They drowned the streets, but not our spirits!

Got back from Easterfest late Monday. We managed to make the journey from Toowoomba to home in a day, which was good. You may (or may not) have seen the short bit on the news about it being flooded out on the Saturday night. Thankfully, I didn't get caught in too much of that. We were actually having dinner at the time, and then the rain started coming down really hard, just pelting down. And we didn't realise how bad it actually was until after we'd gone back to the hotel, and some friends (who had stayed there) turned up, absolutely soaked. And they told us about how the water was knee deep in some places, some of the roads were blocked off, so we got a pretty good idea. Then another guy, who had stayed to watch Switchfoot (who had continued to play through this) also turned up completely drenched; apparently the whole area where that concert was was also knee-deep, but heaps had stayed.
The next morning, we also saw that one of the tent's peaks had a massive tear in it - there was almost nothing left of it. And saw the news on the TV. Was pretty interesting, really. So that's how the title basically ties in.

As another point, I got to have a little 5 minute spot in a talent competition there! You had to put entries in beforehand, and I managed to get the second last one. So I played one of my songs for a crowd of a few hundred. Unfortunately, though, the keyboard wouldn't fit in the car - so we had to borrow one from a friend of my Dad's, which wasn't as long/good as mine, and I had to stand up to use it, which I'm not used to. So I made a fair few mistakes. However, it got a pretty darn good reception. the only reason that I didn't get through to the next round was because one of the other acts had a rent-a-crowd handy. That's cool, certainly didn't expect even the reaction I got. But I guess that's one of the things that I love about comedy - if it's done well, it can easily appeal to so many different people. And make them laugh. That's always good.

Fulfilled, not forsaken.

As was mentioned in my previous post, this is pre-written. A lot of it is also from a sort of blog that I previously did awhile ago - didn't have it public or anything, just sort of as a way of expressing myself. So you could say that this has been pre-pre-written.


Easter is a great time. Yes, there's the chocolate. (Though I don't care that much about the chocolate. Shock horror. Unless it's like white chocolate or got caramel in it or something. Oh, and how did we get the idea that eggs came from a bunny?) But then there's Jesus dying on the cross for us. And there's one thing that I've noticed many people don't seem to get about that. (That is, putting aside if you don't get why he wouldn't chicken out.) One of his last phrases on the cross is 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabacthani.' 'My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?' Perhaps a bit sad that I know it in the original Greek/Hebrew/Latin/ whateverthatis, but that's what he says.
And many people take this to mean that Jesus was separated from God at that point; that God had just left him there to die. But what some people don't know is that it's actually the first verse of a psalm. A psalm prophesying Jesus' death, as it were. Psalm 22. It says stuff like 'They have pierced my hands and my feet', 'I can count all my bones', 'They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for it', 'All who see me mock me', that sort of thing. Which, for those who are familiar with that particular section of the Bible, lines up with many of the facts of Jesus' death. So Jesus was actually saying that the prophecy had come true in him - that he was its fulfilment.
Though, of course, it's quite possible that I'm wrong. But that's just my little idea. Well, not just mine, but that's the idea I'm presenting.


As an aside, if you ever want to take a look at the original blog (not sure quite how good an idea this is, but oh well), I'll put the link up on another tab for those people. Warning: possibly weirder than this blog, as I didn't have anyone actually looking at it.

Let Thy Will Be Done.

Easter is coming up. Easter Friday is tomorrow. (Or at least it will be when you're reading this.) So I thought I'd look at something that was about the same time from the Bible - Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. For those of you not too much familiar with the Bible, basically, Gethsemane was where Jesus and his disciples went before Jesus was arrested to be tried and executed.

One thing that someone I remember found of particular interest was the way that Jesus prayed as it was told in John. It says that he 'looked toward heaven and prayed.' Usually, when we pray, we bow our heads, but Jesus looked up towards heaven. (Though I suppose it does not specify up; that's just an assumption I've made. It could well have been anywhere. Or maybe he looked on a different dimensional level, I don't know.) And I find this very interesting as well. Because when we bow our heads, it's like we are contemplating something, thinking within ourselves. And there is the Holy Spirit inside us, so it could be said that that's what we look to when we pray. But if, like Jesus, we look up, then it becomes a conversation with our God in heaven; it looks so much more open. It's not so much about what we do; it's more just about the mindset, the attitude that I'm thinking of. When we pray, are we praying about our own ideas? Our own priorities and goals? Or God's?

When I think about this, I always remember the words that Jesus finished that particular prayer with (though I believe this wasn't in John's gospel) 'your will, not mine.' And that's the mindset that we need to have, I think. That's what's important.

Internal Inconsistencies.

We communicate with each other in many different ways. There's the main one, which is talking. Then there's various signals we can use, if we can't hear/see each other. Writing, if we're a long distance away. But then there's some more unconscious ones; facial expressions, body language - these are very much a form of communication too, and often ones that are used more regularly. Sitting in a different way might mean that you're uncomfortable with the company; a quick downturn of the mouth may mean that you disagree with what people are saying. We have many different methods of getting our message across.

But very often, these messages can be very mixed, confused. We get internal inconsistencies. I look at you, and you look sick, but when I ask you, you say that you're fine. You're telling me one thing, but you're body language is telling me something different. And that can be very distressing to a person, sometimes - they think a person's not doing to well because of how they acted, but they said they were fine. Which is right? What should they do? It can leave a person in a very difficult position.

Of course, furthering the problem is the case that sometimes the person in whom the internal inconsistencies reside is blissfully unaware. They actually think they're fine. And so then it becomes a problem of sorting these instances out from the others, as well as the previous problem of deciding which communication to believe. I think the important thing here is honesty. If a person asks if you're OK, that means they're probably worried about you. Chances are, just saying "Oh, I'm fine," probably won't relieve it that much; even if that is the truth, something a bit more in-depth could quite well save them a lot of worry.

As an aside, I'll be going away to Easterfest (which is this music thing up in Toowoomba), so I'll be away from Wednesday to next Monday. Hence, my next two posts I'll be doing ahead of schedule, and automating them to be posted on those days. And, being Easter, I think they'll be themed appropriately. Though, being me, of course, it's always going to be slightly different.

Fulfillment.

Today, I handed in two assignments, and presented another. For many people, I noticed, these assignments were very stressing. And most of them didn't have the presentation this week as well. Me, I'm a bit different. I don't get stressed. I can get worried, anxious, nervous, annoyed, but I seriously never get stressed. It's actually very annoying. Because I don't have a lot of motivation to start assignments, work, etc, because I don't really get stressed about them. So I end up doing them quite late. With varying levels of success. In this case, with relative ease. I think about a day's worth of work on each of them. Ish. Other times I've done better/worse. But each time, I've never done badly enough to scare me into actually waking up and getting myself into shape, and starting things slighty earlier. Oh well. But that's not what I wanted to talk about, so I'll get to that.

I had an unplanned late return from uni today. This was because I was helping out a few people who had left it a bit later than me. Or just took a bit longer to do this sort of thing. And some people probably wouldn't get why on earth I was helping them out. Chances are, I won't get anything for it. I certainly wasn't being paid; it definitely wasn't expected from me; I wasn't really even asked to help, I volunteered. Some of you probably think I'm crazy by now. (If you didn't already think that, that is.) But I actually like helping out, funnily enough. With some things more than others, for sure. For example, I'd probably be significantly less happy about it if my Mum asked me to lend a hand with the washing up or something. But writing I like, and I have a bit of a knack for. Good at proofreading, that sort of thing. Probably need to do that on my own work a bit more often :p But yeah, that's something I really enjoy doing, being able to express myself through that. I actually used to do a fair bit of writing, at one point. Hardly ever finished anything, though. So I've got a dozen stories or so that never got past a couple of pages. Of course, I have a similar knack with composition, which is why I do what I do. And being able to help out a friend is always a good thing, I think. I just get a real sense of fulfillment from it. It's good. :)

As an aside, I've updated the 'My Music' tab a bit, so it's slightly more current. I also have a 'Randomified' tab that's being added to every now and then, because I didn't think this blog was quite random enough. Oh, and if you see a quote of yours up there and you don't want it there, just let me know and I can move it, no problems. :)

Opportunities

I've noticed that a lot of people, and a lot of programs, are spent around trying to make sure you've got enough options. And this is fair enough in itself, you know, particularly if there's something specific that you're aiming for - I mean, if you're trying to get into this particular course, then you want to do everything you can to make sure that you're able to get in.

But I suppose I've always found this interesting because of something else that I've noticed - though I'm sure that this isn't always the case, of course - but there really seems to be a plentitude of options, a million and one things that you can choose from. So I've never really found lack of options to be a problem. No, I've usually found that what seems to be lacking are the opportunities.

Opportunity seems to be something that doesn't come up very often. Or at least, some sort of decent opportunity. One example that I remember is this newsletter I get from another musician - it includes all the gigs that he's running/involved with, and there's just pages of them, just going over the next few weeks. But the ones that I can actually get to, for various reasons, are few and far between.

So the idea, is, I guess, that if you somehow manage to get a good opportunity, don't pass it up. You may not get another one. Unless you have a really, super excellent good reason.

Also, as an extra point, I think I may be starting to do a post also on either Thursday or Friday. Just because there's often a lot of different ideas I want to get down, but they don't always coalesce easily into one blog post. So this will become a two-post-a-week blog, either starting from this week or next week.

It's possible...

You're probably familiar with the Coke Zero ad with the same tagline. This post, thankfully, is not about that ad.

It is however, following on with a similar base idea: that, just because some people think that something is impossible, doesn't mean that's the case. That, however, is only half the story, unfortunately. Such is the nature of the world.

Because the full line goes like this: 'It's possible with some work.' As many of you know, I'm probably the worst example of this. I can and have been extremely lazy, and am on the extreme side of reactive, rather than proactive. It doesn't work out too well. But I know that just like anything else, I can change. I just need to put in a little bit of work. Of course, I won't be able to do it by myself, I know that; I'm continually asking the big man for a hand or seven. But tat doesn't mean I just lay back and let God do all the work. Because that's not how he works. That's not how it is.

And so, I suppose the simple message here is this: if you're striving for something, and you really yearn for it, don't give up. Because you never know when it's the next push that'll break that wall. Sometimes you may need to come in at a different angle, sometimes you need to get some heavy machinery. Sometimes you need to knock. There's always a way through.