Randoms

Saw a car drive on the wrong side of the road yesterday. Was an Asian at the wheel.

Saw many people in various spots in suburbia and street corners wheeling suitcases around.

Checked to see the trading hours of A-Mart All Sports to replenish fishing gear and Woolies and Coles for Christmas Eve trading so we can get cheap meat.

Got the urge to make dumplings again after purchasing a packet of pork mince.

Went to bed at 9:30pm last night- the earliest in like a year.

Finally finished watching all 60ish Dae Jang Geum episodes. What should I do now?

My Life is Average

Had Bryse and Dilz over for dinner this week.

Told us about this website where people submit their random, mundane life stories from time to time. Quite interesting time-waster.

www.mylifeisaverage.com

Apparently it is pretty difficult to have your submission published on their site.

Life is Pretty Normal Today.

Shout out to the Empire

Dropping a note to say how nice it wass to see Empire of the Sun win a number of ARIAs recently.

Does this mean their concert tickets will skyrocket now????

It's that time again!

To kick start the summer 2009/10 season, will be heading to the annual Twenty/20 Johnny Walker ACA All Stars vs KFC Australian XI match at the Gabba on Sunday Nov 22nd.

Sweeeeeeet!!!

Old men I'm looking forward to seeing in action again:

Gilly
Ooh Aah Pigeon
The Bat
Bing (well, he isn't exactly old so he would have to be the 'nicer-looking man' I'm looking forward to seeing, if he is picked)

Geeky

I would never have thought that I would say this:

I love watching Doctor Who.

Looking past the scary music (which was scary when you were 7) and opening sequences, you get a extremely fun and enjoyable TV series. Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff aside, I've found myself hooked to this show, courtesy of the lovely David Tennant.

Now all the hard-core fans will probably say that I'm not the genuine article as I haven't watched any episodes from the Tom Baker/William Hartnell/Jon Pertwee/Peter Davidson/Colin Baker/Sylvestor McCoy series or even the Paul McGann telemovie. (speaking of, I now remember Paul in another favourite movie of mine The 3 Musketeers).

Is it acceptable enough that I have watched the revamped series from Season 1 through to Planet of the Dead? (First of the 2009 Specials, with 3 more to go and *sniff* the last 3 specials to feature David before he leaves)

I don't know much about Matt Smith (the new Doctor after David) and am apprehensive as to what quirky facets he will bring to the role next year.

Am I a geek?
What is the female version of a geek?
A geekette?
A geekress?

I'd like a sonic screwdriver for Christmas this year.

Running the Treadmill of Emptiness

I feel as if my life has been really empty and meaningless over the past 3 months.

Each week is spent doing the work of 2 full-time workers. Do people there see I'm at least trying my best and doing what I can to keep this boat afloat? This was not meant to be a long-term thing but as 3 months have gone by without any answers, I just cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Outside of work there is also uncertainty and many unanswered questions. Another tunnel that I cannot see the end of.

A number of thoughts have crossed my mind of late:

- Whether the indecisiveness of some will make others look bad or be frowned upon?
- Why do some people make promises that they clearly cannot keep?
- How can your life be so hectic and busy that every single day for the last 6 months is spent in back-to-back engagements, so the only time you have to breath is a 5 minute toilet break or transport to the next appointment?
- Am I the cause of this uncertainty, by hanging on to something that clearly is not meant to be?
- People say that they won't let things happen the way they did again, but then it happens all over again.

I need your prayers, I need answers, I need people to make some really big decisions soon, otherwise I will probably lose my mind.

One thing I am certain about, is that I honestly don't understand what it truly means to be busy.

If you think that your life is busy then think again. I thought my life was, but now I don't think so.

You don't have time to attend that important meeting. But you can find time to catch up with a friend at the last minute for a coffee.

You don't have time help someone who is lonely and in need of your friendship. But you can somehow find time to spend with your partner who you see everyday.

How many nights every week do you spend at home?

Is Sunday your most busiest day of the week?

My ramblings for the week.

I need a boat

I'm so jealous.

A family at church are spending the next 2 weeks fishing at 1770 with their boat :(
grrrrrrrr.

Would love to take 6 months off and just fish my way around Australia.

Its times like this that I realise how peaceful and uncrowded Townsville was with its beaches, jetties, rock walls and ports. Everything was so close you could wake up at 7am, get to the beach by 7:15am and fish the entire day away until night fell.

Who has a big boat they are willing to lend me?

More Food-related Banter

Special Sunday morning service this weekend with 7 people getting baptised. (good stuff)

We were asked last week to bring a plate to share for a lunch that will be held after the service.

I'm pondering what to bring and some things I have been thinking about are:

- Being a baptismal service, there will likely be people that are friends of the people getting baptised that are invited and will come who don't normally come to church. They obviously won't be bringing a plate for lunch, but will most likely stay for the lunch. Does this mean that we should be providing more food (ie. say bringing 2-3 plates of food) in order to cater for the extra numbers? (Christian hospitality)

- Types of food to bring. The usual, no-mess fare would be sandwiches and store-bought cakes, muffins and dare-I-say Pizza. The 'foodie' in me suggests that there should be more savouries than sweets (being lunch, not afternoon tea) and more hot/warm dishes as it is winter.

- Finger food vs Food which needs to be eaten with a fork
(the monthly Chinese lunches is never fingerfood fare- always plated goodies that require eating utensils)

My current list of foods for consideration:

- Cheerios
- Honey Soy Chicken Wings and mini-drums
- Meatballs and sauce
- Antipasto platter with fresh bread
- Pasta bake

What I got up to on leave

House was utilised for last minute RICE meetings and accommodation for Sydney visitors.

Study room in the house was used by 'someone outside of the family' to create/complete youth group artwork express.........this youth group ended up winning the competition!!! (*tsk* *tsk* grumble grumble)

Made Russiana and Ox-Tail soup and very 'Chinese homely-type' dinner for Sydney guests and RICE team. Ox-tail was a big hit, as was the Chinese BBQ dishes.

Went to the dentist for 6 month check-up- all good.....just need to keep flossing.

Decided on a whim to get a haircut at the Hairdressing School in the CBD. Got a shampoo, condition, stylecut and blowdry for only $10 :)

Bought lots of breakfast foods for Sydney visitors, but then realising that they don't eat breakfast :S

Became Aunty for the group of visitors and took them to Dreamworld, Surfers Paradise and Harbourtown- got early entry into Dreamworld so went on the big rides without the line-ups. (did Tower of Terror and Cyclone, but chickened out on the rest)

Week off

1st day of annual leave for a week.

28 hours to go til RICE 2009 kicks off in Brisbane!!
Still fighting a sore throat obtained at last weekend's staff retreat.

Been deciding what to do in this 'spare' week off:

-Hang out with Sydney people coming up for RICE
-Take them to the beach
-Head to any Gold Coast Theme Park
-Catch up with friends who have children
-Go to the dentist
-Get a haircut
-Get a massage

Well that's pretty much all I can squeeze in, amongst the awesomeness and craziness of RICE.

Bring on the transformation of kids lives and power of our Lord!!

The attack is on

The spiritual attack that is.

Have taken quite a few hits already from Satan as RICE gets closer and closer. Firstly, He takes out one Big Day Out speaker, and appears to be in the process of taking out the 2nd speaker also. (wife has swine flu)

Only 2 weeks to go, how many more hits can we expect?

All of today's best laid plans did not happen at all, one way or another. A mere extra 15 minutes would have made all the difference. W is home with a cold so had to fill in his roles for the day and to top things right off, the work staff conference is next weekend, which takes out the entire weekend before E1.

Admin team is stressed about numbers and food team is anxious about quantities.

Plus I've misplaced that neighbourhood letter that MUST be letterbox-dropped next weekend. With the stupid work conference who on earth is going to do this???

*DEEP BREATH*

At the end of the day I should have expected all these plans to be manipulated and destroyed by the evil one. He would raze RICE to the ground if he could, but he will not.

He will not deter us.
He will not stop us.
He will not tear us apart, because we have the full armour of God and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords fighting the fight with us. Whilst he will strike the heel, Our Lord will crush his head.

Will you pray for us? Pray that many young lives will be saved and turn to the Lord.

We only have 48 hours after RICE to ensure that this happens. Otherwise they will be lost and the oppportunity is gone.

No Hot Water

For the past 2 weeks our hot water system has been dying a excruitiating death.

One night (around 9:30pm) we tried for 45 mins to get hot water. My theory was that somehow the old system would only work during the day, when the sun was out and actually warming up the old gas system. The system also wouldn't work in the mornings as the sun usually isn't up when we wake.

We tested this theory a few nights later, with W using our small fan heater to warm up the hot water system around 5:30pm when the sun was already down. 5 minutes later the hot water came. This also meant that we only had limited opportunity to use the bathroom. Therefore a highly effective system was created where one person would go first and then the other would take their place 3 minutes later.

This system was so effective that we were actually having trouble converting back, when a temporary electric system had been installed this week. The hot water comes so quickly I keep burning myself.

Our only problem now is that the electric system only allows 5 mins of hot water at any one time. Afterwards you have to wait for 20 minutes until the system heats up the water again.

Good to know that we are saving water, but for those wishing to stay with us who enjoy their 30 minute showers will have to make alternative arrangements :)

Not that anyone should be having 30 minute showers anyway *tsk* *tsk*
Water Restrictions.

Paperwork, Paperwork

Inundated at work, inundated at home.

30th June stuff to complete, Qld Blue Card Applications and Letters galore.

The tally so far for Blue Cards being held up in processing due to missing information now stands at four (4). This is the first time this has happened, and strangely enough, all the culprits have been male :)

What is frustrating is that 3 out of the 4 forms submitted have been held up due to the applicants not specifying whether they had a middle name or not. All they have been asked to do is sign another form which states 'they do not have a middle name' and then send it straight back.

As for the 1 out of the 4, this person forgot to sign the application form altogether :) oops!

Paperwork aside, it is W's brother's wedding this weekend :)

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

This probably isn't something that I should be bragging about, but it's really made me honestly think alot.

I have recently had to attend 3 funerals in the past month alone; with all 3 being quite different to each other.

Funeral 1- Great Aunt

This was one of W's great aunts, aged 84. She became their maternal grandmother when her sister (W's blood grandmother) passed away 32 years ago. She was probably one of the more vibrant characters I have met from her era. Although she had 2 leaky valves in her heart plus a pacemaker, on Boxing Day about 2 years ago she was seen playing an electric shock game that W's brother had got as a Christmas present. It was on the lowest setting and she was really enjoying it too!

That is to say that her funeral was a rather light-hearted and happy celebration of her life, at the local Uniting Church Hall.

Funeral 2- Client's only son

About 2 weeks later, we got a phone call at work from one of our clients to say that his son had a seizure whilst playing sport with his mates. He was only in his mid 20s, working in the family business and was about to takeover the business in the next 6 to 12 months.

Needless to say that this was a sombre and rather sad affair, with so many young people, family and friends mourning the sudden departure of a young, healthy man who's adult life was only beginning. The funeral was a Catholic one, with the usual bells and smells.

Funeral 3- Workmate's parent-in-law

Just today, I attended the funeral for the mother-in-law of one of my workmates. This was also sombre and grieving due to the fact that she had not been well for a number of years, after suffering a stroke. Whilst the family was not religious in any way, they chose to have a service at the crematorium with a Catholic priest and sung Amazing Grace during the funeral.

The words spoken were based around the notion that Jesus Christ came to die for us and that he loves us and will look out and care for us. After mentioning the Footprints story, the conclusion was that Christ loves us so we ought to love one another.

Thoughts of mine:

- What about sin? How does the understanding of sin change the view of Christ loving us?
- Calvin vs Armenianism (check spelling)
- What is the best way that we as Christians can offer support and prayers to those who do not know the Lord? Especially explaining that there is a Heaven and a Hell?

We share in their grief, but we also need to tell them that there is hope for those who truly believe that Jesus Christ is their Lord, and the foundations of the faith that has been given us.

RICE Brisbane 2009 Goes LIVE Today

Check it out:

http://www.ricebrisbane.org/

6 weeks of craziness is in store.

Pray for the many, many leaders that have been working extremely hard for the past 8 months behind the scenes, to get this up and running today.

Should I go to a music festival?

I'm in a dilemma....well sort of....but not sure.

Believe it or not I have been following quite closely "Empire of the Sun", an Australian electro-pop duo comprising of 2 men: one from Sleepy Jackson and the other from PNAU.

I've been waiting for their tour announcement for months. Whilst the answer has been provided, the environment of which this is to happen is somewhat not what I expected.

They aren't actually doing a tour, but performing at a music festival later this year called 'Parklife'.

http://www.parklife.com.au/

I'm clearly not a die-hard music guru unlike some people I know, hehe, but when I think of music festivals I think of:

- Young Girls (wearing skimpy tops)
- Young Boys (wearing more sophisticated 'wife-bashers', checking out young girls wearing skimpy tops)
- Sunburn
- Dehydration
- Alcohol (and lots of it)
- Rowdy Crowds

Think Big Day Out, Splendour in the Grass, Sound Relief, Sunset Sounds, V Festival and Good Vibrations.

To sum it up- rather Non-Christian environment.

Being the person that I am I will feel quite out of place, but I would really like to see this group perform live.

*scratches head* What should I do?

Throat Exercises

I refuse to watch horror or suspense movies, purely on the basis that I'm simply too scared and terrified of blood and guts stuff. I can't scream very well and fake screaming is just wrong :)

This rules out things like Saw, Scream, Nightmare on Elm Street and Final Destination 'type' franchises.

In my younger years I would have also added Doctor Who to that list, purely on the basis of the spooky opening sequence music.

However, the exceptionally brilliant David Tennant has made me realise how great this 'not so little' TV series (first broadcast in the 1960s) is.

I've been slowly working my way through seasons of Mr Tennant's portrayal of the Time Lord, and came across the episode titled "Blink" from Season 3. The crux of the episode was how this bunch of 'Weeping Angel' statues come to life and start stalking you and move closer to you, every time you look away or blink your eyes. Once they reach you then you die.

This is definitely the most terrifying and spookiest episode I've watched yet............to the point that I genuinely screamed 3 times in a row within 10 seconds.

Even after rewinding the 10 seconds so W could see what I was screaming about, I couldn't help it but scream again because the episode was just genuinely creepy to the point of being a suspense movie.

"Whatever you do, Don't Blink. Do not look away from them or they will come for you. No matter what you do, just don't blink. Good luck".

Musings

What I'm annoyed about:

If I here that song on Sunrise "Season of Love" one more time.........should just turn TV off in the mornings anyway. They must have played that at least 3 times every morning for the past month.

Speaking of, the whole Brekky TV shows seem too shallow and wishy washy nowadays.

I don't watch mainstream TV much anymore (except for the occasional Masterchef episode) and much prefer 'Aunty' and 'Six Billion Stories & Counting'.

I also have been fortunate still to be receiving 'Little Packages' that get dropped off into my car whilst parked downstairs at work. Every now and then I will get a phone call from my parents saying that they have some food for me and will put it into my car, on their way to work.

I'm also annoyed at how much schmoosing you need to do in order to satisfy clients......

What is the definition of ministry?

Dictionary.com has one definition of this as 'The act of serving; ministration.'

'Ministry' also comes from the Greek word diakoneo, meaning "to serve".

I would think that one of the things the New Testament teaches on ministry, is what Christians are called to do for God- that is, to serve God and to be advocates for the Christian faith and living.

Some forms of ministry can be formal and up-front- Worship coordinator, Pastors, Youth leaders, Sunday school teachers, church musicians etc.
One things that has been bothering me is how Christian ministry is too easily seen as being only those people who fall into these areas of service.

Each professing Christian is 'in ministry'. The way we live our lives is a true testament to serving God by demonstrating that we follow Him and seek to have a close relationship with Him. Therefore, people that are not up-front in the church are in ministry, whether they like it or not.

Probably the most important way of doing this is to fellowship with other Christians through reading God's Word together, praying together and challenging each other to grow in our Christian walk.

One thing that is a danger I have seen recently, is the burnout of young, committed Christian adults. It is all too easy to lose the zeal to serve God, especially if you start off young, so that by the time they are in their mid 20s they start to feel discouraged about ministry. Discipleship is the key, where an older Christian mentors and disciples a younger Christian, not only through relationship building but most importantly, through studying God's Word together.

Being one of those 'older Christians', I feel there is never enough people willing or able to do the hard yards to disciple these younger Christians who are ripe to start ministry.

Without God's Word in discipleship, we will not grow and become better advocates of our ministry for God.

Doing the Impossible

Have you ever felt that your trying to achieve the impossible?
That the brick wall you have tried to break down for the past 10 years is still intact and impassable?

It's like a new bible college graduate brimming with new and fantastic ideas on doing ministry, who them finds themself at one of many churches with the view of 'we have always done it this way' or ' I've been at this church for such and such years and it has never been an issue until you raised it up' so why change?

Another thing that's been on my mind of late is the truth about explaining what Sin is, the bondage that it presents and state of wickedness that humanity is by nature.

If we call ourselves Christians, are we truly convicted of our own sin? Do we understand what sin is and how it can cause such grief and separation from a loving God?

If we are not convicted ourselves, how then can we convince and help others come to know and love Him?

SDBC had a prayer night during the week, with many people young and old gathering together to give thanks and praise to God for who He is, what He has done and what He continues to do through people that love and serve Him. It was then very encouraging to be reminded that it is God who is worthy of all praise, worthy of honour and worthy of all glory and wisdom.

We therefore rejoice in serving Him, no matter how hard the journey is- because he is one true God who makes all things possible.

Cooking

I've been posting up some pictures on my facebook account of some different foods I've been cooking for dinner.

Whilst sometimes I feel like cooking good ol' spaghetti bolognaise and a hunk of juicy steak, I've been inspired to broaden and challenge myself to make some more not-so-staple meals. Not forgetting the requirement that all meals need to be lactose-free!

What I have cooked so far:

- Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls with Beef
- Pork Mince Dumplings with Rice Noodles
- Slow-cooked Mediterranean Chicken Casserole
- Homemade Char Siu with Rice or Hokkien Noodles
- Sauteed Potatoes
- Chicken Pad Thai

What I think I should try and cook next:

- Baked Chicken and Rice with Portuguese Sauce (Macau dish)
- Grilled Pork Chop with Vermicelli and Spring Roll (Vietnamese dish)
- Slow-cooked Chicken Curry
- Pork Belly and Potato with Ground Bean Sauce (Grandma's recipe)
- Mediterranean Grilled Vegetable Stack

I should stop now as I'm getting hungry.

Another Empire of a Different kind

W bought a random CD last year which I started listening to as well, by a two Australian guys known as 'Empire of the Sun'.

I haven't been that fanatical about any music group since these blokes came along.

Inside the Empire

Empire Magazine that is....

Richard Harris once drank Elizabeth Taylor's Chanel No. 5. He then worked his way through Nos. 6-14, lighter fluid, Dulux etc.

Jon Voight reveals he keeps fit by running backwards.

There is a wombat called Chewbacca at Tokyo's Tama Zoo.

They are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the release of 'The Terminator', with Terminator Salvation due to arrive in cinemas later this year.

Spiderman 4 is confirmed for a 2011 release.

Harvey Norman has paid $$$$ for an 8 page advertisment spread in the latest issue. the GFC must be hurting then.

Better than FB? (Plus Quick Holiday Wrap)

I'm thinking that this highly neglected space deserves more attention, now that FB have changed their design yet again *SIGH*.

I can't seem to keep up with the changes and new things being added/deleted/replaced. To tell you the truth, who has actually raced their car in the PetrolHead application in the last 12 months???

I also just read that another tremor has hit Victoria again this afternoon, just 2 weeks after we witnessed the previous one earlier this month whilst on holidays.
Lots of things seem to have happened whilst we in the state: earthquakes, Sound Relief, Sheffield Shield Final, Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, Moomba Festival.....and last but not least......Avalon International Air Show!!

Yes, I was actually quite impressed with what Avalon had to offer. It gave me great opportunity to not only try and experience what gets my husband excited (insert dorky laugh here), but also see that actually alot more women than I thought would actually attend an airshow.

Let's hope that I am now inspired again to ressurrect this for the 2nd (or 3rd) time.