sheepers

I will be back properly. I want to post what little pictures I have of the summer and write little ditties for each one of them and I will. Unfortunately, right now, that isn’t an option. All the same, I’m sort of back from summer and full of promised anecdotes.

One of the things I prayed about when I first got back to Sydney was that I wanted to be somebody filled with grace. I guess that really is an odd thing to want to embody because for me grace is akin to being spineless. I don’t really remember specifically why I wanted to be full of grace, but that was what I prayed for.

But I also told myself, “I ain’t gonna be walked all over.“

Little did I know, God had something stewing.

Summer school was both awful and fun. Lessons were many and assignments and tests overflowed my little red leather diary.

I also became a boarder at Aunty and Uncle’s place. I wasn’t very sure how that would turn out, but I don’t think I had any other option.

At Aunty and Uncle’s place, I usually wake up too late to have breakfast with them, so I have it by myself with the sound of Aunty already preparing lunch humming in the background. Then I’m off to uni till late but not after sundown. Dinner is always ready, waiting and a decadent spread of some kind of stew, fried veggies and perfectly prepared rice. Followed by Uncle’s freshly bought stone fruit. Surprisingly, Aunty and Uncle sleep pretty late, sometimes almost they sleep at same time as I do. Aunty would either read or watch telly with Uncle who is usually lying on the beanbag soaking it in. I normally monopolise the computer and watch heaps and heaps of big bang theory and a very embarrassing ‘reality’ show that shall not be named.

Throughout my one month stay, I was reminded each day of how though some people may let you down and disappoint you, some people lift you up and show you the other side of things. Many a time I sit back, moan and groan about how horrible everything was, how unfair and undeserved it was. Though that much is true, I realise now that it is because of the unfavourable events that I learnt how good God really is and how good his people are. The immense love that showered me was so great. I was never short of a listening ear, a helping hand, solid advice or a prayer. Moreover, I have a bigger, better and prettier apartment to call home. Maybe it takes a push and a shove before I realise how truly blessed I am and how brilliant my Aba father is.

I think the next step from here is to remember this summer, to negate the wonderful acts and magnify the horribles would be a unacceptable. I think I have done that quite a bit I am ashamed to say, but I will learn and will remember.

Alas, the summer is gone. Let’s hope summer school wasn’t the only source of my education.

i think i need a sunrise

i’ve been so busy with the mountains of odd things that find their way to the top of my to-do list that i haven’t really had the chance to sit down and complete my thoughts. and when my mind is blank food creeps in..

i saw this entry on simply recipes which reminded me of nanna and her version of sloppy joes which is made with a sandwich maker and with normal bread instead of the buns the recipe uses. also the recipe itself is quite different from the one on simply recipes. nanna put a hint of curry powder in her beef mince which gave them nice kick and probably didn’t use as many ingredients as they do. i don’t remember nanna putting tomato sauce in or red wine vinegar or celery. actually on hindsight, i doubt the recipe even vaguely resembles nanna’s recipe. oh well.

back to nanna and her recipe (and my tummy). i used to slip in some cheese just before nanna closed the lid to let it toast which would always get her cross because the cheese had a tendency of oozing out of the bread and getting messy. but the result was always fantastic with gooey melty cheese on top of a brilliant beef mince in a perfect sandwich triangle. it made getting nanna cross very worth it.

how wonderful it is that sometimes though a recipe differs so much from how we know it to be, they still bring back memories and a good chuckle.

hmm, now i feel like going out and getting one myself.. along with a cake mixer..

okay, i m done! have a good weekend!! (for the lucky few with three day weeks or who just don’t feel like going to uni)

revaluation reserve.

a favourite scene from one of my favourite movies (footloose).

exams are ew. i don’t like exams. i spent the whole of yesterday at uni.
and this is what i did ..

stuff cruskit #1 in my mouth

SUV – the handing over of odd baked creation # 5

merewether to study with friend from stats, stuff cruskit #2 in mouth

friend arrives (two hours later)

crash economics lecture sat for 10 minutes filling up evaluation forms only to realise lecture was over. (cue: only 1/100 of the students remained)

to engineering library

back at merewether, stuff cruskit #3 in mouth

jing’s graduation

at fisher, stuff cruskit #4 and #5 in mouth then fall asleep

holme (stuff cruskit #6 in hungry belly)- scavenger hunt and 1 minute exercise routines

waiting at : teacher’s college in the dark

waiting at: manning’s to study

waiting at:education centre to keep warm and talk to friendly student with late assignment and creative ways of getting inside the building

waiting and very cold very cold

team 2 and ’sailing home’

team 1 and ‘ twinkle twinkle’

SUV for chicken, pizza, second appearance of odd creation #5 and henry.
(chasing henry mostly)

10 a.m. to 10 p.m
twelve hours of on-campus fun.

a few leaps back.

my nai nai
everyday after school gilly would get dropped off at her nai nai’s house whether she liked it or not. sometimes she would skip up the slope into nai nai’s warm welcoming arms but sometimes she would have to be yanked out the car, up the hill and onto the veranda. regardless, nai nai would be waiting to greet gilly with a kiss, a big bear hug and a hot lunch. after guzzling down the hot lunch, grandma and grandchild would have their forty winks and not a minute more. nai nai would always wake first because gilly would never get up without force. nai nai would always have to pull gilly’s toes and entice her with a cup of milo and a piece of toast to wake her grandchild from her slumber . “Wake up! the lizards are going to eat your tea!“

nai nai and gilly would spend the afternoon sitting in the kitchen having tea and talking about the things they did, what nai nai read in the newspaper and every once in a while gossip about the people they know. occasionally gilly would take a sheet of paper from nai nai’s scrap paper pile and attempt to draw. then gilly would present her art to nai nai who would always proudly display it on the fridge or microwave oven. when conversation between them stopped gilly would lay her heavy head on her grandma’s lap and let nai nai stroke her curls. when the evening arrived bringing her mummy and daddy with it, gilly would go back home and get ready for the next day of school and nai nai.

gilly likes tea time. gilly likes afternoon naps and hot lunches. but most of all gilly loves her nai nai.

i carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

ee cummings

woohoo!

snaps and claps for lea-0h and nat-oh!