Dances with Words

It is finished! The new look Sight Magazine is online. It’s working well, and looks a lot funkier than previously. But not too funky mind, that’s not the audience we’re aiming at. One of the new features of which I am particularly proud is that you can now leave a comment at the bottom of selected (new) articles, utilising technology that I imagine would be similar to our own dear wibsite.

Speaking of New Things Wibby, I received a Very Nice Calendar today in the mail, complete with all twelve months. Thank you very much prizegivers! It shall take pride of place near my desk in…

Our New House! Well, we haven’t got one yet, but we’re looking for somewhere to move out to soonish. We inspected one today that was large, good location, but a bit rundown. If the owners give it some tlc (mainly in the form of paint) we will consider it seriously. It’s all happening very fast, we might be in a new place mid-January. Good fun, but not healthy for the hip pocket. Which is why we might need a…

A New Housemate to share the rent with. Someone nice, please.

Our Uncle and Aunt are holidaying for a couple of days at our unit in Hotham. They arrived there yesterday, and we received a message from them this morning that it was snowing. And then one from them this afternoon saying it is now hailing and raining and the snow looks like sago.

Gosh I miss the mountains.

I’ve had several in the last week, and they have been Very Good.

Yesterday we went shopping for the whole day buying stuff we needed for our Hotham unit, we spent all the money I made from the sale of my bike. We came home with curtains, paint, kettle, toaster, and a cheap tv and dvd. It’s nice to think the old bike has contributed something! Our housemates think we’re capo but honestly, we’re not – just a combination of good fortune and good bargain hunting.

Another thing I want to do for Hotham is take some photos I can frame up and hang on the walls. Hopefully later this week I can get in a quick trip down the Great Ocean Road and take some good shots. I’ve had a “film revival” and decided to get out the good 35mm SLR I’ve hardly used since getting the digicam a year or so ago. It still takes far better shots.

Anyway, today I’m back at work from home, trying to finish up a few loose ends before going back to my real job next week.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Bit late now I suppose, as Christmas was yesterday. And a great day it was, we were with Elicia’s family for dinner at midday and mine for tea. Huge lunch, lots of wonderful food and great company making it the best Christmas for a long time (since at least last year). I got a dart board from Elicia in the morning so it got a good workout during the day – my form has not improved in the months since Hotham.

In other good news, I sold my old motorbike. It’s been sitting around at Mum and Dad’s since before we went away, getting harder and harder to start and the rego ran out so I couldn’t ride it anyway. I had several people come around and look at it, one in particular said he was going to buy it but after Christmas. Then today Dad looked at his phone and there was a message from the guy saying he had come around and picked it up while we were out on Christmas eve, left the money in the carport. We hadn’t even noticed it was gone! But it is, aqns the money is there, so all is well.

I haven’t blogged for a while – we’ve been very busy but most of it isn’t very interesting.

We’ve been to many Christmas parties and breakups in the last week and a half – 90% or which have been barbeques. I quite like a barbie, and although I quite like sausages too (real ones from the butcher, not the mushy ones from the supermarket) they can get a bit monotonous. So we’ve been getting a bit more creative with our barbeque cuisine, making plutzky and marinating chicken and smoking things before cooking them. Fun. I like cooking.

I’ve also been working from home a bit again too, the real job I’ve got at the moment is slowing down over Christmas but I’ve picked up a couple of other jobs that are keeping me busy – and challenging me to learn new things. Plus I think it’s okay to reveal that Sight Magazine will be getting a new look for the new year which we’re working on at the moment.

Busy, and feeling good about it. Thank God. I love my life.

In other news, I think it’s also okay to reveal that my sister the drama queen was accepted into a drama course at Wesley College in Sydney, so she’ll be moving away from us (but closer to some of you) next year. Heartfelt congratulations, Macca, but we’ll miss you.

I was down the beach yesterday evening, shoes off, climbing across the rocks and seaweed down at Pt Lonsdale, mist and twilight slowly eating the the headland across the bay. An excellent way to commune with the creator. But rather than praise at the beauty around me, I was instead praying about how I am going to afford to pay all the debts that seem to be hanging over us at the moment. And God said to me: You are so self-obsessed! Stop running your life by money.

It’s a very important message for me at the moment I think. Rather than think about the cheapest option, I should be thinking of what God wants us to do and what path will give us the most opportunity to minister. If that happens to be more expensive, I should trust that God will provide. Seek first the Kingdom of God.

Lord, help me.

I really like our cell group. We had our christmas breakup last night, with way too much food, just the right amount of beer, and lots of people offering to help do the dishes at the end. I feel like we have become a really good group of friends, and I like that a lot because often I feel a bit lonely in the church.

We also wrapped all the presents and put the food hamper together for our adopt-a-family. The whole loungeroom floor was covered with skateboards, water pistols, clothes, wrapping paper and other fun things. Our family is going to have a great Christmas!

…went really well. It rained in the morning, but Elicia’s old saying “rain at seven, sun at eleven” proved to be true, and the afternoon and evening were magnificent. A little too warm, if anything!

The bride (my sister) looked stunning and everyone had a great time. I did the MCing at the reception, which mostly involved announcements like “the ladies toilets are inside: go through the billiard room, past that funny little sink thing and then on the left” but also meant I got to make the first speech. Which is more like a pre-speech than an actual speech. I said a short humorous story, a sincere love statement with a toast attached and then a short joke. At which point everyone laughed (thank goodness). I love speaking at weddings because the audience is always happy to listen and ready to laugh at any silly little thing. Then I introduced the other speechmakers who each did a Very Good Job Indeed, and I felt much more relaxed. An altogether great day!

I don’t have to go into the office today, I’m doing a job from home. Well, I’m meant to be – instead, I’m dropping Leash off at her work and then heading into Geelong for some shopping, Christmas and non-Christmas.

I’ll have to work this afternoon and this evening, but I think that’s a fair tradeoff.

Our house has become Sealwatch Central HQ.

A very large female elephant seal uses the peninsula to shed its fur every year, and to stop people going down and spraypainting their names on it, riding it or doing doughnuts around it, local environmentally conscious people go and stand guard around the clock. Our housemate is in charge of the watcher roster, so the phone rings a lot and the house is alternately filled with swearing (if it’s someone cancelling) or hoots (if they are volunteering).

I’m not used to living with such constant excitement. It’s stressful. It’s also part of getting used to share-housing I suppose, and we’d better get used to it because if we get the lodge-managing jobs we’re after next winter we’ll be living with lots more people.