For got to mention a couple of things

Oh yeah, yesterday I forgot to mention a couple of things, so here goes:

Tonight (Saturday) daylight savings comes into effect here in Victoria. I can't remember what the date is that it changes in New Zealand, but here it is tonight. So if anyone calls or texts or whatever, remember that we are going BACK one hour so the time difference will now be three hours.

And for those who got my text about my amazing technicolour puke. I now present for you the full story, with pictures.

So on Thursday night after the meeting, Mrs B and I decided to sit down and have some watermelon and rockmelon. The watermelon we had in the fridge had already been attacked by us, so there was only a little wedge left. So we chopped this up along with the rockmelon and chowed down.

The rockmelon was yummy, as was most of the watermelon, but some of it tasted funny. Instead of being crisp it was a little bit softer than normal. Never mind, I finished it off. Mrs B had only rockmelon as she prefers that (weirdo). So there you have it.

About twenty minutes later. I sat bolt upright on the couch as my stomach started doing backflips. I knew that feeling. Hadn't had it for a long time. Tried my best to keep it down and get my mind on other things. But, much like the arrival of a baby, when the time comes, you have no control. I raced to the bathroom, got on my knees and puked and puked and puked. All watermelonish pink and mushy. Then it came to an end. Then I puked and puked some more.

On this second round, on one of the back arching hurls, my eyes felt like something had been injected into them and my vision went pink. Now I have heard that when snipers concentrate so long on a target before firing, they get 'the pink mist' from the pressure on their eye. I am no sniper, and the water and spew in the bottom of the toilet was a fairly easy target so I quickly discounted this as a cause.

However, when I had finished up and was checking for damage in the mirror, to my horror, by eyes were blood red. Not bloodshot, blood red. Like a zombie.

I was a little concerned, but not in pain, so like any kiwi bloke, I went to bed with out giving it another thought. The next morning, the blood had receded a lot. By mid morning it had disappeared behind my eyelids. By the end of the day, it looked thus:

Hmm. Yes. And so ends my adventures. I guess I will have to be more careful with my watermelon next time!

Fridays...

You gotta love them!

They bring the week to an end and open up the weekend festivities. Today should fly past and then we are straight into it.

Tomorrow night we have a congregation dinner and games thing which we are all looking forward to. Its a little bit of a pat on the back for the massive effort we have been putting in for the FS this last month. Very nice.

Apart from that we will be doing as little as possible. It has been a busy week / month at work culminating in me be nominated the employee of the month second month running. Woohoo!

Anyway, I better get ready for the day ahead.

Take care everyone.

The rapping flight attendant...

Just spotted this on news.com.au. A flight attendant on his fifth flight for the day deciding to rap the in-flight safety announcement instead of the usual boring presentation.

Check it out:



Here is the article:

http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,28318,25199543-5014090,00.html

Oh yeah, and I think I got busted by a speed camera tonight...

Black Hawk down

Well I certainly had myself an interesting day today.

I was minding my own business driving down the highway when there was this almighty roar and rumble from above. I looked out of my window in time to see six Black Hawk army helicopters sweeping through the sky at a very low level. They are awesome machines, and to see them so low and so close was quite impressive. I found out later that the Special Forces are doing a training exercise at the moment around the city. Urban ops was the order of the day.

Then later I arrive back at the office and swing into the driveway, and who should be there crouching down picking up the pieces or a dropped cellphone? Rove McManus! Hard case. We share our building and carpark with Rove's offices. We are at one end and they are at the other. I have been there for just over three months and finally I have seen him. Lucky I didn't run him over!

And then, at 4.29pm there was an earthquake!

Melbourne - the city that keeps on giving.

Philosophical musings

I sit now with light piano based jazz tinkling on the stereo. Its cool outside today, a threat of rain. The song ends, a cymballic intro to the next song begins fading into an electronic beat with sad trumpetic wailings in the background. This music is, as it happens, reflecting my mood. Some deep pulses intertwined with some upbeat grooves backed by a progressive beat. This music to my ears is indeed music to my ears.

To my left is the big grey edifice of the building where my client resides. To my right the skeletal structure of a building still in the throes of being born. In front of me, down the hill on the freeway, a thousand thousand metal beasts jockeying for position. Why does their postion mean so much to them since they are all in the same jam going at the same pace? It is the same with life. We all push and pull only to find that we are the same as all the others. We have slight variations in theme and appearance, but when you strip back everything, there we are, naked and the same.

On the footpath next to me an Italiam mama wobbles held upright by the handcart she pushes in front of her. Her face wizened and crevassed by the rampaging years. What events and happenings have passed before those clouding eyes?

As she struggles toward her unknown destination a looming figure rises behind her. A businessman scowls down from his height at this woman in his way. His belly hangs over the front of his belt like a muffin over its paper wrapper. Plump and on the edge of obesity he cares little for her plight nor her experiences in life. Probably, she could teach him much were he humble enough to listen. But no, in this fraction of time, he veers around her missing out on the opportunity of expanding his horizons. The opportunity is forever lost.

Do we grab hold of opportunites that are before us? Do we see them as opportunities? Or are we so caught up in the jam busy jockeying for position to see them for what they really are? They may seem inconsequential, yet at their core, they are very consequential.

It is up to us to make the choice. No-one else can choose for us. The choices we make flow onwards from that point in time to eternity. The choices we have to make must be wise and considered carefully. Never presumptuously jumped in to. Never pushed to one side.

Stop and think. Think well. By making wise and well thought out decisions we bring wa to our life. Wa is harmony. It is a smoothness to our existence. It calms us and moves us deep within. It gives us the character and hardiness to continue. It gives us what we need to face up to each day. One way we get wa is by making strong decisions based on reality. It gives us strength.

Be nice to everyone you meet. Treat each person as if they were holy.

The weekend!

Life goes on at a million miles an hour here. The weeks just fly past and then after what seems like a 5 minute break we are into the next week. February has been a busy month for us. We have had our Circuit Overseer's visit, our circuit assembly and Jim and Susi were in Melbourne for a week. Busy, busy, busy.

It was great to catch up with Jim and Susi. We haven't seen them since they left NZ to move to Darwin. They are currently on their way around Australia. I'm so jealous, they have been to some amazing places. They stayed with some friends on the other side of the city, but we managed to catch up twice during the week they were here. On Monday night last week we had them over to our house and we had a massive feed of nachos. So yum. High five to Mrs B for a great brew. Then on Wednesday we met in the city and went to Lygon Street to our favourite haunt called Mercadante. We have been there a number of times since we first came to Melbourne in August (for my interview) and have never been disappointed. It is an Italian place that specialises in my favourite food - wood fired pizzas. Yum yum.

After going there we went up the road to a chocolate cafe where they serve everything drizzled in the most amazing chocolate. In the fact the hot chocolate you order to drink is exactly that, chocolate that is so hot it has melted and been poured into a cup and topped off with cream.

Oh so very decadent.

The Circuit Assembly was fantastic. We were very impressed with the quality of the talks and speakers. The Aussies have a very down to earth way of speaking from the platform, but done in such a way that reaches our hearts. The District Overseer is hilarious, when he came out for his first talk, the first ten minutes was basically a stand up comedy routine as he regaled us with stories of their travels around Aussie and the Timor Islands. He is very funny and has a gift for getting important points across. The Circuit Overseer is a bit of a larrakin too. He has a cheeky smile and a great sense of humour. He is very good at making comparative illustrations. He often doesn't have to say his point directly as we have already figured it out from his illustration. Jolly good skills I say.

The assembly hall itself is fantastic. It is on a massive section out in the country in the town of Melton, about 40 minutes from where we are. The grounds are park-like and well maintained and there is tonnes of space for the kids to run around safely during the lunch breaks. The hall sits 1700 and we had about 1600 in attendance.

The rain we have had in the last week has really helped with the fires. There is now only one major fire going so the firies can focus their attention more directly on it. Still no brothers or sisters majorly affected by it, just a couple of homes destroyed. Pretty amazing when you consider that there are more than 200 dead and 2000 homes destroyed. Scary stuff.

Anyhoo, I have the rest of the day to go to the beach and read a book so I best be off!