Turkey Day

There were a lot of "turkeys" on the road this afternoon.

1 - Motorcyclist decided to cut in front of my friend Aaron (not Aaron Sloper, another Aaron)
2 - A 4WD pushed in in the merge lane - just cos it could
3 - A maxi taxi cut in front of us
4 - A guy in a car wearing a stupid cap decided to change lanes while we were in the one next to him - he saw us just in time. (He later cut in front of a truck)

DRIVE PROPERLY OR GET OFF THE ROAD!

Kids Klub

It's Day 3, and we are past the halfway mark.

Apologies Steve for the "jungle" set throwing you on Sunday night. Did you like the 'zebrama' (cross between a zebra and a llama)? "Here's a llama, there's a llama, twice a llama, caralarma, llama, llama llama! - I was once a treehouse, I lived in a cake, but I never saw the way the orange slayed the rake....." hmmm.....

Highlights: Just about everything. "It was good".

Lowlights: the injuries that have been sustained by some of the grade 5's (that is the grade I am helping with). Sorry to the girl who dislocated her thumb at games and we didn't notice. (Mind you, she did go to the Kids Klub nurse very quickly). General applause goes to the "Master Pastor" for being in the kitchen when he was due onstage.

Good work drama team - they loved you guys today.

More later.

2003

I was cleaning up my year 12 Japanese folder last night, and found two things I thought I'd put on here.

The first was a short script (written in Japanese) set in a restaurant. This is a rough translation:

WAITER: Good evening.
CUSTOMER: Good evening.
WAITER: Please wait just a moment.
CUSTOMER: Why?
WAITER: All the tables are full. I'm not exactly sure what that line says!
CUSTOMER: Oh, that's fine.
(Some people get up and leave. The waiter clears the plates and returns to the customer)
WAITER: Thank you for waiting. Please come to a table.
(The waiter and customer go to a table. Customer sits down. Waiter gives her a menu. The customer looks at the menu).
WAITER: What would you like?
CUSTOMER: I don't know. What do you have in your sushi?
WAITER: Sushi is made of fish and rice and seaweed.
CUSTOMER: That's interesting, isn't it. Sushi please.
(Waiter goes to the kitchen)
WAITER: Excuse me.
CHEF: (yelling) WHAT?!
WAITER: Um...sushi please.
CHEF: How many?!?!
WAITER: I don't know. Excuse me. (He goes to the table)
CHEF: Hurry, hurry! (quietly) Idiot.
WAITER: (to customer) Excuse me. How many sushi?
CUSTOMER: Um...three sushi please.
WAITER: Three sushi?
CUSTOMER: Yes please.
WAITER: Excuse me. (He goes to the kitchen) Three sushi please.
CHEF: Yes! (He gives three sushi to the waiter on a plate) Then it says something I can't translate cos I don't remember that much Japanese anymore!
WAITER: Your cooking is very good.
CHEF: Go! Hurry up, hurry up!
WAITER: Yes! (He grabs the plate, starts to run and falls over)
CHEF: (screaming) IDIOT!!!!
(the waiter picks up the sushi, puts them on the plate and runs out to the customer)
WAITER: (to customer) Here is the sushi.
CUSTOMER: Thank you very much! (She takes a bite) This is superb, isn't it! This is the most delicious sushi I have ever eaten!

THE END.

The second was something I wrote when I was stressed and tired (in March!) after our music teacher was picking on us for not getting some homework done, or something equally ridiculous.

THE TEACHER FILES

The teacher peered over his glasses at the students.
"This school trains you to be lazy," he snarled. "In terms of homework you are all SLACK. You've had HEAPS of time to do it."
This was the sentiment that had been echoed by at least six other teachers that Monday morning. And it was only second period.
Well, she wasn't going to take it.

"WHY ARE TEACHERS ALWAYS SAYING 'YOU'VE HAD HEAPS OF TIME TO DO YOUR HOMEWORK'?" she yelled. "I DON'T RECALL HAVING HEAPS OF TIME TO DO ANYTHING SINCE JANUARY! YOU ONLY HAVE HEAPS OF TIME IF YOU DO ONE SUBJECT!"
"Hear, hear!" said another student.
She continued, "AND I MEAN, OBVIOUSLY I'M SLACK AND LAZY WHEN IT COMES TO HOMEWORK! I ONLY STAYED UP UNTIL ELEVEN O'CLOCK FOR THE PAST FEW WEEKS SO I COULD STUDY FOR OR FINISH MY TEN ASSESSMENTS! THAT IS SO SLACK! I HAVEN'T HAD A WEEKEND SPARE SINCE SUMMER HOLIDAYS BECAUSE I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO, BUT OBVIOUSLY THAT JUST PROVES HOW UTTERLY INDIFFERENT I AM TO SCHOOLWORK! I'M SO SLACK, I'M GOING TO GIVE UP SLEEPING, BECAUSE IT'S JUST A WASTE OF TIME!"
She sat down, glowering.


*Hmm....perhaps I should have taken it a bit easier in year 12.........*

MEMO.

RE: ALL GIRLS INTERESTED IN AARON.

Attention, all women interested in Aaron.

In order to have a chance with him, you may be required to do some drooling. Preferably about his attractiveness, and while he is in your presence. Preferably not on him.

That is all.

Sciencentre

I went there with my brother today, and we had a great time. We lifted an 80kg fridge. We made tidal waves, built a curving bridge and had it fall on us. We sat at chairs and a table 1.75 times bigger than an average adult. My brother's heart rate is 117 - no wonder he is so skinny. Mine's like 90-something. We learned that the three primary light colours are red, blue and GREEN, not yellow - but if you put them altogether you get white, and the secondary colours are magenta, cyan and yellow.

We had fun :-)

Tai Chi

A cockroach in my lounge room is doing tai chi. It is unwell. It lifts one leg, and then the other. It tries not to fall off the almost vertical piece of paper it is clinging to.

I would kill it, but 1) I hate squishing them and 2) Dad said he would when he got home. He won't be home for half an hour, but I will hold him to it!
Meanwhile, the unopened packet of barbecue chips underneath the piece of paper are inaccessible.

I'm reading 'The Cross of Christ' by John Stott. It's the first really scholarly, well exegeted piece of theology I've read. I plan to read more. And what I love is that it's so thick - it's not a book I can read in 2 days. It's going to take me a week or more.

The cockroach is still watching me.

Joseph's Song part 2

After posting Joseph's Song, I've been doing some reading and some thinking.

We never read in Joseph's story that he complained about his circumstances. We don't hear him yelling or accusing God of lying to him. We don't hear about him getting bitter. Maybe he did, but we never read about it. Instead we read about how he kept trusting God and kept being faithful to him. At the end of the story, Joseph is not bitter or angry - he says to his brothers that what they meant for harm, God meant for good. He didn't allow his circumstances to mess up his view of God.

Well, I'm afraid that I let my circumstances mess up my view of God. If I believe God is asking me to do something and it all goes wrong, then I have been known to ask God, "You don't lie, but were you lying to me? Why did this happen?" And I've been known to get bitter and angry.

Circumstances don't have to dictate my trust in God. God is good, His plans for me are good - it's hard to see that when things are going bad. And I'm so glad that we have the cross to look to as ultimate proof of God's goodness and love towards us. Joseph didn't have that, but he still trusted God.

I hope that next time things go wrong, I won't listen to the voice of Satan that says to me, "See how much your God loves you! If He really loved you, He wouldn't let this happen." I hope that I look at the cross and remember that there is no greater love than this: a man laying down his life for his friends.

Joseph's Song

This was originally a poem, and originally written for someone else. But I had this chord progression that I happened upon last year - it's a bit haunting - and I thought they went together well, so we'll see how it goes. (Btw, it's loosely based on the story of Joseph in Genesis)

I had a dream once
Visions of great things
Plans -
Exciting, fulfilling
Beyond my wildest hopes

Bigger than all my desires
Bigger than all of me
God's plan for my life
So real, so true
I could almost reach out
And touch it

But it has not worked out
I am a slave, not a king
I've been imprisoned, not set free
And I am not fulfilled

My wildest hopes are dying
Was my dream wrong?
God, what are You doing?
I thought this was Your plan...

Did You lie to me?
My heart is broken
My dreams are dying
All I have is gone
I am dying of disappointment
God they say You never fail

But have You failed me?
They say You never lie
But have You lied to me?

God don't let me down
Please come through for me
Because I love You
And want to trust You again

Work

Today at work, one of our employees was chasing some money from a company called the QLD Group (not the Queensland Group, the Q.L.D - Queensland Land Development - Group).

He didn't know the number, so he rang the operator and asked for them to connect him.

"Can you put me through to the Q.L.D Group please?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't get that."
"I want to talk to the Q.L.D Group."
Then the operator said, "I'm sorry, I didn't get that, can you spell it for me?"

!

One Week

It's been
One week since you looked at me....

Sorry, blog.

Well, not strictly one week. But I know how you feel.

Due to popular demand.....

Not really popular demand. I was teasing Pete for his lack of update, before he so graciously pointed out that my blog had been un-updated for longer than his. So I felt a bit silly and made an excuse about how nothing exciting has been happening to me lately.

But now I'm going to tell you what has been happening.

MONDAY: Writing assignment
TUESDAY: Work, Pancake manor and songwriting. Starting a cold?
WEDNESDAY: Writing assignment. Received email telling me we all had a week's extension on said assignment. Songwriting. Studying for exam. Home group. Not really a cold, just a scratchy throat.
THURSDAY: Studying. Songwriting. Coughing.
FRIDAY: Studying. Songwriting. More coughing. Couldn't sleep to 1:30am due to coughing.
SATURDAY: Exam at 8:30am. Talking to friends. Worn out by friends. Coughing. Chocolate purchasing. Medicine taking. Blog updating.

Maybe I'll post some song lyrics. Except I don't like some of them. And the music is like.....blah....but you don't have to hear that. Well, some of it is blah. I'll just call it a work in progress.

The Value of a Smile

What is the value of a smile?

About 70 cents.

On Friday night I was having dinner with my family (including my grandparents, as it was their 50th wedding anniversary). Dad asked me to go and buy drinks at the bar for my sister, my mum and myself.

I went to the bar and ordered 2 LLB's and a Sprite. All of which cost me $5.90.
Sitting back down, I read the menu. Soft drinks were priced at $2.20 each.
"Dad," I said, "I bought three soft drinks at $2.20 - that's at least $6.60, if not more, since I don't know what LLB's cost. But I got it all for $5.90!"
"You must have smiled nicely at the guy at the bar - well done," said Dad.

I thought about that for a second.

"That's a saving of 70 cents. Is that all my smile is worth? I'm highly insulted!"

So that is the value of a smile. Maybe we should put GST on it as well.

RIGHT!

That's my teacher voice.

Prac finishes tomorrow and I will be sad :-( I might volunteer to go back there sometime to help out. I feel lucky - I've had the opportunity to deal with behavioural issues that prac students in Brisbane haven't.

If you wanna cry
I'll give you something to cry about
If you wanna whinge
I'll give you something to whinge about
If you wanna yell
I'll give you something to yell about
If you wanna mope
It's your choice.

Those are some lyrics to an 'angry' song I'm writing. But I'm thinking it might not turn out so angry - it might just be a song about responsibility.

One day I'll pull my teacher voice on you, and you'll go "Settle down!" and then I'll send you to the RTC. Or you'll go, "whoa" and then, "Sorry miss."

;-)

Things I've loved about prac:
I have a lot more confidence. In confronting people. I never used to be able to. I have to confront students ALL THE TIME now. I think I'm better at acting annoyed, or expressing it when I really am annoyed. This may be both positive and negative.

The friendly teachers in my staffroom. They are AWESOME.

Not feeling judged by my appearance?? Weird hey. But I go to uni and there's girls who are like size 2 wearing these short, low-cut, tiny clothes........and I'm like "Aren't you cold?" :-p And I feel like they're thinking, "So do you regularly shop at St Vinnies or what?" and "Why don't you take up smoking and lose some weight?" and then I just feel insecure............teachers aren't like that. Not these ones, anyway.

Things I'm a little concerned about:
My attitude. I'm a bit more pushy. I'm a bit more ready for a fight. I'm a bit more cocky. And if you really want to, I'll probably take you on. I won't get personal.........but it's not going to be fun. So I've gotta watch that. It could be positive if I use it to speak up for what needs to be said - not for my own selfish purposes. But being human I'll probably - ok, will definitely - fail. But I won't set out to be selfish, promise.