Tomorrow’s script is as yet unwritten. At the end of the day, 11 guys are going to be pretty disappointed while 11 others will be rapturous. As an opening bowler, I love the feeling of standing at the top of my run up, with the new batsman standing in readiness. Once the day is over, a result will be recorded with no amount of wishing or regret able to change it in the least but, at that point in the day, its all in our hands. So much hope and trust in these feeble arms, these rickety legs. I know I’m only 32, but it seems to make more sense to become aware of my mortality now, whilst I can use that perspective to enjoy my physical freedom, than to deny it until its irrevocably upon me.

To examine my sporting obsession beyond my own participation, I’ve been asked many times why I greatly admire someone like Shane Warne who has so many obvious personality flaws. My response has been, roughly, that it provides something like hope to see someone who can be such a dope and yet who can also rise to overcome the greatest minds and bodies in his chosen sporting field to deliver a nation. Plastic heroes are no good to me because they don’t tell me anything about who I am, but I can relate to a flawed hero. Take away the game and you still have qualities which are transferrable - perseverance, creativity, discipline, intuition - though I’d rather have a reverse Warnie and have the qualities in my private life than on the sporting field.

Anyway, we’ll know more tomorrow but I wanted to post something on this topic because its meant a lot to me. 

Edit: Well, that was rather an anti-climax, we were rained out that Saturday! Another week now until we know.

I noticed that the gate was ajar, so walked through and approached the cage. I put my hand up to the cage and he jumped back at first but, as I continued to hold the back of my hand towards him, he eventually came forward again. He said ‘allo’ and cocked his head to the side so he could look at me. 

I patted his beak as he continued to stare at me. I stopped and he hopped over to the small hole where the padlock and bolt secured the door. He poked his head through the gap and I patted him on the head again. Then he did something quite odd. He put his beak around the padlock and bit it while looking up at me. Anyways, this continued for some time and whilst it might just be coincidence of some sort, moved me to think of how sad it was that this bird was locked up in a cage, able to enjoy so few of his senses. In my head I ran through liberation scenarios.. me coming back at night and cutting through the padlock, or would it be easier to cut the wire? What would his owners think? I’d been past the cage before at night and he wasn’t there. Who took him in at night? Did they pat him? Could he fly around the room?

Eventually I said my goodbyes as he hopped around the cage saying ‘allo’ and ‘allo cocky’ looking, to my eye, a little saddened at his playmate leaving. It reminded me how, at various times, I’ve contemplated the lives of those born into slavery and how so many of the choices that seem so important to us, like which digital camera to get, what job to go for, whether that romantic interest is ‘the one’ or not.. how those choices just aren’t an issue to those people. And yet, they’re people. Capable of feeling like I feel, thinking like I think. By some crazy luck, I’m a guy born in Melbourne who can sit back in a cafe sitting lattes and thinking about these things. Actually, I’m not just using the stereotype there, I am sitting in a cafe sipping a latte as I type. I can’t really change that but I guess I can do what I can to make opportunities where there currently aren’t any, like through the work Trevor is doing in Macassar. There are the obvious sorts of slavery, but there are also so many other ways that prevent people from having choices, from someone born in a Cape Town township with few work or educational opportunities or someone working in Australia and trapped by their mortgage and income to someone who can’t overcome an addiction. I certainly think that mental and spiritual freedom is not dictated solely by our circumstances but I still feel an obligation to do what I can. Whether I can get over myself long enough to do something is a matter for another day.    

The examples of different blogs on the internet shown today:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
http://gizmodo.com/
http://lifehacker.com/
http://icanhascheezburger.com/
http://www.treehugger.com/
http://chopsicles.com/ (this blog!)
http://openobjects.blogspot.com/ (my sister Mia’s blog)

Also mentioned was a blogging site http://posterous.com/ which will create a blog from any emails posted to post@posterous.com, which I thought was pretty nifty and perhaps useful for people who don’t like the standard way of blogging. There are also numerous other ways to create and use blogs, like installing one on your own server but I’ve chosen not to address that option in detail. 

Finally, to prove that youtube embedding works in wordpress, the video shown today:

In other news, I’m back working with the Police and have been using my blogging time on other activities. I’m with the police 4 days a week and spend my other day doing a bit of freelance stuff, mainly web development. One of the first of these, Sam’s site is up and running and you can check it out at soulspire.com.au. She has some lovely designs on there. I’m working on another site at the moment but my 1 day a week really flies by and evenings are getting eaten up a bit.

Other things haven’t progressed as quickly as I’d imagined since coming home. When away, one can make all sorts of resolutions about life changes and activities to undertake upon return but, through limitations of either resolve or resource, time can stretch before any of these are enacted. To do a quick brain dump, I’ve been contemplating singing lessons, bass and/or drum lessons, joining a band, learning spanish again, volunteering at a refugee/new migrant centre and a host of other less persistent options. At first, the limitation was funds as I came back pretty skint and had to conserve. Its amazing how restricting that can be… even getting out of the house costs money, but its a good reminder which makes me really appreciate earning money again. I’m now hitting the other limitation - not having enough time. It seems that finding balance is a lifelong journey

However, last night we had another outdoor concert and it went off, as Fiona used to say, like a fish milkshake in the sun. This one was more like an extended church service, with various Christian musicians Trevor had invited, and the place was really jumping. There was an awesome moment where I overcooked the mix a little and the speakers temporarily shut down but the people kept singing. The night was filled with these African voices and it was really quite incredible. What a note to finish the trip on!

So, I guess chopsicles will be going dormant until its next incarnation but I feel there is one final acknowledgment to be made. I do call myself a follower of Christ and, though sometimes I’m not a great one, He is the reason that I might do anything noble. He is the reason I bother to get up in the morning and I feel that He is my constant companion even when in the strangest of lands or circumstances. I feel incredibly privileged to have been able to experience this trip and very fortunate to have been able to offer some service. Thank you also to everyone for the support and encouragement and I look forward to seeing you all soon. If anyone should care to attend, I’m going to be sharing about the trip this Sunday at church. It’s at Mark St Hall, 1 Mark st Fitzroy Nth at 10.30am. Finally, there are a few pics taken by a photographer at the launch here. I’ll upload more soonish.

The sign I designed arrived yesterday and got put up outside the centre which was a bit of a buzz for me. Its strange to see something that I put together on the laptop come to earth in such signy fashion. I’m a little irked cos I think I should have left a bit more whitespace around the top, but I guess you have to learn these things. Tomorrow evening is the official launch of the centre as the first London College of Music examination centre outside of the UK. There’s all sorts of folk coming from government, business etc.. Its sure to be quite an evening and I’ll no doubt be pretty flat out making sure things run smoothly. Its fun being in a role so varied that days can include sound engineering, meeting and greeting, making sure refreshments are in the right places at the right time, setting up networks, washing up, graphic design, web development etc. Its like being in a small business I guess.

The next few days until I leave are set to be equally busy with outdoor concerts running on both Friday and Saturday nights, and the seminar on Friday afternoon and Saturday is expected to attract about 300 participants. I leave on the Sunday morning so somehow need to find some time to pack too. Not too much chance of being bored!