Good News of the Week

I'm studying issues of poverty, foreign aid, global disaster, and development this semester. They're things that I'm absolutely interested in. Unfortunately, university is the great optimism killer. It's hard to sit in classes where the discussion seems mostly about the inevitability of a million more devastating influenzas or the doomed status of any projects of development and aid, or where projects that I've been involved in, like Make Poverty History, get shot to pieces. It's definitely made me wonder how much I've thought about the negatives of those sorts of movements, or in what ways my involvement in them or things like Africa Aid might have been more harmful than good...important reflective thinking, but too much of it can just kill you. I think it's important to maintain some sense of idealism or, at least, optimism - even if for the sake of your own sanity. I refuse to believe that there is no hope for the Third World (or however you wish to classify the poor), or that there is nothing good about the Western world I live in.

So. Here's a little bit of good news. Cadbury's going global on Fairtrade chocolates. While I, admittedly, still have much to learn about Fairtrade and it's possible pitfalls, I still think that this is a positive move that will hopefully benefit some small group of people in need of more work and sale opportunities.

Bite me uni.

Hungry, Hungry, Hungary?*

A little video action whilst I think of something worthwhile writing. Things are pretty slow at the moment, just uni-ing big time. Did just ace an exam and get full marks on an essay, so turns out doing the readings actually helps. Whatever.

Heard this song the other day, has been in my head for a little while. Check out their myspace when you're done.


* I played Hungry, Hungry Hippos the other day. It was amazing. My buddy Homer the Hippo and I had our fair share of plastic hippo food. I like to imagine that the game is a correct representation of what feeding time at the hippo enclosure looks like.

Tap-Ups Allowed

Aside from a few things, this week has been mostly poo. I'm currently stuck in the basement at uni writing an essay. Actually, a more accurate depiction of my location is: I'm currently on struggle street looking at some words I wrote. Struggle street does not have nice architecture.

One little thing that did make me smile though was when I walked through the busy square outside the campus centre, and amidst the one million students going to and from class, were six kids playing downball/four-square/what-have-you. Well, four playing, two waiting for someone to go out*.

I thought that was so cool. I don't even know why there were kids at uni. They were just there playing some four-square and everybody was making sure they walked around them. People in uni might not play the game anymore, but they sure as hell know that you'd have to be a major jerk to disrupt it. Respect the game.

..Can you get a degree in downball? Computer says, "GET BACK TO WORK."

* As long as that person wasn't king. Then you get, "STOP GETTING KING OUTTTTtttttttttttttt!**"

** With that sort of whiny, trailing off ending. You know the one.

When Blogs Stand Still

Things are moving very slowly in blog land. I feel like writing, but it's quite possibly just for the sake of keeping the words, "I have a blog," or "I blog," true.

Some thoughts:

First, let's begin with the most important philosophical one. What is the correct spelling of the sound someone makes when they blow a raspberry? Additionally, why the hell is it called a raspberry? I don't call it that, but when I was trying to explain it to someone ages ago, they told me that's what it's called. Back to the matter at hand... I'm going to go with "Pllllrrrrr".

It's funny/interesting/lame how if I write a blog that I've put some effort and thought into, it receives little/no comments. Yet the ones I write in a minute based on passing moments of amusement can get up to 30. Granted, half of those are me responding. Even so, I think it's to do with the length of the things maybe. Or that response to a half-serious blog requires a half-serious effort to think. That's what makes me slack in sharing my thoughts on other people's serious blogs.

How come the natural disposition of lots of students at uni is to be isolated in a class, until someone talks to them, in which case they become friendly? Imagine if you were friendly, and then when talked to, you turned cold.

Speaking of cold, the common room I am sitting in is freezing. It's underground and has no heating, or at least, none that is apparent at the moment. They also took my suggestion off the suggestion wall. It was "Monash should grant us all superpowers for being so great. I shotgun turning into animals." Surely that is better than, "I stayed back on the last day of term to wash all the dishes. I will consider your thanks with cash, cheque or money transfer. Regards, Tom." I'm sure Tom was highly reimbursed. ANYWAY. The moral of this story is my common room is cold. I took a photo of my surroundings, just so you get a feel of what I'm dealing with. I know... it doesn't look that bad. Trust me though... it's colder than a Saharan summer.../anything else that isn't cold.

Dean Scholar's Room, Monash University

Resolution

So it's a new year. As always, I've found myself wondering whether or not I am going to have a resolution, and if so, I refuse to have a crappy, stupid, material one. This means that if I do actually get one, it'll either be a good genuine one, which I might not even write up here, or it'll be a token 'good-natured' one. Most likely.

I might do some thinking out loud here, to deliberate over this most exhilarating of topics. (I've actually been in a massive blog avoidance/slump/rut lately. Many many many saved drafts all half written and then walked away from, usually in the hunt for Crunchy Nut Cornflakes.) To start, let's have a recap of how the years has been for me.

• Started uni. Passed uni. Win. I really enjoyed the new challenge of uni and actually doing some work, sometimes. Usually two nights before it was due, meaning I'm making very small improvements. Added to that, the best part was the people, which is generally the case with everything I do. I've made some really good friends and it's been fun having social interaction away from the usuals who generally occupy most of my social interaction. Nothing against them. I just need some space sometimes. Also, uni means I have had a lot of Cold Rock. Yesssss. I can only look forward to more of the same next year. And maybe choosing another flavour at Cold Rock to have for once. And maybe stop using these incomplete, run-on sentenc...
• Driving... HA. As if. 32 hours...ladies. Hopefully license sometime next year. Although, I did tell Mum today that it only expires in 2016. Which means, 12 hours a year to make that 120. Therefore...I'm ahead of schedule.
• The Garage. 2007 saw me leaving leading at Club Sunday, and stealing all of the boys (nothing. suss.) for the Garage. Along with MW and JC, and with the late addition of JV, I led the Garage this year. I really struggled with it in the beginning, as we went through the paces of building relationships and trust with the boys, and they went from acting up to actually believing that we were doing something cool. However, by end of year, I was loving it. Having different chats with the boys and having them so much more excited about being there and talking to us outside the Garage was really encouraging for me. From time to time, I had struggles with the leaders as well, but that's expected from any ministry or job or anything really. Next year MW/G.I. Joe leaves us and it will be interesting filling his gap. I hope the Garage only gets better, as we build further on all the progress made this year.
• Another year with K . That officially makes it 2 years, 4 months, 13 days. Let's go for another 2413. Decades.
• Friends. New ones. Some really good new ones. Breakdowns of some, with op for re-building obviously. Requires a mutual effort to fix those ones. I feel bad for not trying enough with my school mates, since I let distance and a general stereotype of what would happen be my reason for not going. I want to do better there.
• Youth internship. Loved working in the office and around the church with SA last year. Challenge for next year is to make sure I do more work pretty much.
• Faith. I'm not sure what happened with my faith last year. I think it wasn't as drastic a change as the year before, but that's because that year was the first year I ever actually bothered trying. Of course I slipped off at times then, and did again in 2007, but this year I would really like to schedule myself or try to be really intentional in not just being involved in ministries, but finding time for my own exploration, reflection and questioning. I am looking forward to a new small group, whether with new people or the same or a mix. I also think that being part of the new Veta group, and while helping them, also studying everything that they study, will be really good. It'll be interesting how it goes with my little brother in that group.
• Work. None really, apart from the delivery route (forever finished), two plumbing jobs, and a brief stint as an integration aide, which will hopefully continue next year. I also have another job lined up, which I will write about soon.
• Sport. Hardly any. The working out challenge I've been doing all year. (I might publish those pictures later. Maybe.) Apart from that, nothing, and that sucks. I need to get into a sport. Definitely a resolution for this year.
• Health. I've struggled with my skin of late, and I'm writing a blog about this that will be posted soon. I hopefully will have less problems this year, because I've started trying to eat healthier and look after my body more.
• Africa Aid. I am absolutely stoked with the way Africa Aid's gone this year, in how far we've come (granted, only four of us) together. We've made major steps towards rebuilding Africa Aid as a functioning and efficient group outside school. We still need to work on our school team, but that's already underway. We face a big challenge this year in not only raising the $30,000 but letting people know where we've been for a year, and getting the whole team working without constants instructions etc. I'm excited/scared about this one.

That's about it, I don't think I'll try to resolve anything really. It's too hard to predict how a year will go. These are just the things from last year and what challenges I face in continuing/stopping them. The exciting things that you can't predict will come later, and I'll (hopefully) blog about them. Happy New Year, I hope yours is a safe, awesome one too, and that any resolutions/challenges you set for yourself are met well.

PS. Minor resolution: Blog more? Ha.