Stay for the ending- it's classic

Also, watch with sound:

I don't know if you'll read this...

...But I hope everything gets better, in a more permanent sense. You've struggled enough. I pray you find peace, so you can keep doing God's work with a bright and thankful heart, free from burden and guilt.

Who's a fatty?

It's me! I've been gardening and gym-ing and looking for work, but I've got a rather unpleasant weight sticking out the front.

But it's all okay. I have a plan now. One with stat. sheets and graphs and everything. I'm 2 days into my regime and it's going well. I plan to upload the results, which include all food consumed and exercise done. It'll look so pretty! Like me!

When I've done diets and changed my habits in the past, I haven't been very motivated, simply because there haven't been good marker points, nor meals planned out in advance.

I wish I could say I was doing this for My Love. I know she'd be happier if I took better care of myself. But I'm really doing this for cosplay. Spike Spiegel doesn't have a paunch! So neither should I.

I must be diligent! Like Ryu!

If I leave it blank, the web address won't match the title

I don't like choosing a title first, and heaven knows I can't be bothered composing anything in a text document first- not with Google's fantastic auto-saving and browser-crash-proof text editing. The problem is this: I haven't got a theme I'd like to write on. I'm getting a little sick of poring over photos of figures, guests and wild flowers. I want to write, but I haven't got a topic.

I looked over old writings with great disappointment. I really enjoy reading things like the Stories No One Wants To Hear. I like the way my writing follows my own pattern of speech- an odd combination of pedantic grammar (which sounds strange when spoken by anyone but myself) and idiosyncratic turns of phrase. My father likes to comment upon the latter whenever he hears other people using them.

My spelling was, and remains, atrocious.

Reading over that old post reminded me of some recent sad news. A friend of mine has climbed so far inside her own head that she's kind of stuck. She's had a lot of difficulty in the past, and she seemed to be going from strength to strength. Now, I'm not so sure.

Have you ever met someone who is extremely clever, yet missing a few key cogs which might have otherwise facilitated a practical and functioning world view? A mission of kindness has served me well so far. I will explain this in a minute.

I'm not very thoughtful, but I'm happy to work hard for other people. I will travel across country to meet you, and I'll skip meals to pay for train tickets. I'm an extrovert. And I probably want to hang out with you. Just don't expect me to remember to do things for you. I'll dig you a new garden, but it might take me a while to remember to do anything other than to stare into your beautiful (or otherwise) eyes.

(I'm sure they are beautiful.)

Kindness. A good measure of whether or not an interaction is appropriate is to judge whether it could be called "kind". Someone might not "deserve" your kindness- but if an action is actively "unkind", then it's probably the wrong one. Look for another way. "Cruel to be kind" rarely works outside of children. Cruel is just cruel.

I like the new way I now make (not)chickens- it's clean, it's super quick and it doesn't look half bad. I have a sketch pad beside me. My new scanner captures my scribbles. I then run a quick filter over them to clean up my pen lines.

Mercy, I'm boring.

Here: Read a cute story of a date that totally wasn't a date. Or was it?

Nope. It wasn't.

The end.

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Before I head back to see my family,

I'd like to thank everyone with whom I've had correspondence. Thanks for chatting. Thanks for dropping by. It's been a busy year, and it'll finish with a bang. Once I return there will be more to do than decorating, drawing, cleaning, gardening and playing with toys.

I wish all those frantic uni students the best of luck. See you on the other side,

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P.S. Try smiling in the face of whatever challenges come your way. It feels good to smile. And to draw (not)chickens. Scribbling is lots of fun.

Weddings, gardens, friends and food.

Weddings, weddings, weddings... So many of them! The most beautiful bride is yet to don her bridal gown, but that doesn't stop her from getting dressed up for other peoples' celebrations.

She's so very beautiful.

 And the food was lovely, too.

 A groovy guest (Geddit?! Probably not...) came to join us! We took her on a short tour of Bendigo, and then set her to work putting up our wall decorations.

 After admiring our handiwork, we settled in for a delicious biscuit with milk.

I hope you're excited by something small today, and it gives you great pleasure in the knowledge that no matter what the future holds, joy can be found without the comfort of riches. I also hope you find a sweet clock, and decide to mail it to me, with a letter containing a terrible pun involving the word "time".

*Squeeze*

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Good friends and hard work

I just finished 3 days of working for a friend in her backyard- mulching, digging, moving concrete chunks. It felt good. I'm a little sore. I'm very thirsty- even though she kept bringing me delightful beverages. I'm 2 fluffy chickens the richer- and I can hopefully contribute toward some wedding expenses.

We're so blessed in our friendships. We've had luxurious dinner parties at our house, and other peoples'. We've been given far too many gifts for no good reason at all. Thank you, Lord God, for all these blessings. Thank you for the blessings given through my parents and Kat's parents and the good relation we're able to share. Thank you for an eternally stable corner stone, through the storms and the sunshine- through the in-laws and the kitties.

We've been decorating some more. It seems as soon as I take a photo, we immediately put up a new poster, or a new ornament, or wall decal. I must take some photos. This place looks beautiful.

I must take photos. I also should get some (not)chickens happening again...

I hope everything's swell. I miss you.

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