My Little Corner of the Web

Review Time!

2009-07-18T13:56:00.003+12:00

I have just recently read 'Religion Saves: and 9 other Misconceptions' by Mark Driscoll and am reviewing this book (which is part of the Re:Lit series) along with other bloggers, as part of a blog tour over at Litfuse :) If you're interested in reading and/or listening to excerpts of this book, then head on over to here.

The idea behind this latest book from Pastor Mark Driscoll stems from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church where he answered a number of highly relevant questions posed by the Corinthians. This sparked a desire within Driscoll to call for visitors to his Mars Hill church congregation to submit the questions they most wanted answered on the church’s website. Out of this experiment, the nine most popular ‘hot topic’ questions of today's Christians were gauged and subsequently answered by Driscoll in the form of a sermon devoted to each one – starting from the ninth most popular question to the most popular one. Likewise, the book has also mirrored this structure with a chapter assigned to each question.

Beginning with the question on birth control, Driscoll frames his answer to this question (and the subsequent ones) with a mixture of anecdotes and examples (each of which are helpful in illustrating his point and showing where the 'rubber meets the road' so to speak), historical overviews, and an in-depth look at the different aspects of each issue which are at times broken up with slices of Driscoll’s trademark sense of humour.

Throughout the book, Driscoll constantly refers the reader back to Scripture by quoting numerous Bible verses and drawing attention to principles God has clearly given to guide us in our thinking and decision making on these nine particularly controversial topics. He also encourages the reader to apply these principles to not only these issues but other ones in life which may not be directly addressed in the Bible yet require us to respond to them with a clear conscience before God. Driscoll also draws upon a number of reliable resources when analysing the different viewpoints people hold along the spectrum on each of these nine topics. This then is how Driscoll tackles each question which range from the 'lighter' though not any less important (i.e. Humour, Dating) to the more 'heavy', theological hot topics of Predestination, Grace, Sexual Sin, Faith and Works and The Emerging Church, which may see you experiencing a bit of “mental gymnastics”. Driscoll then wraps up the book with this bottom line statement saying: "...when something commanded by God is not done, that is sin. When something forbidden by God is done, that is sin. When Scripture is silent, it is not God's way of giving us a moment to speak for him but to be silent as an act of worship."

I found this book to be a challenging and thought-provoking read yet an enjoyable one as I appreciated the depth to which Driscoll has gone in exploring each of these issues. As a result, I have gained a deeper understanding of topics which I thought I already had a good knowledge of. One little thing I personally found detracting, however, was the footnoting style Driscoll used which saw the numbering for Scripture references being differentiated from other types of resources referred to in each chapter. Yet in saying this, I enjoyed being able to go straight to the Bible verse whenever one was quoted. Overall, I would not hesitate in recommending this book to any Christian who is keen to gain a biblical perspective and thorough understanding on some of the key issues that are prevalent in Christian circles today.

Some pics from my trip

2008-01-12T19:37:00.000+13:00

Me & Ang with her school friends - N.Y.E.

New Years silliness haha

Me & Ang

Cold enough to wear my winter coat! 2nd night in Jax

Me, Whitney, Elliott, Tracey, Jeff

Me & Tracey

Tracey & Me - pirates style!

Jeff, Tracey & Me in Lilo & Stitch shop

NZ display in 'Its a Small World' ride

Me with Disney castle

Walt Disney, Minnie & Me

Me & Irene

Philly, Jax & B'ham!

2008-01-11T08:23:00.000+13:00

First up, Happy New Year! Hope everyone has a blessed 2008 :) Well its been a little while since my last update so will try to catch y'all up on what i've been up to...

Philly (home of the Fresh Prince & sweet chilly Philly)
I stayed in Philly from 23 Dec - 1 Jan with my long-time penpal Angela & her family :) As you can see from those dates, I was there for Christmas & New Years & Ang and her family (her sister Julia, and her mum & dad) were so lovely to me. They live out in North Philly in a cute neighbourhood & they have this standard sized poodle Asta who is still just like a big puppy...he was pretty huge esp when he stood up on his back legs!

*sidetrack*
Oh yeah before i forget, the flight down to Philly from Manchester, NH was definitely the worst flight i've ever been on!! To start with the visibility in Manchester was terrible & so my flight to Philly was delayed a few hours. Then when we finally got to board the airplane they said that it was a little bit overweight and asked for 4 volunteers to get off the plane (those that didnt have connections to make). They offered an incentive - a $200 voucher with US Airways (the airline i was on), good for travel within continental US. 3 people got up straight away & we all clapped and said thanks to them, but then 1 more person still needed to get off. They were like 'is there anyone else just goin to Philly?' & i sat there feeling a bit guilty for not volunteering but I didnt want to hold up Ang & her mum any longer than i needed to as they were waiting at the airport for me. But eventually 3 more people volunteered to get off. So we start to take off and i look out the window and there wouldn't have been more than 5 miles visibility, it was pretty crazy! I was like 'man i hope these pilots know what they're doing!'. It was pretty much turbulent during all 1.5hrs of the flight & the captain even said to make sure that the person next to you in your seat was awake & aware of the turbulence (dont know how anyone could have been sleeping thru it!) and to make sure their seatbelt was tight etc. But the pilots did an amazing job though, gotta hand it to them & it was definitely reassuring when the flight attendant said that these were the best team of pilots she'd ever flown with :) Anyways they did an awesome job of landing in Philly, was nice & smooth despite the wind & the rain that greeted us in Philadelphia. I was so glad to be back on solid ground!
*sidetrack over*

Anyway, on Christmas Eve we went to the Christmas Eve service at Angela's church which was good. Was pretty similar to Christmas Eve services back home - Scripture readings with various carols in betweens as well as some musical items. So that was cool. Their church didn't do a Christmas Day service though, so that was a bit different to home. Anyway later on Christmas Eve we went to their friend's Christmas Eve party which was fun - just mingled & chatted with people & i got to try hot apple cider for the first time! And yeah we just had different nibbles & desserts.

Christmas Day dawned sunny and cold...but alas, NO SNOW! so that was a bit sad as i was really hoping for a white Christmas but i guess i had seen a lot of snow up Hartford & Boston ways. Christmas morning we opened stockings and had brunch and then just relaxed a bit and opened presents. They gave me several things including a really good book on the history of Philadelphia (since they know i majored in history), a Target voucher, a hot plate thingy which was in the shape of a Celtic design i think, a novel, a bookmark etc etc. So that was really nice :) Later on in the afternoon Angela's nana & aunty came over and there was some more present opening & then we had Christmas dinner - turkey, stuffing, green beans & artichoke and sweet potato casserole, was good! Dessert was pumpkin pie and this fruity mincey dessert thingy (kinda like a Danish type pie/fruit mince pie) and cookies & other yum desserts. Us girls then finished off the evening by watching 'While You Were Sleeping' hehe :)

The next day i went with Ang & her mum into downtown Philly and we went to the Constitution Center which i found out was relatively new - has only been around 4 years! It was quite a cool place tho - we went into this like ampitheatre type room where they did a multimedia presentation of the history of the Constitution. There was this lady that was a narrator who stood in the middle of the room and she talked about some of the history while there was different images etc being projected onto the screens all around the room. There were audio and video clips which was cool to see and yeah it was just a really good presentation, very dramatic :) After it was over we went into this other room that had all these different statues of the signatories to the Constitution that included Jefferson, Washington, etc etc so that was cool and i got my pic with ol' George Washington & Ben Franklin haha. They also had this big book there that you could sign to show your allegiance to the Constitution and it even had a little blurb welcoming international visitors as well to sign it, to show their support for constitutional governments worldwide. So i thought that was cool and I signed it :) Then we went into the First Ladies exhibition which was pretty interesting. There was displays of different dresses and souvenirs from each First Ladies time in the White House as well as a bit of a bio about what each of them had focused on. One thing that stood out to me was how each First Lady has focused on a range of different things whether it be literacy/education, health or conservation.

The rest of the week we mostly stayed around where Ang's family lives and also went to some family things of theirs. On the Sat (29th) i decided to take a day trip by myself into Washington D.C. (via train) while Ang worked on her grad school applications. I thought i'td be a pity to get so close to the capital & not visit it so i definitely wanted to go. And im so glad i did! The train ride was good, pretty comfy seats, and i went thru 2 states along the way (Delaware & Maryland) too. The night before i'd worked out what museums i wanted to visit at the Smithsonian institute, based on some of the exhibitions that were on. My first stop though in D.C. was (naturally) the White House. I took the Metro from Union Station to Federal Triangle (i LOVE D.C.s Metro system btw - its so clean, modern & efficient!) and then walked from there to the White House, and saw Washington Monument along the way. The gate in front of the White House where everyone gets photos was waaaay further away from the W.H. than it looked in other peoples pics that i'd seen! But it was still cool to be there and i got some good pics of it. Security was extremely tight around there as you can imagine being the capital & all...i saw both marked & unmarked police cars/vans + all the streets around Pennsylvania Ave (the White House is at 1600 Pennyslvania Ave) were all blocked off & there were cops standing in the middle of some of the roads too. Anyways after gettin some pics at the gate i went on down to the White House Visitor Center which was really good (had to go thru security check upon entering it...which also goes for all the museums as well) and it had some interesting facts about the White House and info on all the different Presidents & their families that have lived there over the years. There were a couple of videos too - one by First Lady Laura Bush on Christmas at the White House (the theme for decorating it this year was celebrating America's national parks) & Pres. Bush did one on the history & significance of the White House etc. There was also a model of the W.H. too which was pretty cool. Then i went to the National Museum of Natural History which had this awesome photographic awards exhibit called 'Natures Best Photography' which had amazing pictures of all kinds of animals & environments. And the best thing was that you were allowed your camera so i took pics of some of the photos hehe. Also in the museum was a dinosaur exhibit which was pretty cool, had huge life size models of all the major dinosaurs: T-Rex, Bracchiosaurus, Tricerotops, Steggosaurus etc etc. Then i went and walked down to the Capitol....my gosh was it a long walk!! Did not look that far but it was several blocks down & took a good 20mins at least to reach it. But it was worth it though and i got some good pics of it as well as in front of the reflecting pool etc. Then i went and stopped by the National Air & Space Museum and went to this exhibit on Treasures of American History (it was being hosted there as the American History museum is temporarily closed for renovations at the mo). It was a really cool exhibit that had all kinds of original items such as Dorothy's ruby red slippers, the scarecrow costume from Wizard of OZ, Kermit the Frog, Abraham Lincoln's top hat (which he kept all his important documents in & which he was wearing when he got assassinated), the first pair of Levi Strauss jeans, C3Po & R2D2, one of Mary Todd Lincoln's dresses, portrait of Billy Graham, Muhammed Ali's boxing gloves, Marilyn Monroes famous white gloves, George Washington's hunting/war clothes, the first Barbie, first teddy bear, Thomas Jeffersons Bible, the Greensboro lunch counter (where the first sit-in was launched by African Americans in the 1960s) etc etc. I was also able to get photos of most of those things too :) Then i went and had a look at some of the space stuff they had on display - they even had 2 sample missiles there from the Cold War era...one American and one Russian one. There were also astronauts' space suits + a model of Apollo 11 etc. Then i went & had some lunch at McDonalds down in the Foodcourt and spotted the first McCafe that i've seen in the US! They're not common here at all. Speaking of which they also dont have the Deli Select Sandwiches at McDonalds here either. Anyhow, my last stop before heading back to Union Station was to stop by the actual Smithsonian castle but i only went into 2 of the rooms there (one of which had a memorial thing to Smithson) as if i'd gone in any further i would have had to go thru yet another bag check & i was sick of them by then. But the best thing about the Smithsonian Institue/National Mall (where all the museums are) is that they're free! Its awesome. It also only cost me US$6.50 to get an 1 day pass for unlimited rides on the Metro rail :) (as opposed to when i was in NYC and me & Alisa had to pay $10 for a 6 trip on the Metro). Overall I really enjoyed D.C. - its a really safe city, easy to walk around & there is heaps to see. If i'd had another day there i would have gone to Holocaust Museum, gone to more of the Smithsonian museums, Arlington Cemetry, possibly up the Washington Monument, and past the Superior Court etc.

For New Years Eve, the Sopers had some of their family friends around who they usually have each New Years Eve. They came over for dinner & dessert, was nice to meet them and chat for a bit. Then later on me & Ang went to her friends place where some of their other school friends were for a bit of a reunion & we hung out & had nibbles etc. Just before midnight we tuned into Fox and watched live coverage of Times Square and saw the ball drop + other bands playing there. Man were there masses of people there! I was excited to be able to say that i'd been there like 10 days ago haha. Even though it would have been cool to be in NYC for New Years purely for the atmosphere, im glad i was away from the madness of it all as it would have taken forever to get out of Times Square! Plus it was nice just to relax at Ang's friends place & take some silly pics etc hehe.

Jacksonville, Florida (aka Jax)
On Jan 1, 2008 i flew down to Jax to stay with my friend Tracey. It was a pretty good flight (apart from having to circle the runway for half an hour before taking off, while the air traffic control tower sorted out paperwork for our flight!) and made it down there in just 2.5 hours. Stayed with Trace at various places during my time there as she had to housesit etc a little bit while i was there as well as try & move her stuff back into the place she stayed at before she went to Indonesia last year. The neighbourhood we were in was really really nice...the wealthiest bit of Jax, as its where some of the NFL players live and it also has a golf course that has big PGA tournaments i.e. where Tiger Woods & co have played. The weather tho was another story - the first couple of days i was there (Jan 1 & 2) it was freezing! like actually freezing. 32F and even below that a little i think. It eventually got a bit warmer during the rest of my time there so that was good. On Fri & Sat night i went out with Tracey & her friends to go hear some of their fave local bands play. On the Sat night there was also an NFL game on between the Jacksonville Jaguars & the Pittsburgh Steelers...the Jaguars one so everyone was pretty happy :) Still so funny for me to watch American football seeing all those guys with their bulky pads! haha. so different to watching a rugby game. On Monday just gone (Jan 7) we went down to Orlando to go to....Disneyworld!! The weather was perfect - nice & sunny & really warm :) In the 80sF (mid-20sC) which was nice. Was kinda surreal being there at first like seeing the Disney castle but it was cool tho. Got lotsa pics. We went on Big Thunder, Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean cruise, Its a Small World and we saw the Monsters Inc comedy show hehe. Unfortunately the Spalsh Mountain ride was temporarily closed (reopening in late Feb...must be because of winter) which sucked & then when we went to Space Mountain it was closed for an hour or so as something small had broken. By the time we went back whatever was wrong had been fixed but the line was super long! So i was gutted about that but i chose for us to give it a miss so we could go to MGM and/or Epcot. Haha was funny seeing the NZ display on Its a Small World (they play the song over and over and over and over thru that ride & in diff languages too!) - its so small compared to the Aussie one heh (typical!). It has 2 Kiwis and a little Maori figure doll thing. But still good to see it there. I also got my pic with Winnie & the Pooh, Tigger & Darby so that was cool haha. We also caught part of the music/dance thingy that Mickey & Minnie and some of the other Disney characters do at the castle, which i got some pics of. We also went to catch the bus to MGM but for some reason the bus never showed up! So that was weird, so we went to Epcot instead and went on the Soarin' ride -it was awesome! And definitely worth the 40min wait. Its a paragliding motion master type ride, really well done :) The lights around the Epcot ball and the fountains etc were also pretty to see. We didnt have time to check out the World Showcase (they have a showcase of 11 countries - each country has its own little restaurant etc with people from the actual countries working there) as Epcot shut at 8pm. Overall it was an awesome day & im glad Tracey & Jeff and there friends were able to take me to the Magic Kingdom...where dreams really do come true (lalala)! haha.

Birmingham (aka B'ham), Alabaaaama
On Tues morning (Jan 8th) i flew up here to B'ham, Alabama where im currently typing this blog from. And on my flight there was a Kiwi guy! He was sitting near me so got to talk to him a bit and found out he'd just travelled around Europe for 7 months and was doing some travelling around the US before heading back home soon. Funny recognising your own accent tho..like being able to hear a bit of what the Kiwi accent must sound like to other people. Its hard to describe.
Anyways im staying with some girls from the missions office at Briarwood, they're really fun to hang with :) Its been good to have a look around Briarwood - it really is a huge building! With all diff sections to it. I've met people from Missions offic, Campus Outreach as well as those involved with the Jr. and Senior High youth. Was able to meet the Pastor's wife (Cindy Reeder) the other night too as i went along with Heather to Cindy's birthday dinner. But it has been really great & a nice surprise to have been able to hang out with Irene :) She's now not coming back home till Feb and she's been coming up to Briarwood a few days each week so i got to see her the last couple days & we went shopping etc. Im hoping to go down to where she's been staying and doing Campus Outreach work at Montevallo Uni. So will see what happens.

Well this has turned into a massive post so will leave it here for now. Will try and put a compilation of pics from my trip thus far in one post.

NM, AZ, NYC & Boston!

2007-12-24T15:49:00.000+13:00

Translated that is..New Mexico, Arizona, New York City & Boston. These are all places ive been to over the last week or so - its funny because it feels like i've been in the States a lot longer than 2 weeks since i've packed so much in! So im going to break it down under those place names to catch ya'll up on what ive been up to :)

New Mexico
I stayed with my friend Nicole in a small town called Silver City in the southwest corner of the state of New Mexico. Its a nice little town with some cool shops & Mexican restaurants. Nicole took me to this cute little Mexican restaurant called Jalescos for lunch which was nice. Had proper traditional Mexican food which you just dont get in NZ! They have the best tortilla chips over here which they often serve as an appetizer at Mexican restaurants here. Anyways at this place i had an enchilada taco - tasted great! :) While i was in Silver we also went into Walmart which was cool - so much variety, its a massive store. Think The Warehouse meets Kmart but better quality stuff i think. Altho some say Target has better quality things than Walmart! so i really dunno :P

Anyways we went on our roadtrip my third day in the States, and we went via the Black Hills up to Albuquerque. It was beautiful driving thru the hills - dark trees with heaps of snow on them, it looked really striking. As we were coming out of the hills we saw a coyote! It was standing on the side of the road and just stood there eying us up as we drove by! hehe. But it was still cool to see a live one. Wouldn't want to be anywhere near one though. We stayed at a Holiday Inn at Albuquerque and then went and explored Old Town! :) This quickly became a fave place for me, had such a cool little village full of diff and interesting shops - many of which sold handmade Native Indian jewellery and pottery. There was also a church in the middle of the village that was built in 1706 and has had services ever since then!! Its a beautiful looking church and i took some photos of it - it was often on ABQ postcards in lots of the stores. Albuquerque is also famous for its hot air balloon festival it has at the end of Oct/Nov (i think) each year. While in Old Town we went to another Mexican restaurant which was really nice too. This time i had traditional tacos which were real nice - so filling!

Arizona
Arizona is the state next door to New Mexico, closer to California side of the country. It is really dry, flat and dusty but has awesome things! From the Grand Canyon to Sedona to Phoenix to things like their cactuses and even the state license plates - they were all cool to see :) Grand Canyon was absolutely awesome!! You really have to be there to grasp how magnificent it really is - words and pictures will never do it justice (hehe as we were entering into Arizona i saw a cool sign that pretty much summed this up - "Take a breather before we take your breath away" & it had the image of the Grand Canyon in the background!) The day we were there was a beautiful day (in fact, the weather during the whole of our roadtrip around NM and Arizona was perfectly blue skies!) and you could see right across most of the canyon. The lady in the gift shop said just the weekend before it was snowy and the visibility really bad at the canyon so im so glad we were blessed with great weather so it could really glow in all its glory. Even though it would have been nice to have visited it in summer, it was good visiting it in winter b/c you could get a park easily (in summer its bumper to bumper up the road to the South Rim) and not be too crowded at the differnet viewing platforms. Plus there were still a fair amount of tourists there to (including a group of Russians and Asians). The South Rim looked so pretty with sprinklings of snow! One of my fave viewpoints was the Grandview Point, which you can stop at if u go east around the South Rim - there was heaps of snow here and it was cool seeing a diff angle to the rim. Also along the way to this particular viewpoint there were several elk (male & females) grazing on the side of the road! we pulled over (as did most others) and took photos from the safety of the car. Got some really great shots and they didnt seem to be too disturbed at all - they barely glanced at the cars. It was great seeing and being able to appreciate the elk in daylight, but it sure isn't fun coming across them at nighttime! On the way up to Grand Canyon National Park (we stayed at a place just outside the park) it was pretty dark since we left Flagstaff (the nearest town) after dinner. As we were going along we suddenly this movement not very far in front of us and had to slam on the brakes very nearly hitting this elk! Then we saw a whole lot loitering near the side of the road heh. So we took it real slow and careful as we carried on but we made it there safely.

On the way back from the Canyon we stayed the night in Flagstaff which is a nice little town nestled in the mountains. It is situated at quite a high altitude - 7,000 feet. On the way from Flagstaff to Phoenix the following day we went via Sedona as so many people we'd bumped into had told us to go see Sedona. It is a little mountain resort town nestled in the hills (but much lower down) and has great shops. I was surprised to see some trees still had colour in their leaves even while there was snow in the background! But it made it look even prettier. We had a look at the shops all along the main street and had lunch there too (yep at another Mexican place, except this one prob wouldn't be quite as traditional as the others we went to).

Following this we spent 2 days in Phoenix at this lady Suzy's place. She's a family friend of Nicole's family and is lovely and has a beautiful house too. She lives in a gated retirement village community which has its own community hall, big golf course etc etc. And all the residents have golf carts! Suzy let us drive her golf cart around the village which was fun :) always wanted to drive one hehe. Hers was all decorated with Christmas lights as they'd had a competition for the best decorated golf cart. We also went and did a bit of shopping in Sun City West (western Phoenix) and went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner - the first place i've been served by people who didn't have American accents hehe. The food was good. The next day we went to Suzy's friends Christmas party thingy for a little bit and it was here that I finally got to try some real lemonade - it was so funny, they were all shocked about how back in NZ we consider Sprite and 7Up to be lemonade! So they wanted to rectify that quickly and introduce me to the real thing. Have to admit, took me awhile to get used to it not having bubbles but it was nice tho and reminded me a bit of lemon cordial. Kinda thick in its texture.

On the way out of Phoenix we stopped at this awesome Swedish furniture store they have here called IKEA. It sells really good quality stuff for really reasonable prices :) Im even thinking about ordering some stuff online hehe.

Then we got to Tucson and went to a shopping mall (first mall i went to here) and had a look around and i bought some things from Bath & Body Works and Aveda (Nicole's fave makeup/body store). Then we went to this place Applebees for dinner - was good food here too :)

Then on the 18th (the following day) i flew over to Hartford, CT. So overall i really enjoyed being in the southwest (NM and Arizona) - the weather was awesome and Phoenix in particular felt most like Auckland temperature wise - pretty moderate and not cold at all! Oh yeah and i saw a ton of those famous cactuses too! They are all over the show - in people's gardens, along the road...even in the median strip island things in roads!

New York City
New York, New York! So cool to finally get to the Big Apple and see all the famous sights and sounds you see and hear in movies! In the two days we were ther (19th and 20th), me & Alisa managed to pack in a lot :) We were fortunate enough to be able to stay at her flute teacher's place in Upper West Side, it overlooked the Hudson River. We did A LOT of walking around NYC (it is not a city for those don't like walking heaps!) but it was the best way to get a feel for the city and get a picture of the multicultural fabric of the city. The first day we were there we managed to score half price tickets to a play at Broadway! We saw August: Osage County which has received rave reviews from all the big critics and we both really enjoyed it :) Then we went and had a look around Times Square and did some shopping. Then we went to Carnegie Hall and were stoked to be able to get tickets for only $20 to see Handel's Messiah! We were seated waaaay up in the heavens of the auditorium (beautiful decor inside!) and i think i had a touch of vertigo as i sat down and looked all the way to the stage. It felt like if i stood up and tripped over i would fall all the way down to the bottom hehe. But i got used to it and the choir and orchestra did an awesome job. Was mine and Alisa's first time hearing Handel's Messiah in its entirety. The next day we walked around Fifth Ave and past Central Park etc. I went up the Empire State Building which was awesome - really great views and it really helped me get my bearings for the city. I was so glad i did the audio tour which is where u pay a bit more to get this walky talky type phone that has this fictional native New Yorker Tony who speaks to you on it as you walk around the viewing platform. At different points of the platform are numbers so u just put in the number at each point. There was about 6 of these points all up taking in the different views of the city: North/NW, West, Southwest, South, South/SouthSE, East, and North/NE. It was also cool because you found out little tidbits about the city such as where the Titanic was supposed to have berthed. Oh yeah while i was in the gift shop up there i came across another Kiwi girl! We were both looking at the fridge magnets when i noticed she had a NZ flag patch thingy on her backpack. So i asked her if she'd been to NZ and she was like 'Im from NZ, im from Wellington!' hehe :) so that was cool. Anyways after i'd been up there (Alisa didnt go up coz she'd done that the last time she was in NYC), we went past Rockefeller Centre, Ground Zero (there wasnt much here but it was good looking at the memorials tho and you could see they'd started work on laying the foundations for the Freedom Tower to be completed by 2010), Statue of Liberty (we took the free(!) commuter ferry boat to Staten Island which goes by it hehe), SoHo and Greenwich Village. So it was an awesome two days and we were so tired by the end of it - mostly our shoulders from carrying our schoolbags and other bags!

Boston
I really liked Boston, went and saw it yesterday (22nd) and me & Alisa walked the Freedom Trail which was fun :) It is red brick line that takes you past all the really historical parts of Boston eg the cemetry where Ben Franklin's parents lie & Paul Revere, Boston Gardens (with the duck statues! its a mother duckling with her ducks), Paul Reveres house, Boston waterfront (where Boston Tea Party occurred) etc. There was a ton of snow around and it got quite cold as night set in but we stil had fun tho and managed to get some really arty looking pictures of various buildings.

I'm now currently typing this from my friend's place in Philly (Philadelphia). But i'd better sign off for now as its getting later...so more on Philly later. Merry Christmas everyone!! xox

Hello from the USA!

2007-12-12T15:54:00.000+13:00

Well i made it here safely :) Had a pretty good flight over - loooong tho. Got sick of being cramped heh but I managed to get a few hours sleep which was good & am not feeling too jet lagged - the No Jet Lag pills seemed to have worked which is great! :)

Flew into beautiful weather in LA - blue blue skies with not a cloud in sight & I also spied quite a few palm trees right next to the airport. What struck me though as we flew into LA was just how populated and sprawling it is - barely a square inch of green with no buildings! So i can understand more clearly why hardly any people like living in or near LA heh. Anyhow got thru immigration & customs fine, the only problem was the lines which made it take a little while to get thru. Which also meant that i just missed out on being able to check in for my connecting flight to Tucscon, Arizona as i got to the counter past the 45min cut off (they're really ruthless about that cut off!). Fortunately the lady was able to put me on the next flight out to Tucson which was 6 hours later. So i managed to while away the time writing in my diary and reading etc. But have to say I wasn't too impressed with LAX - its a pretty inhospitable airport in terms of facilities. No eating areas and barely any seating outside of security areas. I was expecting at least a McDonalds to be on the outside but nope. Auckland International Airport would leave it for dead like that! But everyone that I talked to there and here (in NM) are real friendly & helpful :) My friend picked me up from Tucson and then we drove 3 hours back to her place here in New Mexico. Along the way we nearly hit a skunk! All i saw was a big black & white thing crossing the road heh. Apparently they come in different sizes and this was a fairly large one that we saw. I'm still getting used to being on the other side of the road - still have to think twice about which side of the car I need to sit on! heh) and also their money and prices etc. Their prices don't include tax so thats a bit annoying. Haven't had to tip anyone just yet though. Went to a Mexican place for lunch today which was realy nice - had an enchilada taco :) One cool thing about the food places in the States is that its not just big food chains like KFC, Wendys, BK, McDonalds etc like we might think - theres little restaurants that are unique to different towns and states.

So now i'm sitting here typing this from Silver City, New Mexico :) Its a little town of about 10,000 people but it has a reasonable amount of shops etc. Heaps of people here drive pick up trucks (oversized utes basically) as quite a few people have ranches etc. I went to Walmart for my first time today and it was pretty cool - so much variety here in everything! You can get large size in pretty much anything too - from lollies to even toilet paper!

Tomorrow (Wed here) me & Nicole are heading off on our roadtrip thru New Mexico and Arizona which includes goin to Albuquerque (a pretty historic place) and of course the Grand Canyon! So i'm excited about all that :) Oh yeah Nicole was telling me that part of Transformers - the desert scenes that are meant to be set in Kuwait - were actually filmed right her in New Mexico at this place called White Sands. So thats pretty cool :) NM seems to be gettin more popular as a filming destination.

Well i better leave it here for now, will probably blog again at the end of this week just before I head off to visit Alisa :)

Take care,
*Pris*

Blog Revival!

2007-12-03T16:42:00.000+13:00

Hey all,

Well well well, its been awhile since i last posted! Anyways thought i'd just let ya know that i have added reason to kickstart this blog again as i head off on my US trip a week today :) I leave 10th Dec. Will try and post as much as I can while im over there :)

The Importance of Family

2007-04-23T11:20:00.000+12:00

Just came across this quite interesting article on the Ministry of Social Development's website, while I was researching an essay topic for my Geography paper (which is on international migration, not family). I only skim read a bit of bit but yeah check it out. I think it will come in handy as a reference for when I write an essay for my Sociology paper - we have several topics to choose from and im doing mine on the Family. We have to find an article on the NZ Herald website between May 06 and April 07 that relates to issues surrounding the family in some way eg the anti-smacking bill. But we also have to argue it from a sociological perspective heh.

Anyway better get back to the research, oh the joy...

Jesus Paid It All

2007-04-07T22:16:00.000+12:00

I came across this pretty cool song (great lyrics & easy tune) on the Passion 06 dvd I bought recently from Manna. Its a dvd that has coverage of this Christian conference called 'Passion' which happens annually in January in different places in the southern US. Anyways the dvd includes 10 songs sung live (as well as talks from John Piper and some others) and one of them is this one by this new Christian artist -Kristian Stanfill- who wrote the following song:

Jesus Paid It All

I hear the Savior say,
“Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.”

Chorus:
Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

Lord, now indeed I find
Thy power and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots
And melt the heart of stone.

(Chorus)

And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete,
"Jesus died my soul to save"
my lips shall still repeat

(Chorus)

Bridge:
O Praise the One who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead
O Praise the One who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead
(repeat)

We'll praise the One who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead

Jesus

******************************************

Have a happy & blessed Easter everyone!
1 John 4:10

Split Second

2007-03-31T19:25:00.000+12:00

Well this is just something I wrote really spontaneously last night, and felt like posting on here. It's a challenge to myself and others, both Christian and non-Christian alike...

Split Second

In the click of a finger
the blink of an eye
There is no doubt
that in just a split second
life can pass us by

(Coz) You thought you had some time
Time to enjoy 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness'
But that pursuit was in vain
As you attempted to gain
material wealth and some element of fame
doing just about anything
to make yourself a name
Yet never could you have imagined
it would come down to this,

The voice of the doctor saying
'I'm sorry to tell you, but you have cancer'
Forever leaving you with those words ringing in your ears
Or in those final moments as you
lose control of your car and wait
for the crunch of metal against metal
in a head on collision
Nor did you ever consider that just
being at the wrong place
at the wrong time
Could wreak such havoc
in such a short space of time.

In the click of a finger
the blink of an eye
There is no doubt
that in just a split second
life can pass us by
So take every second, every minute
every day
And give God the glory for who He is and what He's done
For TODAY is the day to
Seek God, Live Life, and Impact the World.

First for 2007

2007-03-07T16:20:00.000+13:00

Well, well, it sure has been awhile since i last blogged on here! Or anywhere heh. So just thought i'd give ya a brief rundown of my summer in the form of highlights :)

Finishing exams way before anyone else did in Nov :) I finished Nov 3rd
I scored myself a summer job thru SJS, doin reception for this company out at the airport. God really provided just the right job at just the right time - had full-time work there from end of Nov right up till end of Feb, was good $/hr, good hours, and good staff :) I felt so loved there haha & it was sorta sad to leave, but my boss there said i can come back anytime i need work like during uni hols etc :)
Christmas/New Years/YBC: each of these was great! was also cool gettin to catch up with friends from down south who came up for YBC :)
Spending a w/end away at Waiheke Island: I hadnt been over to Waiheke since i was like 10, so it was cool gettin to go back and go with my family to stay at my uncle's bach there. We went over in the car ferry coz the rest of my familiy were staying there for the week & decided to take the car so they could go all over the island. But yeah so it sucked having to come back to work on the Monday but ah well, at least the weather was good during the time that i was there - had a swim at one of the beaches there & checked out some of the shops.
Going to Parachute 07: was a great festival and loved the lineup :) probably one of the highlights of the whole festival for me was on the Sun nite when Third Day came on stage and Mac (lead singer) started singing Agnus Dei & then brought Darlene Zschech on stage to sing it with him :) Sounded awesome, especially with everyone else in the crowd singing along...its times like those when you can really imagine something of what it'll be like worshipping God in heaven! The weather there was also great as well, despite the forecast of rain for the whole w/end - i came away quite sunburnt. however it did end up absolutely POURING down on the last nite...that wasn't so good...tent soaked = sleeping bags soaked inside out, me & my friend soaked to our skin, puddles under our stretchers heh. All fun n games. But aside from that, it was a great time :) got a ton of pics.

Yeah so those are pretty much the highlights of my summer. I'm now back into uni...finding it hard getting myself back into uni mode again tho...prob because i worked right up till uni started and didn't give myself a break heh. In sayin that tho, this first semester is looking to be pretty alright workload wise coz im doin two stage 3s (Geographies of Pacific Development// USA & Latin America history) and two stage 1s (Educational thought// Issues & Themes in Sociology), so it makes for a nice balance. Second semester will really be crunch time tho because it will be full on with work - will have two stage 3s that are both 100% coursework as well as doin two stage 2s.

Anyway i betta get going for now, hopefully my next blog wont take 3 months to happen!

Merry CHRISTmas!!

2006-12-22T18:54:00.000+13:00

A Christmas Alphabet Poem

Angels, appearing so bright, telling of Jesus that first Christmas night
"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host." Luke 2:13

Bethlehem, crowded and old, birthplace of Jesus by prophet foretold
"But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel." Micah 5:2

Cattle, their manger His bed, there in the trough where He laid His head
"And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger." Luke 2:7

David and his ancient throne promised forever to Jesus alone
"He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David." Luke 1:32

East, where shone the bright star which Magi on camels followed afar
"Behold, there came wise men from the east asking 'Where is the king of the Jews?'" Matthew 2:1-2

Frankincense, with myrrh and gold, brought by the Wise Men as Matthew has told
"And when they had opened their treasurers, they presented unto him gifts gold, frankincense, and myrrh." Matthew 2:11

God, who from heaven above sent down to mankind the Son of His love
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

Herod, whose murderous scheme was told to Joseph in a nocturnal dream
"The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise and take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt... for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him." Matthew 2:13

Immanuel, "God with us," for Christ brought man back to the Father's house
"Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14

Joseph so noble and just, obeying God's word with absolute trust
"Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife." Matthew 1:24

King: a true king He would be, coming in power and authority
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, the King cometh unto thee; he is just, and having salvation." Zechariah 9:9

Love that He brought down to earth God enfleshed in lowly birth
"In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." 1 John 4:9

Mary, His mother so brave, counting God faithful and mighty to save
"And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." Luke 1:38

Night, when the Savior was born for nations of earth and people forlorn
"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night." Luke 2:8

Omega, meaning "the last;" He's eternal present, future, and past
"I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." Revelation 22:13

Prophets, when living on earth foretold His redemption and blessed birth
"I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a sceptre will rise out of Israel." Numbers 24:17

Quickly, as shepherds who heard hastened to act on that heavenly word
"And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger." Luke 2:16

Rejoice! The sorrow of sin is banished forever when Jesus comes in
"And you will have joy and gladness; and many will rejoice at his birth." Luke 1:14

Saviour: to be this He came; the angel of God assigned Him His name
"She will bring forth a son, and you will call his name JESUS, for he will save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:21

Tidings of joy, not of danger, telling of Him who was laid in a manger
"And the angel said unto them, Fear not for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." Luke 2:10

Us, to whom Jesus was given to show us the way and take us to heaven
"For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:11

Virgin, foretold by the sage, God's revelation on prophecy's page
"Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." Matthew 1:23

Wonderful: His works and His words, the King of all Kings, the Lord of all Lords
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given... and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6

X is for Christ. It's X in the Greek, Anointed, Messiah, mighty, yet meek
"God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power." Acts 10:38

Yes, called God's Yes in His Word; God's answer to all is Jesus the Lord
"For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us." 2 Corinthians 1:20

Zeal, as it burned in Christ's heart. Lord, by Thy Spirit to us zeal impart!
"And his disciples remembered that it was written, the zeal of your house has eaten me up." John 2:1

Whats new with meeeeeeee

2006-11-29T00:09:00.000+13:00

Hey ya! Well the main news since my last post is that i scored myself a summer job thru none other than SJS :) i'd honestly nearly given up on SJS but yeah one morning my mum was like 'just go and check again' so i did (under office/clerical) and there was a new one listed there that looked really good and was out near the airport. So i rang up SJS straight away, they passed my name onto the company & also gave me the numba of the company to ring, i rang them, the lady was lovely and said to come on in for an interview, so i did, it went really well...and then, voila, they offered me the job and i took it So yeah im now doing reception work for this company called Serada that specialises in selling marine and motorhome gear amongst many other things (as i've since discovered...eg fridges, tvs, dvd players etc etc). I had my first week there last week and it all went pretty smoothly, the other receptionist lady was really nice and showed me the ropes ie the phone system, how to invoice, do the filing etc etc. But sadly, it was Karen's (the other receptionist) last day on Fri :( So yeah another girl from out the back, Sharon, who used to be on reception has come to fill in until she goes on maternity leave in Feb/March. Took me awhile to get used to answering the phone all the time...altho i noticed some times of the day are definitely busier and the phone calls usually come in spurts. But im gettin used to it :) All the staff are really friendly and ask me regularly how im going.

So now that im working full-time for the summer i value my w/ends so much more!! haha. now i know what it must be like for people that work full-time thru the year...

In other news, i got all my exam results back recently and was pretty happy with them overall...esp with my stage 3 geography one that i got an A for! My other results werent too bad either. So now im just sorting out what papers/classes im gonna take for next year and ive nearly got it sorted..and so far so good - no timetable clashes!! will still need to fit in tutorials into my t/table tho but yeah she'll be right.

Man can anyone else believe how fast this year has gone?? Hopefully we'll actually put up our Christmas decorations a bit earlier this year (usually we dont put the tree etc up until like a week or so before Christmas)...we bought some of that holly type stuff to drape across the doorway btwn our dining room and lounge and a few other bits n pieces to add to our christmas decorations :) im looking forward to putting it all up!

Anyways betta sign off for now, have a good one
*Pris*

F.Y.E

2006-11-20T22:54:00.000+13:00

(that is, For Your Encouragement..hehe..)

Loving God

"There is nothing we can do to make God love us more, there is nothing we can do to make God love us less." - Philip Yancey

"Forget what you've heard about Jesus if it doesn't begin and end with love." - David Phelps "You know you've created God in your image when He hates all the same people you do." - Anne Lamotte

"God is too good to be unkind, too wise to be mistaken and, when you cannot trace His hand, you can always trust His heart." - Charles Spurgeon

"True thanksgiving means that we need to thank God for what He has done for us and not to tell Him what we have done for Him." - George R. Hendrick

"Paul was like a musician who gave no thought to audience approval, if only he could catch a glimpse of approval from his Conductor." - Oswald Chambers

"There is no fear in submitting to a love that would die for you."

"I would rather walk with God in the dark than go alone in the light." - Mary Gardiner Brainard

"The Lord won't take you where His grace can't keep you."

"Joy is not the absence of suffering, but the presence of God."

"Man is born broken. He lives by mending. The grace of God is the glue." - Eugene O'Neill

"Don't ask God to give you more faith until you've learned how to use the faith you've got." - Rev. Jim Craig

"God spreads grace the way a five-year-old spreads peanut butter... He gets it all over everything." - Rev. Donna Schaper

"Preach the Gospel at all times and, when necessary, use words." - St. Francis of Assisi

"True prayer is asking God what He wants." - William Barclay

"Pray and, while you pray, move your feet." - Quaker saying

"God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere." - Timaeus of Locris

"A coincidence is when God performs a miracle and decides to remain anonymous."

"God loves us just the way we are but He loves us too much to leave us that way." - Max Lucado

"Did it ever occur to you that nothing ever occurs to God."

"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen; not only because I see it but because, by it, I see everything else." - C. S. Lewis

"Most people are bothered by those Scripture passages which they cannot understand. But, for me, the passages in Scripture which trouble me the most are those which I do understand." - Mark Twain

"The wind of God is always blowing but we must hoist the sail!" - Francois Fenelon

"God does not play with dice." - Albert Einstein

"Just think of stepping on shore and finding it Heaven, of touching a hand and finding it God's, of breathing new air and finding it celestial, of waking up in glory and finding it home!" - Don Wyrtzen

"If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it." - Max Lucado

"If you please man and never please God, you have nothing; If you please God and man forsakes you, you have everything." - Dorothy Patterson

"You can no more diminish the glory of God by refusing to worship Him, than a lunatic can diminish the sun by writing 'darkness' on the walls of his cell." - C. S. Lewis

The MTD virus

2006-11-09T13:10:00.000+13:00

**Back in July i went to the TSCF conference, which was a special one because it celebrated 70 years of TSCF..and it was quite cool because there was even 3 generations of one family there on the day i went, when TSCF grads could go along. Anyway they had several different speakers, and the one day that i went to the conference this guy Paul Windsor, who's the principal of Carey Baptist College did a talk on this thing called the MTD virus...and i found it quite interesting what he had to say. I'm typing out this article btw so hope you find it interesting too :P**

Having completed the largest and most detailed survey of teenagers and religion ever undertaken, Christian Smith and Melinda Denton conclude that American teenagers are unknowingly infected by the virus of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.

What does this phrase mean?
In being moralistic these young people affirm that the prupose of religion is to provide guidance on how to be a good person. This, they say, is all that God wants of us: to be good people others will like by giving our energy to self-improvement and fulfilling our potential. There are just Two Commandments: 'Thou Shalt not Hurt Others' and 'Thou Shalt not Be Hurt by Others'. Any focus on God is eliminated. Any external standard is unnecessary. What is good is "something everybody know" - like an instinct. And good people go to heaven.

This MTD virus is described as a five point creed with the therapeutic characteristic entering at number three: "the central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about yourself." Religion helps people get what they want. Faith is about making a person happy and helping them get through life - much like a therapist does. Indeed God is the Cosmic Therapist who can transform us into what we feel like being, rather than what we are supposed to be. Things like repentance, humility, the cost of discipleship, glorifying God by enduring suffering, and hungering and thirsting after righteousness are deleted.

This leads on to a deistic caricature of God in which he creates the world and then stands back from it. However this distant God "is selectively available for taking care of our needs." He becomes the Divine Butler controllable by our remote. He is the helper "who responds in times of trouble but who does not ask for devotion or obedience." Acutally he is not that interested in us, particularly at those times when we'd rather he not be interested in us. He is like the Producer of the Play: the one who "makes all the play possible but stands back and watches" while the actors (you and I) take centre stage.

Summed up in a single sentence, Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD) asserts that:
'God is out there somewhere and if you just do what makes you happy and avoid
being realy bad, you'll go to heaven when you die.'
How do we respond to this virus?
We can respond culturally by asking if this virus is really experienced in New Zealand. It may be "the de facto dominant religion among contemporary US teenagers" - but is it Kiwi? Who knows? We don't prioritise comparable indigenous research enough to know. However in asking this contextual question let's not miss the glboal tide that sweeps into our shallow Kiwi bays. For example, The Simpsons rides that tide and exerts influence in NZ. In the rush to avoid being caricatured like Ned Flanders, haven't Christians even in New Zealand fallen into the arms of MTD - by default? Such examples easily proliferate.
Then there is the generational response. There is a sub-text throughout Smith and Denton's book [Soul Searching: the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers]: 'don't give teenagers a hard time as they've picked this stuff up from their parents.' The virus may now be endemic but those early, unnoticed, and critical outbreaks occurred in the preceding generation.
It is not the Christian teenager, but the parents and the church leader and the TSCF graduate who need to ask the hard questions. The authors note that most teenagers they interviewed reported that the interview was the first time an adult had ever asked them 'what they believed and how it mattered in their life.' How sad is that? What is the impact of this inarticulacy in our spiritual conversations with young people? How often have our life choices had Moralistic Therapeutic Deism stamped all over them? Young people are listening and watching...and following.
An ecclesial response also comes to mind. The authors conlude that "Christianity in the US is only tenuously Christian ... it is either degenerating into a pathetic version of itself or, more significantly, it is actively being colonised and displaced by a quite different faith." The primary challenge we face is not secularism but syncretism. The enemy is in here, not out there. The worship of the living God mixes with the worship of other things until the living God is lost in the clutter and we slowly cease to be Christian in any sense at all. Following Jesus accomodates itself within a Microsoft Windows template. We open hmi up, maximising him on the screen of our lives - but then just as easily minimise him as our friends, our families, our careers, our OEs, and our consumption takes centre stage. Within the church we too are "incredibly inarticulate" about our faith as the MTD virus works to keep "religion operating in the background of (our) lives."
A final response is the biblical one. There is today an inability to start with God as the first principle of life and mission, allowing his self-revelation in Christ and in the Bible to be our starting point. Again and again we hear it exclaimed: 'I don't like a God like that.' What is goin on here? Me, myself, I are being that first principle! God is being placed within the framework of our understanding, rather than me being placed in the framework of his understanding. It is a sad and simple error. And so the question to ask is this one: when we make God's self-revelation to be the lens through which we look at MTD, what do we see?
At its very core MTD makes a mockery of the cross of Christ. It is not Christian. It is not even close to being Christian. Let's demonstrate this by comparing each word of the virus with two witnesses: a passage of scripture and a hymn of the church.
What is this about a God who is uninvolved (deism)? Have you not heard about reconciliation? It is a relational word. God did not drop out of sight after creating the world. The entire story of the Bible is about this 'hound of heaven' involving himself in this world and pursuing us across sin and conflict and rebellion until he finds us, offering forgiveness through the substitutionary death of Jesus which brings reconciliation. After all of this, an uninvolved God seems ridiculous. Consider again the depths of 2 Cor 5:15-21 and the heights of that hymn 'It is a Thing Most Wonderful'.
What is this about a life lived solely for the purpose of feeling happy (therapeutic)? Have you not heard about redemption? It is a marketplace word. It is about buying slaves so as to liberate them. We are slaves to sin and unable to grapple with our situation because of that sin. We are hopeless and helpless. God purchases our redemption with a substitute. His own Son dies our death so that we can live his life - a new life with Jesus as Lord. After all of this, living just to feel happy looks pathetic. Consider again the depths of 1 Peter 1:18-21 and the heights of that hymn 'Make me a Captive Lord'.
What is this about just being a good person (moralistic)? Have you not heard about justification? It is a legal word. We stand in the dock. We face a righteous and holy judge. He has a standard we cannot attain. There is no goodness in who we are or what we do that can make a difference. We are guilty and so the outcome is clear. And then God brings in Jesus. He takes our place in the dock as a substitute and receives the sentence of death. It is called grace, opening the way for God's acceptance of us. After all of this, placing confidence in our own goodness looks silly. Consider again the depths of Romans 3:21-26 and the heights of that hymn 'Not What These Hands Have Done'.

A recent article in Christianity Today asks whether we can become too atonement-centred. In making a response to the MTD virus, the answer is 'no'.

Celebrate good times...

2006-11-04T13:15:00.000+13:00

...c'mon, da dum dum dum da dum! why? coz i am now on summer break, yea-uh! =) had my last exam yesterday and it went pretty well, was stage 1 psych and was just multi-choice and short answer. My other exams went alright as well. And just before I started my exams i found out i got my first A+ for an essay, was for my stg 3 geography one! :)

And i've also been trying to sort out a job for the summer, and i've got an interview for this job at my dad's work, where they already have one other girl from uni doing like filing etc...boring stuff but apparently it pays alright. so yeah hopefully something will come of the interview, otherwise i'll have to go into SJS :/ (coz my music job finishes up each year in Dec when the kids finish school).

Not alot else to say at the moment, but will be more regular with my posts, now that i have more time on my hands..

have a good w/end everyone :)

The essays are in!

2006-10-17T13:35:00.000+13:00

Yep i just handed in 70% worth of essays yesterday - one that was 50% for my Nazi Germany history paper (that paper is 100% coursework hence the value of the essay) and one that was 20% for my Geography paper. So yeah, major relief :) the only other piece of coursework i have left to hand in is this little (stage 1) psych lab report on the topic of clinical psych, which is due Fri (the last day of lecs for the year)...heh for part of it we have to write a short "essay" that has to be a whopping 500 words long, defining what mental health is. ah well, i shouldnt complain, it is a stage 1 paper and its been an interesting one at that :)

Now all i need to do is start studying for exams......ugggh.

Kids in church

2006-10-06T10:50:00.000+13:00

Children in Church

A little boy was in a relative's wedding. As he was coming down the aisle, he would take two steps, stop, and turn to the crowd. While facing the crowd, he would put his hands up like claws and roar. So it went, step, step, ROAR, step, step, ROAR, all the way down the aisle. As you can imagine, the crowd was near tears from laughing so hard by the time he reached the pulpit. When asked what he was doing, the child sniffed and said, "I was being the Ring Bear."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One Sunday in a Midwest City, a young child was "acting up" during the morning worship hour. The parents did their best to maintain some sense of order in the pew but were losing the battle. Finally, the father picked the little fellow up and walked sternly up the aisle on his way out. Just before reaching the safety of the foyer, the little one called loudly to the congregation, "Pray for me! Pray for me!"

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One particular four-year old prayed, "And forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who p ut tra sh in our baskets."

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A little boy was overheard praying: "Lord, if you can't make me a better boy, don't worry about it. I'm having a real good time like I am."

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A Sunday S chool teacher asked her little children, as they were on the way to church service, "And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?" One bright little girl replied, "Because people are sleeping."

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A little boy opened the big and old family Bible with fascination, looking at the old pages as he turned them. Then something fell out of the Bible. He picked it up and looked at it closely. It was an old leaf from a tree that has been pressed in between the pages. "Mama, look what I found," the boy called out. "What have you got there, dear?" his mother asked. With astonishment in the young boy's voice he answered, "It's Adam's suit".

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The preacher was wired for sound with a lapel mike, and as he preached, he moved briskly about the platform, jerking the mike cord as he went. Then he moved to one side, getting wound up in the cord and nearly tripping before jerking it again. After several circles and jerks, a little girl in the third pew leaned toward her mother and whispered, "If he gets loose, will he hurt us?"

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Six-year old Angie, and her four-year old brother, Joel, were sitting together in church. Joel giggled, sang and talked out loud. Finally, his big sister had had enough. "You're not supposed to talk out loud in church." "Why? Who's going to stop me?" Joel asked. Angie pointed to the back of the church and said, "See those two men standing by the door? They're hushers."

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My grandson was visiting one day when he asked , "Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?" I mentally polished my halo, while I asked, "No, how are we alike?" "You're both old," he replied.

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A ten-year old, under the tutelage of her grandmother, was becoming quite knowledgeable about the Bible. Then, one day, she floored her grandmother by asking, "Which Virgin was the mother of Jesus? The virgin Mary or the King James Virgin?"

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A Sunday school class was studying the Ten Commandments. They were ready to discuss the last one. The teacher asked if anyone could tell her what it was. Susie raised her hand, stood tall, and quoted, "Thou shall not take the covers off the neighbor's wife."

Politicians: role models for the nation. Yeah right.

2006-10-04T17:01:00.000+13:00

- Tui. Yes thats right folks....the billboard is back! :) its amazing how you miss even somethin like a Tui billboard when you take the train into uni 5 days/wk...so glad that stupid powerade b/board is gone now!

In other news - i will be on summer break in less than a month now! Crazy but cool. Its mainly coz my exams finish early - 31st oct, 1st & 3rd Nov (one of my papers is all coursework). But between now and then i have x2 2500-3000 word essays to write and a lab report to do as well as study.

So yeah i betta go hit the books, catch ya l8r

The weekend (well, Saturday) in pictures

2006-09-25T19:49:00.000+12:00

The happy couple :)

Kirsten and Aidan

Corina and Martin

Michelle and Matt

Cool dude

"Why did I let them talk me into this??"

Us girlies

My table (well, some of them)

Cutting the cake

Cool wedding cake!

Shakes Head

2006-09-06T13:26:00.000+12:00

Ok before I show ya this article that made me shake my head in disbelief, just wanted to say.... Yay for Spring being here! It really feels like its arrived too with all this warm weather we've had lately. The other day i messed round with the dig camera and took this pic in front of our magnolia tree which has all flowered now...only lasts for about a month or so tho:

Anyway back to the said article - check this out:

Pope's Group To Publish Evolution Talks

Pope Benedict and his former doctoral students plan to publish the proceedings of their weekend seminar on evolution to promote a dialogue between faith and science on the origins of life, participants said.

The minutes, to be issued later this year, will show how Catholic theologians see no contradiction between their belief in divine creation and the scientific theory of evolution, they said after the annual closed-door meeting ended on Sunday.

The theory of evolution has long been controversial in the United States, where conservative Christians oppose teaching it in public schools and promote rival views such as "intelligent design" that scientists reject as religion in disguise.

Benedict and some aides have joined the debate in the past year, arguing for evolution as a scientific theory but against "evolutionism" -- which he calls a "fundamental philosophy ... intended to explain the whole of reality" without God.

"He said this meeting could be an impulse to revive the discussion between theologians and evolutionists," said Father Stephan Horn, who organizes the sessions for top students the then Professor Joseph Ratzinger mentored in the 1960s and 1970s.

"He's been concerned for a long time, and especially now that he is pope, about fostering a discussion between faith and reason," Horn said by telephone from Rome.

"He probably believes there is not enough public discussion about this, so that's why he wants to revive it."

Philosophy, Not Science

Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, the papal associate most active in presenting the Catholic view of evolution in public, said the proceedings could be published in November.

"It was an important meeting at the highest academic level," Schoenborn, who addressed the gathering at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, told Austria's Kathpress agency.

Advance media speculation had said the debate might shift Vatican policy to embrace "intelligent design," which claims to prove scientifically that life could not have simply evolved, or the "creationist" view that God created the world in six days.

"It wasn't that at all," Father Joseph Fessio S.J., provost of Ave Maria University in Florida, told Reuters. The Pope's session with 39 former students was "a meeting of friends with some scholars to discuss an interesting theme."

Unlike creationists who oppose the theory of evolution, the Catholic Church does not read literally the Biblical account of God creating the world in six days.

Benedict and Schoenborn have said several times over the past year that intelligence in the form of God's will played a part in creation and that neo-Darwinists who deny God any role are drawing an ideological conclusion not proven by the theory.

They say they use philosophical reasoning to conclude that God created the world, not arguments which intelligent design supporters claim can be proven scientifically.

"There's a controversy in the United States because there is a lack of awareness of a thing called philosophy," said Fessio, whose Ignatius Press publishes Benedict's books in English.

"Evangelicals and creationists generally lack it and Catholics have it," he said.

"When you look at the world and see what appears to be order and design, the conclusion that there is a designer is not a scientific conclusion, it's a philosophical one."

Crazy stuff...just crazy.

Thought to ponder....

2006-08-29T11:12:00.000+12:00

I was listening to Life Fm today just before i headed out the door to go out to uni (yep, even tho its the 'holidays'...dedication right there i tell ya heh), and they were doing a poll called 'to convert or not to convert' - based on how the (recently released) Kiwi cameraman and the American journalist had to say they'd converted to Islam (with a gun pointed to their heads). So just thought i'd throw this out there - what would you have done if you'd been in that position? I think many of us as Christians would all be quick to think/say that we would refuse to 'convert'.....but if it came to the crunch, would we?? I guess its one of those things where you wouldn't truly know how you'd react unless you were placed in that situation...

In other news, like i said earlier, i am currently on 'holiday'...well, lecture break. The last few weeks have definitely been my toughest at uni with regard to the assignments workload....reaaally startin to feel the pressure of doing two stage 3s but i'm gettin there. Just need to constantly make sure i balance my time well and stay on top of things. Which is why i'm planning to use this lecture break as a chance to get on top of/ahead of things for the next half of this semester...hence my reason for coming into uni today (and some other days during this break).

Anyway, have a good week all, God bless

Hmm...interesting!

2006-08-20T22:26:00.000+12:00

I found this interesting article on the Yahoo! Aussie site, and thought I'd post it here:

Family faces eviction for loud night prayers

BERLIN (Reuters) - A seven-member family faces eviction from an east Berlin apartment tower after neighbors complained about loud prayer sessions that keep the whole building awake at night, a German newspaper said Thursday.

"I really don't want to disturb the neighbors but the high volume is needed in the battle against the devil," Pierre D., the 42-year-old father of the Christian family, told Bild newspaper. He is fighting an eviction order in court.

Neighbors told Bild the screams and singing that are part of the family prayers in the second storey sometimes begin at 2:30 a.m. and can be heard all the way up to the fifth floor.

"We have to work in the morning and need our sleep," said taxi driver Horst Berghahn, who lives on the third floor. He said he asked the family to lower the volume several times since they moved into the building 10 months ago but to no avail.

So little time, so much to do...

2006-08-15T21:06:00.000+12:00

Just thought i'd start off with a little slideshow of some pics of a snow trip I went on in July with my bro and a couple of friends:

I found this a little insulting at first heh...the caption says 'Twenty Cents and Worth More' :P It was on the kitchen bench in the chalet. We all cracked up laughing as soon as we walked in & saw it, but we (me, especially) were like 'what the?!' haha.

Me, Jon and a couple of my friends in front of the chalet

'Villa Del Camp'

Looking out from the loft

Mt Ruapehu - Turoa side

Well as ya can guess from the above title, my life has been even more flat out, crazy busy than it usually is, over the last month. Basically since uni started for the semester. A massive balancing act of priorities which doesn't help when running low on sleep as well.... anyways moving on - onthe upside, i've completed 2 assignments...2 down, 3 to go, yay! Yesterday I did my first uni seminar - it was for Nazi Germany and mine was on the topic of propaganda in the pre-war years. Quite interesting to research about. I ended up choosing for my primary source a video clip of one of Hitler's speeches at the May Day celebrations in 1934. It ended up going alright, except the hardest part I found was the question time at the end where your classmates can ask you things about your source, what you've said etc. No matter how much research you've done, its hard predicting what they might ask. Anyways the questions they asked weren't too bad, but yeah even so I dont think i answered them particularly well. Ah well, its all over *sigh of relief* :) Altho i can't really take much time out because i have a 2 fairly big essays due next week along with a lab report...but then mid-semester break is comin up in 10 days time, so im looking forward to a bit of time-out and regaining a bit of perspective.

Aside from that, i've still been going along to and enjoying swing dancing. Theres been good turnouts the last few weeks at the beginners classes. Whats been cool is that me and some others from EU that have been goin to swing, discovered that one of the guys that helps runs the school is a Christian as well as a few of the other teachers :) Shane, the one that helps run the swing dance school, is off on a missions type trip to Malawi, Africa with group called EStar in Sept. I'd never heard of them b4, but yeah they had a fundraiser on Sat nite at Botany college which Mum & I went along to. They had a combination of christian bands playing, the swing dance crew & some other dance groups performing, and the 'Clean Comedy' christian guys etc. It was a good night, except Mum & I found it a bit sad that they never actually stated outright that they were a Christian group goin there to spread the gospel - they kinda watered it down by saying that they were going there to 'take a message of hope' (they're helping out kids in orphanages who's parents have died from AIDS etc). However, the other christian artists etc that performed on the night mentioned how they were Christians, so that was good.

Anyways I betta leave it here for now, catch ya l8r

I will survive...

2006-07-20T14:30:00.000+12:00

...i am telling myself this because I am trying not to get stressed out with all the work i have looming ahead of me. Im doing 4 papers (which is the norm) but they consist of two stage 3s (Geography - Pop, Health & Society, & Hist - Nazi Germany) a stage 2 (an English one on shakespearean tragedies) and a stage 1 (social psychology). And i just found out the other day that my stage 3 hist one is 100% coursework. Yes it will be nice only having 3 exams at the end of the semester, but still it means a lot of pressure during the semester. And i havent even had my first lec for the English one yet. However in saying that i think im going to really enjoy all of my papers this semester, they're shaping up to be pretty interesting. Esp the Geography one which covers some topics i really like such as population issues and migration and all that kinda stuff, which i know those of you reading this right now will be goin *yawn* about but whateva :P

As for exam results for my papers last semester, i ended up gettin pretty much what i was wanting to get so that was good :)

Backtracking to the hols...they were pretty good overall. Altho wud've loved another week off (had 3 weeks off all up) but yeah as they say thats the way the cookie crumbles. Was good getting to catch up with friends i hadn't seen in awhile from highschool days, hangin out with uni friends, swing dancing, going to the movies (saw pirates of the carribean 2), gettin to hit the snow for a little bit and just laxing out. Oh yeah and i also worked my normal days - sometimes i sorta wish my job was the type where you could pick up extra days during the holidays but alas its not. On the other hand, it is an excellent job to have during the semester coz it pays pretty well and i dont have to do too many hours. But yeah i think i'll still apply for some extra work down at my dad's work sometime, so i can get onto saving for a round the world trip that i really want to go on next year...

Cant think of anything else to bore you with at the mo, so will just leave it here for now. Some pics of my recent snow trip coming shortly...watch this space :)

Murphy missed a few laws...

2006-07-10T22:16:00.000+12:00

Law of Mechanical Repair: After your hands become coated with grease your nose will begin to itch or you'll have to tinkle.

Law of the Workshop: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

Law of Probability: The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.

Law of the Telephone: When you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal.

Law of the Alibi: If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the very next morning you will have a flat tire.

Variation Law: If you change lines (or traffic lanes), the one you were in will start to move faster than the one you are in now. (works every time)

Bath Theorem: When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone rings.

Law of Close Encounters: The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are with someone you don't want to be seen with.

Law of the Result: When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will.

Law of Biomechanics: The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.

Theatre Rule: At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle arrive last.

Law of Coffee: As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.

Murphy's Law of Lockers: If there are only two people in a locker room, they will have adjacent lockers.

Law of Dirty Rugs/Carpets: The chances of an open-faced jelly sandwich landing face down on a floor covering are directly correlated to the newness and cost of the carpet/rug.

Law of Location: No matter where you go, there you are.

Law of Logical Argument: Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.

Brown's Law: If the shoe fits, it's really ugly. Oliver's Law: A closed mouth gathers no feet.

Wilson's Law: As soon as you find a product that you really like, they will stop making it.

Here's the proof...

2006-07-05T14:57:00.000+12:00

...that NCEA is an incredibly stupid system, to put it politely (not that we didnt all know this). But yeah have a read of this - its long, but worth it.

NCEA cuts students' drive to learn, says report
Wednesday July 5, 2006
By Derek Cheng

The NCEA encouraged a "minimalist approach", with many students lacking the motivation to do more than the bare minimum to pass, a report has found.

The study, commissioned by the Ministry of Education and released yesterday, revealed that two-thirds of students' feedback criticised the National Certificate of Educational Achievement as having a negative influence on the motivation to learn.

It said design flaws were a disincentive for "high achievers and all students" to want to achieve; students could avoid subjects seen as too hard, ignore parts of a course they didn't like, or not sit exams once minimum credits were achieved.

"There is evidence that the 80-credit requirement encourages a minimalist approach by students." The report said:

* Many students found it hard to be motivated to do more than the minimum 80 credits required to pass an NCEA level. * Many indicated there was little motivation to aim for "merit" or "excellence" when these credits carried no extra value.
* Those who did aspire to do their best said the grading system was too broad and did not properly reflect performance.
* Students perceived the system as "illogical and unfair"; they could fail a standard despite passing "merit" or "excellence" questions.

Education Minister Steve Maharey admitted there were concerns and promised to resolve them. He said the Government and the Qualifications Authority were already working to address specific concerns - the 80-credit threshold and the broadly defined grades - outlined in the report.

"These are good practical issues we have to solve, but none of this suggests that NCEA is not a good, strong system ... [The report] rather says, 'Here are some refinements you should make', and we will make them."

Mr Maharey said motivational issues were not unique to NCEA, but NCEA was in a unique position to address them. "Unlike the old system, NCEA allows us to play to a wider range of strengths and tailor solutions to individual students so they can try harder."
Schools would help the types of students - boys, pupils from lower-decile schools, and those doing lower levels of NCEA - who the report identified as not striving to do their best.
Though it was ultimately up to students to motivate themselves, methods such as effective teaching would encourage them.

He praised the report - which drew from the responses of teachers, parents and 6000 pupils from schools nationwide - for providing significant student-based research and a basis for further study.
In spite of problems, the report said schools, teachers and students generally supported NCEA, particularly its flexibility.

But the National Party's education spokesman, Bill English, said this trait of NCEA was a double-edged sword. "The more flexibility you have, the easier it is for students to pick the easy way through. It provides more options but at the cost of motivation and real achievement for the middle-ground student, who are the majority and the ones we should be targeting.
"The system needs significant change, less flexibility and stronger standards. The Government is in denial about the weaknesses of NCEA and the students know them inside out and are exploiting them ruthlessly."

Steve Benson, senior manager of learning policy frameworks at the ministry, said more students than in the past were leaving school with higher qualifications.

No need to excel, says student
NCEA is an "unfair and unjust" system, says Anne O'Hagan, a Year 11 student from Waihi College. The 15-year-old was so "sick of it" that she wrote a letter to the Herald last week in protest. The problem, she said, was getting the same reward for assessments regardless of how far above the bar you were. "You get the same amount of credits for an 'achieve' as an 'excellence', and you don't have to put much effort in to get an 'achieve'.
She said the system should give more credits for higher marks. "The more recognition you get, the more you push yourself further. Otherwise it just keeps everyone at the same level."
She said NCEA opened more doors - her school offered subjects such as tourism and horticulture - but she would rather be under the old system of School Certificate. "That way we know how well we do."

Though NCEA did little to motivate her to excel, her parents more than made up for it. "I'll do the best I can, otherwise I'll get in trouble with my parents."

STUDENT VIEWS
Other quotes from the report (by unnamed students):

* "When you know you will pass anyway, why study? And after you have 80 credits there is no motivation to do better."
* "No need to try hard, no motivation to work hard. Can slack off for most of the year and still pass."
* "Higher achievers get the same amount of credits as the basic achievers - no incentive to gain higher marks."
* "I can look as good as someone who gets 100 per cent as long as I pass."
* "It encourages people to be average."

Happy 2nd Bday Bloggy!

2006-06-30T23:15:00.000+12:00

hehe. yeah, in case ya havent worked out, my blog turned 2 today. Have to say that unfortunately i havent been quite as devoted to it as i was during its first year. Im planning to change that.

It's also my brother's bday today - he's turned 18. such a youngun heh. Man i actually did feel kinda old last w/end when he was at the ball and i was picking up him and the girl he took....was like 'man i wish i could go back to my highschool balls...' - they were fun :) Amazing the way people managed to change for them too, esp some of the guys.

Other than that, can't believe ive already been on holiday for a week. My exams went alright overall i guess - one of them wasn't so great, but then there were a fair few people who felt the same away about it. so that was somewhat comforting. But yeah my final 2 were all in one day, so that was kinda hard going as the one in the avo was in this (really crappy) lecture theatre that was so hot, making it a bit hard to concentrate. Aside from that tho, those 2 exams went fairly well. But yeah i have 2 more weeks off :)

Didnt have the greatest of starts to the hols - managed to somehow pull a muscle in my neck so that sucked, but it cleared up within a couple days, so all is well :) My grandparents were also here this week so was good gettin to see them - especially my grandad (he's got cancer and yeah...). Anyway Reubens gone down with them back home for a week and then he's flying back (yup, all by himself) from N.P. next week. He was so excited about it, mainly about the fact that he finally gets to go on an airplane. Can't say i would have been as keen to by myself at that age tho hehe (as much as i love travel).

For the rest of the hols im lookin 4ward to catchin up with some friends from highschool days that i havent seen in awhile as well as hanging out with uni friends. And reading a good book or two - im finally starting on 'How Now Shall We Live' (by Chuck Colson for those that dont know). Its really good from what i've read already - i love how its not like super academic sounding but also not so dumbed down sounding, if you know what i mean. Oh yeah i also tried out swing dancing for the first time last night - was quite fun :) I went with a few friends from uni. Its cool coz they're stand alone lessons - and only 10 bucks with student I.D. - so you dont have to go every week if you dont want to. But yeah im gonna try and go along next week as well.

Well im gonna leave it here for now, so God bless & catch ya'all later.

More than it seems....

2006-06-22T09:37:00.000+12:00

Just to keep you going till i can update after my exams (as of 2mrw), i thought i'd post this very cool drawing someone did...look closely....theres more to it than you first think:

Final Days.....

2006-05-31T23:23:00.000+12:00

....of me being (officially) a teenager! Yes thats right folks...i have just on 40mins left of teenagehood as im writing this. There has been a fair few highlights (and lowlights) during these years (haha i sound 'old' already) but yeah im plannin on doin a little reflection post on that either 2mrw, or in the next couple days. But the 20s should have its share of good times too :)

God bless ya-all :)

PS btw sorry for my slackness in posting lately!

Classic!

2006-05-03T14:13:00.000+12:00

One Nation, "Under GOD" -- SOMEBODY'S RAISING THEIR CHILD RIGHT!

One day, a 6 year old girl was sitting in a classroom. The Teacher was explaining evolution to the children. The Teacher asked a little boy:
Tommy do you see the tree outside?

TOMMY: Yes.

TEACHER: Tommy, do you see the grass outside?

TOMMY: Yes.

TEACHER: Go outside and look up and see if you can see the sky.

TOMMY: Okay. (He returned a few minutes later) Yes, I saw the sky.

TEACHER: Did you see GOD?

TOMMY: No.

TEACHER: That's my point. We can't see GOD because HE isn't there. HE just doesn't exist.

A little girl spoke up wanting to ask the boy some questions. The teacher agreed the little girl asked the boy: Tommy, do you see the tree outside?

TOMMY: Yes.

LITTLE GIRL: Tommy do you see the grass outside?

TOMMY: Yessssss!

LITTLE GIRL: Did you see the sky?

TOMMY: Yessssss!

LITTLE GIRL: Tommy, do you see the Teacher?

TOMMY: Yes

LITTLE GIRL: Do you see her brain?

TOMMY: No

LITTLE GIRL: Then according to what we were taught today, she doesn't have one...........

II CORINTHIANS 5:7 " FOR WE WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT "

proper update coming your way soon, with pics...stay tuned :)

Wedding Bells are a'ringing

2006-04-08T13:52:00.000+12:00

As ya can see, those are some pics of the happy couple, taken last weekend :) cant believe its already been a week, twas a good day. I might put up some of the other ones we took, on my photo site soon - so if you weren't able to be at the wedding and want to see some, drop me a line and ill give ya the link.

In other news, its been crazy busy at uni, just with all the assignments being loaded on b4 Easter Break...but it is comforting to know that currently everyone else is in the same boat or a very similar one. Im sure the lecturers conspire to plan things this way, but then it means they have to mark them all over the break haha. So yeah this coming week i have a 30% essay due Mon, Tues - 10% test (originally i thought it was 25%), and then Wed - 25% test. Oh what fun. I had a moment of great stress the other day when I realized one of my tests is actually on Thurs - i thought in my head it was on the Wed but yeah strangely enough, i had it written down right in my diary. And yeah im flying down to Dunedin Wed nite. So yeah i went to try and track down my course co-ordinator for that course ASAP but he wasn't in his office at the time...so then i sent an email asking if there was any way i could sit the test on the Wed, before i went about changin my flight (which i'd booked way back in Jan, so before uni even started) - and the next morning i got an email back saying i can sit it at 4pm that day *major relief* =)

So yeah right now im procrastinating about writing this essay... but i guess i better get it done sooner rather than later.

Probably won't update between now and Easter, so have a blessed Easter everyone =)

Realling interesting article....

2006-03-08T18:31:00.000+13:00

...give this a read - 'When Is an Abortion Not an Abortion?' which investigates the South Dakota Abortion Ban that has been proposed. Its a long article but worth reading. It reminds me of the issue that was covered in the first Francine Rivers book i read 'The Atonement Child'.

Other than that, uni has been goin well so far...my timetable is pretty cool - start at 11 or 12pm most days and finish at 4pm and get Fridays off :) I've changed to doin a double major now in History & Geography so yeah things will be pretty full on this year. But im liking my papers so far except for..Geo 204 which is on stupid Geographic Info Systems and is basically just about analysing data and lookin at how data is analysed etc etc so is really just a lot of Stats :/ Its 100% coursework too. Anyway moving on...

Mum & Dad left for Aussie on Monday.. got up early to take them out to the airport. They're in Melbourne at the mo and are having a good time :) Im sure they'll come back with heapsa pics. So yeah me & Jonathan are taking turns doin some cookin (along with our aunty who's come to stay for a bit), so far its been goin alright and none of us have experienced any food poisoning heh.

Anyway i betta go for now, have a good rest of the week everyone :)

Check it out

2006-03-04T15:07:00.000+13:00

Found this video on this girls blogger site, its awesome! :)

Sur-PRISE...im still alive!

2006-02-23T16:13:00.000+13:00

...and my blog is too, believe it or not hehe. Sorry for the lack of updates over the past 2 or 3 months, i guess ive had a bit of a hiatus from bloggin on here with Christmas and while i've been away etc. But yeah im gonna do my best to regularly catch ya-all up to date on what im up to thru the rest of this year heh. So let me walk ya thru some of my summer highlights so far...

Summer Highlights
>>First off Christmas, as always, was a real good time :) kickstarting the day off we had Mums family over: my uncle and his g/f flew in from Melbourne, my aunty, and my grandparents.

>>Then on the 27th i flew down w/ some other friends down to good ol' Chch for YBC =) was really good fellowship down there, and really good, challenging talks as well from the speakers. The week afterwards hangin out at van Rijs (big ups to them for the great hospitality with a fair few of us staying there :) ) was great also. Saw us 'lay to rest' the game of Mafia (for now anyways) and become hooked on...'Lunchbox'. great game :) We also went and had a look in Chch city and up the Port Hills, Hanmer Springs, to an 'amazing maize maze' place and yeah then at the end of the week went to Mark & Ginas wedding. So yeah was sad when i had to leave Christchurch, and head on down to....

>>Dunedin. I stayed down there for a couple of weeks and had a good time there too :) The first week i helped out with Karen (irvine) and her uncle with the cooking which they were doin for the 8-12 y.o. boys summer camp at CYC. And yes, u did read that right...i helped them cook :P and it was quite fun heh. Me and Karen made, or attempted to make, lamingtons on one of the days...only to find that we'd run out of both coconut and icing sugar half way thru making them lol. However all was not lost as we came up with the great idea of just using the rest of the sponge for trifle for another night heh (see Scott, trial and error, can turn into something good sometimes :P)

>>My parents 25th wedding anniversary. This was back on Jan 31st, and yeah on the night of it we all went out as a family for dinner up the Sky Tower at the Orbit Restaurant. Got some good pics up there too, which are the ones up the top there ^.

>>Getting my FULL license =) i achieved that last Thurs. The test was at like 3pm that day tho so i spent the whole day being a bit nervous about it but in the end it went fine :) Its so good having it and not having to worry bout any more stupid legal curfews and also being able to take passengers no worries at all.

In other news
...i go back to uni on Monday. Have all my papers sorted...its gonna be a pretty full on year. I've now changed to doin a double major in History & Geography. I had a clash between this geo paper i have to take and this history one, but thats sorted now b/c i got a course waiver form signed :) which means ill miss one lec (out of 3 Geo lecs) of Geography a week, but they usually put good notes up on Cecil and ill make sure i do the key readin etc to catch up what ive missed.

...my parents go on their trip to Aussie in about 10 days or so...which means we'll be at home all alone. Nah should be fine, my auntys moving in with us...so me, jon and our aunty will all be taking turns with cooking and various other things. Im sure we'll survive heh.

Well that about wraps it up for now, will blog some more sometime soon, have a gud rest of the week everyone :) God bless

Stores Ban Christmas

2005-11-30T17:13:00.000+13:00

I was reading a post on this Christian msg board i go to (the RSJ -- rebecca st james -- one for those interested, see the link) that someone had made about stores in the US banning Christmas...here is the site where it mentions the stores that are 'banning' it which include Kmart, Target, Dell, Home Depot etc...just click on the 4th link down at the top. Their 'banning' included taking out the name Christmas all together (surprise surprise...not) and changing the name of Christmas trees to 'holiday trees'. c-r-a-z-y. But then i guess thats what you would expect with the way 'Christmas' has been morphed into such a fake, commercialised event these days. However check out the top link also at that site, where it also mentions about one of the stores who had engaged in this banning & who actually listened to the huge outcry from most of their customers and changed the name 'holiday trees' back to 'christmas trees'.

Anyway while we are on the subject of stores banning Christmas, i'd just like to say that i think there is a growing dissatisfaction among non-Christians with the commercialisation of Christmas, regardless of whether they are extremely anti-Christianity or not. However, for some people, they may have never heard about the real meaning of Christmas at all, which is why i think this time of year, in particular, gives churches an open door into reaching out to these people and sharing with them the gospel message - ie Christmas being about Jesus' birth, why that was so important and what it led to. Just the other day i was talkin to this guy who used to work at 'The Warehouse' and yeah we ended up on the topic of Christmas and he mentioned (without me sayin anything) about how commercialised it was and basically how it turned him off Christmas altogether, so much so, that he doesn't give anyone any gifts and doesn't get any either at Christmas...and this is coming from a non-Christian.

Just as an aside, people on the msg board under this topic ended up gettin into a discussion about how much we should engage in all the 'trappings' that go along with Christmas etc such as buyin gifts, decorations etc etc....and someone else also said that if we as Christians dont celebrate things like Halloween (except for some Christians that do..i have no idea why), why should we expect non-Christians to celebrate Christmas...and they came up with the idea of non-christians having a separate holiday similar to Christmas so that what they do by singing Christian carols, setting up manger scenes etc isn't like an act of false worship to God (b/c they dont believe in the real reason for the season)... in other words they can have their own 'holiday' to engage in what they claim to be the 'christmas spirit' - wining, dining etc etc..... so yeah that was interesting to read, but i dont necessarily agree with that idea, what are your guys opinions on it?

Well im gonna leave it here 4 now, but i'd be interested to hear what y'alls thoughts are on this if u wanna share them...

So True...

2005-11-26T14:55:00.000+13:00

"The greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable." -- DC Talk: What If I Stumble
Keeping it short & sweet for today...i found this quote off someone's signature thing on this Christian msg board i go to...how true it is and how well it sums up the sad state of what many 'christians' lives are like these days...:/

More Photos

2005-11-18T12:41:00.000+13:00

Here are some more pics taken of various member of Cambodia Team b4 they left...

enjoy!

Long time no bloggy!

2005-11-16T20:17:00.000+13:00

Hey ya-all...youll be pleased to know i haven't dropped off the face of the earth...the last few weeks have been pretty full on with study & exams and all that enthralling stuff, that i have had to neglect my blog for a bit. Anyhow, all thats over now..woohoo :) My exams went alright...probably the best, or at the least the most straightforward one, was Linguistics. Was so funny - bout 3/4s of those of us in the room left at 11:15 (when you could first leave) and the exam was 3hrs heh. I left bout 11:30 or so...the only exam ive left early - ah well there's a first for everything. But yeah i ended up deciding having exams stretched out over nearly 3 weeks was not so good...even tho it did give me some days in between to do some cramming.

So yeah ive been finished for nearly a week now...mainly just been laxing out mixed in with a little bit of work. Im doin one extra day at music school from now till when it finishes for the year, and hoping to get some Christmas work at none other than 'the warehouse' to fill in the gaps. Its been cool gettin to catch up with some people from school i havent seen in awhile this past week - mostly the ones that have been working or ones i don't normally see round uni. Should be catchin up with a few more people this w/end hopefully.

Yay summer's finally making its appearance...so good...nice being able to get out and enjoy the sun again.

Hmm...cant really think of much else to say 4 now except that as ya can see, there's the pic of the Cambodia Team i promised to post...while we're on the topic, just want to say great work guys. Sounds like it was a really good experience to say the least - been great hearing how God worked through you over there and went before you.

Well thats bout it for now, have a good week everyone :)

The Amazing Race - Rewa Styles

2005-10-19T10:31:00.000+13:00

Hey ya-all, dont worry im trying not to go overkill on the updates... besides over the next few weeks i probably wont be able to update much, due to those things we love to hate - exams :p

Anyhow, Sat nite i went on a Kiwi/local version of 'The Amazing Race' (probably the closest ill ever get to being on the real thing sadly..unless they change the format to include Kiwis/Aussies) put on by Manurewa Baptist youthgroup. twas great :) really well organised. We went in and around the city and out South using buses, trains, cars etc and it included various road blocks and detours. A few teams were disqualified for taking their cars into town instead of taking the bus (yep they were a few of the guys teams) haha. My team came about 3rd to last overall i think, but yeah was good fun. The only not so great thing as a result from it, is i think i managed to pull the tendon or muscle (one of the two) in my leg...probably from when i did this sprint as part of the first road block :/ i like to think of myself as fairly fit seen as i walk to the train and around uni everyday but yeah...there is a vast difference in walking heaps and running, believe me. The latter i haven't done much of. ah well, hopefully it'll go away soon.

Last nite i started my defensive driving course :) was at MH. the guy leading it is a Cook Isl Maori guy, hard case but cool. We were given these 'street talk' log book thingies where ya have what he calls 'home assignments' to complete (he refused to call it homework heh) as well as other handouts to read. So yeah it goes for the next few weeks and then after that we get our certificate...roll on Jan man...then i can finally go for my full :)

Well i betta go finish off reading Macbeth for English. Then i need to go pick up another assignment and maybe go talk to the people at Arts Students Centre about how to plan out the rest of my degree. Im thinking of doing a double major in Hist & Geo but haven't finally decided just yet...

catch ya l8r all,
God bless

ps took a few pics of the Cambodia Team when they left on Fri. will try post the group one of them on here sometime soon...

Awesome song!

2005-10-13T22:45:00.000+13:00

I want to share with you guys the lyrics to this song I downloaded today by this great Christian band. I really love the lyrics, they mean heaps to me:

Grace And Love
Many things in life are hard for me
Many things can pull us down
I don't understand why I do what I do
How could I take my eyes off you
After all You've done for me
And after all You've done for me

It's by Your grace and love I am saved
It's by Your grace and love You've forgiven me, hey
And by that love and grace, I'm amazed
It's by Your grace and love I am free
I am free

And it's by grace and love that I am free
I'll live with you eternally
I thank you Lord that I am free
I thank you Lord for loving me
I thank you Lord for dying upon the tree of Calvary
I thank you Lord for loving me
I thank you Lord for dying for me

Because it's by grace and love I am saved
It's by Your grace and love You've forgiven me, hey
And by that love and grace, I'm amazed
It's by Your grace and love I am free
I am free

Many things in life are hard for me
Byt my grace and love You've forgiven me
And by grace and love we are free

-- Kutless

The tunes not too bad...im wondering if it would be singable enough for us to do at church?? should be. hmm...

NZ in trouble - the evidence

2005-10-11T15:26:00.000+13:00

Hey ya-all. how you doing? good i hope. Sry for the delay in updates lately..been kinda busy with uni and other things. Will fill you in on that in a moment. First of all i want to show u guys this article i got sent from a friend - should be of interest:

New Zealand In trouble - the evidence

1) New Zealand has the developed world's highest rate of births outside of marriage (44%), and the third-highest teenage birthrate (after the USA and UK). Nearly a third of all children grow up in fatherless homes.
2) Research in Christchurch revealed that 65% of youth offenders were not living with their father.
3) Since 1970 the rate of marriage has decreased 66%, while the number of divorces has tripled.
4) For youth aged 15-24 years, New Zealand has the second highest rate of suicide for males among selected OECD countries.
5) Since 1960 central government spending per head of population (in today's dollar terms) has increased by 320% on welfare.
6) New Zealand's public spending on primary and secondary education is highest-equal (with Iceland) per GDP in the OECD. It was 4.6% of the GDP in 2000.6 Despite this, the average New Zealand student scored in the bottom third of two major international tests on reading, mathematics and science.
7) Of the 1999 teaching graduates, 34% had left the profession within two years.
8) We now have 348,000 people on welfare in New Zealand (excluding superannuation). In 1970 there were 28 full-time workers for every person on a fulltime benefit (excluding superannuation). Today that number is four, and falling.
9) New Zealand is conservatively spending $5.7 billion a year as a direct consequence of family breakdown, or close to 5.5 per cent of GNP ($3000+ for every taxpayer).

The New Zealand government does not track family structure in relation to many social outcomes. However there is relevant data from the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia - countries which compare closely with New Zealand on social issues:

10) Examination of English court records between 1982 and 1988 found that children living with their mother and her cohabiting boyfriend were 33 times more likely to be abused than those living with their married, biological parents. In turn, the risk of abuse for children whose mothers were cohabiting was five-and-a-half times greater than for children with remarried parents.
11) Out of 52,000 child abuse cases reviewed for the US, 72 percent involved children in a household without one or both biological parents, even though these households comprised roughly a third of all households with children.
12) Toddlers living in Canadian step-households in 1983 were about 40 times more likely to become registered victims of intermediate physical abuse than their two-genetic-parent counterparts.
13) In Australia, the rate of sexual abuse of children in de facto couple families is more than three times the rate in natural or adoptive families. A high proportion of child killers are either step fathers or the mothers' boyfriends.
14) For every dollar spent on a child brought up in a two-parent family, the government spends $10 on a child brought up in a single parent family.
15) Fatherless children are worse off in terms of health, educational attainment, work ethics, income and lifetime wealth. They are more prone to crime, drug addiction, divorce, unemployment, illness, truancy, suicide, poverty and depression.

Uni & Stuff
As i said b4 uni has been keeping me pretty busy up until recently....on Fri (just gone) i had 2 assignments due + a test....fun, fun, fun! :p so yeah i'm glad they're all out of the way....the "test" was for History and was an essay which is kinda stupid. Now i only have this little lab thing to hand tomorrow and then.....no more coursework due!!! yay....in saying that though, time is marching on towards exams :/

Had a pretty good w/end....my family went off up north for a few days so i had the place to myself =) twas great...had a friend come to stay the w/end. Just hung out at home Fri nite and watched a dvd; Sat nite went out with a couple friends to that newish indoor mini golf place at Botany, then went to Xtreme only to find all the lanes were booked out, then we decided we would head out to Maraetai for the heck of it hehe. Was cool, not many people there. My fam came back early tho on Sat nite b/c the power was out from like North Shore all the way to Orewa/Warkworth area (lightning hit the power supply base) so yeah. And then Sun was church, and then headed to shared lunch at the Peeks, was good seein Christy again. Can finally play a little bit of guitar now heh. I figured i might as well since we had a guitar lying round not being put to use.

Well that about covers it for now...

ka kite ano

Photo time

2005-09-26T10:19:00.000+12:00

Ok heres the link to the photos from Scott & Sarah's engagement party, for those of you that weren't able to be there, weren't there and would like to have to been and wanna c some photos, OR people who were there that still want to see photos of it :P

So, without further ado, http://photobucket.com/albums/y91/KiwiStylz/Engagement%20Pics/
(hope it works, should do).

Yeah, so enjoy.

My w/end
Fri nite - went to my friend's bday thing which was a surprise party (she'd organised it 4 us so for the rest of us it was a surprise). Turned out to be real cool :) We went off into town and had dinner at the Viaduct at 'Wildfire' (a Brazilian restaurant for those that dont know which has good food), and then were picked up by none other than a limo heh which we cruised round the city in for a couple hrs - Westhaven marina, bit of the north shore, Ponsonby, Parnell, K'rd, Queen St, Mt Eden, Mission bay etc...the driver was pretty cool, was also nice being in a limo for the first time w/o wearing a ball dress hehe - and then we headed back to my friend's place. Then the random bit of the evening was when we headed out to the golf driving range at the airport - JKs golf course or whateva its called - hehe. And yeah its amazing the number of ppl that were there at like 1am. But yeah that was fun....apart from when i woke up the next morning with i think a pulled muscle in my back, ouch. But its starting to clear up now. Anyway the next morning we had bagels and waffles for breakfast b4 i had to shoot out the door to work.
Sat nite - saw 'Bewitched' with my mum, aunty, nana. They wanted to see it..but yeah it was alright, bit of a random movie tho heh.

Prayer Point
Could ya-all please keep my cousin Megan in ur prayers over the next few weeks...she got leukemia 4 years ago and has been in remission since then until just lately when it was found she's had a relapse :( at this stage, she's a day-patient on heavy chemo and yeah her wedding plans have had to be put on hold (the date was set for Dec 10 this year). So yeah..she's not a Christian and neither is the rest of her family. Pray that we might have an opportunity to share something of the gospel with her and the fam.

Other news of interest...
I now have a gmail account (thanks to Scott for givin me an invite). Im just gettin used to it, but it definitely rocks =) if ya want my gmail addy then drop me an email or IM or whateva and ill give it to ya.

Shout Out

2005-09-16T20:31:00.000+12:00

First up, i thought i'd follow suit like some others have, and make a shout out to Carl - its good to hear your doing well, God is good, its so great how he has everything under His control! All the best with your recovery!

Weeks Events Thus Far
Well these past few days or so have been quite a whirlwind but i guess the best place to start is at the beginning right? Ok here i go...

Sat:
This was the day of the workshops/conference thing. It was a good day, the 3 workshops i went to were: 'Run as to win the prize', 'Daily Personal Devotions', and 'Feminism & You'. They were all practical, now all i need to do is actually put what i learnt into...well...practise...mainly things from the first 2 workshops anyway.
However at the same time, my parents and some other family rushed off to Tauranga in the morning to see my great-nana....they made it down about an hour or so after she died. Just as a side-note, thanks to everyone for their condolences/support/prayers..esp. all those that have done meals for us this week, its been really nice =)
Then Sat nite was Scott & Sarah's engagement party and it went off well. An enjoyable night all round. If any of ya wanna see some pics from it, drop me a comment here and i might post some on my photo site.

Sun:
Early Sun morning my uncle flew in from Melb, so i stayed up talkin to him in the early hours and didnt get to sleep till quite late...then had to be up by 9:30 to go over with him to my aunty's place to get some stuff for her from her place and drop off her cat to the cattery. So consequently i didnt get to go to morning church which sucked coz i heard it was Communion service too...ah well these things happen. Went to nite church tho, and that was good spending time praying for the nation as well as for America and all its recent events.

Tues:
Went down early Tues morning to Tauranga. The funeral was in the avo and it went alright, as far as funerals go. Me and mum took turns playing the organ - had never played an organ in my life but it went alright. Nearly all the family were there which was good - nice catching up...even talkin to some i'd never really met b4. Got to hold one of the baby twins =)

Thurs/Fri:
The last couple days went back to uni, got a couple of assignments back and ended up, to my amazement, gettin As for both of them :) yeah so that was cool. Will see how long it lasts tho...usually ive nearly always just got marks in the middle range - Merits (NCEA) or B - but ah well. I need to get a good average for my papers this semester so i can apply for uni student exchange...

...and that about wraps it up. Oh but b4 i leave you with the lyrics to this good song by Kutless, all the best in voting tomorrow...

'Strong Tower'

When I wander through the desert

And I'm longing for my home

All my dreams have gone astray

When I'm stranded in the valley

And I'm tired and all alone

It seems like I've lost my way

I go running to Your moutain

Where your mercy sets me free

[chorus]You are my strong tower

Shelter over me

Beautiful and mighty

Everlasting King

You are my strong tower

Fortress when I'm weak

Your name is true and holy

And Your face is all I seek

In the middle of my darkness

In the midst of all my fear

You're my refuge and my hope

When the storm of life is raging

And the thunder's all I hear

You speak softly to my soul

--Kutless

Winning the War of Ideas

2005-09-05T15:37:00.000+12:00

At our small group last week we watched this video on this topic and it was real good. Covered some good things. So thought i'd share some quotes from it:

'The root of our moral crisis is a crisis in our core ideas about life.'

'If you can get enough people to believe an idea, it will change the whole course of their society and culture.'

'...it has been on the plane of ideas that the secularization of culture began, and its only by a change of ideas that it can be reversed.'

'A value is whatever you hold to be more important than your own feelings.'

Isn't this the case with NZ (and every other Western nation)? I think so. Our culture is fast becoming more secularised and Christianity-rejecting with every passing day. The last two quotes there are also relevant with the leadup to our election. Which is now only 12 days away folks.

R'n'R
Yay i can finally enjoy some proper rest n relaxation (no not rock n roll :P) without feeling guilty heh. B/c i handed in my Geography assignment today, glad thats outta the way. Can enjoy the rest of my break now.

Links worth checking out
Today i visited Third Day's site and came across a song they've just written called 'Cry out to Jesus'. They wrote it in regard to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and those affected by it. You can download it for free (after registering first). Its real nice.

For those interested in the Narnia soundtrack, you can listen to samples of the songs by different Christian aritsts on there, by going to http://www.narniafans.com/movies/mov_st.php. Can't wait for it to be released :)

Holidaaayzzzz

2005-08-30T13:56:00.000+12:00

Yay for good ol' hols =) I havent done much (so far) for them seen as they just started...but what i plan to do this week is try and get this essay outta the way thats due this coming Monday and catch up on some English reading...then next week will be my week to relax.

Yesterday I went and saw 'The Island' with some friends. Was a pretty good movie, but also pretty freaky at the same time...with the issues it addresses. Namely cloning of humans. Which has already begun in reality. I just hope we dont get to the stage like in the movie where Hollywood celebs are 'investing' in clones of themselves to prolong their life. Because that would be just crazy. But honestly it wouldnt surprise me if we did with the way science is heading. In fact i think we as Christians should be doing something about it now, voicing our concerns sooner rather than later.....

Anyway as you can see, i have posted some pics alongside here...they're ones my Dad took that i thought looked pretty cool....

My fave one is the top one =) anyway, im gonna leave it here for now, so have a good rest of the week everyone...

Youth Supper pics

2005-08-23T17:06:00.000+12:00

Foosball in action

Trivial Pursuit

aaah check it out, the (in)famous foosball table..

(these were taken a couple weeks ago)

Train Conversations Part 2

2005-08-22T14:19:00.000+12:00

Girl: i burn most of my cds. and then i go out and buy the cds i like once ive listened to them.

Guy: why??

Girl: respect for the artists.

Guy: but if you've already burned the artists cd, why go out and buy their cd when you've already ripped them off?

Girl: because....*silence*

hehe and yes in case you were wondering, this girl did happen to be a blonde. it cracked me up listening to their convo hehe. made for bit of entertainment on a trip home one day.

Other news:
--> holidays are drawing nearer the by day. this is the last week b4 break. yay! (only downer is that i have an assignment due right in the middle of them..random i know...but i plan to get it outta the way early on so i can enjoy some time off =))

--->please pray for my extended family (none of whom are christians). my great-nana is sick and we're not sure how much longer she'll last. she's been quite keen on Christian things, read this Bible we gave her but yeah we dont know where she stands. Dad will most probably be taking the funeral.

thanks, have a gud week all :)

Train Conversations

2005-08-16T16:32:00.000+12:00

Isn't it amazing what you get to overhear sometimes on a train ride? heh. the other day i was going into uni on the train and over heard this guy and girl talkin about the elections, so decided to tune in...what they were saying was good, they didnt seem to be really for Labour or anything from what i could tell. The guy made a good point, i thought, about Labours whole interest free student loan promise - he was like 'why should students get interest free loans? people that get mortgages on their houses dont get interest free.' so yeah.

In other news...i have been keeping on top of my uni work so far, which is good. i had 2 assignments due last week, and have one due this Fri (its an essay which i'm ready to start writing 2morrow...i may possibly have it finished a day or so b4 the deadline instead of the night before...shock horror!) And then i get a bit of a break which is always good. This semester is whizzing by...we have 2 weeks off for mid-semester break starting next Fri..yay! aaah the uni lifestyle...;)

Miracles do happen!

2005-08-08T08:48:00.000+12:00

haha ^. in foosball games anyway - i finally beat Scott last nite woohoo 10-9....amazing comeback for me when he beat me 10-0 not long b4 :P then in our rematch it was 10-7 to him...but yeah i didnt mind haha.

And now onto a more serious topic....

Thurs last week EU was invited to go along to this 'peace day' service at the Chapel at uni. If i was to describe it one word it would be 'interesting'. There were people there from different religious groups ie Jewish, Bahai, Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic (i think the purpose of us goin was to 'interact' with these people which we didnt end up doing...left straight after). It was a bit of an eye-opener hearing all the weird and wonderful things some of them talked about (esp the Hindu guy...they seem to be all into 'spirits' etc and he said something bout nature...i kinda switched off after awhile) - altho most of them managed to read an excerpt from whatever book they hold to that talked about peace. The Islamic guy read a section out of the Koran which he proceeded to say in Arabic first and then translated into English - when he said it in Arabic it sounded like some weird kinda chant thing. The main speaker they'd brought in for the service was Ahmed Zhouri (who unbeknown to me has been in the media a bit in recent months - i didnt recognise him) and yeah he spoke for a little while - they'd even printed out what he said to hand out to people that were interested.

Anyway as you would expect at a peace service they kept goin on...and on...and on...about peace and tolerance etc etc It got a bit annoying actually b/c the whole time i was sitting there thinking to myself "there is never goin to be world peace among all these different religions no matter how badly they want it. tolerance does not equal peace necessarily. it seemed like they just want the whole 'all roads lead to heaven' thing". Anyhow the whole experience just made me value Christianity and my faith so much more....

Also i was just reading in the latest Investigate magazine mum got and Ian Wishart has written something that relates to this topic and he made some good points, so will post them on here next time.

Election Mania

Man im so sick of seeing billboards, flyers and all manner of paperwork thats been goin round about voting for such and such lately. At uni last week in particular it was election time for AUSA president (which i did end up voting in). In the leaflets they leave in the lecture theatres one guy runnin for Prez had said that he would aim to 'make Albert Park safer' which i promptly turned into a Tui billboard message haha. i mean what, was he planning on gettin security 24/7 for the park? heh who knows.

neway i better leave it here coz i need to go work on my English assignment...laters

Its about time...

2005-08-01T19:14:00.000+12:00

...for an update! :P yeah i thought so too. Well i'm back to uni and still tryin to get myself outta holiday mode...the assignments have gradually started to roll in, have 3 due all around the same time (in a couple weeks) so yeah will have to get onto them at some point, but i just cant be bothered at this stage - and its only the beginning of the semester. One thing i am proud of tho is that i have managed to keep on top of my English work thus far...Chaucer really is another language!! Shakespeare is gonna be a breeze after this...makes you thankful for books written in modern english thats for sure!

It seems to be the season of engagements too which is great =) ie Christy & Tim, Scott & Sarah, Mark & Joanne...congrats to ya-all :)

Sat nite at the Cambodia Quiz night was good. My team was one of the few teams that didnt cheat tho :P well ive been told only 2 or 3 teams actually bought points.. so yeah. but least it increased the amount raised :)

Hmm what else to say...not a lot...when i think of anything else worthwhile ill be sure to post it ;)

Kids say the darndest things.....

2005-07-17T10:57:00.000+12:00

....or in my case ask them. I had a little girl in one of my classes at the music school, randomly ask me the following questions the other day, in the middle of when i was trying to teach her:

1)Do you like eating gum?

2)Why do you write with your left hand?

3)Are you the skinniest in your family?

To which i replied....

1) Yeah, actually, i do. (i did have some gum on me at the time so thats why she asked...but yeah i was hoping it would also stop me from coughing heaps)

2) Um i dont choose to...and besides its the only thing i do left-handed anyway.

3) Actually my family are all fairly skinny.

Then when i was reading this women's magazine lying round it had a section on said topic. Couldnt help but laugh at what one kid said in answer to this question:

Q: Where did the world come from?

A: Captain Cook found it and then God made some people and they made some more people. Captain Cook built some houses and that's how we got New Zealand.

Some other responses to this question were 'it came from the sun and its very important' etc.

Just goes to show i guess how much our society has changed (for the worse) over the years compared to what it was like 40 or 50 years ago where the majority of people went to church and at least knew that God made the world...

In other news...

Fri nite at Bonza's bday was good :) lotsa ppl there so was good catching up. And i think its safe to say a good time was had by all who went.

I have had a relapse of the cold/flu again :/ sux. i hope i get over it soon.

Uni begins tomorrow...will be a busier semester than the one i just had mainly b/c im doin 4 papers so yeah will have to be in there every day. Wish my t/table was like the one last semester, it rocked! but yeah as they say, thats the way the cookie crumbles....

Anyway i'm out, so catch yall later

The freedom of speech....

2005-07-08T14:20:00.000+12:00

...or the lack thereof. I just got done reading this book 'On Every Side' (by Karen Kingsbury in case ur wondering) which was pretty good - the main theme of it was about religious freedom/freedom of speech...I didnt realise it was so bad in the States. The book was based on a true event about this human rights organisation wanting a statue of Jesus taken down b/c it was in this public park in this town. For a country that prides itself on its freedom of speech and religious freedom, they are very biased towards Christianity...especially when the founding people of their country were Christians themselves ironically. We dont know how good we have it *so far* in NZ....we need to make the most of it (even if we are becoming more PC by the day). Because like the saying goes 'you don't know what you've got until its gone'.

Which brings me to my next topic.

The events of the past 24hrs are pretty shocking albeit not quite as shocking as 9/11 was tho...that took everyone by surprise...even so my prayers are with those in London at the mo...that God will create something good outta this.

TSCF camp

2005-07-05T11:27:00.000+12:00

The end of last week i went on TSCF camp (uni christian one) which was at CYC ngaruawahia. Was good being able to meet some of the other christian groups from campuses around the North Island. There were also 2 overseas teams as well...one from the UK and one from the US. they were out here to come visit some of the other campuses around the country so yeah was cool talkin to them. Most of the UK team were from Scotland but yeah there was one Irish dude and a couple of English ppl...so made for an interesting atmosphere on Sat nite when the Lions game was on heh.

Other than that i dont have much else to say, so will leave it here 4 now....cya

Happy B'day Bloggie!

2005-06-30T09:26:00.000+12:00

Thats right, its my blogs 1st bday :)

This just in....

2005-06-25T15:32:00.000+12:00

....a tornadoe has apparently gone thru Manurewa and East tamaki! no kidding. heh. my g'parents rang up b4 to see if we were alright! we were like 'yeah we're fine.....why?' we didnt notice anything. if it did happen, it mustve been out east ways.

I say raaaaaaaaa to.....

2005-06-24T15:47:00.000+12:00

NZ drivers!! mate, there are some crazy drivers on the road these days. particularly round here. i cannot stand people who persist in driving onto motorways going 40/50kms - yes u read that right - into traffic that is goin 100/120kms....and then proceed to cut in front of you in the left lane goin only slightly faster! arrgh. drives me crazy. i have had that happen i dont know how many times to me now. Murphys law. Can i get a raaa from any of ya out there?

The Flu - its been goin round heaps. i'm currently doin my best to stay away from it. Both my brothers have been down with it and some of the kids at music school have had it too. reuben had a high temp of 38.9 yesterday but yeah he's startin to come right. So yeah here's hoping....will have to make sure i take some echinacea or whatever things Mum has in the cupboard..

neway thats bout all i have to say 4 now. cya

The Joys of...

2005-06-20T13:53:00.000+12:00

1) being able to sleep in

2) not having to catch a train in2 uni almost every day

3) relaxing & not having to do anythin much

All courtesy of holidays :)

Also came across this thing at this US christian radio station site online:

Philippines 4:13. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
The road to success is not straight. There is a curve called Failure, a loop called Confusion, speed bumps called Friends, red lights called Enemies, caution lights called Family. You will have flats called Jobs. But, if you have a spare called Determination, an engine called Perseverance, insurance called Faith, a driver called Jesus, you will make it to a place called Success.

So yeah just thought i'd leave ya'll with that and go enjoy the sunshine outside. laters!

Yay 4 Holi-holidays!

2005-06-16T16:51:00.000+12:00

Yay exams are over and i'm free as a bird :P....least for the next 4 and a half weeks. My exam t/table rocked! heh most of my uni friends still have some exams left (i did only have 3 exams but still...). Most of my exams went alright, my best one was definitely the US history one which i had yesterday so that was good. just glad they're over.

For the next few weeks i havent got a whole lot planned...goin on a TSCF camp at the end of the month but yeah other than that ill just be workin my normal days and relaxing =)

Um wat else to say...not much....so i'm gonna get off here, laters 4 now

1 down 2 to go!

2005-06-11T13:58:00.000+12:00

Well i've been in full on exam mode since the last week or so. Although last w/end (long w/end ye-yeah) didnt get much study done. Went out go-karting on the Fri nite and yeah Sat was adventure filled - worked in the morning then went to Mission Bay w/ my mum & aunty to see 'The Interpreter' (worth seein btw) and when we went back to the car, it didnt work (mum managed to leave the lights on...which wore the battery down..which meant the alarm didnt work. So it was Dad to the rescue....until when he was fiddling round with the engine after we jumpstarted it and reconnected the alarm thingy which activated the central locking, he put the bonnet down and we were locked out. both sets of keys were in the car wud ya believe it. So then the AA had to come...made it home..but it still wasnt running well...turned out only 2 b something minor heh). Anyway...study...yes thats what i was talking bout...had a friend come stay 4 the rest of the w/end so yeah had to go hard core on Mon, Tues and Wed as i had a Geography exam on the Thurs. It didnt go tooo bad, apart from the first essay where i had a mind blank...as ya do in those situations :s was so frustrating. But the rest of it went well. So now i just have English and History left, and as of the 15th i will be free for the next 4 & a half weeks =) gotta luv uni lifestyle huh. As they say, thats the way the cookie crumbles haha. exams over nice and early.

I didnt win =(
i didnt win the McD's world trip comp. what a waste of Big Macs and $ haha. oh well. wasnt for me. I've just entered the Mums Dollar comp tho to go see them in Chicago at Cornerstone Fest. (so cool they get to play mainstage there !!)

Anyway thats bout it for now....laters

Name Acronyms

2005-06-03T15:56:00.000+12:00

PRISCILLA
P	is for	Peaceful
R	is for	Radical
I	is for	Influential
S	is for	Sporty
C	is for	Charismatic
I	is for	Innocent
L	is for	Logical
L	is for	Loud
A	is for	Astounding

What Does Your Name Mean?

Haha bet at least one thing in there will crack ya up Scott haha :P For rest of you, try it out and see what it comes up with!

Numba 19!

2005-06-01T12:21:00.000+12:00

Yep in case ur wondering thats how old i've turned today hehe. Yay :)

Chilly, chilly chilly!

2005-05-30T17:14:00.000+12:00

Man it really does feel as if winter has well and truly arrived today. Outside it is hailing and raining as I speak :/ Still, i guess i shouldnt complain too much seen as hail is about the closest it gets to snow here in Aucks! hehe.

Cool little quotes...
The other day i came across these quote thingies:

*7 days without prayer makes 1 Weak

*3 nails + 1 Saviour = 4 Given

!
!
- - - - - - -
!
!
!

So yeah just thought i'd leave ya'll with that, coz i need to get off here and go do some serious study!! first exam in 10 days time!!!!!

Star Wars

2005-05-27T22:13:00.000+12:00

Last nite, I went and saw Star Wars III wih some exchange student friends from uni. It was really good, quite enjoyed it, actually makes me want to see the originals (i only vaguely remember bits of 'Return of the Jedi' and 'Empire Strikes Back' from back in the days when my bro watched them heaps). They did a good job of showing how Anakin gradually becomes more evil, till the end you could almost mistake him for looking/being the devil himself, was quite creepy! I also liked that it was easy to follow along w/ what was happening, and how everything linked up. So yeah, worth a watch.

Your Thoughts
What would ya say if someone put these questions to you:

Would you try to convert a Catholic? Do you think presbyterianism is better than Catholicism?

Or something to that effect. B/c i was recently asked those questions, by this Catholic dude online that IMd me. Kinda catches you off-guard a bit (well it did for me at the time), but yeah i guess it comes down to the essentials of Christianity - that its the person's heart God looks at, not what denomination they are, and whether they have genuinely repented and turned from their sin. Thats the kind of answer i gave. I also said that no one denomination has it all perfect or is the best (as much as we like to think) b/c we all are humans and have our faults when it comes down to it.

**no, dont worry, i haven't gone off the idea of denominations, they have their good/bad sides to them**

So yeah, hopefully that's some food for thought 4 any1 out there who's reading this. It was for me.

Long time no blogging

2005-05-11T23:27:00.000+12:00

Hey all...yes, yes i know corny title but yeah. take it or leave it, thats all i can come up with for now :P hmm ok...time for an update...

Well i've pretty much been in the same ol' routine of uni, work, youthgroup and church. The weeks just seem to be flying by...cant believe its only a few weeks until exams begin! Will have to start studying sooner rather than later esp. because my exams are early on...my last one is on 15th June which is great...coz that means i have 5 weeks off for inter-semester break! =) and thatll be a proper holiday too.

The other week i had a little 5 yr old start learning piano/keyboard. Man dont let 5 yr olds start learning the piano! This little boy isn't too bad but like most 5 yr olds his attention span isnt for very long...i dont blame him esp. when he has an hour lesson to endure! I need to talk to Ken about making it just half an hour lesson - usually what happens is each lesson is an hour and yeah u can have anywhere from 1-4 kids each hour (its just done in 3hr blocks after school).

Fun Funky Foooosballll
Yes the foosball games continue each Sun nite at the flat. Im doin my very best to try and beat a certain person too....working on my attack techniques etc and *prepare yourself* less trial and error! =p hahaha. I also just discovered that there is gonna be none other than a foosball championship at TSCF conference! yay. SO my Sun nite practise will be good training 4 it so i can kick everyone @ it at the conference hehehe.

In light of...
...the recent Global Day of Prayer and also the 40 Days of Prayer challenge for EU that i've taken up i thought i'd post the lyrics to this cool song...take some time out to read them:

What if the armies of the Lord
Picked up and dusted off their swords
Vowed to set the captives free
And not let satan have one more

What if the church, for heaven's sake
Finally stepped up to the plate
Took a stand upon God's promise
And stormed hell's rusty gates

Chorus:
What if His people prayed
And THOSE who bare His name
Would humbly seek His face
And Turn from their own way

And what would happen if we prayed
For those raised up to lead the way
Then maybe kids in school could pray
And unborn children see light of day

What if the life that we pursue
Came from a hunger for the truth
What if the family turned to Jesus
Stopped asking Oprah what to do

Chorus:What if His people prayed
And THOSE who bare His name
Would humbly seek His face
And Turn from their own way
He said that they would hear
His promise has been made
He'll answer loud and clear
if only we would pray
If My people called by My name
If they'll humble themselves and pray
If My people called by My name
If they'll humble themselves and pray....

~ 'What if His People Prayed', Casting Crowns

Random gripes:
*Wet weather...why is it that it always seems to pour down (like it did today) when you change classes yet when you're inside it begins to clear up?!

*Culture shock? Lately i've seen a few people that have been dressed in muslim clothing walking round uni (and i'm meaning like only have a slit for their eyes). Now i know they are muslims and that they have regulations on what they dress and religious rules etc etc, but really...do they need to continue to wear their kind of clothing when they're living here and not in their own country? Correct me if i'm wrong, but not all muslims here do. Would it hurt them if they became a bit more westernised? I know im probably being harsh here but yeah when Westerners go over to Muslim/islamic countries they are expected to have respect for the locals and their culture and to dress a little like them so that they don't offend anyone. So why shouldnt they do that here? Any thoughts on this fellow readers??

Blah Blah Blah

2005-04-15T19:30:00.000+12:00

Hey all. Haha just look at my creative title ^...not. really couldnt be bothered thinking of one. ah well. Thought i'd catch ya up on a few things that have been goin on lately...

Uni
Well i got my first uni essay back this week (history one) and i got a B for it =) so i was happy, considering i'd written it the night before and the fact that, as stated, it was my first uni essay. For my next history essay i'm gonna try and aim for a little bit higher (B+ or A- hopefully). I cannot tell you how GOOD it is to have assignments marked with a proper marking system - ie percentages, letters. Such a change from NCEA.

Last week I wrote my Geo essay at the real last minute tho - pulled a 'half-nighter' - stayed up till 3am then got up 8:30am (on the Fri, day it was due) and finished it by lunchtime. Was annoying having to go all the way into the city just to hand it in but yeah it had to be done. Im beginning to think maybe i would be well-suited to journalism, as i seem to leave things to the last minute...i dont plan it that way..honest, it just happens!! I find i write better under pressure anyway, and some of my best essays have been when i've done this.

Comedy Night
Last week i went to this 'Clean Comedy Night' at this girl's church, and it was pretty good. One guy in particular was pretty funny, he was from South Auckland hehe. Some of the guys that performed there are gonna be at the 'Clean Comedy Show' at Aotea Centre so yeah....

This Just In: i have a "twin"!
yes, crazy as it may sound, i have a twin of me, somewhere, out there! so beware ha ha ha =p well it sure seems like it anyway. I have had 2 people now tell me that they've seen me at such and such a place when i've been at home. The first time was a few weeks ago when this dude that was in my history class last year txtd me to say he saw me at the Info Commons at uni...but yeah i was like 'ummm no i'm at home' (it was a Friday..my day off). Then just the other day this girl in my form class said to me on msn that she saw me walking down Browns Rd early in the morning....she had me worried for a second b/c my first thought was 'no i couldnt possibly have slept-walked' haha. but yeah nah that was the day i slept in thru my alarm and i was at uni all that morning. Both of them were like 'oh ok but she looked heaps like you'

People these days.....

Easter Camp 05!

2005-04-02T14:41:00.000+12:00

Hey everyone, hope ya'll had a great and blessed Easter =) I know i did, went away to Easter Camp in Waihola, was cool :) The singing was really good, i reckon the best i've heard at any camp i've been to so far, i even recorded little snippets of my fave songs we sung at camp on my phone hahaha. Just as a little memento. And the theme was good too, 'Survivor' hehe...whoeva created the Survivor poster thingy did a great job =) Hehe the tribe i was in was called 'Nwolc' <~~ read it backwards and u'll understand (we got the idea from the material we were given to make into a flag and badannas which had these things on it). It was good catchin up with ppl and yeah just havin a good time. The talks were also quite good too, i think Josh said something bout putting them on the EC site for those of you that weren't able to come down for camp. I might attempt to post some photos of camp from my phone up on2 the SEC site too. I got my films developed the other day and most of them turned out pretty well...

Blogger Blunder
Man i deleted the post i made with the pic of me and a couple friends coz it was so huge, and coz it pushed my links on the side down the page...but last time i checked it hadn't got rid of it/fixed it =/ SO annoying.

Ooops!

2005-03-19T21:25:00.000+13:00

Man didnt realise the pic would take up that much space. I shuda tried to edit it on photobucket somehow. Ah well! I just hope it all goes back to normal after this post.

Farewell lazy hazy summer days....
Yep as of tonight, we will be going back an hour, the end of daylight saving, and in my mind it really means the end of summer =( Altho, with the great weather we've been having lately - beautiful blue sunny not-a-cloud-in-the-sky days - you wouldnt think that we're in the middle of autumn! I'm making the most of it...

Easter Camp
Only a few more days till EC 05 =) I'm really looking forward to it, will be great catching up with everyone again. Cant believe how early Easter is this year. I'm flying down to Chch on Wed with my brother and then gettin a ride down somehow to Waihola. Shud be fun :)

Barn-dancing....yeehaa!

2005-03-14T22:14:00.000+13:00

Sat nite was my Kirsten's 21st b'day and she had a barn dance =) Was heapsa fun. (EVERYONE star to the left Scott!! =P). The theme was Western too which most ppl dressed up to so that was cool. I borrowed this cool top from my aunty that had tassles at the bottom of it, and wore jeans and my US bandanna heh heh (good excuse to wear it). So yeah overall was a pretty fun night.

Which is bet-ah: Telecom or Vodafone?
I randomly bring up this topic b/c the other day i was goin thru my directory and found that nearly half my contacts are on Telecom now. Vodafone really needs to come up with something just as good or bet-ah to retrieve back its ex-customers. I, a loyal Vodafone person, have not yet switched to the "dark side" but it is tempting. Anyways i kinda can't now b/c.....i have a new cell phone :) Courtesy of my aunty who got me it in Singapore hehe (i'm paying her back for it). For those interested, its a Panasonic X68 and if u type that into Google Images u can see what it looks like (its black and silver flip phone, w/ pxt etc etc). Just gotta sort out how to change my browser/settings so i can send/receive MMS, but other than that i've pretty much sorted how to use most the features on it.

Other than that i've not got much else to say for now, except that uni has been going pretty good. Today i wrote down how many people i'd seen from school/church around campus or at the train and came up with 30+ so yeah =) Just need to make sure i keep on top of all my readings (so much to read for an Arts degree :/ ) and get writing my essays in the next week or two.

Quick Update

2005-03-03T17:30:00.000+13:00

Well i've survived my first week of uni!! woohoo =) this week has been pretty cruisey, mainly b/c most labs/tutorials dont start until next wk (i did have an English one tho). So far my fave lectures have been the History and Geo ones, i'm not sure what to think of the English one, but it should get better as time goes on. One annoying thing tho has just been the way (i think all) my lecturers have somehow managed to slip in a snide comment about God/Christianity, u know like almost making it sound like its fairytale stuff, like little kids when they believe in Santa Claus. Well at least thats how it comes across. But i guess it just reinforces the fact that i go to a largely non-christian uni (as in ppl that go there, staff & students) and the state of our nation and the world as they continue to mock Christianity to the enth degree....all the more reason to get out there, and make the most of the opportunities God gives us to be a 'light to the world' and share the gospel!

Its off to uni i go....

2005-02-28T15:13:00.000+13:00

Well i am now officially a uni student, just went to my first lecture today and it went alright. Was on US history, but was just more an introduction to the course. The lecturer seems like he'll be pretty good though, everyone else that has done this paper has told me that he's quite good, so that's promising. Just gotta add a history tutorial into my timetable thingy. At the mo my timetable looks like this: over lunchtime for one lecture on Mondays; there all day Tuesday; Wed morning; & Thurs morning & then got Fri off which is cool =)

I bought my books (well semester 1 ones) on Friday and got my train tickets and all that so i'm pretty much sorted. Also have been bumping into quite a few ppl i know around campus and on the train so that's been cool catchin up a bit with every1.

Welcome...
Welcome to the blogging world Lou =) (hopefully my link to your blog is showing up on the sidebar).

Quote of the Day
Well i actually came across this quote the other day in somebody's signature, but quite liked it, so here it is:

"Faith is not just believing that God can, its knowing that He will"

And on that little encouraging note, i'm gonna sign off, l8rs 4 now.....

5 days left!!

2005-02-23T13:32:00.000+13:00

Yep thats right ppl, i now only have 5 days left of my summer break! it is rapidly disappearing on me now! but ah well, its all good, i've had a nice 3 month summer holiday =) and i'm all set for uni....well almost, just need to get my books and train tickets sorted out. Can't believe i'm counting down to when uni starts, how sad is that?! nah i'm sure it'll be good, i am lookin 4ward to it, altho once the workload hits i'm sure it won't seem quite a novelty.

Paul Coleman/Lads concert
The concert i went to last week to see PC/Lads was pretty good :) PC is typical Aussie, funny guy tho =) we got a pic with him afterwards and i got him to sign a couple things. He was from Melbourne too as all good ppl are ;) not that i'm calling myself an Australian or anything ok.....NEway for those interested i might try post the pic sometime on my yahoo photos site.

Well i'm gonna get off here and make the most of what little 'balmy summer days' i have left to enjoy outside (not that the weather is lookin that great today) so laters 4 now

Easter Camp

2005-02-17T14:20:00.000+13:00

Last nite me and my brother finally booked our airfares to head down to Easter Camp =) (speakin of which, i can't believe how close Easter is! only a month or so away). And what a mission it was. Most of the return tickets for Air NZ were like $400+ so we then decided to look at Qantas and found some cheaper prices there. However in the end we decided to book two one way tickets on Air NZ flying in and out of Chch which worked out cheaper for us :) So anyway, we're all sorted. Just waiting on the camp leaflet thingy and registration form now. Shud be cool, will be my brother's first time goin to it. And his first time he's been to the Sth island since he was like 4 y/o!!

In other breaking news....
1) I'm heading off to the Paul Coleman/Lads concert 2nite, @ Greenland Christian Centre, shud be good.

2) I managed to talk this american into listenin to Life FM online and now they're hooked! they even emailed them and did a shout to me and a request haha. Which got read out today during the lunchtime requests. Go Life Fm...live it! =)

...and the boredom sets in....

2005-02-10T13:22:00.000+13:00

The novelty of being able to sleep in as long as i like most mornings lately and not having much to do - while my parents are off at work and my brothers at school - is starting to wear off. I am now gettin quite bored of being on the Net and am trying to think of something productive to do or places to go...........oh well once im at uni things will probably be quite busy so i should make the most of my last couple weeks of hols.....laters 4 now

I'm baaaaaaack

2005-02-05T15:21:00.000+13:00

Heh heh just when you thought my blog was dying =P its so annoying, everytime i've gone to update here recently the comp has frozen or something has prevented it from publishing so here goes....

Family Holiday
Went up north with my family a week or so ago. Stayed at Warkworth for a couple nites at a friend's bach and then went to Paihia for a couple days and had a look around. The weather was great :) its so historical up there. We went across on the ferry to Russell and had a look round there, saw the oldest church (that still has services) and Pompallier house etc. Our main goal was to go right up to Cape Reinga so we decided we'd do a day trip from Paihia like most of the tourist buses do, and yeah it was a long drive but worth it :) The beaches u see on the way up there look so nice and when u actually get to Cape Reinga its real rugged. Was cool tho coz u could literally see where the 2 seas met - not many places in the world u can go to to view that. Also we randomly saw my brother's PE teacher up there of all ppl! heh heh just when teachers thought they could get away from their students! Anyway on the way back down we came through Kaitaia and then stayed in Paihia another night. The following day we went to Waitangi which was good - i only remembered bits and pieces from when we went there when i was younger. Huge numbers of tourists were there, like most places in the Bay of Islands area. And yeah then we went back down to Warkworth for a few more days. Went to a friend's place and was able to go biscuiting which was fun =) So yeah, overall was a pretty good holiday.

Parachute '05
Finally got to go to my first Parachute this year =) was pretty cool. I worked with my friend in the Crew & Artist's cafe for a few hours on the Sat, Sun, & Mon which was good coz it meant we got in free to the festival. Day of Fire came into the VIP bit one of the nights and i thought they were Third Day at first coz one of their guys looks a lot like Mac Powell (lead singer of 3rd day). hehe lucky i didnt go up and ask them if they were. Didnt see any of the other headliner bands come in but yeah. Third Day were pretty good on the Sun nite =) they get good audience interaction. Also caught the end of Jeff Deyo, he's pretty good worship leader as well. And yeah Mum's Dollar were cool, they played on Mainstage on the Fri nite and a couple other times on the w/end. Hehe and i also went to go see the solo artist girl 'Priscilla' sing, she's from south akld too and had a pretty good voice. So yeah was a good w/end, i'm hoping to go again next year :)

Another month's holiday
yay, its so good not having to go to uni still end of Feb/beginning of March, while everyone else is either off to school or work :) i've enrolled in all my classes and got my timetable sorted out, just got a few more things i need to do to get ready for uni.

New Job
This morning i started my new job teaching piano/keyboard down at the local music school. It wasn't too bad, considering i havent really done much teaching b4.

Well thats about it from me for now....will try not to leave it so long to update again

Happy (very) belated New Year!

2005-01-14T17:48:00.000+13:00

Hey every1, hope every1 had a great Christmas and that you have a blessed New Year. I know i know, its been awhile since i last posted in here, so hope ya'll havent stopped coming by to check :P The other day i went to update i had just finished and was about to hit publish......and then the comp froze. grr. Ah well, just one of those things. Anyway i've been up to quite a bit lately so i'll catch ya up....

YBC
YBC (youth bible conference) was great =) lotsa good times had by all. Good talks too by Peter & Hamish, they made some challenging points. Loved the place it was at (Clark's beach) even if the beach isnt the greatest, but the faciliites more than make up for that. Was cool meetin some new ppl and also catchin up with other ppl that had come up from the South Isld for it. Got my films developed last week so will have to try and get some of them scanned and put them on the YBC discussion site...speaking of which, i just fixed the link i have to it.

The week after
The week after YBC was cool, some of the ones up from the Sth were stayin on for a few days so we went places with them. Bowling, mini-golfing, swimming, the beach etc. And also had lots of games of good ol' Mafia as well as Catchphrase and Cranium at times =)

The saga that was my exam results....
Well as some of u may have already heard, it took awhile for mine (and my brother's) exam results to turn up in the mail. They were supposed to arrive over Mon/Tues but yeah our road and this other one nearby didnt get any. So we got onto the post office on the Tuesday but the lady didnt seem to care too much, so we then rang NZQA in Wellington. The guy from there must have given our local post office a blast (they pay them a lot of $ to get them out on time everywhere) because the next morning we had a call from the P.O. to say they'd (suddenly) found the missing bag which had 60 results in it. So yeah ended up gettin them in the mail Wed morning. And i'm pleased to say i've passed my NCEA level 3 and got what I needed to get into a BA at Auckland Uni =) At the moment i'm just tryin to sort out my timetable and have everything ready so i can enrol straight away which should hopefully be sometime next week. Some of it seems a bit overwhelming sometimes, sorting out when different lectures are, for different papers, and then there's tutorials....and so it goes on.....

Another bonus....
Today i (finally) went to sit my restricted and passed =) Did it in a manual. The guy only got me to do a 3 pt turn and then I just had to drive around and that was it :) So thats cool...hehe so weird driving by yourself for the first time tho! but i'm sure i'll get used to it. My bro is real happy b/c now he can actually start learning to drive (he's had his Learners for a year...but had to wait till i got my R b4 he could start learning...hehehe)

From tomorrow i'll be on holiday with my family up in sunny Northland =) yay. We're spending a couple nites in Warkworth then heading up to Russell/Waitangi/Bay of Islands way and hopefully one of the days we'll be goin right up to Cape Reinga. That'll be cool, none of us have ever been quite that far b4. I come back on the 24th (will miss gettin to see off Christy at the airport :/ ) so i can do some trainin on the Tues/Wed for my music teaching job thingy, and then i'll be off to Parachute on Thurs nite. But i'll try update when i come back from holiday.

Hope every1 had a gr8 CHRISTmas :)

2004-12-27T13:41:00.000+13:00

Hey ppl, hope everyone had a great Christmas =) My Christmas was pretty good, nice and relaxing. The Christmas Eve service was cool, every1 got in2 it. The skit and the songs went well and there was a pretty good turnout of people too :) Christmas Day my family had lunch at the Peeks along with the Coulthards, Kennedys & Papeschs which was cool, as well as having a game of Cranium =) Boxing Day we had a family get2gether with my Dad's side at my uncle's place in Parnell. That was good too, nice catching up with my cousins etc n just hanging out, even tho the weather wasn't the greatest. But in saying that, it does feel like summer has finally arrived in the last few days or so! Blue cloudless skies....aaah gotta love it.... just hope it lasts!

Today i went shoppin for 80s clothes (in prep. for the 80s themed dinner at YBC on one of the nights). Man they had some ugly as clothes in the 80s! Anyway went off to Savemart and myself this bright pink, swirly skirt and a pink top to match it. My bro found a checkered shirt and some creamy coloured trousers. Yay YBC 2mrw! =)

Well thats about all my news for now - next time i'll post it'll be the New Year! T/c and have a good one!

'Twas the day b4 Christmas....

2004-12-24T11:12:00.000+13:00

Man, still can't believe its Christmas 2morrow! Well i kinda can going on the amount of ppl at The Warehouse the last few days/weeks. Last nite was utter chaos. I was put on c/out 17 which is right at the front - cant stand that c/out since the rack thing for the bags to hang off isnt there, there's hardly any bins to put clothes hangers in etc, and to make it worse it was Ca$h only as the Eftpos system had crashed on c/out 17 & 18 :/ Then there was the fact that some customers either could not read or refused to read the sign that clearly said 'Cash only. 5 items of less' and proceeded to hand me their card and then make it look like it was my fault that i was only taking cash. Some of them really needed to take a chill pill too. And everytime i looked up the line never seemed to be gettin any shorter. aaah well, enough of my complaints, thats the joys of working at TWH.

Tonight after work (doin 4-8:30pm) i have the Christmas Eve service to go to which should be good. Then 2mrw, Christmas Day, there's service at 9am and then we're joinin up with some other families from church for lunch at the Peeks which'll be cool. And then Boxing Day we're going to my uncle's place in Parnell for a bbq and family get-2-getha thing with my Dad's side. So will be a busy next few days.

Merry CHRISTmas all! Have a good one and remember the reason for the season =)

Highlights of my year - 2004

2004-12-21T14:02:00.000+13:00

K well since its nearing the end of the year, i thought i'd recap what some of the highlights of 2004 were for me:

Dec 03 - Jan 04:
I'm starting from Dec 03 coz thats when i went to my first YBC which was down in Dunedin :) Was cool to finally meet all these people i'd heard about and also make some new friends. The speakers were also real good, Stuart Bonnington & Alf Bradfield, and yeah overall i had a good time. Apart from gettin campylobacter from the water down there!! ugggh thats an experience i don't want to repeat. Came back a bit of a mess - was sunburnt and feelin sick n stuff and that was only a few days b4 i was due to fly out to Aussie. Anyway, i finally got to go to Aussie - Melb. in particular - for the first time in ages (since we'd moved back here) on 8 Jan and spent an awesome couple weeks there with the Brightwells who took me round everywhere and met a lot of ppl and got to catch up with some Kiwi friends that were living up in Nth Vic. on this dairy farm. So yeah that was definitely a highlight of my year. Was kinda gutted coming back to NZ hehe, wished i coulda stayed there longer.

April:
On 7 April i went to my first Rebecca St James concert =) Was pretty cool. Detour 180 were supporting act too. Got a heap of pics.

Then over Easter i went down to Easter Camp in Waihola and had a great time there! The theme was the Olympics and i was in the USA team. We lost overall tho :/ lol we werent the best group of singers...i think thats wat stopped us from gettin some points. We had to sing our anthem one night and then 'I believe i can fly' on another night. Was still fun tho hehe. The Aussie group won overall. Canada's group did the best skit thingy for their song 'My Heart will Go on' lol.

June:
On 1st June i turned 18 =) a milestone haha. Also got heaps of teasing from family and co about whether i was gonna follow in my Mum's footsteps and get married at 18. somehow i dont think so.....

August:
Early August i went on Geo camp down to Rotorua. That went off pretty well. Went and did all the touristy things as ya do and i enjoyed being able to talk 2 some foreigners n stuff. Had to come back from camp early tho with my Dad - who drove all the way down to pick me up - to come back up to Akld to do a piano duet exam with my Mum. Was worth it tho coz Mum & I passed it =)

21 August was the night of my last highschool ball. Was pretty cool night. The decorations were great and as always was cool to see everyone all dressed up :)

September:
During the Sept holidays Karen (Irvine) came up from the South Island to stay with us for a few days so that was nice seein her again.

October:
This was the month of 21sts. Or so it seemed like it. Went to a couple - someone from church and my cousin's one. Both were good.

November:
While this month was pretty crazy with final exams and everything it also had one highlight with the Graduation Dinner being on 30 Nov =) finally graduating from highschool & gettin all our leavers things was a great feeling.

December:
The other week i passed my latest piano exam - was Performers Certificate one - and it went pretty well overall. Anyway my results came back in record time - i sat the exam on the Fri and got them a few days later on the Monday :) So that was cool especially since i passed it :) A years worth of hard practise towards it finally paid off.

And coming up.....
i'm heading off to YBC again over New Years so that should be another good time. Its in Auckland this year so not too far to go for it this time.

Relief!

2004-12-10T13:54:00.000+13:00

Today i had my piano exam which went pretty well overall. Was just annoyed about a few little mistakes i made but there was no major catastrophe so that was good. The piano was so nice, was a grand piano :) And the examiner was quite nice too. The supervisor lady said we may have results back as early as Wed!

So yeah, i'm now finally able to relax now. Roll on those lazy summer days!

Up until Christmas i'm working every few days at The Warehouse so that'll keep me busy. There sure are some grumpy customers out there, but i guess thats to be expected at this time of the year and especially at the place where 'everyone gets a bargain'.

Hmmm.....thats about all i can think of for now. I'll be updating more regularly from now on hopefully. And gonna try out doing some links n stuff to my photo site thing on here.

Its official - i've now graduated from MH!

2004-11-30T23:24:00.000+13:00

Tonight was my Graduation Dinner, and i've now officially graduated from highschool! =) Still hasn't suck in yet and probably won't for awhile. Was really cool catching up with and seeing every1 again. Tried to get photos with as many people as i could - will have to post them on my Webshots photos site once i've uploaded them - and got most my friends to sign my yearbook. We got given our y13 packs which included our testimonial, normal yearbook, specialy y13 yearbook and also ur leaver's hoodie. So that was cool. A couple of the deputy head prefects had also put photos from the year of different school things - trips etc - onto a CD for us as well as the y13 form class photos and other ones too so that was nice of them. So many pics to look at. If ur lucky i might even post the pic of me that's in the y13 yearbook :P (they did it American styles by taking individual photos of the year 13s) So..... despite the food being average and some girl throwing up at my table :s (which i wasnt there at the time thankfully) and the music...well what music...there was none at all basically coz someone had forgotten to bring the sound system or wateva..... it was a good nite overall. Now its a 3 month break till Uni starts and a new chapter in my life begins!

They're over!!!!

2004-11-26T22:27:00.000+13:00

Yay! i'm now free! =) from highschool etc that is. Still hasnt really sunk in yet. Had my last exam yesterday (thurs) which was Bio...was pretty terrible exam, every1 pretty much hated it - the questions were nothing like we had for our practise exam. but oh well :/ thats life. Probably my best exam was English so yeah. i'm just glad they're over, won't get results for awhile - not till Jan i think. I applied for Auckland Uni last week so just need to send in info like evidence of citizenship blah blah blah.

And in other news....
Graduation dinner is on Nov 30! :) will be the last time i'll see most people so i'm gonna try take lotsa pics. We get our leavers hoodies there, plus testimonials and yearbooks (they did a special y13 one this year apparently as well as the normal one). So shud be good.

I'm also now back doing Christmas work at Manukau warehouse. Basically working right up until Christmas Day altho not as many shifts as last year and they've changed it so that most ppl are only working 6-7hrs at a time not 9hrs like last year. So that means less $ for me since i dont have as many shifts but oh well :/ least it means i get a break every few days. Also managed to get sundays off without a problem again so thats cool.

My aunty is flying in early this Sunday morning (5:30am) from London so will be nice seeing her again. I'm planning on going out to the airport too. She's been doing her OE and has been working at this real good job over there. Shud hopefully be able to get in some quality shopping time with her too while she's staying with us! =)

1 down only 5 more to go...

2004-11-11T19:56:00.000+13:00

....yep im well and truly in exam mode now :/ So far i've had one exam, Chem, which was yesterday morning and it went....alright i guess. I just tried to do as much as i could and im hoping for the best. But i dont really need Chem for a BA so i'm not too worried. Next week will be busy - 4 exams in a row: english (tues), english schol. (wed) history (thurs avo) geo (fri morning). i hate back to back exams like i have with history and geo. but i'm real glad i don't have 2 exams on one day tho, coz thats a real brain killer. And then my last (highschool) exam forever is Bio which is on 25 nov. and then i'll be done!! yay, lookin 4ward to that day.

dont worry, i'm gonna be making up for my lack of regular updates, as soon as i'm on holiday! :) just warning ya

well i betta get back to writing my essay, just thought i'd let u all know i'm still alive,

laters 4 now

Its been awhile...

2004-10-29T16:48:00.000+13:00

Was checking my blog and noticed its been quite awhile since my last update! probably the longest i've gone w/o updating actually.

The countdown of the 'last-ofs'...
yep, my highschool days are definitely numbered now. We are now all gettin into the 'last ofs' lately...like today for instance was the last full Friday ever at hs and the end our last full week of hs 4eva. i still remember my first day of highschool like it was yesterday! sure has gone fast. Graduatin Dinner will be happy/sad night i reckon. I've paid for my leavers hoodie/jumper, spent ages trying to come up with a nickname for it, and at the moment i've come up with KiwiStylz and then 86 for my number, since at least that identifies me as a Kiwi even tho i was born in Aussie :P any1 got any other suggestions? lemme know. got till tues to write it down on the order form. all my family could suggest was 'Pris' or 'Priscilla'...how original :p

Exams, exams exams
Well exams are looming by the week, the day, the minute!! arrgh. well one thing i'm glad about is that i dont have two exams in one day, coz that's a killer on ur brain. Would appreciate y'all prayers for me for my exams etc to stay focused when studying etc.

Well thats about all i have time to say 4 now, other than that it's felt like a year of 21sts! lots of ppl from church it seems have turned the big 2 1 this year. was at my cousin's 21st the other week, which was alright - me and my bro made quite an impact apparently by not drinking along with the rest of them.

neway betta get off here,
t/c every1 & G/b

Elections

2004-10-10T01:00:00.000+13:00

A couple days ago i voted for the first time in my life - was for the local body election thingies for mayor etc - so yeah. Just thought i'd share that with ya'll haha. it was mainly a case of eeny meeny miney mo tho for who i chose for Mayor, local community board n stuff tho since i only knew a couple of the candidates n stuff. Seems like its election mania at the moment with Aussies elections this w/end and America's next month and then local elections throughout NZ too. i'm sick of hearing bout it all....

Youthgroup
Youthgroup started back up again tonite, first one for the term, and it went pretty well. Good turnout of ppl and we had some interesting debates n stuff along with the usual games, singing, mingling and supper :)

Well thats bout all i can think of 2 write right now, so i'm out...till next time

Its all downhill from here...

2004-10-04T16:31:00.000+13:00

Well term 4 has begun, and its all downhill from here. Gotta cram in lotsa study in the 5 weeks i have left till my first exam. which is Chem, uggh. We got some of our practise exam results back, did ok for some and not so good on others, but least i know the sections i need to revise. The joys of study/revising/exams huh. well this will probably be it for the next few weeks coz i'm gonna try to restrict myself from distractions like the Net and tv n stuff for the next little while....

Balls, injections, and shopping

2004-09-28T17:54:00.000+12:00

Well the last few days i've been a bit busy, so i'd catch ya'll up on what i've been up 2 lately....

Baptist Ball
The church ball i went to was on Sat nite and that went pretty good. Saw quite a few people i knew from St Andrews that were there as well as others from MH so it was like a little mini reunion thingy. It was held at this Car Museum place in Epsom so there were all these old cars down the side and upstairs so yeah gave it a different kinda setting to ur normal school ball hehe.

Injections
I had my meningitis jab thing last Thurs and it went alright. took 2 seconds max for the actual thing. I didnt get too many of the side effects which was good, just a headache and a sore arm. But yeah i've heard most ppls arms hurt for the first week or so afterwards....

Shopping
Today and yesterday went and did a bit of shopping. I've been on the hunt for some pink earrings with silver background but yeah they're not to be found. Apparently they're quite popular at the moment so will have to wait a bit. But bought these other earrings while i was in town yesterday which are nice. Today I was at Botany and finally found this top which matches the skirt i'm gonna wear for Graduation dinner which isn't for another couple months, but least i won't have to worry bout finding an outfit after exams are over so thats good.

Meeting Yellowcard

2004-09-22T17:55:00.000+12:00

Today I went with my friend into the city to ZM studio to go meet Yellowcard which was cool, even thought we both hadn't heard much of their music b4 haha. There musta been about 40-50 ppl there, and yeah Yellowcard played about 4 of their songs for us. Then afterwards we all had a big group photo with the guys which should be on the ZM site if you want to check it out (still yet to find it on there, but they said they'll probably put it on there 2nite) and then we each got a signed Cd single of theirs. So that was good.

2mrw's V-day
Well tomorrow's the day i'm off to get my meningitis jab...oh what fun that'll be....i'll probably have a sore arm for the next day or so but i'm hoping it won't hurt too much by Sat as thats the day of my friend's church ball....

I think i've had...

2004-09-21T14:45:00.000+12:00

...about enough junk food to last me a lifetime. haha, well for a few days neway. Last night was at my friend's place for her b'day thing and yeah we just basically hung out, ate heapsa junk food (i had access to a big bag of Skittles so i was happy :p) and yeah watched some dvds. Yesterday this other girl from school rang me up and said she'd won a double pass off ZM to go to this meet and greet thing to see Yellowcard in ZM studio tommorrow. hehe i've only heard a little bit bout them and we both haven't heard their music or anything. so we really deserve to go haha. ah well, least we'll be able to get their autographs n stuff and my bro just informed me that they won an award at the latest MTV awards or something. so yeah.

Nice start to the hols

2004-09-17T22:56:00.000+12:00

Today was a good day. Had a nice relaxing start to the hols. Got to sleep in a little, and just lazed round home most of the day. Tonight went out to the movies with my friend and to McCafe afterwards which was good. We saw 'the village' which was a thriller, kinda had a strange story line, but was good coz it was a different kind of thriller and it had some twists in it too. And yeah then afterwards went across to McCafe for a coffee n stuff so that was all good.

Well i really don't have too much else to say, other than that i'm so NOT looking forward to this coming Thurs since thats when i'm gettin my first meningitis shot (i missed the first one at school) :/ Still don't want to get it, don't see the point in it as it only lasts up until ur 20 anyway. Oh well...

Good ol' holidays...

2004-09-16T16:58:00.000+12:00

Well spring break is finally here =) Had my last exam this morning (geography). Overall my exams went ok i guess, should've done more study for some of them...well actually all of them...oh well. Least I'll know what to work on for the coming months. For the holidays haven't got too much planned, I should really make another study plan tho - one that i'll actually stick to this time - and do some study, but i'm definitely taking time out to relax as well. Going to my friend's church ball on the middle w/end, got my friend from the South Island coming up to stay with me for a few days, and then i think we're going to a 21st on the last w/end of the holidays. So that should be good. Nothing more to say so i'm out..till next time...

Spring is in the air!

2004-09-04T18:07:00.000+12:00

Yay :) Its spring time every1 in case u haven't already worked that out hehe. Means summer is round the corner and thats always good =) Those crisp, frosty mornings are behind us now and that makes gettin up (for me) just that much easier haha :p

Exam time :/
Exams always seem to roll round fast!! Seems like it wasn't so long ago that it was the mid-year exams. Oh well...once this lot of practise exams are outta the way, it'll be downhill for the number of weeks left of school but uphill for all the work i'm gonna have to do in the next few months (!!) if i want to get some Merits and Excellences. But hey, its only for the next little while i guess...

The Ball!

2004-08-29T19:28:00.000+12:00

Well a week has already passed since the ball, and each day i kept reminding myself to write in here about it..honest! :p but yeah homework came first this last week as i had my big Geo assignment to hand in on Fri. ANYWAY...back to the subject....the ball was great :) lots of fun, and went by real quick as those things tend to do. Also got lots of photos on the dig camera and normal cameras so for those interested in seeing them just ask me and i'll be happy 2 show ya. The decorations at the ball this year were real cool, the theme was 'winter wonderland' and at the back of the dance floor they had this set which had a fake ice sculpture, mountain backdrop and these fake snowflakes hanging down, looked real pretty :) I thought (like every1 else at first) that it was gonna be the backdrop for the photos but it wasn't, the actual photo backdrop was alright - mainly blues. But yeah u could still have photos on the snow set thing which was cool. The music - it was alright, just all the main songs on the radio at the moment, but i reckon the DJ last year was a bit better. The food was pretty much the same too, maybe a little bit better so that was good too. Hopefully the professional pics won't take as long to come this year! It was cool seeing every1 dressed up, almost didnt recognise a few people! After the ball i went back with my group of friends to get changed and then we headed off to Dennys for a bit for some dessert etc so that was good. There were are few other ppl from school ppl that turned up too. So yeah all in all a good night out.

The Flu/Auckland Uni Open Day
I'm down with the flu at the moment :/ sux as i hardly ever get sick. oh well just one of those things. hopefully i'll be over it in a few days. Probably didnt help tho that i was out till late on Fri night in the city with some friends, walkin round in the cold. I ended up gettin a temp of 39C yesterday morning :/ but least its come down now.
Went into Auckland Uni for a little while yesterday to have a look around as it was their open day. Was quite good, came away with lots of brochures etc. Went to a Geo lecture which was good, i esp. liked the point the lecturer made about most Geographer being sociable ppl coz thats just me right thru! hehe. Still not sure what i'm doing next year (with regard to uni or workin etc) but i think i'll still apply to do a BA, just to keep my options open.

In less than 24hrs....

2004-08-20T23:34:00.000+12:00

....it will be my ball! =) My last highschool ball too. Should be heaps of fun tho and i'm gonna try get a ton of pics of everyone. Today every1 was gettin more excited bout it as the day went on, well the girls anyway. I've got everything all sorted out - hair, makeup, shoes, jewellery, and of course my dress etc sorted out. So i guess i should really try and get to bed early tonight - in my case goin 2 sleep b4 midnight - as i don't think i'll be gettin too much sleep 2mrw nite!

A cruisey yet not so cruisey day

2004-08-13T22:59:00.000+12:00

Hey ppl. Yep well today at school i had one cruisey day, was real quiet as most of the y13s and some y12s were @ the Careers Expo (the hall was half empty in senior assembly if thats anything to go by!) I decided not to go as i've been b4 & it gets pretty boring pretty quick, and i already have an idea of what kind of degree i'm planning on doing. So yeah. There was an avg of about 8 ppl in each of my classes today so was a good chance to pretend to do work while chattin with some other friends, which made the day go fast. The teachers really didn't care too much one way or the other. However i also jst realized how little time left i have to prepare my English seminar, which i'm doing 1st pd on Mon morning...arrggh! On top of my other 3 essays, resources, and Geo project i'm s'posed 2 b working on....

Let the games begin!
Yay its that time again, can't believe its already been 4 years since the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Hmm lets see how well the Greeks can put on an opening ceremony compared to what the Aussies did! Hopefully those rowing twins will get us some gold medals + some of our other athletes too...anything to beat our medal total at the 2000 Olympics! Anyway, i best sign off here as i'm gonna drag myself outta bed at 5am to watch the opening ceremony!! Let the games begin =)

My trip to Rotaz

2004-08-06T19:27:00.000+12:00

On Friday i arrived back from my Geography camp to Rotorua (left on Wed). Turned out to be a pretty good camp overall, apart from me having to leave early Fri morning with my dad to come back for this piano exam i had to do that afternoon. Being the talkative person that i am, my fave thing of the trip was probably when we went to Tamaki Tours place (where they do the whole Maori thing - welcome, concert and hangi - as there were heaps of tourists from all over that were there (US, Australia, Canada, Ireland, UK) so got to talk to some of them. Also saw quite a few geysers, since we went to Whakarewarewa and Waiotapu. Also got some free time on Thurs avo to go shopping so that was good too, not that i ended up buying anything but yeah. And also didn't get too much sleep on the last night as there were rumours of pranks ppl were plannin as ya do hehehe....

Piano Duet Exam
The exam ended up goin pretty well. Mum didnt get too nervous for once which was a bonus, since she can do. Only thing i mucked up was on one of the page turns on the first duet we played, but other than that it was all good. Should get results back sometime this week...

Countdown
Just under 2 weeks to the ball now...not that i'm counting down or anything haha =p

Winter - gotta love it/gotta hate it

2004-07-28T19:04:00.000+12:00

Winter - gotta love it/gotta hate it. Its all good if ur at the snow n stuff and having a good time skiing, snowboarding or just having a snow fight. But if u live here in Auckland where it doesnt snow and its just windy, wet, and cold (like today and yesterday) then its not much fun.But i really shouldn't complain too much compared to some of the temps the South Island has been getting!

School Stuff
I'm off on a geography camp to Rotorua next week which should be cool. Apart from the fact that i have to come home early from it on the last day :/ coz i have this piano duet exam thing that i'm doing which clashes with the time the school bus arrives back. Oh well thats life. But at least my parents will now be coming down to pick me up, so i won't have to end up catching a bus home earlier and being a loner on it :p

Yay for half-days!

2004-07-22T17:59:00.000+12:00

Today we got a half day off school which was good :) Coz of parent-teacher interviews. Which my parents are at right now. Shouldnt be too bad tho, since my report ended up being pretty good. And thats all i've got to say for now...

And so it begins....

2004-07-19T23:05:00.000+12:00

Today went back to the grind, to the same ol' same ol' routine of school, work etc. Oh well, the teachers keep tryin to shock us with how many weeks of school we have left b4 we finish school 4ever and the amount of work we have to cover in that time. All i can say is, start the countdown!!

Hiding M&Ms
Yep i was that bored! Nah, actually i decided that tonight it would be quite amusing to hide the peanut M&Ms we had from my chocolate freak brothers! haha they couldnt find them for ages....so much for me being the "dumb blonde" :p

Good Day Out

2004-07-17T09:57:00.000+12:00

Today has been a good day out i must admit. Went shopping for most of the day, went up to Manukau, as i had some bday money to spend (even tho my bday was back in June) from my aunty, so bought myself some perfume (Giorgio 2 b specific). It has a really nice scent :) Also spotted these earrings that match exactly to this necklace i'm wearing to the ball this year so that was a bonus. Also got a few other things. It was definitely the day to go shopping as nearly everything we got was on sale hehe (apart from the perfume). So that was even better.
Tonight went out for dinner at Dennys. Was pretty packed but it is Friday night after all.

Good on ya blogspot.com!
Glad to see that some extra tools have been added here on this toolbar for creating posts such as colour, font etc.

Procrastination!

2004-07-15T13:42:00.000+12:00

Arrgh school holidays are coming to an end :/ I dont want 2 go back, well i do but i dont if ya know wat i mean. Procrastination & me get along quite well 2getha haha which is not so good tho when it comes to h/w over the holidays. Dontcha just hate that?! Neway looks like it'll be a busy next few days since i've left some stuff i should've done earlier (ie collecting info for my geo project) till now...

Bowling for Columbine
The other night i watched 'Bowling for Columbine' (that one by Michale Moore) on tv. I mainly watched it b/c i wanted to see what things it said about the Columbine highschool massacre which it didnt have much on, but focused on the whole problems of guns etc in America. Said something like 11,128 ppl are hurt/killed in the US from guns, which is a massive figure compared to other western countries where its usually less than 80/yr. Crazyness.