Sport shorts - 30 July

AFL

• Getting to the business end of the season and hard to think of a more open season. There are now questions over GWS, Adelaide, and even Geelong. Adelaide snatched a draw after trailing by 50 points at one stage of the game. so their slow starts are a concern. GWS' from is patchy though maybe if their full list was healthy they might be doing better. 
• Credit to Alistair Clarkson and the Hawks, they might not sneak into the finals but they've had an impressive turnaround to their season. It just wasn't the Swans night, hopefully we'll see a better performance and upset win against Geelong ;)
• I'm happy with the draw to remain, and don't think we need a result for every game during the regular season.
• Feel there's a bit of misplaced sympathy for Patrick Dangerfield. He's now ineligible for the Brownlow Medal after receiving a deserved suspension for a tackle in Geelong's game against Carlton. Read more here.
• Congrats to Nick Riewoldt on a great career with the St Kilda.  

NRL

• Great to see the Knights back in the winners list with a tense 21-14 win over the Dragons.  Given they're playing the Warriors next week they might get back to back wins. 
• Impressed to see Cam Smith on the field this week - and with an awesome game too.  
• Think the eight is almost settled, with either St George or Penrith taking the final spot - there game in round 27 will almost settle it. I'll be cheering for the Panthers.

Super Rugby

• The Hurricanes are out after blowing a 22-3 lead. And the killer is that it means the Crusaders will travel to South Africa for the Final.  I hope I'm wrong, but I suspect the Lions will win. Then we have a two week break before the Rugby Championship starts with Australia playing New Zealand in Sydney. 

Other

• I've shared this elsewhere, but I was saddened to hear of the death of Les Murray. I spent countless hours listening to him talk football with Johnny Warren, Damien Lovelock and most recently Craig Foster. The passion he has for the game is infectious. He was more than an ambassador for Football, he is great Australian who fought for a more compassionate Australia. 
• More on soccer - congrats to the Matildas who have beaten the United States for the first time in 30 years (27 games). 
• I've been enjoying the baseball (perhaps not the Blue Jays form) and one of the things I really love is the walk-off hit, home run or Grand Slam.  And there was a great moment in this morning's game where Kyle Farmer in his first MLB at bat achieved a walk off two run hit.  
• Finally, this article about concussion in sport is a must-read.

Sport Shorts - 23 July

AFL

• Ok, hands up who thought that Sydney would be in the mix for a top four finish after their 0-6 start. I certainly didn't. Mind you, they've still got three tough games before the finals (Hawthorn, Geelong and Adelaide). 
• Hard to read GWS at the moment, they're not playing particularly well, but they've still got players to come back. 

NRL

• I saw my first live game for the year on the weekend, and went to ANZ Stadium and saw the Wests Tigers tackle the Parramatta Eels. In summary it was a fun (and close) game, but not the best advert for the game. I'd be surprised if the Eels did much damage in the finals. 
• I guess it was another honorable loss for the Warriors - losing 12-24 to the North Queensland Cowboys. 
• The other story from the weekend was Sia Soliola not being sent off in the Canberra v Melbourne game. Coupled with Ricky Stuart's bizarre press conference spray about the referees. This article about the issue is interesting reading.

Super Rugby

• The winners of the semi finals were the Hurricanes, Lions, Crusaders and Chiefs.  So in next weeks finals we'll see the Hurricanes travel to South Africa to play the Lions and the Crusaders play the Chiefs.  
• I'm thinking the final will be between the Hurricanes and Crusaders, but we'll see. 

The Cricket World Cup

• The Women's World Cup was great viewing. England are the deserved winners. The two moments of the tournament for me were Chamari Atapattu's unbeaten 178 and Harmanpreet Kaur's 171* in the semi final.  There's a great read about the World Cup here.  While I was disappointed to see NZ get knocked out early, it was great to see South Africa do well. 

Sport Shorts - 16 July

AFL

• Another win to the Swans this weekend. They have now won nine from their last ten and sit in the top eight.  They'll need to keep winning to stay there, but its been an impressive run. 
• Awesome performance from Dangerfield on the weekend, injured early in the game against Hawthorn, and came back on and kicked five goals. The game had a great finish, sad for Isaac Smith who for the second time had a chance on the siren to kick a goal to win the game for Hawthorn. 
• So, seventeen rounds in, the joint favourites for me are GWS and Adelaide. GWS might just jump ahead when they get some of their key injured players back. Sydney will be the team no one wants to play should they make the finals, but they have to make the finals first. With games against Hawthorn, Geelong and Adelaide left, its by no means safe to assume they will make the finals. 

NRL

• Perhaps not surprising by Queensland won this years State of Origin, making it ten of the last eleven.  Seems to me NSW were just out of ideas. It was great to see Cameron Smith bring Jonathan Thurston up on stage.  It won't be too long before Thurston is inducted into the Hall of Fame.
• Think the season is now over for the Warriors - they won't make the playoffs, especially with Johnson's season ending injury. 
• Melbourne look like the team to beat this year. 
• I'm glad for the bye rounds to be over, it certainly feels like a different competition during State of Origin. 

Super Rugby

• The regular season finished, and the Australian teams went 0-25 against New Zealand.  There's at least one more match-up with the Brumbies hosting the Hurricanes in one of the finals.  It is certainly one of the anomalies of Super Rugby that the Hurricanes are playing the Brumbies away. The other semi finals are : Crusaders v Highlanders; Lions v Sharks and Stormers v Chiefs. 
• I suspect the Hurricanes, Crusaders, Lions and Chiefs will win the semi-finals. If the Lions win, then they will host the final (should they qualify).  
• Perhaps the other anomaly is that the Lions made the final, without playing a New Zealand team

Football

• It was great to see both of Arsenal's two Sydney games.  Really impressed with the attendance (over 160,000 people attended the games)  The gulf in class between the clubs was evident with Arsenal winning both; 2-0 (v Sydney FC) and 3-1 (v the Wanderers).  
• I enjoyed the game against the Wanderers more - felt they played better than Sydney, and the atmosphere was certainly better, mostly due to the Wanderers fans who sang and chanted the whole way through the game. 
• In terms of Arsenal I was impressed with Alexandre Lacazette.  We do need to hold on to Alexis Sanchez. Shame he didn't make the trip over. 

Wimbledon

• Part of me was sad that Venus Williams didn't win the Ladies Final. It was a impressive run from her, but it was a super performance from Garbine Muguruza to win her second title. The final made her the only Women to beat both Serena and Venus Williams in Grand Slam Finals. 
• Super impressive performance from Federer to win his 8th Wimbledon and 19th Grand Slam title.  It was the second time he's won a Grand Slam tournament without dropping a set. To my mind, he is one of the greatest sportsman or women of all time. 

A little update..

If you have been following my blog, you'd know that we were in Wellington for the rugby. We also had a great chance to see the city.  One of the must-see attractions in Wellington is the Te Papa Museum, and one of the main exhibits they have on at the moment focuses on Gallipoli. The exhibit tells the story of the Gallipoli campaign in World War I through the eyes and words of eight ordinary New Zealanders who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances. The exhibit has eight large figures (made by Weta Workshops, who worked on the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings). You couldn't help but be moved by each story.

It was quite eye-opening to hear the story of Gallipoli from the New Zealand perspective (the campaigns they were involved in).

On our final day in Wellington we went up the cable car and visited the Cable car museum. It was interesting to see the history of the cable car, but also fascinating to watch a video about the houses in Wellington which had installed cable cars for access.

It was just lovely being in the city with thousands of Lions fans. Our plane from Sydney was filled with them. It just created such an awesome atmosphere in the city (and at the rugby). It was interesting how drowned out the All Blacks chants were at the ground, it almost felt like a home game for the Lions.

Wellington is such a beautiful city, in lot of ways its coffee culture reminds me of Melbourne.

After Wellington it was back to reality pretty quickly. Last Tuesday morning I started radiotherapy so I now have had nine sessions, almost half way through. I'll have twenty in total, then a short break before restarting Chemo.

I find radiotherapy very different to chemotherapy, during my chemo sessions I sat in a chair for four hours while the drugs were pumped into my veins. For radiotherapy I lie on a bed and the machine moves around me three times in ten minutes, and I'm done.  While I'm doing radiotherapy, I'm also having oral chemotherapy.

So far I haven't t felt too bad, the worst side effects are psychological. I'm finding that I'm far more irritable and moody than before, and I need to get better at knowing how I'm feeling and communicating it, I also need to get better at managing my mood.

What I'm in to - June

Reading:

Another quiet month for reading this time, I've managed two books. I finished Susan Carland's 'Fighting Hislam' and 'Radical Remission' by Kelly Turner.

Susan Carland's book was a really eye opening read, talking about woman seeking to change Islam from within.

'Radical Remission' is about people who have survived cancer against the odds. The book explores nine key factors shared by these individuals (often they stop using conventional treatments, like surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy).

The nine factors mentioned in the book are: Radically changing your diet; taking control of your health; following your intuition; using herbs and supplements; releasing suppressed emotions; increasing positive emotions; embracing social support; deepening your spiritual connection; and having strong reasons for living.

It was a helpful read, I'm certainly not thinking about stopping the treatments I'm doing at the moment, but some of the factors are worthwhile thinking more about, and trying to apply them.

Watching
The highlight of my TV viewing  during June was The Voice. Even if none of the contestants really jumped out  at me this year, it was still enjoyable to watch. I really like Delta as a coach so it was great that Judah won. The dynamic between Kelly and Delta was great.

I've been enjoying watching Masterchef too.  I enjoyed the episodes filmed in Japan; probably because I love Japanese food.  The really frustrating thing about cooking shows is that you never get to taste the food which has been made.

Listening
I spent a lot of June listening to Radiohead's OK Computer, R.E.M's Automatic for the People and Coldplay's  A Head Full of Dreams. I'm looking forward to the new album from Nichole Nordeman. It was a very nice surprise when I found out she had a new album coming out.  She's one of my favourite singer-songwriters. One of the reasons I'm looking forward to hearing the album is how she describes it:

These songs have given me permission, and I hope you too, to silence the voices of regret. To recognize that every part your journey, every broken place, have all been part of the story God is writing in your life. Lessons we had to learn. Tears that had to fall. Chapters that had to be written and then closed, to find ourselves in a bigger, more beautiful story.
It all mattered. Every single mile.

Sport shorts - 9 July

Rugby

• So, the All Blacks - Lions series was drawn, with the final test ending in a 15 all draw.  It surprises me the the All Blacks didn't go for a drop goal in the final few minutes.  That said, think the Lions played quite well, and a drawn series is probably a fair result. To me, no there shouldn't be extra time to determine a result.
• Possible the biggest shock of the weekend was the Jaguar's 40-27 win over the Waratahs. It is the Jaguars first visit to Sydney, and despite how the Waratahs have been travelling I stlll expected them to win. 

AFL

• The Giants became the first team to draw two games in a row for 96 years. The two draws are probably are four points lost. They led by two goals with not long left against Hawthorn and possibly should have been able to hold on. 
• Sydney are in the eight for the first time this year with a good win against the Suns. Still with a few tough games there's still work to do. 
• I didn't see the St Kilda-Richmond result coming, it was like the Tigers didn't show up. 

NRL 

• Given the decider in the State of Origin this week, there were only four games this weekend.  
• The results were hardly surprising, even Parramatta beating a Melbourne side missing their spine was definitely not too much of a surprise. 
• Was gutted for Newcastle, losing after conceding two tries in the last few minutes, then being awarded a penalty on the siren which could have taken the game to golden point.  I did wonder why Hodginson didn't take the penalty?

Other

• I'm looking forward to a couple of things this week -  the All Star baseball game on Tuesday night and then on Thursday and Saturday night Arsenal play Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC. Can't wait to see Arsenal play live again.
• Today is a rest day but I'm looking forward to see what the second week of Wimbledon throws up. 
• The Women's Cricket World Cup is now on.  The top four teams are Australia (4-0), India (4-1),  New Zealand (3-1,with 1 no result) and South Africa (3-1, with a no result).  Favour Australia to win the tournament.

Sport shorts - 2 July

Rugby

• The weekend saw the Second test between the All Blacks and Lions. I was lucky enough to attend the game in Wellington. The atmosphere was awesome, even if the All Blacks fans were a little quiet. In terms of the game, Sonny Bill Williams send off certainly made it difficult, as did Barrett's inaccuracy with the boot. The All Blacks attack was a little disappointing creating few chances. The Lions certainly made the most of their opportunities. On the send off - I don't think the referee had any choice. Bring on the third test. 

AFL

• The Swans are now 7-7 and in this incredible season while they sit ninth are only one game from 5th. If they keep winning being in the eight is a distinct possibility. 
• Looking forward to a few games this weekend.  The Hawthorn-GWS and St Kilda-Richmond games are the two I'm most looking forward to aside from the Swans-Suns. 

NRL

• Perhaps no surprise but with another big win, the Storm firm as competition favourites. 
• The Warriors let another lead slip - leading Manly 16-0 before losing 22-26. 
• Manly and St George are my surprise packets for the year both doing better than I expected. 

Other

• Wimbledon started this week and I'm looking forward to following the twists and turns of the tournament. 
• Confederations Cup - Germany was impressive through the tournament, and were deserved winners, 

Sport shorts - June 25

NRL

• Perhaps the game of the round was the Melbourne Roosters clash in Adelaide. The Roosters won 25-24 against an understrength Melbourne (who lead most of the night)
• The Warriors won again at home, which means they're still in touch with the bottom of the eight.  I still maintain they are most likely to finish ninth. 
• On Origin.  Impressive win from Queensland, especially with Thurston playing with basically one shoulder. That and the comeback from 6-16 says it all really.  To me, Thurston is the next immortal and one of the greatest to ever play the game.  Sad to see him out for the rest of the season. 
• Does it surprise anyone else that you get points for the bye rounds?  I'd love to see a change to the points system... 2 points for a win, 1 point for a golden point loss and bonus points for a loss by 6 or less and scoring more than 4 tries and of course remove the points for the bye.

AFL

• Still don't know how the Swans won on Friday.  They made almost all the right choices in the last two minutes, and also had a little bit of luck.  It was great to see Longmire's face at the siren, which almost said How did we do that?  It was impressive to hear him mention that luck played a role in the outcome. The Swans are now 6-7 and now one game outside the eight. Needless to say all of their games from here are pretty big.  They've got tough games against Melbourne, the Giants, Hawthorn, Geelong and Adelaide to come. If they keep winning they might just sneak into the eight. 
• We had some great finishes this week - Swans and Western Bulldogs won by a point, Geelong by two, Melbourne by three, certainly one of the better rounds with some great quality football played.
• Hats of to Melbourne, first time they have beaten West Coast in Perth since 2004, and coming from 16 points down in the final quarter. 
• The Giants are sitting a game clear on the top of the leader.

Rugby

• At the beginning of the weekend, the game the matter most to me was the All Blacks - Lions test. It didn't disappoint.  Thought the All Blacks were good but there's room for improvement. They certainly have a stronger bench than the Lions.  Sean O'Brien's try was impressive. Hoping the injuries are not too serious. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to seeing the game live next weekend. 
• Wallabies had another uneven performance against Italy. The 40-27 scoreline may have flattered a little. I'm not reading too much into it in terms of how they will go in the Bledisloe Cup later this year.

Other

• Confederation Cup: Not surprisingly NZ left the Confederation Cup without winning a game, Their first half against Mexico was impressive but not much else to celebrate, Australia was slightly better, aside from the first half against Germany they played reasonably well.  They were impressive last night against Chile, but didn't make the most of their opportunities. The semi finalists are Mexico, Portugal, Germany and Chile.
• Cricket: Stoked that Afghanistan and Ireland now have test status.  Here's a video on Afghanistan's journey from an Associate to Test Playing nation.
• Tennis: Hats of to Ash Barty, she played in two three set finals at the Birmingham International. She won the doubles with Casey Dellaqua, and lost to Petra Kvitova in the Singles. Kvitova winning is a great story too, its only 187 days since her hand was sliced in an attack. 
• I admire Ange Postecoglou and Michael Cheika, they're great coaches who have a great sense of their place in their sports and have a philosophy of how the game should be played.

OK Computer - Radiohead

It's hard to believe it but Radiohead's OK Computer just turned twenty. It was released on May 21 1997.  The first I heard of Radiohead was their 1993 song 'Creep' which I don't recall thinking much of at the time. I completely missed their second album 'The Bends', though looking back I recall 'Fake Plastic Trees' which was on the soundtrack to Clueless.

OK Computer came out at just the right time for me, I was at Uni and my classmates were introducing me to a range of artists I hadn't heard before and I was looking exploring new music.

I loved the album on my first listen, I remember it being an album that was best listened to with headphones as there was so much going on with both Thom's voice and the band playing behind. I loved Thom's voice which was so unique, and I loved how it changes within and between songs.

The highlights for me back in 97 were Paranoid Android, Exit Music (for a film) and Let Down. Radiohead still have a knack for putting out albums with bleak lyrics, and probably are one of the few bands I listen too were the sound gets me more than the lyrics.

It is an album that hasn't aged, each of those tunes sounding as fresh now as in 97. It was their 1998 live show which really cemented to me how great the band is.  I just remember being stilled by the music, the performance was almost note perfect.

Worth reading this Rolling Stone piece about the album ahead of Friday's release of the anniversary issue.

Sports shorts - 18 June

I've skipped a week, but bye weekends are not so much fun, I want more games not less.

NRL

• Anyway, Rugby League is dominated this week by the build up to State of Origin II.  Seems strange this year with NSW settled and Queensland having selecting dramas.  With the game in Sydney, NSW might not get a better chance to wrap up the series
• On the field this weekend wins for Souths, Melbourne (in a great game against the Cowboys) the Sharks and Eels. Maybe just maybe we'll see the Sharks and Storm face off in the Grand Final again this year.  If so, I'll be on the Storm. 

AFL

• Another win, and the Swans improve to 5-7. Hard to know if the win should be down to great effort from Sydney, or Richmond being 'Richmondy'. Just one win outside the eight. If they make the eight, they'll be the team noone wants to play. Next week will be another tough test against the Bombers. 
• Great to see Melbourne doing so well this year- just percentage outside the top four. 
• While its true the competition has been even this year, has it been good footy? I don't remember many standout games from the season so far.

Rugby

• The Lions tour is heating up, the Lions split their games this week losing to the Highlanders before a much better performance and win against the Maori.  The first test is next weekend and for me is shaping to be a good contest. 
• The All Blacks has a 78-0 win over Samoa. They looked good in patches, but have some improving to do still. 
• In other results, Scotland upset Australia 24-19. 
• The future of NZ Rugby looks good with the U20s All Blacks winning the final of the World Cup 64-17 against England. England's women team reversed that result beating the Black Ferns 29-21 in their four nations match. 

Other

• Forgot to mention last week, the Warriors won the NBA title with a super performance against Cleveland. 
• Watching the America's cup - NZ lead 3-0 but memories of losing after leading 8-1 last time are still fresh in my mind. 
• The Confederations Cup started, interested in it to see how the All Whites go, against Russia, Portugal and Mexico a point might be a stretch but we'll see.  Australia's group isn't much easier with a young German side, Chile and Cameron awaiting them. 

Sport shorts - June 4

AFL

• The Swans had a bye this weekend. I guess that is a good thing. They've got a tough game against the Bulldogs on Thursday night.  After the last up loss to the Hawks, they do need a win. 
• On the field, West Coast were disappointing in another away loss (this time to the Gold Coast).  The Giants are now on top of the ladder after an impressive win against the Bombers. 
• Unlike last year, I think we still may see movement in the top eight, though the top four are slowly becoming more fixed. I suspect Richmond will swap out for Port Adelaide, but GWS, Adelaide and Geelong look fairly settled. 

NRL

• Another week and another loss of the Warriors. The Warriors still have yet to win a game outside of New Zealand.  
• On the Origin, was surprised by the performance of New South Wales. Will be interesting to see how they go in Sydney in the few weeks, and it will be intrigued to see how Queensland approach selecting the team for game two. 

Super Rugby 

• Not much has changed in the playoff picture.  The Crusaders remain unbeaten and are probably favourites for the title now. 
• Australian teams are 0-23 against their NZ opponents this season. Not that I'd read anything into that, but its an interesting stat.
• The Lions have touched down in New Zealand and won their first match 13-7. Hard to read much into that seeing as they virtually went to the ground from the plane.  Tomorrow's game against the Blues will be more revealing in terms of how the Lions are travelling. 

Other

• The Stanley Cup final series is underway with Nashville taking on Pittsburgh.  Its now level at 2 games a piece.  Hoping to see Nashville win, but we'll see
• The NBA finals are also on with the Golden State Warriors 2-0 leaders at the moment in a best of seven series.  The Warriors are one impressive team, will be interesting to see if they close the deal this year. 

What I'm in to - May 2017

Its hard to believe another month has been and gone, and we've now hit winter.  So its time for a post about what I've been reading, watching and listening to the past month.

Reading: It has been a quiet month for reading.  I only managed to read one book. I finished off 'Finding lost words: the church’s right to lament'. I found it to be a really important book highlighting the place of lament in the both the church and individual believers life. There was a great resource about planning a lament service and a couple of great sermons on Psalm 13 and 88; a few of the lament Psalms in the bible. Really recommend getting a hold of the book and reading it.

The goal for June is to read more than one book.  I've just started Susan Carland's book: Fighting Hislam, talking about women in Islam. So far it's been a really interesting read. Telling the story of women fighting for equality in Islam from within.

Watching: Mostly I've been watching the Voice.  They are now into the battle rounds, and to me at least there's no one who is really standing out. I suspect its more taste than talent that is making me make that call.  The moments of the show for me were ones that didn't come with a chair spin.  Boy George paying for a country singer to go to Nashville, and a female duo Mercy and Mia who sung 'You Are My Sunshine'.

I've always thought that the best battle performances are the ones that seem like a duet. This one from season three between Annabelle Eve and Talia Gouge is still my favourite.

Other than The Voice I haven't been watching much, though I'm keen to start Nashville, Suits, 13 Reasons Why and House of Cards.

Listening: Here's a list of the songs that have been on heavy rotation during May. Fair to say some of these songs I'm listening to because of the U2 tour, others because of the season of life I'm walking through.

The Pogues - A Rainy Night in Soho

December - A Sort of Homecoming

Simon & Garfunkel - America (Live)

December - Where the Streets Have No Name

Charles Esten and Sarah Siskind - When Trouble Comes

Katie Herzig - I Want to Make You Proud

U2 - Miss Sarajevo (Live, from Milan 2005)

Casting Crowns - Oh My Soul

Lara Landon - Give me Jesus

Joe Grushecky & Bruce Springsteen - That's What Makes it Great

U2 -The Little Things that Give You Away

The Frames (w/ Holly Throsby) - New Partner (Live from Sydney 2007)

The other music adventures during May were catching the Vivid shows from the Fleet Foxes and Lisa Hannigan. The thing that struck me about both of the shows was how quiet the audience was during the shows. Lisa Hannigan just has one of the more beautiful voices you are ever likely to hear. Her absolute delight in playing the Opera House was infectious. 

The striking thing about the Fleet Foxes were the harmonies between the singers.  It was a different show as they performed a lot of material from their soon to be released album 'Crack Up' so I didn't know many of the songs. It was a relief they also played some of the better known songs from their earlier albums too.

I've also been following U2's tour of the Joshua Tree. It was really interesting to see what songs they chose to book-end the full performance of the Joshua Tree album, and also the snippets of songs they included. The two that stand out are Simon & Garfunkel's 'America' and the poem The New Colussus (by Emma Lazarus). Both snippets add to the narrative of the show of the two Americas.

In terms of the show, the highlights for me are Red Hill Mining Town, Exit, Miss Sarajevo and the new song The Little Things that Give You Away.

The shows from Lisa Hannigan and the Fleet Foxes are the last ones I have planned unless U2 surprise us all and announce a tour of Australia & New Zealand.

In terms of other music on the horizon it is a year of re-issues - along with U2's Joshua Tree 30th Anniversary reissue, REM are releasing a 25th Anniversary version of Automatic for the People and Radiohead are releasing a boxset for the 20th Anniversary of OK Computer.

Other

Another two highlights for the month of May were going to QandA and Vivid.  It was the first time that I had been to QandA. The one I went to was part of the Sydney Writer's Festival so while politics did enter the discussion it wasn't the centre of it.

The panel for the show was Niki Savva, Journalist and author; Lawrence Krauss, Theoretical Physicist & Cosmologist; Mikhail Zygar, Russian journalist and writer; Mona Chalabi, Data editor of The Guardian US; and Paul Beatty, Author, The Sellout.

Lawrence Krauss dislike of religion annoyed me, as did the 'ganging' up on Trump. I'm no fan of President Trump but you do have to wonder what purpose it serves (and whether or not its counter-productive).

Viivid was great.  I really enjoyed the installations at the Botanic Gardens, especially the sunflowers and Kiwis and the Zoo was spectacular as usual, I loved the Tigers, the Bilby and the Port Jackson shark you could walk through. 

Update

Time for a little update on how I've been travelling. The last scan I had showed slight growth in the tumors in my pelvis. As a result I will have Radiotherapy targeting these tumours specifically. The treatment is likely to start on the 4th July and run for four weeks. I will have treatment each week day during this period.

Please continue to pray for effectiveness in the treatment, that I manage the side-effects well, and for Fiona, the kids and I as we continue to live our lives. Thank God for the wonderful Doctors and nurses who look after me.

Sport shorts - 28 May

NRL

• Four games this weekend is too few. Can't complain about the results though, especially the Warriors. Though I was nervous at 16-0 and 22-10.
• On Origin, people seem to be talking NSW up, I'm not so convinced yet. 

AFL

• I didn't watch the Swans-Hawks, so I can't comment on that suffice to say we lost. We're still only two wins out of the eight, and three wins from 4th, so it is not time write off the season yet. 
• Adelaide would have to be the favourite for the flag at the moment, I have them slightly ahead of the Giants. 

Super Rugby

• The Hurricanes had another win, and are now sitting in fifth place 
• In other news the British and Irish Lions tour of NZ starts next month. I'm pretty excited as I will be going to the Second Test in Wellington. 

Other

• Glad I was wrong about the FA Cup. Congrats to Arsenal winners of the 2016/17 FA Cup. Still hopeful for a better performance in the league next season. I'm looking forward to seeing Arsenal play Sydney and WSW during their visit in July. 
• After some thought I decided to support the Toronto BlueJays baseball team. The team is now four games below a .500 record (23-27), sure there's work to do but they've put some good performances together. They were 10-20 when I decided to support them, not that I'm making a link here ;)

Sports shorts - 21 May

AFL

• The best thing about the weekend, was the debut of Eleni Glouftsis as a field umpire. She umpired the Bombers - Eagles game.  Hopefully a day is coming when we will see women calling and umpiring the game, and hopefully that day is soon. 
• On the field - another win and the Swans improve to 3-6. Still a long way from finals, and probably still not a contender to win, but if they keep winning who knows. 
• GWS and Collingwood both had impressive comeback wins, with Richmond losing their third game by under ten points, Hard to believe Collingwood came back from a 36 deficit and quarter-time.

NRL

• We now enter the pot-luck part of the season, called State of Origin.  I'm hoping the Warriors will be able to capitalise on it.  Truth be told its unlikely if they play like they did last week.
• Hard to know what to make of the Origin teams.  Gut feel, is that its Queensland's series to lose. We'll see how next Wednesday goes 
• I'm a fan for holding the Origin over three weeks, Maybe Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday and no other games being held. It doesn't make the season longer.

Rugby

• A more successful weekend for the Australian teams, but it doesn't really alter the playoff picture

Other

• Ice Hockey - there's an 'underdog' story in the form of the Nashville Predators who have made the Stanley Cup fina series for the first time in franchise history.  They will play either Pittsburgh or Ottawa in the final. 
• Basketball - four is about to become two with the Warriors sweeping their third straight series and will play either Boston or Cleveland in the finals.  Cleveland lead the series 2-1. The remaining games will be interesting. 
• FA Cup Final - I'm looking forward to the game, and the opportunity for Arsenal to win something this season.  But my gut tells me, Chelsea will win.

Sporting shorts - 14 May

NRL

• The Warriors showed why they are a difficult team to follow. In this weekends loss to Penrith they led 16-0 and 28-6 before finally losing 36-28. Still, they are a win from the eight, and still a chance to play finals.
• But great to see the Knights upset the Raiders and Titans upset Melbourne. 

AFL

• The Swans improved to 2-6 after a second straight win. Still hope if they string some more wins together.
• It's an even comp at the moment, a ladder is tight: 9th is just % off top 4 & one game from 1st.

Super Rugby

• Crusaders remain undefeated, after a 20-12 win over the Hurricanes.  Play off picture doesn't change. 

Other

• Chelsea are Premier League Champions. Arsenal are now fifth, okay its still mathematically possible for them to finish in the top four and qualify for the Champions League. Though when you talk mathematical possibilities its not looking good. 
• The NBA championships are almost down to the final four, with one of Boston or Washington joining Golden State, San Antionio and Cleveland. 
• After watching the AFL on Friday night I was left lamenting the absence of the women's voice in the Commentary box. There are female commentators out there who are better than the men in the box.  I'm thinking Samantha Lane and Neroli Meadows to name a few, the same is true of NRL. Would love to hear Yvonne Sampson or Erin Molan commentate. Each of these women know the game as well as the men. 

A reading life - lament.

Over the past little while I had been thinking about the place of lament within Church life. Certainly the season of life I'm walking through has made this resurface for me.

I just finished reading Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times by Soong-Chan Rah. The book examines the church's relationship with a suffering world. It does this through looking at the book of Lamentations. The book talks a bit about race-relations in the United States, which I found interesting and recognise while its perhaps not directly applicable to Australia, there are certainly lesson to take in how we approach our own history.

Soong-Chan also critiques the churches focus on success, (and American excecptionalism), and it does seem to me that we have the same issue here.

The book reinforced for me the importance lament has alongside praise in our Christian life. Given the above, it is not an easy read, but it is a necessary read.  It provides a great discussion of what lament is, and the place it can occupy in our faith.

I am now reading Finding Lost Words: The Church's Right to Lament, which has also been a really helpful read about this topic.  The chapter I have read highlighted why lament may not be practiced as much, suggesting lament may not be practiced as much because the understanding of God's sovereignty was eroded by ability to acquire and use knowledge, our ability to control and understand our world and our fear that expressing lament shows a lack of trust or faith in God. Rachel Ciano (the author of the first chapter) argues that biblical criticism played a role too as how the book of Psalms was understood and studied changed. The second section highlighted how some church leaders (including John Wesley and Charles Spurgeon) had understood the place of lament in the Christian life.  I'll write more about this book as I work my way through it.

We certainly do need to find space in our corporate gatherings for lament, recognising the world is not as it should be, recognising the hurt in each other's lives and recognising the church is not as it should be either. In honestly expressing all our thoughts we can then move to praise.

There's a great chapter in Sarah Bessey's book Out of Sorts: Making peace with an evolving faith which also deals with lament, and the point which struck me, was how she wrote we should leave space for silence, space for grief, and simply sit with the truth that sometimes life doesn't make sense, sometimes life is crap, and we just don't understand. In these moments, it is just being alongside people that matters.

Sport shorts - 7 May

NRL

• Representative weekend - the Kiwis got there annual flogging from the Kangaroos. The Junior Kiwis, the Women and Men's team all lost. Can't say I'm surprised, but hoped for better performances.
• Just like Union, I'd love to see a combined Pacific Island team tackle the best Australia, NZ and England has to offer. Would certainly be a competitive team. Australia and New Zealand owe more to the region. 
• I'd also love to see the NRL do more for Country areas. Would love a knockout cup (like the FA Cup), or a round where all the games are played in regional area. 

AFL

• Quite a nightmare round for tipping. But it is showing the even nature of the competition. With St Kilda, Gold Coast, North Melbourne having upset wins. The most impressive was North Melbourne - who's first quarter against Adelaide was stunning (61-0).
• That said, glad to see Sydney in the winners list. A long way back to salvage the season, but winning breeds confidence (and Sydney need some of that).

Rugby Union

• The competition is hard to follow. Things might change, but the conference leading Brumbies on sit on 18 points (3 wins) qualify for the finals ahead of other better performing team, simply because they are the top Australian team, the Stormers on 26 point are just as fortunate. I don't know how they improve the competition but it needs to be done.
• On the field the Hurricanes won again, and I'm looking forward to their match against the unbeaten Crusaders next weekend.

A-League

• Congrats to Sydney FC, clearly the best team all year and delivered today; albeit in a penalty shootout. Horrid way to lose a game, but can't think of another way to decide. 

Sport Shorts

NRL

• The Warriors were a pleasant surprise and beat the Roosters, and improved to 4-5 (11th); with four of the five losses on the road. 
• Penrith are the surprise packets this year, I had them down in my top eight and potential winner but currently on four points have a bit of work to do. I didn't have St George in my top eight but they're currently sitting second.
• Am looking forward to the international football this weekend though something tells me its not going to be a good weekend for the Kiwis.

AFL

• The biggest surprise this year is the form of Hawthorn (1 win) and Sydney (0 wins). I don't think many people saw this coming. The other big surprise of the round was Collingwood's win over previously undefeated Geelong.
• The rivalry between the Bulldogs and Giants is growing with the Giants avenging their Preliminary Final loss.

In general, I've been thinking about the Grand Finals, and I'd love to see them move around rather than stay in Melbourne or Sydney. Imagine the AFL Grand Final at a sold out Adelaide Oval, would just be magic. 

Not reading anything into it in terms of the Wallabies, but this year is to date the worst season in Super Rugby for the Australian clubs with the Brumbies (Australia's conference leader) the best performing club with 18pts, 23 points behind the top placed Crusaders.

What I'm to April 2017

It has been a quiet month reading wise. I have a growing number of books on my to read list, which I do need to make a dent in. I am about half-way through Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times by Soong-Chan Rah. The book examines the place of lament the Christian faith, through an exposition of the book of Lamentations. I'm have another book on that topic to read (Finding Lost Words).

I've been watching a lot of TV, mostly sport but I have really enjoyed watching We the Fans which focuses on fans in Section 250 of Soldier Field (home of the Chicago Bears, a NFL franchise). I can relate to the fans enthusiasm for the team but love how it weaves the fans stories together. Can't recommend it more highly. There's only eight episodes in the series with the final two being shown on May 2. The show is on ESPN but I think you can watch some of it on the website.

The Voice started this week and I've managed to see a few episodes . No-one has really stood out for me yet, but there is still a way to go. Good to see Seal back among the coaches, Delta's is the only remaining coach from last year. The new coaches joining the show are Boy George and Kelly Rowland. I was surprised how many people sing a coaches song.

I'm also looking forward to MasterChef starting next week. The only thing that would make the show better, is being able to smell and taste the food they cook.

I've really been getting into the Baseball. Like Cricket, it is a statistic heavy sport which appeals to me.  The (Washington) Nationals have been the team to watch in the first month of the season.

Onto music. I've been listening to a fair bit of the music we sing at our church, and will be listening to Lisa Hannigan and Fleet Foxes as I see them in concert in May. I've also been listening to the new mix of Red Hill Mining Town. I love the brass band which was added to the song.

While I am not going to an actual concert, I'm excited for the start of U2's Joshua Tree tour on 12 May. Can't wait to see what they play, and whether they play the album in full (and in sequence).