The Six Sacred Stones

I have just last night finished reading the latest Matthew Reilly novel The Six Sacred Stones.
It continues the adventures of Jack West Jr, the Aussie renegade hero from Seven Ancient Wonders.
I have to say Stones is an improvement on the previous book. But it is also a shade frustrating in that it is clearly the middle novel, so Matt hurry up finishing the next one.
If you're not familiar with Reilly's Indiana Jones-style action adventure novel they are well worth reading. I'm not a great reader myself but ever since he gave me a copy of Ice Station about eight years ago I've been hooked.
There are two exceptions to his style in the eight novels he has released and they are Contest and Hover Car Racer. Contest would make an awesome movie, a sci-fi thriller set in, of all places, a library. I can also see Hover Car Racer as a Disney film.
Most of the books well and truly push the boundaries of realism but they are fiction and I guess no less realistic than most action movies. As I said, bring on the next on - I want to know what happens!

Reflections, part II

I've been thinking about whether or not I have moved forward in this past year.
Now November isn't the usual time for reflection but about this time in 2006 I did a bit of a roll call on where I stood and concluded that I wasn't overly happy with the results.
Clearly I have taken some positive steps.
Some things that appeared very difficult, seemingly impossible, a year ago are now not only plausible but have been achieved.
What is even clearer is that for every step I have taken in one direction there seems to have been three or four in another direction. At times, not always.
I'm not saying I'm going backwards, more forwards but with detours.
One thing I really feel is missing seems harder to reach.
I was asked by a friend recently if I'd ever had a broken heart. I gave a vague answer, something along the lines of `not in the same way you have', but the truth is that it happens a lot more regularly than I'd like. Probably still in different ways.
I also wonder if I am capable of what is required to sustain such things.
Where to? More forward steps, definitely, but when is not so certain.
Sometimes I feel God is well and truly in control and other times I feel he is not. Today has been one of the days I felt him in control. It has been, largely, a very good day. There has been some disappointment, mainly thanks to my own emotional flaws.
But good days are easy to handle.
It's the not so good days that are a challenge.

Labor wins

Looks like we have a new champion (so Homer Simpson would say).
Labor has won the election much easier than I thought and the PM appears to have been a prized scalp in his own seat (of which I am a part). Though that result is still not completely confirmed, but the computer has been calling it a Labor win since about 8pm.
Now it's up to our new government and prime minister to deliver what they promised _ or they will be duly booted out come 2010.
Over to you, Kevin....

It is done

I have voted.
Oh happy day!

Top 10 ways to freak out your roommate

Found this on an old email.


10) Every time your roommate walks in yell, ''Hooray! You're back!'' as loud as you can and dance around the room for five minutes. Afterwards, keep looking at your watch and saying, ''Shouldn't you be going somewhere?''
9) Talk back to your Rice Krispies. All of a sudden, act offended, throw the bowl on the floor and kick it. Refuse to clean it up, explaining, ''No, I want to watch them suffer.'''
8) Move everything to one side of the room. Ask your roommate if he knows how much an elephant weighs, and look at the floor on the empty side of the room with concern.
7) Tell your roommate, ''I've got an important message for you.'' Then pretend to faint. When you recover, say you can't remember what the message was. Later on, say, ''Oh, yeah, I remember!'' Pretend to faint again. Keep this up for several weeks.
6) Collect hundreds of pens and pile them on one side of the room. Keep one pencil on the other side of the room. Laugh at the pencil.
5) Draw a tiny black line on your nose. Make it bigger every day. Look at it and say, ''The hair, it's growing. Growing!''
4) While your roommate is out, glue your shoes to the ceiling. When your roommate walks in, sit on the floor, hold your head, and moan.
3) Make a sandwich. Don't eat it, leave it on the floor. Ignore the sandwich. Wait until your roommate gets rid of it, and then say, ''Hey, where the heck is my sandwich!?'' Complain loudly that you are hungry.
2) Buy some knives. Sharpen them every night. While you're doing so, look at your roommate and mutter, ''Soon, soon....''
1) Collect potatoes. Paint faces on them and give them names. Name one after your roommate. Separate your roommate's potato from the others. Wait a few days, and then bake your roommate's potato and eat it. Explain to your roommate, ''He just didn't belong.''

Whatever It Takes

The video to a great song by Lifehouse called Whatever It Takes .
A couple of questions though.
Jason Wade has gone blond, what's with that?
Where's the rest of the band?

Gotta say though, seeing a watermelon explode is pretty cool.

Express post

Yesterday, around 4pm, I posted an item (not a regular letter) to Tamworth expecting it to reach the destination Wednesday or Thursday at the earliest.
To my surprise it arrived there at 9.30am this morning.
Yes, that's right, a package posted at 4pm arrives in country NSW some17 hours later and it wasn't even express posted in those funky yellow bags. You can't send a letter within Sydney that quickly.
While there's plenty wrong with a lot of things in Sydney, clearly the postal service is a finely tuned machine. (Probably not, but it's nice to think so sometimes).

Chaser vs TodayTonight

This is what Channel 7 has been going off about. The Chaser boys can go too far at times but they come off looking okay. Can't say the same for the Today Tonight reporter. I almost feel sorry for him then I remember the type of gutter program he works for.

It's official...

...I'm sick of the election.
Can't we just skip to November 24 and get it over with.

Fraggle Rock does Tubthumping

This is borderline ridiculous but it's good if you want to brighten your day with a chuckle and a trip down memory lane. It's Tubthumping , Fraggle Rock style.
I enjoyed the Fraggles as a youngster. Good clean fun.

Funbusters target Santa

This is political correctness getting way too far out of hand.
According to the news tonight, Santa is being discouraged from saying `Ho Ho Ho' as tradition has it. Apparently it scares the kids and, get this, could be seen as offensive to women.
I'm yet to see a kid above the age of about 2 be scared of Santa, particularly of his greeting, and the second thing is just ridiculous.
And Christmas is still six weeks away.
Ho Ho Ho!

Death At A Funeral

Comedies don't normally come with the title Death At A Funeral but despite the odd name it's a comedy classic.
You certainly don't expect to be in hysterics when the opening scene is the delivery of a coffin, the wrong one no less, to the house of the grieving widow. It does take a little while to hit its straps but when Simon (played brilliantly by Alan Tudyk from Firefly) is accidentally given an hallucinogen instead of valium the movie really takes off. Simon isn't a member of the family but is dating the deceased's niece and is savagely disliked by her father.
There's so much to go into but it's Simon's increasingly weird behaviour, which culminated with me (and others in the audience) applauding one scene near the end, that sets the scene for some of the biggest laughs I've had in a cinema this year. The film isn't as deliberately lowbrow as something like Good Luck Chuck or Blades Of Glory but as it is set in England and stars a mainly British cast it has a bit more class than your average Hollywood comedy.
And it shows.
I won't give anything away here. This is a riot, one of the funniest films I've seen in years and done with a bit of class. An 8.5 out of 10. Don't miss it, but be warned one or two scenes are a bit off.

When You Are Near

When You Are Near , one of the great songs by outstanding Christian artist Jeremy Camp. Co-written by Jason Wade of Lifehouse (so you know what ball park we are talking about how good this song is), When You Are Near is a great uplifting experience.
Have a listen, here are the lyrics.

There's no need to say a thing
When I'm before you
In this silence I feel refreshed with peace
Break this noise that binds the voice that tries speak
Open up my eyes to see Your gracious sovereign reach

It's hard to talk when I feel that you are near
When all is quiet it's the beauty that I hear
This hidden place where I know that you calm my fears
I know that you've washed my tears

The seasons of change I've faced
Have never left me wounded
Only scars of hurt but never deeply rooted
This healing I have felt no burden can replace
Redemptive hope has been the story of my pain

Chorus

All is lost without the breath of life you give
And you give so much
I want nothing more than you so here's my heart

Chorus

Headlines

It's the new Spice Girls video, Headlines (Friendship Lasts Forever) and it's okay, just.
The Boob, I mean Spice Girls are back and they really could have put more effort into the song and into the video.
I mean, they had distinct characters within the group and have not returned to them for the video. It's just an excuse to wear the skimpiest outfits they can find.
I didn't think that was what the Spice Girls were about.
The song has nothing on their previous songs like 2 Become 1, Mama, Viva Forever, Too Much and even Goodbye but it will probably do well.

Fears and pet peeves

I can't help but be concerned at the moment. The bug hasn't run its course just yet, if that is in fact what it is, and I am awfully frustrated.
I actually went to work today - for an hour - before I decided it was a bad idea and came home. More than anything else tiredness was the issue, despite having had a few good nights sleep in a row, and I was nodding on the train on the way in.
In the end I fell asleep on the couch this afternoon. I don't feel horribly ill or anything but just off, at times I'll have spurts of energy then get tired again. The best thing for this I'd say is rest and the doc said to come back to see him on Thursday if I hadn't picked up.
What all this is raising, of course, is my intense fear of going through what I did almost 12 months ago. While I'm pretty sure that this is not a recurrence, given the lack of symptoms at the moment, it scares the hell out of me.
Some prayer for my state of mind, more than anything else, would be handy. If this is a bug it should run its course soon. I'm just one of those people, maybe it's a guy thing, that gets really frustrated and impatient when I'm sick. I just want to be better and productive.

It's that time

Cup time is here and although I'm still battling the bug (apparently there's one going around at the moment) it's always a great race to watch.
For the record my tips are:
1. Purple Moon
2. Master O'Reilly
3. Mahler
4. Zipping
The usual disclaimers still apply.
The doc gave me a day or two off so hopefully I can shake the bug off pretty quickly and I'm sure resting is much better for it than dragging myself to work.

Bugged

Somehow I attracted a stomach bug late this week, not too severe seemingly, and it hasn't been overly pleasant. After seeing a doctor this morning I was told to rest for a couple of days.
So, of course, I went to work. It's the one Saturday in the year we have to work with the Melbourne Cup coming up on Tuesday.
I got through the day okay in the end, though struggled a bit late in the piece. Part of that was probably being hungry but as I had a limited diet to choose from for a few days I elected to wait until I got home.
Hoping for a good night's sleep again tonight.