San Diego, California is one of the cleanest and most beautiful cities I've seen. And it's reputation for perfect year-round weather seems well deserved. I'm absolutely loving this city!

Its also the perfect place to spend time with someone special... :-)

'Ooroo Australia. G'Doi USA - can't wait ta see ya.

Here's something to go along with my last entry. Hopefully "the flip-side", though maybe not.

In under 20 hours I get on a plan to fly half-way around the world for the single purpose of spending time with another friend. Another wonderful woman. Someone else that I adore and... let's just say I know what my instinct and heart is telling me - the next few weeks will reveal its own story.

Does that sound a bit extreme? Maybe a bit... stalkerish? (My first thought was to actually just get on the plane and surprise her - prudence won though.)

Yet that's the sort of person I am. If the head and the heart and the ability is there, nothing is out of the question.

Yet half-way around the world for someone I care about - be they just a friend or for "something more" - feels like nothing because it's just a plane trip away and easily achievable. If you told me that same person was stuck on the moon, now that would be a challenge - and one I would dedicate every last moment, cent and breath to achieving.

But then, I suppose obsession does make the stalker...

Here's the thing about having someone accuse you of a crime then having it dismissed by a Magistrate/judge in court of law (at least, in Victoria):

It still stays on your file for life.

That means a person can make a claim against you to the police - rightly or wrongly - and if it proceeds through "the system" the claim, even if it turns out to be false, incorrect or unworthy, it will remain as a note on your file for the rest of your life.

Now think about what happens the next time you get pulled over in your car?

For me, a cop may look at my car rego, search the database and there in my file will be a little note relating to a charge of "stalking". It doesn't matter that I didn't actually do anything wrong. It doesn't matter that the judge dismissed it (threw it out) in court - there is a stigma of sorts that stays with you for life.
So, the cop that pulls me over, he may decide that I'm worth being harder on than the next man (hey, it was a hard day and he's in a bad mood) just because he saw one little note that mention "stalking". And let's not kid ourselves - that is how people are, even the police, and it does happen.

I have no problem in telling any person who cares to listen about the time my once close and adored friend decided to have me charged with stalking because she didn't want to listen to me grovel and apologise... then took offense at me when finally, with the same fortitude it took to tell her I love her, I later expressed angry at her treatment of me.

I'm sorry I ever told a friend I loved them (which for almost 3 years I truly did). I'm sorry I criticised them for doing things that I finally figured out were hurting me (and if they'd given me a moment and paid any attention to me, I would have quickly put behind me). And I'm sorry things got to the point at the end where I told them they were unreliable and disgusting (not the exact words, but that was the gist of it).
Truth be told, I spent a long time after that (even with a court case pending) still caring and worrying about them.

I have no regrets though. I sleep well at night knowing I not only did not do the wrong thing, I did everything in my power to do what I thought was right.

And now? I have no issue or hesitation in telling people my story, because even if my "criminal record" isn't "public" (which is not to say, "not accessible"), I still know what happened and now have to spend the rest of my life holding my position and protecting myself "just in case".

I now have to live with a file marked "The Criminal Record of Jason Snelders" and a note that says in 2011 a woman decided he should be charged with stalking.

That is the true cost of love and caring about someone.

A bloke I know said to me today, with regard to tax returns: "You don't want to do anything wrong, you might be the next Bill Gates. It may not seem much, but even a bad $2 could be used against you later."
To which I replied: "That's nothing, I was charged with stalking last year by an ex-best friend."
(The case was later dismissed and a final apology to the world openly made.)

Now here's the interesting thing he told me (and it came from a reliable source):

60-70% of sexual assault victims (in Victoria) are false cases, and around 90% of cases are made by ex-partners.

That's similar to some of the stats I read for stalking cases.

There are real victims out there - of abuse, assault and stalking - both men and women, and I hope the people who hurt them get what they deserve.
However, the false victims who use the law for their own gain (even if they do think they are justified) are ultimately going to hurt the cases of those real victims more than the people they're getting back at - and that disgusts me just as much.

Check this out for some pretty incredible moves. Best if you watch it in full screen.

Break ton Neck from Alex Yde on Vimeo.

The now usual daily walk, 4-5 days each week (and half that for the other days).

This is in the Herald Sun today. What first got me, before I even read the paper's caption, was how small the guide dogs must be if they can be carried. Obviously not the Labradors we see in Australia.

(Click the image for full size.)

"Ha-ha. G'Day!" :-D

Just had a PRC exchange with someone today. That takes me waaaaaaay back. Oh yeah, way too far (and before this usually came "Monkey Magic", "Banana Man" or "Roger Ramjet").

(And when I think about it, he could be the original representative of the ":-D" emoticon.)

All quiet on the writing front here at the moment as I'm insanely busy trying to plan my business start-up and finish developing some of the critical components of the software that everything will be running off. Hence, I'm still at it at midnight at the end of a Sunday.

In the coming month many of my old articles that have been left unpublished with be categorised and re-released. photo galleries will be added (some of my very amateur photography) and writing will slowly start again.

Last year I wrote over 400 articles - and that was while dealing with the darkest and hardest year of my life. I may not achieve that quantity again this year but I expect to provide much higher quality material (and some very useful information).