I'm the richest man in this whole damned world and in all the skies above.

We finished the massive weekend of filming today. Lesley has summed it up pretty well. I did have fun shooting today. It was interesting how much the impending announcement impacted the day. I told Matt this morning it was coming so he could manage the day well for the few people who had just found out at the morning service and the rest of the people who were about to find out.

But apart from that it was a fun shoot. I love the jib. And I really enjoying the camera. Shooting in Chatswood last night with big lights and council permission was heaps cool. Plus we have Guy with us who knows what he's doing. We feel like we're becoming more and more pro.

So good for us. Now I'm going to sleep. And sleep well. No alarm tomorrow morning. Thank you God.

Tonight Steve announced to the church that he is leaving the Church. He'll be gone in two months. He's off to take a job overseas. I've only known this since Wednesday, and it hit me for six. I had no idea it was coming. I haven't really got my head around it, it doesn't seem real. I haven't really been able to react to anything else since then. At least not at work. Wednesday was spent processing. Thursday was spent mainly in a staff meeting with the new team which was the oddest staff meeting I've ever been to I think. It's hard to figure out what's relevant anymore. It's hard to know how the year will look.

Everything is kinda up in the air. Of course, I'll still be the youth minister, and I'll still run the youth ministry. But who will run the church? And how will we find a new minister? How will we work with the interim minister? How will the church run when there is no senior minister for however long it is between Steve leaving and someone else arriving?

I guess everything is full of questions now. And I'm trying to process how I'm feeling. It's all pretty massive. I know what I thought 2007 was going look like. Now I have no idea. I just know it'll look different.

Finished filming again. Earlier than yesterday with no overtime that I know of. And I got an hour and half sleep in the middle of the day. Luxury.

We just finished filming. We were meant to go from 8am-9pm. But people left about half an hour ago. No worries. That's what happens when you make films, I've done them before.

I'm sure I learnt something important today but I haven't figured out what that is yet. I guess I'll get there when I've figured out which way up everything's gonna land.

The Google Plane isn't going to fly over our house. I was going to write "Bring David Hicks Home" on our roof. Oh well.

It's a good thing we all washed our cars today or otherwise it might not have rained.

Jo, Jem, Mil and I about to go on a community trip to get our cars washed. Soon, I'm going to have a smiling, sparkling van of love. Spink!

We bought a new gas bottle today because someone stole ours. And I just went outside to sit at our outdoor set and that's gone too. So now in the history of our house we've been robbed of a table, 6 chairs, a gas bottle and a laptop.

If anyone's seen any of them and wants to return them that'd be nice. I want to be able to drink beer outside without having to sit on the ground.

5:00 - Woke Up had quiet time
5:30 - Went for Run
6:00 - Shower
6:15 - Breakfast (Musili, mmm)
6:45 - Light Church History reading to keep the brain ticking
7:45 - Travel to work
8:30 - Check and reply to emails
9:00 - Write report
9:45 - Research for sermon
10:45 - Short break
10:50 - Bible Study prep for Term 2
11:03 - Help homeless man
11:04 - Back to Bible Study Prep
11:45 - Meeting with Bishop
12:15 - Lunch
12:45 - Phone calls
13:05 - Help Homeless Man again
13:06 - Resume phone calls
13:25 - Paraphrase Calvin's Institutes for Kids
14:00 - Meeting with Council Youth Panel
15:00 - Attend Prayer Healing Group
15:15 - Buy Carrots for the Dinner
15:30 - Fill out application form for Young Rotarian of the Year
15:42 - Refer Homeless Man to someone else
15:43 - Resume application form
16:15 - Prune Church Gardens
16:45 - Paint Church Doors
17:15 - Plan youth ministry care and support vision till 2012
17:45 - Visit from troubled youth
17:50 - Call Police
18:00 - Check emails and reply
18:15 - Go home

Really, I saw Tim off at the airport, went to work, did some, caught the bus home at the end of the day and watched most of Die Hard. Now it's off to bed. Filming tomorrow.

I was meant to go see the Dentist today but they changed the time on me and forgot to tell me. So I escaped that rather expensive and un-pleasant experience. But I just watched two episodes of The Sopranos so I keep getting flashes thinking that my Dentist is in the Mafia and he's going to pistol whip me for not turning up or something.

I've flossed every night since the last night I saw him except Christmas Eve, New Years Morning and one night when I was just too lazy. So hopefully he'll give me some mercy.

This could take a long time. These are the photos from the day Jo, James and I spent frolicking in the Cotswolds.



Being the navigator always brings you to the height of map wearing fashion. Note that I'm wearing my "Communist Party" t-shirt. It was the first time I wore it on the trip. I'd been too scared to wear it while I was in any of those ex-communist countries. I thought people might not have found it as funny.



Wheat



James and Jo walk on luscious Costwoldish Grass.



Now I know I went to England



Lost



Zipping along in the Mini of Fun. Boy that was a good Mini.



This graveyard was cool. Though not as old as I wanted it to be. No one buried in the 16th century or anything. Shame.

I thought it might be time to stick up my photos from when we were in England. I know it's been ages, but my blog is looking rather bare. So here are some photos of England land.



Actually this is in Austria. It's one of those toilets with a shelf. I needed to document it for anthropological purposes.



The clouds as we flew to England were pretty cool. We pretty much had sunset the whole way there.



More cool clouds



Everybody loves Buckingham Palace



"Superman" at the Odeon in Leicester Square. Yeah Baby!



Westminster Abbey



Our home in Oxford for three days

So there you go. Some photos. I'll stick up the rest, when I get around to it. Maybe now.

So we went shooting again on Sunday. I got up at 5am which was rather painful. I'd been planning to be in bed by 9:30ish, but the community house was visited by members of the extended community so 12:30am it was.

Anyway, I picked Helen and Jon up at first light and we drove to church to meet the crew and cast. Then it was off to Stockton Beach which was to double as our desert for the day.

Actually we made it to Stockton Beach only after breakfast and getting lost for an hour or two. But we got there.

Stockton Beach, as far as I can tell from the small amount that I saw of it, is the gathering place for the weekly weekend convention of dirt bikers. All over the place there are people with trail bikes and ATVs. This makes it difficult to shoot a scene that is meant to be set in a deserted desert. There's tracks everywhere and the noise of bikes regularly coming from all directions. Still we did our best.

During the day we managed to shoot all the stuff we wanted except one scene which we moved to a smarter place in the schedule. It was hard work spending all day walking around on sand, and harder work lugging equipment across dunes all day. And I didn't even carry the heaviest stuff.

The jib was good fun. And I'm enjoying having a camera assistant, who when he isn't distracted by the "Making of..." camera or anything else of mild interest, attends to my every need. Basically, after every shot (if it's hand held) I hand the camera to him and walk away. I hear this is standard industry practice. I'd feel bad doing it except the holding the camera all day might mean that the quality of my work goes down cause I can't hold the camera steady anymore I'm so tired.

I haven't seen the footage yet but I think I did a better job with Day Two than Day One. I'll watch the stuff tomorrow.

We finished our shooting at about 8:30pm. We all split up decided to travel home separately because we were tired and just wanted to get back quickly, but we all met up at McDonald's anyway. It may have been that we all wanted to avoid each other and accidentally bumped into everyone else none the less. The joys on only having one big rest stop between Newcastle and home.

I made it home by 11. It was a rather extended day.

So far today I've done pretty much nothing. It's been rather nice. I was thinking of cleaning my room. Which is still on the cards, but I'm downloading a trailer which is slow and has ground my super computer to a halt in almost all other areas. So now I'm down stairs blogging.

The reason I can't clean my room till my computer comes back to me is that I can't tidy up without music. It's physically impossible.

I have realised that in this house I am incapable of cooking almost anything except pasta. Which means that in these days of money saving attempts (which aren't working too well) the options for my home cooked meals are rather limited.

I think I might blog about Sunday. And seeing as it's Wednesday, it hasn't taken me that long to get there.

We had day one of shooting for Pilgrim today. It was a good day's shooting. Though I'm a bit disappointed with my work. When we watched the rushes it turned out that I was mostly over-exposed and a bit out of focus.

Part of it may have been the TV we were watching on. But still, it's a new camera and I'm not real good at figuring it out. I find the viewfinder really hard to focus with.

Anyway, I've going to have to do a better job tomorrow 'cause the stuff we shoot tomorrow is more important.

I did have a good time though. And today was useful for me to figure what I need to do tomorrow. One day I'd like to go to learn to actually do what I do, rather than just make it up as I go along.

After a day of sitting around the office trying to convince myself to do work, I went out with some of my lovely friends and watched Apocalypto, which, apart from being way too graphic in it's violence, was pretty good. The human sacrifices which showed you everything were a little too much. But the last half of the film is just this awesome chase. I loved it.

Mel's pretty good quality. Even if he does hate some of my family.

Work is rather strange at the moment. I feel like I'm rebuilding a Youth Ministry from the ravages of the New Year. Sometimes I have meetings or discussions that leave me feeling really optimistic, other times I end up wondering how it's all going to end up.

But in the end I figure God will look after it all. He's good like that. And I think it's going to be a good year. One of the best I reckon.

My room suddenly smells like a fart. But I didn't fart and there is no one else in here.

Was probably Rodney the Ghost.

Had a dinner with Jo Kemp tonight which was fun. Good quality she is.

Plus we had a meeting for the filming of the next production. It should be fun. I do like a good shoot. We're getting a jib. I do love a good toy.

I did suggest to Matt that was do a commentary for TOOBSC now that I've finally got it almost ready for DVD (it's only been three years). I think it'd be pretty fun. I've never done a director's commentary before, so I think it'd be tops.

I just want to free up the space on my hard drive.

I've decided that filling the hours between 10am and 6pm at work if you have no ministry activities is really hard.

I watched 21 Grams tonight. It was a very good movie. When Christians talk about films about redemption and forgiveness and condemnation, I don't know why they don't talk about this one. It was very special.

For when the loss burned, their cornfields became green again. - From the end of the film

Here's a news story for the ages.

I, for one, am outraged that such a thing could happen at the happiest place on earth.

I've preached once so far, and I'm preaching all day. Should be fun. I was up till 1:30am finishing the sermon. I had two days to work on this one and still it managed to fill all the available time.

I was up again at 3am chasing a mozzie around my room.

I'm a little tired.

Ryan and I just watched Picnic at Hanging Rock. For a classic Australian film, it wasn't very good. I expected it to be full of mystery and suspense. I was worried I might get a bit scared. Instead it was badly written and mostly about the subplots. It was much less scary than when I watched it as a kid. No one got eaten alive by ants, which is what I thought happened. I guess my memory was a little off.

Oh well. At least I've seen it all now.

You can tell you're procrastinating when you find yourself reading the list of financial contributions to Wikipedia for no apparent reason.

"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people." - Eleanor Roosevelt

I discuss all three. I'm not sure what that means.

Anyway, I think she's wrong.

She's also dead. But that's beside the point.

This website is cool.

I'm writing the 'Wisdom with Tabitha' scripts now.

Any suggestions?

For about 5 nights in a row I've had a mozzie in my room. I go to bed and turn out the light and then I hear "Zzzz". I wait till it gets right in my ear and I turn on the light and there is no mozzie to be seen.

I turn off the light and the same thing happens.

Sometimes the mozzie wakes me up its buzzing is so loud.

There have been a number of nights this week that I've found myself standing in the middle of my room at 2am, scantily clad in my night attire looking for this damn mosquito. I've seen him a few times, but I've never got to kill him. But one day I'll get him. One day...

When I was 14 I was on a camp and I was told that in 10 years only 10 per cent of the people on the camp would still be Christians. So when I went home I wrote a sign that said "Where Will You Be in 2007?" in an effort to remind myself to still be a Christian in 10 years time and stuck it on the back of our front door.

I remembered that tonight as many of us sat around following our New Years Day barbecue. And I thought "I'm here." In my family we've been talking about the arrival of this year for a while. And now it's here. I never thought I'd be here, living where I am, doing what I'm doing, but I'm glad I'm still with Jesus.

I'm thankful that I'm still a Christian. I'm thankful that all of my family are still Christians. I'm thankful that most of my friends are still Christians. I'm thankful that more of my friends are Christians now than they were in 2007.

Probably that camp in 1997 set me on a trajectory that has ended me up here. That camp motivated me to see teaching as important for my spiritual growth. It motivated me to own my spirituality. It taught me about the need to hold on to my faith. I think it started a fire in my that hasn't gone out.

It's been a great 10 years.

Maybe there was nothing in those statistics, but they pushed me, and here I am.

Hallelujah.

I wonder where I'll be in 2017...

Pet a snake: Yes. Done it. I'd love to own a snake.

Spend a week in an empty room: Only if I had to. Like if I was a political prisoner. Then I'd do it and think about how righteous I am.

Ride in a hot-air balloon: For sure.

Sky dive: Yep

Sing in front of a huge audience: Yes. Is 300 huge? Cause I've done that.

Scuba dive: Yes.

Sit in the front seat of a roller coaster: Done that. That's not as fun as the back because at the back you go fast down the whole hill. At the front you have the wait for the back to get over the hump.

Deliver a baby: That'd be cool. Although I think I would only be able to say "Push" and "You're doing great."

Swim across the Amazon River: If no one told me what was in it.

Change careers: I'd love to be an electrician

Disappear for a long period of time: Oh yes please. I'd love to.

Walk through the bush alone at night: Done that.

Join a space mission: Yes!

Tell everyone what you honestly think of them: Most people. Not you.

Call off your wedding: I guess so. If I thought I shouldn't marry the person. Probably, knowing my ability to procrastinate. I could have doubts a week after engagement and only get around to calling it a week before the wedding.

Walk naked through Hyde Park for 10 minutes during rush hour: No. At least not till I'm old and wrinkly and it's a really good joke.

Disarm a bomb: Probably not.

Clean the outside windows of a skyscraper: I often look up and think "I want that job!"

Draw a mustache on the Mona Lisa with a permanent marker : Not unless Jesus told me to, in person.

Go on tour with Elvis: That'd be the bomb!

Go swimming during a thunder storm: I guess so. But I'd be pretty nervous. I get nervous in the ocean at the best of times.

Perform surgery on your best friend: No.

Anyone else...

Thanks Lesley.

It's been a long December
and there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last - Counting Crows

Because it felt like the time to pull the quote out again.

Happy New Year.

For all acquaintance be forgot, la da de da da daaaaa!

We braved the buses home. Those stupid horn things should be banned. I love fireworks. I'm happy to live in Sydney.

I'm feeling like I may have done the whole harbour thing now.

I'm looking forward to 2007 with you all.

G'night.

I did 40 movies in 2006. This is them:

1. Broken Flowers
2. The Producers
3. Memoirs of a Geisha
4. Munich
5. North Country
6. Brokeback Mountain
7. Jarhead
8. The Aristocrats
9. Match Point
10. Inside Man
11. Tsotsi
12. American Dreamz
13. Kokoda
14. Block Party
15. Mission: Impossible 3
16. V for Vendetta
17. The Da Vinci Code
18. X-Men 3
19. Three Burials
20. Poseidon
21. Over the Hedge
22. Superman Returns
23. Thank You for Smoking
24. Pirates of the Caribbean 2
25. Miami Vice
26. The Sentinel
27. Fearless
28. United 93
29. An Inconvenient Truth
30. Kenny
31. Little Miss Sunshine
32. Step Up
33. Trust the Man
34. Children of Men
35. God on My Side
36. Borat
37. Casino Royale
38. Babel
39. The Prestige
40. Night at the Museum

I don't have much more to say about 2007. It was pretty good. I like my house and the people in it. And my family. And my work. And my friends. And my youth group. Yep.

I'd give the year 40 out of 52 too.

I was in the video store in Enmore with Mil and Jem tonight and a man came up to me and said "Tom French?"

I replied "Yes". I had no idea who the man was.

"I read your blog sometimes."

Wow. Recognised in a video store.

Turns out he is a friend of Lesley's and he reads her blog. We didn't have much more of a conversation than that. He didn't ask me to sign anything. And I didn't find out his name. Oh well.

Hello Man in the Video Store.

Next time I meet a random off the street who recognises me from one of my many fame creating activities, I hope they get a photo with me and tell me they named their first child after me. That'd be pretty cool.

We ended up getting Fever Pitch, the 1997 one, not the Adam Sandler one. It wasn't very good. Colin Firth's character was an idiot who I spent the whole movie hoping the girl would break up with him and leave him for good. It doesn't say much for a romantic comedy when that happens. The Adam Sandler one, dare I say it, was actually much better.

And then Ryan, Martin and I watched Once Upon a Time in China which was cool. Rather silly in the silly Kung Fu movie kinda way, but much more enjoyable then the other one.

My room cleaning efforts have led to me spending all day cleaning (with a movie, some book reading and eating in between) and finished now with my room looking almost exactly the same.

However if you look under the surface of the mess, things are a lot neater. Good on me.

Ryan and I watched The Prestige and it was great.

I've set myself the goal of cleaning my room by the end of January. If I succeed in that I might aim to be in Parliment by the end of 2007.

It could happen.

Auntie Lys, Me and Jo

Christmas to you all.

I'm at Church and I just finished service number 5 in the 25 hour Church Service Marthathon. I did PowerPoint and I actually enjoyed it. I like PowerPoint. And seeing as I'm not sure the rest of my family made it to church, I'm happy I got to a Christmas day service.

Soon it's off to the Relis to do the cousins thing.

Last night I squeezed in a family do with Grandpa, Valentina and some wonderful extras. It was nice. Though short. I had only 2 hours between services.

Oh and Christmas with the house yesterday morning was lovely too. Hot chocolate and wonderful people. And good presents. It's all been very plesent.

I'm a little over the whole church service thing though.

But I won't be back here till Thursday! Hooray two days off! Merry Christmas!

Christmas must be here because our lounge room is full of presents and micro sized nativity scenes. I wrapped all my presents. That must be a first because I don't think I've ever had everything wrapped before the 25th in my whole life.

Actually there is still one present to go, but it's strategically left unwrapped.

Today feels like Christmas Eve, because tomorrow is full of present giving and Church. Between now and midday on the 25th I will have been to 5 services. Hoi! I'll take my own comfy chair to church so I'm relaxed with all that servicing.

I have to do a talk at the family service tomorrow but I don't know what I'm going to say. I'm dry. I've done 9 different Christmas talks in the past 4 years. There are only so many worthwhile angles you can take. I'll figure something out.

Well one should sleep. It's Commie House Christmas in the morning. Hot Chocolates, Presents, and Communist Propaganda. Hooray!

Transformers looks like it's gonna be real cool.

Year four of Youth Ministry at my church has ended with a pool party. I'm tired. As usual I really like the people in my youth group.

I spent a while playing Lock-On with two of the guys in my small group this afternoon. That was fun.

One day someone should invent a form of youth ministry that's all of the fun and none of the work.

I have to go away now and dream it all up again. I hope I can.

In the past two days I've had emails from people in Tamworth and Kenya asking me if I'd be interested in coming to speak at various events. They found me through ChristianSpeakers.com.au.

To the Tamworth people I said I'd be keen and sent them some sample messages of mine. They may chose someone else to speak, but it's nice to be considered. The Kenyans I haven't written back to. This is because being asked to go to Kenya to speak is a pretty bizarre idea that's never crossed my mind before. But who knows what God is doing, so I'll pray and get back to that one soon.

Just after writing the last post about being tired I found a DVD in Ryan's room of Birth. So I thought "I'll just start watching this and turn it off and go to sleep." 98 minutes later, I finished the film and went to sleep. How silly.

However the film itself wasn't bad. After all the controversy about the film, it wasn't really a big deal. It was rather strange, Nicole Kidman falling in-love with a 10 year old and all. But it was rather sweet in the end. You'd know what I mean if you saw it. It wasn't romantic comedy sweet, though, no sir. There wasn't a Meg Ryan, Hugh Grant, or Tom Hanks to be seen, and thank God for that.

Today I didn't do much at all, and it was great. I did read a lot of U2 by U2 and I'm having a wonderful time.

I got up too early this morning, which meant I was tired. I've had trouble all day finishing sentences. I guess it comes with the

Church was really interesting tonight. We had Cafe Church which is usually evangelistic, but we didn't push it that way. So we did an evangelistic service but I'm not sure many people thought to invite friends. Jamie led worship at our church for the first time in perhaps years. It was good to have him back, if only for a special guest appearance.

I preached tonight. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I didn't really like the sermon. I'm not sure how other people view their sermons but I make a big deal of them. Every sermon I'm looking for magic (if you can say that). Each one feels like a new work of art that I'm putting on display. Or perhaps like a new film that I'm releasing. I'm always keenly aware that this could be the flop but I'm looking for greatness. Perhaps one day I'll find it.

I say this because nothing else in my life gets the same type of attention that a sermon does. But I went in tonight feeling under-prepared. And while a bad sermon that got thoroughly prepared is hard. A mediocre sermon that was completely under prepared feels a lot worse. I guess because it feels second rate, like it could have been great but it wasn't. Like Pop maybe.

But I had the choice between 4 days in Forster and an underworked sermon, or no holiday and a good sermon. I chose the holiday. And I think it was right, I needed the break. But that doesn't make the sermon feel any better.

What I did was grab an old sermon and re-work it evangelistically for a younger congregation. It all felt a bit messy and patched together. The old one was good. This one wasn't nearly as neat. I think I would have rathered work on a new one from scratch.

Preaching it was hard too. I think because the sermon was evangelistic but I knew most of the people hadn't come thinking evangelism, and 98% of the people in the room were Christians.

Usually you preach evangelisticly and you can feel the room coming with you a bit. They're all cheering you on because they want to see people become Christians too. But tonight felt different. People were tireder, less interested, in party mode, the sermon wasn't pitched at them, and they didn't have any friends they wanted to see saved. It is an odd feeling preaching an evangelistic sermon to a room full of Christians. It's preaching to the converted.

So that's my sermon debrief. I guess I just had to get that off my chest. Now I'll go to bed. I'm looking forward to the next time I preach. Always am I guess.

It's too late to be up writing a sermon.

This is what four days of holidays does to you.

Actually, whenever I write sermons I'm always up this late the night before, so it's nothing to do with holidays. I envy those preachers who write their sermons sitting at polished wooden desks on Wednesday mornings, staring at birds sitting in tress and the Lord's nature frolicking through the green paddocks that are just outside their study windows.

I just returned from Forster where I've been for the past few days since Tuesday, hense no blogging.

I went with some of the Young Adults from church. And I'd give a detailed run down on the events of the week but really there isn't much to say. I didn't make it to the beach once. I spent a lot of time sitting or lying around reading, or talking, or watching DVDs or Cricket. I slept in. And slept on couches. I played Lock On in a park late at night with 15 people. I learnt poker. I drank a lot of beer (by my standards) and ate un-healthy food. The most happiest moment was waking up on the first morning and thinking "I would love fish and chips for breakfast" so off we went and had fish and chips and a buddy for breakfast. Oh yeah.

So I had a good time. The people were all fun. I really enjoyed hanging out. I got to know people better. No stress, felt loved, it was all good. I needed that.

So I went to the Hygienist today thinking that it was important for the tooth implant. That's what they told me on the phone. The Hygienist has a look and tells me things are looking much better. Probably thanks to my two weeks of flossing and mouth washing back in August.

Then they called my Dentist in. He had a look and was in a rush. But he said "You need to be flossing. And I want you to read a book by Dr Pankey called "The Cross of Life". It will be good to teach it to your young people. I don't have much time but I'll talk to you for a little bit." And I think he's about to talk to me about my teeth. But he stands up in front of me, while I'm still in the chair, tells me to floss than give me a ten minute explanation on why the book, "The Cross of Life" (or is it "A Philosophy of the Practice of Dentistry"), is so important for me and youth ministry ("Because it teaches balance"). Dr Pankey apparently is a Christian. My dentist is Jewish, but he likes Pankey anyway. It was very interesting, though I never expected to get a sermon to an audience of one from my Dentist while sitting in the Hygienist's chair.

Anyway, I went off to pay thinking that I'd be covered by insurance, but it turns out this was just a general hygiene check and x-ray and the like. Nothing to do with the implant. So it cost $340. That hurt. I didn't wake up this morning expecting that expense. This is looking to be a most expensive Christmas.

I woke up with these lyrics in my head:

Yeah, and she's always dressed in white
She moves like an angel
And she burns my eyes

They're Damien Rice lyrics that are wrong. But I woke up with them, so they seemed to have that magical quality of having managed to sneak across the sleep/waking divide. So now I've blogged them.

From SMH:

Ray Castillo, one of the victims of the broken strap issue...admits he was playing with excessive force at the time.

"I would say that I was playing with excessive force when the Wii strap broke," he said.

Insightful reporting.

I got rung by the dentist's assistant today to confirm my appointment for Monday. She asked me if I could come an hour earlier because the Dentist had decided he wanted me to see the Hygienist because I'm due to see her again. That was sad. I don't want to see the Hygienist. When they told me to see her again in 6 months back in June I was planning to conveniently forget. But alas, my conscientious Dentist has remembered for me. And now I'm going to get in trouble because the special pack she gave me of things to cause pain to my gum with, quickly disappeared under my bed. So I haven't done any of the things she told me to do.

Anyway, I guess on Monday she'll poke my gums with a big, metal prong, make me bleed and tell me I'm going to die if I don't floss more. I guess I can cope with that.

I think I may have the spiritual gift of buying concert tickets. I'm going to Damien Rice and John Mayer next year.

Bond was good.

I'm home from the extravagant get away. It was pretty good. 5-star luxury, bath robes, king sized bed, and a 3 roomed villa all to myself. I felt very blessed. Steve, Stephen and I spent plenty of time talking about the important things for next year and beyond. And we spent plenty of time eating good food and sitting in spas. It was good.

9 is quickly becoming great. I'm going to see Damien in February. Woot!

I was meant to go to a cocktail party tonight, but I bailed because I was running late, I didn't have any clothes to wear and I was scared.

Due to a kindly, generous parishioner, I'm off to the Hunter for two days of 5-Star staff meetings here. Never has church business been so posh.

So now we have Rudd as our Opposition leader. I'm pretty happy about that. Now I'm working at learning about him. In his recent article in The Monthly he wrote concerning the relationship between Christians and the state:

I argue that a core, continuing principle shaping this engagement should be that Christianity...must always take the side of the marginalised, the vulnerable and the oppressed.

and

The function of the church in all these areas of social, economic and security policy is to speak directly to the state: to give power to the powerless, voice to those who have none, and to point to the great silences in our national discourse where otherwise there are no natural advocates.

I'm pretty happy with that. I'm hope he follows through, then he'd be a champ! I may even vote for him.

I must say that I'm pretty sad for Beazley. How terrible to loose your brother on the day you loose your job as leader of the Opposition. Of course loosing your brother would be the hardest part. But it all much suck for him right now.

I may be paying a little bit of attention to the Ashes.

Tomorrow Rudd and Gillard make their move on the Labor leadership. I do hope they get it. Not that I have much against Kim, but I don't have much for him either. Rudd seems to be friendly on the social justice stuff. And Gillard's a bit a of a champ. And if they can beat the Government, Yeehaa! Though I don't know a huge amount about either of them and I haven't had time to do my reading since the contest came up.

I hope tomorrow makes Australia turn out nicer.

12 on. 12 off. 12 on. 12 off. 12 on.

As much as I like my job the whole 12 hour day thing, three days in a row isn't looking appealing.

But I did get to jump on a jumping castle at our Kids' Day today, I'll tell ya, that's wicked fun. I want my own one.

It is fun spending a whole day running around with kids. I'm a little sick of people in my youth group having to go to hospitals and medical centres though. I didn't make the trip this time though, being 2IC at Kids' Club meant that I was left cleaning the church. An honour when you're the XO.

It's the first day of December and I started doing some Christmas shopping. Don't say that I'm not the man.

Of course I think I bought just as much stuff for myself as I did for other people. Like U2 18 Singles Special Edition with book and DVD. I didn't really want the cd, I have all those songs (except one), I wanted the DVD. It's Live in Milan in a Stadium. It will remind me of Sydney. Although I just watched it, and it doesn't. Everyone looks Italian. But still it's fun.

I also got 9 Damian Rice's new one. I'll tell ya, some lady really screwed him over 'cause he's sounding pretty cut up. It a good cd, I think it's going to be really good, perhaps great. Although I'm looking forward to the day when I break up with someone because I think that's when I will really appreciate the album. All I'll listen to is 9 and Continuum and I'll feel good about feeling so bad.

Woke up and for the first time the animals were gone
It's left this house empty now, not sure if I belong
Yesterday you asked me to write you a pleasant song
I'll do my best now, but you've been gone for so long - Damien Rice

I thought even though my digital camera is dead, I'll steal someone elses photos. This is us at U2.

Thanks Tim.

Some days are harder than others. But there certainly were a few hours of happy goodness in there today.

I went and did the Christmas Assembly today at the primary school and they laughed at my jokes. It was reported by a year 6 friend of mine that even the year sixes laughed, which means I won. The year six crew are always the audience I'm playing for because they're the toughest nuts to crack.

I walked out into the play ground and the boys who had been acting in the scripture play were in front of me wearing big sunnies and looking very Hollywood. There were a few girls in year four who had developed crushes on the and followed at a distance asking me for their email addresses.

I, on the other hand, got mobbed by kids in infants school. They seem to express their affection by punching you and trying to pull your pants down. I sat down on a bench to stop them from taking my clothes and they all sat on top of me, like 20 of them. The whole child protection thing was making me feel rather uncomfortable at this stage. When I tried to leave they wouldn't let me go. They blocked my path and I couldn't touch them to move the out of my way because of them old CP guidelines. For the first time in my life (but I'm sure not the last) I thought "I need a bodyguard!".

In the end I managed to escape when some of the actors came through the playground and the kids went off to punch them. I ended up signing a few autographs for some of the remaining kids, "Mr French", and chatting about something or other till the bell went.

I visited the staff room after that because there was meant to be a morning tea on for the Scripture Teachers. The room was packed full of people I didn't recognise so I got a glass of water, skulled it, then left. I don't think anyone noticed I was ever there.

I did go to the beach today, I did have fun and I did get burnt.

Then I went to hang out with my Little Brother. We went to Homebush Aquatic Centre and aquated around. It was good fun. I did feel a little old and hairy to be playing on the water slide and in the rapids, but that's ok. I'm used to feeling a little old for the fun I partake in. We had fun.

When I drop my LB off I went in and hung around with his family a bit. They invited me to stay for dinner, so I did. It was really nice. They're a pretty hectic family. But I like them lots. I got to look at his little sister's home work, read a book with his little brother. And eat dinner with the whole family. I had fun.

Tomorrow I'm off to the Public School to do my Annual Christmas Stand-Up Routine. I hope I'm still "the funny guy." I could be a flop. Actually I should worry about the message, but that doesn't give you an instant response like laughter does, so it's hard to worry about it as much.

I hope I'm funny and effective. Yeppers.

Hello Liam.

I just thought I'd say "Hi" because I know you're out there at some computer somewhere. I know that right now you're thinking of me. Actually, even if you're not Liam, right now you're thinking of me. For as long as you're reading this blog I will be forefront in your mind. Or at least, some of the front. So perhaps I'll keep typing to continue to hold this prime place in your neuro-lobes. That's a medical term I made up.

Anyway, Liam. I just wanted to say "Hello". I did enjoy standing with you shooting the poop on the verandah of the Skiffity club on Saturday. You looked rather swish in the most platonic of man complimentary ways.

Cheers,

Tom

P.S. Hi Mum.

I'm going to the beach tomorrow. Rayhoo!

Tonight on Christian radio I heard a 14 year old say, on the subject of singleness, that if you don't have a partner either it's either because "God is testing you, or there's someone just around the corner." If only it were that simple.

Make Show, Make Weddings, Make Watch Movie

Impact went rather well yesterday. It was good doing it in a professional theatre this time. Quick bump in, quick bump out. I get put on the side of the stage with the DVD player. It meant I missed watching the show, but I got to see all the performers and hang with the stage crew. I felt a little guilty because my job mainly involves me pressing "Skip Chapter" on a DVD remote for two hours. Everyone else performs or runs around or stuff like that. I just press a button or two.

The DVD for Part One was way smooth, no worries. The DVD for Part Two was a worry. It skipped a few times, made little sounds here and there and threatened to pack it in. I think it was a bad burn of the DVD. I only discovered this as we were performing because we didn't get to do a tech run or dress rehearsal for Part Two yesterday. Oh well. It made it through. The show was good. We went to the pub after which was happy.

Today I didn't catch the ferry. I was going to Manly because I had two weddings, both in Manly. I thought catching the ferry would be fun. Which it would have been. But in the end I chose not to because I couldn't find anywhere to store a book as I traveled.

Wedding One, Mike and Kristen, was at 9:30am. Very early for a wedding. I think I like the idea of an early wedding. Maybe because it makes the whole thing seem a bit fresh and new. It was a nice, straight forward wedding. It was good to see my friends, even some friends who I hadn't seen the night before. I didn't get to say "Hello" to Mike and Kristen, but "Yip!" for them.

Wedding Two, Graham and Ange, was at midday, so I had to kill a bit of time hanging out on the Corso. I talked to the wedding stragglers for as long as possible then perused the shops looking for wedding presents. I found none. That filled enough time for me to be a few minutes early to the wedding.

I was worried at this one that I wouldn't know any people, but there turned out to be a few of my ex-college mates, and the college dean there, so I had people to talk to.

The wedding nice. Even more traditional than the first one. No singing, just organ. But I liked it. It was short and two the point. None of this extravagant production stuff. So I was happy.

During photo time I went out to have a steak and a beer with Meg and Dave, me old married, college mates. They were fun and made sure I wasn't a loner while regailing me with insights into the ashes and stories of Guy Sebastian.

We went to the Wedding reception and recepted the wedded ones. That was more college reunion and happy times to be had.

So congrats to Kristen and Mike and Ange and Graham.

Tonight Ryan and I saw Borat. It was funny, and very rude. I'm not sure what my verdict is yet. I hope it wasn't real people being set up, but I think it was. That was rather mean I think.

Now I sleep.

If that was Impact, we've done it.

Now it's bed time. I'm getting up at 6am because I'm catching a Ferry tomorrow! Woohoo!

Keating

We went to see Keating tonight at Belvoir St. It's a musical about the politcal career of Paul Keating. It's very, very funny. Grandpa, you should see it, you'd like it.

I have the feeling none of the audience were Liberal voters. They were pretty happy to see Alexander Downer in drag and John Howard being... John Howard. I think it was the most enjoyable Belvoir production in ages.

I think The West Wing should have done a musical episode like Buffy.

I've got "Keating" in the headings of two posts in a row. Who'd have thought we'd see that day? Probably no-one, because, let's admit it, nobody spends much time thinking about possible trends in the headings of my blog posts, not even me, and I love myself.

Ain't No John Keating

I had my last ever scripture lesson with my year sixes at the primary school today. I was determined to have a good lesson. But traffic was bad, so I didn't get to plan. However that didn't matter in the end because a small but significant group talked the whole way through the lesson which meant that we didn't get anything done. Most of the class talked. But some of the class talked, and shouted, and ran around all the time.

One kid, I told him to stop talking and turn around for 30 seconds straight before he did it. And it wasn't that he just didn't hear me. I was standing right in front of him, he'd look at me, then just kept talking. I ended up keeping some of them back for a bit of recess. It was rather sad because you want your last class to leave good memories. But alas.

One girl, as she was walking out of the class room said "Thanks for tolerating my bad behaviour". At least she noticed.

You'd think that after having two straight demoralising years you'd cut your losses and get out. But I walked out of the school today determined to go back next year and get it right. That may be a silly idea but I want to beat this one, I think I believe in the concept too much. And I like the kids too. I loved that class. If only I could just be their friend.

Happy Day

Sleep in - Beach - Lie around reading a book - Pub with Mum - BBQ with house - Fouting (Food outing) for Ice Cream with House - West Wing - Sleep

Feel the Love

I taught Scripture at the local High School today. It's always tough and rewarding.

My favourites tend to be the year 10s. Today I had my last lesson ever with them. I think the like me, although it's hard to tell how often they're just taking the piss.

We spent a fair chunk of the lesson talking about homosexuality. Which was fine. Although I don't really like talking about it because it just makes Christians look like bigots. But we all got a few laughs out of it even if no-one came to a better understanding of anything.

After the class I was walking through the school and found a bunch of the year 10 guys in front of me. They started blocking my path and saying "Tom, it's time for group hug." I suddenly had worries about child protection. But decided it would be better to hug a bunch of year 10 guys. So I gave in was enveloped in a hug of 4 or 5 year 10 guys all of who were bigger then me. Then another saw the fun and jumped on to and accidentally punched me in the head.

It was a nice way to end my four years of scripture teaching with those guys. I felt the love.

Walk Cat

I went on a bush walk today from somewhere to Otford. It was with one of the guys in my youth group, his dad and two other men they knew. It was a bit of fun. They were good blokes. I do like bush walking. If only I would do it more often.

Biggest problem of the day was that I had to be in Otford at 8am after finishing DVD burning at 2:30am. That was a rather painful experience.

Then I came home tonight and was offered a ticket to The Cat Empire at the Enmore tonight. So thinking that I shouldn't waste an opportunity I went.

They were fun. Good music. Problem was that I didn't know the songs and I wasn't with people I knew very well, so it was all a little surreal. But I'm pretty sure I'm glad I went. At least now I can say I've seen The Cat. And it's just made my year of live music that little bit bigger.

Sometimes I hate burning DVDs.

Bor-ing-at

As funny and offensive as Borat is, I'm a bit bored of him at the moment. In every interview I've seen he has all the same jokes. I'm bored of hearing that his sister is "number 4 prostitute in all Kazakhstan" and I'm bored of hearing that if he finds a new wife he'll get a red dress for her off the corpse of his dead wife. I think it'd be more fun if all his answers weren't pre-scripted. It's not like he's trying to avoid saying something offensive.

That's a good title of mine isn't it. I'm thinking of becoming a Copy Editor.

Black and Shiny

I got four new tyres today. They drive nice. But the man told me my suspension is shot. So I'll be off to Pedders soon. Hooray!

Academic

It's exam time again and I've done 19 minutes of study. That's a whole 24 seconds more than the last exam. I'm improving. Small steps.

Shirts Off Has Begun

We (Hayley, Ryan, Mil and I) started "Shirts Off Summer 06/07" today with a trip to the beach. It was fun. I am now well burnt in the non-tanned parts of me. Cancer and brown here I come.

We had chips and scallops for lunch. Yum.

My new car stereo is fun. It plays cds and sounds nice.

I went of meeting for Big Brother Big Sister tonight. It was training for Bigs on Sexuality and how to deal with related issues with their littles. I was a bit scared because I figured being a Christian I was probably going have different ideas from most of the people in the room. I didn't really want to have to tell everyone my views on sex, but I figured that there was a chance I might. So I started bracing myself for feeling like a religious, conservative, prude. But happily, the only time I had to express and opinion I sided with the vast majority of the group because the questions were only on Sex Education. So I was happy with that.

Controv

We had a man from Creation Ministries come to church last night. It was interesting. Good because it exercised my brain. But it was a little disappointing the way he presented his views. He basically said that the literal 6-day creation is the only way to view Genesis, and that if you don't believe that then the Gospel is at stake. It was all rather black and white.

My problem wasn't that I don't believe in the literal 6-day creation (well, I'm not sure about it at least, I have no idea how the world was created, beyond the fact that God did it) but that he spoke as if that was the only right view point. I think the issue is too unclear and debated amongst all types of Christians to write off every other view point. I'm happy for there to be 6 day believers, I'm happy for there to be 6 period believers, I'm happy for there to be all sorts of believers. I want to hold on to God's creation of the world, the perfection of the creation at the beginning, the uniqueness of humanity created in the divine image, and the entrance of death and evil into the world through humanity's choice. After that, I'm happy for us to debate how it all happened. It worries me when we write of all other view points on debatable issues. No-one's going to hell if they don't believe that world is 6009 years old.

I also watched God in My Side tonight, the documentary by Andrew Denton about a Christian Broadcasters Convention in the US. It was funny, lots of clips of cheesy Christian Television, and interesting, and scary. There were some very worrying clips of people talking about their views on Israel. Like the need to stand by Israel no matter what because it is vital to the return of Jesus, even if that means using nukes. Some of the people interviewed were rather extreme. But there were some cool people too. There was a TV producer who made vomit inducing ads, but had a good sense of irony and said smart things and made good jokes. I reckon you should give it a watch.

I took my senior small group to watch it. It was fun. Half of them had no idea what the film was about, so it was kinda fun. Although, I hope they weren't disappointed it was a documentary.

I'm getting a new sound system installed in my car tomorrow.

The U2 blog is coming tomorrow.

It's a hot night and Newtown has gotten a little bit whacked.

I'm off to see U2. Goodbye y'all.

Occurrences

I went out to coffee today and saw Beck in the cafe. Just as the waitress was rocking up Beck asked me across the cafe "Aren't you at college right now?"

To which I replied what I thought was bleedingly obvious "No I'm sitting in a booth in a cafe." The waitress rolled her eyes at me. I feel hurt.

After work I met my friend Mike in a back street near Sydney Uni. He was standing by his car, he opened his boot and handed me a bag full of guns. It was pretty cool. I felt like a weapons dealer.

Then I decided to walk home using a short cut, but sadly my terrible sense of direction meant that I didn't to very well finding a short cut home. It was cold and dark when I arrived. But at least I arrived in time for dinner. It was garlic with a bit of pasta garnish. Though it tasted good. Thanks Mil and Ryan.

Must sleep now. I have to hang out with Adam, Larry, Bono and the Edge tomorrow.

One Sleep

Tomorrow. I've been waiting a long time for this. Tomorrow is U2 day.

I'll die a happy man.*

*Of course I don't want to die soon after tomorrow. And if I died today I'd die happy. I don't want to have to justify it too much. You know, it's a phrase. Of course you do, you're pretty smart.

The Men and their Kids

So I did see Children of Men yesterday. It was pretty cool. I really like those apocalyptic kind of movies. The ones where the whole world's gone the Hades in a hand basket. Clive Owen is quite the man. He's such a good reluctant hero. There wasn't once in the whole film where I thought he actually wanted to be there. It was great.

Guns, apocalypse, action, hope. What more could you want?

I also saw Trust the Man. That was pretty typical two couples have issues, break up, get back together at the end, everyone is happy. It made me laugh and feel warm so that's all you want.

It was cold and gray when I went into the cinema the first time, and it was cold and gray when I came out the second time. But for the two hours between films the sun was out, the sky was blue and I couldn't see a cloud. I read, drank tea, and slept in Hyde Park. Mmmm. That's what I'm talkin' about.

Turn out the Light

I just started writing a post about Children of Men because I went and saw it yesterday. But I decided the title was too good for a post just about a movie. Not that I have a post that can do the title justice, but I certainly don't want to waste it on something that only took two hours and cost $8.50.

Perhaps something about the end of the world is in order. Although, I'm wouldn't say the world will end with darkness but with light. Sunset has been, dawn is coming.

When I turn out the light to go to sleep always the first thing I do is pray. And the first thing I pray is usually the thing that's foremost in my mind. It's the unguarded, undesigned, unplanned prayer of the day. And usually it goes "I don't understand", "Damn it" or "Thank you". It's the truth that comes with darkness I guess.

I like turning out lights these days. I feel like I'm saving the planet.

I got a distinction for my Job essay. Except it became a pass when they took the late marks off. I'm happy with that. Mr Marker said I needed to do more research. I agree, but I only wanted to spend 45 minutes in the Library. So lazy.

:-(

I am not the best speller (thank you spell check) but this article says that examiners in Scotland are now going to accept "text-messaging short forms in school examinations", and that scares me.

This doesn't sound good. I very much dislike SMS-speak. It's looks ugly. How much nicer is "People" to "ppl", or "Great" to "gr8", or "Love" to "luv". Anyone who has got and SMS, or an email from me, or has talked to me on MSN, will know that I try and write everything right. I like the challenge of fitting everything I need to say into 160 characters without compromising my correctness. I like things to be correct.

But I don't really have a problem with other people using it in SMS or chat or email. I don't like it, however, when it moves into other things like signs or letters. Things which aren't meant to written quickly. And I don't mind it so much when it comes from young people, the ones who pioneer it and use it for convenience. But when advertisers start saying "Get U and UR friends to txt and enter to win gr8 prizes" it annoys me. It's not genuine. They're co-opting the language of the young to sell stuff back to them. They're trying to look cool, but they look like try hards.

But I think I'm just going to look old fashioned. Writing is going to evolve, and I'm going to think it looks ugly. And that's probably just the way its going to be.

Design

I'm aware that I'm not exactly a world class HTML king, but one has to do something to celebrate. Hence, the new, temporary, design.

And the Winner is...

My pick for the winner of the 2006 Melbourne Cup is: YEATS

Trust me. I know these things.

Special

I have nothing to complain about. Not really.

Did just go up to 7-Eleven and buy Coke and Chips. Happy me.

Not really a world class blogger at the moment.

If I ever become the Pastor of a mega church, don't let me have a sex scandal. I'd like to avoid that is possible. Thanks.

U2 are coming and I'm already starting to get sad that by this time next week, I will have seen them.

But gosh I'm excited.

So tempted to go on Monday too!

So Much Sacred in the Month of November

I'm not sure if it's eating my kebab or reading my emails that's making me feel sick. It's probably the kebab seeing as emails don't usually make me feel like this.

John Mayer was awesome! Flippin' fantastic! He's such a good guitarist. The concert was just pure musical pleasure. So many good solos, so many good musicians, lots of good songs.

John himself seems a little fake, or sleazy, or like a rock star. I'm not sure what. When he does solos he seemed to stare at one particular person, which would probably be rather uncomfortable if you were that person I reckon. And playing his guitar, at times, he looked rather orgasmic. So he seemed a little strange. But, damn, can he play. It was great.

And he's coming back in April! Woohoo! If Donny doesn't get in the way, I'll be there and you should join me.

It's Johnny Mayer night! Woo!

Rudey

I had my last lecture for Wisdom Literature at college today. It was on Song of Songs. And I heard things said by my lecturer that I never thought I hear discussed at Bible College in such graphic detail. It was pretty special.

Runnin'

I went for a run yesterday! The last recorded time for such an energetic and fitness creating activity was in April 2004.

Me and some of the other homies (Mil, Martin and Ryan) we all did jogging through the grimy streets of Enmore. Unfortunately due to a medical emergency Mil and Martin had to turn back. Ryan and I, however, soldiered on. We ran to Sydney Park and ran up the hill and then down the hill and then around a bit and then up the hill and then down and then around to another side and up again. Or something like that. And then we ran home.

Ryan took me through all these back streets which I didn't recognise, except I did because every back street in the inner-west looks the same. I was terribly lost. If Ryan was in the mood to kidnap me that would have been the time to do it because I had no idea where I was. I couldn't have escaped or nothing.

Today my legs hurt. But I might go for another run. Maybe on Friday. I'll be staying in Hornsby on Friday so I could do my old run, just for old times sake. Plus, no one could kidnap me there, it's my old stomping ground. I'll stomp on them.

I just had to put my jacket on on this hot, mildly hot day, because I had to go help at a funeral and I realised, when I looked at my t-shirt, that it would be inappropriate wearing a "Stuff is Awesome!!" t-shirt to a funeral.