A little update #2

Well well, It's been a very busy last few days, so I apologize for the lack of updates, but I promise you my best post to date is on it's way. I'll fill you in on the happenings in a brief updat:

Little Ruby had a very rough night the last few nights, she didn't go to sleep until 6am last night! No wonder why my parents seemed quite tired. She is adorable as always and here is her impersonation of a turtle

This week I had a Deal or no deal audition with my girlfriend Abbey, They say you need to be a little bit strange or crazy to get on a episode of the show. I think being a little crazy is my specialty! It was a great experience hopefully I get on the show, Win some cash and donate to charity! :)

I went to the Carlton vs Hawthorn game on Friday night, Terrible first half but the contest evened up in the second half, We lost by 12 point's but could of easily won the game.

Also, In other amazing news.

I HAVE A JOB!

I start October 3rd. :)

That is all for my blog update, as I said It's been a busy week but some of my best blog updates are coming so get excited!

Sport, Gaming and Me.

      Sport, gaming and me.

Well, another eventful day has passed. Had some family come over to see Ruby for the first time, so I'll be sure to have some pictures up and about in the coming days. Onto what you have all come to read,

What's the deal with me and sport?

Sport: I have fallen in love with it, but I can't play it. The closest I get to it now is throwing a tennis ball to the dog, I know it's sound as exciting as it really is. In my short life to date, I have played Tennis*, Table tennis, Basketball*, Netball*, Swimming, Football, Soccer, Cricket and many more some that probably don't even count. (* Indicates able body and wheelchair versions)

I had a budding career in wheelchair tennis, being coached by some of the best and playing with players above my age group, I loved tennis rain, hail or shine. I'd find a wall in the hallway or backyard and just day after day. I was the fastest player moving around the court and had a knack for hitting the ball a fraction too hard, Too hard to the point where I continually popped my shoulder in and out of joint. I got sick of it fairly quickly and I had to give up tennis. I quickly moved to school yard football. That went well for a fair while, I kicked a few goals and tried to find myself as wide open as possible. Until the school bully decided to tackle me from behind, I broke my elbow and stayed away from footy that point on-words.

I moved into school cricket playing it on a school level, I trained like the team did and usually sat on the sideline cheering the boys on. Our coach at the time was also my maths teacher so he had a very good understanding of me and my condition. He asked me to bowl 4th and bat at 11th if he needed me too, so I was quickly up and about warming up. If anyone follows cricket, I bowl Off-spin which is when the ball spins from left to right, as opposed to Shane Warne who spins the ball from right to left. For the 6 balls I ended up throwing down (because my bowling action is very suspicious). I got 2 wickets and 4 runs hit against me! That's a very good return In my maiden and only game.

That was the only time I played cricket for the school, but it was a great experience.

My most glories moments as a sport's watcher and lover...

Met Shane Warne (One of Australia's and the worlds all time greatest bowlers)

Mr Richie Benaud (Another All time great Australian)

I was given the privlidge to meet these great gentleman and more through the Starlight Foundation MAKE-A-WISH I may blog about the amazing 5 days I had at some-point but I thought I should share these photo's as the pinnacle of my sports life.

I enjoy watching sport, especially when my beloved Carlton win, In the Soccer when Chelsea are playing and usually anything Australia participate in. I have the competitive buzz deep down so whenever I get the chance to play some table tennis or some backyard cricket I get right into it! Slowly but surely my competitive sporting drive turn into a competitive gaming drive.

What is competitive gaming all about?

Competitive gaming around he world is now a multi-million doller industry, with multi million doller player contracts to go with it. I myself was a Halo player, for all you people that don't know what Halo is I'll explain briefly, You are a super soldier who kills invading alien type creatures to save the world from certain destruction. Believe it or not that game has sold hundreds of millions of copy's, played for Trillions of hours and there is a competitive side. You work as a team of 4 to defeat another team of 4 (all real people) I played for around 2 years trying to achieve a top 8 team in Australia and I could never make it. I quickly moved into competitive FIFA (Yes soccer but on a gaming console like xbox). I won my first event at the end of 2010 in Brisbane and won my 2nd event in Melbourne at the start of 2011, placing 4th in Sydney mid 2011.

The thrill of a team competitive game almost competes for the thrill of playing a real sport, but this will have to do. Competitive gaming only mildly quenches my competitive thirst, I'm sure one day if i could play a sport for my team, nothing could compare...

Then again, thinking about it. If I didn't have Brittle bones, I wouldn't have been presented with all these amazing opportunities to advocate for chronic illness and youth voice. I'd love to know who I would be without my condition, But I live life to it's fullest every day.

Thank you for reading and make sure you share with your friends :)

One small step for youth...one giant leap for youthkind

Pressure is on

It's about time I shed some light on some of the volunteer work on various committees and websites I do work on. One of them is the Youth Advisory Council at the RCH.

The Y@K is a place for a collective voice from all the young people at the Royal Children's Hospital, We (as the committee) Push for change for young people in the hospital. Just recently the Y@K in combination with the RCH did the worlds first youth forum at a hospital. (<Google agree's)

The youth forum brought together over 150 young people to share their opinions and suggestions to improving the hospital through specific workshops.

Some of the outcomes for changes were: Food, Color, Staff to patient communication, Adolescent space and social networking.

With the new hospital just months away from completion I'm happy to wipe color, Staff/Patient communication and Adolescent space off the black board for now, as they are right now being addressed or plan to be addressed in the coming months. Food sure, who wouldn't love a roast, lasagna or lamb shanks for dinner, but let's be fair. It won't change too drastically for the time being. Right now  I have my sights set firmly on social networking and entertainment.

Today speaking in front most of the major players in the RCH, I recapped the youth forum for the head honchos with fellow Y@kker Olivia, Loretta and Teagan who also were apart of the steering committee for the event. After speaking about the key themes from the forum, I spoke about how crucial it is for young people to stay connected with friends both inside the hospital on the wards and friends/family. Then John Stanway, Executive from the RCH says to me that my job is to bring social networking to the new RCH.

Placing social networking into the Royal Children's Hospital.

Previously the RCH has been extremely afraid of websites like YouTube and Facebook for reason's  such as privacy and cyber bullying. Today was a huge step for youth voice in the RCH, as the big executives are very open to idea's for social network implementation. How I am going to do it? Read on...

The Entertainment Hub

This "Hub" so to speak, would be an interactive program on the hospital internet-by which Movies, Facebook, YouTube and any other form of entertainment would be safely accessed, Giving the hospital their "control" but also giving the patients what they want.

Over the coming weeks I will have more information to share with you all, but ponder what change has become because of the voice of the young people.

A little update

The Goodies Start Here!

Well,  What a busy day that has flown by, Baby sister Ruby has come home for the first time, and seems to have settled quite nicely (the true test will be tonight) IF she has any of my characteristics, she should be a heavy sleeper and eating alot.


Here's another picture of her:

Totally off topic, I found this photo of my dog when she was a puppy, She is adorable

I am obviously new to this whole blogging Idea, but I must firstly thank Carly Findlay for inspiring me to start blogging also with the help of advertising my blog and other amazing things like speaking at the Australian Taxation Office's International Day of Disability.

I'm still editing my blog, with some key information still missing like an about me, but  I will gradually fix those up, while I build my blog, I'll continue with making my next feature blog about the short film I talked about in my first blog, Definitively can't have that blog rushed, But I will certainly start having some bigger blogs in the coming days talking about my condition so on so forth.

Before my amazing song choice that will be stuck in your head all night long, I want to thank all of the readers that read my blog, I really appreciate the time you take to read and share with your friends :)

Smile at someone, you might just make their day.

A quite final word: Sign this petition, It has almost half a million signatures, It will be presented to the world leaders in a days time, It's about getting the developed world a deceleration to research more and more into cancer to one day find the perfect cure. Takes just a minute!
http://www.uicc.org/declaration/sign-world-cancer-declaration

Whole new world

Well well, It's a scary new place to be on this blogging site, but I'll give it my best and if you notice something not quite right, let me know.

I think this is the part where I talk about myself? My name is James, I'm 18 years of age and live in Melbourne, Australia. Im passionate about Gaming, Advocating for people with Chronic Illness's and Music. I myself have  a chronic Illness It's called Osteogenisis Imperfecta Basically in short. Brittle Bones. My bones can break easier then a toothpick being snapped between a person's fingers, Day to day is a struggle but the words in my mind that always come to me when I have a little complaint about something being sore or something being too hard ... "There's always someone worse off"

News of the day!

Now it's not a regular segment but, It's fairly important to me; My mother had a baby this weekend WOO! Fairly amazing stuff.

                                                        Here's a photo of Me and Baby Ruby:

I'll be sure you guys are updated on how she is going. She will be home tomorrow (Thursday) for more happy snaps.

Royal Children's Hospital Youth Forum

On Monday the Royal Children's Hospital held the first ever youth forum. What is a youth forum you may ask? The purpose of a youth forum is to find out as much information about something specific such as  public transport in Melbourne or how comfortable you are in your local town. Instead it was about how the Royal Children's Hospital can improve services for young people aged 12-20 in the new hospital. I spoke in-front of 150 people at the beginning of the day, hopefully I get a copy of the speech on Video and show you all. In all the day was amazing for change at the hospital with the CEO's in attendance listening out to everyone contribution.

That's what I am talking about!
I'm in the process of developing a short film about young people with chronic conditions and day to day life, as well as developing a entertainment hub for young people at the Royal Children's Hospital. Maybe on my next blog entry I will talk about these a little more.

I want to say a big thank you for taking the time to read this blog in it's entirety, If you have any suggestions or questions  you can ask away in the comments below or! Follow me on twitter @James9W

My parting gift to the reader's who stayed until the very end, It's been in my head all day, now to be in yours!

"There's always somebody worse off"