Aunty Gee Gee

My niece Giggles was up with her parents visiting during the week. It was great to have a chance to catch up with them all. She's getting so much like a little girl - all smiles and intense interest in anything that's going on. You should see her get into a Bubbacino - it's gone before you can imagine - and much more is ending up in her mouth these days.

The last couple of times we've seen them I've been trying to teach her to say 'Aunty Jen'. It most often comes out as 'Gee'. Close enough. My family mostly call me Jenny, though, and she's picked up on it. I now get 'Gee Gee'. That's quite horsey enough for me - I'll take it.

How likely is it that we'd be able to keep her?

... Approximately Not At All (according to her parents)

So I'm trying not to be too busy next year...

We are having a week of prayer at my church at the moment. I was down to church sit a couple of times (so that it could be open for anyone to come in). This poem came out of my reflections about how we can get so busy that we don't see the person who might need a drink or a listening ear. We're not available to God because we don't have any time to listen.

All the activities listed are things that our church does - not all of them done by me!

It is very rythmic, so I've bolded the important syllables. Technically it should be read to go faster and faster...

God asked me to be available, so...

I went to all the services and never got there late
I served the courthouse coffee while they all stood there to wait
I attended every meeting on each and every date
I cooked for every function and my food was always ate.

I helped the kids with homework - and my advice they took
Gave a hand in the community when storms the houses shook
I went up to the hospital when anyone was crook
And tried to fit in sometime simply studying The Book

I helped the Floral Church out (it was the best one yet)
I sang or played the music whenever I was let
I've mowed, or cleaned or washed-up - whatever task I'm set
Gave cash to floors and Mendi and to lighten UC debt.

I volunteered for everything - gave time to Sunday School
Looked out for opportunities to live the Golden Rule
Got on the Youth Group roster and the kids all thought me cool
And ignored the call of Jesus - I'm a much-exhausted mule.


What's the chance I'll not be busy next year?

... Approximately None.

One for Femina

Femina's comment in response to my last post has inspired me to relate an incident from my college days.

You can 'thank' her later.

During my time on-campus at uni our college celebrated an anniversary milestone. Each year, we had someone design a college T-shirt, and they made a big thing of it that year (being a special year). A competition was run to find the best design.

I can't say much about it without giving up the anonymity of the college, but one group who were entering the design competition had the idea of going with a classic Ionic pillar with the year and anniversary on the front, then the back had the college mascot (which comes from mythology) and they wanted to have an inscription "Towards a Better Age" in Classical Greek.

That's fine, but there was only one individual in the whole place who had done any Classical Greek. That was me. I did one semester and just passed (due to my gramatical struggle after the powers that be in the Queensland Education system decided that English Grammar was a waste of time for high school students).

I offered to take it in to the lecturers and get them to do it, but of course this was at uni and the competition ended in about 30 mins. So I got out my textbooks and did the best I could do in the time available. I figured that no-one but me would know anyway. I couldn't work out how to render the comparative 'better'. I had trouble finding a word for 'age'.

What the shirts actually said? "Towards a Good Time" Probably more much more representative, but shhh, don't tell anyone.

How glad are you that I decided not to take this secret to my grave?

... Approximately None.

My QWEPTY Keyboard

I don't know if you've ever run into this way of describing keyboards for computers. Generally in Australia we would have what is called a 'QWERTY' keyboard, which relates to the letters that run along the top left hand row. I'm presuming that somewhere in the world there is an alternate standard that has different letters in that position. I could look that up on the net, but frankly, if you're reading this blog you seriously have the time to find out for yourself (and I'm perfectly happy living in the mystery).

My keyboard is different. Firstly it is a split keyboard. I find it more comfortable, and (because I touch-type) it has the added bonus that I can't over-stretch my fingers to hit the wrong key, like 't' instead of 'y' or 'n' instead of 'b'. They are separated by unresponsive plastic.

There's also the fact that I've set up my keyboard to recognise polytonic Greek symbols. I dabble in ancient Greek with all the combinations of accents, graves, breathing marks and the odd circumflex. So with a simple left Alt + Shift I can write in tongues. At an incredibly slow pace.

I noticed this afternoon that I'm going to have some issues if others want to use my computer. It appears that the angle at which some of my fingernails hit the keys has started to chip away at the printed letters. The 'n' is unrecognisable as an English character. The 's' and the 'v' are missing bits. Probably the worst one, though is the 'r'. It has entirely lost one of its legs, resulting in my keyboard having two 'p's. A QWEPTY keyboard, in fact.

There are two facts that mean it won't cramp my style.
1. I touch-type, so rarely look at the letters (I wonder how long it's been like that?)
2. The Greek letter rho (tranliterated 'R') looks like a 'P' anyway.

How much do you want to buy my keyboard right now?
... Approximately None.

Recurrent Idiopathic Urticaria

Who'da thought that Itchy Spots would have an official name?

Don't you love the fact that the medical fraternity use latin to describe the symptoms and it sounds all official. 'Urticaria' apparently means itchy welts/hives, (i.e. high-falutin' itchy spots); and I particularly like the fact that 'idiopathic' means that no-one has a clue what's causing it. Gee I wish I spoke latin. I could sound so knowledgable and laugh at my doctors when they speak in this kind of code.

I did some research after my little 'the spots aren't going!' depression last week. The official website seems to indicate that I need to try the diet for between 4-6 weeks. Things may get worse before they get better, and after 6 weeks if there's no difference it probably isn't the nasty natural food chemicals. Sigh.

Of course, this prospect isn't as depressing as I thought it would be, because this week they do seem to be going. There's still the odd spot that isn't entirely happy, but it isn't so itchy I could tear the skin off, and all the rest are fading. I'm beginning to toy with the thought of reintroducing some things, but probably shouldn't until next week because itchy spots traditionally come and go, but are never entirely absent. So I probably ought to wait until they've gone completely. Also, I had a nose/eyes attack on Sunday night and took an antihistamine, which also helps to clear up spots - so I should give them some time to come back.

So chance that I'm going to get cheesecake this week?

... Approximately None.

How to Make Beef Jerky

I swore I would never have a recipe site, but here goes...

1. Go on an elimination diet where you can't eat processed meat or tinned tuna with your salad at lunchtime.

2. Go shopping in the morning and decide to buy some chicken and some BBQ steak to cook, cut into small portions and freeze, so that you have some lunch meat.

3. Cook the chicken early, so that you can have it with your lunch today.

4. Decide that the steak can cook while you eat your lunch, before going back into the office.

5. Watch an episode of The West Wing while you're eating.

6. Once finished with the TV and having eaten your lunch, go back into the office and start doing all the things you've got to do.

7. Remember that one phone call will need the piece of paper with the bloke's name and number on it - it is in your handbag on the kitchen table.

8. Discover the beef jerky still cooking in the frypan.

9. Fill the pan with water and hope that it will actually come clean.


How much good value and economy was there in my cunning plan?

... Approximately None!

Synchronicity

I do a little lay preaching in our church. We are having a week of prayer to herald in the start of the Advent (Christmas) Season next week, and I was part of the team doing the special services for both ends of the week.

Part of what we were talking about is watching out for where God might be breaking into our lives - sometimes it's actions by other people towards us; sometimes it's being called to do things for others; sometimes it's a miraculous confluence of events; or just a plain miracle that can't be explained.

I've been praying about the younger people (or lack thereof) in my church. Not because I need young people necessarily (although it would be nice), but that any community that is almost missing a generation is not healthy (it would be lovely if we were doing more baptisms than funerals, for example - I often joke about turning off the light when I'm done).

Today I met a young Mum who's new to town who wants to be involved in things. And the addition of just one family to our church might be the catalyst necessary for big things to happen. I'm excited.

I'm also excited that our breakfast meeting for our Local Hospital Pastoral Care Team was really positive. We're only a small team, and it takes a while to get known throughout the government machine that is called a hospital. Again, the catalyst caused by the right person with the right knowledge, skills and contacts at the right time can do marvellous things.

So my Advent theme is "Watch this space..."

And the chance that I want to leave all this interesting church stuff to do my boring work stuff?

... Approximately None!