December photos

Just uploaded a heap of photos that I've taken on my phone over the last month:




photos, photography

Jesus gets famous

Thursday night was reading the first chapter of Mark's gospel, where Jesus first starts getting famous.

Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, 'What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!'
'Be quiet!' said Jesus sternly. 'Come out of him!' The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
(Mark 1:23-26)

One thing that surprised me about this ^ bit in particular was that someone with a demon in them (whether that means he was literally possessed by a bad spirit or if it was some kind of biological illness) was actually allowed into the synagogue, and whether everyone knew he had a demon in him. And I suppose it was lucky he was allowed in, because otherwise he wouldn't have been healed.

Another thing that I noticed throughout the chapter is how Jesus responded to his new popularity. After the exorcism in the synagogue, it seems Jesus was swamped with people who wanted to be healed (29-34). But rather than taking the show to the big city, he goes out into the country for some time out, and then does a regional tour:

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: 'Everyone is looking for you!'
Jesus replied, 'Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.' So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

Counter SMS campaigns

Kitty sent me this on Wednesday morning:

C mon Melbourne lets spread the message that Aussies of middle eastern appearance ARE welcome here!
forward.

I forwarded it on, then realised half the people I sent it to were actually in the Western district, or interstate. By the time I had gotten to work one of the people had already sent it on to one of my workmates whose number I didn't have myself.
Also, just read about this:

$11.5 billion surplus

Okay, so the federal government has an $11.5 billion surplus for the year. (They budgeted for a $9 billion surplus.) What do you reckon they should do with all that money?

We don't have a racism problem!

John Howard said yesterday 'I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country.'. Lucky he said that, otherwise I would've had the wool pulled over my eyes, good and proper.
In case you're in a different country and haven't heard about it, the weekend before last some Australians, who looked Middle-Eastern, bashed some lifeguards at Cronulla beach, in Sydney.
During the week text messages were sent between Australians of Caucasian ancestry, telling each other to take revenge against 'Lebs and Wogs'.
At least 5000 Caucasians turned up at the beach on Sunday. Various white-supremacist organisations were present, including the Patriotic Youth League. Many had t-shirts saying things like 'Wog Free Zone' and 'Ethnic Cleansing Unit'.
They assaulted several people who looked Middle-Eastern or Southern-European. They also attacked police and ambulance officers who were trying to get Australians of Middle-Eastern and Southern-European appearance out of the area safely.
Luke Connors from the Patriotic Youth League said, 'I have had people calling me all through yesterday, and today, and all through the night, just asking me when Melbourne is going to erupt in riots because they want to go and join in.'
And all this time they've been trying to get us worried about terrorists of Middle-Eastern origin.
But I'm glad the PM has cleared everything up. I was worried for a moment.

Boronia Fair Trade Concert

Yesterday was the third Make Poverty History day for the year, which was to influence the World Trade Organisation while they meet in Hong Kong this week. At the Arboretum (Boronia's version of Lake Wendouree) we had a concert and a fair trade market. People could buy shoes, soccer balls, coffee, tea and jewellery that was made by people in developing countries who were actually paid a decent wage. For a while I looked after the Tear stall, where people could buy stuff like text books, goats and clean water for people overseas. (Their gift catalogue is here.)

Towards the end of the concert, John Smith talked a bit about Santa Claus, and how the original Santa Claus wasn't much like the jolly fat man we have these days. Saint Nicholas was actually a rather affluent man who gave up his wealth to help aleviate poverty.
He also talked about how it's pretty easy to give to a charity at Christmas to make us feel good about ourselves, after a year of self indulgence. It's a lot more challenging to change the way we live, particularly the way we use our wealth, from day to day.

I am not interested in a free holiday

About a week ago now I had an American telemarketer call me up and ask if I was interested in a free holiday. I said I wasn't. She sounded like she couldn't believe it: 'You don't want a free holiday?!'
I said, 'Not interested! Not interested! Not interested!'
She asked how old I was.
I said, 'NOT INTERESTED, TWENTY-ONE, GOODBYE!'
Next time I think I will say something rather ridiculous.

Train surfing

Sunday night, on the train back to Ferntree Gully there was this guy I have seen before, who has a Public Enemy tatoo on the back of his shaved head and caribiners through his ear lobes. Seen him dancing and doing handstands on the train before.
Anyway, this time he got in between two of the carriages and climbed up on top of the train. When we came into the next station the train cops chased him.

I have a phone again

Same number. If you don't have it anymore, ask me.

U2 ticket

Monday morning I got a ticket to see U2 in March. Hurrah.

Concerning Wolfmother

I would just like to say that I met the frontman from Wolfmother earlier in the year, before anyone had heard of them. Can't remember his name though.

'Success'

I guess it depends how you measure success,
I can still breathe I am still blessed,
I guess it depends how measure success,
‘cause all these possessions just don’t impress

Just heard this song, by The Winnie Coopers, on Triple J. (Heard it before, but didn't catch who it was.) Full lyrics are here, and if you sign up for their newsletter here you can download it for free.