Lost In Translation

It's been a packed couple of days here. The transition from Christmas to New Years wasn't all rest and relax, but it's been great.
Of beach days and nights, Christmas parties, a birthday party and a 6km walk up and down around the Dandenongs, it's been a great week.
But I'll leave that all for a little later. The calendar is still full for the next couple of days, and before we know it, I'll be in Brisbane already as well.

Till then, have a happy new year.
08 is going to be big. I know it. I can't wait to sail this ship with the rest of you out there.
We're in for a storm.

I am being.
But it's not a lie nor an exaggeration when I say that I think I've just killed myself.
Figuratively, that is.
I hate this. I absolutely hate this with a passion.
I am angry mostly at myself. I really shouldn't have done it.
I absolutely hate this.

I think I just lost a dearest friend.
What a start to the new year.

I'm back.

It's been a good one week away. I think I needed it.
It wasn't exactly the most relaxing of weeks to start off with, though. Conference was on from Monday to Thursday and I was either taking photos or shooting video on every session. My shins hurt now because I've been squatting and kneeling at awkward positions all week to take photos. But it's been really good, I must say. Taking photos for the conference has really pushed me to make full use of my camera in every aspect. With the constant changing of lights and active people on stage, it was constantly about quickly adjusting exposures and aperture to get a good shot.
All done with a 50mm. No flash. Yay.

I'd love to post some shots here, really. Being 2 feet away from Reinhard Bonnke and able to capture his sweat against a giant screen displaying 'Planetshakers Conference 08' is exhilarating. But the photos are copyrighted and hence I can't post any here.
*Sigh.

I'm glad I was able to sit in most of the sessions though. I was initially worried I'd be spending too much time behind the lens I wouldn't be able to sit in for any sessions, but I had the opportunity to actually sit back and relax a little during the messages. So I was very happy. Judah Smith, the newcomer, is downright impressive. I love the way he speaks. And he's living proof that dorks are cool too. Represent, y'all.
Needless to say, Reinhard blew everyone away. He'll be here this weekend in Melbourne at church. More is good.

Conference aside, the holiday was good. Unlike scorching Melbourne, it was actually cooler in Brisbane, oddly. Apparently while I was away, Melbourne was burning up to a point my bathroom was the warmest room in the apartment. In Brissie on the other hand, it was constantly pouring. Which has its good side and its bad side I suppose. Good because I love the rain and the cool it brings. Bad because it limits our activities, and Queensland; being a beach-y kinda place is just crap when it rains. Still, we ventured.

Brisbane felt strangely like Singapore to me. Outdoor food stalls are seldom (if never) seen in Melbourne but are practically everywhere in Brissie. Bistros too. All they were lacking were evaporating fans outside. Everything shuts by 5pm. Everything. Even their supermarkets close by 9:30pm; making night life so scarce. The only place open till late (12-1am?) was at dodgy ol' Chinatown in a place comically called 'Chopstix Arcade'. Talk about stereotyping.

But during the day, Brisbane has its magic, I guess. I think it's a beautiful city. With beautiful people. Emphasis on the second bit. I swear walking down Southbank you'd see another attractive guy/girl every 3 minutes. Walking along the beach is pure pressure. Every guy seemed to have 6-pacs with arms the size of logs and every girl seemed to be born to wear a bikini. We all kept our clothes on.
I had the best soy chai latte I've ever had as well. It was at this place called Batavia at Southbank (with pretty shop attendants too) which is actually a furniture shop with a cafe on the side. Their coffees are served in a mug the size of your face, a pot of coffee, and a pot of milk. You can mix them in any portion you like and it tastes like magic. I wish they opened an outlet here.

I don't think I can ever have enough of a holiday. You know how people say that they can't have one for too long? I think they need to get shot. Rest is good. What 'work' is is relative, I suppose. When you're enjoying yourself so much in what you're doing, work is no longer 'work'. This was a holiday to me, as exhausting as it may have been. Which makes it so hard when I start work at the cafe on Monday again. Sandwich-making is fast becoming draining. I need a better fix of life.

Like feeling sand beneath my feet.

I know it's late. I initially didn't intend to set a list because I never keep them. But this year feels different. For some reason I can't quite put a finger on, there is a deeper sense of determination this year. And so far, almost without me realising it, I've been keeping them already. Or at least I've been fussing about them, anyway. So here goes.

• Start reading again. Anything, really. Fiction or non-fiction.
• Get fit. I’ve recently been noticing a lot of 40 to 50 year olds around who are certainly fit. They look good and they can run at least 10 times more than I can. I’d start off by watching what I eat a whole lot more. I’m going to draw clear boundaries now between what I can and cannot eat. I’m then going to hit the gym more often as well, consistently too. For now, I’m settling for at least twice a week for both cardio and building. I’m not trying to be Arnold. But I’m not going to be Homer either.
• Buy a new camera. Maybe this. I think it’s high time I get over my 350D. I feel limited by it already.
• Travel to Europe. There’s the Planetshakers Missions trips occurring a few times this year, but after that, I’d also like to do some exploring by myself. Paris, especially.
• Secure an Accounting job. By the middle of this year, I’d like to get that job.
• Read up the Word a whole lot more and learn. I want to hunger for its teachings more and more.
• Attain a new revelation everyday.
• Learn a new language.
• Get married.

Okay, so maybe not that last one. But you never know, hey? A lot can happen in a year...
But it's a new year. It'll be beautiful and as easily as it'll be horrid.
It's time to live again.

Yesterday, I headed down to Ikea with Jono and Sharene and bought a cheap (as typically it is) bookshelf. Got home and with the help of Jono, fixed it up and reshuffled my room corridor. That's right, my room has a corridor.

I should've taken a before and after photo of what it looked like before the shuffle. It was quite the mess, and Jono could definitely testify to that. So when I got the end result last night, I was very proud of myself.

I present to you my new reading space (minus the pillows and bag on the chair, of course).

I hooked up some speakers behind the chair and plugged in my iPod too.

Currently on:
John Bevere's Drawing Near
Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis (again, because it's so good)
and
David Crowder Band's A Collision or (3+4=7).

Starting on Sex God soon.

I love it.

"Everybody wants to go to heaven. But nobody wants to die." - David Crowder

What is the most precious thing to you?
A jewelery. A letter. Perhaps a photo. Maybe even a person.

I recently found mine to be a small red box of memories. I realise that I'm actually pretty sentimental when it comes to little things like these. The box contains a postcard, a small keychain, a butterfly-shaped seashell, brown wrapping paper and a button. And surprisingly, I can't let go of this red cube.

I always thought it to be something more;
Something more material and valuable than this (but apparently not I guess).

So when I was asked to throw the box away, I halted. I questioned the authority. I didn't believe it. I'm sold out. I'd do so much (else). And so I wrestled the logic and necessity of it. But the more I wrestled and questioned, the more I realised that it really was me.

Everybody wants to go to heaven. But nobody wants to die.

The box is still around somewhere.

Work is fast becoming a drainer. I cannot make sandwiches everyday.
But thanks to its schedule, funnily, I find myself waking up early every morning now, no matter how much sleep I get the night before. I don't know, maybe it's something else that's waking me up, but I've been consistently waking up at around 8:30 - 9:00am every morning. And it's not difficult to get up either.
And even more surprisingly, I kinda like it.

Of course, it's not too good when I had slept for only a few hours the night before. But it definitely leaves a lot more of the day for me to spend.
I'm 10 days in since my resolutions post. It's been going pretty well so far, I reckon.
I've been consistently hitting the gym twice a week, bought myself Kafka On the Shore, watched my diet (less fatty crap these days, more juice?), and spent a whole day on Friday toying with the 5D; making me want it even more now.

I'm glad we get a long weekend today.
Spent my entire Friday helping Jon shoot a wedding alongside Iris. It was exhausting, lugging an estimate of 20kilos of equipment and snapping a thousand photos on a hot summer day in the gardens. But it was heaps of fun too. There's so much more in photography to learn about, really. I finally realised the importance of technicalities in this field and am now pretty adamant about learning more. It was a challenge; taking creative shots at a pace that isn't mine. I like it. I totally suck at it right now but I'd do it again.
There's so much more to learn.

I spent the remainder of the weekend watching the Australian Open. Both players I rooted for in the Women's and Men's won. Booyah.
And today, my urban life core team will be heading up the Dandenongs to climb the 1000 steps as I did during Christmas again.

I'm glad we get a long weekend today.

You know you're tired when you spend 30 seconds scrubbing a dark spot on the chopping board only to realise later it's actually your shadow.