Cam has an almost Jamiroquai look to him.

Tim & Christy. Everyone saw “Awwwww” with me!

“Never so lonely as when you’re in a crowd?” Dan gives his night a moments thought.

With a Palm this good, you know we have a future footballer in the makiing!

OK, well straight off the bat, I have to tell you that you need to go & visit my friend Shannyn’s website. She just started it yesterday. Shanoonie leads Youth Group and Youth Church with me & is good value, so everyone has to be nice to her.
Other news…
I had a really fun night on Tuesday night. Tim D, Christy, Jody & I headed OTC (Over the Bridge) to visit Ball’s Head Reserve, before going for icecream and then visiting the Harbour Bridge down at Kirribili. It was a fun time of good chats & just hanging out & seeing a bit of Sydney.

The two Tim’s working it “Gangsta Style”. Yeah, we know, we look pretty bad-ass
The most exciting part of my week came up last night though. My best friend in Scotland was a girl called Caroline. I didn’t think I would get to see her again in forever, her being Swedish and all, but when I got an email last week, I found out she was in Sydney!!! (Three exclamation marks!)
So last night we got to catch up for the first time in ages. We went & had beer and dinner at the Lowenbrau where my dorm-buddy Dan works, then went for a walk before we went & hung out at my local pub for a bit with Jody.
Anyway, it is always an awesome day when you get to see someone you didn’t expect to see. Now, the trick is going to be avoiding all of these cool people while I try & knuckle down & get some proper work done. Exams in only a couple of weeks!

Caroline & I at the Lowenbrau

Each and every time I go & visit my Brother & his wife Kristin (or is it Kristin, and her Husband my brother?) I end up writing something about the cool factor. I’ll try & resist that temptation tonight. That said, listening to the Yello Classic “Oh Yeah” and the 70’s Rap “Rappers Delight” by the Sugar Hill Gang, was a real highlight to my week.
The Waratah’s won tonight. Good news. You know that a team has to be tough when they are named after a flower. They are going to be very tough though, much stronger than tonights 23-13 performance, if they expect to beat the Crusaders in the Super 12’s final next week.
Youth Surge was on on friday night & it was pretty awesome. Talks on purity and holiness are always pretty tough to do, but I thought it was approached sensitively & intelligently. I may have to do a special talk about it next week or something.

Always good to see the worlds cutest niece (A title that changes depending on which niece I get to see).

Well my destiny lay with a 12:01 viewing of Episode III at the Burwood cinemas. Jacqui (I told you, you’d get a mention) and I went in at about 10:40ish, so we could line up in hope of some good seats. Mike joined us soon after & Steve & Ben came in at about 11:40, when we had just been seated.
I wont go into the movie itself. I would definately say that it is worth the $ to see it. I don’t remember, but I don’t think I saw the first movie at the cinemas DANG!!! Now I realise how confusing this series can be! I should say that I don’t remember if I saw the fourth movie, but first to be made, at the cinemas, but I certainly remember seeing the other two. It is nice to have some kind of closure & be able to say that I made the last starwars movie into a big night.
In other news, I’m back into the world of photos, though I haven’t taken so many in the last little while.

Here is Cam & Benny C working their mojo for me!

New computer? Check
Been paid already by insurance? Not Check.
Computer working properly? After having problems with ram & then getting online, CHECK!
Happy that I have a .Mac account? After I found out that it has reloaded my address book, Calenders, Mail preferences & favourites…. Check!
Glad to be back in the Blogosphere? Check!
Let’s never fight again!

It’s about listening to them and also trying to hear, really hear what it is that they have to say.
It’s about knowing you aren’t as quick or graceful as you once were, but just enjoying some hoops anyway.
It’s about laughing with the guys you hang out with heaps, and laughing with the ones that you don’t know from a piece of chalk.
It’s about holding the baby in your arms, seeing that tiny hand and marvelling at God’s creation.
It’s about laughing at Christy’s impersonation of the “heat-meiser” for the hundredth time, knowing for sure you will both laugh at it at least a hundred more.
It’s about realising that the guy whose deeds in 590-604AD you are writing about was passionately in love with the God who is passionately in love with you.
It’s about late night chats with a girl. Talking about stuff that matters and enjoying the fact that, despite being boy and girl, you both just enjoy being friends.
It’s about a thousand things. Maybe a thousand thousand. Watching your “non-touchy-feely” mate feel so comfortable holding hands with his girl, seeing your youth group kids start interacting with you like adults, late night noodles, early morning prayer, enjoying one chocolate more than you might have enjoyed ten, lifting weights, doing pushups, exercise with Timmy D. It’s reading Spurgeon, Lewis, Balzac, and Calvin and Hobbes cartoons. It’s caring about your friend that’s down & letting go of the fact that your computer is no more.It’s all a part of it.
It’s realising, really realising that you are not in the centre, you’re just at the fringe.
But you’re a part of it. You’re a part of it all.
And it’s a part of you.

OK, so I have survived a week without my computer, but I am feeling the pain! Not being able to do essays. Not being able to listen to music in my room, not being able to watch DVDs, stuff like that all sucks!
Well, there are other things in life to think about anyway.
This last week has been “Preaching COnference” week at http://smbc.com.au and it has been a lot of fun. David Jones spoke each day on different parts of Matthew 13. I would love to put up my notes @ some time, but they are not with me, so you get a repreive.
Gary Miller, from Ireland, spoke on preaching the OT & there were a bunch of other talks that happened too. I particularly enjoyed the lectures on “Preaching Leviticus” and “Preaching in a post-modern world”. GOod times!
SO much more to write, but so much reading to do for my Church History essay, so that comes first.

I’ve always craved for an artistic outlet.
I love music, but have neither the patience or talent to play anything well.
Painting or drawing? I love them too, but I don’t have the deft touch required.
Poetry is another thing I love. Maybe one day I will write something that’s OK. Who knows?
Photography….
I love taking photos. I take a lot of them & some people think that some of the are fairly good.
Like Eric Liddell in “Chariots of Fire” I feel God’s pleasure when I capture something in a unique way, even if I am only catching a dim shadow of what we look forward to in heaven.
Today my laptop was stolen from a locked hall at my church.
FOrtunately, I have a fair whack of photos backed up, but I have lost at least 3 months worth of pictures, some of which were realy favourites!
I’m thankful that I didn’t loose my cameras too, but it is still a mind numbing blow. All of my emails from up to 5 years ago, archived from my old computer. Letters, pictures, documents, memories, gone.
How do I tell friends, who I took wedding pictures for (thankfully not the primary photographer) and who I planned to give framed pictures as a gift to?
Well, there are so many questions and tonight I feel devoid of answers. I just thought I would let you know why this little page might be a little quiet while I sort this out.
TCG.>.

I neither confirm, nor deny!
Here’s a couple of pics though.

Who needs big speakers in your room? These bad boys pump along just fine for my ears only.

Of course, the clock in our common room never tells us the right time, but we keep it anyway.