My Dad

The man sits down next to me and opens his bag to pull-out a thick novel he is halfway through. His arms and face are a bright red colour – sunburn from the recent warm weather and his lack of sunscreen. There’s a little girl sitting opposite eating jellybeans with her mum.

“You can only have one,” the lady says to her daughter. The Jellybean Girl is dissatisfied with the offer and cheekily grabs a handful out of the packet.

Sunburn Man notices and tells how his youngest son does the same thing, instigating a conversation between the two about their children. The man talks passionately about his three children – even standing up at one point to describe the height of his seven year-old. Never does Sunburn Man portray his children as difficult or a burden. Nor does he express how they tire him with their misbehaviour or disobedience.

His unconditional love for them is potent in his speech.

It occurred to me that this is how God speaks about His children. About me. He doesn’t dwell on my disobedience or stubbornness, but rather talks about how proud I make Him, how strong I’m becoming with my arm-wrestles, how I ask for outrageous things.

And I know that when I make a mistake and approach my Dad with a downward face and guilt-laden shoulders and manage to muster the strength to look him in the eyes and say the words, “I’m sorry”, His arms open wide. He gives me a warm hug and He says,

“Jason, it’s OK. I love you.”

On Christmas Eve

Come Christmas time, our workload decreases (quite unlike those working in retail – I feel for you). Hence we sometimes need to find things to fill-in the spare time …

Is it obvious that the boss is away? Although it appears that he has been substituted with Davin’s new toy – “Gee Joe”. He was my gift to Dav in the Secret Santa – I told him it would remind him of his army days when he had more hair. This morning he was placed prominently in specimen reception with a short threat.

The post-it note reads, “Gee Joe is the new CRA supervisor. He has a gun and is watching so don’t stuff up!” Man I’m really going to miss the characters I work alongside.

Christ-mas!

Untitled

It might just be me, but sometimes I feel that people label me without getting to know me…

P.S. – a big hello to the readers from New Zealand. I’d like to know where you guys (and other readers!) are from – don’t be shy and leave a comment :)

It’s no Singapore

A bit disappointing – the three words I’d use to describe the City’s Christmas decorations. I guess my standards are particularly high after seeing Singapore’s impressive display of festive cheer at Orchard Road – yet my expectations were still low because, well, it’s Perth. Are we maybe called Dullsville for a reason? We definitely aren’t the liveliest state in Australia (but probably the most beautiful I might add) – and the lack of people shopping last night somewhat supported this statement. I didn’t stand in a queue once. Maybe people were just unaware of the extended trading in the City. It worked in my favour nonetheless. I could really get used to the extended trading hours :) Tis a shame they end after Christmas.

I came across this group of people on Murray Street. I gathered that they were a Christian group from Korea. They were entertaining a small audience (in this picture they are being penguins) and one guy gave his testimony. It reminded me of being on missions.

But then it occurred to me – missionaries are coming to Perth!? Shame on us! We are more than capable of reaching out to those living here yet apparently we aren’t doing it enough! That thought really affected me and has motivated me to strategise for next year. We need a kick up the bum and we need to begin seeking opportunities to share the gospel!

Motivation!

Oh so skinny

We had our church Christmas party last night – Frost – and for the first time in my life, I wore skinny leg jeans.

“Hypocrite" some would say whilst silently judging me.

I know I’m usually the first to bag those wearing skinny leg jeans – but I needed white jeans and Jonni just happened to have a pair of white jeans … that just happened to be skinny also.

I put them on and they fit quite nicely – and they actually didn’t look too bad. Maybe I shouldn’t be so critical of the circulation-restricting apparel.

Elvis.

Blog?

The lady was slightly puzzled when I enquired about iTunes gift cards that were apparently on sale. She was unaware of such promotion.

“Where did you see it advertised?” asks the Australia Post assistant.

“Uh … a friend told me about it,” I reply.

That was kind of a lie. Technically, I was informed by someone, but it wasn’t a friend. I was a bit embarrassed to reveal where I had obtained such information. Besides, she probably wouldn’t even know what I was talking about.

The thing is this – I’d read it on a blog. I know – I’m a bit of a geek, and I felt that she wouldn’t understand me. There’d be this long awkward silence followed by, “Blog? Do you mean our catalogue, sir?” I would then have to educate the poor lady of the 21st century – something I’m not prepared to do on account of the twenty or so impatient customers behind me.

It left me wondering – are blogs a socially acceptable source of information? I suppose it would fall into a similar category to Wikipedia. These sites provide information but we must question its relevance and reliability. I don’t think they would hold much weight outside of cyberspace.

On a side note, I always welcome this package on my doorstep:

They only took two and a half weeks to arrive this time! Just in time for Christmas :) I shall be sporting my new shirts over the next few days.

Understanding.

More to follow

Complete weakness and dependence will always be the occasion for the Spirit of God to manifest His power.

Oswald Chambers

I haven’t blogged lately, and I promise I will post after I finish processing the thoughts and emotions.

Dear God

The trip to Philippines was truly amazing. I won’t lie – it was very challenging and draining for me, but I labour with joy as I see peoples’ lives transformed by Your love. The humidity was a bit of a killer, but our bodies slowly adjusted. The food was somewhat repetitive – rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner – but it sustained us nonetheless. And the sleep – almost non-existent – but You still gave me the strength to get up in the morning. I’m grateful that You put up with my somewhat too frequent complaining to You. I realise that You were hoping to deplete my natural strength so I may be sustained by Your supernatural strength.

I loved the people of the area – the kids in particular. Their lives are so simple compared to that of western society. Have we overcomplicated life? I also cannot forget about the lady named Joy whom we encountered in one of the villages. Thank You for the opportunity to enter her home and share the Gospel. Thank You for touching her and allowing her to feel joy within her heart. You really did come to seek the lost, the sick, the oppressed, the widows, the orphans. I witnessed with my own eyes You doing such things. The queue for healing after the rallies was sometimes unbearably long, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

I’m also grateful for our fellow team mates. I believe we were handpicked by you to work together, and I really feel a great sense of family when I am with them. I see their passion and desire to be Your hands and feet, and am very much inspired by it.

This trip was so unique, and I believe that it will have a lasting impression on my mind.

Lots of love

Jason.

Until next time.

Hello Singapore

It is day two in Singapore – I was far too tired to blog yesterday after getting little sleep on the flight over. The flight was delayed almost two hours – Asher and I were not quite sure why, but it appeared that all flights leaving Perth were delayed for the same reason.

We had a farewell party – cheers to the boys taking the time to send us off :)

We were greeted in Singapore by some old friends – Luwei (whom I didn’t recognise at first glance), Jack, Serene and Sherie. I was bracing myself for the humidity to smack me in the face like a misguided high-five as I walked through the doors to exit Changi Airport, but I think my mental preparation allowed it to not offend me as much as it did previously.

We hit the ground running and went straight to the Salvation Army … and then the running subsided a bit as we all (the Singaporeans included) caught-up on some sleep. After our quick recovery nap, we were ready to shake-up the anti-gum island.

	We ate some foreign fruit Apparently this thing is called a pear. It has the texture of a Beur Bosc pear, but has the shape of an overgrown apple. It was so big I couldn’t eat it all in one sitting. (Interestingly they sell their fruit per piece rather than per kilo here).
	We ate what the locals eat We decided to embrace the culture as best as we could by eating some of the local cuisine for dinner. Asher had a laksa whilst I had a fish ball soup. I was later informed by Ian that fish ball soup is usually eaten for breakfast. Fail.
	We visited Cold Storage not once but three times All in one day. Once for breakfast cereal and some fruit. Second for a bigger box of breakfast cereal and some UHT milk (as it is significantly cheaper than fresh milk) and then thirdly for some pens and plastic plates. We are almost on a first name basis with the checkout chick.

Tomorrow we leave for Philippines. We’re pumped and ready to go :)

Ignite.

Dear Australia

I will miss you. But I’ll only be gone for two weeks. In fact maybe I won’t miss your scorching heat. But I will definitely miss your lack of sweat-inducing humidity of which I will experience plenty in Singapore.

I will miss some of your food – a staple diet of three vegies and meat will be lacking from my diet. I have a gut feeling it will be replaced with mouth-burning, bowel-cleansing food (i.e. curries). I’ve been told that once the taste buds are burnt, the food is somewhat bearable. I’m a sceptic, but we’ll test the theory nonetheless.

I will miss my family – Sunday reminded me of how much fun I have around my friends. But soon enough we will be united once again.

Goodbye my sunny state. Take care of Jonni while I’m gone.

Heaps of love,
Jason.

Eight More Sleeps

These are the people I will be joining for the missions trip to Philippines! They are mostly strangers, but I will soon come to know them very well over the next two weeks. By the sounds of it we will be doing it much more rough than the Thailand trip – no fancy hotel with our own bathroom and balcony – this time we will be sleeping on the floor - I will have an ‘authentic’ missions experience this year :)

It’s only eight sleeps until I leave – I have so much to prepare before then! But most of all, I really need to prepare physically (routine exercise – which has become less routine towards the end of my exams), emotionally and most importantly spiritually. I’ve been preparing myself over the last few weeks – but I know I haven’t been pushing myself as hard as I potentially could.

Oh did I mention exams are over? When the words “Please stop writing – this exam is now over” resounded throughout the exam venue on Friday, a sensation of relief flooded my body. My study has paid off. It was all over. This is the hardest I have ever worked at uni, and Ps. Dave Reardon’s words continually echoed through my head:

“We’ve started it well – let’s finish it well”

And I reckon I did. On the 9th of December I’ll found out exactly how well.

Exhale.

Apostrophe Me

If you know me well, you would have come to grips of how pedantic I get when it comes to grammar and punctuation. Things I notice people mix up all the time are: there they’re their and the use of apostrophes. There is at long last a website dedicated to educating the general public on how to use an apostrophe. I particularly like their last rule:

Touché.

Two down

And one to go.

I don’t understand the point of sitting an exam for my Medical Science Practice 332 unit – we are basically required to just memorise information – literally. It’s a cram fest. Thankfully I memorised the right stuff (mostly).

And what better way to start an exam than with a free can of Red Bull? Courtesy of those Red Bull girls who just happen to show up with free energy-filled goodness at just the right time. (Although a can of Red Bull probably isn’t the best thing to have right before an exam due to its diuretic effect)

NB: Personal grooming is non-existent during exam period.

Almost.

At the end of the day

Day one of exams study is coming to an end. What did I achieve?

• I ate two chocolate bars
• Had two cups of coffee
• Watched an episode of Scrubs and 30 Rock
• Made a QR Code and stuck it on my door:

BUT I did manage to take detailed notes on six Micro lectures – that puts me about halfway through the lecture notes. It was actually quite cruisy because a lot of the information I had already learnt in preparation for the practical exams last week.

Tomorrow I start Haematology study which may be a bit of a drag.

I remembered to tell my parents tonight about the Thalassemia screen I had done. Even though I have a tiny deletion – 3.7 kb – my mum did freak out a bit – obviously because she has no idea what it is. For those of you playing at home, that tiny deletion of the alpha globin chain only means I have an alpha Thalassemia trait. It has absolutely no clinical effect on me – just possibly on my offspring (which is rare) - although at times I do wish I could attribute my unfit nature to the fact that my MCV is low. I theorise that the slightly smaller Red Blood Cells carry less Oxygen and thus I pant and flail and complain when I do moderate-intensity exercise.

On the topic of exercise, yesterday I moved beyond my comfort zone of jogging laps down the deserted street near my house in favour of going onto populated streets - with cars driving down them, people walking their dogs and even other people jogging as well. You see – I have a bit of a complex when it comes to exercise. I wasn’t the greatest athlete at school and people paid me out quite a bit, and so doing something physical in a public environment is a bit daunting. Even going to SportsFest was challenging for me – hence not going in previous years.

I’m pushing myself out of my comfort zone – I refuse to let intimidation overcome me.

What are you overcoming?

It starts … right after this

According to the two-week study plan I devised yesterday, my first block of study for exams begins at 8pm. I’m feeling a bit eager – so I’m going to start a tad early.

Cue MGMT – Electric Feel. Busting out the dance moves in front of my whiteboard. It’s study time.

Nishie: This will be the face of our new sitcom: The Laboratory. The posing is perfect:

Sanity.

Twelve days

We started the night running from jetty to jetty, trying to find our ferry. We’d been given directions from Tam to go towards the Wheel – well that’s what Priya heard. The directions were in fact the opposite – we were meant to go away from the Wheel. After some frantic running around and fear of missing the ferry, we finally discover the ferry we are meant to board. Phew.

(Even Ashkan wasn’t late. And of course Phil was punctual. Our bad).

It’s almost over. Four years has flown by. In just twelve days I will finish my last exam – ever! This is the last push. Like a marathon runner reaching the last straight – the goal is in sight but the body is aching.

Stick to the status quo? No thanks.

Untitled

“..we will never be useful to the world if we are being deeply shaped by the world. And we will be shaped by the world without intentional efforts not to be”

Wilderness by John Piper.

Another sad chapter in the Nanny State

By Gareth Parker | View Archive October 23rd, 2009, 10:39 am

British public intellectual Charles Landry could not have been more correct in 2007 when he identified Perth as "the city that says no".

To the list that reads no shopping after 6pm, no shopping on a Sunday, no daylight savings, no pubs open after 10pm on a Sunday, no innovative new architecture, no mid-rise buildings near the beach, no new football stadium and countless other examples, you can now add "No jumping off the Cottesloe pylon".
Renovations of the iconic structure, beloved by generations of beachgoers, were finished today after $122,000 of Federal taxes and a $50,000 Lotterywest grant were tipped into the project.
Yet we find out today that the concrete pylon, originally constructed as part of a failed shark-proof fence, has been deliberately angled and covered with a slippery surface so that swimmers will not be able to climb it.

I guess in ten years’ time we’ll be able to tell our kids “Back in my day, we used to climb that bell and jump off it.” One benefit? We won’t have to witness guys in the nuddy climbing it in the moonlight.

My Geek Fest

The package arrived two weeks ago in preparation for my Windows 7 Party.

And on Saturday night I actually had the party. The weather forecast said Sunny, Max: 28. The weather forecast lied. It was wet, windy and nowhere near 28 degrees.

(Note Charity purposely using the Apple Macbook in the picture!)

Parties are so much work … particularly when you have practical exams the following week! In fact right now I am supposed to be studying, but my body and mind are resisting. By Friday they are over – if the weather cooperates I might go to the beach to chillax and celebrate!

I went for a walk this morning and pondered: if Kevin Rudd can request the mass extermination of Camels, can he order the mass extermination of flies? Would it disrupt the ecosystem? To me flies are just annoying little bugs that sit on dog poo until you come near and then go on your face. Not a fan.

Keyboard mashing is aerijgaskrlejlsjgms.

One Sentence

He ‘aint heavy – he’s my brother.

(Just needed to post this photo – I love it much)

Study Week (not) Much?

The week just gone was what Curtin likes to refer to as ‘Tuition-free Week’. They don’t call it ‘Holiday’ or ‘Week Off’ for a reason – you’re usually bombarded with assignments and study. Unlike some of my peers (Nishie, Priya, Phil, Ashkan – actually I think nearly everyone) I didn’t have any looming assignments to hinder the enjoyment of my week off.

So I didn’t do any uni-related work (well, I did do about 30 mins on Sunday night – but I don’t really count that). What did I do on the week break then?

1. Road Trip to Bunbury for SportsFest

2. Royal Perth Show

(That hammer game must be rigged if Ash can’t win it!)

3. Not one, but THREE birthday parties

And now there are only four weeks of teaching left … in my whole degree! Four weeks! I feel so underprepared entering the workplace with this piece of paper called a degree.

Exciting news though – Asher and I are off to Singapore and Philippines for missons after I finish exams! Woo.

Breathe.

Lacitiz Baciliti

I can almost count the number of weeks left at uni on one hand … how crazy is that? I was thinking about this the other week, and a nostalgic feeling sunk-in – I feel as if I’m finishing high school all over again! I know I’m going to miss seeing my uni mates nearly every day of the week. It’s a shame that it only clicked in the last few weeks that I should make the most of my time that I have – I will probably never have the opportunity to meet such a diverse group of people in such a casual setting – and I should build into these relationships as much as I can so that they will last once we all graduate and go our separate ways (although I’m sure some of us will meet again under the PathWest banner at some point).

A few of us visited UWA to kill a bit of time. We went with the purpose of sizing-up our rival university, and were pretty impressed with the scenery. We’ve all been there at least once, and are still taken aback by the architecture and lush greenery. We managed to track down a peacock, and it obligingly partook in some photos with us.

We met up with Phil and Ashkan for some Korean food in the city. The second time I’ve been to this place and I’d more than likely return – it’s relatively inexpensive and tastes good! We asked the host what a particular dish consisted of, and he gave a good explanation, but could not translate one important word into English – apparently something that aids digestion. He wrote it on a napkin:

”Lacitiz baciliti”

Ash: Oh he must mean laxative!
Priya: They can’t legally put that into food ya!
Ash: But it helps digestion.
Priya: No I’ve got it – Lactobacillus ya!
Us: Oh … ya!

It seems that wherever we go, Microbiology stalks us. We made a new discovery (well, I already knew it about myself) – besides Phil and Ash, we all fail at pool. Marie did attempt to show off with her ‘behind the back’ shot:

Pffft. Show off.

Check out more photos from the night on Picasa.