Here’s something I heard at a conference I was at on Friday:
“the treatments we prescribe in weight loss for fat people are the same unhealthy problems that we are diagnosing in thin (anorexic, bulimic) people…”
Quite profound me thinks, especially as I note the Biggest Loser finale on TV at the moment…
There’s sometime wrong…
You know that I know you know that I know you want to know what I’m reading, of course the whole world wants to know that I’ve picked up a book and that I’m using the literacy that was taught me over years of training in the NSW education system.
So this is what I’m reading right now:
‘Batavia’ by Peter Fitzsimons
And ‘No Country For Old Men’ by Cormac McCarthy.
There you go.
I should clarify… I don’t hate your birthday – I really quite enjoy other people’s birthdays, I just don’t like my birthday.
This feeling about my birthday has been a fairly long standing emotion, at least since primary school, and each year as my birthday comes around I try to work out why I despise it so much… I’ve tried to articulate it to Fi but I find it hard to even articulate it to myself. It’s not that I don’t like getting older, I’m still in the age range where I quite look forward to getting older (& hopefully wiser), I’ve not reached the stage yet where all I want to do is be young again (mid-life crisis is hopefully still plenty of years away).
So what is it?
As I do my annual reflection again this year I know it’s got something to do with expectations. I try not to have any expectations of my birthday because experience tells me that I will be disappointed, so I try to treat it as just another day, nothing special, just a day like any other… But of course it’s not a day like any other… on this day you get presents, people send you special messages and well wishes for this day, people you haven’t spoken to for too long make the effort to contact you on this day, this is not a normal day. And so, as much as I try to pretend it’s a normal day with no expectations, I find myself drawn in to the “specialness” by all the attention… But this is not really the problem itself, it is just the fuel for the problem.
You see, if I’m honest, I’m a selfish person. I want the world focussed on me. I want the attention. Herein lies the problem. The attention of a birthday feeds my selfishness and now those simmering expectations I’ve tried to keep at bay start to bubble to the surface of my consciousness… on My birthday I want to be waited on hand and foot. I want to do what I want to do when I want to do it. I don’t want to have to anything I don’t feel like doing. I don’t want to be told what to do. I want uninhibited free reign because it’s MY BIRTHDAY! I, I, I, I, I, I… want, want, want… me, me, me…
Of course, it’s unreasonable to think that way, to behave that way, to be so selfish! And it’s just a stupid birthday! You haven’t invented the cure for cancer or brought peace to the world, you were just pushed out of your mothers womb, took a breath, screamed and then crapped out half a kilo of meconium… congratulations! Why do I feel like I should be at the centre of the earth on this day?
This is why I hate my birthday: because every selfish, sinful, & self-serving desire – those desires which wage war so forcefully and consistently with my identity in christ – on this day they are at their strongest. On this day their shouts for autonomy and worship are heard at their loudest. On this day the fruit of the forbidden tree is pressed up against your face the hardest. And I hate that.
There. I feel better.
Please don’t hear that I’m ungrateful for birthday wishes, presents, cards etc. This is me not you.
Since I turned 18 I have participated in democracy quite a number of times. As of this weekend, I still have not accepted a single “how to vote” card from any of the people outside the polling venues.
You’re welcome.
You want to know how amazing Apple is?
I know you do!
I’m getting pretty well kitted out in all things Apple these days – I have the Macbook pro 15″ i7, iPhone 3GS, and now a wireless bluetooth Apple keyboard and trackpad.
I only just bought the keyboard and trackpad to help my posture when in the Mac, but then I’m thinking “hold on… will this thing link to my iPhone?” Why not? And yes it does!
So then I’m texting people, controlling my ipod all from my wireless keyboard, and yes even writing this blog via my wireless keyboard to my iPhone on the WordPress app and BOO YAH! a blog on the net without network internet and without a computer and without text typing thumbs.
Ahhh, Apple… surely you will be the rise and downfall of our civilization..
This is Mike Dicker signing off from anywhere there’ mobile reception!
I went to see Ed Vedder’s solo show at the State Theatre tonight. As I expected, he was fantastic. Crowd were fairly enthusiastic, although there were a few pockets of loud (drunk?) idiots who couldn’t stop yelling for most of the night. One female bogan even tried to get an “Aussie Aussie Aussie” chant going. Thankfully only one moron returned the “Oi Oi Oi”, and she didn’t try again. Phew.
Highlights for me were Porch, Immortality, Dead Man, Golden State and Hard Sun.There was also a brilliant new version of ‘Better Man’ that was quite difficult to pick at first. Completely new melody and rhythm to freshen up a familiar song.
Only got one photo (during the final encore [featuring Jimmy Barnes' daughter, who was one half of the support act]) as the venue staff were very attentive to enforcing their ‘no photography’ rule in the section we were seated in. Posted on Twitter as per Dicker’s request.
Right, I’m off to bed. Not too much tinnitus this evening for once.
c’mon hungry beast season 3 on ABC1!
Woohoo!
What is hungry beast? You can check the video below but basically think of the 7pm project on channel Ten except the journalism is good, funny, engaging, funny, and insightful.
So the whole gay marriage debate seems to be centre stage at the moment with the Get-Up campaign to promote gay marriage kicking off today, the gay & lesbian mardi gras coming soon, and the Fred Nile group organising themselves for a protest against gay marriage. I’ve noticed a few twitters on the subject and received a few emails from both sides…
At the risk of displaying my ignorance, I have a 2 questions:
To my mind if homosexual people do not have the same legal entitlements as married people then it is probably our job as christians to fight for their right to those entitlements – that is, if we are serious about loving all people regardless of race, colour, creed or sexuality. The gay couple who live together in de-facto and then split are as much entitled to equal super, and equal ownership of shared material possessions as the heterosexual de-facto couple who split.
This is not a question of Christian faith but a question of justice and upholding the rights of the vulnerable.
If we want to make this an issue of christian principle then we should also deny the marriage of pagan heterosexuals. If we are serious in saying (as the bible does) that homosexuality is no worse a sin than heterosexual immorality (sleeping around, unfaithfulness, promiscuity etc) then we need to be consistent with our stand across the board. Homosexuals who are denying the lordship of Jesus are as much entitled to marriage as Heterosexuals who are denying the lordship of Jesus.
If you’re going to make a stand for one or the other, just be consistent in applying your theology – if Jesus gets angry about anything, it’s hypocrisy and double standards.
Personally, if homosexuals get married or not, what difference does it make? They still need to hear the gospel and be radically transformed by it.
So we’re hoping to get a new house soon.
If by soon, you mean some time in the next couple of years. We hope.
Our architect (the father-in-law) says we’ll be moved in by Christmas. I’m less optimistic and assume it’ll be mid 2012.
Either way, we got emailed some (final?) plans this morning and I’m almost allowing myself to get excited…believing it might actually happen…
The project involves us selling our unit (pretty much done); some friends selling their unit (hopefully soon); us purchasing a lovely corner block property (pretty much done); renovating the existing house, so that our friends can move into it (nowhere near done); us building a new house on the back of the property and having our own little street frontage with shared backyard/vegetable gardens/BBQ area etc (waaaay down the track). It’s a vague attempt at living in long term community with close friends from church. Letting kids grow up together and seeing if we can all ‘play nice’ and share resources. A sort of middle-class commune.
In the meantime we’ll become wandering gypsies, roaming the southern suburbs of Sydney between temporary housing, until the property is ready. Hopefully this won’t end up all post-apocalyptic and we don’t have to fight any marauding gangs while we’re ‘on the road’.
I’m looking for a witty anecdote that goes with this formula:
“Couldn’t organise a ___________ in a ___________.”
Some popular ones are:
There are few more that I know but really aren’t suitable for saying out loud or printing in text (if you know what I mean?).
So I’d like some which are a bit more clever and less likely to offend people with the language and content.
Got any suggestions?
Add a comment below. (No crude ones please).