Have A Beer Not A Whine

Many times recently I have heard people whinging and virtually blaming the government (be it state, federal or local) for the state of affairs in their certain area of interest. Some examples might be:

• The rental crisis
• Racist videos on the internet
• Interest rates
• Global warming
• Water shortages
• Petrol prices
• P Plate rules

Of course some of these are very serious issues but to think a government is doing nothing about them is naïve and stupid. Sometimes they could do a lot more but of course someone with a vested interest in a particular area is always going to blame the government for not doing enough.

Where is the line drawn between blaming the government and personal responsibility for your situation? For instance, I don’t believe it is the government’s responsibility to make sure that I can afford to buy or rent a house, but some people would make you think that it is. Interest rates are going up for reasons I have already stated in a previous post.

I would love the government’s help in a lot of issues, but do I really need it. And by blaming the government would I really be putting all my faith in God? By focussing on the government’s perceived lack of attention the whiners are losing focus of the bigger picture, because in the long run it is all meaningless.

I believe people expect too much from the government. It’s like they consider running the country or state an easy job and that the prime minister or premier should be able to address every single minor issue that is spewed in their direction.

Blokes Can Cook

My mum and Dad finally got the chance to go on a holiday and my brother went away camping. The result is one semi domesticated male being left home alone. From a previous blog on house-sitting I stated that the only area in which I felt very comfortable was cooking and food shopping. So I put on a dinner for a few friends and me.

Pursuing this has multiple purposes:

• Tests myself to be able to put on a dinner without assistance
• Teaches me a lot of little tricks for the kitchen
• An excuse to have friends over instead of spending the night alone
• A healthy ego massage when I get positive reports about the food

I have cooked for friends once before. On that occasion I did a lamb roast for a Sunday lunch. I surprised myself when I found that I was enjoying the process, even the tedious tasks such as peeling potatoes.

On the most recent occasion I chose a variety of recipes from Annette Sym’s books “Symply Too Good To Be True.” Due to the variety I found it hard to keep up with the different recipes. I did a fair bit of preparation the night before which helped a lot. It all managed to come together at serving time.

What was on the menu:

• Chicken Parmigiana (Book 2)
• Asian Salad (Book 3)
• Caesar Salad (Book 1)
• Potato Bake (Book 2)
• Chocolate Pudding (Book 3)
  

Twenty 20 Cricket

I have watched the Twenty 20 International with Australia and England. I have also seen some to the action in the domestic Twenty 20 competition, otherwise known as the KFC Big Bash. I’m still unsure where this form of cricket fits in the spectrum of cricketing genres.

It is a completely different game and should be treated as such. Therefore I believe it needs different players and different tactics:

• Accurate medium pacers and spinners seem to be more successful than the quicks. This is because the batter is forced to provide most of the pace to reach the boundary after being forced to go the slog (Steve Waugh would have been well suited as he was accurate with good changes of pace).
• Not all batters can succeed at this game. A lot of batters like to spend time to get settled and even when then they are more inclined to work the ball around for singles. The batters required in this game need to be clean hitters who have no problems clearing the boundary (think Adam Gilchrist & Andrew Symonds).
• On top of all that they need to be expert fielders.

Just like how the Australian Rugby 7’s team doesn’t have any Wallaby test players, I think Australia’s Twenty20 team should comprise of mainly up and comers with maybe someone like Michael Clarke as captain to see if he’s future test captain material. It would be good to see the next generation of Aussie Cricket stars given an opportunity to shine. We have already seen some success of injecting some new blood in players like Ben Hilfenhaus and Mitchell Johnson.

So will it eventually take over from the current one-day series? I don’t think so. I suspect it will run as it is for a long time, if not forever. It is hard to take the game seriously but it is still of worth due to the entertainment factor.

Heavy Rubbish?

Heavy metal music, is it actually music or just noise? I think it’s noise, but that’s not to say that there aren’t people who enjoy listening to it. But what about when we refer to Christian Heavy Metal? Is there such a thing? Can these two cultural entities be merged successfully when they appear so diametrically opposed? In other works, can Heavy Metal music be used as a legitimate evangelical tool? I wouldn’t have thought about this if it weren’t for Joel’s talk (26th Nov 06) on 1 Corinthians 8–9, one part in particular - ch 9:19-22:

Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.

So is it valid to become a heavy metal band to save the heavy metal fans?

Vaughan Gregory is a member of East Fremantle Baptist Church in Western Australia. He is young, committed and involved in out-reach programs. He is also a guitarist and vocalist for Christian metal band, Grave Forsaken. He featured in a recent story about this very issue in the Southern Cross Newsletter and can now be found on the Sydneyanglican.net website.

It also brings up another question that could bring varied responses. Can you really be Christian and be into Heavy Metal or be in a Metal band? I don’t know since hearing 1 Cor 9:19-22, I just never liked the genre (although a lot of Metal bands have really good drummers). I only know of one person that is interested in pretty heavy music and he seems legit to me in regards to his faith.

Just go and google for Christian Heavy Metal and I bet you’ll be surprised by the amount of websites out their on this somewhat unlikely merging of words.

House-Sitting

I house-sat for a week over the Christmas/New Year period. I have house-sat a couple of times at this same house. I like to take this opportunity when it is given to me because I use it as an experiment to see how I would cope if I were to move out of the family home.

I like to look at my ability to live without the little luxuries to which I have become accustomed. I ask myself, can I live without such things as:

• Mum’s cooking
• Cable Television
• Air Conditioning
• Clothes washing/ironing
• The Internet

Mum’s cooking
I have always had an interest in cooking and have become very competent in the kitchen. I think it came from going food shopping with mum for many years. As well as watching some cooking shows on TV, my favourite TV chef being Ainslie Harriot, from Ready Steady Cook among other shows.

Cable Television
This is going to be hard, as I have found some shows I like to watch and it would be nice to be able to continue watching them. Although a detachment from Cable Television has been made easier with the new AFL TV rights deal.
The last time I house-sat this place, the TV wasn’t even working which was disastrous. I had to go home straightaway and bring back one of our really small old TV’s.

Air Conditioning
We haven’t had it too easy at home regarding air conditioning. For years we only had one room that would stay pretty cool on its own even on the hottest days. Now we have ducted air conditioning for upstairs so we can get to sleep easier on the warm nights. I can’t get to sleep when it’s warm, so if I can’t get a bit of cooling then it may pose a problem.

Clothes Washing and Ironing
I haven’t had to stay in the house long enough to require doing my own washing but I already acknowledge that this will be an issue for me and a continual struggle.

The Internet
Everyone has broadband by now surely. Once you go broadband you can’t go back. I would struggle with dial up and even worse I would go mental without the internet altogether. It’s a good thing then that at this house they have wireless broadband.

Overall verdict:

NYE 06

For the first time ever I had to work on New Year’s Eve. I was positioned at Young Street in Circular Quay. It was something completely different from what I’m used to seeing on NYE. Here are some comments on what occurred.

The Parade
I’ve come to the conclusion that when girls get dollied up and head into the city they don’t walk, they parade around. In effect they are demanding attention, and they usually get it. I’m assuming they love the attention that they are getting but they wouldn’t let those looking know that of course.

The Drunkenness
Unfortunately there are plenty of people who believe a good time can’t be had without alcohol. Even more unfortunate is that a lot of these people don’t know how to control themselves. It is sad to see people bringing in the new year by vomiting into a plastic bag, laying down usually passed out with a drip in their arm. At Sydney hospital they had a room set out for these people where mattresses were laid out on the floor. The staff there labelled it the “Vomitarium.” One such patient that we took in is probably still wondering where he is and what he did for NYE.

The Tourists
Some visitors to this country get an unexpected change in their travel plans by getting a trip to one of Sydney’s finest health facilities. I transported one patient from Denmark and one from England. It was fun to talk to them about Australia and what their travel plans were. We were waiting at Sydney hospital for a while with a lady from Britain. We chatted for about half an hour (on & off) about things such as her son, London tourist icons, her late husbands cancer, even the British health care system. I enjoyed this even though she was a complete stranger.

The Fireworks
I missed the 9pm fireworks because that was when the aforementioned drunk patient decided to keel over in Macquarie Street. Fortunately I was able to see the 12am fireworks. We had a pretty good vantage point where we were stationed.


The Pretty Lights
I’m referring to the pretty blue and red lights on top of our vehicle that we never get to use. Well I finally got to use them for when we were in crowded situations. Most people were good at getting out of the way. Others who weren’t in control of their senses didn’t really know we were there.

Being Sent Back West
One minute we were being assigned to the station near the Imax theatre. The next minute we were being sent back west to clear out Mt Druitt Hospital Emergency Dept. Five patients were going to Blacktown Hospital so they sent 3 vehicles at the same time and it was done very efficiently. It was definitely a relief to get out of the city.