and then there was wed-thurs-fri!!

and in one last burst, what's been up for the last couple of days!!

wed was another nothing day, which was brilliant - Vee came over later that night and we just talked and coffee'd around the kitchen and lounge all the way till 5am!! i love being young :D

thurs day i got my hair cut (in a little bit of a bizar way; i'm not sure if i should let jeff just do "whatever" again :S), the night time saw me and vee watching a documentary that had been compiled about van nguyen called "Just Punishment" - it was pretty sobering, as expected, and quite well made. i think again, it reaffirmed the sort of direction i want my life to go... in terms of actively fighting, or working, to make this world even a fraction better

afterwards me and vee had something to eat, and then went to cookie (on swanston) - on the outside it didn't look that great (had walked by it so many times), but was very cool on the inside!! the atmosphere was great... and the cocktail we tried (which we were prewarned that we would have to wait 25mins for!!) was fun as - an "absinth green fairy"

one last moment

i figured i should probably break up this post, as opposed to one ginormous one :P

tuesday night was... a little magical, and perhaps a little poignant. i spent the afternoon/evening with someone... someone that i'd had to let go of, not so long ago, and was therefore a little hesistant and unsure about what to expect of the encounter

we ended up in a tree (no, NOT kissing 8-)), in a park we'd never been too, climbing and sitting amongst the branches and talking for over 4-5 hours. having conversations about everything... watching life walk by beneath us... and in the cool of the night, the breeze rushing through the branches, moving us powerfully, but gently... closing my eyes and giving myself to the rhythmic swaying of the branch I sat on

for me... the eternal romantic of life... it was a moment. a moment, given the situation with the person, might well be the last i ever see of her, and therefore both bittersweet and harmonious - i hope that i'll be able to remember it that way... a snap shot of possible love... the hope of something special... with the grounding of the reality of it never to be

the week in passing...

i think way too much and way too seriously about questions people ask :P when people ask what i've been up to, i actually try and think about what it is i've been up to... then again... am i meant to quite easily know these things...??? i am, aren't it :S

so... here's me doing a brain dump of the week in passing... so at least somewhere there'll be something i can refer to about actually having done something :P


saturday morning/arvo found me bbq-ing on the front steps of collins street baptist - it was a really nice day to be outside and frying, even against the bizar backdrop of riot police dudes, white aterial block rampagers, and mark serenely reading the newspaper in the midst of it all...



after packing up, i rode into the 'burbs and had a quiet night with vee and darius - we watched amelie, sat around talking, whilst darius espoused (not knowing what i'd been doing that day) that protestors are worse than terrorists

sunday morning i managed to roust myself out of bed to check out the morning service @ grace church, which starts at a barnstorming time of 9:20am!! was there with vee, mikey and bibi... and we did a whole church service before 11am - 11am!! went home, pottered for a bit, and then did the acf evening version... 2xservices in one day... yup, was quite holy that sunday :P

monday? i did nothing!! which is always weird for me... after having been consistently frantic for the last few months on end, whenever i get to a break time, it can feel a little unnatural :P i ended up seeing "the prestige" @ village, knox... by myself... doing the whole movie by myself thing in knox... although the movie was a great one... i should have probably picked one with a bit more pick-me-up in it, rather than throw-self-off-building vibes :S

jedi nate!!

the week before, i'd been @ deb's birthday party, where her brother has SIX working replica light sabres!! so here's me being a pink jedi knight...

nate & the G20 Christian Collective...

came down to the office to work a bit more on the project where I bumped into Simon, one of the Seedy mob that works with the education team @ the Den - he was making rice to bring back to the encampment

i'd visited them earlier in the day, and it was a bit ironic that once upon a time I might have viewed such groups as weird and a bit eclectic, and now there i was crossing the road to the peaceful protest morever to visit my friends :P

in any case, in chatting to simon for the few moments he was here, and to the few friends I'd bumped into today, i started to hear about something about media reports... about the radio going on about the 9 or so christian protesters sitting outside the hyatt... so I did a search on the herald sun and age sites, and found this on the age:

Christian collective

G20 Christian Collective spokesperson, Reverend Simon Moyle, said about 10 of members of his group had arrived at the corner of Collins and Russell streets this morning to protest the forum at the Grand Hyatt.

"We're here because this meeting of G20 is not representative of the people it most affects," Mr Moyle said.

"We're particularly concerned about the environment. We've been excluded from (the forum) but we're here to basically ask for tickets on behalf of ... the poor ... to say these people need and deserve a ticket and a place at the table."

Mr Moyle said the group had been asked to move their tent from outside the Grand Hyatt Hotel, despite previous approval by police of the location.
"We're G20 Christian collective and we're part of a whole bunch of churches around Melbourne. We're just a concerned voice for the poor.

"We're here for 60 hours, from this morning to Sunday night and will be maintaining a constant vigil."

and here's another article by the Herald Sun: G20 Christians protest

it's funny, because simon himself was a bit bewildered by all the media attention - he'd thought that at the worst, the Police would tell them they weren't allowed there, and at best they were expecting to be largely ignored. But because they're the only group on the scene at the moment, they're the ones getting all the media airplay :S

christop is there, and is planning to be there for most of it, shunning his bed and his "visions" for the collective and the street - i'm just about to head out to finish buying the rest of the food for tomorrow's BBQ, so i might pop by and see how they're all doing out there

nate & the G20...

it's a bit surreal all the stuff that's sorta escalating seemingly out of nowhere in regards to the G20 - I say seemingly, as there've been heaps of awareness and mediatory activities, some good stuff by the Seedy mob, but me being a little slow on the uptake I'm probably only sorta getting it with the advent of so much police stuff happening at our front steps :S

it's going to be an awesome day, with heaps of events happening for you to both enjoy and be passionate about - my prayer, if any, would be for us ALL to be challenged, and pushed far beyond our comfort zones, by what God might be saying in the midst of it all

Note: I'll be @ the prayer & reflection space on the front steps of Collins Street Baptist

At 7:30am Friday morning A G20 Christian Collective will attempt to set up a "Third World and Environment Ministers Embassy" beside the barricades surrounding the Hyatt as a way of demonstrating the exclusion of the poor and other essential factors in the G20 meetings. This will begin a peaceful 60 hour non-stop vigil in solidarity with the excluded that will extend through to Sunday evening. You are welcome to join in for part or all of it

On Saturday between 9am and 3pm there will be a prayer and reflection space at Collins Street Baptist Church, with a sausage (and veggie burger) sizzle on the steps

Also on the Saturday, Make Poverty History is holding a festival in the Alexandra Gardens between 10am and 8pm. It will feature bands, stalls, information booths, and reflection spaces. For more information, see http://www.makepovertyhistory.com.au

 

images of today...

bleh... just came out of another random encounter, which just confuses me a bit more :S

anyways, before i was interrupted, i was just about to blog the craziness that was today...

woke up this morning to the sound of thumping on my door, which after 5mins of sleepy deliberation, decided it really was my bedroom door that was thumping, threw on a pair of shorts and my trinity top and groggily wandered out to find out that i was now the designated driver, with the mission of getting the credo lions (cricket team - it's cricket you can believe in...?) to noble park


so cricket it was!! my first game with the lions (or possibly ever?!) - drove out to noble park, played the 'noble knights' (which had a unoh face (jon owens was playing, for those who remember him from jumpstart '06)), who we absolutely thumped. had them all out for 40 in under 14 overs (these games are limited 25 overs each side), which we made easily in about the same amount of time, and having lost only two or so wickets - i even took a catch!! few more pics on marcus's credo cricket blog



that's my "look-I'm-a-cricketer-really!" smile :P after which i got back, showered and just got pretty much prepped for the pain in the arts exhibition opening!! i managed to find a few minutes to wander out and grab a strong latte, but that was about it :S

wandered down to the the city library (not the state library, the city library (on flinder la)) for the opening, and though i was really worn by then, it was pretty fun :) was great to be there celebrating the works of good friends, and i'm always partial to great cheese too :D




when i eventually get around to it, i'll be putting the rest of the pics on my flickr (otherwise known as the nates photos link on the right) - meanwhile, christop also posted some stuff on the exhibition on his wonderfully awful blog

meanings...

how was your cup day? mine was ok... i mean, i got to spend quite a bit of time with some pretty good friends, both of acf and coc variety... i got to eat decent enough food (red silks and bbq meat (i.e. not canned food)), & went through a full set of exercises. when it all comes down to the bottom line, it seems balanced, & full enough... doesn't it...?

i'm not sure if it's because i'm getting closer to yet another juncture where i try & figure out what to do with the next part of my life, or if it's the random & fleeting popping ins of once significant people, that has gotten me feeling a bit out of it... it could even be the bizar sleeping patterns i held the previous two or so days (yeah, bizar even for me...)

maybe i'm just being greedy... & not appreciative enough... maybe there ARE times where I just need to relax... & be thankful... I dunno...

don't get me wrong... i love my friends & think they're incredibly wonderful people, and in all honesty I do think of them as perhaps better than me, if i were to state things simplistically...

the thing is, even as i sat there, & laughed & ate... i just felt like the world was somewhat slipping away

i'd seen them most of them, in the same setting, only a few days ago... & it really scared me the thought that my extrapolated life could just be series of meaningless gatherings

again, lemme restate, i love my friends, & I think the world of them, & incredibly highly of them... this isn't a reflection on them at all... but moreover a reflection of me

simply, i want my life to be brilliant - not just for my own sake, but in the name of those who have gone on before me... in the revelation of lifes finiteness... in revelation bourne from those who have passed away, that every minute is precious and God blessed

there are times, times that i've absolutely cherished & that have been absolutely necessary, that i've spent doing 'nothing' with my friends... but in each... in each there'd been an adventure there... whether it'd be on a rooftop in the city, or a rooftop in the suburbs next to freeway construction

i want so badly to run so hard with every breath i have, to still be running when my time on earth is up (however soon that might be), making differences, however small, to ease some of the pain in this world... just sometimes... sometimes it's hard to figure out where to start... & sometimes just a little morbid when you realise the very real possibility of being trapped in world where you find yourself doing the same thing, all the time

nate is humming...

I've added music!! Let me know how it goes (i.e. if it's annoying, too slow to load, etc)... I'm curious to see how it'll work - player controls are on the right :D

Song of the moment? "Bratja" or which translates to "Brothers" composed by Michiru Oshima (they're singing in Russian if you're wondering)

nate wants to be astroboy...

Anime! @ the NGV!! If someone wants to come with me (time/date TBA), give us a shout out :D

"TEZUKA Osamu is heralded as an icon of the Japanese manga movement; acknowledged in Japan as an artistic master, and revered as the figurehead of the manga and anime industries. Creating over 700 manga titles during his lifetime, he is best known in the West for his cartoons of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion, which were serialized for television in the 1960s. Tezuka’s work is acclaimed for its complexity and originality and his drawings showcase an extraordinary calligraphic dynamism. His prolific manga work contains two main streams: manga ‘comic pictures’ for a youth audience, including Astro Boy, Kimba and Princess Knight; and gekiga ‘drama pictures’ – more seriously-toned, adult oriented narratives such as Song of Apollo and Ludwig B, that stress realistic effect and emotional impact. This exhibition features both aspects of his work, introducing Western audiences to the complexities and extraordinary range of the manga form.

This exhibition has been negotiated through Tezuka Productions in Tokyo. Comprising original drawings, designs for manga covers and posters, the exhibition will introduce Western audiences for the first time to the full scope of Tezuka’s artistic output."

3 November 2006 - 28 January 2007
Ground Level, NGV International
Admission fees apply

For more info, jump here