33 years old, time just keeps marching on.

Claire, Hugo and Evie woke me up in the morning first thing to open some presents:

• Diablo 3 for my computer
• A few fresh pairs of sport socks
• Armani Black Code perfume
• George & Jude gave me $50 which I’ll add to my Dick Smith Christmas voucher

Ordinarily we’d have McDonalds for breakfast on my birthday, however this morning we delayed that and instead rolled with a standard breakfast instead.

Initially we’d planned to go ten pin bowling at the AMF at the Logon Hyperdome, however as timing would have it – not many family were able to join us so we postponed that for another day when more people can attend as its a lot more fun I think.

We still ventured up to the Hogs Breathe at the Logan Hyperdome for lunch and I munched through a delicious steak sandwich and added an egg for good measure. Andrew rode his motorbike up from Ipswich for lunch and the afternoon which was great.

When we returned back to Upper Coomera after lunch, Andrew and I visited the new Rippit radio controlled hobby shop in Helensvale. I’m really impressed with what the Rippit guys have done since opening their store, there are always people in the shop and they’ve now opened an indoor race track as well.

Later that afternoon Sterle, Lorraine and Jean came over for a cup of coffee and also sporting cream puffs. We enjoyed those and a freshly made chocolate cake that was decorated with a ring of M&M’s around the outside per the request of Hugo and Evie.

As a surprise Lorraine offered to babysit Hugo and Evie, so Claire and I could go to the movies and see the latest installment of The Hobbit – The Desolation of Smaug. I really enjoyed the movie, the special efforts for Smaug the dragon were absolutely fantastic, I think I could watch that whole section of the movie again just for that alone!

Thank you to everyone that called, SMS’d and messaged me on Google+ or facebook for my birthday as well. I received a swag of them through Google+ this time, many from people I’ve helped through the SEO Questions community – which was really nice.

Next up 34, look out!

A couple of months ago, I was talking to a squash player named Karen for an hour or more about her life. I know what you’re thinking, me talking to someone – strange and unusual behaviour.

After talking to Karen that evening, I was completely inspired by the stories she was telling me about her childhood and what she has done in her lifetime. Originally from the Solomon Islands, she was an orphan, became the United Nations representative for the Solomon Islands, moved to Australia, started a law firm, later in life became a lawyer, has an amazing array of commercial and residential property to her name and much more.

With all of the incredible things she has done in her life and amazing success, I asked her if she thought she could do it all over again if given the opportunity and her answer was no.

Puzzled by that response, given the success she has achieved in her life, I asked her why and she felt it wasn’t possible as a lot of her success has come from opportunities and good fortune. Karen said that in her life, every time an opportunity has presented itself – she has gone after it with full force, never leaving anything on the table.

That got me thinking more about my life and the opportunities that I’ve never acted on. I’ve been asked to speak at Australia’s biggest internet marketing conference twice and never done anything about, have been asked to apply for jobs with two separate international airlines, a large Australian based retailer, internet marketing agencies and each time I’ve never done anything about it.

In hindsight, I think I wasn’t acting on it because I was happy in my job at Mantra Group and probably scared about the prospect of change. I’d been at Mantra Group for more than seven years by the time the above started happening regularly and the prospect of leaving a great employer and a familiar work place behind was daunting.

After speaking with Karen, I said to myself that if another opportunity presented itself, that I was going to do something about it – whatever that something might be. This seemingly small change has already lead me to speak at my first conference on search engine marketing and more recently apply for a new job.

Opportunity is about a particular set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something. Opportunity without action or participation is an opportunity gone begging which might not present itself again in the same format or at all.

Take them when you can.