It is just about that time of year again. The time of year when the overly enthusiastic radio announcer makes it her mission to constantly remind us that it is nearing Love Month. It has been almost a year since I started this blog, and for those who have been following from the beginning (I'm talking to you here Tim), you may remember that I mentioned this radio announcer in last year's Valentine's Day blog. I'm quite sure that it is the same announcer; her voice seems to grate on me in the same way as last year's Love Month advocate. However, irritating disembodied voices aside, the reality is that Valentine's Day is swiftly approaching.
Cliches abound on Valentine's Day; flowers, chocolates, those tiny heart shaped lollies with the cute little love-related messages delicately written with sugar.... the whole shebang. I love cliches. In my opinion they are cliches because they work. Flowers are particularly lovely. Chocolates are great but they are great on any occasion. There is something special about flowers. It is with a certain degree of alarm that I have realised that many people do not understand the act of giving flowers. These misguided people are often men, although can include women as well. I am reminded here of an episode of Prison Break. Towards the beginning of the series Micheal is attempting to woo Sarah, the prison doctor. Initially his motivation for wooing her is so that he can use the infirmary in his escape, however as time progresses Sarah captures his heart (aww...). Anyway, Micheal asks Sarah what her favourite flower is. Sarah, in an attempt to convey a tough exterior, replies that she doesn't like flowers because they only die. The next day Sarah enters her office to find a paper origami flower that is clearly from Micheal, and she cannot keep the smile from her lips. A flower that will never die. If any female viewers hadn't already melted under the intense gaze of Wentworth Miller, this scene would have done the trick.
However Sarah, like many women, has completely missed the point of flower giving. It doesn't matter that flowers wither and die after a few days (or even less if it's the height of a Townsville summer). One of the wonderful things about flowers is that they serve no functional purpose. They are simply beautiful. When someone gives you flowers you don't have to do anything with them, or use them to accomplish a particular task or put them towards anything else of practical value. All that is required of you is the ability to admire their natural beauty. I love that about flowers. We give them to people who we care about because they display the amazing artistry of our awesome God who loves us immensely. So immensely that the world He created is overflowing with breathtaking beauty that serves no other role than that of reflecting His great love.
"Every experience of beauty points to [eternity]". - Hans Urs Von Balthasar.
I have no idea who Hans is but he seems to be on the right track. Sharing a small portion of this beauty through something as simple as flowers is, in my opinion, incredibly lovely.
As an aside, this week I have been reading a book called "Captivating" by John and Stasi Eldredge. If you haven't read it you really should, it's a great book. Essentially the book explores the heart of a woman. A portion of the book talks about beauty, here is a quote:
"Have you ever wondered why we send flowers to the bereaved? In the midst of their suffering and loss, only a gift of beauty says enough, or says it right".
When you are going through a difficult time in your life, there is nothing worse than receiving one of those patronising cards with a giant smiley face leering at you with the slogan "Everything will be ok!" written underneath. Sometimes words don't suffice. Sometimes it takes an experience of true beauty to calm our hearts.
So to all of those who will be celebrating Valentine's Day this year, particularly men, don't give your loved one something practical or useful. Give her something that is entirely useless yet stunningly beautiful. I hope that this blog has helped to give a little perspective on flower giving. :)
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
PostSecret
A few weeks ago Kellie and I were meandering through Mary Who bookshop in the city when we stumbled across a book titled "PostSecret". The book contains hundreds of decorated postcards created by anonymous people that portray a secret. It's quite a fascinating book - from what I can gather it all came to be when a man by the name of Frank Warren decided to trial a social experiment of sorts, which has now become an ongoing virtual art project. Frank Warren began his experiment by putting together a blog through which people could anonymously email their secrets on a homemade postcard. Warren updates the blog with new postcards on Sunday of every week; here is the link: http://postsecret.blogspot.com/
Now just as a warning, there are no restrictions on the contents of the postcards. The only rule is that they must be completely truthful and must never have been spoken before. So, as would be expected, some of the content is quite explicit and in some cases pretty awful. That said, it really is very interesting. Several books have been published displaying the postcards, and there have even been museum exhibitions dedicated to PostSecret. It's all a bit humanistic, but still a very cool concept. If you can overlook some of the more explicit postcards, there are some very thought-provoking entries. Childhood fears, insecurities that most of us have but pretend that we don't, dreams, passions, heartbreaking truths and confessions - it's all there. The only downfall with the blog is that you can't browse through past entries as a new set of postcards are posted each week. Anywho.. if you're in need of some procrastination have a squiz, it's worth a look.
Now just as a warning, there are no restrictions on the contents of the postcards. The only rule is that they must be completely truthful and must never have been spoken before. So, as would be expected, some of the content is quite explicit and in some cases pretty awful. That said, it really is very interesting. Several books have been published displaying the postcards, and there have even been museum exhibitions dedicated to PostSecret. It's all a bit humanistic, but still a very cool concept. If you can overlook some of the more explicit postcards, there are some very thought-provoking entries. Childhood fears, insecurities that most of us have but pretend that we don't, dreams, passions, heartbreaking truths and confessions - it's all there. The only downfall with the blog is that you can't browse through past entries as a new set of postcards are posted each week. Anywho.. if you're in need of some procrastination have a squiz, it's worth a look.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
I'm tired of using technology...
Yes, the title of this blog is a line from a J.T. song. Cringe if you will, but that line is vaguely relevant to what this blog will be about, and there are very few things that I love more than relevant song lyrics, so cry me a river. As I'm sure is the case for many of you, a key characteristic of my holiday season has been time wastage. In my opinion, time wastage is ok so long as it is kept under control and within a specified time frame. After a year of pouring over notes, cramming for exams, labouring through assignments and persevering with late nights and early mornings; as students I think that we have earned the right to a spot of time wastage. That said, it is not ok to spend the holiday season sitting around idley and becoming a hopeless sluggard whose only achievement over the three months of holidays (or thereabouts) is a permanent body imprint on the couch. My pursuit of time wastage has involved several technologies this holidays; movies, TV, facebook, email, etc.
A good friend of mine has lent me six seasons worth of Gilmore Girls episodes on DVD to get me through the holidays. I don't really watch TV during semester, so it is very exciting to have something worthwhile to watch. I LOVE Gilmore Girls - the quick-witted banter and character dynamics make it a great series that I'm sure most girls would enjoy. One thing that has struck me from watching a few episodes of Gilmore Girls over the past week is how much I have begun to take on traits of the characters. For example, I've noticed that my rate of speech has increased significantly. Yesterday I needed to call student enquiries at JCU because I had a question about enrollments. I rattled off about two minutes worth of essentially useless information before the bewildered man on the other end of the line asked me to repeat what I had just said. I took a deep breath and managed to summarise the important points of what I needed to say within 30 seconds. Anyone who has seen Gilmore Girls will understand the connection - the discussions between Lorelai and her daughter Rory are so fast-paced that apparently viewers over 60 find them quite difficult to follow. Additionally, Lorelai's shameless addiction to caffeine has only served to reinforce my steady reliance on coffee. Suddenly drinking 12 cups of coffee a day seems perfectly sensible. Not that I drink 12 cups of coffee a day, yet, but if I were to drink this much coffee I'm sure that I could easily justify it with a Lorelai-like response that had something to do with my body being made up of 2% water and 98% caffeine and I am just doing my bit to maintain an enthusiastic if not perky existence. That sentence is way too long, but I think that it is reinforcing my point. I also have the urge to make comparisons and references to people who are famous for obscure reasons, such as Charlie Rose. This is all because of the influential power of the American TV series Gilmore Girls. I was pondering the power of TV today while I was drinking my third cup of coffee. We're kidding ourselves if we think that TV, technology and the media aren't powerful. What we allow into our brains through mediums such as Television can influence our thoughts and actions. This is the danger of explicit viewing, and why we should think very carefully about what we watch on the tube. The influence of television is even stronger for children. Even with regards to programs that are mostly harmless. The mother of a little girl I look after says that she needs to carefully monitor the number of High School Musical episodes her daughter watches. Apparently after a High School Musical overload, this little girl prances around the house flaunting a showy Americanised attitude. I imagine it would be very cute, although something you wouldn't want to encourage in your child.
Another source of enjoyable holiday time wastage has been facebook. The list of pro's and con's regarding facebook are numerous. However facebook is a social tool that I will continue to use. Leah posted an article recently exploring some of the issues relating to facebook from a Christian perspective. The article articulates the main points much more clearly than I could, so check out the link. http://www.gospelandculture.org/2008/12/redeeming-social-life-online/ Facebook over-useage (known as 'Facestalking') is certainly an issue for many people. However shunning such a popular source of virtual social networking isn't necessarily the answer either. Facebook can be a wonderful source of encouragement... but yes, have a squiz at the article.
Phones are another technological advancement that is taking up more and more of people's time and money. Something that gets my goat* lately is spending time with people who are constantly texting someone else during the time that you are together. I am a firm believer in making the people who you are with your priority. Obviously there are exceptions to this rule, sometimes it would be inappropriate to not reply to a message upon receiving it. However making the person you are with sit idly while you engage in a superficial text conversation with someone else is just ridiculous. Fortunately I don't have the patience for texting, so it is not hard for me to find an excuse to avoid it in a social situation. Actually it isn't hard for me to avoid calls either. If ever my phone rings all I have to do is look at it, and the poor thing folds under the pressure and hangs up on itself. A new phone is on the cards for the very near future.
* I googled the phrase 'gets my goat' - apparently it dates to circa 1900. According to H. L. Mencken, this phrase is from American horse racing. Trainers would put a goat in a racehorse's stall to calm it; if the goat was removed, the horse would likely become agitated.
How cool is that?!
A good friend of mine has lent me six seasons worth of Gilmore Girls episodes on DVD to get me through the holidays. I don't really watch TV during semester, so it is very exciting to have something worthwhile to watch. I LOVE Gilmore Girls - the quick-witted banter and character dynamics make it a great series that I'm sure most girls would enjoy. One thing that has struck me from watching a few episodes of Gilmore Girls over the past week is how much I have begun to take on traits of the characters. For example, I've noticed that my rate of speech has increased significantly. Yesterday I needed to call student enquiries at JCU because I had a question about enrollments. I rattled off about two minutes worth of essentially useless information before the bewildered man on the other end of the line asked me to repeat what I had just said. I took a deep breath and managed to summarise the important points of what I needed to say within 30 seconds. Anyone who has seen Gilmore Girls will understand the connection - the discussions between Lorelai and her daughter Rory are so fast-paced that apparently viewers over 60 find them quite difficult to follow. Additionally, Lorelai's shameless addiction to caffeine has only served to reinforce my steady reliance on coffee. Suddenly drinking 12 cups of coffee a day seems perfectly sensible. Not that I drink 12 cups of coffee a day, yet, but if I were to drink this much coffee I'm sure that I could easily justify it with a Lorelai-like response that had something to do with my body being made up of 2% water and 98% caffeine and I am just doing my bit to maintain an enthusiastic if not perky existence. That sentence is way too long, but I think that it is reinforcing my point. I also have the urge to make comparisons and references to people who are famous for obscure reasons, such as Charlie Rose. This is all because of the influential power of the American TV series Gilmore Girls. I was pondering the power of TV today while I was drinking my third cup of coffee. We're kidding ourselves if we think that TV, technology and the media aren't powerful. What we allow into our brains through mediums such as Television can influence our thoughts and actions. This is the danger of explicit viewing, and why we should think very carefully about what we watch on the tube. The influence of television is even stronger for children. Even with regards to programs that are mostly harmless. The mother of a little girl I look after says that she needs to carefully monitor the number of High School Musical episodes her daughter watches. Apparently after a High School Musical overload, this little girl prances around the house flaunting a showy Americanised attitude. I imagine it would be very cute, although something you wouldn't want to encourage in your child.
Another source of enjoyable holiday time wastage has been facebook. The list of pro's and con's regarding facebook are numerous. However facebook is a social tool that I will continue to use. Leah posted an article recently exploring some of the issues relating to facebook from a Christian perspective. The article articulates the main points much more clearly than I could, so check out the link. http://www.gospelandculture.org/2008/12/redeeming-social-life-online/ Facebook over-useage (known as 'Facestalking') is certainly an issue for many people. However shunning such a popular source of virtual social networking isn't necessarily the answer either. Facebook can be a wonderful source of encouragement... but yes, have a squiz at the article.
Phones are another technological advancement that is taking up more and more of people's time and money. Something that gets my goat* lately is spending time with people who are constantly texting someone else during the time that you are together. I am a firm believer in making the people who you are with your priority. Obviously there are exceptions to this rule, sometimes it would be inappropriate to not reply to a message upon receiving it. However making the person you are with sit idly while you engage in a superficial text conversation with someone else is just ridiculous. Fortunately I don't have the patience for texting, so it is not hard for me to find an excuse to avoid it in a social situation. Actually it isn't hard for me to avoid calls either. If ever my phone rings all I have to do is look at it, and the poor thing folds under the pressure and hangs up on itself. A new phone is on the cards for the very near future.
* I googled the phrase 'gets my goat' - apparently it dates to circa 1900. According to H. L. Mencken, this phrase is from American horse racing. Trainers would put a goat in a racehorse's stall to calm it; if the goat was removed, the horse would likely become agitated.
How cool is that?!
Monday, January 5, 2009
Med Overload
Recently it has come to my attention that far too many of my friends are med students. In fact, a large proportion of my close friends are in some way involved in the health sector. I know what you are thinking; "Surely there is nothing wrong with having friends who are particularly useful!". And I agree, in fact with every friend who graduates from med school, the amount of time that I plan to spend in doctor's offices decreases. Unless it is something highly personal, I may never go to an arbitrary doctor again. Some would call this exploitation, but I like to think of it as encouragement.. or out of hours professional training. Surely my uncoordination and fairly high injury level hasn't been in vain. I could offer constructive criticism, such as "By golly your hands are like frozen metal prongs that seem to pierce my skin, you should do something about that". And they could offer me constructive criticism, such as "You really shouldn't longboard down a steep hill when you haven't figured out how to turn, slow down, or stop yet". Ain't that the truth. Anywho.. as beneficial as all of this may seem, there are certainly downfalls to having friends who are employed by the health division, or who are involved in this area of study. And I am not just talking about the bizarro med jokes that you just KNOW are lame even if you have no idea what half of the words mean. As mentioned above, the risk of abusing the knowledge of useful friends is a very real risk. This would of course lead to my useless friends becoming jealous (you know who you are). Jealously is never fun. Another negative is that discussing one's personal medical history suddenly becomes a perfectly reasonable thing to talk about amongst everyday conversation. And maybe it is, if you have a normal medical history. I, apparently, do not. I have broken the cartilage in my ear by bouncing a basketball into my chin, swallowed a pin (I was in primary school, don't judge me) and have had my ears pinned back (Dumbo comments will be ignored), just to name a few. I get the sinking feeling that these are not topics that normal people would discuss at Hungry Jacks on a Sunday night.
Which brings me to the next downfall; complicated med jargon/conversation in general. Now please don't get me wrong, the human body is fascinating, and I really do love hearing my health friends excitedly talk to me about whatever they are currently learning! But once you put a few health people together, the lingo/terminology runs wild. The conversation often turns to health related topics during Tuesday night Bible study. My only input during these discussions is nodding when I hear words such as 'blood', or cringing at words such as 'needle', because they are usually the only words that I can comprehend. However these conversations have been a wonderful time of bonding for Carla and I, who, as two of very few non-health students in the group, have shared many eye-rolling and head shaking moments.
Despite the downfalls that come with having friends who are med/health students, I am sure that there are many negatives to having friends who are ECE students. For example, I had 9 contact hours a week last semester, which no doubt would have infuriated friends of mine who had 30 hours or more. I'm sure that it would also be frustrating to hear that our tutorial activities have been known to involve manipulating blocks and beads, making collages, drawing pictures, making posters and watching Summer Heights High. That said, the ECE degree isn't all fun and games, it has certainly been hard work. I am very thankful that God has made each of us entirely different. We all have unique gifts and abilities, and that is such a wonderful thing! To all of my med/health friends, I love you all dearly and wouldn't swap you for 1000 arts students! :)
Which brings me to the next downfall; complicated med jargon/conversation in general. Now please don't get me wrong, the human body is fascinating, and I really do love hearing my health friends excitedly talk to me about whatever they are currently learning! But once you put a few health people together, the lingo/terminology runs wild. The conversation often turns to health related topics during Tuesday night Bible study. My only input during these discussions is nodding when I hear words such as 'blood', or cringing at words such as 'needle', because they are usually the only words that I can comprehend. However these conversations have been a wonderful time of bonding for Carla and I, who, as two of very few non-health students in the group, have shared many eye-rolling and head shaking moments.
Despite the downfalls that come with having friends who are med/health students, I am sure that there are many negatives to having friends who are ECE students. For example, I had 9 contact hours a week last semester, which no doubt would have infuriated friends of mine who had 30 hours or more. I'm sure that it would also be frustrating to hear that our tutorial activities have been known to involve manipulating blocks and beads, making collages, drawing pictures, making posters and watching Summer Heights High. That said, the ECE degree isn't all fun and games, it has certainly been hard work. I am very thankful that God has made each of us entirely different. We all have unique gifts and abilities, and that is such a wonderful thing! To all of my med/health friends, I love you all dearly and wouldn't swap you for 1000 arts students! :)
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