Back at work....

Well... back to work today... was quite a busy morning...
It was hard getting up this morning - it wasnt that it was early but the fact that it was getting up to go to work...

A couple of things happened in the last day... My prawn died... :(
I guess i didnt really know how to look after a prawn so poor thing... i got home after going out to dinner and he was lying on his side...

Yesterday was Bert's b'day... we went out on the boat cos she wanted to go wakeboarding. She did really well and managed a few good rides.

Squibby and Narnia...

No the topics arent related... but the blog is about both...

I caught a prawn yesterday... and kept it... and called it "squibby" - dont ask me about the name... just thought it sounded cute. Anyway, i really have no idea what prawns do or eat... i only know that i eat them!

So i have no idea what to do with my prawn... this is gonna sound bad but i didnt really expect him to survive. He looked really dead in the arvo cos he just lay around... but last night... when the sun went down and all was dark in the kitchen... even my fish had gone to sleep... there was squibby swimming around happy as larry... sooo cute! this morning he was swimming around a bit but it's the arvo now and he just looks dead again... think that's what prawns do... they swim around when it's dark but stay still during in daylight.



I got to sleep in today (yay!). Decided to go see Narnia - The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe this morning. Went to Mac and the shops are so packed! Avoiding the sales at the moment cos i really have nothing to buy. I dont really need anything. And... really, really, really dont like crowds!

In the bible, we see Jesus speak in parables which seem like normal stories but which also conveyed other spiritual implications or meanings. CS Lewis was a Christian and "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" was written as a children's story but it also conveys many of the ideas of the gospel. (Not that i'm equating Jesus to CS Lewis but i admire how cleverly CS Lewis wrote the book.)

I must admit that that the biblical symbolism or parallelism of the movie actually made me bawl so much when they killed Aslan the lion. (That's the first time i've bawled in a movie in ages!) An innocent... killed in a traitor's place. Like Jesus dying in our place.

Anyway, i really enjoyed the movie and it very clearly shows some aspects of the gospel. Even Lucy and Susan's walk with Aslan before he is killed reminds me of Gethsemene. Aslan, the king, humbles himself and dies in place of Edmond but overcomes death and delivers Narnia from the rule of the evil Queen. Sounds familiar...

I end with a quote from the movie... "it is finished" (Aslan and the gospel of John, chapter 19, verse 30)

Boxing Day

I dont know why Boxing day is called what it is... is it because you box up your leftovers, or re-box the presents you're gonna return?
The things I think of when i think of Boxing Day are cricket and boating. Cricket because there is always a test match starting and boating cos we have been out boating on boxing day for quite a few years.

Today was kinda funny... strange stuff happened today... the trailer lights wouldnt work, i caught a prawn (which i kept - i hope it will live... calling it "squibby"), there were fish jumping out of the water in the morning and biting furiously on lines then it suddenly went quiet with no bites, and the engine wouldnt start when we were on our way back.

Wakeboarding again for a bit... conditions were a bit rough tho (not a 6am start today!) Practising jumps... got a bit of air on a couple. Next step is to try to do jump 180's. Practise, practise, practise....

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Well it's Christmas again!
Started a great day with some wakeboarding... 7am... feeling a bit more comfortable on jumps but have to work on getting some more air.

Went to church this morning. It was good to see so many people there.... some people who are visiting and some new people. That's the great thing about Christmas - people who dont usually go to church seem to turn up. I guess there is a God-shaped hole in hearts and Christmas is a time when people seem to feel it and try to do something about it... It is a great opportunity for them to come and hear the gospel.

The bible reading was Matt 1:18-25. For the people who have been to National Training Event (NTE - Aust wide Christian training conference), you prob all remember preparing a bible study or talk on that passage. It's a great passage and so many things you could say. But Joseph was to give the baby the name "Jesus" because he would save his people from their sins.

At Christmas time we remember that amazing gift of Jesus - God provides his life and death on a cross in our place... to save us from the punishment we deserve for rejecting God.

I'm sorry if i'm rambling... just that this year i notice that the shopping centres play carols but not the lyrics... it's politically incorrect in this age to mention "Jesus". But why celebrate Christmas then? What does CHRISTmas mean if it's not about Jesus Christ?

Russ wakeboarding jump - i cant get that high...

Christmas spirit huh?

Last night i went shopping with Daph. We got to the carpark and were waiting for a spot with indicator on... A few cars were going but we'd started waiting for this spot so didnt move. Anyway, the car pulled out... and just as quickly, a Lebanese guy pulled straight into the spot we were waiting for. How incredibly rude!

So what do u say in that situation? I mean it's us... 2 girls... and the guy looked pretty mean. If we protest, there's no guarantee the guy isnt going to beat us up. So... unhappily we had to find another spot.

I'm writing this cos i'm still quite annoyed. I think it's just me... i'm kinda tired cos it's busy at work... and it doesnt take that much to make me a little cranky at the moment.

Pen Crazy

Ok... for the last week i've gone totally pen crazy. Sorry to all the people whom i've bought pens for as a present!

I lost my favourite pen a few weeks ago... and since then i've just been looking for a new fav pen... So i've actually found a few i like... and guess what... i bought them... so now i have a few pens...

Things are so busy at work that i have no time for paperwork. All my time at work at the moment is spent seeing patients so i have a stack of patient files and reports to write up... i've brought it all home to do... and my new pens are coming in handy!

Holding Serve

I just finished reading Michael Chang's biography today. I'm not a very good reader so it has taken me a couple of weeks. I've been trying to read more Christian books lately, this book I guess was just meant to be a lighter read.

I'll go back to the beginning. I must admit that I was never a big fan... maybe it was an asian thing. Cos he's asian, everybody i knew seemed to go for him. I must admit that he wasnt amongst my list of favourite tennis players... until... I found out that he is a Christian and I met him.

Think it was 2000 or 2001 when he came to Sydney. I was working at the tennis and drove him back to the hotel after a match. What struck me was his politeness and genuineness. A lot of the time when you're driving players around, they dont really talk to you or they can be quite rude (except for Andy Roddick!). I had Michael, his brother Carl and his dad in the car and they were just so incredibly nice and even included me in their conversation as we talked about Chinese Christian churches in Australia.

Anyway, going back to his book... i hope i'm not breaching major copyright laws but here are a couple of exerpts that really encouraged me:

"As I have thought about why I became a successful tennis player, I have come to the realisation that I cant answer that question because none of us can know the mind of God. Yet I have always held a strong feeling that God granted me a measure of on-court success because that allowed me the chance to tell others about Jesus Christ. That's why I have seen myself as an evangelist with a tennis racket ever since I won the French Open"

"It is often said that God cant do anything with you until He has broken you to the point where He can rebuild you. That's what He did with me. I had be holding on for so long. Trying too hard. And now I was going to relinquish it all to Him."

"If I have been able to draw people to the Lord through my tennis, then the fame and the money and the rankings wont compare to touching people's lives and encouraging them in the Lord, because that's someting that lasts a lifetime and beyond."

I guess in a world where we idolise pop, filmstars and sports people... I dont want to sound like that... but I must admit that I really admire Michael. I admire his honesty in everything he wrote about success, money, singleness, and his heart for Jesus' ministry. So I end with another quote...

"Be ye fishers of men, You catch 'em - he'll clean 'em."

U2

Yay... I got tix to U2.

I've really liked this band for ages... mainly for the way the Edge can turn 3 chords into an amazing song.

Woke up at 5am to go get tickets... sounds crazy but i'm figuring it's now or never... I didnt see them when they were here last and they're prob not likely to tour again anytime soon... I'll prob be like 40 if they decide to come again... and really they are gettin on too...

Now for the wait... So pumped to go see them... Resisting the temptation to turn my guitar amp up really loud and play Vertigo!

Blog Neglect...

Once again... blog neglect has struck... I havent blogged for quite a while. Mainly because i've been really really busy lately.

So what's new?

Work is same ol, same ol'. Today we were thinking that we seem to attract "home and away" ppl... not the stars... mainly their families.

Incidentally, I bumped into a guy off home and away about a week ago at Castle Towers. he plays the dad of lucas and the police guy on the show. i literally bumped into him, then thought he looked familiar... actually thought he was a patient whose name i prob should have known but couldnt remember. then he joined the queue behind me at the checkouts... i turned bright red when i realised where he was from... how embarrassing!

What else...

Well i have now paid for my course for next year. i'm studying the international chripractic sports diploma. it's gonna be weird.... and i dunno if i'm up for studying again but we'll see. it's gonna mean i'll be quite busy next year.

Big decisions...

decided to take a break next year and not lead a bible study group at church. more for me to just have some time to myself - i've been feeling that i just havent had that lately... when i dont get time to myself then i find i get kinda exhausted being around people all the time (esp with work)

Looking forward to a great wakeboarding season... went yesterday... not for long but the ol' body is feeling it... i'm sore from arms to toes!

Other than that.. my life is boring...

Norwest Chiropractic is driving me carzy....

I realised that working here is slowly driving me crazy... I am developing a very lame sense of humour... not yet rivalling Trev's but coming quite close...

Last friday... I took our model spine and put it in the staff room... I was with a patient and Trev was looking for it... so he came into my room and asked where the spine is... "...other than in the back..."

I made myself a sandwich and it was very yummy... i said "this is really good... i could work at subway..."

Today i was showing a patient some neck mobilisation exercises... one looked like a chicken move... so i said... "if anybody asks you have birdflu..."

Told you my humour is getting worse...

WKC

I will update this shortly...

The state of Health care...

Reading the SMH this morning... This article was kinda interesting...

The state of health care huh? This guy's opinions actually make me shudder....
I guess it's the bit when he's talking about "physician assistants" doing examination and diagnosis. Or nurses doing anaesthetics...

I mean as a chiropractor, i've trained for like 5 years at uni to be pretty much a specialist at some health and spinal problems. Manipulation can be a dangerous thing when not done properly or with the right training.

I guess i dont know how much training it takes for these people to assume these roles... but as a practitioner... i wouldnt let anybody not fully qualified touch one of my patients!

Display homes... now display churches

Ok take #2.... i dunno where this post went. i posted it last week.

Display homes are a bit of a norm now... i work out in baulkham hills and there are a lot of display villages in kellyville and near blacktown.
Last week i was driving back from manly when along the side of the road i saw a sign.... display units... and a display church!

Call it my sense of humour... it just made me laugh... a display church... I was thinking... so can you go in and pick your colour schemes and the layout of your church. Whether there are normal windows or stained glass ones...

Anyway, just thought it was odd. i'd like to go visit sometime and see what a display church looks like. I think though that I should be thankful... if there is the need to have a display church then there must be a lot of people building church buildings. If so then God is really blessing us in Australia!

England's Ashes

Well i'm at work this morning mighty glad i didnt stay up too late (mind u i did stay up) to watch the end of the final test.

England finally won the Ashes for the first time in 18 years. Their win was well deserved and Australia certainly fought for this test. The whole of Australia would be disappointed though because Australia really should have done better through the rest of the series.

Anyway, well done England!

Acupuncture and babies

I was reading this article yesterday in the SMH on acupuncture and babies.

I thought it was very interesting that people are only now catching on to what natural therapies can do. I mean i've only been practising chiro for nearly 3 yrs but i've seen some amazing stuff. We've had great results with babies who dont sleep, or have colic or digestive problems. We have great results with children who bed-wet or with asthma.

I'm very interested in acupuncture. I think that chiro can work in a similar way, utilising pressure points etc...

Anyway, the article was interesting and i'd really like to learn what they do... but i am thinking... i hate needles... i dunno if i'd ever have acupuncture for my child. Guess i lean towards chiro... but i am biased!

Another chat medium... Google talk

Today the SMH got on the bandwagon with an article about Google talk. You can download the program at http://www.google.com/talk/

I'm thinking... great another chat program. At the moment i have Miranda which combines ICQ, IRC, MSN, Yahoo and AOL. Just cos otherwise i'd have 3 different programs open. It's just easier to have one contact list.

However, while online chat is real-time, it's prob a lil less personal (even though there are emoticons etc) and easier to misunderstand somebody. Incorporating voice chat is a good idea but it's just so done... i mean MSN does have it... but also you have ur specialist programs like Skype that are pretty good too.

I think this is just another excuse for another program and for Google to jump on the instant messaging bandwagon. The hype i think is the thing that will make it popular or a flop.

Back Pain

Today's Sydney Morning Herald has a liftout section on backpain and exercises. IT is actually really interesting. For the more technically inclined... it's on the net too.
I thought a really interesting article was this one titled "twist and shout" just about the epidemiology and important factors in back pain.

The state of Australian cricket!

The state of Australian cricket must be pretty bad if we're celebrating a draw (and not a loss) to the Poms.

RICE

Yesterday night was the RICE RALLY!! @ Town Hall.
Was encouraging to see so many youth of sydney there to hear a great gospel talk. Each year RICE seems to get bigger and bigger... and also bigger without sacrificing the message of Jesus Christ.

It was much the same as last year... When they interviewed the speaker, Al Stewart, he said he is really asian... So he had to do some tasks to prove he's truly asian...
Firstly, he had to show he could squat!
Secondly, he had to show he could do kung-fu. So they got somebody up on stage and he had to copy their moves. It was really funny... almost as funny as last year when they dressed the speaker in street clothes and made him hip hop/breakdance!

The message was really great too. Al challenged the youth to think about what things hold them back from responding to the gospel and giving their lives to God. His analogy was great... he brought out a jar of lollies... and got Steve to try to get the lollies out... Steve got his hand in the jar but when he grasped the lollies, the fist he made was too big to get back out of the jar and he pulled and pulled. Naomi did the same thing... but she let go of the lollies and was able to get her hand out and get free... so she was given the jar of lollies too.

I guess there are things that we do hang onto that hinder us from responding to God and living for him. Things like study, relationships, work.... In the end tho... it all is in vain... we cant take anything with us when we die. What is important is being in a right relationship with God.

I was sitting next to a year 7 girl who decided to commit her life to Jesus that night... really really encouraging.

Vox pop

How nerve racking!!
I went vox-popping yesterday.... out on the street to ask people about.... RELATIONSHIPS!
This is for a video for the women's evangelistic event at church on the 13th Aug.

What was interesting was... we got a lot of young ppl who were willing to speak on camera... but when we tried to ask some asian ppl... they all said no...

Revelation

We've just started studying Revelation in bible study. I'm actually very excited about it. But it's also a very hard book to write bible studies for.

I guess the reason I think Revelation is so encouraging is that it gives us a picture of what's going on behind the here and now that we tend to get caught up in.

It's just so encouraging to be reminded of the reality of heaven. Jesus' death and resurrection means that God has triumphed over evil. I guess it's a great reminder of what is now and what is to come... especially when things are tough and we suffer the downs of this life.

Trevor's jokes.... oh dear!!

Today i got to work and trev was trying to write up patient files....
He said "how do you spell skiing? Does it have 2 'i's??"
So i replied yes.
He then said "of course it does... otherwise you wouldnt be skiing in a straight line"

oh dear... I think his jokes get worse and worse....

What's the difference between a raisin and a sultana?

I have no idea!!

Back at work...

Well after being on holidays for 10 days... i'm back at work... waaaa
I must admit it was very very very very difficult getting up at 6:45... in the cold!! Sydney is f-f-freezing...

ND Church Camp

Just got back from camp... bit tired cos i havent had great sleep at camp due to the uncomfy bed. Was really cool tho cos i was in the disabled room (no jokes pls) which was like twice the size of the other rooms and had a couch...

We looked at the book of Amos. The youth talks that I went to were really great. The adult talks were like topical talks using Amos to support main points.

I was really encouraged by the youth bible studies and talks. The talks looked at the main themes of Amos - judgement and repentance. I was reminded about how scary God's judgement is. God is a roaring lion who will not tolerate us rebelling against him. But it's so great that he saves us through Jesus Christ. We were reminded that repentance involves being sorry but also doing a 180 and turning from sin.

I sat in on a bible study with yr 7-9 girls. I was totally blown away with their understanding of the bible and how to read an old testament book like Amos. Their understanding of biblical theology and how everything is fulfilled in Jesus Christ is absolutely amazing. The way they were thinking about how God's word applies to their lives is really great and i'm so encouraged by them.

In free time, some yr 10 girls went geocaching. They found the cache and put RICE badges into it. I'm really encouraged by their standing up as Christians and wanting to tell people the gospel by promoting RICE.

Brisbane to Sydney

Well I made it down to brissie. Apparently i've been once before but i dont remember.
Went visiting rellos... i've never met them before but they're really cool. Was good to see my cousin from Adelaide... she and her husband are now living in Bris.

Note to self: confined spaces with my parents for a period of time arent a good idea. My dad's driving always bugs me cos he drives 80 in a 110 zone... in the right lane!! Anyway so i ended up driving... and got pulled over by a cop for a random breath test. My parents are like "were you speeding?" So anyway i wasnt... just my dad drives sooo slow that my driving must have seemed fast.

Went visiting all these places i've never been to before. Byron bay, kempsey(south west rocks).
Anyway, back safely in Sydney. Ready to head off to church camp on thur.

Brynyn and Rachelle's wedding

Got back from Queensland yesterday. Had a great time... and the weather is warm... mmmm
Brynyn and Shell got married last sat at Maleny which is in the Hinterland north of Brisbane. The countryside is really picturesque and they got married in a gazebo overlooking the glasshouse mountains. They both looked so good and have lost a lot of weight each. Shell designed her own dress and it was absolutely beautiful.

Was really cool catching up with people i hadnt seen in yonks. During the father-of-the-bride speech... he asked ppl to raise their hand if they are a chiropractor... basically it was like everybody who wasnt family! He said "Good. If you talk about chiropractic then they can claim the wedding as a tax deduction."

At the reception, there was this really cool french game. Shell and Bryn had to sit back to back and they each had a paddle that had "moi" (me) on one side and "il" (him) or "elle" (her) on the other. They were asked a bunch of questions. The funniest must have been "who wears the pants in the relationship" and both of them raised their paddles to "moi". The next question was "who thinks they wear the pants in the relationship" and Bryn said "elle" (her) and Shell said "moi". Another question was "who is the best chiropractor?"

The next day, we all had breakfast with the newlyweds! Then I drove with some friends to Brisbane to meet up with my parents....

Wimbledon

Well... i fell asleep and didnt see most of the final! But Andy Roddick lost :(
I did expect Federer to win but hoped it might have been closer than the scoreline showed.

Oh well... at least Andy reaching the final justifies his 2nd seeding cos i think ppl (maybe lleyton) were bagging the committee for seeding him 2nd above hewitt.

Anyway, it was great that he reached the final. The matches leading up to the final were really good. Maybe next year.... 3rd time lucky...

Pride and Prejudice

Grace had a P&P party this arvo. It was heaps of fun.... I must have seen the BBC version so many times that i can actually recite a lot of the dialogue... how sad...
I havent watched the whole 6 eps through in one go tho... the first three are actually a bit boring.

It was funny cos ppl were ooohhh'ing and aahhh'ing at mr darcy... he's really quite funny at times. I actually never really liked mr darcy that much but i guess watching the whole thing through, i've started to warm to him. I still like mr bingley better because he starts off nice and is nice at the end... he doesnt have to change at all.

Anyway, i missed the end cos i wanted to get home... the wimbledon final is on!

What a colossal waste of time!

Yesterday I had to go to see the eye specialist... not because i felt there was something wrong with my eyes... but basically to get my mum off my back.
Anyway what an absolute waste of my time. And in the end he said... your eyes are perfect cya in 2 yrs...

My appointment was at 3pm... so i rocked up and waited around half an hr to do some visual field testing... The receptionist actually sent me home for a while cos she said it would be a bit of a wait... so i went home and came back at 6pm like she told me to....

I didnt actually get in to see the doctor till 8pm... and considering my appointment was like 3pm and i sat in the waiting room from 6-8pm so i was pretty pissed off. I mean if there was actually something wrong then i'd have felt ok waiting but i feel that my eyes are fine.

Far out... all i have to say is that even when i'm solidly booked out i dont overbook and cram too many people in... and my patients are unlucky to have to wait 30min... actually they rarely wait more than 5min to see me cos i try to run to time.

ARgh... i'm so annoyed about what a big waste of my day off that was. I had so much stuff to do. So i'm back at work this morning... and i'm already tired and annoyed!!

WFC Conference

WFC... what's that... well it's the World Federation of Chiropractic. And this year the conference was held in sydney!

The first day talks and workshops were mostly on the cervical spine and in particular headaches. They had presentations by a neurosurgeon, radiologist, physiotherapist and a multidiciplinary panel discussion which was quite interesting.

There's a medical doctor who doesnt like chiropractors and he came and spoke on headaches (cervicogenic, migraine, tension-type). The funny thing is his reseach supports a lot of the scientific basis of chiropractic... just that he prefers to stick needles into somebody's neck and do a nerve block to relieve their headache. The problem with this is that not all doctors have this equipment in their offices - i mean you have to give the person a local anaesthetic anyway and also have them in a CT or MR scanner to visualise the area you're putting your needle into!! Personally i'd prefer a chiropractic adjustment - takes 10 sec and it does relieve the headache!

If you're interested in reading more about chiropractic and headaches then this is an intro to a scientific study done at Mac uni recently.

I really got into the 2nd day of the conference... was all about sports and especially the shoulder and how to treat shoulder problems. One of the speakers was the Davis Cup team chiro and his presentation was a bit more theory but it was helpful. Kinda wanted a bit more practical input tho. Did quite a bit of networking within Australian sports chiropractic circles. I am already a member of the international sports organisation - Fédération Internationale de Chiropratique du Sport (FICS).

My number plates got stolen

Last night my number plates got stolen during Theos.

It's kinda annoying. Today i've been running around getting new plates for the car. They're remaking my old plates but i have dodgy yellow ones in the meantime... but at least i can drive my car around now.

The RTA told me that if i get my old plates remade then the police might pull me over cos the plates are reported stolen. I'm actually hoping i do get pulled over cos it means that the police are on the ball.

It's all kinda ironic tho cos our study last night was on the Christian and Litigation. So anyway... for the ppl who understand this... i forgive the person that stole my plates...

Trev at the gym

Well... my joke backfired... he actually likes all those songs that i put on his mp3 player...

He was at the gym and just happened to be looking at this guy when the song "Jitterbug" by Wham started playing (another one of my 'joke' songs). Trev started laughing and the guy thought he was laughing at him...

Trev's new MP3 player

today i got into work late (intentionally) and trev was waiting for me to come in to show him how to get songs from the computer onto his new mp3 player...

i thought it would be a funny joke to download a heap of daggy songs (like abba's dancing queen and you're so vain by carly simon) and put them on his player so that he could listen to them when he goes to the gym...

anyway... the joke backfired... it turns out he likes the songs i put onto his player.... doh...

Sydney Guitar Show

i went to the sydney guitar show yesterday with karina and ben cos karina had free tix....
quite disappointing actually cos it was actually quite a small show. there were 3 pavillions and all of them were really small and most of the guitars on display, you can see at any music store anyway. there were however, special prices for the show and my fren was looking at a pedal board that is usually over $1000 in the shops and they were selling it for $875 which is a nice discount.

we were looking for a bass for karina but there werent many on display so that was disappointing. i did see some nice guitars but didnt look too hard cos i cant really afford to buy a good one at the moment.
it was fun trying to convince karina (not very seriously) to buy a daisy rock bass. if ur bored check out the daisy rock site . was thinking maybe we should start up a girly band... and buy the daisy guitar and the heart bass...

the next disappointment for the day... i really like a sydney guitarist called stuart fraser and was really looking forward to hearing him play. he plays in a few bands but you rarely hear him play lead except for in noiseworks. he plays in the john farnham band and also i've seen him with another guitarist named brett garsed. anyway... they were running late so must have axed him... i'm so disappointed cos i think he was gonna demo some marshall products.

we did see this guy called jeremy barnes. he's apparently in the elite list of the fastest players in the world (think he plays like 40 notes per second). so we watched him on the outdoor stage for a bit... the guy is a nut... pretty impressive... i mean he's no malmstein... then again dont think he smashed his guitar either... anyway... wow!

News Today

Well... i woke up this morning... and checked out the scores from the French Open overnight...
Very disappointed to see that Andy Roddick lost :( . Was a 5-setter against a Frenchman whom i think is a clay-court specialist so Andy didnt do too badly. He hasnt done well on clay in the past and Roland Garros hasnt been that great to him in his career. Hoping for better things at Wimbledon which isnt too far away either.

Today we hear about Schapelle Corby's fate... I cant imagine how she would be feeling at the moment. An indonesian poll showed that most indonesian people think that she is guilty. Very different to the common opinion in Australia. I guess it goes to show the influence the media can have. I'm really not sure where i stand but i am hoping she wont get life in prison.

Phil's game

Last night at leader's meeting Phil wanted to play a game....
You basically have to think of a character (from a movie, book etc) that best represents you... and one for your co-leader...
Was quite funny....

Blog Neglect...

I must admit i've neglected my blog for little bit... it's been quite hectic lately.
So... what's news... well i got a new computer...
It's all pretty exciting... new toy... except that i couldnt get the bluetooth to work, the wireless networking wasnt connecting up and i managed to delete all my msn contacts (even off the server... dont ask!!) all on the first day...
Well it's all working now... the bluetooth is great cos i can connect my pda wirelessly!!

Yesterday i did my PTC exam on doctrine... the exam was a bit of a SHOCKER!! There were 4 essay/short answer questions to be done in 2 1/2 hrs. I got thru 3 of them and then couldnt find a 4th topic that i knew something about that i could write about. Anyway... it's over... i know i passed but i wont have done especially well...

Yesterday night i went to see Star Wars... was my lil reward for after the exam... The movie was ok. Not sure why i wasnt entirely satisfied with it... although i did like the way you get to know some of the characters better. Like... YODA totally rocks... how cool is Yoda...
And... in these... R2D2 actually has a personality... too bad it loses it in the 4th 5th and 6th movies.

In Good Company

I went to the movies tonight with D. Was quite funny cos i actually went in my pj's cos i couldnt be bothered to change... just chucked some clothes on top!

Anyway... ppl had recommended seeing this movie "In Good Company". All i can say is that the ending had a twist and was actually very disappointing... i walked out of the cinema thinking... "i'm not very happy with that ending..."

Hmmmm might have been better to stay home and watch Star Wars tonight...

Kingdom Of Heaven

I went to see the movie "Kingdom of Heaven" yesterday. I must admit i was vaguely aware of the storyline beforehand... I only really knew it was set around the Crusades. But u know... Orlando Bloom is in it!

As with Troy... i'm not sure how much of the movie is historical and how much is fiction. Joyce didnt really like it cos she thought the scenes seemed to jump and it was harder to follow. I must admit some of the fighting bits were a lil too gross for me.

However, we did talk about it after. Like why the movie is called "Kingdom of Heaven"? It was an interesting movie tho... Seeing the "Christians" and Muslims fighting over Jerusalem.

Joyce and I talked about the theology afterwards. A lot of the "Christian" viewpoints put across were still very "salvation by works" orientated. Through the movie Balian (Orlando Bloom's character) struggled with the idea of how he could earn salvation and God's will. I'm very thankful that now we can know God's will by reading His word and know that salvation can be ours simply by faith in Jesus Christ.

In the movie, the "Christians" and Muslims are fighting over Jerusalem - which is their holy place and place of their temple or mosque. I guess in the end we were just really joyful and thankful that we know now that Jesus is the true temple. I could ramble about some of the other thoughts we had... but i wont... go watch it for yourself...

Quote of the movie... one of the people (not sure if he was meant to be a priest) says to Balian "Surrender now, become Muslim... repent later..."

Do Taxpayers Pay for this Research??

I'm again browsing through the Sydney Morning Herald online... there's just so many pointless articles....

This article is about how Napoleon died...
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Trousers-fit-cancer-theory-of-how-Napoleon-met-his-end/2005/05/05/1115092628889.html?from=moreStories
Swiss doctors have apparently been doing research about the cause of Napoleon's death by looking at his trousers...
The size of his trousers showed his weight loss leading up to his death... leading them to the conclusion that he died of a stomach tumour.
So anyway... if you read the facts at the bottom of the page... apparently an autopsy conducted by Napoleon's personal physician and some other doctors concluded that he died of stomach cancer (that was done like 184 yrs ago)...
So... what's the point of the latest research?? Other than to conclude what they found 184 yrs ago...

May the 4th be with you

It seems that there's not much interesting stuff to write on in the newspapers today....
I was browsing the Sydney Morning Herald online... and there must not be much to write about if all they can write is Shane Warne is going bald!!
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Sport/Warne-going-bald-says-county-teammates/2005/05/04/1115092543294.html

Anyway, I thought the article was funny... the last line was the punchline... "Cricket has no law against wearing hairpieces."

Mailing Lists...

Does anybody know how you get on random mailing lists??

I just signed up for a new hotmail account... and before I'd even used it... I find i've been put on numerous mailing lists AND i havent even signed up to anything using my new email address?!?!?

The funny thing is the email address is something related to chiro... and they're all chiro adverts and stuff but still.... i'm kinda annoyed...

Thorpedo's hair....

Watched some of the Logies last night. Did anybody see Ian Thorpe's hair?? What a shocker... he looks like he has been shot out of a torpedo tube... U know... it shaved the sides and just left a big mop on the top...

Argh... enough said...

Geocaching is fun!!

Lately i've been into geocaching. For ppl who dont know... it's kinda like a treasure hunt. people hide caches somewhere and give u gps coordinates to find them. The point is finding the cache not what u find. Although when you do find it... u can swap things in and out of it.

Today I went geocaching in Lane Cove. I found it after bashing thru some bush... think the worst bit was the cobwebs. Gee i hate spiders.

Anyway i'm really excited cos today I found a travel bug... they're little things u put in the cache... and ppl take them out and put them somewhere else... so these lil bugs travel around the world from cache to cache. This one had just come from NZ and the owner is hoping it will make its way to the UK by 2007.

Moi is totally spoilt!!

Today is my birthday. I feel like i'm getting old so i didnt really tell many people. Kinda kept it low key... just dinner with a few close friends.

I was really surprised today.... i got sooo spoilt today!!
This morning i got some really nice flowers and had a really yummo cake at work. And the phone calls and text msg's were just such a nice surprise.

Daph and Vic already gave me an early b'day prezzie of a Rip Curl lifevest that i've been using when we go wakeboarding.... so i didnt expect any other surprises... But Vic bought this really delicious tiramisu... it was from a shop in double bay... really nicely done... and very sweet... and Shaz got me these really cute butterfly earrings...

And then... to top it all off... I just got home to find a package waiting for me. So curiously i opened it... and it was from Julie... an Australian Open historical book. Kinda makes me nostalgic... cos if u know me u know how crazy i am about tennis and how i used to work at the tennis every summer... well Julz was my partner in crime... i think we went around collecting heaps and heaps of autographs and taking heaps and heaps of photos with tennis players. We really did have a lot of fun all those summers...
So i opened the book... and inside there's a happy b'day message and it's signed by John Newcombe. Argh... such a cool prezzie... thanks so much Julz!!

Awww... so i'm sitting here at the end of a really great day... i just feel so spoilt... just wanna say thanks to everyone for the thought... it means a lot to me.

Lotsa Luv

Mel =)

Cliftonville

Well today was a beautiful sunny day.... and a great day for WAKEBOARDING!!! I think we're all a little bit bored of going to Roseville every week... so today... we went out to Cliftonville on the Hawkesbury River.

I dunno if I prefer the freshwater of Cliftonville or the saltwater of Middle Harbour. Oh well at least there's no sharks at Cliftonville. The water's kinda dirty tho...

This is possibly the last outing for the season cos the water is getting a little cold. So... we had to make it good. I think we did ok... everybody practised some tricks and took some nasty spills.

I think the most fun was when Daph and I rode tandem (although I think the boyz were getting bored). Was sooo much fun... I was going under her rope and doing surface 180's and taking photos... Cool fun!!

cliftonville

Cliftonville lodge

The Ring 2

I went to see the Ring 2 tonight. I normally dont watch scary movies cos I do get really scared and have nightmares.... but I cant work out why everybody thinks the Ring is a scary movie.
I watched the first one and nearly fell asleep. It was just dark and weird. The second one was a little scarier but it was still just dark and slow and just a lil gross when they show the dead ppl.

Crimson Room

I recently got sent this... it's a good exercise if ur kinda bored... it's also kinda frustrating...

Basically ur in a crimson room and you have to pick up 13 items to get out.
So anyway I managed to get 12 then got stuck. The thing accompanying the email said... if you get 0-6 items ur a total idiot, 6-8 still an idiot, 9-10 items and ur normal, 11-12 and u have an above avg iq...
Anyway dont believe that at all... it's really a matter of dumb luck and getting so frustrated you click anywhere and everywhere.

Dont read this paragraph if you dont want it spoilt. Basically I was able to get to the bit with the safe... but couldnt get the combination... so i had to cheat after that... anyway the combo is 1994 if u want to know...

You can try it out yourself...
http://flash.qbol.net/pl;p/youxi/images/04042203.swf
have fun!

M :)

Strange but true...

Part of my daily routine is to sit down and read the SMH online for a while. Trev prefers to buy the Telegraph... mainly to look at the pictures and read the gossip.
I cant help looking at the "Strange but True" section to see what funny or mildly zany things have happened....

This one is just unlucky! Talk about random! Poor guy... and a sausage of all things??!?!?!
Daph would say "lemma lemma?!!??!"

Flying sausage on the nose
April 20, 2005

A British motorist has had his nose broken by a flying frozen sausage as he was driving with his car window down.
The 46-year-old man was driving near his home in South Woodham Ferrers, Essex, east of London, when the sausage came through the window and hit him on the nose, a spokesman for the Essex Ambulance Service said on condition of anonymity.
"The man said he was making his way home after work and had the window down because it was such a nice afternoon," the ambulance spokesman said.
"He said he saw a car coming the other way and felt a searing pain in his nose.
"His nose was undoubtedly fractured and he had lost quite a lot of blood.
"It must have been an incredibly lucky, or unlucky, shot to get the sausage through a moving car window. I have never seen or heard of anything like this before."
Essex police said they were investigating the incident.

Layout

Ok the pink is getting to me now too... this layout isn't very subtle is it...
I'll improve it and create my own when I get a chance...

Mel :)

Strange customs

I've been given the task of reading thru the whole bible in 2 yrs. I'm a little behind but I was reading thru Genesis not too long ago.

I just thought this was funny... In Genesis 24:2 (and 24:9) and then again in 47:29, there are two people... one asking the other to make a promise to them. It's just really funny cos the way the promise was made was by the person putting their hand under the other person's thigh... how strange is that...

I was just thinking... i'm glad that custom hasnt been passed on...
like could u imagine it now: "hey put ur hand under my thigh and promise me this...."
or at a wedding: "i put my hand under ur thigh and promise...."
or in a courtroom: "i promise to tell the truth..." actually how would that work??

Funny??

Trevor thinks he's funny... he usually says "i'm the funniest person i know"...
Usually i dont laugh at his "jokes" but today he was so not funny that it was funny.
A patient cancelled because they were going to have an angiogram. One of the massage therapists asked what an angiogram is... So he said "that's when they stick dye in you to find angios".

Ok so it's so not funny... but i cant help it... it's the funniest thing i've heard all day!

Next blog...

Since we're going totally random here...
Did u know... that if you click the button at the top of the screen that says "Next blog", you dont get to the next blog that's either alphabetical or sequential... no it's totally random.
So if you're bored and want to read some totally random person's blog then i spose that is useful.

I actually kept clicking on it just to see what would pop up... It didnt land me on Chris's page tho...

Geez i'm bored...

New Blog Page

This is my second attempt at a blog page. It was time for a new one... I was getting bored of the old one.
Bright pink (or is it purply pink) seemed to be the colour. (maybe i'll change it sometime).

Right now i'm at work... a bit bored... but it's lunchtime!