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SubscriptionsSites I Read
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| A Busy Week
It's been one of those weeks at work where I've felt like I've been rushing everything all week. I've been reminded of an anecdote I read recently in the book, "When Wallflowers Dance" by Angela Thomas.
"In the deep jungles of Africa, a traveller was making a long trek. Coolies had been engaged from a tribe to carry the loads. The first day they marched rapidly and went far. The traveller had high hopes of a speedy journey. But on the second morning these jungle tribesmen refused to move. For some strange reason they just sat and rested. On inquiry as to the reason for this strange behaviour, the traveller was informed that they had gone too fast the first day, and that they were now waiting for their souls to catch up with their bodies."
So I've had a quiet weekend. Hopefully I won't leave my soul dragging so far behind in the week ahead. | | |
| Researchers with too much time on their hands...
The case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute
Quotes from the article:
"We observed the teaspoons for a total of 5668 teaspoon days. The rate of teaspoon loss over the period of observation was 0.99 per 100 teaspoon days (95% confidence interval 0.76 to 1.28), or 360.62 per 100 teaspoon years. Assuming an average daily population of 140 people in the institute, this translates to a rate of loss of 2.58 teaspoons per person per 100 teaspoon years. Therefore to maintain a workable population (one spoon for every two people) 252.4 (194.3 to 328) teaspoons would need be purchased every year.
If we assume that the annual rate of teaspoon loss per employee can be applied to the entire workforce of the city of Melbourne (about 2.5 million), an estimated 18 million teaspoons are going missing in Melbourne each year. Laid end to end, these lost teaspoons would cover over 2700 km—the length of the entire coastline of Mozambique1—and weigh over 360 metric tons—the approximate weight of four adult blue whales."
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| The Anatomy of a Sigh
As we live in the trenches of the world's battlefield, our hearts are bound to end up getting knocked around. Such is life. A collection of disappointments. The idea that just didn't work out. The friendship that faded away. The good intentions that couldn't last. The glimpse of a potential relationship that never eventuated. The well-laid plans that went awry. There are the days when we are standing in a desert under a cloudless sky, when all we want is rain. And so we sigh.
A sigh is the sound that hope makes as it rushes out of your heart. We could collect our sighs in bottles and label them with words like, "disillusionment", "despair" and "defeat". We could put the bottles onto shelves in a darkened room, then return when we are old and look over the faintly gleaming hopes of our young and foolish hearts.
Or before it is too late, while our sighs are still drifting in the breeze, we could inhale this hope-scented air. We could dare to hide such hope deep within our hearts. We could plant seeds of hope in a heart where the soil is hard and cracked. We could stop our sighing and instead hold our breath and wait for the seeds to bloom.
Waiting in a desert for flowers to grow is not easy. Letting out a sigh is much easier than holding your breath indefinitely. You may be laughed at for standing in a desert and waiting for flowers. But you know the rains will come. So you hold your breath, hold onto your hope, and watch the horizon for rain clouds. | | |
| Just stumbled across this site - looks like it will provide some good reading!
Boundless Webzine
The time between the home of your youth and the home you'll make for yourself someday is a time of adventure, discovery and excitement; but also loneliness, longing and uncertainty.
From college to career to relationships, we at Boundless want to cast a vibrant vision for the single years, helping you navigate this season while preparing for the challenges and responsibilities of the one to come. That requires living intentionally with purpose by bringing your gifts, talents and Christian worldview to bear on your whole life.
Our contributing authors are renowned journalists, scholars and thinkers from around the globe who are here to help you enjoy the journey.
On a similar vein, I'm also a fan of Relevant Magazine and the just-started Radiant Magazine. | | |
| James Ruse Myths
So I finally decided to admit my guilty secret and join the James Ruse blogring. I suppose the past always catches up with you - once a James Ruse-ian, always a James Ruse-ian! It's fun to browse through the blogs of all these people who are loosely connected to you, and feel old when you read the blogs of these kids who speak a completely different dialect of English. Really! I quote directly - "neways lol at lcs hosue rite now and shes wotching her canto videos -__ arhhjja hahahah year 10/.. so sooon and holz r alredi nerli over =(.. buttt yehhh lol
ttyyyl ahaha beybyee."
Hmmm. It must be quite a skill to manage to be able to spell so few words correctly!
So to commemorate my joining of the James Ruse Blogring, I thought I would post my top 5 James Ruse myths - my advice to any current James Ruse student who happens to stumble across this blog now I'm on the blogring...
Myth 1: You must do medicine or law. Particularly if you get the marks to get into one of these. To do anything that requires a lower UAI is a waste.
Reality: Choose what you think you will love and what you will be able to bring your unique skills to. There are so many options out there other than the big two, and choosing another option is no less a choice. It's also okay to change your path along the way. And it's okay to not be sure about what your future holds - who really knows about the future anyway?
Myth 2: The reason to learn something is so that you can do well on an exam.
Reality: I'm just starting to discover this now I'm a step away from school and uni - that learning is actually meant to be a lot more about the joy and about the discovering, rather than about the exams. I think I perfected the art of learning for exams, and somewhere along the way I lost the joy. I think somewhere along the way I started memorizing and stopped thinking. Relating this to Myth 1 - although you can't always choose the things you have to learn, when you do have a choice, choose something that interests you. Learning is meant to be fun!
Myth 3: You will use the maths you learn at school for the rest of your life.
Reality: If you're like me, you will use the maths you learn at school for a few years to earn some cash doing tutoring to get yourself through uni. Then you will forget it all.
Myth 4: It will be easy to stay in contact with your James Ruse friends.
Reality: Sadly not true. Some of your closest friends may just drift away. You will need to make a concerted effort to hold onto your friends. But the good news is that there is a whole other world of people outside James Ruse! Yes it's true!
Myth 5: Doing well is the most important thing in life, particularly doing well in exams. So study hard!
Reality: While it is good to celebrate achievements, so much focus on results distracts us from the heart of the matter. Our definition of "doing well" becomes based around exam results. I think God's definition of "doing well" in life is different. I don't think he will be impressed if we come to Him at the end of our lives carrying our certificates and our UAIs and our degrees, saying, "Look at how well I did!" It is true that these things have merit, and it is He who gives us the ability to achieve any of them. But he is not so concerned with what we carry in our hands, but what we have in our hearts. Don't get so distracted with growing your knowledge, that you lose sight of growing your heart. We are exhorted to "do well" with the motto, "In Pursuit of Excellence". 1 Timothy 6:11 speaks of pursuing a different kind of excellence - "pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness." I did well at school in terms of the usual definition of "doing well", but I don't think it would have hurt me to have more of a balanced life and spent more time pursuing the things that count. I am reminded of some lyrics from the Nicole Nordeman song, "Legacy": "Not well travelled, not well read, not well-to-do, or well bred. Just want to hear instead - Well done, good and faithful one."
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