Not to mention...

... when I woke up @ 7pm (Sat), I got up, made myself human with a shower and cleaned up my room...

Christop (fellow resie @ Urban Seed) was filling in for the education team, and was the tour guide for a Christian group of Young Adults from Bayswater @ 8:30pm - I thought I'd tag along, for moral support, Chris is a really good guy.

So we're there, just sitting on the steps with this group, introducing everyone... when a girl, when it came to her turn, that looked so familiar, pointed her finger at me with her mouth open, going "I KNOW you!!"...

T'was Judith!! Judith Briscoe, who'd been @ ACF oh-so long ago... it was just bizar :S

At the end of the city walk, I caught her for a few minutes, and she said she was doing well, with a son (name's "Kylam"?) of age one and her partner Adam (?).

She sends a shout-out also, to those who remember her from her ACF days :)

God has a pretty whack sense of destiny...

... or at least, an bizar sense of humour :S

Just came back from a night @ Boulevard, which was pretty good - a great way to unwind after a mega-stressful week.

Ami and the girls offered me a lift back, which I declined; I figured the walk will do me good, and the weather wasn't too bad.

I walked back along St Kilda Rd... past the National Gallery, with the serene, oh-so-still water in front of it... there was no one around, so it was quiet-ish, it was a really nice way to end a night, I found myself thinking.

Crossed the road @ Flinders, was walking towards Macca's where @ 4:15ish in the morning, I recognised Sheree, pacing around outside McD's, with a mob of other assorted street people.

I stopped to say hello, but she was pretty tense - her friend had gotten stabbed by someone else she was fairly close to, and whilst she was able to talk to me, she obviously hadn't been having a good time lately.

Then some guy came along, some guy that appeared to be middle-class, and started trying to be funny with the bunch, was pretty obviously drunk.

Sheree didn't have much tolerance - she fully started verbally telling him to get lost. This girl, who was 30ish, had been on the streets since forever, and been through more things than I will take the liberty to write here, and tough as nails, like fully, was not about to back down.

And there I was, right in between a bunch of people that have some of the hardest lives in Melbourne, and some drunk idiot.

I've had no experience in this, really. I've been taught things like the 7 laws of the learner, have led cell groups, be preached @ for umpteen years. But where I was? That was real... that was in your face, and that was (in my head) "Nathan, so what are you going to do NOW. This ain't a group of affluent asian kids, you ain't know nothing"

I put myself between the two, my arm around the drunk idiot and said "mate, let's take a walk". He kept going on about being able to take on all of the, kept posturing, and I kept asking what his name was...

After a few attempts, I walked with him down the street, where a distance on he wanted to head off, and he did.

I walked halfway back to Sheree, stopped outside the Commonwealth Bank, and just softly bashed my head backwards onto the wall.

Walked back to Sheree, she told me, tensely, but as a friend, that she wasn't in the mood to talk given the stabbing, etc, and I told her that's fine, she should do what she needs to do, that I just wanted to say hello, and that I was going to head back then.

I dunno God... it's like you really don't want me to be bored, huh...

Sometimes, you just gotta laugh... or cry...

Last night, before I settled down to study @ about 2am, I was down in the laneway - two guys came up and were asking from some "freshies", and I wasn't quite sure what they meant. After talking to them for a bit, by the fluorescent light of the laneway, I'd learnt that one of them (an aboriginal) was just out of jail, and really hating life... both of them re-iterating that life in jail was so much better, like a holiday?!

I asked if he'd be able to make do without a "freshie", and he told me he had just gone through the laneway bin and found a used one - at that point I realised it was a clean syringe he was after, and had just pulled out of the bin one that had been used.

We're not an injecting house or anything (well, in Vic they don't exist), so we aren't able to carry fresh syringes, but after that, I almost wished we did...

Chatted for a bit more, then went upstairs to study... just shaking my head @ the bizar-ness of my life...

Woo hoo!!

After a test on Sunday, 2000 word essay for Tuesday, a test on Wednesday, reports by Thursday night, and a test this morning (Sat), I'm DONE for mid-semester!!

ALL this along with my regular Urban Seed duties too :S

Finished the test @ 10:30am this morning, came home and slept till 7pm :D Feels good to be semi-alive again, that's for sure...

Ah well...

Looks like Piano Stories will have to wait for another time - Mikey & other's are going to be working the ACF Easter play, and it won't nearly be the same without them, so here's hanging out for a Piano Stories IV...

Take note all who like Final Fantasy, Studio Ghibli and piano...

This is mostly for Mikey, but I'm soooo interested in going to this...

"Piano Stories returns in this third performance on the Saturday the 15th of April in Melbourne, and Saturday the 22nd of April in Sydney. Featuring music from the Final Fantasy"! series and Studio Ghibli films including Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, performed by acclaimed pianist Alexey Yemtsov. Also making an appearance will be the well sought-after violinists Hiroaki Yura and Ayako Ishikawa. So be quick as Piano Stories is always a fast-selling popular concert."

For those who are likewise interested, let me know so we can arrange tix!!
RSVP: Wed 5/4/06
Contact: leung.nathan@gmail.com or 0421286283 or just leave a comment on this post
Prices: About $30 for concession and $35 for Adults

wed night pt2...

After dropping ami off @ Flinders St Station, I wandered down to Rosies (the St Vinny's van, that stops a little further down Flinders St) to hang out with some of my street friends, also bumping into the other resies :P

We all just hung out there till late, hung around talking - debating the use of mobile phones with eco, or what ned had learnt about hell that night @ a church service he went to before hand - it was really good, the weather was good for it (not too hot or cold), the environment offered no props for pretension (I mean, it's the steps of the station :P) and there were quality people.

The thought that struck me then though, developed as I saw the Saint Vinny's van pull away... that as a person that was still there with the street, even though these great hearted people (the Saint V's volunteers) came down to share a coffee with everyone there, they were still them, and there is still a time where they pack up and leave, and return to their own world.

As much as Urban Seed is probably more emersed in street culture, than other service providers, where we intentionally go into places and join community, it struck me that we are still the same - @ the end of the night, we return to our own worlds, we leave our street friends behind.

Maybe Jesus did the same, empowering those on Earth and then returning to heaven, or maintaining a divinity and humanity @ the same time, but both quite distinct (?)...

Balancing, struggling with our faith questions... Brent (my urban seed mentor) tells me it's a good thing, it keeps us from being apathetic, complacent... but it sure does make you frown a lot (i.e. in thought) :P

and a bumper Wed night too...

Even though the Festival Melbourne is over, Next Wave continues...

Finished up class, had something to eat, and then me and ami checked out a night exhibition @ the Old Melbourne Gaol...

Free, and mostly darkened out, they give you a torch to tour around, with each cell containing an artists work - was a very surreal experience, as it was very much like being part of a scary movie with trick rooms, or even an old Sierra style detective game - there weren't many people there either, so you'd walk into a room, no, a prison CELL by yourselves with minimal light and sometimes an eerie soundtrack... "Nathan has walked into a darkened room, where a portrait of the deceased looks down on him - he notices something shiny on the floor"... or it's a scene where the hero is discovering a hidden hoo doo room, deep in the dark attic, where you're screaming in your cinema seat for him to "get the f@$$ out of there"...

The kicker (and screamer) was the exhibition that used the PADDED cell - this is one sick (no, not in the COOL moniker sense) room :S Padded ALL around (stained pads, not your nice, sterile types), from floor to roof, there's NO light, except for your torch, and the sound of soft static... the door is also closed for each playing - the static crescendos into some loud, thundering... something, I can't remember, cuz we was trying to get the hell out of there @ that point... *heart beating fast again*...

But yup, if you're game, definitely recommended - starts @ 8pm, and did I mention it was free? :P

Arghhh...

I've been procrastinating since forever about updating this, and so I'm finally going to do it!!

I wish I'd done it sooner, and been able to put more detail, but in short, since the last post, I'd been to a gay bar in Frankston, done copious amounts of festival melbourne, some good, some not so good, went to the boxing, finished a months-long project web site, drove to sydney & back within 24hrs... I think that's it...

Here's a few photos of my travels... and there are more on my flickr (the "nates photos" link on the right)...

Fit for Scrap...

It's weird the things you realise when you blog... the stuff @ Urban Seed is so normal to me now, duties and the intwining rich friendships, that I don't blog about it anymore :P

Last night me and amoi went down to the Alexandria Gardens to check out, well other things (she'd misread her timetable). We ended up in front of a stage with what started out as a small crowd of people for a group called Scrap Arts Music.

They started out @ about 10pm, so I wasn't surprised that there weren't that many there, but boy was it good :D A group that made music from bits and pieces of junk, they were not only melodic and fantasically rhythmic, but funnily dramatic in performance too. It was something I would have paid good money to have seen, it was that good, that different.

And the small crowd worked for me too... it was like our own special performance, our own secret that we found, in the corner of the Gardens, which also looked fantastic @ night.

Walking back through the Gardens was amazing too - beautifully lit and decorated, with the city skyline looming just behind it, I felt like a tourist on holiday.

Gonna get pics from amoi to add to these posts...

If you're going to see the games at all...

... come and see CLEAN - a friend of ours @ Urban Seed was involved in the project, Nick Low (no, he's from NZ, not azn or from COC :P)

"From 15 March- 2 April 2006, CLEAN takes the roar of the crowd, the breathless excitement of victorious athletes and the sparkling spokespersons' speeches out of their official context - and hides them amongst the bins and cobbles of one of Melbourne's best-known laneways, Hosier Lane. A cluster of hidden speakers will celebrate the stories of the homeless, embarrassing doping scandals, fierce protests and the drunken revelry of tourists alongside sound-bites, speeches and anthems."

Wow, what a show...

Being @ Urban Seed has me also acknowledging that the Commonwealth Games is not all glamour and fun - a lot of the street people are being hastled by police, and all indications are, contrary to the official line, that they aren't welcome in Melbourne during the games.

But I went down with amoi to the Yarra this evening to see some big dancing fish, and wow...

We followed the baton down the river until it got to Ron Barassi and his little walk on water, and all the way through, the amount of people the lights/sound/stuff was pretty amazing.

And when we thought we'd had enough, and decided to start walking back down a road that we thought would be quieter and away from the river, the closing fireworks happened EVERYWHERE... and it turns out we were in the best place to see them all - we were right in the middle of the Yarra, the MCG and the city, surrounded by explosions of light and sound coming from each place, with not many people around us.

Was awfully, spontaneously romantic - not a bad way to end a Wednesday night :)

cheap phones...

This arvo, audioamoi came down, and we went out to look @ prices for a mobile phone (namely, a Samsung e730) around the city. She'd gotten an initial price of *best price* of $550 (from a RRP of 649) in Springvale, but we'd found an even better price of $499 from Organiser World (one of the sites I like to frequent :P).

So we figured we'd bounce around to all these other stores, sure that an asian store must be able to do a *best price* of better... and store after store, we would keep getting that $550 was the best price :S

After all that field work, we figured we'd go down to Organiser World (near Latrobe and Elizabeth) and have a squiz - and to our amazement got a further 50 off the price, for a brand new, sealed, aus spec model, bringing it down to $449, more than 100 off the *best price* the asian stores could do, and with no surcharge for Visa...

It's just a bit bizar to me, when the place to buy the cheapest electronics isn't asian...and a bit mind boggling the difference in prices :S A two HUNDRED differential from RRP... sheesh... that ain't chicken feed...

Food for thought... and possibly for the heart

For Christian groups, the tour uses Mark's Gospel as a "map" for participants as they are taken on a tour of Collins Street Baptist Church and the surrounding city. The aim of this walk is to help participants think about the message of Mark's Gospel in a modern, urban context, and to provide an encounter with the city that provokes discussion about what it means to be a Christian in today's society.

For more information call Marcus Curnow on 9663 0699 or email marcus.curnow@urbanseed.org - or you could just call me :)

"What is church if it does not include people at the margins of our society?"

"There is a subtle, yet profound difference between these two questions. The first asks how church can be constructed for a different group of people. The second asks how a group of people, including me, can develop a sense of church."

Being Intentional

I guess the Games are here soon - I came home last night down the laneway as usual to find 10 policemen @ the backdoor :S Wonder what they thought... some little asian guy in bike gear walking down a darkened alley towards them :P

The weekend wasn't a bad one, went to birthday shing on Friday night and ended up staying the night @ the parents. Went to Life Expedition on Sunday morning (it still boggles me how people can get up for morning services...) and just did nothing in particular for arvo into today :)

The title of this post? I caught myself thinking this morning that I was doing well in keeping things under control, when it hit me that that was not the way I wanted to do things.

Had been thinking about the week ahead, with uni and Urban Seed and all, and thinking that yeah, it was all roughly there, no sweat.

But I don't want to get to the end of the year like that!! Like the parable of the servants and the talents, I don't want to be the servant that hid his talent, and just got by.

I'm lucky, to be in places where I have chances to shine and make life - in uni, I have the chance to do as well as I want to academically, with Urban Seed I have the chance to really do get into somethings that are socially impacting.

I don't want to be an ordinary colleague, student, boyfriend, brother or son. I don't want to get to 2007 and just say yeah, I got by.

:P

Guess that also means my lunch break (literally) is over... back to work...

Tuesdays are killer...

Wake up for market shop (where we get all the credo incredients for the week from the Queen Vic) @ 8am, then unload it all by which it's 10 - back up to the room to unmess it, then back down for Gathering @ 11am, lunch @ 12-1, and then we got back from the cricket (credo vs PriceWaterhouseCoopers), which was 2-3, and now off to staff prayers @ the Den (little bourke)!!

After which I have uni from 5:30-7:30, and then a planning meeting with the other resi's when I get back... I think I'm going to be sleeping really early tonight...

Signed on to leave this post, a shout out to Jo who just got back, and to an audioamoi who I saw lurking in the woods...

*running off to prayers*...

Please pray...

... for my grandma, who isn't feeling too well, and for journey mercies for my lil sis Jo, who's due back this Tuesday :)

It's always good to catch up with old friends :)

Finally made it to Elaine & Donald's birthday bash, which turned out to be not so bad :P But the highlight of the night for me, and the reason why I stuck around, was to be able catch up with some of my really good, old friends.

Although I didn't get a chance to do so with all of them, it was good nonetheless to touch base again with Wes, and give Karen an ahoy! Was good to see all of you again, and to see you all cheery and doing well :)

Pit stopping...

@ my parents place, enroute to Elaine and Donald's birthday bash :) Burning a few DVDs, and have finally found myself with some time to blog!!

Last w/end I was hoping for @ least a calm Sunday arvo, but that didn't even eventuate either, and Saturday was huge for me, in terms of physical movement. I went from the city, to Neerim South to visit the Evermore Retreat, then from Neerim South to Mordiallic for Mikey's birthday!! I'd probably spent nearly 4-5 hours just sitting on my bike... needless to say, my body ached for the next few days :( Was only on Thurs that I could go swimming again...





After Mikey's Birthday, I made an early-ish exit due to being mega tired, but decided to swing by the Flinders Street Station steps to see if any of the people from credo were there, and I ended up hanging out with a whole street crew from 10:30pm-12:30am.

Was a bit daunting, as I came to realise that although we see a big number of street people @ credo, that there were so many more out there! But it was fun at the same time, as just like any other community of people, they were there hanging out, looking after one another, and more importantly, not minding me being there :P