Back in Kent for Christmas

So after finishing my exams on the 21st, I came home from my college to my nice own comfortable... sofa. Yeah, my cousin from Malaysia is sleeping in my room. But what the hey, it was good to get away and spend time with family. There have been some real family moments, which is surprising, and good. Me and my sister get along really well, and there have been no major bust ups in the family so far, phew!
Anyway, tomorrow, well today, I have a wedding to attend, where I hope to take some good shots, but in truth, the wedding is not all about the photography. It's about the bonding of a man and woman of God and two friends also. Hmm, I wonder if there will be a free bar...
Anyways, after that, there's the reception, the after party, and the New Years' Party. Yayyy!!! So coming back in the late early hours of the morning, I plan to sleep until the early afternoon when I will awake to catch a plane to Salzburg and stay with a girl from college, and then off to Schladming to stay with Dawn on the mornign of the second. Yayyyyyy!!!
I know it has been a while, but I hope to post when I'm in Austria! Maybe with pics!
Miss you all and hope you all had a great Christmas. I guess I'll be in 2006 before most of you, so Happy New Year in advance!

This Time Last Year...

...I was in London, at Paden's dad's appartment in Victoria.
Now those were good times.
It was Paden, her dad, Kaylie, Olya, Lisa, and myself. And then we hung out with BJ and Austin most of the time, and Ben and his cousin. (Ben, what's your cousin's name again?)
I can't remember who I waited with outside the appartment in the freezing cold that time we got there and nobody was in. Someone remind me.
I got a few good pics of the changing of the guard. But that kind of bores me.
Oh, something I remember was how amazed Paden was with the Rosetta Stone that time we went to the British Museum. Actually it totally changed my view of it and how amazing that piece of rock really is.
What else... oh yah, Paden cooking for us! She was awesome. And Paden and Austin Swing dancing in Trafalgar Square at the top of the stairs!
Oh, no, wait, I remember!!!!!

For those of you that weren't there, I'll tell the story.
Dorman (Paden's dad), has this company appartment, which we were staying in, but also had this one across the hallway. Anyway, sometime in the afternoon, One of Dorman's work colleagues was supposed to arrive in London and move into the appartment, so we moved all our stuff into the other appartment.
When we came back from a day out in London, Dorman was in the other appartment still waiting for that guy. We all moved into the orignal appartment because it had wireless, and we started eating bananas and just chilling. Paden started making a video of the appartment for her family, and was adding a running commentary to the footage, when she suddenly comes out of the main bedroom into the lounge where we all were, and is white as a sheet.
She's like, "Get out! Get out now!"
So we all move into the second appartment and she explains that there was someone in the bedroom, in the bed! Apparently that guy had showed up, but had his own key! Oh how we laughed. Then somebody stopped amidst all the laughter, and said, "Did anyone buy bananas?" And we all cracked up again because we realised we had eaten this guy's bananas!
Ha fun times.

Anyway, above are some pics of those days. Oh, what fun!

Christmas Spirit

My roommate found this pic whilst randomly scrolling through blogs. Some mum and her daughter put it up on their garage door.It made us both laugh.

Jonathan Elvis Marie Wilson!!!

Yes, our favourite Northern Irish brother now has a blog!
Hooray for this side of the pond!
The link is on the side.

Mike's Limericks

My Liverpudlian roommate has just made me laugh with a variety of limericks. I thought I'd share them with you...


There was a young lady named Perkins
Who was very fond of small gherkins.
One evening at tea
She ate thirty-three
And pickled her internal workings.

There was a young martian from space
Who entered a three-legged race.
He wasn't that fast
In fact he came last
Because he was a bag of frozen potato chips.

There was a young lady from Gloucester
Whose parents thought they had lost her.
From the fridge came a sound
And at last she was found
But the trouble was how to defrost her.

There was an old man from Esser
Whose knowledge grew lesser and lesser.
It soon grew so small
He knew knothing at all
And now he's a college professor.

There was a young girl from Madras
Who had a magnificent ass.
Not large round and pink
As you might think
But was grey with big ears and ate grass.

There was a young man from Japan
Whose limericks never would span.
When they said it was so
He replied, "Yes I know,
But I try and get as many words and syllables into the last line and go on and on until it is just crap."


And no, I didn't get these from the internet. Mike rolled them all out one by one. If only he could do the same with Greek vocab... (J slash K, Mike!)

My Sister Jessica

I meant to do a post about my sister 2 days ago (on her 25th birthday), but forgot.
I don't think any of you have ever met my sister, or even seen a picture of her, so here I post a couple taken on a day in July 2004.

She's a great sis to have, and she is very funny. Makes me laugh a lot.

Small Points of Notice

Here are some random things I thought I would post about:

1. I updated my photo blog (www.daveophotography.blogspot.com) for the last time in a little while. Please comment on any/all that you like. I really value you guys' opinions on my photography.
2. Yesterday I booked my plane ticket back to Austria for the first week in January. I'll be visiting Dawn and will get to spend time with Sophie too. Can't freakin' wait!
   
3. Did any of you remember playing a card game with Jonny Wilson called Happy Families? Well, those that do, let me know. I don't know if you have it in Americanadia or wherever you are, but we have it here, so if anyone fell in love with it, maybe I could hook you up.
4. Recently, I bought Family Guy (Season Three) for the second time. The first time I bought that series, my roommate (Benjamin James Kirchner) took them on 10-day outreach and they got stolen. I was royally pissed. But it's ok now, since Family Guy is the only thing that can make me laugh nomatter what mood I'm in.
5. Went shopping in Manchester a few days ago. Shopped at H&M (uhuh) and bought a couple of hats. Vee cool. Sorry, I just had to drop the H&M Bomb on you. I mean, it is my fave shop and everything.
6. Chelsea Marie Douce has now got a blog! That's right, folks! There's two Ecuadorian chicas! And yes, Janice, you did beat me to this one, but I got dibs on the next mamacita. You can all guess where Chelsea's link is. Yeah, on the side.
   
   Anyway, I hope you're doing well. I'm doing ok, myself.
   Miss You!

Breaking Point

So last night at football, i reached my breaking point. Since being here at Regents, I have wanted to get out, but even though it's bearable, I feel the lack of friends, and it kills. Especially after last year with all you guys.
I have like a few guys I spend quite a bit of time with and in my mind I kinda deemed them as 'friends', just to make myself seem worth something to others here.
Anyway, at football last night, I fall and sprain my ankle pretty bad, and instantly yell out in pain. The first thing I see is one of the guys I'm closest to smiling.
His smile wasn't a decided reaction but an instinctive reaction which wasn't put on.
I was horrified.

The thing is, that after making the friends I have last year, I know that any small ounce of pain I saw them going through would put me through pain too. I would instantly want to take the pain on myself and not want them to feel any pain at all. My instant instinctive reaction would be concern.
I know it sounds a little over dramaticised, but aside from being put out of sports until January, I came to the realisation that I didn't really have real friends here. And it cut to my core.
I'm a pretty broken guy right now and would appreciate your prayers. Talking to me would also be welcomed.

Two New Bloggers

Both Anna Reedy and Caleb Atkins now have blogs! Hoorah!
Their addresses are on the side.
In other small-time news, last night I watched two of the biggest tearjerker movies again. The Notebook and I Am Sam. I still love both of these films. Cried in The Notebook at the same place as last time, and got so much more out of I Am Sam than I did the first time round. Like, I've always seen that film as one about a mentally handicapped guy and his struggle to keep the daughter he loves. A father's love. Y'know.
Last night it struck me in a different light. Michelle Pfeifer's line to Sean Penn, "I'm worried that I'm getting more out of this than you," made me think about how the film could easily be seen as a story about a woman who learns how to love her child by seeing a handicapped man's love for his. This makes it more applicable to those of us who are not mentally handicapped. Maybe we can relate to her postition more than Penn's. Maybe we can learn some of life's lessons in the most unexpected places. Maybe we have to take a second look.

Family Group

Wednesday night I went Bowling with my Tutor group. This is pretty much the same as Family Group and I have often been caught misnaming it just that. It's not the same though, because there is not the same sense of family.
I don't know what your family groups were like, but both of mine in England and in Austria were absolutely amazing. I loved both, very much.
Here are some pics of my families.
I have very fond memories of my family groups and even though most of you weren't there, I just wanna say that I am thankful for all the happy memories, of making cookies, eating burritos for the first time, making cards with Linda, playing the animal game and Amir not understanding it, then in Austria, risking my life on a home made zip-line, sledding down a ski-jump slope on a small plastic sled, sweating it out in Christian's sauna, and then jumping in his freezing cold pool made of fresh water from the Alps, drinking from vases and jam jars instead of cups, eating those Bugles (crisps). Mmmmmmmmmmm... so many memories that I wish I could return to.




It occurred to me during one family group that as people from all different family backgrounds, with all different customs, traditions and comfort-areas, we managed to make it something more than just a meeting. Each family group was a bonding experience. It's weird. Maybe that's just me and my perspective, but didn't you guys feel any of that too? What were your favourite family group memories? I wanna know. seriously. I wanna know!

Defintion of a family:
1. A fundamental social group in society typically consisting of one or two parents and their children.
2. Two or more people who share goals and values, have long-term commitments to one another, and reside usually in the same dwelling place.
I like the second definition.