Do I sing like a bird released?

My anticipated event of the year for 2007 was the Crowded House concert (though understandably not quite as eagerly anticipated as last year's event of the year). I managed to get near enough seats to the stage in the TSB arena (row H).

The first act was a Pluto. The usual rock kinda band. Nothing majorly memorable. The hidden gem of the night was Supergroove. They are a 7 piece NZ band that re-grouped just to be the opening act for Crowded House and they were just fantastic! There was great chemistry between the band members which led to an amazing performance and the guys just looked like they were having a good time up there! Its not always that you don't mind listening to more of the opening act. In fact, I almost felt like I was paying for 2 concerts for the price of 1!

Crowded House was great as well. They interspersed their new stuff with their old stuff. You could easliy tell when they were playing songs from the new album - no one sang along. In the middle of the concert it started to seem like a bit of a drag as they were playing a number of songs from their new album. I kinda of expected them to do that but I guess its not easy when you are such a iconic band that most people know the lyrics to your songs as well as the band did. And that was precisely what happened with the old stuff. It felt like a ginormous sing-a-long session at points. They played many old favourites like Don't dream its over, Take the weather and Pineapple head. They had 2 encores and finally ended the night with You better be home soon.

All in all, a great concert and a fantastic night of amazing music and enjoying the talents of other people. Hmm... I wonder what's playing in 2008 thats worth going to?

The Paul paper

In my quest to study theology, I took Chris Marshall's paper on Paul offered through Vic Uni's Religious Studies department in Trimester 2. As expected, it was not easy at all, but I have come away with a renewed respect (and frustration) of Paul's complete dedication in being the sent one to proclaim the mystery that is revealed in Christ and the glorious hope we have in Jesus (frustration because Paul did not seem any easier to understand!).

Andrei Rublev. Apostle Paul. c. 1420s. Tempera on wood. 160 x 109 cm

One key thing that struck me most was the way Paul would talk about his conversion experience. Or rather would not talk about it. The only place in the Bible that details what actually happens is in Luke's account in Acts 9. Paul himself hardly refers to his conversion other than as a way of contrasting what he was like before encountering the risen Jesus. His letters constantly point his readers towards Jesus: the good news and hope that is embodied in the his life, death and resurrection and furthermore urges his readers to model their way of life on Jesus. This may seem like obvious behaviour and attitude but I don't think it is what we hear much about today. People's testimonies are always peppered with the dramatic, so much so that most people think they need a dramatic story to become Christians or to be able to testify of God's grace and salvation. The drama usually is centred around their past and the conversion experience itself. But to Paul the drama is always about Jesus and the gospel of reconciliation. He always keeps the main thing, the main thing and urges everyone to do so.

I hope that I too am able to centre everything on Jesus. That Jesus will be the focus when I share stories about what is happening on campus or in my life, I too will encourage and help others to unpack the mystery that has been kept hidden from us through the ages but is now revealed in Jesus. And that I will help people believe in Jesus, not because it is an escape route from hell but because by believing the good news about Jesus they can be reconciled to God, seek to faithful ambassadors of Jesus and we will await in eager anticipation for God's righteous justice to prevail.

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor 5:17-21 (TNIV)

facebook

I can post this and laugh because I am not on facebook.

Real Beer

I am learning to be a beer snob. And how do I know that? I have been to the 2 real ale places in New Zealand - Galbraiths (in Auckland) and The Twisted Hop (in Christchurch). They serve cask conditioned beer and its fantastic. I am now very picky about the beers I drink. I only drink the good stuff. Drinking good beer is not about drinking lots to get drunk. Its about the complex flavours that you get in the beer and it usually goes really well with food as well and its very refreshing.


My favourite beer in Galbraiths (in Auckland) is Bob Hudson's bitter. Its quite light and with a nice smooth finish.

I've only tried one of the beers in the Twisted Hop, which is the Golding Bitter. Its fruity and has a nice smooth and crisp finish. It has a really great aftertaste and linges well on your palate.


Mmm... me want some beer now. Expect more beer posts in the future...

Bored

I got bored so thought I would change change the template and play around with it a bit. I know I haven't posted for a while too. But mainly cos I can't be bothered and I have been a bit busy.

shift+F7

I had to sit for a test this morning. (Well, the lecturer called it a test as that department doesn't do exams. But I reckon its an exam - it had 20 short answer questions and 2 essays. Tests usually consist of 20 multiple choice or short answers or things like that. But I digress...)

It's been a wee while since I've had to sit for one of those things. A couple of things alarmed me. Firstly, I mentally kept wanting to hit Shift+F7 (for those who use Word a lot, you know what this function does!) Particularly when I wanted to describe Jesus being against something and all I could come up with was: Jesus' againstment... It took me almost a whole minute to figure out the word I was looking for was 'opposition'. Secondly, I kept wanting to 'cut and paste' portions of my essay. I even envisaged doing that as I was writing the essay especially since I kept thinking about things I should have said that would have worked better at the beginning of the essay rather than in the middle.

In short, I am so used to using the computer, or the word processor rather, to organise my thoughts that I can't quite seem to organise it anymore on paper and don't forget the time pressure. I feel sorry for my lecturer who will be reading my kind-of-coherent-but-not-very-organised-piece-of repeated-information, also known as answers the essay questions! Sorry, I am too caught up with technology that I'm not very good with pen and paper anymore!

Visual DNA

Not entirely descriptive of me, but something fun and obviously something to do when you want some distraction.

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Hottie!

My hot water bottle is slightly bung. It started leaking so I woke up a couple of nights ago with a wet sleeve. Not very ideal for a hot water bottle to leak! Anyways, I went looking for a new one. Went to Pak n Save, The Warehouse and Briscoes in Petone. I think we have a hot water bottle shortage. Or perhaps only in Petone. Has anyone spotted hot water bottles for sale elsewhere?

I want...

Lately, I've really wanted one of these
or one of these
or one of these
I don't think I anticipated how hard it would be to give up chocolate or alcohol. And its amazing how chocolate is everywhere - choc coated ice cream, pods have chocolate, choc chip cookies, choc cake, hot choc, iced choc. the only hot drink I have in cafes is hot chocolate. And so many times since Lent begun that I have really wanted to go to a cafe for a cake of some sort and a hot chocolate. And its been pretty warm lately so the thought of a nice cold beer has been very tempting too.

I've been tempted to sneak a hot choc once or twice during lent. After all, its not legalism, but grace that prevails, so its ok if I don't follow my lenten vow or break it once or twice. However, I have realised how easily it is to gratify ourselves. I want a hot choc I can go get one. I want a cold beer, maybe not immediately, but the next time I'm at the supermarket I can get a 6-pack and keep that in the fridge for the next time I feel like a cold beer.

Its also made me appreciate even more the sacrifice that Jesus has made. I'm struggling to sacrifice comforts - a cold beer, a chocolate bickie, a hot chocolate. But Jesus (as Philippians 2 puts it) made himself nothing and came as a human being and obediently gave up his life so that we may be reconciled with God. The lure of a hot chocolate suddenly pales in relation to that.

Chinese New Year

February 18 was the first day of Chinese New Year. The Chinese follow the lunar calendar, hence the seemingly arbitrary date for celebrating the new year. This also means the date changes every year. This year is the year of the Pig (the golden pig apparently). Admittedly, I don't know much about the Chinese zodiac except that there are 12 animals in it.

Anyways, I went back to my parents house in Auckland to celebrate the new year since I wanted to make the most of it being in a weekend. On Sunday, my parents decided to have an 'open house' from 2-6 in the afternoon. 'Open house' means that you open your home for any visitors. This is a very common practice in Malaysia. It is customary to have an open house for the first 2-3 days of the new year and people can drop in at anytime during the day or night. Even at 11pm! The hosts will usually have at least an array of special Chinese new year cookies and cakes for visitors. Some will also have more substantial food (like various curry, satay, noodles, etc). Mum decided to have a few cookies and dishes. Visitors were mostly people from their church who wanted to experience what Chinese new year celebrations were like.

Its been about 10 years since we have done any sort of open house for new year and we are not keen to repeat it anytime soon! Interestingly enough, having an open house is something one cannot avoid when in Malaysia unless you are away on holiday. It is simply not acceptable to stay at home and not have visitors. It was great doing that briefly this year, but I think we were all tired out from it!

It felt quite nice going back for Chinese New Year. On the eve, it's customary to have a family reunion dinner so as it was a Saturday, mum cooked up a storm, so it was certainly worth it!

Lent

Today is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent. This year, I have decided to observe Lent - so I am giving up alcohol and chocolate. I thought it would be good to practice spiritual discipline and focus on Jesus. As I was thinking about it, I realised that it was hard for me to settle on something to give up for Lent because it was inconvenient - I never know when I would feel like a nice beer (with the nice warm weather we are having lately) and I'm not a huge chocolate fan, but I do reasonably often eat chocolate things. And I don't drink coffee and very seldom drink tea, so hot chocolate is my drink of choice at cafes.

I hope that this would give me a renewed appreciation of Jesus' sacrifice. Not just his suffering on the cross, but the fact that he chose to come to live as a human and face the temptations and challenges that we face as humans. Its all to easy to take all this for granted, hence my reason for observing Lent this year.

sleep deprived

Whoever invented insomnia should be shot! Its a awful thing. Lying awake sensing that the sun has risen and you haven't yet fallen asleep. And then hearing the brids chirping cos its the wee hours in morning and you know you should be up soon. I have not been able to fall alseep before 3am for about 3 weeks now. It is slowly driving me to the verge of insanity.

Any ideas/remedies anyone??

Best of...

Its a new year (Happy New Year by the way), so its not uncommon to do best ofs (the last year of course). Here's my best ofs for 2006.

Best cafe:

• Simply Paris was a great find! They have wonderful bittersweet (handmade) hot chocolate which has made me expect good hot choc from French places (and thus was bitterly disappointed with the French deli in Mt Albert in Auckland). Their savoury menu is fairly simple - but yummy. But my fav thing is thier dessert and pastries, particular the custard millefoulle (I'm sure its the wrong spelling!). You HAVE to check it out if you're in Wellington.

Best movie:

• As it is in Heaven was a fantastic movie. Probably my favourite for the year. Though the Bond movie was a pleasant surprise and highly recommended.

Best CDs:

• For jazz, my all time favourite is still Diana Krall's 'Look of Love'. Her sultry voice and the bossanova style is just the thing to relax to.

• Hard to say which album of U2's in particular, as I have been listening to all of them on shuffle.

Best books:

• Bono on Bono was a great read. Its done interview style and over at least a couple of years. Good insight to the famous and activist front man of U2. My respect for him has grown after reading the book.

• The Time Traveller's Wife was also a fanstastic read. Its a different take on a love story.

Best toy:

• My Canon 400D digial SLR. This baby rocks (and takes good photos)! I have been able to just be trigger happy, play with various exposures and angles and not worry about how much it would cos me to develop the film later on!
  

Best concerts:

• Jacques Loussier Trio is simply brilliant. They really have groove and they are just musically so tight. A real pleasure and treat to listen to.

• Of course the U2 concert which has to be one of the top highlights in the year. Being up the front, and seeing them up close (let alone live!) was a bonus. The atmosphere was just pumping (despite the rain) and the boys do put on a good show.

Best misc moment:

• Being at the Collinson twins first birthday and dedication. It was a mad idea to drive up and down from Auckland in a weekend. But it was worth it! Brings new meaning of family.

Feel free to share what have been some of your best ofs for 2006.