Goldydawg circa November ’04 with the awesome Benita & Dermott (Sp?)
So, it’s always the way that when you are somewhere like Scotland, you meet one of the most Australian people of all time! Such was the case when I met Dermott. He & Benita were at the same pub as me when I was watching a game of Rugby in Edinburgh. I liked them instantly & we hung out quite a bit over the proceeding couple of months.
Of course, my Caledonian adventure finished, but they stayed on for a couple of years, but now they are back!
This afternoon I took Benita out to lunch. Of course, I can only speak for myself, but it felt like we just took off from where we left, not like it had been almost 2 years since we saw each other. You have to love friends like that!
Some yummy Vietnamese food, a chinese mango pancake & egg tart for desert, then a nice chat with Dermot on the phone (the crazy bloke was back at work in Queensland 3 days after getting home from a 4 year trip).
I read this today in a blog that I wrote in Scotland, and I will say it again. I am positive that I have far more good quality friends than any one man deserves!
God is good!

You know it is that time of year when I post the picture of those books that I am staring at for the next couple of weeks. This semester, the sense of joy at my desk has been brought by Shona’s pen set (the bright fellas on the right) which is bringing a rainbow of cheer to all of my notes!
I have to say that I’m feeling a sense of calm about things. I am getting a fair bit of study done, so I feel like I am feeling OK about that, though, as is the case with most theological study, the more you know, the more you realise you are just scratching the surface…
While, again, the exams happen over my birthday (17th of November…. don’t say I don’t give you fair warning!), I don’t have any on my birthday itself, so I should be able to chill out a little on that day.
Everyone is looking out for everyone at this time of year too. I have a bit of a flu, so people have lent me all kinds of remedies. The core of “Upper Wallace” guys (my dorm) have been going for the occasional “late night white” to finish the days off. Last night included my first foray into Apple Brandy! And the vibe, which at the worst of times is encouraging, is really good at this time of year. Bless that college vibe!
Today it is Yum Cha for lunch (a farewell to our Student Reps), so again, who can complain?
Of course, the blog is always the first thing to really suffer in exam time. It is a welcome relief, but also, it’s easy to ignore. Right now, it’s keeping me from Goldingay’s Isaiah commentary…. I best not keep him waiting.

I wouldn’t call it a bandwagon per se, but I am jumping back on the “post poems you like” trend. I have too many uninteresting thoughts at the moment as I crunch through my studies. Not that my studies are uninteresting, of course, but…. oh, you get the picture.
Instead, words to lift the soul.

Stephen to Lazarus

But was I the first martyr, who
Gave up no more than life, while you,
Already free among the dead,
Your rags stripped off, your fetters shed,
Surrendered what all other men
Irrevocably keep, and when
Your battered ship at anchor lay
Seemingly safe in the dark bay
No ripple stirs, obediently
Put out a second time to sea
Well knowing that your death (in vain
Died once) must all be died again?

So this evening I had to drive out to Carlingford for a camp meeting. Jimbo, who is speaking on the senior section of this camp (“The Real Thing” camp down at Port Hacking. Should be a cracker! Tim has the official title of “Resource”) came along in my car too.
Conversations with Jimbo are always interesting. We set “challenge words” that we had to work into conversation during the meeting (He had to say “dragons”, I had to say “Saucepan”) we talked about our girlfriends, we talked about theology, and then on the way back to college we talked about what it’s like to live with so many different types of people here at college. It was at this time that mobbsy dropped the profound statement…
“Everybody is somebody’s wierdo!”
It’s true isn’t it. For all the of the strange characters that we encounter in our worlds, we are playing the role of “weirdo” for someone else in the play that is their life!
It’s a glorious thing! As one could expect, there is a certain level of uniformity when it comes to people’s characters in Bible College. That said, it is stunning to see the kind of diversity that is on display in this crazy town. There isn’t a guy I live with who doesn’t have some kind of strange habit.
I certainly can’t claim to be devoid of quirks in my personality that would make me the weird one. So, since I am stalling doing some study, maybe I will play “confessional” and see if I can come up with some of the things that make me someone else’s weirdo…
1: I bring my own pepper grinder to meals. Not just a cheap plastic model, but a proper, classy grinder with three different settings. Other’s like their own plunger coffee, I like to know that my meal is going to be seasoned as it should.
2: I also have in my possession, but have not been required to use, a store of salt that I brought back from Poland. A time and a reason, for every season!
3: I have a fear of conversation with people I know vaguely, but not well. I can deal with talking to strangers, but idle chit chat with people I sort of know, but don’t feel like I know well, well that is a no go for Goldy. Morning tea us usually avoided for this reason.
4: I count stairs. I don’t do it all the time, but I do do it most of the time. I know the number of stairs between any two places in college. I can still remember the number of stairs around my old work at Vision Valley camp site.
5: I have orders that I eat almost all of my foods in. An order for roasts (Green vegetables, other coloured vegetables, potato, then meat), I have orders for M&M’s (Brown, Blue, Red, Green, Yellow, Orange), and I even have orders for fast food! (Eat all the fries first before you are allowed to have a drink, then you eat your burger and drink, usually in tandem, so that you have the middle part of the burger left till last & enough drink to have a couple of decent gulps!).
6: I have to keep my inbox as empty as possible. The idea of having more than 5-10 emails in my inbox is disturbing, and if I can keep it down to 1 or 2, then I will. I am the same with anything. I have to subcategorise & refolder things on my computer, so that you can end up going through about 10 folders to finally get to stuff. (But I can ALWAYS find my stuff!).
OK, so there are some of my peccadillos. Anyone else willing to share one of theirs?

I hope not, becase school is all it is about for the next couple of weeks.
I’ve knocked off a couple of assignments in the last couple & I have one more to finish before I can start studying for exams. They sneak up so quickly that sometimes I think it is all I write about…
Well, I’ll plug through these bad boys & dream of summer days filled with good wine, green vines & reading books in the shade.

Welcome Dave to the world of blogging!
I’m looking forward to some good stories & some great pictures. I’m sure some of the timgoldsmith.com readers are too. Maybe a story about people you go to Bible College with?
TCG.>.

I do apologise for being Missing In Action over the last little while. Lots of stuff to do & not too much time to do it in. I’ll pull my socks up & see if I can’t be a little more regular through the exam period.
It’s been a busy last week & as I sit here on Monday morning, I am not sure if I am capable of much more than some quick details of what I’ve been doing.
Last tuesday was Shona’s birthday, so last tuesday became a chance to swing into the city & live it up a little. You’ll be disturbed to hear, though, that I didn’t take my camera with me! I was certainly disturbed when we arrived at the “Orbit bar” (the revolving bar on the 47th story of Chifley Tower) just at sunset, with all the surrounding buildings having the appearance of great flaming torches, as the last of the sun struggled, red and swollen, over the horizon. I think I managed to convince Shones that the tear in the corner of my eye was from “the moment” rather than the fact that I missed an awesome opportunity for a great photo…
Can I just say, as an aside, that while cocktails at “Orbit” are disturbingly expensive. As a rare experience, I rate it totally! The view alone was worth the cash & the drinks were the kind of things that linger on your memory’s palate long after they have faded from the tongue’s.
Dinner at the Belgian Beer Cafe (Heritage, not Epoque) and some chilling at Observatory hill were also required that night. It is easy to love life when you live in Sydney! (and doesn’t hurt to have a dead-set hottie on your arm at the time either!)
Friday was “Youth Surge” with my youth kids. That’s a meeting of Anglican (and some other denominational groups) Youth Groups from the same region. It’s awesome having hundreds of kids together, it’s great to hear God’s word preached faithfully (through Scott Petty, a guy who was a bible study leader at my old church when I was a sprocket!) and it is too cool to see my kids encouraged & enthused by the experience. It’s also fun to have good chats with the kids as you drive them there!
I guess I’ll finish on Saturday morning, though that certainly wasn’t the end to my weekend.
Chelsea turned 21, and I got an invite. We maintained our hanging-out record of rainy days, but it was all good, because the vibe was up & the smiles were on!
Chels’ friends gave one of the better speeches that I have heard for a 21st. It was all done in song & really, I would be doing it a disservice by trying to explain it. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures from the day.

Chelsea’s friends in fine form!

The Birthday girl herself.

The sweet art of self-take photos lives on!
Finally, have I really posted any pictures if I fail to post a picture of beer? I’d hate to disappoint. Here is the great Tubeo sinking back some sweet sweet nectar.

Having commented in my last post about how much appreciation I would get for posting no close-up shots of Shona, I feel dutybound to undo all that good.
Of course, I think they are cute shots, so what does it matter.

While there are many smiles, this is one of the rare ones fired near the direction of the camera.

I like polka dots!

Milbrodale Road at Sunset (Click on the pic to see the Large version on Black, much better)
Have I written about this before?
I suspect more than one of my posts is a repeat, so you’ll forgive me.
Every family has a way of expressing love. For my family, a lot of that love is expressed through food. Let’s just say that over the last week, I’ve been feeling that love!
Tuesday night I was over at P&K’s house, where Amy, Andrew & their three kids are staying. Of course getting to see my nieces and nephews is easily enough to make me happy, but I got the bonus plan. Herb encrusted “Porcetta” for dinner, chocolate-ginger cake, and brownie (and baklava) for desert! The night would have been 100% spot-on had Heapy and I not blown a seemingly insurmountable lead to go down at Trivial Pursuit.
Wednesday to Saturday was spent in the Hunter.
Really, I needn’t say any more….. but I will.
Wednesday night was lamb at Adrian & Susie’s house. They are an awesome Uncle & Aunt. It was an awesome meal & I look forward to sampling an awesome little collection of Whisky that Adrian amassed before his retirement from QANTAS. There had to be 8-10 litres of that stuff!
Otherwise, when I wasn’t trying my hand at bacon and eggs, mum was in the kitchen making us food! You have no idea what it is like. Shona, (who, may I say, fitted right in with the family, having mastered the art of the chewy chocolate bikkie) and I ate pretty solid for a couple of days. It all culminated last night with a steak that was about 4cm thick (an inch and a half for you Yanks out there).
Anyone can eat well and it doesn’t have to be about love. What makes it love is when I mention, off-hand, about how I was reading a recipe for chocolate fudge sauce. Mum then stands up & says, “I can make rich chocolate sauce off the top of my head” and proceeded to proove herself right!
Fortunately, I had room for the ice cream to go with it.
So there you go. It was a week of love. It was spending quality time with Shona, it was spending quality time with family, it was spending quality time killing myself with my fat intake!
So, I’ll leave you with two of my expressions of love.
Firstly, Shona will love me because I posted a picture of her that is not a close up. (How does a girl manage to be that beautiful & still dislike having pictures taken of her?)
The second is a picture of mum’s Labna . This stuff is freakin’ tasty! I love it & I love my mum cause she makes things I love whenever she knows that I am coming to stay. I’m so spoiled!

It really is a hard life!
I have been back at college for a couple of days, and now I am off back up to the Hunte Valley again.
Shona has a week off work & since I have no Youth Group on Friday (School holidays still) that frees me up over the weekend, so up we go to hang out, chill our & have some fun.
Here’s a little of what we have to look forward to…

Have I really been posting photos if I don’t post one of Beer?

Birds eye view, or Fish eye view?

It’s a hard luck life!