2009 came in moderation, not with a bang. There were no fireworks, but we had sparklers, music, champagne, a marquee and a few friends. I most enjoyed the early morning introduction to ’09. First up after a less than perfect sleep in a tent on less than flat ground, but there was an eggshell sky and sun, a silent field and moment of the same before it went to the crapper and the clouds and we got some rain.

The news continues to talk about 2008 as a non-highlight and begs hope out of the new year. I am inclined to disagree with the former statement however the word hope is a sweet one that should live on.

In a moment of introspection (aka. now) here are my highlights of the past and hopes for the present (with a few true aspirations and undoubtedly top shelf items that I won’t really reach, being short and all).

Highlights

• January 5th I married my best friend. And consequently spent the rest of the year married to him (to be continued…). It’s been interesting and fun! Needless to say, I really love being married and I really love Geoff! It’s certainly been a wildly contrasting year in regard to all previous years.
• Uni, second semester proved full of inspiring people especially in regards to tutors. I finally felt like I was pulling my weight effectively and got to try things like branding and animation. I have come to the realisation that I mightn’t fit the typical traditional stereotype of ‘graphic designer’ but can work from my interests and strengths and hopefully can levy more out of the web stuff and marry it with my ‘designish eye’.
• Frustration. It seems a weird choice to include it here, but God has increased my frustration with how I live as a Christian and how church can/could operate. It hasn’t gotten too far but there is room for movement and there needs to be room for movement. Some of this is tied up with finishing up with leading youth and being dumped in the deepend of doing nothing.
• And there are the miscellaneous things like: growing friendships with people like Beth and Bri, marvelous restaurants, some great movies  and books and some less than typical experiences – like seeing Wicked.

Un-Highlights

• A bodgy start to the uni year with some super low motivation levels in regard to particular subjects.
• Less investment in certain friendships and not because of want, but because I am a lazy and…
• Feeling so busy and unorganised

Idealutions, resolutions and hopeings

• A slower year, where priorities become priorities and the trivial things are thrown out with the bathwater
• Invested time and head space to enjoy and get the most out of uni
• To be more organised at home
• Eat better, cook nicer food – to be bothered
• Get more fit
• To continue to investigate, read more about, and live out some of the results of the aforementioned frustration
• More time for God…. listen more, write more
• Be less critical of things like traditional church and learn to love what is good and do differently instead of simply getting annoyed.
• Be a part of something that explores doing Church differently, try some things!
• To freelance for a while and to do well at it in terms of being self-disciplined and gain useful experience
• Put together a portfolio, get a design job
• More head in the blog. More faithful writing, less crap. Perhaps make something more of it.
• Release a WordPress Theme (and yes it is in production!)
• Learn to use the Wacom properly and work on practicing drawing/illustration etc.
• Learn more about Flash
• Learn more about Illustrator
• Learn some of the little extra things about webdesign and standards that I might otherwise ignore.
• Get my head around Javascript/PHP etc..
• Continue to work on building a really good marriage and be better at loving Geoff
• Be better at maintaining and developing friendships
• Invest in things like Soul Survivor etc.
• Keep track of the money I spend
• Spend less money
• Own less, give more
• Greater confidence and willingness to try things (especially re. design)
• Days of doing different things, like taking my camera out somewhere foreign or less than usual
• Finish uni, and do well in my final year
• Righteousness and peace… Isaiah 32, Romans 14

At uni we’ve talked about how their branding strategies differ, about how they’ve chosen to represent themselves and there is of course the ridiculous amount of money that could be spent on fixing real problems rather than campaigning. Sometimes it feels a bit of a sham.

I do think the following:

It should be compulsory to vote and I’m really glad I live in a country that demands it.

The world is not black and white.

At least locally if Barack Obama doesn’t manage to hold the spot, a ton of America’s credibility will fly right out the window. I’m not sure what it is, perhaps the opportunity to make such a clear statement about the past, or perhaps it’s just that from here one candidate seems to outweigh the other so much, that the other might as well not be running. But then where would be democracy?

As I peruse the countryless internet, I’ve come across a few things related to the election that I think are interesting:

20-somethings and Obama

Why I’m a Democrat

and best still, you can go and download Derek Webb’s album Mockingbird for free, which has a very interesting spoken bonus track about voting (not endorsing either candidate). Decent CD too (I got it the first time around), interesting lyrics. If nothing else, listen to, A New Law.

Please vote.

image source

The Big Picture – Boston.com

Melbourne has been subject to some angry winds and a dirty brown sky due to the very tail end of a cyclone coming from the west and some Port Phillip Bay winds. Such bad winds that they canceled uni classes (I was in for all of half an hour). Truly it was more dangerous at Glenferrie than Prahran where I am but hey. My train was late (power issues) slightly expected, then the other train finished it’s trip far too early due to trees down – I grabbed a bus in quite good time only to have it arrive at the secondary stop to find the door of the bus was stuck. They finally opened it, but made us change busses (again I succeeded onto getting on quite an early one). This bus took me to the station before mine which meant yet another bus – also thankfully right there and with working doors.

I went inside for about two minutes and then drove back in towards the city to pick up Geoff who would’ve been even more stuck than me. So after leaving uni at 2:00pm, I officially ‘got home’ at 7:00pm. By then the power was out. So we went to the supermarket (the nearby one was closed due to no electricity). Just as we pulled in the drive, the street lights came on. We cheered.

So my day was all up pretty sucky (which is why you’re getting a whingy ‘this is what happened’ post) except that I met three new people at uni, caught up with a girl I know a little bit from last year and became reaquainted with another two.

Today I like people but not trains, busses or wind. And I’d really prefer it in future if the sky stayed a normal colour.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

- 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Today Kevin Rudd and the Parliament of Australia said sorry to the Indigenous Australians for the stolen generation.

Honestly, my understanding is limited. I do know that we touched on it during Australian History but my mind at 12 years was far more entranced with The Middle Ages.

Regardless of your position, understanding, agreement etc. I think it is an amazing demonstration of love for a people. For this I am really quite proud. Which surprises me because I am not at all patriotic.

These are things that over the past month have inspired me, made the think, laugh, made me go ‘Ah ha!’ and all other whatevers that have given a somewhat slightly stronger response than the other posts I’ve been reading. ie. They wound up in Google Starred section.

By some fluke it seems the girls have won this time, with some nice familiar regular ‘starred’ faces showing up, along with some new ones.

Working from late Jan through to Feb:

• Handling Offenses – Lori Boucher, Confessions of a Pastors Wife
• The Abbey – Christina Aitken, Sojourn
• My Search for the Perfect Cafe [And what it taught me about blogging] – Darren Rowse, ProBlogger
• Chip Kidd on Graphic Design – Poppy, Poppy Talk
• Anti-foundationism – Joe Thorn, Pastor Joe Thorn
• An Open Letter to Fred Phelps and Westbro Church – Katherine Coble, Just Another Pretty Farce
• Friendship: The other side – Makeesha Fisher, Swinging From the Vine
• Kuler Color Tool - Jessica, No Accounting for Taste
• Purify your WordPress Experience – Heather, Oh My Stinkin Heck
• Mettes Pottery {Home} – Holly Becker, Decor8
• Prophetic Voices – Makeesha Fisher, Swinging From the Vine
• Are we unbalanced? – Jessica Hagy, Indexed
• Field Notes Set – Poppy, Poppy Talk
• On Love & Risk – Joshua Longbrake, Love in the Key of Longbrake
• Happiness – Samantha, Blonde Musings
• Little Zoo – Jordan Ferney, Oh Happy Day
• Television Q & A – Heather, Oh My Stinkin Heck
• West Elm Newbies – Jordan Ferney, Oh Happy Day
• The Bible – Katherine Coble, Just Another Pretty Farce
• The Work of God’s Kingdom – Fred, Of First Importance
• Kill Plastic Bags with Taxes, Look to Ireland – Emily, Inhabitat
• Yes we can – Makeesha Fisher, Swinging From the Vine

I was more amused that, “…her boyfriend of over two years smashed a whine glass on her mouth”

Surely women don’t nag that much?

some thoughts/responses to gender stuff - Makeesha/Swinging from the Vine

Hermenutic – Joshua/Love in the Key of Longbrake

Creativity should not be controlled - Naked Pastor

Complexity described – Mark/Anecdote (I love Ursula LeGuin)

Still loving gallery style photo walls – Abbey Goes Design Scouting (design)

Julia Rothman – Decor8 (design)

A lesson in typography – Poppytalk (youtube clip)

sew green – cool blog of the week – Poppytalk

lifedance – notafigment/Anna (art work)

we are not master builders – we are not messiahs – Makeesha/Swinging from the Vine

Judging a book by it’s vastly more interesting cover – Kat Coble/Just another pretty farce

The Emerging Church loves darkness (or what I stand for) Part II - Be the Revolution/David

Living with less – a dare – Anne Jackson/Flowerdust

Online romance turns sour – Rodney Olsen/The Journey

Heat sensitive wallpaper – Poppytalk

Talk to your daughter before they do - What will we find in the head of Mish?

Why I don’t like the term “modesty” - Makeesha/Swinging from the Vine

kafka planet – Daily Dose of Imagery

A personal story – Jesus Creed

What you should know about RSS – via GeoffRe(y)port

Feminism and the chaos of labels – Makeesha/Swinging from the Vine

Blog Action Day – Ethical Eco-Eating – James 5

Doing Boring Stuff Well – Boundless Line/Motte

Fonts and your face – Seth Goddin

Just do it – Naked Pastor

Six rules of cultural engagement – Joe Thorn

so, I made a book… sort of – Rebekka Gudeifsottir

Christiana Ceppas – Oh Happy Day/Jordan (amazing photographs)

To Create – Joshua/Love in the Key of Longbrake

Snow Flakes and Role Play – Naked Pastor

The Beautiful Project – Decor8 (design)

James Blunt & Reading the Subtext – Naked Pastor

The Emperor’s New Lamp (diy) – Decor8 (design)

The Best Truth – Anna/Hope Road

Poor Expectations Driving Martial Itch Earlier – BoundlessLine/Steve Watters

Sorry to talk so long – Seth Goddin

Stories make brands stronger – Anecdote/Shawn

2007 holiday card guide (part 1) – Poppytalk (design)

Spiral Bound – Hi + Low (design)

Brand New Dei – Homelessman Speaks

Small business success – Seth Goddin

PREFAB FRIDAY: Michelle Kaufmann Loft Design – Inhabitat

How to keep an art Journal Part 2- Suzi Blu (youtube)

If everyone did it we’d be living in trash – Makeesha and Shayel/Swinging from the Vine

Free $10 voucher Dstore – The Freebies Blog

Featured buyer on etsy’s Storque – Poppytalk

Notebooks, journals, sketchbooks – another link from Poppytalk

She likes organising things – five and a half

favourite interiors from skona hem (nr 12) – Poppytalk (ahh beautiful design)

Man married dog – Bob.blog

What grinds my gears – Anne Jackson

oh snap – Anne Jackson

Adolescence or Maturity – Naked Pastor

I don’t watch the news much any more. I should. I did see some the other night. If it’s big enough it tends to float around the blogosphere where I’ll usually end up hearing about it. I don’t usually write much about the news, nor comment, nor bother commenting on others comments. But I might this time.

This is a powerful response that transcends this one horrible incident and applies itself across a much broader scheme. People are pathetic sometimes.

And why is there still that inner debate as to whether I’ll pick up the MX paper lying next to me on the train seat?

You don’t read that for news.

The world might finally be coming to some sense. The refusal of ‘too skinny’ models is the best news I’ve heard in ages for this kind of crap . (I don’t follow the fashion world at all and generally regard with huge contempt.)

Lets see, if this takes off – I might even allow myself to look in the occasional magazine when I find myself in a waiting room. Mind you… I’ll have to add an extra 5 years so the subscription dates are old enough to make it there.