When I left work on Friday I was very tired. I have had to attend to an array of work issues the whole week and I was still working on pushing out docs on my outbox a bit after 5 when I decided to quickly finish and leave. On the way home I texted Tress about going out to dinner and we ended up in a nondescript suburban Thai joint in Vermont.

It isn’t always about the food, I said to Tress and to myself, as we sat at a table next to a window, talking and sipping a glass from a bottle Tress had fished out from the wine rack. I didn’t even pull into the driveway – I had stopped at the kerbside, Tress jumped in and we went straight to dinner. As we talked I felt more relaxed (the wine – a Grenache – almost certainly had something to do with it) and as I looked around and saw other couples wondering in with a bottle of wine, I said to Tress it’s good to see others doing the same thing on a Friday night, just sitting down to dinner and start the circuit breaking process a weekend is meant to inject into an otherwise potentially relentless escalation of weariness.

On Saturday morning we watched the Olympics opening ceremony for a bit before I headed out to Simon’s for a hairy. We’ve known Simon since we moved into our rented home in Mount Waverley back in 2005 and he was operating his home business on Bizley Street. I remember he had a $10 hair cut flyer distributed in the area. I stopped going to him for a little while but Tress persisted and in recent years I went back to him and we’ve struck up a friendship of sorts. He’s a bit far for us now – he’s moved further couth to Kemp Street on Mount Waverley and we’ve moved further north to Blackburn – but he’s still a very good hairdresser and still charges way cheaper than   most others so we’re happy in this space. 

After the haircut Tress and I worked a bit on scoping the damage a mini sink hole has created in the north-western corner of our backyard. I poked around the edges of the hole, fenced it and decided to see if it gets bigger in the next couple of weeks or so, before thinking about what to do about it.

We then had lunch at Madam K’s, and decided to catch the Demons v Hawks game at the G. The trains stopped at Camberwell however so we had to take the replacement bus, which took forever. I was reminded how bad Melbourne’s weekend traffic has become in recent years. Hawks played poorly, sustained key injuries and succumbed to the very good Demons. In the last 5 minutes or so Hawks fans started streaming out of the stadium and a bloke in front of us said he hadn’t seen this for a while now – that Hawks fans were leaving a game early because it was losing in a bad way… sigh…

On the way home we were again in a cramped bus to get to Camberwell. A couple of boys who were with their father were standing up and the little one looked tired so I offered to squeeze some space for him to sit on the edge of my seat. He and his brother were both very courteous and soon started to show Tress the finer aspects of mastering the Pokemon hunt. It made the ride less trying.

Back at home we walked the little fellow and then rested at home by watching an old favourite – Tom Hanks’ “You’ve Got Mail”.

Sunday was special. Peter had arranged for the Korean speaking members to help put together an English/Korean bilingual service. It was very good and the last hymn – “How Great Thou Art” was sung in alternately in Korean and English and it reminded me of our days in Klang, when we would sing hymns in English, Chinese and Hokkien simultaneously – each singing in the language he or she is most comfortable with. We had lost the richness of a multilingual congregation – St Alf’s is such a monochromatic setting in this regard. When we had a quick chat with Peter after the service I said the same thing to him and we told him we were very grateful he arranged for such an experiment. We had also gone up to our Korean friends to tell them how appreciative and grateful we were for their roles in making this happen.

After church and we made our to another church – St Christopher’s in Syndal/Mount Waverley – to take part in little Olivier’s christening. Adrian is Uncle Seng and Auntie Anne’s eldest and he and Racheal looked very happy (sleep deprivation notwithstanding) for the family to celebrate Olivier’s milestone. They hosted a lunch at the very nice Elephant Corridor in Glen Waverley after the service and the free flowing wine made for a drowsy arvo and by the time we left for home I was suitably inebriated such that the walk with the little fellow was a perfect antidote as we finished the day.

At the lunch we sat with Vijay and his family. We first got to know this family when they first came to Melbourne 10 years ago now. They had just bought a home Uncle Seng had built in Mount Waverley. His boys are grown now and when I mentioned to the older one that Elizabeth Debicki had been a famous alumni of the school he was attending, he immediately googled her and was very impressed by what he learned. This family had come a long way. Vijay is now a chief enginner with a very large property group and they looked well settled.

As I came into work reflecting on the weekend, it made me want to visit Klang again. Tress and I had talked about visiting during Chinese New Year and last night we looked again at various fares. We have also been receiving pics of the French’s (Graeme and Susan – Jonathan’s parents) visit in Klang and Jonathan and Ruth had gone there too with little Micah, for a short holiday. It would be very nice to spend Chinese New Year with the family there.

Tress and Kiddo came back on Saturday morning. I picked them up from Tullamarine a bit after 9.30am and we headed home. At home and unpacked a couple of hours later, we had lunch at FHC (a Chinese dumpling joint called Baowie) and caught Jason Bourne battling big data and big brother. Or at least I did, as Tress was so tired she slept for the most part. Kiddo said she slept during the car chase scene. Really.

Later that arvo, I walked the little fellow and then did some cooking. I cooked the week’s lunches for myself and a soup for everyone for that night. During both meals – lunch at FHC and dinner at home, we talked about their holiday home to Malaysia.

Everyone’s very grown up, they reported. A niece of mine finished secondary school and is now doing a matriculation type of course in a college nearer the capital. She did really well in secondary school and so won a full scholarship for that course. She has a boyfriend. Her younger brother is missing her heaps. He’s still in secondary school in Penang and it would be a couple of years before he finds himself in her shoes – asking what this big wide world has in store for him. I said to Tress yesterday, after dropping Kiddo off at Tulla for her return flight to Canberra, that my sister Sim and her husband Daniel would probably have it tough for the next few weeks. Tress said Isaac the little “baby” brother, would probably have it just as tough. They will all miss her and would find it will be a while before they get used to this emptying nest. Tress and I know all too well, and I still feel it every now and then.

YY is another nephew of mine now living with mum, together with May my sister and her mum, and his little brother, YJ. He’s the same age as Isaac and he’s apparently a health and fitness freak. He eats carefully and made sure he exercised. He’s only 16 – such a mature head on a young body. Stories of YY and YJ made me laugh, and I felt good that mum now has this family with her every single day. I’ve said to Tress numerous times, I sympathised with Goh, May’s husband who has remained in Suzhou to work. He too was back in Malaysia for a short visit when Tress and Kiddo were there so it was good they could all be together for a little while.

Kiddo relayed too, that David my brother and Jean his wife, are well. David was unwell earlier this year but he looked well in recent photos too. Kiddo spoke about how Jean often seeks out my little niece and herself, to just spend time and talk.

What made me laugh out loud were the accounts of the antics of my mother in law’s younger sister. Together with my mother in law, they (she more so than my mother in law) terrorised the stall keepers of the morning markets in Eng Ann. They sought out bargains and bullied stall keepers into feeling they’re practically robbed off their wares. They’d “speak” to each other across distances which ensured her (that younger sister’s) voice retain recognition by every trader plying their wares in that market. I recalled her visit to Melbourne several years back and can now laugh at the fact that I too was terrorised at that time by the endless and very loud chatter at any and everything. My mother in law has an elder sister and four younger sisters. That younger sister is the loudest but when paired with the youngest sister here in Melbourne, they form a formidable team who can probably out talk even world champion property auctioneers.

My mother in law sounds like she remains the caring, generous and loving lady I’ve always known her to be. She and my father in law are two of the kindest and gentlest people I know.

Brian is in college in the north of the peninsula now. He’s the younger child of Victor and Beng Lan. They live near my in law’s in Berkeley together with Eunice their firstborn. I’m sure Vic and BL felt the way we did too, when Brian first left home. Apparently he once “ran away” from home (only as far as my in-laws’ home) after an argument with his father. He sounds like a sensitive and intelligent young man. Eunice has a disability and lives at home with her parents. They bought her her favourite lego sets and I imagined as always, she beamed the widest smile when she was given those presents.

Megan has, apparently, acquired the teenage angst. The older of two children of Ben and his wife Jean – Tress’ other younger brother – she’s a lovely but strong willed person. She would probably develop into a matriarch years from now and that would be no surprise. Zack is the younger one and he’s also a very sensitive young man. A little less of a go-getter than her sister, he sounds like a well balanced and very focused young boy.

All these family accounts made me think of Ed Shaw’s book  on same sex attracted Christians. He argued for a wider sense of family in the church, as a means for same sex attracted persons to better live obedient lives of celibacy. It made a lot of sense to me.

As Tress dropped me off at the station this morning I found myself feeling normal again. Two weeks of being alone in dark/grey and cold and wet Melbourne made me feel like a zombie on a treadmill making the paces of life mechanically and literally, coldly. Knowing I will no longer be going home to an empty house made me feel whole again. I loved for her to be able to spend time with her parents, siblings and other family in Klang but selfishly perhaps, I loved for her even more to be here at home with me.

It has remained cold. Last week with Tress away I worked later than usual and the days passed easier that way.

I was a little tired when I made my way to the home group meeting, alone, on Thursday night. Towards the end of that meeting as we talked about what was coming up in the next week, it hit me again. Ideologically, this home group is so different from me.

It was the thing about same sex attraction and its related issues. The church was going to focus on this in the last 2 weeks of the month so the bulletin had an intro – to the effect that the conservative view is really what the Bible teaches. That the idea that homosexual practice is wrong is one which should be aired sparingly – because it is merely one view of the matter – would have been odd in an Anglican church, should have by now, been less challenging for me, yet it remains odd for me. Yet there it was – someone in that group thought the bulletin was not appropriately worded for saying God’s way on the matter should prevail. Liberal much? Seems that way.

On Sunday morning however, I felt better as I sat with 2 persons who affirmed for me, that Peter’s sermon had been very good. I felt I wasn’t thinking too differently and therefore, possibly wrong. The idea that I had been so wrong in thinking homosexuality is against what the Bible teaches, would have changed the tone of my weekend, which despite Tress’ absence, had been good.

The weekend had indeed been good. I had struggled through Friday morning, had a good lunch with my boss and colleague and then went home a bit after 5pm, feeling tired but not to bad. After walking the little guy back home, I went to FHC to pick up Kiddo’s new (spare) glasses, as well as some stuff I had planned to cook for a dinner at Jason’s on Sat night. I then went home and watched a movie (Southpaw) that night, alone at home, accompanied by a decent bottle of red. LBJ was next to me right through.

On Sat I slept in a little. It was very cold so I stayed in bed and read the papers on the iPad. When I eventually tore myself out of the bed, I rugged up, made coffee and toasted a couple of crumplets then did some laundry and vacuuming, before going out, wondering what to do for lunch. I texted Tress who suggested Madam K but I didn’t like the idea of driving to Box Hill just to have lunch when it was just me. So I had something I haven’t had for a long time – at the FHC, I dropped into a bakery and bought myself a steaming hot meat pie (!), After a coffee at home I took the little fellow for another longish walk. I then did the cooking – a pulled beef with some roasted pumpkins and capsicum and took it to Jason and Mel’s who were putting on a ridiculous winter in July spread.

My plate of pulled beef, flanked by roasted veges and topped with a chilli I had roasted the veges with, stopped looking impressive when placed on the table. It was lost immediately amongst the ham, the seafood salad, the lamb skewers (Hipos’s dish) and so many other dishes in an array of foods a real, stinking hot Christmas would never see, because this family is often away at that time of the year.

Jason and Mel had invited a couple/family from the old OCF Sydney network. This family lived in Bangkok and was in town to scout around for their son’s university. There were 2 other families there – Rudy and Emily and Tim and Kenji – who were old friends from a previous church. There were kids running around too.

We talked, ate and had a good time and I left more sober than I would have liked, not having Tress there to do the driving as usual. It was just as well as the pulled beef had taken longer than I anticipated and the pan, pot and other wares were not washed when I left home in a hurry, late for the dinner. Back home sober, I boiled up several kettles full of water for the washing, as I slowly scrubbed and wiped, intermittently refreshing myself with a glass of red from the bottle I had partially used for the beef. When all was cleaned, I watched a couple of episodes of “Marco Polo” on Netflix as I worked my way through that bottle with the little fellow on my side.

After being reassured by the 2 members of St Alf who were sitting next to me on Sunday morning, I did end up in Madam K after all and after that I went home, took the little guy for his walk, and then went to Blackburn Station to meet up with Mark, Stephen and YL’s son.

We took the train to Richmond, and joined thousands all heading to the G to watch Sam Mitchell’s 300th game for the Hawks. Mark, whom we know followed the Hawks, had been excited when I texted Stephen and YL earlier in the week, asking if he wanted to join me as Tress was away and her ticket wasn’t going to be used anyway.

The cold and wet made for a messy game, with more behinds than any game I’d seen. Even the trusty kickers like Gunston and Breust were missing sitters and the game was at half time, evenly poised by equal measures of messiness and lack of urgency (Richmond had no hope of finals footy and Hawks were 2 games clear on the top of the ladder). Late in the third quarter Hawks tore away with their customary resilience and in the final quarter, kicked 9 goals to eventually win by a whopping 70 points.

Mark and I went home happy, especially to a home cooked meal. YL had asked that I joined them in their home and she had cooked a nasi lemak dish, which I enjoyed judiciously, conscious that I needed to get home and prepare for the new week. Stephen and YL lived simply but the family is a lovely one. When I got there, Max and Megan were at the dinner table and Stephen and YL joined in as I sat down and Mark too tucked in. They looked like a happy contented family, living the mantra that there would always be someone worse off than them, just as there would always be someone better off than them.

This morning as I trained in I continued reading Ed Shaw’s book which had been recommended by Peter for the 2 weeks’ theme of Christianity and homosexuality. It’s a book with a refreshing take on how to frame the issues. It challenged me very differently.

This, followed closely by Ryan T Anderson’s more muscular work on marriage (from a social policy perspective), would hopefully better inform my thinking as Australia stands at the precipice of redefining marriage. I hope despite its apparent lighter tone, Ed Shaw’s work is what makes me examine my own thoughts. And life. It has been interesting how a phase in the pursuit of information and knowledge on a topical issue like homosexuality has lead to an old familiar theme of re-examining my life against what the Bible says. Thank you Ed Shaw, thank you dear Lord.

This morning and for the first time in 6 months, I travelled to work alone. Tress dropped me off at the station and it was a pleasant ride into the city and a short tram ride from Spencer into Clarendon/York. I had left home just on 7, having stayed in to watch the Euro 2016 final. It was still level and goal-less when I left, and watched the rest of the match on my mobile on the way in.

I still got in about 10 to 8, but it was quieter than usual. Maybe it is still the school holidays and people are still travelling.

It was a bit of an energetic church service yesterday. Every year during the winter school holidays the church runs a  program called “Going Bananas”. On the Sunday after that program finishes, the Going Bananas team re-present parts of that program in a church service and introduces the rest of the church to the children and parents of the program who weren’t regulars.

After church we drove (in our old trusted Camry which was reinvigorated with a full service and new set of tyres)  to Madam K’s and as we often do now, caught up with Ronald and Cat there. It wasn’t planned but we’re both regulars in that joint and have been seeing each other there in recent weeks. It’s great to be able to continue a very old friendship. Both Ronald and Cat had been my Sunday School teachers, and I had then been a Sunday School teacher to their boys. We went about our regular lazy Sunday afternoons after that – walking the little fellow, and watching a footy game on TV as well as doing some shopping.

The previous night we caught up with our more regular dining companions, in Gerry and Jess’ home. Jason and Mel were there too and the case of Peter Lehman’s “Pastor’s Son” was delivered and shared amongst the three families. A couple of bottles of the very drinkable Shiraz were opened to accompany the very warming steamboat dinner. Gerry and Jess’ girls are loads of fun now and the conversations were good. Jason told us about an old friend from the old ICC church, who had been diagnosed with cancer.

Life’s vicissitudes continue to confront and I again wondered about life’s turns. As the week commences with a first day I return to work alone, without Tress, I inevitably wondered what the next turn, the next bend, would reveal.

When we were shopping yesterday, we bumped into an old couple friend. She had a surgery recently to deal with some facial nerve issues. He reminded me of an old friend, who was an ex-director of my present employer and whom we got to know well and spent some time with during his final couple of years. He had Parkinson’s and died a few years ago.  It is strange that a few years after his death, I am now working in a company he was responsible for building up many years ago. His work and I had no reason to cross when we knew him and even after he died I didn’t know about his involvement in this company.

I now work in this company, trying to contribute to a company that had been lashed by storms of corruption scandals in its US operations. The board and senior management under whose watch the debacles happened have all been cleared out but the legacy lingers. We’re trying to rebuild and every day I am grateful just to be able to come in to do work, to play my part in the rebuilding.

And yet, I continue to wonder if this is it, or is there another dimension to what God has in store. Assuming of course that I continue to work on abiding in Him to seek His will for me. It could be I continue to do this work and that would be His will for me.

At least given I’d likely be commuting on trains and trams again, I can return to some form of regular reading again. Maybe that will help steer the way.

Friday night – wonderful catch up

Some time on Friday arvo Jason sent a text message, asking if we wanted to catch up for dinner that night. A mutual friend had initially teed up a Sat night dinner at that friend’s home but had a change of plans, so that might have been the prompt for Jason’s text.

Tress and I had busy Fri arvos so it was only when we were both in the car, on the way home, that we responded and so we met at “De Fazio’s” in Blackburn, on Whitehorse Road. Tress and I had forgotten about the Blackburn Station level crossing works currently underway and so what would have been a 10 minute drive turned out to be a 20+ minute one, as we detoured and took a roundabout way via Springvale Road.

The pizzas we had were very nice but it was even nicer just to sit down on a Friday night with friends, and talked over dinner, with a bottle of Pinot. We ate, talked and drank for a while and before we knew it the packed restaurant had emptied out and we were the last 2-3 tables left. We had been there for 2-3 hours …

Wales and … election (sigh)

Early on Saturday morning, I watched the marvellous football match between Wales and Belgium. Wales are on a magical ride on Euro 2016, and they were good to watch as they beat a very highly rated Belgian side to play Portugal in the semis. During half time I caught up with some news and read Tony Abbott’s plea for Liberal voters to stick with Liberals, the Turnbull treachery notwithstanding. What a man Tony Abbott has turned out to be. I still don’t get why the mainstream media spurns a man like that. It is probably his conservative Catholic background – a mix that is repugnant for most of mainstream media, as George Pell’s treatment also proves.

Straight after the game, I watched (on iView) that episode of Kitchen Cabinet where Turnbull talked to Anabel Crabbe about the coming elections. Watching that episode and reading Abbott’s plea made me rethink my decision to deliver a donkey vote but I still wasn’t sure as Tress and I walked towards the Holbury Children’s Centre on Raleigh Street. At the entrance, I collected all materials on offer so as I waited for my turn, I had the voting cards for each of the ALP, Coalition and Greens, as well as that of the ALA on my mobile….

At the time of this entry, there is the spectre of another hung parliament. Rudd Gillard Rudd killed Labor but the Coalition refused to learn anything from that disaster and allowed Turnbull to do to Abbott what Gillard did to Rudd. Peter Hendy lost the Eden Monaro seat. That seat has been the bell weather seat for many elections and Hendy hosted the meeting Turnbull called, on the eve of Abbott’s overthrow so his loss is significant on several fronts.

If Shorten becomes PM, Same Sex Marriage will happen much sooner without the public having any direct input, and we’d lose negative gearing, probably lose value on our properties. So, I’m just jaded in order to suppress the anger against Turnbull and his fellow assassins.

Tress and I had gone to The Glen after voting and after taking the little guy for a longish walk. We went to The Glen for Tress to do her mobile plan switch-over. We then did our grocery shopping there and then went home and later that evening, as I was getting excited at the prospect of cooking a pork rib congee in that new pressure cooker, my bubble burst as that cooker sat still, completely lifeless, as I plugged it in. It had died… so that congee was cooked on the stovetop, and while it meant  I had to stand over the stove for an hour instead of leaving it in the cooker, that congee was delicious and very satisfying all the same.

Cousins day

The church was a bit empty when we got there a touch after 10am. It soon filled out however, and the simple message (final one on the “Fruitfulness on the front line” series) that we ought to be the channel for the gospel at our workplace, continues to resonate and seeks action. I continue to wonder what I can or need to do in seeing His Kingdom come, and seeing His Will done on earth as it is in heaven.

After church we drove to Footscray. Wei, a cousin who lives in Brunei, was visiting Melbourne en route to NZ for her family holidays and Ruth had arranged lunch. We suggested somewhere nearer Ruth, Jon and little Micah, as Wei, my Auntie Swee Har, Uncle Shu and Wei’s 2 boys – Zachary and Luke – were staying in an apartment on Flemington Road in the city. Wei’s hubby (Tze Horng) was going to join them later to meet up in NZ, together with his parents. What a wonderful family holiday – 3 generations! – that sounds like it’d be.

We caught up in a Vietnamese restaurant in Footscray. Ruth shouted and it was a very good catch up. We talked about how things were in Malaysia, in Brunei, and how everyone was, including Kiddo and what she’s been up to since finishing up in ANU in Dec last year. Little Micah was very adorable as always and everyone had a good time. Zachary and Luke were however, fans of the Scousers, so that was the only setback…

After lunch they went to Ruth’s home but we had to decline as  we wanted to take the dead cooker in for a replacement. So we left Footscray and drove straight to Nunawading, and got the cooker replaced. We then went home, walked the little fellow, and prepped to cook the week’s meals in the cooker. We watched a wonderful doco on TV while waiting for the marinated chicken to get to room temperature. “Wild China” on Channel 9 showed us many wonderful parts of China, and we caught mainly those parts on the Silk Road and the macho Kazakh horsemen, neither of which screams China but it really shows what a vast country China is.

Tress brought in and organised the laundry and did the smoothies for this morning, I did the cooking and nearer 7pm, everything was done and we sat down to another Masterchef episode. My glass of red tasted very good, as I wondered about what this country’s immediate future would look like…

It has been cold in recent days. I think for a second time in maybe 4 days the papers are reporting we’ve had the coldest June day in the last 20 years. I guess climate change sceptics are probably smiling now.

I had a reasonably miserable weekend and it wasn’t just the cold. I did my back in on Friday. I suspected it was the night before, sitting on a couch at Susan and Matthew’s home for the church small group meeting, which slowly got the back caved in. But I get a bad back episode 1-2 times a year anyway. The trigger could be anything or nothing at all. It just comes when it wants to, mercifully just 1-2 times a year.

So on Sat morning as we lumbered through a very cold morning I was walking around funny and feeling stiff and not happy. When we eventually made it out of the house late morning, we went to the Nunadwing home centre. I had wanted to get one of those slow/pressure cookers to cook some winter warmers and both The Good Guys and Harvey Norman were having financial year end sales (as is every retailer Down Under). We walked away from The Good Guys with a model which on the face of it, was a steal. We made a $70 savings, which appears to have been maybe a touch under a third of the “RRP”.

We then lunched at Madam K’s (who had put up the prices) and then went to get some groceries. Later that night we took a drive to Tullamarine to pick up S & YL who had been back to Malaysia. We got back home, watched the last quarter of the Saints stealing a win against the Cats (yay…) and then watched a movie on Netflix (Tom Hanks’ Road to Perdition).

Early on Sunday morning I watched the Euro 2016 Croatia v Portugal game on my iPad. It was on TV too but it was again very cold and it was far easier to remain in bed, doona pulled well up to under my chin, with the iPad tucked just above the doona.

My back was marginally better when we left home for church.

We usually sit in the far right section of the church hall (left, if you’re looking from the pulpit) but yesterday morning when we got in a touch after 10am, that section was completely deserted. It could be the cold, or it could be the school holidays but there wasn’t a soul  in that section so we sat in the right side of the middle section instead. Our usual corner soon filled however but not before a few people came up to us to rib and remark/ask “what’re you doing in this section?”.

Peter continued with his “Fruitfulness on the front line” series, which we had missed twice because of our holidays to Oahu. After church we decided to  go to a different joint for lunch, partly because Madam K had put up her prices substantially but also partly because many had been putting up FB posts on a new joint off Doncaster Road. We decided Madam K was still better, and Tress and I stopped by on the way home, to get a couple of takeaways for later in the week…

After a bit more groceries shopping – for cooking the week’s meals on the new cooker – we walked the little fellow, which I enjoyed a lot. It has been so many days of wintry conditions – wet and cold – that although it was still cold, the drier and sunnier afternoon made for a very pleasant walk. We got home, we both had a coffee and did some office work on our laptops, and then I cooked and Tress did some ironing. We went through our respective tasks listening to the Hawks v Gold Coasts Sun game on the radio. Hawks won and went to the top of the ladder, as the Swans had a bye this week so they sat on second place.

Masterchef on TV was very entertaining, with teams serving dinners on pods on the Melbourne Star. As we sat watching the teams frantically working on their dishes, the smell of my chicken/mushroom/pumpkin “risotto” wafted through the home. Winter comfort…bad back notwithstanding.

Tress and I went to bed late last night. We had been to Tullamarine, dropping off a couple who had to make a trip back to Malaysia. S’s mum passed on and YL his wife messaged us yesterday morning to cancel a weekend coffee appointment we had made earlier.

We first go to know YL in a most fortuitous way. I was looking at suits in a departmental store where she worked. She was very helpful and we soon made acquaintance and somehow along the way, we got to know her family. It has been maybe 3-4 years now and just before we went away for our holidays last week, we talked a bit about his work, her health and a few other things. They also helped look after LBJ last week when we were away.

On the way to Tulla, I sort of mentioned my own experience when my father passed on and we had to make the dreaded trip back to Malaysia. That was almost 10 years ago now. I was making a bad attempt to help S better prepare his journey home as I remembered mine was emotionally distressing. YL must have picked up some vibes from S as she changed subject and I picked that up instantly and followed her tack. But later when we got home, it made me recall my journey back to Klang.

It is at times like this I’m glad I keep this blog going. This entry reminds me of a few things, which I must hold dear. The sensation, experience and overall state of being at that time in my childhood home for my last sighting of my late father lying in state would have been far easier to fade away had I not kept this blog and made that entry.

I need to be more diligent in keeping this blog going, making records of events, people and experiences that touch me.

Tress and I arrived home just a bit after 1am on Sunday morning. We had left the hotel, a block or so from the very lovely Waikiki beach, 9.30 that (Friday) morning. All in, the numerous exchanges and transfers, the 10 or so hour flight from Honolulu to Sydney, the transit in Sydney, the 1 plus hour Syd/Melb flight and then more transfer before the drive home from Tulla, had taken close to 20 hours. So when we got home we simply changed into our jammies, and hit the sack.

As I was waiting in the boarding area in Sydney trying to stay awake, I suddenly remembered why I had preferred local holidays recently. A destination like Hawaii sounds terrific but we jumped through so many hoops to get there and back. It is all so tiring and I often preferred to holiday without so many hoops to jump through.

Hawaii was lovely. We spent most of our time in Waikiki – swimming, walking on the beach, eating and shopping. There were a couple of days we trekked outside Waikiki – once towards the west to Pearl Harbor, and once to the east and north, to places such Sunset Beach and the Waimea Valley. It was very nice just wondering around in shorts, thongs or boat shoes, and spending time barefoot on the beach and swimming in warm waters.

For Tress’ special celebration, we had a lovely dinner at Morimoto’s in The Modern hotel in downtown Honolulu, next to the cove/marina. Morimoto made his name as an Iron Chef USA, and the food in his restaurant was very good. I think Tress enjoyed it and it was memorable for us both.

I guess the hoops – especially to make Tress’ special celebrations memorable – were well worth the efforts.

After sleeping in on Sunday morning and going through cups of coffee, we picked up the little black jedi from Doncaster. It was lovely to see him again, as well as the Tong family who helped look after him. We then got to Bunnings to pick up some DIY stuff to fix some things around the house, got some groceries and then went home to fix the house and try to make it feel like we’re home again.

Uncle Marloney and A Hooi dropped by late in the arvo and we had a quick chat, and poked around Uncle Marloney’s new set of wheels.

This morning from the moment I got into the office, it was work, work and work. It is only now, a bit before 5pm, I decided to put this entry up. The rest of the week will be even busier and my memory isn’t as reliable as it used to be, so I thought I’d write this down before I forget even more details.

I also started the NT this morning. I had finished reading the whole bible again just before we left for our holiday (having started maybe September last year), and I thought I’d read through the NT again. As I was walking on the beach on the day before we left, thinking what a lovely place it was to be in, I said to myself that if I wasn’t seeking the Lord’s direction as to where and how to serve, I would give serious thoughts to settling down to a lifestyle of warm beaches and carefree days. But life is or should be about serving others, just as Jesus did. It has to be about how to make His Kingdom come on earth and for His Will to be done here on earth just as it is in Heaven. I wanted to read again, how Jesus made a difference. I want to be like him and make a difference by serving others. I don’t know how or what that would look like. It could mean I simply need to keep working and make the most of what is in front of me. Maybe if I am faithful in this, He would let me serve Him in some other ways.

The rest of the year would likely be hard yakka but it  is what I have wanted and what keeps me sane. Work and a settled rhythm of life can be as peaceful and warm and refreshing as those lovely coconut tree lined beaches of Waikiki.