Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Random thoughts

There's been quite a few things running round in my head so this post will be a mixture of everything and anything-basically nothing in particular...So here goes:

Champagne tasting a week or so ago was great fun! I had such a great time tasting some real expensive grog. Champagne is on Champagne if it is made in the region of Champagne. Everything else is called Sparkling Wine. So for $20 we tasted 4 Champagnes and 3 Sparklings accompanied with some real yummy food. It was the best spent $20! Apart from a very well spent $20, I had a great time with Melissa, Jacob and Becs. I haven't had a chance to get to know her so that was a nice nite to start. So anyone thinking of being very nice to me, you are very welcome to buy me a bottle of Taittinger or Laurent Perrier Ultra Brut anytime!

Melissa and I had our last meeting for the year yesterday and it was productive. We started talking through the 2 chapters that I've read of Richard Winter's Perfecting Ourselves to Death: The Pursuit of Excellence and Perils of Perfectionism. As promised, here's the low down on what I have (been allowed to) read. From what I've read so far it's been rather insightful. He classifies people into 3 categories: the Non-perfectionists, Normal Healthy Perfectionists & Neurotic Unhealthy Perfectionists. And I think we all know which category I fall into! Anyway, what I really like is that he's been able to put into words the different characteristics-likes and dislikes, common behaviours, types of responses to situations etc for each category. Very uplifting. The most interesting thing so far was the study they did on some 6th graders. They classified them into the different categories and the outstanding factor that put kids in the Neurotic Unhealthy Perfectionists category was the presences of parental expectation and criticism. My instant thought was, "And I thought I was the only one!". So, it's been a real good read so far and I can't wait to keep going. Unfortunately, I am under strict orders to read ONLY one chapter a week.

On Sunday nite we continued with our Advent series and Brett spoke on Peace. What struck a chord with me was when he said, "To be able to have peace with others is to make peace with yourself first.". However, the questions that popped into my head were what is this thing we call peace? What does peace feel like and how do you know when you've attained peace? Anyone who has answers...fell free to comment. I would really appreciate it.

My sax lessons with the tutor I started with are officially over. He's stuffed me around after our first lesson and I've had enough. I gave him enough opportunities to redeem himself but he didn't. Therefore, I'll be asking my money back from him and looking for another tutor. Sucks but that's life, huh?!

I'm officially on the roster at Celsius. I did a shift during the day today and it was good. A nice slow lunch service. Looking forward to replenishing my back account! It's so empty it's not even funny.

Last nite Sarah and I finally managed to get together, amidst our busy-ness, to finish our gift for the Gift for Jesus service coming up this Sunday. No...I'm still not telling what we are doing until after Sunday. At this point in time I'm really liking what we've done, I just hope that I don't stuff it up! We'll see...

We finally sent the Gerten's off on Monday. It was sad to see them go but it's ok. It just means that there's more of an excuse for me to head to USA for a visit. Makes the trip more worthwhile when there are a few more people to visit-I have other friends there too. I'm looking forward to when they update their blog so that we can see what they're up to. *hint hint*

I received 2 amazingly thoughtful packages over the past week. They were both from Melbourne and both from friends at my old gym, BUGS-one from Wendy and one from Binni. They both contained World Championship merchandise. The best thing of all was the album that Binni put together! She got a whole heap of newspaper articles of the Worlds and compiled them into an album. I couldn't believe my eyes when it came! It really made my week and not going to Melbourne a bit easier to take. They were such thoughtful gifts and I really appreciate them. Thanx SO much!

I'm off to watch Narnia with Jenna now so I'd best be off.

3 comments:

Sarah said...

Hey girl,
I don't have answers to your 'peace' questions. In fact I have more questions! Although I think there is a difference to that peace you have when you're relaxed and not stressed, and the peace that's so far deep inside that it still exists even when everything is going crap. Just remember it's there!

Anonymous said...

peace is when everything around u is normal - chaotic, busy, stressfull, load, happy, challenging - and u sit for a moment, the whole world seems to stop and u think 'thanks god... everything is just right'. peace is when no matter what is going on around, u have a inner sense of calm and coping and things just seem to rebound and not affect u deeply. peace is what allows us to absorb criticism and hurtful comments with out taking it to heart - its that little bubble of mellow.

Anonymous said...

Hey Jean
Just a comment about the being at peace with yourself before you can be at peace with others: the bible says that the reason we're not at peace with others (ie. we have stuffed up relationships) is because we're not at peace with God (ie. because we're sinners). The only thing thats going to bring peace with others is firstly getting it right with God, which we can do through Jesus' death and resurrection. Because we can be at peace with God through Jesus, we can also experience peace in our relationships with others as we work on obeying God's commandment to love one another.
Not saying we will always be at peace with each other, because we live in a sinful world, but I am saying that the key to peace with others is peace with God, which is not just a nice feeling but a reality through Jesus.