So not that really anyone cares about what I do in the mornings, I thought I would still share what I do in the morning – just about every morning – so my schedule kind of. Due to my school days – I would set my alarm for 5:30 am so that I would be awake and ready to be happy by 6:30 am. So as the time has passed doing this, my body has begun to wake itself before 5:30 am anticipating the alarm going off.

So now that I am done with High School – I have an interesting yet relaxing morning schedule which I follow. So Ill take this morning as my example. I must of woken up at around 5:30 am. My laptop sits right next to my bed – so I reach for it to check email, IM, twitter and Facebook – to name a few. I spoke to a good friend for a few minutes, then I decided I was going to try and sleep a bit more. I turned on some very relaxing piano music (I have a large collection of just Piano music) and soon drifted back to sleep until 9:00 am.

It was great getting those extra few hours of sleep. After this I got up and showered, cleaned up my room a bit and then prepared to write this post.

I know it is not of much interest to you most likely, but I thought why not share it.

Noel Harrison

(Click on the image for the full-sized version)

With the New Year near, my friend has reminded me of New Years resolutions. So I thought I would make it into a blog post. Now, I never really have done this before as I know most of the resolutions I will not keep – but here is what I would like to obtain, achieve and see in the New Year – 2010.

This past year (2009) has been a year of much enlightenment and I have seen what a friend is and what a fake friend is like. This is what guides me to the first resolution I have set out for the new year. In 2010, I want to make new friends who are caring and understanding and that will stand by me through both good and bad times. However, my view on friendship suggests that friendship is a two way road – for this reason, I believe that part of my responsibility as a friend is to return this care, kindness and understanding – I like to think I do this already – but I like many have failed to be consistent in providing this – I hope that over the next year I can improve in this area.

The second resolution is to continue my search for things I love in life. God has given each of us so much that we can see – but often we are too busy focusing on little unimportant things – that we neglect to see this. This can be a friend, lover or an opportunity. Below is a song which is special to me, it sums up my God and how I see him.

Lord of all creation
Of water, earth, and sky
The heavens are Your tabernacle
Glory to the Lord on High

God of wonders, beyond out galaxy
You are holy, holy
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy, holy

Lord of heaven and earth

Early in the morning
I will celebrate the light
And as I stumble through the darkness
I will call Your name by night

The third resolutions is to focus on the opportunities I have now. I am now working for a wonderful company and will be starting my studies in the new year. I am looking forward to this – it is going to be a challenge. It will be a balancing act which I will learn how to balance early in the year I hope. I will be studying Marketing and Organizational Physiology (2 majors) and hopefully will be able to walk away with a Bachelors Degree within four years.

In 2010, I will be trying to not over analyze things. This will assist in me being able to be more dynamic when interacting with people – rather than getting bogged down with unintentional small issues which my over analyzing mind has identified.

For the time being, these are my resolutions for 2010. I am sure I will adapt them as time passes and hopefully I will add a few more as the months fly past. As a part of this post, I wanted to add some quotes which have great meaning to me. They are not directly related to new years resolutions, but are important none the less.

“Without passion, you don’t have energy; without energy, you have nothing. Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.” – Donald Trump

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” – Warren Buffet

This one, is one from a friend of mine. I am unsure if it is his – but I cant find that anyone else has said it – so Ill quote him. (Update: it is his own quote)

“As I ponder my existence. My sins are as numerous as sand on a beach. God, friends and family have forgiven me. When do I forgive myself?” – Davide Mancinelli

I wish all my friends and readers a blessed and prosperous new year.

God Bless,

Noel Harrison

So today (or more accurately – this morning), I was lying in bed and could see the sun was bright! So when I opened my curtains, I saw just how beautiful today was. After lazing around for a little, I got up and went into the olive grove and took the picture below;

Above: Picture of Longbeach. (Click on image in enlarge)

Above: Me sitting in the gardens rock stairs

Above: Another picture of the valley and sea from home

Hope you enjoy the sea view,

Noel Harrison

Wow, so much for this whole last post thing. I could not help but post a few of my favorite pictures from 2009. Below are a few from my Facebook (basically the events I have been to and the photos I was tagged in). I have been lucky to not have those “oops, I should of not been on camera type” photos. So here I go;

Today @ Fire and Ice

Anyway, about an hour later we got home and I have not been so happy to be home in a long while

So this whole thing of my previous post being my last – it was a lie. I wanted to post this – it wont be too long, I promise.

So today my family and I headed out to this hotel restaurant in the Cape Town CBD called Fire and Ice and it was apart of the Protea Hotel Group. Basically, it is this huge restaurant which serves huge milkshakes – I had a cocoanut milk milk shake, my mother had this pumpkin and marshmallow one and my sister had some fancy chocolate mix. It was great.

Heading home, we went around the coast instead of the mountain pass – well this was the initial plan. Soon we found we were stuck behind what seemed to be a few hundred cars at least (I say thousands – but maybe a bit of a exaggeration). One benefit of this I guess is the view you got from the coast road. It was so hot in the car and the sun was attacking my arm anyway so now I guess one arm is red and the other is normal. No problem.

Anyway, about an hour later we got home and I have not been so happy to be home in a long while

Noel Harrison

Below are photos of myself and Lisa (my sister) at the restaurant in Cape Town.

I have also started talking to a guy I met. He is from Italy, but is living in America. He has taught me many important things about life and for this I am grateful. I hope to get to know him better as the days and years go on and I wish him all the success in the world as he pursues his path in life. You are special to me – for me it was so refreshing to get to know him a little better – he shared much about his family. You know, I have never know a family that is so close – It amazed me and touched me. One day when I have a family – I will demand this of them, but in all seriousness it is wonderful. It because they are Italian I say

This is my last planned post before the new year. 2009 has been a year of great challenges and amazing successes. So as I did last year, I want to do a review of the website and the coverage it has had.

This year (up to now) has seen another 4812 new faces, which generated 18287 website hits and this lead to the viewership of over 41500 page views. This is an exciting growth for my small yet largely opinionated blog. Yet again, I do claim that this is my personal website and I write about things I enjoy and I do not claim that the content is unbiased. (Just wanted to throw my small disclaimer in).

I have seen a great increase in my website readership this year, with a few of my articles being published on news sites – mainly my Hot Topic: Israel and my Capitalism in a cup write up. My Hot Topic: Israel post became the top read item on this other news site by easily more than four fold and it generated and encouraged much positive debate between accusers from both sides of the spectrum. This is by far one of the most favorable achievements – I am controversial – and this I attribute the success of this website to.

Ok, so now more on a personal note, this was my last year of high school which I am now complete. I get my final results on the 30th of December, and this will be a huge deciding factor on the fate of my planned studying in 2010. I am studying part time through the University of South Africa (UNISA) and will be working full time during the day at a wonderful company – Umoya Network Solutions. The environment at this company is one which encourages productivity – but on a more important note – encourages the personal growth of individuals within the business. The development team I am working with are all under 23 and this is enjoyable for me too as they are on top of the latest technology and are still in that stage in which they are passionate about their work (dont get me wrong – you  do get older people who are). It is refreshing.

In part this change has been a sad one for me – as it has required me to close down the business I have nurtured and grown over the last five years (which too has brought me much experience and joy). It is the closing of a path.

From a social point of view, this year has been life changing. I hope to keep in contact with a few of the people from my high school career and in the last 6 months of this year I have made some very close friend. My closest being the girl I went to the Matric Dance with (Otherwise known as a Prom for my American readers). We have become really good friends during this time and I hope that we will keep in contact over the years – I too wish her all the success in the world with her choice in studying down the path of Law in the greatest wine town in the world (not the bias coming up here) – Stellenbosch. Talking of wine, I have taken a great liking to wine (much against the general grain for an 18 year old) – but quite frankly, I dont care.

I have too learnt that people are not as they seem (makes me think to Shakespeare’s Othello act in which Iago makes the comment that men should be as they seem). This in reality is not so – I have seen this first hand and it has caused great pain in my life – but from it, I have obtained many new experiences and am now am much more cautious about whom I talk to and spend my time with. Our time is limited – and I am not willing to waste time on those who do not invest in my life – as I like to think I did or would do in theirs.

I have also started talking to a guy I met. He is from Italy, but is living in America. He has taught me many important things about life and for this I am grateful. I hope to get to know him better as the days and years go on and I wish him all the success in the world as he pursues his path in life. You are special to me – for me it was so refreshing to get to know him a little better – he shared much about his family. You know, I have never know a family that is so close – It amazed me and touched me. One day when I have a family – I will demand this of them, but in all seriousness it is wonderful. It because they are Italian I say

Then my local friend – best friend Jonathan. This year, and I am sure he will agree has been one of great interest and amusement. We are the best of friends and I see that this will continue as is. Ill make sure of it.

So now looking forward, 2010 is approaching – “The big year” for South Africa. The world cup is here and it is going to be interesting. I say no more on this at this point in time, but I do hope that it is a huge success and that it brings much positive publicity to South Africa. As far as this website goes, I hope to expand it – into a wider array of topics, and I intend on doing this by widening my interests, but also by pulling in guest writers to assist in making this website as interesting as possible to you – the readers.

I look forward to creating new articles which will encourage and stimulate discussion and I look forward to sharing my interests with you in the New Year.

God bless you all in the New Year!

Noel Harrison

P.S. – I have attached two pictures from the Waterfront yesterday, not that you really care. But take a look

I have just completed my final year at High School. It feels no different! Although this is a new era in my life – no more school (or rather high school mentality) which I am so looking forward to. I have started working a Umoya Network Solutions (www.umoya.net) with the software development division – Staffroom (www.mystaffroom.net) with Tim Keller (www.timk.co.za). This is really exciting for me and I am enjoying the development of an actively used system. It is a change working a full day, everyday – but I am really having a great time.

More to come

Noel