Christmas Run Down - No. 4

On the Tenth day of Christmas something I did do:

Almost missed my solo...

Yep thats right, I almost missed my solo with the songsters this morning.  You wouldn't have thought it was possible but it happened.  This morning I was out, taking advantage of the fact that I didn't need to be at church for the first time in a long time when I got a text from the songster leader..."Are you coming to church to sing?" I was a little taken back by the message as I knew I was doing a solo with the songsters but I thought that I was singing at the 6pm carols service, not the 11am...so I wrote back exactly that...only to get the response... "no the 11, not the 6".  So with that I jumped in the car and raced to church.  Walked in sang a congregational song, then got up and performed my solo with the songsters, no army uniform, no salvo t-shirt, in fact not even dressed that nice, just in some casual sunday clothes complete with my new favourite shoes.  But I sang the song and then I left, ready to return for the carols service tonight...which it turns out I don't have to sing in.  Oops.

Nativity the Musical
Shopping Centre Carols
Eat lots of Food
Conversation Cards
More Christmas Lights
Come Celebrate
Sing with my Pa

Bendigo's Christmas Lights

and A Pageant with the Kids from Kids Church

I guess that's all part of the adventure!

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Rawards

One of the other good things about December, other than summer and Christmas is Rawards.  What is Rawards you might ask?  Well its an interesting, when you look at it at the most basic level it is the Box Hill Salvos Youth Break-up Party, but it is so much more than that!  Its a dance party, its a great feed, its a chance for you to win something, its a fun time to hang out with your mates and most of all its a great chance to dress up. 

Now my friends and I pride ourselves on our Raward costumes and seeing as though it appears I have deprived you of these for my entire blogging history, here is a recap of the costumes thus far....

2005 - TV Logies - Unfortunately I don't have a picture of this one on my computer, but I can tell you it was good.  The team went as the cast of Chris lily's 'We can be Heroes'.  It was our first united front complete with:

Kat as Pat 'I am going to roll around Australia' Mullens
Brad as Phil 'I saved those kids from the jumping castle' Olivetti

Miriam as Ricky 'Supernerd and musical extraordinaire' Wong

Myself as Ja'mie 'I've got hundreds of sponsor kids' King

and Dave, who gets a special mention as he spent the night as both Daniel 'I donated my ear' and Nathan 'I'm a bit deaf' Sims.

2006 - TV Show theme - hence the 5 of us came as Grey's Anatomy, special mention goes out to Brad who was painted black to be just like Burke. (I feel in light of recent events I must also mention that this was not done with any racial intentions...we just needed a burke to go with our more natural Christina)

2007 - Disney - Is there a better Disney team than the Increadibles? Complete with Mr Incredible himself.  This time there is a dishonorable mention to Brad who was conveniently overseas for Rawards this year.  

2008 - Op Shop Formal - and while it was not a team effort there were some very special outfits.

and finally 2009 - Heroes and Villians themed - and I think one of our best efforts yet - the Ninja Turtles.  Complete with green and weapons. Oh and another dishonorable mention to Brad who once again managed to be overseas for Rawards...perhaps he is avoid us and our awesome costumes.

who knows what we will be in 2010!

I guess that's just all part of the adventure!

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Twihard

Sometimes I get sucked into things, I know you find that hard to believe but its true. The Twilight saga is one of these things, and thankfully I am not the only one.


When I moved up to Castlemaine I had to leave my Melbourne cell group behind, but because I didn’t want to miss out completely I found another one in Bendigo and it has been such a wonderful group to belong to. For most of the year it has just been Susanne, Dee and I, and towards the end of the year I finally met Jo as well.

Anyway, when we aren’t doing the study, there is a fairly high chance that Dee, Susanne and I are talking about twilight…we love it…and just for the record, I am team Edward, Dee is team Jacob…and Susanne…well she tends to change her mind, although I think Jake is currently winning. And so…it only seemed natural that we would attend the premier of New Moon together. So on Wednesday night, Susanne and I met at the cinemas nice and early, went and had some dinner and cold rock then headed back to the cinema to line up to that we would have awesome seats for the movie. Because we weren’t just seeing New Moon…no no no, we were seeing Twilight and New Moon, and unlike in Melbourne when you go and see something like this, there is no allocated seats. So Susanne and I lined up (Dee was at work) with all the 13-18year girls, a few older ones like us and I think 2 boys and waited to see the movie. And just in case you were wondering, it was soooooo worth it. I love doing things like that, I don’t really care how dorky you think I am, I still love it!

I guess that's just all part of the adventure!

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The Role of My Dreams

I love the fact the my blog is so far behind that by the time you read this it will probably be too late, but because I refuse to give in to the pressure and just type things as they happen rather than in retrospect as I seem to do there isn’t much I can do.

I think that I have mentioned before how much I love musicals, and how much I wanted to be in one…well the good news is…its all happening! That’s right, I have been offered a spot in a musical…and not just any spot…the spot. On the 18th of December 2009 I will be playing the role of Mairah (aka Mary) in a the nativity story like you have never seen it before. I am seriously so super excited and very nervous all at the same time! I suppose now I will need to start learning lines and songs and everything else…oh and perhaps I should have a little chat with mum about what it feels like to have waters break and give birth and stuff... coz I am a little inexperienced in that department.

So anyway, if you are free on the 18th, you should definitely come on down to Box Hill salvos and check it out! Its going to be seriously awesome.

Oh and today is two of my amazing friend’s birthdays! So Phoebe and Susanne….HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I guess that's just all part of the adventure!

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Brass Bands

There is something very peaceful about brass bands, perhaps its their classical music, or even the fact that it makes me think of my childhood and going to Dad’s band concerts, either way I don’t really mind, coz I still like it. This weekend the Box Hill Salvation Army Citadel Band was up in Bendigo, so being a Box Hill Girl, and living almost in Bendigo, I went and checked it out. This was my fist Band Wag experience and I did enjoy it. It brought back lots of memories from when I was a kid, because that was probably the last time I went to Brass band concert.

I think what made the night even better though was that the concert was full of all my favourite things about the box hill band:

• Some great marches
• A classic chorus
• A solo, on alto sax, from Davo
• A trombone solo from Benny
• A skit
• Some lovely male voices
• And just to top it off, Craig singing ‘Love changes anything’

Seriously, I don’t think that band concerts get much better than that!


I guess that's just all part of the adventure!

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Renee

Tonight my beautiful friend Renee got enrolled as a senior soldier, and even though I almost missed it, I was really glad that I was there. I don’t know why but I just get a bit of a kick out of seeing things like this, another soldier in the ranks, fighting the good fight! It brings out the Salvation Army Patriot in me, but it also makes me think about where I am at with my own soldiers covenant, am I still at least trying to do all the things I said I would do? Have I dropped the ball a bit? Am I going great guns?

I think honestly at the moment, a bit of both. Its easy to become complacent and just talk the talk, but I am glad that I have had a little refresher and challenge tonight.

I guess that's just all part of the adventure!

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The Toilet door

I have been going to Box Hill Salvos pretty much since I was born…there were a few years I couldn’t go, mainly coz I was living in America, but for the rest of my life I have been at Box Hill. I have been there so long that it feels like home, I don’t think that there is anywhere I haven’t been in the hall. Everything about it is familiar, and that’s the way I like it. I know the pressure of the taps, which light switch does what, where to get the good cordial from the fridge…everything, even the weight of the doors…or so I thought…

I am not sure when it happened exactly, but a few weeks ago I noticed that there was something different about the toilet door. I couldn’t work out exactly what it was, all I knew was that I couldn’t just run in like I had for the past 22years. It takes more effort to get in there now and I think I have finally worked out why that is.

I think that the door has a new hinge thing at the top… you know the thing that makes the door swing shut? I think it has a new one of those and the new one is stronger than the old one…It makes me work much harder to get into the toilet than the old one did. I am not sure why there is a new one, but I am almost 100% sure that what it is. It’s kinda annoying really, I have a 22 year habit (well maybe 18…but still long enough) of applying just the right about of pressure to that door and all of a sudden its not enough…its really strange and every time it throws me. I know its just door and I should get over it, but 18 years of habit can’t just be wiped. I feel like I need some kind of program to help me adjust. If fact I wonder if I will ever adjust? Is anyone else having problems with the new door? Or was I the only one that noticed? Who was responsible for this change? Why did they have to change the door? Did it break or was it just to throw me off? I need some answers…and perhaps some help.





I guess that's just all part of the adventure!

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Mr G

Today I made a fool of myself…which is not surprising, except for the fact that this time I brought down a 6year old kid with me.

Today was the Salvos Divisional Kids Big Day Out, so as Kids Church Coordinator I went along with the kids from Box Hill and everyone had a great time. Being a divisional event there were kids there from a number of different salvo corps, so naturally we had to where name tags, which the kids made themselves using a texta and a sticker…clever I know. Anyway, a few of the kids that came with Box Hill had brought friends along and trying to be a good leader I made it my business to introduce myself to each of them. This was working quite well until I came to a little girl whose name tag appeared to say ‘Mr G’. I took a moment to have a think about why the tag would say ‘Mr G’ and remembered that the adult she had come with (one of the kids Church parents) was named ‘Graham’, so I put what I thought was two and two together and figured that perhaps he was known as ‘Mr G’ and she was wearing his name tag. So in my wisdom I went up to her and introduced myself and asked if she was having fun, and then proceed to say… ‘I haven’t met you before, my name is Emma, what’s yours’ hoping to get some clarification on the ‘Mr G’ situation. However, it turned out she was a little shy, so she just looked at me and pointed at her name tag. So trying to be cool, and welcoming, I responded ‘Mr G, that says Mr G, that’s not your name is it?’ a little dumbfounded the little girl just looked at me and then at her name tag and pointed again. Very confused by this stage I repeated (just in case she hadn’t heard the first time) ‘Mr G? really?’ and still dumbfounded she looked at me and walked off. Feeling even more confused and a bit defeated I turned around only to find Dustin and Jess in fits of laughter…Jess then explained to me that the tag didn’t say ‘Mr G’ at all, it actually said ‘Meg’ and she had written it herself but she was only 6 and couldn’t write very well.

So feeling very embarrassed I went and found Meg to apologise, I explained that I couldn’t read very well and that I was sorry, but also suggested that perhaps well just called her ‘Mr G’ anyway, coz I was a pretty cool nickname. But she graciously declined. So the poor girl will probably never want to come back to Kids Church again, now that I have humiliated her, I didn’t mean it…and you think perhaps Dusty and Jess could have said something earlier…but never mind…in my heart she will always be Mr G.

Oh and just for the record…Kat came later on in the day and also thought the tag said Mr G…In fact you can make up your own mind...I have drawn a little picture of what the name tag looked like...tell me that doesn't say 'Mr G'...
I guess that's just all part of the adventure!

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