Diamonds eh?

When My flatmate came home and excitedly told me there were some exceptional specials at Michael Hill Jeweller and that in order to get the good deals you would have to camp out overnight to assure yourself of the bargains, I thought he was a little over the top and I assured him that camping out, outside a Jeweller overnight would be the last thing in the world I'd be caught doing, not in a million years!

However, after I went for a Jog through Cashel Mall (because I was going that way anyway!) I found myself starring face to face with a $1100 Diamond ring. I ran home, packed a sleeping bag and some clothes into a bag and within 20 minutes, I was sitting outside the Cashes Mall Shop, eagerly awaiting the sale which would begin in approx. 16 hours time.


By 10.30pm, I was joined by four other treasure hunters pictured below, (From left: Allie, Shannon, Lindsey, Jen and Myself. We huckled down for a long night ahead. The night was filled with all sorts of exciting moments, free food, cricket, police, security guards, irate shop managers and at least one well-wisher who gave Shannon $10 and told him to look after the rest of us because he was under the impression we were living on the street despite all the Cell phones, CD players, pizza boxes and expensive sleeping bags! Top bunch of fella's and fellesses, some great stories.


By 7am, 5 more joined the queue and as the sun came up the excitement began to build towards the special deals which awaited us.

The first person in the queue got in first and secured the most prized deal of the $1100 ring for $1 and you guessed it, that was Me!!! (I still feel a little disappointed towards the others who didn't quite get as good a deal, but they still got some amazing bargains.

I don't know what to do with the ring yet, there's no one special to give it to, I have a few bills to pay off, I'll have a think about it over the next couple of weeks when the valuation papers come in from Michael Hill's

Not a bad cluster of rocks eh!

Not long Now!

It's been 11 weeks... There is one week to go... The hard work is paying off...

Over the weekend one brave soul took on the challenge of an incredible amount of WAXING! (Thanks Mel!) and the result is a smooth, pimply finish you could mistake for a high gloss sheen on a car!

By next Tuesday, there should be some updated photo's for the final transformation.

12 weeks of Gym work, 6 times a week
12 weeks of diet
1 weekend of waxing, all caught on video! (I screamed like a little girl, see photo of the wax strips!)


That was only a little part of my chest!

Journey with others

I was speaking on Sunday Night about our Journey with others, how the way we relate has an effect not only on those we are journeying with, but is also a good gauge of our own journey.

People were invited to light candles as a response for each person they wanted to be disturbed to connect with of for God's guidance in their journey with others.
It was also a good night to send off Amy and Lee-Anne with some messages of friendship and love from those here at Opawa.

It was also a highlight for me also as my Mother and Her partner Graeme came, my Aunt Elaine came and also my brother and his girlfriend Becs also cane for the service. It was a strange experience to be able to preach to my family, none of which I would say would be Church going people although my Mother is a part of the Masonic Lodge here in Christchurch.

It was a special birthday present.

Home owner?

I'm going into negotiations tomorrow to explore the possibility of owning my own home. I'm not sure of the expectations, the finances, the red tape or anything like that. I'm just going to sit around the table and explore the possibilities.

Two weeks ago my mum's partner's (Graeme) father passed away. Graeme's mum is in care and Graeme is overseeing the estate in her place. Yesterday I was helping Mum and Graeme tidy up their property for it to be sold.

It was an uneasy feeling, there was a rubbish skip and there was a lot of rubbish to be removed. However every time I threw something in the skip I couldn't get away from the thoughts that I was throwing away some of Graeme's memories of his parents. It was an awkward time and I wish I didn't have to be there, but it was something which couldn't be avoided.

I watched as Graeme sorted through old tools in the garage, clothes and old photo's in the sleepout wondering what memories these held for him. I felt sad that a major part of his life was closing. What's worse, Mum and Graeme kept asking if there were things I wanted, things they will need to eventually need to get rid of when the house is sold. Admittedly there were things which I could have made use of, but I didn't want to just load up the car with all of Graeme's parent's stuff, it would have felt weird.

I dropped Graeme off at his place so he could go and see his mum in the home and we talked about Property investments and what would be a good price to put the house on the market for.

After dropping Graeme off, as I was driving home, The thought occurred to me, they want to sell the home, I'm looking to buy a home in the near future, is there something we could arrange along the lines of me buying the place?

I called Graeme and shared my musing and tomorrow we sit to talk details...

Not sure what will happen...

Not sure it's possible...

Calling all who love inflicting Pain!

As many know, as part of the Gym programme I'm involved in, there is a final photo shoot in 3 and a half weeks! For the photo shoot, I thought it would be a unique experience to do the full "Body for Life" pose at the end showing a very big comparison between the first photo and the the end result. As a result, I need three things.

1. A haircut, I made a promise to cut my hair for the final shoot.
2. A number of sessions in the sunbed, all the other participants are fully tanned up for their final photo.
3. A Wax.

The first two I can do relatively easy, however for the third I will need a little help.

So I am putting the SOS out there for anyone who is skilled in the craft of inflicting pain and suffering (so probably someone who is married...) and would be willing to do the honors of helping me with this. I have never done anything like this before so my degree of understanding is limited, but I think I have a high tolerance for pain so I'm open to any ideas.

If you know how to and are willing to wax/extract hair from the arms/legs/back/chest/shoulders (and I'm not desperate enough for Steve Jaeger to use his epilady yet) then I need to hear from you ASAP because I need to start Sun Bedding soon and it will be more effective without the rug.

The challenge has been set!

Secret Of Life...

A woman walking down a residential street, noticed a little old man rocking in a chair on his porch.

She called out to him as she passed. "Hello there! I couldn't help but notice how happy you look. What's your secret for a long happy life?"

"I smoke three packs of cigarettes a day," he replied. "I also drink a case of whiskey a week, eat nothing but fast food, and never exercise."

"Wow!" The woman was amazed. "How old are you?" she asked.

"Twenty-six," he replied.

Superhero's... I think!

For those who didn't make the Superhero's party on the 24th, here were four of the more likely superhero's, from back right, Wonder Woman, G.I. Elvis, Sunshine Girl and Quail Man!

We had between 30 and 40 people there throught the evening, the last of them left at about 12am which seemed a reasonable hour for Wonder Woman to retire for the evening!

Some other Superhero's (I need to call them Superhero's and not just Hero's because that may have different connotations in today's society!) were PVC Girl, one of the Incredibles, A samurai Warrior (Complete with Swords!) Robin, the Boy Wonder and Glutious Maximus, a Roman centurion.

There was a sense of disappointment with which many of the Party-goers lack of participation in the dress up though. I wonder if it's a Christian thing? That for many Christians, a party means turn up, sit in the lounge and complain the music is too loud? (I had my way with some of the music and we got to hear some good old fashioned ROCK, but most of it was "Nice, Safe music.")

If you were invited to a Fancy Dress Party, would you turn up just in plain clothes? Before I became a Christian, it was unheard of to turn up to a fancy dress party without a good attempt at a costume. Perhaps I have too different an expectation on Christian fun? Maybe it's no wonder I would rather go to a "Non-Christian" party than a "Christian" one. Have we, who were once called the "Light of the World" forgotten how to party? Or do I just need to change my expectations?