Out on the lawn
Tuesday, 13 November, 2007
According to this blog, it's almost been a month since I did a life update. So here goes. (As always, feel free to skip this post.)
Thursday 18/10/07
Work was mostly taken up with The Daily Reading Bible (Volume 13). We had Opporto's for staff lunch and they stuffed up the order and forgot mine (so typical ...)
Ben had an appointment with the surgeon but thankfully he hasn't got another hernia; it's just healing.
Friday 19/10/07
I was supposed to start editing the December Briefing on this day. But I didn't. I think I finished off The Daily Reading Bible (Volume 13) and started on web stuff. I could be wrong though.
It was a funny sort of day because I drove two blocks and parked, then walked up to UNSW that day to meet with Elsie and another student for coffee (except it was too hot for coffee so I just had juice). Afterwards I went to counselling, then came back to pick up Ben.
In the evening, I think Ben went out with people but I stayed home and blobbed.
Saturday 20/10/07
Word by Word was on. Unfortunately, so was Ben's third year farewell brunch. I'm a bit annoyed about that because I would have liked to go to the brunch. But I didn't realise that it was the third year farewell until it was too late to cancel or postpone Word by Word. So Ben went to the brunch and I went to Word by Word.
We had a pretty decent turn-out as well, with two newcomers. I gave my talk about blogging for the third time (and, in my opinion, it was the best rendition). Afterwards, I drove to The Cheesecake Shop in Marrickville to pick up Ben's cakes. I dropped them at home, then walked down to the local IGA to get plastic plates and cutlery, then spent the afternoon relaxing (probably watching television) before we had to go.
Fish met us at the church. Daniel D also showed up a bit later, and they both helped us set up for the party. We were using the church hall—with the room where we normally have Tuesday night dinners set up for dinner (with Indian from Tamana's on Top, though there was stacks of leftovers because lots of people didn't read the invitation properly and had dinner before they came) and the upstairs part where we normally have Bible study set up for Singstar (Francis and Erin brought their PS2 and games, and we borrowed the games they didn't have off other people, like Simon and Amanda). It was a very nice and relaxed party. The guests even helped clean up, so we were out of there by about 11pm.
Sunday 21/10/07
We slept in, then got up and drove to my mum's place to say hi as she was going to be flying out to Canada the following day. Then we went to the Beilharz's for a very nice birthday lunch for Ben. Cathy had lined some of the bags I had given her (I made them ages ago but never did anything with them, and of course I don't sew). She complained she had done the worst job ever but I thought they were great.
Cameron rang, wanting the FEVA data projector (which we had borrowed for the party) but it was at home and of course we weren't. I had been planning to drop in and visit Ynping who was having friends over for mahjong, but by the mid-afternoon, most of them had left, so instead Ben and I went home and returned the data projector to Cameron.
Church was moved back into the hall for the first time in just under a year. This presented all sorts of logistical challenges as the hall was no longer set up to do church the way it was when the renovations were taking place on the church building. Many hands were required to move the piano off the stage and onto the floor, Ben had to scavenge for a drum kit and then a mat to put it on, and set up involved putting out chairs and dropping a giant white heavy piece of material from the rafters to block off half the space. It looked fantastic when it was done, though; they also rear projected a question mark (I think it was a question mark) onto the fabric covering the front of the stage with a overhead projector, Harry brought a bust to put on a pedestal (I think it was supposed to be Aristotle?) and Malcolm had his Pantheon-esque model placed in front of the lectern. He preached on Acts 17 and talked about Paul's speech on the Areopagus. (Outreach Media have put pictures of what went up around our church so you can see what it looked like for mission. You can also download the mission tract that Fish and I were involved in writing.)
Monday 22/10/07
I was supposed to be editing the December Briefing this week but instead I worked on the redesign for Matthias Media USA and the US online store. After work, I was supposed to go buy fruit and vegetables but I felt really tired and couldn't be bothered.
Tuesday 23/10/07
More website stuff at work, then Bible study in the evening. Oh, and I did the fruit and veggie shopping.
Wednesday 24/10/07
I remember this being a rainy day and I was almost going to work at home but I had promised Bec we'd have lunch to talk about NTE and the workshop we're doing together on writing. It was quite a productive talk but it means I need to write a talk before Monday 3rd December.
I worked back until about 6 and then Ben picked me up.
Thursday 25/10/07
This was the day when I realised that what I was trying to do with the US online store was impossible. I was on the phone with Matt (who was very patient and very helpful) for about a half an hour figuring this out, and then I had to break the bad news to the bosses. That put me in a bad mood for the rest of the day—not only because I felt like I'd let them both down (which I know was nonsense but it didn't stop me feeling it!) but also because I'd have to undo part of what I'd just spent the last three days doing. Grr.
In the afternoon we had a Briefing meeting. I worked back late but Ben was a darling and made dinner.
Friday 26/10/07
After going through the stages of denial and then acceptance, I did the best I could with the US online store and the Matthias Media US site, then touched base with Tony about the December Briefing (because he was flying out to the US for the Gospel Growth vs. Church Growth conference the following day).
It was supposed to be Friday Thai Day but none of the AFES staff were around so we pushed it back a week. Elsie and I met at 1 to continue our studies in Cash Values, then I went off to counselling.
I came back to Kingsford to pick up Ben, then we drove home and had a quick dinner before I went out again to go to PEC Women's Fellowship. Naomi spoke about anger and we packed shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child (Marinka had been a darling and had bought stuff for both her and me). So those bags, hats, mittens and socks I made were finally put to the use they were intended for which made me very pleased! Afterwards, they helped me put all the packed shoeboxes in the car to take to work (because MM is a drop off point) and I went to pick up Ben from the boy thing he had been at.
Saturday 27/10/07
We slept in, then drove to Central to pick up Jenny (the daughter of the lady who used to babysit me and my brother), then took her to the Imperial Peking where we had yum cha with my dad, stepmother and brother. I gave Jenny the purple twisty scarf and hat that I had made for her birthday and she seemed to like them.
Afterwards, Ben and I drove home. I don't remember what I did in the afternoon—computer things, perhaps?—but it meant we left later than intended to go to a Church Missionary Society commissioning service for some friends who are going to Asia. It was a great service and it was great to see them again (we got to catch up briefly after the service). But Ben wasn't feeling too well so we left shortly after dinner, then came home and watched some movies together (Hellboy, which was very disappointing, and The Sweet Hereafter which was very sad but kept me thinking for ages afterwards. Sarah Polley has a lovely voice. Did you know she played the Story Girl in the Road to Avonlea TV series?)
Sunday 28/10/07
Daylight saving began but of course, even though it was in the calendar, I forgot. So we ended up sleeping in for longer than intended. This put me in a bit of a bad mood for the rest of the day. It may seem strange, but I felt like my opportunity to rest was wasted and I was better off doing work. So I spent the afternoon applying the redesign to the Matthias Media Australian site and Australian store. (What can I say; I like to start my week with a fresh task instead of having something else hanging over my head.)
But my bad mood, unfortunately, didn't improve by the time band practice rolled around. (I hate it when I'm in a bad mood for church. But often it gets to Sunday afternoon and I'm exhausted and don't want to go. And it's not that I don't enjoy church or the company of the people at church; I'm just cranky because it feels like the time at the end of the week when the new week's just about to begin and I'm not ready for it.)
Malcolm preached on “Jesus: Lord, Liar or Lunatic?”. Aftwards, I asked Ben if we could leave early so I could go home and sleep. And I resolved to work a 4.5 hour day the following day.
Monday 29/10/07
My goals for the day was simple: format and clean all the stuff for the December Briefing, then leave at 1pm. I managed to do this (and I even edited the WordWatch!), and I went home and made myself noodles with cream and chicken soup for lunch, then watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer and was restful for the rest of the day.
Tuesday 30/10/07
My goal for the day was to edit the four-page article for the issue. If I had time, I'd go onto one of the smaller articles. But I didn't have time.
I also made sure I left right on 4 instead of staying back so I could do laundry and blog about emotions before going off to Bible study. (Blogging is restorative for me. That's why I'm telling you about my month.)
Wednesday 31/10/07
My goal for the day was to edit the three-page article for the issue. I ended up doing the five-page one (which I thought had been done but it was 200 words over so I chopped it and gave it the Karen editorial treatment) and I think I managed to get to the three-pager in the end but I was struggling.
Ben had the car so I had caught public transport. I was determined to leave at four, though, so I cut short my lunch break by 15 minutes so I could get the bus early and go home. I don't remember what I did in the evening: probably watch Spicks & Specks and The Chaser with Ben.
Thursday 1/11/07
It was the first of the month, so December Briefing editing had to be laid aside in favour of November Briefing administrivia. I also had to do the staff devotion so I made everyone look at 1 Peter 2:9-3:22. And I got a letter in the paper.
I stayed back at work late, then drove to Moore College for the Moore Women end-of-year dinner. I was one of the first to show up, so I spent a bit of time standing around alone in the foyer. Then some other college wives showed up so I started talking to them. A number of them were fourth year and it was good to get their reflections on what fourth year was like for them and for their husbands.
I was on a table with a whole bunch of third year wives and it was good to catch up with them. I felt a bit out of place because, unlike your typical Moore Women woman, I wan't a mum and I hadn't been to Moore Women all year. But I still enjoyed it, and afterwards I was able to chat with a few old friends who are wives in other years.
Friday 2/11/07
Back at work again and my goal was to edit at least half of the Bible Brief. By this stage, I was completely Briefing-ed out and going a little crazy; I've never had to do so much for a single issue because Tony's normally there to share the editing load. The morning was also a little frenzied because tickets to the 2008 Sydney Festival went on sale and, alerted by Guan, I managed to snare tickets for Andrew Bird (we're going with Malcolm and Bec), Joanna Newsom (I'm going with Rosey) and Sufjan Stevens (well, Guan booked those, and I'm not going; he's going with Ben and Bec. Poor Haoran misses out because of beach mission).
Elsie and I met up once again to read the Bible and do Cash Values. Then at 3 I left for counselling. Ben wasn't in because he had a Philosophy exam so I drove straight home afterwards. We got invited out that night but I wasn't keen to go so I stayed home (and I think Ben went).
Saturday 3/11/07
I think this one was another sleep-in-and-potter-around-the-house sort of day. In the evening, I went to the first of three hen's nights for the month (which also contains three weddings and one talk for women's fellowship, plus Ben's exams). It was for Little Rachel and it took place at Tamana's on Top—the top part. Ben dropped me off because I was worried about parking. I got to catch up with some people I hadn't seen in a long while, including a couple of college girls. But I was also getting a bit sick (cold, I think), so I was also a bit out of it. I certainly didn't join in the dancing that happened a little later in the evening when this Indian girl came out to do the Bollywood thing.
Afterwards, we went up to the Ice & Slice for dessert (I had one of their excellent hot chocolates!) and then Ben picked me up.
Sunday 4/11/07
This day was another excellent day of pottering which was probably very good for me.
Monday 5/11/07
Monday marked the beginning of Stuvac for Ben so he was in every day at college studying in the library. College is very nice and provides students with lunch during this period so he didn't have to worry about food.
At work, I was finishing off the latter half of the Bible Brief, getting approvals from the authors and making changes accordingly and writing the “In this issue” text (which is the hardest bit). I was rostered on to cook for dinner on Tuesday night at Bible study (i.e. dinner for 30 people plus 8 kids) but I couldn't be bothered doing the grocery shopping, so I just went home.
Tuesday 6/11/07
Tony was back in the office. He finished off the very last bits of the December Briefing and read over my “In this issue” for me. So the whole thing was just about ready to go to layout by the afternoon (except for one article which I couldn't do anything about). I left an hour early to go grocery shopping and prepare dinner for Bible study. (I did it at home because I don't like the church kitchen.)
Ben came home in the late afternoon to help me cart it all off to church. This meant we arrived a little later than when we normally start dinner but it was okay. The Vietnamese noodle salad I made was well-received, though I should have probably made some more because people went back for seconds but there wasn't enough.
Ben led Bible study afterwards and we looked at Deuteronomy.
Wednesday 7/11/07
This was my first day off in about three weeks. (Yay!!!) I slept in, then spent the day doing laundry, cleaning and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer (end of Season 3) and Underworld.
In the evening we went to where FEVA's new offices are now located (but they haven't quite moved in yet because the rooms still need to be painted) and helped Judith with folding and collating packs of Christmas cards. A bunch of other people from church were also there. We got Thai food for dinner and worked steadily from 6 to 10:30. I think I folded about 2,000 cards and put about 500 of them into packs of four, eight, 24 and 40 with envelopes. I was pretty stuffed after that and groaned at the thought of having to go to work the following day.
Thursday 8/11/07
Back at work, I struggled to finish off the rest of the December Briefing, then moved onto doing various other Briefing admin. Tickets for St. Jerome's Laneways Festival went on sale, and after much umm-ing and aah-ing (and Guan pulling out-ing), I decided to get tickets for both of us as an anniversary/Valentine's day present to each other. I figured it would be a fun thing to do together, and there are so many bands that Ben likes playing: Gotye, Feist, The Panics, Okkervil River, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.
In the afternoon, I went to Elsie's for her surprise birthday afternoon tea. I gave her the present I'd bought her at Trendyland in Hong Kong (it was a Little Twin Star blanket for her bed). Her housemates had made lots of delicious food, and we sat around eating it and talking, and going through the funny books Elsie had (e.g. “The Christian Girl's Guide to Getting a Husband”—I think it was called that).
I left at 6 pm to go home and have dinner with Ben, then spent the evening watching Buffy and the extra features on Underworld. Ben's computer has been on the blink lately so he's been using mine.
Friday 9/11/07
At work, I did more Briefing work (chasing people for articles) and preparing stuff for Tony for Briefing thinking day on Monday. It's interesting: the Briefing takes up most of my time and energy at work, but people do not associate me with The Briefing. Which is fitting because it's not like my name is on the cover of every issue, and most of the work I do is behind the scenes. I guess I only mention this because sometimes, when it comes to The Briefing, I feel like I'm invisible—like I'm not part—or have no part—in it at all because I didn't write anything in it (apart from the occasional article or CHN). I'm not saying I want to have my name on every issue; I just want to not feel invisible or overlooked, or like I haven't contributed anything to it at all. I hope that makes sense.
Elsie and I met up to do more Cash Values (I'm really enjoying these studies. They're fantastic stuff and they really get you thinking hard about money and how Christians are to use it). I left at 3 to go to counselling and the traffic was so good, I got there by 3:30. I went to the Macquarie Centre and exchanged some unopened fishnet stockings for those in the right size (the sales lady was nice and let me do it without a receipt). I also bought some mushrooms, muesli and sockettes (they're to wear with my ballet-like shoes).
Counselling was good but left many things unresolved. On the way home in the car I listened to the Afghan Whigs. Once again I didn't have to pick up Ben but it still took nearly an hour to get home. Ben and I were both pretty exhausted so we turned down all invitations and spent the evening at home. We started watching Best in Show which I had never seen before. Ben was suffering from particularly bad back pain, though, so we soon called it quits and went to bed.
Saturday 10/11/07
Another lazy day, and I can't work out why I can't get enough of them. Our internet connection was down so I spent the day doing things which had been hanging around on my To Do list for a long time (like revising my prayer cards).
In the evening, I had my second hen's night for the month. It was for Ben's cousin Lisa. I was a little worried about how it would go; it was a little strange that I was going, given that neither Ben's sister nor sister-in-law could make it (I thought it sounded fun: three-course dinner, karaoke and dancing). But Ben's cousin Megan and cousin-in-law Fiona came and picked me up. We parked on Sussex St and walked three blocks to The Retro. We'd been asked to come dress in 80s disco, and my attempt was a little Boy George-ish (hair parted on the side with a black hat, red Saba jacket, black top, short black skirt, fishnet stockings and knee-high leather boots). Someone called out something to that effect as we walked past so I must have been successful.
Dinner was in the basement part of The Retro and there was about six different hen's nights taking place. Lisa's friends were very friendly, and totally got into the karaoke. One of them even persuaded me to sing (I thought the kind of song I wanted to sing wasn't really suitable for that environment but she said “Who cares?”). So I sang “Another White Dash” by Butterfly Boucher which no-one had ever heard of but it's my favourite track on Flutterby. (There were some strange things on that karaoke list; you don't expect to find songs from A Little Night Music mixed in with your standard ABBA, Gloria Gaynor and Aretha Franklin.)
At 10 pm we headed upstairs to the second level where there was crowds of people dancing to 80s music. They had those ultraviolet lights which turn bright colours fluoro, and little round stages so people could get up and dance above the throng. I'm a terrible dancer but I enjoy dancing when I get to do it and when I feel comfortable with the people I'm dancing with, and I had fun dancing there with Lisa's friends and cousins. And though I'm not into 80s music, the selection wasn't too bad—Belinda Carlisle, Whitney Houston, The Jacksons and Michael Jackson. The only down side was the creepy guys who kept trying to dance with us; they'd sidle up and grab our hands, and we'd turn our backs on them and hope they'd go away.
One of Lisa's friends gave me a card for a free spin on the Jack Daniels wheel, and though I didn't win a prize, the girl let me have a beanie which I later gave to Ben. We left at around 11, and then Megan and Fiona dropped me home.
Sunday 11/11/07
We slept in again, then drove to Central to pick up Jenny again. I should have checked my phone earlier; she messaged to say the trains weren't running and she had to catch a bus so she would be late. I called her and said we'd come get her, so we drove north and picked her up, then drove south to my mother's. In the end, we weren't that late for lunch (which was yummy curry chicken and other things made by Peter). My mum gave me some plastic stitch markers she'd gotten for me in Canada, and I restrung one of her necklaces for her (but the wire was too stiff so I'll have to do it again).
We drove home soon after lunch so Ben could study for his exams, and I spent the afternoon watching So You Think You Can Dance? (ooh! So good!) and House. I was feeling pretty drained by the time church rolled around but I wasn't on anything on the roster. Cameron preached an excellent sermon on Deuteronomy 23:19-25:19 which turned out to be really relevant because it was about possessions and loving people more than things. And instead of getting frantically involved in pack-up, Fish and I just stood and chatted about punctuation and grammar while pack-up happened around us, and just pitched in at the end.
Monday 12/11/07
It was Briefing thinking day, but somehow little tasks just kept coming up so I didn't get onto The Daily Reading Bible (Volume 14) until rather late in the day (and I'm now ahead of schedule! Woohoo!) Tony and I had a meeting in the afternoon and then I left to pick Ben up after his New Testament 3 exam (he said it was okay) and do the grocery shopping. It was time to buy another 25kg bag of rice, and together we got it up the stairs and into our flat.
After suffering from withdrawals all weekend having had no internet, it was nice when it was finally working again, but it kept dropping out and frustrating me.
Tuesday 13/11/07
Work today was much like work yesterday: lots of little tasks cropping up so I never quite got to the things on my To Do list until the very end of the day. I was still productive, though!
I left at four to come home and blog this. Then we went to dinner and Bible study (Ben led and helped us think about how Christians ought to think about the law from Galatians 3. It really came together for me about halfway through the study which was great!) and now I'm back finishing off this post.
There. I've gotten it out of my system. Thanks for bearing with me if you've gotten this far!
Current:
Bible: Isaiah (ESV) 28/09/2010
seen: Tropic Thunder 26/09/2010
seen: The Life of Mammals 24/09/2010
seen: What a Girl Wants 19/09/2010
seen: Jerry Maguire 19/09/2010
seen: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 06/09/2010
seen: Tomorrow Never Dies 05/09/2010
seen: Nanny McPhee 28/08/2010
read: Mercury (Hope Larson) 27/08/2010
read: Spellcheckers Vol 1 (Jamie S Rich, Nicolas Hitori de, Joelle Jones) 16/08/2010
read: Solipsistic Pop Vol 2 (Solipsistic Pop) 16/08/2010
read: Chiggers (Hope Larson) 15/08/2010
seen: Josie and the Pussycats 14/08/2010
seen: Mr & Mrs Smith 14/08/2010
seen: Step Up 2 13/08/2010
Blinks:
How to recalibrate the home button on your iPhone.
Unsolicited manuscripts accepted by Pan Macmillan with certain conditions.
Thought Balloon is a group blog in which the writers tackle a new theme every week? month? with one-page scripts. This URL is for their Phonogram ones.
How to sew a zipper on a knitted garment.
Issues organised by tale.
Online magazine that publishes fairy tales that are not reworkings of old tales.
Journal that publishes fairy tale writing.
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“The only down side was the creepy guys who kept trying to dance with us; they’d sidle up and grab our hands, and we’d turn our backs on them and hope they’d go away.”
My only nightclub experience was at a Cuban nightclub in London, and I was amused by this kind of thing. You’ve got a group of girls dancing, and random guys around the edges trying to break into the circle. I did what you did - kept my hands to myself and hoped they got the message!