. No wonder people get depressed :crazy:

 

[IanG]

Not this year that's for sure.

Wanting to put 2012 behind me

 

[Springs]

I think.a big problem with our society is that we are brought up being told we are all.special and that our dreams will come true. Nobody is raised thinking they will wrk in a call center or have credit card debt or have to marry a girl they accidentally knock up. No wonder people get depressed :crazy:

When I was in year 12 it seemed the only important thing in life was success. University and career. Nothing else mattered. Leading to kids thinking they were failures if they didn't get in. I heard stories about suicides because of below average marks. It truly sickened me the way some teachers acted.

 

[Silent Knight]

When I was in year 12 it seemed the only important thing in life was success. University and career. Nothing else mattered. Leading to kids thinking they were failures if they didn't get in. I heard stories about suicides because of below average marks. It truly sickened me the way some teachers acted.

For me it wasn't just my teachers driving me on but my parents as well. My Dad used fear to motivate me. He knew I hated working for his business and promised me that if I didn't make it to uni he'd wake me up at 5am every morning to go and work with him (think of my dad as Red Foreman). Alternatively if I made it to uni, he would leave me alone to have fun and party so long as I passed my courses. Naturally I studied my a** off in the HSC and had 3 great years at uni.

But he never made out I'd be a failure if I didn't make it. He just made the alternative less than appealing.

 

[sensesmaybenumbed]

When I was in year 12 it seemed the only important thing in life was success. University and career. Nothing else mattered. Leading to kids thinking they were failures if they didn't get in. I heard stories about suicides because of below average marks. It truly sickened me the way some teachers acted.

True. I did not get the marks I 'needed' thanks to the scaling process in place at the time, and I never could have gotten them anyway. I ended up being enrolled in a course I never considered in a city I never wanted to go to next to a room that contained a girl I never thought I wanted to meet that I started to date 5 years later and have a baby inside 15 years after that point.

In hindsight, I regret nothing. Everything has me at where I am now. And I am rather pleased about how it has all turned out, despite the fact we are 10,000 miles away from family and friends. We will make this work.

 

[Red Bear]

Hopefully still to come

This years been pretty good though.

 

[Misanthrope]

Ive no regrets for the less than awesome years. They have all contributed towards putting me where I am today.

 

[sensesmaybenumbed]

Ive no regrets for the less than awesome years. They have all contributed towards putting me where I am today.

QFT The highs are meaningless without the lows to forge you.

 

[Springs]

True. I did not get the marks I 'needed' thanks to the scaling process in place at the time, and I never could have gotten them anyway. I ended up being enrolled in a course I never considered in a city I never wanted to go to next to a room that contained a girl I never thought I wanted to meet that I started to date 5 years later and have a baby inside 15 years after that point.

In hindsight, I regret nothing. Everything has me at where I am now. And I am rather pleased about how it has all turned out, despite the fact we are 10,000 miles away from family and friends. We will make this work.

You have determination, and the right attitude. Well done.

As for me, I made it into uni, but I didn't go. My grandmother was dying and my mother needed to care for her nearly all the time. So I worked the family business for her. I regret a lot of things, but definitely not that.
A degree and a career were never on my list of life goals anyway.

 

[Misanthrope]

My degree was little more than a fun waste of time. It did mean I could go abroad to teach, but any degree would have sufficed. My most successful, happy, and established friend never even finished Uni.