Can't think of a title

Sorry I haven't updated the blog for over a month. I have been very busy at work trying to study for GST Training conference and 2 internal training exams. It's hard to juggle things; thankfully I'm not doing CA yet (did I say that I possibly could...?)

Anyhow, it's been hard not being able to go to CBF City North (since it coincides with Group training). It's been encouraging meeting a few Christians at KPMG and praying with the former CILers. It's hard to keep things in focus when deadlines and demanding bosses come into the fray but, such are the challenges that God has placed before us.

In the last month, other than go to work, I've:

- walked across the Harbour Bridge with A and her parents for the Bridge's 75th anniversary
- watched CAAAARRRRRRLTON win the NAB Cup and rd 1 against Richmond (!!!)
- watched Sydney lose to West Coast by a point :)
- watched Arsenal slump into a heap in the English Premier League and go crashing out of the Champions League...
- bought a few more CD's - some classical - but in the Christian scene - Sovereign Grace Live (pretty good!), Paul Baloche "Greater Song" (good!), Casting Crowns "Lifesong" (very good!).
- been to an Idea of North gig
- misplace my SSO tickets (LOL!)

What am I actually doing at work? I've had a lot of people ask me this question - and in short, I work in the Trade and Customs (with smatterings of GST work) section - there are exactly 4 people in this practice and I'm obviously at the bottom. However, I've been to a couple of client meetings already and that's all been very interesting. I'm finding business writing completely different to essay writing and it's quite liberating having to only write dot points :)

I suppose I should sign off...i'm really tired...the Easter holiday has come as a much needed respite from the busyness of work...

It's begun

Well, working life has begun.

And I was warned, and I'm glad that I was warned. Full-time secular work is dangerous. It is dangerous spiritually, it is dangerous mentally, it is dangerous emotionally and it is dangerous physically.

KPMG flew us down to Melbourne for NGI- National Graduate Indoctrin...oops Induction. Every single graduate (499 in all) met at Flemington race course to be indoctrinated by the 4 blue squares - and its accompanying troupe of CEO, national managing partners in the 3 divisions of Audit, Tax and Advisory to find out how PwC are the biggest, but KPMG is the best amongst other things.

I met a lot of fellow grads, particularly in tax and at tax camp afterwards. It was good to get to know some non-Christian people and they are valuable colleagues and gospel harvest. Tax camp in particular was challenging in straddling the line between being all things to all men and having the gospel shining through us.

Work has been really hard and I'm getting really tired easily but such are the challenges that God throws at us. It makes us stronger. I had a great gospel conversation with my senior on the first day - it started with a "what's planned for the weekend?" - he lives in Caringbah which is on the same line and we talked for about 30-40 minutes on the way to the station and on the train. Do pray for him, he used to go to church but fell away.

I'm getting very tired very easily, so I've tried to do more exercise and sleeping earlier (I don't know how effective it is but it's 11:06pm and I should sleep...

The final weeks of being a gentleman of leisure...

I guess being a gentleman of leisure has its downsides. Life tends to be boring without a regular routine. I have, however, been trying to fill it up by making appointments to see doctors, optometrists, dentists (argh!) etc before I start work since I know that after I start, there's precious little time to get all that done.

It's also relaxing, playing games of Call of Duty online, playing EA Cricket, watching cricket, playing golf, catching up with friends, catching up with more friends and going to Canberra with A to see the Egyptian exhibits from the Louvre and discussing with A which mission we'll go to.

And to the Cowra-rites, it's with deep regret that I've decided not to join you guys on Breakout '08. It was a really hard decision and a lot of factors were taken into consideration. I am sad about leaving Cowra; the '07 team was a very strong, committed and servant-hearted group of people. However, because it is so strong, I believe that the future of Breakout (under the Lord) is strong and the ministry will continue to be faithful. I shall continue to pray for you guys but I'll be going to Gunnedah to serve the Lord there.

That's the latest news on the C.Lo front - i have some new glasses! Have a look - thanks to A for taking the picture - I like it!

For all you photo geeks:
Photo 1 (Black Mountain)

Metering - Matrix

Length - 80mm

Aperture - f/11

Shutter - 1/200th

Photo 2 (Portrait)

Metering - Matrix

Length - 80mm
Aperture - f/3.5
Shutter - 1/500th

Cowra, Cricket and well...not much else

Well, it's taken time to recover from my trip to the US. But I didn't get any time to do that, cos I ended up plunging into the full-on-"ness" that is Cowra Summer Breakout. Most of you probably know about it but in case you don't, it's an event run by the Presbyterian and Baptist churches in Cowra every January to promote the gospel in the town. This year I did Adeos - which is basically 18 to 80 (or 100+ as you'll find out).

A typical morning at Adeos involved washing up the team's breakfast and getting coffee ready for the parents of kids who stuck around to watch their kids learning from the very energetic Concert Time. It involved talking to mums who enjoy the great coffee served up by Morro and hopefully bringing the gospel to them. Obviously, you can't just launch straight into the gospel without having time to understand where they come from.

Talking to different people about their lives is tiring. But it's the first thing we must do if we are to present the gospel. We cannot just go through 2 Ways to Live with them. It's not loving to just ram the gospel down their throats without regard to a person's life situation. We're dealing with people here, some of whom may have had really difficult lives - only after learning about these circumstances do we gain an understanding of what aspect of the gospel is going to be their stumbling block.

The hardest thing for me was giving a talk to the people at the nursing homes, particularly at Weeroona which is a palliative care institution. But, the gospel is no less relevant at these places, if not more so since time is limited. It's hard to know how much will sink in but the Holy Spirit is powerful and only the Lord knows whether these people have accepted him or not. There were people ranging from 60-odd to over 100 (I wanted to see his letter from the Queen!!!) but in general it was a little depressing, the consequences of the Fall are all too obvious.

Will I be back next year? Still deciding and discussing with A. Prayers appreciated.

Home! (and what happened in San Francisco)

Well, our drive from Vancouver to Seattle was pretty good - it rained a lot, the border crossing was busy (1 hour wait) but the scenery was good. Interstate 5 was really nice.

Took a detour off I-5 to Paine Field, home of Boeing's factory, the largest in the world. The place is really quite humongous but it's a plane nut's favourite place. Place was quiet on a Saturday before Christmas but I can imagine it being rather frantic during the week.

Dad then tried to find Microsoft (he's in IT after all...), we found it and to be honest, it's not that impressive. Looks like something you'd find at Macquarie Park. We flew back to San Francisco, no dramas, Alaska Airlines are quite good, albeit landed about 30 minutes late due to a late departure from Sea-Tac.

San Francisco - awesome city! Which is more beautiful, the Bay or Sydney Harbour? It's a tough one because the hills around the Bay make the view more accessible. The problematic thing is that the Bay is usually foggy, which obscures the tremendous view.

An aunt and her daughter live here - my cousin's kids thought 'he [that is me) speaks funny'. Does that sound like an Ameri-centric education to you?

We got taken everywhere, stuffed full of food (I had a sushi buffet on the last day before I left), shopped (I bought a whole heap of work clothes - 2 suits, 5+ shirts and ties - all cheaper than Oz), ate more food, went up Twin Peaks, ate more food, went shopping on Fisherman's Wharf (tourist trap!), ate more food, rode the cable car, ate more food.

It's like "you're young, so eat more!" Don't they get it? I'm overweight already and I'm not American and I'm 24, which isn't that young! Grr...

I really enjoyed my time there - was good to spend time with nice relatives who chauffeur-drove us around. We went on a day trip to Monterey and 17 Mile Drive - saw one of my favourite golf courses in the world, Pebble Beach - $USD450 a round, I'd do it next time. The fairways were so lush and so green *sigh*.

14 hour flights really bug me. They're painful, particularly when I can only fly economy class - the legroom is painful and I get numb. I'm glad I'm not taller (or fatter) - though I did get fatter in my month over there - there was a noticeable decrease in waistroom...

All in all, a great trip! But I'm still jet-lagged... someone called me a sleepy head this morning :(

Rain, rain, why won't it rain in Australia?

I wish it rained in Australia more. We've been praying about it at church for awhile. The mission I go on goes to a town that is unbelievably dry and I've never seen the town dam more than 24% full.

Why does it rain so much in Vancouver and Seattle and so little in Australia? Only God knows.

Vancouver was fun - sort of - it rained a lot and meant that I couldn't get many good photographs and didn't see much. I wish I had more time there in order to get to Whistler but I didn't get the chance, Dad had friends and relatives to see. I managed to buy a lot of CD's at Sikora's Classical Records (lots of Strauss, Mozart and Dvorak - no Mahler!!!) at pretty cheap prices (30% off).

Vancouver's a very picturesque city with a great location and a laid back atmosphere. It also has the worst traffic this side of Los Angeles and the peak hour traffic is appalling at best and gridlocked at worst. The 2 major bridges, Lions' Gate and Second Narrows, north of Vancouver have 3 lanes and 6 lanes respectively. Considering the 3 lane bridge is the closest one to downtown, it creates unbelievable chaos - even worse is the fact that the speed limit in the city is 50km/h!!! Over the bridge, it's 60. SLOW.......

Dad got to drive but I couldn't because Seattle in Washington state does not let people under the age of 25 drive. Eh well, it was the same car that I hired in Boston - so a big, wallowing, gas-guzzling V8 Mercury Grand Marquis. At least it had comfy seats.

Washington state is really beautiful - the fir trees that line Interstate 5 are pretty. Mountains pop in and out of view of the trees and of the clouds, they were snow-capped and cloud-covered.

Flew back to San Francisco on the 23rd - took the cable car, went to Fisherman's Wharf, went up Twin Peaks blah blah - all the tourist stuff is great, but it's been good seeing my cousin and her husband my first cousins once removed, as well as my aunt and uncle. Dad has met a friend he hasn't seen for 35 years and they drove us around the place.

I'm stuffed after a steamboat Christmas dinner, so I'm going to sign off. I haven't had turkey, ham or anything like for Christmas hehe - we had yum cha for lunch!

Time to hitch a ride to San Francisco...

Again with apologies to the BeeGees, but I'm in San Francisco.

Well, it's been a week since I blogged and I've been updating my past posts with pictures and the like, hopefully that's been helpful.

Well, I loved Boston - ate at Legal Seafoods too many times (4 times) but it's a Boston icon, so why not? I explored Harvard University with Dave and Armanda, a couple from church, it was nice to meet up with them and to get some local knowledge.

My museum "pilgrammage" continued with visits to the JFK Library and Museum - really well done in portraying his life from babyhood to 22 November 1963 - tastefully reduced to a mere minute of footage and none from the infamous Zapruder film.

It's the most liveable city I visited on the East Coast in my opinion. Sure the traffic is appalling, something I experienced firsthand whilst day tripping to historic Lexington (see left) and Concord, but it's a really pretty place. I picked up a car on Thursday 14 December in preparation for my trip to Albany, I was given a Lincoln Grand Marquis V8 (see below). It looks like a cop car and it handles like one. It had steering as light as a feather (could park it with one finger) and the front seats were so big, it was like sitting in a sofa and travelling at 65mph.

Albany was frustrating staying with my aunt. I don't want to talk anymore about it.

Drove back to Boston with Dad in this tank - got lost in Boston because I took a shortcut - but ended up ok.

Flight to San Francisco was alright - it was American Airlines, it was bumpy crossing the Rockies but otherwise a pretty standard flight. Completely full, no empty seats and babies crying all over the place; it is holiday season after all.

Have arrived at my cousin's place which is in a nice part of town, and it's close to the airport which is a bonus. Dad and I fly to Seattle to pick up a car to drive to Vancouver tomorrow. I wonder what car we'll get this time...

I will try to blog from Vancouver, but I'm not able to blog, then I wish you all a safe, fun and Christ-filled Christmas.