cyberspace junkyard

In other news
Michelle Kwan won the ladies' figure skating World Championships over the weekend! 5 time World Champion! Her three programmes were almost perfect, and the commentators (deservedly) gushed over her. I'm over the moon - she is so wonderful. I've followed her career since 1997. Challengers may come and go, but Michelle has such longevity, poise and heart. A true champion.

Monday Mumbles
An action packed weekend has just passed by, culminating in a strange sensation as movie after movie featuring Nicole Kidman aired on TV after 11pm last night. Y'think it has much to do with that little gold man?

PP: Motivation and inspiration for the last stretch of songwriting. Must polish up 4 songs for Friday; Praise and thanks for a great study and arvo tea with my women's small group. Also, we're embarking on a project to read through all 150 Psalms, one per day. An awe-inspiring task. Such poetry is expressed in the Psalms, even when talking about doom and judgement. No wonder so many have been set to music! Please pray for diligence and accountability
BV: Psalm 51:10-12 "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me."

Fool for love
Reading a post on Riss's blog prompted me to think about romance. Well, cute guys first, then romance. (hee!)

A bunch of flowers has never really excited me that much in the past. Maybe it's because I have a deep psychological wall hiding a painful childhood memory of constant hayfever. Maybe it's because I can't bear the thought of flowers being brutally uprooted from their natural environment. Or, y'know, maybe it's because my mum owns a florist. Whatever.

I'm not much of a stuffed toy girl either. I have two treasured toys (other than the cabbage patch dolls that my parents lavished on me). The first is a snow white teddy bear with the darkest brown eyes named Durnik - more thought went into the name than the buying of the gift or the giver. The second was from my first real boyfriend (whatever that means!) and is a gorgeous moose with a Canadian Mountie hat named Chuck, from when he was in Canada on an internship. I'm afraid any others would be a little yawn-inducing.

So what does cause my knees to buckle and the breath to catch in my throat? It's when someone knows me or a part of me well enough to do something that I alone will understand. Hence there's generic swooning (awww, a dozen long stem red roses) and ultimate swooning (awww, he's signed us both up for archery lessons, just cos I've always wanted to learn). I love it when the guy in question is as excited about the romantic gesture as I am, and can't wait to show me what he's planned or done. Oh, and did I mention someone who can serenade me? It's not about the most fantastic voice (though an Anthony Warlow protege wouldn't go astray) or great piano technique, but about music from the soul. Uhoh, not going to get onto that tangent here. Focus, Vron, we're talking about romance. Right. Ahem.

Besides, I've done some pretty ridiculous things all in the name of romance before. Let me see, there was the time I popped over to a guy's place while he was out to replenish his food supplies and left a scavenger hunt trail of clues leading to the piece de resistance - a pack of his fave Mint Slices. Another time, another guy - I published a special birthday message in code in his local newspaper. Oh, and that mixed CD of his favourite songs, ending with me singing "Good night Sweetheart" acapella.

Mate, was I gushy or what? The scary thing (having been completely uninterested in romancing anyone for almost 2 years now) is that I'm probably storing all that icky sweet stuff up. Pity the poor boy I end up with!

The art of reading television
I don't get much time nowadays to watch TV - it's a definite luxury if I have an hour or two to myself to brainlessly plonk myself down and lapse into a semi-vegetative state. Being an avid reader since primary school, I've discovered that reading transcripts, episode reviews, quotes, forums and the like are just as good as the real thing, plus you consume it all in a fraction of the time. And no ad breaks! You won't find me being worried about "spoilers". Nosiree.
Spoil away.

Here are some of my favourite reading sites.
Television Without Pity. Oh the painful sweetness of the snark.
Tabula Rasa. Fantastic Buffy site with fairly up to date and incredibly detailed multiple reviewed episodes.
The World of the Bold and the Beautiful. Sparing myself the get-me-a-bucket inducing vibe of actually watching the show, yet still feeding my unhealthy interest in the show. Except they killed off my favourite character.
Whose Line Is It Anyway? features a heavy amount of "you had to be there" sprinkled with a touch of "and why is that funny to anyone other than Americans" but as I've watched pretty much all these eps, I find it hilarious. Theatre Sports is one of man's greatest inventions.
TORN is my daily Lord of the Rings update fix. I know it's not a TV show, but the amount of cool stuff you come across here is fantastic for the obsessed.

Monday Mumbles
There's nothing like being safely enconsed in a warm office building, protected from the wet, dreary weather by panes of thick floor to ceiling glass and tonnes of concrete. Strangely enough, it lifts the spirits!

Weekend highlight: seeing my brother in the chorus of the Mikado with his school (supplemented by some girls from PLC, Meriden and MLC). I was so impressed with him (I always knew he could sing, but he can dance too!) and also with the Yr 11 boy who played KoKo - I was just blown away. If that boy doesn't pursue acting, it will be such a waste of simply extraordinary talent. I can't rave enough about him!

PP: coming down with flu-like symptoms - pray that it will blow over and that if I do succumb, it won't be too distracting; continued saltlight songwriting - just a couple more weeks to go now; my WEWIN group (women's ministry small group at my church) which is meeting on Sunday to walk through some Psalms together.
BV: Isaiah 40:30-31 "Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

Friday Five - another time, another place
1. If you had the chance to meet someone you've never met, from the past or present, who would it be?
My answer to this oft-asked question hasn't changed much over the years. It would either be William Shakespeare or Jesus Christ. The reason why Will's there as well is because I might not meet him in heaven, but I'll definitely meet Jesus there!

2. If you had to live in a different century, past or future, which would it be?
I love the nineteenth century. A really romantic, idyllic era, before the repurcussions of many deadly diseases were felt.

3. If you had to move anywhere else on Earth, where would it be?
Easy. Salzburg.

4. If you had to be a fictional character, who would it be?
Polgara the Sorceress from David Edding's Belgariad and Mallorean series.
After all, I practically was her throughout my formative high school years. Y'know, apart from the sorcery and all.

5. If you had to live with having someone else's face as your own for the rest of your life, whose would it be?
Meh - I'm pretty happy with mine actually. It would have to be someone with a whole gamut of expression. Umm... umm... I have no idea and if I think about it any longer, I'll miss my ferry, rush dinner and be late to bible study!

Have a great weekend, y'all!

Sing your blues away
It's so awesome to be spending my spare time sitting at the piano, letting my fingers wander over the keys and singing what comes into my heart and head, or reading my Bible then humming a tune to some words that jump out at me, or praying about an amazing revelation of God's word that has just struck me. My most inspired sessions are after midnight or before 7am. For some reason, the worries of the world just melt away and I can really spend time with God and revelling in His sovereignty, love and faithfulness. If only I could do this every day! Hmmm... a thought indeed!

Edited 12:03pm: just read back over that rather gushy post. I think I'm gonna need to start wearing a beret soon.

Home sweet home
After several years in the musical instrument wilderness, Barny (my beloved upright, Barnabas) is home! He was delivered on Monday night, around 7:25pm. Admittedly, he's a little out-of-shape and could do with some tender love and care, not to mention a good tuning. This followed the recent return of Cleo Jnr (Cleopatra the Clarinet's successor). My musical family is almost complete! Perhaps it is time for an expedition to hunt down and rescue Matt(hias) - my favourite previously-unnamed, unfortunately-sold grand piano.

Monday Mumbles
Good morning! I feel perky and punctual and pretty... oh so pretty... I feel pretty and witty and gay... woops! I really thought I had shaken off that Maria character. If you haven't seen West Side Story go borrow it. Now. Run.

PP: saltlight song-writing (Thanks to those who prayed for me last week - God has been truly gracious! One of the songs in particular is really taking shape and I was in tears as I / God was writing it!); crazy schedule coming up with something on every weeknight and every weekend for the next 3 weeks! Pray for much needed time management and focus.
BV: Ephesians 4:21-24 "Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

Monday Mumbles
Starting something new - every Monday, I'm going to try to post up some prayer points and a bible verse which I am particularly focussing for the week. Trying to be creative and disciplined!

PP: planning short-term mission to Indonesia, song-writing for saltlight
BV: Romans 5:6-8 "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

There's no place like home
Dorothy was really on to something there when she said those immortal words in the Wizard of Oz. After a week working in Adelaide, it sure feels fantastic to be home. A quick snapshot of my eventful 5 days in the South Australian capital...

• Full buffet breakfasts. Enough said.


• Taxi drivers who talk back to talkback radio about the absurdity of bank fees and calmly turn to me after 15 minutes of ranting asking what I do in BT.


• Raw, bleeding, blistered heels care of running for 50 minutes along Brighton Beach in runners with no socks. Close your eyes and imagine what your heels would look like if you rubbed sandpaper on them for a while. Yup, you got the idea now.


• El cheapo Japanese. Shared huge platters of tempura, sashimi, sushi and teriyaki chicken with a friend. Yummmmm...


• The sights and sounds of Melbourne St in North Adelaide. The unyielding beckoning of a chocolate and banana fudge sundae. Hey - don't knock it til you try it!


• Mini bar and late night cravings. Hee!


• Work. Yeah - did some of that!


• Lost my temper and got emotional for the first time ever over a work matter. All I can say is the people I was conference-calling in Sydney were lucky that I was miles away in Adelaide. As expected, was over it by the next day, but I still get frustrated knowing some people high up the food chain made a really really really bad strategic decision. Did I stress the bad-ness of the decision enough? No? It was really really really bad!


• A three-seater to myself on the trip to Adelaide and the special emergency exit row with double the leg room on the trip back. Bliss!

Off to beddy-byes. G'nite!

Secret Crush
Nooo!! For weeks and weeks I sat on my perch in the land of Nospam, laughing uncontrollably as more and more friends were besieged by the "secret crush" spammers.
When I received my first one about 3 weeks ago, I didn't consider it a big deal and deleted it immediately. After all, it was just a little blip. Nothing to threaten Nospam's national security or anything. Then, when I checked my web email that I reserve for dangerous ventures into the big bad world of the Internet, I discovered that just over this weekend, I had a total of eight secret crushes! Arrrgghhhhh. I seriously doubt that there'd even be one, let alone eight!

Apparently, I've got crushes ranging from their mid twenties to late twenties to mid thirties (really specific there) and they even granted me the concession of telling me that one of them has hair. Lucky me! Let me at him! Or better yet, let me at that Cupid fellow so I can lock him in a box somewhere. Give my poor mailbox a little peace, please!

Hail from Adelaide
Just finished my first day of work here. (well, a half day really, I didn't arrive til midday Adelaide time).
I have a computer! And internet access! so not suffering from withdrawal too much.
Ooh, and I might get to come home on Thursday night!
Reading back.. short sentences! Exclamation marks!

Sorry!