weblog > archives > January 2006
A state of anticipation
January 24, 2006 1:06 PM
I fell asleep sometime around 1:30am on Sunday night, so I was not ultra psyched about a 6am start, especially when I woke first at 5:20! If I have an early start, I tend to do that, worryiing that I might be late.
Petrol stop, picked up some L&P for the drive & then headed out to Chatswood to pick up my co-conspirator Kirsty.
OK, bonus point NO.1 comes because even though I was 5 minutes early at 7:25, she was well and truly ready. Bonus points No.2 through to about 247 because she had just finished cooking the bacon and egg sandwiches for us to eat for breakfast as we headed on the 3 1/2 hour drive to Canberra, the nations capital!
An hour later, anything that might be considered traffic was left in our wake, the cruise control was firmly set on 110kph, B&E sandwich in hand, iPod performing it's appointed role and good chats were being had!
First stop was the lovely "Cockington Green", which is a bunch of minaturised villiages from England (a house was maybe hip-height at best) and a whole heap of famous structures from around the world. I made sure to take advantage of the only opportunity to tell a girl that she looked huge, as Kirst towered over a bunch of buildings, churches & trees!
The icing on the cake was the English pub that happened to be right next store to Cockington Green. A pint of guiness finishes a morning spent looming over villages off quite nicely!
One of the streets @ Cockington Green.
The National Art Gallery was the real reason that we were in the ACT. Jackson Pollock, Picasso, Sydney Nolan, Monet, & a host of other stuff to cruise around & check out. We also enjoyed the special attention that we appeared to get from the security guards as they radioed each other & kept a keen eye on us as we moved from room to room.
Nothing says "Sexy" like posing behind a "Burial Pole"! Kirsty works the profile!
By this point, Kirsty & I were firmly establishing the fact that we were two individuals who epitomised class and sophistication. This was only enforced by our lunch-time stop at KFC! Canberra gets their own bonus point here, cause their gravy actually appears to be made from.... gravyish ingredients, as opposed to the brown watery substance that passes for gravy in the rest of the nation. The girl at the counter who also worked out how to get Kirsty's custom combination for $1 cheaper than she usually pays, also rates a mention!
Lunch by Lake Burleigh Griffin was lovely in the shade, though the giant fountain that we had fleetingly seen in action as we passed throughout the day, remained shockingly silent as we sat within spitting distance of it. Possibly the only disappointment of the afternoon.
Enjoying a moments rest post-gustation, still, at this point, with the vain hope that I will see some action from the fountain. It was not to be...
What visit to the nations capital would be complete without a visit to the parliament. We decided that we have one of the cooler parliament buildings! Kirst & I walked up the right hand slope of it & sat under the flag to enjoy the view of the whole city!
For we are young and free!
So, all that remained was a 3 1/2 hour drive home. More good chats, a focus on Samba and Bossanova, and some hard yards in the eating stakes, as we had to work through the remains of a pack of almond M&M's, sour skittles and gummi snakes!
A last furtive glance at the great day that lay behind us.
9:15, we pulled back into Kirsty's drive. Our thirst for travel, art, adventure, B&E sandwiches, photography, and an overdose of sugar had been slaked! With wearyness clothing my bones like a tight suit, I limped on home, unwound for 20 minutes & then completed an almost perfect day by heading off to what proved to be the rarest of all treasures! More than 8 hours sleep!!!!
The holidays are almost over, but I'm ready now for the new year.
Wasting Time
January 21, 2006 1:29 AM
Baby, I am BACK!!!!
I finally got the problems solved with connecting to the internet here at Dave's so I am back in business at timgoldsmith.com!!!
OK, now the only problem might be that I have very little to write about, cause I am on holidays & that means achieving very little. This, of course, has been aided by my good mate Craig Geeve, who was so kind as to arrange to get me a second hand Playstation 2. Of course, couple this with a free copy of John Madden (American Football) 2004, and a VERY cheap EA Sports Rugby 2005 & my abundant spare time is very much less..... abundant!
Otherwise, things really are fairly slow. Doing a little reading, and some prep for first term youth group, watching a lot of cricket and too much tennis, and eating too many chocolate bullets!
I guess I will give you a picture or two to look at (more at Flickr) and go to bed so I can dream up something more interesting to fill in your precious internet minutes!
"Touching the Void"
Mum & Rog, powering through the afternoon on Christmas day...
"Always with the ladies!" You always have to make sure there is at least one good looking person in the photo!
Exciting and new
January 13, 2006 5:06 PM
OK, so there isn't a great deal of things that are happening that are either exciting or new...
I've been house sitting for the week at Dave's house in Kenthurst. Its been nice to have very little to do & to just relax a little. I finished "The Grapes of Wrath" and did some reading for the intensive subject that I do on the first week of college. In fact, I have had so much time that last night I even did an assignment for that subject! That bad boy has to be at least two weeks early!
I did have a fairly exciting Saturday last week, when I shot Cam & Louise's wedding. It was the first wedding that I did all by myself & I have to admit that I didn't enjoy it at all! It is just stressful & you never know how things are going to turn out. I have a couple more weddings to do & then I think I may retire from this profession, unless I can secure a great assistant who can make me look good....
One little frustration has been that I have a great signal from my hosts wifi computer, but it wont actually connect to the net, so unfortunately, I am without the ability to upload any photos or anything for you all.
OK, if you hadn't guessed from this entry so far, I appear to be without any real direction and devoid of inspiration, so I might get back to doing some readings. 1 1/2 more hours & we have Shannyn's celebration dinner, as she finishes up work as a DT & waits to start at St Jude's as an MTS worker! Happy days ahead.
And finallly
January 6, 2006 11:35 PM
OK, so I know a lot of people have been waiting for some wedding pics from Tim & Christy's. Well they are finally here!
I was ready to post them the other day, but my computer decided to play silly buggers.
Enjoy.
"The Money Shot". It was a long time coming, so they got stuck into this kiss!!!
Singalong.
The look of love. It's in his eyes...
The crew. Jacq, Prillz, Jodes, and Trace, each looking lovely at the wedding. Pick which one was the bridesmaid?
A fading cheer
January 1, 2006 7:33 AM
It's just on 7:30 in the am, and it is already 25 degrees (that's about 80f for your crazy North Americans), maybe a little warmer out here in Dural, and it will only go up. Somewhere around 42 they say (107f) which is getting up there.
Were I still home, I think I may have dragged myself out of bed already to turn on the air conditioning, but I am not home.
I get to kick off my new years preaching at our St. Columbs church in Arcadia. Initially, I was a little bummed that I would miss out on some of the New Years festivities because I know that I need to get some kind of sleep if I am going to preach effectively, but on consideration, I was quite happy for the opportunity.
Firstly, it has been my experience that New Years Eve parties are never quite what you hope they will be. The great view of the fireworks also means being cheek to jowl with a million other people crowding any half decent spot of land on the harbour. The chance to meet up with your mates in the city is frustrated by the fact that EVERYONE in Australia is on their mobiles at the same time, so you can never get through and Transport in and out of the city is a debacle!
Secondly, it is good to have a sense of focus as we come into the new year. To remember what it is all about & where we want to go. It's a time of the year when people start making resolutions. They want to be wiser in the way that they live. They want to be more effective in what they do. With this in mind, it was appropriate (though not intentional when I picked it) that I preach on Psalm 1. It's a psalm which is all about wisdom. Finding the right council. Here it is.
1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit int he seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
If you want to hear the sermon, you could come back to St. Jude's on the 22nd when I will be giving it again, or if that is a Geographic Impossibility, I could send you through the full text, otherwise, I will let you ponder over the Psalm yourself, but for this one thought.
As you get ready for the new year, and you resolve to make it better, or smarter, a "growth year", where are you going to look for wisdom? What is going to be your focus? The focus on now, or the focus on Eternity?