It's funny, with all that's happening in the Blog World at the moment I'm tempted to make a post that says something. I could talk about abortion but I did that before, and I don't have much more to say. I could complain about George and John, but I'm sick of that, complaining doesn't solve anything anyway, it just makes me feel better. I could talk about their policies, but I've written about them too. I could make a passionate plea for unity, but well, I can't be bothered. I think we all know we need unity. So, while I want the visitors, I have nothing to say.

I wrote a blog post the other night that I didn't post. Although I never planned on blogging it. It was my blog post that couldn't be blogged. Some of the things I want to say in public but can't. It felt good. I still wrote it like a blog post and had all the same rules I have for blogging, it was just un-publishable. It may have been publishable a year ago, if I was feeling really tired, and a little irrational, but these days, one can't put too much of themselves on the blog. It's the whole issue of remaining honest but guarded.

The problem is, when you have things you want to say on a blog, but you can't, you tend to be more vague, and more cryptic.

For example take this post:

I have this perpetual feeling that I'm missing something.

Now that, is not as cryptic as some have been, but it's recent so I'll use it. There are any number of assumptions you could make from that post.

1. He's in love and wants girlfriend (always my first assumption when reading any person's cryptic blog posts are that they are about love)
2. He's hoping for the baptism of the Holy Spirit
3. He's not a Christian and needs to fill that "God-shaped hole"
4. He's always thinking that he's left something at home (like when you think you've forgotten to turn off the heater)
5. He keeps forgetting to wear underwear and wanted to blog about it without telling people that he keeps forgetting to wear underwear.
6. He's lamenting over friendships that have disappeared from his life
7. He's lamenting over friendships that haven't eventuated in his life
8. He's feeling left out from the social activities of his peers
9. He's got some continual sin that he needs to repent of and he's not feeling the forgiveness of God.

And you could go on for a while.

The truth is that I wrote it because I've been feeling a bit restless lately. And I've been feeling like I should be doing something for God, or that God should be requiring something of me. But I don't know what it could be. So I have this feeling that I'm missing something. Like I'm missing what God might be saying to me. I wasn't sure if that was because I was missing something, or I just felt like that. Either way I wanted to blog it without going into this much detail. I don't mind people knowing though.

And so you blog non-specific things, which give less facts, but start more wonderings. It's so easy to misinterpreted things on blogs because more often they are written with a very limited audience in mind. You write for those who will understand and forget about everyone else.

Anyway, none of this means much. It's just some thoughts while I kill time. I'll still keep blogging the same way. I'll make vague and cryptic posts every so often, and people will make (mostly) wrong hypotheses about them every so often. And life will go on.

It's annoying when you drop your toothbrush in the toilet.

Home group tonight was a lot about the separation of church and state and freedom of religion. It was interesting as it seemed to touch a lot on the blog discussions of late.

Kemp and I had a long chat in the car about looks and good looking people. And how we reacted to good looking people. I would like to say it was an important discussion where we made good moral progress, but I don't think we solved much at all. The verdict was probably that some people are good looking and that matters for about 5 minutes.

I had a road trip meeting with Jem about the Road Trip too. We booked accommodation and it's all very exciting.

Tomorrow I will shave.

If I was ever to get very depressed, or go on a violent rampage, it would be triggered by burning DVDs.

I have life pretty good. There isn't much I should be complaining about.

I was sitting in McDonald's today trying to work out if I almost always get what I want, and that's why it feels like that. Or if I don't often get what I want and I have just decided that I have enough anyway.

Or somewhere in between.

I never finished the thought because I got distracted by the manager carrying a tray from the post-mix machine.

I went and had lunch with Matty G today. It was nice to catch up.

Generally when we catch up he has something to say about how he wants to the church to change. He always inspires me to do something. Today I told him that I wanted change but I have no idea how to do it. I see some of the problems with the church and I think "The only way to fix that is to start a whole new church" but I know if you do that within a generation the church will just go back to how it always was.

It's a shame but it's true. So I stick within the current system, not because it's perfect but because it's there. As flawed as it is, it's still God's Church, his Body, his people.

Well there's a bit of healthy debate going on in the blogworld. Yay!

I must say, contrary to past occurrences, I agree with a lot of what Matt said.

I especially liked what he said about prioritising why we elect people. I have been thinking about that for a while, but I haven't put it as eloquently as Matt.

I didn't, however, vote for Howard and CDP.

My issue with the CDP seems to be that they have more interest in restoring Christendom than they do in governing lovingly in this post-Christian society. It makes me sad that our leading Christian political parties are known more for their views on homosexuality than they are for their love and compassion. There seems to be more condemnation than calling for justice, equality and love. I have no interest in endorsing homosexuality, but I think there are bigger things to worry about in the country.

In the Church I think it's a different argument, but our country is not the church.

As far as abortion goes, I am less happy to let things go. I hate abortion, and if we could get rid of it that'd be great. Unfortunately, as Matt said, it's going to happen anyway. I could vote for whoever in Australia, and it'll still be legal.

I think George Bush is a Christian. And that's great. I think we should pray that all national leaders, especially that they find Christ as we are urged to do in 1 Timothy 2. Christian government is the ideal, but I don't vote for politicians on their religious beliefs, I try and vote on how closely I think their policies fit with the Bible. Unfortunately, I find this quite a disheartening exercise.

When Jesus said we should love our enemies, I'm sure it was applicable to individuals. I don't think it was meant for governments. While I would call on my government to love its enemies, I think governments have been given the job by God to bring justice to the world. Sometimes where an individual should turn the other cheek, a government should go to war. How that works for Christian soldiers, I'm not sure.

Sadly, I don't think there are many times when governments go to war motivated to bring justice.

I think that the war in Iraq wasn't justifiable. I think the continued presence of troops in Iraq is. As I have often said, although perhaps not in my blog, I think it's a bit rude to go and blow up a country then leave. I support the US and Australia doing their bit to clean up their own mess.

I think the "War on Terror" is being fought in primarily the wrong places. If the terrorist's ideologies are being fueled by the Western-enhanced oppression, and inequality that is experienced in much of the world, then perhaps the place to start is not the terrorists, but the problems that help create them in the first place.

Of course, I do not in any way think that the problems caused by the West in the rest of the world is any justification for terrorism. Terrorism is abhorrent, more so than the actions of our governments. If I could tell the terrorists to stop I would. But I am not a citizen of a terrorist nation, and my responsibility is to be responsible for the actions of my country, and call on my government to act with justice.

I may have more to say, but I can't find it. This hasn't been all that well thought out, it's just a bunch of thoughts. I didn't want to get left out of the discussion. And now I will end with a quote from Bono, because, well, Bono is just the best.

"The war against terror is bound up in the war against poverty, I didn't say that, Colin Powell said that. And when a military man from the right starts talking like that maybe we should listen!" - Bono

I've been watching too much useless Foxtel recently.

I have this perpetual feeling that I'm missing something.

I had this thought last night that I'm not really all that good at video stuff. I just know more about it than most other people, so I do better at it than other people. If I taught people how to use the stuff I use in very little time they would be doing a better job than me.

I thought this because as much fun as I had last night mixing the concert, I think I did a bit of an amateur job. I couldn't get a job in the industry.

What was fun though, was that I had a good time. And I like hiring equipment. I went to St Leonards on Friday arvo to hire stuff. And I always like doing that.

The concert went good. My drama team performed good, despite their drama leader.

Why am I bad at blogging at the moment? I don't know. I don't feel like recounting my days, I just like to talk about the interesting things that may occur. But recently life has been pretty mundane. Well I've had fun, but just nothing too out of the ordinary has happened.

On Thursday night Kaia, Ryan, Jem and I went and saw Hero at Chatswood. It was a really wonderful looking film. The fighting was very good. I didn't like it as much as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

On the way home Ryan and I had a long discussion about whether the film was promoting communist ideals, and telling people that the violent conquests of a nation's leaders are justified because in the end it brings peace. I thought it was, Ryan didn't.

All in all I thought the film was kinda preachy. I thought that if the script was in english I would have vomited. But that could have just been the subtitler.

On Monday night Jem and I saw The Manchurian Candidate. That was good. The story was fun and I liked its really strong undercurrent of the war on terror. All through the background of the movie there were news reports of the war on terror, and all the polititions kept talking about security. Even in the quiet, reflective scenes there were sirens in the background. It was interesting because the next day the elections in America were happening and the film was about presidential elections in America.

It was quite an uneasy film.

I don't think the film approved of the current government in the US, or it's foriegn policies. It seemed to think the the government was controlled more by the corporations than the people.

I think I agree, to a certain extent.

I went and visited St Peter's tonight. It was good visit. I felt like I was in a dream. Like I was back at my old church (which I was), and there was a new minister (which there was), with many new youth (which there were), and I was still the youth minister and expected to do something (which I wasn't). It was an odd feeling, but I'm glad I took the opportunity to go check it out.

The bad thing about doing video stuff on the weekend is that you always have to take the hired equipment back on Monday morning. I wanted to sleep in.

At the moment I am burning the last DVD for tomorrow's (today's) concert... If it works. I'm hoping it does. I may even get more than six hours sleep tonight. Posh.

I think that tomorrow (Sunday) I would like to go find a pub and watch the Kostya Tszyu fight, but I don't think I have any friends who will go with me. It would be fun though. For some reason I have been interested in the fight. I'll see if there are any boxing fans in my life. How fun, to sit in a bar, with a beer and lots of men, watching other men hit each other around. I can't think of a better way to spend a few hours of my life.

My blog posts of late haven't been all that long. Probably because I haven't done huge amounts. At least not huge amounts that is different from what I usually do. Although I have two films to de-brief. I'll do it when I have time. The cinema is tops.

It occurred to me after my exam how exciting it is to know stuff. I really like having knowledge and being able to answer tricky looking questions. There are many joys in education.

On Thursday night I decided to start asking God "What are you trying to teach me?" Just in case I'm missing something. I haven't found anything so far. I'll keep my eye out though.

And now I will put two cool words into one useless and pretentious sentence:

"After the sun prematurely capitulated to the advancing evening, the day seemed somewhat truncated."

I think that being a video person would be kinda fun. I like plugging in TVs and video cameras. I like saying things like BNC and RCA cables. It's fun making the mixer work. One day I'll work at a U2 concert. I'll work on the video crew. Yeah, I reckon.

Exam done. Not many people liked it, but I thought it was fine. That probably means I'll fail.

Today I have my one and only exam for the year. It's a worry, because I'm not worried. I'm not stressed. And I haven't studied. Usually at this point in the process I'm crying out to God for grace, but at the moment, I'm not really thinking about it. It's just another thing to do this week. I have done about 2 hours study for it though. And I'll do some reading for it on the train, so I should be fine.

We'll see what happens.

I had a thought the yesterday that feelings aren't real unless you tell them to someone else.

That actually isn't true. But I think we work that way. When you want a feeling to be validated, when you want it to be real, or worth something, you tell someone else. When you don't want a feeling to be real, you don't tell anyone, and when it goes away, it was never really there.

I'm not sure if that's true, but it's a thought.

"They say a secret is something you tell one other person
So I'm telling you, child" - U2

Ok, so I picked second place. That's not too bad.

I just did an hour and a half's study straight. My goodness, I'm an academic king.

I'm really excited about the elections in America. Unlike here, they look close. What could be fun is if Kerry wins. At least I say "Go Kerry". I've heard a joke or two that this elections is the one that will decide the next leader of our country for the next four years. So true.

I want to go vote in Florida. I want my vote to mean something.

In other news, my Melbourne Cup tip is: VINNIE ROW

Trust me, I picked last year's winner.

Saturday I spent all day trying to write yesterday's sermon. I had planned to have it written by 5pm. I didn't have it finished by 1am when I went to bed. The interesting thing was what happened while I was trying to write the sermon. I watched tv, I ate, I swept, I looked at photo albums, I looked at blogs, I checked my email many times, I paced a lot and lay on the floor. None of it really helped me to push the sermon out.

Helen visited me at around 9:30pm to drop some stuff off and she stayed for a while. That was good. We talked and I was able to vent my frustration, and talk it out a bit. When she left I cleaned the unit.

In the morning I wrote the sermon, and I didn't really remember what I wrote because it was 6am. Or 5am according to none-daylight saving time.

It was an interesting day, Saturday. Frustrating, but you get that.

Yesterday was like most Sundays. Today, I went to Chatswood to return the key to the unit, now that I'm home again. And I hung out with Chris. I also ate a strawberry.

There was once a time when I was more eloquent on my blog. Perhaps it was when I felt like more was happening. The weather would fit with my emotions, and my life felt as though it had a little more meaning.

That's not to say that life feels meaningless, but in my "eloquent days", the little things seemed more significant. Most events seemed to have some heightened meaning to them. A drive home, was not just a drive home, and so demanded language to do justice to what I felt was occurring. At the moment I feel like I'm just waiting to look back and see how this all fits in the big scheme of things.

Yesterday at college we were asked to say how we were feeling in meteorological terms. I said I was feeling like a grey, cloudy day, every now and again it'd be a little drizzly. I was looking forward to sun at the end of the day, which was the forecast, but it could start raining at anytime. It could go either way really.

Other people said they were feeling dry and needed refreshing rain. It was interesting for me I was hoping for the sun, for others they were hoping for the rain.

I'm writing a sermon at the moment and God is big, that's what the Bible tells me.

My life here in Chatswood is coming to an end.

The party is over. The revelers have gone home. Then again, there were only seven of us revelers, so I would call it more of a gathering, than a party, but it was pleasent enough anyway. We played the dictionary game.

Today I finished my last class in Field Education at college. The subject is finished and I've passed. Wahoo! I'm only four subjects away from my Advanced Diploma. Bah!

We had small groups tonight and there were only 13 boys this week. Gosh it's difficult chasing 13 boys around a back yard trying to get them to write testimonies. Yikes! I'm looking forward to the day we get to halve the small groups again.

We went an saw Sons of Korah play tonight. They were good. The guitar player was tops. I've fogotten his name but he did good.

On the way home our front left tire was squealing so we pulled over to have a look. Martin and I did a lot of crouching and and looking. I got my hands dirty. I felt like a man. After doing nothing, we drove off and the wheel was fixed. Good on us.

I want to get a spray on tan. It'll make my teeth look whiter.

I have finished all my Field Education assessments and managed to watch a documentary on Mick Jagger. How could life be better?

Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

Psalm 73:25

"I have too many pimples. I am now classified as a pink man." - Me, 2000

I have too much to do. Really.

I would list everything but I think that is silly. My strict adherence to my day off means that I'm packing everything in. Actually, it's my strict adherence to my day off and leasure activities, like Pub and so on. But I believe that it is better to have a good time and be a little stressed, than have a boring time, and have less stress.

Yeah.

I don't like hair cuts. They always scare me and now I feel stupid. I probably look stupid too. More stupid than normal.

My hairdresser was friendly, but seemed determined to bludgeon me to death with various plastic hair dressing implements, or choke me to death with that roll of toilet paper they put around your neck.

At least I won't have to go back for another few months.

Look Mum, I'm famous!

Funny, I stuck a religious picture which made me laugh on my blog, and now I'm the fame of the internet. Ok, so maybe not famous. But here I'm a religious fanatic. And here he can't figure me out.

That's great, I always wanted to be popular.

Next week I'll stick a picture of how well God punishes gay people on my blog and the hits will go through the roof!

That was a joke by the way.

If I fell in love with me, it'd be a worry.

Although I reckon it would be one of those things where everyone would say "We always knew it would happen sooner or later."

Phil, Guin and Helen just came around to my place. It was good. We talked for a long time. I have been reminded again, that my family is fantastic. I have got to be one of the most blessed people around. I did nothing to deserve it but I got born into a wonderful family.

It's good to talk theology with people who like theology. And when you don't feel silly for bringing up Bible passages, discussing doctrine or using the word "covenantal" in normal conversation.

We went and hung at the retirement village today too. I love the people there, they appreciate us so much. And they want to spend time with us. They have time for us because we have time for them. They're tops.

"'All good things come to those who wait.' While he had always said that was a lie, he figured he had nothing better to do than to hang around and prove himself right." - C.K. Knight

Jo (sister) came around to my house tonight. She's staying the night. We've talked a lot. A little about going to Europe next year. We might catch the train a bit while we're there.

I had small group too. 14 people is a lot of people to have in a small group. I hope they had fun, because I feel like I spent most of my time telling them to be quiet.

I went to college today. That was usual.

I like driving a lot more when I can listen to cds. I like driving even more when I have a passenger. I like driving most when I have a passenger and cds.

Happy Birthday for yesterday Viggo.

I managed to get the internet working here. It was all just a matter of finding the right buttons to push really.

I'm having my day off and so far it's been lovely. Except that I just spent the last 85 minutes watching Brother Bear. Not impressed.

Last night when I blogged from the pub I wasn't really in a that bad a mood. I was tired though. So that made me a little crabby. But I think only crabby when I was alone. I was waiting for people to arrive, so I thought I'd blog from my phone. Then when I realised no one would be coming for a while I went to my car and got my book, bought myself a beer and some wedges and read. It was wonderful. I could have done that all night. But then people turned up and I was happy enough with that too.

What I don't like is when you find that you're not in a good mood and the first time you see someone you decide you don't like them. I just saw a guy here in the pub move a table from the bistro to the bar and I got annoyed at him. I thought "You can't do that" and immediately disliked the man. Just now when he came back into the room I saw him and thought "It's you." And sent him a mental greasy. How stupid is that?

I'm taking this opportunity to blog because I don't know when the internet will come back to my bachelor pad. I'm worried that it may never come back. What if it's been cut off because the bill hasn't been paid or something? That would be terrible. I'd fix it but I can't.

Having no internet is horrid. I wander around like I've just broken up with my girlfriend. Actually I'm not sure if that is how I would wander round, but I mope. And I watch tv. It sucks.

If I get a girlfriend, and if we break up, I'll have a look at how I behave and see if it's the same.

Sometimes living alone is great fun. Sometimes it's a bit lonely. It's fun when you have things to do. It's lonely when you don't and you feel like going out. Or feel like having a visitor. Or seeing people. But there isn't anyone around. I think that's what being lonely is I guess.

Anyway, it's not a big deal. The cinema is just down the hallway so that will always be able to solve a problem or two. Plus I'm only in Chatswood for two more weeks. So I'll be fine. And I'm having a lot more fun than I'm not. I really like doing the washing up, and washing my clothes. I'm having fun. I enjoy cooking when there are people to cook for. I enjoy seeing little bits of mess and thinking "I'll clean that soon" And I enjoy it when I do clean up the mess.

Doing assessments there is boring, but good. There is nothing much to distract me so it works well.

I think the positives of Chatswood out weigh the negatives at the moment. Good fun I'm having.

I've decided ADSL is dodgy. I haven't had the net for over 24 hours. I'm blogging from my phone.

I just went and saw Collateral. It took me five minutes to get there and five minutes to get back. Tops!

I liked the film. It was shot on high definition digital video. That gave the film an interesting look. Michael Mann played with a lot of interesting shots. He used his city very well I thought. It was interesting how lonely he made the city feel. Everyone was in their shell and lying to themselves. That, and they were reacting to a contract killer who was driving around the city killing people.

I don't think it was as good as Heat, it was a little sillier. But I'm glad I watched it. It was better than most stuff that's on at the movies.

Yesterday I stayed in the apartment writing my sermon all day, except at around 6:00pm when I went out to find some dinner. I ended up having a meatball sub from Subway. I was hoping for some funky Asian cuisine, but it was not to be.

Today was a normal church day.

I got really nervous before my sermon tonight before I preached. Somedays I'm not worried some days I'm packing it. Tonight was the most scared I've been in a while. More than Canberra or College, that was funny. I'm not completely sure why. A number of factors I guess. But once I got there I was fine.

It wasn't a bad sermon. I would really like to preach a teaching sermon (not evangelistic) on the passage I did tonight. So much good meaty theology in it. I'm hanging to do a meaty sermon. Of course, I don't think I'm the meatiest preacher in the world, but it's fun to go a little bit harder. People who aren't Christians often don't seem all that interested in our theology.

After Church, Anmol and Helen and I went and ate Chinese in Dee Why. How fun. Anmol and Helen paid for me. Yay for them. They're good people.

Tomorrow I'll learn Psalm 51 off by heart for my college assessment. Perhaps the faculty are trying to hint at something.

A Quick Easy Guide to Salvation



From the Maranatha Revival Crusade's book The Coming Worldwide Rapture


But if I can be serious: I can't find huge problems with this diagram theologically. But it seems a little bit simplistic and not all that relevant. I'm not sure how effective it is talking about "The Burning Black Hole of Hell"

The Belated Evolution of Tom's Facial Hair

My Beard
My Goatee
My Mo

The whole facial hair thing was kinda fun. Although, I often didn't enjoy having so much fuzz. Too many conversations about my face. People should stop looking at me. But it was fun none the less. I did get teased a lot. But that's no change from usual, just the subject matter. :)

Ryan came over last night. We watched Dogville. It was one of the most depressing films I have seen in ages. Basically it's about how horrid everyone is. It starts out nice but in the end there is no character of the film who doesn't commit some terrible attrocity.

It was also one of the most different films I've seen. It's worth watching just to see how they made it. It's like watching theatre on film. But it works real well. It was a damn good film, horrible too. We aren't nice people, we humans, and we're all deserving of the wrath of God. The sad thing in the end was that not even grace could change the hearts of the people, it was just there to be abused. The only effective measure was judgement. I feel like a bad person.

I reckon Dogville is worth a watch.

I think about the problems in my life, they're so simple and relatively harmless, and I thank God.

I preached at college today. It was the first time I've done a real preach at college. It was a little scary.

I got hot too.

Sometimes people say that talking about your day is boring. It could be. I find my days boring sometimes. Not today though. I listened to sermons on the train. That passed the time well. It was quite a different experience from listening to music. I even did the Bible readings before the sermon.

I wore my new shorts today, which was quite like wearing my other shorts except with a few more pockets. I drank Coke, Sprite and Solo too. They are good drinks.

I wonder if I talk about my feelings. Some people think I don't. I tend to agree with them. Maybe at the moment. Maybe it's about asking the right questions, maybe it's about being the right person.

I think it's more about the questions.

That's not to say that I'm bottling things up. Actually I could be. I don't think I'm saying I'm full of feelings that I really need to tell someone. I think if I need to tell someone, I do. If people want to know, I'll tell. Unless it's a bad idea to tell them. Then I don't.

In Anger Management the guy went to anger management classes even though he seemed like the most benign guy in the world. He didn't seem the least bit angry. But he was really repressing all his emotions and needed to get them out so he could truly live.

At first I thought, I don't get angry much I wonder if I'm repressing it. But I find it difficult to think of times when I have felt angry. But the guy didn't realise it, so maybe I don't.

But then I thought, the film seems to be about giving your feelings free reign. If you feel something you should act on your feelings. If you're angry at your boss, show him, if you love someone, kiss em. That kinda thing. But it's very selfish. If all we do is what our emotions tell us to do were slaves to our feelings. People only ever do what seems good at the time, and the consequences come later.

I don't think repressing your feelings is a good idea. But then again, I don't think acting on all your feelings works either. I think Doc was right when he said to Peekay, "First with the head, then with the heart." I know it desentimentalises feelings, but it also puts them in their place. Feelings should fuel the passion of our decisions, not make them for us. Feelings then serve us, and not we them.

Did I mention that it was hot today?

I just did a 1,500 assessment in one hour.

Who's the bomb?

(I bet it gets real poor marks.)

Ahh Bum

While I thought the email said:

Hi Tom

everything is due the 13 October 2004

Thanks
Tania

It actually said:

Hi Tom

everything is due the 11 October 2004

Thanks
Tania

Now everything is going to be at least a day late. And this is the same subject that I failed last semester, Children's Ministry. I think these problems are not the result of disorganisation or laziness, they are a sign from God that Children's ministry really isn't me thing.

What would you do if your house burnt down while you were in the shower?

In my childhood this was always a question that got much consideration. That and, what would happen if Jesus came back while I was in the shower? I was always horrified at the idea of having to run outside in the nude in front of all the firemen.

Anyway, this morning I have come a few big steps towards answering that question. While I was in the shower the fire alarm went off in this building. At first I thought it was my clock radio, but I remembered that I didn't have that set. As I stood in the shower and listened to the alarm I tried to decide if I should take it seriously, and if so, what should I take with me? I decided to take my mobile so I could message people and tell them of the excitement and my digital camera so I could take photos of the excitement.

When the alarm changed tone and a pre-recorded man started saying "Please evacuate as directed" I decided I would get out of the shower. I think it was the personal touch that did it. That and I couldn't properly tell what he was saying with the shower on and I was curious. I dried myself while the man continued to tell me to evacuate and I started to tell him to "Shut up, I'll be ready soon." I then went to my room to find some clothes because there's no way I'm going nude in front of a fireman. I wondered if anyone would worry if I wore the same clothes as yesterday, I decided it wouldn't be a big issue. Then it was time to find socks. Part way through finding socks I got distracted by the thought that if the building actually is burning down then that could be pretty impressive. So I headed out on to the balcony barefoot, because let's face it, looking for fire is much more exciting than looking for socks. All I saw on the balcony was other residents on their balconies looking rather bored. There were also some people in the driveway, with their boot open and a boot full of bags. Either they were taking the alarm seriously, and packing all their worldly possessions for a speedy getaway or they were paying no attention to the alarm what-so-ever and putting all their worldly possessions in harm's way.

I think it was about this time the alarms stopped.

The firemen turned up but they looked bored. The concierge walked out of the building looking bored. I looked at the flashing lights for a little while, because who doesn't like flashing lights? Then I went back to my shower and washed my hair.

I shaved too. Now I have a very silly looking goatee. I saw myself in the mirror and laughed. I won't keep it for long. But it's good for entertainment's sake.

I have discovered that it's difficult to find a Bible in the home of an athiest.

Yesterday I had a Coke party. It was good fun. I had people over to the unit and most of us commiserated about the election result. One person gloated.

I had my first drink of Coke in 145 days. It was good. And we made speeches and it was all fun.

I really like letting people in at the buzzer. When it plays crappy music and you see people on the little screen. So fun.

Today I was back at work. I did a Children's talk as an assessment for college. I didn't like it very much. But it was 60% of my assessment so even if it's crap it's done. I have to finish the other 40% between now and Tuesday.

I had a long lunch with Helen and then and almost as long meeting. Lunch with Helen is a good occurrence. We eat, and talk, and have a laugh. Life would be much less good if we didn't get along.

At Macca's tonight we tried not to laugh at various death stories. Now I'm at my pad I've had some spaghetti on toast. It was pretty dull.

There are a lot of numbers between 1 and 78. And I accidently voted the Australians Against Further Immigration higher than the Democrats, but since we were down in the 30s I wasn't too concerned.

Ruddock got number 8 on my green one.

I have no desire to stop blogging.

Well I'm kinda excited. It's election day tomorrow. I love elections. I love filling out the boxes.

I went and saw The Life and Death of Peter Sellers last night with Mum, Dad and Jo. We had fun. We had dinner. I love my family. I laughed a lot and it still hurt.

I haven't seen Hannah since Monday I think. I miss Hannah, she's the best.

I joined the gym downstairs today. I got a free one week membership. Just watch out I'll be so buff next Saturday no one will recognise me.

I hung out with Rich too. We haven't hung out together for well, years. Year 10 may have been the last time we did something together. But we had fun. He doesn't seem to have changed much, but I wouldn't be surprised if actually he's changed a lot. He drives now. That's new.

We went and saw The Terminal. Jimmy joined us.

James is now asleep in the next room. I cooked dinner and we watched a dvd. One day I'm going to learn to cook things that don't come out of a jar. Perhaps, um, slice. I'll cook slice and sell it at church fete. Except my church doesn't have fetes. I'll have to rectify that situation.

Maybe we could get a polling booth put in the church and run one of those election fetes. We could sell sausages, slice and punch to all the famished voters. Because voting is an exhausting past time. Especially if you number 1 to 78 under the line.

Whenever I get an email at this computer my Grandpa's voice comes out of the speakers and says: "Hello. I think you've got some mail. You better have a look at it."

It's pretty funny, I like it. It makes me excited about getting mail. Perhaps my Grandpa was showing off to Valentina when he did that.

Why I love the CDP

Mandatory detention should continue for all persons without authority to be in Australia. Further legislation that does not impinge on natural justice should be passed to prevent the abuse of the judicial process that extends the stay of persons who have no entitlement to be in Australia.

Australia should continue to be a world leader in being a generous haven for genuine refugees through internationally supervised and orderly refugee resettlement programs.

Found here.

There are a few stories I'm looking forward to telling when they get de-classified. They will be funny, and everyone will have a good laugh at me.

I had a fun day today. Liz came to visit me today. She was my first visitor to this bachelor pad. She arrived while I was eating my Coco Pops. We scanned together, and it was fun to have company in my morning.

Rach and I went driving some more today. We went to the RTA to book a test. While Rach was talking to the RTA man about driving instructors in Taree an old man managed to fall over, flat on his back, as if he had walked into a wall, except there was no wall, right in front of the RTA. I rushed over to see if he was ok. He was. There were a few other people who also joined the huddle. The man was ok and we helped him stand up. I was pleased with myself that I rushed over to help. Usually in situations like that I assume someone else is more qualified than me, and I should stay out of it. I'm glad I didn't even if I wasn't much help in the end.

At church we had lunch with Helen, and met some of the "youth". They were fun. For the first few hours of today, I did almost no work. We made up for that in the end by doing a mail out to the whole youth group.

Pub tonight was good. I ate BBQ ribs and Lesley was there. That was exciting because it's the first time we've seen her at the pub and I think Lesley is tops.

I'm back in Chatswood now. Tomorrow I will do some college work. Yay for college work. I might visit Westfield too.

If marijuana was legal would you smoke it?

I've copped a beating over the past few days for saying I'd try it once. I wouldn't smoke it, I just thought I'd have a puff, just to say I've tried it. Some people don't like this idea. Hmm, everything is permissible...

It's really bad when laughing hurts too much. Things are so funny and so painful at the same time. Who thought it would be a good idea to sprain a muscle in my chest?

Helen rang me just before I left church tonight to ask me if I wanted to talk after "Aimee" is shown tomorrow night. In a fit of silliness, and love for the gospel, I said "Yes". I have now realised I have 24 hours to prepare a talk, as well as do all the other things I need to do, like pack my bags, sleep, visit Grandpa and Valentina, and drive to Canberra. Oh well, should be fun, nerve racking, and may even go well.

"He took the old man over to the window, threw open its shutters, and an explosion of midday heat and light instantaneously threw the room into an effulgent dazzle, as though some importunate and unduly luminous angel had mistakenly picked that place for an epiphany." - Louis de Bernières Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Being Novacastrian

Yesterday we drove to Newcastle. 'Twas much funness. Jo and I had decided to drive there and eat dinner one day to get her learner driver hours up and Rach, Jem, Ryan and Anmol came along too.

I went to look at Chris' new house yesterday, that was fun. It's kinda scungy, but cool. It's falling down and you can see why the rent is cheap, but I think it's fun. It's like the perfect bachelor pad, real bachelor pad, not pretend movie bachelor pad. I got to sit in Chris' room and it looks like he's been living in it for years. I like Chris.

After that I picked up Anmol and we went and met the others for our road trip at Maccas Waitara. We all set off in high spirits and at about 80kms an hour. In fact most of the trip was at 80kms an hour, but that's the joy of learners. Jo was a good driver. She screamed sometimes, but usually that was the scariest bit of her driving.

After a few hours in the car of silly conversation, zappos and a toilet stops (actually the toilet bit happened outside the car, in the toilet) we made it to Newcastle. Once there we wandered down Beaumont St and saw Ryan's old house. I would have to say that house is the coolest. It's not really a house, but it's cool.

We at our dinner at a Chinese restaurant which had a love for the air conditioner and heavy furniture, straight out of the Ornate Iron Age, if there was such an age. The food was good. My faith in Chinese food is slowly being restored, which is good, because I would never have stopped eating it, I would have just been bitter about it for the rest of my life.

Post dinner drinks happened at the Exchange Hotel (I think it was called that). It had a puffy couch which was quite a contrast to the Chinese furniture. I enjoyed my beer. My manhood is being confirmed.

Ryan bought wedges but I didn't eat any because I was full of rice and Mongolian sweet and sour meat.

Before heading off we had a quick stop off at the beach for a group photo.

Ryan also directed us to a really big bucket that we needed to play in. I think it used to be used for scooping up coal. I thought it was great. I like big buckets. And big metal things. And big machines. The bucket was large and cool.

We stopped at Hexam on the way home. Hexam is the traditional stop off point to or from any trip up north. And what a wonderful place it is. I had a sticky date pudding, which I was informed, when ordered, the counter lady said into the microphone "Sticky date!" Isn't that funny? Heh heh.

Driving back to Belrose Jo, Rach and I talked about sex. Perhaps when midnight is gone one gets a little more candid. I'm sure I've had more candid conversations, but sex is always fun to talk about.

Last night when I took my jumper off, it smelt like someone else. That was strange because no one else has been wearing my jumper, and I smell like me. Oh well. Maybe I was a different person yesterday.

I did wear shorts yesterday too. That was fun. Except I forgot what my bare legs look like with shoes at the bottom of them. And add the odd socks to the mix, and I look a little absurd from where I'm standing.

And perhaps I should talk about Friday night.

We set up for the Term Celebration at church on Friday arvo. Afterwards Jo and I headed off to Christ Church to see Revive play. We went in to the dark, sweat smelling hall that was full of people who looked about 13. We met Chris and his friends there. We didn't expect to see him, but it was a good chance to give him a hug while he was un-aware.

Revive played good. They get better every time I see them I think. Not that I see them that much.

After the show Jo and I talked to Tanya and many a connection was found in our lives. Mainly Jo and Tanya's. But we managed to talk to all sorts of people that were wandering about. It was one of those events where I managed to know lots of people. I expect Black Stump will be similar.

We met Ruth and some people from her church. It turns out Tanya seemed to have a connection with them all, so we decided to eat dinner together. Unfortunately we discovered that Tanya had locked her keys in the car. But deciding that food was more important than two forms of transport we drove across to Thornleigh in my car to eat McDonald's with Ruth and friends. We found more people who we all had in common, it was quite funny. I didn't eat any Maccas, I did have some chocolate cake though.

Finally we packed up and all headed back to St Ives to break into Tanya's car. Ruth and friends came too. They had stopped off to get some coat hangers on the way. In the car park we met Mike and a few of his friends who we're still there after the "gig". They came over to have a look at the fuss. Then more people who Mike knew turned up, as well as some bloke in a big white van (like really big, bigger than mine) and the security guard too.

We had many a laugh as people tried various methods. Jo was world class. If I ever become a car thief I'll go into business with her. Well, her or the NRMA man who turned up later.

The whole time people were trying to break into Tanya's car (I'm sure no one there knew everyone there, and Tanya probably didn't know most of the people breaking into her car) they were talking and finding more social connections. It was amazing.

Eventually, when Jo was almost into the car, the NRMA man arrived and did it in about a minute. But he stuck around for a bit get the broken bits of coat hanger which were stuck in the door out.

Then I went home. It was one of the strangest experiences I've had for a while. Very fun night though. Fellowship over car thievery. Lovely.

Beards and Pink Toilets

I think maybe I now might have the chance to talk about all the things that I want to talk about. There's a lot to cover. Well I feel like there is, but perhaps there isn't. Whatever happens, it'll probably only be interesting for me.

On Monday night I got a phone call from Waleed, one of the Muslim guys who came to visit our Bible study a few weeks ago. Waleed invited me to go and watch The Passion with a bunch of Muslims ane hear a talk about it. I thought that was a good idea, but I told him I might have stuff on, can could I talk to him the next day and let him know.

So on Tuesday I rearranged my life and called Waleed from Loftus station to tell him I could come. He told me I could bring people with me, male or female, so that made me feel a bit better. So that night Kaye, Rach and I went to Lakemba to see what would happen.

We arrived at the Mosque, where Waleed was meeting us, half an hour late, and Kaye and Rach were the only women around. That was a little strange. I was wondering if I had committed a terrble crime bringing them along. But soon Waleed came out and met us and he didn't seem worried. He brought out his friend Ali who we had also met at Bible study and we headed off to get some dinner.

They took us to this fantastically nice Lebanese restaurant. They paid for us and we talked about life and religion. We were all more talkative when it came to religion. Did I say that the food was great?

After dinner it was time to go to the film. We were taken to this old Bowling club that had been converted into a Muslim youth centre. Rach and Kaye were sent to one door with the women, I was allowed to go in the with men. That was a little strange. It's the first meeting I've ever been too when the guys and girls have been split up, just because that's what you do.

My room was full of Muslim men. I've never seen so many beards in one room. I was feeling particularly clean shaven and white. Waleed took me to my special seat in the front row. Yikes! If anyone was looking for the Christian in the room I wouldn't have been hard to spot.

Even though we had arrived an hour late, the event hadn't started yet. They were trying to organise it so the girls could get the same stuff on their screen that we had on ours. In the end they gave up and started the show.

This black American man (who I was told lives in England) got up to talk to us. He sounded just like a black American evangelist. He was a little intimidating, especially in the front row where he kept making eye contact with me.

He talked to us about the need to be smart Muslims in the way we watch films and TV. And as Muslims we need to telling people the truth about the Prophet Jesus. It didn't really ring true to me, but I guess you had to be a Muslim. He went on to tell us what was wrong with the portrayal of Jesus in The Passion of the Christ. It was very interesting to hear what Islam says about Jesus. I didn't agree, but I has happy that I could hear.

After the man talked for about an hour they showed us the last 10 minutes of the film, leaving off the resurrection. I'm not sure if that's because they didn't want to show it or they forgot that it was there.

After the film I went to the toilet which was for men, but used to be the ladies. It was all pink and had a sign on the door which said "Lady Bowlers". There were signs on the wall from the Koran about keeping urine off your hands.

Waleed and Ali then took the three of us to go see the mosque. That was cool. They took us up some back stairs and into the large, mostly empty carpeted room. There were lines drawn on the carpet so that people would know which way to face when praying. I was most impressed.

Waleed and Ali were very cool. I really liked hanging out with them. They were very polite and keen to answer our questions. I want to do more stuff with them. I really like finding out about other religions too. Fascinating.

But still, I am happy, very happy, to be a Christian. Seeing Islam makes me appreciate how much I have been given by God, and how good Jesus is. I'm happy to be saved by grace.

I got to hear U2's new single Vertigo today. I like. Very cool. Rocky, kinda like it's back to 'old school' U2. The song sounds like it came out of the Boy, War kinda era. Yeah baby. Solid stuff.

While tonight was one of the weirdest (but quite fun) nights I've had in a while. I won't blog it yet.

I've been a dodgy blogger. I have to talk about too much. Especially Tuesday night, that was special. But for now I just want to say that God has given me almost everything I could want. And while that's not the basis on which I love him, it certainly makes it easier. I'm blessed, and he's tops. I can't complain.

Hairy Situation

From now on I'm not shaving.

At least not properly till the 13th October. Or maybe 12th.

Anyway, I'm growing my face, and I'm going to have disappointingly small mo at the end of it. Fun fun fun.

A Creed

We believe in Jesus Christ,
our saviour and liberator;
the expression of God's redeeming and restoring love;
the mark of humanness,
source of courage, power and love;
God of God, light of light, ground of our humanity.

We believe God resides in slums,
lives in broken homes and hearts,
suffers our loneliness, rejection and powerlessness.

But through death and resurrection
God gives life, pride and dignity;
provides the context of our vision,
offers the contest of our struggle,
promises liberation to the oppressor and the oppressed
hope to those in despair,
vision to the blind.

We believe in the activity of the Holy Spirit
who revives the decaying soul,
resurrects our defeated spirits,
renews our hope of wholeness
and reminds us of our responsibility
in ushering God's new order here and now.

Yong Ting Jin (Hong Kong)

I think Jo stuck it on our notice board. I liked it, so blogged it got.

It occurred to me as I drove home tonight, I'm so glad God knows what he's doing, because I've got no idea about either of us.

My day:
Off
Sitting around
Driving lesson
Hannah drop off
Fun at Castles
Home

Verdict: Pleasant - Would have been tops if I got to see a movie too.

Countdown to U2's new album, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb".

I like getting junk mail sent by people named after early church fathers.

I went clubbing last night. Sort of. I don't think it wouldn't be properly defined as clubbing. Maybe Clubbing-Lite. But I wouldn't know though, because I'm not really someone who has ever gone clubbing.

Anyway, it was after a lovely Saturday. I went to have lunch with Martin and many others. We had a barbecue. Fun. I stood around the barbie with my Dad, Keith and Anmol with a beer and well, you can tell how manly I felt then. (My masculinity is a recurring theme in my life at the moment.) We ate tofu, sausages, rice and other stuff. It was then I was invited to go out clubbing. I thought I would probably go. It was a bad idea for sleep, but I knew I'd sit at home feeling annoyed that I didn't go if I didn't go. We looked at Martin's clothes to see if there was anything I could wear there. But in the end they just picked an outfit for him.

I went to church after lunch for a meeting about Black Stump. I wasn't very well behaved. But I didn't manage to pick up any jobs. Oh actually, one. But an easy one.

David called, it was good to talk to the man. Then Rach and I went driving. We nearly crashed into a car when I told Rach there was a free lane beside us, and there wasn't. Oops. They say scare experiences are the quickest way to learn, but it wasn't my intention.

At 8:45 we drove to the city, Mil, Jem, Martin and I. We picked up Jo and Rach along the way.

After finding a park we headed off to our desired club, only to find the cover charge was $15 more than we expected, and they opened later too. Shame. It was a casual dress place, and we couldn't go. While we wandered off to meet Jo my sister, we went looking for somewhere else. Rach, Jo and Mil all seemed to know what they were talking about, Jem and I were a bit lost, Martin has never been to Sydney before so he's allowed. We checked out one place and the bouncer, before I had even asked to go in, told me my shoes were too casual. How rude.

We met my sister and ended at a a Latin Club somewhere. It was kinda cool. The bouncer was friendly, and the music was friendly too, even if I wasn't really into it. I was the first person from our group to get up to dance. That was an achievement, because always went being the least likely to dance. I was dragged in to the dance by the professional dancer who was running a Congo line. Good on me.

We danced on the floor for a bit to the Latin music, but I didn't really enjoy myself. Dancing seemed a bit useless to me. I felt a bit out of place because I couldn't dance, I didn't have a partner, I wasn't a girl and I wasn't a sleazy guy (at least I wasn't trying to be), so I was quite in the minority. Although if you make enough categories you can always be in a minority.

I tried to dance twice but it didn't work. In the end Jem and I went and got some food and I felt much more comfortable in Ali Baba talking about the doctrine of original sin.

When we came back the crew had moved. There was now dancing on the hip hop floor. I had more fun there, I could understand the words. We danced for a while. And then went home.

I got home at 3am. Which is fine except that I had to get up at 6:30 to go to church. I went to the 8am service this morning. I had a bad night sleep last night too. I dreamt all night about dance floors.

But the 8am service was great. I love it. Prayer book all the way, Baby!

Now I'm going to have a sleep I think.

So now I'm home aren't I?

And Friday has just been. So has Thursday. And Wednesday.

I haven't blogged much.

I watched Honey last night at Helen's parent's house. I was feeling sick and I was the only guy there. But it was fun. There was dancing on screen and funny lines. I love film clips. I love the way they can do whatever they want with them. Stylistically you can do things in film clips you can't do in normal film. It's great. Not that Honey is all film clips, but there are a few and it was cool.

Today I soldiered through the day. It was a Friday like many others. The term is finished now. At least for small groups it is. I can't believe we're three quarters of the way through the year. God has been good.

Black Stump is in less than 2 weeks. Yeah baby.

I sent David's package yesterday. How fun was that? It was big box going all the way to India. I love the post. David is going to get the exact same big box in India that I sent from Hornsby. It's like email with attachments but much slower, more tangible, and more fun.

I went to Mil's tonight to meet Martin. He's cool. I think Mil's done well for herself, he's a lovely man. I think I'd like to go to their house for barbecues when they grow up.

Ryan, Jem and Jo (sister) came over too and we drunk Kahlua, ate cookies, danced, and watched One Perfect Day. It was a fun night and the movie wasn't too bad. Martin gave me a pair of sandals that are made out of Goodyear tires. How funky is that? They're the coolest.

Now I'm still inspired to write a movie script. I started dreaming again while watching the film. I think Australian movies make me want to make movies. They make me feel it's a little more attainable. Perhaps it is.

I wonder if I could make a feature film in a few years without getting stressed? I doubt it.

Perhaps Hungry Jack's doesn't understand the meaning of "Vegetarian"...

Essence of Class



Aren't we all just stunning?

In Other News...

It's good to see that the ban on assault rifles has been lifted in the US. I wouldn't want to see the freedom of my American friends restricted in anyway.

I say, in today's dangerous world, every kid needs a mobile phone and a Uzi. Otherwise they can't call Mom and Dad to come and pick them up after Little League practice and they can't shoot anyone who tries to kidnap them while they're waiting.

We had Scripture Seminars today. They were really easy today. I just kinda turned up and they happened. Very stress free, praise the Lord. I really didn't want any more stress, so it was good.

Now I'm feeling a little free-er for a bit. Nothing too huge for me is coming up. An assessment or two. Some youth stuff. Black Stump and school holidays. Poshies.

I'm looking forward to my life for a bit.

I spent most of the day sitting in the sun reading my book. That was great. That's the way to spend a day off.

When I wasn't doing that I was driving Hannah around, Rach was driving me around, I was driving around looking for my sister's house, I was eating at my sister's house, or I was driving Graham to my house.

Monday done.

Sometimes the The Message makes things a little more complicated than they need to be.

2 Corinthians 3:17

NIV:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

The Message:

They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it!

I just thought that was funny.

I'm happy now that Aimee is done. It went well, now I can sleep. People became Christains, tops-a-roony! I love it when people get saved. Best part of the the whole night.

The show went well. Matt spoke good. I was very impressed. There were lots of things that he did that I wouldn't have thought of doing. Good stuff.

It all looked really good. The stage, lights, dances, looked posh.

We hung out at Helen's afterwards. That too was fun.

I think today was rehersals and stuff.

Now I think bed beckons.

"Come Tom!"


I want to make my feature film.

I think that today was a good day. It was lesurely for a dress rehearsal day. I woke up at 12, mooched around, had a quiet time, had lunch at Hungry Jacks then arrived at Church at 3.

Once there everything was set up all I had to do was press play at the appropriate times. This dvd is much less work during the performance. All I have to do is press play. It's great.

The show is looking good. People are dancing around goodly. I don't understand how dancers dance, or make dances. It's all so foriegn to me. But good on the dance people for being good at it.

The sound on the dvd is annoying me. But I don't think I'm smart enough to fix it. I've done my best, but I'm not a sound wizz.

Tonight I went out to dinner with the young adults. I like going out to dinner. It makes me feel grown up. We did coffee after. And that makes me feel grown up.

Soon I will burn the dvd for the performance. Then I will go to bed.

Yay for bed.

I have now burnt the dvd. Sleep time.

I have had about 2 hours sleep while rendering. Somewhere around the 4:30-6:30am mark. I am looking forward to the rest of my sleep now.

I've just finished editing.

Now all I have to do is fix the audio, write the end credits, render it and burn it to dvd. I don't think I'll be in bed before four.

God taught me something as I drove home tonight. It was nice to learn.

Then I tried to work out when I could use it in a sermon illustration.

Yesterday I did a lot of editing. I'm pretty happy with how things are turning out. I'm pretty sure tonight will be a late one though. I'm wondering if I should edit everything and burn the DVD tonight. I like that idea then I can sleep in. Let us hope God has mercy on me and everything works how I would like it to.

If not, well, God is still good. Usually what happens is it only comes together at the last minute. I'm hoping God will teach me about the beauty of sleep tonight and help me to understand what it means to be able to wake up in the morning and know that all you have to do is be at a rehersal at 2pm.

Today I think I had a meeting or two. And I did a bit of shopping and sent some emails and ran a small group. And visited the high school. Not a very interesting day but pretty good. I got to spend some time with Kaye in my travels which was fun. Kaye works a lot now so I don't see her as much. Tis a bit sad. But it is good when Kaye is around.

I bought 3 cds from Koorong yesterday. And ordered a book and a cd at Amazon.

STOP PRESS!

Miss Universe falls over!

If that's not news worthy I don't know what is.

If only I could feel exactly what I wanted to feel all the time. Happy when I want to be happy. Excited when I want to be excited. Angry when I want to be angry. Content when I want to be content.

How often in life do people tell you things and you think "I would love to be excited about that, but I'm not" Or you hear about some injustice but it does nothing to you and you wish it did. Or you get annoyed by something that you really know shouldn't be annoying at all. And there are those times where you want to be energetic, and motovated, but you just can't.

I'm not sure what life would be like if you could feel what you wanted to feel, but in theory it seems like a good idea.

My wallet is too fat. And it's not with money. I think maybe I'll have to be ruthless one of these days.

I have discovered that while editing it is fun to run and dive, face planting, on to your bed from as high off the ground as possible. Perhaps not really productive, but there are moments when the computer is doing stuff and I just have to fill in the time some how. My other past time is to walk around creating alternative dialouge. It's never all that riveting.

With all these crazy weather things, terrorists, wars, and evil giant corporations, one hopes that Jesus will come back soon.

It's an exciting thought but he hasn't come for the last 2000 years, I don't want to get my hopes up.

Hairy Editor

I'm about to start editing Aimee for the day but I thought I should blog first. I'm not sure why. Perhaps because I figure if all goes acording to plan I'll slog on through till I go to bed. Ya ha!

I had college today, and that was fine. I had to do lunch wash up again. It's alright but it's the only job I can do seeing as I'm only there one day a week. One day where you get given jobs anyway.

And apart from that, I don't have much to say. I haven't shaved since last Wednesday. I'm feeling a little hairy, quite itchy, and kinda rugged. At least, that's what Graham called me. Rugged. "I eat raw meat!"

I hit my head on the roof of the train today. What is it with trains and me hitting my head? I think perhaps I'm an idiot.

Days off are really good. I should have more of them. Oh yes.

I went to visit Grandpa and Valentina today. Valentina filled me up with Russian cuisine. I liked it. I felt quite full when I left the unit. Grandpa showed his new video camera off to me. I thought I was going over to help him pick a camera to buy, but he had already bought it. Lucky though, he had bought the one that I was going to tell him to buy. I've trained him well.

I took Rach on a driving lesson. That was fun. We spent two hours parking, and doing three point turns and driving around the same few back streets near her house. I now know that area quite well I think. I got to sign the log book and feel official.

I went removalisting with Chris, his brother and mother. We got a couch from his Grandparent's house then drove it in the van to his house. A man with a van is a popular man. I like using my van to drive big things around. It makes me feel useful.

Tonight Annie and her Dad came over for dinner. Hannah got sick and had to come home from respite so I made the salad and desert. Plus I got to sit with Hannah while she lay in bed. She's a cute girl my little sister.

Now I'm aiming for bed so I can get lots of sleep before college tomorrow. Good plan Stan.

Old men should have televised fartings competitions. How good would that be?

I was thinking at the camp how I didn't feel like I got much out of the talks. They were good, but they didn't ever "get" me. But then in church tonight lot's of stuff in the talks got me, and I got delayed Godification. It was good.

Well I'm home from Camp. And College for that matter.

College was interesting. A little uncomfortable, but good. We finished early so I got to have a long lunch with Graham and Mitch. It's good to spend time with Christian, male, youth ministers, my age.

Camp was good stuff. The guys in my cabin were very good at going to sleep. I didn't have to tell them to be quiet nearly at all. I don't think I'm that kind of leader who lets you stay up all night. Actually I am if it not in the rules that you have to go to sleep. I'm silly legalist.

I'm sore all over from various physical activities. I did many physical activities that un-physical me never does. I climbed things, wrestled, ran, played soccer, perhaps other stuff. But I enjoyed it all. Which is good for me. I was never one to be really into physical activity with other people unless I was completely comfortable. Perhaps I'm just better at being comfortable these days. (Um...No) Perhaps, I'm just a better person. Or maybe? I don't know I can't be bothered continuing the self analysation. I want to get this post finished and have a sleep.

I really liked spending time with the young people on camp. We had fun. It's different being on camp when you're running the whole thing. I didn't get to spend nearly as much time playing as I would have liked. But that's ok. I did get to spend time with people. We made a campfire, and that burned good like.

It was fun to get into the Bible too. Always is, but still fun. And I enjoyed spending time with the people who were on camp with me last year. It struck me at one stage what a privilege it is to spend time with young people as they grow in their faith.

And God was good, as usual, but still no less remarkable.

I am finding it difficult to get motivated to do what I need to do. Maybe I need to set a reward for myself when I finish my work. I have to write a talk and a theological reflection for college. The talk is a bigger task the theological refection is due sooner. Grrr.

Oh well. Get to it boy.

Taking children hostage is terrible. This wins terrorists no friends. I wish I could do something more than just get angry. It's just horrible.

I have been at work for a few hours today. I am reading up on Philippians so I can write a talk for the camp. I have been having difficulty staying awake. But I am now getting excited about pressing on for the prize of Christ.

Before this I had a coffee with Matt. We sat and talked about what makes us passionate. The gospel makes us passionate. Wahoo!

So my day today started with the letter W.

It wasn't bad. I got things done again. I really like that feeling after you've made lots of phone calls and you can think to yourself, "I now have less work to do".

But apart from that, there isn't too much to remark about today. I beat Dad in an arm wrestle. I decided a few days ago that that might be a fun thing to try and do. I read about it in a book once. Sons have to beat their fathers at things, to grow or something like that. So we compared arm sizes (my Dad has bigger muscles than me) and then we wrestled. He may have given in to make me feel better. Probably did. He's a generous man my dad.

All the staff got given a fat books of quotations. That was good fun. Someone donated them. Yay.

I had coffee with Kaia tonight, that was nice. We talked and laughed and had a lovely time. I liked the catch up.

I'm going to try and be in bed in not too long. I have a talk to write tomorrow.