Australian Senate: How many parties do I have to vote for?

There was an election today!

I'm going to take a short break from the theme of this blog to reduce some confusion about the Australian Senate voting that has happened today. Basically, there was a lot of misinformation about what a person is required to do, so I'm hopefully going to help clarify it here.

General Rule for the HUGE Senate Sheet

AT LEAST 6 above the line - or - AT LEAST 12 below the line

That's not what I was told!

This is what the ballot paper had written on it. This is NOT what many people were told. There are reports of people being told "6 above or 12 below the line". I was personally told this. Luckily I knew this was incorrect, but many people are not aware of this.

Can I number LESS than 6 above/12 below?

Yes.

Then why are people talking about 6 above or 12 below?

This is where it gets a bit tricky and it's based on the new voting changes that were recently passed (link to PDF).
Basically, page 8 of the document details that:
1. If there is a "1" or a check mark against a candidate, that is STILL COUNTED.
2. If there are less than 6 consecutive numbers, they are STILL COUNTED.BUT, the document itself says that the ballot papers should not mention these provisions (see quoted text below), I guess for consistency, the AEC's has followed this in their other printed information and website.

"Such votes should not be ruled informal; they express a clear voter choice. But the Senate ballot paper instructions will adopt the principal requirement in amended section 239, designed to give a reasonable life to an individual’s vote on preference distribution, to number at least six squares."

This basically means they will tell people they need at least 6 above or 12 below, otherwise there's a chance a person's preferences may be used-up way too early in the process, and this effectively silences that person's opinion on other candidates. I assume that this is meant to make up to the part of the process where parties previously specified their preference flow if a person voted "1" for them. In that case, a person had theoretically indicated their preferences (as the parties did declare them) just by voting 1 for a party - although most people never really looked at their selected party preferences which is why the law changed in the first page. More info on ABC Fact Check website

"Running is awesome" Part 2, or, "How body pump is awesome too"

This post follows from Running is Awesome, Part 1.

Using my new energy for good!

After learning how to run 5k, I felt like I had some more energy during the day! This, in combo with the fact that I had moved within easy cycling distance to work, I bought a decent bike so I could start riding to work twice a week! 

My legs after returning home from work
when I rode my bicycle.

After a few weeks of horrible once-a-week rides where my legs were useless when I got back home, I pushed through and got to twice a week. It was particularly horrible because there's a huge hill I had to ride up to get back up to my house (which was great going the other direction in the mornings). The upside of this cycle was that when I got back home, my legs had their daily exercise sorted and my quads were getting bigger! (Who needs a gym?)

While doing this, I had also started the 5-10k running app, but it takes a fairly long time to do each of these runs :(. Also some other things regularly got in the way, urgh, damn you life! At the time I couldn't find many three one-hour brackets (or longer) spaced apart evenly to commit to this, so I didn't get that far into the 5-10k program, but I was still running every now and again.

A change in commute! The glass is half full!

Coming forward to two years ago, I got a new job. This had the mixed blessing that my twice-weekly 20-minute bike ride into a 25 minute drive on a freeway (with generally no traffic). This was a mixed blessing because although I no longer have regular awesome bike rides, I've used the time for many other things which have been very valuable. I'll touch on how I get the most out of my commute in a future post.

This is a classic glass half full situation. Sometimes you lose something, but you get gains in different areas of your life. Even if some changes in your life seem horribly bad, most changes in life aren't all bad..There's usually at least a small upside to be found somewhere. I've found that we need to see how change can generally be a good thing, otherwise it gets very hard to be happy with your life.

Anyway, my running had also seemed to happen at fairly random times during the week, sometimes a week or two between runs, mostly on Sundays, which were generally great, but a lot of time, life just seemed to "get in the way". This concept of how life "gets in the way" is one of the more common reasons as to why people don't stick to their goal, but this can change!

Let's go back.. it's gym time again!

After a year of this, my girlfriend wanted to join the local gym, and after her spending a few conversations to convince me, we decided to join together! I had just bought a kettle-bell and started using it about once a week and kinda wanted to do some more weights and functional movement classes, but didn't particularly want to waste money again on a gym membership that I didn't always use. But I agreed and I started with a Body Pump class. I thought it covered a good range of exercises with weights and soon I was hooked and I started going at least twice a week!

As I said earlier, change is generally a good thing!

To be completely honest main reason I've convinced myself that I have to go to the gym at least twice a week is that I get the benefit of more value from my membership than if I paid casually for two classes a week. My inner frugality is helping my health. Go figure!

It's not that scary!

If you haven't ever done a Body Pump class before, and you don't have any existing injuries, I highly recommend giving it a go. It's definitely not as scary as it may sound. The weights can be varied and very light weights are available. No instructor is going to single you out even if you choose to have no weights on the bar for some exercises (just using the bar as a weight). Your weight choices are entirely up to you, movements are explained fairly well, and it's all timed with the music, so it's fairly easy to catch on to what's happening. 

If you haven't done weight training before, a lot of the movements when done correctly will improve not only your physique aesthetically, but also your posture, stability, and help you prevent future injuries by showing you how to lift things properly (if you pay attention). You could get a personal trainer at a gym to show you these things, but for some people that aren't too confident with having a PT for whatever reason, this may be a good bridge to build that confidence.

Note: I don't like disclaimers, but I think I have to state that you are responsible for your health. You and your gym instructors are responsible to ensure you remain injury free if you follow my advice above. Sorry for including this, but I don't want people being silly and trying to sue me. :)

Now why am I really talking about this?

I particularly enjoy the Body Pump classes for all the above reasons, but I can also actually see muscle-gain results (especially if I go three times a week). Earlier I had said I couldn't find a few one hour blocks each week to go running, but I shifted some things around and made extra time. It's not hard to find extra time if you really want to, you just need to schedule your time a bit better (You're not alone! I'll help with a blog post on this soon!). After finding at least two hours free a week, it worked out well as each Body Pump class goes for less than 1 hour, and it provides quite a decent full-body workout, with a short cool-down stretch included!

I've always been a skinny guy and it's always been a bit difficult for me to get a muscular gains that stick around, but just like in part one of this post, it comes down to consistency. As it took me a very long time to learn it, it's worth repeating:

Most people can achieve amazing results and skills just by setting up a routine and plan for working on something!

Please note, I'm still a fairly thin guy at the moment, but I'm not looking to let exercise consume most of my week so I can get huge within a six months - there are other things in life that I also want to spend time on. Progress is definitely happening, and as I'll continue to be consistent with this, two years from now I'll definitely have awesome results.

To close this post, I'm just going to state that I hope you've gained something from this post. Whether it's learning about what Body Pump is, learning for the first time about consistent routines creating results, or, if you're quite far in your personal development, maybe just having the idea of consistent routines to create results reinforced, which is important to never lose sight of.

Thank you for spending your valuable time to read this today. Make your day an awesome one!

"Running is awesome", or, "How I learned to stop worrying and find an app for that"

Why would you even want to run?

It took a looong time for me to start really enjoying running. I was not a fan of sports classes at school. Running always felt horrible and no one ever really explained why I should ever want to do it. I assumed the only reason people did it was because they either wanted to lose weight, or they had a goal that they wanted to be able to run fast some day for some bizarre reason.. maybe to compete in races?

I had a gym membership for a few months when I joined with my best friend during my uni days (around nine years ago). I kinda liked the weights machines, and went on the treadmills because.. well... they were there.. but I thought didn't have any real reason to keep doing it (I'm a fairly thin guy and have never had any extra-weight issues). Before long, my friend left the gym so I barely went and I eventually cancelled my membership. 

We live in an amazing digital age!

Around four years ago, I tried running every now and again, but it was only once every month or so and I could barely run longer than a minute or two before being completely exhausted! Fast forward a year and I moved in with my girlfriend. It was around this time where I was faffing about on the internet, feeling very unmotivated (as usual at the time), and some person had written an interesting comment (probably on reddit) about Couch-to-5k programs. I looked into it, found that there was "an app for that", and basically thought, hell, it's free and I've got some time to burn, why not just give it a go? (I had previously picked up some basic German language skills on my long train commutes just because there was a free "app for that" and that was interesting and fun!)

So, I did the Couch to 5k program and LOVED seeing the progress. Doing this three times a week for a few weeks and I started actually running for decent amounts of time without feeling like I was going to vomit and pass out! (Well, except for that one time). 

A valuable life lesson

A few months later and I eventually had 5k under my belt! It's really that simple. I didn't realise how quickly I could see results if I did this three times a week! A few years later, I would come to really understand how consistent routines can achieve results. In fact, except for a few edge-cases, most people can achieve amazing results and skills just by setting up a routine and plan for working on something! I'll expand on this soon.

But still, why?

I enjoy running because I've come to learn it's not impossible and it's relaxing. If you run somewhere where there's not a lot of traffic, the regularity of a 5k run at a constant pace without stopping lets you focus on your breathing, and I feel it almost gets you into a meditative state. For two years of running, I generally only ran with music playing, which was very enjoyable, but now for most of my runs, I'm listening to audiobooks and podcasts. Learning while staying fit!

Multitasking win!

Coming up in this series I'll explain how I stopped running regularly because life "got in the way", then got back into it, more than ever!

Thank you for reading and I hope you have an amazing day!

Let's get this thing going!

G'day all!

This is my first post on my new blog!

David Tennant has not given his approval in real life... yet.

My goal for this blog is to start writing about any life-enhancing media (Audiobooks, Podcasts, eBooks) I come across, and maybe, some thoughts I have every now and again reflecting on my life and how I'm working on becoming a better version of myself.

I'm not sure who coined the phrase "become a better version of yourself". I've heard this phrase from various influential people such as Elliot Hulse, Peter Voogd and others, but it's a phrase that I think everyone should come to know and understand in depth.

I love the phrase "become a better version of yourself" because in my mind, it doesn't make any judgements about your current position in life, other than you can improve it. It also doesn't say "best" version of yourself, because your life is an ongoing process and you can always improve!

It's not a bad thing that you're not already "a better version" of yourself! Just like it's not bad that a newborn baby doesn't yet know how to talk, eventually, with enough time and patience, they'll start to talk (and most would agree that learning how to speak is considered better than not learning how to speak). Don't beat yourself up about it. I'll tell you right now, without a doubt, I am 100% sure I can become a better version of myself and you can too!

To me, this phrase implies that you have the power to improve your life, and ultimately, you are the only person who can do that. If you do not want to change your life for the better, no matter what advice you receive, it won't happen. Ultimately, you are the one who has the power! You need to decide to incorporate any advice into your life, then make changes! I hope to expand on simple ways to do this on future blog posts.

So, this was my first blog post. I plan to incorporate this into my weekly or bi-weekly routine to write a review of a book or podcast, or just write something short about my thoughts on becoming a better version of myself.

I currently work as a Web and Software developer, so I might post things about coding every now and again, but I think I'll keep that to a minimum to avoid alienating non-programmers.

You are awesome!! Thank you for spending your time to read this. You decided to read this, so that is just a small example indicating you have the power to control your life. Use this control to become a better version of yourself!

Be good to each other! If you liked this post, please share it!