I was recently introduced by Miss Abuan to this site called givesmehope. These stories make me cry hardout haha. It's tagline is "Like FML, but for optimists" These stories are uplifting, but let me tell you about my eternal hope; one that will never fade ...

Hey guys. I stumbled upon this site called operation beautiful and I think it's a great initiative. As cliche` as it sounds beauty does come from within but I think in today's society it is so easy to forget & these serve as good little reminders. I wrote my first one last night at youth :)


So grab your sharpies and post-its and get posting beautiful people :) Let's bring it to Australia and spread the love ♥

When: Saturday 31st October
Theme: Medieval
Where: Anglican Church, North Parramatta


This was the first time I've dressed up for a costume party (well besides my cat costume for Halloween last yr lols) but yeah it was an awesome night. Thanks Kristen for the ride, even though we got "minorly" lost on the way there and back. It was great seeing everyone in their fancy medieval dress and awesome meeting new people; Libby, Jasmine, Sir David, Elizabeth and Jarryd (awesome team work popping balloons :P)

Today was the final day of university for 2009 ~ WOOOOO !! Hence, why I am blogging :) Btw, I edited the last entry ... I told you I would :P hehe Wow, this year has gone extremely fast. The past week has been pretty hektik ! I had my Renaissance to Impressionism exam today ... it was okay, we had to study six paintings and then two would be drawn out of a hat for a compare and contrast essay. The two that were drawn out were Jan Steen - The Christening Feast and William Joseph Mallord Turner - The Steamer in a Snowstorm. Although I would have preferred Renoir's dance at the Moulin Galette, but oh well It's over =D

I also had my MVC assignment due today - but I knuckled down and got it done by Wednesday night ^^ I actually went to the Ward Library over in Werrington and picked out books to write down notes. I like the ward library, the space over there was good to study in with minimal distractions ... maybe I'll go there to study during STUVAC ... it's just the travel to get there that is a bit offputting, but I guess if I get work done there it will be worth it? Unless anyone wants to drive me ? :P

I attended the 11-1pm Maths Tutorial today due to a suggestion of one of my class mates, can't believe I didn't think of it haha, who would wanna stick around till 1-3pm anyway ><" After class I walked by the window and noticed how pretty it was outside ... who knew there was something so beautiful in my uni hehe



KIMMY! ♥ My little caterpillar of society =P hehe. It was good seeing you again ... twice :) (The photo was the second time) Good seeing Chipendo at Werrington and catching up. Seeing Priya and Tun and finally catching the train with Mack haha, thanks for the fries ! Also Gelo, thanks for helping me find books (which was fail) but at least we made a random friend ; Damian roflmaos.
Also good seeing Eli, Ayo, Carlo, Stephy, Elo [lovely catch up ♥] and the rest of the MHS kids. Hang in there HSC kids, it's almost over!

Thanks Kevin, for that charming entry! But yeah, as Kevin mentioned ... I have a job now :) & you won't get Kevin's attempted joke if you don't know where I work ... it actually sounds kinda bad haha. Also, belated congrats to the graduates of 09! Time just flies aye?


I know I said I'd be back soon ... guess that didn't happen hehe. Assignments never seem to end - it's just one after the other ... and there are also so many distractions in life & conveniently, this post is going to be about ... distractions ...
My trusty little Macquarie Dictionary defines distractions as ...


It seems to be that everything in life tries to distract me from God. Sad, but true. It's always something ... "I gotta do this ... I gotta do that" bla bla. Life is filled with countless (pointless) distractions. Sometimes I find myself settling for entertainment or amusement when there is something so much better. 

Distractions are seen in ... riddles. I love riddles but it's so annoying when I just can't seem to figure them out! I remember one youth night Lizzy showed us the "How many horses just went by" riddle. We stood outside for aaaaages trying to figure it out and it got so frustrating! One by one the riddle was solved, leaving the people who hadn't figured it out yet (aka me) feeling relatively dumb haha. Some people fluked the right answer a couple of times (haha BJ!) but didn't really get it. I ended up getting it in the end, but only because Jasmine simplified it for me haha.

That's how riddles usually work aye? They have added movements, words, emphasisis, distractions to divert our attention away from what's really important. Those that can solve a riddle quickly are usually those that can cast distractions aside (hence why I suck! :P) There's so many more examples ... like "Johnny woops" that took me like ... a year to get! -_-" I didn't even get the "Bang bang bang, who did I shoot" riddle or the "Man on the Moon" one - I was told the answer haha cause I got impatient :P But yeah, once you do know the answer it's so obvious, you notice it straight away and it seems so ... simple, you wonder how you didn't get it earlier!

Distractions make us forget, what we said we'd do etc "No more compromise", "I'm back for good now", "I'll do it after I finish (insert assignment, exam etc here)." Sound familiar? & the thing is that they can be multiple small distractions or big distractions, no matter what, they produce the same effect; they make us lose focus of what is really important (hence the image ... which kinda hurts my eyes lol) Sometimes I think we welcome and even create distractions for ourselves. Distractions might work in a case ... let's say ... where you need to go to the toilet but there aren't any facilities around and you are trying to distract yourself from thinking about the need to pee (poo). Haha charming example ... I know. But I don't think my life should be filled with distractions.

Life just becomes so overcomplicated and we try to do too much. I remember in year six I was a prefect (canteen duty, shop duty, flag duty, assembly duty), librarian, in the debating team, doing keyboard lessons twice a week in the school choir group and in the Australian Girls Choir. Wow! I did a lot ... but I still felt empty inside, cause I wasn't satisfied, cause I didn't have the Christ, with me in my life (haha!) ... and nothing seemed to matter.

I guess in a way this post relates to Nikki's post about simplicity and just taking the time to sit at His feet in awe and amazement. That's what I love about my hill; getting away from it all ... with only minimal distractions ... a few cars passing by, a few birds singing in the trees, a few random cats and dogs lols.

I don't want to get distracted and lose focus of the most important thing in my life.

P.S. I'll probably edit this post later, I usually end up editing posts lol. If only I could do as much editing on my assignments as I do on my posts :P

[edit October 30th] Haha It's been ages but yeah I feel like this needs editing - and I was meant to like ages ago but got ... distracted :P So where was I, I guess it is also like a computer, the more programs you have running, the slower the whole thing runs. Sometimes we're just trying to do too much and just get so rundown and burnt out. I remember when I was first using Reg's Mac I accidentally opened everything on his desktop (noob I know) and it lagged heaps, so we had to restart it. Sometimes we gotta "restart" thanks be to God that He always offers us a fresh new start. [/edit]

GOD IS SO GOOD !

Hey guys and dolls,

Just filling in for Roni,
She has been working hard, bringing in the dough, not because She's making pizza but because she... likes ze monz.
She is really a Good Girl. aka should not work there...

Anyway, how are we all?
What does Roni talk about on this thing anyway...
I feel like a temp radio host, filling in for the main host.
Talking about radio hosts, Kyle Santy-lands is so... Aussie. That's all.

(8) Waiting for Denise.. waiting for deniseee... ohhh riight... (H)

Hey I have question. Do you believe in miracles? You sexy thang? :)
Please comment and rate.. wait this isn't Youtube. mwahahaha..

Anyway,
I'll leave you all to your daily habits, picking your nose, scratching your armpits, sweating like Roni does. :)

Your faithful tempy Blogger,

Kevin.

Silence: [sahy-luhns] - absence of any sound or noise; stillness.

This weeks Young Adults was a slap on the face for me ... a good one haha. One I think I was in need of. One that I hope has a lasting impression.

Why is it so hard for there to be silence these days? (You're probably listening to music as you read this now...right?) All day long we are engulfed by sounds ... don't get me wrong, I ♥ music ... but this hit me pretty hard. Sound is everywhere we go; the shopping centres; homes; cars. Why are we in constant need of entertainment?

My assumption is that silence is associated with awkwardness, i. e. awkward silence hehe. Or in movies, silence is used to build up suspense before something jumps out at cha!

The DVD we watched reminded us of the story "The Lord appears to Elijah"
(which was pretty cool because I had this story bookmarked in the days before and kept on coming back to it). Basically, sometimes we expect God to speak in the wind, earthquake and fire ...

We ask God for answers ... but are we even listening?? Or is all the other "noise" hindering us from hearing His voice? God shouldn't have to compete with all this other noise around us. It was also mentioned that, we break the silence because we want control over a situation.



I'm guessing that is why Jesus got up very very early (Mark 1:35). Mornings are quiet and still. That is the only reason why I love mornings before everyone else in the house has awoken. Hmm ... I wonder how early very very early was? o.O

Maybe, that's what I love so much about my hill. The silence (minus the buzzing power poles). The stillness. I went up there again for the first time in ages! I've missed it up there.


I wrote those lyrics a while back when I was up at the hill ... actually probably when I first started going on my walks, but it's funny ... was I really doing that? Answer: No. I find it hard to be silent, (sometimes scared I'd fall asleep haha) but this is something I definitely want to work on. We spent around 20 minutes being silent (Lectio Divino) at Young Adults and it was good, refreshing and definitely what I needed (& after all that silence we became really loud, rofls chinese whispers pictionary ... I suck at drawing).

---

This week has been a pretty hectic week ...not in the good sense either lol. I had three assignments due, because I am a genius for picking to do my MVC speech on the same week I have two other assignments due (because I saw the word 'comics' and I like comics. Archie & the gang ftw!) It was fun though, I made my own DBZ/pokemon, lego photo comic strip - haha it's so laaaame! Anyways today has been a pretty long day - I am glad break is here! Got another upcoming three assignments due; I'll get cracking soon ...

Last week in Prayer Meeting I was reminded about a story of one caught in a rip.
If you're caught in a rip, what is the first thing you do?
Cry out for help, right?!
What happens next?
A lifeguard comes to save you (hopefully, but for this analogy he comes to save you ...)
The lifeguard has to wait, wait until you stop struggling only then can he rescue you.

Kuya Duane also pointed out that we shouldn't really be "swimming out there alone" in the first place. I might add that you might swim out there with friends but what happens when they leave you? You might think they won't leave you ... but ... can you really guarantee that?

Sometimes I try to do things by my own effort and strength. I should realise ... that I can't do it, stop trying and trust in God. Are you in the same ...boat? (or lack there of) Swimming out there, getting tired, your own human strength is failing you [Psalm 73:26] ... Sink Think... about it ...