A Summary of Recent Events

Wow!
WOW!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!
Sorry about all the "wows", Blogger.com has changed to a new format and I'm buzzing about it! And other things!
Well I'm finally back in Palmerston North. I got back to the hostel on Wednesday night and have just been kicking around since then.
If you want the truth this holidays has actually been pretty terrible, and I'm pretty stoked that it's almost over. Not that it wasn't good having a break.... and it was cool hanging out with my crazy family!
It's just it could have been a lot better than it was, and I felt like I was letting myself down. I went back to Dannevirke but I didn't really do anything at all. In hindsight I should have caught up with more than just one friend, or jammed out some music with the (ex) band, or gone for a few more runs, or just anything really! Instead I've been studying so hard and (almost) stressing out about this assignment and performances and just life in general.
I was been so busy just trying to get stuff done and to be the best musician, the best writer, and the best person, that I'd almost forgotten to just live...
This weekend I actually had to force myself to stop working. It's that sad!
And once I'd finally done that, it was a pretty sweeeet weekend!
I went bowling with my brothers on Friday night which was crackup as. I ended up winning, but it wasn't really that great a score. We all sucked so bad! I'm sure the first ten bowls of the game were all gutter balls, and it wasn't much better after that haha.
On Saturday I spent most of the day doing.... not much. But the night was pretty cool! I went to "Buddy" - a musical based on the life of Buddy Holly at the Regent with 95% of my Ucol class. It was a really good show - testament to the fact being that I didn't even mind it when they played 'That'll be the Day'! Afterwards we "gatecrashed" the official after party and sat around for ages. It was such a good time! I'd actually missed hanging out with those guys.
Oh and I got to catch up with my "Dad" too! "Dad" is in speech marks because a) he's not my actual dad, he just played the part of my father in a play I did and b) I've momentarily forgot his name (actually maybe it was Alan? Maybe?). Anyway "Dad" was my stage father in Fiddler on the Roof last year and he was one of the cooler people in that cast. Haha, I joke.... But seriously though, he was a legend. I had such a bad experience with that show and he was one of the few good aspects of the whole time I was in it. There was this one day I was feeling particularly down and he gave me and my "sister" Rachel (once again, from the play, not real life sister!) presents he'd bought on a trip to China he'd just returned from. Totally made my day!
Anyways, it was good to see him again. He looked like he was doing well for himself.
Today was also pretty super! I went to my mate Caleb's church and it was such a good service! The sermon was on creativity which really spoke to me cos it'd been something I had been wrestling with lately. The idea that I wasn't on the right track and that I'm wasting my life on a false hope. But the sermon really encourage me to keep going at it. I was talking to the pastor afterwards and he said something really profound to me: "The fear that you can't make a career or a living out of it holds so many people back from being released into the full potential of the creativity God has blessed them with. But it's just another lie. Who needs money?" And this was exactly what I'd been worrying about! It was so good to hear confirmation about it, and to know that whatever the cost, this thing, this life is totally worth pursuing!
Plus we got to hear some Foo Fighters in the middle of a sermon - can't go wrong with that!
The rest of the day I just spent avoiding my assignment, playing guitar and talking to all my hostel mates who've (finally) moved back in after the holidays.
I went to Nightchurch tonight, and while the sermon wasn't quite as touching and needed as this mornings, it was still pretty good. There was one passage from there and it really spoke to me so I'm going to shove it up here just for you to reflect on (read the whole chapter if you can, there's so much good stuff in there!)
"If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need, but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us love not in word or speech but with actions and truth." - 1 John 3:17-18.


Oh and I bought myself a new guitar on Saturday! I've been playing with it all weekend, it has such a beautiful tone! It is so hard to beat the sound of a nice new acoustic guitar, and she really is a beauty!
Anyone keen for an acoustic gig some time in the future?!

Hit me up with a few of those comments letting me know how your weekend went! Or just life in general! As always, would love to hear from you!