Well it's been a long time since I have used blogger back in 2013 wow. If you find this blog I have a new website at Music Mike Here check it out.

5 Ways to Wellbeing

Taken from The Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand program "5 Ways to Wellbeing" program. click here
I guess we all need to feel well and in a good state of mind, no matter who we are and what we believe.

1. Connect: click here 
2. Give: click here 
3. Take Note: click here
4. Keep Learning: click here
5. Be Active: click here

In each point it explains how we can connect Individually, in the Family, as a Community, in Schools, for Older People, and in the Workplace.

I like the ideas this brings into light and gives some interesting points to look at. These ideas can help anyone stay in a good state of mind. It all comes down to a well balanced life, getting out there and taking small steps to better our own lives.

Priorities in our Life

Are your priorities in order.
The things we put first in our life, weather it is putting things off, procrastinating, doing things we want, our of selfish pride. not thinking of others, saying yes to please people even though inside we are grumbling about it, saying "why did I say yes, I don't have the time to do this I am too busy as it is". Here are some things to think about that may help you to put things in perspective.

First there are 4 types of love mentioned in the bible. they are in this order.
1. Love of God to man (God Love)
2. Love of husband and wife (marriage Love)
3. Love of parent and child (parent Love)
4. Love of friend (friendship Love)

also I have heard it said that in out lives we should put things in this order.
1. God: he should be number one in our life
2. Family: we are to look after our family providing for them, bringing up your children in Gods ways.
3. Others: after our families needs have been met. we are to help others out.
4. Self: this comes last, although we are to walk in Gods ways and seek to please him working to put away sin we are also not to do things for ourselves out of pride or for our own selfish reasons.
This is just my little thought for today, something for you to think about. Blessings to all.

More to life........

There is so much more I could do if I had the chance to upgrade my music equipment. first I would get an AC-33 acoustic busking amp and a better singing mic.





next an ipad so I can have all my sheet music on it.



Note: even though I would love to upgrade some gear, and it costs money etc. I am happy to use what I currently have mentioned in my post click here. maybe even find different and unique things to do with what i have already.

Maybe its time for me to start rethinking some of the things in life and step out and Trust God for something More than I already have.
It is really easy to be so comfortable where we are that we hold ourselves back. Safe in what we have in life and what we know. At times I wonder if there is more to life than what we, can so easily, make it.

I encourage you to stop and look back over your life and see where you are, what you have already done, then think about what you always want to do / where you want to be. and look at the steps of how you can get there.

Busking setup and other Stuff.

Here is my current busking setup. 

AMP: Line 6 MicroSpider. Portabel busking amp with 6 C size batteries $300 The MicroSpider comes with built in guitar effects including a channel for acoustic guitar. also mic input and a mp3 player input.

Power Supply: PowerPac PP12-7.5 12Volt, 7.5Amp Hours  (better than Csize batteries) $30-$50 
Vansen SDR-1500 Regulated Power Adaptor $20

Miceophone: cheep $30 one from www.trademe.co.nz. (needs upgrading) and mic stand. 

Instrument: Seagul acoustic guitar or Greg Bennit Sammic Baratone Ukulele, Harmonica with playing stand  Other Gear: Mic stand, folding Music stand, Portable trolley click here $100 small folding chair. any will do. as long as it is is a good hight of the ground to sit and play similar to click here. small Plastic box with lid to store gear. similar to click here. also i attached a 2 pipes to the back of the trolly with a cover on the bottom to cary the mic and music stands.  

 appart from the instruments a similar setup would cost around $500-$600 dollars to setup. 
it depends on what you are doing. as to what exact gear you end up getting. 

micro spider amp demo 

I have also seen people using the Rolland street cube amp which is a nice cheep amp for busking

also rolland have now got a new busking amp for acoustic guitarists called the ac-33. this is a great amp and one day i am going to upgrade my MicroSpider with this. the nice thing is that the amp has a built in overdubbing looper. Phill Keaggy does a nice demo of the amp here

Aer make a really nice portable battery amp but they are up there in price.

Here is the Aer live on Queen St Auckland played by Luke Hurley

here is just my experience and ideas on the subject of busking gear and setup.

It's All About Music.

Hi all its been a long time since I have updated my blog here on blogger.
I just want to let you know that at this time in my life I am Focusing on my musical tallent.

In September 2012 when I needed a new computer I decided to get a Macbook Pro. I did this for many reasons. one being so i could  use Garageband and start developing my musical tallent. earlier this year i also brought a Chord CCU1 usb microphone. this is a great mic for singers and musicians alike.

Also at the beginning of the year My church Eden Assemble Of God (AOG) welcomed Pastor Mike Grahame and his family to our church. Ps Mike's main ministry is Worship and he has taken over the leadership of the Music Ministry. Under his direction, guidance and abilities we on teh music team are growing and developing our musical abilities.

Ps Mike also has a dvd training series from the musicademy click here. musicademy provide traini9ng resources for worship musicians. each dvd is on a different instrument including, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, drums, bass, singing etc. which he has given to each of us. I have recently started going through the acoustic guitar training. This is taking me back to the basics and helping me to train myself once again. I have come to realise that we need ongoing training and to up skill ourselves.

So using my computer and these new skills i am gaining i am going to compose, write, and record songs both covers of others songs and my own songs.
I am going to upload some of these to my new music page on soundcloud. click here or my youtube page click here so you can listen to them and enjoy my music.

I do hope my music is a blessing and encouragement to all of you out there.

Cleaning up the house.

My cleaning has begun yet again. 

My day usually consists of, 

1. Getting up (around 10am), 
2. having a small feed, 
3. getting on my computer and just blobbing, 
4. going to work for 2hours in the afternoons, 
5. get home and jump on the computer 
6. try to cook some dinner if i don't get distracted. 
7. go to bed between 10pm and 1am

This cycle goes on and on and my house begins to suffer. i get things out dump them where they are and such like. 

1. I get lazy, 
2. I put things off, 
3. I spend to much time on my computer,
4. I can't always see where i can start. 

Last year Needing a new computer i saved up for a Macbook Pro got a good deal and was able to do it. I got it for a few reasons but one was so i could make use of Garageband and record y own music wright songs etc. 

I have played a few times on garageband testing out how to use it but... i have not really done anything serious with it yet. 

Recently this year i saved for a usb microphone to add to my Garageband setup. but have not made good use of this either as i don't have a place to set it up. well I do but its in such a mess that i cant use it properly. 

I am sick of this, if i don't do something then soon its was a waste me getting the usb mic etc  

Over the past week I made a start once again to clean my house. I want to get my office/music room cleaned up so i can really get into playing, recording, and writing music. combining my usb mic + garageband or jamming along with my favourite music. 

so I have made a start. i will be doing some documentation along the way using pictures, videos etc. to encourage myself and share with the world. 

I received an email from the Flylady network the other day that encouraged me so i have posted it below. Flylady is a ministry to people who are messy it has grown into an extensive group of like minded people with tips, tricks, and hints for all kinds of things relating to how to clean up the clutter in your life. (for more information of flylady and the flylady way click here or see the facebook page click here)

This email encouraged me 

Drove My Car Into The Garage

Dear FlyLady,

Five days ago I did something I haven't done in over six years,- and two cars ago... I drove my car INTO my garage!! I was truly in shock to the point that I sat IN the car INSIDE my garage for several minutes just looking through my car windows into the garage thinking, "this is for real! I REALLY am sitting in MY car in MY garage!"

Finally I laughed at myself and told myself to get out of the car and go in the house. The next morning I went out the front door as usual and had an EMPTY driveway and thought , "WHERE is my car??".ha-ha. it was only for a moment but it made me smile. So I walked back inside and went out the door that leads into my garage... I opened the door and stood there saying, "There's a car in my garage!! ..there's a car in MY garage!." (Of course I was saying this to my little dog who is my constant companion.)

Do you know that when I let him into the garage EVEN THE DOG knew something was different and did his little "doggie happy dance spinning around and barking".??!.. It's not finished yet, but now I even get excited and want to go work in there some more because of the great sense of accomplishment it gave me that I CAN really do this. I can see progress and feel hope. I do want to share a tip that Flyday might not think is best BUT it sure worked for me.

As I worked through the piles and boxes I tried to remember the "give away, throw away, put away" motto, BUT I kept running into things that I just couldn't decide or make up my mind what to "do" with it!! I was so double minded about certain sentimental items or things I might want to keep or give away.

Then I remembered what teachers in school taught me about taking a timed test... if you don't know an answer to a question-skip that one- don't lose time-move on to the next question and keep going. THEN at the end of the test if there is still time left go back to the one that snagged you up...Wow!- for me that translated into realizing that is exactly what I was doing in the garage!.. I was getting "snagged up on ONE item when there were literally at least a hundred others to "decide" about.

So I put that principle into place. I created my own , "I DON"T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH IT " pile. I put the things I got stuck on into a box beside me as I went through the garage. It worked GREAT! I kept moving forward and making progress... and not stressed about "did I do the right thing with "that last thing?"... THen a couple of days later when I went back in the garage to work some more- almost without thinking about it I could glance at my "I don't know what to do with it box" and chunk out another two or three things without any double mindedness at all.

Eventually my newly titled "box" emptied out too while I kept moving along. I sure hope this might help someone else that gets "stuck" with double mindedness about clutter items. The car in the garage has given me so much hope. It is one of the "worst" areas of my entire home. NOW I can use the garage for a "staging area', as I move things out of the inside of my home to "clear a room" of unnecessary items- and use the garage to be my sort and toss, or giveaway consistent place. It will work for me now that I know I can stick to grabbing another "de-clutter" box as I go out the door on an errand. and finally on a safety note-about my cluttered garage- I found a DEAD PETRIFIED CHIPMUNK!!--.. with clumps of dead chipmunk fur and other things I won't mention. Ewww! It was so gross!!. I had to put on double house cleaning gloves, a face mask and cleaning brooms that I knew would go straight to the garbage with the dead chipmunk...I realized that my clutter had put me and my little dog in a serious dangerous health hazard.

If my little dog had eaten that dead animal he would have been SO sick, and perhaps died, along with HUGE vet bills!!... The garage clutter is a BIG fire hazard too. So grateful the Lord has protected my little dog or me from getting sick from having a dead animal in my home with all the diseases they carry. I hope no one else out there has dead animals under boxes, but of all the thousands of people that read this I bet there is at LEAST ONE OF YOU who does!..please go check and protect your pet's and your health. and you don't have to recover from "unexpected dead animal" trauma!...or expensive Vet bills!

Believe me I , "screamed like a girl!!" when I saw that thing! ha-ha. Living now with a sense of joy and accomplishment.

God bless each of you.
Flybaby in Alabama

FlyLady here: Grab your declutter kit and your timer and fling your own clutter!

Jamie McDell - Angle video. Her latest.

check out this video of Jamie McDell it rocks big time. it just goes to show how Jamie has grown in her talent and Music Video production. watch and enjoy.

Interesting email.

Got this emailed to me the other day. It was worth sharing. 

Things We Learn From Noah's Ark

ONE: Don't miss the boat. 

TWO: Remember that we are all in the same boat! 
THREE: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.  

FOUR: Stay fit. When you're 60 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.

FIVE: Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.  

SIX: Build your future on high ground. 

SEVEN: For safety's sake, travel in pairs. 

EIGHT: Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.  

NINE: When you're stressed, float awhile.  

TEN: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals. 

ELEVEN: No matter the storm,  there's always a rainbow waiting.

goals for 2013

On sunday 30th December the last service for the year. My Pastor shared a wonderful sermon on

Goals for 2013

As Christian we can easily give things into Gods hands, let Him take control and forget about them.  We never set goals for ourselves, when we give them to God as we wait for Him to show us. When seeking God we need to take what he shows us and then set a goal for us to reach them.

Key Areas For You 

what are the key areas for you in your life? think about them. they are things you may be naturally  good at or things you end up doing allot. Here is a list also sit down and think of 4-8 things you can add for you.

sport  exercise volunteering  computers  reading  friends

family  faith  fun  personal development  study

Smart Goals

Specific: A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. "I want a better job" is a general goal.

Measurable: establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal.

Attainable: You can attain almost any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. 

Relevant: Your goals must be relevant to your life. Therefore remember that each goal can be refined or even deleted as your life changes.  

Timely: A goal should be grounded within a timeframe. With no timeframe to ensure you are held responsable for the successful completion of your goal.

Accountable: You should be accountable to another person or group of people to ensure you are held responsable for the successful completion of your goal.

Bucket List

What are some of the things you would like to achieve? 

Imagine if money was not an issue and there was nothing to hold you back... What are 10 things you would like to do / have / achieve / learn in life? Wright them down. hen you have

We also need to remember where these, and other, things fit into our lives the graph below shows us the areas where things can go. its called the Urgent, Important Table. Try to think where your list of 10 things goes. there is no wrong or right answer.

In this table we can see 4 places where things can fit.
1. Urgent & important (1st priority): these are the important things / goals to us. We want to or  have to do them right now.
2. Not urgent & important (2nd priority): these are critical things that have to be done but not immediately.
3. Urgent & not important (3rd priority): these things need to be done but as not important to use get left undone.
4. Not urgent & not important (4th priority): these things are so low on our list we can end up forgetting about them which is not so good.

I hope this small part of the sermon will help you to define things and give you an overview of what you want to and need to do in 2013.   

2012:- What a year.

Its the last day of 2012 here in New Zealand. Over the next few weeks I will be reflecting on what 2012 had meant to me and my new years resolutions.  I will be updating you on things as they pop up.

Here is an overview of 2012 around the world from google.




What has 2012 meant to you. Why not let us know by replying in comments box below.

A balanced life: - Focus on God

There comes a point in life where we as humans need to look at ourselves and see if we need to make any adjustments to things we are doing. there is a saying "if you keep doing what you always have, you will keep getting the same results".
I find it easy to get distracted with things. I want to do things my own way. I can easily get stubborn and be full of pride. These things come naturally to many of us living in this world.

I believe this has something to do with what what we focus on, spend allot of time doing.
So what do you spend your time doing most in your life and where is your focus.

It is easy to let things slip when our focus is not in the right place.

1. Computer usage: I need to stop spending so much time on my computer, and websites such as Facebook, youtube, etc. although computers and these websites, and even the internet itself, are not bad at all it is how I have come to use them. I can easily spend most of the day on my computer, from when I get up until I go to bed.
2. Lack of sleep: the time I end up going to bed tends to be any time from 10pm-3am as I am distracted. I am not getting enough sleep and am overtired, cranky and shitty. 
3. Neglect:  as my focus is out of balance important things dont get done, such as my housework, chores, eating habits, my garden etc don't get done, or I struggle when doing them. 
4. Generally: I have been starting to become very unstable and as my focus is to much on other things things are becoming unhealthy. 

so in life
Don't focus:

• on what you don't have 
• on what you cant do
• on what others expect you to 
• all your energy on things to the point that they become an addiction, or like one, to you. 

Focus on: 

• Things that are good for you
• getting enough sleep
• eating well
• living a balanced life
• being positive
• de-stressing yourself 

In the bible it says:

• don't worry about things (Matthew 6:25-34 click here)
• seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33 click here)
• be happy and, think on good things (Phillippians 4:4-8 click here). 
• keep all Gods commands (Proverbs 7:2 click here, John 14:21 click here)

Hope this helps you to realise, as I have, that you need to reflect on your life and check if your focus is in the right place.

Please feel free to comment below with your thoughts and ideas. on this post. 

Movie Review: The Hobbit

Today I went to see the movie The Hobbit. Just the regular version.

It was a great movie. I loved it allot. I remember my dad reading the Hobbit and Lord of the rings books to my brother and I at night before bed. fond memories.

The Hobbit was great. Despite the mixed reviews this movie captured the essence or the Hobbit. following in the footsteps of The Lord of the Rings trilogy it has some big fight scenes. The dialogue was excellent and flowed well. If you dont like watching gruesome movies with battle scenes then this is not the kind of movie for you. but if you like The Lord of the Rings (2001, 2002, 2003), Narnia, Harry Potter, Avatar(2009), Willow(1998), you should like this movie.

I highly recommend this movie for you to see. 

If you have seen this movie why not share your thoughts on it in the comments below.

The walk

╔╗╔═╦╗ 
║╚╣║║╚╗ 
╚═╩═╩═╝             the walk of life. who know where it will take us
....oooO............... It may take us into danger, through trials, even into pain, it
.....(....)................ may take us into happiness, laughter, joy.
......\..(....Oooo.... Along the walk we will meet many people, see many things,
.......\_)....(....)...... do many things, experience all that life has to offer.
................)../.......
...............(_/........ What have you done with your life so far. and what will you
…........................ do with it in the future. That is for you to make the choices
....oooO............... where to place your feet, and what path you shall tred.
.....(....)................
......\..(....Oooo..... Think about your walk. ans how it will affect others. other
.......\_)....(....)...... people walk into our lives for a season on their own
................)../....... journey walking their walk.
...............(_/........
…........................ walk with passion and pride. hold your head up high and
....oooO...............  be happy with where you will go.
.....(....)................
......\..(....Oooo....
.......\_)....(....)......
................)../.......
...............(_/........
…........................

Just an interesting rant.

I work as a support worker and have seen how the school system, here in New Zealand, works. Most times they take the funding for each child, bulk it in the class and give it to who they think needs it more. This is how the special classes can tend to run. and in some way can be a breach of basic human rights / borderline steeling.

One 14yr old With Downs Syndrome i work with, needed speech therapy, and other help. the past 2 years He got board in class, he started doing things like acting out movie scenes etc at lunch, he ended up hitting another student. Board at school he needed something to bust the boredom i guess. The school labelled him as a problem child, put him in the wrong class, and he did not do well. he started mimicking the other students behaviours, to try get attention.
His mum got so sick of this that she went to the local school, which did not have a special class, they managed to accept him, the spin off is that being around normal children his own age is great. he is more well adjusted, not so hard to work with. The school has had a big learning curve trying to get a modified curriculum in place, wasted some time and only now near the end of the year have gotten things in place.

it is hard for special classes, i guess, to manage different students. But if they looked more at individuals strengths, abilities, and needs, and did not look at a medical diagnosis. they would be able to help them better.

I am impressed when i see parents and support workers push to get your childrens needs met. its a hard thing to do. Keep it up and do your best.

To all reading this. strive to better yourself, the lives of your family and others you meet, educate them, teach them how to better their lives, empower them, help the NTs (Neurotypical, Normal people) you meet understand what its like to have asperger syndrome / autism.

Power to the People.

its been a while

wow its been a while since i have updated my blog here.  i must get back into it.  I have found a group on facebook that i share things in i should try to put some of it here on my blog i guess. wow.  ok thats all watch this space.

Amazing Worship

Goal Setting

Well last week I was looking up flylady (ministry encouraging messy people to become clean, thru the life of The Flylady, who founded it, and others who have joined).

Flylady was talking about getting up and ready down to your laceup shoes. Not just lounging around the house in your pjs. The idea behind this is to get yourself ready, dressed, and prepared for the day. Its a process we need to go thru to prepare the mind for cleaning. If you don't prepare yourself and just stay in your pjs your mind is not prepared,  not ready to clean.

I was also talking to someone the other day about goal setting. Many people are good at having an idea, researching, and not goal setting. Goal setting is not just an idea. The end goal does not change, if it does then its not a goal but an idea.
Here is what I have been thinking about.

Be prepared for the day.
DAILY ROUTINE:
*1.Sleep: having a good sleep is what is needed. Eg start getting ready at 9.30pm to be in bed by 10pm
*2.Wake up: Make sure you getup with enough time to get ready eg Set alarm for 7.30am 2nd alarm 8am get up.
*3.Dress up each day: Each day get up have a wash. Get dressed and ready down to shoes. This helps prepare your mind for the day ahead. Even if you are not doing much, like weekends
*4.Breakfast: have a good breakfast. Helps our body get the energy it needs for the day.
*5.Ready: be ready to leave for work with enough time for you to get there.
*6.Plan: Plan out what I will do for day. Cleaning goal, shopping day etc. Good for days off work.

GOAL: set a time and date to achieve the goal buy.
PLAN: steps to achieve the goal
RESEARCH: Find  out what it may cost. Where you can get it. What exactly you will need. Etc

So goal setting and routines, can help us achieve what we want. reassess the steps  often to make sure you are on track. If not work out why, and if needed create new, or modify old steps so you can achieve the goal.

I hope this will encourage people to set goals, plans, routines and improve their daily lives. 

@ The Prayer Station

Hi all over the past 2-3months i have been going out on Friday evenings Witnessing with the Prayer Station on Queen St Down Town Auckland CBD.

The Prayer Station has been running for at least 5 or more years. They meet near the bottom of Queen St opposite Shortland St next to Burger King outside the New World entrance. from 8-10pm

The Prayer Station click here is run by a team of Dedicated people from Y.W.A.M (Youth With A Mission) Click Here, a Korean Church and a South American Church. The many people comming are Korean and South American and YWAM Students mainly people born outside New Zealand where English is their 2nd language. Even though the struggle at times communicating they, dont give up and show a passion and enthusiasm when sharing the gospel message and praying with others. This Greatly encourages me seeing them push thru their struggles and witnessing with such dedication. 

Last Friday 17 August, when getting ready to come out, I felt lead to bring my ukelele, Little did I know the significance of what this would mean.

After setting up we begin each nite to pray and worship, with some singing, for 5 minutes, before starting. As I began to play the worship lifting up to Jesus was electrifying. after this, I kept playing.

I must let you know that sometimes, when i play and begin to worship, I start to sing prophetic songs, just like praying, a new song and words start to flow.

I began to sing a prophetic song calling the people to come for prayer. and as I felt the spirit start moving I looked around and there was 3 groups of people praying, usually the conversation and prayer lasts for a few minutes but these 3 groups lasted for 10-20 mins. This is what can happen when the power of The holy spirit comes down,

It says in the bible Psalm 22:3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. KJV and Psalm 22:3 But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.NKJV.

In the King James Version it mentioned the word inhibits from dictionary.com click here it says

Inhabit verb (used with object) 1. to live or dwell in (a place), as people or animals: Small animals inhabited the woods.
2. to exist or be situated within; dwell in: Weird notions inhabit his mind.

In the New King James Version it uses the word Enthroned from dictionary.com click here it says

Enthroned verb (used with object), en·throned, en·thron·ing.1. to place on or as on a throne 
2. to invest with sovereign or episcopal authority.
3. to exalt.

To sum up the passage it is saying that when we start to praise God, He is inside with us, that we are sustained by Him, that God sits with us, we have invited Him inside us, That he is exalted (lifted up). when we start to praise Him.

I feel that the Prayer Station encompasses this passage very well God is with them because they Give all the Praise, honor, glory and look to Him to sustain them in His ministry.

Feel free to come on down on a Friday night between the hours of 8-10pm. Pray for People, Talk with people, pray and intercede while the team are praying and talking to others. Or Just remember the team in prayer over this time.

The Daily Motivator - Where your attention goes

I found this article very interesting. i say be careful what you focus on in life. 
The Daily Motivator - Where your attention goes