Should left-handed gladiators be rulers of Rome?

I'm finished!! I just had my last exam (Classics, which was a heck of lot better than History!!). By 'last' I should clarify that that's the last one of two, both strangely scheduled to be in the last possible week of exams - today's even the last day of the exam period! Underground plot by faculty staff to delay our holidays? All gut instincts lead me to 'yes'. (and by 'yes' I mean 'no, how ridiculous').



Not that I'm complaining - I've been filling up my pre-exam time with a kind of pseuso-pre-holidays. Been doing lots of work to fill the time, as well as doing whatever miscellanious and various 'things' need to be done to prepare for the pilgrimage next year, which I'm helping lead on... and which is scarily starting to really happen!

Random question/opinion poll - has anyone been watching Torchwood? It's a new show, I think it's spin off of Dr Who, been on the last couple of weeks. I've been watching it and think it's pretty good - it's got the whacky, random, out of this world (haha, literally!) storylines like Dr Who, but contained to this time and world.... Entertaining, buuut I'm not sure I'll be clutching at the remote to turn it on each week.

Something else I've been filling my time with is reading (yay! note the neat seguay?) - this week I'm reading 'A Love Worth Giving' by Max Lucado. I used to read a lot of his stuff, and it was pretty influential particularly when I was a new (or newly re-committed) Christian in high-school. It's been a while since I've read the more inspirational type of Christian book, and it's pretty refreshing. I don't know how he does it, but he manages to take one small phrase and unlock all these deeper meanings and relevances that I hadn't seen before.



Take this example, in the chapter about that sometimes underrated verse/phrase 'love is kind', talking about God's kindness:



'I wonder, how many burdens is Jesus carrying for us that we know nothing about? We're aware of some. He carries our sin. He carries our shame. He carries our eternal debt. But are there others? Has he lifted fears before we felt them? Has he carried our confusion so we wouldn't have to? Those times when we have been surprised by our own sense of peace? Could it be that Jesus has lifted our anxiety onto his shoulders and placed a yoke of kindness on ours?'



Dad's in England for a couple of weeks at the moment, and this week has been in London. Yesterday police found (and disabled) a couple of cars filled with explosives that were in the area where Dad was going to go to the theatre tonight - one only a hundred metres away from the theatre where he would have been! Eep! An example of what could have happened, in a way like it talks about in that ^. So with God's kindness in mind, I'm thanking Him for that!!


Just to add some colour, here's a pic from the youth bonfire we had up in Norton Summit last week. The more I look at it - the movement, the lines, the swirls, the straights - the more I love it! I was going to put up more, but I think this post is long enough for now! :)

well this is a little awkward...

HAHA!!

snuggery

Is it unusual that I tried to warm up my pyjama top for so long on the oil heater that when I put it on two of the buttons had semi-melted and plewped off?

But damn it warm pj's feel so good to put on! The buttons were a justified sacrifice that had to be paid...

of all times...

to blog after a rather lengthy hiatus, it has to be 12:07 am on a Sat night/Sun morning, however you define it! Maybe it's because I've got no major distractions/excuses right now apart from going to bed, which is always strangely tempting to put off, regardless of how much I regret my lack of sleep in the morning...


In defence of my lack of postiness, I did attempt too last week (procrastinating, of course there had to be some sort of blog involvement in there, to be fair). That would be post would've contained something like this:

Anthropology: Conflict and Crisis: Major Essay

Is conflict a performance?
If so, what social, cultural and political purpose does such performance serve?

Yes conflict is a performance.
But for the sake of this essay, I’ll say, no, conflict isn’t a performance.
Oh and look at that, because it isn’t a performance, is doesn’t serve any social, cultural or political purpose, so I may as well not go on because there is nothing else to say.
To conclude, this is an awesome and flawless argument, well deserving of at LEAST 100%.

Seemed fair at the time.

Needless to say, I did end up actually writing it after my attack of severe first-line-is-always-the-hardest-to-write-ness!

It was actually a very interesting subject (and essay, hopefully!).

How's about a brief recap of the past week of my uber exciting life...
In this past week I:

• Finished and handed up afore mentioned essay.



• Went to (and even entered!) the Foosball competition with Lib and Lisa, with money going to a great cause. It was lots of fun!



• Saw 'End of the Spear' with Lisa and some of her Teen Mission crew



• Joined Facebook (still holding out on Myspace...)



• Discovered I could throw sheep at various people via Facebook. I did so to Ez...



• Worked (about 25 hours...)(Bakers Delight at Norwood, feel free to visit me anytime...:)



• Discovered Mt Lofty gardens for the first time, with my family



• Developed a penchant for sitting on oil heaters, and my new beautifully warm slippers



• And other stuff... (my attention span is short at this time in the morning!)
  

At this very moment I'm sitting in front of our fire, watching the tri-nations on mute - yay the Wallabies have just made an awesome comeback (from South Africa: 10, Aust: 3, to South Africa: 10, Aust: 16!!)!

Also... preparing stuff for the first meeting about the 2008 pilgrimage which is happening tomorrow afternoon... eep! I'm feeling excited, and maybe even a bit passionate about it, though - I'm doing the what/why go on a pilgrimage section, which has been a clarifying process for me to go through as well (to know why a pilgrimage isn't just a 'glorified holiday'!)

Here's a couple of good quotes I found:

"A pilgrim is someone who goes on a journey in the hope of encountering God, or meeting Him in a new way" - Tom Wright (/N.T.Wright)

and

…" we may and often will meet Jesus in the most unlikely and unexpected places: not only in cathedrals and obvious holy places, not only in liturgy and music, but in the street, the school and slum, in the poor and the suffering" - (also) Tom Wright

And just to make it a nice rounded post with a piccie- I want this tee:!!

This brings us to the end of a slightly random and disjointed post!

Sleep well

Charlie the Unicorn - German Fandub

You've all heard of Charrrrlliieee (and if you haven't a) you have not yet lived, and b) go to http://dan-jon.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_archive.html)... and now he's gone GERMAN!! This one goes out to Sez (and Tamie!).

... sobering

I thought I'd take a brief break from writing an essay (why is it that I can write more in three night-time hours, than the whole of the day spent sitting in front of the computer?!) to share a bit of what it's about because ... well, it's pretty sobering stuff.

And this also should help keep me focussed on actually getting the darn thing done (ironically, I hear you say, as I'm actually actively NOT getting it done by writing this? Never mind such logical logic, at this time of the night it simply doesn't apply... Ah, sweet denial).

The question for anthropology which I've ended up doing is this:

'Analyse and discuss the impact that amputations and mutilations had on Sierra Leonean society during the war of the 1990s. To what extent was the power of the rebels literall and physically inscribed on the bodies of their victims?'

I've spent the last couple of days immersed in reading about all this stuff - in graphic, detailed descriptions about how people had arms or hands hacked off in 'short' (above the elbow) or 'long' sleeve fashion, were indiscriminately killed or abused, had to watch silently as family members were tortured or murdered, women and girls raped and sexually abused, children made to become soldiers and carry out the above with abandon, losing their childhood along the way...

Reading about all of that makes me uncomfortable. When I was little I used to think the majority of the world was like the peaceful little world that I lived in, with a couple of dusty countries in Africa having trouble finding food (but not to worry, America would soon enough fly in some supplies, or Oprah would save the day) ... But so it should make me uncomfortable - I don't want to look at the world through desensitised or purely academic eyes. In a strange way it's good to be filled with a sadness and compassion for people outside my own circumstances. It really does fill me with sadness and anger for the things these people have gone through, and the utter evil possessing the people carrying such atrocities out. It's like think of your worst nightmare, and that happened to these people. It's both mind-blowing and sobering.

But anyway, the specific and intetional way that the rebel groups used amputations and mutilations on people to send a message is clever in a very disturbing way - rather than killing a person it leaves them with a ceaseless reminder of the power relationship between themselves and the aggressor (sorry if this sounds like an essay :P). Basically they're leaving their mark on the person for life, as well as sending a political message to the government (which was what they were wanting to do) that they aren't protecting their citizens, and aren't good enough. Add to that the corruption in the government and things are pretty dire!

At the moment though things look like they're on the up and up so that's pretty hopeful :)

Makes me think of what we were looking at in the last small group on camp though, of what we can look forward to in heaven, we won't be in a stuffed up world forever:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." Rev 21:3-5

If you got here to the end of this impassioned post, well done, when I next see you I might you a pat on the back (I was going to say I might give you chocolate, but that would be cruelly raising your hopes only to be painfully crushed... so I didn't) ;)

Night...

on the air

big news: i have a mobile again, after a month in the communication wilderness! Same number.
Yay :D

henna, moisturiser and hot cross buns...mmm!

Well well well, it has been an eventful while. I've decided this is going to be a multi-faceted post.

Facet #1 : a picture.

Here is my foot. My foot does not normally look like this (*gasp* I hear you... uh... gasp) because I got it TATOOED!! Henna tatooed that is, so it'll only last for a few days (to save Dad a freak out :P) ... but what a beautiful few days they shall be, where my foot brings a bit of life, culture, and novelty into my life, and through my wearing of thongs (no matter how cold it gets), into the lives of others as well!

Facet #2

A story.

A very bizarre story.

Last night as I lay dreaming in bed ... No scrap that beginning of the story, I got writer's block. Here's what happened - I've got NO idea WHAT the heck I was dreaming about, but some strange storyline must have been taking place under my eyelids, because a mysterious force took hold of me. You know that Body Shop body butter that comes in the big tubs and smells so good you want to taste it? Well, you can take it from me, it doesn't taste good.

I happened to have one on my bedside table last night. That's right, I half-woke up during the night, took the lid off, took a scoop out with my finger, and ATE it. I ATE my strawberry body butter IN MY SLEEP. How WIERD is that?! I vaguely remember taking the lid off, and then half waking up throughout the night thinking that moisturiser sure does have a wierd aftertaste, not registering that that's because it's abnormal to actually EAT it, regardless of how good it smells!!

When I properly woke up in the morning I could still taste it in my mouth so I knew it wasn't just a dream. It tub didn't have any large labels saying 'POISON: IMMEDIATE DEATH ON CONSUMPTION' so I'm not too worried. She'll be right! It was just SO bizarre.

Facet # 3

Some good news.

I HAVE A JOB!!!! (wow, so many capitals in this post!)

I am now officially a part-time sales assistant at the Norwood Baker's Delight. I get to wear those hot and flattering collotte/shorts, lol. Nah, it's actually good. It was such an answer to prayer to get it - it's local, the manager's got good priorities and is flexible but focussed, and the other people I've met so far are nice. The main challenge is trying to memorise the thousands (at LEAST) of buttons on the till, and learning all the money ... things. But free bread, woo!

Facet #4

A reflection ... possible whinge.

I heard someone say the other day that if you're too busy to catch up with friends, you're too busy. At the moment that qualifies me as too busy! It's crazy - all my time just seem to get slotted up, there's always something to do. We've got such a busy culture - where a lot of the time we seem more task focussed than relationship focussed, that getting all those 'things' done is the priority, and friendships lose out in the mean time. I'm finding it really frustrating that I've got good friends who I haven't seen in what seems like ages and am really missing being able to catch up with, but the weeks just keep flying by in a haze of getting stuff done, and racing from one thing to the next. Even with holidays coming up there's not going to be much down time. That's a bit of a depressing way to end, hey!

That's all for now.

Night! xo

new thing to add to the sterling things list

elderly couples holding hands


Maybe it's something to do with love that's weathered all the storms of life, and is still going strong.

By the way, I am currently mobile-less at the moment, it hasn't been found since last Sunday (the last time it was seen). So if anyone wanted to or has contacted me (or not) then ... don't. Haha, well do, just not on my mobile for another week and a bit or so! Sorry if there have been any unanswered messages (I'm sure there must be AT LEAST a hundred. If not more;), that's why.

identity crisis

We just took our cats to the vet for their annual check up (pretty funny in itself - Remy in the cat carrier doing these ultra sad meows, and me (unwisely wearing black and thus ending up completely covered in fur) carrying a quivering Charlie. They got their claws clipped (woohoo for us!).

When we got home I think Remy started having a minor identity crisis - I found him in the hallway trying to sharpen his claws on the carpet, as you do... but, there were hardly any claws left, let alone enough to be sharpened. Instead he kind of manically was clawing at the carpet looking anxious. Poor lil fellow.

To try to cheer him up I tried to dangle some string in his face, but I think this just depressed him more as he couldn't claw onto it. Oops.

Weeee! String!!!...
...that I can hardly hold onto. I am so depressed right now.
Grrrrr! *sob* (I love this one, who knew cats could frown?!

In other news, Chicks go Sticks was a fabulous success, with many hilarious moments, girly bonding, and great convo's. Go God.

Ooooh, wow, I see the sea!

Fleuro sunset, whilst chasing roo's.

Closely followed by this great adventure of a trip, was Sez's awesome emo par-tay - if you haven't already go to Sez's blog or Em's piczo for hot pics!

tomorrow night...

I will be sleeping under the stars...

After 3 yrs of failed attempts, the chicks are finally going sticks when the blokes are going bush! That's right, the youth are off to camp. Not the shelter over your head, sqeaky bunk bed, luxury of having a bathroom kind of camp. We're talking the real deal, hard yakka camping camp. 10 girls. 22 guys. (Seperate camp sites ;) 5 cars. 1 trailer. Numerous tents, bbq's, billies, gas lamps, sleeping bags, pillows, chocolate. 2 nights. 1 hike. 1 God. Much bonding. Good times are to be had!

WOOOP!!! :D

Don't wish us luck, because who knows if that exists. (Good question, thoughts anyone?)

Prayer on the other hand ... God exists ... we'll be needing him! (we always do anyway, but you know what I mean... )

let the record play ... beauty in the sunlight

Sooo... I just got back from my third official small group. I'm liking them - I was thinking as I was driving home, I'm glad that I went and did that rather than having another night at home watching tv or something (not that that's bad ;) Otherwise there would be these conversations that I'd have or hear with people that just wouldn't happen, whether I know them well or not. It's just cool to have that time set aside with a group of people to talk together, read the Bible and pray together, even if I'm feeling a bit brain dead or tired!


Second week at uni this week, and MAN has it been hectic (please note my sarcasm). I've only got 8 contact hours (plus lots of reading - it IS arts!) which is pretty nice. I'm actually really looking forward to all my subjects I think - especially anthropology ('conflict and crisis'- looking at conflict all around the world like Sierra Leone, Sudan, Rwanda, Northern Ireland, endless list really). My lecturers for classics and history are such characters, so stereotypical, which I love. The classics guy puts up random far side cartoons in lectures, and otherwise likes to illustrate his points with stick figure drawings (his own, of course). It annoyed me at first, but now I'm warming to it. The history guy we just met today, and... well, my description wouldn't be adequate. He's at the more mature end of the age spectrum (a nice way of saying he's a bit old), walks with a stoop, had this great comb over, a dry sense of humour, and is passionate about what he teaches (he likes to look at the medieval era (the topic of the course) for fun, as opposed to his specialist area!). Oh yeah, and he described his take on medieval history as more Monty Python than Dan Brown. How can that not appeal?

Here are some pics I took of my beauty of a cat Charlie yesterday arvo.

Conveniant spot in the sun, or alien abduction?

How embarrassing for her, I caught that on camera. Check out her fangs!

Isn't she gorgeous? And despite the slight blurriness, the lighting's pretty good in this shot.

Also, on a random note - I went jogging on Dan and Phili's treadmill this afternoon. Yay random efforts at improved fitness, AND being able to watch Battlestar Gallactica at the SAME TIME!!

That is all :P

poem of a possum

Here is a poem.

This is my post 200th
Which has been a long time in a cometh
My mind is now blank on what to write
Except for the possum on Saturday night
It fell into our fireplace
And logged into Myspace
(that bit's not really true,
just a bit of hullaballoo)
There it was stuck for 24 hours
While we didn't notice, watching Fawlty Towers
When we finally noticed it's existance
Notified only by Remy's insistance.
We tried to shake the chimney pipe,
Then down we poured water to make it alight
This only resulted in petrification,
And it resorted to staying-stock-still-ation
We lured it out, with lur-ishious fruit
Half a banana and an apple to boot.
Cardboard box at the ready
And a torch held steady
We waited it out till 3 (am!)
When the little guy decided to flee (amen!)
With strategic manouvering
And a distinct lack of Hoovering
We scooped him/her up
and scooted him/her out
and then we went back to sleep.

The end.

Acknowledgments: This inspiration and encouragement for this poem goes largely to Phili. Your words 'Write a poem. I'm now expecting a poem!' were invaluable :P. Thanks also to Dad, possum-catching-buddy.

no one ever really knows what lies beneath the surface...

That should really be rephrased 'only God really knows...'

Seeing as I've been lacking in blogging inspiration lately, and now sit in front of the screen unsure of what to write now I'm here, how about a brief photo summary of the past month or so? Actually, some of the photos have mysteriously disappeared, so just a couple will have to do - including which I'll show off for terribly talented members of the family.


From a wonderful day at Pt Elliot with the family (including the specially flown in VIP's Aunty Leone and Michael! Sadly Phili couldn't join us on the day though)

by Dad

by Michael
By Dad
and by Michael (G'pa, me, Dan and Jon frolicking in the waves)

AND of course this was closely followed by a couple of days down at Alex's McCracken great golf house down at Victor also (sorry about that lame joke there...) As a quote from Emma (the bk, not the person) put it eloquently in my Jane Austen diary (yay useful Christmas pressies) 'It was a delightful visit:- perfect, in being much too short' Although it was a short time that went fast (same with certain visiting relatives), that makes you appreciate the time you do have all the more I guess.

Now, time for a sterling (as in things that are good) list:

• Movies, seen in good company
• Everwood (10am, ch 9, quality)
• peanut butter and honey sandwiches
• real friends who know your good and bad parts, and care enough to butt in
• family fun times
• being able to start AND finish a book
• good tears
• sleeping in
• moments of clarity, and getting priorities in order (january always seems to be a good times for that, the whole new year thing)
• weddings (less than two weeks to go!!!)
• and that: We have small troubles for a while now, but they are helping us gain an eternal glory. That glory is much greater that the troubles. So we set our eyes on not what we can see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time. But what we cannot see will last forever.
  2 Corinthians 4: 17, 18

Thank God for that.

And un-sterling:

• itchy sunburn (at least it's not first degree burns a la Anna)

Hmm, how to end... I'll do a Sez - have FUN! haha, till next time...

apPARently I'm ...

Just to follow the crowd and do the brutally honest personality test... ouch! I guess it's hard being... Almost Perfect- INFP 33% Extraversion, 53% Intuition, 33% Thinking, 33% Judging So, you want to make the world a better place? Too bad it's never gonna happen. Of all the types, you have to be one of the hardest to find fault in. You have a selfless and caring nature. You're a good listener and someone who wants to avoid conflict. You genuinely desire to do good. Of course, these all add up to an incredibly overpowered conscience which makes you feel guilty and responsible when anything goes wrong. Of course, it MUST be your fault EVERYTIME. Though you're constantly on a mission to find the truth, you have no use for hard facts and logic, which is a source of great confusion for those of us with brains. Despite this, in a losing argument, you're not above spouting off inaccurate fact after fact in an effort to protect your precious values. You're most probably a perfectionist, which in this case, is a bad thing. Any group work is destined to fail because of your incredibly high standards. Disregard what I said before. You're just easy to find fault in as everyone else! Luckily, you're generally very hard on yourself, meaning I don't need to waste my precious time insulting you. Instead, just find all your own faults and insult yourself. ***************** If you want to learn more about your personality type in a slightly less negative way, check'>http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=INFP">check out this. *****************

Your 1950s Name is:

Betty Charlene

What's" your 1950s Name?

Your Quirk Factor: 47%

You're a pretty quirky person, but you're just normal enough to hide it.Congratulations - you've fooled other people into thinking you're just like them!

How Quirky Are You?

Your Personality Cluster is Introverted Thinking

You are: Objective, honest, and credibleIntellectually curious, with many diverse interestsMore inclined toward ideas than peopleFiercely independent and unapologetically unconventional

What's" Your Personality Cluster?

bored much?

You Are Jan Brady

Brainy and a little introverted, you tend to think life is a lot worse than it actually is.And while you may think you're a little goofy looking, most people consider you to be a major babe.

What Brady Are You?