Professor Jon's crazy tales of adventure

I forgot I had this thing

2011-05-25T22:12:00.002+12:00

Is anyone still out there. I totally forgot I even had a blog. If you're not on facebook, then you probably won't see many updates from me.

Soooo. What's been happening. Uhhmmm.
I got a new job, they learneded me stuff well.
I still don't have a decent acoustic. Is it still possible to get a custom Maton MSH model.
I've replaced the speakers in my amp for a Celstion G12H and a greenback. The greenback is way nicer sounding than the G12H, so I should have just got 2 of them. I've got a Line 6 M5 on order, which I should have by this Sunday.

That'll do. It'll probably be my last post on blogspot, at least until I have something decent to say to the masses.

Lisa: "Do we have any food that wasn't brutally slaughtered?"
Homer: "Well, I think the veal died of loneliness."

New flat and other stuff

2007-08-21T20:29:00.000+12:00

It took me nearly 18 months but I did it. I finally moved out of home again, into a new flat. I'm living with a couple from church, Matt and Renee. They have been my K Group leaders since I got back to NZ and got married last year. In May they purchased their first home and had a room spare which I grabbed. It's absolutely brilliant. We're 5 minutes away from church, and 2 minutes away from the motorway, meaning 15 minutes away from work. It's the simple things in life that matter, like being able to choose what to eat for dinner, and the brand of laundry powder that I want to wash my clothes with. The first big shop at the supermarket was a liberating experience. Just to have that independence again, and the sense of adventure that I have to look after myself. It sounds so silly, except when you've been living back home again, and you lose the ability to make these decisions. I've now been there about 9 weeks.

3 weeks ago we had our official church opening. This was a celebration of the new building, and the change of the church name, which came into affect on the opening day. Albany Christian Centre is now Albany City Church. The name offers so more more inspiration and vision, than the old name. I love it.

We practiced for about 3 weeks before the opening. It was kind of like a recital, except it's not about you, there's heaps more people there, and the day will be remembered by everyone there so much more.

We did really good though. I was stoked for my team. We had a choir for the first time, with about 15 people in it. All the band and singers went the extra mile to rehearse, and the overall standard of music in those involved rosed dramatically.

The best thing is that the day itself was so cool. We were able to lead people into an experience where they connected with God. So often at all the pomp and ceremony of these things it gets lost what it is that we're really there for. We had people crying in the national anthem. The emphasise of the day was on bringing glory to God, and that is what stands out. Mission accomplished.

Check out me and my new guitar. It's been a breath of fresh air to my playing. Part of it's the lower output, single coil pickups in comparison to a Les Paul style guitar. It's just one of those beautiful sounds. My Dad liked my guitar so much that when he went looking for a guitar he ended up choosing exactly the same guitar. We don't play together, so he can get away with it.

I also did my hair up. Blond fringe and tail, and black rinse through the rest. I had highlighted tips before that which I preferred, but this still looks cool. I did this especially for the opening.

I've now been looking after the church music team directly under Pastor Don for 4-5 months now. We're getting past that honeymoon period, and now the reality is kicking in. The good news is that the team is just improving all the time. The enthusiasm for worship at church is growing. We're bringing in new songs every other week. I feel like I'm doing what God is calling me to do. I can only look forward to the next step that he has for me.

And if you haven't seen the Simpons Movie yet, then you need to take yourself to the nearest cinema ASAP.

Rainier: My eyes! The goggles do nothing!

Change is in the air

2007-04-11T11:27:00.000+12:00

So my life has changed quite a lot in a short period of time. The thing is that the head of the creative department at church, has decided to resign. It was something that God has inspired him to do, and I wish him all the best in wherever God moves him to next. For me though this means that where there is a hole, something needs to fill it, and that means responsibility. I'll make it clear, I am not the new head of the creative department, but I am in charge of all the music at church.

So all my training at SCA is coming into use now. I'm now a leader in the church, and have a large team to lead. I've got the fallout of a family leaving, and helping with some other exceptional change that is happening at church. I had been given the task of looking after the music at the end of last year, but have always had Pete to give advice, and help deal with tricky situations that occur. Now it's up to me. OK, so I've got God on my side, and the full backing of the leadership team at church, but it still freaks me out.

The other completely amazing thing is that the music at church has gone to new levels. Passion to worship is in the hearts of the team, and in the congregation. The last 3 weeks services have been "off the hook". God's hijacked the service a few times, and just ministered to people. We had an acoustic worship set on Good Friday with the youth, and again God just came down. There were probably 20-30 people down the front, most of them on their knees in worship to God.

And just when things couldn't get any better, we had a visit from a local TV news station. Prime TV have their offices over the road from church, and they wanted a clip for the 5:30 news (Prime News - First at 5:30). We're just stoked that we had setup the stage with a giant cross, and put lights up and made the place look absolutely brilliant beforehand. We only found out they were coming in at 9:58, so we couldn't do anything to get it looking good. It think God set us up again. They showed some clips of the music team, including me, and some interviews with Pastor Don and some other church members. Albany CC was on display to the rest of New Zealand on one of the main Christian holidays of the year. We're all pretty stoked about it.

There is a youth camp "Surge" at the end of next week on the shores of Lake Rotorua. I'm helping the band for that learn some new songs. "God O God, take a hold of me..." I got the music from Ryan last year, but only introduced the team it at the last practice. The're absolutely loving it, and I reckon the youth at camp are gonna go nut's when we play it. Surge is going to be amazing.

And I got a new G&L tribute ASAT special guitar. Solid body, Blueburst, Maple neck.... Nice. Check out www.glguitars.com/tribute/instruments/ASAT_Special/index.asp for a preview. But remember I have a maple (light wood, rather than the dark wood in the photo) neck. It plays real well, and has a great sound. It has large single coil pickups, so gives that great clear sound, but pushes well when needed.

Remember to Stay Cool

Troy McClure: Don't kid yourself, Jimmy. If a cow ever got the chance, he'd eat you and everyone you care about!

Revenge of the sand people

2007-02-12T23:10:00.001+13:00

OK. Sand people are small little things, but when you're outnumbered, they're dangerous. But enough Star Wars trivia. So it's been another 4 months since my last blog, and I'm now well overdue on my rambles on the life of Jon.

I've just been given the task of looking after the worship bands at church. This involves picking new songs, developing the bands musicians skills, working dynamics, and cool stuff like that. I'm really looking forward to seeing what can be done here. It's like all my training at SCA is now starting to be put to good use. I just hope I can step up to the mark as much as I'd like to. I want every individual, and all the bands to move to a greater level of musicianship, and with that will come an anointing that comes when skilled craftsmen perform their art. I guess half the trick is to keep making it fun.

Why is it that when you start to make an impact for the kingdom of God that the devil keeps trying to attack you? I always figured that he always has a go when people are standing up to tear down hell and build up the kingdom of God. I know he's been trying to take me out again. But he can't win ;)

Our church has been under incredible spiritual attack in the last 2 months or so. Fear and depression has gripped many people. Accidents have been happening far more often than the norm. On 1 day we had 3 motorbike accidents, including 1 that paralyzed and nearly drowned our senior pastor. It's only because of God that he is alive, and is getting better and better each day. He now has full mobility, and just minor things still bothering him.

Over New Years we had a beach mission out at Whangamata in the Coromandel Peninsula. When me and the first few people arrived at the camp site, the place was absolutely loose. Guys were walking around, most of them drunk and openly on drugs, either looking for girls, or looking for a fight. It was the first time that I became really aware of the devils hold on people, or on a physical area. The next day the rest of the crew arrived, we set up a big Marquee tent and invited the whole campsite to hang with us; and they did. The whole campsite was instantly transformed by us being there. And it wasn't just us saying so either, it was people that had been there before. We just had a safe place where everyone knew that they were welcome to come, beer, smokes, swearing and all that. We didn't judge them, but just loved on them, giving them free coffee, and hot chocolate, and just hanging out. We talked to heaps of guys, planting little seeds from God into them. A few people got healed. There was a guy who had a sore knee, or something like that. One of our team prayed for him and he got better. He was like "What did you guys do to me", then he told all his mates what had happened. We had a few people that wanted to talk to us about becoming a Christian too, including some who wanted to come back when their mates weren't there. It often seemed to be the case that somebody would be talking to someone, and they'd just be getting on the edge of something and then that persons mates would come and drag them away. That's when you know the devils not liking it. But the seeds were planted, and we know that it's God who allows the seed to grow. I managed to make conversations with people in the evening by using my telescope. I'd aim it at the moon, or after midnight at the planet Saturn. Usually the first words to come out of their mouth was a wow, or what the F***. We'd have a good sized group just hanging around, and we'd be able to talk to them.

Works going well. We're in the middle of expanding into Melbourne and Sydney. There may be a chance that I'll be needing to pay a few trips over as part of that. If I do then I'll have to pay my Aussie friends a visit. Even better, I've now got a team of developers that are coming on board. 2 students who are working part time while they finish their studies, and an ex-WizBang worker who is rejoining the team. Maybe now I can finally finish off that table mapping mod that we've been talking about for the last 5 years.

Homer: A woman is a lot like a refrigerator. 6 feet tall, 300 pounds ... it makes ice.

Victory shall be mine (and other random titles)

2006-10-02T18:41:00.000+13:00

So I went back to Sydney for a week a while back. Mainly to just have a good ol holiday, which I hadn't had for nearly 4 years. It was a little weird having a holiday in a place I lived, and worked my butt off in. But I really enjoyed it.

First night I was there I went to Tim Williams recital. Dude, he put on the best performance I've seen in a long time (outside of my own). The sound was just huge, but absolutley crisp. The songs were great, the band had a good time performing and we all had a good time watching him. Just brilliant. He'd been planning it ever since he started at SCA, so he knew exactly what he wanted to do.

The next night, I had Peter, who's the head of Creative at Albany, come to church with me at CCC. He was over for work, completely independently of me... but there at exactly the same time. He had a good ol chat to heaps of the guys and lecturers at SCA, so he now know's alot more about what I've been through for the previous 3 years. When I got back to NZ, he got me to speak about my experience at SCA to the rest of the creative dept, and have had some people express interest in studying over there.

Back to my Aussie adventures. On Tuesday I spent the day at SCA, going to all the degree lectures that were on that day. The first lecture didn't make a whole lot of sense, but I guess you get that when you come in on week 8. Jeff's class was just a breath of fresh air. I'd heard this class a few times, but it's just good to be reminded again.

Right after classes, I was off to Kootomba in the Blue Mountains. I'd never been there before, even after living in Sydney for the previous 3 years. I arrived late in the afternoon on the train and settled myself into a backpackers. The next day I got up early and looked for some fun. I found a place that does abseilling so booked myself in for an adventure. We were taken to a place near Mt Victoria (which happens to be the 3rd Mt Victoria I know, after the ones in Devonport and Wellington), and settled in for the first of 4 descents. The first was just a practice 3 metre descent, and was just to get to know the equipment. After that was a 15, then 30 metre descent. All of which were handled pretty easily. Then we were off to the big one. A 60 metre descent (and walk back up). Standing up on the end, and just looking down is scary enough, but when you start to lean back and get the sound of the wind whistling through you helmet makes it something else.

In the afternoon I walked from Echo point, after viewing the 3 Sisters, down to the bottom of scenic world, passing a load of Waterfalls, and other scenic views on the way, over a 2 hour walk. At the bottom of scenic world, they had an old coal mine. They had done up a display about it and lots of little facts about the plant life down there. The trip back up took a little over a minute thanks to the rail line they had. It just happens to be the steepest rail line in the world, going at a 50 degree incline for about 250 meters. I'm just thankful I didn't have to walk back up.

The next day, I carted myself back to Sydney, visiting Koorong on the way.

The rest of my trip was spent catching up with people. Going to church, and having lunch/dinner with people. It's amazing how many people I know back in Sydney. I have a completely different life back there, that most people, back here in Auckland just aren't aware of. If only there was a bridge, that I could drive over, and be back home again in the afternoon.

Big shout out to Nathan, Sam, Mark and Struan who looked after me in my old flat, while I was there. Thanks for your hospitality.

Marge: Homer, the plant called. They said if you don't show up tomorrow don't bother showing up on Monday.
Homer: Woo-hoo. Four-day weekend.

And finally, Jon comes back, to Austraaalia

2006-08-01T18:03:00.001+12:00

Yeah the rumours are tue. At least for 9 nine days. I'll be back in town from September 2 till September 11. Yay.

As for the rest of my life....

I've finally started playing at church, 1 week ago Sunday. They really wanted to make sure I wasn't a scoundral, and all the rest of it. It was one of those humbling experiences. "But I have an advanced diploma signed by Phil Pringle and Jeff Crabtree, that says I'm all that and more....", no, God wants me to wait a bit. Aaaaaaagh. I want it now. No. Ok then it hurt, but I'm glad I'm in, and didn't do anything stupid in my impatience. The fruits of it will turn up I'm sure.

As for the experience of playing. My amplifier decided it was going to blow 2 fuses and a couple of tubes, total cost so far... $120+ But now I've got a fault that needs to be fixed. This is going to cost if I can't do it myself. The devil was just trying to spoil my day, but he didn't win and in the end I had a great time. Rocked hard and gave something new to the church. Why is it that just before something great I find myself coming under attack from the devil. The only answer is that because he knows that one of my missions is to destroy his kingdom, bringing people from under his power to the liberty of Jesus.

Work is rocketing along. I've just put out the largest release in years. Putting in Skins and a new licencing scheme, and integrated EFTPOS tipping, and an automatic espresso maker, OK maybe not the last one. But it's out now, and is being tested by many of our top sites.

I've recently found myself getting really into astronomy. This happened after a trip to the Auckland observatory. Saw Saturn and it's rings through a telescope, and all that. Waited 2 months to get some funds together and now I've got a telescope of my own, a 6 inch reflector. Unfortunately now Saturn is too close to the sun to be seen. I'll have to wait until Xmas before it starts to be visable at a reasonable hour again (before midnight, I don't do mornings). So I've zoomed in on Jupiter and found Uranus (no crude jokes please), and found a few other interesting things.

I'm looking forward to seeing all my friends who are still living in Sydney. Contact me when I get there, and book me in for dinner. I'll be at Tim's recital, whether I'll be awake or not after a flight that day we'll have to wait and see.

Homer: You don't like your job, you don't strike. You go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American way.

Is anyone still listening?

2006-03-17T11:16:00.001+13:00

First off. Apologies to all the millions and millions of Jons fans who have had no update on their favorite superstar. I have been a little busy with work and taking over the world.

Emmaus visited me at the end of January for the Parachute Festival. I had promised them the use of my gear, but had to take back the offer when it was delayed. They put on some great shows at Parachute and at their other shows they did while they were over here. It was great having one last adventure with some Australian mates, but this time back on my home soil.

The Parachute Festival itself rocked. Delirious delivered, Amberlin rocked, and God was smiling over the whole event. It was my 10th Parachute, so I'm now a veteran of some sort. Maybe one year I'll actually play.

Now that my gear has arrived, I'm looking at getting into the Albany Christian Centre music team. I have to go through the process of being a member of the church, and having them check me out, before I can even go for an audition. They basically want to make sure that I'm on a similar wavelength to them, and aren't a scoundral. It's frustrating having to wait, but I know that in the long run will be worth it. When I'm in a position of responsibilty I'll be able to say that I had to go through all the processes as everyone else, and that no-one gets favorites or quick entry, even if they have an advanced diploma in contemporary music and worship leading from a prestigious overseas school.

And I nearly forgot my car. I got a 1997 Mitsubishi Legnum. It's an 1800CC wagon, with all the bells and whistles. Jap import for $NZ4900 from Turners Auctions. It drives real good too. 2 weekends ago I drove to Wellington and back (to watch WWE Smackdown at Westpac Stadium) and did the return journey on only 1 tank of gas. I then drove into work and back the next day before filling it. A total of 711kms on one tank. The fact that the tank cost me $83 is irrelevant cos petrol is so stinking expensive. It was $1.58 a litre when I filled it.

Homer: Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.

There's no place like home

2005-12-22T16:57:00.000+13:00

And with a round of applause from the millions and millions of Jon fans who stayed up all night just to see me arrive at Auckland international airport. Finally.... Jon has come back, to New Zealand.

And what a week it's been since. I've met with the bank manager and have had my loan approved, so at the moment I'm looking for a car, probably a Jap import from the auctions. I've been into work twice, and have negotiated a basic contract for next year. I'm back on a salary, and earning more than ever before. I've caught up with loads of my friends who I haven't seen for ages, visited 2 different churchs in the weekend, had a haircut, and I've just finished another coffee. Wowee.

So it's a little weird being back home. As much as I love being home, I'm looking forward to having my independance back when I find a flat. I've been given a car for a few weeks, which will help me out heaps. I'd go even more insane if I couldn't get out when I wanted to. So now it's just a matter of finding my own car, and taking it from there. It's going to be a little hard to find something over the holidays though, so I might just have to settle with the loan car for a couple of weeks.

Going back a bit. Graduation was great. A big celebration of the year. Only downer was Pastor Phil was unable to attend, as he was sick. All the current 3rd years passed and received their Advanced Diplomas. Only a handful of 1st and 2nd years didn't make it, so congratulations to all.

I spent most of last week packing. Putting everything into boxes, and tidying my room. I have so much junk. Filled the Wheelie bin all the way up. I don't know what I'm gonna do with it all when it arrives here in NZ as my room is full enough as it is. Might be a good excuse to find a flat.

I got myself an Ipod. One of those ones with video. 30GB and all that. And I've found a free program that converts DivX's and DVD's to Ipod format. Videora Ipod convertor. Much better than paying $50 for one. I also got a cable to plug it into the TV, and I got my GST back by claiming on the TRS as I left Australia last week. If anyone can find a better deal than $AUD410 then don't deflate my ego.

Lionel Hutz: Well, he's kind of had it in for me ever since I accidentally ran over his dog. Actually, replace "accidentally" with "repeatedly," and replace "dog" with "son."

Is it over yet?

2005-11-30T23:19:00.000+13:00

Can I open my eyes, come out from behind the couch, breath a sigh of relief?
I handed in my research paper today. Hopefully this is it, and they won't get me to edit it to fulfil some wacky requirement relevant to the unit of compentancy. The results surprised me a bit. It appears that me initial hypothesis was not correct. I stated that intervals from the just scale would sound more in tune and more harmonically pleasing than those from the tempered system. I had about 20% of my participants respond with all the questions with a preference towards tempered intervals, while the rest had scores of about 50/50 each way. Only 1 person came down to preferring the just intervals in the majority of cases, but I had to write it off as a statistical error. Bored yet...

TD Jakes was amazing. We had 10000 people there each night, and the atmosphere was electric. Over 1000 people made a decision to follow Christ over the 3 nights. Yeah. I was involved in the outdoor entertainment. While people were queuing up to get in we serenaded them with some delightful little tunes that we spent all of 1 week learning. Yeah, thats right we crammed a terms worth of music into 1 week and played it at TD Jakes. It was kinda weird doing it though as there was only about 50 or so people right in front of us, and people walking past us all the time, but then we look over to the left and there's 2-3000 people lining up waiting to get in. I think they enjoyed it, and we got to promote SCA.

My cool news for the while has been that I caught up with the senior pastor from the church I am looking at joining when I go back to NZ. He remembered me from when I'd been there last summer and the summer before, and wanted to know when I was planning on coming home. But then he mentioned that his MD has just resigned, and that he wants me to come meet with him when I get back. Could be very interesting. I'll make sure I wait a little first before I take a position as I want to make sure I'm going to the church for all the right reasons, before it damages me and I damage others.

Prophecy week last week was incredible. Mine was all about how I'm going to be leading a group, and teaching them stuff. How I'll need to reawaken my songwriting gift, and some other stuff I can't remember right now. I've got the tape, but I don't have a tape player. When I go back to NZ I might tell some more of it. Everyone at SCA got prophecied over, and while it is exhausting to be in prayer all that time, was so worth it, as everyone got vision and encouragement for the future.

Graduation is this weekend. With any luck I'll be graduating this weekend with an advanced diploma in music and worship leading.

Troy McClure: Hi. I'm Troy McClure. You may remember me from such self help tapes as 'Smoke yourself thin' and 'Get some confidence, Stupid!'

Will it ever end

2005-11-14T13:10:00.000+13:00

OK. So I'm starting to go a little insane. I don't know when I'll be able to have a holiday either.

Our funk gig was a huge success. Everyone had a great time, from us, to the oxford falls kids who played horns for us, to everyone in the audience. Had close to 100 people on the dance floor by the end of it. They just loved it, high energy, and attitude. Got to do a speed solo, which they lapped up. I got my marks back last week too, and I passed significantly. Alright.

Now we've moved into TD Jakes. We've been asked to do the outdoor entertainment. One 40 minute set of our funk stuff, and another 90 minute set of stuff from all our recitals stuck together. This means that we've got 1 week to learn 18 songs. If it's not scary enough playing to 20000 people, then having only got 1 week to learn all the songs; what, me, worry. We were out at the superdome last Wednesday evening. That place is huge. It's going to be something unforgetable when we're there this week.

And I've still gotta do my research paper, aural exam, and probably 50 other assignments. But 4 weeks and 3 days till I ship outta here.

Troy McClure: Don't kid yourself, Jimmy. If a cow ever got the chance, he'd eat you and everyone you care about!

Rock and Roll Mayhem

2005-10-24T13:17:00.000+13:00

Wow. What a night last night was. My recital kicked butt. But it nearly turned into a disaster. This last week I had one of my singers pull out with 5 days to go. Something about being too busy and overcommited. The next day I asked one of our 1st year singers, Julian to step up to the plate and he did a fantastic job, as both a lead vocalist and a BV. Finally got a soundman last week as well. Barclay did a fantastic job, setting up before we arrived, and just made everything so much simpler for the band. And the night itself was electric, climbing up the drum towers and running all over the stage pulling rock poses. The audience loved it, and we had a great time putting it on.

Now that it's over, it's weird. It's like I've been pushing towards this for the past 3 years, and now it's finished. I think the're going to get us to replay some of our stuff for the pre-show entertainment at TD Jakes. I think that now I should try and finish my research paper and get ready for our funk gig which is on in 2 weeks time.

Mum and Dad are in town. They came over to see my recital last night, but it means I get to hang out with them a bit before they go back home. We had lunch yesterday before my recital setup. Tomorrow is Mums birthday, so we'll have to do something special for her; dinner out somewhere nice, followed by the EOYP special screening (reherasal). I'm glad they could come out and see what I do here, rather than just hearing about it.

Moe: Call this an unfair generalization if you must, but old people are no good at everything.

Funky new hair-do

2005-10-17T15:24:00.000+13:00

Wow, what a difference a little trim can do. Kaylene from up the road did me over. I've now got a near mullet (slightly longer at the back). It won't every become a full mullet as there is no excuse for that kind of carry on. In fact I think it is a good enough excuse to be stoned in some countries. Stoned to death or just plain stoned, I haven't figured out which yet. Anyway, big thanx to Kaylene at the Wheeler Heights salon. There's no picture yet, as no-one has been kind enough to buy me a digital camera. If you want to see some more pictures on your favorite blog....

6 days to go. And I still haven't got me a sound man. The guy I tried last week is too busy, so I'm now a little worried, but it'll work itself out. The band knows all the songs, and our cello player sounded magnificent. If you haven't got your invite yet, may I extend to you a warm invitation to come to my recital in the Theatre building at CCC Oxford Falls, this coming Sunday 23rd October at 8:30pm. If you don't come I might cry ;)

I spent a months worth of wages in last week. $566.50 for the repairs to my car to get the mechanical inspection. $567.60 for the green slip and $249 for the rego itself. All up $1383.10 to keep my car registered. But that's not all, cos on Saturday I bought some stuff for my recital. Sporty new haircut has only $25, but on top of that was $100 for stage stuff from spotlight, $330 for a new outfit and $100 for some guitar stuff. I'm kinda glad Mastercard decided to raise my credit limit recently, but now I owe them more than ever before.

I'm not a big league fan, but it's good to see the boys in black beating Australia in the league tri-nations 38-28 this past weekend. Another giant wedgie to Australia in their home soil at Telstra Stadium. I'm looking forward to rubbing it in when I'm back at college tomorrow.

59 days till I go back home.

Milhouse: Remember the time he ate my goldfish? And you lied and said I never had goldfish. Then why did I have the bowl Bart? Why did I have the bowl?

Busy little bees

2005-10-10T15:43:00.000+13:00

Uhhhh. I haven't had the chance to write for a while cos I've been flat out doing everything else. Recital, EOYP, car rego, taking over the world. 7 more weeks then college is all over, that's it, fine. Then all I have to worry about is taking over the world.

We had another couple of rehearsals for my recital. Most of the band now knows all of the songs. Just need to do some work with some of the singers, and a couple of muso's that missed the earlier rehearsals. 1 week and 6 days to go.

My cars in getting repaired. It's stinkin' rego time and my cars not roadworthy. Something about a truss bar, and a missing windscreen wiper arm. So $500 for the repair, $560 for the green slip and $250 for the rego itself. Stupid piece of crap Australian cars, breaking down, take all my money hunka junk. Whew, now I've got that out of my system, I'll be selling my car in Dec when I leave to go back home. Looking forward to getting a new car back in NZ. A reliable car that's less than 10 years old (probably closer to 6), for less than $5000, and more importantly isn't going to cost me $1300 to keep it registered every year. I'll probably have to take out a loan to get it though, I'm not worried about that, it'll just be a Jon BB first. Watch later this year as I go car and loan shopping.

Homer: Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals ... except the weasel.

Back at it

2005-09-28T17:40:00.000+12:00

2 days into term 4. We've started out work on the end of year production. I think it's going to be called 'Grace' after the name of the lead character in it. We still don't know much about the story line, but it's going to follow the life of a woman, from her birth, to her giving her life back to God, and all the bits inbetween. I'll let you know what's happening as I know it. On my part I won't be doing a whole lot for it, as I have been instructed not to, as my recital is the weekend before. I won't be acting, but maybe a small role in the music side of things. Today we had our first session with the first years who will be playing in it. No instruments, but we were listening to some of the songs. They are amazing, and are written by Jeff and Bernice. I wish I could get more involved in it, as it's going to be amazing, but ... oh well.

I got my ticket back to NZ a week ago. I finally leave on Dec 15, so I'll be home by Xmas time. It's going to be really weird as alot of my friends back home have moved out of town, and I'll be more or less rebuilding my life again. But I'm excited by it, and am looking forward to making a difference in the promised land.

Take a look at this. I pinched it from Michelles blog and converted it to 3D myself. Get some Red/Blue 3D glasses to see the 3D effect.
Grandpa: My Homer is not a communist. He may be a liar, a pig, an idiot, a communist, but he is not a porn star.

Adventure at Taronga Zoo

2005-09-22T12:25:00.000+12:00

I, Professor Jon had an exploration expedition to the zoo on Tuesday. The abundance of native flaura, and fauna, and stupid native australian animals that want to spend all their time sleeping instead of entertaining me, was almost overwhelming. We got there early in the morning and saw nearly everything before they kicked us out at closing time.

The first thing we saw was the koalas. For those that don't know, koalas are a native of Australia, and make a good comparison to Australians as they are fat, lazy and like spending most of the day doped up on Eucalyptus leaves. It was my first time I've seen a koala, and they weren't about to put on a performance for me, until we found the baby koala. It was climbing all over its mum, and looked adorable.

We found some big snakes, and cool gnarly stuff that could do some damage if they really wanted like the tigers, rhino, rattlesnakes and platypus. I'm not going to say much about the rest of the photos as they speak for themselves, only that these were shot on a friends camera. I'm still waiting for someone to give me a digital camera. You can see how exciting this page could be with regular photos, so get generous.

That evening I went to see Charlie, so as promised here is my recomendation or condemnation. I thought it was a great movie. It was more like the book than the original movie, e.g Veruca Salt, is again a bad nut, rather than a bad egg. It also took us beyond the book to see what made Willy Wonka who he is. Altogether I would give it a 4/5.

And I had a 3rd year dinner last night, and my amps fixed, and I've invented a cure for stupidity, blah blah blah.

4 weeks 3 days to go.

I'm fifteen minutes late and counting

2005-09-16T18:14:00.000+12:00

I was supposed to hand in my research paper today, due at 4:00, except I haven't done any research and have nothing to hand in. I should do some work on it next week, so I can do the actual research the start of next term. Why did I have to look at the sonic differences between the tempered and just tuning systems. Couldn't I of just done something reasonable like the dangers of bio-carbonistic poisoning in Uzbekistan. By the way, I have no idea if bio-carbonistic is a real word, although in Uzbekistan it might be. Looks like I'm gonna have to pay a late fee.... unless I build a time machine toaster like Homer did. I'll just stay clear of the fish.

In other great news, today is the end of the term. Got 1 week off... kinda. I'm sure I'm missing 50 other assignments that were supposed to be handed in this week. At least I got my apologetics assignment in. But enough of college, cos it holidays. I've just been invited to the zoo next week, so I'll get to see all the monkeys and koalas at Taronga zoo. Maybe there'll even be an Australian or two. There's also a movie night on Tuesday in the pipeline. Charlie and the chocolate factory is supposed to be real good. Watch this space for Jons recommendation (or condemnation) of the movie after I see it.

I'm thinking I need a digital camera so this page won't be so boring. If anyone wants to give me a Canon EOS20D then I'd appreciate that, and you will too as I make this page a little more exciting, cos this blog is entitled Professor Jon's.... but the real heros are you guys, who take the time to read my drivel everytime I write. Did you know that this page has an RSS feed on it, so you can be the first to read up on my ravings.

5 weeks and 2 days to go.

I wish, I wish I hadn't killed that fish

2005-09-12T17:45:00.000+12:00

Last week of the term. I'm about halfway through my apologetics assignment which is due tomorrow. Guess I'll be doing a late night tonight to get it finished. Who would of thought that writing about the "Incarnation of Jesus Christ" would be so difficult. For those that haven't got a clue what I just said, the Incarnation of Jesus Christ is the belief that God became a man. The word made flesh. Only a crazy God would do that cos then men could do what they wanted to him, like spit on him, beat him up and kill him in the worst possible way imaginable.... but, then maybe that's what he had planned after all.

We nearly had some crazy Kung Fu action in the weekend, but Michelle forgot to check that the DVD was in the case before she came over. So we had the box of Ong Bak and the making of Ong Bak, but no Ong Bak. Instead I pulled out "The Princess Bride". An absolute classic, featuring Andre the Giant of the WWE (then known as the WWF), but it wasn't quite what we were after, probably something to do with all the kissing. We'll have to rebook Ong Bak for another time.

Stay Cool till After School.

6 weeks 2 days to go

2005-09-09T15:23:00.000+12:00

We had another practice for my recital last night. Got another 2 songs out. So in 2 weeks we've gone over 4 songs, which is a good whack out of the 10 I'm doing. If I keep this up I'll have all the song out by the end of September and will have the remaining 3 weeks to polish everything up. Most of the songs are currently fairly basic and unemotional, but it won't take long to turn them into something magic that we can hang our heads up high about on the night.

In case I don't see you beforehand, may I invite you to my 3rd year recital. It's on at 8:30 at CCC Oxford Falls, on October 23rd. It's going to be outrageous.

My DVD's arrived today. Last week I was at home when one of the SOM girls knocked on the door and requested our help. Her cousin had just turned 8 and she had promised her that she was going to buy her a copy of Finding Nemo. Do we have a copy that's in good knick that she could have to give to her, as she'd been over to the video shop and Woolies but it wasn't there. Being a good friend I gave her my copy, but that left me with the dilema of what to do with the space created, and what to do with the money she gave me for it. The answer was gloriously obvious when I found the Pixar boxed set, with The Incredibles, A Bugs Life, Monsters Inc and our favorite Finding Nemo. "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming". So I ordered it last week, but it only just arrived this morning, when I found it leaving home on my way to college. About time too. Sams already pinched The Incredibles.

I'm starting to feel the pressure of 3rd year. I've still barely started my research paper, and I'm sure I've got a billion other assignments that were all due yesterday, or next week, or last year sometime. We've only got 1 more week of term 3 to go then it's the home straight on term 4. I'm not sweating though, I'll just invent a clock with 30 hours on it a day. Which kind of reminds me of Spinal Tap where the guy goes "My amp goes up to... eleven".

Hey guess what, surprise surprise. It's lunch time and I'm hungry again. Go have a burger on me.

Kiwis take it away

2005-09-04T16:55:00.000+12:00

Wow. What a weekend so far. I knew I had like 50 people coming over to watch the game, so I went out to get some supplies and came back with a digital set top box. Once I fixed our aerial up we now get DVD quality TV and heaps more channels, I don't even have to pay anything to receive it cos it's all free to air stuff. It only cost me $80 from Woolies.

So come game time, we had the lounge full of Kiwi supporters, and one poor Australian who came in at half time to find his team losing 20-5. He jinxed us though cos in like 10 minutes or so Australia had scored 2 tries to leave us with only a 1 point advantage. But in the end we fought back and ended the game at a respectable 34-24. We keep the Bledisloe cup and the tri-nations. It's a great day to be a Kiwi living in Australia.

Once the game was over we went and got some pizzas and a movie. Fat Albert was kinda funny, but then too predictable. I suppose it really is a kids movie.

Then I got the phone call. Ryan wanted me to play this morning in church, and I knew it was gonna take it out of me for today with the early start, and I hadn't shaved in a week which means having to wake extra early so I can look respectable. But I played and God turned up and it was great. I'm starting to need another coffee right now though, but some lunch would be a better start.

So now it's lunch time, which everybody knows is a very important time of the day. Then back to charting some more songs. Recital is 7 weeks away tonight. Maybe I should ring my Papi seeing it is Fathers Day today.

Boy I'm hungry

2005-09-03T00:21:00.000+12:00

Time for dinner and "All this computer hacking is making me thirsty". Well this is it, my place with my messages and profiles and links and junk. Maybe one day I'll get some pictures up.

Looking forward to tomorrow night. All Blacks vs Australia. I've got some of the guys from college coming over so we can yell at the TV together. Hope the boys in black give Australia a good thrashing so I can hang my head up high at church on Sunday, and at College next week. Yes I've been living here nearly 3 years now, but my loyalties are still definitely with the land of the long white cloud.

Speaking of NZ, and living. I should be home again by Xmas time. Need to pack all my bags, and sell my car and.... boy it's all a stinkin load of work, I'm soo lazy I might just stay here. Until the thought comes that my children would be Australian. I could never live with myself.

7 weeks and 2 days till my recital.
12 weeks till the end of college.

Go New Zealand. Give the Wallabies a giant wedgie.

The first

2005-09-02T23:40:00.000+12:00

Wow. That was quick. And I thought the'd do big security checks and make me sign 50 documents and give fingerprints down at the Sydney Central police station, and contact the Morrocan embassy. But alas, they gave me my very own blog. For free too. I must of fooled them good.

Anyway. I have no idea what I'm getting myself in for, and will probably bore of doing blogs after tonight like my last geocities homepage. But if I don't then don't be a stranger and say hi. If I like you (I like food, if you're willing to bribe), then I might respond.