Old Friends

Old Friends cannot be created out of hand. Nothing can match the treasure of common memories, of trials endured together, of quarrels and reconciliations and generous emotions. It is idle, having planted an acorn in the morning, to expect that afternoon to sit in the shade of the oak.

Wind, Sand and Stars, Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

A Shopping expedition

I went shopping after work tonight, mainly to buy presents from the staff for staff who are leaving. While I was having dinner, I saw this really awesome shirt. On it was written:

Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself. Ralph Waldo Emerson

I loved it!

While shopping I've found myself more books to read. There is a new book by Marion Maddox [God Under Howard: The Rise of the Religious Right in Australian Politics], which talks about the role of religion in Australian politics, particularly under Howard. Expect further thoughs from that. It was interesting in the last election how religion played a role similar to in American politics. With Howard, Costello, and Rudd we are seeing greater dialogue between the church members and the state. We are seeing more Christians speaking out, and this is worth a closer look. I also bought A Guide For Grown Ups: Essential Wisdom from the Collected Works of Antoine de Saint Exupery (the author of The Little Prince).

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It is always in the midst, in the epicentre, of your troubles that you find serenity

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Weekend fun ...

The weekend before last I went with Deborah and looked at the Lord of the Ring Exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, and met Ben and Lorien for dinner afterward. It was great to spend time with them.

Sunday, I went back to Wollongong to hear my brother preach. . Tuesday night I went back down to Wollongong to watch Les Miserables. (Inicidently, this will serve as a reminder, that October 8th 2005 is the Twentieth Anniversary of the premiere of the production). While I treasure the musical and the novel, I must say the musical was a touch dissappointing, I enjoyed hearing friends sing a few of the roles that mean alot to me.

Went to Bible Study on Wednesday night with some fellow graduates, we are looking at Galatians. Am in a bible study with Guan and Joe, and a few people from the netball team, which is great, I am really looking forward to spending more time being sharpened and encouraged by each of them as we study God’s word together.

Looking back, over the weekend I went the mountains to spend some time with a “few” other Godly men at MKC. It was great to spend time hearing great bible teaching, and particularly what it means to be a “man of God”. After my last post, found it refreshing that we had Vaughan Roberts, Sam Chan, and John Chapman, speaking to us on how we should look at “Work” as Christians. More thoughts to come from the convention.

The agenda for the next few weeks: I am going to Eskimo Joe [Feb 25]; Switchfoot [March 1], R.E.M. [March 31], maybe The Frames [March 30], and The Cat Empire [April 22].

If anyone’s interested in seeing The Frames, [Unfortunately it is a Wednesday night], or the second R.E.M. gig [Friday]. Let me know.

The Frames are kind of folk-rock-esque, if that means anything … maybe even an Irish type Radiohead? Apparently they got voted as the best live Irish Act. [Dethroning that small indie Irish band called U2, who’d won the previous twelve years].

This weekend was my third Sunday at Community Bible Church. Am feeling a touch better about it. I am getting to know the group a litte better, which is good.

Found this too, from one of Michael Leunig books, well worth a look.

God help us
If our world should grow dark
And there is no way of seeing or knowing
Grant us courage and trust
To touch and be touched
To find our way onwards
By feeling.
Amen

[When I talk to You – Michael Leunig]

At Work …

So, as I said I’d give work a separate post. It’s been a pretty busy start to the year. Work has been fairly hectic and am feeling a little swamped at the moment.

The SPRC where I work has undergone a little bit of staffing changes over the last few months, the acting business manager left, and the Office Manager resigned late last year. Recently we employed an acting Business Manager until our Business Manager returns from maternity leave.

But now, as the longest serving Admin person, all of the questions, and queries, come to me, which would be ok, if I actually knew anything to help. Its frustrating for him, and frustrating for me, as I am finding it hard to do my own job, but at the same time, I’m doing what needs to be done, and I guess that’s were the guilt comes in. The guilt also comes in as I feel frustrated that I’m getting asked the same questions after having already answered them, and in feeling that I’m not sure that I’m doing as much of my job as expected. A lot of the questions are process questions, and about parts of the process that I just don’t know.

Though late last week, we were doing a tender, and the acting business manager didn’t show up… which meant a lot of that work fell to me, and I got further behind on the other stuff I am paid to do. And we sent off another tender on Monday as well, which I was concerned about over the weekend.

So, I guess I just feel quite overwhelmed with the whole situation, but it is not really that bad I guess. Still, I don’t think I should feel guilty. I mean if its not my work, its not my area – even though I’ve been there as long as I have, if it doesn’t cross my desk, then I won’t know. But that doesn’t stop me from wishing I could be more helpful.

Ah well, that’s just the way it is for now.

On other fronts, I went to Community Bible Church for the first time, which was quite good. I knew a larger number of people who where attending there; the preaching was pretty much what I’m used to. I’ll keep you all posted about how it is going. Am also thinking about visiting Randwick Presbyterian and St Martins, to se what they are like. Seeing as I’m possibly only going to be there for a year (if I do enroll, and get into college).

Last night, I started going to the Graduate Bible Fellowship, and whatever happens with church I’m thinking it will be neat to keep going there. It’s a great group of people, and it will be heaps encouraging and challenging as we look into Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

And as for the rest of the week, not a lot happening, might head to Summer Fellowship tomorrow night, and for a BBQ at Stanwell on Saturday, and Wollongong for church on Sunday night as my brother is preaching again.

A tale of two movies

My week was bookended with trips to the movies, to see the new Audrey Tautou and Jean-Pierre Jeunet film A Very Long Engagement, and also one of the many new Jude Law movies Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

A Very Long Engagement

I was not really sure what to expect, but a colleague had recommended it to me. The film is the story of Mathilda (played by Audrey Tautou), who was engaged to be married to a soldier on the front line of the Battle of the Somme, Manech is one of five soldiers who were court martialed and condemned to be sent into no man’s land, each of the soldiers being guilty of self mutilation.

Mathilda explores what happened to her fiancée, with a determined optimism that he is alive, for if he was dead she would know. Through Mathilda’s optimistic, and hopeful search we learn of the indelible mark war leaves on all those who are touched by it. In the film, a few examples is the German women they met as they head out to the battlefield, and the one of the soldiers, who initially resented Mathilda’s search for Manech. After witnessing the horror of seeing his comrades blew to pieces, this is with little wonder.

The film presents a realistic view of what the trenches in World War One would have looked like, especially the recounting of why the five soldiers had been sent to no-mans-land and almost certain death. A colleague mentioned to me how the film shows us the front line during the war, and how everything was destroyed, all of life – and then we are taken to the same field later and the field is again alive – that land that was scarred experience rebirth. This contrast reminds me of the state of our world – we fallen in sin – are living in a world scared, cursed, and broken, but a world awaiting the blessings of life, of abundance, and redemption. The image is not as intense in this movie, but it is a reminder for me.

As the film winds to its conclusion and we see the strands of the various stories come together, perhaps strands that are times are hard to distinguish, we learn of another women chasing up the story, her course of action, vengeance. The two women, had two distinct responses to the news, both governed by love, one seeking to find and be reunited to her fiancée, while the other, focused on gaining vengeance on those who had a role in keeping these men’s presidential pardon secret, and who pulled the trigger to her partner.

I found the film excessively gruesome at times, in balance though it did a good job of highlighting what war is like, one of the soldiers, willing to allow his wife to bear child by another man so he would have a sixth child, and be sent home. The characters in the film were endearingly created, particularly Mathilda’s family, and their interplay with the postman is funny. I loved listening to the soundtrack, and hearing the dialogue in French as well. French is a beautiful language.

The end was beautifully done; it ended with hope, but at the same time it was not a totally resolution, it ended with Mathilda content just to ‘look at him’, in spite of his loss of memory.

A Very Long Engagement is a gem.

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Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Decided to go to the movies on Saturday night with some friends from church. We settled, with reservations, on Sky Captain; which like Closer, and Alfie, features Jude Law. Basic premise of the film, a number of scientists have been going missing, Polly Percy [Gwyenth Paltrow], a journalist and Sky Captain, seek to find out what is happening, and of course defeat the mastermind behind it all. The sentence summary; spend your money elsewhere.

I found the action and dialogue was weak, wooden, and wearying; the plot felt predictable. The dialogue never really went anywhere, the arguments over whether Polly cut his fuel line, and the constant effort of Polly running back to get her camera, or decide she would wait to take her last picture grew to be tiring. Along with its predictability, the plot was filled with holes.

There was not really much in the film to endear it. It was akin to watching a comic book, with the film largely shot against a blue screen and relying on animation. And this didn’t really work for me. But if this intrigues you, it may be worth thinking about having a look. Though don’t expect a masterpiece. Gwyenth, Jude, and Angelina Jolie (her sum total screen time, is about as long as the time it takes to make a cup of coffee); could not save the film with their relatively ordinary acting. There’s no reason for an attraction between Sky Captain and Polly, or at least the script fails to create an emotional bond between he characters, and more problematically between the audiences and the characters.

Spend your money elsewhere.

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Wave Aid - The Tsunami Relief Concert (SCG)

Been an exciting week on a few fronts. I’ll leave work alone, because that deserves an entry all of its own. Let’s just say for now work is a source of stress, and guilt from stress. (I will come back to this).

I went out to Wave Aid on Saturday. I saw the list of bands when it came out, and just about had to pick up my jaw from the floor. It had an awesome line-up, almost a once-in-a-generation line-up.

The highlights for me:

The Finn Brothers
Yeah they played their hits, but singing Don’t Dream its Over, It’s Only Natural, and Throw Your Arms Around Me [by Hunters and Collectors], with close to 45 000 other voices was an amazing experience. It was just like, I think it is Joe's phrase, 'the group hug of the night'.

Powderfinger
First time I've heard them live, having just recently got into their music. They were awesome too. Fanning was awesome singing with ‘The Wrights’ too.

Midnight Oil
I only knew the choruses of some songs, but still it was great to see this Aussie icon, and my MP. Its hard to imagine Peter in a suit after seeing him dance (Aside: May just be me, but does his antics on stage remind anyone of Michael Stipe).

The Waifs
Not many of my group seem to rate them, but they were great. Hard to pick the words clearly but am definitely interested in hearing more from them. I think they play the Metro later this month, may be work a look.

But there was not a bad set amongst the bands, it was the most good-natured crowd that I’ve been apart of. For those who read the Herald, they’ll have known that Chuggie got a serve for the manner in which he ‘handled’ the crowd, and I’d sort of agree. It didn’t seem in keeping with the spirit of the night. Another slightly inappropriate part of the night, was the “camera operators” comments on the big screen urging women to flash, and that being followed by people around them trying to raise the girls tops. The camera operator should have stopped at that point.

I have to also say that I barely got burnt, and this is just as well as I have too often come into work sunburnt, which was probably why I was given Sun Screen for Christmas by my boss.

On Music again:
New in my CD player over December, January: Damien Rice, The Frames, Bright Eyes, and Dire Straits. I’ve borrowed CD’s from the Un Brothers, which have broadened my tastes: The Flaming Lips; The Eagles; Joni Mitchell; Sufjan Stevens; and Sunny Day Real Estate.