Blackout

Was anyone affected by the eastern suburbs blackout yesterday?

We were fine. Sometimes it pays off to live on the poor side of town:)

This Painting Makes Me Happy

George CLAUSEN Twilight: Interior (Reading by lamplight)

Ravenous

I've been trying to curb my appetite at dinner time.

I get so hungry during the day, and by the time I get home I'm starving, and eat about seventeen helpings. Obviously this isn't a real crash hot pattern, so I'm trying to work on filling up more in the arvo.

It's a problem that I realise has been there for a long time, stretching way back to here.

No Comment

I've just been reading a post and it's comments, and the general vibe was 'I hardly ever comment on blogs anymore because...'

This made me sad. I can understand a lot of the reasons. Arguments and misunderstandings arise when you don't mean them to. You put out valid thoughts and get no response. You say things that get taken the wrong way. It's hard to know how to take other people's comments when you can't read their tone. Etc etc.

I've worried a lot about all this too, and I do definitely get why people would stop commenting, but it still saddens me-- because for me, as someone with a blog, the best part of the whole thing is having interaction and feedback. I like having a place to spout my dumb thoughts, sure, but more than that I like the chatting part, and having a bit of a joke with people.

A blog with no comments is a lonely old place.

Y'know What's Bad?

When you bag out a cosmetics chain, and then a couple of weeks later your Dad gets employed as the company's accountant.

Whoops.

Playground Bully

Worryingly, Little e has become quite a scratcher and a pincher, and to our dismay has been a bit of a playground bully.

I don't mind so much her scratching me in the face, because it just makes me look tough(er than I already am) and battle-scarred. But when she grabs the faces of poor unsuspecting strangers, it is worrying.

On Saturday I took her to a playground, and she was having a bit of a chat with some kid, when out of nowhere little e just grabbed the kids face. Just like that. The kid goes 'Maaamaaaaa???!!', and I rushed in and pried the little talons loose. After much embarrassment and many apologies we got it sorted.

The strange thing is that she doesn't seem to do it out of anger or spite, but more as a testing of her power, or a curiosity: 'I wonder what will happen if I do this?' There's no malice on her face when she does it, but when she gets the kid crying you see a bit of a surprised 'wow, I truly am all powerful and can crush anyone who enters my realm of chaos' expression appear.

It is genuinely worrying though, and we don't know how to knock this thing on the head.

On A Roll

And even more excitingly I got my system all set up to work from home when I can. It's all gone well- bought a computer on ebay, photoshop on ebay and set up my fancy drawing tablet thing that I bought last year. Thanks Dad, for all your help.

It was a weekend to prove wrong all my doubters and tsk-tskers. A procrastinator no more.

BlackBerry

Those of you who get frustrated by my procrastination will be pleased to know that the BlackBerry I won a year and a half ago actually came out of the box on the weekend, and I am now using it.

The catalyst? Well, it only took living with a crap broken phone that didn't charge, and went blank all the time for a year. Why didn't I do it sooner? Well, I dunno. Why is the sky blue? Why does the caged bird sing?

All I know is, I'm feeling pretty swish with my BlackBerry, even though I don't really know how to work it.

it says I can email from it, but I have no idea how to get that set up. Also, can someone tell me what blue tooth is?

Bread Of Life

I went to an interesting and eye-opening thing early yesterday morning before church.

Me and a few other people from bible study went to a soup-kitchen type thing at Surrey Hills for homeless people, helping set up, cook and serve breakfast for about 50 people.

I was on baked bean/spaghetti duty, just serving out as each person came up with a plate. Then I sat at a table and tried as best I could to have a couple of conversations. It was pretty daunting.

It felt good to be of some practical use to these people, but it was pretty distressing to see the depths that some of them were at. One man must have come up about five times, each time taking about ten slices of toast.

Anyway, I'd like to do it again.

Round Three: Buttock Kickers

Tigers 40, Roosters 24

The great game on Friday night had me jumping around the room and sitting on the coffee table.

A good effort by the whole team, and Benji is looking much more solid at halfback.

*6th on ladder

The Spurge

'Our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but only empties today of its strength.'

Song Of The Week

'Blood Bank'

Bon Iver (2009)-- E bought me the new EP:)

Listen--

Thursday Night Warrior

You might think I'm a little strange, but last night I went and caught the late session of Friday The 13th (the remake) on my own.

E said to have a night out, so after dinner and stuff I drove excitedly to Burwood with my pre-prepared-much-cheaper-than-the-movies-party-mix-in-a-zip-lock-bag lollies and loud metal cd for the car.

I love horror movies, and have gotten into the routine of seeing them on my own, predominantly because nobody else likes them, but also because I like the extra scare-factor of being alone. I want my money's worth.

Anyways, me and the four other people in the cinema enjoyed it. It was suitably scary, and a pretty faithful remake of the 80's original.

Really the scariest part of the evening was when I got lost coming home. I took some dumb road where I couldn't turn right onto Parra rd, and then went off and took a million other wrong turns, ending up in some part of town I'd never seen before, finally finding my way home via Uluru.

No Home Phone?

We are considering giving up our home phone, and just having mobiles. Do you reckon this is an acceptable thing to do?

Our line has always been crap, and Telstra seem to always stuff us around. Our line hasn't worked at all for several days now.

My main hesitation is that when other people have done this it has seemed a mite selfish to me-- because people have no choice but to pay more if they need to call you.

I don't know. There seems to be pros and cons. What do you reckon?

Thursday Peanuts

A Bit of Embarressing Self-Realisation

I'm writing this less to share, and more just for my own 'documentation', but I realised my being very hard on myself actually stems from a positive view of myself, not a negative one.

I don't know whether this is evident, but I have a lot of self-belief, and a lot of ambition. I know what I am capable of on my best day, and have strong confidence in that. The reason why I continually get so down and defeatist is that I expect every day to be my 'best day'. I know I can do such and such, because I did such and such on this other occasion- therefore if I don't do that now, it is failure.

This attitude really runs through every aspect of my life. The obvious example at the moment is my speech -- I am blind to the positives because all I see is my 'best day' when I was in that controlled environment of the clinic-- but really it's much more far-reaching than just my speech.

Though this leads me to a lot of negativity and unhelpful 'self-talk', it is actually a trait that I like in myself, and am very grateful to have. I like that my ambitions are very big, and that I genuinely believe I can do big things. The road would have a lot less angst if I weren't like this, but I would also have no hope of reaching the heights I sincerely believe I can reach.

I am sure this sounds arrogant, and I accept that. I would rarely speak of this, except to my wife, for that very reason. But I genuinely think there is a big distinction between arrogance, and being sure of what you are capable of.

Speech Diary- Fifth Follow Up

I was non-plussed for the first time about going to my session yesterday. I have felt like I have been treading water, slowly sinking, and I was not eager to go in, just to get my hopes up again--knowing there would be the inevitable decline as soon as I left.

But, really, it has been a week of learning. All my hope has been pinned on this, making it a complete emotional roller coaster ride. But really my hope needs to be wholly in God. He is the only one that can give me what I need-- in this case endurance to carry on and just plug away.

This all may sound very negative, but I think I am gradually getting to a better place, where the highs and lows will be less polarised.

A Safe Distance

I found it funny that Kevin Rudd roused on the rogue bikies....from Washington.

I don't blame him at all-- if I was going to rouse on those psychos I'd want a safe distance between us too.

Blacklisted

Have you ever been on some body's group emailing list and wished with all your might that you weren't? Bing! Yay, I've got an email!... oh.. it's one of those from them.

Come and be the one person in the audience of my amateur play/bands gig at a hellhole of a pub/poetry recital/first cousin's step brother's daughters first ballet performance.

Maybe I'm meaner than most, and this may not bother you, but I actually kind of resent it. Especially when it's a person you never see, and this is the only contact there is.

I also hate that there is the flippant little disclaimer on the bottom saying 'just notify me if you don't want to receive these emails, and I'll happily remove your name' Yeah right. 'Happily',as they make a little doll that looks like you and stick pins into it's eyes.

They know as well as you do that you're never getting off that list.

Amen!

When I pray with little e, she exclaims 'Amen!' after every few words.

Either she is very devout and is wholeheartedly getting behind my prayer points, or else she is saying 'okay, enough of that, can we now do something that doesn't require me closing my eyes?'

My Friend

And speaking of my friend..

There was a time when he hated that show Desperate Housewives so passionately that he had to leave the room when his wife would watch it. He hated the sleazy characters, the annoying narration, and everything else about it.

However, last night my friend's wife went out, and he made sure he had put his little dau... ah.. son to bed, done the washing up, given himself a haircut and made himself a cuppa, all in time to sit down and watch Desperate Housewives uninterrupted.

Sometimes I am ashamed to even call him my friend.

Bikies

I think few groups of people are worthy of less respect than bikie gangs.

What happened at the airport the other day was just disgusting. In the words of Inspector Peter Williams, "It was a disgraceful act perpetrated by a group of cowards who believe they're tough".

There is something so pathetically adolescent about the whole thing-- 'Hey let's have a gang, and all dress in the same clothes, and meet in our cubby house.'

Men who don't know how to be real men, so they have to act like boys.

ps- To any bikie readers out there, in case you were wondering, my friend wrote this post, not me.

O My Soul

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

--Psalm 42:11

Mystery Day

E planned a mystery day for saturday-- I had no idea what we were doing. We drove down the coast to Stanwell Park, and E had packed picnic gear and BBQ stuff. It was a really great day:)

Stuff Christians Like

#507- The Sound Guy Neck Crane.

Heh:)

Round 2: Hammered

Cowboys: a gazillion, Tigers: 2.

The Spurge

“Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it.

There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.”

Song Of The Week

'Queen Of The Night'

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(The Magic Flute) 1791

Listen--

The Very Hungry Google

I love the Eric Carle designed logo that Google has up today. Awesome.

Thursday Peanuts

Speech Diary- Fourth Follow Up

Really good session yesterday. Talked about not writing off a day because I have a few bad patches, but rather to look at the mistakes, and then move on. Also found I have been trying to be too 'natural', too soon-- like trying to run when you've only been walking a few days. Really encouraging.

Gummed

Ever wondered what it would feel like to be bitten by a toothless shark? Neither had I, but I found out this morning when my train ticket was deemed invalid and the gate things rammed shut around my legs as I was walking through.

Choking back the tears I put on my best 'that didn't hurt a bit' face and continued on my journey.

Curse thee, stupid gate things, to the lake of fire.

My Friend

Do you suppose it's wrong for my friend to look down his nose a little bit at people on the train reading Twilight? He also did this when he'd see every second person reading Harry Potter and The Da Vinci Code, in their heydays.

It's not (he tells me), so much about the quality or content of the books, but more because EVERYONE is reading the exact same thing.

Is my friend a snob?

Gloria, Gloria, Gloria.

For a lark I decided to give Gloria Jeans a try this morning. Gotta say, very unimpressed. Nearly $4 for a bad, weak and tasteless flat white? Not happy.

I thought the one good thing about these big businesses was that though the quality is a bit touch and go, the prices are low (case in point McDonalds).

Never again, Gloria.

Speech Diary

It hasn't been the best few days.

I feel like I have started a thousand mile marathon, and am running very low on energy, confidence and momentum, after about ten metres. Things I was managing a couple of weeks ago are getting harder again.

Very glad I have a follow up session this afternoon.

Go You Mighty(ish) Tigers

Round 1:

Wests Tigers 34, Raiders 26

Good stuff!!

An Experiment

I don't feel like eating before I leave in the morning. It's dark, I'm tired, and the thought of breakfast turns my stomach. But by the time I get to work, I could eat a horse, and wish I had access to the toast and eggs I left at home.


So this morning I tried an experiment.

Method: Before I left home, I soft boiled two eggs, whisked them quickly out of the water and wrapped them in two layers of foil. Then when I got to work, I made toast, and had my two soft boiled eggs.

Findings: Overall, the experiment was a success. The egg consistency was perfect- nice and runny on my toast. The temperature was, well, a moderate success. An hour and a half had reduced the egg to luke warm at best. But I can work on this. I have the technology. That coupled with my deeply scientific mind will light a way to the future.

Goal: To be eating a full big brekky at my desk, by 2011. Step #1 completed.

My Friend

So I've got this friend.

He's on the kitchen roster team for Wednesday at his workplace. This means he, along with a few others from various departments on the floor, is responsible for keeping the kitchen clean and packing/unpacking the dishwasher that day.

This is a foul job, as the office is filled with numbnuts who have their Mummies to clean up after them at home. Plates are messily strewn everywhere. Teabags on the floor. Corn kernels and lumps of old tuna in the sink. Honey on the bench. Splattered left-overs in the microwave.

Now my friend does not fulfill his duty very often. But before you are harsh and judgemental of him, let me explain his well thought out reasoning. He has a very live-off-the-land, naturalistic view of the work kitchen. If he uses a plate, he immediately hand-washes it, dries it, and puts it away. If he uses the bench, he wipes it afterwards. He doesn't use the dishwasher. He is a mere will-o-the-wisp, leaving not a trace on the environs on which he treads.

So, what my friend wants to know, is whether he is justified in this. Must he conform to a society that leaves tuna in the sink? Can he make himself exempt by disassociating himself? Or is he bound by some crap moral code which panders to monkeys who can't tidy up after themselves?

Go Tiges

The Tigers start their season tonight.

It'd be good if they sucked a little less this year.

I Shop Therefore I Am

Lateish on Saturday night I was grumping because I had a lot to try and squeeze into the following day, one of those things being doing the groceries. And, as I was having my cup of tea, at about 9, it struck me-- hey, I could go and do the dumb groceries NOW!

So I drove out in that psycho thunderstorm and pretty much had the whole of Ashfield Coles to myself. I had a good old metal album blaring in my headphones, as I wandered through the empty aisles. A good Saturday night pastime- I'd recommend it.

I like doing thoughtful things for Tomorrow Ben. Even though it's hard and tiresome for Today Ben, Tomorrow Ben is very grateful to him.

The Weekend

How was your weekend? Mine was okay, although it felt whirl-wind fast, and with way less downtime than I wanted. Filled it with some good things though-- watched some footy on Friday with a mate, went to a marriage/parenting seminar on Saturday, church, cleared out my vegetable patch.

Gotta say, I'm not really feeling very rested though. What I would love is a day to myself. I'd go on a longish drive, maybe down the coast, or up the mountains, find somewhere nice and just sit and read my book, ALL DAY. That's what I want to do.

The Spurge

'For we as lost sheep were so desperately lost, and had wandered into such a strange country, that it did not seem possible that even the Good Shepherd should track our devious roamings.

Glory be to unconquerable grace, we were sought out! No gloom could hide us, no filthiness could conceal us, we were found and brought home. Glory be to infinite love, God the Holy Spirit restored us!'

Stuff White People Like #122

Moleskine Notebooks.

Heh, this is funny:) Guilty as charged, I'm afraid.

Song Of The Week

'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out'

The Smiths (1986)

Listen--

Tonight

Got any plans for tonight?

E's going out with her friends, so I'm having a night in with little e. After she goes down, I plan to watch two consecutive, uninterrupted games of football (the season starts tonight). I may also include Thai and beer in the mix, depending on my mood. Then a cup of tea and a row of Aldi rum and raisin chocolate, just for lol's. I'm excited.

What are you gonna do?

That Crazy Gen Y Are At It Again

I heard a couple of gnarly youths use the term "just for lol's" yesterday.

It's all getting out of hand.

Thursday Peanuts

Pro-Discrimination

Y'know, sometimes a little discrimination in the work place is neccessary.

Do you know that hippy cosmetics company called Lush? You can smell their shops from about a decade away, and they sell soap in massive, weird shaped, unmanageable blocks, that you couldn't possible wrangle in the shower. They are also all organic and peace-loving.

Anyway, in this one particular outlet near my work, I am continually baffled by the women who work there. Every one that I've seen have been kinda gothish looking, black clothes, dyed black birds nest hair, pasty skin, tattoos and piercings behind every corner, and well, pretty much built like front-rowers.

What is happening here? Is this a company policy? Use the clinically unwashed to sell soap? I am baffled. Angry, and baffled. Why, this is like a butcher shop that only hires vegetarians. Or...ummm.. what's a good one.. A tanning salon that only hires albinos.

What's this crazy mixed up world coming to? Discriminate, people, discriminate!

Speech Diary-Third Follow Up

Had another really good session yesterday arvo. I'll be sad to finish up my follow ups in four weeks time-- I wish they could go on indefinitely. I need to find a support group to fill that void.

Worked on speaking over loud background noise, and did lots of role plays. Good stuff.

Accessorizing

Metal Is Biblical

In the song Creeping Death (1984), Metallica put the first thirteen or so chapters of Exodus to music, and it's very, very awesome.

Scoff at me loving metal, if you like, but this is Biblical.

'Now--Let my people go, land of Goshen
Go--I will be with thee, bush of fire
Blood--Running red and strong down the Nile
Plague--Darkness three days long, hail to fire..'

Removal Of The Lids

'We are all pretty much what we are going to be early in our lives. Our personalities and characteristics are established, usually by the time we are five or six years old, but the lids are on.

We are like boiling pots on a stove, and when we are small, the adults keep the lids on. As children, we cannot express ourselves the way we would like to, but as we grow older, the lids pop off, and the characteristics come out..'

--Charles Schulz (of Peanuts)

One Good Thing About Teenagers

One of the few things I like about high school kids, is how naively blase they are about their massive over sized backpacks. When groups of them walk into a supermarket, they collectively dump their bags out the front, apparently with no thought of them being stolen.

I know there is a carelessness in that, but there is something about it that I like, and that I miss about childhood. Steal my homework, big deal, I don't care. Adults become very guarded and precious and worry too much.

ManBlog

So as you know, I love hotrodz, and all other tough manly thingz as well. The louder the car, the fatter the wheelz and sickest the sub woofers, the better. Also, I really like airbrushed dragonz and chicks on my cars.

As you also would definately know, I love power tools a great deal too. When I'm in the workshop, I usually like to cut pretty sick with my drill, and just generally be pretty strong and awesome.

Just so you know.

Uh Oh..

'We guess http://ben-vanishingpoint.blogspot.com/ is written by a woman (56%), however it's quite gender neutral.'

I just heard of GenderAnalyzer thru Ali's blog, a site that uses artificial intelligence to assess a homepage and make a guess as to whether it's written by a male or female.

This is a bit of a wake up call. I've got to turn this big blousey girl blog around, and quick smart.

Body Image

Ladies, is your body image more negatively impacted by men's magazines or women's magazines?

I often hear that a lot of the body image issues and insecurities that women have stem from what they see in the media, and specifically 'men's magazines' (from FHM and Zoo, right up to porn)and this unattainable image of the 'perfect woman' that doesn't really exist. I hear that it's this unrealistic standard that is set of a specific, flawlessly airbrushed body type that women find oppressing.

I guess what I'm curious about though, is whether it is really the 'men's magazines' that have the biggest impact. From what I see, women's magazines have as big, if not a much bigger impact in this way. Funnily enough, women's magazines aren't filled with pictures of guys, they're filled with pictures of girls. There are of course the fashion magazines full of ultra- beautiful, ultra-thin models.

But also there are the 'gossip' mags like NW, Famous and Who Weekly, which, let's face it are all primarily aimed at women. To me, these gossip mags seem hugely damaging and bitchy. Every celebrity has their body completely scrutinised, picked to bits, laughed at and criticized. And seemingly by women. Anything other than rock hard abs, and there will be the headline 'Weight Battle' or 'Pregnant?'. Underarm stubble, or a sweat patch and you're laughing stock.

I have come to believe these kinds of magazines are the ones that do the lion's share of the damage. And these are supposedly women's magazines. I'm certainly not saying men don't play their part in all of this, but I just wonder how much men's magazines really play a part, or how much attention women really pay them.

I would really appreciate your opinions on this, especially from female readers. Do you think I have it wrong?

Started

Finished

I finished The Grapes Of Wrath on Saturday.

It was awesome, really amazing. I highly recommend it.

Her Breakfast For Him

Has Special K always been girl-cereal?

I have always loved Special K, but in recent times it's dawned on me that it is completely marketed towards women. The front of the box is fairly gender neutral, but on the back it's all girly, weight-loss, awesome career woman, high in folate kinda stuff.

I resent that when I bought a box this morning, I felt obliged to flash the girl behind the counter a look that said 'these are for my wife. I have a box of Nutri-Grain waiting for me at the building site.'

Am I the only male who likes Special K? Was the bowl I just consumed the only bowl consumed in the country this morning with full cream milk?

Another Season, Another Sexual Assault

Brett, Brett, Brett, Brett, Brett.

I love football, but why are the players such loser meat-heads?

To Be A Christian Man

There are often discussions about how church is unattractive to men, and how there is supposedly a 'shortage' of young guys in our congregations as a result.

I wouldn't disagree that the singy-songy, sharey-carey side of church seems strange and unnatural to your typical bloke, but I think there is a side that really does appeal and strike a chord. I read a Driscoll quote today (from here), and it made me proud and excited to be a Christian man--

“Mars Hill and Acts 29 are going global. We are deadly serious about the great commission and loading all guns to storm hell with the gospel of grace. And we need more men. Nine hundred men. Not boys—men. Real men.”

You may scoff, but that really sends a wave of excitement through me. You don't hear that stuff enough.

The Spurge

'Friend, live near to the cross, and thou wilt not sleep. Labour to impress thyself with a deep sense of the value of the place to which thou art going.

If thou rememberest that thou art going to heaven, thou wilt not sleep on the road. If thou thinkest that hell is behind thee, and the devil pursuing, thou wilt not loiter.'

Song Of The Week

'Wasted Years'


Iron Maiden (1986)


Listen--

I Am Perfect

According to the Bible, I am now perfect. Right now, just the way I am-- in God's eyes, perfect. I read this this morning, and was quite stunned with the realisation of it. Look at this sentence--

'By one sacrifice He (Jesus) has made perfect forever those who are being made holy'. (Hebrews 10:14)

'Has made' is past tense. It's already been done. Jesus did it on the cross. When God looks at me, He sees only Jesus, because Jesus stands in my place. Perfection in God's eyes means I am justified, made right with God, regardless of my performance.

'Being made' is present tense. I am already perfect, but I am in the process of being made holy. I am legally considered perfect, but now I grow literally into that legal declaration, becoming what I have already been declared. The Holy Spirit transforms me to become more like Jesus, the One who justified me.

My instant perfection is justification, my road to holiness is sanctification.

Thursday Peanuts

Speech Diary- Second Follow Up

My second follow up session yesterday arvo went really well. Had a good individual session, and a good group time. Spoke pretty well and consistently.

Spoke about 'generalising', which means aiming for a consistent level of fluency regardless of the comfort or difficulty of a situation. A big hurdle. Feeling pretty focused for the coming week.

Dumbest Word of the Day

'Wellness'.

Me vs. God: Lego Smackdown

I was building an awesome Lego moon vehicle with my nephew Dylan the other day, and he said-

"You're the best person in the whole world at making Lego. When I get to heaven I'll be able to see how good God is at it. You could verse Him."

Sometimes it is only children who really 'get' you and recognise your full potential.

Death Of a Blog (Ode To The Fallen)

Among the autumnal leaves another blog lies bleeding,
Oh fallen soldier, wherest lie thou posts?
U.R.L., You were well, but for a flickering moment--
"Herest I am, blogosphere", and then you were gone.
Three posts a year dost not a mealeth make,
O wandering star that shines no more.
You waver on a favourites list, fading with time
A mere shadowy shell of glories past.
O soldier- who broke the link, who severed the thread?
Who stole you away and left us for dead.

Even Keel

'If thou rest thy peace on any person because of the opinion which thou hast of him, or on account of the intimate acquaintance with him, thou shalt ever be in an insecure and an entangled condition.

..Man approacheth so much the nearer unto God, the further off he departeth from all earthly consolation.

..When thou lookest to the creatures, the Creator is withdrawn from thee. Learn in all things to overcome thyself, for the love of thy Creator, and then shalt thou be able to attain to divine knowledge'.

--Thomas A Kempis

The Big Hippy In The Sky

'So many of us take God lightly, and we take ourselves very seriously. Somebody offends us, "Oh how dare they!", because we're very important. And we offend God all the time, and it's like, "Well, He's the big hippy in the sky, he can put up with me forever".

Friends, I'm telling you, for some of us the day is close, and a sense of urgency would be most prudent- to get right with God, and to get serious about God.'

From a great talk about a very strange chapter of the Bible.

A Sick World

I wish some of the social barriers that exist in society could be broken down. They crush my spirit.

This morning on the bus I noticed an older woman a few seats in front of me. She looked tidy and presentable-- except for the massive tag hanging out the neck of her dress.

I knew it would bug me, so I looked away immediately to spare myself the grief. But, like a moth to a flame, I was drawn back to it; my gaze magnetised to the offending square of white material.

I fantasised about getting up, walking down the aisle of the bus, silently popping the tag back in, and returning to my seat. There would be no raised eyebrows, no recoiling, no reaching for the mace. Just a brief glance of gratitude from the offender, before the returning peace of equilibrium.

What sort of sick world is this that I can't tuck in somebody's tag.

Morning Glory

There are definitely some good things about getting up at 5am. For one, my Bible reading has been way more consistent and focused. For another, this morning I saw the most beautiful sunrise.

I reckon it's worth training yourself to become a morning person.