perth action

i'm back.
this morning @ 4:30am - anneke and jason were roused by all the commotion of my frantic shuffling in the kitchen as i was getting ready to leave for the airport, they sleepily said their farewells.

5:30am - i left armadale airport at around 5 in the morning, my awesome friend hester dropped me off. hester is awesome! and she's got this cool group of kids that she teaches at the local school. she invited me to help out on an excursion to fremantle - where she allocated 6 precocious kids to me - i think i was supposed to teach them something about australian history, unphased at the prospect of such a task - i managed to spout rubbish quite eloquently in full confidence that whatever i told them would be forgotten by the time they turned eleven. ... perhaps i shoulda used that cheat sheet eh hes? :)

-stopped over in adelaide for a couple of hours
-there was this really crap in flight movie which i watched half-way through -"casanova"- don't watch it. its crap. i was hoping for something more savoury as this was the last leg of my return journey. and was in need of some entertainment...sitting by yourself for prolonged periods-strapped into a window seat can be boring.
-back to good ol' aucks! @7:30pm, i anticipated the landing on good old new zealand tarmac, it was incredible.

i declared my sandy tramping shoes (which i wore on our little camping trip up north/?west of perth) @ customs-they're a sad bunch. why did i tell you that? i don't know...anyway, i walked out of the arrival lounge hoping to see someone familiar, and there she was. mum. mum collected me from the airport, i love my mum.

meanwhile my good friend doc phil is having a huge flat warming. i swear i could see his roof on fire from 30000feet in the air. party on phil!

dan and katie. what can i say. i like yas. a lot. you stinkin' bullers!

kangaroo rats and cats

gidday mates! i like you all very muchly, and i think i'm missing you crazy dongers.
i am sitting in this asian tourist information centre place, using the internet facilities. and there's this funny british chick, acting all asian like...cool.
anyways, i was walking down the street-listening to the mars- and picking off cat hair off my jacket.
everything in perth is within walking distance-if you work/live/play in the city. its quaint, and its quiet. i think its growing on me. not that i'm thinking of moving or anything.
i'll be home on saturday. look forward to seeing you all.
p.s.: got some camping done out in the oz bush-cold cold cold
p.s.s.: mike! your autograph is worth millions over here in Armadale, Perth!

love ya'll!

16:19

i've come to the end of my 3 month run. i can't help but feel as though there is still some business left unfinished. i wonder if its possible to not feel this way. i find myself mentally visualising each of the patients on a kind of split screen with specific allocated jobs to be executed for each of them. so, i'll be heading off to perth tomorrow morning. 6:50am. which means i gotta be at the airport to check in by 4:50am. dang. i knew i shoulda booked a later flight. oh well...see you soon

was hansel and gretel sad too?

its tuesday.
as thursday looms closer i feel a foreboding sense of discomfort. i have become somewhat comfortable and accustomed to the ways of psychiatric medicine. i may be a little sad to leave these parts of the woods. the disgruntled and sometimes fuzzy animals have brought me much joy. lo'perhaps it is time for me to venture into the other parts of the forest to search out and smell alien roses. i'll just make sure i leave a trail of valium tablets to guide me back home.

$petrol

ouch

taking life.....too seriously

after returning from west africa, i thought 'man i must have picked up a real load of cynicism or something' but maybe its not cynicism, maybe its realism?



this girl is 2 years old. was.



playing 'afro-jungle' music @ a wedding. we were just playing whatever the hell we wanted. there was more noise than harmony really, no one cared none.



village kids. everyday, they walk up this large hill to fetch water from a well. its filthy dirty, but hey what do they care...they're poor, right?

cool. now lets get back to bickering about stale cookies and gossiping about who's going to go out with who!

knee jerk

i asked myself something(s) today.

what does God think of me? am i doing what i am supposed to be doing?

is it enough to just read my bible? go to church on a sunday? open the door for someone? raise my hands and close my eyes after that magnificent key change? to not stray from convention (because convention keeps us safe...doesn't it?)

the fact that he chose (emphasis on chose) to save us from an inevitable and most unpleasant end i.e: the death after death, overwhelms me with a sort of confused relief. such a gift, if not the ultimate of gifts should move us to live a life of worship. not in the way of raising hands and straining face. but spirit and in truth!

let us be conscious of our social responsibilities….
lets get real…

…. let us glorify him by standing for justice. not charity. charity is superficial.

look at the child with no home, no food, no parents. what will we do about it? read our bibles more? go to church more? open more doors for more people? raise my hands and strain my face more after an even more magnificent key change? although these things are both good and biblical, it is the acknowledgment of God and all his power and glory in the things we do which puts a smile on his face.

worship is not limited to one act (as we have been so conditioned), but is done properly when the heart and attitude is in the right place. true worship is felt inwardly, and manifests through actions. "going through the motions" out of obligation is vain. check out Amos 5:21-24.

a fellow doctor i work with had a chat with a scared and stigmatised-by-the-public manic patient today, and he worshipped.