With ers Without You

Things you do on a long road trip hey …

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are HAVE to write a note with 100 Truths about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. Tagged means “I’m interested in knowing what your 100 truths are”. (To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, copy and paste this note, erase my answers and enter your own, tag people ((in the right hand corner of the app then click publish.)

1. Real name: Joshua Daniel Withers
2. Nickname: It depends on where you live. I’m J-Dub in some parts of Queensland but I’d like to be JD :P
3. Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius (not that it means anything)
4. Male or female: Male
5. Elementary School: Victoria Park Primary, Slade Point Primary, Eimeo Road State School, Alligator Creek Primary School
6. High School: Sarina High, North Mackay High, St Patricks College Mackay
7. University: Hard knocks
8. Tall or short: Tall
9. Hair color: Olive?
10. Fat or thin: Phat
11. Sweats or Jeans: Some kind of denim, short or long
12. Phone or Camera: iPhone 4
13. Health freak: when in Rome … (I still don’t know what that means)
14. Orange or Apple: Apples!
15. Do you have a crush on someone: I’m 29 and single … kinda …
16. Eat or Drink: Drink, usually non-alcoholic though
17. Piercings: I’m completely in-accessorized!
18. Pepsi or Coke: I take Cole to KFC

HAVE YOU EVER?

19. Been in an airplane: Too many times
20. Been in a relationship: In my humble opinion, I wouldn’t call what I’ve experienced a “relationship” so no.
21. Been in a car accident: Yes
22. Been in a fist fight: Yes

FIRSTS & LASTS

23. First piercing: Nipple (when I was 18)
24. First best friend: Cassie Tesar-Keys
25. First award: Participation in something or other.
26. First crush: Crystal Someone
27. First word: Pizza! (oh that wasn’t me…)
28. Siblings: 3 great brothers and 1 beautiful li’l sis
29. Last person you texted: Britany Snow
30. Last person you watched a movie with: Grant Shipp (The Social Network, in Esperance)
31. Last food you ate: Hungry Jacks Junior Whopper Stunner Meal in Grafton
32. Last movie you watched: PS I Love You (that’s how I roll yo)
33. Last song you listened to: POD - Youth Of The Nation
34. Last thing you bought: Wine for Lawerence and Rachel
35. Last person you hugged: Lawrence Edwards, a man hug, don’t judge me!

FAVE:

37. Food: I love Thai, but not hot
38. Drinks: CaramelLatte on Skim
39. Bottoms: Denim Shorts
40. Flower: None :/
41. Animal: Wirra the Dog! Miss you Wirra!
42. Colours: Blue and Green
43. Movie: Anything by Kevin Smith
44. Subjects: Maths C!

(Put an X in the brackets if yes)

45. fallen in love with someone
46. celebrated Halloween.
47. had your heart broken.
48. went over the minutes/texts on your cell phone.
49. had someone question my sexual orientation.
50. Shoplifted.
51. got pregnant.
52. had an abortion.
53. did something I regret.
54. broke a promise.
55. hid a secret.
56. pretended to be happy.
57. met someone who changed your life.
58. faked a sick.
59. left the country.
60. tried something you normally wouldn’t try and liked it.
61. cried over the silliest thing.
62. ran a mile.
63. went to the beach with your best friend.
64. got into an argument with your friends.
65. hated someone.
66. stayed single for a whole year.

CURRENTLY:

67. Eating: Nothing
68. Drinking: Coke
69. Listening: POD album
70. Sitting/Laying: Sitting in a passenger seat
71. Plans for today: OB this morning then travel to the Gold Coast!
72. Waiting: To try another bigger dream

YOUR FUTURE:

73. Want kids?: Yep … mine will be perfect little Angels lol
74. Want to get married?: To the right person
75. Dream Job: I’m working it! I wake up every morning and entertain people!

WHICH IS MORE ATTRACTIVE (CHOOSE ONE)?:

76. Lips or eyes: Eyes
77. Shorter or taller: Shorter
78. Romantic or spontaneous?: Spontaneous
79. Nice stomach or nice arms?: meh
80. Hook-up or relationship?: Relationship
81. Looks or personality?: Personality

HAVE YOU EVER: 83. Lost glasses/contacts: No 84. Snuck out of a house: So many times (sorry mum and dad) 85. Held a gun/knife for self defense: yes 86. Killed somebody: no 87. Broken someone’s heart: I hope not 88. Been in love: I don’t know really 89. Cried when someone died: Yes

DO YOU BELIEVE IN: 90. Yourself: Yes 91. Miracles: Yep 92. Love at first sight: Crush at first sight? 93. Heaven: Yes 94. Santa Claus: Who doesn’t! 95. Sex on the first date: No 96. Kiss on the first date: Only if she’s super hot lol

TRUTHFULLY:

97. Is there one person you want to be with right now?: I don’t know …
98. Do you know who your real friends are?: Who knows?
99. Do you believe in God?: hard not too
100. Post as 100 truths?: Okay!

I couldn’t get one particular photo to encapsulate all of my friends … so here’s a few that might suffice. There are so many people missing but we don’t have photos together on Facebook … well none that I could find!

[caption id=“attachment_991” align=“aligncenter” width=“427” caption=“Dale, Myself, Dean and Ash - we look great in dress up don't we!”][/caption]

[caption id=“attachment_996” align=“aligncenter” width=“604” caption=“John, Roger, Jeremiah, Ori and Myself at Ori's Wedding “][/caption]

[caption id=“attachment_994” align=“aligncenter” width=“604” caption=“The Fam! My Grandpa Charlie, Zac my closest in age younger brother, Myself, Baby Sis Chloe and Chris my younger brother”][/caption]

[caption id=“attachment_992” align=“aligncenter” width=“604” caption=“Dale (The Penguin), Barney (Scooby Doo) and myself (A Polar Bear)”][/caption]

[caption id=“attachment_993” align=“aligncenter” width=“604” caption=“Chrissy, Amanda and myself”][/caption]

[caption id=“attachment_1005” align=“aligncenter” width=“604” caption=“Myself in makeup after a theatre production and Daniel”][/caption]

[caption id=“attachment_997” align=“aligncenter” width=“604” caption=“Shelley from Vision FM and myself. We don't get to see each other much but we used to co-host together at 107.3fm on the Gold Coast”][/caption]

1. I once was locked up in the Mackay Police Watch House as a result of not wearing a bike helmet. I only spent one night there luckily. Jail food is not all it's cracked up to be.
2. I smoked cigarettes for years but quit after I woke up one morning and didn't feel like smoking anymore. Luckily the feeling continued and I've only lapsed 3 or 4 times since.
3. If I mix (segue) two songs and a break and or sweeper really nicely and tightly when I'm on air I'll push my chair back from the desk and mouth F-Yeah! Because it feels really good to make nice radio and it doesn't occur naturally.
4. There is no "maximum amount" of parmesan cheese you can put on a meal, in my humble opinion.
5. I have a knob on the inside of my right foot that my Dad always asks if I've had removed yet and some girls, well one girl, under the influence of a financial bet, want to kiss. It's the result of a shell embedding itself in my foot.
6. I have only one qualification (Certificate III in Radio Broadcasting, which I got through RPL) yet I've worked in over 30 jobs across almost every industry and type of business.
7. Facial hair, in fact any body hair on me, grows at a super amazingly slow rate. Right now I have facial hair that has taken 3 and a half months to grow.
8. Although I refuse to ride rollercoasters simply because they are a dangerous and unnecessary part of life, I've worked at a theme park and operated the rollercoaster where we would play tricks on riders making them think we'd forgotten to lock them in.
9. I once met the Veronica's in the hallway of Sea FM/Gold FM on the Gold Coast. I was talking to the program director and their manager pretended to know me.
10. I'm 2 degrees of separation from Ellen DeGeneres. That's my only real claim to fame.
11. I'm really ticklish on my feet but I can funnel that ticklish energy into something that is very relaxing. Foot massage please.
12. I've been officially homeless, without a home, for one night of my life and it was with my good mate Andrew Evans in the year 2000. We slept in an abandoned shopping centre and slept with our bags right next to us. We woke up and half of our stuff had been stolen.
13. I probably enjoy the smell of my own farts too much, but don't all guys?
14. iPhones, MacBooks, iPAds etc ... all this Apple Technology impresses me and I buy it simply because I'm impressed by it's design and function, not because I need it or want it. I probably have spent too much money in this ritual.
15. I'm a virgin. Technically, officially, according to the books I'm a virgin. I've had girlfriends and flings but I've never gone to the last base. Why? For the earlier years of my life it was more out of luck, or lack of it. But after a while I decided I wanted to enjoy losing it with someone I valued.

To most Christians, the Bible is like a software license. Nobody actually reads it. They just scroll to the bottom & click "I agree - anonymous comedian.

No truer statement has been spoken. You'll ask the same person about their values or what they believe and they have their default, stored in memory, as taught by a pastor, statement. Which is probably ok, but it's not backed up with any personal conviction. It's like holding a bundle of $100 notes in your hand but not understanding what they're worth or what you can do with them.

I’m no theologian or memory verse expert myself. But you’ll also find me answering humbly when I don’t know the answer to something. That’s the truth, I don’t know the answer to most things and most people that do are really annoying.

It’s been 365 days, to this very hour, since the Skywest Fokker 50 landed at Esperance Airport and my journey from the Gold Coast via Perth was complete.

Thinking back to that time I was so scared, but an overwhelming sense of excitement kept my temperature from reaching fever pitch. After seven years of various roles in the radio industry, my dream of “working in a real radio station, on the air” was finally being recognised. I’d done so much volunteer work for community radio stations, aboriginal LPON and online plus my numerous opportunities at RG Capital/Macquarie Regional Radioworks in the IT and Engineering field and it had all added up to this.

Weeks earlier I had received a phone call asking me to apply for the position. I was at the Hillsong Conference in Sydney, enjoying a really good time with friends and lapping up the Sydney City culture and in the space of a few days I’d been thrown three balls to juggle.

A church in North Queensland had offered me a great staff position doing what I was already doing at SURFCiTY Church, just in much better conditions with some people I really loved working with and plus I’d be within minutes of family which was a real drawcard.

One of Australia’s largest touring companies had asked me to submit a proposal to create a new division within that company, an online video archive of all of the great concerts they’d promoted in the past and had video of plus also to live stream upcoming concerts and offer online concert tickets, a very exciting venture.

The third phone call came and the Group Program Director of Southern Cross Media knew that I had been really keen to get on air on one of his stations, I’d continually email him and harass him stating so. He had passed my details on to the West Australia Group PD who then called me and let me know there was a job opportunity and I might like to apply.

When it rains it pours.

Suffice to say I ended up in Esperance, Western Australia based on a gut feeling, one year on and it’s working out with a few social and relational hitches. I’ve never had such a great opportunity to live my dream as I have had here, though I’ve never been so far away from people that I loved, which I never would’ve thought of as an pertinent issue.

I could list the numerous problems and issues I’ve had, or address the dire loneliness I’ve felt but it’s all fickle and worthless. The loneliness isn’t so much about being alone, but it’s the residue, left over after relationships have deflated over the Nullarbor.

Where to from here? I’ve got no idea, but I’m sure it’ll be in radio.

Fisherman, single guys and serial killers, they’re the only ones who have “the one who got away”. I’ve been a single guy for a period that long that even God himself, when asked how long Josh has been single for, just says “a long time”, so in essence I’m more than qualified to talk about this.

There's been approximately 9,340 girls that have gotten away, 4 fish and 0 prospective killing victims.

Too name one, I’d go out and say Cassie Tesar-Keys. She lived down the road when I was in Grades 7 to 10 at Salonika Beach, south of Mackay. I spent a good three years trying to work up the courage to ask Cassie to go steady with me. We already pretended we were together on the bus so other boys wouldn’t annoy her, we even practiced kissing once so that we’d be ready for the big game whenever and wherever that might be.

Alas, my boyish lack of intelligence left us apart. We’ll note that down as a weakness and move on ok?

I’m challenged of late - I know so many people that are great at things. They’re not great at everything but they really excel in some areas. For example in just the last few days

• Simon Dodson - just relaunched his blog after a break and I'm reminded of how he's a great designer. He's really great at it.
• Ash Punch - He's a music/culture nut - he some how finds music and other cultural things that I jsut love getting into. He's like a cultural rudder and he's great at it. Plus he's a great friend, that's just an added bonus.
• The Programming Team at Bunbury Hot FM/Radiowest - These guys, the whole team are really freaking great at making captivating radio, the kind of radio I love to listen to.
• Mike Penny - Mike's my boss at Radiowest Esperance and he's simply a great manager, he runs a profitable radio station that isn't a bore to work at either.
• Scott McDonald - Scotty makes great radio on 96Five in Brisbane, the kids of Brisbane love it because he's great at it.
• Dom Knight - I was lucky enough to chat to Dom on my show a few weeks back and just got my copy of Comrades, his new book. He's a great writer. A great comedy writer but also author.

I could sit here and name so many people, I had to stop myself otherwise I'd be blogging all morning, but my point is that I'm good at many things, not so good at some, better at others. But I'm not great at one thing.

I do website design, but it’s nowhere near as creative, original and inspiring that Doddo, Tea Brennan and other web designing mates do - I’m humbled when I see their work. I also walk away humbled listening to my mates on radio, they do a bloody amazing job but every morning I sit in my Esperance studio stumbling my way through hoping that I get to 9am without falling over. Then I’ll try to write something that’s not about me and I get three words, most probably clichés to boot.

I think I’d like to be great at something.

June was a big month for me, locally at Radiowest we were involved in a national fundraising effort that affected local people, Give Me Five For Kids. GM5FK raises money for local children’s hospitals/wards etc - here in WA we raise money for the Regional Assistance Scheme at the Princess Margaret Children’s Hospital. Here’s the official word on what went down.

The whole of the Esperance community supported, attended, donated, splashed, dressed up for and answered questions for Give Me Five For Kids this year! In an effort never seen before the community attended 6 massive events and gave an astounding $23,600 (at last count, with more donations still pouring in!). In an effort to include the whole community of this Southeast West Australian town Radiowest hosted 6 totally different events over the month that all appealed to different types of people. An all schools Free Dress Day included the school students, the local Blue Light Disco committee hosted a Sausage Sizzle out the front of Bunnings, the Chamber of Commerce hosted a business networking event with a $50 Business Card Challenge, a local rural fire brigade hosted a Bogan Bingo night, the Esperance Civic Centre was home to a very creative and fun Mindbender Trivia Night (with a nice tie-in to the regular “Morning Mindbender” competition) and over the month over twenty local bosses had put the fundraising efforts in their staff’s hands. If their staff could raise $1000 they could push their boss off the local landmark, the Esperance Tanker Jetty. The local Volunteer Marine Rescue, Department of Transport, Shire Council and St John’s Ambulance teamed up with Radiowest to make the event a safe and enjoyable one and over 250 people gathered at the end of the jetty to watch their bosses make the splash. Splashee’s included our Shire President, Senior Sergeant, CEO of the local Port and many more.

It'd be ignorant of me to not acknowledge the help of my local team, Mike, Michelle, Sian and Gemma plus the guys at our Bunbury hub and the national GM5FK and programming team, plus the locals that supported everything I did. A truly magical month, I'm looking forward to hearing stories of the kids that are affected by our hard work! [gallery link="file"]

If I Had Unlimited Resources, I would build a town where the rejects of the world could gather without worry of danger, finance or culture-conflicts. Eventually I think everyone would be there.

Today we have a new Prime Minister, Australia’s first female Prime Minister. Take away from these screenshots what you will. They were taken between 12pm and 12:30pm WA Time on June 24th.

[gallery orderby=“title”]

Today another milestone was reached in my life, I was published in a ridgy didge newspaper! I hope this is the first in long line of them :)

Here’s the article, the photo of it printed is below.

Esperance, the ninth wonder of the modern world, the only island not completely surrounded by water.

Well at least it feel a like an island sometimes, so it was a pleasant surprise to meet with Qantas management this week as they gauge community interest in the flying kangaroo landing in Esperance. The state government is deregulating the WA airline market in some places and re-regulating in others, this is the case in Esperance where an extra license will be issued soon. The meeting I sat in with the senior management of Qantas for West Australia had the stylings of a casual job interview, but Esperance was interviewing Qantas for the job of ‘getting us to Perth and beyond!’. We talked about how our town is growing and so are our needs, we just got a new McDonalds you know! And if the federal government is kind enough to the resource companies we might see more mines open soon. Our port (the largest nickel concentrates exporting Port in the southern hemisphere) is getting a new transport corridor, just like a grown-up port and the town’s foreshore is finally being stablised. There’s even talk of Coles and KFC coming to town, it’ll only be a matter of years until someone starts a rumour about David Jones opening at The Boulevard Shopping Centre.

Then Qantas told us about it’s great services and frequent flyer points, we were getting along really well and it looked like we might give the job to Qantas! But then the stark realisation was that in the end it was the Perth based State Government’s decision, as were most Esperance issues and we would have to wait for a crumb to fall from Master Barnett’s table until anything happened, let’s hope Esperance and the Southeast of WA doesn’t need another contamination to get Perth’s attention again. After all, there’s much more to the Southeast than lead contamination and boat rescues, have you heard about sammy the sea lion and our beaches?

• Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:The Esplanade,Esperance,Australia

I’ve recently been informed that my credit card number has been listed on Google thanks to my friends at Blippy. Read the news article at Venture Beat.

I’m in two minds about the matter. Firstly, I’m a radio host and comedian, so any hacker should know my credit card numbers are more useful to a collection agency than Google. Secondly, it’s an honour to be listed in such a dishonourable way next to Leo Laporte. I pride myself on my early adoption of technology, including Blippy, and all early adopters know that when you play with fire, Google caches it. [Update: early reports said Leo Laprte was also one of the four users that were compromised, but I’m not certain this is correct, which might make my blog post title awkward]

In recent times I’ve actually removed my credit card sync with Blippy because my bank was mailing me my statement in a small box because of the extra number of transactions Blippy incurred. I hope that Blippy is doing everything in it’s power to secure their systems for all other users. I’m confident that my bank has sufficient procedures in place to stop credit card fraud and as a safety precaution I’ll be ordering a new card.

Thank you to everyone’s inquiries, my story is for sale to the highest bidding TV network, I have a dramatised version that includes divorces and a possible Zombie plot just to keep the viewers interested.

Updates

Venture Beat posted a screenshot of my credit card on Google

And the Blippy News Blog assures me that these guys have my back now lol

8am Sunday Morning: I’ve just got my card canceled, I couldn’t do it earlier because I was on an Anzac Day Outside Broadcast.

10am Sunday Morning: I just realised I now have no access to any money which means no lunch! … Blippy, why!!?!??!!

Somewhere along the way, it might of been in a movie, probably in church, sometimes it’s even just a friend, but somewhere along the line that is life I got too encouraged.

I was told I could do anything. There were various conditions applied to this, for example “if you’ve got the right attitude” or “if you believe in yourself” or the classic “if you work hard enough”.

I even believed it. But as long as there are other people in the world I can’t do anything. The same ear that opened itself up to the world to be encouraged and educated is the same ear that hears the accusations, the discouragement, the disappointment and it’s the same ear that’s attached to the eyes that see the bank balance, that see the emails, that see the comments on Facebook.

Can our senses get a one-way valve upgrade?

Perhaps I’d be happier if I was never told I could do anything, then when something amazing happened I’d be really surprised and excited, instead of expecting amazing all the time which leaves me discouraged?

I believe that God exists and he’s kind of like the kiwi fruit of the world - no-one knows how to handle him and when someone gives it a go others call him out on it for not doing it their way.

I believe that arrogance, hypocrisy and ignorance are greater wrongs than not capitalising the g in God or dropping a swear word on the fly.

In face I think cancer is scared that one day we’ll have charities for arrogance and drop in centres for hypocrisy where you can be a hypocrite in a safe environment then go back into the world with a big smile on your face cause you’ve had your fix.

I believe that love heals more wounds than time does and that money doesn’t make the world go round, but people do - and it’s up to us to define the currency we use, be it love, money or marshmallows.

I believe that the word Christian is stained and the word religion is tainted. Why do we even use words to hide our honest opinion?

I believe that truth is like charity, it starts at home, only then can it infect politics, churches, businesses and corporations.

I believe that God exists, that he’s a genius, that he loves every single person ever and he doesn’t take holidays.

I just conducted a curbside interview with a Google Street View photographer/driver. He declined a radio interview but he didn’t mind answering a few questions out the front of his motel and he let me take a few photos as well. I found him driving down Dempster Street in Esperance, West Australia, en route to his motel for the night and tomorrow he’s off to Ravensthorpe and continuing West towards Perth.

Employment and recruitment company Adecco won the contract to photograph Australia for Street View in the initial tender two years ago and they continue to run the operation on this second around Australia photography journey. They have hired 23 drivers in 23 cars to traverse Australian streets and collate the data which is sent to Google to translate into the Street View service we find on Google Maps and 3 of those drivers are covering West Australia.

The cameras this year are different to the previous round. The last set up was of 7 cameras plus one on top and each camera was about 2-3 inches in diameter.

The camera setup this year is different with larger cameras, 9 cameras covering 360 degrees horizontally and 1 camera on top plus this year the photography is accompanied by 3 lasers which are measuring the distance between the camera and the subject.

To take the photos the driver flicks a switch and starts driving. This driver said the biggest problem he faced was keeping the bugs off the camera lenses, although not a problem in Esperance he jokingly said the Nullabor was painful.

My 14 year old sister just announced on Facebook that she has a boyfriend!

I’m scared, not for myself, but for him. I’m unsure what silly things I could say to him. He’s 16 and my protective nature over one of the most important women in my life could scar the boy. I might even scare him with idle threats, dropping lines about my gun license and how tough I could be if I was a ninja.

I’m also scared for her. I’ve not met many respectable young men. I hope and pray this guy’s a good one.

This is the first time I’ve had to deal with a boyfriend, my little brothers can protect themselves from fools (well they can do a good enough job without my help) but I really feel this deep need to fly to Queensland and stand by my sister as a boyfriend guard.

Crazy much? I can’t imagine how I’ll feel when I have my on daughter!

[caption id=“attachment_100” align=“alignright” width=“198” caption=“Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? - Seth Godin”][/caption]

I’m sure you, like I, have read one or two blog posts, tweets or Facebook statuses about how everything is different now. Social media is x and y, the internet is this and that and you can be rich or will be poor or your job and/or company will not be the same tomorrow as it was ten years ago.

This is all true, but the delivery of this heart breaking news is often given in a harsh, corporate language, preached to the masses from a proverbial pulpit and the information, as true as it may be, often lacks that personal and practical direction and encouragement that lessens the bruises left by the corporate bug that just swept you over.

Seth Godin’s daily blog posts (which this blogger receives by email) are a rigid mix of the latter but his recent release “Linchpin: Are You Indispensable” will hold a place in my bookshelf and heart as the influence it’s had on my personal direction is like no other.

It’s not told me everything else I knew and it’s not regurgitated from every other leadership, secular or Christian, motivational book that I’ve felt so bored reading.

Seth has presented an opportunity for this blogger, and for yourself if you choose, to forget some lies and to learn some truths.

An excerpt out of the book, I love it’s fast paced and easily digestible style:

You have been brainwashed by school and by the system into believing that your job is to do your job and follow instructions. It’s not, not anymore. Everyone has a little voice inside of their head that’s angry and afraid. That voice is the resistance—your lizard brain—and it wants you to be average (and safe). If you’re not doing as well as you hoped, perhaps it’s because the rules of the game were changed, and no one told you.

Linchpin is a well written and easily read book, that drives the reader through and leaves you satisfied and encouraged, not with your apparent lack of insight into the world today, but with the platform presented before you that is laden with opportunity like the underneath of a Christmas tree on the morning of December 25th.

Seth Godin explains Linchpin best in his own words “the reason I wrote Linchpin: If you want to change people, you must create enough leverage to encourage the change to happen.”

Buy Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? from Amazon.com

When I write I’m not proving myself, or asking for judgement. I’m not stating a point or opinion and hoping no-one else’s’ is different. I know that the only law that applies to having an opinion is that other people are allowed to have one too.

I write to deconstruct my brain and even then it’s not a clear representation of how my neurons are working. I write to just “get it out” because while “it’s” in I can’t sleep or hold normal conversations. I’ll spill my brain out onto the keyboard so that someone might understand it and diagnose me correctly, even if I know not what it is.

It often feels like I should write everything in pencil, just in case some reads it and gets offended or queries me, that way I could just rub it out. Is there a pencil mode on the keyboard? Why do we sit in front of a jury of our peers outside of courtrooms?

Perhaps you could write too and we all might get along better?