Tuesday, March 25, 2008
I'M OVER HERE!!!
http://renaeacrosstheworld.blogspot.com
Hey! For the next few months, you can find me there, at my overseas trip blog! I'm going to make the most of being able to record different aspects of my adventures, for you people to see. It should be pretty amusing for both people who have traveled extensively and for people who haven't at all, to read some first impressions of traveling overseas and all the good and bad experiences of backpacking solo around Europe, using an itinerary I planned myself!
There will be photos, videos, maps and journal entries. And there's a map on there now, so you can go and check out the route I'm taking. Also, feel free to give me any travel advice you can think of, and leave comments if you're feeling nice :)
SUBSCRIBE to see when there's new posts on my blog (I believe you young folks call that RSS), or just do what I do and BOOKMARK the page!
So it's goodbye to this blog for a few months, and hello to my awesome new overseas blog. ;)
See ya there.
Song List
Ok so I (out of boredom) wrote a top 10 movie list and top 10 book list, and promised a top 10 song list. But alas, there are too many I like. So I'm going to have to apologise to my millions of readers and leave you all guessing as to what might have made the long-awaited list :P
Anyway, in other news, I just got back from Easter up north, which was pretty good. It's now not too long until Adrian leaves for Bolivia, and then I leave for Europe a week later. It's exciting, but I'm guessing it'll be much more exciting closer to the dates, when the whole drama of the year to come will be a whole lot more realistic and imaginable!
That's all :)
Anyway, in other news, I just got back from Easter up north, which was pretty good. It's now not too long until Adrian leaves for Bolivia, and then I leave for Europe a week later. It's exciting, but I'm guessing it'll be much more exciting closer to the dates, when the whole drama of the year to come will be a whole lot more realistic and imaginable!
That's all :)
Monday, March 03, 2008
The BOOK list!
Now for the second-most long-awaited list of 2008.. my Top 10 Favourite Novels. Here they are.
1. Harp in the South - Ruth Park
2. A Power of Roses - Ruth Park
3. Playing Beattie Bow - Ruth Park
4. My Sister Sif - Ruth Park
5. The Alphabet of Light and Dark - Danielle Wood
6. The Devil's Own - Deborah Lisson
7. The Diary of Anne Frank (sort of a novel)
8. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
9. Poor Man's Orange - Ruth Park
10. Cloudstreet - Tim Winton
Runners-up: The Power of One, The Potato Factory, Tommo and Hawk, Solomon's Song and Four Fires, all by Bryce Courtenay. They're exceptionally good books, I just don't like Bryce Courtenay's need to make every scene gorier than it needs to be.. he must seriously love violence. Therefore he does not make the top ten.
Hmmm there seems to be a Ruth Park trend! And an Australian trend. And a children's novel trend. There are so many other awesome novels that are far better books than these, but these are the ones I personally like best. That was a rather boring list.. most people don't really like/care about novels unless they're a book nerd. So, coming next... top 10 favourite songs. Yay!
1. Harp in the South - Ruth Park
2. A Power of Roses - Ruth Park
3. Playing Beattie Bow - Ruth Park
4. My Sister Sif - Ruth Park
5. The Alphabet of Light and Dark - Danielle Wood
6. The Devil's Own - Deborah Lisson
7. The Diary of Anne Frank (sort of a novel)
8. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
9. Poor Man's Orange - Ruth Park
10. Cloudstreet - Tim Winton
Runners-up: The Power of One, The Potato Factory, Tommo and Hawk, Solomon's Song and Four Fires, all by Bryce Courtenay. They're exceptionally good books, I just don't like Bryce Courtenay's need to make every scene gorier than it needs to be.. he must seriously love violence. Therefore he does not make the top ten.
Hmmm there seems to be a Ruth Park trend! And an Australian trend. And a children's novel trend. There are so many other awesome novels that are far better books than these, but these are the ones I personally like best. That was a rather boring list.. most people don't really like/care about novels unless they're a book nerd. So, coming next... top 10 favourite songs. Yay!
Saturday, March 01, 2008
THE Movie List of 2008! :P
The long-awaited list has now been released. Renae's Top 10 Favourite Movies. Behold.
1. Looking for Alibrandi.
2. The Love Letter. (It was a telemovie. I only saw it once, but I loved it.)
3. Dirty Dancing.
4. Across the Universe.
5. Sliding Doors.
6. Moulin Rouge.
7. Amelie.
8. Pride and Prejudice (BBC).
9. Robin Hood: Men In Tights.
10. Love Actually.
Close runners-up: James Bond - all of them from Sean Connery to Timothy Dalton, Bridget Jones' Diary, The Lake House, Juno.
You might notice a few trends! Good soundtrack (i.e. Moulin Rouge, Across the Universe, Dirty Dancing).. the theme of parallel times (The Love Letter, Sliding Doors, The Lake House). But you can't beat Looking for Alibrandi. It's a classic. The best scene: John's funeral, with U2 singing "With or Without You". Sigh.
1. Looking for Alibrandi.
2. The Love Letter. (It was a telemovie. I only saw it once, but I loved it.)
3. Dirty Dancing.
4. Across the Universe.
5. Sliding Doors.
6. Moulin Rouge.
7. Amelie.
8. Pride and Prejudice (BBC).
9. Robin Hood: Men In Tights.
10. Love Actually.
Close runners-up: James Bond - all of them from Sean Connery to Timothy Dalton, Bridget Jones' Diary, The Lake House, Juno.
You might notice a few trends! Good soundtrack (i.e. Moulin Rouge, Across the Universe, Dirty Dancing).. the theme of parallel times (The Love Letter, Sliding Doors, The Lake House). But you can't beat Looking for Alibrandi. It's a classic. The best scene: John's funeral, with U2 singing "With or Without You". Sigh.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Goodbye February
Where did it go? I think that's a record for the fastest a month has ever passed. Well it's not quite over yet, but I can't believe uni goes back next week. I've finished uni but Allie, my flatmate, doesn't seem overly excited about going back. I love going back to uni after holidays, weird I know, but I love starting a new year. And this is my FIRST year I've been out of school since I was 4!! I did SEVENTEEN years of school and now I'm not going back. Oh well, one must move on eventually. As for my oldest sister, Carly, she's just finishing her PhD in Contemporary Arts (painting) and her thesis is due the end of this month. Yikes. She's a professional uni student, and proud of it. Leesa, my other sister, recently moved to north-eastern Victoria to live near our mum, but she hasn't been able to get a teaching job (she has an Education degree), so she's in the process of starting a job at a 000 call centre! Could be pretty stressful, but she's made for those situations!
I think I'm going to go to Focus next week, seeing as that's one of the days I don't work. Just to see what they're up to! I can't let go... ;)
Adrian leaves for his short-term mission trip on 9th April. He'll be gone for 11 months in total. I leave for Europe 8 days after he leaves, on 17th April. I'll be back on 23rd June. Exciting times. We're really kinda desperate to promote his trip, not for financial support, but prayer support and just to have people knowing about it and taking an interest. I know our church in particular is trying to be more and more mission-focused, and it just seems that this is an opportunity we should be embracing, to have one of our church members going on a not-so-short mission trip to somewhere that has so many huge needs. So hopefully Mick Elliott from SIM can come and speak at Wellspring sometime, and hopefully people will go HERE (bookmark it!!!) and read about it and learn about Bolivia and Ecuador, maybe pray about it, and take an interest. The Bible Society is making Bolivia their big project for this year, so you'll probably see their brochures and stuff in churches around the place.
I think I'm going to go to Focus next week, seeing as that's one of the days I don't work. Just to see what they're up to! I can't let go... ;)
Adrian leaves for his short-term mission trip on 9th April. He'll be gone for 11 months in total. I leave for Europe 8 days after he leaves, on 17th April. I'll be back on 23rd June. Exciting times. We're really kinda desperate to promote his trip, not for financial support, but prayer support and just to have people knowing about it and taking an interest. I know our church in particular is trying to be more and more mission-focused, and it just seems that this is an opportunity we should be embracing, to have one of our church members going on a not-so-short mission trip to somewhere that has so many huge needs. So hopefully Mick Elliott from SIM can come and speak at Wellspring sometime, and hopefully people will go HERE (bookmark it!!!) and read about it and learn about Bolivia and Ecuador, maybe pray about it, and take an interest. The Bible Society is making Bolivia their big project for this year, so you'll probably see their brochures and stuff in churches around the place.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
READ THIS THEN SCROLL DOWN, COUNT TO TEN AND THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE WILL FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU! Yet to be proven a scam.***
When I read the following bit of 2 Peter last night, it reminded me a lot of laziness. Because I think when we fall into laziness, apathy, or whatever you want to call it, we still know that we've been saved through our faith in Jesus, but we forget what we've been saved from. Once we're saved, we're no longer slaves to what we used to be, when we were controlled by our sinful nature. But when we get lazy, we often revert back to a lot of our past ways, while still having faith. But this part of the Bible talks about the whole sanctifying process of adding to your faith and not going back to being nearsighted, and forgetting what you've been saved from.
2 Peter 1: 5-11
Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
-----
On another note, why are people more into Facebook now than reading blogs? Facebook is great, don't get me wrong, but blogs are far more thought-provoking and personal, and minus the pressure to add applications to see how your friends rate your hotness and whether or not he's your soul mate.. (latest applications I was invited to join - Is he your soulmate? and What kind of kisser are you?) Point made!
***Didn't I fool you.
When I read the following bit of 2 Peter last night, it reminded me a lot of laziness. Because I think when we fall into laziness, apathy, or whatever you want to call it, we still know that we've been saved through our faith in Jesus, but we forget what we've been saved from. Once we're saved, we're no longer slaves to what we used to be, when we were controlled by our sinful nature. But when we get lazy, we often revert back to a lot of our past ways, while still having faith. But this part of the Bible talks about the whole sanctifying process of adding to your faith and not going back to being nearsighted, and forgetting what you've been saved from.
2 Peter 1: 5-11
Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
-----
On another note, why are people more into Facebook now than reading blogs? Facebook is great, don't get me wrong, but blogs are far more thought-provoking and personal, and minus the pressure to add applications to see how your friends rate your hotness and whether or not he's your soul mate.. (latest applications I was invited to join - Is he your soulmate? and What kind of kisser are you?) Point made!
***Didn't I fool you.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Not long now!
Well it's January.. hang on, the end of January. This summer is going too fast!! I'm still working at Sealife right up until the end of March. I've cut it back to three days, cos it was just adding up to being a bit too sleep-depriving for my liking, plus a number of other reasons too.. Especially when we were doing two tours a day - there were days when I had to leave home at 7 and get home at about 8. That just smells. So I'm back to three days!
Most of my trip overseas is sorted out, in terms of booking airfares and accommodation, and working out the whole itinerary. The second half of the 2 month trip is going to be full on, I'm talking spending only 2 or 3 nights in some cities, then moving on! It is a holiday, but it's going to be quite tiring in parts. And sleeping in dorms with lots of other people.. I'm someone who needs space occassionally! So, for the first half of the trip, I'm trying to spend more time in each place. I'm spending about a week with a friend in Denmark. Then, unbelievably, I have a spare week to do something with! It'll be after I leave Copenhagen, and before I make my way to Berlin. I want to stay in the one place for a week. I was thinking southern Sweden, or the northern-most tip of Denmark, a place called Skagen. Not sure?
Adrian leaves for South America on the 9th April, when he flies from Hobart to Sydney. I'm flying this part with him (well on a separate plane, but up to Sydney on the same day), so I can see him off on the 10th when he flies to Santiago. I fly out 8 days later on the 17th April, from Hobart to Sydney. Leesa (my sister, who has now moved to Wangaratta, Victoria) is coming up to Sydney to see me off.
The first part of Adrian's trip is to spend 4 months in Boliva, working with IOU (International Orphanage Union). It's hard to get a picture of what he'll be doing because it's hard for even him to know before he gets there. But he'll be an intern, and this blog iouinterns.blogspot.com is written by interns! So I found it gave a really good picture what goes on at the orphanages and what the interns get up to. It seems like there's lots of 1) playing with the kids, 2) helping with building projects and 3) tutoring, talking with, and more playing with the kids! I reckon those little kids would grow up to be such interesting people - hopefully as Christians, who are so blessed in life compared to the ones who grow up without a Christian family. They'd have such a range of experiences - being abandoned by their parents, finding a home at the orphanage, finding a friend/parent in God, getting to know people from Australia and other countries (the interns), whilst still living in Bolivia, where they were born into far less fortunate circumstances. What a life, so different to anything we see here!
Most of my trip overseas is sorted out, in terms of booking airfares and accommodation, and working out the whole itinerary. The second half of the 2 month trip is going to be full on, I'm talking spending only 2 or 3 nights in some cities, then moving on! It is a holiday, but it's going to be quite tiring in parts. And sleeping in dorms with lots of other people.. I'm someone who needs space occassionally! So, for the first half of the trip, I'm trying to spend more time in each place. I'm spending about a week with a friend in Denmark. Then, unbelievably, I have a spare week to do something with! It'll be after I leave Copenhagen, and before I make my way to Berlin. I want to stay in the one place for a week. I was thinking southern Sweden, or the northern-most tip of Denmark, a place called Skagen. Not sure?
Adrian leaves for South America on the 9th April, when he flies from Hobart to Sydney. I'm flying this part with him (well on a separate plane, but up to Sydney on the same day), so I can see him off on the 10th when he flies to Santiago. I fly out 8 days later on the 17th April, from Hobart to Sydney. Leesa (my sister, who has now moved to Wangaratta, Victoria) is coming up to Sydney to see me off.
The first part of Adrian's trip is to spend 4 months in Boliva, working with IOU (International Orphanage Union). It's hard to get a picture of what he'll be doing because it's hard for even him to know before he gets there. But he'll be an intern, and this blog iouinterns.blogspot.com is written by interns! So I found it gave a really good picture what goes on at the orphanages and what the interns get up to. It seems like there's lots of 1) playing with the kids, 2) helping with building projects and 3) tutoring, talking with, and more playing with the kids! I reckon those little kids would grow up to be such interesting people - hopefully as Christians, who are so blessed in life compared to the ones who grow up without a Christian family. They'd have such a range of experiences - being abandoned by their parents, finding a home at the orphanage, finding a friend/parent in God, getting to know people from Australia and other countries (the interns), whilst still living in Bolivia, where they were born into far less fortunate circumstances. What a life, so different to anything we see here!
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Across the Universe
I saw this awhile ago at the State and meant to post about it when it was fresh in my memory. So instead of a well-structured, well-thought out review*, here's what I believe made it an awesome movie:
The music! An all Beatles soundtrack. The main characters were Jude and Lucy, so you can guess at least 2 of the songs. But the classics like Strawberry Fields Forever and Across the Universe were brilliantly remade. They stayed quite true to the originals, but illustrated their meaning in the visuals of the movie. It was set in the 60s part of the Vietnam War. It seemed (ok so Adrian said this but I agreed with him..!) that they were, in the movie, trying to illustrate the real inspiration for each song but still in a really creative and often 'visually stunning' way. So in that respect, they stayed quite true to the possible original meaning of the song but also added to how much of their meaning (for the most part pretty bizarre) you were able to understand. The visuals for Strawberry Fields Forever were especially good, and very telling.
That's all for now. Make sure you see it! Or you can look it up on www.youtube.com for a preview. Find the music on www.songza.com..
*I'm tired.. I just got out of bed.
The music! An all Beatles soundtrack. The main characters were Jude and Lucy, so you can guess at least 2 of the songs. But the classics like Strawberry Fields Forever and Across the Universe were brilliantly remade. They stayed quite true to the originals, but illustrated their meaning in the visuals of the movie. It was set in the 60s part of the Vietnam War. It seemed (ok so Adrian said this but I agreed with him..!) that they were, in the movie, trying to illustrate the real inspiration for each song but still in a really creative and often 'visually stunning' way. So in that respect, they stayed quite true to the possible original meaning of the song but also added to how much of their meaning (for the most part pretty bizarre) you were able to understand. The visuals for Strawberry Fields Forever were especially good, and very telling.
That's all for now. Make sure you see it! Or you can look it up on www.youtube.com for a preview. Find the music on www.songza.com..
*I'm tired.. I just got out of bed.
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