The Little River Band have been playing in my head - Michelle and I have now been married for four years! - our anniversary was yesterday.
We went to dinner and then went to the open-air cinema down at the Viaduct Harbour.
This last year has had some rather 'colourful' moments, as some of you may be aware, but things are going really well now. A big 'thank you' to you all for your support and friendship.
In case I didn't mention it, I resigned from work last Friday - my last day is February the 20th (my birthday, co-incidently). Going back to finish my engineering degree - Yay!
Read this. All fairly normal, but for 'unlawful possession of a hammer'. What does that mean?
If I cause you grievous bodily harm with, say, a bag of frozen meat, do I get changed with 'unlawful possession of a bag of frozen meat'??
But never fear - haloscan is now in effect, providing you with most excellenter comments than ever before.
What would make me cooler still, would be if I created a colophon, and called it a 'colophon'.
Then I'd be way way cooler than everyone else who doesn't yet have a colophon.
Parachute 04 rox0r3d. Notable acts include:
- 4manbob
- threequarters water
- the jive express
Life is good.
Parachute tomorrow - yay!
matt pointed out that Jesus was appealing to Nicodemus' knowledge of scripture in the imagery He was using.
I was searching for a parallel with 'born again', but an Old Testament passage that Jesus may have had in mind is Ezekiel 36:24-27. Jesus is refering to the 'water and the Spirit'.
The footnotes of my NIV Study Bible use Jesus' dialogue with Nicodemus to indicate that a person can have an extensive and thorough knowledge of scripture, but still lack spiritual insight.
Oh yeah - and we watched Michael Almereyda's 'Hamlet' last night.
It required some effort to understand the olde english speakings, but was rather well done. Not sure how it compares to Shakespeare's 'original', but I liked it.
The time of getting fame for your name on its own is over. Artwork that is only about wanting to be famous will never make you famous. Any fame is a bi-product of making something that means something. You don't go to a restaurant and order a meal because you want to have a s**t.
- banksy
When Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born again, I just realised something (two things, actually).
- You do not choose to be born - it happens regardless of your own will.
- You cannot be born and then be 'unborn'. Once you are born, you are alive. There is no going back to the state you were in prior to birth.
Interesting stuff.
This indicates that we are elected - our salvation is not of our own choice. And also, once we are saved (born again), we are always saved.
Congratulations...
...to Mark Y for (finally) getting your driving licence! :)
Today's work has been fraught with server issues. Our mail server likes to shut down inexplicably. Grrrr.
My salad feels funny in my tummy.
My copy of 'The Lord Of The Rings' has recently returned from secondment in the land of chocolate, cheese and chronometers.
I may carry on from where I left off - somewhere between Rivendell and Caradhras. The prospect of starting from the beginning of 'The Fellowship...' is tempting, but on the whole, rather daunting.
A List Apart's latest issue came out on the 9th. Jeffrey Zeldman and company run the show - they publish stuff you'd like, if you're a connoisseur of quality webness.
The CSS Zen Garden has been around for quite some time now, and if you're the aforementioned connoisseur of quality webness that we al should aspire to be, then there is a high chance that you have already been there and done that.
I thought I'd mention it simply because I haven't yet.
And also because it is cool.
And I know you're not supposed to begin a sentence with a preposition or a conjunction or whatever 'and' is.
But call it poetic licence.
Its been a while since I've written anything non-trivial and non-critiquish. I like writing. Muffy was telling me today that an uncle of his has recently written a book. Inadvertantly. And he's not making any money from it.
He writes a column for a magazine, and the magazine decided to collect all his columns and publish them as a book. Since the magazine owns the columns - and he has already been paid for those - the magazine also collects the profits of the book.
Its a shame really.
But anyway, it got me to thinking. I think I could write a book. At the least, I think I could write an article or two for a magazine or a paper.
I mean, how many unique experiences do we all have that might be written up as an article and sold to the relevant magazine? Not every experience will be of any interest to others, but then again, there are a wide variety of magazines/publications that - so you really could write about nearly anything.
I always keep my hands at arm's length.
I am amazed that it got this far - I'm the worst person I know when it comes to sticking with things.
Shout outs
Everyone, say 'Hi!' to Rachel. She has an excellent blog, and some mad designering skillz.
Take a peek also at the work of banksy. It really is art.
Ginger Beer
The second batch of ginger beer is brewing - I'd like to have a bottle label designed by the time they are ready - the permanant marker just doesn't cut it.
Alana - when do you leave? I might have another bottle ready for you before you go.
Marriage
Marriage should not be considered in the light of yourself. So scrap the pre-nuptial agreements and any other thing that 'safeguards' your own interests.
Marriage is a willing commitment to another person, at whatever the cost to oneself - as in the example of Christ giving Himself up for the church.
But marriage is more than that. Marriage is a willing commitment to society. Marriage is the creation of a new family - another brick in the foundation of society. Marriage is a commitment to family - to extended family - to your immediate neighbourhood - your parish - your city - your state - your country - and ultimately mankind. As in the example of Christ giving Himself up for the church.
Its a big thing, people, and its not about you.
Thanks
Well, thanks for sharing my thoughts over the last year. Lets hope there are many more yet to come.
I've been off, sunning it up in Papamoa, surfing it up at Papamoa, shopping it up at Papamoa, eating it up at Papamoa, sleeping it off at Papamoa and plenty of other things all at - you guessed it - Papamoa.
Prior to that I got some body-boarding hours logged up at Tauwharanui. Arguable the best beach evor.
The rash-shirt stops me from getting a tan wherever the shirt doesn't not cover. Oh well.
Also had a stag-night (bucks' night, if you're an Aussie) somewhere in there. Played paintball - I took minimal hits, but dealt out an impressive amount of severe punishment. (impressive = I impressed myself)
Good welts were had by all.
Thats lots of stuff. Now I have to go rip some of my CDs to mp3 and make up a playlist for Julie and Graham's wedding reception tomorrow night.
It is seriously detestible that you might even consider the fact that I may be downloading some of the music illegally from the internet.
You all disgust me.
Yes, even you!
