the birm*

Fête du cinema…

…Was on for the last 3 days in France. Basically that meant that you could purchase a cinema ticket for full price (a rip-off) then see as many films as you wanted for the next 3 days for only 2 Euro a movie. So a group of us headed off after Church to see Shrek 3. I wasn’t too keen, as it was in French, but I must say they did a good job at translating, keeping the vibe rather than trying to translate word-for-word. After some great laughs, some of us headed off to a different cinema and caught Oceans 13 (in English!!), which I thought worked well. I reckon Steven Soderberg (director) and David Holmes (music composer) are geniuses…

“I guess it depends how you measure success”

I can see, breathe, talk, smell, taste, hear, walk, run, ride, climb, think, swim, read, laugh, scratch my bum, enjoy life, eat real food, bite things, write and type, and yet I sometimes get frustrated by the little things that are not 100% with my life/health/body. I guess it’s all a matter of perspective. As the Winnie Coopers rap “I can still breathe, I am still blessed, I guess it depends how you measure success…”. I couldn’t agree more. I should be thanking God everyday for my blessed life…

Why oh why?

There are certain things in life (not usually the crucial ones) that make me wonder why they’re done that way. It was actually Tall’s blog which made me post this, as I don’t think I’ve shared my thoughts on this matter B4 (even though it’s towards the top of my list of “dumb things that are not life and death matters”).

So you go to the toilet in an airport (actually, bad example, airport toilet blocs usually don’t have doors on them), a mall, a restaurant, a doctor’s surgery, an office, a school…which may only be to wash your hands. IF there’s soap and the taps don’t have to be turned off (you’re in luck!), you can be pretty sure that your hands will actually come out of this experience quite clean. Then, there are usually different options to dry your hands. I prefer using paper towel or, failing that, my shorts. The issue now arises: you have successfully washed (and dried) your hands without contamination from an exterior source when suddenly you want to get out. The problem is (unless you’re in an airport), you have to PULL the door, thus putting your freshly washed (and dried) clean hand on a bar/knob that who knows who or what has touched. I mean c’mon! I know having push-doors would be dangerous for the people coming in, but only as much as pull doors are for the people gpoing out! A door you could push would enable you to use your bum, elbow, foot…without getting filth on your clean (and dry) hands. IF there was paper towel to dry your hands and IF you had the foresight to keep it, you can now use it to PULL the stupid door open…then you have to find a bin to discard the now filthy piece of paper towel…

Those days are gone…

Remember the days when it got more and more light each day (if you’re in the northern hemisphere)? Well those days are no more, since, from yesterday, the days are now getting shorter again. Evidently if you live in Australia or anywhere else in the southern hemisphere, “BOO-YAH!”, the end of winter is approaching and the days are getting longer!

Regardless of where you are though, I say enjoy each season for what it has to bring :)

“fantasy is what people want, reality is what they need…I retired from fantasy”

                                                                                               Lauren Hill

I love poets.

I’m not talking about “famous” dead ones that made things rhyme (though I have nothing against those) but about the people around you and I who are word-artists. You know who I mean. Either well-known or not, these people have a way with words. What they say “doesn’t always make sense, but bypasses the brain and goes straight to the heart” (one of my favourite poets, Mike MCarthy, said this a few years ago during a song-writing workshop while talking about lyrics). What they say/write might be witty, funny, romantic, spiritual, profound or silly and it touches you, making you reflect, feel, pause, smile or cry. I consider myself thankful to have some of these poets amongst my friends…or is it that some of my friends are poets..?

Talking about friends, thanks to some great friends from Newie (thanks guys!!!), I recently received PJ Wolf’s album in the mail. I’ve enjoyed Pete’s songs and lyrics since the days of Compos Mentis and of the all piece band and I must say that in his recent (and to my knowledge, first) solo EP the quality continues. Though the songs were great when I first heard them, they just keep getting better. One in particular just hits the spot and gives me that special feeling of wanting to laugh or cry (at the same time…or somewhere in between). If you live in Australia, go and listen to him or purchase his album “storms dreams and flying machines”, if not, listen here or here.

567

It’s weird when you think of it, both birthdays and dates only happen once in one’s lifetime. I won’t see 050607 nor will I ever be 29 again. It was kinda weird not having family around for my birthday. Thankfully I have a few friends here who put on a nice meal and cake for me. As we speak (…or at least, as I write this) I’m making a pavlova to take to home group tonight…I’ve never made one B4, so we’ll see what happens! Thanks to all of you who sent cards, emails and packets (a BIG thanks for the aussie supplies from the HCS crew!!). As for Christmas 07, If any of you want to spend it in the snow, there’s plenty of room here at camp!

Wow.

I can’t say I’m a fan of youtube, but a friend sent me this link and I must say, if you have a few minutes spare and like music/vdo editing, it will blow your mind!