*YAWN*

Mental Notes to self:

Must get some decent sleep.

Must go to sleep without thinking/worrying about something.

Must not try and find something to worry about later.

Must not keep thinking that today is the end of the year. (sorry, accountants tend to do this, especially today, in this country anyway)

Must stop babbling in my blog.

I'm recovering from my latest bout of winter blues, despite the occasional *cough*.

I must really be tired, as this post has to be the most boring post I've made on this blog so far.

Lesson learnt today: There is such a thing as cheap wedding shoes.

Now I've got it......I think....

As a perfect sequel to my previous post, I think I've caught the nasty winter bug :( bleugh!

Feeling sore and achy all over, and very tired. I don't have enough sick leave to take a day off either, so that's just great! (insert sarcastic tone here)

On some brighter news, we have a place to move into after the wedding, which is a big relief.

Now it's time to prove that my life can be fitted into a little cardboard box ;)

Lethargy sets in....

I think my body is telling me that it's time for me to have some R & R.
HA! Tough chance, not with so many things still yet to do.

Maybe it's crying for help from the strenuous and hectic last couple of weeks, or I'm just making up an excuse to bum around this weekend and do nothing. Again, that aint gonna happen!!

Work is having it's ups and downs. I still feel at times, that people forget that I have been working for 3 years and therefore has a good foundation of experience in what I do. Either they're are hesitant to give me more responsibility, or they're waiting for me to make the first move. I honestly don't know.

It's probably taking its toll on my health too, that I was doing more heavy labour work over the weekend, when I was helping my fiance move his stuff into the garage. (which I'm not complaining about either)
Despite that, I still did not reach the 10,000 steps a day. The closest I got to was 8,846.

No rest for the wicked, as the saying goes.

What happens when you notice.....

a black, sleek Alfa Romeo or Peugeot 407cc convertible drive past you in traffic?

You take a look at the male driver, who happens to have grey hair, wearing a beret (the passenger is also wearing something on his head) and a "cool" pair of sunnies.

Only thing left to confirm that this person is having a mid-life crisis, is whether they are wearing driving gloves. Pity that on proceeding to the on-ramp to the freeway they slam on the accelerator and drive off at a speed that my little Mazda 1.8L couldn't possibly handle. (or maybe...)

Is this the life of the male when the female is too busy having mood swings and hot flushes at home?? ;P

Exercising the Jaw and Mind

Started studying the book of Joshua in one-to-one this week. I like grappling with OT text, history, and it never ceases to amaze me to see God's amazing promises made back in Genesis 12 come to fruition.

It's easier to see the events as they are written, living this side of the cross and to have the privilege and freedom of studying the Bible in this way. The temptation of reading it (esp OT narratives) like a story without additional "chewing" wouldn't be helpful though.
Chewing a passage is good. There are the dangers of putting your own interpretation to it and leaving it as it is, without asking for God's wisdom in understanding the passage. Above all, He knows best. All you need to do is ask.

No matter how many times you read a book or a passage, there's always something that was always there, that you probably wouldn't have noticed previously.

I guess you could say that biblical theology along with systematic bible teaching is one of my passions for learning and teaching. However I've felt that I have somewhat back-slided in my zeal for God and become lukewarm. (cf Rev 3:14 about the church in Laodicea) I need to become hot again, and the only way that would be possible, is to make some major changes in my life.

Everything was rad, totally awesome, and TUBULAR!

I believe some people own a DVD boxed set of some TV show called Buffy(hehe).......but I'd prefer seeing DVD boxed sets of Growing Pains, Step by Step and maybe Charles-in Charge...

Here are potential candidates:

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=3183

Towards the bottom of the page, there's a comment from a John Pannozzi about the possibility of............Animaniacs!!!!!!!!!!!

Food Smugglers

My sister and I did a fly-in/fly-out adventure to Sydney this weekend for our cousin's wedding. Now in our family the mere mention of going to Sydney (for whatever length of time- in this case, overnight) sparks the beginning of the most efficient transporting and distribution process with "Food Freighters-Special Smugglers of Fine, Asian cuisine, with room left to spare for mischevious relatives' demands."

The process goes something like this:

1) Inform family of departure date and time of freight carrier- recommended minimum capacity of 2 people, based on amount of food required to be delivered.

2) Picking List prepared by customers- we only have one customer..........Grandma.........but this is all we need to keep this distribution process going.

3) A supply of food to be imported into NSW is prepared also........... provided by Dad or Grandma.

4) Freight carriers begin their groaning/rolling eyes process

5) On date of departure, freight carriers are given the special bag (sometimes suitcase) to transport the goods

6) Imported QLD Food is distributed to chosen NSW receivers, whether they like it or not

7) Freight carriers then make their way to the allocated Fine Asian cuisine venue (a Chinatown BBQ House) to receive the supply of goods as per the Picking List

8) In response to Step 6, the NSW receivers then plan their counter distribution service, by providing goods without the knowledge of the Freight carriers

9) On finding out about Step 8, Freight carriers and NSW receivers have a "special meeting" involving lots of grumbling and comments revealing the "naughtiness and corrupt" ways of the NSW receivers. (note, Freight Carriers are always innocent)

10) Freight Carriers reluctantly receive the NSW food parcel, and groan more.... knowing the fact that they now have more baggage to take back then when they first arrived

11) NSW food parcels are then received back at the headquarters of "Food Freighters."

Oh yeah, amongst all this there was a wedding wasn't there? It went well indeed :D

Water squirters and discipline

Went to the Anzac Day Parade in Ipswich yesterday with Warren and family. Grand-dad, along with cousins Alex, Nicole and Mitchell were marching. It's an honour to witness such a great event not having any war veterans in my own family. Although I witnessed the VP 50 celebrations in Townsville back in 1995 which was much larger (celebrating 50 years since the end of WWII), actually seeing people that will be a part of my family participating in the event, gave me that extra feeling of emotion.

As the ceremony was held in the sun, all the cadets had to be periodically squirted in the face and neck with water, along with ice cubes for sucking on. A few people I saw required medical attention but that is not surprising at events such as this. Quote from Warren's mum- "Now this is the time every year that we get to see people fall over like trees."

The older air force personnel faired well in the heat, with no water squirters and being disciplined for much of the ceremony. However the cadets did not fair as well. When they had to come to attention, most had to struggle to get up from the ground from which they were sitting on. (legs fall asleep)

From someone who was a cadet himself, he saw it as an absolute disgrace. (EDIT- no, this is not me, as I couldn't possibly see myself as a cadet in any shape or form)

Quotes to ponder:

We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from
artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real
lemons. ---Alfred E. Newman

Adam and Eve had the ideal marriage. He didn't have to hear
about all the men she could have married, and she didn't
have to hear about the way his mother cooked.

"Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he
is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is."
--- Sir Francis Bacon

"I asked this one girl out and she said, 'You got a
friend?' I said yes, she said, 'Then go out with him'"
--Dom Irrera

Telephone gives the radio stars

Work has finally updated the phone system to sleek, black phones with a direct number for each staff,(yippee!) info display (with name, date, ext no and time) and the ability to listen to the radio at work. (Although it's only tuned in to 97.3FM) Apparently this is the on hold music. I'm certain that this isn't legal but anyway, that's the firm's risk :S

Although I must admit it is waaaaay better than listening to a Greensleeves on chimes...which was what it was before.....eeeeek!

Just heard one of the best songs of the 1990s- "Hazard" by Richard Marx.

They were playing MP3s earlier but something stuffed up along the way so now it's just the radio.

Attempted break-in to get the Law?

I received a phone call over the weekend from a friend who asked whether I had the latest hard copy of the Australian Corporations Law. He needed a copy for his exam on Monday. Deciding that I should be helpful, I suggested that I visit my work office over the weekend and browse through our library resources to find the jackpot he needed.

I was a bit apprehensive as I had never visited this new office after hours before, and I have only been in this job for 3 months. So, with the boom gate and lift keys in hand, I went to the building, up to the office floor and on stepping out, the security alarm starts beeping!!! Luckily another man who works in the floor above (who also is our Practice Manager) was in the lift with me and he was able to disarm the system. Phew!

It would have been a bit odd trying to explain why I was in the building and set the alarm off.

"No I wasn't breaking in....rather.... I came in to see if we had the latest Australian Corporations Law in our library. "

After all that, all we had was the 2001 version. Doh!!!

And no, we do not have the latest copy of the Criminal Law Act either.

Toy Story 3 1/2

There is a rather large fascination with toys and stuffed animals around my part of the office. We have the Finding Nemo collectables from Maccas, Little Miss Chatterbox (Chatty), Mr Silly, Tassie Devil (Tazzie), Moshimoro (known as Pak Choi), the Platypus from Expo 88 (known as Oz) and a very scruffy-looking bear.

Every now and then, someone will discreetly throw either one or all of these over the top of your cubicle, causing you to either jump hysterically, knock off another stuffed animal that has been perched on top of the dividing wall, or spill your drink over your desk.

In the case of two particular male staff, the occasional game of brandy with the toys can start like a match being lit.

Who said accountants are boring?

Blog Away!

Just to let you all know that I have changed the settings in my blog to allow non-registered E Blogger users to add comments if they wish.

Thought I'd also put in this post, the following:

The winner of this year's Bulwer-Lytton contest-AKA Dark and Stormy Night Contest -- run by the English Dept. of San Jose State University, wherein one writes only the first line of a bad novel.

"The sun oozed over the horizon, shoved aside darkness, crept along the greensward, and, with sickly fingers, pushed through the castle window, revealing the pillaged princess, hand at throat, crown asunder, gaping in frenzied horror at the sated, sodden amphibian lying beside her,
disbelieving the magnitude of the frog's deception, screaming madly,'You lied!"

Sing me a Song will you?

I've been obtaining song lists from various places as a part of my wedding research, and couldn't help reading through the list, finding a particular song , cringing before saying "I so remember that song!"

80s one-hit-wonders included Extreme, Mr Big, Wet Wet Wet, Vanilla Ice and great artists such as Phil Collins, Bill Joel and U2.

I then started counting how many songs they had for certain artists, and was amazed that on one list, they offer 30 Kylie Minogue songs which span over 2 decades!! Madonna only had 19 songs. U2 had 22 songs which is also impressive.

Bizarre song titles include "Why do you want to make those eyes at me for?""Shame Shame Shame""Flat Feet Floogie", "Hit me with your Rhythm Stick" and ......."You've ruined all my Favourite Songs" by some group called MGF. It's been placed in the Alternative song category. Enough said.

Culture Club

I went out to lunch with a fomer work colleague of mine at Sunnybank today. I was standing outside the Little Taipei fruit shop and watching various people wandering in and out of the shop and the Food Court upstairs. Young couples (not sure if they were DINKS), young families, senior citizens with their little trolleys, some starving high school/uni students and the occasional mixed couple. (Caucasian and an Asian counterpart). Although I don't eat out that often, I do realise that many Caucasian people go to Sunnybank for food. I even saw an entire family (mum, dad and teenage kids) wander into the Food Court upstairs. I know it's not that uncommon but it is living proof that a cross-cultural environment exists quite well. That is, an acceptance of people who come from different backgrounds, upbringing and food groups. Obviously a line can be drawn at eating snakes and water beetles (which I don't think we sell here anyway), but in saying "Hey, your culture is different, and I accept and can live with that" is an encouraging prospect.

Psychological beings

I have been thinking lately how a person can have mood swings in an instance. You can be bright and cheery one moment, and then self-destructing a few moments later.

Is this stress or a crazy mental state that needs medication?

Issues such as mental health, personal counselling sessions and psychiatric treatments are now included as benefits provided by private health insurance. There are Men's Health and Good Medicine magazines in the lunchroom at work. The topics that come up in almost every issue are stress relief, how to live a stress-free life, taking control of your life and free yourself from life's problems. Not to mention the craze of the year are low GI diets.

Is our society becoming a more stressful one? With work/family/life balance, demanding jobs, lack of sleep and not eating healthily, it's not surprising.
For example, I came home recently from being quite depressed for most of the day. Reasoning-feeling unwanted, unhelpful and doubting about what the future holds. I thought that blaming oneself for problems that may not be caused by you in the first place, and putting the weight of your burdens on yourself, rather than on someone else is better. I realised that in doing so, not only causes yourself to hurt, but also to those around you.

Inaugurality?

My very first post on an attempt to keep a blog.

I have only witnessed two other friends with blogs so I'll see how far this goes before I lose interest.

In my new job of almost three months I've been able to see the variety, humurous and sometimes "shaking my head" scenes that comes with working in a firm with more than 2 accountants.

Firstly, I quite liking working with people closer to my age, sharing similar childhood memories, love of accounting (NOT!) and down-to-earth attitudes of most.

I shake my head every time I hear at work, gossip or a whinge from someone who is looking for love and their despair of ever finding the perfect man. I personally do remember being in that stage of my life a couple of years ago, before unbe-known to me a certain male counterpart entered my life. I can see how negative a topic such as singleness has become, especially for those in their late 20s. But for those who pine after people for the sake of being in a relationship seems very shallow. Outbursts such as "It's not fair!! Why do they (insert person's name) always get the good-looking guys!!" or "I'm so much better than she is" come to mind.

I'm not being smug about not being in that position anymore, but it leads me to really think how life's views can change, once you know the everlasting love of Christ.