Current reads

These are some of my most recent purchases and reads. I've finished one of them (90 minutes in Heaven) and am currently tackling 2 books at the same time-an easy read (the first of the Narnia books) and one that requires some thinking (Perfecting Ourselves to Death).


This is the infamous book on perfection that Melissa purchased especially for me. It is only on loan but that's cool. Like I have said in previous posts, I'm really enjoying it and it's definitely a good read if you want to understand people like me!









This book was recommended to me by Kath. She found it a really easy read and written in a way that was easy to understand, too. I am yet to start it as I am still going with the book above. I don't think I'd be able to cope reading 2 books that require brain power at the same time. But it's the next to tackle on my list.







I decided to purchase the set of Narnia books after I watch The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at the movies. I actually watched it without having read the books. I'm still only on the first book, The Magician's Nephew and it's going well.









This book I saw whilst browsing thorough Koorong's online catalog and thought it might be interesting so I got it. I finished this book in 1 week. A nice easy read that gives you an insight to what heaven looks like. It's written by a guy that died in a car crash, went to heaven spent 90 minutes there and came back to life on earth. Insightful and enlightening.






So if you would like to have a read of any of these books, feel free to borrow them off me.

The 'secret'

This is for those of you who wanted to know what Ian's 'secret' was...

If you remember as far back as the post I wrote about the Gifts for Jesus service, you will remember me saying that Melissa offered Ian a spot on the worship team as a backing vocal. So, last nite Melissa dropped the big bomb shell! She asked if Ian was happy to go on the roster as vox in Feb. Ian was thrilled but he's decided to just head along to practices and then re-assess the situation/offer at the end of the month.

So yes, that was the big news. I am really excited for him. Who knew that he was so musical?!

Various thoughts, various topics

I hope you enjoyed the photos in the last post.

Anyway, down to business. It has been a long while since I last sat down and put my thoughts into writing-many reasons. So I thought it best to do some serious thinking and contemplating over the happenings of the last few weeks and the comings-up of weeks to come.

This past few weeks have been alright; the only exciting/out of the ordinary thing that happened was that Melissa and I started up our mentoring sessions again last week and a wedding. Other than that all that I have been up to is work, catching the rare movie with a friend & organizing stuff for chow. As you can imagine I was driving myself crazy with boredom on many occasions. I am definitely looking forward to heading back to uni in 3 weeks time.

I've been continuing my reading of Perfecting Ourselves to Death by Richard Winters and it's been going good. I'm only up to chp 7 as I've been very good with following my strict instructions of only ONE chapter a week. The further along I go in the book, the more enlightened I feel. I never knew that all the mad stuff I do and the crazy way I function had an explanation that could be put into words so that people could understand why I am the way I am. As promised, I would give you the low down as I went so here is the next installment...

He has 5 categories for perfectionists types:

• Performance perfectionists: Their motto is"I achieve, therefore I am"
• Appearance perfectionists: Their motto is "I am how I look"
• Interpersonal perfectionists: Have set ideas about how things should be done
• Moral perfectionists: Their motto is " I behave perfectly therefore I am"
• All-around perfectionists: Their motto is "I am in control therefore I am"

Funnily enough, I fall into the last category. Here's a little blurb about all-around perfectionists......"All-around perfectionists are concerned with high standards and excellence in every area of life. Performance, appearance and morality are all extremely important. The all-around perfectionist merges into what we call the obsessive personality where there is great concern about order, organization, rules and lists, and great attention to detail". It blew my mind away when I read that coz he summed me up extremely well.

Then he goes on to talk about obsessive compulsive disorders and obsessive compulsive personality. This was another part that I found really helpful. He explained the difference between OCD and obsessive compulsive personality, which is that people with OCD "do not want or like the symptoms", whereas the person with obsessive compulsive personality "does not wish to be rid of their tendencies and, in fact, thinks that they are healthy and should be emulated by others". After reading that, I have now come to realize that I have an obsessive compulsive personality. I think ALL of you would probably agree with me on that one!

Sarah and Rhett got married two Saturdays ago and it was beautiful. I had a great time and that wedding was special to me-it was the first wedding of MY friends. Before this I had been to weddings before but they didn't really mean much to me. I just got tagged along with relatives and didn't really know the bride or groom that well. This was different; it was Sarah & Rhett's. It has been a great 7 months being their friends and I'm looking forward to more fun-filled times.

We started a new series on Jan 15 called Re:ve-lation. We are exploring Jesus-who he was/is, was/is he who we are expecting? It's been hard to get my mind and keep it on the message at times coz it's just so full on. But the bits that I have been getting out of it have been good and challenging. Will fill you in when I get my head around it all.

A couple of Thursdays ago, Melissa invited me over for dinner. I was really excited and it was so worth the wait as I slogged it out at work during the day. For entree we had silverbeet, red onion and goats cheese puff pastry parcels on a bed of mesclun. For mains it was an amazing plate of roasted capsicum, courgette & aubergine served with a lamb tagine & yoghurt rice with almonds & coriander folded through. It was absolutely divine.......but fellowship was great too. Jake, Melissa & I ate and drank (great wine) all nite. I made a grapefruit curd tart for dessert. Coz there was alcohol in the mix, I crashed at their place. All in all, a FANTABULOUS nite! Thanx for cooking Melissa & thanx to both of you for the hospitality.

Next week holds a rather busy week for me. I have my saxophone lesson on Monday and then it's Mel & Ty's wedding in Hamilton on Saturday. Looking forward to that-it'll be the second of 4 weddings this year! Someone has taken the week off at work so they needed extra help therefore I am working 4 days instead of my usual 3 days. I managed to get the 'easy' shifts so it shouldn't be too bad (at least I won't be bored!).

On Feb 7, I will be checking out the girls that I might potential coach at the new gym club I am hoping to start out at. They are competitive kids between the ages of 6-9 yrs old. I was ecstatic when I heard that coz that is exactly what I've been wanting to coach for a long time. Hopefully it'll work out-the girls & me but also in terms of uni timetable.

Cell group will probably start back during the first week of Feb. I'm looking forward to that but days and times are all up in the air thanx to me with potential gym coaching and/or uni timetable. We'll see what happens.

So...only a few weeks to go before I get back into a routine. However, before that happens there is much that needs to be done so for now I bid you Adieu

Photos

I apologise for the lack of posts lately. I haven't been in the mood for writing lengthy posts but as promised, here are some photos for those in Melb & NZ. I tried to get more photos from Melb put on but they didn't seem to want to co-oporate so this will have to do for now...Enjoy



A nite out at Portofino's with the girls. From left to right: Megan, Sarah, me, Lyndsay, Lizzie & Juanita.







Last nite with the Gerten's, Ryan & Angele. They are very muchly missed by all at cession.












Ian & Aaron doing their 'thang' during the Gifts for Jesus service! They were great...amazing talent.








The meditation space.











My roomate from PLC: Katherine Vayne! I miss her heaps-we share so many memories, both great and not so great. She's grown into such a beautiful person that each time we catch up I just feel so blessed that she is part of my life! We have been through so much together that even if we tried we wouldn't be able to get rid of each other...Sorry Kath. :)






Kath & Alice Woolven (aka Woolie). Another great friend. These are the only 2 friends from PLC that I have kept in touch with! True friends....









The river of Peace Swans from the Advent Series.













A new mate! Rachel & me after service one Sunday nite. It's been great getting to know her...I'm looking forward to another great year of friendship.









Sarah my acountability partner! She's been a great mate and a real blessing to have in my life. She just got married to Rhett-great match! She's really helped me in learning to trust people more and just a fantastic person to be around. Luv ya, beautiful!







Me on the worship team. Another ministry I'm involved in-it's been great to be back singing on the team! Steve on drums, Greg on bass, Pete on electric guitar, Ryan worship leading and on acoustic guitar and Jacob & me on vox.








Sarah & me singing our song, Hope, during the Gifts for Jesus service. It's not the best photo but that's all I have and it's actually the camera's fault this time round...

Ushering in 2006

I hope that everyone had as great a time ushering in the new year as I did....

I had a rather easy week at work last week due to post X'mas and pre New Year celebrations which was really nice. At bout 10am on New Year's eve, I received an invite to the Powell/Ritchie collective for celebrations. I was stoked when I got the invite however, it did come with some added stress. I had to go get stuff for the bbq and get cleaned up before heading over. This all had to be done in the span of an hour and a half....It was all worth it though.

So we had a bbq with mostly friends from cession and a few of Melva's work mates. Then later in the evening we headed to Devonport and up Mt. Victoria with some bubbly to catch the fireworks as we welcomed in 2006. It was spectacular! What made it more special was the drive with the Powell's. They tagged along with me for the drive to and fro Devonport and I managed to get to know them even more! I was a little worse for wear by the time I got home, at 2am the next day, but I had such a good time that I was quite happy to be tired...

Anyway, so it was worship at 10am the next morning and then a Desperate Housewives party with Juanita at the Jones'. Nice relaxing nite in front of the tv...Then it was up early for work this morning. Oh well...the fun had to stop sometime.

The rest of the week will be filled with work, writing some music (my new summer project) and just hanging.

I really don't know how the music writing will pan out but we'll see. I'll keep you up to date on it.

P/S: To my Melb mates... The film has gone to the photo shop and I promise to put up some photos on the next post.