My goodness how the time has flewn

It really surprises me that tomorrow is the first day of March, the third month of this year. I feel like 2005 has been really flying by. And it's all kind of snowballing, really, which is pretty crazy. I've only just started university and it's rolling along nicely. All my fun languages are finding their appropriate places in my head and it's really hunky-dory.

Last night we had a Firezone Prayer Meeting at Crossroads. It was fantastic. And I am so fired up for OneWay on Sunday night! I'm just going to put out a prayer request for that, and especially for everyone in it. Something tells me that we're going to be under attack this week. Because we could possibly do some serious damage this weekend, and I don't think Satan's going to like that. Recently I've become so increasingly aware that this really is war. There really is an enemy, and we really have to be soldiers. And this is more than just a metaphor. This is actually happening.

Another thing that has seriously hit me recently is that I do not belong here. We, as Christians, do not belong here. The minute we become Christians, we become citizens of the kingdom of heaven, and all the crap that goes on in the world ceases to have any power over us. Jesus cut those chains for us. So I wonder - why do I go on living like it matters what people think of me? Why do I let the little things in life get me down when I know that I've got the Creator of the Universe on my side? And why do I still let Satan bring me down? Why do I still let what the world says matter to me? I don't have to! And I shouldn't!

So no matter how much I get attacked this week, and things try to bring me down, I can survive. I just need to keep my focus, you know? And keep reminding myself that this weekend, I am going to be striking out for God in worship, and that is one of the most powerful weapons I have in my arsenal. Never forgetting, of course, that the most powerful weapon I have is prayer - and that's really what's going to make this meeting great. We're putting the worship out there on a solid base of prayer, and it's going to be amazing. I fully believe it. I'm not going to try and limit it, or predict what's going to happen, coz I don't know. But I'm not about to underestimate God and what he can do. So seriously, bring on Sunday night!

ALP,
Rosie

Drowning slowly in sweet-and-sour sauce

... and being gassed to death by their fumes. All fun and games in the public service industry. Man, do my feet hurt. But I shouldn't really be complaining... I have money in my wallet. This is a very good thing. However, I know where it's all going to go. This isn't such a good thing. It means I'm on a budget. Grr. I hate budgets. I have to put money on bus card, phone, cable car tickets, visa... but before that, gotta sort out my tithe. I've been quite challenged about tithing recently, and even though the poor student in me is protesting hotly that I cannot afford it, I am tithing. And it turns out I can afford it. Actually, when I tithe, my finances sort themselves out much easier. Funny, n'est-ce pas?

Well. I survived my first week of university without too many problems, something I'm really quite proud about. It's been a good week, when all is said and done, but I'm glad that it's over. It's rather unusual that this is my life now, though. I still haven't quite got used to the routine. I do like seeing Julia and Nick most days, and I like making new friends. Suzie commented last night that she thought it was cool I can talk to anyone and make friends, and I've come to realise that it's a habit I properly developed in Canada. I like people. What can I say? I like talking to strangers. I just need to be a little pickier and stay FAR away from old men. I'm just friendly, I guess...

Weird how life changes, though. I find it ironic that I no longer talk to people I considered my best friends a year ago - well, at least not properly talk. My former best friend and I don't seem to have anything in common - funny how we survived me being away for a year, but once I got back, things unravelled. I feel like I'm the only one making any effort these days. If we talk, I end up making a fool of myself, and it's evident that she'd rather be somewhere else. I just ask myself if our friendship really meant that little to her - maybe it did. I don't really know. And my other former best friend just has a very different lifestyle, so it doesn't surprise me that we no longer talk that much. Still, at least it's not uncomfortable like it is with Bec. Maybe it's just in my head, but I do get the impression that she wants to have as little to do with me as possible. I was probably easier to deal with when I was on the other side of the world. At least with Mike, he's still him and it's almost like old times when we hang out.

There's a big part of me that wants the BecMike entity back, because man, we had some good times. I guess everything passes in God's good time, but it hurts anyway. Thinking about it, though, not being as close to them has forced me to make new friends, and I have met some awesome people. Nick and Filo are great guys, and cool to hang out with at uni. And I've gotten a lot closer to Suzie, who I've known for a few years, but it's different now. My youth group are pretty much family, and that's awesome, too. I've also gotten closer to Lauren, who I've known vaguely for over a decade, but yeah - she's awesome. Then there's all the randoms at Crossroads I've gotten to know - actually, we could probably put most of the SA youth in the division as randoms I've gotten to know. Still, there is a part of me that misses the way Bec, Mike and I could hang out and be completely at ease with each other. If we tried to replicate that now, it'd just be a nasty, uncomfortable event. So I have to accept that. It's hard, but it's life.

I didn't really mean to wax nostalgic, but hey, it's still an issue for me, I guess. I'll wind up here before I get into full-blown self-pity mode, but hey, venting's good, right? Meh, maybe Scott had a point in his comment - "you're insane!". (I think he was referring to getting that old man's phone number - I told Suzie that story last night while he was at her house, and it was rather well received. Like I said - gotta get pickier with my strangers.)

Okay then. Jetting.

ALP,
Rosie

It's amazing...

... that a woman in a coma for four years can so effectively kill people. I just watched Kill Bill Volume One, and I think I'd quite like to see Volume Two. I still maintain that it is a very arty film, even if the aforementioned art is mostly just a lot of blood. It's excellent. Seriously. Although there is something very scary about homicidal Japanese schoolgirls...

University went well today. I think I have sucessfully survived my first week. Just one German tutorial tomorrow, and then that's it. I've done my dash for the first week. How exciting! Meh, anyway, it's all good. I'm slowly but surely learning how to organise my brain to learn languages. You put Spanish in one corner, German in another, French in another and let English occupy the rest. Or maybe I should invest in some sort of mental filing cabinet. Just you wait til I try to start learning vocab. It's all so intruiging.

Not really that much to say, except that some serious swapping has been done to accomadate both Char and myself next week at work. At least it all works out, and I still get two nights of work. OneWay meeting is fast approaching, and I think some serious prayer is in order. I still maintain that it's gonna go off. I just hope that it's in a good way - I mean, when eggs go off, they're not good. *ponders* What an expression, anyway.

And with that, I'm off.

ALP,
Rosie

Quelle journee!

Okay, so it's official - German class is looking up, thanks to the very spunky Chad Michael Murray lookalike I sat next to. Very nice. Am I that shallow? No, no... he was a scintillating conversationalist. (I managed to show off my very extensive German - the aforementioned Ich bin ein Schussel. He was impressed... or bemused. Hmm.) Haha. Not that I am on the market for guys. But looking never hurt anyone.

Spanish was also fun - even though rather threatening having a fluent Spanish speaker sitting next to me and LAUGHING. ¿ Como te llamas ? What was Nick doing in a beginners Spanish lecture anyway? Meh... why am I taking 3 languages? I'm getting a little confused already. I don't know if I should be saying oui, si or ja anymore. Meh.

Ooh, and I had lunch with Suzie today! It was fun - she started bible college. I'm very proud of her. We managed to have the quickest lunch ever in the whole history of the whole history, but hey, I had a good coffee. Nick just accused me of saving all my love for coffee. Apparently, it's all I ever talk about. Maybe I should talk about fluffy bunny rabbits instead.

Sleep will help my addled brain.

ALP,
Rosie

And I survive...

Yes!!! My first day at university was relatively pain-free. I arrived early to have a little look around campus and try and find my lectures. I found them, and congratulated myself for not having to resort to making Stewart show me around. I consider this a very good thing. I even made some new friends. I have this knack for talking to strangers, which is a mixed blessing coz although everyone does kind of start out as a stranger, you can meet freaky people. I only met one freaky person, in my German lecture. He seemed nice, but he was wearing eyeliner and a top-hat, which amused me.

I did learn stuff in FREN124. Something about a Russian guy, and a bowl of soup, a dead body and a half-naked woman. All of this relates to film techniques. Ooh, and even more exciting, Julia-who-went-to-France-when-I-went-to-Canada is in a whole bunch of my classes, so that's good! It means I have a friend. Ran into Nick and Filo (gave Nick a near heart attack on the offending flight of library stairs) and that was alright. My mum made me a sandwich for lunch! That was exciting, too...

Today, however, I didn't have any lectures. I went into Vic just to enrol for a tutorial, but they decided to put lists up at 8am tomorrow instead of at 10am today, so blah. But I bought textbooks! So many textbooks! I also worked at the family store, read a book, read pages 2-7 in the Spanish textbook, sat behind church for an hour and a half after the library closed in order to not meet scary old men, bought a coffee, went to youth group bible study, and made Nathan a birthday cake, which I'm fairly convinced I forgot to put sugar in. His comment was "it's gonna taste weird" but I think he'll eat it anyway. It's the thought that counts, right? Oh. And somewhere along the line I ate dinner. Tuna and a muffin, and diet vanilla coke. La vie est belle.

Mayve I should go to bed. I gotta get up early tomorrow to sign up for this silly Spanish tutorial, and get my computer stuff sorted, and, uh, buy some notes. Yup. It's all very exciting, so I'll leave it at this.

ALP,
Rosie

Won't you join me in my irritating little song?

*ahem* My brother needs to stop downloading VeggieTales songs.

I have OneWay rehearsal in about half an hour, so I'll make this relatively short. Corps picnic was good - Mirjam took lotsa lotsa photos. And most of them were really, really bad. Especially of me. I look like a big orange... thing. *mutters something about extra-large tee-shirts being very misleading* Hrrrrumpf.

So. University tomorrow. Ack. Good news, however - Hannah's in my FREN124 class. That should be rather groovy. It's the one with the movies and books at stuff. And, guess what? My StudyLink stuff has actually gone through! So yay! I may even have some money to buy books with soon. Which is exciting. My phone also works. And I have money in my wallet. Things are looking up in Rosieland! Course, I gotta get my ID card still. Hmmm... here's hoping I don't get lost. Or see dead bodies in the library. Let's not even go into that. Ahh... getting freaked out... and my first class is taught entirely in French. Do I remember how to speak French??? I really hope I do!

Best be jetting,
ALP
Rosie

Forever is a long time...

... do you really want to spend it with me?

(Bit of Moped wisdom going on there. Check out their site -> http://mopedband.co.nz )

Hi! Still holding to this "daily update" thing. Nothing really interesting has been happening today, except that I watched Jonah: A Veggietales Movie for about the second time since we bought the DVD on Thursday. It was cool.

*SPOILER SPACE*

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*
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I'm just loving the fact that there were gospel singing angel-vegetables inside the belly of a whale. It actually makes me laugh. My aim in life is now to rock like an asparagus. Also, I'm quite liking the idea of a popstar named Twippo. And always, always, loving the Newsboys singing "In the Belly of the Whale". (Guys, you might not want to rhyme with "comet"...)

Learnt a bit about compassion and mercy, too. Compassion and mercy DO NOT involve hoping God smites people! I shall keep that in mind. Besides, God doesn't seem to be into smiting these days. I guess he's going for something more subtle. Sometimes I'd just like to smite someone. *takes a deep breath* Compassion. Mercy. Inhale, exhale. Good-o.

*BACK TO YOUR REGULAR SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING*

2 days! Ay-yoy. Anyway, spent a lot of time today chatting to Mirjam in French. My brother got annoyed. I have one thing to say - c'est pas notre faute si tu ne nous comprends pas! (It's not our fault if you don't understand us!) Church picnic tomorrow! Whoo! I actually really like church picnics... they're fun. And you get to be at Willowbank. That's fun.

Really gotta sleep.

ALP,
Rosie

*loud sigh*

Man, I've had a headache all day, and it kind of sucks. Maybe I've just had too much sun - I've spent a lot of today waiting for buses in the hot sunlight. Hmm. Something to ponder. Either way, I should jet off to bed soon, but thought I'd attempt at least to make my updates daily. Isn't that an admirable quest? I think so...

But hey. I had some work today - Family Store for an hour and a half and then the chinese place for 4 hours. I'm kinda shattered. And my feet hurt a little, but hey. I got curry. It was good curry. Gotta buy some new shoes, except that, duh, I have no money. None at all. Seriously, I'm $100 in debt to my mum, which is Bad. Very Bad. And I gotta get a ten-trip train ticket (whoa, try saying that ten times fast!). And, I dunno, my student ID card!!! Yikes!!!

That's it. Going to bed.

ALP,
Rosie

4 days and counting...

After having done a grand total of 4 months of a whole lot of nothing, I start university in 4 days. One can imagine the thoughts going through my mind right now. Well, possibly. I have no money at all at the moment, but I do get paid on Saturday, so here's hoping I won't have to hitch-hike to my first lecture. That might kind of suck. At least I know for sure that I actually managed to get myself enrolled. Whoo! Got the conformation of study yesterday. Now, it seems, I just need my student ID card, which won't go through until my Studylink application is approved, it seems. Ah, the trials. I figure... this bit is the hardest part of university.

Well, either way, it's a whole new adventure, this entire university thing. One thing I did get told though, was that "university is full of really odd people". Hmm. Yeah, that doesn't reall surprise me THAT much. It should be fun. I'm wondering how well I'm going to be able to learn German, though. So far the extent of my German is "Ich liebe dich" (I love you), "Du spinnst" (you're crazy) and "Ich bin ein schlussel" (I am a key). I didn't actually want to say "I am a key", but hey, things happen. Here's hoping I have more luck with Spanish - "Arroz con leche!" (Rice and milk... rice pudding?) "Me gusta cantar" (I like to sing). Oh well, it can't be better than my initial forays into the French language. When I left for Quebec in August 2003, I could only say "Bonjour" (Hello) and "La vache est morte" (The cow is dead).

The general consensus is that in a few months, people will be understanding even less of me than usual. Good-o, I say. At least I didn't take Italian, too. That might have been silly. Though there was a "teach yourself Italian" book in the library... maybe in my free time?

ALP,
Rosie

A strange day

First off - my first blog post with these new people! Primo...

Right, down to business. I've had one heck of a weird day. I was working at the Family Store from 3-4 this afternoon, and after that I had 3 hours to kill until Songsters. Now, yesterday I had a somewhat similar problem, which left me killing 3 hours sitting in The Flatican with my near comatose youth leader, Nathan. The man needs to sleep more. But I digress... anyway, I decided that, no, I would not impose myself on The Flatican again. Instead, I went to the library. Then when it closed, I went to Woolworths. On entering Woolworths, this random old guy walks past me and goes "hey gorgeous!" And I'm just like "hello" coz I figure it's someone I know. Coz who just goes "hey gorgeous!" to a random in Woolworths? Anyway... I bought myself a diet coke, and then left Woolworths to go outside and there's the guy again. And he starts talking to me and I soon realise that I actually DON'T know him and it's all rather unusual.

Picture this, dear reader: a rather bemused Rosie, standing in this random little courtyard thing outside Woolworths, a cafe, a knitting shop and a bank, having a conversation with a very friendly, very old Englishman. He just moved here, apparently, but is very well travelled, and thinks New Zealand is a lovely place. He asks me about myself, and I duly give my name and that's about it, although I do mention that I go to the Salvation Army, which is about a 10 second run from where we were. A good thing, coz I was prepared to make the trip to locate my corps officer if need be. Or, as a last resort, even run back to The Flatican and hide behind their flag for awhile...

Then this old man asks me whether or not I'm married. Hah. Do I have a boyfriend? No, not currently - "oh, well I don't see why not, you're a gorgeous girl". And it's then that I realise that, dude, I'm being hit on by an old man! To top it off, he gives me his phone number with the comment "if you ever have a spare moment, give me a call and you could show me around town". By this stage I'm thinking "... do I run screaming across the road now or do I wait for something worse?" but I take the phone number, smile sweetly and explain that as I start university next week, I'm a very busy lady and will probably have to get myself settled before I can give weird foreigners tours of my lovely town. (Leaving out the "weird foreigners" bit, of course. I do have manners, being the well brought up thing that I am.)

Anyway, what ensued was that we went our seperate ways (after him offering to take me home and me politely declining) and I hid behind church for the next hour and a bit before Songsters started. But yeah, at some stage during this hour, I heard drums coming from the hall, so figured that Matt was around and that I could breathe easier if dodgy old man showed up. It wasn't a wasted hour, though. I did finish my book. It was a good book.

So, what's the moral of this story? Something I thought I'd already established - DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS. But then again, if you did that, you'd never meet anybody. Oh well. It makes for interesting conversation. Charlene laughed. And for the record - it's incredibly sad that being hit on by an old guy is the most interesting thing that's happened to me all week.

Well, ALP! (A la prochaine, meaning see you next time on the Rosie show!)
Rosie