Well it's past midnight now which means I'm no longer the Acting Senior Minister at church. Stephen will be back on deck in the morning, and we'll come under the watchful eye of a local minister. My week long reign has come to an end. It was an enjoyable week though.

I think my only extra job this week as Acting Senior Minister (that's a self-given title) was to do the announcements at the 6:30 service. I prepared and everything. But that got taken away from me when the Spirit moved and announcements got bumped to the back of the service. Why people think that the prompting of the Spirit is more important than my notices is beyond me, but there you go.

I was going to use the opportunity to announce a reworking of the Church budget to allow for a $30,000 staff allowance for Thai food and a new evangelistic program called "No Youth without a Jumping Castle". But sadly I could not. I guess I never got the chance to use my powers for good or evil.

Maybe next time we loose a Senior Minister and an Assistant Minister.

And she gives
I get
Without giving anything to me

Like a morning sun
Like a morning
Like a morning sun
Good good morning sun - Damien Rice

Yesterday I was about to drive to College and my car decided it needed more oil. At the moment my car is running particularly badly, so I decided not to push my luck by driving around with no oil.

So I went to the petrol station bought some oil, I drove back to the church to oil the car up, but realised I'd bought the wrong oil. I was too embarrassed to take it back to the petrol station so I walked to Woolies and bought the right stuff.

I then started work on my car. Normally putting oil in the car is a quick affair. Not in my car though. Because the engine is under the seat you have to lift the seats, take off different panels, unscrew this and that. It was lots of fun. I really liked getting in the engine, even if I wasn't doing anything remotely impressive. Then while I was there, I decided I might oil my door because that had been squeaking. And oil the other door. And tighten the back door.

Finally when I was finished, I'd spent about an hour and I was way too late for college. So I stayed at church and worked. In the end I think I had much more fun getting dirty engine grease all over my hands than I would have had at college. I think for the next few days my new career dream will be to become a mechanic. I could be the preaching mechanic. That'd be tops fun.

I heard the new single from Linkin Park's new album. I suspect they might be going the way all Christian artists went in the beginning of the millennium and releasing a worship album. Finally the secular world has caught on.

Check out the lyrics:

So let mercy come,
And wash away…
What I’ve Done.

"What I've Done" - Linkin Park

I went to teach Scripture today. I got out of the car, went around the to the passenger seat to get my badge out of the glove box, and proceeded to lock my keys in the car! Grrr! That's the forth time this year.

When I got my NRMA I thought, I probably won't need it, but my car might break down. Now I've called them out 4 times, and only because of my keys. I rather annoy myself.

What could have been a good discovery though, was that while I was looking for a shop to sell me some food while I waited for the NRMA to come, I found a Thai food shop! Thai food right near where I work. With $8 lunch specials none the less. This could revolutionize my working life.

Alas as, I think it was Helen said "Never eat suburban Thai". Though I might be paraphrasing. I went back and got it for lunch. It wasn't very good. And I now have ingested enough oil to refine it and run a small car for a week.

Oh well. I guess you win some and some taste disgusting.

I've been watching a bit of Prison Break lately. I've watched the first five episodes of season one, and I can't say I'm all that impressed. I'm not sure why everyone likes it. That main guy (Michael) really annoys me. He takes himself way too seriously. I want to shout at him "You're not as good as you think you are punk!".

Actually I don't really like any of the characters. Except for Lincoln, but only because he looks like someone I'd want to be friends with. Other than that, I doubt I care one way or the other what happens too him, he just mopes around.

The script leaves a lot to be desired too. Someone should tell the writers to stop using such kitsch lines. And maybe not to be so predictable.

All that said, I'll probably keep watching it. I've started now I probably have to finish it.

I regularly wish that Saturday was not the day before Sunday.

This has got to be the funniest news story I've read in a while. There are lots of people in Japan who have been fooled by poodle scaming scamsters. Their customers thought they were buying cut price poodles but they were actually sold sheep. They only figured it out when their sheep failed to act like dogs.

I read the story in Westfield food court and I laughed out loud. Sadly there was no one to share my mirth with, so now I share with you.

The thing about living in this house is that you have to learn to eat spicy food, because there is many a night when you get home late and the only leftovers in the fridge are things that'll melt your face off. Still, I reckon being able to eat hot food makes you more attractive.

I went and saw Disturbia yesterday. I was expecting to be your standard teen thriller fare. And it was. But I think it was some of the better teen thriller stuff. The best bit about it was that it was extremely youth orientated without looking like it was trying too hard. Like it used X-Boxes, PSPs, macs, iPods, mobiles much in the way that teen use them. And they were more part of the character's lives rather than just put in to make the film seem "hip".

Although it could have been trying too hard and I just didn't notice because I'm too old. But I thought it was fun. Plus I liked some of the banter. It made me laugh. A lot more than Bean's Holiday, I watched that today, that was a load of celluloid poop.

I had dinner with David tonight. He's a good man. We all played Emperor/Scum here in the Commie house and, boy, was there fun to be had.

This game has been floating around MySpace and I thought it was fun I'm giving it a go.

RULES:
1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. Write down the name of the song.

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
Lonely Soul (UNKLE)

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Jangling Jack (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Elevation (U2) - Everyone knows I love the tall ones

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Indestructible (Matisyahu)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Brownsville Girl (Bob Dylan)

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Human Touch (Bruce Springsteen) - That's me, touch is my love language, baby

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
City Love (John Mayer) - Only the special friends think of me that way

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?
Desire (U2) - I'm not touching that

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Grey Ocean (Lior)

WHAT IS 2+2? - That's a stupid question
Message of the Cross (Delirious?)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BESTIE? - I'm assuming that's best friend
Gravity (John Mayer Trio)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Shake Your Groove Thing (Some silly cover band) - Yeehaa

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Journey (Prayerworks) - Pffft

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Fire in the Belly (Van Morrison) - I'm going to own a dodgy Indian takeaway

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Jesus Walks (Kanye West) - I'm such a good Christian boy

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Stonehearted (Transport)

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Backstreets (Bruce Springsteen)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
ABC (Jackson 5)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
English Summer Rain (Placebo)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
Lilac Wine (Jeff Buckley)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Sanctify (Delirious?)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Caring is Creepy (The Shins)

WHAT SONG WILL BE THE SUBJECT WHEN YOU REPOST?
Revival Town (Delirious?) - So much Delirious?, how embarrassing

I think maybe I should do the ol' Soul Survivor wrap up. Ever since my digital camera packed it in, things as photogenic as Soul aren't nearly as exciting to blog about.

Actually, I wouldn't really call Soul photogenic, except when the mist rolls in every night. That's when things look good, and you wish for your shutter skills and tools.

I think I'll just talk about the whole week in one big chunk, I can't be bothered trying to put things together in any ordered fashion.

The thing everyone has been asking me is "How'd Donny go?" So I guess I should debrief on the Donny experience.

Doing the show was lots of fun. My favourite time is always interviewing the guests. Especially when things go well. I think the interviews are where the magic comes out or it's the place where you crash and burn. But it feels good when Donny and the guest are bantering, the absurdities are coming out, and the audience is enjoying it.

Or there are times when everything just falls flat and you can't find anyway out. You're struggling to find the funnies, and the interest. You feel like the whole audience is just waiting for something to happen, but you've got nothing. That's tough. But that's the adrenaline of it I guess. Knowing you're out on stage in front of hundreds of people, no script, very little plan, and the only thing between you and boredom is the wits of you and the guest. Maybe it's like jumping out of a plane with no parachute hoping you'll grow wings.

Anyway, this year was a pretty good year for guests. Maaike from Holland was the find of the conference. She was a great guest, she gave as good as she got. She made Donny work hard for the audience. She really kept me on my toes. It was good fun.

Mike was fun as usual though I don't think it was our best year. Ben played well. He's a good sport.

The rest of the show was ok. Tabitha was quite tense this year. I think I found the line you can't cross with politically incorrect humour at Soul. While it's hard to know exactly what's going on from the stage, most nights the video would run and you could feel most people thinking "Is this actually funny? Should I be laughing at that?" I could be wrong, but I don't feel like people came with Tabitha as much this year.

I didn't hear any complaints though. Maybe they're yet to come.

Our live satellite feed segment was kinda fun, though I feel like we needed to spend more time on it. It wasn't as obvious as it should have been. Oh well. It wasn't bad, it just could have been a lot better.

The games were fun as usual. Some were more fun than others, but I do like to make a mess.

I generally end every year wondering what Donny actually does for the conference. The show rarely makes any important commentary (except perhaps in the videos), it really is mostly foolery. But I figured this year my job is to get people in the tent before the main meeting, and that happens, so I guess I'll count the year as a success.

On the rest of Soul...

I really did enjoy eating this year. Especially having bacon and egg muffins from the Kiosk in the mornings.

I didn't find much that was world changing this year. I might be more to do with where I'm at, rather than Soul. I did get challenged to keep working in faith to see God do stuff. It's easy to only pray prayers that are safe to pray. Prayers that you'll never know if they were answered or not. But I want to trust God in how I pray. I want to pray so I can see when God answers. I don't want to just believe God answers, I want to see God's answers. (There's the sermon line right there.)

I really enjoyed the week with my youth group. As usual that was the highlight of the week. They're much fun to spend time with. Perhaps because they're just as happy to be stupid as I am. And I think because they're so much more willing to be changed by God. To change an adult you have years of defenses and habits to break through. To change a teenager, God normally has a much more willing heart to work with.

I did like doing my seminar. I think it went pretty good. I didn't feel like it was earth-shattering, world changing stuff. But I guess I was trying to inspire people in the everyday, not put them on eagles wings. And that's God's job anyway.

And that's where I'll leave it.

Except perhaps to say, I did really like sleeping in my bed these past three nights.

I've left two voice mails today and mistook voice mail for email. So I've finished saying "Cheers, Tom" rather than "Thanks" or something. You reckon you'd figure out the difference between speaking and typing, but I guess not.

For all you Soulies out there who are wondering "You Never Let Go" is a Matt Redman song. Track two on his new CD. Now you can go get it and relive the fist pumping magic of those "never let go" main meetings.

I'm back from Soul. Just ate McDonald's. That's about I'll I've got at the moment.

I've been thinking about funny lately. With Soul Survivor coming up, I'm getting that usual re-occurring thought "What the hell are you doing?". Sometimes it occurs to me that I do a comedy show and that's a bizarre thought.

If someone like me were to tell me they did a comedy show I'd think "You're rather full of yourself aren't you. I bet you're not funny." You have to be pretty pretentious to think you're funny. Especially funny enough to take up half and hour of people's time five nights in a row. What's wrong with me?

So as usual I'm scared. But I guess it's a better place to be than confident. I'd probably suck if I was confident. Maybe I'll bomb this year and they won't ask me back. That'd solve some problems.

For the first time in the history of ever, I think Miranda Divine might have said something I agree with.

In her article here about the over-sexualisation of young people she actually seems to complain about something worth complaining about. Though feel free to read it and tell me what's stupid, it feels a little too good to be true.

Yesterday I was editing the videos for Soul and I watched one of this year's Tabithas and it started to make me uneasy. Uneasy because I'm worried that this one might be that little bit too offensive to so. A little bit too edgy. I'm quite liking the video, it makes me laugh, and I understand the point I'm making. But there is always the worry that other people won't get it and think you're saying the opposite of what you are.

Anyway, I guess I'll make a decision over the next few days.

But just in time for Soul I have uploaded a new Tabitha video. This was the first one ever made, so it's different from all the rest. It's a different look, a different voice. It looks a bit like a pilot I guess.

Anyway have a watch. It's a reminder of the days when Tabitha was a much tamer lady.



In other news I got an email from the costume hire place and the reason that they didn't return my emails is because the person I was talking to got killed in an accident two weeks ago. It's so sad. My worries that I might not get the costume I want seem rather petty in light of this now. But they'll let me hire the costume. So Donny should have the same ugly hair.

Death is stupid.

I've been doing Donny Jaffa stuff all day. I shot a new segment in the morning with Liam. That was fun, rather absurd. Now I've edited all of them, I finished editing the "Wisdom with Tabitha"s too.

Now all I have to do is put the actual show DVDs together, put the Breakthru' Artz DVD together, edit a teaser for "Pilgrim" and write my seminar, and then I'm ready for Soul. Easy!

Oh and I have to actually find Donny's costume. The costume shop that I hired it from got bought by a costume shop that hasn't opened yet. They said they'd hire me the costume anyway, but they've disappeared off the radar. They've stopped returning my emails and they don't answer their phone. It's a worry. Perhaps Donny's going to have to get a hair cut.

I went and saw John Mayer tonight. That's number 2. He played the Entertainment Centre. He's an awesome guitarist. Watching him play makes selling your soul to the Devil to have guitar skills seem pretty tempting. And he didn't seem so sleazy this time, though that may have been because I was a lot further away.

The support act wore very tight jeans. He had way too much wobble for my mild sensibilities.

We did visit Eating World before hand, which is always a treat if only for the overload of tacky atmosphere. I'm not sure how impressed my concert watching colleagues were, I hope they one day take their Grand Children and say "It all started on the night I saw John Mayer". And I hope Eating World doesn't change a bit.

Now I have no concerts to look forward to. Nothing's on the radar. Maybe it's time for Bruce Springsteen to come to Australia. And Michael Franti can come back too. And U2. Yeah that'd be the stuff.

Oh Gravity.
why can't we
seem to keep it together? - Switchfoot

It's a public holiday today! Thank God. I mean that, I thank God. The weekend that's been has been pretty tough. Mostly I spent the time in an empty house trying to find a sermon to preach on Sunday night.

I've never seen the house so empty as it was over this past weekend. I saw Martin and Matt for 10 minutes on Friday and that was it. No-one. No one else slept in the house till last night. There were tumbleweeds in our lounge room and cobwebs on every chair but mine at the dinner table. Normally this emptiness would be fantastic. I know I live in "Community". But being an introvert the idea of a whole weekend in a Community House with no Community in it is a marvelous one. I was intending on writing my sermon on Friday, then spending all Saturday to enjoy the quietness and the ability to walk around with no clothes on and pee with the door open. But the sermon wouldn't come. Not on Friday and not on Saturday.

On Saturday night I went and saw the CCC production of 3rd Day which was fun. But I had to go home to keep writing sermon. I can tell you by that stage I was starting to get pretty angry at God. I wanted to go out to dinner with friends in Dee Why, but no, I had to go sit in a cold, dark, communitiless house and tap out the ministry of the Word. I was ready to pull out a Psalm of lament and use it on His Eternalness. "My God, My God, why haven't you forsaken me?" Can't I have a long weekend like everyone else! I thought Easter was meant be a religious holiday but it's only people who work in religion who are working. I'm waiting for our pluralist society to start taking public holidays for solstices and Buddha Days, then I might actually get a day off, 'cause I ain't preaching about Buddha's resurrection, I can tell you that.

Anyway, the sermon didn't actually finish coming together till 6pm yesterday. Half an hour before show time. But I was happy with it. And this end of the sermon, I think it's worth the sacrifice. It is a privilege even if it hurts my brain and recreational life.

Yesterday afternoon I went out with Jo and Hannah for some family Easter excitement. Jo busted Hannah out of respite and brought her to meet me. We went off to McDonald's. It was nice, if you ignore the McDonald's bit. Jo helped me find my last illustration for the sermon. She suggested talking about the outing we were in the middle of, and it turned out to be a winner. Thanks Jo.

And while I'm on it, I just want to publicly correct what I said last night. When I preached I may have given everyone the impression that Hannah lives in an institution. She doesn't. She was just staying in respite for the weekend while Mum and Dad are in Vanuatu. My little sister lives with my parents. And they love her very much.

Hopefully that clears things up a little.

Anyway, today I slept in. I celebrated the end of Lent by buying some CDs. I had a beer with Phil. This is the joy of not having sermon to write.

Finally, I'm home, I've preached, I have two days off. I've been waiting for this all weekend. I'm quite happy.

I had a meeting with Nathan the SIM (Student In Ministry) on Thursday at Brooky Pub. It was cool. We went for about 3 hours. We cooked our own $10 steaks, had some drinks (though only one beer was consumed between the two of us because we're well behaved Christian men and you don't want to go planning your youth ministry under the influence or you'll get calls from parents saying "Why is my Child learning about Chuck Norris in Bible Study?" which you would have to reply "That may have been the Tooheys New that made that decision"), visited JB Hi-Fi (for legitimate Youth Ministry research purposes) and Nathan lent me a DVD or 16 on the way back to church. Plus we got the teaching planned, some pastoral care sorted out, and started on next terms socials. I reckon I should have more meetings like that. Productive and tasty.

So I'm looking at this weekend and a lot of my friends are going away. Jo, Ryan and Mil are all up in Byron. Along with David, Gemma, Keith and Stella. Martin is spending the weekend at The Great Escape. Mum and Dad have gone to Vanuatu. Howie and Jenny are off to Uluru on Sunday. Helen and Jon are off to Rockhampton. And well, I'm left here in Sydney with no plans except a few Church services.

Actually that's not true. I'm hanging out with a Gowie or two tomorrow night, and some Swans on Monday. But there will be a lot of time alone. I might edit some Tabitha. And I'll have lots of time to write my sermon. Hooray! Sermon writing! A wonderful substitute for friends. That's what I always say.

I made some Gangsta rap for youth group last week. I made it with Nathan the SIM. The rules were to make a song containing the words "Ernie" and "Methuselah". So this is what Nathan and I made.

Have a listen.

I made Kindergarten kid cry today. I was doing the Easter assembly talk today at the local primary school and part of my talk was to do lame magic tricks. Like I said I was going to make a blind person see, then I told a kid to close their eyes and open them when I clicked my fingers. Thus making a blind person see. They didn't think it was a very good trick.

For my finale I was going to bring a dead chicken back to life. I had a Woolworths chicken, cold, dead and in a plastic bag. I tried telling it to come to life and that didn't work. I tried dancing around it and that didn't work. It was when I started trying to give it mouth to mouth resuscitation that the kid started to cry. Poor thing.

Needless to say, the chicken is still dead.

I watched Blood Diamond and The Departed today. One at the movies, one on DVD. Leo was good in both of them. I reckon his character in Blood Diamond was probably the most interesting character I've seen him do. I really enjoyed him. The film was good, good action, and a conscience.

The Departed was excellent. I can see why it got Mr Oscar. So much good story and good acting and good characters and smartness. Good stuff I reckon.

I do like my days off.

I did Earth Hour on Saturday with Ryan. It was pretty fun. But the only lights we saw go out were the Harbour Bridge, but still that was exciting to see that disappear. The city was kinda cool without so many lights on, but it didn't fulfil my apocalyptic dreams.

We met Mum, Dad and Hannah on the bridge too, which was also fun. Hannah was happy to see us so it made me feel like a good brother.

This is a good series of teasers. It's for Bee Movie. The movie doesn't look very good, maybe because Jerry Seinfield has an annoying voice. But the teasers are good. They're treating teasers like a production in them selves. It's good. Have a watch.

In other news, there's a new Tabitha up.

Here she is:

After our new traditional monthly Thai lunch in Narremburn Dad and I went for a drive through the new Lane Cove Tunnel. That was fun. I like new bits of road especially tunnels, but most of all bridges. I hope they open a new bridge soon. But the tunnel was good. And I can't think of a better person to drive through a brand new tunnel with than my Dad.

I started blogging the other night about how I said "Good Bye" to my boss Steve. He left on Sunday after 4 years of leading our church. It was an odd feeling saying "Good bye". I'm not quite sure how you say it to someone who has been so significant in your life, to someone who was always your boss and sometimes your friend. I couldn't think of anything to say so I just said "Thank you for your leadership" and it just felt lame. We shook hands. That felt lame too. He said "I'm sure the new guy will be good. Your job will be safe. Actually, it won't, but I doubt he'll want to get rid of you." That was funny.

Anyway, it was just kinda surreal. On Monday I listened to the service from the day before. It was about 30 minutes of people standing up and talking about what Steve meant to them. That was nice. He was well loved.

On Sunday night he didn't come to the last service, though everyone thought he would. So they showed a Powerpoint of memories of him and his family, and people could stand up and share what Steve meant to them. But not many people did. I think maybe because it felt a bit like a funeral rather than a farewell.

Now the office without Steve is rather quiet. It's a little strange. It's not like he was around a lot when I was, but now, it just seems to have lost a bit of buzz. Like everyone was holding their breath till Steve left. On Sunday we exhaled, and now we're waiting to breath in again. How very strange.

Steve was a good pastor. He liked to make sure we were doing alright. I hope he and his family are doing alright now too. Holidaying I think. That'd be tops fun. I hope they like it.

I hope the new guy builds us a new building with television production facilities. I think it's a reasonable hope.

"Hi I'm Tom French and welcome to Church News..."

"Hicks appeared in court wearing an olive green outfit, and thongs on his feet. The judge warned his defence counsel that in future he should not appear in prison-type clothes, in order to make sure that his presumption of innocence was maintained." - SMH

One thinks that perhaps 5 years of being held without trial in an illegal offshore prison by a foreign government after being arrested in a different foreign country and being tried at a late night pretend trial would do more to destroy the "presumption of innocence" but that might just be me.

I hung my washing out on Saturday, just as the heat started turning into moisture. Now it's been raining on and off ever since then. There has been plenty of non-rain for my clothes to dry, but every so often the rain comes down just enough to make sure they don't. It's like a practical joke, but I'm not laughing. I think I felt my towel this morning on the line (because I have no dry towels now) and said something about a child of unwed parents. And that's not laughing.

We borrowed David and Sam's Wii for the visit of my Little Brother tonight. It's a bit of a novelty. The tennis is the most fun. The violent game Farcry (which I called "Farci" because I can't read) is annoying.

I like the sound of the tennis when you hit the ball. It's very satisfying.

I just went up to vote but alas I was denied my democratic right and responsibility! My enrollment forms hadn't been processed yet! So I had disappeared out of my old electorate but hadn't arrived in my new one yet. I'm in an electoral void! I'm floating in no-mans land with no MP to represent me.

When I talked to the woman she said "Oh it looks like you're not on the roll. So you don't have to vote." She said it like it was a good think. "But I want to vote!" I wanted to shout. But I just said "Ok". She did inform me that I'd be fine for the federal election. That makes me fell happy because that's the one I care a lot more about. I'd be devastated if I didn't get to vote then. At least then there's a choice that seems worth making.

I had a dream last night about a documentary about a gay soldier in 1986 who died of a drug overdose. Because he didn't want his family to know he was gay he got his friends to put his body down a hole in children's play ground. It was a hole that children were meant to play in. Like a big, deep concrete hole. The dream was set in the States so I guess it's plausible. They do things like that over there.

It was only after the body started to smell and the police discovered it did his story come to light and reach the attention of the nation. It was his story that kick started the global gay movement.

Once the documentary had finished I realised that I had just had a brilliant dream. And I really should make that documentary. So I woke myself up and wrote it down on the pad next to my bed. I thought I could probably make it with Matt for Tropfest.

I was dreaming in that bit too. I have no pad beside my bed. And lucky too or I'd be writing down ideas like that all the time. Although, it has potential to be one whacked out mockumentary. Could be funny. I'll keep in in mind.

I have noting much planned tomorrow. Woohoo!

The people that host ChristianSpeakers.com.au had a crash a few days ago. They lost lots of information. The site was down for 3 days and now that it's back most of the data for the past few months is gone. As opposed to the 11 or so people that were on the database before, there are now only 5. Though the support thing says they're restoring old back ups, I'm not sure how old they're talking about. I'm not sure if mine has been restored or now. If they did, it's pretty darn old.

It's a bit sad. I don't want to have to re-get everyone to sign up. But we may just have to do that. Oh well. I'll see what comes. Maybe it'll give the site new energy or something.

The smell of hospitals in winter
And the feeling that it's all a lot of oysters, but no pearls
All at once you look across a crowded room
To see the way that light attaches to a girl - Counting Crows

In me tradition. Here's another hot photo of me. This is from Saturday night at the Establishment. You can see why they let me in.



Thanks to Louise for sending me the photo.

Dinner with the Celebrity (who, as I mentioned in the comments below I am declining to name, not out of some sort of reverse psychology name dropping thing, but for professional reasons) was pretty good. I was late. Google Directions gave me bad directions. I almost ignored them thinking I know better, but I thought Google might be more fun. Sadly, Google, for perhaps the first and only time in the history of cyberspace, was wrong.

Anyway, all the people who could have been annoyed with my lateness were gracious. The house of the Celeb was big. Big gates, big garden, big foyer, big tables, big everything really. We got given a little tour which was impressive and I think I only saw about 15% of the house. We got to see the private chapel. That was pretty cool. It reminded me of all the houses in England I saw with private chapels.

Our host was quite friendly if not a little intimidating. They were in the habit of asking tough questions and then waiting for your answer, and you know there is clearly a right and wrong. I was the first person (of the six of us who were visiting) to get tough questioned. It was a little scary, but I'd decided before coming not to worry about right answers but honest answers. Happily the honest one and the right one were the same thing, so that was a little relieving.

Dinner was served to us by the "maid" who appeared out of the kitchen with dinner and desert. She wasn't dressed like a made though. More like a normal person. We had tea and coffee in the lounge where we could ask questions. I asked one which I once been advised not to ask but it felt right and I felt brave. So I did and I got a good answer, no worries!

It was a good night I think. I enjoyed the chance to meet a person behind a reputation. The person is always more interesting than the caricature.

I really have not much to say in this post. But I felt with the last few posts, that I needed to stick in a post with this title.

I'm having dinner with a major Christian celebrity tonight. Woo. I have to dress up, I've been told. Pants, shirt, tie, and a jacket if it's cold. They didn't say anything about footwear so I'm wearing thongs. Or Ugg boots. Or stilettos. Yeah.

Yesterday was scripture at the high school again. I always in enjoy it. Though it's always hard. I never really feel like I'm good at the whole small groups thing, but sometimes you get good conversations. Most of the time the students don't seem to care about Christianity at all. Which I can understand. You're at school, you're put in a class room with 4 people you don't really know, and you're asked to think about the big questions of the world. I'm not sure I'd be all that enthusiastic to participate either.

But sometimes we hit gold and we get people who are interested and responsive. It definitely is for the ones and twos. But I hope they remember us in years to come and they think "The Christians weren't that bad."

I watched BoyTown last night with Ryan and Mil. It was a lot less good than I thought it would be. I laughed a bit. But mostly it was bad. I can't imagine owning the soundtrack. I think I'd want to kill myself if I had to listen to that anymore. Though I realise that was the point.

Sunday was like many Sundays except I spent most of the day having conversations about my haircut and people kept calling me "Kevin".

We said "Good-Bye" to Rector Steve. It didn't really feel like a "Good Bye" more like a birthday for him. But it was funny. And a bit sad. And a little bit racist. I haven't really got my head around him going. I'm sure I'll figure it out when he's gone. Then I'll probably notice it.

I went out farewelling on Saturday. I met Kemp in the city first for a food consumption and conversation. We ate as City Extra and I was reminded why City Extra is better to eat at at 3am when nothing else but Kebab places are open. But it was fun anyway.

Then it was off to Minus 5 to meet with a bunch of the Churchies to say good bye to Ben and Liz. Minus 5 is a bar at Circular Quay that is completely made out of ice. Actually that's not quite true, but the walls, furniture, sculptures, bar, and glasses are made out of ice. And the whole room is about -12 degrees. You get given a coat and gloves to keep you warm and you're only allowed in for 30 minutes. You get one cocktail.

Anyway that was pretty fun. Once you spent time establishing that "Yes, everything is ice" then you stand around for the 25 minutes making ice jokes with people. Poor old bar staff that must have heard them all before. I'm glad we were only in there for 30 minutes because we even started recycling jokes. But I'm happy I went. I felt a little like Edmund in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in the Palace of the White Witch, except there was no Witch and I got to take all my friends. Oh and the palace was a bar about the size of my living room. But pretty much Edmund.

We trotted off to The Establishment after we were ejected from ice land. I've always looked at The Establishment and thought it looked pretty swanky. I never thought I'd be cool enough to get in. But they let me in no hassles, so it immediately went down in my estimation. Any place that lets me in mustn't be as exclusive or special as I it could be.

But it was an alright place. I liked the look of it. The back "courtyard" reminded me of the bars in Hungary except without as much soul. We stood around and talked about MySpace. You can tell we're interesting people.

I left at around midnight with Sal. Seeing as we're almost neighbours we caught the bus to Central together. I don't actually think it was all that convenient for her, but it made my trip home more fun.

Sometimes I think to myself "You have the ugliest damn blog in the world." But that's about as far as it gets because I'm too lazy to change it.

I figure with a title like that my seedy men hits should go right up!

I just read this article in SMH about how liberal parents are letting their teenage kids have sex only if they also get into a pseudo-marriage/de-facto relationship as well. So they can sleep together only if they come to family functions, are really committed to each other, and think they're going to spend the rest of their lives together. But the author says, this is robbing teenagers of their independence. Instead they should indulge in well planned hook-ups.

"Domesticity is all well and good, but save it for the right person. Don't confuse domesticity with morality. Hook-ups and sexual friendships can be dignified and ethical when indulged in sparingly, with mutual respect, with protection and not for the sake of being cool or keeping up. If you are young, guard your independence at least as much as you guard your virginity."

It's like the author thought, "Oh we have a problem with people getting too committed too soon." (Which I agree with.) So they decided the best solution is to just tell the teenagers to have sex without the commitment. God forbid that not having sex could be a solution. I'm plenty independent and I'm plenty fine without having sex. And I'm pretty sure I'm placing a much higher value on sex by waiting till marriage than anyone who advocates that hook-ups are a good alternative to over-committed sex. If sex is so important that it needs to be protected from liberal parents, family diners and messy break-ups, maybe it should also be so important that it needs to be protected from giving it out to anyone who's happy to sleep with you as long as they don't have to love you too.

I just got a hair cut. It's been 8 months or so since the last hair cut because I hate haircuts. Every time I get one I think I complain about having to do it, and blog my fear. Anyway I haven't gotten any on this side of the Harbour Bridge since I've moved over here. The Inner West may try and make my hair alternative-trendy or bogan-attacked by a lawnmower. It's the difference between Newtown and Marrickville. It's the difference a suburb line makes.

Anyway, I plucked up my courage and went to Just Cuts at Marrickville Metro. When they ask me what I want I can never tell them because I'm hair style inarticulate. That's because I don't really know. You can't really say "Something that doesn't make me look like a doik. But not something too trendy either." So I mumbled something about having less hair. And I think that was it.

So Mr Haircutter did his job and now I look like Kevin Rudd. I thought as I left the hair dresser "It's probably not that bad you always think it's bad when you first get it done." But when I saw Ryan about a minute later he just burst out laughing.

Oh well. I guess this is why I get scared of hair cuts. But at least I know I won't look trendy.

However chances are my youth ministry is going go down the toilet. How am I ever going to be culturally relevant when I look like a politician?

I have just spent the last two hours writing exegetical notes on Jesus' clearing the temple in John 2:12-22. It's for college. It's a non-assessable class presentation so I rather enjoyed myself. I realised I could just write what I wanted to write not what would get me marks. I have decided though that I don't think I'll ever be one of those people who write academic books. Unless I can write one with lots of stupid examples and bad referencing, I wouldn't have drive to be scholarly.

The cold that's been doing the rounds at church has arrived with me today. Grr. I think I'll blame the Wrights. Though I was thinking, I'm pretty happy I'm not an Aborigine when Phillip and his snotty convicts arrived or I could be dead soon.

I went to see The Illusionist today. It was ok. Not nearly as good as The Prestige. Edward Norton was good as usual. But I think the film took itself too seriously. I'm not sure why people like Jessica Biel so much.

I also had a beer with Helen which was worthwhile. While we see each other quite often, it's rare we do something which is purely social. So that was good.

I ate some pasta with Ryan and Brett.

Oh and I stuck Sunday's sermon up here and there's a new Tabitha up too.

So the question of the evening is:

"Could Jesus still be the perfect sacrifice for sin if he didn't have a virgin birth?"

It was quite a day today. Probably not huge, but coming off the back of a big week, and a preaching weekend, it was a big day.

I preached last night which went well. Matt did a new song that I requested because it fitted in with my sermon. It was a funny feeling singing a song that I picked. It's like I have 5 people playing the song and 80 people singing a song, just because I thought it was a good idea. It gave me an odd sense of power. I guess worship leaders feel it all the time. But being a mere preacher it's rare for people to join you singing.

After church I worked till almost midnight on today's scripture seminars. It was the first chance I really got all week. And after much kerfuffle trying field a team of scripture teachers I managed in the end.

Scripture was good again. I'm glad I didn't stuff up too bad. I like going into the High School. It's tough but I like the people there so it's fun.

Tonight we had community dinner. I was feeling pretty stuffed. But I tried to stay with it. Tomorrow is off. Probably off to the movies. Yay.

I think I might have left my iPod in the car.

Jessica Simpson's Dad said about her: "Jessica never tries to be sexy. She just is sexy. If you put her in a T-shirt or you put her in a bustier, she's sexy in both. She's got double D's! You can't cover those suckers up!"

I wish I had a Dad as supportive as that.

“The president of the United States has claimed, on more than one occasion, to be in dialogue with God. If he said that he was talking to God through his hairdryer, this would precipitate a national emergency. I fail to see how the addition of a hairdryer makes the claim more ridiculous or offensive.” - Sam Harris

I thought that was good. It made me chuckle.

I've been reading a bit of anti-Christian stuff lately*. It's interesting. Not convincing yet, but I enjoy the stimulation. Plus some of the people writing are very smart and it's good seeing smart people do stuff smartly.

Sometimes I wonder what life would be like if I didn't believe in Jesus. It's a rather depressing thought. Hopeless would be the feeling that comes to mind when I consider it. Plus I'd be out of a job and I don't think I have many other skills outside Christian Ministry. I could dig holes I guess.

Perhaps I should get a qualification outside ministry. That way you could be sure that if I'm working in ministry I haven't lost my faith. Otherwise, if I ever lose my faith, I might just have to keep pretending so I don't end up homeless or something.

There would be some advantages to not being a Christian though. Such as sleeping in on Sundays. Getting drunk on Saturdays. Speeding. Gossip. Bitching. And being able to intentionally look at topless people at the beach.

Still the lure of Jesus is better than the lure of a more entertaining beach going experience. He has more long term benefits.


*Just for the worried ones, I've been reading a lot of pro-Christian stuff at the moment too, like my Bible, everyday. And that's much more inspiring and special. So don't start praying for my soul just yet.

Oh and I don't endorse excessive drinking, speeding, gossiping, bitching, perving on topless people, drugs, Nazis, illegal movie pirating or other dodgy stuff. I whole heartedly endorse sleeping in, especially on Sundays. Go to evening church.

Because I've been telling everyone, I thought I should blog it.

I heard this in the news on Nova the other day:

"People who take vitamin A are 16% more likely to die"

Fascinating. Seeing as I don't take Vitamin A I figured out that means I'm 84% more likely to live forever. That's pretty good.

So I got a MySpace for Donny. We all know I dislike MySpace (Ugly, ugly, ugly) but I figured, it'd be fun.

So if you wanna make Donny Jaffa your MySpace friend go to: www.myspace.com/donnyjaffa

I started adding friends to the MySpace thing, but it got too tedious, so I gave up.

You may have noticed there has been a lot of Donny Jaffa and Tabitha stuff lately. Jem going to Mexico has meant that I've started thinking about things a lot earlier than usual. I edited one of the new Tabithas last night (with help from my swanky new 500GB portable hard-drive, thanks David).

Though this could all be procrastination from the things I really should be doing. Perhaps I should go do that now. But I do love procrastination!

It's time to continue to make Jem an internet star. The next Wisdom with Tabitha video is up, so it's time to keep making Jem famous! Watch it, comment on it, rate it, stick it on your blog!



Hooray for internet fame!

I watched Man of the Year tonight with Ryan. The film was ok. It had some of the worst writing I've seen in a while. It took about 30 minutes for Robin Williams to make me laugh, which is pretty bad for a film about a comedian, but the film got better in the second half.

Anyway I did notice in the credits there was a guy named Ernest Dyck. I thought that was pretty funny. Wouldn't want to have a name like that I reckon.

People are questioning whether the destruction of the Death Star was an inside job.

I'm getting a little worried I've been fooled by the powers that be all these years.

Check it out.

I'm off to Church camp today.

One day I look forward to the time when I will have weekends. Two days off in a row at the same time as everyone else. Though being on camp should have its joys.

Next week is looking rather large. The beginning of the year is always larger than the other parts in my experience. This is always because I haven't got my act together.

Two nights ago I had a dream where I was getting attacked by a big, yellow, hairy spider. I didn't like it much. It's haunted me since.

When I was sitting in class yesterday one of the girls sat down near me and said "You look tired and miserable". It took me by surprise because I would never tell someone I didn't know they looked miserable in case they actually thought I was asking why they were miserable. And I wouldn't want to ask a stranger that, it would seem impolite.

I was in fact feeling tired and miserable. But I think I replied with "Yep. I'm pretty tired." I decided to ignore the bit about my feelings.

After college I got a $179 parking fine, which in my unhappy state actually cheered me up a little. I think it was the novelty factor. You don't get booked every day.

I came home and fell asleep and woke up feeling much happier.

When autumn comes
It doesn't ask
It just walks in where it left you last
You never know when it starts
Until there's fog inside the glass around your summer heart - John Mayer

I'm back on Blogfeed! Woo!

To celebrate I'm giving everyone free access to my blog! Even to my archives! It's a big day here at runnoft.blogspot.com.

I went to see Smokin' Aces today with David. It wasn't nearly as violent as I thought it'd be. With an R rating for violence I was expecting something that'd be difficult to watch. But it wasn't too bad at all. There was lots of shooting and stuff, but it wasn't all that gory.

As a film it was pretty good. Nothing earth shattering or anything, but it passed the time well and the last scene made me want to be a film maker. I love it when films make me want to make films. It's this bug that gets inside you and you have scenes shooting through your head and everywhere you look you see a good shot, and you want to be able just sit down at a computer and type and magic will come out. Sadly, it can't, but one day I'm going to get that a bug and there'll be a film at the end of it. That'll be fun.

For Lent I've been vaguely convinced by Gemma's suggestion to not buy anything new. But I was at Westfield today and I remembered I really wanted to get The "Born to Run" 30th Anniversary Special Edition Box Set. It's got a Concert DVD, a Making Of DVD and a remastered version of the album. So nice. Unfortunately being on de-consumerised Lent, I couldn't buy it. Plus I'm broke.

But David's back, and David hadn't bought me a Birthday present, so without prompting, David bought me a birthday present. Now I have a sexy box set, and I haven't bought anything new. Yeah. Thanks 'Vid.

I love The Boss.

Baby this town rips the bones from your back
It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we're young
`Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run - Bruce Springsteen

Welcome home David and Ryan. It's good to have yous home.

We got David from the Airport last night and promptly stuffed him full of Thai. Ryan woke me this morning by shouting at me as I slept. He's back to his old tricks.

And I just got to speak to Jem on MSN which was good fun too!

Now I'm off to hang out with some of the lads and lasses in Hornsby land.

We went back to Beacon Hill tonight to do the last of principle production for the film. I got there a bit late because I was packing up at church. When I arrived they were just working on the jib.

When the jib was half done someone looked across the vast view of the Northern Beaches and beyond and said "I think that's rain coming". And sure enough it was. We spent the next half hour or so holding umbrellas over all the equipment till we packed up and went home. It wasn't really the planned outcome. Maybe we'll get it shot next time.

It was filming again today. It started at about 5:30am as I wandered hundreds of metres down my street to find my car buried in the rabbit warren of streets. This is the issue of getting home too late ore too early to get a park if there is a show on at the Enmore.

Anyway, we (Helen, Jon and I) made it to church late to meet the others. We got on the road and after a few shenanigans and stops to buy tape and breakfast we all made it all to Budgiwoi Beach, location one for the day.

We spent the day filming at the beach with a 3 metre high structure stuck in the sand and and a dingy on the beach. People kept looking at us as if we were a little strange. One kind surfer warned us that it'd be stupid to launch the dingy in the surf. Which is true. Had we tried to launch the boat we probably would caused someone or something a large amount of damage. It wasn't a particularly friendly see today.

It was slow work today for some reason. We did two shots in the water with a water proof camera case. They were pretty fun. It's hard work trying keep steady while the wave pound you and the the ocean is trying to suck you out to sea. Matt stood with me and kept me steady so I didn't drown. I did managed to get dumped in the shallows with the camera, it was extreme! And I was recording it all too! I'm sure it all looks fab!

In the middle of the day we got a large break while the special effects crew worked some magic. I slept in the beach tent. Brilliant!

When it was time to shoot again angry clouds were threatening and the whole thing had gone overcast. We moved fast and tried to make everything look the same. It was hard. Sea spray was covering everything and the lenses were misting up. But we got it all done.

Then, only 3 and a half hours behind schedule, we headed back to Sydney. We were planning on shooting again tonight, but alas the storm set in and we couldn't do it. I figured this was probably a good idea because we would have been filming on the top of a look out with a big, metal jib. I doubt the lighting rod thing, while looking cool, would have done much to advance the overall benefits of the production.

So we headed home. I came home to find the street full again and absolutly no where to park, so I took refuge at Jon and Helen's till it was safe to come home again. That was fun. Though I think we were all rather stuffed and sun burnt. They were kind to take me in in my hour of need.

I look forward to my rest tonight.

Today my job meant that I had to spend two hours playing laser tag and two hours eating Thai food and ice cream. I couldn't say this work doesn't have its perks.

People fight in the street here a lot more than they did in Hornsby. Must be the pollution.

Went to see Damien Rice tonight. Man, he was good. And Lisa (who I thought was called Sarah) she's fantastic. I'm finding it hard to find words to describe it, it's music the makes you want to melt. As long as melting is a good thing.

I love concerts.

And it was good fun to go with Luke, Ashleigh and Pip. They were good concert going companions.

I've still got me to be your open door,
I've still got me to be your sandy shore
I've still got me to cross your bridge in this storm
And I've still got me to keep you warm - Damien Rice

Ok loyal readers, here is your chance to make Jem an internet celebrity!

Now that Tabitha is working on YouTube, watch the video, rate the video, and link to it on your blog, tell your friends, stick it on bulletin boards, do all the rest. Of course this is a shameless push to get Tabitha seen but it'd be way cool if she got famous I reckon!

If you do this I will love you forever. At least, I'll love you till I make a lot of money and then I'll forget you, because I plan on forgetting the little guys.

I can hear the Queens honking their horns.

I went and saw the Queen Mary 2 today. It is rather large. Very cool boat I thought.

I did just learn that vacuuming your monitor is a quick way to dust it. It's also a quick way to scratch it. So don't bother.

I have a room that is almost clean. It's very odd.

"To be near Jesus is dangerous. It offers no prospect of earthly happiness, but involves the fire of tribulation and the test of suffering...only through fire may the kingdom be attained." - Joachim Jeremias "The Parables of Jesus"

I do sometimes wonder when I see quotes like that if perhaps I'm having too much of a good time here on earth. I really do genuinely enjoy my life. And it's not just an enjoyment of the goodness of God. (Although I do enjoy that.) I enjoy other things a lot. I enjoy Pataks Butter Chicken frozen meals, I enjoy my iPod, I enjoy cds, I enjoy Coke, I enjoy friends, I enjoy games, and I enjoy jokes. I do love to sleep, and sleep in.

Of course there are things that are hard, frustrating, sad, annoying, and distressing. But on the whole I'm having a good time.

So maybe I'm not near enough to Jesus. Maybe I'm not taking up my cross enough. Maybe I'm not giving up myself enough. Maybe if I was a good disciple of Jesus people would like me less and life would be less fun.

I figure I'll do my best to aim to be a good disciple of Jesus, and if life gets harder, so be it. I'd rather follow Jesus. But while my limited success at discipleship still allows me to eat Pataks Butter Chicken and listen to my iPod, I will. Hopefully even if I get slowly martyred for my faith, Jesus will still let me have frozen meals.

I was sitting in Staff Meeting today and we were getting told by one of the Wardens about the process for appointing a new minister. Basically what happens is the 5 nominators who were elected by the church, go and meet with 5 nominators from the diocese. The people from our church are meeting with the Parish Council in a few weeks, and I think they're working closely with the Wardens.

Anyway, the Warden told us, that the nominators would probably want to talk to us staff members too. At least talk to the Assistant Minister.

It was around then that I started wondering "How important are we in this process?" Basically, the Anglican system is set up so the the Senior Minister has almost all the power. He can delegate that power if he wants, and he does, to the Wardens, to the Parish Council, to the Staff, but in the end the buck stops with him.

When a Senior Minister leaves all the power reverts back to the Wardens. At least responsibility goes to them and the people in town (Bishops and stuff). In Anglican law, as far as I can tell (though I haven't done much research) the Staff aren't really factored in at all.

So I'm sitting there in Staff meeting wondering how important I am and it occurs to me that actually I'm not. All this power going to the people of the church, not the employees of the church, puts us in our place. We're not really the ones running the show. Maybe in the day to day, we run things, but in the end I am just a servant of the people. I'm employed by the people, I'm payed by the people, I work for the people.

At first, when I realised this I was a little bit miffed. In the old days it probably wouldn't have bothered me at all. But the past few months I've been groomed as "Senior Staff"*. I've been told I'm a leader in the Church. The Senior Minister, the Assistant Minister and I, we were the Big Three.

But now the Big One is going and I'm not so big anymore.

I thought some more though, and this is the appropriate arrangement. I am just a servant of the Church, and of this Church in particular. I maybe a leader, but only with the authority given to me by the people who are not employed by the church. The youth ministry, it's not my ministry, it's the church's. The new minster, he may be my boss, but he's much more the Church's minster. If I'm consulted, that's nice. But it's not my right, and it's not a requirement.

I guess this just means that I should be thankful for the input I get and the rest of the time I can get on with serving the church.

*Let me just say I'm not sure why anyone would ever consider me mature or important enough to be called "Senior" but hey, you take the title you're given.

I went out with the Little today. We went to an internet cafe and played Need for Speed against each other. That was heaps of fun. But he's a better keyboard driver than me. He won most games. Although I'm a better drag racer. I know how to change gears using "shift". It made me want to go drive fast cars fast for real. I think I'd be better at that. Although if I drove into a lamp post it wouldn't just bounce out of the way like in the game, it'd probably kill me.

I came home and bummed around a little. I uploaded a Tabitha video to YouTube, which doesn't seem to be working yet. And then decided it might be time to head off to Matt and Beck's Engagement party.

I realised that getting to Clareville Beach from Enmore, is like getting to Newcastle from Sydney, but less pleasant. Especially when you're stupid enough to take the Spit Bridge. I arrived fashionably 2 hours late. I was the most fashionable person there I reckon. Except perhaps for the hair cut.

But the party was fun. I managed to avoid talking to most people. I don't think I was in party mode today. I did enjoy myself, I probably wasn't the best contributor to the socialisation of the party. I had fun play fighting with some little cousins I found. It made me look good with kids, and I didn't have to talk to adults! Yip! Everyone wins. Actually, I win twice, which is even better! Plus I like kids.

Tonight I hung out and at Thai with Jon and Helen. I know why I'm friends with them, 'cause I like them.

Update: Tabitha is working now. You can watch her here.

So I went to the Dentist again. He wanted to put a cap on some other tooth I have. He said it looked funny. I said "No". He wanted to make one of my other teeth whiter. I said "No". I'm standing up to my Dentist. None of this cosmetic dental stuff. God made me with one tooth missing. And he made me miss one tooth and kill another. As long as my mouth is functioning I'm still happy.

I went to work, and worked fast, and hard, and ran two small groups. Which were both good. Differently good. One snappy and quite contained. The other intense and all over the shop. But both good.

Had Anmol's party. Happy Birthday Anmol. Lots of food. Nice people. His parents are champs! Lots of food.

Last night I spent all night dreaming about driving a Bugatti Veyron. Shame the clip got taken off by the BBC. Chill out I reckon folks. "But who am I to ask you lick my sores?", who said that?

Good night.

This video made me squeal with delight! Bugatti Veyron going at 407 km/h. Yeah baby!

I'm not a real big fan of Valentine's Day (apart from this day when I must have been in a good mood). This may be because I'm bitter. I've never gotten anything for Valentine's Day, except for one flower in year 11, which was given by Kaia and Jemma and they gave one to everyone in our group, so it wasn't like they were being romantic*.

Then again, I've never given anything. Except for once I gave with some friends to the girl in our class we thought would like Valentine's Day the least. We got someone to sing "In the Ning Nang Nong" to her. We thought it was pretty funny. I'm not sure now if it was mean or not. We weren't trying to be mean.

So really I haven't really gotten into the day much at all. It was always filled with hope at school, only to be dashed when my crush didn't send me a flower. These days I don't really wonder if anyone is going to send me anything because that's my job to send stuff. I've learnt that now. If you've got a crush on someone you send them something, they don't instinctively know just to do something. But I wouldn't do anything these days, because I'd be so embarrassed to declare my love for someone on Valentine's Day. It'd doom your whole relationship to a future of pink cards and taking Richard Mercer seriously. It'd make me want to vomit. Even more than normal.

So let me just say to all you potential girlfriends, wives and pash pals out there: You will never get anything from me on Valentine's Day. I'll give you something the day before, and the day after. But Valentine's Day is a romance free zone! Cause you can't break tradition can you?

*They were being friendly and it was fun to get.

I have new computer at work. Woo! It has a 19" wide screen LCD monitor, 512MB ram, Duo Core Processor of some unknown speed, a removable USB hard drive (though I think that might be just on loan while I get my old stuff off it 'cause it seems to have most of my old computer on there, and it's only pretending to be 8GB large) and other bells and whistles. It's pretty fun having a new computer. I've spend a bit of time making it how I like it. No more silly XP blue and green for me!

Now I don't have to steal Nathan's computer to check my emails.

Tomorrow is Day One of the a new year with a new Year 6 Scripture class. Hopefully it'll go better than the last three years. Please God.

I did a photo shoot today for BBBS. Me and my Little, and another female Big and Little went out with a photographer into the depths of the City to look good and put our images to good use.

First it was the girls' turn for a cheesy milkshake shot. I got to hold the reflector thing.

Then we got our turn to stand on a crowded street and laugh and point at things with a small depth of field. I looked like a doofus. I think I need less hair on my head.

We got bought a burger and drink each as props and rewards. That was good. I like to eat. But the eating and drinking were only a quick distraction, because it was back to being photographed reading the paper together (I think it was JB Hi-Fi ad) and running around in the park. Then we got to go home.

It was pretty fun. I would like to be a model. I'm going to get some cosmetic surgery and make it my profession. It was a good way to spend an afternoon with my little brother. We're both pretty good looking.

Weeping may remain for a night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning.

Psalm 30:5

The camp was good fun. Nothing exceptional really. A camp like many camps. Except it wasn't Christian so there were no Bible talks, no one said (or sung) grace, and there was no worship anywhere to be heard (or seen, or practiced). Strange, it was like "We're on camp, but if there's no Jesus, what are we doing here?" I guess I feel like Jesus and the pursuit of the kingdom are a better reason for a camp than team building activities. But I did enjoy myself, and I did enjoy the team building activities. Hooray for High Ropes! It was good to spend a weekend with the "little" as they're called.

I made it to church tonight too. Youth group was fun. We had a record number of people turn out of the retirement village today. We usually get about 10, today we got 28. That was cool! Unfortunately the residents didn't know we were coming and there were only 6 of them. The exact opposite problem of last time. But still a good problem to have.

Youth stuff is going off at the moment. It's great. God is doing stuff.

I'm off to BBBS camp. I'm sure that'll wake me up!

This Blog is cool. Most blogs are interesting because you know the person it's about. This one is just interesting. I'm hooked.

My iPod arrived. At least, he arrived with the TNT man, then left with the TNT man, cause no one was home. So I had to go to Mascot to the big TNT depot (which was cool) and get him.

I've named it "Poopy the Pod", so it must be male, because you can't call a girl "Poopy".

It should be fun. Hooray for Birthdays!

I went out on the town with Mil and Gemma today. We went to see Stranger than Fiction which was pretty good I reckon. It made me laugh, Will Farrel did a better job at toning himself down than I've ever seen from him. And it had good things to think about, like death, and sacrifice, and literature, and art, and probably other stuff. I did enjoy.

We also ventured to sushi train and a dancing machine. The girls did alright at the dancing, I on the other hand am not what one would call skilled. Maybe unco would be the word.

We parted company around then, I ventured off into the wilds of the Botanic Garden to plant myself among the pashing couples on the grass and read, pray and sleep. Then I came home and watched the special features on Superman Returns and ate Pad Thai.

We watched Ten Canoes tonight. It was good and funny. I didn't expect it to be funny but it was. I guess there was humour in Australia 30,000 years ago too.

Top marks. See it.

For my birthday my lovely relatives (Mum, Dad, Jo, Grandpa and maybe Hannah) banded together to give me lots of money to buy a swanky iPod. So I did. I bought an 8GB iPod Nano, with a Nike+ Sports kit and an arm band.

The idea is to use the gadget to encourage myself to get fit. I'm really excited about it, cause Nike+ gives you graphs, and stats and everything. I love statistics! So I reckon I might start running again. Maybe I should make a deal to pay $5 to my blog readers every time I fail to run three times a week or something. That'd motivate me. Though probably not a very good idea.

Happily though, if I don't ever get fit, I will listen to lots of music. Yeehaa!

I got my iPod engraved too. That was fun. It says "I'm a Happy Consumer. This is my iPod"

The Sopranos is awesome. Bacardi Breezers, on the other hand, are not. Ajak and Atem brought some orange ones over two weeks ago, and I've been the only person in the house willing to drink them. So I've been slowly working my way through them. They're horrid, disgustingly sweet. I don't know what teenage girls see in them. Drink Fanta.

As you all know I've been single for a while. Finally someone has done something about it, and as a very special birthday present, Howie has created a website just for me! Maybe now my dream girl will come along.

If you wanna check me out (and perhaps fall in love), go here: singlespeakers.com.au

Update:Oh look. Just there below, Howie has already posted this for me. Thanks Howie, always looking out for me.

Finally a place where peoplc can really get to know me for who I am.

Officeworks don't make very good Post-it notes.

I've been having a few meetings lately. They've been leader get togethers for various ministries. And I've had a really good time. I think a month of not doing ministry and just talking to people about doing it has tired me out. Now we're back. Youth Group starts tomorrow and I'm excited. It's good to be doing what I enjoy most.

Just found this. Figured I might give it a shot. Why bother with all the stuff in between eh?

I just signed up for Second Life as a man named Otto Bumstead. I have no idea what it is but SMH keep doing silly reports about it, so I thought I'd go become a virtual person. Hooray!