I'm in a curious situation right now. It's one of those weird things that justify the cliché saying "and then it hit me."
In 18 days I will be flying out of the country. I mean, it's a pretty big deal when I think about it. I've only flown once before [it was to Sydney and for my US Visa interview. Also, it was awesome], so flying international is reasonably impressive to me. In addition, the furthest I've traveled is to Canberra in the ACT.
I'm feeling very much the Toowoomba Country Bumpkin at the moment. I mean, I know I'm Brisbane born, and I've lived there for the past three and a half years, but being back home has made me feel decidedly small.
So yes. In eighteen days, I will be leaving Australia. I will not set foot on Australian soil for two years. I still can't even imagine what that's going to be like. It's too big an idea still. I love my country, I'm a country boy [well, people from Roma and Alice Springs will dispute that and call Toowoomba the "Big Smoke," but I live in a city where people still wander around in Akubras, jeans, flannel and think "Rivers" is pretty metro].
On the 6th of November, I'll be flying for 18 hours to LA, and then transferring to Provo. Where I will freeze. I'm cold tolerant for Australia, so I'm assuming I'll[strike]not[/strike] freeze to death.
My first white Christmas [So so weird. How can you have Christmas with snow? Without the traditional waterfight? Without Pavlova?]. It'll be my first Christmas without my family, too. That's another big idea that isn't fitting just yet.
I'm sure I'm sounding like a child at the moment, but I'll assure you that I'm an adult. I'm just voicing petty concerns. I've lived independently [which is more than I can say for others in my situation] for a long [ha!] time. I truly am looking forward to this experience, the flight, everything. Knowing what I'm leaving behind or exchanging...it's just so odd.
So first stop, the US. Provo. Salt Lake City.
Fortunately, I was wise enough to follow advice and apply for an early flight. This means that I will have time to sleep before I hit the MTC [Missionary Training Centre], so I don't die. Again. Personally, I love SLC. It is a huge [and integral] part of the Church's history. I want to use those 4 extra days [3, after sleeping for one of them] to soak up the history that's there.
There is another concern though. I'm a small town kid, again. Which means I was the only member of the Church in my school of 1000 when I was at Downlands College. Throughout my home life, I was in a small ward. The majority of my friends weren't members. I didn't find this to be much of a problem, to be honest. It was hard, sure, but I appreciated my faith more. My testimony grew because [in some cases, quite literally] each day was a test. I knew I was different from my class mates. Faith is a key part and core of who I am.
Being in such a situation all of my life means that I've had all the trials that were the make or break "do I want this?" There isn't a shadow of a doubt in my heart that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
It's going to be weird to go to an area with such a high concentration of members of the Church. I mean, I always crack up at "green" Missionaries who are sent to Australia and they have absolutely no idea. They are so used to being in Wards [ie: equivalent= parish] where there are hundreds of members...and then they are assigned to Wards here where there are maybe a hundred members. And that's it.
I'm a small [figuratively. Literally I'm rather tall ;)] guy from a small town, a small ward, from a comparatively small group of LDS members.
How am I going to react to being immersed into something so, well, big?
I am such a pansy for thinking that.
I'm sure I'll cope. Australians are appreciated everywhere [even Gallipoli], I'll sneak in just fine.
After MTC training and language training, I'll fly out to Berlin, Germany Deutschland.
As if the concept of flying to the US wasn't large enough..
So in 18 days, I will leave Australia for two years. I will put my secular life on hold for two years, I will not be speaking English for two years. Most importantly, I will be a Missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for two years.
It's what I have been wanting to do for all of my life. It's something I have been looking forward to, especially in the agonizingly long waiting period from when uni finished [around November last year] until now.
This may be a surprise to the internets, but I am a religious person. This is because of my childhood, sure, but as I mentioned before, it is because I made the decision in my youth to ask for myself if the Church was true. It is. No small sentence or blog update or whatever can fully justify and display the weight of the words that I will speak and share as a Missionary in the Berlin, Deutschland Mission.
I've been brought up on this before, so I guess I'll need to do a brief explanation. I know what I am, and will be, testifying is true because I earnestly asked for a sure knowledge in my youth. It's a hard thing to do as a kid, to appeal in a silent prayer to your Father in Heaven to know if He exists, to know if His Son did truly live and die for the remission of your sins. Asking in Faith is a big ask [pardon the awful pun], it was hard, but it would have been harder still to just rely on my parent's faith and just assume that everything was sweet.
I know that this is the true Church. I know that Christ lives, I know of the reality of the Atonement. I know Joseph Smith was a true Prophet, who asked in faith and received and translated the Book of Mormon, another testimony of Jesus Christ.
Such things are special and sacred to me. This is why I avoid the Lounge, to be honest. Any semblance of faith or religion or devotion is immediately and apologetically crushed. People are allowed to be who they are, but if they have a Faith in God, then that is just silly. Trolls love and grow on such affirmations, so I should know better than to feed them.
Why am I mentioning such things on an Otaku World, then?
I don't rightly know, to be honest. I've touched on such things in myOtaku, especially the poignant moments in my life where I've had my testimony strengthened for whatever reason, so this isn't a real break in the trend. I guess the reason why I'm writing such things in my new World is because I like to be honest with people. I don't think there's a person who knows me in real life that doesn't know that I am a religious person. For years I was known to my best friend's older brothers as "The Mormon".
I want to be honest with you guys. Those that are reading with are most likely the intellectual giants that I've grown to acknowledge and appreciate for their dedication to this online community Allamorph: if you pull me up on my punctuation in this post, I will...acknowledge my use of commas is somewhat unorthodox....
I disappeared off this community for the three years of my degree. Sure, I was posting once a blue moon and updating myOtaku occasionally, but I wasn't really involved. Since being back "full time" [Graduating helps], I've been blown away at how quickly I've been re assimilated. We have genuinely friendly people who will go the extra mile for anyone. You've made an 7 year oldbie feel welcome again.
This is who I am. It's a part of me. It's not something I do on weekends or something that I can put down and step over, my faith is the part of me. I live it, and it shapes who I am.
It will also explain to those who wonder where I've gone, why I've gone.
In 18 days from the time of this post, I will have left the country [And the Internet] for two years to serve as a Missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Berlin, Germany.
And cheers for reading through all that :)
-What's your full name?
Liam Cameron [No middle name, at all. Not from a lack of invention by school friends]
-What's your favorite color?
Orange. Always has been, always will be.
-What do you hate most?
Not achieving my potential because of poor judgment
-What do you love most?
That's a big question, so I'll narrow it down to a cop out.
I love the smell of rain on Christmas day, when it's 42 degrees C and it's been a cloudless week. To be able to just step outside into a beautiful sunshower in summer is an amazing thing.
This will be my first white Christmas...and the thought of snow does nothing to stop me from missing the smells of a Summer Christmas...
-What are your favorite creatures?
Honestly, I couldn't tell you. For big creatures, I can't go past the big cats [I want a pet snow leopard]. For small creatures, I just love Ancylostoma duodenale, for that goofy grin.
Warning: Science Student with Parasitology subjects
-Do you watch cartoons?
Occasionally. For some reason I've been watching Chaotic in the mornings. This is what having free time does to you.
Also I watch Anime, and Bleach is my current favourite. Possibly All time Favourite.
-What's the dumbest thing you've ever done?
Okay. I was in a three hour solid Organic Chemistry lecture in my first year, second semester, of University. This was a large lecture [500 people or so] sitting in a tiered auditorium that was about three stories in height.
It was international talk like a pirate day.
[Now you can see where this is going]
It was dark, I was sitting up the very back with a number of my friends. I mentioned TLAP, which lead to someone making origami parrots and another making hats. Things dissolved from there. We were very quiet, however, as the professor was known for his poor temper.
He was also a bit of a tool
Anyhow some idiot set this gentleman off into a tirade. He turned off his computer, folded his arms in a huff and basically ranted about how his students obviously didn't want to pass their exams.
After all of this, he asked, "Well, do you want me to continue? Do you?"
I responded, with the rest, [much louder than I thought] "Yarr! We do!"
...and row after row after row, all the way down to the very front, the students turned to look at me.
The lights were turned on, and my friends and I could not remove our hats and parrots fast enough.
The professor was speechless for a bit, shook his head and said "in my day people used to just play cards..." and turned off the lights before continuing to teach.
In third year, we had a conversation about our most favourite moments at uni. This was in a mixed bunch [the survivors of our course] and I mentioned this episode. As one, these new friends and somewhat new faces cried as one: "That was you!?.
Crowning achievement.
-Wow, you're pretty stupid...
I think of it as a gift.
-Which one of your characters do you like most?
He's getting on in age, but I'd have to say SYF's Liam
-Which one would you trash?
I can't trash them. How else will I learn?
-What would you do if someone stole your work?
Be disbelieving. But then again, stranger things have happened. Unprovable, I know. But I swear this guy gleaned some of my muse.
-What are your views on online dating?
I just want them to stop advertising "Hot Singles" on my Facebook >.<
-What kind of people do you like?
My kind of people. Those that are serious, responsible, well rounded, and [this is important] don't take themselves too seriously. Life can be too hard sometimes to not have a sense of humour.
I come from a family who laugh in the face of dark times. When my Grandfather was diagnosed with lung cancer, the doctor said to him and my Nana, "I'm sorry, but you have a ten year life expectancy."
Quick as a flash, my Nana turned to my Grandfather and said; "well that's not too bad. If you live that long you'll be 98 and you probably couldn't be bothered."
-Would you still be nice to a boring deviant or otakuian?
I'm usually the boring otakuian.
-What would you do if someone flamed you?
Borrow Batman's Asbestos Suit.
Character time
-Hi
Hello.
- 0____o What's your name?
Thane Stoke.
-How old are you?
In my late twenties.
-Are you male or female?
Male. This is why I hate phone interviews. Surely you don't know any women with such a deep voice?
-If you had to chose just one place to live for the rest of your life, where would it be?
I'd say somewhere on the coast, but it's either too built up with too many problems, or somewhere out in the sticks. I like being in the city.
-How creative do you think your human/creator is?
Creative enough to put me into a story that doesn't get any comments, which forces him to shove my new adventures all into the same edited post. Brilliant, chief.
-Could you describe your personality to us?
I can be a little intense with work, I get told that a lot. My partner tries to "lighten me up" a little, but I don't see why. I'm just focused, and I guess that can make me a little serious. I can be a bit cheeky and a bit too honest, but I think people respect that.
-Hmm...Interesting...tell me your life story, if you don't mind.
Well okay. I went to highschool, graduated and then enrolled in a Psych degree at university. I finished that, and then realised it wasn't what I wanted to do. I got interested in the Police and signed up. Best decision I made. After a transfer and promotion to Detective Senior Constable, I haven't looked back.
Oh and I've discovered that I get episodes triggered where I can see into what could be the future. Usually something life threatening. I don't know why it's happening, but my friends and family have been kind of useless about it. I guess it's a warning system.
-Good or Evil?
Definitely good. I can't say I know of anyone evil, but I've seen some evil things done to innocent people...and not so innocent people. I don't like it, and I'm doing my best to stop it.
Yeah. Definitely good.
Darren- The Legions of Basement Cat swell with each passing day.
I had the odd thought the other day. I'm not someone who fanfictions [except to draw some form of amusement from it], but I may take a foray into it. I think I ought to, in fact, I must create something bizarre.
Okay, I will make some crossover suggestions that will not match, and I will guarantee that they will have my particularly odd twist to them. [That's a good thing].
Here are my two suggestions. I did have a third, but I've forgotten it.
1.
The Phantom crossed with The Harry Potter world
2.
The Inheritance Cycle [Eragon etc] crossed with The Ratchet and Clank Universe
3. Blast. Thought I remembered it. Something involving Scarecrow...can't quite remember.
Well I'm open for suggestion. Whatever gets picked [or added] I'll make an original cross over that I will try to make work. Nothing dodgy, something that makes you read and go "aha"
Crazy, I know. Whatever, it could be fun.
I have always wanted someone to just shoot Voldemort. Seriously. Maybe I need to do an original fanfiction involving the British SAS getting called in to make the hit...
Just completed a Guru test for the hell of it.
Most amusing.
Well the title is misleading, but for the sake of what is being included in this update, it was appropriate. Basically I'm going to ramble for a little bit about new Australian Crime Drama.
Personally I think that the Writer's Strike in the...
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