pick one : jenny/jenga/jentle/jengi/itchy/jk

if you ever feel the need to throw rocks at boys... it's good fun.

i don't know if i quite understand the new epping station. as it is, they've merged the two old platforms, with a giant slab of concrete between the two. so goodbye platform 2. i guess it will end up being underneath? or something to that effect. maybe it's efficient cityrail work - upgrading our transport system by reducing the number of platforms a train can actually stop at. fewer trains mean less late complaints? nah. but i'm sure it makes sense to someone. perhaps i should do my homework on it.

man, i suck at fooseball. maybe that's a bit harsh. me and shell did get 18 against libby and then plus lachy's 45. ba baow. but yay for shell being back on the GAP team!

meanwhile, my brain is already set into "my mother" mode... i'm thinking already about all the things i need to purchase, pack, clean, find, borrow to take to Greece. i have to write lists or i forget it all.

good stuff joshy being back in town. tonight him, me and howie went on a mini adventure. we got some goodies from coles - pancake mix, lemons, mint slice icecream, mobile phone biscuits, and headed on over to josh's place for some pancake goodness. we stopped off in a park for some frivolity on theb way. pancakes were tasty. cold night air was cold. and his cat is fun.

and i almost forgot - howie and i had lunch with david, and then ran into debbie and tamara on our way to play daytona. i came last in round 1. i think howie won. but he got whooped second time around by david and debbie. i so suck at daytona.

and i got to see matt today as well. ahh good times.

i'm going to Greece too

thanks lachie

the big ad - it's pretty good. almost makes me wish i drank beer. almost. not really.

sarah dabinett is good value. yes indeedy. as is zoe. immensely.

ouch. i have to pay over $2000 tax.

one needle, three drills and $200 later

well, just had my second ever filling. on the exact same spot. i have a deep hole in this particular tooth and coz it's so weak, that's why it broke off with the skittles. no more minties or friends for me. at least on that side of my mouth.

i love needles. but now i can't feel the lower half of my right cheek, my bottom lip on the right, the inside of my cheek or half my tongue. i'm sure many of you know the feeling. at least i can feel my nose (libby!). fun. feels so fat. he put some mega metal grappling hook looking thing over the top of some other metal thing attached to my tooth after he'd used all the drills. put on the filling. used the drills again. reassuring is him telling me "your gum will be sore"... goooood. and i was off.

although, i'm back for a regular check up next wednesday.

hoorah for private health care.

dentist this morning... bit worried. well, not actually to the point of actual worry. just a conceptual worry. all will be revealed as news come to hand.

sometimes my skin give me the irrites. actually mosttimes.

that probably is turning more into a probably not. we'll see.

delirious is good stuff

Majesty (Here I Am)

Here I am humbled by your Majesty
Covered by your grace so free
Here I am, knowing I'm a sinful man
Covered by the blood of the Lamb

Now I've found the greatest love of all is mine
Since you laid down your life
The greatest sacrifice

chipped a back tooth while eating skittles this arvo. boo. dentist appointment on wednesday morning. i'm a bit worried he's gonna tell me i need 75 fillings or something. physio appointment tomorrow. boo coz she's gonna tell me i haven't done my exercises properly.

looks like i'm probably heading back to greece in three weeks. crazy crazy. and so so speedy. all a bit overwhelming i think. but hopefully God pulls some big stuff off. there's three of us, and we need about $11000 within a couple weeks. $6300 of that sort of by tomorrow. yep.

i hope i get a chance to go back to marousi. that would be so exciting.

what a tops day. catching up with libby. good swans win accompanied by howie. church. supper at the blair's.

fun presents! a pingu toy. and a madagascar poo throwing monkey toy too! yay for stuffed toys. thanks howie.

woot wooo

and yes, six months of howie and jenny. many many hoorahs for that.

i love howie.

yesterday, after some lunch in wahroonga park, howie and i trained it to the city and caught a ferry to darling harbour and walked around. then we walked back around the hyde park for some sitting. all just for fun. and it was fun. i never caught a ferry around to there before. and i got a $50 jacket for $15. and we had icecream. and i got a can for $1. oh it was all happening. howie is lots of good value. so sleepy though.

tim's 21st was last night. good times. plenty of people. it was awesome seeing jem and libby again. i mention them because i see them much less than anyone else. i like seeing other people too. my hair still smells like wood smoke - i'll be washing that out in a minute. lots of other stuff i could write, but i won't. so happy birthday tim. hope you had a good night.

AND... happy birthday yesterday to cathy bell! and bon voyage for tomorrow. cathy bell is one good chap.

i just surgically reattached felix's head to his body with selley's quicktite. i also momentarily attached my fingers to each other, but that was quickly corrected. super glue is strong stuff.

i wonder why it is that a seemingly high percentage of old people couples purchase white toyota camrys.

people should really stop bombing, or trying to bomb, other people.

"is it wrong to flirt with 70 year old women?" - howie

for all those who might need to know, scott sanders can go for his green p's today. he set a reminder in my phone back in april about it - the alarm went off at 3am this morning. thanks scott.

rorting the system

i just bought a CTP green slip, coz my rego is due next month. because wemmick was written off and i bought duckie, i had to get a new comprehensive insurance policy and CTP green slip. which means my old record was effectively wiped. meaning i was given a new 65% no claim bonus to replace the 35% i was down to before because of other accidents. aaah. plus this car's insurance is $1000 cheaper. good job max running into us head on.

the goodness of today would be sleeping

but i have to wash my hair. oh, and go to work

i'm excited about what God's doing in and through Jenny and Miriam in Uganda. reading through the prayer updates, hearing the stories, and praying for them and the people they are working with... it's amazing how big our God is. how much He can and wants to heal and free. how much He responds to our prayers. how much He wants to

it's also amazing, in not so positive a way, how cruel and brutal this world is. the evil in this world. the evil in our own hearts. in our actions. i think the word evil has lost it's sting. but the practice (practise?) and existence of it certainly hasn't, as it (we) continues to cause immeasurable pain and suffering

my life is so kooshy

today we made fun sculpy/femo things. there was a train, turtle, tortoise, octopus, poo, flowers, pool table and more. i made/helped make these three. i did the leaf for the caterpillar (very well made by one young man), i made the car, and i made humpty on the wall. humpty gone splat was well made by another young man. making stuff is so much fun. except i burnt myself on the oven. again.

no joke

i got a letter from allianz insurance, and their managing director's name is "Terry Towell". in all seriousness. surely that's not just funny to me.

my poor unsquare shoulders

i just ate waaay too much sugar

waaaay too much

i have tiredness

it's almost the weekend

HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY TIM! Hip Hip Hooray.

it's funny finding out who peoples have had crushes on. it's strange how attraction works.

and debbie's slip up. 10 years i was waiting for it. 10 years.

i have woke up tired and hungry. good thing i can have breakfast. breakfast is a good invention, i do enjoy it.

it's kinda sad it's already sunday. coz that means tomorrow is monday, which means it's not the weekend anymore. boo. although it will be tim's 21st birthday tomorrow. so a pre-emptive happy birthday to him!

so yesterday, howie and i went for an afternoon picnic at wiseman's ferry. i've only been there once before. and never on the ferry. so we went on the ferry, across and back. we did go to a pit toilet on the other side somewhere - they provide a bucket and toilet brush for after you've finished your business! hehe. anyway, car ferrys are fun. i'm so proficient now at them. i think i'm picking up quickly on ferry etiquette, seeing as i went on the berowra waters ferry for the first time the other night too. we had afternoon tea on the grass in the sun. and then we drove back home. the whole experience was extra fun coz we listened to fun cds - the lads, rob thomas, jack johnson.

then last night, we joined tom in seeing intone, james band, play at caringbah. i don't ever want to live in fancy apartments - gates and intercoms confuse and scare me. although it does indeed have a fun element. tom drove us to caringbah. it was a funny trip. once we finally arrived there, spot on time for the band to play, we sat and watched and listened. so so loud. but it was good. although the experience reinforced in me that i'm not much into those sort of places/atmospheres. i did get a frog stamp on my wrist though. oooh.

anyway, after viewing the next band a bit, us three went to get some dinner. found some chinese. read girly magazines as we waited for it. then ate it in tom's car. quite amusing. then drove back to chatswood, and bid farewell to tom. i didn't have any microsleeps as i drove back to hornsby, which was a very good thing.

thanks to tom for driving us around, and around, and around (hahaha, i'm so funny - i promise he wasn't really lost). and for dins.

i've filled my brave quota for this month now. aaah.

new meaning to the phrase 'walk the dog' - saw a girl this morning carrying her dog as she walked. and this wasn't any fluffy little white thing, it was a lassie dog. how very strange. guess it's good for building her muscles. probably doesn't do so much for the dog though.

i clicked on my link on tom's blog in french... and up comes my blog in french. so cool! i don't understand a thing. i failed french in year 7. last in the class. oh yeh.

after going to the physio yesterday, i'm finding it very difficult to keep 'square shoulders' all the time as instructed. i had a worse headache yesterday than i have any other day recently. but despite the not so fun news of daily headaches.... i think my sleeping is going much better. i'm not waking at 4am anymore!

condolences to lachy and howie and whoever else may be suffering from dodgy sleep syndrome (DSS for the sake of acronyming)

its a nice day for a white wedding

the benefits of working next door to an op shop...

tax return done and done. i sure won't be getting any return

i'm so glad God isn't limited. by us or by anything.

we just saw mr & mrs smith. meh.

i retained my championness of pool today. the d-clamp stays with me!

i'm looking forward to dinner tonight. i love pasta.

well there were good times to be had last night, and indeed they were had. we played a couple hours of emperor/scum. i am proud to say i never got better than fourth last (out of nine or ten), and hovered around the second last place - 'vice scum', or 'friend of scum' if you prefer. and i came last overall. well played. well, obviously not.

but there are striking similarities between that game and society: the rich get richer, and the poor are stuck with little hope of getting out of their squalor. damn those couch people.

but it was good fun. for the purposes of minimising forgetfulness... there was lachie (nice doors by the way), shell, grant, debbie, tamara, ben, will, lachy, howie and me. yay you people. and mobile fone biscuits. and super pump.

my dad

happy birthday greg... 52 years young

this is my dad as a tiny tot with a snotty nose

about to head to lachie's house after a meeting of fun. i've never been to lachie's house before. ooooh, how fun. although other people's houses are often scary to me. but there are many fun people there, so it will be good.

i love howie

he told me to write that

dendy dendy dendy

howie and i went to dendy to see "the yes men". i've never been to dendy before. so now i can tick that off. i felt very arthouse. not really. but the film was pretty good. some funny bits. interesting bits. amusing bits. and so on. we also went to a maccas on george street beforehand that i'd never been to before. we went into the big virgin store, which i'd never ventured into previously, and i bought a couple of cds and a dvd. and then for dinner tonight we made tacos, and tried out the stand 'n stuff shells. they did better than the normal shells, but still not really good at stand alone.

so it's been a day of firsts.

luke's in the herald today, with a colour picture and story. sorry, that beats you howie on both counts. although it is page 82.

i have fun new shoes from one of those man shouting tv ad warehouse sales things - this one at fox studios rather than homebush. $20 down from $85. nice. and they're fun. plus an amy grant cd fro $10 - takes me back to my pre-teens. aaah. i've never been to one of those sort of places. so much stuff everywhere! lots and lots of underwear and towels. there were lots of swans supporters there too after the game. and yay for the swans winning. sorry phil. i was glad it wasn't a close one. my heart might have exploded.

today will perhaps be a city adventure with robert. it is very windy though. not that would stop an adventure. it's just an observation.

that's it. flute comes out at least twice a week from now on.

1 Peter 3:3-6

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.

i want unfading beauty. i don't often feel like a gentle and quiet person. but the outer beauty would be nice too. good combo.

bravity. is that a word?

Acts 17:24-27

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

i heard something had happened with blasts in london underground as i left for my gap leader's meeting tonight. as i walked to church, i was praying, and it occurred to me that my reaction, similar to all the sept 11 stuff, turned me again to think of those who are not in the big rich untouchable 'first world' cities, but in those places where this is commonplace, everyday stuff. iraq, israel, congo... millions of people for who this sort of thing is the experience of their everyday life.

they're still not clear about what's going on - there were seven blasts. tony blair's leaving the G8 summit, but will return. i just saw a bit of his statement on abc (bbc).

some police dude said to a bbc dude that the media shouldn't speculate about what's going on... fat chance.

my goodness latina pasta stinks.

tell me boys, if you had to pick between these two negatives, which would you pick?

1. to be alone and unloved

OR

2. to be disrespected and inadequate

just been reading something. i guess girls can say too if they like. might be interesting.

the rumour mill

howie and i received a postcard in the mail today at work from a mate/colleague from uk/greece, marty. it reads as follows:

"Hi you two - well we haven't even written to congratulate you on your engagement. Sorry for the delay but congratulations" and then towards the end "love to hear what all your plans are"

how funny! i laughed so hard. steve and bel laughed. howie laughed. margy laughed. we all laughed. where do people hear these things!

for the record... we are not engaged.

i can't imagine breaking your nose to be an enjoyable experience. steve?

spray-on bandaid shouldn't be used in places with hair. even little wrist hairs. and not where you have bracelets. and not on infected wounds. i've reverted back to a normal bandaid. i am going to say that spray-on bandaid is more a novelty. i won't be spending another $11 on it anytime soon.

i need to start healthing it up

krispy kreme is good food. not in a healthy sense. but in a tasty one. although i've only ever had the original glazed. maybe one day i will diversify. probably not.

and go live8. just watching it on nine, sort of. why oh why is there richard wilkins. but anyway. chris martin impresses me so much. i do hope the world is changed. that politicians listen. that there is justice.

Make Poverty History G8 Checklist

This is the Make Poverty History checklist for when the G8 leaders meet.

Across trade, debt and aid

* Commit to stop imposing economic policy conditions. Conditions imposed through aid and debt relief include trade liberalisation, deregulation, privatisation and fiscal austerity. Developing countries must be free to determine their own economic policies while remaining accountable to their own people for delivering poverty eradication.

Trade Justice

* Stop forced liberalisation at the World Trade Organisation (WTO); allow developing countries to protect key sectors important for their development interests; and support binding Special and Differential Treatment for all developing countries.
* Commit not to negotiate bilateral and regional trade agreements that require developing countries to go beyond commitments made in the WTO.
* Eliminate agricultural export support and all trade distorting support to agriculture by 2010; and ensure that no agricultural exports are dumped on the markets of developing countries.
* Commit to ensure that global trade policies and practices do not undercut internationally agreed environmental and social standards, in particular, core labour standards.
* Pledge to work with other UN members to establish binding internationally agreed rules for corporate accountability.

Drop the Debt

* An immediate cancellation of all multilateral and bilateral debt for all countries needing it to achieve the MDGs.
* Agree all debt relief must be fully funded and not reduce aid flows.
* Adopt a fair and transparent arbitration process where the issue of sovereign debts can be resolved.

More and Better Aid

* Commit to contribute the G8's share of the US$50 billion MDG funding gap, starting in 2005/2006; and outline a timetable to reach 0.7% of G8 GNI by 2010.
* Commit to agreeing with OECD DAC partners a set of ambitious targets for improving aid effectiveness that can be monitored, are time-bound and quantifiable. This must include a commitment to fully untie all aid to all developing countries and ensuring aid is focused on poverty eradication.

Action on HIV/AIDS

* Commit to, and pledge new funding for, HIV treatment for everyone who needs it by 2010.

whirlwind tour of tasmania done. actually there wasn't really much touring. although we did go a chairlift ride at cataract gorge. and we did go to chicken feed. such quality.

much tired though. and doesn't really feel like i've had a weekend. which is a bit disappointing. but hoorah again for joshy.

and you're looking at (unliterally) one chick who is over her fear of flying. woohoo to that!

and i bought spray-on bandaid. it's smelly (like aerosol) and stings when you spray it on an ouchy. but it's still fun.

it's good fun having your own place. yay for the wade's gumpy.

i'm just blogging coz i can with joshy's computer. hoorah for joshy graduating. good stuff.

there's even phone reception here this time!

dinner time.

airport blogging is good stuff. howie and i are off to tasmania for the day for joshy's graduation. it will be fun to see josh and other people's from the land of po. we come back tomorrow arvo. nice and speedy. i'm glad i'm over my fear of flying, otherwise i'd be nervous right now.

we got to use fun check in screens that was super fast, coz no checked baggage. good inventions. nice work virgin blue.

gap in activities centre does take you back to 7ups. two broken fluorescent lights. multiple canages on the mats. lots of hits to the head by basketball/tennis ball/soccer ball. much running around. lots of chips.

good fun. quotable quote "you better be a fertile woman" will to jenny.

now bed time. get up 5:30am. that's ok. i'm used to waking up at about 4:39am.