Can you seriously believe its Christmas??? Or at least nearing it?

All the decorations are coming out, the (Not so cheap) Sales are starting to appear, Toy Brochures are coming out (I love toys) and having to bring out the brass instrument to play carols again.

I do love Christmas, I'm kind of not ready for it, as my whole seasons are out of whack in my head (After already having a summer in Canada and now going into another) my mind is not there yet.

There is one thing that I am starting to realise. My friend Mary touched on it in her blog, but for those without the ability to follow links, I'll explain.

As I’ve grown up, and I guess last year helped, my thoughts and favourite bits of Christmas has changed. As kids, it's always about the toys, about what we would get in our stocking (or what would be on our chair as it was in our house) But thinking back now, my favourite memories of Christmas were when my whole extended family were around at my grandparents house, and me running around all my older cousins.

And this is what Mary touched on... as you grow older, and probably more important grow up, it starts to become less about you, and more about others. Others is something that has always been a huge part of my family, and well the Salvation Army has always been about others

At my church we have an early morning service on Christmas day and all the kids bring their new toys and we as a church family just experience everything together. Jesus called us into community and I think that the best way to celebrate his birth into a 'family' is to be around our own.

So what's your favourite bit about Christmas?

---- EXTRA ----

And I thought my light decoration was good

¶ 9:21 PM //  

SO last night, I crossed another thing off my “to do” list.

A good friend Nath and I spent most of yesterday at a Jamiroquai Concert. To say the experience was great would be an understatement, but there were 3 major things that I got outta the day.

Number 1.
The Concert last night reaffirmed that Jamiroquai are my favourite band. And the fact that I can actually remember words to their songs is a testament to them (I'm not a lyric man)
If you have never heard of them, feel free to check out there latest single
(Don't) Give hate a chance , which is according, to Front Man Jay Kay, written about the doofus otherwise known as George W Bush (his words not mine)
They've been around for over 10 years and well the concert was great because they played stuff from all 6 albums which is great for people who were around from the start like myself. Just their whole musicianship and funk/groove was awesome. Couldn't stop moving all night. Seriously check them out...

B.
On the other hand, the Support Acts... Eugh, the complete opposite. See being someone who has done 'sound', I've become really picky about mic-ing/mixing and they other 2 acts were atrocious. One band would've been awesome if they had just removed the beat sampling. Like why have a kit player and a freaking awesome aux percussionist, if you just drown them out with electro beats. Seriously... And the other band, HA. 2 singers in front of dance tracks, I was happier listening to my IPOD. Lesson learnt = I'm picky about music, and give me people actually playing over samples any FREAKING day.

III.
So Nath and I ended up sitting really close to the front, but the section in front of us was sectioned off and for some reason they had 2 couches. Weird enough, but more so that we were in an outside concert. We wondered who's they were, and well the security guard didn't even know who was playing in the concert (gotta love security) but after seeing this really rich guy take one of the couches, just before the concert started it was cool to see a family with a developmental delayed guy sit there, and seriously he was getting into it way more than anyone. And there was just something about that really seemed cool. Hope that doesn't sound wrong. I think I just have an affinity with Mentally Disabled, always seem to make me smile...


Anyways, So there's the 3 things I got out of it... Anyone have any opinions??

¶ 12:13 AM //  

During the middle of this (Calender) year, I spent the Canadian summer with some great guys (Company 150) Travelling around all the campsites, we really got to know each other pretty well. One of my fellow members and I had some great conversations about how there are so many things that we hadn't done, and so then for the rest of the summer we challenged each other to learn or try these new things.

This got me thinking. There are a lot of things that I haven't done, things that I think most people have done. So thought I'd make a list to see if I am out of the normal... Have a look

10 THINGS I HAVEN'T DONE

I haven't ever....

1: Cooked an Egg
2: Rode a motorbike
3: Tasted alcohol
4: Punched someone out of anger
5: Danced with a girl at a club/bar
6: Smoked anything
7: Milked a cow
8: Been camping
9: Got anything pierced
10: Eaten sushi

Some of these I'd like to do in the future, and some I don't think I ever want to do.
Some of these things you'll look at and be like really??? And others you'll be whatever.

But like me, what kind of things haven't you done? That other people might have??
Anyone willing to give a list of about 5 things?


PS. Wooo 50th post

¶ 7:19 AM //  

Are you a "charger" or a "mover"?

I was at this service and the preacher talked about how when walking down the street, he and his wife always move or split when people are walking towards them to let them past.

This is funny, I have always been a "mover", not sure why (Feel free to analyse) but just to buck the social practice of late I’ve been trying to stay to my course and not move.

It's funny because most people seem to be "chargers", and when you don't move you end up with that really smilingly uncomfortable moment just before you collide, where you and the other person have to work out which way each of you have to go to get by.

I hope I explain it well, but I'm pretty sure most people have been in these situations before.

So what are you? Charger? Mover? Fainter?? and why????

¶ 6:21 AM //  

I like being mature...

Well some people would say that I'm still not there yet, and after this blog's topic you'll probably think I'm not, but well we'll see...

I bring up this maturity point, as I was at a Young Adults Retreat for the Salvation Army, and being around `older` more mature people lets us freely speak about topics. And so for some way of another the topic of `Re-adjusting` came up a number of times.

To explain this, I lived in a house full of women (sorry Jono) for the last year, and well living and working closely with female we got comfortable with each other, but well there was always one (well many) topic that always made the other gender feel uncomfortable.

See as males and females we have parts that the other gender doesn't have. And well over a normal day these can get caught up in uncomfortable positions. And well I'm speaking from a males perspective that we get the harsh wrap about this because it’s `always` about the guy `re-adjusting` themselves. But I want to highlight that it goes both ways. The amount of times I've seen some of my lovely lady friends adjust their bra straps is huge, and to shock horror, it’s not the most attractive thing.

I know there is need to `re-adjust` but at the same time, is there a place?
Like if one gender gets turned off by it, it shouldn't mean the other has free reign.

Thoughts, something to help me get a handle on the situation????

¶ 7:43 PM //  

Most people have a word in there life that they find funny but not many others do.

Bucket... would probably be mine, or the word 'Muffin' but I’ve already talked about this.

It's funny though, because this week I have been busy with a group of people that think the word 'Recovery' or more specifically the sign 'Recovery Centre' is something to constantly make jokes about.

This 'Recovery Centre' has been the sight of my work for the last week. My mate Greg and I and a few other willing volunteers have manned (or womaned) these centres at the Melbourne Cup Racing Carnival.

For those non-Australians, The Melbourne Cup is the biggest Horse Race in all of Australia. So big that supposedly the Country stops for the 3 minutes its run. (It's great for us in Melbourne as we get a public holiday even) And including a few other race days, it makes the carnival stretch for about a week.

The other part that makes up this carnival is Drunkenness and Perversion. (All you out there that want to argue against me, come and work at these tents). This week is an excuse for everyone to get dressed up (which I'm not against, some very attractive ladies around) but the other part is to get as drunk as possible.

This leads me to what I've been doing. See too much 'drinkies' means you can't stand or throwing up, or sore heads, or lost of consciousness. This is where we come in.

In our afore mentioned 'Recovery Centre', we give those who’ve had to much to drink, a chance to lie down, a chance to throw up, to relax, to sleep it off, water, biscuits, and at the end hopefully a safe way to go home.

It’s good though, we have volunteers that come and they get to see a side of the Salvation Army that many people miss. They also get some great learning experiences about alcohol. It's also good when you have a person in your tent one of the first days, and they come by later in the week, a lot wiser from their time with us.

Alcohol is so not for me, and well I think I find it really sad talking to friends, and sadly even salvos, who just want to go get smashed. I'm sorry, if I want a good time, I'd rather remember it the next day. Oh well, least I know what I want.

Oh and back to my initial story. Before we get out share of drunks in, we sit and watch people come by and for some reason, listen to them make jokes over and over about how they'll need a bed at our 'centre' later in the day, or even stupider, that they just point and say recovery and laugh

Their seriously not laughing after we see them pee their pants.

¶ 4:50 PM //