.daviddouglasgoode.

For What Its Worth.

2007-04-26T18:21:00.000+10:00

i havent written anything for a while, more than a month now. Not sure why, been busy perhaps, abit lazy, abit busy, abit lazy.

ive been thinking about the saying 'time waits for no one'. Its one of those cliche's that just gets thrashed like any cricket team playing Australia at the moment. It wasnt like i read it in a book or stumbled across it in an article, for some reason i just started to think about it.
As humans we can stop alot of things, and we have alot of power, but one thing we cant touch is time. Time will go on, no matter what we do or say or think or create or destroy or believe. Time doesnt care, it isnt a compassionate psychologist longing to here our groans and frustrations. its personless.
This got me thinking about who i want to be. Unforunately this sounds terribly cliched and perhaps meaningless, but who am i to become? Who am i to become in three weeks or twenty years? What is in me now that i dont like and want to get rid of? What am i doing to get rid of it?
Floatism, the human art of floating, is the ability of humanity to float through life.
Floatism has this devastating effect of wasted time, where people 'spend' time without actually realising their 'spending time'.
Humanity repeats it over and over again.
For some reason i dont want to be a victim.

id never thought id say this but...

2007-03-17T13:09:00.000+11:00

...everything is so much sexier on a Mac.
yep.
thats all i have to say.

23

2007-03-02T00:04:00.000+11:00

i wont always love and then hate.
I wont always live and then seem dead.
i wont always give and then take.
one close friend said to me one day that hurting people hurt people.
heck i hurt people.
why do my ideals spend their nights mocking me?
why do i always seem helpless? lost in the same problems of 'ages ago'.

one thing is for sure, that my intentions are clear.
my past can either destroy me or better me.
my life cant be a sick cylce any longer, or a pathethic rhetoric.
it seems that if a book was to be written about me all that would be needed to be done was for someone to draw a simple circle.
its not like i ever wanted it to be this way. i wish to lay down everything, i wish to let go, to bow down, to give, to love.
sometimes i feel like the rich young ruler that Jesus meets in Mark ten. its like Jesus has asked me whether i want to choose him or me. i stand staring to the ground, slowly turning my back to face everything i ever was, losing grip of what i need to be.
this is my life, am i who i want to be?

thank God for the beauty of grace, and the glory of hope.
mark ten isnt finished for me yet.

กรุงเทพมหานคร

2007-02-19T01:17:00.000+11:00

(C) ddgcreative 2007
bangkok. a home away from home. a place of beautiful friends and family. Next year ill be there studying at Thammasat University. God has given me a heart for this city. There are many times that i miss it. Ill be going there again in December. It'll be my 6th trip there.

iaatd

2007-02-06T13:44:00.000+11:00

cass and i were talking oneday. our conversation brushed the whole need and want of talking to Jesus all the time. We both wanted this year to be a year of dialogue. between us and Him.
so we both agreed that this year was to be the year of the dia. for us at least anyway. wanna join in?

(C) ddgcreative 2007
iaatd . itsallaboutthedia.
when mono doesnt quite cut it

K.I.S.S

2007-02-03T13:48:00.000+11:00

im sure all my asian friends have seen this video clip lol... but for everyone else, check this out. Its a full on video clip, the only video clip ive cried in... twice! its korean, but that doesnt matter, u can still understand what goes on.

2 o o 7

2007-01-12T01:39:00.000+11:00

Well 2006 has come and gone. I remember where I was at the turn of last year. I was in thailand, in the middle of a cow paddock. It was most uneventful. I celebrated the new year with the cows, looking up to the sky, thanking God for his grace for another year. When you think about 2006 what are you going to remember? When your kids are bouncing on your lap, asking about last year, wondering what you did with your time in the year of 06, what are you going to tell them?
I think reflection is really important, in everybodys life. Regular reflection, like every week, or every day after work. But what about the bigger picture? What about every year?

The last two years ive been away from home for new years. Apart from being on the other side of the world, the last two years ive done one thing very differently. That is, ive given myself time, by myself, to journal, and to think about the year that’s just passed, and wonder upon the new year, and what will become of it.
We all talk about new years resolutions and things we want to do differently, but how many of us actually give it enough thought for it to be real, for it to actually happen.

If you don’t do it, if you spend the young days of the new year watching episode after episode of your favourite TV show, then I challenge you to give it a shot, you still have time. Sit down, go to a park, be alone, and wonder what you want to change. Write stuff down, then revisit it every month so you don’t forget about it. And if for some queer reason you think God doesn’t dig it, he does, trust me. Ring me up, and we will discuss it over a nice hot tea.
So what was it for me in 2006. When I think about 2006, what do I think about. Well lets see.

2006 was the year of Jordan. It was the year of the black man. Jordan was like my girlfriend. Like don’t get me wrong, I say that cause I probably would have seen him more than most men see their wives. It was cool cause we didn’t really know each other that well. Why did we see each other so much? Well we both agreed to the crazy idea that we would work for my sister for a year. So that meant that 2006 was also the year of the youth internship. It was the year of 6:15 youth ministry classes at Harvest in North Dandenong. It was the year of amazingly captivating bible college lectureres. It was the year of doing petty little jobs for my sister and her associates. It was the year of living and breathing our youth ministry, nexus youth. It was the year of freedom. 2006 was my first year out of school. 2006 was the year that I was 18. So that also means that it was the year of the P-plates, the car, the year of casting the first vote and so on.
What do I think of when I think of 2006?
Music?

There would have be a few albums slash artists slash songs that stand out for me for 2006. Music can define so much, and this was the music that defined 2006.
John legend would be a huge standout for 2006. John legend you say? But dave, you’re white. Well yes I am, but jordan isnt. Being in the same office meant a merge of music. And considering he didn’t really like screamo, I let him choose the playist for each day that we graced together. John legend was a highly played artist for the office we shared. Justin Timberlakes new album future love sounds or watever it is, was deflnitely another album played a lot. Other artists include Sean Paul, Missy Elliot, Kayne West, Black Eyed Peas, Chris Brown, Muse… the list goes on.
What else?
There were some key albums that I bought that will remind me a lot of 2006. Jacks Mannequin, everything in transit, will be an album for 2006, bloc partys silent alarm will remind me too. The most played albums for 06 would be underoaths define the great line, saosins debut, saosin. Lovedrugs pretend your alive, Jimmy Eat Worlds Futures, Jonezettas popularity, Panic! At the Disco’s Fevor, Death Cabs Transantlanticism and Plans, Emerys Question and United’s United we stand.
What Else happened last year? Going to coomoora every Thursday was fun. Taste of chaos, meeting underoath happened last year. Australia making the world cup was last year. The unrest in lebanon was last year. Getting my ‘beat magazine’ job was last year. Getting up at 3:30 in the morning every Wednesday was last year. Last year was the year of myspace. Last year was the year of ranked friends. Pre 2006, friends were never ranked. what a crazy thought.

Lots of things happened last year, some things I wish never happened, and some things im glad did. Whatever happened in 2006, whether good or bad, its now over, and 2007 is here to stay. Lets make this year count. Lets not let it be another page in our book of disappointments. This year is waiting for you.
Waiting for you to do something with it.
So, whats it gonna be?

Malaysia.YAY!

2007-01-02T19:16:00.000+11:00

well im now sitting in borders, at times square. KL. How are all you guys!
Malaysia is pretty fun fun. I imagined it to be like a cleaner version of bangkok, but its alot smaller than bangkok i reckon. We got into malaysia last thursday, and are staying in Jalan belfield, which is pretty close to the city centre. Its been good fun. All malaysians do is eat. absolute no jokes! they just eat and eat and eat and eat. Thus far ive had food at nearly every hour of the day. supper at 12:30 at nite, 1:30 and 3:00 at nite. fun fun. my body clock is seriously stuffed, i woke up at 1pm today hehe.

new years was good fun. we went to a street party in the middle of KL, at least 10000 people there i think. They had all this fake snow stuff out of cans that they were spraying everywhere. i got attacked by this massive mob of girls at the start. Soon finding out that ginniey told them to take me out. GOSH! haha. that was just the start. then we bought some and got them back. There were fireworks and the rest of it. its funny, i was thinking that if the same thing happened in melbourne, like massive street party, thered be fights everywhere, grog flying everywhere and it stinking like uno... bad. but not over here.

So yeh. Bangkok was really good. obviously i wasnt there for the bombings, but the news hit me pretty hard, as i know exactly where they happened and yeh, had to ring up all my friends to make sure they were alright. I had always felt safe in bangkok. Ill be going back there in about 9 days, so ill check it all out.
We had christmas in style. we went on a river cruise and watched movies with our 30 dollar DVD player that we bought haha. i got a black macbook, which is what im typing on now. very cool. We just did lots of shopping, till we all ran out of money. went to the night bazaar, the emo market and siam paragon, where i tried on a 4500 dollar D&G suit. well hey, i thought it was fitting, considering the name.

Now we are just relaxing. Miranda is sitting across from me journaling and ginniey is out with her cousin just walking around. Ginnieys family who we are staying with are just so beautiful. the next couple of days we dont have much planned, we are going to penang and malaka i think.
hope and pray all you guys are well.
enjoy the new year is what i say! missing you all. See you very soon
dave.

Laos.YAY!

2006-12-18T01:55:00.000+11:00

hey everyone!

well... my first real contact with all you guys, apart from my little group messages that i sent out. Sorry if i forgot to send you a msg, just hard when there is so much stuff going on. plus when u send a message 40 times thats 2 messages long overseas, it isnt the cheapest thing... hehe.
yeh yeh i kno, im pov. ahh well.

Well, its been about a week and a half since i left, and its been incredible! The order has been like this. Bangkok for about a day, then nongkai, which is north east thailand for 4 days, and now laos for about a week. Im now in a place called Luang Prabang, which is central laos. Its a really nice place, abit of an unknown treasure if u ask me. I havent been sick at all, which has just been so good. Thanks for all the prayers, i can really feel them.

its hard to kind of summarise everything that we/ive done since i left home. In nongkai we helped out with the local church there, serving the pastors and the church, doing watever we could. That was awesome. The church there is just crazy. Crazy because they really just rely on Gods strength, and u can see God working in and through them all. they have a clinic at the church which serves the community, they supply jobs by making bricks, and they provide homes for students that are studying in the area. Its really beautiful, the way they just give out. Challenged me alot.

In Laos we have just been running clinics with different organisations. Clinics meaning we have been helping them with skills, like megan taught guitar and jaida helped with conflict resolution. i helped out in the kitchen. would u believe it? haha... was rad fun tho, taught them how to make scones which was cool.

Today we drove from the capital vietiane to luang prabang. that was a full on drive. Full on because it was thru all these hills, but more full on cause i saw poverty in just a whole new way. laos is one of the poorest countries in the world, the poorest asian country. I saw children, 4-5 years old, blank faced, picking up bamboo, obviously working far too long. U could tell they were so malnourished. You need to know these things sometimes. You need this kind of perspective, otherwise u end up living in a bubble, which only has room for yourself.
its hard to explain, u kinda have to see it.

Well hope all u guys are well. Want to send me some SMS love but dont have my number? Well, now u can :)
+66831320164
hope all you guys have been well. Still got more than a month over here, which is a pretty crazy thought hehe.
TALK soon!
dave.

five seconds.

2006-11-19T00:23:00.000+11:00

You sleep so perfectly, as you lay sideward, content and comfortable in your bed. I put my ear to your chest, to hear your heart beat. A smile comes across my face.
The sound of your life is beautiful to me.
I wanted to speak with you today, I had lots to talk to you about. I wanted to share my heart with you. I wanted to exchange thoughts for thoughts, uno, like you do with your friends. I had hoped for us to talk when u were getting ready for bed. Sometimes we talk then.
You said thanks, and turned out the light. I started to respond, I said how it was a good day today, and how the weather was nice. I asked you how you went with showing love to your dad. I knew you cared about it, and wanted to help you with it.
My words were spoken in vein though. Your thoughts wandered on to how much you earned during the week, and how you were going to spend it.
I received five seconds from you. I was thankful for them, I tried to use them, to have a chat, but it just wasn’t long enough.
You sometimes talk to your friends about me. That’s cool. Some weeks we are really great. We talk and share, and you slowly give bits and pieces of yourself to me. Eventually though you take it all back. A good week will usually be followed with a bad week. Or a good month will follow a bad month. Your heart simply wanders to other things. It’s a hard relationship, but I take what I can get.
Now. Right now. I feel forgotten.
My days are five seconds long.
I sing love songs over you, all day long, hoping that you would hear me.
You exchange it with five seconds.
I pray for you, hour after hour, before the Father God, interceding for you.
You exchange it with five seconds.
The only way that we could ever speak, or for us to ever have a relationship, was for me to die.
I decided to.
You exchanged this, with five seconds.
I wish we were more. more than five seconds.
I wish I was more. more than forgotten.

leather never smelt so good!

2006-11-15T21:33:00.000+11:00

i was doing my run today, having a jolly old time in williamstown, when i stumbled across a wallet just lying there on the ground. Plain Curiousity sparked me first to pick it up. I had a look through, and found the guys drivers lisence. It was handy because there was a cop station just 100 metres down the road.
As i got into the car to drive down to the police station, i looked to see if there was any money in it. And DANG! was there money in it! i saw lotsa lotsa green. I pulled it out and started to count. 11 hundred dollar notes! 2 fifties and a couple of tens and twenties. It Ended up having like 1240 dollars in it.
So guess what?
PARTAYYYY!!! DRINKS ON ME!!!!

haha nar nar nar. Took it to the coppers, and they got my details down and told me that if it wasnt claimed in 3 months then i would get it. Sweet i thought.
Pity they rang me up 2 hours later to say he came in to collect it. he was very grateful tho, and they told me he wanted to give me tickets to something to say thanks. Havent rung him yet, but will do. who wants to come if its something good?! hahaha.
its not often you find a wallet with a grand in it.
and that, people, was my adventure for the day.
what was yours?

the three influences.

2006-11-14T12:00:00.000+11:00

I love my music. Playing is good, and listening. I love to do both. I was thinking about it last night and i realised there are three main people who have shaped my music tastes, and who have introduced me to the majority of the bands that i listen to now.

Marky-G.
My bro. Mark has no doubt, more than anyone, shaped my music taste. There is a 4 and a half year gap between me and mark. So that means when mark was about 14 and started to actaully get into music and do some exploring, i was 10. I really had no other music to listen too, so most of the music i listened to was marks. Mark introduced me to the following:

Jars Of Clay: These guys would have to be up there with one of my favourite bands, incredible lyrics, and beautiful melodies. Mark got their debut album i think when i was in Grade 5. Still remains to be one of my favourite cd's ever.

Switchfoot: You cant get any better with lyrics than switchfoot, in the secular world that is. These guys are IN baby, and their lyrics rock my bottom. Mark got so pumped about these guys. I remember talking over breakfast in a cafe in black rock about the song, dare you to move. You cant replace switchfoot... you can get sick of them, but u cant replace them. The song, this is your life, is plain genius. Switchfoot will always be close to my heart. They are also bringing out a new album in december! cant wait!

L.A Symphony: Back in late 2000, after mark finished school, mark went out and bought all these cd's. one of those was Dj maj - wax museum. This cd introduced us to the beautiful world of christian hip hop and underground. The gem out of all these groups, was by far L. A Symphony. These guys are hilarious. The album, The End is Now, is probably my third most played album ever.

mark introduced me to many more like Lifehouse, The O.C Supertones, Skillet, Newsboys, Audio Adrenaline, the classic dc talk, The Cross Movement, Listener, P.O.D, 4th Avenus Jones, Mars Ill, John Reuban, Grits, Antiskeptic, Ill Harmonics...the List Goes on.

GrassyGrace:
Gracey, my good friend Gracey, would have to come next. I still remember a conversation that me and grace had sometime in 2004. It went something like this. "so grace, what music are you into?"
"Emo."
".........whats that?"
Oh how things have changed. Me and grace got to know each other under the strangest of circumstances. However now we are rad as buddies, and she has introduced me to lots and lots of music. Grace has introduced me to:

Underoath: One day, actually it was the first of january 2005, Grace sends me this song called song will seek forgiveness, others escape. The start of the song i thought was incredible. I remember thinking it was a girl singing it, grace gave me so much crap for that. Anyway, the songs ends with Spencer from the group screaming his lungs out. It nearly made me fall off my chair. It took me a while to get used to it. I listened to a few songs off the net streamed and some were just too hardcore for me. Anyway, a day in July 2005, mark and i treked to Jb hifi in brighton. Mark was feeling generous that day and tells me i could buy a cd there. As i was looking through, i saw underoath there. Couldnt believe it. i decided to get it and i remember thinking initally it was too extremo. Little did i know that after the 4th or 5th listen, i fell in love and would be one of my favourite albums. Underoath also brought out another album this year which i think is just as good. Underoath and Jars of Clay would have to be my favourite artists. I also got the privilige to see them live last month and met them all. Respect to them yo!

Copeland: Copeland is just plain genius. If you dont like copeland then there is something wrong with you. Grace introduced me to copeland as well. Copeland are one of those bands which make my playlist complete. Copeland arent your standard genre filler, they make music like no other.

Anberlin: These guys are great. Grace made me listen to these guys back early 2005 and ive never looked back :) If you havent got their album, never take friendship personal, get it. Its awesome. They are brining out another album in feb, which is gonna be a huge release.

Dashboard Confessional: A notable mention. I was never a huge fan of dashboard, but nevertheless a fan. Grace made me listen to these guys too. I liked them enough to buy three of their Cd's.

Grace also introduced me to many other bands that i love like yellowcard, Mae, emery, further seems forever, armageddon sky, wishful thinking, angelas dish and the postal service. yep. Grace is pretty cool yo!

Benjaminties:
benjamin newton is abit of a champion, if you dont know him, then again there is something wrong with you. sorry ladies he IS taken by the amazing ginniey niggy, so no luck there. Ben and i grew up with a similiar music background, so today it has meant that we have a very similiar taste in music. If you go to bens house, you'll find that he has pretty much every cd i have. Either he has it or its on his wish list. Ben has introduced me to great bands, such as:

Death Cab For Cutie: Grace really was the first to introduce me to death cab, but i never caught on. On the way up to pick my car up from Yass, We listened to the whole of translaticism or however you say it. Convinced me enough to buy the album and the one after it. If you like indie music and dont have any death cab stuff then again there is something wrong with you. Death cab is now apart of my usual daily listening.

Relient K: These guys are rad cool. Ben fully digged them before i ever did. Now i have three of their albums, all to which i dont listen to much now, but are still good albums. These guys rock the pop punk world, with their rad lyrics and nice harmonies. Ben tells me they have a new LP coming out in Feb. madness.

Jimmy Eat World: Ben gave me a listen to these guys, and from the very first listen i loved. I mean they are pretty big, but i never really ventured out and heard their stuff. i think i like their newer stuff than their older stuff, and thats what benjamonie showed me. These guys are quality, get into em, they arent hardcore either.

Ben has also introduced me to some other great bands like lovedrug, angels and airwaves, ocean lane, jacks mannequin, as tall as lions, minus the bear, and got me more into bloc party, blink 182 and emery.

underoath genius.

2006-11-06T00:48:00.000+11:00

dont stop breathing
just let the waters calm you
dont stop breathing, not this time.
its all around you, its all around you.
we're surrounded for all i care.
embrace yourself.

God is l33t!

2006-10-22T22:55:00.000+10:00

dave. Some will seek forgiveness, others escape (Chamberlain, 2004) says:
yeh taht was the main thing.. GOd was like 'ayo'
dave. Some will seek forgiveness, others escape (Chamberlain, 2004) says:
sometimes i see God having a malaysian accent
dave. Some will seek forgiveness, others escape (Chamberlain, 2004) says:
hahahaha
---
God is leet cause he is all cultures. imagine his accent, every word would be like different!
cant wait to meet Jesus man. Just hanging out with him, playing table tennis on a cool day, singing along to copeland, drinking coke.
cant get much better...
comment if you love Jesus yo.

love wants suicide.

2006-10-18T19:59:00.000+10:00

It was like I was analyzing my faith, I watched how beautiful Christianity was, I saw how flawless it was, in terms of its theology and its redemption of man. I would see how prayer worked, how the holy spirit manifested itself. I saw how beautiful Jesus is and how he presents the ideal love, the ideal grace, the ideal selfless way to live. It was like I was clapping for an encore, for the show to begin all over again. I was a spectator, watching Jesus tap the glass of his confine, asking me to dine with him.

I would not get involved. I enjoyed how Christianity gave me a set of beliefs, how it protected me from those deep philosophical questions that would otherwise plague my mind.

I have a fear of intimacy.

I have a fear of being intimate with Jesus. Im happy to watch Jesus be perfect, but when this Jesus wants to know me, I find it hard. I find myself fearful. Jesus wants relationship. relationship wants love. love wants suicide.

check it`

2006-10-14T14:30:00.000+10:00

This is the exact model of my car.
i dont think i would ever do anything like this.
but it looks pretty sexy doesnt it?

what is annoying me.

2006-10-12T09:41:00.000+10:00

what is annoying me at the moment are those AMI adverts on the radio. Sitting on a warm toilet seat is one thing, but those AMI ads are just another level of annoying-ness.
that is all i have to say.

yep. it was good.

2006-10-01T14:14:00.000+10:00

click image to enlarge. (C) ddcreative.2006.

coffee stains and petrol stations.

2006-09-26T23:21:00.000+10:00

Jesus turned around to face to his twelve disciples. "Do you also want to go away?"
Simon Peter spoke out, with words that ring through the halls of eternity, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.'
Cliches are dangerous things. Things heard over and over are like clicks of a mouse at a computer. They simply blend into the background, and you forget they are even there. i probably click the buttons of my mouse hundreds of times a day, but i never hear it.
Billions of people throughout history have read either the bible or what there was of it. The problem is, they hear the words contained over and over again, and become desensitized to what its really worth.
Life is the most amazing thing ever thought of. To breathe, to live, to be aLIVE, is greater than any discovery of an atom or any theory. Its greater than the inventions of man or the power of computers. Scientists cant explain why or how, nor control it.
This is what Peter professed Jesus to have. not only this, but this + forever. Jesus is life and will always be life.
Lets not let this blend in with the coffee stains on our shirts and the weekly stops at petrol stations. Jesus is above the mundane, above the everyday.

a simple sunday.

2006-09-19T11:51:00.000+10:00

What a day. What a day. A thousand books could be written on what happened today. Of course, not about my selfish, self centered actions. Pages would be written about the beautiful altruistic acts of people all around the world. Self sacrificing mothers laying down their time for their children. Pastors practicing true and undefiled religion, visiting orphans and widows. Fathers taking the Sunday off to spend precious time with their children. God would smile upon some and cry for others. I always think, God must be the definition of patience. I think heavenly patience is something that we will never know of till we get there. Unconditional love. How is that humanly possible? I guess it isn’t really. Every day, early in the morning, God himself packages little bundles of love for all his Children. Carriages and carriages of love are carried from heaven to earth everyday. Bundles and bundles stacked upon each other. One for each of us. Every morning when we wake up, a bundle hand wrapped, directly from God, sits at our doorstep.

The greatness of God is something to get around. I used to always find myself thinking when I was a kid, what would happen if there was no earth. If there was no earth, I would think to myself, then there would be nothing. That was a hard thought to get around. How can you just have nothing?

God is the same. I think sometimes we pretend to have God all figured out. Like he is a machine, that when we put a few coins of faith in, we see the waters part for us. I think that we have killed the mystery of God. Like it says somewhere in the bible, we only seen things in part. We preach about the things we know, and forget about the things we don’t know. God is big. So big that we don’t know how big he is. We spend so much time testing out God and seeing if he ‘works’ that we miss the whole mystery of God. Sometimes I wish that Sunday nights would consist of us merely lying underneath the stars and wondering what God has prepared for the next day. Wondering how he can love us so much. Wondering why he would want to kill himself to be near with us.

three years!

2006-09-12T22:42:00.000+10:00

well just recently it has been three years since i got the job at new zealand natural icecream! Amazing isnt it. You wonder how did i stay so long? yeh well, so do i. Im the longest standing employee there at the moment. Im like the master scooper, if that exists. anyway, some random facts for you.
Since august 2003 when i started i would have approximately:
scooped 64000 scoops of icecream
filled 15900 cones with soft serve goodness
made 13000 smoothies
made 9500 milkshakes
juiced 7400 juices
prepared 3300 fruit flo's
and squeezed 1500 wheatgrass shots
ive probably handled around 100,000 dollars worth of money.
If you add up all the drinks, thats 18000 litres of product! thats filling my pool to three quarters full! mmm yummy.
so there we go. I thought id share that with you!
three years passed, with no plans of leaving!

jordan and jesus.

2006-09-08T23:07:00.000+10:00

i was playing chess, glaring into the computer, wondering what glorious move i was going to pull next. Jordan was on the couch, lying down, staring at the ceiling. Ben was figiting, doing something, on the other couch. We were talking, uno, having a good chat about anything and everything. The time was 4:12, and jordan and i were done for the day.
Thinking of where my bishop was going to gravitate to next, Jordan was talking about his dance career. He spoke of youth alive and dance lessons. He talked about honoring Jesus with his dance, and giving it to him. He said it was a weird thought thinking of Jesus dancing.
That caught my attention. I stopped the chess, and swiveled my chair to face him. He was still staring up to the ceiling. I had never thought of that before. Jesus dancing, what a cool thought.

See the thing is, Jesus made jordan, the way he is, with his dancy bones and all. Jesus placed Jordan within a culture that appreciates 'dancy bones'. No use Jordan being born in 16th Century france would it? jesus reckons dance is cool and wants to use it.
So, Jordan, go for it bro. Jesus is like, the man. He can do airflares for five minutes straight! no jokes!
Jesus dances. Trust me. Ive seen it.

whatsup?

2006-09-03T00:40:00.000+10:00

Jesus is the nosiest brother you'll ever meet.
- Reggie Dabbs

the smell of pubs and magazines

2006-08-31T21:47:00.000+10:00

well, yesterday i went across the city-side, enthusiastically starting my new job.... well for the first three hours. On the weekend i scored a new job, with beat magazine. Ever heard of it? Yeah, its like a real big free street based mag, with heaps of rad stuff in it. anyway, for me to do this, deliver that is, i have to get up at a wonderful 3:45 in the morning, to get to richmond by 4:20 to pick up 2100 papers to deliver to all the western suburbs. Do you think im crazy? Well its not all that bad.
the pay is good, its just that the first few rounds of doing it will be terrible, due to me not knowing where any of the places that i have to deliver too. that is exactly what happened this first run. I got so frustrated, cause i had no idea where these darn places were.
One place, i got terribly flustered because i had to lug 60 of these magazines over like a kilometre. This was because the traffic was peak hour cause i got there so late.
I just wanted to talk to someone, cause i hadnt spoken to anyone that whole day. I sat there, on the papers, looking up at the sky, wondering if anyone would call. Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and it was God. He asked if i would walk with him, to have a chat. I gratefully shook his hand and gave him a big nod. We talked all the way to the car, then he asked if he could travel with me, i of course said yes.
We spoke about sunsets and slurpies and how he made all the stars just to dazzle us. we cruised to the sounds of underoath, bobbing our heads with the windows down. We took turns with who would take the papers into the shops. Sometimes i had to drag him out of the pubs because he wanted to talk to the alcoholics.
He is a great guy... do you know him? He told me we didnt speak enough. He told me i put too much dependence on my friends and my things. He cut right to the core. Tears were shed, a red tissue was exchanged from God to me to wipe them away. I told him i would try to put my trust more in him, because now im starting to learn how much he really loves me.
God met me where i was at, with papercuts and blisters; with the smell of pubs and magazines.

ø

2006-08-28T20:25:00.000+10:00

Underøath + me = happy.

underoath is definitely the band of 2006 for me.
cheers.

love.

2006-08-26T13:09:00.000+10:00

after.

2006-08-23T21:36:00.000+10:00

i get this feeling sometimes that after the world ends, when God destroys all our buildings and all our flags, we will wish we had seen everybody as equal, that we had eaten dinner with prostitutes, held them in our arms, opened up spare rooms for them and loved them and learned from them. i was just a stupid child in the flow, you know; i didnt know any of these things. i didnt know that it didnt matter what a person looked like, how much money they made or whether or not they were cool. I didnt know that cool was a myth and that one person was just as beautiful and meaningful as another. Not all of us are as smart as aliens, you know. Not all of us run around naked like adam and eve. You can hardly fault me for this stuff can you? Like i said, it felt important to climb the social ladder, it felt important to defend our indentities; it felt as though we were saving our own lives.
- donald miller

dear annie.

2006-08-21T20:54:00.000+10:00

Gods funny in that he takes interest in the seemingly worthlessness of human kind. Listening to the whiny voice of Chris Carrabba, of dashboard confessional, makes me think, 'how does God put up with this?'
how does he put up with paris hilton? how does he put up with self-centered political leaders whos heads are too big for the houses they live in?
God must be the definition of patience.
How does he put up with me hey? Im such a rollercoaster of emotion and alliance. The morning sun makes me want to live in the desert, with John the baptist, ranting for a life of increase. Then by sunset i have allegianced myself with the man inside me, receiving thunderous applause, bowing to myself for the beauty of my selfishness.
i know i havent been a great friend, and i dont really know what you think of me. Maybe we can wander down a pier, dangle our feet over the edge, and wonder out loud the mysteries of our company.
well ts.
yourfriendly dave

you and me.

2006-08-19T23:39:00.000+10:00

i want to keep walking away from the person i was a moment ago, because a mind was made to figure things out, not to read the same page recurrently.
- donald miller.

a little prayer for a little less sleep.

2006-08-17T20:07:00.000+10:00

hey there!
well you are all probably wondering, what happened to the countdown!? well i actually lost the order of the songs. I wrote it on two sheets of paper and now they have gone missing! i slaved hours over the order, cause it took along time to work it just right. thus i havent had anytime to be able to do it agian. I will continue it very soon.
To the point of this post. I have wanted to share this with the world for a long time. this is how the story goes.
I go to thailand alot. ill be going again at the end of the year. When i go there, i visit a little rural church in a province called Mahasarakham, which is about 8 hours drive north east of bangkok and 3 hours drive west of cambodia. The church is pastored by a beautiful couple named hannah and nehimi. they are like my brother and sister. They call me nongchai, which means little brother in thai.
Hannah can speak near-fluent english, whereas nehimi cant at all. My thai gets good practice whenever i speak to nehimi. Last year when i was speaking to hannah, she told me that she cant have any more children, as something happened when daniel, their son, was born. I told her that i would pray that she would have another child, as they desperately wanted one.
i visited thailand over the christmas break and came back on the 8th of January. Since then, hannah and i correspond via email. One night, i was restless and couldnt get to sleep. I was praying for hannah and nehimi at the time. I thought that i should send a quick email to hannah, telling her what was on my mind. So on the 9th of July at a quarter to one, i sent the following email to her:

hello Hannahi wonder how are you? I cannot sleep so i email to you. I pray you now. How is everything. How is nehimee and daneil? how is church? I pray that u can have more children hananh. I know that God wnats to give you more. i am now on holidays. Im studying and learning many things. thankyou for your prayers, they always support me.
talk to you soon
nongchai dave

then, on the 28th of July, at 12:08pm, hannah sent the following response:

Hi Nong chai, Hope everythings went well with you?
I just wonder that because your praying so now i have got two months pegnate. So surprise us. I never expect that, so now God give to us one more baby. Nehamee so happy about this. Everybody are fine. We are praying for you and miss you alot.
Love
Hannah

(no subject)

2006-07-27T23:18:00.000+10:00

its sad that i have to interrupt my countdown but it has to be done.
i feel down, surveying the pieces of me that have broken, and those that are broken pieces of broken pieces. Its like a slight sickness, a tremor through the body, a pain. As like a great christian martyr said, hurting his wife and family was greater than any physical torment he was ever put through. I dont know how to feel, what emotions to express. Shall i cry and sob violently? Shall i sit and stare, show no emotion at all? Shall i supress them, and watch them come out later, more ferocious then when they were first felt?
i dont really know how to feel. Good intentions turn and slap you in the face, mistakes harp you till they bring you down. Is it shame? guilt? how about fear? oh God help me. i wish a life of the unconditional. You say i have not because i ask not.
now i ask... for grace.

#16

2006-07-25T17:06:00.000+10:00

Mrs Jackson - Outkast
I say, there are four greats in the secular hip hop world. They comprise of Outkast, Eminem, Missy Elliot and Black Eyed peas. Missy Elliot, smashing all the preconceptions of women in such a culture, Eminem mocking the "im a gansta" part of the culture and singing about real stuff, then there is BEP and outkast. Both these groups are simply genius' when it comes to mixing it up. In lyrical content as well as instrumentals, they are always so different from the status quo. Outkast hit the charts with Mrs Jackson in the late 90's im pretty sure. May have been 99, im unsure of when it was released. Nevertheless, when it came out, whenever that was, it stuck with me, looping thru my head, never wanting to get out.
"I hope we feel like this forever, forever, forever ever, forever ever"
the third verse is abit crude, pity that. Thats when u use vegas and edit it out.
it has been played 109 times, being the 22nd most played song on the computer

#17

2006-07-19T22:03:00.000+10:00

Snowbirds And Townies - Further Seems Forever
well 17 hits the spot for my emo bone. This song i guess introduced me to the whole genre, and beacuse of that, its special. Also cause obviously its a good song. Dashboard Confessional is your staple emo band, and the Lead Singer, Chris Carrabba, was the lead singer for Further at the time. Now they have a new vocalist, so you wont get the same sound. I was a fan of Dashboard, but now i think he whines too much. The song is off The Moon is Down, which is yea, an ok album. Im not a huge fan of Further, but this song is sweet. It has been played 70 times, being the 89th most played song on my computer.

#18

2006-07-18T00:46:00.000+10:00

I Dont Want To Know - Mario
number 18 is a hip to the hopper. This song was a thrashed song for me last year. I played it over and over again. It has abit of personal emotional attachment for me, in a very abstract and weird way. I think the version of the song i have is a remix, but its very similiar to the real version. It has P. Diddy in it as well. It has a great beat no doubt, no over-expressed male whiny voices in it either, which appear so often in rnb and hip hop. That annoys the heck out of me. I like mario, from my limited knowledge of him, he doesnt talk about sex and 'living it up', but real stuff.
For the record, it has been played 142 times, being the 10th most played song on my computer.

#19

2006-07-15T13:22:00.000+10:00

Entertaining Angels - Newsboys
Number 19 is Entertaining Angels from the sumpremo Newsboys. This song is off the cd Step up to the microphone realeased in 1998! This song was a favourite back when i was in grade 5! An oldie but definitely a winner. I thrashed the heck out of this song. Newsboys are definitely one of the greats of chrisitan rock, delivering 11 albums, with another on the way. I still havent seen these guys live, but if i was too, i would want this song to be on the song list for sure. The chorus chants "entertaining angels by the light of my tv screen, 24-7 you wait for me", too good!

#20

2006-07-13T13:05:00.000+10:00

I Am Understood? - Relient K
Well number 20 is Relient K with I am Understood. This song is relient K genius. Off the album Two lefts dont make a right, but three do, Matt Thiessen - Lead singer, sings a song of life and reality. Relient K are one of those bands that i can relate too alot. Thiessen is so real, he speaks his heart. This song has been played 55 times, which isnt really much at all. It will always be a classic, Relient K are Pop punk to a tee. There style is like no other, from their stupid american jokes to lullabies of life and truth. mmhmm and Two lefts are brilliant albums. I recommend them to anyone.

20 to 1

2006-07-13T13:02:00.000+10:00

Well. If you know me at all well, i like statistics. I love my music. So much so that i dont go illegal and rip or burn stuff that isnt mine. hehehe.
My collection isnt amazingly big, i have about 1500 tracks. Ive gone through and selected the top 20 out of those. Not necessarily the most played songs, but those that have the most meaning, the ones that have lasted time, those that hit the spot for me. Ill post one roughly every second day, going from 20-1, from the least greatest to the greatest.

She Stumbles.

2006-07-04T17:36:00.000+10:00

She stumbles down the hallway, half tripping on her long flowing dress as she goes. Her mangled hair acts as a screen to her eyes as she tries to see the way to the door. She wants to live the truth, a kind of eternal longing inside of her. She wants peace, happiness, justice. She wants a perfect world, a world complete with scones and cream...
Idealistic? Maybe.
She collects herself, straightens up and tilts her head. Her vision is blurry, her contact-less eyes make a clumsy job of her sight. Her emotional past seems all to much, like a giant in front of the exit, a cup of tea in bad company. The door stands lonely, compianonless. Its been open for far too long, waiting for her go through it.
Her dried tears make her cheeks taut. There are no more tears to cry. The floor boards are damp and eroded from the salt. She has cried a thousand oceans and nothing has changed. The only thing left to do is to leave through the door. She loves the house but, she loves the things that kill her. They are familiar, like a temporary beatitude, a bandaid over a gaping wound.

its time for her to leave. She accepts that nothing in that house can do it for her. The darkness has been her friend for too long. She picks up her bag and utters a sigh of resignation. She gives up. She gives up building her house. Her empire is no more.
She steps out and braves the air. There she is, raw and vulnerable. She sees the sky for the first time in its full beauty, vast and limitless, bright and refreshing. Perfect in every way. If only she knew to leave her house earlier. The door was always open, inviting but never forceful, requesting but never demanding. She has finally found truth, and will never let go.

ahhh... comfy comfy.

2006-07-02T13:42:00.000+10:00

I didnt go to religion to make me happy,
i knew a bottle of port would do that.
If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable,
I certainly dont recommend christianity.
- C. S Lewis.

Colleen never lies.

2006-06-30T17:11:00.000+10:00

dave. - says:
ur such a poo
\\GOD'S PROPERTY<3>
ur urine

and he said to her...

2006-06-28T22:44:00.000+10:00

We never really got to know each other. The exact day, or year, of when we met is unknown and always seems to be argued.
A space of silence made its voice evident for far too long. Nothing was really said till msn was discovered. Even then, with msn at our side, we made little effort to venture into our friendship. Time flew by and i got to know your friends better than you.
There was never any chance for face to face meeting. Geographical distance always made that void a continual reality. Wondering always whether such a distance was the cause of the expanse that existed between us.
Then one day, unknown to my memory, we started to talk more and more on the net. We opened up, and got to know each other. We got to see glimpses of our broken selves, as well as having those oh-so-necessary superficial conversations. Sometimes the raw, uncut versions of us were hard to reveal on such an easy engine of disguise. Uncut or over-edited, our time spent together talking has been amazing. I thank God for every minute of it.

thankyou

How asian am i?

2006-06-28T21:04:00.000+10:00

haha i found this quiz on the net... so why not try it?

How Asian are you?
Put an "X" where it applies.

[ ] Are you asian in the first place?
[ ] Were you born in an asian country?
[ ] Do YoU tYpE lIkE tHiS aLoT?
[ ] Do you eat rice almost every single day?
[ ] Can you use chopsticks?
[ ] Have u taken chinese/krn/etc school as a kid?
[x] Can you speak an asian language?
[ ] Do you spike(guys)/highlight(girls) your hair?
[ ] Do you have an "asian crew"?
[ ] Do you get at least a 3.0 gpa? (thats straight a's in america)
Total: 1

[ ] Are you or were you once a fob?
[x] Have you designed a website b4?
[ ] Do you know the song "got rice?"
[x] Have you dated/want to date asian girls/boys?
[ ] Do your sns/email have the words: azn, gurl, boy, sweet, cute, hot, dragon, babe, angel, lil, princess, Xx...xX, oO..,Oo, etc?
[ ] Is your last name lee, chang, wang, wong, kim, chow, yu, xiao or park?
[ ] Do you take off your shoes before entering someone's house?
[x] You have both an asian and an english name
[x] Do you watch anime?
[ ] Do you listen to techno?
Total: 4

[x] Do you listen to asian music?
[x] Have you watched asian movies?
[ ] Can you rave?
[ ] Do you drink pearl milk tea or bubble tea?
[x] Do u play counterstrike, starcraft, warcraft, diablo, etc?
[ ] Are you a master at DDR?
[x] Can you play the piano or violin?
[ ] Do your parents beat you if you get bad grades?
[ ] Are you taking any honors classes?
[x] Do you/your parents drive an asian car?
Total: 5

[ ] Are you a very good artist?
[x] Do you speak ur asian language w/ ur friends?
[ ] Do your relatives own a restaurant/market in an asian community?
[x] Do you slurp soup?
[ ] Do you have small eyes?
[x haha] Have you visited your home country at least twice?
[ ] Does your house smell like incents once in awhile?
[x] Do you have/had glasses or braces?
[x] Do you like to read?
[ ] Do you NOT have an allowance?
Total: 5

[x] Have you eaten dim sum/dumplings before?
[ ] Are your parents fobs?
[ ] Do you have tons of cousins/siblings/uncles/aunts/etc?
[ ] Can you twirl a pencil between your fingers?
[ ] Have you ever solved a rubik's cube?
[x] Do you read manga?
[ ] Is the mall your hang out place?
[ ] Do you think u r short?
[ ] Do you/your parents save ketchup pckts/napkins/etc from restaurants for "later use"?
[ ] Do you have AzN PrIdE?!
Total:2

Now add up all your answers and multiple by 2.

34% ASIAN! woohooO! im not asian at all... so take that suckers.

the ugly bride

2006-06-20T00:38:00.000+10:00

Evangelical rationalists, on one hand, seek to substitute the Word for the Spirit. "Charismaniacs", on the other, credit the Spirit for bizarre teachings that have no relation to scripture. Do we ever quit repeating the mistakes of history?
Larry d. Hart

evil things

2006-05-08T22:44:00.000+10:00

DANGER DAVE!! - ` 4 2 ` d a y s : : `พระองค์จะทรงเรียกถึงฟ้าสวรรค์เบื้องบน says:
hows study?
Karen says:
study?
Karen says:
right
Karen says:
THAT'S what i'm meant to be doing

its like a disease eating away humanity haha. Ive got a problem with procrastination. Does anyone else hav this problem? or is it just me? ive got a problem with not doing things that i kno i MUST do. Well, ive decided that im going to try and work on this area in my life. So ive started with going to the gym... cause i know that i must do that... Next step is Keeping my car clean, walking the dog, and getting up to give time to God... so, lets see how we go :)

ill update yah with progress... laziness is silly, so im gonna be accountable to all of you :)

keep looking!
DAVE!

Conclusion?

2006-05-01T23:00:00.000+10:00

well that was a rather interesting post. Conclusion? hrmmm... do i have one, thats the question. Maybe i could come to the conclusion of who had the most persuasive and compelling comment. There were 3 categories.
Those that argued the males
those that sat on the fence in teh middle... [barb wired mind you]
and those that argued the females side.
---
Some stand out comments

"Women have babies." Men make babies." - mat
-
"Now consider WHY God designated women to have babies.

Obviously he would choose the one that society can live without for a while. Ie. Men are vital women are not." - mat
-
"I ALSO THINK that it is more fun to be a girl in the 21st century because you get to dress up and play with dolls." - ladybeetle
-
""men have facial hair. they can choose- hair or no hair. men have choice. therefore men are better. simple."

I just gotta say....that is the dumbest thing ever. EVA. and EVA!!! Seriously, think about how much it would suck to have to shave everday. Or look like a monkey. ugh" - Davi
-
"there's a reason why women have been oppressed over the centuries. men are better therefore they oppress. simple." - Pete
-
"I think Men are superior in society...

(doesnt mean its right... :) )" - *perfectionism is a lie*
---
well... many comments... ill let you decide, as i have no authority to say what the conclusion is... pity that.

dave.

on a quest!

2006-03-29T23:18:00.001+11:00

wells... or if u want to be a hardcore.. wellz...

im on a quest, to work out, who are better...

the ladies or the gentlemen? which is the superior? which comes up with the Goods when the pressue is on? Which is, on a generalised front, across all cultures of all generations, greater?

ohhh! i so want to know! Please give ur opinions! uno u want too....

the ladies? or the gents? hrmmssss or if u want to be hardcore... hrmmmzzzzz

THE EXCITEMENT!

DAVE

and the winner is dot dot dot

2006-03-15T20:02:00.000+11:00

SPENCER!

when Megan said that, it stuck with me, right till the very end. I dunnoe, i just really liked the name and it kinda ryhmes to

Spencer the Vienta

so there we go. Soon ill be able to drive spence around, hopefully. Im going for my p's in 6 days, so by faith ill be driving him around... with Red sticky things instead of yellow sticky things...

yay! thanks for all your suggestions, they were fantastic!

Dave

the name.

2006-03-07T09:56:00.000+11:00

Well people... I have to name my car, and im getting suggestions everywhere. So im open to any name.... the name i most like, i will adopt for the car. So just comment this post, the name or names that u think would be nice for my car :)

and the best name will win! hahahaha
w00t!

too fat.

2006-03-04T15:28:00.000+11:00

"99% of Western church income is spent on itself."
- Ashley Barker

Another added to the family.

2006-03-04T14:55:00.000+11:00

well this is my baby! I havent got a name for it yet. but i will soon! Its pretty cool. Its a toyota Camry Vienta 1997... so its about 9 years old. Its in great nic, only done 152 thousand. No accidents, just a few scratches on the paint work, but overall the paintwork is in good nic. The system is actually pretty good, just cranked some united and Underoath in it then.
This is inside...So yah im very happy! Awesome price as well. God has really blessed me!

russians in the know...

2006-03-02T20:29:00.000+11:00

Before going to war - pray once
Before going to sea - pray twice
Before getting married - pray three times.
- Russian Proverb

a wise word from God

2006-02-27T16:04:00.000+11:00

Better to dwell in the wilderness,
than with a contentious and angry woman.
Proverbs 21:19 [NKJV]

hehehe.

A word for a Friend.

2006-02-25T22:55:00.000+11:00

"The most important thing a father can do for his children is love their mother"
- Theodore Hesburgh

Hey dude, im praying for you.

drop-drop-drop

2006-02-20T18:51:00.000+11:00

I just had a bath, the first in a while! I felt really gross after gardening and pulling weeds so i decided to take one :] and while i was lying there, mulling upon on the mysterious taste of cheese, i had this amazing yet kinda weird thought.

I put my head underwater and it was wonderful. It was all nice and warm, and all i could hear was myself breathing. All i could hear was that which made itself present in the water; that was me, breathing. I was soaked in myself, i had my own little world, just my thoughts and the sound of my life. I put my head above the water and my ears started to pop, it was very uncomfortable. I put them back so i could continue my under-the-water bliss. Soon, the tap started to drip. Drop-drop-drop. It punished me haha. I wasnt in control of what i could hear, and it was annoying, i liked listening to myself breathing, it was familiar.

Sometimes it seems like theres a watertank around my head. All i can hear is my life... me breathing. As soon as something or someone comes into it, i feel out of control and uncomfortable. As i try and lift out of it, to see the outside, it hurts and is inconvienent. I soon learn though, that inside the tank, the ME is amplified and nothing is in perspective.
As i lift my head up i slowly learn to know whats really important.

Are u water-tanked?

2006-02-16T20:07:00.000+11:00

Nearly.started

2006-02-16T00:10:00.000+11:00

Well this year has been greaaaat... thus far in terms of holidays anyway. I havent started anything yet. I hope to get my Red little card thingy that will enable me to drive by myself in about 2 weeks. Ill start my College in 2 weeks as well. Once i get those two things, lots of other things will start to happen. I have so many things i want to do this year! I was discussing with a friend about how once i start college and get my P's then ill be able to do all those things i want to do. Till then, im a bluddger! \ haha.

just watched 2 movies. You can waste alot of time watching.

Another Start

2006-02-04T19:45:00.000+11:00

Heyya everyone that can be bothered reading this.

I do have another blog on the way but i still have alot of work on it, so i thought i better start another one, while the other one is under construction, as i believe it could be like that for some time coming. Ill probably update this one more regularly than my previous blogs. Tell all ur friends about it, if u want of course hahaha.

Well... blessings to you all..
Dave.