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Had a fun weekend! Got a nice wake up call yesterday at 11am or so to meet Themis, Kenny, Khoung and Mary for lunch at Maroubra's chinese restaurant called Golden Phoenix! Spent almost 2 hrs there enjoying what was brunch for pretty much all of us! Afterwards, drove to Randwick for coffee at Coffee n Things. I had a really nice Hazelnut milkshake, which you don't see often!We adjourned after coffee for afternoon naps, before meeting again for dinner at the Spot. Spoilt for choice, we couldn't decide and ended up eating at Ambrosia, the fast food outlet there! Then watched the 8.45pm session of X-men III! Have to say that it was below expectations on this occasion...I was hoping to see sentinels from the cartoons and heaps of cool new X-men like Gambit etc etc but alas they practically killed everyone off!!! (Sorry if you haven't seen it yet!) Perhaps they'll redeem themselves with a better 4th movie but it'd have a lot of ground to catch up on!Today, I had a nice sleep in again! Ah every day I get to sleep in is pure bliss! Went to church early cos Alex wanted to make a recording of some of the songs he'd written. He got all this sound gear and had it set up like a makeshift studio! Very exciting =) We only recorded 3 songs but had to play each one alot of times to try and get it right! In the end there probably was no perfect rendition of any song but I guess it was ok for our first recording!Back to the real world tomorrow...only 2 more weeks of respiratory left and a week of nights before emergency...
Had a really relaxing ADO today after my 16 hr Sunday shift yesterday! Woke up at a leisurely 10am or so and enjoyed reading the Sunday paper on the couch. Soon it was time for lunch and enjoyed some glutinous rice whilst watching last week's episode of E.R. Spent the afternoon playing piano, which I haven't found time to do since I really can't remember when... Also thought I'd start learning this really cool instrumental song on the guitar by the John Butler Trio called 'Ocean'. T'was introduced to me by Jon and I've been listening to it in the car to and fro work for th
e last couple of weeks, often putting the CD player on single song repeat so I can listen to it again and again - it's that cool! Kinda like gypsy/irish folk/dance music played on the guitar but there's something really moving about it...like it's telling a story or something and the song just builds up and up to this fully psycho strumming at the end! So yeah trying to learn it on the guitar but it's sooooooo hard!!! Jon, who's miles ahead of me in ability on guitar, is only just starting to get the hang of the song and he's been practising it often into the early hours of the morning! Looks like I've got a long way to go! But yeah, a fully sick song if I can find the discipline to keep at it and learn it...!
Ever find yourself buggered as anything lying in bed about to fall asleep but then you realise you can't cos there's like a million things running through your head? That's what I found myself doing just the other night...and it's not an uncommon occurrence either... As I lay in bed tucked warmly under my doona staring at the ceiling, it was bizarre actually thinking about the thoughts flying around my head! I found myself almost on a journey...a thought train if you like...thinking about my day at work...putting in my first chest drain (!)...what I'd like to do in the future...where I see myself in 1 year, 2 years, 3 years...10 years...when I'd get married...how many kids I'd have...where we'd live...where I'd like to go travelling...what it'd be like if *blah* were to happen...And suddenly I realised...most of the things I think about, excluding the weird and bizarre thoughts I sometimes have, are focussed on the future... Maybe I'm subconsciously feeling that it's time to get a move on with my life...that things are moving too...slowly...? But having started work finally after umpteen years of study...one would have thought that that was enough of a big life change, a big life event for now... I guess I see friends, relatives and colleagues all around me getting married and I panic and think 'hey I'm 23 already and don't even have a gf! How on earth am I gonna get married by the time I'm *blah* years old like so and so!' And then I think...hang on...life isn't a race! Starting work, getting married, having kids...these aren't checkpoints we somehow have to make it to first! But then again I think about other friends and family who remain single well into their 30s and I think 'I don't wanna end up like them!'. Not that singleness is a bad thing but God created us for relationships...relationships with Him and with one another and the worse thing for a human being is to be alone, hence solitary confinement as a severe punishment... Time for bed...time to stare at the ceiling...time to board the thought train...
Finally took my first Allocated Day Off (ADO) on Monday! Was sooooo good going to bed on Sunday night without that dreaded feeling of having to wake up early the next day! Spent my day off sleeping in (always good!), and then went shopping for home loans with Themis in Randwick. Now neither of us had any clue about home loans, how they work, what types there are etc. so I guess it was an educational exercise more than because we were seriously considering buying a place anytime soon! And I have to say we both found it rather overwhelming and depressing to think that we might be tied down to paying off a property for the next 30 years!!! With Sydney property prices spiralling out of reach, it almost makes one wonder if it's realistic to settle down here. But then I've grown up here, lived here all my life, have friends, family and church here, and the thought of having to leave it...well...it becomes almost unimaginable! Having said that, I have to say I've considered living overseas for a little while...maybe a year or two or three and then coming back...that'd be pretty cool I think! But then I remember how one of the bank teller ladies showed us this chart with all one's major life events plotted on it and I thought...is this my life mapped out for me already?! Am I on a conveyor belt leading towards my first car, first home, getting married, changing jobs, getting a promotion, having kids etc etc etc just like everyone else??? Not that those things are necessarily bad things to be working towards but...makes you wonder...in Stacie Oraco's words "there's gotta be more to life..."... I think many people will say that happiness in life is the meaning of life and that largely happiness is tied up with all those things - having a nice car, nice house, nice wife, nice kids, nice job etc... I think in that light, it's difficult as Christians to look beyond the fleeting pleasures and values of this world and to look forward to true peace and happiness found in a relationship with our creator God and eternal salvation one day in heaven...Looks like I'll need another day off to ponder where I am currently finding peace and happiness, where I'm placing my hopes and dreams, and all other issues pertinent to the meaning of life...
Jon won the bid for an Xbox original on eBay on Monday so we picked it up on Wednesday! Cost us just $162.50 for a basic unit still in good condition! Went to EB games and picked up some games at bargain prices of 3 for $49.95, 2 for $40 etc so atm our library of games includes Kung Fu Chaos (really fun party kung fu game!), Mechassault (always been a Mechwarrior fan!), Ninja Gaiden (played the original - this new version is awesome!), Top Spin (have to have a tennis game!), Metal Gear Solid 2 (played the first one on PS - awesome game too!), and X-men Legends (4 player scroll type bash em up game - used to love playing this at the arcade!). Most if not all of them are pre-owned games so that's why they're so cheap. Been having a few problems with scratches and some discs not working though so have to take em back to EB for a free swap/exchange/refund - they have a good deal there!
So yeah spent pretty much all my overtime pay from the weekend already this week...it's your fault Queenie hehehe! Shouldn't have played that Dynasty Warriors game (which Jon bought off eBay and is on the way in the post right now!) all arvo that Good Friday!!! Oh well...all work and no play makes Ben Ben tired and grumpy!
Had a fun weekend! Got a nice wake up call yesterday at 11am or so to meet Themis, Kenny, Khoung and Mary for lunch at Maroubra's chinese restaurant called Golden Phoenix! Spent almost 2 hrs there enjoying what was brunch for pretty much all of us! Afterwards, drove to Randwick for coffee at Coffee n Things. I had a really nice Hazelnut milkshake, which you don't see often!
