The Bear Hunt

This year has flown by. I can't believe that yesterday was Christmas day. It seems that as you get older the years seem to pass faster and faster. I am resisting the urge right now to get all sentimental and reminisce on the year that was - I'll leave that till next week :p

Christmas day we spent at my sister's new place in Beckenham, and of course there was way too much food and as a result I spent most of the afternoon feeling bloated. Fortunately, I was still able to bust out a great beat on Guitar Hero World Tour playing drums. I was sucked into that game for a good few hours.



Hutch and Beau were dressed for the occasion also. Hutch spent most of the afternoon eyeing-off our food.

I noticed the other morning that the badger is still enjoying digging-up our lawn on a daily basis:



The badger doesn't seem to be leaving on his own, so we (and by we I mean Dad) will have to take some action against him. I think we should bait him into a cage and trap him. If he's cute, we'll keep him.

It made me think of some lingering issues in my life - issues that I haven't taken any action on. I guess I've kinda just hoped they would disappear. But issues don't seem to do that, do they? I remember a preacher at Planetshakers compared problems to bears - they always seem to track us down, no matter how fast we think we can run or how well we think we can hide. They are highly proficient at seeking their prey. There's no easy way out with bears - we need to sleigh it - kill the problem or issue that we're having.

Doing so may require humility .. or courage .. or perseverance.

Most of all, we need Jesus - without Him we're fighting bare-handed. If we ask Him for help, he will provide the tools we require. It may not be an easy fight, but we will be victorious.

This reminds me of a book I saw in Borders last week that I recognised from primary school - The Bear Hunt.

"We're going on a bear hunt, we're gonna catch a big one. I'm not afraid! Are you? Not me!"

Lord of the Flies

March flies... a painful pest known to be ever-present at various picnic locations. We had lunch at Canning Dam after Church on Sunday and invented a new game called whack as many march flies as possible and then put them into the march fly collection bottle. It was a real hit (no pun intended). Before we commercialise it, I think the name would have to be reconsidered. But I can safely say that I was a pro at the game - whacking around ten march flies, compared to everyone else's three. They seem to be attracted to black people and their black jeans (but who wouldn't?).



All in all I think we collected around about twenty march flies. Sunday was really the first time in a good while that everyone has hung out as a big group. It was promising.



We tried spitting on the X's on the bridge below ... Susan had the best aim! I couldn't spit with accuracy even if my life depended on it.



I baked some cookies tonight to give to the elderly couple - Mavis and Leslie - living next door as a Christmas present. After writing the Christmas card, I thought I'd just better ask mum to see if she'd already given them a card (otherwise it would be a bit strange receiving two cards from the same family). I was then told that Mavis is a Jehova's Witness and didn't celebrate Christmas.

Spew.

I guess I'll just take them to work tomorrow to share.

I caught up with Jono today after he finished work, and as expected he told me that he had a great time in Singapore. It made me realise that a lot can happen in five weeks, and somehow the last five weeks has been quite challenging in many ways. It's been draining - both physically and emotionally, sometimes uncomfortable, many times enjoyable and ocassionally unbearable. But at the end of it all I can safely say that I am alive and well, blessed beyond my means and surrounded by God's love. Three years ago last week I chose to walk this path, and I'm in this for the long haul.

Rain, hail or shine, I will keep running.

Over it

I finally came around. I'm so over Facebook. It's cool how you can share photos (probably the reason why I kept it for so long) - but I'm now just at the point where I don't care if Jane (I'm making up names btw) wrote on my wall, Frank wants to be my friend, if Sue replied to a thread or if Tom is watching TV.

Seriously, how do people get addicted to it? It's so superficial ... but moreso it's just plain boring! So I took some action and closed my account. I won't be so in the loop, but I will survive.

I went for a walk the other day and was surprised that someone went to the effort to liven up the alleyway at the end of my street.



I wonder if the plants will actually survive.. chances are every dog walking through there will pee on them. If I was a dog I probably would :p I'll make a point of walking that way tomorrow morning and see how they're going.

I started my new job last Thursday - it's going pretty well. I'm trying to adjust to the different workflow of the lab, making a few errors along the way =/ but I'm getting into the swing of things thankfully. Tomorrow is day number four, and I'm hoping I can get through a day without making a boo boo (although even the experienced people make mistakes so I shouldn't be so hard on myself). The people are really nice though, and the close proximity to home is definitely a bonus!

Our neighbour tells us that a bandicoot is using my car as a shelter at night, which I'm cool with I guess, just as long as it doesn't turn into some crazy Jumanji scene where my car is hijacked by a bandicoot and monkeys. It explains the random holes in the lawn - I thought it was dad's poor attempt at irrigating the lawn. Dad thought it was the magpies scratching up the grass searching for beetles.

I must be off to bed soon, I'm quite tired after working hard today.

Be diligent in my search.

Poser

I'm not afraid of going to the dentist. I never have been really. It wasn't until I was laying in the chair with a large instrument tightly fastened around my top-right wisdom tooth and the dental nurse holding my head securely in place that I thought I may have to re-evaluate my disposition towards the dentist. I was having my first tooth extraction. With a sharp twist and pull, the tooth was removed. To my surprise, the procedure was completely painless.

It went so well that I didn't just stop at one tooth, but I had the other top wisdom tooth removed as well. Don't get me wrong - I'm not some tooth-extraction addict - the other had to be removed also. I just figured that while I'm on a roll I might as well get the other out. My sister was a bit freaked-out by the fact that I brought my teeth home:



Saturday was Tony and Amanda's wedding. It was a small crowd, but a wedding nonetheless. It was a pretty casual ceremony, hence us being able to take photos of ourselves :p



I went shopping with Shaun today and we were checking out some sunnies. I seem to have lost my pair of Arnette's, so I'm thinking I'm going to have to invest in a new pair.



Queer much?

Something else a bit queer that's been going on at Church lately is the sharing of hair. In particular, a mullet wig (featured in Jordan's Peter's Trumpet - Simplifying Summer ad).



We got an email at work the other week reminding everyone to wear their ID badges. It was argued that badges allow staff to be easily identifiable by others - particularly by patients. Some people had become a bit slack in wearing their ID. Some people just simply don't like wearing it - they don't like displaying it, or couldn't care less if they are meant to stand out.

And God showed me that sometimes we forget to display our identity as a follower of Christ. I have been in situations in the past where I've neglected to wear it, or it's been easier to hide it.

We need to discover our identity in Christ and display it proudly. I don't want to hide in the shadows when times get tough. But I want to stand prominently in God's light.

God help me to be sincere in my faith.

Au revoir

I really didn't want to go to work today. Not because I hate my job or anything - quite the opposite in fact - I love my job. Today was my last day working at the lab in Murdoch, and in a childish sense, I felt that if I didn't go to work I wouldn't have to say goodbye to everybody. Let's hope Armadale has some equally friendly people to work with.

I did some baking yesterday in preparation for my farewell morning tea - banana choc chip muffins and carrot cake with lime and mascarpone icing. The carrot cake is always a crowd pleaser.



It took me a good hour to clean up the mess ... grated carrot is one of my least favourite ingredients to clean up.

We ended up having a feast for morning tea - I should have actually taken a photo of how much food there was. It was insane. I honestly didn't expect such a great turnout..! I think the most unexpected gift was from the cleaners - I'm gonna miss them too! Don't tell them though that I only knew one of their names ... after a few months I realised that it was probably a bit too late to clarfiy what their names were, so I just left it!

I just splurged over $130 on shirts tonight ... I blame the poor-performing Aussie dollar - the total price was $86USD which equates to around $134AUD. But I justify spending the money because two of the shirts are Christmas presents for mates. I have a feeling I'm going to have to dip into savings over this Christmas period ... but I guess that's to be expected.

Tomorrow I'm off to the dentist to get one of my wisdom teeth removed ... my first tooth extraction - I'm not sure what to expect. I'm guessing that with the advances in medicine it will be somewhat painless!? Here's hoping I guess...

I called Jonny today ... kinda woke him up - sorry bro! I assumed that he and Rainer - being interns and all - would be up early (I called at 7:40 Singapore time) but was enlightened by the fact that Ps. Daniel doesn't even wake up until after 10am! So much different to our culture! My bad.

Be My hands and feet.

Time out

The weather at the moment is fantastic. We're finally experiencing the spring weather that I've been waiting for.

I took advantage of the weather and went for a bike ride around the foreshore. First I rode through East Perth. The houses here cost millions of dollars to own. And they're not even that big!



Riding along for about 15 minutes brought me out to Riverside Drive. Suprisingly, there were quite a few people out today ... they can't all be uni students like me can they? Don't they have jobs to be at - it is Monday afterall!



I found a spot right in front of the Boat Shed and had my lunch. Healthy, of course - Salad, kiwi fruit and an apple.



Twas a good time to relax and chill with God. I feel as if I'm at the start of a new season - a new season of growth and action. God is prompting me to do things that are out of my comfort zone, but will help to develop me.

I also had a look at some of Jono's photos of his time over in Singapore ... man I'm wishing I was over there! We haven't Skyped yet, which means he must be having a great time over there. But I'm looking forward to going away somewhere at the end of next year when I graduate.

Jethro is having a bit of a problem at the moment too. He can't output through his HDMI port. I called HP Tech Support and "Mark" (I use quotation marks because I'm certain it's just a pseudonym - the call centre is in India) tried helping me - to no avail. A Tech is going to come and personally visit and hopefully diagnose the problem with Jethro. I reckon it's a hardware defect. We'll find out on Wednesday what the prognosis is.

Be as un-'cliquey' as possible - and they'll have no choice but to follow suit.