So...Lost finale

At our lost party we had three challenges...
1. Compete in a Lost trivia quiz
2. Design a Lost themed shirt
3. Write a Lost themed poem

Here is my poetic entry...

Ways to die on LOST

If you managed to live through, a crash killing your friends
Don’t rest on your luck, there’s more ways to end

You might fall from up high, that’s gravitational law
Or you could be destroyed by a fast meteor

You could fall from a building or jump from a freighter
a lack of a constant will help you meet your maker

by Poison gas or perhaps Dynamite
from explosive C4 or a simple fist fight

A freighter might blow up, you could be held under water
or an aeroplane engine could lead to your slaughter

Gunshots and Strangling, Stab wounds a plenty
Or kinda less glamorous, pushed off a balcony

Impaled on a knife in a kitchen appliance
C-Spine injuries beyond medical science

Drowned in pool or be hit by a car
be trapped in a small plane that fell just too far

You might be Buried alive or Impaled on a stake
killed by a smoke monster or simply punched in the face

A nose bleed might get you, or a mean polar bear
A Flaming arrow might hit you as it flies through the air

If you escape Land mines and axe wounds discretely
Your Heart still might give in and just stop completely

It seems there a many dangers about
Things that will make you scream, struggle and shout

There is still some hope, after all’s said and done
You just CANNOT die when you’re hit on the head with a gun!

I didn't win the poetry contest but was voted best shirt, I might even post a picture of my shirt depicting the simultaneous existence both on and off the island.

So...I'm an Uncle

My brand new niece was born on Saturday May 15th, 17:39pm (GMT), 6lbs 4/ 2.84kg, 48cm

Lucy Elizabeth Collings...Isn't she the cutest thing in the world?!?!?
We've never met (and wont be able to meet for a few months yet), but I love her already!

So...the Styrofoam Cup

When I fly alone, I rarely talk to anyone. In the airport I drink coffee, read and peruse through various stores (carefully pacing myself during long layovers). On board the aircraft, I will exchange pleasantries with the people sitting near me on my flight but I will avoid being engaged in an actual conversation if I can help it. I request an aisle seat, I wear headphones and generally watch TV for the whole flight. I've always found it difficult to sleep on planes. All this lends itself to many hours of reflection and inner thought. I discuss things with myself. I silently comment about the people I watch. I complain inside my mind about interruptions to my media of choice. I replay conversations and revisit situations.

The turning point is when the flight attendant serves drinks. It seems that there is something about coasting along 37,000 feet above sea-level that triggers a mysterious mechanism in the universal passenger subconscious that makes salted peanuts the most desirable entrée this side of In & Out cheeseburgers and a half-cup of Canada Dry the finest carbonated beverage on (or above) planet earth.

But I always ask for coffee on the plane partly because I enjoy coffee but mainly, and this is a little odd, because drinking a half-serving of substandard coffee from a Styrofoam (UK: polystyrene) cup always provides me with a sober moment of reality and perspective. In those few moments of lukewarm enjoyment I always find myself staring at the bottom of the cup after every sip. I laugh at myself for the things I once thought mattered, I recall dreams and plans that I made days, weeks, months or years ago but that never came to fruition. I think of the future, the opportunities ahead. In just a few moments I realign my concerns and desires. I feel as though the world stops for a moment, a moment that is always contemplative, serious but tremendously positive.I'm left staring at the bottom of the empty, coffee stained Styrofoam cup. I smirk, breathe a short laugh at myself and then get back to not talking to people.

I wont share my thoughts of that recent moment here but will perhaps encourage you to take a Styrofoam cup moment every now and then.

So...Mondays

I don't work on Mondays and today was a perfect day off.

The sun shone all day, I read a book, watched TV, listened to music and spent a lot of time outside. I enjoyed drinking ice cold water dispensed directly from the fridge with my own choice of cubed or crushed ice. I loved that the only sound I could hear was the water feature in the back yard. I even remembered to switch my phone alerts to "sabbath" so that I didn't get email alerts.

The last few years has taught me that I could live anywhere in the world, wherever God leads me to serve Him...but there's definitely some great perks living in California!

So...online registration

We've just about got through the first weekend of Summer Camp online registration. Here's what I've learned...

1. Technology is your best friend when it's working and your worst enemy when it isn't
2. Life demands too many passwords and usenames
3. No matter how many possible scenarios you prepare for, there will ALWAYS be a student or a parent that will present just one more
4. A paperless registration process is incredible, despite the minor hiccups we've had, the set up looks clean and professional (and I'm not carrying large wads of cash and checks around with me)
5. Online registration seems to encourage people to email questions rather than speak to someone in person or by phone, allowing me to respond within hours
6. NOBODY enters telephone numbers in the following format (xxx)xxx-xxxx which is unfortuante because that's the only acceptable format for our system
7. Old people type SUPER slow
8. Young people assume that every monitor is a touch screen, despite the presence of a keyboard
9. Despite all the fancy programs we have installed on our computers, the easiest and quickest way to get an image onto a screen is good ol' fashioned Powerpoint.
10. Sitting on a bar stool but working on a regular height table is a very quick way to develop pain in your neck and spine

Overall I'm super happy with how it's going, just a few kinks to iron out and then keep praying for those sign ups to start pouring in!

So...being disorganiSed

I like to be organiSed, possibly a little too much. I think this is one of the reasons I work well running large events. I like order and systems and plans. I like things to match in some way or another, I like symmetry and patterns.

We just finished installing shelves into our new closet space...I really want to buy new matching storage stubs but I also enjoy not spending money frivolously so haven't.

Last month I led a mission trip to New Mexico and we took 200 people, out of the four charter buses, one was slightly older and different....that was irritating.

When I helped lead a Summer Camp many years ago (FAB for those reading who remember the LCET days) and as a gift one of the other leaders arranged all the coloUred cups in such a way that each table had their own coloUr rather than a mismatched non-complimenting array of bright tones...I almost cried it was so great.

I could never wear socks that didn't match, one year for Christmas I was given a set of 7 pairs with the days of the week on. I hardly wore them because I could never find the right day.

There's no real point to this post other than I was thinking about this yesterday as I was working to get our Summer Camp registration online (solely online, there is no other way to sign up). It's up and running but I had to ask about a million time for "one last change" which I'm sure was not only annoying for the IT guy but was killing me for being so disorganiSed.

And this is only the beginning! Summer Camp only 8 weeks away and we have the possibility of taking 700 people so it's going to be a busy few weeks! I might need to get some matching file folders or something to help me through!