Busy times

Well the stuff for Estelle's funeral went really well. I ended up preparing a video collage using photos that Marion and I found in old photo albums and photo frames and alike. Marion also found a goodbye letter with the will, which detailed Estelle's life achievements and her love for her family. Armed with all this information, I set to work scanning, and collating and editing. I even learned how to edit audio I have recorded myself on my mac. (I was very excited about that) I also dabbled a little with "garage band" to create an audio-bed for the voice over.
When I showed Marion, Andrew and the rest of the family, I could tell that they were really touched. Even though the video took nearly all of my easter weekend to prepare, I think it was the right thing to do. I guess in a way, easter is the most appropriate time to be dealing with death and new life. The feeling around Marion's house was very bittersweet, which is how I think easter should be.
I did some other stuff over the easter break, including going to Q&A with Diana and Scott on Thursday night. We danced the night away, and had a really good time.
On Saturday, I worked at Kmart on Saturday, covering a shift for Kate. It was the first time I had worked at Kmart since Christmas, so my operator ID for the registers had expired. I got them to set up a new one for me, so that worked out fine, the only problem is that next time I goto work I bet I won't remember the operator ID number I was assigned. (let alone the password that is on the new account)
Easter Sunday was a busy day. I went to FTG church at 7.30am for breakfast, followed by decorating the cross and our regular church service. following church, Chris and I went to his parent's house for lunch. When I arrived, Janet was busily preparing food for all the guests she had invited to come for lunch. I think there were about 14 people coming in total, by the time you counted all the family and partners as well as the grandparents. The afternoon was spent catching up with Chris's family, who we had not seen for weeks!
Tim and Marion have renovated nearly the entire end of the house. It looks like they will be living there for a while after getting married. It will be really nice once they finish doing the hallway, and put some flooring down in the bathroom. I wouldn't hold my breath though, because ever since I have known Chris, (that's about 2.5 years now) there has been a lack of flooring in the bathrooms and hallway.
Easter Monday was another busy day. We went to Mat's house for lunch, and following lunch we went to the Joy 94.9 studios for a tour. (Well, basically to have a sticky beak) It was really interesting to see the workings of the radio station, and meet some of the presenters. I was surprised at how short Damien was in real life! (for some reason, I had pictured a tall, dark and handsome man voicing the drive home program.... how wrong I was) I also took the opportunity to join up as a Joy member, so that I can enter competitions and win prizes now. =)
On Tuesday, life returned to normal, with work taking up the majority of my time. I ended up driving most of the week, because there was no traffic on the roads, making it quicker to get to and from work.
On Friday, I went to Sarah Lowes 22nd birthday party. It was fun to catch up with Sarah, and we played a bit of Wii. (it was my first time ever, and I was not that good)
Saturday was spent at home cleaning the house, and in the evening I went out with John to a 21st birthday party. The party was for one of the girls from his work, so I didn't really know anyone. I was sort-of there as the driver I guess.
We went out to the market afterwards, and John bumped into Lorne. Lorne seemed like a really nice guy, but it meant that John was occupied nearly the entire evening. I had to amuse myself... After circulating in the crowd for a few minutes, I discovered that I knew a few of the other people there. Patrick was there, which was really odd, because he taught me maths in first year of uni. What I found really funny is that Patrick goes by "Patrick" or "Pat" at uni, but goes by "Rick" outside of work. It's odd how people sometimes do that.
I also bumped into Andy. Andy showed me how to "shuffle" which is a different way of dancing. I don't think I was particularly good, but I spent a lot of the night dancing with him and his friends.
After Andy went home, the night began to drag on.... John and I got home around 5am, and I fell asleep in about 1 minute flat.
Sunday morning I had to do the readings at church, so I was up fairly early (considering the late night I had beforehand). Following church, I went to Mum and Dad's place for a birthday celebration for Phil. Phil and Mum had only just returned from a whirlwind trip to the USA for Grandpa's 80th birthday celebrations. There were about a million photos from the trip, and so most of the afternoon was spent looking at them with Mum and Dad.
In the evening, Chris and I went to Urban Suburban church. The guest speaker this week was a performance poet. He was very witty, and had some interestingly creative ways of exploring the gospel and everyday life. He has a website, but it's address escapes me at the moment, so I will have to blog about it later.
Monday was back to work. =( Life is such a routine....