Exam in two hours

I've got an exam in two hours.

I'm petrified.

Tim keeps saying "You always stress"

I say "This is different"

Tim says "You always say that too"

It all stems from a warning we got on the second last day of term "The New Testament department is known for asking questions you wouldn't expect in exams". Now, for someone who likes to be extra prepared and know what I'm getting into that is profoundly disturbing.

But, if I look beyond my (probably unfounded) terror I have to say that this is probably the best way to do exams. Because rather than researching set topics or working out answers to questions that are "due to come up" this exam- I'm actually just reading and getting to know Mark, Ephesians, and 1 Peter. It may mean not as good a mark (!!!shock-horror!!!) but it's a good reminder that I'm not here for a two digit number printed on a transcript. I'm here to learn. I'm here to know God better. And I feel like that has happened. I'm amazed at the great cosmic plan of God- and inspired by what that should mean for Christian relationship (Eph). I'm challenged to remember that being the new people of God means being different and suffering- but knowing that it is only for a little while- and that "God himself will restore you and make you Strong, firm and steadfast" (1 Peter 5:10). And I once again stare up at the Cross of Christ- amazed that the one who made bread from nothing, walked on water, and had power over demons chose to die for me.

Wow- eternal perspective really helps with nerves ;)
love B

My Dilemma

I love writing fantasy fiction.

I just love it. It's like finally getting the two competing sides of my brain to work together. My right side comes up with some specific aspect of the story. My left brain scream "No, that's not logical" and then spends the rest of the day working out how the rest of the story can be changed and adapted to accommodate my creative fancies. Meanwhile my right brain continues to dance around many more crazy ideas to decide which one to hassle left brain with next time.

I love having a world in my head. I love thinking about the history, the geography, the everyday people and their worries and concerns. I love thinking about narrative and characterisation, and how to "show and not tell". I love when I'm walking alone, or sitting in class and suddenly have a thought I know I have to write down. I love tossing around ideas with Tim and having someone else to get caught up in my excitement (of course, I have to be teased a fair bit about various bits of my story, but I don't mind too much ;).

I don't love how fake and phony I often sound in what I write, but I'm having fun and getting better so I think that makes it worthwhile. And maybe, just maybe I may be able to write something that will one day be published. That's the dream anyway.

At the moment my biggest frustration is the dilemma- first person or third person. You see, I always write in first person. It is the most fun to write- because you are actually in the head of the person in the story. But first person is getting rarer and rarer these days- and Tim is convinced it will hinder my story long term.

So I try third person. In my climatic final scene it worked really, really well. But I just can't seem to stick to it. I am too much in the habit of first person and I love it! And sentences that move from Third to First regularly for some reason don't seem to make alot of sense.

"Belinda sat at her computer, staring the the screen. Will I write in third person or first person? She absently jabbed at random keys, and I found myself getting frustrated with the question. She wonder if any one's changed their status on facebook. I wondered if she should change mine. I could write on hers: Belinda is writing her facebook status in the Third person"

Confusing hey! So I'm interested in people's thoughts. What do you prefer: First person or Third person?

Just coz it's a nice one

Tim and I at a friends wedding last month taken by our friend Somy

Just thought you might like to see it!

It's all Greek to me!

Yesterday I sat my end of year Greek exam.

Greek and I have such a funny love/hate relationship. Sometimes it is my Nemesis, my dragon to be slayed. Other times it's my fascination- my project- my cryptic cross word that longs to be solved.

One of the scariest things about studying this year was the prospect of having to learn Koine Greek- which is the form of Greek used when the Bible was written. I knew (or thought I knew) that I wasn't really a language person, so the idea of having to devote time and energy into learning was scary. The 1 year course that I'm doing doesn't require Greek- so at many times I wondered at my wisdom of taking this on voluntarily. I walked out of my exam yesterday feeling really great about how I had done, and finally convinced that despite the work it was definitely the best decision.

At present I am still deciding whether to work or study next year. So after the exam- Tim asked me how I felt considering this might be the last time I ever had to do Greek.

I felt sad!

Because I feel like I'm only just scraping the surface. I have learnt so much this year and I feel there is so much more to learn if I knew how to do it better.

So, the dragon has been vanquished and the nemesis is a friend. So what am I to do with all my Greek free time? Well, today I had coffee with two people, went for a walk, hung out with Tim, and now I'm finally getting back to my fantasy fiction.

But after today I probably have to start thinking about my many exams which start in a week and 2 days!
Better not put away my dragon slaying sword just yet!
love B

Experimental Cooking Day!

I can't remember if I've ever written about Sunday's on my blog before.

Sunday's are my weird, funny, kinda special kinda sad day. You see, on Sundays, after church in Chatswood (which is wonderful) I kiss my husband goodbye and head home for the afternoon. My studious (and handsome) man spends the afternoon studying hard either at church, the library, or the coffee shop- and then goes to evening church. He then catches the train home and I heat up the left-overs of whatever I had for dinner. I suspect that in-between all the studious (and handsome) goodness there might be video game playing at Harvey Norman, and some unhealthy food eating while I'm not there- but I'm fine with that ;)

And what do I do during this time? Theoretically I work really hard, go for a walk, cook some dinner, and do some cleaning while I wait for Tim to go home. But the problem is, as an extrovert on the extreme end of extroversion- I go mad and get a little sad without him :( Not sad enough to spend the whole day studying at Chatswood with him- but a little bit mad and a little bit sad.

So, as well as all the theoretical productiveness, I also do a fair bit of reading and DVD watching to cheer myself up. I have a lovely chat with Mum each Sunday to burn off some of that extroversion. But I decided I needed a new form of entertainment. Enter: Experimental Cooking day.

I love cooking very much. But, I find it hard to get inspired- despite the many cooking magazines clogging up our bookshelves. So I decided that Sunday would be the day when I would do some experimental cooking. This is my second experimental cooking day. The first involved roasting my own semi-dried tomato's. Unfortunately- for some reason they didn't really dry- but they cooked a bit and tasted pretty good on my roast veggie and mince pizza so I didn't mind.

And today- today I made ricotta!

I found the recipe in a Donna Hay magazine and it looked really easy. And as I love ricotta and don't like the price- I thought this might be a perfect experiment. I was a little bit concerned as Donna Hay method seemed to be different than taste.com.au suggested. And taste.com.au has never been wrong before. But Donna Hay had such artistic pictures of food- surely she knows what she's talking about? So I tried it. Sandy and I brought muslin for draining and Tim and I found a cheap candy thermometer- and I was ready to go.

Did it work? Well, technically it did. But it took 6 cups of milk to create 1 cup of ricotta. So I'm starting to think that maybe the price of ricotta at the shops isn't too bad after all.

Home-made verses store bought is always an interesting dilemma. I was burnt a little bit my first go at ravioli- so much time and the results? Not as good as Latina.

As my Nan once told me: "You spend hours in the garden working on your lettuces. You plant the seeds and you weed and you keep the bugs off. And then you go to the shop and see lettuces for one dollar each. Its rather depressing."

Make-over

My blog is getting a make-over!

My friend Lou who created Where the blog are you? is helping me with the design and the technical side of things. Soon we will move on from the general pinkness to something more unique to me.
Yay!

I'm currently trying to think of a symbol or picture which best represents me. Any suggestions?

When ever I think of Make-overs I always think of the movie Clueless.

Cher: "From now on we are alternating Cindy Crawfords "Areobesize" with "Buns of Steel" and reading one non School book a week. Mine is "Fit or fat"

Anyway- really should get back to Greek :(
love B
PS There is also a competion happening over at "Where the Blog are you" check it out!
http://bloggingaussie.blogspot.com/search/label/Competitions

Shopping Spree!

One of the many things that good about sister Sandy visiting is the shopping. You see, Sandy is an expert op-shopper. She knows what is going to work. One of the hardest things about op-shopping is that the clothes are generally all bunched together on a rack. You see the very edge of a garment, it is a lovely texture and print. This could be a winner you think to yourself proudly as you pull it from the hanger. You find out it has shoulder pads, big mother of pearl buttons, and an anchor embroided into the pocket. You very quickly let it slide to the floor below the rack before anyone saw that you actually touched it.

However Sandy has the knack (from years of practice) of knowing which garments are going to be good based solely on the sleeve.

You also need determination and patients to be a good op-shopper; two characteristics of both my dear parents which seem to have skipped me and ended up firmly in the genes of Sandy. Our op-shopping day was a 35 degree day, and I was walking on a slightly rolled ankle. I spent most of my time at Vinnie's sitting on the floor listening to Sandy's ipod while she very kindly dropped outfits into my lap!

This was my favourite top I got. Isn't it gorgeous?

I ended up spending $40 and if you include a few fantastic cast-offs from my cousin- I've pretty much got my summer wardrobe sorted.

Tim, however, couldn't believe that I would spend $40 at an op shop. You see, usually if we buy clothing over about $20, we warn the other that we are going to do it. For the next day Tim kept muttering to himself "40 dollars at an op shop...". He even dared to compare it to the "joining a wine club" incident of 2006 (always scary when your husband starts a sentence "I know we agreed to discuss first if we were buying something over one hundred dollars but...")

I've never been a fashionable person. And as my Aunt sweetly put it "You have a tiny upper back, but make up for it in the front!". So clothes shopping- though not the stress it has been for many of my friends- was always a cause of frustration as so many styles are not make for someone my shape.

But I'm getting more used to what suits me and doesn't- and now getting new clothes is starting to get more fun. Fun enough to spend $40 at an opshop anyway.

Me: "If you include the free stuff I got from Sulie that's 12 outfits Tim, 12 outfits for $40!"

Tim: "Fourty dollars at an op-shop...fourty dollars..."

Sandy Shananigans in Sydney

Sandy and Belinda's Sydney adventures!

Enmore Road, near where we live
Sandy, Jenny (Sandy's Sydney Stats friend) and Me had rice paper rolls for tea... ...and watched lots of Gilmore Girls (sorry, Sandy's face too dark and I couldn't change it)
Me...hmmm, what city do you think I'm in?
Really hard to tell isn't it?

We actually swapped umbrella's for this shot because they went better with our outfits!

Sandy's Chai latte was too sweet and mine not sweet enough- so Sandy did some mixing. Don't you love the cheeky look!Sandy in the water at ManlyMe in the waterSandy on the ferrie once again doing the cryptic cross word- Always a theme in a Sandy day!

True Story. I was writing the previous post and Sandy was watching. I asked "Do you think it will offend people to quote you saying "crap"?" and Sandy replied "It doesn't offend me"

Me: "Clearly since you said it!"

Quote of the week

Hi Friends,
My sister Sandy has been visiting the past few days- so its been priceless quotes gallore- particularly if you include the 8 Gilmore Girls episodes we have watched so far. But I think this one is still my favourite.

Sandy (in response to a 35 degree Sydney Spring day): "I've spent all day swapping sides of the street to avoid the sun. The song "Sunny side of the street"...it's a load of crap!"

Photos of our escapades coming soon.
love B