MANdate

Something I'm quite excited about, is that next month Mark Driscoll, one of my favourite blogger/preachers is coming to Durban and I'm going to see him speak. I feel kind of like I've got tickets to see some big rock band. Pretty amped.

Its happening on the 6th of March at Glenridge church. If you're interested, you can get more details on my Youth's blog, and find out how to register etc..

Mark writes for a great blog I subscribe to called The Resurgence, he's well rounded, eloquent and rather outspoken (which is probably why I like him so much!) I first came across his blog after reading Rob Bells books of which he was a major critic. Interestingly he seems to have become almost as provocative as Bell is.
He says things like:

"My desire as a christian pastor is to see churches raised up as communities of grace ruled by Jesus and led by his gloriously masculine men who work their jobs, eat their meat, drink their beer, romance their wives, study their Bible, and raise their kids in glory and joy."

This comes from a short book of his I've been reading (mainly because it was free on their website) called Porn Again Christian. Really good stuff.

Yakka First Semester/2010

Wow! Its been a long time since I blogged last. Well, been back at varsity for two weeks now, and I've done/seen/learnt one or two interesting things.

For starters, Yesterday afternoon I helped organise the first Yakka party for this year. Yakka is basically just a sort of punch made from Vodka, lemons, sugar and ice with lemonade, or lime cordial added to taste. Its cheap, relatively easy to make and good for making large volumes. I had a few cups, but the large majority went to the 70+ other people who attended, and proceeded to stumble their way to the Varsity pool once the supply had run out.


We started, at 1:30 with a fashion show put on by the new, First Year students. We (the third years) issued them a brief last Monday at their first lecture, which read as follows:


We weren't really expecting much. To be honest we were expecting most of them to just blow it off, but it actually went REALLY well. It was a huge success. I was involved in judging, and took some photos from the table in front of the ramp (built out of tables from studio). Here are some highlights:








And the winners of the competition:



Yeah, that's all gateway and butcher paper. Pretty damn impressive. You can find more photos from the event here, on Flickr.

Postcards

Yesterday, my dad found a box of old photos and things that had belonged to my grandad. Our house is still full of boxes and random pieces of furniture in odd places as I mentioned before, but we're going through them all slowly and making some progress. There were some pretty awesome old photographs which I may scan and post up here if I feel so inclined one day, but for now I three really cool old post cards to share:


I love seeing old photos of cities that I know. Its like looking at a really good friend's baby photos. The caption on the back of this first post card reads:

JOHANNESBURG: Hillbrow. The 271m (889 ft.) J.G. Strijdom micro-wave Tower at Hillbrow is the highest structure in Southern Africa and in good weather can be seen from as far as 80km (50 miles) away. Photo by B.K. Bjornsen


I really loved this old photo of the Carlton Centre, standing loftily above a rather different looking 1970's Jo'burg.


Lastly my favourite: A wonderful old photo of Durban. I'm not sure when exactly this photo, accredited to a Mr. John Hone, was taken, but the post card is dated 11/11/85. The arrow drawn in blue pen on the post card points to the block of flats my dad stayed in when he first moved to Durban.

Varsity starts in a week. Holidays have been great, but I am quite looking forward to a bit of purpose again. Expect a lot for Architecture related posts in the next few months!

Post

Today I received something absolutely amazing, from someone rather nice by post.
So cool.



Thank you. =)

Summer Sale

Got this sweet little piece of junk mail in the post today:


So cool! Well done Exclusive Books.

The Funeral

The girls sat in their seats,
In their pressed school uniforms.
How the church echoed with their grief,
As I walked through the doors.

I saw her on the steps,
With the stitches in her face,
But found not a single word
To complement her sad embrace.

But don't you hang around,
There's a beautiful night out there.
But on your favourite pair of shoes,
And tie a ribbon in your hair.

'Cos as that hour hand rolls by,
There's a longing in his wake,
That with each slow degree
Would wain a little heart-ache.

More friends

A little while ago I wrote about our last Gentlemen's Evening of 2009. Well I posted a picture. GME is a tradition we've developed, and basically just an excuse for some of my friends and I to dress up fancy, drink Gin and Tonic and such, and hang out. It's good fun though.

This month however, for some reason or other, a few of the girls came too. Now, this does not follow protocol, but it was still pretty great.

We had it at my friend Kyle's, who has a wonderful balcony which faces out over the city, perfect for sun downers. Meet Kim, Graham and Rebecca:




And some more boys in suits.