Sunday, May 27, 2007
Mothers Day
For mothers day, we visited Chris's parents, and had lunch at their place. Then we went to Grandma's place for afternoon tea with Grandma and Mum and Dad. Aunty Sue and Uncle Graeme were there too.
Housewarming
Talk about weird, my blogging has been almost non-existent for nearly a month. I think it's because I have been getting more and more distracted with work stuff.... and I have been resisting the temptation of blogging on work time.
In my last post I think I was all excited about the house-warming party. One the day of the party, it rained a little.... which was not ideal. But on the whole, the party went really well. Thanks to all the people who turned up. I think Chris's Nana was the first to show up, catching the train all the way from Rosanna.
Mum and Dad came along too, which made me really happy. Mum brought some mixing bowls, which is exactly what I needed. Mum had said earlier in the week that they were not going to come along to the housewarming, so it was a nice surprise.
Sorry about the severe lack of photos of the party, I neglected to take any photos because I was too busy catching up with people and organizing things around the place. So if anyone has photos of the night, can they please send them to me. :) Even if they are just taken on a camera-phone.
In my last post I think I was all excited about the house-warming party. One the day of the party, it rained a little.... which was not ideal. But on the whole, the party went really well. Thanks to all the people who turned up. I think Chris's Nana was the first to show up, catching the train all the way from Rosanna.
Mum and Dad came along too, which made me really happy. Mum brought some mixing bowls, which is exactly what I needed. Mum had said earlier in the week that they were not going to come along to the housewarming, so it was a nice surprise.
Sorry about the severe lack of photos of the party, I neglected to take any photos because I was too busy catching up with people and organizing things around the place. So if anyone has photos of the night, can they please send them to me. :) Even if they are just taken on a camera-phone.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
The weekly review.
I think my blog posts are becoming more and more spaced out. =( It's not good. Since last week, the main highlights were over the weekend. Chris and I had a linen party at our house, which was lots of fun. Lots of people came along, and I think everyone had a good time. Norma, the linen lady, had trouble getting through all the products, because everyone kept cracking jokes and laughing too much. =)
So thanks to everyone who came along to the party. (Apologies for forgetting to invite Daniel.) I just wish Mum would have come, I think she would have liked to see everyone there enjoying themselves.
I have been living out of home now for two and a half months. I have had a tupperware party, a linen party and we have a housewarming party coming up. Yet still Mum and Dad refuse to come and visit me. It's like they don't want to know me unless it's on their conditions. What ever happened to loving people for who they are and respecting other people? Why can't they just get over themselves?
On Sunday, Barbara and I ran worship at church. We focused on the Micah Challenge and the Make Poverty History campaign. I am so glad that it's over. I spent hours getting things ready for the service. The prayer stations took quite some time to prepare, and the slideshow to go with the rest of the service took quite a few train trips to make! I think in the future, I am not going to be such a perfectionist with the slideshow presentation. (And I am not going to choose a font that is only available in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.)
Also over the weekend, the washing machine arrived. Chris has been using it nearly non-stop! It has so many features that I think I am going to have to sit down and actually read the manual!
On Monday, Koorong had 15% off store wide, so Chris and I visited and we bought a few CDs using the gift voucher that Heather and Chris K gave me for my birthday. I have yet to listen to them all, but I have added them to my iTunes music library. This prompted me to start organizing my iTunes library properly. I spent an hour on it last night. I even went to all the trouble of naming all the compilation albums that Jeff gave me.
Tuesday evening was very exciting. Chris and I went to see Cirque du Solieu (or however you spell it...) using the tickets that I was given for my 21st. (Thanks churchies) The performance was amazing, and I can now say it's defiantly a "must see". The performance was more like dancing, but without having your feet on the floor. It was like dancing in the air. (So Beautiful)
So thanks to everyone who came along to the party. (Apologies for forgetting to invite Daniel.) I just wish Mum would have come, I think she would have liked to see everyone there enjoying themselves.
I have been living out of home now for two and a half months. I have had a tupperware party, a linen party and we have a housewarming party coming up. Yet still Mum and Dad refuse to come and visit me. It's like they don't want to know me unless it's on their conditions. What ever happened to loving people for who they are and respecting other people? Why can't they just get over themselves?
On Sunday, Barbara and I ran worship at church. We focused on the Micah Challenge and the Make Poverty History campaign. I am so glad that it's over. I spent hours getting things ready for the service. The prayer stations took quite some time to prepare, and the slideshow to go with the rest of the service took quite a few train trips to make! I think in the future, I am not going to be such a perfectionist with the slideshow presentation. (And I am not going to choose a font that is only available in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.)
Also over the weekend, the washing machine arrived. Chris has been using it nearly non-stop! It has so many features that I think I am going to have to sit down and actually read the manual!
On Monday, Koorong had 15% off store wide, so Chris and I visited and we bought a few CDs using the gift voucher that Heather and Chris K gave me for my birthday. I have yet to listen to them all, but I have added them to my iTunes music library. This prompted me to start organizing my iTunes library properly. I spent an hour on it last night. I even went to all the trouble of naming all the compilation albums that Jeff gave me.
Tuesday evening was very exciting. Chris and I went to see Cirque du Solieu (or however you spell it...) using the tickets that I was given for my 21st. (Thanks churchies) The performance was amazing, and I can now say it's defiantly a "must see". The performance was more like dancing, but without having your feet on the floor. It was like dancing in the air. (So Beautiful)
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Back to the grind after the ANZAC day break
Well, the grind is becoming more and more routine. I guess the good part is that everything that happens outside of that routine should be more special. Somehow, it feels like the things outside of routine are not that exciting either. I do have some exciting news though...
Last Sunday, Chris and I purchased a new washing machine/dryer combo. Now I don't mean a combo as in, a set of two... I mean a combo as in, one machine that does it all. (How exciting!) The particular model we purchased is an LG. The RRP on it was $2200... but we managed to get it down to $1545, so that's quite good. (I was quite proud of our good negotiation skills.) It's a 8kg washer, combined with a 4kg dryer. =) It also has a cool steam washing function, meaning that you can wash your work shirts and that kinda thing using steam if they are not really soiled, like if they have just been worn in the office for a day or two. The washing machine gets delivered on this coming Saturday morning, just before the linen party. (That could be exciting) So Chris is hoping that we can do a quick load in the morning before the linen party. I am feeling a little more skeptical, I think a load could take a bit longer than that.
The other highlight of Sunday was that I was asked to be on a panel at church. We had to share how stories from the bible can change over time. It was kinda interesting, but cool at the same time.
I have spent most afternoons this week working on stuff for the Make Poverty History thing I am doing at Ferntree Gully UC this coming Sunday. Barbara has been a great help, and I think that we have it mostly under control now.
A highlight I am not so proud of from this week is that last night I got pulled over for talking on my phone while driving. It was a $145 fine, and 3 demerit points. I was so annoyed at the police man, because they pulled me over in a carpark!! They also acted like I must be stupid because I had not seen TV advertisements about driving with mobile phones. It's not my fault that they think everyone watches TV, when clearly that is not the case. Anyways, that's a bit of an annoyance.
Last Saturday, Chris and I went to Krista's birthday party. It was her 21st, and she had the party in a great little cafe that was on a lake. The only problem was that it was in Point Cook! (That's half way to Geelong from the CBD!!) So it took us ages to get there and to get home as well. I think we may have spent just as much time traveling as we did at the actual party. I had a great time though. (even if I did fall asleep on the way home.)
Last Sunday, Chris and I purchased a new washing machine/dryer combo. Now I don't mean a combo as in, a set of two... I mean a combo as in, one machine that does it all. (How exciting!) The particular model we purchased is an LG. The RRP on it was $2200... but we managed to get it down to $1545, so that's quite good. (I was quite proud of our good negotiation skills.) It's a 8kg washer, combined with a 4kg dryer. =) It also has a cool steam washing function, meaning that you can wash your work shirts and that kinda thing using steam if they are not really soiled, like if they have just been worn in the office for a day or two. The washing machine gets delivered on this coming Saturday morning, just before the linen party. (That could be exciting) So Chris is hoping that we can do a quick load in the morning before the linen party. I am feeling a little more skeptical, I think a load could take a bit longer than that.
The other highlight of Sunday was that I was asked to be on a panel at church. We had to share how stories from the bible can change over time. It was kinda interesting, but cool at the same time.
I have spent most afternoons this week working on stuff for the Make Poverty History thing I am doing at Ferntree Gully UC this coming Sunday. Barbara has been a great help, and I think that we have it mostly under control now.
A highlight I am not so proud of from this week is that last night I got pulled over for talking on my phone while driving. It was a $145 fine, and 3 demerit points. I was so annoyed at the police man, because they pulled me over in a carpark!! They also acted like I must be stupid because I had not seen TV advertisements about driving with mobile phones. It's not my fault that they think everyone watches TV, when clearly that is not the case. Anyways, that's a bit of an annoyance.
Last Saturday, Chris and I went to Krista's birthday party. It was her 21st, and she had the party in a great little cafe that was on a lake. The only problem was that it was in Point Cook! (That's half way to Geelong from the CBD!!) So it took us ages to get there and to get home as well. I think we may have spent just as much time traveling as we did at the actual party. I had a great time though. (even if I did fall asleep on the way home.)
Monday, April 16, 2007
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....
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....
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Highlights coming to the end of lent.
Over the past week, I have had a few highlights which I should have shared, but somehow just never got around to blogging about. The first of these highlights was being able to have Cheyne over for dinner before he left for Canberra. It was lots of fun, and we were able to catch up a little. He was telling me about how he had a couple job prospects in Canberra, but I haven't heard since then weather he got one of the ones he was hopeful about.
On Thursday, Dad called to invite me to go to dinner at Grandma's house with our family and Aunty Lorraine. I thought that sounded like a good idea, so Chris and I went to have dinner with everyone. It was unusual to have so Peter, Phil, Mum, Dad, Chris, Aunty Lorraine, Grandma and myself all in the one place. Aunty Lorraine showed us the doors she painted for Grandma, which were still a tad wet. Fortunately, the house didn't smell like paint. =)
On Friday night, Chris and I had a few friends over for a DVD night. Emma, Fiona, Mauris, John, Jeff, and Tegan came along. We watched Mean Girls, Hoodwinked, and John Tucker Must Die. All of the movies were pretty light hearted, which was good. (Except that John got caught in a laughing fit during Hoodwinked, and needed a smoke to calm down...) I loved being able to show off our house. Chris K and Chris J have done such a good job of arranging everything (and I have done an ok job of directing... lol.) It was great to catch up with everyone. Tegan and Fiona stayed around for ages, which was really nice. I think I got to bed around 3am, but I had a blast.
Saturday evening was Gavin's birthday party! Happy Birthday Gavin!! The party was held at his place, so Chris and I didn't get lost getting there (always a good thing) Lots of my friends from Uni were there, so it provided the perfect opportunity to catch up about each other's lives. It seems that almost everyone is enjoying their IBL experience. Jenny seems to be the one girl who has not gotten into an IBL position. (oh, and maybe Allison....)
Brendan, Jess and Joel had a house warming on Saturday evening as well, which we could only really pop in to say "hi" for. Sunday afternoon, Jess held a tupperware party, so I went along to that. I tried my best to not buy anything new, but I was swindled into a new smaller size rock'n'serve container. It's going to be the perfect size for my lunches. =) (and at $7.50, that's a bargain)
Sunday evening, we went almost straight from the tupperware party to Barbara's birthday. It was held at a hotel inside Melbourne Central. We ate in the "outside" part of the pub, so we had seats overlooking the historic shot tower, and the footpath passing by. There were not too many shoppers at this time of the evening though. I can just imagine how weird it must be during the day, when there are people pushing shopping trolleys past and running around with shopping bags. I sort of want to go back there just to see what it's like.
I think Barbara enjoyed her birthday. I know I did. Unfortunately, Chris K couldn't make it, so we had a spare seat at the table. I somehow got separated from one end of the table, so I ended up having a good chat with Adrian, Rita and Richard.
There was an 80's retro-revival band at the pub which was actually really good. I was surprised. They dressed up in proper 80's clothes, including go-go boots and way too much vinyl!
Chris and I were out again on Monday evening, going to the Upper Room Project at Shine Cafe. I can't remember what issue we talked about.... so I think it was more of a social event. =) Di and Russell filled me in about their latest project... which involves a Racing Red Kombi. =)
Tuesday evening was rovers.... a bit of a non-event if you ask me. We did manage to decide on some details for party tram though. This year's theme will be "Doctors and Nurses"... there is more info to come later, as we finalize all our plans.
Last night was a bit lazy. Chris and I had dinner, then headed over to my parent's place to deliver some easter eggs and a spare battery for the digital camera. Mum and Phil are heading off for a week in the USA to celebrate Grandpa's 80th birthday. I think by the time I post this, they should be somewhere half way across the pacific ocean. Phil was excited about having a 5 hour stop-over in Chicago this time. I wish I was going. =)
Today I received some bad news... Matthew and Richie's other Grandma died. (So that's Aunty Marion's Mum) Marion called me and asked if I might be able to prepare something for the funeral. I guess she means something that is like a celebration of her Mum's life. I said I would do it, but don't really know what I plan to do. I suppose I will keep you posted.
Life has gotten so busy lately, I have hardly had any time to blog! (that's really unusual) I have been doing a lot of work on a church worship service based around the Micah Challenge and the Make Poverty History movement. I must say that what we have been working on looks really slick, so I suggest everyone come along to the service on the 29th of April. It starts at 10am. =)
On Thursday, Dad called to invite me to go to dinner at Grandma's house with our family and Aunty Lorraine. I thought that sounded like a good idea, so Chris and I went to have dinner with everyone. It was unusual to have so Peter, Phil, Mum, Dad, Chris, Aunty Lorraine, Grandma and myself all in the one place. Aunty Lorraine showed us the doors she painted for Grandma, which were still a tad wet. Fortunately, the house didn't smell like paint. =)
On Friday night, Chris and I had a few friends over for a DVD night. Emma, Fiona, Mauris, John, Jeff, and Tegan came along. We watched Mean Girls, Hoodwinked, and John Tucker Must Die. All of the movies were pretty light hearted, which was good. (Except that John got caught in a laughing fit during Hoodwinked, and needed a smoke to calm down...) I loved being able to show off our house. Chris K and Chris J have done such a good job of arranging everything (and I have done an ok job of directing... lol.) It was great to catch up with everyone. Tegan and Fiona stayed around for ages, which was really nice. I think I got to bed around 3am, but I had a blast.
Saturday evening was Gavin's birthday party! Happy Birthday Gavin!! The party was held at his place, so Chris and I didn't get lost getting there (always a good thing) Lots of my friends from Uni were there, so it provided the perfect opportunity to catch up about each other's lives. It seems that almost everyone is enjoying their IBL experience. Jenny seems to be the one girl who has not gotten into an IBL position. (oh, and maybe Allison....)
Brendan, Jess and Joel had a house warming on Saturday evening as well, which we could only really pop in to say "hi" for. Sunday afternoon, Jess held a tupperware party, so I went along to that. I tried my best to not buy anything new, but I was swindled into a new smaller size rock'n'serve container. It's going to be the perfect size for my lunches. =) (and at $7.50, that's a bargain)
Sunday evening, we went almost straight from the tupperware party to Barbara's birthday. It was held at a hotel inside Melbourne Central. We ate in the "outside" part of the pub, so we had seats overlooking the historic shot tower, and the footpath passing by. There were not too many shoppers at this time of the evening though. I can just imagine how weird it must be during the day, when there are people pushing shopping trolleys past and running around with shopping bags. I sort of want to go back there just to see what it's like.
I think Barbara enjoyed her birthday. I know I did. Unfortunately, Chris K couldn't make it, so we had a spare seat at the table. I somehow got separated from one end of the table, so I ended up having a good chat with Adrian, Rita and Richard.
There was an 80's retro-revival band at the pub which was actually really good. I was surprised. They dressed up in proper 80's clothes, including go-go boots and way too much vinyl!
Chris and I were out again on Monday evening, going to the Upper Room Project at Shine Cafe. I can't remember what issue we talked about.... so I think it was more of a social event. =) Di and Russell filled me in about their latest project... which involves a Racing Red Kombi. =)
Tuesday evening was rovers.... a bit of a non-event if you ask me. We did manage to decide on some details for party tram though. This year's theme will be "Doctors and Nurses"... there is more info to come later, as we finalize all our plans.
Last night was a bit lazy. Chris and I had dinner, then headed over to my parent's place to deliver some easter eggs and a spare battery for the digital camera. Mum and Phil are heading off for a week in the USA to celebrate Grandpa's 80th birthday. I think by the time I post this, they should be somewhere half way across the pacific ocean. Phil was excited about having a 5 hour stop-over in Chicago this time. I wish I was going. =)
Today I received some bad news... Matthew and Richie's other Grandma died. (So that's Aunty Marion's Mum) Marion called me and asked if I might be able to prepare something for the funeral. I guess she means something that is like a celebration of her Mum's life. I said I would do it, but don't really know what I plan to do. I suppose I will keep you posted.
Life has gotten so busy lately, I have hardly had any time to blog! (that's really unusual) I have been doing a lot of work on a church worship service based around the Micah Challenge and the Make Poverty History movement. I must say that what we have been working on looks really slick, so I suggest everyone come along to the service on the 29th of April. It starts at 10am. =)
Monday, April 02, 2007
AppleTV Running Regular OS X 10.4.8
| A modified kernel allows the AppleTV to run a normal build of Mac OS X 10.4.8. I shot a video a few minutes after getting this working for the first time. | |
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Bible reading with a difference.
I think I had a bit of a revelation last night. I went along to bible study / small group / eighteen plus.... whatever you want to call it, and we did a bit of an exercise about reading the bible a special way. It's part of a series of workshops about spiritual practices that we have been working on during lent. Anyway, this way of reading the bible is really more like meditating on the words in the gospel. You basically choose a short story from the bible (parts of the gospels are particularly good for this) and read it through a couple times. Then you close your eyes and try to imagine yourself as part of the story. Sometimes you might take up the role of one of the characters, or an onlooker. I didn't think it would be that different to reading it, but I was wrong.
The story we used was the story of Jesus healing a blind man. Everyone in the church knows this story back to front, there are songs, plays and children's stories relating to this story, all focusing on the idea that the story is supposed to illustrate the grace of God. Last night, I did more than read this short story, I experienced it. I imagined myself to be seeing the story as I think it would have been explored through the lens of the camera. (I find I do that a lot in meditation, am I supposed to be a filmmaker?)
To my surprise, different parts of the story stood out for me while I was experiencing it this alternative way. Particularly, I found the Jesus actually healing the man didn't have much of a part in the story. Here's sort of what I imagined...
Jesus was walking down the street, followed by his friends, who were followed by a huge crowd of regular townspeople. Jesus walked right past the beggar on the road, not looking at him twice. Jesus' followers also flocked past the man, not taking a moment's notice.
While the blind man sat by the side of the road, he began to hear all the conversations that people were having. Being blind, the man had a keen sense of hearing, and could tell that this Jesus guy was the one. He knew that Jesus could heal him. He yelled out to Jesus, but was drowned out by the sound of the crowd. The people kept walking past, and kicked dirt in the man's face, saying "Jesus is not interested in you, he's far too busy and important to waste his time on you." The blind man cried out to Jesus again, but he was well and truly drowned out by the noisy crowd.
Jesus stopped, turned around, and told the crowd to shut-up. "Come forward" he beckoned the blind man. The blind man needed the crowd to help him get to Jesus, because there were so many people in the way.
The rest of the story is a blur. I don't think it's that important.
The thing that really stood out about this story for me, was that Jesus heard the man, even thought he was probably the smallest voice in the crowd. Once the man's cries were affirmed to be OK, the crowd then could help the man get the healing he needed.
I can't help but wonder if at some point in my life I feel like my voice is being drowned out, closed in on by the crowd. What am I trying to say in this part of my life? It's intriguing, but at least now I finally understand how people can say that the bible is "the living word" of God. =)
The story we used was the story of Jesus healing a blind man. Everyone in the church knows this story back to front, there are songs, plays and children's stories relating to this story, all focusing on the idea that the story is supposed to illustrate the grace of God. Last night, I did more than read this short story, I experienced it. I imagined myself to be seeing the story as I think it would have been explored through the lens of the camera. (I find I do that a lot in meditation, am I supposed to be a filmmaker?)
To my surprise, different parts of the story stood out for me while I was experiencing it this alternative way. Particularly, I found the Jesus actually healing the man didn't have much of a part in the story. Here's sort of what I imagined...
Jesus was walking down the street, followed by his friends, who were followed by a huge crowd of regular townspeople. Jesus walked right past the beggar on the road, not looking at him twice. Jesus' followers also flocked past the man, not taking a moment's notice.
While the blind man sat by the side of the road, he began to hear all the conversations that people were having. Being blind, the man had a keen sense of hearing, and could tell that this Jesus guy was the one. He knew that Jesus could heal him. He yelled out to Jesus, but was drowned out by the sound of the crowd. The people kept walking past, and kicked dirt in the man's face, saying "Jesus is not interested in you, he's far too busy and important to waste his time on you." The blind man cried out to Jesus again, but he was well and truly drowned out by the noisy crowd.
Jesus stopped, turned around, and told the crowd to shut-up. "Come forward" he beckoned the blind man. The blind man needed the crowd to help him get to Jesus, because there were so many people in the way.
The rest of the story is a blur. I don't think it's that important.
The thing that really stood out about this story for me, was that Jesus heard the man, even thought he was probably the smallest voice in the crowd. Once the man's cries were affirmed to be OK, the crowd then could help the man get the healing he needed.
I can't help but wonder if at some point in my life I feel like my voice is being drowned out, closed in on by the crowd. What am I trying to say in this part of my life? It's intriguing, but at least now I finally understand how people can say that the bible is "the living word" of God. =)
Monday, March 26, 2007
Interstate Visitors
Sunday was Grandma Wheatland's 83rd birthday. To celebrate, the whole family got together for a meal at the middle hotel. It was made extra special by the fact that we were joined by Aunty Lorraine, who traveled from Queensland for the occasion. She is staying for a week with Grandma, and will spend some time visiting Grandpa as well.
I know Grandma doesn't ever let on that she wants a present for her birthday, but I got her one anyway. I printed off a photo of us together at my 21st birthday (it was a really nice photo, considering that it was just a happy snap). I bought a pewter photo frame for it to go in, and wrapped it up in the best wrapping paper I could find. You should have seen the look on Grandma's face when she opened it. I could tell she loved it. =) she then proceeded to show it off to everyone around the table. It was so nice. I think Grandma secretly loved getting a personal present for her birthday.
Chris and I sat opposite Michael, and next to Matthew over dinner. You can imagine what the conversation was like.... quite lively! We discussed all the world's problems, such as cloning, stem cell research, the water shortage, Australia's green energy problem, and interest rates. I really enjoyed the lively debate, but all good things must come to an end, so we left the restaurant around 10pm to head home. It was a fantastic evening out, but I didn't really get to chat with Aunty Lorraine much, so maybe sometime during the week we can catch up. =)
I know Grandma doesn't ever let on that she wants a present for her birthday, but I got her one anyway. I printed off a photo of us together at my 21st birthday (it was a really nice photo, considering that it was just a happy snap). I bought a pewter photo frame for it to go in, and wrapped it up in the best wrapping paper I could find. You should have seen the look on Grandma's face when she opened it. I could tell she loved it. =) she then proceeded to show it off to everyone around the table. It was so nice. I think Grandma secretly loved getting a personal present for her birthday.
Chris and I sat opposite Michael, and next to Matthew over dinner. You can imagine what the conversation was like.... quite lively! We discussed all the world's problems, such as cloning, stem cell research, the water shortage, Australia's green energy problem, and interest rates. I really enjoyed the lively debate, but all good things must come to an end, so we left the restaurant around 10pm to head home. It was a fantastic evening out, but I didn't really get to chat with Aunty Lorraine much, so maybe sometime during the week we can catch up. =)
Sunday, March 25, 2007
It's official!!! this is the 1000th post on my blog!!
Well, after more than two years of blogging, this is my thousandth post! How exciting is that? Hmm, I guess you could look at it the other way and argue that it's sad that I have wasted thousands of hours working on a little project that doesn't profit, and will never really "help" anyone. =P I don't care, I like keeping my blog. LOL
Well since I last wrote, lots has happened (yes, I know it's only been a couple days!). On Wednesday night Chris and I went to Scott and Diana's place to have dinner. Linda came too, however Quoc was not able to make it. It was a great meal, and a great chance to catch up with the gang. Linda drove her new car there, so we got to check it out. (See the photos) Diana, Scott and Chris decided to draw on the dew that was on the car.
By the time we had finished dinner, it was so late that Scott and Diana invited us to stay at there house, in the guest room. It was really good, because the next day I had a really short drive to work. (About 20 mins, which is really good compared to the usual 90 minute drive.)
Thursday evening was Tim's birthday party. He was turning 20, so we went to La Porchetta in Box Hill to celebrate. Tim had other friends from uni come along to help celebrate, and we all shared a meal. Tim's Grandpa had baked a cake for us, which tasted really great. There are some photos from the evening, so I will have to upload them.
Friday was a nice, rather homely evening. The day had been quite warm, so I was relieved to be catching an air-conditioned train home in the evening. I was quite annoyed that the train was running late, but I guess that can't be helped. I caught the train one stop more than normal, to Ringwood, because I had to pick up some things from the pharmacy. Chris called me while I was in the shop, telling me that in Hawthorn (where he was) it was really raining quite hard, and that he thought the cool change might be on it's way over to Mitcham.
I quickly raced through the store, and ran home from Ringwood, because the clothes line was full of clean, dry washing. It had been hanging there for a couple days trying to get dry, so I was adamant that I was not going to let it get soaked again. As most of you can imagine, I had to run (quite literally) the entire way home. I was so puffed out by the time I got home. I rushed to get all the washing off the line, and tripped over the stupid tree stump in the back yard. It hurt, but I managed to get all the washing in, and as soon as I had, the skies opened up!! I was really quite relieved.
The rest of Friday evening was quite uneventful, which was nice. I managed to watch some documentaries I had taped from SBS using the latest toy (the DVR). I also watched Dateline, which had some really interesting stories about environmental stuff. They ran a story about the richest man in mainland China, who is actually an Aussie. He runs a company called "Suntec". It was quite an interesting article, and I suggest people look it up on the SBS website. www.sbs.com.au
Saturday was a busy day. We had a suit fitting for Tim and Marion's wedding in the morning, then I had an appointment to get my hair cut. I used the voucher that Mark gave me for my birthday. It was a fantastic gift, as I quite enjoyed the experience. (and I should add, that they did a great job on my hair) It was at Kawsa, which is a place in Surrey Hills. I had never been there before, but I might go back. I really liked it.
After getting my hair cut, we spent the afternoon with Mark, talking over coffee, and looking through old antique stores. It was quite fun. In the evening, we headed over to Federation Square, to see if we could get tickets to the Queer Film Festival.
We wanted to go and see two lots of short films, one started at 6pm, which we were too late booking tickets for. The other lot of short films kicked off at 10pm, so we got our tickets, then went to get some dinner. Ryan joined us for dinner, because it was his birthday. Mark had to work, so couldn't come with us to the late lot of short films, but Ryan did come, and seemed to enjoy himself.
This morning I spent cleaning the house, and blogging. Krissy came over for me to fix her computer. We talked about a startup company she is hoping to market early this year, called "Starworks". It's all very exciting. I'm going to be working on the marketing and website design, which I am really excited about! So we will have to see how everything works out.
Later today I plan to try and remove the dog smell Naz left on our carpet in the lounge room.... oh, I feel so domestic! lol
**Happy 1000th Post**
Well since I last wrote, lots has happened (yes, I know it's only been a couple days!). On Wednesday night Chris and I went to Scott and Diana's place to have dinner. Linda came too, however Quoc was not able to make it. It was a great meal, and a great chance to catch up with the gang. Linda drove her new car there, so we got to check it out. (See the photos) Diana, Scott and Chris decided to draw on the dew that was on the car.
By the time we had finished dinner, it was so late that Scott and Diana invited us to stay at there house, in the guest room. It was really good, because the next day I had a really short drive to work. (About 20 mins, which is really good compared to the usual 90 minute drive.)
Thursday evening was Tim's birthday party. He was turning 20, so we went to La Porchetta in Box Hill to celebrate. Tim had other friends from uni come along to help celebrate, and we all shared a meal. Tim's Grandpa had baked a cake for us, which tasted really great. There are some photos from the evening, so I will have to upload them.
Friday was a nice, rather homely evening. The day had been quite warm, so I was relieved to be catching an air-conditioned train home in the evening. I was quite annoyed that the train was running late, but I guess that can't be helped. I caught the train one stop more than normal, to Ringwood, because I had to pick up some things from the pharmacy. Chris called me while I was in the shop, telling me that in Hawthorn (where he was) it was really raining quite hard, and that he thought the cool change might be on it's way over to Mitcham.
I quickly raced through the store, and ran home from Ringwood, because the clothes line was full of clean, dry washing. It had been hanging there for a couple days trying to get dry, so I was adamant that I was not going to let it get soaked again. As most of you can imagine, I had to run (quite literally) the entire way home. I was so puffed out by the time I got home. I rushed to get all the washing off the line, and tripped over the stupid tree stump in the back yard. It hurt, but I managed to get all the washing in, and as soon as I had, the skies opened up!! I was really quite relieved.
The rest of Friday evening was quite uneventful, which was nice. I managed to watch some documentaries I had taped from SBS using the latest toy (the DVR). I also watched Dateline, which had some really interesting stories about environmental stuff. They ran a story about the richest man in mainland China, who is actually an Aussie. He runs a company called "Suntec". It was quite an interesting article, and I suggest people look it up on the SBS website. www.sbs.com.au
Saturday was a busy day. We had a suit fitting for Tim and Marion's wedding in the morning, then I had an appointment to get my hair cut. I used the voucher that Mark gave me for my birthday. It was a fantastic gift, as I quite enjoyed the experience. (and I should add, that they did a great job on my hair) It was at Kawsa, which is a place in Surrey Hills. I had never been there before, but I might go back. I really liked it.
After getting my hair cut, we spent the afternoon with Mark, talking over coffee, and looking through old antique stores. It was quite fun. In the evening, we headed over to Federation Square, to see if we could get tickets to the Queer Film Festival.
We wanted to go and see two lots of short films, one started at 6pm, which we were too late booking tickets for. The other lot of short films kicked off at 10pm, so we got our tickets, then went to get some dinner. Ryan joined us for dinner, because it was his birthday. Mark had to work, so couldn't come with us to the late lot of short films, but Ryan did come, and seemed to enjoy himself.
This morning I spent cleaning the house, and blogging. Krissy came over for me to fix her computer. We talked about a startup company she is hoping to market early this year, called "Starworks". It's all very exciting. I'm going to be working on the marketing and website design, which I am really excited about! So we will have to see how everything works out.
Later today I plan to try and remove the dog smell Naz left on our carpet in the lounge room.... oh, I feel so domestic! lol
**Happy 1000th Post**
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
The week in review.
Well, it's been a week since the tupperware party, and nothing much seems to have changed all that much. Work is still fairly busy, and the seasons seem to be marching along in the correct fashion. We have actually had a fair amount of rain, indicating that Summer is definitely over, and the leaves are starting to fall off some of the trees.
Thursday last week was a bad day. I was really tired, and needed to rest. The tupperware party had extended into the night, and I don't think I am up for all that excitement in my old age... (That was a joke... lol) Fortunately, Thursday night was empty on the calendar, so Chris and I spent it at home, cleaning up after the tupperware party, and having an early night.
Friday night was empty on the calendar, but quickly got filled up with the stupidness of everyday life. Chris and I decided to go shopping for a present for Tim, and Barbara, because they are both having birthdays very soon. By the time Chris and I got to Eastland, it was about 8pm, and there were kids everywhere! Why can't they invent a shopping centre where there are no kids, only adults? it would spare me from tripping over 5 year olds, and bumping into year 7 kids. Anyways, we found a gift for Tim, but had no luck for Barbara yet..... that's ok, because Barbara's birthday is still a little further away.
Saturday seemed like a nothing day. In the morning there was a working bee at church, where I helped clear out part of the shed (which was home to about a thousand rats!!) and helped to set up the new data-projector and screen. The new data-projector is pretty cool, and I was most impressed that it could be seen from every part of the church without any problems. =)
Following my efforts at the working bee, I went to get my teeth checked at the dentist. He seemed to think that my teeth were pretty good, and I just needed to scrub my gums harder (which is what they say every time). Mum asked if I would like to join them for lunch, which I thought might be nice, so I headed back to Mum and Dad's place. Mum arrived about an hour and a half after I did, with a trunk full of shopping. Then we had to goto some house auction that Dad wanted to see, which I think was a waste of time. We finally got back to the house to eat lunch around 3.30pm, which is quite a feat considering that we left the dentist around 11.45am. I was not happy.
I had to run almost straight after lunch, because we were having Liam and Ann over for dinner and I had not started cooking yet!
Ann and Liam arrived around 5.45-ish. It was great to see them again, after about 3 months of being out of the loop. Ann was so impressed with Chris and my cooking skills. It was such fun, seeing them again and catching up. Liam was saying that when his lease is up (sometime next January) they are planning on moving in together. (Young love is soo sweet!)
Sunday was another marathon day at Church. The morning service was lead by Scott, and was actually really interesting. After the morning service I went to Bayswater UC for a "Climate Change Forum" which was interesting, but a little draining. I think alot could have been said in a shorter period of time. (Less is more is particularly applicable to boring uni professors.)
Following the forum, I headed home for a couple hours to do some odd bits and pieces, then I went off to "Urban Suburban" at Glen Waverly Uniting Church. Ambassador 77 were playing, and it was heaps of fun. (I think I have to upload some photos of it sooner or later.)
Monday night was interesting, because I weaseled my way out of a tupperware meeting (the tupperware lady was trying to get me to join up). I went along to 18plus instead, which I think was a much wiser choice. Last night I went to Rovers, which was ok, although the activity was a bit boring (not to mention unrealistic). The idea was that you had to walk around and within a certain time limit, collect sheets of paper from 20 points marked on a street map. I think Andrew (who planned it) was trying to annoy us by putting almost all of the flags at the end of courts, or places that were not easy to get to.
Anyways, that's enough blabbing from me, I should get going. Tonight I am going to Diana and Scott's place for dinner. It should be fun, Linda will be there too, and Chris is coming of course. =)
Thursday last week was a bad day. I was really tired, and needed to rest. The tupperware party had extended into the night, and I don't think I am up for all that excitement in my old age... (That was a joke... lol) Fortunately, Thursday night was empty on the calendar, so Chris and I spent it at home, cleaning up after the tupperware party, and having an early night.
Friday night was empty on the calendar, but quickly got filled up with the stupidness of everyday life. Chris and I decided to go shopping for a present for Tim, and Barbara, because they are both having birthdays very soon. By the time Chris and I got to Eastland, it was about 8pm, and there were kids everywhere! Why can't they invent a shopping centre where there are no kids, only adults? it would spare me from tripping over 5 year olds, and bumping into year 7 kids. Anyways, we found a gift for Tim, but had no luck for Barbara yet..... that's ok, because Barbara's birthday is still a little further away.
Saturday seemed like a nothing day. In the morning there was a working bee at church, where I helped clear out part of the shed (which was home to about a thousand rats!!) and helped to set up the new data-projector and screen. The new data-projector is pretty cool, and I was most impressed that it could be seen from every part of the church without any problems. =)
Following my efforts at the working bee, I went to get my teeth checked at the dentist. He seemed to think that my teeth were pretty good, and I just needed to scrub my gums harder (which is what they say every time). Mum asked if I would like to join them for lunch, which I thought might be nice, so I headed back to Mum and Dad's place. Mum arrived about an hour and a half after I did, with a trunk full of shopping. Then we had to goto some house auction that Dad wanted to see, which I think was a waste of time. We finally got back to the house to eat lunch around 3.30pm, which is quite a feat considering that we left the dentist around 11.45am. I was not happy.
I had to run almost straight after lunch, because we were having Liam and Ann over for dinner and I had not started cooking yet!
Ann and Liam arrived around 5.45-ish. It was great to see them again, after about 3 months of being out of the loop. Ann was so impressed with Chris and my cooking skills. It was such fun, seeing them again and catching up. Liam was saying that when his lease is up (sometime next January) they are planning on moving in together. (Young love is soo sweet!)
Sunday was another marathon day at Church. The morning service was lead by Scott, and was actually really interesting. After the morning service I went to Bayswater UC for a "Climate Change Forum" which was interesting, but a little draining. I think alot could have been said in a shorter period of time. (Less is more is particularly applicable to boring uni professors.)
Following the forum, I headed home for a couple hours to do some odd bits and pieces, then I went off to "Urban Suburban" at Glen Waverly Uniting Church. Ambassador 77 were playing, and it was heaps of fun. (I think I have to upload some photos of it sooner or later.)
Monday night was interesting, because I weaseled my way out of a tupperware meeting (the tupperware lady was trying to get me to join up). I went along to 18plus instead, which I think was a much wiser choice. Last night I went to Rovers, which was ok, although the activity was a bit boring (not to mention unrealistic). The idea was that you had to walk around and within a certain time limit, collect sheets of paper from 20 points marked on a street map. I think Andrew (who planned it) was trying to annoy us by putting almost all of the flags at the end of courts, or places that were not easy to get to.
Anyways, that's enough blabbing from me, I should get going. Tonight I am going to Diana and Scott's place for dinner. It should be fun, Linda will be there too, and Chris is coming of course. =)
Friday, March 16, 2007
Thursday, March 15, 2007
The Tupperware Party
Last night was the Tupperware party, but I should start my blog post by talking about the events of Tuesday night.
Tuesday evening was supposed to be spent slaving away in the house, cleaning and cooking food in preparation for the Tupperware party. However, this was not the case. During the day on Tuesday, Mum gave me a call to invite us out to dinner. Mardi was in town, and wanted to catch up with the family. Mardi was in the USA on the Gamoo program a year after Dad was, and knew Dad because he helped her get settled in to the US way of life. Anyways, we went along to dinner, which was nice, but there was too much food! Following dinner we all headed back to Mum and Dad's place for tea and coffee. Mum and Dad spent hours showing Mardi photos of all the family, and it was about 11pm by the time we headed off home! Needless to say that very little cleaning happened once we finally got home.
The Tupperware party was on Wednesday. I arrived home on Wednesday around 6.50pm, and Chris was only just getting home then as well, because he had been out shopping for food. Jenny, the Tupperware lady, arrived about one minute after we stepped in the door. Jenny was fine setting up her stuff, but Chris and I were run off our feet trying to get some food ready (which nobody really ate) and lighting candles around the house, and preparing drinks. Once people started arriving, I started to relax. There were not as many people as I had hoped for, and some people who said they would come along didn't. =( But all-in-all I think it was a good night. I hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did.
On a completely different topic.... Did you know that Channel 31 has canceled "Fish Cam"!!! For those who have never watched Fish Cam, the name basically says it all... It's fish, in a tank, somewhere in the hallowed halls of RMIT in Melbourne. I think Wikipedia captures the essence of the show quite nicely: "It used to be live, but the station got complaints from the ACMA when there was a dead fish floating on the top of the tank for several days." For some reason, people have become really attached to this mind numbing show, with one blogger stating "I found myself up late at night watching Fishcam. It wasn't particularly interesting but was somehow compelling and addictive." I couldn't stand FishCam myself, so maybe it's a good idea that Chanel 31 have chosen to fill their late night TV with real people instead of fish.
Tuesday evening was supposed to be spent slaving away in the house, cleaning and cooking food in preparation for the Tupperware party. However, this was not the case. During the day on Tuesday, Mum gave me a call to invite us out to dinner. Mardi was in town, and wanted to catch up with the family. Mardi was in the USA on the Gamoo program a year after Dad was, and knew Dad because he helped her get settled in to the US way of life. Anyways, we went along to dinner, which was nice, but there was too much food! Following dinner we all headed back to Mum and Dad's place for tea and coffee. Mum and Dad spent hours showing Mardi photos of all the family, and it was about 11pm by the time we headed off home! Needless to say that very little cleaning happened once we finally got home.
The Tupperware party was on Wednesday. I arrived home on Wednesday around 6.50pm, and Chris was only just getting home then as well, because he had been out shopping for food. Jenny, the Tupperware lady, arrived about one minute after we stepped in the door. Jenny was fine setting up her stuff, but Chris and I were run off our feet trying to get some food ready (which nobody really ate) and lighting candles around the house, and preparing drinks. Once people started arriving, I started to relax. There were not as many people as I had hoped for, and some people who said they would come along didn't. =( But all-in-all I think it was a good night. I hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did.
On a completely different topic.... Did you know that Channel 31 has canceled "Fish Cam"!!! For those who have never watched Fish Cam, the name basically says it all... It's fish, in a tank, somewhere in the hallowed halls of RMIT in Melbourne. I think Wikipedia captures the essence of the show quite nicely: "It used to be live, but the station got complaints from the ACMA when there was a dead fish floating on the top of the tank for several days." For some reason, people have become really attached to this mind numbing show, with one blogger stating "I found myself up late at night watching Fishcam. It wasn't particularly interesting but was somehow compelling and addictive." I couldn't stand FishCam myself, so maybe it's a good idea that Chanel 31 have chosen to fill their late night TV with real people instead of fish.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
How excitement....
This past week has not been the most exciting or eventful on record. I was at home for dinner two nights this week. (Wow, now that I think about it, maybe it's been a bit busier than I thought.)
Monday night was good fun, it was the first Monday of the month, so "The Upper Room Project" was on. Chris and I went along to Shine cafe for the regular event with all the churchies. Cheyne came along too, so that we could talk about what was happening with him as far as sorting out somewhere new to live, and a new job.
Cheyne's last landlord kicked him out, taking pretty much all his stuff, which he claims he will give back after Cheyne pays back the money he owes for a couple weeks rent and some bills. I'm not sure how legal this course of action is, but Cheyne doesn't seem to care! Cheyne is planning to goto Canberra to "sort himself out" because one of his good friends lives there. Chris and I were planning a trip up on the long weekend anyway, so we offered to give him a lift. (I hope it's the right thing to do?)
Anyways, back to the upper room thing... It's an event organized by Age on behalf of the synod, and offers a time for socializing with other Christians outside of church. Usually there is a focus issue that we can talk about, but this month I didn't quite get it (sorry Age). But I did have a good discussion with Hannah about engaging youth in the church. Hannah always has something interesting to say about these issues. Oh, and I caught up with Laura (who was my small group leader at NCYC) she has started a social work placement at a youth outreach centre, so that's great news.
Tuesday night was exceedingly uneventful. Everyone was home for once, so we had a proper "family dinner". Chris J cooked a roast for us, which was great. I have been so spoiled by Chris's cooking lately, because I can get home and he's got the food all cooked and ready to eat. Of course, that usually means I get to wash up, but so long as I am not drying, that's ok.
Wednesday evening was pretty quiet as well, with the only activities being washing the clothes, which we made a special trip over to Michael and Janet's place for. We did three loads of washing, which took about 2 hours! While the washing was going, I explored Google earth, which has some fantastic new features. They have just implemented the street directions function for Australia, which will be very useful for getting around Melbourne.
Thursday was a busy day. Straight after work, we had some farewell drinks for David, our marketing guru. He is leaving Oates to pursue studies in Argentina. He is planning to learn Spanish (I think). I rushed straight from after work drinks to church council, which was ok, except that I was a couple minutes late. I had drive through for dinner (I know how bad that is) lol.
Friday was one of those days where you just couldn't get any work done. David is leaving the company, so we had a special lunch for him, there were also some speeches at morning tea. When we finally returned to work, nobody was interested in working because the long weekend was coming up. So you can see it was a self-perpetuating spiral.
Straight after work on Friday, Chris and Cheyne picked me up from work and we started driving to Canberra. Cheyne was sort of hitching a lift, because he wanted to visit his friend, Amanda, who lives in Canberra. Chris and I were also going up to visit friends, Scott and Anthony. We arrived at the boy's place around 1am, and by this time I was happy to crash into bed.
Saturday morning was spent doing touristy things around the ACT. We went to the top of the mountain to overlook the entire city, and what I found amazing was that you could see over into NSW. We went to the shopping center and checked out what the retail therapy was like in our nation's capital. I was surprised that it was nothing like shopping in Melbourne CBD. The shopping complex felt more like Chadstone or Knox City, and had many of the same shops.
We went to check out the Canberra art gallery and museum, but I was quite disappointed. I expected that they would have some more modern works than they did.
Saturday night, we went out for dinner to celebrate Amber's birthday. We went to dinner at this little place called "Mako". They specialized in seafood, so everything was fish-themed. Following dinner, we all headed out to Cube nightclub, and spent the rest of the night dancing and lounging around on their huge sofas. It was a great night, but we got home really late.
I woke up around noon on Sunday, and didn't feel fantastically rested. Maybe I was dehydrated? Chris and I headed off to investigate parliament house, and spent most of the afternoon just having a sticky beak around. That night was Canberra's 94th birthday, so there was a concert in the park. The Rouge Traders were playing, so we went along to watch. Anthony said he's second cousin's with the lead singer (who is also Izzy from Neighbors). I can sort-of see the resemblance.
On Monday morning we left fairly early, so that we could make it back for 21plus. We made fairly good time, taking about 7 and a half hours to drive. We did take a stupid detour though, which took us through Wagga Wagga.
21 plus was all about "unplugging" our lives, learning to live without a dependence on technology. I thought one of the interesting thoughts was to try and have one day every couple of weeks that was a e-communication free day. So that means no email, no phone and no text messaging. Another interesting thought was to go on a "media diet" for a couple days. This would involve not watching the TV, reading the newspaper, or listening to the radio for a couple days. The idea is that when you get rid of the crap in your life, there is more space for God to speak to you.
Monday night was good fun, it was the first Monday of the month, so "The Upper Room Project" was on. Chris and I went along to Shine cafe for the regular event with all the churchies. Cheyne came along too, so that we could talk about what was happening with him as far as sorting out somewhere new to live, and a new job.
Cheyne's last landlord kicked him out, taking pretty much all his stuff, which he claims he will give back after Cheyne pays back the money he owes for a couple weeks rent and some bills. I'm not sure how legal this course of action is, but Cheyne doesn't seem to care! Cheyne is planning to goto Canberra to "sort himself out" because one of his good friends lives there. Chris and I were planning a trip up on the long weekend anyway, so we offered to give him a lift. (I hope it's the right thing to do?)
Anyways, back to the upper room thing... It's an event organized by Age on behalf of the synod, and offers a time for socializing with other Christians outside of church. Usually there is a focus issue that we can talk about, but this month I didn't quite get it (sorry Age). But I did have a good discussion with Hannah about engaging youth in the church. Hannah always has something interesting to say about these issues. Oh, and I caught up with Laura (who was my small group leader at NCYC) she has started a social work placement at a youth outreach centre, so that's great news.
Tuesday night was exceedingly uneventful. Everyone was home for once, so we had a proper "family dinner". Chris J cooked a roast for us, which was great. I have been so spoiled by Chris's cooking lately, because I can get home and he's got the food all cooked and ready to eat. Of course, that usually means I get to wash up, but so long as I am not drying, that's ok.
Wednesday evening was pretty quiet as well, with the only activities being washing the clothes, which we made a special trip over to Michael and Janet's place for. We did three loads of washing, which took about 2 hours! While the washing was going, I explored Google earth, which has some fantastic new features. They have just implemented the street directions function for Australia, which will be very useful for getting around Melbourne.
Thursday was a busy day. Straight after work, we had some farewell drinks for David, our marketing guru. He is leaving Oates to pursue studies in Argentina. He is planning to learn Spanish (I think). I rushed straight from after work drinks to church council, which was ok, except that I was a couple minutes late. I had drive through for dinner (I know how bad that is) lol.
Friday was one of those days where you just couldn't get any work done. David is leaving the company, so we had a special lunch for him, there were also some speeches at morning tea. When we finally returned to work, nobody was interested in working because the long weekend was coming up. So you can see it was a self-perpetuating spiral.
Straight after work on Friday, Chris and Cheyne picked me up from work and we started driving to Canberra. Cheyne was sort of hitching a lift, because he wanted to visit his friend, Amanda, who lives in Canberra. Chris and I were also going up to visit friends, Scott and Anthony. We arrived at the boy's place around 1am, and by this time I was happy to crash into bed.
Saturday morning was spent doing touristy things around the ACT. We went to the top of the mountain to overlook the entire city, and what I found amazing was that you could see over into NSW. We went to the shopping center and checked out what the retail therapy was like in our nation's capital. I was surprised that it was nothing like shopping in Melbourne CBD. The shopping complex felt more like Chadstone or Knox City, and had many of the same shops.
We went to check out the Canberra art gallery and museum, but I was quite disappointed. I expected that they would have some more modern works than they did.
Saturday night, we went out for dinner to celebrate Amber's birthday. We went to dinner at this little place called "Mako". They specialized in seafood, so everything was fish-themed. Following dinner, we all headed out to Cube nightclub, and spent the rest of the night dancing and lounging around on their huge sofas. It was a great night, but we got home really late.
I woke up around noon on Sunday, and didn't feel fantastically rested. Maybe I was dehydrated? Chris and I headed off to investigate parliament house, and spent most of the afternoon just having a sticky beak around. That night was Canberra's 94th birthday, so there was a concert in the park. The Rouge Traders were playing, so we went along to watch. Anthony said he's second cousin's with the lead singer (who is also Izzy from Neighbors). I can sort-of see the resemblance.
On Monday morning we left fairly early, so that we could make it back for 21plus. We made fairly good time, taking about 7 and a half hours to drive. We did take a stupid detour though, which took us through Wagga Wagga.
21 plus was all about "unplugging" our lives, learning to live without a dependence on technology. I thought one of the interesting thoughts was to try and have one day every couple of weeks that was a e-communication free day. So that means no email, no phone and no text messaging. Another interesting thought was to go on a "media diet" for a couple days. This would involve not watching the TV, reading the newspaper, or listening to the radio for a couple days. The idea is that when you get rid of the crap in your life, there is more space for God to speak to you.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Sharing meals
I almost forgot the most exciting part of the weekend. On Sunday evening, we used the dining room for the first time!
Due to Chris's unpacking on Saturday, I found that there aren't that many boxes left in the house at all. In fact, the dining room was free of clutter, and Chris had set up the table in the middle of the room. We have four chairs to put around the table, so we can't have too many guests over at once.
I cooked up a storm in the kitchen on Sunday night, making "Spanish rice", which is one of my favorite dishes Mum taught me how to make. I cooked extra, because some of the meat in the fridge needed to be cooked, and I haven't mastered cooking for just two people. As it happens, Janet and Michael, (Chris J's parents) called in on the way home from lunch with Grandma. They wanted to drop off some leftovers, like potato salad and pasta salad. They also had some sliced meat which they thought we could use in sandwiches. It's very thoughtful really.
Chris invited them to stay for dinner, and we all ate "Spanish rice" in the newly furnished dining room. I was most excited.
Janet mentioned while she was over, that for the Tupperware party, you can actually take orders from people who can't make it to the party. I think it's a great idea, and am asking for anyone who wants to buy some Tupperware to email me or call me to place an order, or find out more about the party! =)
Due to Chris's unpacking on Saturday, I found that there aren't that many boxes left in the house at all. In fact, the dining room was free of clutter, and Chris had set up the table in the middle of the room. We have four chairs to put around the table, so we can't have too many guests over at once.
I cooked up a storm in the kitchen on Sunday night, making "Spanish rice", which is one of my favorite dishes Mum taught me how to make. I cooked extra, because some of the meat in the fridge needed to be cooked, and I haven't mastered cooking for just two people. As it happens, Janet and Michael, (Chris J's parents) called in on the way home from lunch with Grandma. They wanted to drop off some leftovers, like potato salad and pasta salad. They also had some sliced meat which they thought we could use in sandwiches. It's very thoughtful really.
Chris invited them to stay for dinner, and we all ate "Spanish rice" in the newly furnished dining room. I was most excited.
Janet mentioned while she was over, that for the Tupperware party, you can actually take orders from people who can't make it to the party. I think it's a great idea, and am asking for anyone who wants to buy some Tupperware to email me or call me to place an order, or find out more about the party! =)
Wow, another weekend over!
Well, I have to say I can't believe that this weekend is already over, and I am heading back to work today. I don't feel like the weekend was restful; maybe that's an indication of us trying to do too much.
On Friday evening, Chris and I went to the footy at Telstra Dome. Mat and his friend, Daniel, came along too. Mat is not really a footy person, so he was quite entertaining to listen to giving a commentary on the events of the night. The game was a pre-season game between the Western Bulldogs and the Brisbane Lions. Needless to say, the Bulldogs got thrashed, and the Lions came out on top yet again. After the game, we dropped Daniel at the train station and Mat at his house, then tiredly drove back home.
Saturday started off well. I had a sleep in. I woke up at 9am instead of my normal 6.15am. I had some errands to run in the morning before heading over to Mum and Dad's place to help Mum with the photos for Grandpa's birthday. My errands took up more of my morning than I expected. I dropped in to Scott and Sue's place to collect my jumper which I accidentally left at her tupperware party. I ended up stopping for a little while, and helped get the children ready to go to the toy library. I can't believe how much work kids are! Once they finally got on the road to the toy library, I headed down to the tyre place to collect a tyre for my car which I had a puncture repaired in.
I returned home, with tyre and jumper, to discover that I had to set up my old PC to retrieve some of the photos we needed for Grandpa's album. I didn't have that much trouble actually starting the computer, which was a surprise because I have not started it for quite some time. I burned the CD of photos that we needed for the day, and then decided that I should really backup my photo library so that I can give the computer to Mum and Dad soon. It took 17 CDs, and about an hour and a half to back up my photos. I spent the time running around the house trying to unpack and clean and all that fun stuff.
By the time that I actually got to Mum and Dad's place, it was around 2pm. Mum had begun picking out photos for me to scan, so I could pretty much get straight into it, scanning and touching up some photos from when we were little kids and Grandpa and Grandpa came to visit. I left around 7pm, and went to dinner.
David and Darren had Chris and I over for a beautiful meal and a couple drinks. It was lots of fun, and ended up being quite a late night.
Sunday was church day. Quite literally, I arrived at FTG uniting church around 10am, and left at 4.40pm!! As if that was not enough, Chris and I both headed off to GWUC for the first "MTC" which is held every first Sunday of the month. MTC stands for More Than Church, and is designed to inspire people to get out at do something in the community. Yesterday, we picked up rubbish around the church and the Glen Waverly shopping complex. It was Clean Up Australia Day, so we were doing our part to clean up Australia. It was refreshing to respond to our faith in such a practical way. After picking up some rubbish, we headed back to the church for a guest speaker and some more praise and worship. The guest speaker was a 19 year old boy who spoke about his experience with outreach and international mission. He spoke about his experience with World Vision, and a little about his latest project, which is to unite Christians in our schools.
On Friday evening, Chris and I went to the footy at Telstra Dome. Mat and his friend, Daniel, came along too. Mat is not really a footy person, so he was quite entertaining to listen to giving a commentary on the events of the night. The game was a pre-season game between the Western Bulldogs and the Brisbane Lions. Needless to say, the Bulldogs got thrashed, and the Lions came out on top yet again. After the game, we dropped Daniel at the train station and Mat at his house, then tiredly drove back home.
Saturday started off well. I had a sleep in. I woke up at 9am instead of my normal 6.15am. I had some errands to run in the morning before heading over to Mum and Dad's place to help Mum with the photos for Grandpa's birthday. My errands took up more of my morning than I expected. I dropped in to Scott and Sue's place to collect my jumper which I accidentally left at her tupperware party. I ended up stopping for a little while, and helped get the children ready to go to the toy library. I can't believe how much work kids are! Once they finally got on the road to the toy library, I headed down to the tyre place to collect a tyre for my car which I had a puncture repaired in.
I returned home, with tyre and jumper, to discover that I had to set up my old PC to retrieve some of the photos we needed for Grandpa's album. I didn't have that much trouble actually starting the computer, which was a surprise because I have not started it for quite some time. I burned the CD of photos that we needed for the day, and then decided that I should really backup my photo library so that I can give the computer to Mum and Dad soon. It took 17 CDs, and about an hour and a half to back up my photos. I spent the time running around the house trying to unpack and clean and all that fun stuff.
By the time that I actually got to Mum and Dad's place, it was around 2pm. Mum had begun picking out photos for me to scan, so I could pretty much get straight into it, scanning and touching up some photos from when we were little kids and Grandpa and Grandpa came to visit. I left around 7pm, and went to dinner.
David and Darren had Chris and I over for a beautiful meal and a couple drinks. It was lots of fun, and ended up being quite a late night.
Sunday was church day. Quite literally, I arrived at FTG uniting church around 10am, and left at 4.40pm!! As if that was not enough, Chris and I both headed off to GWUC for the first "MTC" which is held every first Sunday of the month. MTC stands for More Than Church, and is designed to inspire people to get out at do something in the community. Yesterday, we picked up rubbish around the church and the Glen Waverly shopping complex. It was Clean Up Australia Day, so we were doing our part to clean up Australia. It was refreshing to respond to our faith in such a practical way. After picking up some rubbish, we headed back to the church for a guest speaker and some more praise and worship. The guest speaker was a 19 year old boy who spoke about his experience with outreach and international mission. He spoke about his experience with World Vision, and a little about his latest project, which is to unite Christians in our schools.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Wow, is it Thursday ALREADY?!
Well, this week as flown by! I think I have had something on almost every night this week. I should take some time off from my life, so that I can finish unpacking the boxes that are in what is to become our dining room.
I think I mentioned on Monday that we had an Oscars watching night at Kat and Jason's place. The evening was pretty relaxed, and we all ate sweets dipped in chocolate. From watching the awards, I think I finally figured out how much fuss is made over not much. The awards went off with so much pomp and ceremony that the actual speeches were overshadowed.
Tuesday evening was enjoyable too, I caught the train to Glenferrie, and spent the evening with Quoc, Linda, Evan, Chris, Anthony and Gavin. We met "under the sails" at uni, but when I arrived, I discovered that most of the sails have been taken down. We decided to eat dinner at Ruby's, which is just across the road from uni.
Linda said she has bought a car from Sydney, but it needs a few little repairs before it can pass the roadworthy. I think it's all under control though. She bought a manual, even though she only has an automatic license (figure that one out). The car is a Honda Civic, like the one that Quang apparently totaled last Friday.
Evan seems to be enjoying his work with Cobalt-Niche Design, and has a great tan at the moment, due to a family holiday to Apollo Bay. Apparently something is broken on Evan's car at the moment too, so he's training it to work and back every day.
Anthony and Gav have started working together at Kenworth Trucks, which is located in Bayswater. Bayswater would have been about 5 minutes drive from Mum and Dad's place! Anthony and Gavin are doing chassis design or some such thing. It all sounded complicated to me, perhaps I should be glad that I got a position at Oates, instead of one of the other corporations.
On Wednesday evening I went along to my first tupperware party. It was to raise money for the MS society, and was hosted by Scott and Sue, who live about 3 minutes drive from our place in Mitcham. The lady presenting, Jenny, was very nice, and after she showed us the product range, we headed to the kitchen and cooked up a storm with some of the products from the catalog. Jenny made some champaign cocktails and chocolate dips. Chris and I walked out with some new hamburger presses, a meat storage container, and a silicone baking form for muffins. I also booked my own tupperware party, which I expect all of you to come to. =)
Tonight, I plan to do not a lot. I am still feeling a little bit under the weather, and plan to get an early night. Maybe I should unpack a couple more boxes, just so that we can finally set up the dining room.
I think I mentioned on Monday that we had an Oscars watching night at Kat and Jason's place. The evening was pretty relaxed, and we all ate sweets dipped in chocolate. From watching the awards, I think I finally figured out how much fuss is made over not much. The awards went off with so much pomp and ceremony that the actual speeches were overshadowed.
Tuesday evening was enjoyable too, I caught the train to Glenferrie, and spent the evening with Quoc, Linda, Evan, Chris, Anthony and Gavin. We met "under the sails" at uni, but when I arrived, I discovered that most of the sails have been taken down. We decided to eat dinner at Ruby's, which is just across the road from uni.
Linda said she has bought a car from Sydney, but it needs a few little repairs before it can pass the roadworthy. I think it's all under control though. She bought a manual, even though she only has an automatic license (figure that one out). The car is a Honda Civic, like the one that Quang apparently totaled last Friday.
Evan seems to be enjoying his work with Cobalt-Niche Design, and has a great tan at the moment, due to a family holiday to Apollo Bay. Apparently something is broken on Evan's car at the moment too, so he's training it to work and back every day.
Anthony and Gav have started working together at Kenworth Trucks, which is located in Bayswater. Bayswater would have been about 5 minutes drive from Mum and Dad's place! Anthony and Gavin are doing chassis design or some such thing. It all sounded complicated to me, perhaps I should be glad that I got a position at Oates, instead of one of the other corporations.
On Wednesday evening I went along to my first tupperware party. It was to raise money for the MS society, and was hosted by Scott and Sue, who live about 3 minutes drive from our place in Mitcham. The lady presenting, Jenny, was very nice, and after she showed us the product range, we headed to the kitchen and cooked up a storm with some of the products from the catalog. Jenny made some champaign cocktails and chocolate dips. Chris and I walked out with some new hamburger presses, a meat storage container, and a silicone baking form for muffins. I also booked my own tupperware party, which I expect all of you to come to. =)
Tonight, I plan to do not a lot. I am still feeling a little bit under the weather, and plan to get an early night. Maybe I should unpack a couple more boxes, just so that we can finally set up the dining room.
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