Interview

I had an interview with ESR on Monday. It seemed to go really well. I should know by the end of the week if I have got the job. Whether I will take it or not depends on may factors. One part of the job is being on call 24/7 one week in four. Yeah.



Boys Breakfast

Ethan, Wee Jono, and Big Jono, and myself went to Mc D's for breakfast this morning. Great time of fellowship, eating, and maths. The maths was working out percentage fat in different meals. Mmmmm!



The Hikoi Hiccup

I promise not to rant and rave. Yes I know I go on. And I know that I can easily offend. So I will be careful....



The organisers of the Hikoi did not think too carefully. Perhaps if they had, they would not have organised the walk across the Harbour Bridge. This has probably cost Auckland into the millions in lost productivity. Not only that it has ticked off many people who may well have otherwise supported the protestors. As I understood, the walk was fairly short, and buses transported the group to a place not far from the bridge. Why could they have not bused across the bridge and carried on from there? Grandstanding perhaps? Well I think (and hope) it has backfired.

Another Truck Quote

Saw another interesting back of truck quote.



"Without trucks Australia stops."



Well what are you waiting for! Get rid of the trucks!

A Walk To Remember

Yesterday I walked home from work. Yep. Mt Wellington to Manurewa.



Along the way.....



In Mt Wellington it was loud. Trucks and cars screamed past me as I strolled along the foot path.



In Onehunga I saw many Pacific Island children playing cricket in a residential centre. I became hot and stopped at a dairy. There I purchased a Sour Chill and some sweets. A mad man at a bus shelter performed a wild dance as I came towards him.



In Papatoetoe, I stopped at the Orthodontists, and got my teeth seen to. If I don't take out my back brace, I don't need my wisdom teeth out, as they will never make it to the surface. I wonder what I should do?! Further along I saw two young kids crossing the busy Gt South Road away from a pedestrian crossing. Thankfully a young male driver stopped to let them across, and after he yelled at them to cross from the middle, they did. Where were the parents I wondered.



In Manukau, I stopped at Dick Smith, and also visited the mall. I resisted temptation to buy any PC games, but browsed nevertheless. One lady was harrassing a Dick Smith sales guy over digital cameras. It's amazing how rude someone can be to another person when that person cannot really do anything about the situation they find themselves in.



As I approached Manurewa, I followed the Puhinui stream upstream from Gt South Road. I saw fish in the water. This is a vast improvement from my 6th form days, when I did a project and the water was so bad that nothing seemed to live in it.



It was a pleasant walk. I would do it again. In fact I want to walk New Zealand. That would be cool. Imagine that! Passing different areas, each with their own unique character and peculiarities.

Assasination of Common Sense - NZ Herald

New York teenager Stephen Pappadake, 17, was driving at 130km/h in a 50km/h zone and passing cars on the wrong side of the road when he crashed and died. Now his parents have filed a lawsuit against the last driver that Pappadake passed. They said the driver veered to the left, causing their son to leave the road and crash. The lawsuit, said the White Plains Journal News, made no reference to police conclusions.



All I can say is Yeah GO ON. What ever happened to personal responsibility?

Jono's Blog

It has risen from the dead. Check it out ya'll.



Touch

Well the weather outside was frightful, but it turned out so delightful. And so we played touch. And it was good. And many tries were scored. And there was much forward passing. And man was it a cool game. And we made the field quite wide, which showed how shocking our defence could become. And I twisted my ankle, but it's not to bad, so that's cool.



Cricket

What is wrong with test cricket? It is the same thing as classical music. If we can't have something wrapped into a 3 minute sound / video bite, we won't bother. Why is a game like rugby more popular than cricket? Is not part of it at least that we have time for it, but to take a whole five days out of our modern timetables is just beyond the pale? Some may say that cricket is boring and rugby is not. But that is playing into the hands of my ideas on this. We just don't have the time to become interested in something that takes so long, and has few moments of 'excitement' and many moments in between the few exciting bits like outs and sixes. Thus the highlights become the game. As an aside, isn't it weird that we should find rugby more interesting than cricket (I'm talking statistically here) when in essence, cricket is a much more varied game, in that rugby is basically about getting a ball over a line, and stopping the opposition from doing the same. I have nothing against rugby, in fact I quite enjoy it, but I find that cricket is much more strategic (and therefore stimulating for me) than rugby. I'm sure some would argue that this is not so, but I argue from the sheer fact that in cricket there are many facets to play. The skill involved is also great. I mean imagine a ball travelling toward you at a speed of 150km/hour. Over the small distance of a pitch. And now hit it. Wow.



Back to Basics

I feel away from God at the moment. I haven't been wanting to read the Bible, or to read the Christian books I have started. After I have finished this post I will go away and force myself to. I don't need to feel close to God, because no matter how I feel, the fact is, He has rescued me from sin, and He loves me, and no matter what He will keep me. Nevertheless, this whole feeling has made me depressed.



News Flash

I applied for a Forensic Technician job at ESR, and have got an interview on the 26th of April. Please pray for this. I am not sure if it is a good move or not. It could have repercussions for my effectiveness leading the youth. At Tip Top, I am close to home, and the shift work means I can be quite flexible in meeting with people, because I never get caught in traffic, and sometimes don't have to go in until late, so can meet with the guys for breakfast. ESR on the other hand is in Mt Albert, and apparently if I get the job I will be on call for scene attendance around New Zealand.



Music

Currently listening to Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major. Highly recommend. Get it! Also tonight I shall write some music. I haven't done it for a while, and I really feel like doing it. So 'roll over Beethoven'. Haha. Yeah GO ON.

Nato is close

Nato you were on the right track in both of your comments. I'll leave this for a bit more thought and will post on it soon.



Hike

I took some of the young guys from C.I.A hiking (in the Hunua ranges) on Saturday and Sunday. We tramped through from the east coast near a place called Wahirau. Please correct my spelling as I cannot find the correct spelling anywhere. We then traversed west up onto a ridge and followed this south/southeast. We stopped Saturday night at a little clearing, pitched a tent, and made a shelter. Sunday morning we continued south and came out to a road near Mangatangi dam. There were no major injuries. We did try an alternative route out, which led us down a steep gully, and to a stream. I followed that down for about 2km, and hadn't reached the road, so we had to back track up the gully, and take the better known and easily followed route. Oh well. Next time. Gotta love getting out into the bush. Beautiful!



First Aid

Work sent me onto a first aid course. It ran on Thursday and Friday. It was pretty boring, and I reckon we could have covered all we needed to in one day. Much of the learning was 'figure it out yourself and then report back' nonsense. A little more direction and teaching (Wow teaching to aid learning? How novel!) would have made the course much better. We also marked our peers. Hmmm. Need I say anymore? Or shall I just call it nonsense and wait for someone (you know who you are!) to tell me I need to explain why it is nonsense?



However, apart from that, I can do stuff I couldn't do before, and feel better prepared to handle an emergency situation. So that is a positive.

Walking

I went for a lovely walk through the Auckland Botanic Gardens last night. It's amazing that such beauty is on the doorstep of my house, and yet I hardly ever wander it. And further to this. To walk, or to drive, that is the question. My goal this week is to walk more and drive less in situations when God-given original transport can cope.



Promised Post

Cricket and Democracy will be posted about soon. Watch this space, and see if you can guess how they are both related to my last post.