Two days in

It has been two days. At present I am doing a block course before I start on the job proper. Even when I start there will be this thing called orientation which means I will not being doing real work for a while yet.

Those starting with me are from an interesting mixture of backgrounds. Some I know from my studies, while others are new. Of those who are new many are from out of town - Whangaganui, Palmerston north, and Nelson.

So far it has been boring as anything. a lot of admin and introduction to the systems etc. Hoepfully it will improve for I am struggling to keep my eyes open at times. At the moment we are working on a case study and have to do a group presentation tommorrow. It is not too taxing, just a matter of gathering all the stuff together into a coherent form. The biggest challenge will be working with the other team members; but I know most of them so it should be ok. :)

Last day of freedom

Today is the last day of freedom before I start my new job. I am really looking forward to this next step in the journey that I am on. While the months ahead will be full of challenges, it is what I've spent the last three years preparing for.

Yesterday, I had some friends over to mark the start of something new. Since it is a busy time I was not sure who would turn up. A few were in Hamilton at Parachute, or overseas so as the time ticked round there was the odd thought "I hope someone turns up". As it was there was nothing to worry about as about 15 turned up including some who I thought were not going to be able to make it. It was nice to hang out with friends who have been part of this journey and will continue to be for the future.

On Sunday I went down to the Teddy Bares' Picnic. Chris, fiancé of the world famous in NZ drummer chick Kate, who is one big teddy bare himself, was playing with his band the Funky Monkeys. It was a lot of fun, and they certainly put on a good show for all the kids (and kids at heart).

After the Funky Monkeys I stopped off to hear a Latin Dance band play in the sound shell for about an hour. The Latin rhythms sure make you want to get up and dance, though due to my innate lack of rhythm I resisted the temptation, thus saving myself a lot of embarrassment. However I don't think I will be able to escape so easily of C & K's wedding since there is a Celieh and I suspect everyone will be dragged in, no matter how inept they are.

Summer Wine: the good, the bad & the bizarre

I’ve just returned from the Summer Wine conference and had an interesting experience. For those of you who don’t know summer Wine is a camp for charismatic evangelicals primarily from the Anglican community, but also including other dominations with a focus on teaching, worship, prayer and hanging out with friends and family.

Initially I was planning to go for just a couple of days but I felt the Lord telling me to go for the entire weekend. So off I went arriving just after mid day Friday. The first couple of days there was some good worship and teaching, but nothing that stood out as being the reason why I was suppose to be there for the entire weekend.

This all changed on the last day, but not before a rather bizarre experience. At the end of each teaching session there was an opportunity to go up for prayer for anything that might have come up out of the session. At previous Summer Wines I’ve been really blessed by these opportunities, and during one of the Monday morning sessions I took the opportunity to go forward. As I was standing up the front one of the prayer ministry team came up to me and asked me what I wanted prayer for. I quickly told them, but for some reason they seemed to think that what I asked prayer for, and what I needed prayer for where two different things. After a bit of discussion we got that misunderstanding sorted and the prayer started. Then after a bit the team member stopped to share what they believed to be a word of knowledge from the Lord.

At this point things started to get bizarre, for they believed that the Lord had showed them that there was fear in my life. My reaction was “Fear? Nah, they’ve got that wrong.” So I said to the team member “No” informing them that fear was not the issue. But they continued telling me that I was fearful about the coming year. Now by this time I knew they were totally on the wrong track. I had just finished my nursing training and had a job to go to starting in a week’s time. So rather than being fearful, I was excited about the year ahead and all the opportunities that the year is going to bring. I said to them the second time “No”, explaining that the Lord was opening up opportunities for me over the next year. But still the team member insisted that I was fearful, this time not only over the next year but over the next ten years. By this time I was getting quite irritable, wondering where this person was getting these “words of ignorance” from. And for the third time I said to them “No”. The team member then stopped trying to share any more words with me, and finished their prayer. I walked out feeling like someone had dumped a tub of tar on my head.

Despite this feeling I knew I had to forgive, since we are all fallible, myself included, and can sometimes suffer from “foot in mouth disease”. So I forgave the person and prayed for a blessing on their life. Despite doing this I still felt deflated for the rest of the afternoon.

I arrived at the evening session still feeling deflated. As the worship got under way I felt the Holy Spirit begin to minister to me. My prayer during the session was that I did not want to leave the camp without being blessed so when the invitation came to be refreshed in the spirit I went forward (praying though that someone else would pray for me). As I was standing a couple approached me, and there was a real gentle spirit resting on them. They started praying for me and had said only few words before I felt the power of the spirit fall on me. Before I knew it I was doing carpet time. For the next 10-20 minutes I couldn’t move, not even my head as the spirit ministered to me. So I left the camp feeling blessed and refreshed.

I know its only Rock and Roll – a belated review

Early in the new-year I went to see two of my favourite NZ bands, the Datsuns and Shidad. Despite both bands being around for some time (Shihad for 18 years) this was the first time that I managed to catch them live.

The warm-up band was Shaky Hands and they had a few fans in the crowd, but I wasn't one of them! I found them underwhelming with a lead singer who couldn't sing and a rhythm section that couldn't keep time. But that seems to be the nature of warm-up bands.

The Datsans came up next, and they still have the retro look of a band from the early 70s. The influences of hard rock of such icons of the era such as Led Zep and Deep Purple are unmistakable. There is no subtlety to the band; they play it fast, they play it loud, and they play it proud. For about an hour they rocked the house and had the mosh pit jumping.

But for most in the crowd Shihad was the band they had come to see. It was another sweet home coming for Wellington's favourite rock sons. Very soon they had the crowd singing along to their classics like “Run” and some of the new songs as well. While the whole crowd was singing along I couldn’t help but remember Brian May of Queen saying during an interview that the essence of a rock concert is where the band and the audience become one with the audience as much part of the performance as the band. The epitome of this was Queen at Wembley. While on a smaller scale Shihad and the crowd still rose to the occasion and produce a great concert.

For their encore Shihad joined with the Datsuns for a cover of the classic Split Enz song “I See Red”. Afterwards they mingled with the fans showing that they are still in touch with their roots.

The man drought conundrum

There is rumour floating round that there is a man drought out there. It has been the subject of much angst this and discussion, particularly amongst single females. But is it true? Is there really a man drought or is it just another urban myth?

On hearing the rumour my interest was aroused. I knew that, due to longer life expectancy, there were more women than men in the older age groups. But the rumour said that the 25-44 group was also affected by a man drought.

So I did a bit of digging and found much to my surprise that the rumour is true. Based on the 2006 census there are more than 50,000 fewer men than women in the 25-44 age group. For single women in their 30s the news is particularly depressing for there are 10% fewer men than woman.



Since we are dealing with census statistics here we can be certain that that the numbers don’t lie. Or do they? For I find a strange conundrum in the numbers; when I take a brief survey of my friends I find that the majority of my female friends are in their early to mid 20s with very few in their 30s to 40s.

Which raises an interesting question - if there are so many more women than men in the late 20s to early 40s, where are they all? Are they hiding in caves, or have they left the cities and joined alternative lifestyle communities in the countryside. Based on the Census data I should, relatively speaking, know far more females in their 30s than I currently do and far less in their 20s. But the reverse is true.

The answer to this puzzle lies in the particular characteristics of the social network to which I belong. Each social network is a sub group of the total population and may possess characteristics that diverge significantly from that of the total population. For some individuals this may mean that there is only a small difference in the number of males and females in their network. While for others there may be significantly greater number of males or females. In my case one of the characteristics that diverges from the “norm” is a higher than normal percentage of females in the early to mid 20s and a lower percentage in their 30s to early 40s.

This is why statistical reports like the 2006 Census need to be put into their right context since they provide only part of the picture. As a wise once said “there are lies, damned lies, and statistics”.

Do you feel lucky today?

I’ve just returned home from spending a relaxing few days up north with my sister and some friends of hers. As well as being nice to catch up with friends it was also a time of interesting little coincidences and opportunities. It was a week where time and chance rolled my way; if a certain DH asked me his classic question about feeling lucky I would have answered yes I do!

I arrived in Auckland after travelling up from Wellington on Boxing Day. The trip up was mainly without incident apart from being delayed for an hour by a serious two-car crash near Tokoroa. Trevor and Phyllis, friends of my sister who live in the Coromandal, invited us up to stay with them for a couple of days. So on the 27th we packed our gear into my sisters SVU and hit the road. While there we took the opportunity to do one of the many walks though walk though one of the gold mining areas near Paeroa. The country is very steep and rugged, and the path we walked took us through a gorge that, at times, dropped vertically into the river about 50m below. As we were walking along the path we bumped into a Department of Conservation contractor who coincidentally knew Trevor. The contractor’s work gang has been employed to restore some of the mine shafts prior to opening them up to the public later in the new-year and he had just finished inspecting the mine to assess what needed to be done. As a favour to Trevor he offered us the chance for a tour of the mines which were closed off to the public, including an area inside the mines where a steam pump was used to pump water out of the shafts. While showing us the inside of the mine the contractor gave us a running commentary of the history of the mine.

Back in Paeroa we stopped of at the local club of which Trevor is a member. They were having a wee raffle at the club - $2 for a tray of meat – so we all put our $2 in. And much to my surprise I won a small meat tray which went very nicely on the Bar-b that night.

[As a little aside there may be some who think gambling, even on raffles, is a sin which causes a lot of pain and heart ache and that one should never gamble. And I agree that it can be a problem, and I use to take the view that one should never gamble, but I have moderated my view over the years. I now see that risk taking is part of life. We take risks all the time in our jobs, relationships and how we use and invest our money. Thus if you see gambling as a bit of entertainment with the cost of a bet the same as the cost of say going to a movie, and never gamble more than you can afford to lose then I see nothing wrong with the odd wee flutter. The problem occurs when you gamble to win, and start betting more than you can afford to lose. If anyone disagrees with me that’s sweet, let us agree to disagree.]

We returned to Auckland on the 30th and kept new-year’s eve in Auckland. Most of my friends and family were planning to go to the races at Ellerslie on New Years day. I am not really one for horse racing, but since everyone else was going I decided to tag along. While at the races we bumped into some more friends of ours, so we spent the afternoon with them. Since I was there I decided to have a wee flutter on the main race. So I put $2 each way (As you can see I am the last of the high rollers) on horse #6. But the person at the tote misheard me and put it on #7. I only picked it up when I was walking back to my seat, I thought about going back and correcting it, but then I thought #7 is as good as #6 as far as I know and returned to my seat expecting my horse to come dead last. For most of the race it was mid field, but I still expected it to drop to the back of the bunch in the final 400m. Then, to my total surprise, about 200m from the finish line it accelerated past the field to win easily. Not only that, since it was an outsider it returned $46 for a $4 bet.

But the coincidences didn’t end there. Prior to heading up north I had to replace some tyres on my car. As part of Xmas promotion the tyre company gave me a lotto ticket for buying the tyres off them. Now this was the first lotto ticket I ever had. When I returned I remembered about the ticket and checked it in to see if I had won anything. And guess what – a small return of $33.

So the new-year has been good to me and it is only 3 days old. I hope the rest of the year turns out to be as good, especially in the important stuff. Long may the dice continue to roll my way I say!