Trying to finish up the minimum of 15 minutes usage time at the Bundaberg internet cafe at the moment.

Have been spending the last five days or so at Nat's place about 20 minutes out of Bundaberg. 12 people squashed into a three bedroom house. There's plenty of land around, but not quite that many house space.

I've been relegated to sleeping on a queen size bed with Nat in their music room while Daniel's sleeping kind of opposite me in the hallway. It's been interesting sleeping in an area with no doors. Trying to change particularly so.

Haven't done much for a while. Spend most of the days at home sitting, eating, and not sleeping. Sleeping in rooms next to the kitchen with a family full of early birds make it very difficult to sleep past 8am every morning.

Did have a massive water fight around the house on the first day of arrival, played some beach cricket, swam in the nearby lake, as well as played some house cricket that involved a not so nice sprain on the ankle and a ball in the face.

In town now while the rest go to a waterslide place...and the 15 minutes should be up by now.

Going to see turtles this evening...

Update: Our order got stuffed up and after 20 minutes waiting, they're only just starting to make it. They offered *one* free drink as compensation. One. I'm still hungry....

Sitting at The Winsome Hotel in Lismore at the moment, waiting for dinner to arrive for the last 20 minutes.

Took off yesterday evening and stayed the night at Port Macquarie at a friend of a friend's.

Will be spending tonight at a friend's sister's place. She has an art exhibition at the top floor of the hotel, which is how I ended up here.

Hungry....

Yes, I've been absolutely and positively slack with my updates since my return from Singapore.

Unfortunately, things may not change for a while.

I leave tomorrow up to Bundaberg to spend Christmas with my darling friend and partner in crime while in London, Nat, as well as the rest of Daniel's family.

Returning after the new year, but will have to leave pretty soon for the Pathfinder camporee and will not be back till mid January.

So if I don't update till then, you know why.

Thanks folks for being such faithful readers and have a very merry Christmas!

Technorati tags: Christmas

Robbie! Robbie! Robbie!

What a perfect end to a perfect weekend.

Robbie Williams is a definite true blue entertainer.

Saw the Robbie Williams concert last night and boy was it an amazing experience. We got free standing tickets and ended up only a few metres away from the stage and The Man.

There were lots of dancing (well, more of bobbing up and down from our part) and singing along and all I can say is that it was a magnificently entertaining experience, particularly his grand entrance, complete with pyrotechniques, fireworks and all.

He engaged the crowd, was his usual cheeky self, sang his numerous hits and wowed the crowd away. The atmosphere was simply amazing.

It took us about an hour to get out of the carpark after the concert and we didn't get home till past midnight. I'm just a little sleepy right now, but what a brilliant night. What a brilliant concert.

Technorati tags: Robbie Williams, concert

I'm still alive.

My recent disappearance is a result of a surprise return to Singapore (surprise for the folks in Singapore, not for me) for a week thanks to frequent flyer points.

Returning with Daniel meant having to do the whole tourist thing which saw us spending all day out, returning home exhausted and ready for bed. Naturally with the lack of sleep and the wet monsoon season, Daniel fell sick before the end of the week.

Got back last Thursday, but am currently staying at Manly. What with having to commute, flying to Melbourne for a day for work, going on all-day conferences, trying to sort out more than 200 emails and simply attempting to get back into the groove of things, updates on this site may be few and coming for a while.

But I will be back!

Note: This post will likely only be relevant to you if you are a Seventh-day Adventist.

I'm currently about to start work on an article about Ellen White. For those non-Adventists who have decided to read on anyway, a short answer is that Adventists believe that Ellen White had the spiritual gift of prophecy. She has written numerous literature on God, health and temperance. And for the record, we don't believe either her or her writings are as important as God and the Bible.

Anyway, the reason for this post is because I want to hear from you. Hear why you feel Ellen White is still relevant to the young people of today. Or maybe you don't feel that way?

I want to hear from you.

Technorati tags: Ellen White, EWG, Adventist

This is a little late coming, but boy what a great weekend I've had!

Went to the literally long-awaited U2 concert on Saturday night and was absolutely and completely blown away by them. So much so that we had to go back to the stadium yesterday night, having a picnic dinner outside while listening to Bono singing his little lungs out all over again.

But back to Saturday night when I actually saw something.

We had seats directly in front of the stage, but well, several tens of metres back. It was still really good view that didn't require any neck craning, especially since we were in the front row of our section, which was on the second level.

Things got off to a slow start with Kanye West opening for U2. He sang probably about eight songs, of which I only recognised and enjoyed three. The others...let's just say R&B/Hip-hop was never really my cup of tea. Added to that the fact that the stadium was only about half-full.

There was a real carnival feel to the area though, with food stalls set up both outside and inside the stadium. And after hours of waiting, people started getting bored and started doing the Mexican wave around and around the stadium.

At about 9pm (Kanye started at 7pm), the lights finally dimmed and a haunting chanting came across the loudspeakers and there he was. Bono walked out with an Australian flag draped across his shoulders singing City of Blinding Lights.

Daniel, Sharona and I sprang to our feet, bursting with excitement for finally catching one of the greatest singers in the world (not just because of his talent, but because of his activism) live and rocking. Well, I was probably the most excitable of the three...actually, I was probably the most excitable of the entire section. After a few minutes of excited jumping, we looked around only to see the rest of the folks in our section sitting down, looking bored.

They actually looked bored and that look practically stayed permanently on their faces for the next two hours.

I have no idea what in the world inspired that kind of boredom because I was so caught up in the electrifying atmosphere I ended up dancing in the aisles, but I don't think a single person got up to their feet besides Sharona and I. We looked around and everybody else in all the other seating sections were standing and jumping and dancing, except ours. The world's most boring section.

It made me wish I was in the mosh pit.

But despite that lack of enthusiasm in my general vicinity, I still thoroughly enjoyed myself. I'll have to admit that Bono wasn't very large and I could not read the writing on his T-shirt, but I could see clearly enough and was aided beautifully by two large screens on the side and a gigantic one on the stage. It was fantastic.

It's been ages since I've been at a rock concert and to return to the concert scene with U2 has got to be one of the most amazing experiences ever. The music was tight, the singing was awesome, the showmanship was spectacular.

They came back for an encore twice and they opened the second encore with the latest single The Saints are Coming, which despite being performed without Green Day was still really good. And how much more privileged can a girl be to be one of the first few in the world to see that performed live at a U2 concert?

(For those reading this on your feedreader, there's a youtube video embedded.)




Technorati tags: U2, concert, Australia

Too many projects.

Looming deadlines.

Too little time.

If only there were more than one of me.

Stressed.

Exhausted.

Nervous.

Overwhelmed.

Let me just lie here and close my eyes...

Technorati tags: exhaustion, life, work

There's some really great advertising of giant painted trucks over at Lee Hopkins.

Thought this one was particularly clever, depicting how Pepsi Light is so "light" it floats up to the ceiling of the truck.

All pretty neat stuff I say.

Technorati tags: advertising, marketing, pictures

The magazine was mailed to me last Friday!

Technorati tags: Australian Christian Woman, shopping, writing

Master of the House

What do you think of when you attend a school production?

I'm not saying you don't expect quality production, but you don't usually associate amazing props and costumes, fantastic lighting and sound, or superb performances from those involved. The performances may be good, but you'll never think you're at Broadway or something.

That got turned on its head when I went to watch Les Miserables staged by the students of Barker College yesterday.

Firstly, there were actually properly published programmes printed on glossy paper (with a full-colour cover) and with extremely well-taken photos of the cast. We even had assigned seatings, although it was a bit of a challenge trying to find seat number 3 when you're really all just sitting on a long bench.

There was actually a full orchestra located in front of the stage and even before the musical started, you could see the really impressively built backdrop and intuitively know that the props and costumes would be as stunning.

And the peformance! It was hard to believe that I was actually watching high school students singing and acting! Powerful voices, smooth acting, I really felt transported to a proper non-school production at times.

Needless to say, I left the hall extremely impressed by the production and the direction of the musical. The interpretation, the staging, the singing, the lighting, everything was just done perfectly.

And I absolutely fell in love with the Master of the House scene in which the actor so wonderful depicted the character. It was as if he was born for that role (whether that's a compliment or not I'm not sure.)

Even this supposedly professionally done version cannot compare to the one I saw last night.




Technorati tags: Les Miserables, musical, school production

In extremely exciting news (well, to me at least), Company, a novel by one of my all-time favourite author, is finally going to be published in Australia!

A book being published may not be exciting news, even if it was by one's favourite author, but the fact that Company has been available overseas for at least a year kind of negates that. Particularly since Max Barry is Australian and based in Melbourne.

My first introduction to Max Barry was through his book Syrup in 2003, which was one of the most entertaining marketing satirical book I've ever read. We shall ignore the fact that I haven't really read many marketing satirical books before then.

It was intriguing, exciting, highly entertaining, laugh out loud funny and most of all, dealt with subject I could relate with. I have read all of his other books (a grand total of one) since and had been waiting impatiently for Company to be available in Australia.

And come March next year, it will be!

Technorati tags: Max Barry, Company, marketing

Greenfleet is an absolutely brilliant organisation that should exist everywhere in the world. Not only that, every single soul on earth should know about them.

What they basically do is plant trees on your behalf to sustain the amount of harmful emissions you produce from driving a car, taking a flight, or simply living.

The burden of being unenvironmentally friendly simply for my own inconvenience has always weighed heavily on my mind. And yet, in all honesty, I really cannot see how I can go about without a car, or travel without using a plane. I don't get seasick, but I really don't think I could handle spending months on sea.

I try to do my part in saving the environment as best as I can, and yet I'm fully aware that I'm doing far from enough.

So it's good to know that there are organisations out there who will plant trees that will cancel out the damage I'm doing to the environment. And not just that, trees are being planted where they can be most effective.

I for one am really glad that I can in some way do my part to save the environment, and in a tax deductible manner at that!

Word has to get out and people really do need to get on board! Start doing your part now before it all becomes too late!

Technorati tags: greenfleet, greenhouse emissions, environment

Update: Oh my goodness, and the things it can do!

As forewarned, I have wasted several precious moments of my life just being absolutely fascinated by Line Rider.

Draw a line, or several different lines, and see this little guy sled down/across/off it. My first try actually didn't even take off. Poor dude fell backwards into a neverending abyss.

It was cool.

{Thanks to ...thoughts... for the link.}

Technorati tags: line rider, game, fun

It still feels somewhat bizarre to see this:

Can't wait to receive the magazine. It's not the first time I've been published, but I have to admit that I still get a buzz when I see my name on something other than on my own website!

Freelance writing is extremely fun. The only problem is that I've got all these potential story ideas and places I could pitch to, but when you're freelancing on top of a full-time job, there never seems to be enough time to do anything!

Just submitted an article today, and I still have two more due before the end of the year!

Technorati tags: writing, Australian Christian Woman, magazine

Adventist Church's TV advertising back in 1989

I couldn't help but have a bit of a giggle watching this.

Listen to me, you islands;
hear this, you distant nations:
Before I was born the LORD called me;
from my birth he has made mention of my name.

He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
and concealed me in his quiver.

Isaiah 49:1-2

How are arrows made?

Firstly, a shaft needs to be found, but it must not be simply any stick. Nor should it be a green stick, full of life, budding and swaying in the wind.

A good arrow shaft is one that has dried up, been blown about in the wind, battered, and is now lying on the ground, seemingly dead and useless.

The arrowmaker will pick that stick up, use his knife and cut away and file down any bumps in order to make the stick as straight as possible. And then he ties a rock to it and throws it in the river to seemingly drown.

The stick doesn't stay there for a day or two. It sits in there, wet and cold, soaking in all the moisture and is picked up again by the arrowmaker at the end of eight weeks.

By this time, the stick is pretty much like spaghetti and simply flops around. But the arrowmaker isn't done yet. This time, he attaches a string to one end of the stick and ties it to a tree. Then he does the same to the other end, stretches the stick and then ties it to another tree.

He returns a day later, not to release the stick from the pain, but to stretch it further so that any sagging is removed. That is repeated day after day, the stick is stretched to its limits, for another eight weeks.

When the stick is removed from the trees, it is now much straighter than it ever have been. But the arrowmaker isn't done yet. He picks up his knife and starts shaving at the stick again. Shaving at it to make sure there are no bumps, and that nothing is sticking out that will cause it to catch the wind and fly in a direction it wasn't meant to.

And then the shaft is ready.

And that's when the arrowmaker attaches the point to the arrow...

And that's when whatever I was listening to at worship stopped. Unfortunately, I won't get to hear the end of the story but what I've heard this morning was enough to make me feel encouraged.

How many times have we felt like God's abandoned us? How many times have we felt discouraged, frustrated and in a ditch?

Maybe we're simply arrow shafts in the making.

Technorati tags: arrows, Christianity, God

Dove - Evolution

I always knew they photoshopped women in billboard and mag ads, but I never realised it was to THAT extent!

Looking forward to the ads coming to Australia...

{Thanks to Think Personality for the link.}

I broke the Guinness World Record!

Well, not by myself.

The office got involved in the Stand Up Against Poverty campaign on Monday and it has just been announced:

The world record for the most people to 'Stand Up Against Poverty' in 24 hours was set on 15 - 16 October 2006 for the United Nation's Millennium Campaign and involved a massive total of 23,542,614 participants in 11,646 events around the globe.

Here's my claim to fame:

Technorati tags: stand up against poverty, campaign, world record

Fox News Anchor Gets Money Shoved Down Her Shirt LIVE

The work hazards of being a news anchor has no limits.

{Thanks to Media Orchard for the link.}