So what am I doing here at 10:00pm?

Alright, so it's not really that late... still I'm just about falling asleep so if this post is so utterly incoherent then ash mblag ergh...

*ahem*

So I haven't really been writting here very often hey... as one of my friends put it the other day "You must be feeling very relaxed... no blog posts for ages!"

And the odd thing is, I am actually relaxed! I've only got four assesments to go (one exam and three assignments) and the end is in sight! Hoorah!

Mum, as with everything, puts this new state of mind down to my new gluten freeness but I don't know that it's entirely the reason... but I think that may be a topic for another blog... oh yes, I actually have direction in this one :)

Tonight, instead of the usual bible study at Flo, we took a brief (too brief) look at the persecuted church. It was so humbling to hear about some of the things a Christian in the Sudan or Indonesia has to deal with on a day-to-day basis.

To give you an idea of the sorts of things we looked at, Christians in China are at risk of being arrested purely for hosting a home group in their homes. They are tortured and forced to give up names of the others in their group. In the Sudan, southern christians (there are none in the North as it's the muslim demographic) are displaced, forced to leave the country or enslaved by the jihad which is sponsored by the government. Oh and forced conversion to Islam is legal. In Indonesia, the largest muslim country by percentage in the world, churches are frequently attacked and destroyed along with the people...

The thing that struck me was that the most I have to deal with in my average day, is a brief flicker of a disgusted expression across someone's face the minute I mention Christianity. To think that the thought of someone not liking me terrifies me, I wonder what I'd do, faced with the possibility that I could be arrested or killed for the Bible...

I definitely take the fact that I live in a free country (don't scoff; no matter how bad IR laws are treating you, it's true.) and that we are free to believe what we want to. I need to be more thankful for the fact that the most persecution I have to deal with now is someone "christian-bashing" to my face or indirectly.

God is so good.

Nehoo, I'll get down off my soap box now and go and sleep... I have an exam on Friday....

:)

Fairy Bread and Evil background music...

Wow... I've really been neglecting this blog haven't I? For the record, I told myself that I wasn't going to be sucked in by the halo of procrastination surrounding this website but still... as my mum pointed out yesterday on the phone *note - to be read in an exasperated mother tone* "I've worked out how to get onto the thing and you haven't written anything since the holidays!"

And so, I've decided to dedicate this blog entry to you Mum... mainly because I reckon you're about the only one who reads this anyway (... the comment box is most definitely OPEN right now for people to prove that i'm really not that pathetic)

...

Love you Mum...

*ahem* So anyway... The last few weeks have been more than a little hectic... seriously, I have this mental image of all of my uni lecturers sitting around eating fairy bread (why? I have no idea) and brainstorming ways to torture the second year students who became way too complacent in first year. To help, I've drawn a little picture....

Hmmm... I'm not actually sure that you'll all be able to read that.... or get past my wonderfully craptastic stick figures but hey.... the point is that my lecturers are ev...

Well ok - I should probably mention here that I'll be the first to admit that they're actually very helpful people and only give us that workload because they think they're the only ones who are setting crazy lab reports (I had 6 due last week.... 6!!!!!). I think it just seems like they're all banding together and lets face it... exaggerating is always fun!

So really I think I'm my own worst enemy. Mainly because I'm sitting here blogging and drawing stick figure cartoons when I really should be finishing my lab reports... what can I say? When your mother tells you to jump you ask how high ;)

Watch this! You know you want to...

My friend sent this to me... I was a little skeptical at first but eventually it made me cry... see what you think :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_M0H5nrY8E

Handy tip number one: have tissues on stand-by

Just for funsies...

http://www.xkcd.com/

Heh - how great is that? Although how did she not notice he never called her by name? How awkward would that have been?

Procrastinating? Me? Never!

Current mood....

Wow...

http://play.blogger.com/

Check it out - it's a slide show of all the photos people are uploading on their blogs... sounds strange, but it's bizarrely captivating....

My new direction...

So I've been thinking pretty heavily over the last few months (*sighs* yes, my brain hurts) and I've come to a pretty sad, but also incredibly exciting conclusion...

...I'm saying sayonara to CSI-land...

For those of you who don't know, for the last two years I've been embroiled in the wonderful world of Forensics, studying a bachelor of applied chemistry (Hons) in Forensic Science. Basically it's a stress-filled rollercoaster of struggling to keep above a credit average in some seriously hard subjects while trying not to lash out and strangle something because of it...
So on Monday I finally decided it really wasn't worth it! To be honest, the only thing I could have seen myself doing with the degree was going into the police force, stuffing around for about 5 years just so I could work in serious crime. To me, it just seemed like a lot of hooplah for a lifetime of stress and paperwork.

Forensics is not at all like CSI... oh no... most of it is lab work or painstakingly combing a crime scene for a skin flake that could (but probably won't) link a suspect to a crime scene.
Sound frustrationg or what?

So anyway, the question has to be asked - What am I going to do now?

I'm switching to Applied Chemistry - the plan is to finish that next year and then do the post-grad secondary teaching course here at UTS... That's right - I'm going to be a High School Science teacher

Don't laugh - I'm serious!

It's been a bit of a strange year; I remember someone coming up to me in church one Sunday and asking me how my degree was going; "you're doing education right?"

Ah... no...

A number of people I know really well have come out with "you'd be great teacher joh" seemingly from nowhere, includeing my Mum who then proceeded to tell me about the "teaching gene" that (admittedly a little obviously) runs through our family...

I think perhaps God's trying to tell me something... and true to form I, being the stubborn berk that I am, have been trying to go the other way. But I've given in (finally) and let me tell you I don't think I've ever been quite as relieved as I am right now... I don't feel nearly as worried about the future as I was a week ago, I'm not feeling stressed out about my subjects (I actually want to study now... warped huh?) and I'm much, much, much more excited about my course! My new course director gave me a long list of electives he thought I'd enjoy and I feel a bit like a kid in a candy store! Heh...

So there's what I've been thinking... weird huh?