Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Sydney's weather is really confused right now. It looks like a miserable cold day, but then you step outside and it's like 26 degrees, which is nearly 80f. It's very odd. So I've had a pretty non-eventful last couple of days. I've been trying to organize things again since I've been back from Tassie. I went out to Manly beach a couple of days ago and did a little reading and work. Despite today's weather, it's definitely warming up here and I'm stoked for that. More trips out to the beach for me!

So Saturday morning I was hanging around getting some laundry done and cleaning up and someone buzzes my apartment. It was only like 9:30 or 10 so I was wondering who the heck would be coming by. Turned out it was Jehovah's Witness. So we talked for a couple minutes through the intercom then she ended up coming in and we had this almost hour long discussion. It was really interesting to see where we agreed and where we disagreed and it was also really challenging. I must admit I really admire the Jehovah's Witnesses for how well they know the word of God (though they misinterpret it) and how diligent they are to share their faith. So we ended up talking a bit about the trinity towards the end of our conversation because that's the main place where Jehovah's Witnesses differ from Christianity. It was somewhat frustrating how she could pull out scriptures to prove her point but I didn't know the ones to give in response to her just off the top of my head. I guess that's what happens when you're used to evangelizing and getting into discussions with Christians a lot. She gave me this pamphlet about the trinity and where the doctrine came from and basically why you shouldn't believe it. I haven't looked at it tons but what I have seen is pretty much a bunch of bull ha. I have been looking at Scriptures that do talk about the relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and talk about the deity of Christ. The deity of Christ is definitely vital. JW are missing a huge part there unfortunately.

I came up with a new chord progression the other night that I really like. It's nothing complicated but I really like the sound of it and the melody I came up with. I'm really pressing to try to write some words as I have a sense of urgency about this song. I feel like I have something important to say, but I'm not quite sure how to say it yet. I'm excited for it though. Hopefully something will come soon.

So that's all really, nothing too exciting going on here. I've felt a bit under the weather the last couple days so I've pretty much been confined to my apartment. I'm feeling better today though so hopefully I'll be up to something today. Sorry for no Tassie stories. Don't know if I'll get to those or not, it's just too hard to find consistent internet time.

Saturday, September 25, 2004

Just a quick one to say I'm back from Tassie and had a really great time. Though I spent most of the trip on the go it was still so relaxing and so good to get away for a while. I'll try to get some stories up sometime this upcoming week, but it probably won't be much detail. Nothing beats live storytelling aided by pictures. I've posted a lot of pictures at the other blog, but I have about 100 from the trip so posting over there hardly makes a dent. Right now I'm still a bit exhausted, my room feels like a mess, and I'm catching up on laundry. My roommate left early this morning for Melbourne so I saw her for a total of five minutes when I came back yesterday and now I have the apartment to myself until Tuesday. It's pretty nice and a good way to ease back in to Sydney life. So check out the other site for some pictures and hopefully they'll be some stories up soon.

Thursday, September 16, 2004

Today's the long awaited day. The day of my midsemester exam! No wait that's not right. Well, it is the day of my midsemester exam, but that's not what I've been waiting for. The point is, it's the last day of school and after today I don't have to go to class for two and a half weeks! This makes me very very happy. Actually it still hasn't hit me fully that after today I don't have to go to class and I have a minimal amount of work to do. Oh, then there's that fact that tomorrow I'm getting on a plane and flying to Tasmania. Right. Maybe I should pack for that. That's one of the goals for this afternoon. Of course it has to be a goal for today sometime, doesn't it. So I have my packing to do, a couple last minute things to buy if I can find them, and that test to tackle this evening. A-ma-zing. I've been here for a long time. I've been through seven weeks of school. The semester is half over. Half of my schooling experience in Australia is over. Absolutely insane.

So this blog is a bit of a goodbye and I should come back with plenty of stories. Whether they'll all make it on here I'm not sure...I haven't decided what mass means I want to tell stories by. Pray for me . Pray I'll be safe and smart and pray for boldness. I really want boldness. Less than four hours to freedom ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Friday, September 10, 2004

Hey I wanted to give a little shout-out to my pal Suzie Q. I'm sorry you're craving tim tam slams and are in a country that cannot provide them. I have a constant supply of tim tams at my apartment, it's quite excellent. Hmm now I kind of want one. Anyway, thanks for saying something, hope you're doing well and I'm stoked you've been reading here.

Well I might as well write about some other things while I'm here shouldn't I? Not a ton has been going on this week, just classes mixed with some hanging out. I got to hang out with Ali earlier this week which was really awesome. I hadn't seen her for a couple weeks so we hung out and played guitar a little bit and just talked. Sometimes it's good to just sit down with someone and have a good long talk. Some serious, some goofing around, some storytelling...It was a good mix. I also found out that the guy Tim I've been hanging out with actually knows Ali and a whole bunch of her friends. Only in Australia, seriously. Turns out I've met several people that Ali works with through Tim and one of his friends, and Tim knows people I've met through Ali. This country is way too small. I like it though.

Last night I went out to Manly with Tim and his bro and a few friends. We got some ice cream and walked down this path down by the beach. It was a nice night (though a little cold with ice cream) and it was good to be out of the apartment for a change. I've been feeling a bit cramped lately. Soon I will be on an airplane and far away from this place. I can't wait, Tassie I'm coming. I've heard it's very odd, I'm stoked to see it. One more week of school until break! Wooohooo I'm so stoked. I can't believe the semester is half over already. I just have to get through this paper and an exam on Thursday which shouldn't be too bad, then it's two weeks of fun for me! Tis all for now.

Monday, September 06, 2004

It almost snowed in Sydney yesterday. Really, I promise. Actually we just had the most amazing hail I've ever witnessed in my life. At my apartment we had about cm sized hail pouring for 15 minutes easily. The ground was completely covered and the power at the intersection by my place went out and cars were sliding all over. It was pretty nuts. But you know the cool thing was it actually put me in the best mood. I was emotional this weekend. Very emotional. It could definitely be classified as an emotional breakdown, possibly even multiple. But when that hail started yesterday it seriously put me in the best mood. It was really weird. Definitely God's grace to me at that moment. I think there's just something about childlike wonder...the fact that I was staring out the window for 20 minutes just watching lightning and hail and all the craziness. It was awesome. Aussies really like to call everything awesome I've noticed.

Yesteray I had this great Chinese dinner with one of my friends and his family and a few other friends. It was actually a potentially very awkward situation but it ended up being such a good time and such a great finish to my otherwise crap weekend. How bad is this, I ate almost an entire like 300 gram Cadbury chocolate bar this weekend. That's like binging man. That's how emotional I was. But today's been a lot better. And it was beautiful outside today, like hot. What's up with the weather, it's seriously skitzophrenic.

Today during my philosophy tut my lecturer called my idea a good one then proceeded to give me a list of books I could use for a paper on the topic. It was totally awesome. So I'm ditching another tut right now (for the third week in a row) and getting those sources at the library. And blogging. Yeah, I was really set to go to this tut today but I just couldn't do it in the end. Next week though. Really, I promise. No, I don't promise. I am such a slacker here...well at least a slacker for me. I've never ditched so much in my life, or not done so much reading. But seriously, none of this stuff is necessary. Or at least I hope not. Maybe I'll be kicking myself at the end of the term, but somehow I don't think so. Anyway I'm certainly over my 20 minute limit on this computer but no one keeps track so it doesn't really matter. One last word though, thanks God for hail storms and Chinese food with new friends and their family.

Friday, September 03, 2004

Oh dear it's about time isn't it. Actually I wanted to post yesterday but blogger was broken so I could not. But here I am. It's September. Does anyone else think that's weird? First of all, why have I been in school for a month and NOW it's September? I guess the weather is starting to look more appropriate for September, except we're supposed to have a high of 9 degrees today, which isn't very September-ish. I'm just very seasonally confused right now, not to mention when I date my lecture notes each day I feel like I'm skipping through the months because they put the day first instead of the month. Today is apparently the 9th of March. No that's not right is it.

Wow I'm not sure where that came from. Anyway, I haven't been up to much; nothing big anyway. Stuff for school has become a bit more demanding, though it's still not all that demanding. I handed in a paper yesterday which sounds impressive, but it's really not. I wouldn't call less than four pages a major accomplishment, though I certainly don't mind receiving easy assignments like that. I have a pretty big paper coming up in two weeks though and a 40% of my grade midterm as well, so the next two weeks are definitely going to be spent doing some work. Hopefully not too much though.

The theme for the past week and a half has been "slow down." For a while I was doing too much and it was totally catching up to me. This week has also marked a renewal of culture shock and missing home. So I've spent more time at home, have been getting to bed earlier (for the most part) and have been telling myself that I don't have to be doing things all the time. I've been hanging out a lot with the guy in my philosophy class that I mentioned on the last post. He's invited me along to a lot of things with his friends and I also went to church with him this past Sunday. He's a really nice guy and he's kinda taken me under his wing. He told me he's just going to keep inviting me to stuff but I should feel free to say no. He wants to make sure I'm okay and having a good time while I'm here in Australia. I appreciate all he's doing so much; he's been a huge blessing.

I don't think anything else is really going on. I've just been going to class (mostly) and doing homework and hanging out. Two more weeks of class until the break and I go to Tassie! I can't believe school's almost half over, but then again that has a nice ring to it doesn't it. That's all for now.