Don't blame it on exam time.

Don't blame it on the late nights.
Don't blame it on a busy life.

Blame it on the pudding.

Walking the streets of Carlton/Parkville

After a phone call this morning that completely failed to wake me up - even during it (but always appreciated, My love) - I returned to my pillow until Haskell beckoned. I've always admired its elegance. Apparently I'm one of the few in my course who would call it their favourite programming language.

I Could Never Belong to You - Sarah Blasko

"You certainly are quite the little explorer," she said. Nope. I just like to have lunch in the park, visit the abundance of boutique shops in the area and roam the city. It's safe, it's exciting and why the heck not? I can ogle all the shiny things with which I could fill our future home. I can try on jackets and scarves and nail polish. And hats. I adore hats. I just wish they'd be more fond of me.

Crawled Out of the Sea - Laura Marling

This change-of-topic-every-song idea isn't giving me much time to type. Or develop ideas. I'm just a day or so away from having My Love back in my arms. Before then, I must go to the gym, lead a Bible study, run with my sister around Princes Park, review lecture notes, cook, clean and sleep. We're nearly ready to notify people of the upcoming engagement party. Bring it on!

Down - Ben Kweller

Jean Valjean. I could leave it at that really and it would conjure up anything I could possibly want to say about the character, but after seeing Les Misérables again, I was reminded of how much I enjoy the Jean Valjean - Javert duality. I feel a piece of work coming on with that theme in mind. Oop. New song.

Once a Day - The Triffids

Ok, wow. My randomiser knew exactly what I wanted to listen to. Since experiencing some lows which previously weren't very familiar to me, I've grown fond of the small ache accompanied by wistful tunes. I'm riding some rather pleasant highs at the moment, but being reminded of the turmoil from which I've mostly escaped is a nice feeling.

I'm an odd one.

TheSovietChairman

Happy belated birthday and The return

She's a cute little thing with an occasional temper, a thing for muscular musicians, and she's finally hit that arbitrarily chosen year of significance. She's 21, folks! Happy birthday, JP, for yesterday!

You've saved my hide many a time concerning mathematics homework, and I've tried to touch yours plenty of times. I'm sorry for occasionally succeeding! You're a great girl and I've missed you. I'm sorry that I've been bundled up with one thing or another. I'll see you soon, I promise! My prayer for you this year is that you'll find answers you never expected and experience joy and fulfillment beyond anything you could anticipate.

Love always,

Ev!

Another thing to celebrate is the return of My Love! She's back from around the world with trophies for our future home. Tapestries and calligraphy. T-shirts and tummy hurts.

I'm glad to have you back, My Loveliest One. I can't wait to hold you while I look over the photos of your travels and read your travel log.

Time for bed. Sorry for the lack of substance in pt. 2 of this post. I'm blogging from my phone. If you're good, I may even augment this post with some (not)chickens when I'm next at my computer.

Missing you all,

TheSovietChairman.

Easy to miss

I was reading through the Gospel of Matthew the other day, and completely missed one of the keys to tonight's sermon. In reading Matthew 5, it's easy to take in the wisdom concerning adultery, divorce, etc. and not focus on something much more prevalent, like in verses 21-22.

‘You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not murder”; and “whoever murders shall be liable to judgement.” But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgement; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, “You fool”, you will be liable to the hell of fire.
Matthew 5:21-22

This was referenced in our study of the ten commandments, obviously concerning the 6th. It's easy to see 'You shall not murder' and praise ourselves for all the times we've set our hearts against someone, but stopped short of taking a life. But the nature of murder is malicious and premeditated; it's something in the attitude of our hearts. If we set our hearts against someone, how are we loving our enemies, as Jesus calls us to?

We were asked to look at some tough topics: Murder, suicide, euthanasia, abortion. That is, killing people in acts of aggression, in acts of mercy, all premeditated, all setting a number on someone's days- taking the role of God. Even our own days aren't ours to choose as every life points to something more than itself. Every human is worth far more than other animals, because we alone are made in God's image- we alone exist as pointers to God's nature, reflections of His Glory and as such have significance far beyond our own existence. Even the child, whom God "knits in the womb" is planned by God, even if not by us.

But some of us find it easy to see these acts as abhorrent, but truth be told, our acts of anger, slander, hateful will for others, all of these put us in league with those who commit more obvious acts of murder. God calls our hearts to follow His way, and we will always fall short.

‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same?
Matthew 5:43-46

These examples of the life we are called to live can so often be stark reminders of how far we've got to go- but we will never get there. It's through Jesus that our sins and everything that keeps us from God are taken away, and we are left, clothed in His Glory, not by our own actions, but by His.

We have all committed murder in our hearts, by our anger and ungodly thoughts, and in response to God's Grace, we are called to be imitators of Christ, eternally striving for hearts that reflect the Creator. It's so good to know that because of our faith in Jesus we will always be forgiven if we turn toward God. There is no sin that can keep us from Him, if we give it over and accept salvation.

Praise God!

Those who have been (relatively) long-time readers would know that my heart and mind visit dark places that weigh me down in a manner as described above. I've wanted to hurt people, to hate my enemies. Someone took something that didn't belong to them. I did the same thing, but I felt such great hate for him, even though he didn't know he was doing anything wrong. How much worse am I, who judged him, knowing what was good, but still choosing the wrong path for myself? I hated him for doing what I'd done and taking something to which no one had any entitlement, but both of us wanted. He doesn't know Jesus. I do. I cannot judge him, have no right, but instead I set my heart on evil thoughts of revenge.

I knew I didn't want him to die- but only because I wanted him to see what he'd done wrong. I wanted to shed his blood.

I need to pray for him and myself, that he might come to know Jesus as Saviour, and that I might see my own actions for what they are- and truly seek to be an ambassador for Christ, ever conscious of my need for God's Grace.

I've also got an exam tomorrow which I'm continuing to prepare for. It'll be such sweet relief to be free of study for...

...one week.

I really miss My Love. She'll be back in the country this Friday, but I don't think I can see her for a while. I'll be working hard until Uni starts. I promised a friend that I'd help him move house the following weekend, but if I can't see My Love until then, I'll have to throw him off. We're so incredibly blessed to have each other. It was great to spend the night with another dear friend, chatting into the small hours, confident of each others love. It's good to get things off my chest, and just breathe in another's presence. He'll be a great Best Man.

It is so easy to love those who love us. That's the easy part.

You may have noticed a new link in the side bar, (under "What's this nonsense?") detailing what this site's all about and offering an introduction to Most Strange. It is kinda odd, all these (not)chickens, weird posts, etc. I thought it'd help people who might be confused, for example, by my choice of name.

And I also just love talking about me.

I hope everything's coming together for anyone reading. It'll never be all sewn up, but I hope the seams are holding well enough for a good laugh and a bike ride.

There's always help available when the stuffing starts to leak out.

Much love,

TheSovietChairman

Nearly back-to-school time

But it's all right. She's back in emailable territory and I'll get to see her soon, along with many other dear friends whom I've neglected, apart from the occasional online chat. Sorry, y'all.

Wow, my feet are frozen. Time to thaw 'em.

Hmmm... I don't like really fat pens, I've decided. Oh, well.

Thanks for all your tips and comments on the new look. Feel free to suggest improvements, recommend widgets, etc.

Zzz...

TheSovietChairman

P.S. Sorry for the lack of requested pixel work- It takes less than 2 minutes to scribble some (not)chickens - including upload time - and it takes 10 minutes to do a pixel person, then another 10 to be happy with it. When I'm ready to go to bed, it's (not)chicken time, dear friends. Speaking of which, I should get back into writing and vector work, etc. Goodness... So much to do... Nope. Just sleep.

Hmmm... This place could use some Spring cleaning

Or Winter cleaning. Winter is much better for cleaning, 'cause you don't wanna go outside into the cold air. Yes?

I've just whipped up a new header, to replace this old one:


Here's the new one.

However, I think the colours of this place might need a shake-up.

BTW- The two little guys having a chat in the bottom left corner are Jax and Kat, two very dear friends. I have many dear friends, but they also happen to be my best man and fiancée. The real reason they're in the header is because those two people walking down the staircase are the real-life counterparts. The lady holding the nest is my sister, Kim.

Whadya think? Should I keep it?

TheSovietChairman

P.S. Don't worry, the (not)chickens will still be with us.

Graham The Bat

Hey, blog peeps! Check out my sister's new art blog, over at: http://grahamthebat.blogspot.com/

She's an art student from Melbourne. Once you see her work, you'll begin to understand where I get a lot of my inspiration from.

Much love,

TheSovietChairman

Routine 1

Cheerios? Not one of those O's has a right to be cheery. They're all gonna be drowned, then eaten.

I'm a traditional one-liner comedian- I like to make sure my jokes don't go over one line, so sometimes I have to type in a really small font and remove punctuation.

If companies want to reduce their carbon footprint, they should stop employing workers with carbon shoes.

Anime is essentially justifying adults watching cartoons, but watching anime has a lot of its own stigma attached, so sometimes when people ask what I've been doing, I tell them I've been watching a lot of drawings, really quickly.

Thanks, folks. You've been great.

TheSovietChairman

Kat wants a sausage dog

Do they make good pets? I'd love one. I'd like a small dog, but not a yapper-type dog. Ideas?

TheSovietChairman

Filler

I'm just waiting until I have real internets, I guess... Here're some thoughts. If you want to hear them as they play out in my head, then do as follows: Get three friends, and take turns reading a word each from the following paragraph to most accurately synthesise the sound of my thoughts.

I'm so glad I've got her. And she's got me. When we were apart I tried to get my heart moving in a new direction. How could I reconcile these three facts? 1. I had irrevocably given my heart to her. 2. I have to love someone, faithfully, for the rest of my life. 3. She didn't want me. That's where I was. It turns out that the answer was bigger and simpler than I could have guessed. We both tried to move on. I thought this time was for me- we couldn't be friends until I could function normally around her. But when the truth was told, the time was for her. She couldn't give her heart to anyone but the persistent boy who sought it with such relentless effort- not her affection, or favour, but knowledge and understanding of her hopes and concerns and the things she thought were beautiful, once the jaded exterior was chipped away. It seemed like she couldn't wait to throw off the broken heart of this boy, which haunted her. I was wrong. She was weighing up her options and she found that what she needed wasn't financial security or social credibility or someone from her field- she needed someone to keep seeking her heart and rejoicing in it. She came to this on her own, but I was scared. I didn't have faith, where I should have. My Father in heaven knows the desires of my heart, and more importantly, the needs. I wasn't patient and someone amazing got hurt. I wish I could send a message to her community to tell them to put their arms around her and shelter her from the storm I created. Those three irreconcilable facts could only be understood in the context of God's plan. But I didn't wait for that- and that amazing girl pays the price. I've apologised, and sought care for her, but is it enough? I get to marry the most incredible woman I've ever met, but there's a kind, faithful girl who suffers still. She's giving me a chance to speak with her again. What do I say? I want to live the way I should- when I'm studying God's word, going to the gym, reading lectures, speaking truth and working hard, I feel good! God has given me so many great gifts! I want to live in response to them! And I want to tell people about the greatest one of all: A relationship with The Creator, all because of His Son, Jesus Christ!

TheSovietChairman

P.S. Sorry about the intensity of this post- I may yet delete it. I also apologise for any spelling mistakes. Blogging from my phone makes things like that slightly more difficult.

We're all going on a...

Winter Holiday!

Sorry for my absence... I've been sawing, pruning, demolishing, studying, renovating, renegotiating, mowing, carting, nailing, hammering, drilling and much more. Yay.

Now I'm back in Melbourne for a few hours (mostly spent napping and blogging, I can assure you) and after some Sichuan, I'm ready to type.

I've been up country, exploring Beechworth, a great historic town in Northern Victoria. We stayed at a converted lunatic asylum and had a blast exploring the haunted grounds.

Night Security Guard: "...I took a camera out for some shots. Didn't see anything while I was there, but I went back, loaded up the photos and - I'm no Superman - but the sh*t I saw... I didn't go outside again that night..."

But of course, if he was Superman, he wouldn't have said so... So he might be.

We celebrated my sister and my father's birthdays while we were up there. Although the best prezzie was one I got for My Love. You guessed it. A soft toy Ned Kelly.




I wonder what Ned'd say if he knew we were hugging a plush toy version of his beardy self...

Speaking of beards- I have one. You may know. It's important to know.

The relevance? I'm not sure what I want to do with it. I've tried the Tony Stark look and it makes me look a whole lot less friendly (I feel) although My Love does prefer it, I think. I've tried the moustache. Apparently it looks like a maths teacher/fireman. I've tried the Lincoln. Then me and Jax can't be told apart.

It's time for something. Something new. Or not.

Ideas?

Here's where we're at:



Now that may seem vain and trivial. That's because it is. But I figure that I'm not among those people who have to look at me with any great frequency or duration, so I don't feel like I should be entirely responsible for choosing the look.

Mostly it's up to My Love, but I feel like getting some opinions from other people.

Wow, it's cold in here! Time to hit the books...

Much love!

TheSovietChairman