What with my parents' situation, I'm actually being told everything twice. Once by mum, then by dad, just in case mum didn't tell me. I know I can't really blame them, but it does get a bit annoying after a while.
And... did I say I'm being told everything twice? I actually meant four times, since dad doesn't trust me to remember what I've already been told and feels the need to remind me twice again, and also in unnecessary detail.
25 August 2010
17 August 2010
My Weekend
I mentioned in the last post that I had an enjoyable weekend, so I thought I might blog about it in more detail.
Saturday was good because I visited a friend I hadn't seen in a while and we played video games, and it was a lot of fun! And then I went to the Saturday church service.
Then on Sunday, in the morning I went to church. The service was a good one. The plan was to afterwards go out to lunch somewhere with Gem from church, but then Yew* was there and he was trying to gather a few people to go out for lunch as a group, so Gem and I decided to go with them, and then another guy, Meerkat said, come to my house instead and I'll cook a heapload of chicken for you!
So a bunch of us went to Meerkat's house and most of us stopped to buy something to contribute to the meal on the way (Gem and I bought bread) and once we got there, we all had a job to do, chopping vegetables or slicing chicken or whatever... (I was slicing chicken) and we all sat down to eat and talked and it was heaps better than going out to eat because it was cheaper and because we all contributed to the meal it was really cool. There is a lot of significance in sharing a meal together, particularly for Christians, and especially when everyone had a part in preparing it.
But because of all that cooking Gem and I were late for the next part of the day that we had planned, which was to go to the synchrotron open day! (and it didn't really make any difference that we were late because the open day lasted all day, just that we had planned to get there by 1:30 but instead we got there by 2) so after lunch we left to go to the synchrotron, and we did a self-guided tour, and we ran into our friend (also from church but not from the morning service) who works there, and a couple of other people also from church who just also happened to be interested in coming to the open day! All the sciency stuff was cool but don't ask me to explain it to you.
Then after that Gem and I met up with a couple of other friends and we went to the movies and saw Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which I have to say, I loved! And then again, we went straight to evening church. (Yes, I did go to church three times during the course of the weekend, what of it?) Evening church was good and we had the commissioning of one of our members who is going to go to Spain for ministry purposes, so that was a little bittersweet.
There was also soup and cookies and party pies at church.
So yeah, it was a good day! And when I wrote my last post I did mention dad almost ruining it, but he didn't. Because now when I think about my weekend I don't think about dad being grumpy. I think of all the fun I had.
And now... I should probably go to bed.
*(who I should mention I am no longer infatuated with, I have successfully moved on, and he has started dating this other girl who is a totally cool person and there's nothing about that relationship I can criticise.)
Saturday was good because I visited a friend I hadn't seen in a while and we played video games, and it was a lot of fun! And then I went to the Saturday church service.
Then on Sunday, in the morning I went to church. The service was a good one. The plan was to afterwards go out to lunch somewhere with Gem from church, but then Yew* was there and he was trying to gather a few people to go out for lunch as a group, so Gem and I decided to go with them, and then another guy, Meerkat said, come to my house instead and I'll cook a heapload of chicken for you!
So a bunch of us went to Meerkat's house and most of us stopped to buy something to contribute to the meal on the way (Gem and I bought bread) and once we got there, we all had a job to do, chopping vegetables or slicing chicken or whatever... (I was slicing chicken) and we all sat down to eat and talked and it was heaps better than going out to eat because it was cheaper and because we all contributed to the meal it was really cool. There is a lot of significance in sharing a meal together, particularly for Christians, and especially when everyone had a part in preparing it.
But because of all that cooking Gem and I were late for the next part of the day that we had planned, which was to go to the synchrotron open day! (and it didn't really make any difference that we were late because the open day lasted all day, just that we had planned to get there by 1:30 but instead we got there by 2) so after lunch we left to go to the synchrotron, and we did a self-guided tour, and we ran into our friend (also from church but not from the morning service) who works there, and a couple of other people also from church who just also happened to be interested in coming to the open day! All the sciency stuff was cool but don't ask me to explain it to you.
Then after that Gem and I met up with a couple of other friends and we went to the movies and saw Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which I have to say, I loved! And then again, we went straight to evening church. (Yes, I did go to church three times during the course of the weekend, what of it?) Evening church was good and we had the commissioning of one of our members who is going to go to Spain for ministry purposes, so that was a little bittersweet.
There was also soup and cookies and party pies at church.
So yeah, it was a good day! And when I wrote my last post I did mention dad almost ruining it, but he didn't. Because now when I think about my weekend I don't think about dad being grumpy. I think of all the fun I had.
And now... I should probably go to bed.
*(who I should mention I am no longer infatuated with, I have successfully moved on, and he has started dating this other girl who is a totally cool person and there's nothing about that relationship I can criticise.)
16 August 2010
Ugh!
Truth is, I didn't have a great week this week. Partly because of my cold, a lot because dad's been in a really mean mood lately and has a tendency of spreading his mean mood on to others. But I had an awesome weekend, which might have made up for my un-awesome week, until I got home on Sunday night and dad was close to ruining the end of my weekend, too. >:(
07 August 2010
06 August 2010
That word
Being raised by Christian parents, having gone to a Christian school, having grown up going to church, saying "amen" after someone else says "amen" is just automatic. The word is Hebrew for "I agree", so saying "amen" after someone else has prayed is saying, "Yes, I agree with what they have just said, I am adding my voice to theirs." So I try and make it a concious thing of saying "amen" when someone else prays, that when I say amen, I try and make sure I've understood and is comfortable with what they have said. If I don't like something they've said, I'll try not to say that word. And when I do say it, I say it out loud, so that I can be heard, so as to publicly give my support to the person who said the prayer.
I say that if there's something that doesn't sit well with me, I try not to say it. It is a concious thing when I say that word, but it's also built into me and partly an automatic response, like I might start saying it before my mind has finished processing what the other person prayed, which most of the time isn't a problem because I wouldn't choose to be part of a religious community which teaches things that I don't agree with, and so the people who I pray with tend to be people who have the same basic, fundamental beliefs and values as me.
I've been borrowing some DVDs from a friend of mine. There's this one show that she's been lending me called "Big Love", about a polygamist surburban mormon family. It's an interesting show, interesting characters, etc. and one of the things I like about the show is that the actual show itself doesn't impose a value judgement on that lifestyle. The characters in the show do, but not the show itself.
Anyway, I don't subscribe to mormonism. I don't believe it is Christianity, although just like any other religion that isn't my own, I don't disrespect mormons, either. I watch it because it's an interesting show, just like I might watch a show about characters that are atheist, or agnostic, or muslim, or Jewish, or Hindu, or Buddhist etc. if it's an interesting show. But the family in this show might gather around to pray, the father prays something or other, says "amen" and the rest of his family says "amen", and I'm sitting there, watching this show on the couch on my own, watching these fictional people pray about their fictional lives about some thing that I wouldn't subscribe to even if it wasn't fictional, the characters say "amen" and, without thinking, without even being aware that I'm about to say it, I say "ame-uh... I mean... crap."
I say that if there's something that doesn't sit well with me, I try not to say it. It is a concious thing when I say that word, but it's also built into me and partly an automatic response, like I might start saying it before my mind has finished processing what the other person prayed, which most of the time isn't a problem because I wouldn't choose to be part of a religious community which teaches things that I don't agree with, and so the people who I pray with tend to be people who have the same basic, fundamental beliefs and values as me.
I've been borrowing some DVDs from a friend of mine. There's this one show that she's been lending me called "Big Love", about a polygamist surburban mormon family. It's an interesting show, interesting characters, etc. and one of the things I like about the show is that the actual show itself doesn't impose a value judgement on that lifestyle. The characters in the show do, but not the show itself.
Anyway, I don't subscribe to mormonism. I don't believe it is Christianity, although just like any other religion that isn't my own, I don't disrespect mormons, either. I watch it because it's an interesting show, just like I might watch a show about characters that are atheist, or agnostic, or muslim, or Jewish, or Hindu, or Buddhist etc. if it's an interesting show. But the family in this show might gather around to pray, the father prays something or other, says "amen" and the rest of his family says "amen", and I'm sitting there, watching this show on the couch on my own, watching these fictional people pray about their fictional lives about some thing that I wouldn't subscribe to even if it wasn't fictional, the characters say "amen" and, without thinking, without even being aware that I'm about to say it, I say "ame-uh... I mean... crap."
19 July 2010
Saturday Service
The church I'm going to has recently just started having a service on Saturdays as well as the three on Sundays. It's designed to be a cross-generational service. Not that the others aren't, it's just that the trend tends to be mostly elderly in the 8am service, families and children in the 10:30am service, and young adults, mostly childless, going to the 6pm service. It's just that the way the different services are run and the times that they are on suit those particular groups the best. This is partly intentional, I think, so that there's a service to suit most groups of people who come to church, but someone must've thought it'd be nice to have a Saturday service and make it cross-generational so the different generations can worship together. It's a good idea that encourages community. So I thought I'd come along and check it out. It was really nice, and fun, and different, and a lot less formal than the usual Sunday services. There were lots of kids but, unlike in the 10:30am service where the send the kids off to Sunday school while their parents listen to the adult service, the adults and the kids stayed in the same service, worshipped, and listened to the same message together. It was really nice.
So they did a lot during the service that was just for the kids, but I think the adults enjoyed watching the kids and playing along, too, I think. It might be easy for an adult to feel like the service was too kiddy, but for the sake of the community and supporting what they were trying to do, most of the adults just allowed themselves to enjoy it, including the ones who didn't have kids like myself. At least, that's what I did, and that's what I imagine most of the adults did. That's what the spirit of the service seemed to be like.
Also, after they had the stuff that was for the kids they got these paper plates and got the kids to draw on them (it was related to what the message was) while the pastor spoke the message to the adults, although still simple enough that the kids could follow while they drew their pictures, but more relatable for the adults than the stuff they were doing just for the kids before, while the kids were kept quiet while they drew. Afterwards they got the kids to come up and show and talk about their pictures, along with their really cute and funny answers that kids always have.
I thought it was really nice how they went about doing this, how they made it so the adults and kids could worship together with their families without sending the kids off to their seperate lessons, and also for the childless people who were there who can also worship with the kids and the parents and grandparents, too, all different people in different times in their lives, together in one community, and I think I'll go back next week, too.
I'm still going to the 6pm service every week on Sundays as I usually do and will also occasionally go to the 10:30am service every now and then as I sometimes do (I've yet to visit the 8am service - a little too early for a Sunday morning!) but I really like what they're doing at the Saturday service and would like to support it!
So they did a lot during the service that was just for the kids, but I think the adults enjoyed watching the kids and playing along, too, I think. It might be easy for an adult to feel like the service was too kiddy, but for the sake of the community and supporting what they were trying to do, most of the adults just allowed themselves to enjoy it, including the ones who didn't have kids like myself. At least, that's what I did, and that's what I imagine most of the adults did. That's what the spirit of the service seemed to be like.
Also, after they had the stuff that was for the kids they got these paper plates and got the kids to draw on them (it was related to what the message was) while the pastor spoke the message to the adults, although still simple enough that the kids could follow while they drew their pictures, but more relatable for the adults than the stuff they were doing just for the kids before, while the kids were kept quiet while they drew. Afterwards they got the kids to come up and show and talk about their pictures, along with their really cute and funny answers that kids always have.
I thought it was really nice how they went about doing this, how they made it so the adults and kids could worship together with their families without sending the kids off to their seperate lessons, and also for the childless people who were there who can also worship with the kids and the parents and grandparents, too, all different people in different times in their lives, together in one community, and I think I'll go back next week, too.
I'm still going to the 6pm service every week on Sundays as I usually do and will also occasionally go to the 10:30am service every now and then as I sometimes do (I've yet to visit the 8am service - a little too early for a Sunday morning!) but I really like what they're doing at the Saturday service and would like to support it!
30 June 2010
Torchlight
I've been wanting to update my blog but haven't really been sure what I wanted to write about. That is, there have been plenty of things that have happened that I could write about and have thought about writing about, but ended up deciding against it for one reason or another.
One thing I'm happy to write about is this game I've become addicted to, Torchlight. It's very similar to Diablo in gameplay but without giving me nightmares of demons slaughtering my family. (No, I didn't find Diablo scary when I played it but some of the imagery occasionally seeped into my sleep. I had to force myself to stop playing it.) Instead of some hidden catacombs underneath a church where generations of demons have been breeding for centuries unbeknownst to the surrounding town, it's a recently discovered mine of some magical ore where monsters have recently been emerging from some ancient civilization, or something? Anyway, same gameplay as Diablo but the imagery is less religious, which makes it for more relaxed and less blasphemous play on my part. And it has its own unique charm, too, is even a little steampunky at times which I love!
What Torchlight has been giving me is, if not nightmares, then headaches. It is an issue with me when I get addicted to a computer game. I spend too much time playing it and all that time focussing intently on a computer screen gives me headaches. It's always a toss-up for me when I have to decide whether getting a headache is worth another hour or so of fun, addicting play. I might take it a bit easier, today, but we'll see how I go. (Just so you know, I am on holidays at the moment.)
Hm... another thing I could write about is that I'm going to my sister's tomorrow and then staying there until the end of the weekend. I'm very excited, I can't wait to play on her X-box and her Playstation 3 on her hi-def widescreen TV... oh, and to spend time with my sister, of course... :p
Actually, the reason I'm going over is to housesit so I can look after her gorgeous cat and her birds, but she's invited me to come over a couple of days earlier so we can spend some time together before she and her husband go away. It's also her birthday on Monday, so tomorrow (Thursday) Mum, my sister, her husband and I are going to go out for dinner, although I don't know where, yet.
One thing I'm happy to write about is this game I've become addicted to, Torchlight. It's very similar to Diablo in gameplay but without giving me nightmares of demons slaughtering my family. (No, I didn't find Diablo scary when I played it but some of the imagery occasionally seeped into my sleep. I had to force myself to stop playing it.) Instead of some hidden catacombs underneath a church where generations of demons have been breeding for centuries unbeknownst to the surrounding town, it's a recently discovered mine of some magical ore where monsters have recently been emerging from some ancient civilization, or something? Anyway, same gameplay as Diablo but the imagery is less religious, which makes it for more relaxed and less blasphemous play on my part. And it has its own unique charm, too, is even a little steampunky at times which I love!
What Torchlight has been giving me is, if not nightmares, then headaches. It is an issue with me when I get addicted to a computer game. I spend too much time playing it and all that time focussing intently on a computer screen gives me headaches. It's always a toss-up for me when I have to decide whether getting a headache is worth another hour or so of fun, addicting play. I might take it a bit easier, today, but we'll see how I go. (Just so you know, I am on holidays at the moment.)
Hm... another thing I could write about is that I'm going to my sister's tomorrow and then staying there until the end of the weekend. I'm very excited, I can't wait to play on her X-box and her Playstation 3 on her hi-def widescreen TV... oh, and to spend time with my sister, of course... :p
Actually, the reason I'm going over is to housesit so I can look after her gorgeous cat and her birds, but she's invited me to come over a couple of days earlier so we can spend some time together before she and her husband go away. It's also her birthday on Monday, so tomorrow (Thursday) Mum, my sister, her husband and I are going to go out for dinner, although I don't know where, yet.
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