sound bites

so much has been happening recently. thought I'd make a quick blog to fill you in on the exciting parts.

I have a nodule in my hand... and it's been there for a while. So I went to the hand surgeon... and he goes:
"it's quite simple to remove, I'll just stick a needle in and pop it"
and then I go:
"ok then"
and he goes:
*smiles* [gives me one of those... "I don't think you understand what I'm saying" looks]
and then I go
"oh... you mean right now???"
and he goes:
"yeah."

so... to cut a long and boring conversation short, he sticks the syringe into my hand... and moves it around. And it hurts. Then he takes the needle out... has a feel of the nodule (which is still there)... and the needle goes back in. This happens a few times. He also squirted this medicine stuff in there. He came to the conclusion that the nodule is too small and too mobile to pinpoint with the needle. So I'm going to wait for a few weeks to see if the medicine stuff makes it go away. It was hurting for a few days... but doesn't hurt now.

Yesterday, me and Rob made a gingerbread house for his mum's birthday. It was fun to do. Neither of us are too skilled with icing... it was going everywhere. But it's the thought that counts... and it does taste nice too. PHOTOS!!!



And that's not the only thing I've been making. I've been sewing... but I wont be able to show the fruits of my labour until after christmas. I'm quite proud of myself. If I wasn't so bad at cutting material, I'd sew more often. Prepping material annoys me... but putting it all together is very fun.

I've also been back at work. It's been pretty boring. No famous people coming in. Although I did get a strange call today (note: this is only an extract of what was a very very very long call):
Caller: I want a pizza with potato
Me: ok then... so there is a vege roast and a beef royale that has potato on it
Caller: no no no that's not what it's called. it's called *incomprehensible*
Me: hmmm... well what toppings exactly were you looking for?
Caller: I want potato and cheese
Me: [thinks this is a weird person] Would you like a pizza with just cheese and potato on it then? We can make one up for you
Caller: no no no it has a name. a pizza with potato on it
Me: do you have the internet? we have a menu online
Caller: no no no... don't you know the pizza with cheese and potato on it?
Me: I'm sorry we don't have a pizza with just potato and cheese on it
Caller: are you in wahroonga?
Me: Yes, at the rear of Redleaf ave, we're called Pizza cutters
Caller: OOOOOOOOOoooooo... I got the wrong place. Goodbye.

O.O
why would anyone just want potato and cheese on their pizza??? what kinda weird shop in wahroonga sells a potato and cheese pizza?!?!?!?!?!

From Car-O-Line

a journey around NSW

so so so so so so so much has happened since I last blogged. It'll take me forever to write it down... and I'm looking forward to enjoying my holidays... so I'm going to KISS (keep it simple, stupid).

Beyond the Line:
is a program where the DET pays for a trip to a school in western NSW... in the hope of encouraging us to teach in a country school. I went to Nyngan High School. It's a town with the population of 3000, and there were about 170 kids in the high school. The kids are basically the same as Sydney students, just with a bit of extra baggage (family problems, etc). It was fun to go there. The teachers were really nice and also really skilled. I picked up a lot of things by watching their lessons. In conclusion to the trip, I would consider going to teach in western NSW because I can see that it can be a very satisfying job and that you can make a real difference to the kids there. One thing that worried me was the lack of Christian teachers, or Christians in general - their values and behaviours are quite different to mine. In a sense it would be good to go there for that reason... to build up the community and spread the gospel. We'll see what happens.

NTE Canberra:
National Training Event. Rob picked me up from Central station with Becky and we drove to Canberra, arriving at 11:15pm... and staying at the YHA (which was very snazzy indeed). Warren, Erin and Dan were there too. So it was a very long day... because I had been in the coach from Bourke for 12 hrs... then straight back in the car to NTE.
NTE was awesome. Good teaching from God's word - Hebrews was preached on and Hebrews is like the best book in the Bible. I love it that Jesus is our great High Priest. And I was very happy when we sang "Before the Throne of God Above" which is like a reinforcement of Hebrews... very moving. We were also taught about the Bible... sounds vague... but we saw that the Bible is (in my best rapper voice):
"Receiving God's word, written for his people, written by his Spirit, about his Son" - WORD!
I also was in strand 4 - Ethics of Work. We discussed a definition of work (and non-work), asked questions on whether it is better to do secular or gospel work, and debated what the Bible said about work. For the first four days we were basically putting out lots of questions, without getting answers. And then on the last day, we wrapped everything together and it was so satisfying!!! We covered a lot of things... and I think it would be pointless for me to write everything I learned there... it's really something that you have to go through yourself and wrestle with from reading the Bible and asking the questions yourself.

NTE Mission - The Lakes Evangelical Church Central Coast
We travelled from Canberra to Tumbi Umbi, Central Coast. Spent a whole lot of time in the church office with the lovely ministry team of the church. Ate so much BBQ but also had many tasty salads and veggies. Some of the things I did was letterbox drops, door knocking, scripture to the yr 7s and kids church. We were go-go-going for the whole week. We went to church on Sunday morning which was really cool. It was a very good experience. We were encouraged to think about how we can be supporting church plants (like the possibility of moving there to help build up the church).

So overall... the past 2 and a half weeks have been really awesome, and challenging too. I've been challenged to use my teaching skills in a western NSW school. I've been challenged to make my work decisions based on what God and his words says, and I've also been challenged to take part in church plants in the building of God's kingdom in Australia. Lots to think about the future.

From Car-O-Line

p.s.: this has been a very short and crappy blog about events where I've learned heaps and heaps of stuff. talk to me in the flesh about it to find out the full story.