i am alive! i am here! and i have a flu so i'm just posting to say i am alive and here ;) uni started again today i am in newcastle. zzzz

Lying on a mattress in the living room with my doona and pillows reading and surfing the net and watching dragonball z all day = a great way to spend the hols...

even cuter than piccolo (and yes, even cuter than gohan or trunks..) : the soot creatures from spirited away!!! *soooooo cute!!!!!*

CONGRATS ANTHONY AND BETH! :D

Back in tamworth.. again... but this time i have no cello :( but... i have something else to occupy me now - i've dug up the dvds of dragonball z that my cousin from malaysia gave us... and found out that we have all the episodes from trunks to the end of cell!! and 2 of the movies!!! so at at rate of 15 eps a day... for the next 3 days.. i think i have something to do apart from watch the soccer, eat and sleep now... YAY!!!



Piccolo is my hero

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHSU1zL2Jic

For an awesome and really cute lego soccer video - Germany vs. World All Stars - there are several plot discrepancies but overall it makes for a great insight into the real workings of the world cup ;) and it's really cute ;)

and it's definitely time for bed but dad and joel are on computers in the living room at the moment (which is where i'm sleeping)... ridiculously enough we're all on laptops, despite the 2 desktops that are looking lonely in the corner... (but you can't sit in front of the heater with a desktop on your lap :P) - i give up it's time to plug myself into crouching tiger hidden dragon until they decide to pack up and go to bed....

did i mention that this hols i've been doing a lot of cooking? :P (when bored, play cello. when sore, plug laptop into internet. when sick of that, cook! when done with that - EAT :D) - the laptop usage and cooking can be simultaneous if i'm trying to decide what to cook and using the laptop to help to do that ;) the "recipe book" is now outdated, as i tried to explain to mum the other day :P

so far, it's been pork in plum sauce, crackling, standard chicken stirfry, pastry "boats" stuffed with .. stuff.. and a really really really yummy lemon sponge pudding thing with icecream and custard - next time i think i might put a layer of condensed milk in and maybe some coconut on top... mmm.... (i reckon the thing that made it so good was forgetting to soften the butter before trying to mix it with the sugar and lemon zest then going 'aaagh this isn't mixing!!' then sticking the bowl in the microwave (oops melties!) then going oh stuff it i'll just keep going - kate you'd be proud of me :P) i'm thinking tomorrow i'll try this brocollini and tofu salad thing that looks pretty good.... it involves frying so it can't be tooo healthy... lol look at me i'm going on about cooking!!! (only because joel's fixing computers with dad so we can't play skibi :( and mum and my cousin from adelaide who just arrived today are talking (and talking and talking and talking, as females tend to ;P) so we can't start watching crouching tiger hidden dragon....)

time for more reading on couch with warm comfy doona and snow patrol's new cd playing in the background, tummy is contentedly full (and it's no fun cooking when you're not hungry...)

-- Now playing - Set The Fire To The Third Bar - Snow Patrol

I find the map and draw a straight line
Over rivers, farms, and state lines
The distance from here to where you'd be
It's only finger-lengths that I see
I touch the place where I'd find your face
My finger in creases of distant dark places

Wow it's thursday morning already!

The last few days have been filled with cello playing, cold tamworth weather and shopping with mum and watching chinese movies and playing the ultimate 2player LAN game with Joel - Skibi's Tower Defense (on Warcraft 3 - Frozen Throne)!!

tonight/last night/whatever you want to call it - i shall hereby name it tonight - anyway - tonight's NYSF (national youth science forum - science camp 2 weeks on campus at uni of canberra in y11-12 hols) training thingo with Tamworth Rotary club provided an interesting sense of.. "recall?" - 3 years ago i was the nervous little NYSF hopeful trying to get ready for a set of nasty interviews for the biggest camp of my life... (NYSF is an apparently prestigous thing to have on your resume - not that i've ever encountered any prestige from it :P the selection trials were rather stringent tho - first you have to get selected by the rotary club you apply to, then you have to be selected for the rotary area through a set of 4 interviews...) - 3 years later, i've been on the camp, been asked back to be on the interview panel, and given tips to 2 sets of people on how to get into this thing that in hindsight, was probably overrated... 2 weeks away from home was good, doing the entire sciency careers thing was.. interesting, meeting loads of people was fun, and a couple of months after the majority of us had got over the whole thing and moved on with life. so there you go - random topic for the night - that's NYSF and what i think about it (anyone in year 11 thinking about going for it - i'd head overseas for 2 weeks with the spare time and money :P)

hmmm 12 hours until haircut and i still haven't decided what to do with it yet - i'm sure some form of inspiration will hit me tonight, otherwise it'll just another case of "yeah whatever you want to do with it" (though my hair has a bad habit of either halving length or volume or both every time i say that...)

*yawns* yep i guess it's time to give the fingers a rest and stop typing and go to sleep or something since there's no soccer tonight - cello+cold = ouchies joints - lol i'm getting old! (or at least my fingers are!)

-- Now playing - Dance, Dance, Christina Päffgen - Anberlin

Don't need no drugs, you're my chemical
Now I'm dependent, no not cynical
Addicted to those glances, taking chances tonight
I need a fix in those heroin eyes

National day of mourning (or as some would have it: "weeping and anger")...

Here's to our valiant Socceroos who had every right to that game :'( Oh the injustice of it all.... well at least Australia has shown the world that they are indeed a force to be reckoned with in the game of football - thanks to GUUUUUS..... *collapses into more crying* *plugs into "Anberlin therapy"*

--

in other news: my old phone's broken so new mobile number please!

--

-- Now playing: Into the Airwaves - Jack's Mannequin

So hang on
It's gonna be a hard day
So hang on
Don't panic
Don't panic there simply is no need
It's gonna be a hard day
Don't panic
Don't panic we are hanging here
We are hanging here

I'm back in Tamworth!

Last night was absolutely fantastic - went to see Urinetown, a production by the Sydney Theatre Company (musical) with Lisa McCune in the lead female role and David Campbell in lead male (he is SOOOOOO AWESOME - it's incredible how one guy could be blessed with a great voice and good looks and be naturally funny at the same time! actually great voice doesn't really capture it - his voice is something many would probably kill for :P) - other names in the cast included Rhonda Burchmore, Shane Bourne, Gary Down, Gerry Conolly - it's so strange how TV/film actors turn into musical theatre singers... the music was incredible, choreography was great, the set was fantastic and best of all, we got in on student rush tickets that were only 10 rows back, right in the middle - AWESOME! (thanks Andy for organising everything!)

Sydney, incidentally, is a large scary city - i've never been on such a packed bus before, let alone at 11pm ;) staying at the St Barnabas terraces with the girls was great - it's like having 4 IH townhouses right next to each other in the middle of town (or, in their case on glebe point road) though they're each 3 storeys high - living on top floor would make you so fit... - the girls let me sleep in the living room with the tv too! (so i didn't sleep much just watched the soccer/napped) - i've also found that the universal game of addiction on the xbox is proevolution soccer 4 - not just a phenomenon seen only in novocastrian males, the game arrived in andy's house yesterday, and for the entire afternoon/evening (and i suspect night) the guys were up playing it :P

and now that i'm back home - time to satisfy chinese movie craving and start off with a night of Hero!!!!!! (then i'll have to get crouching tiger hidden dragon tomorrow night i think :) YAY!)

I'm FREEEEEE!!!!!!! it's such a beautiful day - socceroos get through to the next stage and no more exams!!!! WHEEEEEEEEEEE :D heading down to sydney tonight :D YAY! *blissful expression*

In 18 hours from now Joyce will be very very happy... and in 20 hours she'll be well on the way to sydney... and in 48 hours from now back in Tamworth!! countdown isn't so scary any more - not too much longer to go!!!

*chomps through incredibly yummy tandoori lamb wrap* - my "this isn't just meat" tastebuds are yelling at me because there's obviously vegetable matter strewn through the psuedo-meat, but it's still incredibly good (first tandoori thing that's tasted like tandoori all year!) mmm

one last night of study! YAY

midnight snacking is bad for your weight and can be habit forming - i highly advise against it... but sooooo goood....

After another relatively unproductive and food-filled day, i'm actually feeling motivated to knucke down and start studying again! skelly is being gradually covered in yellow post-it notes in a last-ditch effort to study for hubs...

I've cleaned up the computer desktop and removed all those icons cluttering the surface... (*heartbreak!* then again, i never used most of them anymore anyway) and now it's time to clean up the physical desktop the computer's on!

I'd just like to point out the incredibly cool dock that has replaced the windows taskbar at the bottom of the screen:





in a mac-inspired procrastination effort, i decided to mac the desktop - it's actually a lot more functional (i'm finding that at the moment anyway) than the windows taskbar, and a lot better looking anyway ;) all with a bit of help from Turn your PC into Mac and a free version of object dock (couldn't be bothered to completely maccify it - i'm not that bored just yet!)

time to study again...

I know one day, all our scars will disappear, like the stars at dawn,
And all of our pain, will fade away when morning comes.
And on that day when we look backwards we will see, that everything is changed
And all of our trials, will be as milestones on the way.
And as long as we live, every scar is a bridge to someone’s broken heart
And there’s no greater love, than that one shed his blood for his friends

Have I mentioned yet that I really love Thrice? ;o)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARY!!!

Lord grant that Marshal Wade
May by thy mighty aid
Victory bring.
May he sedition hush,
And like a torrent rush,
Rebellious Scots to crush.
God save the King!

hemmed in by emptiness, a million ways that everything could be undone
this hollow in my chest is filled with reasons not to sing but I found one, I know
we are not alone, we feel an unseen love
we are sons and heirs of grace
we are children of a light that never dims
a love that never dies,
keep your chin up child
and wipe the tears from your eyes

(mmm nothing like thrice's music box to get you through yet another night of study :D)

Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest... - Psalm 55:6

the ppl u luv the most hav the power to hurt u the most but not doing so is wat makes u luv them so much..

There is no life - life without its hunger
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly
But when you come and I am filled with wonder
Sometimes I think I glimpse eternity...

6 days to go...

After another increasingly unproductive day, it strikes me that I have started to whinge incessantly, which is becoming incredibly irritating to myself and must be irritating everyone else around me... thanks for the encouragement and putting up with me pples - only a week to go ;)

It's come to the point where I've gone over all the med sci targets a few times now, and i need to revise to the point where i can regurgitate enough information in the exam to sound like i know what i'm going on about (or maybe even actually know what i'm going on about!) - it's like when you can sightread perfectly through a piece, but you need to memorise it.. or where you've mostly memorised a piece but need to perfect it - that's the hardest kind of practice, and i think this is probably the hardest kind of study...

So letting anatomy slide until monday night, and aiming to survive the next few days of med sci first... and trusting God when he says: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor 12:9) and "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matt 6:34) and taking him seriously when he says "Do everything without complaining or arguing" (Phil 2:14)

And so with study, exams and life in general: "Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us" (Heb 12:1) and take heart that "neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!" (Romans 8:38-39)

The Idea of North obsession has been resurrected! (as has the now playing section! i knew it wouldn't stay dead for too long...)

Now playing - The Idea of North - Just a Closer Walk

Just a closer walk with Thee
Grant it, Jesus, if you please
Daily walking close to Thee
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be

(dum dum dum dum doo bee doo bee doo doo doo... )

Here we go.. a catch up post about the Northwest Bible Conference (aka June Long Weekend conference aka *the* conference) looking through the photos i took, this is the clay and evie show. :P

Friday night, arrive and unpack at youth camp then go to bed then wake up and watch Germany beat Costa Rica ;) - Joyce feels really really old (last of the 2004 y12 girls to still be camping!).

Evie gives us her most responsible expression as we head down for a wake-up game of soccer... (or a wake-up game of freeze butts off and hope that the sessions start soon). Incidentally it was another really really rainy conference - it just about never rains in Tamworth these days, and we got about 40mm on the first day!! (Thank God for the much needed rain tho)

The theme of the conference this year was "See him coming" - we had John Woodhouse and Stephen Turner speaking from 1&2 Thessalonians, etc. on the second coming over a series of 7 talks - both encouraging (to look forward to when our Saviour and Judge will return) and challenging (we so often lose sight or forget in our comfortable 21st century existence!) - John left us with the challenge that Paul left to the Philippians: Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ!


It was great to see everyone again :) though Clay didn't last long after Evie tried to extract his brain - (that long blonde hair is just covering brain-removing implement) - therefore I get his Emery hoodie!!! yay!!!




Monday morning: wake up to an absolutely freeeeezing morning - fog everywhere and ice on the cars, but the sun through the trees was pretty (oh btw this is my old school for anyone who hasn't seen it before)

and blogger isn't letting me post any more pics :( there has to be this black hole somewhere where they all disappear to every time i click "post picture"... hmmm - time to study then!

-- Now playing - I'm sick of the now playing segment. Coming up with a new one :P