Lecture notes

Hehe, I'm no artist, but I like to doodle. You might even like call this "Extreme Doodling".




Well...I was bored. And sitting up the back. So there was no point trying to concentrate anyway, right?

By the way, it's an attempted sketch of Bosch Lecture Theatre 1. Parts of it anyway, the seats with people in it were too hard to draw. As was the rambling lecturer, and several other projectors, even though I've got about three in there already.

From Platform No.2

When she walks in my space
It's the reason I feel strange
All of these lovers
Making me nervous
Make like you don't mind
The reasons we don't connect sometimes
You're not alone in lies this time
So I won't be there
It's just that I feel spare
-Siamese, Motor Ace

RICE Rally Photos

Courtesy of the RICE website.....more here.

In a nutshell....The queue on George St was crazy...and I spent the first part of the night with my head encased in a cardboard "S" (at least I wasn't the "L"), saying the same thing over and over again to the people lined up on the Town Hall steps and in the foyer ("We've lost the O, have you seen the O?") and even got to go on stage with that thing (it was actually quite comfortable, surprisingly, but got very warm after a while, expecially when chasing after those beach balls that got kicked into the crowd, and everything sounded a bit echo-y)....and yes, there were lots and lots of people...who sang and watched and laughed and shouted and cheered and heard the gospel being preached...and about 200 prayed the prayer for the first time! Awesome...

The sky looked like a painted ceiling

Bludging again

Sigh..Go me.

Ok, time for a vague teenage ramble. Wait, I'm not a teenager anymore. Damn.




Well yesterday Pun, Cat, Alicia and I had a picnic lunch in Hyde Park to....um....was it a comiseration of sorts? Or a celebration? Couldn't really tell. Either way, we were all bludgers on a Monday. Anyways, it was a nice sunny day, and we had Vegemite and cheese on bread rolls with brekky juice and white wine and Tim Tams and White Rabbit asian lollies and sour cream and chives Soho rice crackers and chocolate and probably some other food I can't remember but Pun can (I've never worked out how she manages to recall everything, food-wise.)

And, um, we talked about....some stuff....and then Leach had to go back to uni for eQuip, and Pun, Cat and I took photos with the soon-to-be-chopped-down fig(?) trees in the park.

Then we went to HMV in Pitt St because Cat wanted to listen to a CD. They're having a sale...I ended up buying Miles Davis' Kind of Blue (I figured since I'm doing jazz piano classes now I should be listening to some jazz....don't ask me why I'm learning to play in a style I didn't really listen to before) for $9.99 and Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory for the ridiculous low price of $6.72 (ridiculous not because it's low, but because of the 72 cents). They sound a lot like Rage Against the Machine in some parts. My favourite song on it is In The End...awesome song that one. And I'm still trying to work out what I think of Kind of Blue....listening to it at the moment...it's meant to be, like, really famous or something.

After HMV, what did we do....oh yeah, we went to Strandbags so I could buy a new backpack, because my old one is falling apart. So I bought a new backpack. And then Pun bought a curling iron. I wonder if you can cook with a curling iron. Or iron with a curling iron. Or kill insects. Hmmm.

Then....oh yeah, then we parted our separate ways and I headed to the Con for jazz piano for two hours....and then I went home.

On the train on the way home, I pulled out my new $6.72 Linkin Park CD and read the lyrics in the insert. I thought they were pretty good lyrics. Then at around Ashfield, this Asian guy, around my age, wearing a bandana, comes up to the seat behind me and asks me what kind of bands I listen to, because he saw me with the Linkin Park CD before. Random. But before I could say anything, his phone rang and he had to excuse (man, I almost spelt that with an 's' before the c) himself, and he was still talking when I got off at Strathfield. So I didn't get the chance to talk to some random stranger about what sort of music I listen to.

So that was my Monday.

And I think my brain is slowly disintegrating into mush. Must be this part-time uni thing. I had a couple of people ask me today if I was alright. I think I must have looked a bit out of it or something. I felt out of it. But I am getting enough sleep these days. But yeah, uni is a bit of a drag. I'm not always "all there" during classes. I wonder if I'll pass this semester. Maybe it doesn't matter? Nah, it probably does matter.


Today, there was a brief hail storm, and I didn't bring my umbrella, or my camera, with me to uni today. I didn't get wet though. It had stopped raining by the time I went home. Would have been good to get a pic of the crunchy white pea-sized balls in patches all over the ground, though.

Look Down

Look Up

Beautiful Bruises (yes, there is a picture - you've been warned)

They really should call paintball PAINtball or something.

Firstly, you have to get up at a ridiculous time in the morning to get there by 7:30am after a one and a half hour drive, secondly, it's freezing at that time of day in the winter, and thirdly...well obviously getting hit is painful.

One of the highlights of the early drive on Saturday however, was that crossing the Hawkesbury River was absolutely breathtaking, with mist rising from the water and fog shrouding the early morning sun. We actually stopped and got out to take pictures...well, Sam (the one who wears glasses) who had a camera took pictures, the rest of us just froze while admiring the view....if I can get Sam to send me his pictures I'll post them up. There was a professional photographer on the bridge taking pictures too.

I have to say that paintball was not *quite* as fun as I was expecting it to be...compared to Lazer Zone, I definitely enjoyed Lazer more. Maybe cos I was freezing for the first half of the morning and grumpy from lack of sleep....it did get more enjoyable as the day went along. And getting hit made things more exciting. I didn't really do much in the first game (capture the flag), just spent most of the time hiding behind the barricades haha...but the game where one team goes hiding in the bushes was fun, and so was the one played in the long trench....However getting hit in the mouth by a paintball is not fun...even with the mask, it felt like my lip had been fully busted, but it turned out it was only bleeding very slightly and the rest of the wetness in my mouth was paint. Paintballs don't taste very nice =( At least I didn't accidentally shoot myself in the face like Cecilia, hehehe...

The last lot we played was where you had to shoot the other team's nominated "governor" to win...during the very last game I actually managed to make my way across the playing field to the other team's fortress...took a few shots at the governor, missed, and ran out of bullets. LOL. If only I could aim better. Then I was trying to look for fresh bullets on the ground, actually found one (!), and was going to try again, but got shot in the leg by someone on the other team who finally realised I was there. Owwwww.



And that was the resulting bruise. Nice isn't it? I don't think I've ever had a bruise that big before.

One of the other things about paintball is that you have to keep an eye on the $$$$$$$. At about $20 for 100 paintballs...hrmm, yeah, don't think I'll be going again for a while =P

Glue leaders' social: Blue Mountains

As you might have noticed I haven't been bothered to blog "properly" recently...but they say pictures are good, so here are some random pictures from our outing today to Katoomba. I would have put more up of people sleeping on the train, but I thought that would be mean =P

Hmmm yes...half of it wasn't all that "social" because we were too busy looking at our feet and holding on to railings, trying not to stack it on the giant staircase, which wouldn't have been good. It was good exercise though, probably more a workout for the legs than the heart since we were going down =D

Praise God for the slightly chilly but fine weather =) Overall it was an enjoyable day, we probably should do something like this more often!

Yawn....ok hopefully someone else will post about this more properly, or maybe I will a bit later, hmmm, yes, *later*... but for now...good night!

This is my desktop at the moment...

Notice a theme? =P

Graduation...Yay we are old.

Of cars breaking down and engagement parties

Saturday was a rather eventful day, not an overly eventful day, but one of those days eventful enough to be worth blogging about.

So yesterday for me started with our first Glue music team meeting of the year, which went alright I think. It was a pretty small group but I think that made it easier for some good discussion to get going.

After that, went home for lunch and got ready for Alan and Alex's engagement party, which needless to say, is the first one I've been to. Kat, Karen and I all went in Trees' car, and off we were to Alex's....that is, until we had to stop to look up directions, and Trees' car wouldn't start again.

We were parked on a relatively steep hill, facing downwards, and thought it would be a good idea to try undoing the hand brake and letting the car roll for a bit, before trying to start it again. Minor panic set in when we started rolling down the hill and Therese said "The brakes aren't working..." Luckily the car stopped again with just the hand brake, albeit accompanied by noises that didn't sound too good and the smell of burning rubber. OK, so we weren't going to try that again...

Thankfully it turned out we were only just around the corner from Alex's house anyway, so after hurried calls to Trees' parents and the NRMA, who said they might be a while, we walked the rest of the way to Alex's and joined the party. But before long the NRMA called to say they were at the car already, so Trees had to dash back out.

The problem turned out to be a flat battery....OK, I have no idea how cars work, I'm going read this article, when I get the time, to find out what was going on with the brakes...but anyway, after the NRMA left, Trees spent around 20 minutes driving around the block, but obviously that wasn't long enough, because it wouldn't start again after she had stopped it again, so then her dad came to jump start and swap cars....meanwhile, the rest of us were enjoying the food and the people and the party...poor Trees :(

But it was all OK in the end...now on to the engagement party side of things. Actually, I can't think of that much to write about the party itself. I guess structurally an engagement party is similar to a birthday party...food, drinks, mingling, photos, cake, short speech, us making Alex and Alan open our present in front of us =P (glad you liked it!)....but of course, going to these things, you're going to be talking about weddings, and other people who are getting married, or are already married, about people who aren't married, and who's going to be married next...

And you know, it all just seems kind of surreal. In a strange way, it made me feel like we were leaving school again. In the car on the way back home, we talked about what would happen to our group once people got married, whether we would drift apart, whether we were drifting apart already, and how we have been/are currently riding the wave of 18ths, 21sts, other birthdays, engagement parties, and later it would be weddings, baby showers, christenings, kids' birthdays, funerals...

I think about the people we were at school, and the people we are now...the things that defined us back then, and the things that define who we are now. Have we changed? I guess we have. I know I have. At least we don't run away screaming every time the word "change" comes up somewhere. (The Board of Studies...how do they come up with such fantastically vague topics? *shakes head* )

So it looks like a new part of our lives is coming up once again, as the first few of us graduate, and the first of us gets married. What will we be striving towards in the future? What sacrifices will we make?

As the officially youngest member of our group (even if it's only by a day, hehe), I hope that we're all still friends when I get married...cos you guys will be waiting for a very, very, very long time.

A guitar and small glimpses of my room

 

Messy Room

Everything is everywhere
Dusty carpet, strands of hair
Search for order in the chaos
Wouldn't know what has been lost
Clothes absorb the stifling heat
Remnants of sleep in unmade sheets
Objects languish on the floor
Just ignore it, close the door

My room needs cleaning. It's a work in progress. At least did something productive today in the form of vacuuming the house for the duration of one and a third Taxiride albums. So now my mummy will be happy because the whole house is vacuumed...except for my room that is, because you can't really see much carpet at the moment.

I wonder how many trees go into someone's education and training in a lifetime. There's a lot of ex-trees in this room, some of them in rather expensive forms which have barely been used:



Here are Five Ways To Entertain Yourself With Therapeutic Guidelines (besides reading them):
1. House of cards


2. Lattice


3. Spiral staircase


4. Modern sculpture


5. Errr....inspired by The Da Vinci Code...



Yeah, um...back to cleaning up my room.

RICE photos

OK, this is going to be a pathetically short post, no time to blog these days...

RICE photos are up, if you haven't already discovered them...follow the links.

The ones of the skit come after photos of these three security people sleeping on the job...

I managed to be in the foreground of one of the pics of us marching down the aisle...hmmm, my 5 megapixels of fame...or however many it is...

On AnCon and other things

OK, so I will try to stay positive for at least the first half of this post...

AnCon *sigh*...where to begin? Words will never do justice to the richness of the experience. Do I sound like I'm dreaming? I wish the memory would not fade so fast...clear blue skies and spectacular views; people, lots of people, old friends, new friends; music and singing...Holy, holy, holy rocked (quite literally), Ancient of Days was jazzy and Behold the Lamb of God went slightly techno, along with a few others...My personal favourite was when we sung Amazing Grace at the end of one of the main evening sessions, followed closely by You are my King at the last session. I know singing is not just about the experience, but being there with 370(?) other people all getting into the music, was like, wow.

What else...an informative seminar on what worship is (and what it is not); challenging and inspiring morning sessions with talks by Ian Powell on Heroes of the Church; room group bible studies conducted while huddled under blankets because it was cold; time out to pray facing the ocean, or swinging on swings, under that fantastic blue sky we had everyday all week (praise the Lord!); staying up 'til 3am chatting; endless cups of tea in styrofoam cups....and of course, the main sessions with talks by Andrew Katay on The Church.

Jesus IS the church - the essence of church is the presence of Jesus, by his word and through his Spirit. Saved by grace, so church by grace. What the church is for - to know, love and serve the Lord Jesus Christ, his church and the world, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God the Father. The church's life is it's mission (and vice versa).

So what does it all mean? Haha, well between my sleep-deprived head and my scrawled notes, it does make some sort of sense to me. And in terms of concrete action...well, I will be praying that if is God's will for my life to be part of the *apostolic associated ministry*, He will make it clear...it's a small start.

So I've probably lost everyone who wasn't at AnCon by now...but what can I say? I loved it. One of the best weeks I've had all year, if not THE best.

And now it's back to uni tomorrow. It's hard to shine like the stars in a place that weighs you down so much. But that's what we're called to do. And we have so much to be thankful for.

One day at a time. The darkness of night brings with it the promise of sleep, that temporary sweet relief from your own mind, and the thoughts that swirl inside.

the next day, the next day -
it was only a matter of balance.

AnCon 2005

I’m forgiven, because You were forsaken

I’m accepted, You were condemned

I’m alive and well, Your Spirit is within me

Because You died and rose again

Amazing love, how can it be
That You, my King, should die for me?
Amazing love, I know it’s true
And it’s my joy to honour You
In all I do, to honour You

You are my king
You are my king
Jesus, You are my king
You are my king

Amazing love, how can it be
That You, my king, should die for me?
Amazing love, I know it's true
And it's my joy to honour You
In all I do, to honour You

Lost and found in translation

Hanging out with my uni friends is always a novel experience. We're a pretty random group of people, although on the surface we appear relatively homogenous: Chinese, skinny, glasses, backpacks...like a lot of other pharmacy students. But "Chinese" is a rather broad category when you think about it. We're not huge as far as groups of friends go, but between us we cover the ABC-Honky spectrum pretty well, and we can never seem to hold an extended conversation in less than three languages. We all grew up in different countries, and there's a nine year age gap between the oldest and youngest person...but somehow we all ended up in Sydney, starting a pharmacy degree at the beginning of 2003.

Last night we went out to celebrate my 19th and Shirley's 28th (she doesn't look a day older than 18 though :p) - we went to Green Box for karaoke (sooo asian) and had dinner at a sushi train restaurant. As we have done so many other times, we sang songs in English, Cantonese and Mandarin, and talked over dinner in various combinations of English, Cantonese and Mandarin. And as usual, I didn't understand a third to a half of what was being said the first time round, the same jokes had to be repeated at least twice.....

Sometimes I wonder why we choose to do things like that, and how we all ended up hanging together...you would think that the first thing you look for in friends are people you can speak the same language as....I mean, if you were most comfortable speaking a certain language, then you would most likely hang out with other people who were most comfortable speaking that language too...right.....?

But you know what, I really enjoyed myself last night. It was cool. (Especially the purple cake!) And I realised that friends....they're people, that when you're around them, you know you can just be who you are, and it's alright. Even if it's different to the rest of them. And you don't feel you have to try hard at being something you're not. No pretentions. No fakeness. You can think the other person is weird....but, you know, it's alright. You're alright with it, and they're alright with it....it's just alright.

Yeah, this is corny, and I don't know what I'm talking about. I don't really know how to put it. It might sound kind of obvious...but I don't think you can always get that with people. It takes time. And you know it's real when it's there even though you don't see each other that often.

OK, that's it. I should stop blogging about stuff I can't express properly in words.

"Memories of a land not visited"

Sure of what we hope for
And certain of what we do not see,
We look foward to the future,
Abandoning our worldly security.

For there is an eternal city,
A kingdom that won't fade away.
Belonging there and there only,
We speed on the coming of that day.

As heroes of faith we run the race,
Cheered on by heavenly citizens.
Our eyes are fixed on him who saves
And our hearts on a land not yet visited.

More photos coming soon...hopefully

This is what my desk looked like during the dust-wiping mission I went on before we left for our trip...