[	location	|	Home	]
[	mood	|	melancholic but vaguely upbeat	]
[	music	|	The Sleepy Jackson - Lovers	]

Today was probably the best day I've had since coming back. While it's still weird being home (and I haven't worked out how to get a good nights sleep yet), work was pretty fun and I got to hang out with some of my mates who I haven't seen in yonks. I learnt how to use the shrinkwrap machine today, where you encase a book in a plastic sleeve and use an industrial hairdrier to make it cling, hence the shrinking and the wrapping. Duh.

Anyway, one of the dudes I work with had bought his older sister a Harry Potter box set for her upcoming birthday. The present just happened to be shrinkwrapped, as there are several books, so while he was at lunch, me and another guy ripped the plastic off, wrote his sister a saucy note, slipped it between the Order of the Phoenix and the Half-Blood Prince and shrinkwrapped it all back up again. Best move joke ever. Seriously. How damn cool is that?

One great thing about being home is that I get to read a whole lot more. I'm tearing through books I've been meaning to read (or re-read) for such a long time, so it's wicked to be able to get them crossed off the list. I'm going hard on some CS Lewis. How's this (from the Four Loves): "To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell."

And from the Problem of Pain: "I call this Divine humility because it is a poor thing to strike our colours to God when the ship is going down under us; a poor thing to come to Him as a last resort, to offer up "our own" when it is no longer worth keeping. If God were proud He would hardly have us on such terms: but He is not proud, He stoops to conquer, He will have us even though we have shown that we prefer everything else to Him, and come to Him because there is "nothing better" now to be had."

How about some Mere Christianity?: "Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of — throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself. "

Last one I promise, again from Mere Christianity (probably my favourite book): "Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. There are many things below it, but there are also things above it. You cannot make it the basis of a whole life. It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling...Knowledge can last, principles can last, habits can last; but feelings come and go...But, of course, ceasing to be "in love" need not mean ceasing to love. Love in this second sense -love as distinct from "being in love"- is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by (in Christian marriage) the grace which both partners ask, and receive, from God... "Being in love" first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise. It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it."

Like, what the crap? How can anyone write this well and be so damn right? I love CS Lewis so much. I want to see more of my heart lining up with his. I want to act with ihs conviction and not care if I fail because even if my failure hurts incredibly, even that would be infinitely preferable to regret or being a lukewarm human being. I'm definitely feeling more like my old self again, rediscovering what I care about and who I am.

[	location	|	Adelaide Uni	]
[	mood	|	heartbroken	]
[	music	|	Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism	]

Yeah this is really strange... cheers insanetimbo for letting me know about this. Check out http://www.democrats.org.au/survey2/survey/GodGovt_v2 and see how the Democrats are trying to carve out a new demographic, or to create new generalisations about Australian Christians. Like there's any real "Christian" way to answer this, as so many of the questions are moral issues that will split people and have little to do with the Gospel. Seriously, check this out. I'm more than a bit concerned about where this is going, but hey, the Democrats are a spent force so it may be the case that no one listens to them or cares about what they will find.

[	location	|	home sweet home	]
[	mood	|	happy to be home	]
[	music	|	Augie March - Strange Bird	]

Coming home was nuts. I started my return trip early Monday, London time, flying through ten time zones, trying to realign my body and rest up too. First I flew back to Japan, then on to Sydney, finally ending up in Adelaide at midday on Wednesday. I bought two dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts while I was at Sydney, and Timmy came down to say hi too, which was super nice of him. I was so exhausted when we touched down in Adelaide, but seeing John, Cadence and Mum & Dad at the airport was enough to get me excited again. We all had dinner tonight at my place, and Tina joined us too which was rad - she is a lot of fun to be around and makes John happy which is real good. I gave people their presents and I enjoyed seeing the reactions. I'm still pretty chuffed with the dress and top I bought for Cadence... Tina told me I have a good eye for clothes - told you she was gold :)

I really didn't know what to do after everyone left, so I cut my hair with a little help from Adam. I'm happy with how it has turned out and even happier remembering how excellent my shower is. If cleanliness is next to Godliness, I'm just about a saint right now. And I have a date with Cadence tonight, the first time we've been out since May! I'm a bundle of nervous excitement!

[	location	|	Cardiff	]
[	mood	|	peaceful	]
[	music	|	Turin Brakes - The Optmist LP	]

I saw Cardiff Castle this morning, which was mighty impressive. The guy at the museum spoke with me at some length regarding Welsh history, labour troubles, the wars and how Australia will almost certainly beat England in the Ashes now that Jones is out of the side with injury. Afterwards, I wandered around the Bute Park Arboretum aimlessly for a few hours, taking photos of the idyllic surroundings and listening to the ever soothing sounds of Turin Brakes. It was so lovely.

Tomorrow heralds my return to London, my final stop before I leave for home. I've really enjoyed this last part of my trip, I'm more settled and happy than I have been for some time, with more clarity and insight than I thought that I would gain from the experience. I'm looking forward to reintegrating into Adelaide life and seeing what happens over the next few months, this next chapter of my life. I have some grand plans, some smaller ideas and certainly a big bag of hopes for what is to come. But first, a week of sleeping sounds nice.