Big Fish

To lighten the load, I am resorting to blogging on trivial matters of life, however still important stuff when it comes to physical daily survival. Food. We are very fortunate in comparison to the rest of the world, and get it in abundance here onsite.

Biggest fish served ever for the upfront orders for dinner since I have been onsite. The photo taken does not serve the actual size of it well however compare it to the size of the cutlery and the plate, it nearly covered the plate! I was not beaten and the stomach still won and cleared out that fish.

For some reason they seem to serve me steak or fish orders in large pieces, or double without request. Maybe they think I need some beefing up..

Rubbish Habits

You can tell a lot about a person's habits from looking at their rubbish bin.

Observations about the user of the following bin (guess who).

1. Has access to disposable cups
2. Eats honeycomb icecream
3. Flosses (but irregularly)
4. Female

Image taken on 14 October 2011 21:00

Months Later

Need creativity. Craziness. It has been too long without colour.

It has been 9 months site based for work now. There is now a guitar, digital piano in the donga I stay in at the village. I do not practice as much as I like to. I was routinely running / exercising for months till roughly 3 months back now. Lacking motivation after a long days work even though I know the extra is beneficial. It is getting difficult being in the field all the time keeping track of the fixes and closing off on paperwork at the same time.

Currently on R&R at the moment feeling empty when it comes to people.

There is this sense of "fake", "boring" when they come to mind. This is clearly not true of all people, but walked out feeling it acutely on my last swing. Perhaps feeling low that people are willingly to talk honestly about others without saying it to the subject's face whom they are talking about. Or perhaps this whole tip toeing around the client without telling them as it is. Perhaps there is a tact to how to say it and is yet to be developed as it comes with experience. No one is perfect and of course I say things about people without them always knowing it first hand even if most of the time I would have said it at least once to their face. Sometimes indirectly ( / hypothetically) when the hypothetic is not a theory but reality.

It is very difficult to be godly in such a situation and difficult to remind myself who I am. That my attitude / feeling / behaviour does not reflect who I ultimately am trying to become.

Feels like I am hole digging. On the upper hand, I bought a new set of felt tip coloured pens. They are cool, perhaps I may get back into some pen on paper artistic streak which probably will not be a lasting project. heh. Also stumbled across a common verse that "our struggle is not against flesh and blood" a good reminder there is a greater spiritual battle going on behind the scenes of the above nonsense I have been writing.

Mount Keith

Day 4: I am currently site based for work now. I'm in the mid west of Western Australia, the desert. It has been a long awaiting for under 6 months now and it has been good. Different, because you are not exposed to what your routine is like back home. For me that is in the Perth metro / suburban.

The accommodation village about 15 mins south of the mine and Nickel plant facility has had power cuts and unfortunately does not have generators. Only the plant does. The heat kicks in when you have been sitting in air conditioned areas. Also water is affected without power. It would be an inconvenience if you were half way in a shower with soapy hair and the power is cut. hhaha.. Just before heading to sleep last night the power cut and I was glad I brought a torch to bring the washing in from the rain. It was very hot lying there on the bed. Thankfully the power kicked back in an hour later.

The closest town is ~85km north, Wiluna or another one over an hour's drive at Leinster. Facilities at the village are gym, wet mess (tavern), dry mess (dining hall, kitchen), swimming pool, tennis/bbl/cricket courts, computer area (where I am now getting access to internet), sit around grass areas and a track around to go for walks or runs.

At work, the plant seems really complex at first with tanks, piping, cables, instruments, pumps running everywhere but it is possible to get use to where and what things are eventually. I'd need many more days here though. It is also very hot out at the plant, 40+ degrees. Looking forward to see what winter will hold as the conditions are at extremes out here.

As for the people of course it is predominantly males onsite but I wasn't surprised about that. However there are girls around too so it's not a complete isolation from the female gender.

Anyway logging out to grab some dinner at dry mess....I'm changing my mind now that maybe I should go for a run to get into routine.

Music - the technical side is worth it!

I've develop a love for music progressively last year.

Since I started work I've really appreciated my hands and fingers. We do so much with them with emails, writing, drawing, hold, eat etc.

At the beginning of last year I had the urge to know how to play on the piano George Winston's arrangement of Pachebel's infamous Canon in D. So I started playing the piano after 10 years!

I still have not finished that initial task because I got distracted with other scores. However since then there has been stages where I am realising all that practice, all the technical stuff I did for 5 piano exams were worth it in the end. I hated the practice then, but now I really appreciate the lessons I had to go through.

Early this year I was disappointed at first that I was trained classically (instead of knowing how to play by ear, play chords, variations of chords, play on the spot by just reading chords). But I realise that it is better to have the technical background (classical piano teaches a lot of that) to move forward.

because

Since I started trying to learn Rhythmic Patterns on the piano and picking up the acoustic guitar, all that training with scales etc. is helping me appreciate music and how it's framed so much more!

However if anyone is putting their kids through classical piano lessons, I highly recommend that they also get training how to play by ear with chords, patterns and variations of it. Because those who just hate the idea that they can only play by reading sheet music will dislike the classical training very much and not realise its importance.

I really appreciate my hands. God willing I hope they last many years.

His plan

I love the fact that my brother is engaged. There are a lot of things to hold my breath about because the current future (this lifetime) is so uncertain, but God works according to his timing and plan. So I can trust that!

I may not seem excited on the outside but inside there is a smile in his direction. I recalled last time that he was working on site years ago in Karratha and a similar occurrence could have occurred but turned out otherwise.. I was sadden to witness confusion, hurt and betrayal. Years later he's working on site again and now engaged (different person of course)! The first outcome although may have seemed negative, however turned out for the best else this current engagement would not be!

Lord, plan their life so that it builds your kingdom and no other.

Zero Care Factor

I think if there was an occupation which the main task consisted of being lazy, I'd be the king of it.

Or queen.

Either way I think inbuilt in part of people is the tendency to not care when things matter. I find that with myself lately that a lot of things I have put a lot of time in there is an expire date on how much I care about it. It seems with the stuff that takes up regular time, 4 years seems to be the limit.

Once I've been with something / organisation / ministry for 4 years it seems that I step out of it. For instance, the Uni student organisation I was heavily involved in (AIESEC) was 4 years. Circumstances did influence reason for finishing it off. Also stopping involvement in it as an active member was the best thing when it came to my relationship with God.

The four year thing seems to be the same for youth group now, started in 2007 and finishing off this year because I won't really be in Perth the first half of next year.

Perhaps the lowered care factor is my mechanism to move on.