I like this pic enough to post just it. Steph, of course a beautiful bride and G, one of the cutest kids I know.

I’m working hard to get a good Rhythm, though I have to say that there is so much to do that it is hard. You just feel like you are on top of one issue when you get assailed with the next. I’ve just spent the last hour looking at Source, Form & Literary Criticism, followed by older, fragmentary, supplamentary and new documentary hypotheses in regard to the Pentateuch (Or Hexateuch depending on where you fall in those post-enlightenment views).
I have to admit that I am excited and happy to find myself in a much better position cognitively to deal with these issues then I would have been last year. That said, I do find it tough to have to drop all of this mentally, so I can pick up my Sermon that I’m preparing for Sunday morning (8:45am Yikes! Titus 2:1-10), then be willing later this week to drop both of those so I can do a little work on my 3000 word essay due next week on the concept of ministers being “professionals”, then again, making space at some time for this Essay on some quote by a guy called Thistleton in regard to the Cross and Behaviour in 1 Corinthians.
Lots of stuff in the brain. Compartmentalisation taking place, and a hope (and prayer) that information, once swallowed, can be digested and retained rather than just excreted onto a page & handed in for credit points….
Thankfully, through the fog of all things theological, land is occasionally sighted. This takes form in the shape of good conversations with all kinds of fun people, daily runs (of varying distances) with Adam (Visit his page & leave a comment!), and the shining light that is youth group and Church!
I say with relative confidence that this year should prove to be one that is enjoyed in the present, not just in hindsight.
Here’s to being stretched, and here’s to getting the rhythm!
(And another special cheer to my dear brothers Matt, Craig , andJosh, and my sister Tania who are fighting the good fight at“that other college” .)

Saturday was a pig of a day.
Don’t get me wrong now, it was great to be involved in Steph & Andre’s wedding, and I was almost happy with my photos, but I only got maybe 5 hours of sleep & I was doing wedding stuff for about 12 hours!
I limped back to my car after the bride, groom, and wedding party departed to the reception, then crawled along to Phil & Kristin’s place, cause Amy was up from Wagga! Despite my being wrecked, it is always rejuvinating to see my big sis (or Phil & Kristin, or Mum or Dad for that matter), and to have a free Indian meal thrown in was just icing on the cake!
The family get together was energising enough to see me drive home safely & then hit the bed for a good 8 hours!
Sunday was another great day. I was off to Church to have a staff lunch, which was awesome fun. I am truly blessed to work with so many fine people. We also had a meal together at evening church & that went great. If the staff are a blessing at church, then the parishioners are doubly so & the kids treble!
That night I was in bed by 10:45 & didn’t get up till just after 8am!!! A fine night sleeping to a big storm!
So here I am, another good day of college. Fun lectures, an afternoon jog with my next-door-neighbour cum personal trainer, a steak dinner, then “Prayer and Biff” with the boys at 9:30.
I’ve worked my way through the tiredness & now it’s back to good times!!!

Steph (on the left) certainly has style! Anna too, is very cool…

Showing the ‘bling’, it’s the new wedding rings!

“All Allison, all the time” she tells me.
Well, I’ve had “some” Allison, and only some of the time, but it has been good.
[Flashback]
It’s circa 1995 (actually, it was exactly 1995, but I just love that word “circa”) and a young Allison & Tim go out for a brief while then kind of loose contact. She ends up moving to the US of A & marrying a nice guy called Jason, while he ends ups….. um….. well, let’s just say that he is still here in Sydney
[Flashforward]
She’s back, she’s in Australia for a couple of weeks, while she & Jason catch up with friends & family. Meanwhile, time is utilised in ensuring that we get to catch up too! Cocktails at “Orbit”, Lunch at “The Australian Hotel” and tonight was dinner at “The Great Northern”. Old friends & cold beers are a dynomite combination!
Kirsty drops in for a beer and a chat, Jason & I head to the BBQ to perform our masculine duty, and the James Squire Amber Ale heads south, past the lips & down toward a satisfied belly…
It was only a couple of drinks tonight, but that is all it takes. The last decade washes away and the bedrock of a good friendship remains.
Come Sunday she heads back to the frosty climes in upstate New York. “All Allison, all the time”. Sounds fun, but it looks like the series is getting cancelled.

Allison working hard at smiling naturally.

It’s been great to get to know Jason too.

Ten years on…

For all my talk of being willing to eat almost anything, chickens feet, haggis, a willingness to try dog, and an eagerness to try cat (or at least cook one), it took me a little over thirty years to eat an oyster. Well, that is not 100% true, I’d eaten two previously, but it was very much a matter of swallowing one at the same time as a bloody mary shooter & hoping that it didn’t slime a taste down my throat.
Yesterday, up at the Hunter Valley I got to broaden my horizons. I wouldn’t say I am in love with those little bad boys. They continue to look like little tumours to me and they feel like congealed oil, but they really don’t taste too bad. A large part of the enjoyment was just stretching my experience. Trying something new. I also at a Sardine, which again, wasn’t too bad. It makes you feel like you have progressed in some (admittedly insignificant) way.
I moved in the afternoon from enjoying on horizon to another. We sat out on the balcony, enjoyiing a glass of white wine watching the mother of all storms come rolling in. Rain, horizontal as it was whipped along by the wind, the thunder and lightnight provided an orchestral accompaniment and light show.
Above us God’s mastery of creation was demonstrated with brutal force, while on the horizon, light, blue sky and peace still reigned. It really was a beautiful sight!
So there you go. Judgement and Grace played out in nature.

The rain comes down.

Tipsy the cat keeps a close eye as the tempest rages.

Rog and Buzzy enjoy the rain.

It’s all about habits.
I’m all for them. In fact, I am pretty sure they are the kind of things that I thrive off! Keys and wallet go in bowl. Phone on mantle every night, both socks then both shoes. The incidental ones are little things that I could almost become obsessive over!
Why are good habits so hard to start? I’m like an addict trying to give up the junk. My 6:30 wakeup call lasted for a sum total of 2 days. Two glorious days! Early up, get some reading done, go for a walk, have a shower, arrive at class pumped and ready for the day. You could have heaved an iron bar at my head and I would have caught, swallowed & spat back bullets!
But it didn’t last.
Even now, 11:30pm, typing away… That 8 hours sleep is slipping and the 7am alarm looks like it will be making friends with it’s snooze function tomorrow morning.
But it’s not all bad news. While not in the AM, the reading is happening. The sun’s rays look like they could pop over the horizon. I can do it, I can break the mold. Rebirth!
Well, let’s see how we go with day three…

In the dorm we had last year, when you opened your door it would unlock the locking mechanism on the inside. This is not the case at the new dorm.
… as I found out as I stood in my towel after a shower this morning.
God in his providence had one of the student reps, and his master key, walking by at the time.
Embarrassment avoided.

Again, I find myself making an appearance at an ungodly hour. OK, so it is only 1am, but I am up early tomorrow!
Truly the new year has arrived! I’m into college, my room is set up, my books have their place on the wall & I am feeling good about things.
Only 4 new single residential guys. 20 of us in total, and we all seem to get on pretty well. This afternoon it was down to Maroubra beach to play tip football, chat, then eat entirely too much meat. This of course, was followed up with a slightly convoluted drive home (when Dan knows you are following him, he is more than happy to let himself get lost & then see if anyone can work their way home at all!) followed by a viewing on “Anchor Man” with all the boys. First viewing in Kansas City, USA = fairly funny. Second viewing with a mate of mine in Sydney= a little better, thirsd viewing with 19 other guys who have been quoting it for half the day= freaking hilarious!!!
Other bits & pieces are going OK too. I am really looking forward to the beginning of youth group on Friday night. We have Tania, the new student minister starting and she is prooving to be a lot of fun, and it will be awesome to catch up with all the kids! I’m loving the iTunes store at the moment, listening to Gorillaz “Dirty Harry”, St Petersburg Kirov Orchestra’s “Nutcracker Suit” and Berliner Philharmoniker’s “Brandenburg Concerto No.1”. I have to say I am loving a bit of classical music at the moment. I find it really good stuff to read or study to, which is strange, cause I usually can’t listen to music and work at the same time.
Michaela and probably Tubeo will probably be happy with some of my reading at the moment, as a cruise through “Blue like Jazz”. It isn’t in my top 5, or even my top 10 for that matter, but it is a fairly interesting read & a nice piece of relaxation before study starts in earnest.
Hmmm, what other news?
I managed to score the duty at college (We all have duties that we do for 2 hours a week to keep the costs of college down) of “College Photographer” so I that I don’t consider work! That always rocks!
So that’s it, the new year has begun. New dorm, new discipline and new perspective! It’s going to be good days!
Oh, and lest I forget, Allison, my good friend and ex-pat living in New York is in Australia for a couple of weeks, so tomorrow night equals cocktails at the Orbit bar 47 stories above Sydney! It IS exciting times!

Back to the books baby! How I have missed my little paper lovlies!

Fashion certainly has it’s place in the new Wallace dorm, and this year fashion means wet/dry bags acting as hats! Dan-the-man carries it off!

Would you have this look if you were living in the room next to me for the year? Maybe we will take another shot come December?

It is fairly rare that I take part in these “things I love” memes, but I got referred it at Lanna’s blog, so I feel duty bound! I just love the fact that someone I have never met might read my site & actually put a link to me on her page! Small world & all that Jazz. Here we go.
And it continues…
The 4 things meme was given to me by Ken who got it from Shua and will now be continued through me. Yay.
Four jobs I’ve had:
1. Fast food dude at McDonald’s, Pizza Hut & one of only two Fuddruckers restaurants that ever graced Australia’s shored.
2: Programmes director in Outdoor education.
3: Customer Service Rep for EBSCO the Serials agent.
4: Student Youth Minister for Dural Anglican Church
Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. O Brother Where Art Thou?
2: Band of Brothers Series.
3: “The Office” — The original British version
4: Pulp Fiction
Four places that I’ve lived:
1. Sydney Australia
2. Wellington in New Zealand
3: Edinburgh, Scotland
4. Mangrove Mountain, Australia
Four TV shows that I love:
Sorry dudes, I don’t really watch enough TV. I could maybe go.
1: Super 14’s Rugby
2: Australia V anyone Rugby
3: Australia V anyone in Cricket & that is about it…
Four places I’ve vacationed:
1. Throughout New Zealand
2: THroughout the USA
3: Throughout Scotland
4: Throughout Europe
Four of my favorite dishes:
1. Amy’s “Porcetta” (sp? a herb encrusted pork neck)
2: Mum’s Pork Loin on garlic Mash
3: Pesto Chicken
4: Eggs Benedict with crispy bacon!
Four sites I visit daily:
1. Flickr
2. Homestarrunner.com (living in hope of the latest post)
3. smh.com.au
4.goldfinchfamily.com
Four places I would rather be right now:
On the whole I am pretty dang happy where I am, but I guess I could go for.
1: Anywhere in the Scottish Highlands
2: Rome
3: New York City
4: The Andes
Four bloggers I am tagging so that they will hate me:
I’ll be twice as buzzed if any of these dudes respond!
1. Meg
2. Kristin or Phil
3.Michaela
4. Schnitzel

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.