Singular Scene

It was bound to happen sooner or later…

February 3, 2013 by Dee · 1 Comment

I’ve been here in Melbourne nearly 3 months… can you believe that?

Before you read any of the following I’ll state for the record, I love it. The place is relaxed, the natives are friendly, the coffee is off the chain. And it’s all very new and exiting and fun. I mean, they have glow in the dark mini golf… what’s not to love, right? (Seriously, come visit, we’ll get drunk and go play mini golf (it’s the only way to play it, it’s so bad it’s amazing and even more so when you’re p*ssed (not that I’d know, or anything))).

In any case, things have been going well, I’ve got enough work, I’m plenty busy during the day, and all in all I love it here.

But there comes a point in any new situation like this when you really start to hanker for the kind of relationships you left behind, the kind of friends for whom no longer having you in their social circle is as big of a gut wrench as it is for me to no longer be in their social circle. And frankly, you do begin to wonder why on earth you thought it was a good idea to leave them all in the first place.

The reality kicked in, I can’t just call one of them up and say “It’s Friday, which pub are we hitting tonight?”, or “Hey, do you wanna go to a movie? What’s on? Is Tom Cruise in it? (If yes, let’s just cut straight to the Thai for dinner…”). This is about the time when not having someone to companionably spill my guts to starts to feel like about the worst thing in the world. This is about the time when that creeping depression that starts off like a smokey edge around my usually cheerful view rears its ugly head. We’re not close, that feeling and I, but we’ve had our run ins over the years and I wouldn’t have been unhappy if I never again had to roll over in the morning and not want to get out from under the covers.

So, colour me surprised that on the other end of that feeling, a weekend of actually putting myself out there in new situations rather than staying under the covers has left me feeling less plaintive and more positive that it’s only a question of time before there are people here who won’t mind me spilling my guts, or who might just say, “Hey Dee, let’s hit a movie, and no, Tom Cruise isn’t in it, but can we have Thai anyway?”

Filed Under: Brain Dump

Game On

December 23, 2012 by Dee · 10 Comments

Over the years I’ve made my peace with those quirks in my nature that out me completely as a ‘nerd’, or if you prefer a ‘geek’. The funny thing is, those qualities were dormant for years, rearing their heads on occasion, but never firmly pushing me over the edge into that [previously scary] territory wherein being a geek/nerd/gamer was completely socially unacceptable.

I’m kinda glad that geek is chic these days. I feel less weird about the fact that I spent all day yesterday afternoon watching end to end episodes of ‘The Guild‘ while my nose was completely buried in ‘The Room‘.**

It’s on the basis that it’s the top game for iPad in 2012 that I downloaded the Room yesterday. And it’s worthy of the title. So worthy I played it all the way through over a number of hours yesterday afternoon, and loved it so much I reset it and played it all the way through again this morning.

I love it because it takes me right back to those early days of computer gaming that first pegged me as a nerd/geek/gamer way back in the early 90s. It has puzzles, teasers and all the tricks that are completely absorbing (not to mention stunningly beautiful graphics that blow you away on the retina iPad) and is absolutely my favourite kind of computer game. Which leads me to reminisce for a minute or two about those other computer games that have captured me over the years…

Initially it was those early DOS games… such 8bit goodness in video and sound!! Aaaah, the memories…

The first one I came across (read fell in love with was) Hugo’s House of Horrors, followed by Hugo 3 Jungle of Doom (Suzy, I remember playing that with you for some reason…). It wasn’t until much later that I found Hugo 2:Whodunnit and played it on some DOS emulator… well and truly after its first release… still very clever even when it was long passed over as archaic!

Where in the World is Carmen San Diego was one of the first games I played on Windows. Very early Windows and it was the highlight of one of my babysitting gigs… the kids I looked after owned it so it was a great day when I got to go over and hang out with them… playing Carmen well and truly into the night hours after they’d gone to bed! My favourite things.. mystery and international travel… all in one wee game. I’ve never seen it in the years since.. is it still out there??

Somewhere in the middle of all this, I was introduced to the Neverhood (I think it was my brother-in-law who found it). Gosh, whenever I pull this disc out I get nostalgic for all the kids I’ve introduced it to over the years, it’s another game that could use an outing on the iPad. It’s just so flipping awesome… if only because it’s completely built in claymation and follows an everyman hero through a journey to save his world. It’s perfect for adults and children and if you have a chance, and the right equipment, you should definitely try and get your hands on it.

I think I hit a bit of a lull after that, I moved north, didn’t have access to games or a computer other than in the context of work so I didn’t pick up any kind of games again until 2000 when I was introduced to the LucasArts games by the geek I was nannying for. He hooked me up with some great games that his kids and I played through (not sure who was the bigger kid at that point) and through them I fell in love with the Myst, the Monkey Island Series and with Grim Fandango (see below). They introduced me to this whole genre of adventure games and I was hooked and for as long as I have had a computer… (which he generously hooked me up with as well (nerd, built one for me from spare parts. Genius)) these have been my games of choice. None of this First Person Shooter malarkey, just good old fashioned brain bending puzzles!!!

Once I had a machine of my own I picked up the early Monkey Island games, Secret of Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s revenge, The Curse of Monkey Island, the aforementioned kids and I played Monkey Island 4: Escape from Monkey Island together, and my nephews and I are slowly working our way through Monkey Island 5: Tales of Monkey Island whenever I go back to NZ.

I’m doing my best to turn them into game nerds too… much to their parent’s chagrin.

[as an aside... I also got into SimCity and Caesar IV - but only lasted as long as it took to build a city that would then need strategic defense... Then it got boring.]

: Secret of Monkey Island

: Le Chuck’s Revenge

: Curse of Monkey Island

: Escape from Monkey Island

: Tales of Monkey Island

Grim Fandango would pretty much be my hands down favourite of that era, as much as the Monkeys are cool, Grim just tickled my sense of humour and my style. It’s another adventure game but one whose look and feel is straight out of film noir though is set with themes, figures and motifs from Aztec belief in the afterlife (underworld, day of the dead… sounds dreadful… really is awesome – geek much?). The game play is set around Manny Calavera, a courier who shuttles people from death into the afterlife, the class of the journey determined by the deeds of the deceased while in the land of the living. You kinda have to be there, but I have an old windows machine and a copy of Grim that I pull out every couple of years, just for the hell of it. It really is a great game!! Wonder if it, like the monkeys, will get another life on the iPad… (fingers crossed).

: Glottis and the Bone Wagon

: The Blue Casket

: the Cast

: Cover Image

: Manny Calavera

The other game series I was introduced to in those nannying years was MYST, an absolute classic of the genre and still really highly regarded as one of the better puzzle adventure series out there.

I played MYST 1 with those aforementioned kids and went on to play Riven, Exile, Revelation and End of Ages (still haven’t finished that one). They’re incredibly challenging and these days, due to time constraints I never really can sit down and just play through, even with a walkthrough to speed things up. But they are beautiful to look at and so, so cleverly put together.

: MYST

: Riven

: Exile

: Revelation

: End of Ages

There are elements of the Room that remind me of playing that first MYST game, the puzzles are challenging but accessible, there is no need to be jumping back and forth to guides to get where you need to go, just a bit of patience and some lateral thinking.

Finally, I was outed as a gamer to one of the pastors in my old church, also an unashamed PC gamer who loves Adventure Games like I do… he handed me down a bunch of his old favourites, some I’m still yet to get through but among them are Schizm, Mysterious Journey 1&2, and Riddle of the Sphinx (aah, Egypt and adventures, what’s not to love!).

I never got into consoles, have never owned a Nintendo DS or any of those other ‘gaming only’ type devices, I suspect that what would happen if I did is that I’d lose myself in games never to be found again, or, if my iPhone habits are to be believed, I’d spend a fair bit of cash on games that I get sick of before I complete them leaving it like my iPhone, cluttered with unused apps that will likely never see the light of day again and no small amount of money wasted…

As it is, if companies keep cooking up games as good as the Room then I’m satisfied the genre isn’t going anywhere yet, and if we’re lucky Adventure Gaming will have a whole new renaissance and a whole new crop of young adventurous geeky followers… stuff it, let’s just say ‘young at heart’ adventurous geeky followers…

I shall unashamedly name myself among them.

**As an aside, for those who are uninitiated, ‘The Guild’ is a web tv series made by uber chick geek Felica Day which has run for 6 seasons and which celebrates all things MMORPG (massive multi-player online role playing game – think World of Warcraft).

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Picture This – why I gave up on Instagram

December 20, 2012 by Dee · 4 Comments

I’ve been watching all the furore over Instagram’s change of terms and conditions with interest, and as usual, there are two sides to the story, and yet people get all energised and a whole flurry of “OMGs” and “WTFs” erupt in my timeline (be it Twitter or Facebook or even my email account).

Here’s the thing.

We are posting our pictures in public. We have to give Instagram permission to display them, and given that it’s a social tool and connects by API (blah blah, tech junk, etc.) to other services, for proper legal standing those images need to be permitted on other forums.

Sometimes those forums will have ads.

One day Instagram will have ads.

It’s the way these things go. We get all excited about a new service, website, app etc., we all jump on board and get hooked on it.

Then it has to pay for itself.

Realistically the terms and conditions need to align with Facebook (remember? Instagram is owned by Facebook), and frankly, those pix that you put on Facebook are covered with the same terms and conditions, if I read things correctly. Are you careful about your photos on Facebook? Have you jumped ship from Facebook because of THEIR terms and conditions?

No, neither have I. I’ve thought about it, but I find the service too useful to do away with, and frankly I’ve got all sorts of tech malarkey going on in the background to strip ads so I never see them anyway.

I’m the kind of user Facebook hates.

That said, I’m still ditching Instagram, but it’s not about the terms and conditions. It’s because, quite frankly, the app doesn’t, for a second, compare to the flickr one.

I’ve been a flickr user for YEARS and had got out of the habit of posting pix on it, because, if I’m honest, I got out of the habit of taking pictures. I fell out of love with my big old clunky D100 and don’t really love the picture quality of my iPhone 4 so I’ve really only been farting about with occasional cat or lunch picture on Instagram.

Instagram has dumbed me down. Big time. (This isn’t a reflection of any one else on Instagram, it’s just me. Promise.)

In any case. My Instagram pix no longer show up on Twitter, the app interface doesn’t do what I want (seriously, I can’t see your photo stream? I have to keep going back to the thumbnails to see all your pix? Back… forth… back… forth = irritating).

Fortunately Flickr has lifted its game in the biggest way with their iPhone app. I can filter pix, my images aren’t cropped arbitrarily, I can see your photostream, I can post them to Twitter and Facebook and Tumblr and I can also do way more editing of my pix, can tag them and can make them publicly available for use on MY terms, given all my pix are out there with Creative Commons Licensing. (Edited to add, and because I [happily] pay annually to use it, ads aren’t an issue, at least not now… hopefully, never!)

The only thing that kept me coming back to Instagram was the validation from all your likes and comments, and if I’m sticking with a substandard product just for your validation?

Well, that’s just silly.

There you have it, I’m quitting Instagram. I’ll miss you, but if we’re friends I’ll see your stuff on Facebook anyway, right?

And if you’re an iPhone user, I challenge you to check out the Flickr app (yes, you’ll need a flickr account) and if you like it you can follow me and maintain my validation levels on my Flickr pix (or, you know on Facebook and Twitter and all those other places I play on the web.)

Filed Under: Blog Happy, Shutter Up

Across the Road

November 24, 2012 by Dee · 3 Comments

One of the lovely things about the old digs in Sydney is that across the road there was a corner store; such a convenient thing to have within easy reach when you’re in need of an afternoon Coke Zero or a bag of chips. (I know, shocking habit, but OMG Yum, right?) The other lovely thing about that corner store was that it is an Asian grocery, so I had immediately to hand, wonderful things like fried tofu, tamarind paste (mmm, Pad Thai) and real authentic green curry paste.

Gosh, just talking about that store has me missing it already.

These new digs don’t have a corner store across the road. There’s a servo, so I can buy petrol and (at a pinch) overpriced milk etc. but by and large I’ll be doing my shopping at the Coles or Woolies down in Camberwell which is an easy walk or tram ride. Heck I might even get myself one of those nanna trolleys to get stuff home with. Because, if I’m honest, it isn’t so unusual for me to go and do my whole week’s shopping, forgetting I don’t have the car with me, and then find myself having to struggle getting home with more groceries than I can manage. [Adds nanna trolley to the mental shopping list].

The venue of interest across the road in these parts (which I believe is going to be rather a popular) is a watering hole, a drinking establishment, a pub of sorts.

This place is noteworthy more for its quaint charm than for the fact that it’s across the road from me. Truth is, it’s half bottleshop (bottle-o to the locals) and half ‘pub/winebar’. So you can pop in and pick up a six pack to take home and get completely sidetracked by the fact there’s a friendly face at the bar, a few tables dotted around and a lovely black replica (presumably) van der Rohe Barcelona sofa lining one wall.

There’s something uniquely Australian about the decor. The corrugated iron cladding on the wall is reminiscent of an old shearing shed, framed prints of patrons and some other slightly more arty prints almost lend an air of sophistication. There’s no pub grub here but you can bring in your burger and fries, or fish and chips from next door and scoff them down as you quaff your brew; heck you can even call Crust up the road and have them deliver you a pizza, (that’s ingenuity for you).

Finally, and most importantly there’s only one beer on tap, thankfully it’s Blue Tongue*, a nice inoffensive drop and a regular feature in my beer drinking repertoire.

Frankly, I can see a quick pot across the road at the end of the day could become a habit, it certainly is for at least two of my neighbours. But, best of all, when I walk in the door? If Brad’s behind the bar he will call out ‘Dee!’ as if I was a local already…

I’m ridiculously grateful that it’s not VB, this is Victoria, after all. Also, in an unrelated note, drinking Blue Tongue beer will not give you a blue tongue, to my mind this is false advertising… but, still, it tastes like quite nice beer, so, there’s that.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Sounds different

November 15, 2012 by Dee · 5 Comments

It sounds different here… over and above the usual hum of traffic there are unusual noises… the rush of a tram as it whooshes past my home, the ding ding it sounds as it’s stopping to pick up and put down its passengers. I won’t lie, I totally love it, and I wonder how long it is before the novelty wears off, how long it is before I cease to smile as another one goes past.

I’m loving the whump of the gas as it lights up ready at once to be at my beck and call. It’s such a relief to hear the increasing volume of the sizzle as it responds immediately to the turning up of the flow. I’ve wanted to get used to that sound for a long time. I wonder too how long it is before that stops making me smile, before cooking with gas becomes routine.

There’s another favourite, a muffled sound (when you’re hearing it from inside the car), the drone of the garage door responding to the press of its button. This is music to one’s ears after years of parking ‘Dolly’ in the street. No sharing this car space it’s all ours, hers and mine, and the sound of that whirr muffled even further by rain? Sweeter still.

Finally, a cheery Kiwi greeting meets me outside my back door. Neighbours who are fully clothed I’m pleased to advise and who are transplanted also from across the ditch have made me feel incredibly welcome. An elderly couple, and rugby fans. I’m already invited to come and watch the next All Blacks match with them. There will be beer drunk to boot I suspect.

Sounds good to me.

Filed Under: Blog Happy

Next stop, Victoria

November 11, 2012 by Dee · 2 Comments

I’m sitting at the gate lounge, ready to board the flight, but I’m early, so I have time to write a note, a post to mark the end of one era and the start of the next.

As I started writing, out came a bit of a melancholy post about leaving, about closing the door on my old flat on Thursday, and every time I got to the end of that paragraph I ran out of places to go. My time in Sydney was really summed up in the previous post, in the farewell speech; my time in Sydney is a time that is marked simply by incredible people. The place I lay my head every evening is/was no more valuable than the people who were ever there with me.

The little flat on Sydney Road is a poky little place, dark, damp, and little, did I mention little? Two rooms and a bathroom, sufficient but in terms of having people over to stay, restricted. Which isn’t to say people never stayed… but it’s challenging to rearrange the furniture every evening in order that the sofa-bed can be unfurled…

Once upon a time I had a dining table and friends would come for cards, or dinner and then I started working from home and the table became a desk and formal dining went out the window in favour of Pad Thai eaten off our laps on the sofa. Sufficient, yes, but more casual than I like, and the number of people who can fit on my sofa was limited to 2… so eating out became more normal than eating in when there were friends visiting.

I’m completely happy to have spent so long in an awesome city, one that I love and that I now know so well that I can recommend so much of it to all those who ask me what’s great about Sydney.

In looking forward, I think the things I think I’ll love about the new place are the space, the light and the room. Room for people to stay, room for people to eat from the dining table, room to move, room to grow. Room for the cat to exhaust herself zooming from the bedroom to the office in her late afternoon bursts of high energy antics.

So, this afternoon I’ll touch down in the state of Victoria, tomorrow the cat will, and at some point this week, hopefully earlier rather than later, my furniture will also arrive.

I’m so looking forward to getting acquainted with Melbourne, and being able to introduce my Sydney friends to her as well.

But for now, see you soon Sydney.

So long, and thanks for an amazing 14 years.

Filed Under: Brain Dump, City of Gold, Good Vibes

Faring Well

November 5, 2012 by Dee · 3 Comments

I mark occasions with words. These are such words, delivered at the small gathering of close friends on Saturday evening all together to mark my moving to Melbourne, beautifully hosted by Prue and her family.

I am so blessed.

I knew if I didn’t write this down I wouldn’t be able to coherently string the thoughts together, let alone the words. It’s been an emotional week; I suspect the next few will be much the same.

I deliberately made this a small gathering, I wanted to be able to see everyone properly, to be able to mark this occasion without fluff and nonsense and the fleeting hellos and goodbyes that come with a larger party.

You’re here because you’ve been a significant part of my journey here in Sydney. But more importantly because I believe you’ll be a significant part of my world still, even though I’m a little further away.

I was talking to Mick yesterday as we mulled over things of faith and church and community, as we always do, and as we talked I wondered aloud, asking “Why on earth am I leaving?” and his reply, sage as always, was “You’re not leaving, you’re just moving away.”

It’s true, I’m putting physical distance between us, but the bigger thing is that our spiritual and emotional distance will be the same as it ever was. Non-existent. And given today’s technology, and heck, even yesterday’s technology (remember telephones?) the gaps really aren’t very wide.

I have far too many thank-yous in my heart than I can give voice to really, but I want to acknowledge some of the particular moments, and by extension, the significant people here because without them I would be so much less the person I am today.

Maree and Richard, thank you first for having us here tonight, and for including me in so many of your family gatherings. You all know how to throw a party, and the centre of it is your incredible gift, and heart for hospitality. I’ve never felt more welcome than I do when I’m here, and I thank you that tonight you’ve done the same for my friends.

Mick, almost 4 years ago, in a tongue in cheek moment, I can’t even remember how, whether it was by SMS, or by twitter or that old fashioned email malarkey, you sent me a line from Solsbury Hill, the Peter Gabriel song… that said “grab your things, I’ve come to take you home…”

That one line changed my life. Or, at least, it started something… and the Upper Room, this place that God, you, and Marg have built has, for the last almost 4 years, done more for me than I am able to acknowledge. I can’t thank you enough for continuing to take us on a journey of this thing called church. I love that you never get stuck on its definition but continue instead to explore how to live out our faith, hope and love (whatever it looks like) authentically. By doing so you’ve inspired and empowered me to do the same wherever I am. I look forward to seeing where that ongoing journey takes you, and us and I pray that I find somewhere equally as inspiring down there in ‘Mexico’.

Pam, I realise that embracing the Upper Room the way I have puts, in some ways, into shadow that which came before. I cannot acknowledge one without the other, nor can I diminish the significance of my time at C3. If not for C3, or for SCA I wouldn’t be here at all. And one of the best things about it still, is you. Thank you for coaching me through some of the biggest challenges I’ve faced, for loving me and looking after me even after I’d long left Oxford Falls. And thank you for transitioning from being my pastor to being a dear friend. I’ll miss you, and look forward to the occasional Sunday night phone call when you’re on your way home from church and your voice drops out as you drive along the Parkway!

Jeff, there are too many moments… from that first when I approached you at Parachute with my knees actually knocking and asked that first question every Kiwi asks before they come to Australia “Are the spiders really as big as they say?” (answer is yes, by the way), to the time when for the first time in years we spoke properly and the walls of another’s making came down. I sat in Berkelouws in the Southern Highlands bawling my eyes out and you had called, and for the first time in a long time I felt safe again. You and Julie put me back together and in the years since I’ve so loved being a part of your world and your new journey as more and more people find themselves in the pages of your book.

Robby and Mirre. I can’t remember when I met you, nor can I even remember when we reconnected through the Upper Room. In some strange way it feels as though there wasn’t ever a time when we weren’t friends. It feels like I’ve always hung out on a Sunday night watching movies, talking all the way through them and eating cashew nuts and chocolate and drinking whatever new beer is in the fridge. It really has only been a couple of years and it feels like a lifetime. Thank you for being more real than anyone and letting me be exactly the same. Thanks for keeping me a bed in your office Robby, so that when I am desperate to come watch a movie in person I know I have a place to sleep.

Prue, I don’t even know where to start. The best way I can describe us is that we’ve walked alongside each other, for years. SO many moments, so many Friday nights with so many amazing people, so many long phone calls while you drive home from work, so many tears, and laughs and so.much.depth. I’m so glad you are tied to Melbourne, because I know it won’t be long before I’m taking you out on a Friday night in Victoria and we’ll be sitting in a bar talking about technology, life, love and all the good things.

Before I get to the hardest acknowledgement of all of them, thank you to Jen, who I see so rarely but about whom I love that we always seem completely pick up exactly where we left off. Cherie who makes me laugh so hard and who makes the place brighter with her bubbly smiley ways, but behind which lives a deeply creative, thoughtful individual. Please don’t stop writing your blog; I totally love to know what you’re thinking, and Mick your quiet presence seems unchanged from when I first met you, and I’m so glad to see that you’ve got more music on the go, don’t lose that. I remember that word I gave you years ago, that your music splits hard wood to allow it once again to catch fire. I think that’s still true.

Deep Breath

Kirstin, you are my very first, honest to goodness, best friend. I know that being in Victoria isn’t going to change that. At.All. I can’t wait to see you for the Grand Prix. But strongly suspect I’ll be up here to see you before then!

In any case, I won’t ever forget you praying for me at the end of our second year, unpacking for me that inner knowledge about what I’d be doing come the third year, and sure enough there we were. Back for more college.

I won’t ever forget losing our minds in the middle of the Easter production rehearsal when I got the revelation that the Holy Ghost was called Brendan and that name will now always be accompanied with me giggling out loud, I suspect you’re the same…

I won’t forget all the blood sweat and tears that went into Four on the Floor and the arranging and singing of songs with Jake and Brent and those awful shiny vests and boater hats. But man, what FUN ~ and then Harmonycity later on down the track; Way too much awesome music and I’m so glad we were making it TOGETHER.

I won’t forget you calling me to tell me Jacob was on his way and me making you keep him inside you for a whole weekend, just so that I could meet him on the day he was born, and that he, and you were the best part of the most difficult, challenging period in my life.

I won’t forget holding Lily and being blessed a 2^nd time to be called a godmother, and even now, her high pitched “Auntie Dee” and having her launch herself at me is one of my favourite things, ever.

I won’t forget Helen, Guy, and how much she loved us all and what a firecracker she was and how in the few years we knew each other she just, as much as you, included me in the Jackson family, and Guy, thank you for sharing your best friend with me and for abiding by her directive that you aren’t allowed to give me shit. I’m sure it was all you could do to obey that one some times… In any case for both of us to be so loved by Kirstin, makes us so incredibly blessed. Thank you.

There are way more moments than I can acknowledge, 14 years is a long time and they have been an incredible 14 years. Above them all, I can do no more than close by thanking God, the one who is the common thread, the glue, the tie that binds us all and whose love is evident by the love that I feel for, and that I feel from all of you.

Thank you, I love you all so very, very much. And you better bloody come visit me in Melbourne… and soon, I have a spare bed, I shall be expecting you.

Filed Under: City of Gold

A Valid Question – Part 2

November 1, 2012 by Dee · 1 Comment

On the other end of that whispered prayer there became a growing desire to pursue some further study in the area of music and ministry, singing particularly and worship leading at its more specific end. I did some research and came up with a couple of possible places that catered to both, neither of them in NZ, one of them predictably Hillsong College, the other being the then lesser known School of Creative Arts (as it was then, now C3 College). To cut a long story short I chose to apply only to SCA.

As to why I made that choice, some years before I had overheard a conversation between the then Principal of the college and a friend of mine, in which he said to her, “If all you can think about when you wake up in the morning, is singing, you should be at my college.” I’m not sure what sort of impact this had on my friend though she did indeed spend a year at his college the following year (1994ish) but that statement went right through me and never really left though at the time I remember shaking my head thinking “that could never be about me.”

Fast Forward to that evening in 1998 and the whispered prayer that really started the ball rolling, so when I’m thinking about which college to apply to, Crabman’s statement came back to mind and I figured I’d give it a shot… I’d put in the application to SCA and let God or fate decide whether I’m going, or not, on the back of a successful or otherwise application.

Cue a successful application, some incredible financial support from my church (who paid 2.5 years of fees for me, I am still blown away by that) and I found myself right up at February 1999 waiting at the airport for my ride to CCC (Christian City Church then, now C3 church) and the beginning of a 3 year journey of challenge, insight, faith, frustration, but above all, friendship.

You see, realistically, the best, most magnificent legacy of that time (and there were many, some less good than others) are the people I encountered and who have become the best and most important part of my world.

I started writing a list of the for you, until I realised there was no way words about each of my incredible friends does them any justice, suffice it to say that I have been incredibly blessed with people who know me. People who really, really know me and love me just the same. People who see way more in me than I do, and who have grieved my choice to move away, almost as much as I have.

They are the greatest part of my world, and the hardest part of Sydney to leave.

So, that’s basically how I ended up in Sydney, and frankly, why I stayed so long. I have documented a little of why I’m moving on, it isn’t nearly so ‘spiritual’ a reason as a direct call to come and learn ministry. Actually, it’s probably just as spiritual, but in these 14 years there is a great deal that’s changed for me about what spiritual means.

But that’s a whole ‘nother blog post. For another day.

Filed Under: Brain Dump, City of Gold

Home is Where your Heart is.

October 20, 2012 by Dee · 6 Comments

I’ve never really been the kind of person who hankers after the past, who longs for different times, different places. I’ve never really been one to get homesick, never have really been stuck on the past, or the future for that matter. I can be quite content with where things are at now, and where I am, and who I’m with… it never seems as though people are far away any more, and frankly I’m pretty excellent at being alone… I rarely feel lonely.

I notice, when I revisit places I used to live, I don’t feel nostalgic; I think this is because when we hark back to different, simpler times, we wish to go back, to undo past wrongs, to heal, or to relive times when things were better, when we were happier. I’m not critical of people who do feel this way, but it’s never been part of my makeup. Maybe the whole ‘No Regrets, No Excuses‘ thing is indicative of this too. No point in holding on to what’s gone on before, just live, let go and be free.

That’s rather a philosophical way of introducing my new home… A place I haven’t yet seen but to which I’ve committed for the next 12 months. How’s that for life on the edge? Moving into a place you haven’t set foot in yet… Life on the edge… that’s me.

I’m comfortable with this because of a combination of gut feeling and advance guard… I saw this flat in my regular perusal of apartments in the area I want to live in and felt at once I should get it checked out… My first wish is a house with natural light, stark contrast to the flat I’m in now wherein the best beneficiary of the light is Lulu, her bed being on top of the microwave, the only place the light falls for any period… Furthermore it’s brilliant to have friends like the Tailor who will serve as the advance guard… and as such I sent the poor woman for a look at the flat with the following exhaustive list of questions… [Read more...]

Filed Under: City of Gold Tagged With: home, Melbourne, moving house, Sydney

Organisation Station

October 15, 2012 by Dee · 1 Comment

There is less than a month before I leave NSW for the long term… and the list of things to do to prepare is long and distinguished. But bit by bit I’m ticking things off and, I hope by doing so now, a little under a month before I leave for good, I’ll be well prepared when the fateful day comes. Realistically, I have to be really well organised because of a bunch of deadlines by which stuff needs to happen in order for the move to occur at all…

Today I had an unexpected bonus few hours to get some of the stupid fiddly jobs done, the kind of jobs you always mean to do, and never get around to… things like

Getting rid of the gas bottle that’s been sitting in the laundry for a couple of years since the BBQ went to pieces and was never replaced. (That’ll be $20 tyvm).
Buying a piece of timber (90x35mmx149mm) to serve as a bed slat to replace the one you stood on and broke in the god knows how distant past… and while you’re there, grab a packet of upholstery tacks with which to re-secure the the hessian tape that’s supposed to join each of the slats together and prevent them moving when you do while you’re tossing and turning in your sleep. Wonder if you’ll sleep better now that the bed is finally fixed.
Buy one of those tiny cheap hacksaws so you can shorten the broom handle you’re planning to use as a curtain rod in the bedroom. You might not need to do this but as you’ve lived in the house 6 years, and can’t remember just whether there was a curtain in your bedroom when you moved in, consider it value add for the next tenant. (Or a bonus to help make sure you get your bond back; might be useful as a foil for the shredded carpet you had repaired after Chino used the patch under the bedroom door to sharpen his claws. Repeatedly.)
Investigate the costs of dumping a mattress at the tip (dump, landfill) and find out that at the council tip it’s $30 and at the other private one it’s $55. Make a note to go to the council tip.
Book an appointment for the cat at the vets. Because she’ll need innoculations against those nasty Victorian bugs… or you know those genearal Australian ones because it’s been heck a couple of years before you got her shot previously… Yes, slack mother, you know except for the part where she never goes outside to catch such germs anyway… but, safety first. THEN, take said cat to the vet and leave her there so she can have surgery tomorrow. Rue the fact that the costs will be close to $500.00. Wish you’d taught the cat to clean her teeth.
Book the car in for a service. 12months since the last one (because you rarely use it, except for a short trip across town from time to time) and hopefully get that really irritating noise seen to so you don’t end up in Melbourne on the 25th homicidal from the irritating noises you’ve been putting up with for the long drive, heck, for the last 18months.

What do you do when you find yourself with unexpected hours up your sleeve?

::NOTE:: According to WordPress this post is the 1000th to occur since I started blogging in July of 2004. I can scarcely believe I’ve been blogging 8 years or that I’ve written that many journal entries… I also wonder if you could call me a blogger considering how few and far between these posts have become… There will be more postage… just need to blog in those unexpected spare hours instead of running errands…