Oh how hilarious. Some of my ex-students just won a national video competition. The National Nude Week competition from a Sports/chat TV show! They did a spoof on LOTR. Of course, that's not nearly as cool as having taught NZ Idol!!!!

Been playing a bit in Ship of Fools' internet Church tonight. Haven't had much luck getting in as a "real" person, but on occasion I can visit as a 'ghost'.

Tis interesting reading about others' experiences, and I saw this article on XtraMsn, about rude people crashing church and being obnoxious. Takes all sorts, eh!!

Yay... my eyes have been feeling really tired and gritty, and today it occured to me that maybe it was because I was spending too much time in front of the computer, and reading (reading The First Man in Rome, by Colleen McCullough at the moment.. and it's ENORMOUS), and just maybe it would be good for my eyes, not to mention the rest of me, if I got out and went for a walk. Making my eyes do some work on the horizon, flexing the farsight muscles. I ended up down at the waterfront, where the sun was blazing down, and there was fresh sea breeze and fresh sea smell. I stalked a kingfisher, as it was looking for fish.


I found myself thinking about the people who have been mentors and caregivers to me over the years, being the examples of a loving God incarnate, of a loving friend, of a loving father and mother as well. I am grateful to all of them for the examples they have been to me, and the love and care they have shown me. Some of them I'm still in touch with, others I've lost track of, while some have died. I like to think that the person I am today is better for having known and been cared for by them.

By the time I got home again I felt that many of the cobwebs had blown away, and that in spite of going for a walk by myself, that I wasn't alone. The love of these people walked with me. The love of God surrounds me.

This is important right now, as a time of great change is coming. I find myself having to take on much much more responsibility at work than I want, and must find the endurance and wisdom from the resources I have stored away for such a time. I need to grow more patience for dealing with difficult people, and I need to be more sensible about getting enough rest and about how I structure my days so that I fit everything in. I need to know when it is time to say "no more". I need to work smarter not harder, and I need to learn how. It'll be an interesting journey.

I don't feel like there's been much to blog about this week. I went to see Troy in the weekend, and enjoyed it more than Van Helsing the weekend before. I find it really interesting that there seems to be a major renaissance of epic/mythological/historical movies at present. Arthur and Alexander are both coming up soonish. Is this part of "our" search for "belonging" or "roots", or is it just a giant capitalisation on a perceived "good thing"?

What a funny old week it's been. Tuesday, after that really late night (I'm getting too old for this working late at night on assignments bizzo. Why do I do it to myself??) it was a manically full day. By the time I'd listened to a lecture in our Professional Development session (which I'd have found fascinating at any other time when I could stay awake) been to a meeting during lunch and after classes, and supervised a full on practical assessment, I was SOOOO ready for the massage I had booked.

A friend came round for dinner that night as well. I hadn't seen her since her wedding day, and actually still haven't met her husband other than for about 5 minutes at their engagement party. He has a night class on Tuesdays, and she works out my way, so it worked out nicely. I've been sad to lose touch with her so much since hubby arrived on the scene, but that's the way stuff happens sometimes. Some friends are just as good at being in touch, and others just simply move on to "his" friends.

The week has only got better, really. I so enjoyed my classes today. Watching my seniors make discoveries about the chemical world as they work their way through an individual investigation is quite special. It's so nice to see them becoming a little more independent. And they come up with the most hilarious problems for me to solve for them. Like one guy. Came up with a mortar FULL of raisins (the rest of the bag got slowly consumed when they thought I wasn't watching) to ask if I could think of an easier way to grind them up. Ummmm... have you thought about doing LESS at a time??? DOH! Nope, apparently that hadn't occured to him at all!!! Ever tried grinding raisins?? VERY sticky!

By the time I finished my assignment and handed it in online at 12.30am this morning, I was well and truly fed up. Yay for NZ Idol giving me something to smile about during the evening. Also spotted Rachel and Regan in the Herald yesterday. You go guys!!! Nice showing on the late news as well!
Meanwhile, gotta go earn a crust.....
Tired, so so tired...

Wow!!! Can't believe it. I have a computer working acey pacey, an extension for my assignment from last Monday to this, tickets for the Blues vs Highlanders Rugby match, and got a parcel off to my niece in Canada for less than $20. Seems a lot to send Rashuns across the whole wide world, but needs must!

Now, though I actually have to DO the assignment instead of just thinking about it! Sigh...!

A spiritual bypass?
Found this really interesting article in the current Listener. David Young, the writer, talks about the rise in Maori Spirituality/Ritual in contemporary society (with things like dam blessings, karakia at opening of new buildings and relocation of animals or birds by DOC), while at the same time Pakeha spirituality/ritual has become something not "of our culture".

He says: "In a book to be published later this year* I suggest that many Pakeha have had a spiritual bypass. As more and more have found the church's message less pertinent and voted with their feet, we have met Maori religion ñ which owes much to 19th-century missionary work ñ coming to meet us through the foliage overgrowing the back path to the church. But with what do we greet them?"

and: "But what Pakeha cannot offer and Maori still can is ritual, rooted in tradition that belongs entirely to this land. I suspect that most Pakeha are not comfortable with ritual and have been relieved to be able to shuck off the worst of the formalisms of the societies that our forebears left behind. Yet there are times when rituals that are grounded in this landscape and are of this time are needed. For the most part, however, only Maori seem to be able to fill this gap."

I'm going to be interested in what the book says when it comes out, and in the churches response to it. I wonder if, in the emergent church, some of the answers are already growing in an organic way?

Ha!!! So, it turned out to be the Sassy Sasser worm, which I would have been protected from if the lovely techies had downloaded the windows updates when they were setting up the computer, but ah well. It didn't take tooooooo long to rid it, and at least I got to them first! By the time I left their office they had a pile of about 7 other laptops, which all had it too! I certainly didn't feel bad at all. Mind you, I did spend quite a bit of time last night downloading every update in existence. Things are still a little slow.

And tonight, I christened my fondue set. I was too young (and my parents not young enough), to have had that phase in the 70's or 80's or whenever it was they were trendy. All the recipes wanted kirsch, which of course (because I wanted it NOW), none of the "locals" had, nor cherry schnapps, so I settled for cherry brandy. Ah well. I always wanted a pink cheese fondue! So yummy, tho. We had Two Paddocks reisling, which was delicious, even if it's hard to find. My friend and I had been looking for it (it's Sam Neill's vineyard) for a while, so I was pleased to find it in time for her birthday.

And so, I eventually picked up a new "loaner", and spent a couple of days setting it up the way I like it.
Desktop of boiling mud, from the trip last week.
Imported all the favourites and the address book (haven't been able to access the dbx files the techies saved from outlook express yet tho). Installed the couple of essential programmes I can't live without.
And then, this afternoon, a week to the day since I killed the last one, this new one turned up its toes and died.
Dunno why? One minute I was reading the Herald online, and the next it wouldn't let me load any new pages, and I got an error message when the email went to check for new mail. And it's gone unbelieveably slow and started throwing up some very peculiar windows. Hmmmmm, virus, thought I. Ran the scan, ran stinger, nothing. I give up. It's back in its case, ready to hand back to the techies on Monday, and I'm back to square 1. At least I haven't lost anything, though, yay.

It's rained relentlessly all day. It's been dark and dismal both inside and out. I usually don't mind the rain, but today it just seemed to echo how I felt.