Mmm, comfy shoes.

So yesterday I had my first proper shift at work. I was ushering for the Premier's Seniors Concert. We had been told at training to turn up early to check out the sections we were in, and to bring black leather shoes to wear. I have black leather shoes, but they're a bit too shmick for work. They're wedding shoes not not work shoes. So I decided to invest in a sensible pair of leather shoes.

I went to Forbes Footwear on Saturday to relive childhood sensible black shoe memories, feeling good that I was so prepared that I'm not buying shoes at the last minute. I'm a master at forward thinking. The man showed me a pair with cooshy soles, "especially good if you spend a lot of time standing up." I was convinced so I paid a more than a week's rent and bought them.

Yesterday morning I got up at the crack of dawn, got ready, shaved and I put the shoes in a bag with my other bag, ready to take with me. And then I left to go catch the train. I slept on the train most of the way to Central but I woke up at Town Hall, looked down at my bag and noticed I only had one. I'd left my bag of shoes at home. All I had on were my holey DCs and I wasn't going be allowed to work in them.

There was nothing for it but to buy a new pair of shoes. I hung around Central till a shoe shop opened, walked in and bought the first, cheap, uncomfortable pair of black leather shoes they had then headed to work. I didn't arrive with enough time to check my section, only get changed and be there for the briefing. The Supervisor saw me and said "Tom, you decided to show up!"

Happily now I have a pair of shoes in my locker so I'm not going to lose them.

I did enjoy the work. I liked talking to the seniors. They're often pretty jolly. The people I was working with were friendly. The concert was full of pianos and I like pianos, so all up I was pretty happy with my work. Plus I worked enough yesterday to pay for one of my pairs of shoes. If this keeps up, there's a chance I could break even.

Last night I went to Bible Study. It was the first time I've been to a Bible Study for me (rather than run by me) for about 2 years. It was good. I realised I miss things like that.

Today I had some more job related testing for the train job. I got up early again and wore my new black leather shoes. Although not my newest pair of black leather shoes. They'd been safe in their plastic bag for 24 hours. I caught the train again, slept most of the way.

It's an interesting process this. I've now done eight separate tests for this job and no one has really given me any opportunity to ask any questions about the job that I applied for. Still I had a better time today than last time.

I did a role play where I had to pretend to be someone working for the railways. I was sworn to secrecy so I cannot tell you what was in the scenario. What I probably can say is that in mine the scenario was meant to be taking place at 4:55pm and I had an email to work with that had been sent to me at 5pm that day. I didn't point it out during the role play, but I thought it was impressive that I had an email that had been from 5 minutes in the future.

After the test I pointed it out the discrepancy to the examiner and he starred at it for a while and said something like "That's very interesting, thank you." Even though I tried he didn't seem to want to engage with me in conjuncture about time travelling rail employees. That was a sadness for me.

After the tests I treated myself to some sushi and a sleep because I'm worth it.

I managed to get all the old comments back. So if you were worried all your hard work on arguments and discussion from blogposts gone by, fear not, they're all there. The blog is a while away from perfect but it's getting better.

My parents went to Orange this weekend so I've been here at their place for the hanging out with Hannah. It's been pretty fun to stay with my sister. Seeing as I don't live with the Ps any more I feel like I don't get to spend extended amounts of time with Hannah, so I've enjoyed this. She's a pretty fun sister, and now that she's older she's much easier to look after than she used to be. We get to laugh together and my biggest job this weekend was saving her from a big, blood sucking leech. Right now she's jumping around her room listening to bad covers.

Don't tell my parents, but we had Maccas for dinner. I'm hoping she'll vote me best brother ever. Maccas is good like that.

I did some training for the new job last night. Turns out I'm going to see Kings of Leon next week, twice, and get paid for it.

To think I thought about buying a ticket.

So the whole template redo thing is getting a little better. I have blogger comments for the moment, till I can get my old ones back. The date isn't displaying properly. But other than that I'm a little bit happier. It's not like this new template has any sense of fun to it. There are no stupid pictures of me. But I might change that later.

As you can see I'm currently in the process of stuffing up my blog. I thought "Oh it might be nice to change my template." What a nice thought it was. But seeing as my blog was stuck back in the days of basic HTML, Blogger made me convert to XML and now I can't figure out how to do comments, what to do with those widgets, how to put up the date. But I did make a new picture. So that's nice. Chances are, this isn't even on blogfeed.

Oh well. Moth and rust and dumb people destroy.

Please do this quiz. It'll make me happy.

With the Great Recession beginning to break upon us, I'll be able to say "I was unemployed before it was cool."

Tonight I was given a job. It shall be grand. I will no longer be poor and unemployed, I will be poor and employed.

Sick!

It turns out I didn't have to worry about what I was going to wear. I probably could have worn shorts and a t-shirt and been fine. I went to the Job Related testing to become a Trainee Signaller in the City. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. When I arrived at the building there were a few people standing around wearing collared shirts and holding pieces of paper. I figured they must be my people, so I stood near them.

Soon a woman arrived and ushered us into the building, up a lift to level 21 and sent us to a desk to get our names marked off. I was the first person signed in so I headed to the room for training, the guy in the hallway told me to "sit anywhere". As I walked into the room I looked up and there were about 50 people sitting at desks, all starring at me. I had entered from the front of the room, it was a little self concious making.

I found a free seat towards the back and sat down next to a guy. I asked him if we were all going for the one job. He said "I think so". I didn't like the idea of competing with 50 people for one position.

In the end it turns out there were probably around 60-70 people in our session, there was a rumour there were around 4 sessions and there are 35 positions available. So the odds did improve a bit.

We got given info about the job, which sounds fun, but I don't think I'll be able to do it, aside from my impending trip across the globe, it may not be compatible with with my study and I reckon it probably needs more than a one year commitment. It's very tempting to just change careers. The money is better than ministry, as are the perks. Plus I like trains.

But I know what I'm called to.

Anyway, after we were given information on the role, we were given a comprehension test to do. It was just like school. They then spent 20 minutes marking the test then gave everyone a letter. Inside the letter it either thanked you for coming and told you your scores weren't high enough to continue, or it said congratulations you have passed through to the next round. It was pretty exciting. It felt like we were on a reality tv show.

About half the people got sent home, I happened to make it through. I screamed and hugged people and talked hysterically to the camera crew.

We were then put through another 3 tests. I was hoping that people would get culled after each one, making just like Australian Idol but it didn't happen. I was disappointed. I liked the excitement, because otherwise the tests weren't all that riveting. They were comprehension tests for safety instructions and timetables. Plus there was a test where we crossed out shapes.

And when all that was done, we got sent home, I'll find out how I went in a while. I caught the first lift out of there and bought some crappy Chinese food as a reward for my hard work today.

I'm off to some job related testing today Sydney's largest suppliers of trains. The problem is what does one wear to job related testing?

My life is so hard.

We Christians are gonna love this new U2 album.

So much Christianity. Not just God, but Jesus.

Once I knew there was a love divine
Then came a time I thought it knew me not
Who can forgive forgiveness where forgiveness is not
Only the lamb as white as snow - White as Snow

Or what about this whole song:

Magnificent
Magnificent

I was born
I was born to be with you
In this space and time
After that and ever after I haven't had a clue
Only to break rhyme
This foolishness can leave a heart black and blue

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love can heal such a scar

I was born
I was born to sing for you
I didn’t have a choice but to lift you up
And sing whatever song you wanted me to
I give you back my voice
From the womb my first cry, it was a joyful noise…

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love can heal such a scar

Justified till we die, you and I will magnify
The Magnificent
Magnificent - Magnificent


Additional to all this, I am really enjoying the album. It's kinda like a mix between Achtung Baby, The Unforgettable Fire, All That You Can't Leave Behind, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, and some new kinda direction. I was hoping this might be a whole new sound like Achtung Baby was to The Joshua Tree, but it's more of everything put into one. It's a good sounding album. I'm enjoying it.

Being unemployed I've been hoping to avoid going on Newstart for as long as possible. But if nothing happens with these upcoming job interviews, I'll probably need some sort of Government help.

This may not be the worst thing in the world as lots of people keep telling me they think it will be good for me to experience the joys of Centrelink. Still, if I can avoid it I will.

However I figured it's probably best to find out about it. So last Friday I went up to Centrelink to ask them about it. They said to start the Newstart process I would have to call the Employment Services number, who would then give me a Customer Reference Number, which I could then use on the website to book in to make an appointment to see someone at the offices where I was currently enquiring.

Having known that I would probably be given the run around, I didn't argue, I just took the little card she gave me went home and called the number. It was engaged.

I've been trying regularly since Friday afternoon, engaged every time.

Except once this morning! It rang. I felt like I'd got through to a radio station for a competition.

The automated woman said "Welcome to Centrelink. Please tell me your Customer Reference Number."

As I was calling to get one I don't have one. So I said "None"

She replied with "If you don't have one, please say 'I don't have one.'"

So I said "I don't have one"

She said "Sorry you need a Customer Reference Number to access this service. Goodbye."

This is going to be fun.

Who would have thought one song could go so far?

Don't take pants off while in bedroom with the curtains open in full view of young families of the neighbourhood walking past the house.

I'm enjoying my new church. They really are very friendly. The church should give lessons to other churches but you'd probably lose the magic.

Tonight after church we went around to the house of one of the young adults, ate pizza and played Wii Fit. I knew it was a bad idea. My coordination is lacking. No one knows me very well and I had to stand on that blasted contraption and shake my bootie for my newly found church comrades. Needless to say I was by far the worst Wii Fit person there. I managed to fail and consistently get the lowest scores on every game I played. Wii Fit didn't even call me "Amateur", I was too bad for that, it called me "Unbalanced". I didn't even know it was allowed to make statements about my mental health. I'm sure it's not going win me any friends that Wii Fit thinks I'm going snap and stab someone at any time.

If I was trying to portray myself as a sporty, coordinated person to this new bunch of people then Wii Fit just ruined any chance of that happening. Now I'll have to move on to my second option, the brooding, poetic type. I think I can pull it off. From now on, Wii Fit is beneath me. You'd never catch Bob Dylan on a Wii Fit.

Today I mowed the lawn, raked the lawn, trimmed bushes and did the edges on our garden path. When I came in I had a drink of water. I was standing at the kitchen sink looking through the window at the empty little garden outside in front of the window and I thought to myself "I should plant some flowers there so we have something nice to look at while we do the washing up."

I never had a rebellious youth and by the looks of things I'm not about to start making up for it.

I woke up this morning after having a dream that I saved someone's life. It was a real self-esteem booster. I woke up feeling like a pretty good person.

You should try it sometime.

For those of you who want to hear U2s new album legally, they've stuck the whole thing up on their MySpace page.

Go listen, it's good.

So the Oscars are in twelve hours. I'm excited because I love the Oscars, even if they are dumb.

Anyway, I think it's time I make my predictions on who's going to win what. I'll probably be wrong, I haven't even seen all the movies, but why should that stop me.

My picks are in bold.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

Iron Man had good visual effects, but it didn't, in my view, break any new ground, it just did old stuff well. But I could be wrong, I don't really know how they made it. Dark Knight did most of their stuff in camera. Which is amazing. But I think this one is going to Benjamin Button. And I think it should get it too. The work they did on Cate and Brad, it was fantastic. I had trouble picking when they were at their real age and when they were being manipulated. At least in the middle of the film.

BEST SOUND MIXING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

Truthfully, I have no idea. I don't generally notice if a mix is good or bad. I'm gonna say WALL-E because I at least noticed that there was a lot of sound in the film.

BEST SOUND EDITING
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

Iron Man needs to win for something. And this film did sound good. The effects were top notch.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
''Down to Earth,'' WALL-E
''Jai Ho,'' Slumdog Millionaire
''O Saya,'' Slumdog Millionaire

There are some good songs missing from here. Most notably "The Wrestler" by Springsteen. That's a fantastic song. Anyway, I'm going with WALL-E because I don't know which songs the other two were, I just remember Slumdog had songs.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Alexandre Desplat
Defiance, James Newton Howard
Milk, Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman
WALL-E, Thomas Newman

Slumdog did have a good score. At least I enjoyed it. Thomas Newman, in my view, is a little too same, same. I don't remember Button's and I haven't seen the other two.

BEST MAKEUP
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

This is a tough category, but Button is the darling of these Oscars, so I'm going with that. I wouldn't be upset with any of the three winning.

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
Manon on the Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)

I have no idea. The Pig sounds the most fun.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
The Class (France)
Departures (Japan)
Revanche (Austria)
Waltz with Bashir (Israel)

Again, I have no idea. Although The Class has buzz, so I'm going with that. Usually as far as foreign language films go there is only going to be one winner because there is only one film everyone's heard off. At least that's how I see it.

BEST EDITING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

As much as I love editing, I rarely notice editing. Every now and then I'll notice bad editing. Rarely will I notice really good editing. So I'm going with Frost/Nixon because I noticed that editing.

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness — From the Balcony of Room 306

No idea. I like the name.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

I haven't seen any of them, but I've only heard good things about Man on Wire. I really want to see it.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Milk
Revolutionary Road

This category usually goes to a period piece. Judging by the time frames of each of the films it should go to The Duchess, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say Revolutionary Road. It did have good costumes. I was impressed.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Go The Dark Knight! That was a well shot film.

BEST ART DIRECTION
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road

I'm going The Dark Knight again. They do really good work with Batman.

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
La Maison en Petits Cubes
Lavatory — Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up

How can a film about a Toilet Lovestory fail to win over the the hearts and minds of the Academy?

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

WALL-E has to win. Bolt was ok. Kung Fu Panda was fun. But WALL-E was something special.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Eric Roth
Doubt, John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon, Peter Morgan
The Reader, David Hare
Slumdog Millionaire, Simon Beaufoy

I haven't actually seen it, but it's got the feel of an Oscar winner, people shouting and all that. Frost/Nixon should win.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Frozen River, Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky, Mike Leigh
In Bruges, Martin McDonagh
Milk, Dustin Lance Black
WALL-E, Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Pete Docter

If Milk doesn't win I'd be very surprised. I haven't seen Frozen River, but any of the other three could win and I'd be fine with that. In fact, I think I'll be cheering for In Bruges.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, Doubt
Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

I'm going for Taraji. She'll make a good acceptance speech.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin, Milk
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

If Heath Ledger wasn't running in this, I would be cheering for Robert Downey Jr. Comedy actors never win. But Ledger was amazing. He can't not win this one.

BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, The Reader

I actually haven't seen any of these but Kate is in the Holocaust flick.

BEST ACTOR
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

This is tough. I'm going to go for Mickey Rourke. Langella was brillant. Sean Penn is great but I haven't seen Milk. I haven't seen The Visitor. Brad Pitt was good as Benjamin but not Oscar worthy, in my eyes. Rourke however did wonderfully, and I reckon Hollywood wants to give him a pat on the back.

BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Stephen Daldry, The Reader
Gus Van Sant, Milk

I think it's Danny Boyle's year.

BEST PICTURE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

The toss up is between aging, politics, homosexuality and politics, the Holocaust and poverty. I think it's poverties year. It's the biggest issue at the moment. Obama has won. The holocaust was a while ago. Aging is boring except when Brad Pitt does it backwards and homosexuality is so last decade. Poverty is where it's at and it'll make the academy feel good about itself. Me, I'm going for Frost/Nixon.

Now all I'm regretting is that I didn't see Milk, The Reader or Doubt. I was too busy watching things like Hellboy 2.

"God is not dead but alive and well and working on a much less ambitious project." - Anonymous

On the train home tonight there was a girl talking quite loudly on her phone. Some ticket inspectors came through the carriage asking us for tickets. Judging by the girls manner on the phone I thought to myself a) she probably doesn't have a ticket and b) she'll probably argue with the ticket people and try and get out of it.

When the ticket guys got to her she very calmly told them she didn't have a ticket. They took her name and address and she was very polite any time the inspectors talked to her. The ticket guys then rang up some central place to verify her check the details.

When they had verified the name, address and date of birth, they said they'd post her fine out to her. She very politely said "Ok. Thank you." And the inspectors moved on.

I gave myself a little bit of a telling off for making assumptions about her character based on her phone manner. She didn't have a ticket but she was very good about it all.

Then I heard her tell whoever was on the other end of the phone that she'd given her sister's details so it's her sister who's going to get the fine. Good work girl, I was impressed.

So Jenny got a new camera. And out of kindness for a poor unemployed fellow, she passed her old one on to me.

This may mean we can go back to the days of stupid photos!

To celebrate I took this one of myself.



Thanks Jenny.

There may be a spoiler or two in this post.

It's a hell of a thing to kill a man. - Will Munny

I watched Unforgiven again yesterday with John and Martin. What an awesome movie! I may be going through a bit of a Clint Eastwood crush at the moment, but he's so cool.

The film is the like the ultimate Western, except that it's kind of an anti-Western. Clint's decent from upright citizen, back to drunken killer is something special. The whole time you're thinking "Don't be bad, don't be bad, don't be bad!" and then he goes bad you're thinking "Yeah! Kick ass!"

I've killed women and children. I've killed everything that walks or crawls at one time or another. And I'm here to kill you, Little Bill, for what you done to Ned. - Will Munny

It's terrible and totally cool at the same time.

I think Unforgiven is probably the best Western I've ever seen and I reckon it's close to if not in my top 10 of all time.

This is pretty awesome. High five action!

This is also awesome, but differently awesome. (However if you don't like bad words, you shouldn't go.)

I'm still really enjoying the bumming around gig. I seem to spend a lot of time watching DVDs, doing nothing on the internet and applying for jobs.

I keep thinking about that bit in 2 Thessalonians 3 which says: In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us... We gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."

Which may explain why no one is hanging out with me any more. But I am still eating. Quite well actually.

Today, however, has not been the same as the others. No DVDs for me. Matt and I went to Gold Class and watched He's Just Not That Into You. It was a little embarrassing going on a man date to Gold Class to a date movie. But I had vouchers and it was the only thing on we both were willing to watch. It was ok. Nothing special.

We had some popcorn which came in a mixing bowl which was as large as a reasonably sized satellite dish. We managed to eat the heap of pop-corn off the top, so that the popcorn we level with the rim of the dish. Had we managed to finish the popcorn I would have liked to have used the bowl to communicate with astronauts and L. Ron Hubbard.

Then we went and had beer and steak. It was good.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I expect it will be spectacular.

I went to see Revolutionary Road today. I have realised from a long history of Tuesdays that the best breakfast in the world is popcorn and Coke when eaten in a darkened cinema.

The film was very good. Not quite as devastating as I expected. Not, say, on the level of Requiem for a Dream, but that's ok. I'm happy not to have my heart ripped out and stomped on by every film I see at the cinema.

Still it was rather unpleasant. Mainly it was just two people being totally horrible to each other. Sometimes when I watch movies about couples treating each other badly it really makes me want to be in a relationship so I can do it better. This one didn't inspire me that way, it just made me happy to be single.

The film has a lot about buying into the middle class lifestyle. It's about people who live unhappy lives after selling out for comfort.

It made me think about my friends and there are many who have chosen a lifestyle where comfort isn't their highest priority. I know so many people who are living lives that are quietly revolutionary. Not because they change the world, they just refuse to settle into what looks easy. The revolution in their lives is because of their commitment to Jesus.

I don't mean that in "being a Christian is where true happiness is found" kinda way. I talking about the way they follow Jesus' radical call to love. They are willing to follow Jesus to love those in need, to give up the nice house, the good car, the quiet suburb and go in search of Jesus' good works that he's planned out for them to do.

I'm happy I don't have a bunch of friends suffocating in their suburban bliss. I have bunch of people looking for life from the one who gives it. I want to be part of their revolution.

I'm about to head off to College to begin my second attempt at Greek. I admitted to myself that I don't really have the neccisary brain skills for learning a language. Nor the neccisary self-discipline. So I'm doing Greek-lite and hoping I can cope with that. I just want to get this degree done and Greek is one of the biggest things standing in the way.

Should be fun.

Now that the resume is done (I'm so quick) the job hunting has begun. I have the feeling this is going to get tedious. I've spent the past few hours on some job websites. There isn't really much out there for a guy like me. I'm feeling tempted by a job ad I saw for cereal packing I saw in the Advocate a few days ago. I'm pretty sure you don't need experience for that.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to buying a ticket to LA and back today. Yippah.

"Sometimes Nigel would go out to look at the rocket-ship in his backyard. He'd imagine climbing in and strapping himself to the chair, igniting the engines. He knew he couldn't fly it, he didn't have the training. He'd probably blow himself up and incinerate his neighbours. He had no idea what it was doing in his yard. He didn't know who built it or how it got there but he liked having it anyway. He liked knowing that if ever he needed to take a trip into space he might just be able to make it." - C.K. Knight

Nathan and I went to La Premiere. I think he took me on a man date because he wouldn't let me pay for a thing. He's a kind man.

For those who are wondering, it's the fancy pants thing at Hoyts where you pay extra (though we didn't, we had vouchers) and you get to got to an exclusive lounge before your movie where there's a bar and free pop corn and Coke. Then you get shown to your seat at the back of the cinema in a special fenced off, raised area with extra cooshy seats. You watch your movie and waiters bring you your food at pre arranged times.

It's quite the ritzy experience. Nathan and I managed to lower the decorum a little by filling our popcorn cups with Coke as they were bigger, but if the Coke is free, make the most of it.

We watched Valkyrie which I quite enjoyed. Tom Cruise isn't as bad as everyone says he is. At least not in my opinion. I know he's a bit crazy off screen, but on screen he's fine. The film was good, kinda inevitable like Titanic except with less water, romance and Celine Dion and more shooting. It was good to see Germans fighting Nazis.

The cool thing was that we had a bad print of the film. The print included too much at the top so there was boom in shot in probably 10% of the film. And at one point the film even had the reel number on the top of it. This kinda removed some of the magic from the film but it was kinda like you got to watch the behind the scenes of the film as you watched it. I liked that.

It was a fun experience. The whole thing is kinda elitist. I don't like being separated from the plebs below. But I guess the whole point is that it's elite. So I can't really complain.

I like free popcorn and Coke.

What I love about our community is that kerbside clean-ups have got us all into the habit of assuming that anything on the side of the road is free to be taken no matter what time of year it is. While every now and again some vague family put their furniture on the side of the road during the moving process and it all gets taken, but generally the system works quite well.

Yesterday I put my old chest of drawers on the side of the road. The kerbside clean-up isn't till May, I was hoping they wouldn't have to sit there till then. When I got home last night, they were gone. Someone now has a new, free, second (or eighth) hand chest of drawers, and I don't have unwanted furniture sitting around. I love community.

That last post reminded me of a moment had on the Nord's Wharf holiday.

A few of us had gone out to get coffee after church. Everyone ordered coffee and banana bread. I ordered a ginger beer. As I was paying "You make me feel like a Natural Woman" was playing and I was singing. I looked up as I got to the chorus and the girl at the register was singing too, so we accidentally serenaded each other about the others ability to make us feel naturally feminine. I think, me and her, we had a moment. I'm just not sure what type of moment.

On leaving the girl brought out the coffees and everyone's banana bread. She asked me "Don't you wish you ordered the banana bread like your friends?"

I replied by saying "I have banana bread that they know nothing about."

I'm not sure she got the reference, but I had a good time.

I give this information to you know because I think it'll be a useful little titbit for my biography in years to come.

I have $30 in my account.

I have no job.

I'm having a wonderful time.

I eat Thai, read books, paint furniture, watch DVDs, see friends, walk around Hornsby, listen to my iPod, sleep, mooch about on the internet.

You should all quit your job. It's great.


For all those of you who are worrying, I'm not actually $30 away from starvation, that's just my bank balance. Plus I should be getting more money soon from the old employer. They are notorious for being slow with money coming through, which is great because the longer I don't have it, the longer I am not spending it. Plus I am doing the job hunt, and have an interview next week. So don't you fret, and you don't need to turn up at my door with your left-overs and second hand food. I'm very happy right now.

I went to visit a new church tonight. It's really close to home. It was nice walking three minutes and arriving at church.

I met some people. I got welcomed. There was a guy with an eye patch. I'm seriously considering making it my home church because who doesn't want to go to church with a guy with an eye patch?

Chances are, if I do stay, someone will read this and report back to the guy with the eye patch and he'll come and stick me with his cutlass or something. Not that I'm implying that all people with eye patches are pirates. Some of them are Evil Geniuses. Others were doing an eye test at the Optometrist and forgot to take the patch off, and now they're wondering why their depth perception is all out. But whatever the reason there's a good chance they've all got a sneeky cutlass hidden away ready to use at the slightest hint of trouble.

Anyway, I had a good time at church. I got welcomed nicely. There was a guy there who was in my youth group 7 years ago. That was nice to see. People invited me to Bible Study tomorrow night. I said I probably wouldn't go and I didn't give a reason. I feel like it's rushing into things you know? I don't believe in kissing on the first date. I don't believe in Bible Study in the first week. But then again, I may be brave and confident and turn up at a random person's house to do Bible Study with a bunch of people I've never met from a Church I've been to once. I may be that guy.

Anyway, that's my church report. Oh and I didn't have paint on my hands, I washed it off with turps. So I'm just boring, old, unhandy me.

This day is Sunday (though I'm really still awake from Saturday) and I will go to church in the evening. It will be my first sojourn into the local church scene. I currently have paint in my hands and arms from painting my chest of drawers. I'm planning on doing another coat this afternoon. This means more paint on my person.

When I arrive at church in the evening people will see my painted hands and think "That guy is a handy man. That guy does stuff like paint and fix cupboards and cars and stuff." They'll be wrong, but I won't try and disabuse them of their assumptions. It'll be a long time before any one thinks I'm handy again, so I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

I went to see The Wrestler with David on Tuesday night. It was pretty excellent.

David informed us in the afternoon that it was Mickey Rourke's comeback film. Too which a few of us nodded knowingly, till none of us could remember what Mickey is coming back from. His past achievements totally evaded our memories (except for John who told us that Mickey was in 9 1/2 Weeks, but none of us had seen it). It turns out that Mickey really hasn't done a whole lot of remarkable stuff. At least not that I can tell. Except for the The Wrestler which was totally remarkable. He was amazing.

The film is about an old wrestler, long past his heyday. His life sucks and the only thing which makes him feel whole wrestling.

The movie is full of good performances. The script is wonderful, and the directing is special.

Bruce Springsteen does the closing song which is wonderful. It should have been nominated for Best Song.

To appreciate the film you don't really have to love wrestling. But it does get rather brutal for at least one chunk of the film. Lots of pain and blood.

This film should really have been nominated for Best Picture. I liked it more than Slumdog (even though that was great), I'm trying to decide if it's better than Frost/Nixon. I haven't seen The Reader (though I don't think it should win) or Milk (I have the feeling it'll be pretty good), it was definitely better than Benjamin Button.

Anyway, go see The Wrestler, it's top quality cinema.

Just did some research and it turns out the 8 year gamble is probably going to pay off. If all goes according to plan I can finish all my subjects at college this year and graduate with may B.Th of Power. It's gonna be awesome.

Today was the first day where I woke up with nothing planned.

I had a few options so I've endeavoured to fill my time productively. I feel pretty good about it so far.

I've done some job hunting. My options seem to be call centre work, funeral assistant, soldier. I'm not completely sure about the soldier bit, but the army always seems to want people so I'm keeping that in mind. It's pretty hard to find jobs for people with no experience willing to do anything.

I've painted my chest of drawers. Only two coats left. Maybe three. Or four.

I've visited the travel agent to get a quote on going to Guatemala to see the wedding of the year. Turns out Flight Centre is less helpful than the internet. Who would have thought?

And I've watched A Fistful of Dollars which was pretty cool. Clint Eastwood spends the whole time squinting, talking through his teach with a cigar in his mouth and shooting people. I had a good time.

Right now I'm working on my resume. It turns out I have excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to manage a team. I'm tempted to tell people I have excellent hand to hand combat skills too, but they might see through that one.

If any potential employers Google me and find this blog "G'day. I'm pretty awesome." That should get me any job.

It is finished. That was tough. I don't know why we do such stupidity.

I'm off to Canberra soon.

Good work Jack Bauer.

Killing Score Card
Hour 24
Good Guys - 60
Bad Guys - 116

Energy Drink Count - 11

We're a bit behind time now.

Jack just blew up a gas distribution centre thing. It was cool. His girlfriend got tortured but it served her right for sleeping with another man when she thought Jack was dead.

Killing Score Card
Hour 15

Good Guys - 31
Bad Guys - 100

Energy Drink Count - 9

We had a sleep for a bit just then. I slept in the hallway. Last night's heat seems to have caused everyone to come into this thing sleep deprived. Tonight's going to be tough. But we believe in Jack.

We're about to order thai for dinner!

The Russian President's motorcade got attacked. A guy with a flame thrower got blown up, it was pretty awesome. Jack shot an old lady in the leg in an attempt to get her husband to talk. He didn't talk so Jack called an ambulance. He's caring like that.

The Russian terrorists attacked CTU with nerve gas, a lot of extras died but the sad music only started when our beloved, fat, dopey Edgar got disorientated and started foaming at the mouth. It was almost like Old Yella. We were all sad.


Killing Score Card
Hour 12

Good Guys - 27
Bad Guys - 37 (plus nerve gas attack on CTU)

Energy Drink Count - 7

The terrorists are starting to use the nerve gas, but Jack managed to keep the casualties to between 10 and 20. He did this by, surprise surprise, disobeying a direct order from the President.

We're all looking perky. 3:30itus seems to be coming on for me. There's about 10 of us here now. We started with four.

Killing Score Card
Hour 8

Good Guys - 20
Bad Guys - 23-33

Energy Drink Count - 7

So we're back doing the 24 24 again. I only got about 3 hours sleep last night so I'm struggling. I got to have a bit of a snooze between 10 and 11 when we'd built up a spare hour.

Russian terrorists have stolen some nerve gas and are going to use it to get on people's nerves. The ex-President has been shot in the throat. Jack almost tortured someone, but we all missed out when the guy confessed after seeing Jack's angry face. Though Jack did stab someone in the juggular with some scissors so that was impressive.

Oh and Jack blew up a terrorist by remote control using just his mobile phone. Mobiles can do anything these days.

Things are going well, but the kill count is way down on last time. Jack needs to pick up his game. At least the good guys are winning at the moment.

Killing Score Card
Hour 5

Good Guys - 16
Bad Guys - 10

Energy Drink Count - 7

So it's shaping up to be a big one.

Today was West Wing in Newtown, Funeral in Pennant Hills, Party at Freshwater.

Tomorrow is the 24 24 24 (that is, 24 hours of 24 on the 24th).

Sunday is Canberra.

Monday is Jo's thing.

It's all looking intense. Trying to negotiate all this without owning a car has been work. But I can do it.

I should sleep, cause I'll be getting precious little tomorrow.

Today I played Aqua Golf and got stung by a wasp. Being unemployed totally rocks!

I'm happy to be living in an Obama world.

I watched the inauguration live. It was hot and sticky at 3:30am, so I didn't wear a shirt. I felt the contrast between Sydney and Washington.

I had to make sure I sat up straight or I was going to fall asleep.

I'm so excited for the Obama inauguration. The question is, do I stay up waiting, or do I sleep and wake myself up? Too many questions.

Today I had lunch with Rach, mowed the lawn, shaved, got a hair cut, and went to Community Dinner. My Mum says I look very conservative. That's the plan. From now on all I'll be is conservative.

Being unemployed isn't too hard at the moment.

So the holiday at Nords Wharf is now over.

It was good. No beach. Much mooching. Fun.

We may have not fixed a door because we're scared of cleaners and over-estimated their job parameters. But hopefully all will be well.

Happy to be home.

It's 2:12am and I'm still awake flitting about on the interweb. I can do this because tomorrow, well, I'm on holidays. Yes!

By the way this is post 3,333 for my blog. That's kinda cool.

Today was the first real day I haven't worked. It's been relaxation nation.

We went to church this morning, a random church we found in the Yellow Pages. I had a good time. The preacher implied in her sermon that the world would be a better place if gay people were locked up. This didn't really please my church going friends. It's a rather offensive thing to say. David almost stormed out, but he managed to hold himself together.

Following church David, Lesley, Tracy and I hung out at home while everyone else went to the beach. I slept and read. We eventually wandered down to the local store and had hamburgers and chips. Nice.

Since then I've blogged, drunk beer, talked and read. It really has been lovely.

So Sunday the 11th was the day the Harbour Bridge went cashless and I quit my job (which funnily enough will also involve me going cashless).

I was pretty sure the day was going to be a little unpleasant. Partly because I was leaving my job, partly because I was going to be the centre of attention all day, and finally because I was going to a party and I was the "host". I am really only happy at parties when I'm with comfortable people and hiding. When everyone is there to farewell you hiding isn't as much of an option.

I started the day by catching the train to Chatswood early in the morning to collect three samurai swords I had bought the day before. They were to be part of my handing over ceremony to Courtney the new Youth Minister. I had left the swords at Grandpa and Valentina's place because I didn't think transporting three real swords on a train would be a good look in today's paranoid world. Who would have thought?

Happily enough Forest Coach Lines was totally uninterested in the guy with the swords on their bus. I could have slaughtered a passenger or two and nobody would have batted an eyelid.

I arrived at work early to clean my office as I still had a bit of dusting to do. Rach wandered in got hay fever so she left again.

The 10am church service was uneventful. I thought there might be some sort of prayer or something, but there was only an announcement to come to the barbie afterwards. It was the last time I wasn't going to be in the limelight all day.

After Church I found they'd decked out the playground and Kindy area for a party. They had a table covered in cans of Coke with a tower of Coke many stories high. There was a big cake which said "Seeya Tom" on it. And there were my t-shirts hanging from the roof. It was pretty cool. I felt loved.

We had a barbie and I ate a sausage. I was pretty hungry because I didn't have breakfast, but I didn't get to eat much. I was too busy farewelling myself. I realised I should probably be hanging out with people and talking them and all that. So I popped over to a group of parents to say "G'day" but just as I got there they started the official part where people say nice things about me so I had to stop. I'm not a very good host. I have lots of lovely friends at my church and they said lots of lovely things. My favourite comment was from one girl who said she knew that I'd "touched" everyone in her family. The sentiment made me pleased and the wording made me smirk.

It's kinda awkward having to sit there and accept everyone's thanks and praise. You don't really know where to look or how to respond. I'm so glad I'm not a head of state or a celebrity or someone who gets nice things said publicly about them all the time. That'd be tough.

I got a chance to respond and I muddled my way through some thanks and encouragements. It felt pretty dumb trying to sum up 6 years of gratitude in 5 minutes. Really there is such a depth of thankfulness in me for my time at the church and all the wonderful people I have worked with and served that I don't think I could ever find an adequate way of getting it out, so I just fluffed on for a while.

After that I was given my presents. Rev Michael had been paying attention in my sermon the week before. I had done an illustration about my love for Coke so he rung a friend at Coke and got a bunch of merchandise delivered for me, along with 96 cans of Coke. It was pretty cool. I was going to be pretty happy with that. But in the bag of Coke goodies there was a large wad of cash to go towards my desired MacBook Pro. I was pretty chuffed. People were amazingly generous. I'm so loved.

I went back to my office after that to finish work in preparation for the impending camp. It's kinda silly to go straight from work to camp, but I think in the end it worked out for the best.

Church that night was a little surreal. I had the old fan club there. The Commy crew, Ma and Pa plus some randoms who came to farewell me though I'm not sure who they were. That was all on top of the usual church crew.

The worship was good, though I was a little distracted. I was told by someone they thought it was the best worship we'd had in years. That's pretty good I reckon. I got to do the announcements for the last time. They were, as usual, silly. I'm not sure anyone I did the announcements for would have actually appreciated my input, but I was leaving, so I could be a silly as I wanted. There were probably a bunch of new people sitting there saying "I'm so glad this guy is leaving."

I was prayed for in the magic spot. Almost the whole church got up to lay hands on me. I thought I might get emotional during this bit. But as it turns out I just struggled to stay standing. The weight of all those hands is much greater than you would expect. Lucky I work out.

After I got prayed for I had the chance to do a hand over ceremony for Courtney. I gave her a big long ninja sword. I gave it to her explaining that it was an ancient sword from a group of ninja Japanese Youth Ministers. She was to pass the sword on to whoever comes after her. I did it mainly because it'd be cool if there was a sword that the Youth Ministers in the church pass down from generation to generation from now on. People saw symbolism in there for the Word of God and what not. Certainly not symbolism that I discouraged, but also not nearly as important to me as just having something cool.

I then got to lead the prayer for Courtney which was nice. I know that often people don't get to do much of a hand over to their successor so I was very happy to endorse and bless the woman who is coming after me. She'll do good.

I preached. The sermon was all about people knowing Jesus. I figured I didn't have much I really wanted to say, except, "know Jesus". He's pretty much the summation of everything the matters, why should there be anything else worth talking about?

After the service I spent a bunch of time saying good bye to people. It's pretty odd saying good bye. I felt like it wasn't significant because I can't understand that I won't see a lot of people for a while, and I certainly won't see most of them regularly ever again. It's totally sad, but I can't really get my head around it.

I ended up being the last to leave. I left my office by handing over the keys to Courtney, turning off the lights and locking the door.

Helen was kind enough to give me a lift to camp. That seemed right. She was the one that I started the youth group with (in it's current state) she was the one I ended it with too.

And that, was my leaving. I didn't cry. I got a voice wobble. But none of it seems real. I'll cry one day when I break a cup or something and it'll all come tumbling out. Till then though I'll just live with the unresolved pain and take it out on all those I'm close to. Sounds great!

I'm now officially unemployed.

I left my job last Sunday, went on camp on Sunday night and now I'm up at Nord's Wharf for the Commy Holiday. I'm now ready to to relax for the rest of my life.

I think perhaps last Sunday was significant enough to deserve more than just a cursory blog post.

There are about 15 of us up here at on the holiday. We're renting a house with a big TV, a Playstation 3 and many rooms. We're playing MotorStorm at the moment. It's a racing game, which I'm really only interested in it because when you crash it plays the results in slow motion. The crash, the bones snapping, the vehicle shredding itself. I think it's pretty cool but the other guys seem more intent on winning that crashing. It's about the destination, not the journey for them. They're such men.

Camp was fun. I think it was useful to get my mind off leaving work and all the wonderful things that entails.

I was pretty happy to be there. Having a room to myself, and most people around being busy most of the time meant that I could introvert myself and read and sleep and read and sleep. Plus there was the usually camp silliness to attend to, the retro nights, the messy games, the theological discussions. I think my crowning achievement was running a hula hoop competition. You know you're awesome when you can entertain 700 teenagers with the joys of hula hoops. They were totally enthralled!

On Thursday night we had the night where people give their testimony and look reflectively into the flames of a fire (or candle in this case). We had one guy who told us his story about how he'd been in and out of juvenile justice for all his teenage life. He went 27 times in one year. Then he became a Christian, got a 26cm brain tumour, was operated on, died 12 times in 3 hours in the process, and they still didn't manage to get the tumour. then came to work on camp. On camp he met a woman who prayed for him and his tumour shrunk by 4cm. It was a pretty cool story. And he was a pretty great guy. I think most of the campers were pretty affected. There were a lot of tears and praying afterwards. It was a good night.

Probably the most exciting thing was that 40% of the people who came on camp became Christians or made a recommitment. I totally didn't expect that, oh me of little faith.

So camp was good. Holidays are special and I think it's time I go settle down with my book.

I woke up this morning with a blocked ear. I couldn't hear properly out of my right ear. I figured it was full of wax. I stuck my shower in my ear but only succeeded in getting water stuck in my ear.

So I went to the doctor. The bulk billing Doctor near the station. I think it caters to people from the Orient. It makes me wish I could speak Cantonese. Then we'd all get on like a house on fire.

The Doctor told me I had wax in my ear. He told the nurse to flush it out. She tried, but couldn't do it, so the Doctor came back and gave it a go. Eventually a big chunk, probably two cubic centimetres of gunky wax popped out. It was pretty cool.

Now I hear really well. Better than I did yesterday. I think the wax must have been building up for a while. Everything is crystal clear. It's listening to a CD, after hearing the whole world on tape.

I'm sure there's a sermon illustration in there some where.

I'm at work. I've been cleaning my office most of the day. I had so much useless stuff in my office. Bags of rubbish. Boxes of paper. I've been getting rid of things from the youth minister before me that I never used. I've found about 30 pairs of dirty socks from various youth camps. I even have a giant novelty cheque which I plan on not dealing with. But the office is getting pretty empty now, I can see daylight.

I'm also working on my talks for camp next week. I don't know why I thought it'd be easy to go straight from leaving a job to camp. It's not really. I'm going straight from my farewell service to camp, which means I have to have five talks ready to go the moment I leave church.

Happily I'm only going to be adapting five old talks, rather than writing five new ones. But doing that on top of writing my farewell sermon of whimsical anecdotes and rousing inspiration is making for a week as full as any other I've had in this job. And I thought I could slack off...

So as I mentioned, I'm in Canberra. I'm here with Mother, Father, Sister and Victer. Victor has always had a dream to come to Canberra I think, so the family took him here as a bit of a Starlight foundation loving.

I like Canberra more and more every time I come. I think I like the fact that the whole city is designed with one purpose in mind. It's only job is to be our capital city. Everything here is significant or serves significance. I like that. Plus there are Australian flags everywhere, but it feels right to have them here. Better than being tattooed on some angry white person's back.

We went to the War Memorial today. The war memorial is full of guns and tanks and planes, so I was pretty happy. I think war is bad, but at least they get cool things to go to war with. It's a silver lining.

We also went to Parliament House. I think we have the best Parliament House in the world. It's full of good symbolism and interesting architecture. I'm proud to be an Australian when we have such a lovely city with lovely buildings designed by Americans.

I'm in Canberra with the family. This is a special city.

I've managed to go to this cinema 58 times this year. I think that might be a record for me. I love the cinema. I decided to make a top ten or two this year. It hasn't been a year with any stand out amazing, block buster films. But certainly some quality, and some turkeys. Let's go with the turkeys.

Here is my bottom 10:

These are the films that have distinguished themselves for their badness and/or disappointment value. You'll notice that there is no Fool's Gold or Don't Mess with the Zohan and while they were not as "good" as some of the films in this list, they weren't aiming for quality and I was entertained so they get to stay off the list.

10. Jumper

It had a good idea, but it was totally squandered. The action was boring, the plot was silly and I was bored.

9. What Happens in Vegas

I can't really remember this movie except that it wasn't that funny. Who would have thought, Ashton and Cameron are usually such cinematic powerhouses.

8. Australia

Ok so it wasn't the worst film ever (it's at number 8 for 2008). It had some good stuff in it. But it makes it to the list because of it's inability to tell just one story, it's inability to resist using the word "Crikey" and for it's complete condesencion of Indigenous Australia.

7. The Happening

People kill themselves. Mark Walhberg looks worried. The Trees are out to get us. Movie over.

The Ents were cooler.

6. Hancock

This movie wasn't bad till the second half and then it lost the plot. This certainly wasn't the worst movie of the year. But squandered so much potential. It could have been one of the best, most self-aware superhero movies ever. But it got lost in Charlize and Will having a lovers biff. It was like domestic violence on a divine scale. Australia says "No".

5. Hellboy 2

Argh. I didn't like the first one. I wondered why they were making a second. Del Toro could have made it cool, but he didn't. It was just silly. Big dumb army.

4. 10,000BC

Dumb.

3. Wanted

There was some stuff which was way cool in this film. Like the exploding rats. But its total moral bankruptcy puts it at number three. I love action. But action movies need to at least have some mildly defensible message or none at all. But certainly not "Kill because it's better than being an accountant."

2. Twilght

Ahh. The book was crap. This was crapper. So much funniness. Edward Cullen may be hot, but in this he looks like a cancer patient with big hair.

1. The Day the Earth Stood Still

Is there any role Keanu can't play?

This was one bad film. No soul, no fun, dumb alien, dumb message, no tension. Boring.


Here are my faves from 2008:


10. Happy-Go-Lucky

So happy. Poppy, the main character of the film, is probably one of the most delightful characters in film ever. I don't really like using the word delightful but she is it. It maks you happy this movie.

9. U2-3D

It's U2. It's a concert. It's in 3D. What's not to love?

8. Tropic Thunder

This was totally silly, and very cool. Lots of famous people making fun of them selves. And it had action. Even if the action was silly. I loved this film.

7. Rambo

Rambo may not be the best written film. In fact bits of it were terrible. But this film has some of the best, hard core, non-flashy, action in ages. It's not trying to be slick, it's just trying to punch you in the face. Stallone is awesome.

6. No Country For Old Men

This was the first movie I watched this year, and it was a goody. Patient, brutal, unpredictable, and everyone acted well.

5. Iron Man

Oh gosh. This movie was way cool. It was funny, slick and full of explody goodness. And who doesn't want one of those metal suits of American might and righteousness?

4. WALL·E

Pixar never disappoint. Wall-E was cute. The film was funny. I think it may even have had a message. Plus fat people are funny.

3. The Dark Knight

While I still don't think it was as good as Batman Begins there was much awesomeness in this. Heath should get the Oscar. The action as spectacular. And it was dark. Oh how we love dark movies about men in masks.

2. Taken

This was the surprise of the year. I went in expecting your average, run of the mill, 2nd class action movie. But instead we got Liam Neeson kicking more ass than Qui-Gon. He just beat people up with such efficiency. And it was all for the love of his daughter. It was touching.

I want to become a special ops guy for the sake of my children.

1. Frost/Nixon

This was excellent. There wasn't much fighting but darn, this was great. The acting, script, tension. It was so simple, yet so rich. The meeting of a giant and and entertainer, and to watch them battle it out. Out-charm, out-wit, out-manoeuvre. It was like The West Wing's slowed down and evil cousin. Brilliant.


And they are my tens.

I love this time of year. I love sleeping and reading and sunshine. I love not having to do much work.

At staff meeting the other week, Michael, our boss, gave us all the week off. No annual leave needed. Just "Have a week off". I'm going to take him up on the offer. At least some of it. I still have work to do. I'm preaching on Sunday. But I will work less. I'll relax. Tomorrow I'm off to the Gong to accompany Victor (and Co) on his first experience of Sydney's premiere sea-side southern suburb.

It's a Monday, but I'm going to the ocean. Spiffy.

I went and saw Twilight today with Lesley.

It was terrible. Like the book only worse. It was kinda like a cross between Thirteen and a Celine Dion music video with bad acting and a terrible script.

The vampire fighting wasn't very interesting and most of it was laughable. In fact I laughed a lot. I had a wonderful time. It was very fun.

It did however look a lot like I imagined it in the book so it didn't ruin my imagination movie too much.

I preached yesterday on 2 hours sleep. It was another Christmas message filled with judgement and destruction. That's two years in a row.

They announced my replacement in Church on Sunday. She's gonna be good.

It's true, I got replaced by a girl.

I've spent the last two days doing hand over work with her. Giving her history and advice and a breakdown of what's going on. It's hard handing your ministry on, but I can't stay.

Jo and Victor arrived today. The baby didn't.

Christmas is coming.

I had my last night of youth group tonight. We had the Christmas Party, which is always one of the highlights of the year for me.

We had lots of sausages and steak and bread and chips and drink. People swam and played pool and chatted and pretended to beat each other up.

Near the end we had the speeches. We thanked all the leaders and gave them claps and cheers.

I wanted to publicly thank the leaders because I love them all a lot, but I'm not sure I'm all that good at expressing it. I don't know how well I did tonight. But I hope they know that I love and value them.

Then is was my turn. The leaders had collected a bag of letters for me from the young people. So many people telling me they like my t-shirts. I knew I was good for something. I read all the letters just then on the couch. People are so kind, and I feel totally loved. I feel so humbled when people tell me I have made a difference in their life. Maybe in the future it'll give me a big head, but when you hear it for the first time you feel like there's this whole alternate reality going on. You hear of people's experiences of what's been significant to them when you were feeling entirely insignificant. You feel like you don't really deserve to have made an impact, the role should go to someone better, someone more inspiring.

I was also given a photo collage of photos from all the years of youth ministry I've had at my church. I love looking at photos of the youth group. I suspect that seeing my youth group brings up small amounts of similar feelings that parents have when they see their kids. I have such affection for all of them. I'll probably look at these photos even more than I look at the photos of the Hannahvan.

A few people spoke up and said nice things about me.

I had to make a response. I tried. It was difficult. I really wanted to tell people that the person following after me will not be me, but they will be good. There will never be another me that leads the youth ministry. That time is over. But God isn't wanting to use me or someone like me there any more. And the person who comes, if they tried to emulate me would fail. There are things that need doing, things that I'm not real good at, but things which the new youth minister can do. I'm excited because I love the young people, and the new person will be good for them.

I asked them to stay committed because change isn't always easy, so people need to commit to riding it out before it happens, just in case they don't like it. I'm not saying the changes are going to be bad, just that, chances are, not everyone is going to like them.

I really wanted to tell the young people how much I have loved serving them. They're a wonderful bunch of people. People have wondered about the extent of my commitment, why do I spend so much time doing youth ministry? I know that there have been lots of sacrifices I have made for this group of youth. Lots of nights spent out, lots of hours agonising, lots of stress, lots of angst, lots of loneliness, lots of hurt. But never have I felt ripped off by them. Never have I felt like it hasn't been worth it. I have never once resented giving anything up for the young people I have led these past six years. And it's not because I'm amazing, but because they are.

Ministry takes a lot out of you, but it gives a lot back. I've always felt privileged to have one of the best jobs in the world.

More than wanting the young people to know that I love them, I wanted them to know that Jesus loves them. I'm not sure how well I did this. But I'm hoping it's been clear over my time. I don't really care if they all forget about me in 6 months time. If they're all loving and serving Jesus then I'm happy. I want them to see that Jesus is everything. That he loves them and has given them more than any youth leader, any parent, any lover, any other person, could ever give them. I want to meet them in years to come and know that they're still following Jesus. And more than that I want to know there are other people following Jesus as a result of their own faith in Jesus.

When I finished talking I prayed for them and it was such a privilege.

Then it was time for presents.

I don't really feel like it's over. But what has sunk in doesn't make me feel relief. Right now I don't want to have to leave. I want to hang out with these guys forever. Leaving the youth is going to be the hardest bit of this whole leaving thing.

Happily though, I've not left yet. I'll see them all on Sunday! Yippah!

I thank God for everything he has let me do. I'm thankful that he lent me a bunch of young people to look after for six years. I pray he uses what I've done well. What I haven't done which I should have done, and what I shouldn't have done and what I should have done better, I pray he works despite that.

I'm feeling well loved tonight and I'm feeling much love in return.

I got slapped in the face by an old man on Sunday.

I was at McDonald's with the youth group for our end of term diabetes challenge, and there was an old guy there who started talking to me about jazz. He asked me lots of questions about what I did and didn't know about jazz. I didn't know much and had to admit that. I was pleased I could tell him I knew who Miles Davis was.

Anyway, at some point he asked me "Do you know Boston Reapo?"

"No" I said

"Shame on you" said he and then he slapped me in the face and walked off.

It was a little strange.

I just watched the new trailer. I'm so excited.

"It's like using a Band-Aid to stem the flow after Darth Vader's chopped off your arm with a light sabre, dude. Hey, do you want to borrow my Star Wars collection? It's a special edition with . . ." - a mocking "quote" from a made-up techy in an article on net censorship in the Sun Herald.

How dumb. Everyone knows that a light sabre is so hot that when it chops off your limb you don't bleed because it quarterises (sp?) the blood vessels. Duh. If you're going to mock a nerd, at least get your facts right.

I sold the car to Steve in Oatlands for a good $200. Seeing as the car would have cost me about $700 to register it, I think I got a better deal. Plus the guy gave me a lift to the station. Sweet.

But still it's sad.

The van was a much loved van. It had been on many a youth group outing. It was a wedding car. It was a family machine. It was a Van of Love. It made me look cool.

She was my most loyal companion, going with me wherever I went from the time I learnt to drive.



Wherever she would go, she would draw a crowd.



Whenever there was a roadtrip to be had, she was there.





Whenever vegans needed her to save small animals, she was there.



She loved Westfield and Men in Ugly Pants



She was loved by young and old alike.



She was our Nissan Serena. And even if she goes for scrap she will live on in our hearts and in the hearts and engines of all the three other Serenas driving around Australia.

She will be missed.

I'm off to sell the Hannahvan.

The guy on the phone reckons I could get a "couplea hundred" for it.

That's a cheap price for a lot of memories.

Oh well.

I went and hung out with Ryan, Mil, Martin, Libby and some random girls tonight at Mil and Martin's house. I should have been at the cinema watching Twilight, as it came out today, but I resisted my inner-teenage girl.

I had a good night. Mil and I managed to solve the world's problems in the kitchen. Late night conversations seem to give you that ability. Ryan fell asleep in the couch.

I ate corn, chips and salad for dinner.

So I've been thinking about the current state of my concurrent reading pile. I have a lot of books on the go, all of which I intend to finish, but some of them have been going for a while. I thought I'd list them all because I like the pretty book covers.



1. New Issues Facing Christians Today - John Stott

This is the book that has been going the longest. Four years or something. I bought it when I was in a Bible study group where we'd talk about ethics every week. I wanted to get a headstart on everyone else so that I could seem smart when we discussed the topics.

It used to be that the plan was to pick it up and read a chapter every time I finished a book. I forgot though. I picked it up the other day and saw that I'm actually pretty close to the end so I should finish it.

John Stott is pretty awesome and this book is full of good ethics stuff to chew over. Generally I agree with everything Stott says. If I could adopt another Grandfather (not a replacement one, because I like my current one), I'd adopt him.

I'll finish it one day.



2. Knowing God - J.I. Packer

I started reading this one because I decided to find a book of accessible theology for Jem to read.

I'm currently up to a chapter on Grace. It's good stuff but not really interesting writing. People say it's a Christian Classic and I believe them. But really, it's not gripping. I think theology should hold your attention not put you to sleep.

Anyway it's a good book full of good stuff but it won't keep you up late.



3. Biblical Preaching - Haddon W Robinson

Another classic. It's good stuff this book. I'm not sure why it's taking me so long to read it. I started it in Guatemala and I just haven't got around to finishing it off. But it's worth reading. He's pretty clear, and I've been using what I've read.



4. Without Warning - John Birmingham

This is one of only two fiction books in the pile. I think that's probably because I tend to finish fiction once I start instead of letting it sit around for ages, I want to get the story figured out. That said, this one isn't gripping me at all. I think maybe I don't care about any of the characters.

The book is about what would happen to the world if the USA disappeared. It's full of guns and fighting and stuff, but I haven't really been grabbed by any of the stories. I guess that's why I've been sidetracked by other books.

I do like JB though. He's fun even if this book isn't all I would like it to be.



5. The Problem of Pain - C.S. Lewis

I started reading this book because I'd been working through the theology of suffering. But I stopped pretty quickly because I realised I had lot's of other books on the go. Still C.S. is wonderful and I fully intend to get back to it sometime in the next few weeks.



6. The Koran: A Very Short Introduction - Michael Cook

I bought this along with a copy of the Koran because I've been meaning to read the Koran for ages. I thought an introduction might help matters along. And it is helping. The book is really interesting. I'm enjoying it, this is one of the three books I'm putting real effort into.

I can't say it's making me want to be a Muslim but I am enjoying the learning.



7. A Comedian's Guide to Theology - Thor Ramsey

This is another book in my search for accessible theology. It's not very good. The book is more about making jokes than explaining theology and everyone is a little poorer for it. The book is also written as a reaction against the Emerging church. I'm not really sure we should let out theology be defined against the theology of someone else. Sure we can write books about other people's theology. But if you're going to write a guide to theology I think it should be more than just "We don't think what they think."

It's also not very funny. I've laughed twice I think. I can't wait to finish this book, it's driving me up the wall.



8. Xenocide - Orson Scott Card

Yay! More fiction!

I'm listening to this on my iPod.

I've been working my way through the Ender Series again. I love this series. They get less brillant as you go along, but it's still heaps of fun; aliens, starships, new planets, ethics. It's great. Plus the whole audiobook thing means I can listen while I drive and wash up. I tend to polish my audiobooks off the quickest.


And that my friends is what I'm reading. It's a lot but I'm having a good time so I can't complain.

My thanks goes out to Koorong and Amazon from whom I stole most of the images. Go shop there because they have books and books are good. I hope they won't get me in trouble now.

On Sunday with was my last youth group on the oval. Next week will be my last youth group, and we're off to visit the people at the retirement home. But this week was the last oval week which means the last week of pre-planned silliness.

So seeing as this was the end I wanted to go out with a bang. I decided we'd have an afternoon of Diet Coke, Mentos, Cricket and Ice Cream. Really I just wanted to explode bottles of Diet Coke like this:



But alas, the afternoon did not hold nearly so much excitement. While I did get a good deal on bottles of Diet Coke, of the eight we bought only one exploded with any kind of mildly satisfying rocketness. The rest just kind of fizzed. Shame. People liked the Ice Cream.

Last night I went with a few of the the Youth Leader types to see the Christmas lights at the house of one of the guys in the youth group. It was pretty impressive. More impressive than the exploding Coke bottles.



You can vote for his house here if you want. You should, it'd make him happy.

I have two envelopes unopened on my floor. They are from my college. They have at least two of the assessments I handed in last month in them. I haven't opened them because I don't want to know what I got. I tend to avoid finding out my marks on assessments. I think it's because I'm scared it's just going to be full of low marks and rude comments (both of which I deserve for my recent efforts).

Anyway, I'll probably open them eventually. But for the moment I'm happy not knowing.

I saw Australia today. It was better than I expected, but I didn't expect much.

The first 20 minutes were woeful. Nicole paraded around being some caricature of English aristocracy. While Hugh played the almost slapstick, handsome, buff, noble and rough drover, who's name happens to be Drover.

The whole film made Australia out to be some magical land, inhabited by the magical Aboriginal folk, where Aborigines and White people could all learn to get along if only the Aboriginals were aloud to drink with the Whites. As we all know giving grog to Indigenous Australians was probably the white man's greatest gift.

Anyway, the film isn't really about alcohol. It's about romance and adventure and cute half-caste kids who sing tunes from The Wizard of Oz because they're about "the dreaming".

Once Nicole stops being such a princess the film improves.

There's a good bit of droving where there's a lot of cattle and horses riding around fast. That's pretty cool. Except when the magical black kid sings to the cattle to stop them stampeding of a cliff. Dumb.

The whole magical Aborigines thing is probably the worst thing about the film. I read a reviewer over AICN saying that "the film turns Aboriginal culture into supernatural magic. The condescension in this film is unavoidable."

I tend to agree. Apart from the kid, the Indigenous people don't seem to be anything but trusty sidekicks or magical, friendly leprechauns of the outback.

Apart from all that, the film isn't terrible. The dialogue leaves a bit to be desired (Drover keeps saying "Crikey!"), but Hugh Jackman is always cool, even when he's hamming it up. There was one bit where Hugh was was trying to help some kids escape from the Japanese who are hunting them on an island. I was hankering for Wolverine to just breakout his claws and tear them all to shreds. Alas he didn't. He left his trusty black sidekick to die like Jesus while he and kids swam to safety.

Michael Bay should have been brought on as the Second Unit director to shoot the whole Darwin bombing sequence. I was really excited about that bit. We need a bit of WWII movie action in Australia. But Baz isn't an action director, and sadly the whole bombing sequence is lacks all tension, and doesn't use one of its many explosions well.

The film essentially tells two stories. One which is quite succinct for the first half, which could have easily been the film. And another in the second half which isn't nearly as well structured, but does have more explosions, planes and guns in it so it gets points for that.

As I said, it's not all bad. There's just a lot of stuff that's not very good. I wasn't bored for most of the time. The Northern Territory is a good looking part of the world and you get to see plenty of that. If do you go see it arrive 50 minutes late (that's counting for the ads before-hand) and you'll have a much better time.

For one of you who was worried about the preaching blog/podcast being dead, it's not. I've put Sunday's sermon up there now.

The long absence was due to technical issues where sermons weren't recorded. But things have recovered now.

I had my last Leaders' Meeting tonight. We debriefed five years of the current youth ministry model. I told them that seeing as I would be only hearing good comments between now and when I go, I need to do an honest debrief.

I think I needed it more than anyone else. I needed to get the good and the bad in perspective. Otherwise all I would be thinking about between now and when I leave is my failures. As much as people will say nice things about me, I'll ignore them and just think about how I've messed things up.

So tonight I got to tell the Leaders what I honestly thought were my, and our, failures, what were the negatives, what we did well and what were the positives. While the meeting started off a bit depressing it actually cheered me up. Maybe because it felt like I was confessing my sins. And when my leaders, who probably have the most invested in my ministry (not including God) heard and didn't tell me I was useless and didn't hate me, it felt better. I think I can go into the end of this job feeling happier now that I have a better perspective on my crapness.

The good stuff was nice too. I'm really happy about all that God has done in the youth ministry. It's been such a privilege to be involved and to see God do so much. And it's been nice to see that things we've aimed to do 5 years ago, we did. And while we didn't always get the results we wanted, we stuck to our values, and led with integrity.

I do have a wonderful bunch of leaders.

The meeting went about 45 minutes overtime and everyone was happy to stay.

And stay they did. We ended up still being at church at 11pm laughing at Fail Blog together. It was a fun night. And a satisfying one too. I feel like in the last five years we may have got a thing or two done and had a bunch of fun along the way.

I had my last Scripture Assembly on Wednesday, which means I've finished all scripture. I met with my class of year 6s after the assembly and told them I didn't have their presents yet because they coming all the way from England (this is true). I couldn't get the present in Australia because the present is drugs (this is not true).

While I was pretty pleased with my joke I did have one of the girls from my class ask me at youth group on Saturday night "Did you really buy us drugs?" I had to clear that up with her.

I'm actually getting them a book, but don't tell them that.

With this current climate of Zombie, Pirate, Ninja excitement, JB is upset no-one except the Indian Navy is doing anything about our current Pirate crisis.

"Lord Nelson would be turning in his grave! And the only reason Cap'n Jack Aubrey and Midshipman Horatio Hornblower wouldn't complain about the interruption to their eternal rest is because they'd already be stomping around rattling the Pearly Gates, waving flintlocks and sabres at Saint Pete, demanding leave to return to this mortal coil to have at those cheeky blighters!" he says

So I called the people at Big Brothers Big Sisters today. As a Big I'm meant to do a check in every month. I hadn't checked in since August. Oops.

I rang and they were very pleased to hear from me. Perhaps because they were pleased to hear I wasn't dead. My check-in person was very kind despite my rather long absence, and she invited me to the Christmas party. How gracious. If one of my leaders didn't talk to me for a few months, even I, passive, non-confrontational I, would give them a bit of a shellacking. But I didn't get one, and that was nice.

I also rang my Little (the little brother). I haven't spoken to him since October. This is because I've been working every Saturday since mid-October. Tomorrow is no exception but I have time around the work, so I'll be able to fit in some Big Brother time. He also did not express anger at me for my absence.

I'm feeling rather let off. But that's nice. We might go to the Christmas party tomorrow. Hooray!

I played poker the other night. I'm not really a good poker player. In fact I have no idea what I'm doing. I have a good poker face however because I don't know if my cards are good or bad. Although if they have pictures on them I figure I could be in the ball park for monies.

The great thing about putting poker games in movies is that they put music with it so you know if something good or bad has happened. When you hear the music you think "That was a good move" or "Oh no!" and then you think you know about poker, but all you really know about is music.

There was no music when I played the other night so I was crap.

I'm in an internet cafe an the guy beside me just laughed out loud then he wrote to all his friends on WOW "LOL". It's nice to see someone actually using the phrase truthfully.

They say "There is this life and no other. We die and live; nothing but Time destroys us." - The Qur'an (45:24)

Not that I or the Qur'an endorse the view. I just thought it was a good line.

I just watched Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, the original, not the Bernie Mac redo which was silly though I think it made me laugh.

I'd never seen the film before, but it was pretty special. The premise is simple, set in 1967 a white girl brings her brand new, black fiancé back to meet her "liberal" parents for the first time. As new people keep meeting the couple, everyone has a different reaction. It's rather funny, quite a bit 60s, and it has good things to say about people and their prejudices or lack thereof.

Every character was good. Except the couple acted a little silly sometimes. The writing was top notch and Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn are totally ace.

In the end I think the couple needed a good shellacking, not for being mixed race, but for meeting 10 days earlier and wanting to fly to Geneva and get married the very night they meet the parents. And Dr John is 37 and smart, you'd think he might think waiting at least a few months would be a good idea. But as Spencer tells us "The only thing that matters is what they feel, and how much they feel, for each other. And if it's half of what we felt, that's everything."

Love wins in the end. I wish someone had said, "love waits" but hey, it's still Hollywood. But despite that, see the film, it's quality. There's a priest in it, and he's funny, and honest, and wise, and loving, and when I get old I want be like him.

I'm going Ice Skating tonight. I plan on coming out unscathed this time. But we'll see what happens.

And who said there was no excitement in Newcastle.

I went to see Quantum of Solace with Ryan tonight. I was a little concerned that I wouldn't be able to see it on opening night, but happily Ryan came to the rescue.

Here are the thoughts:

It was a good film. Not so funny as the last one. Lots of action which was cool. Still Bond villains. M continues to impress me as a character. And the Dame, well, she always rocks. Apart from some really silly location titles I really liked the look of this film, the production design was pretty spot on. Plus the film was dealing in politics for once (aside from the whole Cold War thing of most of the 60s,70s, and 80s, Bonds) and it was rather left leaning. The film did feel a lot like a sequel, it was a bit of a hodgepodge of action and bad guys squashed in together. The Aston Martin really is a nice looking car. The editing was way too Bourne for its own good. I like James' ability to kill people with his bear hands, but the editing means we can't really tell what's going on in much of the action sequences.

Anyway, apart from being a bit of a mess, it was it was cool. I'm happy I saw it, and it certainly rates a lot better than most of the middle Bonds.

Driving home tonight it rained real hard the whole way, it was way fun. Driving through big puddles, and not being able to see in front properly. If only all driving was that exciting.

After the wedding on Saturday I had a few people come up and tell me that after I get married I won't be able to do good sermons about marriage. And I especially won't be able to talk about sex.

I won't be able to talk about sex because everyone would know I was talking from experience rather than ignorance and then everyone would have dirty images in their heads.

And marriage because, the implication was, then I won't have such a lofty view of marriage. Probably this is because I'll be stuck in trenches of marriage, marriage will be about wrangling kids and negotiating schedules and mortgage repayments that I'll have very different things to say about marriage.

I think that's a bit sad. Perhaps we need single people around to idealise marriage for those who are stuck in the mechanics of it. On the other hand, it should be the people who are married who should be the greatest advocates of marriage. People who don't forget the big picture while dealing with the details. From where I am all I really have is the big picture. I can think about the details but it's all theoretical. But my big picture isn't. Marriages affect more than just the husband and wife. I have been both blessed and hurt by marriages. From where I am I can see marriages from afar a lot better than I can see them up close, and for all the stupid stuff, I still believe in marriage, and I still think it's great. But I'd rather married people told me that a lot more than I told them that.

I'm currently working on my last set of Scripture Seminars for this job. It's going to be a late one again.

I don't generally mind doing Scripture Seminars, in fact on the day I love doing them, but I really dislike making them happen. The recruiting of volunteers is unpleasant, and writing the material with the continual thinking of new angles to come at the gospel for a bunch of people who don't care, that's tiring.

On top of that right now I'm on day 12 of 13 days straight of work. I'm really not in the mood for doing stuff.

By the time I finish with these seminars I will not be missing the organising one little bit. I'll probably smile the smile of the free. I'll sadness for the school but none for those stupid green folders we carry. They're gonna be someone else's problem.

Tomorrow I aim to be home by 2pm for a good day and half off, before I'm back into it on Wednesday. Yes! I'm going to the movies!