I can now officially drink in any country I want to.

Just FYI I deleted the guestbook this afternoon because I'm sick and tired of it being filled with porn. I think anyone who comes here has pretty much learned to stay away from it so it wasn't much of a loss anyway. Sick people.

So once again time has flown by without so much of a word from me. A lot has happened in this past week, and so much of it excellent. Things like cell group, great speakers at Hillsong (including a Ukrainian with a great accent), fun hanging out with friends, a great gig last Saturday night which included the selling of many demos (YAY), and more hanging out. There's some new pictures up from the gig and from hanging out. Beside that I've been working on a couple papers all the bloody time. I can't wait to have these things done and have them in on Monday. I'm about 95% there which is excellent. I've never had such a hard time with a paper my whole life.

So tomorrow's the big day. That's right folks, it's the big 2-1 for Krystle. We'll be having a BBQ at a friend's house so I'm really pumped for that and I think it will be a pretty chill time. I know it's customary here to have speeches on your 21st so last night I was thinking about what I could say to everyone and I totally started tearing up as I lay in bed! Granted Josh Groban was also playing on my computer which is just BEAUTIFUL and emotion provoking...but still! I certainly didn't expect that. But what I realized is that I've met so many beautiful people here who have been so supportive of me and so unbelievably generous.

That is all for now. Hopefully I'll have great stories from this weekend and will actually take the TIME to put some of them up here. We can hope anyway.

Oh, and I've officially spent 1/4 of 2004 in Australia. WEIRD. How did this ever come about?

I just wanted to take the short moment I have to say that God is amazing and it's incredible how quickly he can take my self-absorbtion and completely turn it around. I'm so stoked for the things God is doing right now and the opportunities I have coming up. Just needed to say that. Hopefully more explanation sometime later when things aren't so hectic.

Nothing new is going on really, I'm just bored and feel like I might be able to get some stuff out here. Lately it's just been research and homework for me. Which really is fine considering how little work I've done this whole term. I don't mind sucking it up for the last couple weeks and putting in some hard core work on some papers. It's about time I had to do work. The only other thing of consequence happening is that I'm opening for my friend's band this Saturday which is quite exciting. I'm only going to get to play 3-4 songs but I'm still really stoked to perform and to see my friend's band as well. It's going to be a good night.

Lately I can't sleep. Well, I fall asleep eventually but it takes forever. Really I haven't been sleeping all that well for about a month, but this past week has been especially ridiculous. I had a couple bad nights when it was so bloody hot, and I haven't recovered since. I lay down, and no matter how tired I am I can't get comfortable, and my mind starts to swirl with all these thoughts and half of them don't even make sense. I think about uni and the papers I have to write, or about the gig on Saturday. I've thought about home tons. But I don't really miss it. I just think about it. Like target in my home town. Why in the world is a picture of target popping into my head? Or my grandma's front yard? Or my bedroom? Or my drive to work? I can't get these things out of my head, they're just relentless as soon as I lay down to go to sleep. And I've even tried putting on music to distract me, which normally works. But I caught myself last night thinking THROUGH the music and completely ignoring it. It was Sara Groves even. How one can ignore her music I'm not sure, but I was able to do it last night. I just want some rest. And I want to sleep through the night. I've woken up every morning sometime between six and seven every morning for the past month I think. And this comes after not being able to fall asleep until about 1am. Why am I waking up? Why can't I shut my mind off? Why does everything I think make absolutely no sense? I need rest Jesus.

How quickly time goes by and how little I write in here. My first inclination is to say "not much has happened" but that'd probably be a bit false. Seeming how I've been to an opera at the Sydney Opera House, a major album recording at Hills, and booked a trip to Cairns since my last blog, maybe those things are worth mentioning. Oh wait, I already did.

The opera was astounding. I saw The Barber of Seville and the whole production was entirely mind-blowing. The music was incredible, and the acting and set and lighting were so magnificent and backed the music up so well. I am a sucker for tenors, let me tell you, and it certainly helps that two of the main characters in the opera are tenors. Me gusta mucho. Quick side note - sometimes when I go to Circular Quay I get really excited because I find Spaniards tourists who are speaking in Spanish. Sadly I can hardly understand them as they're speaking so fast with a Spanish accent and my Spanish sucks at this point, but it still makes me excited. End side note.

I've been to a couple things at Hills this past week that have got me really pumped up. I went to Hillsong women for the first time ever last Thursday morning and it was excellent. Bobbie Houston is hilarious. She was telling all these stories about Joel and how he got dropped on his head and all these crazy other things. This girl who goes to Hillsong who's my age also played some songs before Bobbie got up to speak. Apparently she's gone platinum several times over in New Zealand (she's a Kiwi) and her album just came out in Oz recently. She has an awesome voice. Her name is Brooke Fraser, and I bet she has a website so you should check her out (i.e. I'm sure Mel will do this). I got her CD a few days ago at Target (oh Aussie Target you have redeemed yourself...for now) and it's pretty good. Not what I expected, but it's totally grown on me. Though I have to say the CD doesn't quite do her live voice justice. Seriously this girl is awesome, and so completely rooted in God. It's all very inspirational.

Next Hillsong excursion was the recording on Saturday night. To bring back a phrase from my past - it was off the hook. Seriously. Some of the slower songs on that album are amazing. The fast ones are a bit hard to get into as they're pretty much rock songs with worship lyrics, but they can be learned eventually. The whole time I was just so amazed at the hearts of the worship leaders and the people there. Hillsong is a church that is so seeking after God, it's pretty amazing. And He shows up there in incredible ways. After a couple months I'm a bit more "used" to things there; meaning, I'm no longer super distracted by the differences while I'm at church there. So it's been really awesome to be there and worship and seek God 'in the house.' Yeah, God is good.

Last topic, Cairns. Cairns is at the top of the east coast and it's basically this great rainforest/beach place that I'm sure will be hotter than hell but absolutely beautiful. And I'll get to see the Great Barrier Reef, which is such a privledge and something I'm so excited about. I'm definitely learning here that you need to get out and take opportunities. Granted these things are costing me some of my savings and I can't always live like this, but there are certainly times for adventure and this is one of them. I think my life is going to be characterized by more adventure from now on...at least I want it to be.

Now I feel like I must offer explanation as to what my non-serious song is about. The weather in Sydney has been a bit odd lately. Sunday it was gorgeous; I spent the day at the beach. Monday was absolutely weird with near rain but hot weather. Yesterday it poured all day, but Wednesday it didn't rain at all. BUT, it looked like it was about to rain any second the whole day. So, trying to be smart, I took my umbrella with me whenever I went out on Wednesday. I went to the library at Uni for a bit to do a little research, and it's common practice to leave your umbrellas at the entry of the library. There's also a sign posted that says in essence, "We aren't responsible if your umbrella gets stolen." Since it wasn't raining and since there were few people in the library as it's holidays at the moment, my umbrella was the only one at the entry. As I set it down I had this thought that it might not be there when I get back. But I decided I couldn't be bothered to carry it around with me everywhere.

Well, when I had finished what I was doing my worst fears had come true...my umbrella was gone! Luckily it wasn't raining so at least I didn't have to get soaked walking home. But really, who steals an umbrella from outside the library when it's not even raining?! It's not like there was any force of desperation driving them to lift my umbrella. Weird people. So now I have no umbrella, not to mention this was probably the coolest umbrella I've ever had. It was lime green. If I ever see anyone at with it at Uni I'm going to beat them up. So my "serious song" is actually about an umbrella. But not everyone has to know that.

October. That's just messed up. Time has certainly flown. I wrote a song yesterday, though it's not the song I've been meaning to write. This one just sort of happened. It seems serious, but it's not.

Goodbye

You gave me shelter from the rain

I let you be my canopy

I couldn't find you there today

I wonder where you could be

They stole you away

They stole you away

They stole you away from me

No one wants to take the blame

Say I must take responsibility

That's all fine, yeah it's okay

But others' actions can't be changed

They stole you away

They stole you away

They stole you away from me (2x)

I don't know if I'll see you again

But if I find you in the hand of another

Be sure I'll take a stand for you

I promise that I'll make things right

They stole you away

They stole you away

They stole you away from me (2x)