go have a look at commonweath games post now to see photos
Month: <span>March 2006</span>
Psalm 44
1 We have heard with our ears, O God;
our fathers have told us
what you did in their days,
in days long ago.
2 With your hand you drove out the nations
and planted our fathers;
you crushed the peoples
and made our fathers flourish.
3 It was not by their sword that they won the land,
nor did their arm bring them victory;
it was your right hand, your arm,
and the light of your face, for you loved them.
4 You are my King and my God,
who decrees [b] victories for Jacob.
5 Through you we push back our enemies;
through your name we trample our foes.
6 I do not trust in my bow,
my sword does not bring me victory;
7 but you give us victory over our enemies,
you put our adversaries to shame.
8 In God we make our boast all day long,
and we will praise your name forever.
Selah
9 But now you have rejected and humbled us;
you no longer go out with our armies.
10 You made us retreat before the enemy,
and our adversaries have plundered us.
11 You gave us up to be devoured like sheep
and have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your people for a pittance,
gaining nothing from their sale.
13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors,
the scorn and derision of those around us.
14 You have made us a byword among the nations;
the peoples shake their heads at us.
15 My disgrace is before me all day long,
and my face is covered with shame
16 at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me,
because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge.
17 All this happened to us,
though we had not forgotten you
or been false to your covenant.
18 Our hearts had not turned back;
our feet had not strayed from your path.
19 But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals
and covered us over with deep darkness.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
21 would not God have discovered it,
since he knows the secrets of the heart?
22 Yet for your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
23 Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep?
Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.
24 Why do you hide your face
and forget our misery and oppression?
25 We are brought down to the dust;
our bodies cling to the ground.
26 Rise up and help us;
redeem us because of your unfailing love.
There was a brilliant article in yesterday’s Herald Sun about three Solomon Islands Triathletes. Despite being rather Australian if push came to shove, I’d go for the SIslanders any day. I cannot find the article online anywhere, so you’ll have to contend with this pathetic substitute.
A year ago, the only three triathletes in the Solomon Islands couldn’t swim properly. On Saturday, they completed the Commonwealth Games championship course – albeit in the last three places.
Stanley Ofasasili, Wilfred Bosa, and Marcus Farau were trained by volunteer coach Ross Andrewartha, an Australian expatriate.“The islanders are naturally great in the water and they’ll never drown – but they couldn’t swim,” said Andrewartha.
Conditions in Melbourne were in stark contrast to the Solomons – there, the three run in bare feet over gravel roads, ride decades-old bikes and swim in the ocean on a course marked out by beach balls wrapped in orange plastic.
Cheered on by the crowd, Ofasasili finished 30th in the 32-man event – almost 39 minutes behind champion Bradley Kahlefeldt of Australia, who clocked 1 hour, 29 minutes 16.33 seconds.
After crossing the line, Ofasasili hugged Andrewartha and exclaimed “I finished!” Farau finished 31st and Bosa was last in 2:36:15.71…
I think in a way I am quite proud that they actually had the guts to get out there. Honestly the last article was so much better. They came with no sponsorship pretty much, one guy was practicing on a 25 year old bike. Doesn’t suprise me.
The article also mentioned how the Solomons was the poorest nation in the Pacific. I am again not surprised as I’m fairly sure the nation is in massive debt. It calls into question “Commonwealth” really. Sponsorship for three guys is a very small ask.
aside from all that…. last night:
It was most excellent. Facinating and I was mightily pleased I had my mp3 (that is radio) with me, so I got commentry – which was more than what the others got. Hannah and Laura fought it out over the spare headphone which I was nice enough to share.
So Rod Laver. Artistic Gymnastics turns out to be all the apparatus, which was great. We had excellent seats, closest to the beam and vault. Floor was easy to see, the bars were a little further away.
Everything runs simultaneously so its very interesting. The Aussie girls wore bright pink so they were easy to spot and between the two of them they managed to score a Gold and a Bronze.
So many falls and it came to a tight finish with Chloe Sims (AUS) and Elyse Hoppner-Hibbs (CAN) with the exact same score. Some tie breaker rule, sealed their fate in Australia’s favor.
Exciting evening. Very different. The city was very alive and very busy. Worth my time. Excellent experience.
Before I do any explanation whatsoever about last night, important news must be shared.
I have a car! A 1986 Corolla CSX hatch (seca? however you spell that). For $900. Of a guy needing to get rid of it fast as going overseas. Needs a little work. No roadworthy, no rego and done a lot of km’s. But otherwise in pretty good shape. I wont be driving it for a while as Dad’s heading off overseas. My uncle has kindly volunteered to put it in his factory and get it all up to scratch so should be minimal $’s. The car was originally priced at $2000 (with Rego) and without was dropping to $1500… but then Dad did his negoitating which didn’t really take much. He should’ve asked for $800 😛 I don’t think the guy knew too much about cars he seemed like a decent kind of guy though.
So it’s a bit of a bomb 😛 It was always going to be. It has got power steering. Hasn’t got fantastic guts, but it’ll get me from A to B when it’s roadworthy.
This is very good.
oh, and the all important colour info: RED
and no I don’t have a photo for you yet.
Turns out I was wrong.
First I should learn how to spell: Aerial, Arial is a font and place name… but that’s what laziness allows for – I knew it was wrong all along. Honest!
Aerial Gynastics to my knowledge does not exist as its own sport.
which means tonight I am actually seeing:
Artistic Gymnastics.
I can’t remember who told me otherwise in the first place. Bah to them.
This may mean people thinking that they have to be somewhat qualified to swirl ribbons around… and have people enthralled enough to bother going to see them swirl ribbons.
(I think there will probably actually be some pretty cool stuff but for the sake of the rant we’ll just ignore all that).
I find this quite funny.
Aerial Gymnastics sounds far more exciting. Perhaps I should invent my own sport?
Experience matters right?