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!

Don't tell the happy couple, but I'm about to start writing the sermon for the wedding tomorrow.

Never fear it's all in my head. It's about writing the greater love story together. Or something like that. I just have to get it down in binary.

The passages are from Song of Songs, so I've been doing a lot of reading on the Song of Songs this week. It's a special book which I think I would appreciate much more if I was married. The more I read about it, and understand what's going on, the more it just feels like erotic poetry, which funnily enough, I never read. Reading it is like being stuck in a room with a couple who are all over each other and it's starting to make you want to vomit or punch them. There have been many times I've gotten sick of it and felt the "Get a room already" well up inside me, before I remember they have got a room and I'm in it.

Anyway, as far as the sermon goes, and the wedding, I'm not feeling the same way. I always like weddings, and I do always love a bit of romance. I'm looking forward to the preach because I get to just pontificate about love. I love love.

But as with last time, preaching a wedding sermon as a chronic single does make me feel a little under-qualified. But I guess the advantage is, at least I'm still idealistic.

We had Kid's Impact today. I did PowerPoint. My skills are phenomenal. I pressed the down button lots. That was pretty much my job today. They'd say "Stand by PJ 17" "Go PJ 17" and then I'd go. That was it. I'm amazing.

I'll do it again tomorrow night, except a little bit more and a little bit less complex.

The 12,000 word weekend is over. Three essays, one preach, three barbecues, one breakfast, two church services. It was large.

Now my eyes hurt and I want to sleep. I think I may not get up till 11.

I was up a little late. So I blogged. I'm going to post them now and back date them. I blogged in word because it was quicker. I'm sure you'll all be thrilled, because what's more thrilling than essay updates?

All done!

I haven’t done bibliography or printed or read through for mistakes but there’s enough now. I’m going to sleep for a few hours.

Finished Essay 2! Theology done!

Now I just need to punch out Essay 3.

The birds are singing and the sky is turning blue. I’m not feeling really tired but the birds make me want to get in bed. They’re saying “What are you doing? We’ve gone to sleep and now we’re awake and singing, go to sleep get ready for today.”

I am getting ready for today. Stupid birds. What do they know about assessments and typing? Nothing. Birds can’t even type. Idiots.

80% done on Essay 2

60% done on Essay 3

55% done on Essay 2

50% done on Essay 3

Both over 50%, I should reward myself with a sleep or something. but I won’t. I think doing two essays in tandem is good. It means that if I quit and go to sleep I’ll fail with both of them. I don’t want to fail two subjects so I’ll just keep plugging on.

I should put on some music.

Word just crashed but it’s back now and I didn’t lose anything. I’ve just been making up stuff about a missions camp I’m never going to run. It’s good because I can make up crazy schemes which I’d never actually do in real life but are a good idea on paper. Like I decided that the camp cooks are going to be cooking the different national dishes from foreign countries at every meal to help educate people about other countries. In real life the cooks would probably hate the idea and just refuse. In my assessment they love it because they love Jesus, the love mission and they love me.

55% done on Essay 2

30% done on Essay 3

Now I’m flagging. I’d like to go have a snooze. I wonder if it’ll help. Probably not. Arrgh.

55% done on Essay 2

15% done on Essay 3

Now might be the time to say that I’m feeling optimistic about the essay writing road ahead. I’ve managed to accomplish almost nothing since I started work here at 8pm-ish. Well not much essay work. I did manage to interact with Facebook deeply, send out a Bible study, get depressed, skim a number of theology text books, consider quitting, try and have a sleep and download an audiobook.

But now…now I’m on a second wind (actually probably only first seeing as every other wind before this hasn’t really been in aid of the work). I’ve put on Damien Rice and it’s going to be fun. I might bake some muffins soon.

I’ve finished Essay 1.

I’m 20% done on Essay 2.

I’m 15% done on Essay 3.

I can do this. It’s just like the Twenty-Four 24, yet with less guns and less friends.

I'm doing assessments. No end in sight. I love the Bible.

I'm at the office still. I'm working on an assessment, it's due in on Friday. You may wonder why I'm working late on something that's not due for over 24 hours. You might think I have changed and become conscientious!

Never fear my friends. This is just assessment one of three which are due in on Friday, two of which are late. So I'm working now, because I'll be working late tomorrow night too, and I'll probably be working early on Friday morning. I'm still a slacker, in fact I've be slacking extra hard to have three all due in at the same time on the same day or risk certain failure.

They call me Mr Academia.

I hope this doesn't break privacy or something.

I'm so happy to see that we now have a new President.

Well not us exactly, but it kinda feels like that.

Yay for history making Presidents. I hope he can change the world.

!

Sam made me this video. It makes me look even more awesome.

Yeah!

So it's Melbourne Cup day tomorrow and Election Day on Wednesday! I'm so excited about both! Actually, I'm not that interested in the Cup.

But according to tradition I must give you my pick for tomorrow. So here it is:

I'm putting my pretend money with - SEPTIMUS (No. 1)

While there has been some doubt about whether Septimus will be scratched due to a hard track, it's looking good for tomorrow's race. Being the second favourite to win, and with Damien Oliver riding the five-year-old mare in the purple and white, I see no reason why Septimus can't come through with the goods!

Yesterday I learnt that shaving while using a CD as a mirror isn't particularly practical. I did a bad job at shaving, and I didn't get a good look at myself in the mirror. Plus it was a bad CD. Poor effort all round.

I'm preaching tonight and the sermon is 24 double spaced pages long. Or 5,403 words. That's too long if I want to fit it in 25 minutes. I'm going to have to do some cutting. Sad, it's all gold! The only thing that comes out me is gold!