Lately I feel too self-contained.

Tracy spent ages and ages nurturing some tulip bulbs this year, and then she planted them, and finally in the last week, on tulip grew, and a new one coming up. I learnt that tulips only flower once a year and each bulb has only one flower. The red tulip has been sitting proud and joyfully in our front yard until this arvo when I got home to hear that both our tulip bulbs have been theived. Someone dug the whole bulb from the ground. There has been much sadness.

If anyone knows anything about such a tulip theif please contact me with any details. It is most devastating news and I will be wearing black tomorrow in mourning for the tulip. Our house will need to hold some meetings on the way forward and the best way to celebrate and commiserate the theiving of the tulips.

I went last night to my first classical performance ever. It was cool. I’m not really a big fan of classical music, but I love that I can enjoy whatever it is if I’m seeing it live or having a “special” experience of it. But I definitely like classical music a lot more now. I really liked it. It was quite amazing listening to all the instruments play, I couldn’t quite believe that such a rich sound was coming from those few instruments. I was thinking there must have been a backing tape or something. It was so rich, the sound. I enjoyed just hearing people who are so good at what they do and appreciating that.

Yes. I like doing things that I don’t know much about, but whenever there are people who are really into it, I love being able to just appreciate it, even though I am no expert.

Of course, the one time I remember to ring Newtown Mission (whats been written on my hand for weeks) they don’t answer the phone.

All day I was excited that I was going to go to (that is a really strange phrase when you think about it, I learnt that from seeing it in Spanish and saying why are we conjugating and then using infinitives of the same verb all in the same sentence, and then my teacher said it in English and I stopped complaining about how confusing Spanish is because English is way more confusing. I am so blessed to be able to speak English, that is something I am truely thankful for.)

Oops, I was going to go to market to do the fruit and veggie shopping, which was really exciting. At market I found a place that sold bread sticks and I bought one because thats what you do at market. And then I had like 10kilos veggies or something stupid that I had to carry home from Central.

But it was okay because I knew that I had celery and bread stick sticking (weird, there it goes double again, nouns and verbs…..) out the top of my bags and that people were secretly jealous of me going shopping at market even though I had to stop every 20 metres for a break and water.

Market makes me merry.

I’ve developed a new addiction for oranges. Oranges are great.

I ate some lunch in the sun today. The sun was lovely. I love the sun. That is my other addiction because it brings me so much joy. Praise the Lord for the sun and the joy that brings to my life.

I had some sleep last night and it has made me feel much more joyful today. I’m still sick but I feel so much incredibly better than I have been. My asthma has gone so despite runny nose and a few coughs here and there, I can breathe and that is tremendous. It must have been all the lying on the couch and doing nothing yesterday. I found it awfully hard to do nothing. But I think it was what had to be done.

I’m going to the Beautiful Girls tonight. Yippee!!!

Today has been quite leisurely. Rather nice really. Jo and I went to Muse for some breakfast brunch type substance and then we went to Newtown to recreate the photo shoot of the other week. I took the roll of film and then took Jo to the airport. The airport makes my life feel so mine. It’s weird, but you don’t do those kinds of things at work or uni, you only do it in your own time, so I always feel happy when I’m doing things out of those contexts. I pottered about a bit and bused from Newtown to uni to develop the film. I felt so independent. It was great. And then it was done and it was such a fun way to spend a day.

I am making pear muffins (liver cleansing ones, even though I decided to stop the liver cleansing diet, I just can’t bring myself to eat non liver cleansing foods). I’m so sick of getting sick.

What a beautiful weekend.
Went to the Hunter Valley with Jo and Fi and Tracy joined us on Saturday night. It was really nice. Spent most of the time lying on a nice verandah in the sun and reading, having quiet times, eating yummy breakfasts and doing uni work. It was great!

We tried some wines and so yummy food, went to Toby’s coffee estate which I mentioned many times as exciting me lots, and we rode about 200m to the brewery and felt hugely virtuous.

Had Naomi’s 21st on Saturday night in Newcastle which was a fun event. Fi, Jo and I chose to perform the dance moves we’d been developing for Naomi during the speeches which is funny. Yes.

It was truely splendid the weekend and would like more of them.

I’m feeling really sick now.

And, most importantly,

God has been moving and it makes me so joyous. And scared. But more joyous than anything.

There often begins to be a moment when being back at uni gets stressful because there are lots of assignments and things to do. Usually it happens in about week 4 but this semester that feeling has come much sooner. I feel it now. The worst part is, we’ve run out of tea bags so I don’t know how I’ll get through it. Actually, also pretty bad is that I have a mammoth headache and I’ve had it since last night and no amount of water seems to be fixing the situation.

Better get to it. Much homework to be done. I’m going to the Hunter Valley for the weekend with my flatmates because Naomi’s got her 21st on Saturday, so I need to do lots and lots now. Bother.

It’s sort of occurred to me just how much I’ve changed in the past few years. My complete way of relating to people has changed, and I think there are many positive changes in that. I don’t think its something I find easy though, at all, and it does result in me being friends with less people. And I’m not sure if that’s good or bad, I think it might just be a side effect.