Gilbert Arenas - Wacky but Honest, too.

Sam Amick, a very good reporter working for Sports Illustrated, sat down with the great enigma that is Gilbert Arenas and produced one of the most candid interviews to ever come from someone as famous as Arenas.

Reading the interview, it feels like you're a part of a casual conversation between friends, talking about things with an honesty rarely seen in journalism these days.

For me, the interview gives an insight into the reality of life in the NBA and opens my eyes to what the man, Arenas, is truly about. He's been labelled a locker-room cancer, an egomaniac, a wacko and a bad influence. He's still a little crazy, but you get the feeling that when he says the gun incident was a one-off thing, he's telling the truth.

Arenas, it would seem, has finally had that epiphany he needed to wake himself up and turn his life around, to get back on track. He's surprisingly family-oriented for someone who had such a me-first reputation.

To read about someone like Gilbert Arenas, who's had such a negative image for so long, and have that perception completely flipped is rewarding, and in a strange way, reassuring too.

Give the interview a read. It'll be worth your while.

Gilbert Arenas talks with Sam Amick of SI.com

News!

I may or may note have written here that I want to study journalism. I don't remember. Anyway, now it's definitely out there. I want to study journalism.

And hey, waddya know? I got my "Confirmation of Enrolment" letter in the mail today. Due to being a full time father at the moment, and not living near any campuses, I decided to make use of Open Universities Australia's online study options to start taking some classes.

I'm excited. Why wouldn't I be? Over the years, I've tried my hand at a lot of different jobs, only to find my heart wasn't in it and EVERY time I found myself being called to writing. Since I first started writing to share in 2007, my peers have told me I could write for a living, but I always doubted myself. I knew I was capable of expressing myself on paper, but I always felt like my writing was kind of... raw.

I only started taking writing seriously around the same time I started paying attention in school, around 2006. By then, I'd missed out on a lot of the fundamentals of writing that I should know. I guess being untrained has given me, to an extent, my own style. I like that, but I'd like to have the ability to turn out professional jobs when the need arises - like, in a job, for example. I think a lot of what I try to say would be better conveyed if my writing wasn't so all over the place, too. Which can only be a good thing.

It feels good, really good to be finally working towards achieving something that I know I want to do. For once, I feel like I'm doing something for all the right reasons. I don't know if 10 years down the line I'll be working as a journalist, or if it'll be a professional writer in some other capacity. I AM sure though, that this is the right place to start.

First up, starting February 27th - Creative and Professional Writing and News and Politics.

Thank you to a certain best friend's mother for planting the seed, and thank you to everyone else that has had a say in this for giving me the confidence to give it a shot - and enabling me to do so.

When I get the chance, I'll get those names published as some of the most important influences in my life for the world to see.

I'm excited, people. Let the learning begin!

Narcissism.

Not the most accurate use of the word, I'll admit. Nonetheless, it's the best I could come up with. Six months ago, I was experiencing what was easily the most difficult time of my life. I was on the verge on, if not in the clutches of a pretty severe depression.

Those that know me can guess or will know what happened, and for those that wouldn't know, too bad - this isn't the place, and besides that, it has nothing to do with what I'm trying to achieve in writing this.

I guess in part, I'm doing what I have to in order to clear a guilty conscience. It's more than that, though. It's also about recognising that I screwed up, and that I want to make things right.

Before I write any more, I'll throw in a jump - keep reading if you want. This qualifies as the "life" part of "NBA, life and whatever else I feel like!" description of my blog.