Looking Back: Out and Free..

Well, It is late 2004..
I have just finished my HSC..
And now what..?

I look around me, I have a few of the boys around.. Couple of the girls.. One from school, and a couple from out of school.. They were about a year or two older than us..

There is really no structure to this one, It is just kind of randomly thrown together.. Maybe soon I'll elaborate on parts of the story, tie it all together some how..


These were the days when we were free.. We had all the time in the world.. Life was sweet, and simple..

A couple of us worked, no one had any idea what they wanted to do.. So we just cruised along in life..

We were all semi-nocturnal.. Our days started at lunchtime, and our nights ended in the early mornings.. All we'd do would be hanging out in the pool, running around with a video camera doing stupid stuff, sitting on the computer, freelancing life..

Living off our savings or parents donations, the money we earned in our small "retail" jobs, or from things we'd sell or stuff we'd find..

I didn't work back then, I was a complete bum.. I had a bunch of money in an account I had saved, and from a bank account my mum had for my sister and myself.. I got that money, $1700.. Mum had been saving it and halved it for us..

$1700 was alot of money back then, when I got given that after finishing school, I then had $1900.. I survived a long time on that.. Now I don't even survive a month!

It was me and Shane living at home, in my parents house.. He was with someone from school then.. I was still single, I had a one night thing with someone, but that was it for my love life.. I had no interest in anyone then either..

We would hang out with Shanes partner, and a couple of the boys from school.. Plus these other friends of Shanes he had met.. One of his ex's and 2 of her friends..

She had a car, one of the other boys Alex had a car.. We would drive around, be stupid.. We had this love for cKy.. A Band and a series of DVD's by Bam Margera and his boys.. Pre-Jackass days.. Their early days.. Taking upon this, I have to say we were influenced.. We wouldn't copy what they did, as they were "too extreme" for us.. What wusses we were haha..

One night, a long time ago, surfing through these particular forums we'd look at came across a couple of lists.. A "Scavenger Hunt" list.. They were about 100 items long each.. All with a bunch of things to do..

"Get Arrested", "Have a running race in a convenience store", "Antique someone", "Skitch a car", etc etc..

Being bored, having a video camera, alot of time on our hands, and the typical "invincible" attitude young teenage boys have, we decided to try out a few things and film them..

Alot of our time would be spent doing nothing, so why not put that time to use for the amusement of ourselves and other people on the internet?

One particular day I remember, I'm not sure if it was still during school, or after school.. I had asked a bunch of our friends from school if they would like to go out on an adventure to the city, to do as many of this list as we could..

So there we had a group of about 10-15 people all venturing out to the city.. A combined list of 250 things to do.. a pen.. a video camera.. a beautiful day.. and the eager'ness to go wild and do whatever we wanted..

We hit George St Woolworths, we had a running race..
We hit Virgin Music, and went wild to the music in headphones..
We hit Circular Quay McDonalds, and we smooshed ice cream on our faces..
We hit Circular Quay courtyard area, and we had soccer matches..
We played soccer through the crowds on George St., Random businessmen joining in, other people running onto the road to kick the ball back for us..
We played soccer in Hyde Park and hit someones noodles all over their head..
We filmed everything..

It was an awesome day..

Other nights were just random..

We'd jump into someones car.. head to someones place.. eat maccas, bum around, have drinks, just laugh.. I had a camera, I would photograph everything.. These were good days..

The only worry we would have was, that we didn't have any worries..

I didn't need a job badly, I had money..
I didn't need to buy a car straight up, I had my parents to use..
I didn't need to worry about anything..

I met my Campbelltown people.. I started dating one of them.. Life was good, life was simple.. Most nights just hung out with the boys doing random stuff, being out and about and active.. Most weekends would be spent down in Campbelltown doing whatever with whoever there..

Then, the money started disappearing..

The worries started..

Where did I want to lead my life?
What did I want to do?
All of a sudden I want my own car..
My parents were telling me I should look into my future..
I can't keep doing what I am doing forever..
I have to do something about it before it is too late..

Did I want to try for uni? No.. I made my decision a long time ago I didn't..

I didn't study for my HSC, I didn't care how I went..

I'll do Tafe.. And thats what I decided to do....

I found a course, I started that course in 2005.. Everything was sweet..

My parents paid for my Tafe.. I lived by building websites for clients.. Bringing in $400-$1000 each one.. That would hold me for a while..

They were good days.. A new group of friends, my Tafe friends..

Random nights still went on.. Being out late, waking up in the morning and going to Tafe.. Bludging and laughing with the people there.. Going home, laughing with my friends here, weekend comes along I'm in Campbelltown.. It was a nice routine, a good routine.. Life was sweet.. and simple..