Having a scrap!

When I was on placement in Launceston, Lilydale and Queenstown during summer, I took lots of photos. I was also introduced to the art of scrap-booking, and bought an album and various bits and pieces at a Creative Memories party that was held at the house where I was staying (at times it seemed my whole placement was about partyplan... but that's another story!)

Today (yes folks, it only took 7 months!) I got together with a couple of friends (one of whom has been an avid scrap-booker for a number of years); each of us had photos we wanted to put into albums, and so we set to work scrapping. It was a very pleasant day (with mandatory breaks for coffee and lunch) and the time flew by (we started at 9am, and it was 3pm when I left).

At the end of the day's scrapping, I had made a good start on a pictorial record of my field ed placement, which I hope to be able to finish off sometime soon (but will probably need to get more pages for my album to fit in all the pictures, and complete the album properly).

I suspect this won't be the last album I do in this way.. it was fun, (and I have a whole box of stray photos in my study cupboard, so it might be good to get some of them into albums too).

I think I'm channelling the Beatles

Today is a crisp, sunny winter's day in Melbourne.

After the rather dreary, grey and slightly moist days we have had for most of this week, it is kind of refreshing and invigorating to see the sun shining...

So as I sit at my desk, looking out the window, the words of the Beatles' song Dear Prudence have been running through my head:

Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play
Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It's beautiful and so are you
Dear Prudence won't you come out to play
(full lyrics can be found here)

Kind of makes me want to go out and play in the sunshine... so I think I will!
(of course, after putting on a load of washing, which may well just get dry today! :-)

Something light and fluffy to take us into the weekend

This picture came in an email today from a friend in Hobart.

It just tickled my funny bone, so I thought I would share it. Enjoy! :-)

Will we lose heart?

The recent, tragic shooting in Melbourne has made me think...

In our society people already seem to be fairly reluctant to get involved with anything that might be a bit risky. How often do we hear of someone in need of assistance who is just ignored? Someone being assaulted on a street, calling for help, and people peering out from behind the safety of their curtained windows, but not doing anything to assist - often not even calling the police, because there is this interesting phenomenon I heard about in a social psychology class (it seems like decades ago now!), like a perverse group mentality where everyone assumes that someone else has already called for assistance (Douglas Adams would have called it a classic case of SEP- Someone Else's Problem).

For a Melbourne lawyer and Dutch backpacker who didn't think the assault of a woman in broad daylight on Monday morning was Someone Else's Problem, things didn't work out well for them. Were they heroes? Or did they just do what any 'decent' person would have done? I wonder what I would have done if I were there at the time; and can't honestly say I know what I'd do. It's interesting that there seemed to be lots of people who witnessed the shooting (and so presumably also witnessed the man assaulting the girl before he pulled the gun) and yet, it seems that only these two guys actually tried to help. Maybe there are other people, who like me, weren't really sure of what they should do. (Does that make us cowards?)

So does this mean that people will now be even less likely to help a fellow human being in need? I really hope not... but sometimes it's hard not to lose heart. At times like this, I can really relate to the Psalms of lament:

O Lord, God of my salvation,
when, at night, I cry out in your presence,
let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry.

For my soul is full of troubles,
and my life draws near to Sheol.
I am counted among those who go down to the Pit;
I am like those who have no help,
like those forsaken among the dead,
like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
for they are cut off from your hand.
You have put me in the depths of the Pit,
in the regions dark and deep.
Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves.

Psalm 88:1-5

Gotta love it...

... when people pay you to do something that you love.

Today I noticed that my bank balance seemed higher than I thought it should be, so thinking it was something mundane like a deposit from the real estate agent for rent on my Hobart flat (which I would need to transfer into my mortgage account), I had a closer look at my account details.

Woo-hoo- it was a deposit from Queen's College for my first semester choir honorarium.

I still think it feels a bit weird to be paid for being part of a congregation that worships God (which is effectively what the choir does), but hopefully I'll get over that before I finish my training to be a minister (where that is exactly what I'll be paid to do!)

Whilst the choir honorarium is not a huge amount (and certainly a pittance by professional standards, so it's a good thing I'm not a professional singer... for all kinds of reasons! :-), all things are relative, and as a student, this little extra bit of 'pocket money' has come at a very opportune time - to cover the cost of the books and other bits and pieces I bought during Wisdom's Feast. (and unlike income I receive from preaching and leading worship services, I have no qualms about spending this income on myself! :-)

After hearing Jana Childers speak about embodied preaching, I am very keen to get into one of her books I bought, Performing the Word: Preaching as Theatre (even signed by the author! :-).

Ahh... about to enter a brief period when I will have time to read for pleasure! :-)

Amazing Grace!

Tonight I saw the film Amazing Grace, the biopic story of William Wilberforce and his fight to introduce the bill abolishing slavery in England.

This was as part of the program for Wisdom's Feast, and we were told that we were the first paying audience in Australia to see the film, as it won't be released in Australia officially for another fortnight (originally scheduled for earlier, but apparently delayed).

It was a great film... I cried (of course) and drooled (well, Ioan Gruffudd was in it!), but it was a very uplifting story about how perseverance for what's right, even in the face of long-term opposition, will eventually bear fruit.

The organisers of Wisdom's Feast booked out one of the cinemas at the Nova in Carlton, (and the house was pretty full) and we were helped in our theological reflection on the film by Richard Lennard SJ, who is the director of the Catholic Film office (I think that's right) and lectures in cinema and theology for the UFT. The evening was capped off by John Bell leading us all in a rousing rendition of the hymn, Amazing Grace.

A good night was had by all! :-)

Wisdom has built her house...

We are currently in the middle of Wisdom's Feast, the official opening of the CTM (the facility where I study) The celebrations commenced on Friday night with a time of worship titled Bless this House.

More info, and videos, podcasts and transcripts of speakers' lectures can be found on the Wisdom's Feast website, and below is the press release describing the opening worship of Wisdom's Feast:

Friday night's launch of the new Centre for Theology and Ministry (CTM) brings to life a vision of the CTM Board to network learning across Victoria and Tasmania.

A three-phase Processional Blessing marked the opening of the centre in Melbourne, with over 200 people joining in the celebrations.

‘You make the path by walking it’ was the message espoused at the beginning of the processional blessing.

During the blessing, three groups were led separately in a prayer walk. The groups were led to three nominated spaces, each embodying the wisdom, hospitality and worship of the work of the Centre.

In the first space, worshippers were asked to dip their finger in a water bowl and trace a symbol or blessing on any part of the room.

The second group were led to the chapel. There they were asked to pray in three different ways, in three different directions, using three different gestures. The first gesture was a movement of confession, the second was a movement into intercession, and the third was a movement of thanksgiving.

The third space represented the hospitality of the CTM. Bread, a gift from a Syrian Orthodox congregation in suburban Melbourne was placed on the table for all. Worshipppers were encouraged to break the bread and share it with their neighbour.

Many noted the unique nature of the opening, which featured traditional drumming, chanting and singing by worshippers, and lengths of green, red and yellow ribbons.

The end of the processional blessing was marked by a weaving ceremony. The weaving of the ribbons symbolised the different strands of the people involved in CTM.

In closing, Uniting Church moderator, the Rev Jason Kioa declared that the CTM will allow for the weaving of wisdom, the weaving of hospitality, and the weaving of worship.

Let us bless this house…

Because it doesn't pay to take oneself too seriously

... and I am glad to have a friend like Louise who can find all these quiz thingies so I can steal them from her blog! :-)

What kind of wine am I?

You Are Merlot

Smooth, confident, and popular - you're the type most likely to order wine for the whole group. You seem to breeze through life on your intuition and wit. And no one seems to mind! You're comfortable in any social situation you find yourself in, and you never feel outclassed. And while you live a charmed life, you never let it go to your head. You are truly down to earth and a great friend. Deep down you are: Balanced and mature Your partying style: Surprisingly wild... when you let loose, you really let loose Your company is enjoyed best with: Some greasy pizza

What Kind of Wine Are You?

Which Theologian am I?

Thanks to Louise (I think :-) for having this quiz on her blog... just had to do it (as you do :-)
(unfortunately, for some reason the code wouldn't work properly, so I had to do some manual cut and pasting)


You scored as Anselm, Anselm is the
outstanding theologian of the medieval
period.He sees humankind's primary problem
as having failed to render unto God what we
owe him, so God becomes man in Christ and
gives God what he is due. You should read
'Cur Deus Homo?'

Anselm 60%
Jürgen Moltmann 60%
Friedrich Schleiermacher 53%
Martin Luther 53%
Karl Barth 53%
John Calvin 47%
Charles Finney 27%
Paul Tillich 27%
Augustine 27%
Jonathan Edwards 20%

Which theologian are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

So simple, yet so GOOD!

This morning, in an attempt to gird my loins for an afternoon and evening of solid work, (and also to fill my stomach in a quick and easy and warm way) I made a pot of soup. This last couple of weeks, as I have been working away at home most days on assignments etc (and because the weather has been a tad nippy), I have gotten into a bit of a soup-groove for lunch.

Some days I have had a mug of instant cuppa soup, and other days home made. A week or so ago I made a big pot of pea and ham soup, and froze a number of portions, and then last week a friend gave me some pumpkin from her parents' garden, so that became a very zesty pumpkin soup, also with some serves into the freezer. Today I made a pot of what must be one of the easiest (and cheapest!) soups I have ever made... from a monastic recipe passed on by a lecturer (as she made a pot for our class for lunch last Sat, when we had an all day meeting).

So I will share it with you-

Monastic Lentil Soup
6 cups of water or stock
(lecturer used "Vegeta" Gourmet stock powder, I used 3 Maggi chicken stock cubes)
1 onion, chopped
1 cup red lentils
zest of one lemon - plus juice, to taste
(I just added all the juice from the lemon, but it was a little strong, perhaps next time will either use a smaller lemon, or make double quantity for a larger lemon)

Chuck it all into a big pot, bring to boil and simmer until the lentils disintegrate (about half an hour).

I know, I hear you say, it sounds a bit bland... but let me tell you that it is incredibly tasty... without the need to add any extra seasoning or even salt or pepper.

Total cost- about $2-3, for a hearty pot that will serve 3-4 people (or more, depending on the serving size)

I usually serve my lunchtime soups with cheese on toast (but that's only because I finally got around to opening the gorgeous Ashgrove Farm Bush Pepper cheese that's been in my fridge for months, and I just couldn't resist it :-)

ARRGGHHH... ETHICS! :-(

I just needed to vent.

I feel better now.

Thankyou for listening.

We now return you to your regular transmission.

:-)

More bliss

On a similar vein, this afternoon, I had another escape to Sparkly Bear, this time for a brief perambulation around K-Mart, where I bought a nice novel - as a further incentive to finish all my assignments- and look forward to reading it once all my work is done and dusted.

After that, I indulged in coffee and cake at one of the cafés, and spent some time working on the composition of some prayers that are part of my assignment for Worship class. It was actually quite relaxing to be in a different space and working on prayers of intercession with themes for particular times in the church year.

In total, there are three pieces of work: 2 sets of prayers- a prayer of confession (including assurance of forgiveness) and prayer of intercession - for 2 different occasions in the church calendar. From the options we were given, I selected the first Sunday of Lent and the 7th Sunday after Pentecost. In addition to these two pairs of prayers (hey, I'm a poet! :-) we also need to write a brief blurb suitable for a weekly pew sheet on one of a list of topics, of which I chose the significance of Lent (with particular attention to matters of liturgy).

It's been an interesting discipline to write these prayers from scratch, with a certain degree of creativity and expression of my own personality, but also within the appropriate liturgical framework. One of the nice things about the Uniting Church is that we don't have a "Book of Common Prayer" that ministers must follow slavishly, word-for-word, but rather we have an approach of "ordered liberty" where we have a directory of worship (called Uniting in Worship, and the more recent edition is Uniting in Worship 2 - very creative nomenclature, eh? :-), which contains orders of worship, examples of prayers, collects, scripture sentences etc that may be used as is, but also may be adapted, edited, added to etc, as there is no compulsion on the minister to use any of these, and it is quite acceptable to compose one's own prayers or liturgy for most occasions.

However, there is still an acceptable framework, based on the theological understandings of the Uniting Church, (so that people don't do or say totally outrageous things- this is where the "ordered" part comes in), but within this framework, there is much scope for flexibility (the "liberty"). So for me, it has been an interesting exercise to bring my past experience of (and penchant for) the extemporaneous style of prayer into a partnership with the discipline of the appropriate form, content, theology etc... and also to 'road test' to ensure that whatever I have written actually flows off the tongue in a fairly graceful (and hopefully even poetic) manner, and doesn't sound outrageously pretentious when I say it out loud.

A little inspiration and leading from the Spirit is also an essential part of the mix, as I am intending for these prayers to be 'real', and to actually use them in worship some time in the future.

In my 'past life', I had a fairly major aversion to pre-written prayers and liturgies as not allowing any space for the leading of the Spirit (hence my preference for extemporaneous everything!) One of the things I have come to really appreciate in recent years is that it is actually possible for the Holy Spirit to provide inspiration and leadership to people who prayerfully sit down to craft prayers and liturgies in advance (and not just at the moment when they stand up to pray the prayer)!

(But I bet you knew that already, didn't you? :-)

And just to give you an example of what I'm talking about, this is the beginning of my favourite Great Prayer of Thanksgiving (which appears in Uniting in Worship 2). I don't think I've ever heard an extemporaneous prayer that was so poetic and beautiful, but yet no matter how many times I have heard it ministered, it never ceases to be real, and bring me into God's presence in a special way.

Thanks and praise, glory and honour are rightly yours,
our Lord and God,
for you alone are worthy.
In time beyond our dreaming
you brought forth life out of darkness,
and in the love of Christ your Son
you set man and woman at the heart of your creation.

And so we praise you
with the faithful of every time and place,
joining with choirs of angels
and the whole creation
in the eternal hymn:

Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

We thank you that you called a covenant people
to be a light to the nations.
Through Moses you taught us to love your law,
and in the prophets you cried out for justice.

In the fullness of your mercy
you became one with us in Jesus Christ,
who gave himself up for us on the cross.
You make us alive together with him,
that we may rejoice in his presence
and share his peace.

By water and the Spirit
you open the kingdom to all who believe,
and welcome us to your table:
for by grace we are saved, through faith.

(the prayer then goes on to outline the institution of the Eucharist, and ultimately leads to the liturgy of the sharing of Holy Communion)

Ahhhh... bliss!

I'm sure there must be a special place in heaven for massage therapists and others who minister to sore bodies.

My back has been rather sore for the past few weeks; possibly due to a combination of the stress of study load, the fact that I spend lots of time slumped over a computer (in a rather non-ergonomic position- in fact, it just occurred to me that my monitor is too low, so I should stick a box under it or something so I'm not looking down all the time) and I'm not getting any exercise at the moment, so my muscles have all gone to seed and tend to scream in agony if even the slightest demands are made on them.

So, the other day, I decided to take a break from reading and writing, and ventured forth to my local, Barkly Square (or "Sparkly Bear" as it is known to a certain professor of New Testament), to do some restocking of my fridge, and generally just get out of the flat.

Whilst I was there, it just so happened that I found myself in the Chinese massage place, begging them to do something with my back... so about an hour and $30 later, I emerged, feeling sore as ... well... as a very sore thing (because the woman who massaged me did indeed find every single knot and point of tension, and gave them all a damned hard going over). However, I did (and still do) feel much less tense, and a lot looser in all my back muscles (yes, ok... call me a "Loose Woman" why don't you? :-)

I think it has also helped me sleep better, and my back hasn't been as sore when I wake up in the mornings these past few days.

Another one bites the dust

Well, it's now officially the very pointy end of semester.

That is, classes finished last week, so this week is officially 'reading week' or 'swotvac' as it was known at Tas Uni. Next week is exam week, and at the end of that week, first semester is officially over.

Fortunately, I don't have any formal exams to sit this semester, but before the end of next week, I do have to submit:

** 1x 2500 word essay (bit the dust this morning)
** 1 x 3000 word paper (currently writhing in the dust, hopefully will bite later today)
** 1 x 2000 word essay
** 2x "take home exams" (approx 2500 words each)
** and a portfolio of bits and pieces (including self-critiques for both of my in-class sermons) for my Worship and Preaching course for Friday Program

The good news is that the reality is not quite as bad as this list implies, as this morning I submitted the 2500 word essay (for my Christology class) and am hoping to finalise and submit the 3000 word paper this afternoon.

I think I may have mentioned before that this semester I have been experiencing a rather savage case of writers' block. I'm sure any of you who have been students will know the feeling. You think, "yeah, 2000 words on applying 2 different ethical frameworks to a particular situation.... piece of cake!", and then when the time comes to actually sit down and DO IT, you just want to run screaming from the computer. (I personally tend to end up curled up in a corner in foetal position, rocking, in utter denial). So this has resulted in being rather behind in my workload (eg 3 of the items on the above list are currently 'overdue', but hopefully by the end of today that will be reduced to only one overdue piece of work.)

One of my dear friends and fellow-students, has been quite concerned about my state, and has gone to a lot of trouble to help me motivate myself to get over this block. Not sure whether she was drawing on her experience and training as a teacher, or as a Mum, but either way, her strategy seems to be bearing fruit.

A couple of weeks ago she presented me with a box, full of envelopes and little packages, each with a message on it, along the lines of "open this when..." She said that she was hoping my curiosity to find out what was inside each envelope would drive me to fulfil the conditions required to open the various envelopes (eg: "1 hour of fruitful work done!", or "essay halfway", or "essay completed!" etc)

Two of my favourite envelopes so far have been:

Christology essay halfway- open when you've done 1000 words- this contained a little wrist band with "WWJD" on it, and an accompanying note which said: "WWJD- What Would Jesus Do?"- if you knew that you would have finished your bloody Christology essay before now!

and (I think the ultimate fave so far)

Please make me smile - this contained a folded sheet of paper, with the label "Liturgical Centrefold" written on the outside. When I opened it up, it turned out to be a photocopy of a picture from a text book, featuring our own Professor of Worship presiding at a Eucharist service, circa 1980-something (and he had the haircut- and colour- to prove it!) This not only made me smile, but it made me roll around on the floor laughing my head off for quite some time... my only query being, "if this is a centrefold, where do the staples go?" :-)

So, a big thankyou to Linley, who has helped so much in getting me over this hump (and even having some fun on the way! :-)

getting one's hands dirty ... err... wet...

As part of the specific training to be a Uniting Church minister, on Fridays all ministerial candidates participate in classes as part of a Diploma of Ministry. This semester we second-years are doing a subject called "Worship and Preaching B".

The worship stream of this class involves training in the liturgy and practice of particular pastoral services, such as weddings, funerals, baptisms and eucharist. The highlight of these classes was definitely the week we had the baptismal practicum.

Our teacher for this class, Robert Gribben, is not only the guru of Uniting Church Liturgy (he was on the committee that compiled both editions of Uniting in Worship, and was also the author of many of the prayers and liturgies contained therein), he is also the proudest and cluckiest grandfather on the face of the earth.

For our baptism practicum he pulled some strings (or maybe just pulled filial rank with his daughter :-) and arranged for his grandson to be present, which gave us a chance to get our hands dirty (or, rather, wet) as we each practised the different sections of the baptismal rite. I found that holding a squirming baby whilst attempting to perform the ritual actions and words of baptism was rather more realistic than working with an inanimate doll! The action was captured for posterity, as you can see. (Photo by Kim Cain, UCA Synod Media Liaison guru)

I came away with a renewed respect for ministers who manage to baptise babies without dropping them, and to actually hit such a moving target with the baptismal waters!

NB- I should also point out that just because we may have said the words of the baptismal service, and splashed water about, around and on the child, this does not mean that he is now baptised. This is because: a) it was not done in the context of a faith community, and b) (most importantly) it was not the intention of the child, or his mother, for him to actually be baptised on this occasion... in the same way that an engaged couple having a rehearsal of their marriage vows etc, does not mean that they are officially married prior to the actual wedding.

Preaching or teaching?

Yesterday, I was privileged to have a 'return gig' leading worship at Hastings Uniting Church. The people there are lovely and very welcoming, and it was great to see them all again.

Yesterday was Pentecost Sunday, and so the Bible readings included the story of the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. The Old Testament reading was Genesis 11:1-9- the story of the Tower of Babel. I made the point about how in both cases, diversity of language was used by God: to spread humanity out across the world in Genesis, and to enable the gospel to be spread across the world in Acts (because people from foreign places heard the message in their native languages in Jerusalem, and presumably would be able to take the message back home when they returned).

I also commented that I personally have some struggles with the Tower of Babel story. It has always struck me as a bit counter to my picture of God, for God to be worried about the people building this big tower. Even if the intention was to go so high as to reach God, common sense tells us (and presumably God would have known this too :-) that they would never be able to do that. So what was the problem? Did God, the almighty creator of the universe really feel threatened by this building project? I wouldn't have thought so... so then why did God feel the need to go down and put a stop to it?

I commented in my sermon that one of the benefits of being at Theological College is that we have seemingly unlimited access to 'Professors on Tap', and so I asked our Prof of Old Testament about this over morning tea one day. His response to me was that it was partly a tactic by God to get the people to obey the commandto spread out and populate the earth (because up until this time, they had stayed together in a single group in one place).

In addition to this, I had also read in a commentary on the passage, that the writing in this particular part of Genesis contains vestiges of pre-Israelite theology:gods were jealous of humans (v. 6), and “us” (v. 7) refers to the royal court of the gods; and the recognition that many of the stories in the book of Genesis were based on other ancient myths and stories that were around at the time (eg the Genesis flood story, based on the Babylonian story of Gilgamesh), and were included in the canon of scripture to illustrate theological points, rather than as literal historical accounts.

As I pondered this, and considered whether to mention this point in the sermon, I decided not to, as it could cause confusion if I just made a brief passing reference, with no further explanation, and it would have taken too much time to explain the background of the literature (which could have distracted attention away from the main points I was wanting to make in the sermon).

After the service, a member of the congregation who is a retired minister, raised this with me... and gently suggested that it might have been helpful if I had been able to find a way to include this particular insight about the book of Genesis. He said that for many people in the pews who don't have the opportunity to do any in-depth theological study, the only way they will ever hear about the different approaches to scripture, or theological insights, is through the teaching that comes from the pulpit; and that when he was in a parish, he always tried to ensure he included some elements of 'teaching' in his sermons.

This has really given me something to think about, when it comes to preparing my sermons... whilst at one level, I don't want to inundate the congregation with minute details of the latest academic and scholarly insights that might excite me personally (because, Gentle Readers, I'm sure you have already worked out that there are lots of things which cause me great excitement, but wouldn't' necessarily have the same effect on others)- and I have been told that trying to dazzle with too much academic brilliance has been a pitfall for many theological students in the past- there is obviously a need to give them some of this kind of meaty material.

Hmm... it's a good thing I am only half-way through my training, so I still have plenty of time to think on this (and still plenty of time with the luxury of "Professors on Tap" to discuss and argue the pros and cons of it all).

Can you tell that I am still really enjoying being in this place of learning? :-) ... I'm also very grateful for the generosity of people (like the dear retired Rev at Hastings) who are willing to give me the benefit of their experience and wisdom through such well-timed feedback.

post script

Well dinner was a hit (as usual) and the CGP was very appreciative (as usual), and my flat is almost sparkling, because I vaccuumed the downstairs area and even mopped the kitchen and laundry floors. Having dinner guests certainly has its spin offs :-)

One thing that tonight's effort did reinforce though, is how inadequate my kitchen is for cooking- nowhere near enough bench space, and trying to wrangle three separate dishes tonight was just a tad tricky.

I think that when I compose my ministry profile to go to Placements Committee around this time next year (gosh- yes, it is only a year away that I will be thinking about exiting and facing Placements Committee!), I will have to include a stipulation that the manse has a functional and spacious kitchen!

(It certainly makes me appreciate my Hobart flat even more- the kitchen there is lovely, with lots of useful bench space... I miss my flat so much sometimes!)

It's all about food

#1 "Eating out"
Tonight I did a radical thing and deliberately took a night off from working (as opposed to just feeling guilty that I should be working but not actually getting much done- you know how it is when you're a student? :-).

A friend from Hobart is in town, for meetings yesterday and today, and then some retail therapy tomorrow, so we took the opportunity to catch up over dinner in Lygon St. After eating, we did a lap of Lygon St, up one side of the street to the city end of the restaurant strip, and then back down the other side of the street, skilfully dodging the many street spruikers who were keen to get us into their establishments.

We ended up at Brunetti's for coffee and cakey things (and Jenny's eyes widened in disbelief as we walked in the door and she saw rows of glass-doored industrial freezers chock full of a wide variety of specialty cakes, most of them topped with huge curls or jagged shards of chocolate... very droolworthy!) So I think Jenny will go home with a new name on her hit-list of places to visit on her next trip to Melbourne. Gosh! I feel like such a local, giving the good oil on local eateries to tourists!

#2 "Eating in"
The other day I received my latest Food Porn* magazine in the mail. I have recently begun to suspect that one reason I have been so stressed and restless over my study load lately might have something to do with the fact that I haven't done any serious cooking for far too long. That will be fixed tomorrow, as I have my local 'culinary guinea pig' coming round for dinner. I have selected a few choice recipes from the Food Porn which I am looking forward to producing (including a reprise of the amazingly droolworthy chocolate and macadamia nut brownies I made just before Easter, but wasn't able to share with the CGP at the time due to his observance of a Lenten fast).

I enjoy cooking for friends, and will have to ensure that next semester I don't allow myself to go as long between dinner parties as I have in recent times. (it's also great having people round for meals, as it gives me serious incentive to do some extra tidying of my flat! :-)

*sigh* I think I really am in foodie heaven here in Melbourne! :-)

* NB "Food Porn" refers to my subscription to delicious. magazine. I call it this because, like the other kind of porn, it is a glossy mag, containing lots of pictures and makes me drool.

What's in a name?

Quite a lot, it seems (well for some people at least)

Today I had the interesting experience of trying to bank a couple of cheques which had my first name listed as "Caro", rather than "Carolyn" (which is my actual name, and the name in which I have my bank account).

The bank teller seemed quite confused at the truncation of my first name, and queried it. I explained that it was a shortening of my name, by which I was generally known to most of my friends and colleagues. She then asked me if I had any ID in this name (which, of course, I don't, because all of my ID is in my full name- derr!). She then got a bit flustered, and made me sign the backs of the two cheques (not sure what that would do), and fortunately she stopped short of demanding a retinal scan or DNA sample to confirm my identity, but I was getting a bit nervous there for a minute!

Interestingly she had no problems at all with a third cheque which just listed my two initials and surname, rather than full firstname... (go figure!)

It made me wonder- if my full name was "Catherine", and the cheque was made out to "Cathy", would the teller have been thrown into such a quandary?

I suppose I should be glad that a teller was paying attention to what was actually written on the cheque, (in the same way that I get excited whenever a shop assistant actually checks the signature on the back of my credit card- it happens so infrequently)

This kind of reminds me of the time when I first started working at the GP Division way back 9 or so years ago. I had decided that since this was my first ever "grown up" job that paid a proper wage, then perhaps I should try to act grown up, and so took advantage of the opportunity to reinvent myself, back to my original identity as "Carolyn", after being known as Caro to all my friends for a number of years.

One of my friends told me of an instance when he rang me at work, asking to speak to Caro... and after a brief moment of confused silence got the reply, "oh you mean Carolyn?" Unfortunately my attempt to be grown up didn't last, and after only about 6mths, everyone at work, including my various bosses (and key contacts from other organisations!) all called me Caro... so I decided to give up and not fight it any more (I was siding with the Daleks on this one: "Resistance is futile" :-)

Just had to share this

This picture came via my mate Blair, a ministry intern in Bacchus Marsh.

It made me giggle.

Kind of makes you want to think twice about driving too fast to that next church meeting! :-)

(Maybe I need to get one of these for my car- my friend Matthew has been complaining that I don't have enough "Catholic kitsch" in my life- I'm sure he would approve!)