A few weeks ago (that's how long i've been procrastinating about this blog) i arrived at the station and for the first time ever i was forced to park at the bottom of the car park because the car park was choca-block full! I was appalled!!!!
Day after day, the carpark wasn't getting any emptier, it went on for a few weeks and suddenly i couldn't understand why so many people were filling my side of the carpark - it was outrageous?! One time i even missed my train because i circled the carpark too many times looking for a spare space, it's crazy?! (note: circling the carpark involved going up once, looping around the roundabout and driving back down.)
So i put it down to the fact that more people were deciding on catching a train to work due to the constant increase of petrol prices.
Ok fine.
Until one day it clicked. Currently they're doing station work where i get on the train, ie. building disabled lifts, shelters and just improving the overall maintenance of my station, it's actually all pretty good really. But they've blocked off one side of the station so everyone is forced to use the one side - hence the reason everyone in my suburb is parking in my space!!!!!
DER?! I'm such an idiot. I can't wait til they're finished and i don't have to park all the way down the other end of the street!
Lovin' Love That (the most over-used phrase of the year?!)
Ok so I said I'd post a blog about Love That and so here goes, two weeks later....i am so on schedule it's not funny - pfft, yea right!
Love That is a youth conference that is held every year. It's such a great time to come together with like-minded people of my/our generation and just come before God as we are to give him our utmost praise and to worship him with all we have - yep, really mind-blowing and life changing stuff!
I'm just gonna write a couple things that I picked up on.
The preacher who spoke the most words of truth and relevant stuff into my heart over the weekend was a fella from the UK by the name of Russell Rooke, he's a guy who runs or is involved with the organisation of a thing in the UK called Alove. Dunno exactly what it is but it sounds good!
The first night he preached he spoke about our God who gives. He continues to give "over and over and over again". He's not a God who stops giving to us. I thought this was really interesting and it made me think pretty hard about it, because so often i think that God stops blessing me with mercies and riches etc because i'm unfaithful to him or because i turn my back to him or because there's too much sin in my life for him to continue giving. But Russ was saying that it's a myth and a lie that we've heard too much about. God will never stop giving to us. Although I was skeptical about it, it definitely something worth giving more thought to and praying about.
On saturday I went to a session titled 'compassion' led by Mark Zschech (however it's spelt) and it didn't disappoint. He talked about Hope Rwanda and I was really moved and stirred by what I saw them doing over there! He also spoke about Moses and the miracles God performed for him to prove God could use Moses. I learnt that if God wants to use us, he'll do so whether we like it or not. Moses told God he couldn't be used and therefore God accommodated Moses by using him through the voice of Aaron. Yea, i probly didn't explain that well but it makes sense to me, so meh, if you don't get it, don't worry!
On Sunday I wasn't really into the girly chit chat with Mel Wade but she spoke well nonetheless and i KNOW there were girls there who would really have benefitted from the things she spoke about so it was great!
On Sunday afternoon Russ spoke again about how, although we're on this amazing spiritual buzz, high thing because of how much the Holy Spirit was overflowing from within us, we're still going to go back home to our everyday issues and that the problems affecting us before we got to Love That would still be the same problems and issues we'd go back home to, although God changed over the weekend didn't mean that our circumstances facing us in our normal, everday world will have changed. That was pretty confronting to have to hear but something which we all needed to be prepared for.
Probably something that God spoke to me most about was something which I've been praying about for a few months now. He spoke to me during the music time and also through other people affirming stuff that i'd been praying about. It was all really exciting but i guess now i just need to put it into practice and step out in faith believing that God's going to use me in a cool way. It's also a really scary thing to believe in and accept the gifts and talents he's given to me and to embrace and run with it in all my entirety after so long of saying, 'nah, that's not my thing'. It's going to be a huge test of letting go of my pride so that God can use me how he wants to and i'm pretty sure it's not going to be easy but i know that if i'm willing to let go of it, God will be there to fall back on when it gets a bit tough or i just don't feel worthy or good enough. Just being open to God and saying, 'do whatever you want with me' opens up the biggest windows of opportunity!
I will make sure that I blog about LOVE THAT but i wanted to blog specifically about LOVE THAT IN ACTION aside from everything else.
On August 19th about 300 youth went out into the streets of Parramatta and made people aware of an issue that has stirred something inside of me for a couple of years now - human traffiking.
When i first heard about it, it moved me so much that i wanted to do something about it (which i remember telling my good friend, Tara) but never really knew what someone so uneducated like me could really do. Therefore, i sort of just put the unjust emotions i felt about it to one side and didn't really do anything or speak up about it.
Now this issue is being raised again and for the first time, i had an incredible opportunity to publicly inform people what's going on with this horrendous crime. I still don't really know much about it - not all the details anyway but i do know that it's the 3rd largest organised crime or criminal activity or something to that effect in the world. I do know that it's the selling of human beings whether it be for child labour or sex. I know that it happens in my own 'lucky country' Australia. I do know that people are being tricked and deceived about the circumstances they're getting into and i know that it's wrong and that these people are under such a strong grip to ever leave the hell they're in. We need to be their voice and to save these innocent people from living in these conditions. We need to be their voice by saying it's gotta stop!
But anyway....
We got out into the community, sold keyrings, did free face painting, handed out information fliers, held a signature petition, prayed over the community of Parramatta, made a stand by asking people to print their hand on some boards, held some light entertainment and ended by listening to Paul Moulds talk about what it was and getting us all a bit informed.
It felt just so good to be stepping in for those who couldn't do it. It felt so good to know that these people who are the subject of God's broken and torn heart were being spoken for and were being brought into the public eye because too long this sort of thing has just been left in the dark without any hope.
Well, yesterday my generation of the Salvation Army, who believes in freedom in Christ and thus freedom on earth, adopted and took on the aching heart of God and were able to take a stand against this inhumane act, and to be some sort of hope and voice for these hurting people trapped in a lowly human traffiking act.
It gave me the biggest rush!!!!! I WANT to see the day when human traffiking won't even exist?!
That's right folks, i, Alisha Maree Blackman, went to see 'The Boy from Oz'. This wasn't just any old production, this had not only Hugh Jackman in it, famous in the X-Men but it was also the red carpet night, la premier!!!!
How did i get to that?
I got given some free tickets, 10 in fact. They weren't the best seats in the house being 3 rows from the back of the Entertainment Centre, but i wasn't complaining, they were good enough!!! How many people do you know that get to go to the opening night of a major theatrical show? This is the time where it's appropriate, whether it's true or not, to just say, 'not many!' and smile in absolute awe.
Whilst I didn't see too many celebrities, there was one celebrity that i did manage to see and he was sitting in the last row of the entertainment centre - that's right, the last row! Which meant that my seat was technically better than his was - sucker?!
'Who, who??' i hear you ask....
Toby from Human Nature. The hottest guy from that band, the one with the eyebrow ring and he wasn't with his wifey dear either, that was interesting!
Gosh, it was surreal. In some senses, i felt like i was paying more attention to him than i was to poor Hugh Jackman but seriously, we were like many kilometres away from Hugh and only a few short steps away from Toby - c'monnn and they're both Australian! This person that i'd idolised in high school was now sitting a few rows behind me, watching the same show i was, that just spun me out!!! I never, in my wildest imaginations throughout high school, even dreamt that someday i'd be sitting a few rows in front of him watching a musical! Seriously, my head was reeling?!
*sighs*
Anyway....it was a good show. I took some of the bible study guys with me and i think they loved it. If you don't know, Peter Allen (whose life the musical was about) was an exceptional piano player and the opening scene saw Hugh Jackman be lowered down on top of a bright white piano.
Honestly, the look on one of the guys faces, aaron, was truly priceless and made the whole night worth it. I'm not sure if he's never been to something like that before or what but he was just totally blown away by it all, the look on his face said it all. In the intermission i went over to him and sat beside him. I said to him that i bet he would've liked to be on top of the piano while it was being lowered. He initially said no but after i prodded him a bit more in disbelief, he admitted he would've liked to. I told him that he could be the next Hugh Jackman and really play the piano as he's a pretty good little pianist for his young little age!! He just laughed. But i was so glad I'd given him a ticket!
You know how they say giving is better than receiving? Well sometimes (and this isn't a new revelation) when you give a little, you get alot back in return and it truly is better to give than to get!!
Anyway, a good night was had by all but never mistake the harbour bridge for the opera house?! It's embarressing!!
Tink xoxo
PS: It really does feel great to be back on blogspot!
Last weekend i packed up my bags and left my cosy unit to share a couple of nights at the Hunter residence and what a truly wonderful experience it was.
Dina, a good friend of mine, was running her joint while the olds were away and invited me to stay with her for a few nights because she didn't want to get scared or lonely. Poor kid!
So i agreed.
I stayed on Thursday night (after winning the $50 at karaoke), Friday night and Saturday night. Oh what a jolly time we had!
As I said, after karaoke we headed home to her house. She gave me the grand tour of the Hunter house and then took me into the room i'd be staying in, Yaz's. Well?! It's lined with women's rights books, stickers, you name it?! And in her rebel days, she stuck profane stickers on her cupboard door - it was quite enlightening to say the least. The next day, Dina (let's just call her Mozzie for short) dropped me to the station so i could get to work. Mozzie packed me a healthy lunch and made the other people guilty and jealous. She packed me a ham roll, an apple and a muesli bar. Gosh it was awesome!!! And i felt so healthy afterwards.
That afternoon i bought Mozzie a cheese and bacon roll and scabbed a baker's delight balloon for her to say thank you. (I don't think the balloons were for giving away coz the lady looked at me weird when i asked for one - maybe it was just my age!)
Friday night was Earlwood Youth Group. So before we headed out, we both sat down to a lovely 'family' meal. A little bit of domestic arguing was shared between the two of us but nothing over the top and although Mozzie's irratedness and alcoholism was brought to the table, no-one was hurt, although Casper did misbehave and was put outside - i think that's what sparked everything!
So we both got strapped in to the car with our 10 kids and headed to youth group - does that sound a little bit wrong to you?
Rock climbing was the activity of the night and it was fun. If i get the chance i'll put up some pics of the night. Afterwards it was back to Mozzie's house but we decided to hang out with our friend Matt instead, so we picked him up and went for a midnight run to Krispy Kremes and what frivolity was had there. We met with Nathaniel Maxwell who kindly saw to our every need and we waved to his family as they all departed his workplace. We also laughed hard at the many people who tried to rattle their way into KK's after the manager had locked the doors and Mozzie and Matt reminisced about old times.
Saturday was a boring, dumb day. Had to be up early for SYB practice (Sydney Youth Band) which finished at 12pm where i then went back to Mozzies house. Mozzies mum had left for me a set of keys to use while i stayed with Mozzie - she is such a darl. So once i was back at the Hunter residence, i let myself in with the keys. WEIRD!!!!! As i wandered around aimlessly, i decided to watch telly until Mozzie returned. But alas, i didn't have the faintest clue how to turn on the damn television set. So i decided to have a crack at the computer and it worked!!!! The night before, i'd seen the original sims game on the bookshelf and so played the original sims game. WOW... you just never appreciate something until you have to use an older version! It was good though, so many fond memories of my original sim playing days! I fixed up her Felangi family (disgraceful state Mozz!), they were on the brink of death quite literally! Mozzie eventually got home and paraded her days shopping. Quite a good shop for her pirate party later that night.
We had lunch....
I'm just going to stop at this point and say that i was fed a multitude of food!!!!! Mozzie is Egyptian and so her mother prepared a truckload of food - you think i'm exaggerating but i'm not! We were literally stuffed full for every meal?! I'm 100% not joking! And Mrs H's cooking is THE BEST!!!!! Not only was there enough to feed the five thousand but it was so delish!!!!
Anyway, back to my stay....
So after lunch we played PS1 and man, those games suck?! I lost every single game - pretty much coz Mozzie cheated pretty much all the time?!
After a very short play, it was time to get ready for the evening. I went about my business getting ready for our SYB concert with the NZYB hahaha....the New Zealand Youth Band while Mozzie went about getting ready for her party. Man, you shoulda seen her, she looked like an authetic pirate!!!!! She looked so good, she's great at dressing up, if you ever want to know what to wear to a fancy dress party, ask Mozzie to fix you up?!
We parted ways, i to my concert and her to her party.
The concert was good. Our lack of practice was pretty evident i thought coz no-one hardly turns up to our band practices and so we had like a crash course practice earlier in the morning. But yea, the night went ok. New Zealand band are pretty good - nah actually, they're really good! But Mozzie missed us playing *sniff*. She got there an hour into it though and we had a bit of a giggle about people etc. The night finished with pizza and good times. I learnt that Ashley Sheppard was in love with Canadian Chris and Emma Bailey was in love with Tristan Anderson-Mann. Quite an eventful night.
It ended by going back to the Hunter residence with Erin Bubb and her friend Vanessa from Wollongong church. I let Erin and Vanessa into the house and showed them into the room where they'd be staying. I also showed them where the bathroom was etc. This is not my house people and i felt extremely awkward - it was one of those moments where you think, 'dude, i've been in this house too long?!' Mozzie and I picked up Matt who also stayed at the Hunter residence. The five of us stayed up til about 1am chatting about lots of funny things, although most things Matt says is either funny or the spin he puts on it makes people laugh. Erin and Vanessa decided to hit the sack and us three stayed up talking and laughing more til about 3am. Matt decided that the next day he was going to buy a tamagotchi and that they would now become the latest craze again. He also found a rape helpline yoyo with which he showed to us his yoyo-ing skills, one including 'drag the dog' - just nod and agree.
Soon we were all snoozing.
Sunday morning, Mozzie headed off to Rockdale Salvos and the four of us headed off to Earlwood Salvo's (although two turned off into the college where they were meeting up with Canadian Chris, of whom i should call CC, to go to the City Salvos aka Congress Hall). After church, Mozzie, Matt and myself headed back to the Hunter residence for lunch and after lunch, for the sake of Matt, we went shopping for his damn tamagotchi (pronounced tom-a-got-chi). We found one and he named it Ash, what better three letter name could he have chosen - i mean he did like her forever - tehehe...?!
And that folks was pretty much the end of my stay at the Hunter residence!
It has been a tough decision but I have decided to return to blogspot.
Blogging with myspace and bebo was fun but it just didn't have quite the same publicity as blogging here did, nor did it have quite the same degree of anticip.........ation as this place gave it. I guess you could say the atmosphere just wasn't the same!
I was also noticing that people were being turned away when they'd feel they had to sign up to view my blog and so i was losing valuable readers.
So alas, I have returned to my home blogspot and will continue my blogging days here. Myspace and bebo still continue to operate but just not in terms of a blog. As I've said, it's just not the same?!
So, sit back and await the blogs, there are plenty to come from this inadequate brain of mine......
