However at this stage I honestly have no idea what I would say in a video blog entry, therefore if anyone has any suggestions I very much open to this.

Stuart

In the interest of narrowing the amount of blogs that I have, and spreading everything everywhere… I have decided to shut down my old Personal Blog (Secluded Habitat) and being posting all my random thoughts here. For some time I ‘kinda’ had this intention but never really stuck to it and ended up posting personal stuff on both but today it is decided.

So this should mean that I should be able to begin posting more regular updates here at Eccentric Reality.

Stuart

At a recent celebration night that Canon Australia was holding (celebrating 50 years since the first Canon SLR Camera) I was once again offered the chance to borrow a camera to have a play with and review if I wish, which is is a Canon EOS 5D MKII. While we are waiting for one of those to become available I have had the Canon Legria HFS11 High Definition Video Camera on loan for a few weeks to have a play with. I am currently in the process of reworking all the sample footage and will upload this along with the review sometime next week (I hope).

However in the mean time I wanted to let you know that I recently won a competition Canon Australia was running. On visiting the EOS website a few weeks back I noticed they were running a survey where you would win prizes. At the end you had to state in 25 words or less what you loved about the Canon EOS Community. I cant remember exactly what I wrote but it was along the lines of the chance to see other peoples work, and interact with other photographers of all skill levels.

So long story short I received an email two days ago letting me know that the judges had picked my answer as the best and I had won a Canon EOS 500D Single Lens Kit. So this means that (just because I can) I will most likely be doing a review of the EOS 500D in the not too distant future as well. So I just wanted to throw out a big thanks to Canon for not only providing me the opportunity to begin my journey into photography but also fueling my desire to learn more and try new things while providing me the opportunity to do so.

Anyhoo just thought I would provide an update I have loads of ideas and will have the time to put them into writing later this week after I am back from holidays.

Once again a HUGE thanks to Canon Australia and their PR Agency team.
Stuart

Two Choices – Author Unknown:

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: ‘When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?’

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. ‘I believe that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.’

Then he told the following story:

Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, ‘Do you think they’ll let me play?’ Shay’s father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

Shay’s father approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, ‘We’re losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we’ll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.’

Shay struggled over to the team’s bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. His father watched with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father’s joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay’s team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay’s team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn’t even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay’s life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman’s head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, ‘Shay, run to first! Run to first!’ Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, ‘Run to second, run to second!’ Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball … The smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher’s intentions. So he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman’s head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, ‘Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay’

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, ‘Run to third! Shay, run to third!’

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, ‘Shay, run home! Run home!’ Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.

‘That day’, said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, ‘the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world’.

Shay didn’t make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, and coming home and seeing his mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

AND NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY: We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people hesitate. The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.

[paraphrased] Why not send this story out, link to it on facebook, tell your friends, and most of all, reflect on the story… how would you have handled the same situation?

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it’s least fortunate amongst them.