Weekend journal:

Meaghan-weekends at the end of Spring have turned into a sort of unofficial tradition (proof by the numbers: 2010, 2011, 2012), and I couldn't be happier. Meaghan is one of my dearest friends and normally we're separated by the stupidness of our big, sprawling country. The sheer volume of our text messages to one another definitely cancels out some of the distance, but it's nice just to get to hang out in person -- even if we do tend to stay up till 2am (finding everything deliriously funny after 11) on the first night and exhaust ourselves.

Although we are great at simply sprawling on couches and watching a selection of unintentionally bad movies (for the record, we are generally hoping to find good ones), this weekend was a really packed one. We zoomed from brunch out by the bay, to a catch-up with my sister Lauren and her little ones, to a barbecue party with my little bible study gang, to bed, to breakfast, to Supanova (Australia's baby ComiCon) in the city with my pals Ben and Hayley (and Batman and Gollum and Spidey and the like), to a girls' night of movies and party food, to bed, to breakfast, to the airport, to tears. In between all that, we also caught up with my lovely aunt and uncle who were staying with my mum for the weekend -- and of course we chatted a lot, too. I have a feeling I sent Meaghan home to New South Wales sleep-deprived, but I mostly felt Meaghan-deprived. I'm not usually a teary goodbye person, but I confess that I was glad I was wearing sunnies as I waved Meaghan off at the airport.

Meaghan is the calmly quiet to my loud, the brave to my wimpy. She is wise and gracious and organised and thoughtful. She speaks truthfully and with conviction. I'm so glad I've known her for these sixteen excellent years. They've been better because she is part of them.

PS. If you follow me on instagram, you've already seen all of these pictures. No regrets!

A(nother) Meaghan weekend:

My weekend spent with excellent friend and laughter-buddy Meaghan was so lovely. We didn't seem to do very much at all, and yet we also did a lot. We watched an unusual array of movies (the Mormon Pride and Prejudice was a rewatch must), lazed and chatted on a rug with a view of sky and sea, ate Fudge Sundae pop tarts (which were far less impressive than they sound), hung out with Lauren and her adorable bubs, face-timed our sisters who couldn't be there, chatted about life and families and growing up.

We went on a shopping trip that turned into an iPad purchasing experience, and then we ate Thai food and established an extremely precious and heartwarming love triangle between the three iPads. This in turn led to laughing ourselves hysterical over photobooth pictures and playing some silly iPad games, one of which (and I'm not kidding) consists of a race to be the last person to hit the reactor button before the clock counts down -- very quickly -- past zero. We live in a world now where we are all Pennys and our kindly Inspector Gadget uncle, aka Steve Jobs, plies us with amazing technology. It's incredibly funny to me.

Meaghan (perhaps to her regret) got me hooked on these adorable Kid History videos, and now our friendship vocabulary consists largely of phrases originally coined by four-year-old American children. Also on the popular culture front, K-pop star Psy was like a demented guardian angel hovering over our weekend for, once we realised we could teach ourselves Gangnam style moves thanks to YouTube tutorials, we kept finding reasons to practice them. We even pulled Mum in on the act.

So, we kind of didn't do anything and yet we didn't really stop doing things*. Most of all, I just enjoyed hanging around this precious friend for a whole weekend. She is the sort of friend you don't really have secrets from, the sort you say dumb things in front of because you're so comfortable that you don't employ the usual filters. Then, when you feel stupid about saying dumb things, she makes you forget both what you said and the fact that you felt stupid about it. It's cool to know people like this.

*I said that twice, which is what happens when you write one blog post over two days.

Life, lately:

I'm pressing pause for a moment on the backlog of posts I have lined up, in order to spend a second focussed on the now rather than the then.

This handful of pictures is a fair representation of the happy spots in my days lately. School is out for the summer (yes! I have a ridiculously long summer break, which is amazing) and even work has slowed down a little, too. In unoccupied moments, I've been doing lots of spring cleaning, which makes me feel old because I actually feel kind of satisfied and accomplished about it. If that doesn't make me old I don't know what does. I've also been revelling in the freedom to sit up late reading in bed -- reading fun things that I really want to read (though I've paid for it with too many nights of minimum sleep). Relatedly, I have a bunch of little book reviews to share when I can get them removed from brain and transcribed onto page.

I've been relishing getting to know my shiny new nephew, and watching his big sister become suddenly precisely that: a big sister, full of toddler quirks and hilariousness and one-and-a-half-year-old dorkiness. She's super entertaining. I've also enjoyed the laidback vibe of my dad's recent work leave visit, which meant things like going out for coffee or spontaneously eating dinner down by the water on windy dark evenings. And I'm loving getting better acquainted with a bunch of young people from my church at a new Bible study group. Don't worry, Thursday night guys: you are my longtime group and my best (just don't tell anyone else, okay?).

And tomorrow -- tomorrow I get to pick up one of my very best friends from the airport, for what has become a vaguely yearly tradition: a Meaghan weekend!* I realised this week that I have known Meaghan and her sister Carla for fifteen years now, which is basically amazing. The fact that Meaghan still wants to hang out with me after all this time is even amazinger. She is a true friend, full of grace and fun, plus she is hilarious. Our mutual hatred of phone calls means that we have lengthy text conversations and... I think that's a pretty cool way to conduct a long-distance friendship.

*You may visit events from previous Meaghan weekends (plus one Meaghan AND Carla weekend) here, here, here, and here.

A blogger date with Laura:

After the happy success of our first ever meet-up (success mainly being, Laura pointed out, that I did not prove to be a fifty-year-old man masquerading as a slightly nerdish blogging lady), last Wednesday was high time for Laura and I to hang out again. We met at our halfway point (I like to think of it as Asia-in-Brisbane) in order to see The Three Musketeers, eat lunch, and chat.

I'd already seen The Three Musketeers and had thought it was merely okay. This time -- perhaps both because I knew what to expect and because I wasn't expecting something else entirely (as I was the first time round) -- I really enjoyed it. A rollicking adventure, long-haired men wielding swords, entirely anachronistic air travel technology... what's not to love? Also there was a rather cute romance between the adorably goofy king of France and his sweet queen, plus a 'hey it's that guy!' moment with the great Craig from Doctor Who. And the soundtrack is beautiful; it's gone straight onto my iTunes wishlist.

The movie, however, was just one part of our happy hangout. We were also somehow imbued with amazing new friend attraction skills that day. While Laura was elsewhere, a burly tattooed guy outside the cinemas struck up a conversation with me about movies, and when I asked what he was going to see, he said gruffly, 'That Twilight thing.'
'A bit of a romance lover, hey?' I asked.
He looked surprised. 'Is that what it is?' and he grinned -- possibly embarrassed?

In the ticket queue, we fell into conversation with a grandmotherly type who was seeing the latest Twilight installment -- for the second time. We were suddenly glad we hadn't let loose any Twilight snark because she was a rabid fan -- a true zealot. She spent the entire queue time defending her choice -- and the choice of everyone outside the typical demographic of sixteen-year-old-girls -- to love vampires. She was definitely entertaining.

Then as we hit the food court, a strange small girl came up and attached herself to us -- I mean literally attached. She grabbed hold of my hand and began walking along with us, occasionally turning to stare at me with somewhat unsettling seriousness. We finally delivered her to her (possible) parents, but not before we had broken away once and she had joined us again. I don't know what was in the air that day.

In spite of our random encounters with strangers, we also found lots of time to talk. We covered a bunch of kindred topics, ranging from books to movies, from 3:10 to Yuma to Doctor Who, from blogging to Shakespeare, from study to church, from the excellence of our mums to the geeky chic that is Ira Glass. It was so much fun that I basically forgot I was supposed to be writing an essay, and I only yanked myself out of the cafe chair at the latest possible minute. Thank you, happy little world of blogging, for introducing me to such a lovely new friend!

PS. Laura has written about our blogging date -- or, to use her cool neologism, blate -- over at her blog. I made sure I wrote my post before reading hers, just because it's fun to see how two people record the same event.

PPS. Please note Laura's beautiful long hair. I'm somewhat jealous.

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Conversations:

Jessica -- I imagine I might go back someday because ultimately I like the idea of facebook; I just don't like how I use it. So I guess I won't be waiting for facebook to change. I'll be waiting for me to change before I head back. Right now I'm appreciating the freedom of this boundary :).

Thelittlebluefishy -- Hey there! I love meeting new blog peeps (also, your username is just adorable). I know what you mean; facebook is definitely one of the best ways to keep in touch with overseas friends. I think that's why it was such a big deal for me to leave. I miss that! But you're right; sometimes it can feel like such a time-sucker.

Laura Elizabeth -- that's absolutely what I miss most about facebook, too: those little everyday things (I love reading status updates! Probably why I like twitter so much). And here's a confession: I tracked you down on facebook! Of course, such a course of action is now irrelevant to me. Lucky we have email (and texts and blogging and livejournal...). PS. Yes! I did make the little cottage. Only now I want to smash it and let everybody eat bits of it, and it's supposed to hold out till Christmas!

Rebecca Simon -- just do what you feel is best for you, your communication, your life, and your friendships. Facebook is an awesome tool and a magical land of communicationly joy. I'm just not that great at it :).

Katie -- that's my biggest complaint. Facebook isn't the problem; my laziness is. It's too easy for me to observe without interacting. But I love that facebook turns everyday friends into internet ones, and vice versa. It's such an easy way to communicate info bites.

Meaghan -- thank you for getting my dorky sense of humour. I love you!

[lately] a meaghan weekend

Meaghan weekends are too far and few between in my world. It had been thirteen months since the last one, which means I was well overdue for a dose of this excellent lady, and this weekend definitely hit the spot (though it was all too short).

I had ideas about introducing Meaghan to every cool local discovery that we've stumbled across since she was last here and since about 75% of those have something to do with food, it's probably a good thing we only had three days. As it happened, we were able to grab a sort-of-breakfast one morning from Bittersweet (their locally-made pastries are amaaaazing) and a sort-of-lunch (apparently we don't have the greatest internal mealtime clocks) from my favourite bookstore-and-restaurant, Riverbend Books. We also had very excellent mocktails from Hog's Breath (their greatest virtue being that they were so pretty and they were delivered by the world's most quirky waiter, Sunny).

In true Queensland style, Meaghan got to experience Autumn, Summer, Spring, rain, storms, and sunshine in her three days here. She made my baby niece laugh uproariously and she was kindly amused by my little brother's random hyperactivity. Somehow, we picked the most random assortment of movies to watch together (can you say "my dead brother turned into a shooting star and guided me to the place where my girlfriend lay unconscious and potentially dying?") with the exception of a couple, among them Soul Surfer, which was heartbreaking and heartwarming. Also, we were kind of excited when we found the three Carey sisters represented in Coke bottles (win!) and only wish we could have found bottles with Carla & Meaghan on them, in order to complete the quintet of longtime pals. Next time, Coca Cola will be more forward thinking with their promotion, I'm sure.

Good friends are such treasures. More Meaghan weekends, please, God?

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Conversations:

Un -- indeed they do.

Samantha R -- I'll definitely have to check out your latest Project 52 work :).

Laura Elizabeth -- thank you! And yes, we definitely had fun.

Carla -- :D we missed you!

Meaghan -- WDHF! WAHF!

temporary radio silence

My beloved friend, Meaghan, is coming to visit tomorrow and staying for the weekend! You won't hear much from me while that's happening because I'll be, yanno, hanging out with her. Updates Monday!

A happy collision:

This afternoon, my virtual world bumped into my real world and I got to meet blogging/livejournalling/tumblring buddy Laura actually in person. After a flurry of emails coordinating the details, we planned to meet up at a central location in order to see Captain America together. We even had the spy-school stuff set up: Laura would be wearing a red headband and I'd be carrying a yellow paperback copy of To Kill A Mockingbird. Because we are that cool, apparently.

As it happened, no Mockingbird was needed because we ran into each other quite by accident, ten or so minutes before our designated meeting time. It was exciting! Normally I'm super nervous about meeting online friends for the first time, but Laura's words have a genuineness about them that put me at ease before we even met. And she proved to be just the same in person -- fun and sweet -- oh, and with excellent taste in movies. A happy collision!

True to form, I completely forgot to take a picture until the last possible moment, but I'm suppressing my vanity in order to share this one of us inside the dark and damp carpark. At least Laura looks cute.

PS. Captain America is a smiley happy lovely movie.

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Conversations:

Rebecca Simon -- yes! The Help is the book that inspired the film.

Laura Elizabeth -- I shall say 'intersting' from now on. ;) Thank you for this afternoon! :D

Chantel -- yes, graves have that effect on me, too! So many untold stories...

Mandi -- thanks for your comment! I am absolutely certain you will LOVE Daddy Long-Legs. There's a sequel, too: Dear Enemy. Not AS amazing, but still fantastic.

Samantha R -- we definitely share some favourite musicians :).

[lately] skate park

I don't know if I've ever told the story here about how I met my incredible friend Anastasia. The short version is: we met online. But not only does that sound weird and possibly a bit creepy, it also fails to tell the full story. Basically, we were both part of a LiveJournal community dedicated to keeping handwritten journals. Staish's pages were amazing, sprinkled with prayer poems and beautiful handwriting, and (yes, this part is possibly a bit creepy) I kept coming back to her posts when I needed fresh inspiration for my own journalling. It was evident she was in love with Jesus and exuded creativity.

From there, we became actual LiveJournal buddies and then MySpace pals (back in the day, hey?). We were commenting back and forth on MySpace one day when I informed Staish I'd be moving from WA to Queensland. 'Where in Queensland?' she commented back. 'Brisbane,' I said. 'Dude, I live in Brisbane!' was Staish's reply. Then I realised my mistake and amended it: 'Actually, it's [little suburb south of the city]'. The next reply from Staish: 'I LIVE THERE!' Sure enough, in what can only be a God thing, Anastasia lived five minutes down the road from my family's new home in Queensland. Crazy, crazy stuff.

We talked about meeting up and then one morning I found a package in my letterbox with a map to Staish's church -- attached, with ribbons, to a block of chocolate. Then followed incredibly awkward trepidation pre in-person meet-up followed by amazed and bewildered joy as we realised we could be Real Life Friends in even greater measure than online buddies.

It continues to amaze me that God could randomly introduce such a spectacular person in such a neat way. Now, I experience withdrawals if I don't get catch up with Staish once a week. We talk about books and God and her present and always husband and my future one. We watch movies and do craft and gush over Moleskines and laugh at awkward things and both love art and teenage fiction. Anastasia is a blessing in my life and I'm so so pleased God introduced us.

And I guess I got a little carried away because that was really meant to be an intro to our afternoon expedition taking pictures at the skate park near Staish's house. Never mind: people are always the real story, right?

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Conversations:

Caitlin -- I'm making handwritten notes of all the posts I want to write ;)

Katie -- I don't think I realised how easy wireless makes things until here I have it again and it's bliss!

Laura Elizabeth -- good observation skilz! I was definitely being photobombed in my own house. Tain was proud of his ability to make it in the shot (again and again!). Also, I am an intense nerd so I loved that your comment included homework for me. My definition of RALIOISM is: the state of fustration which occurs when your attempts at a picture are repeatedly thwarted by photobombing attacks.

Un -- I'm back!

Carla -- internet, I love thee!

Samantha R -- I missed being more caught up on everyone's worlds. Really looking forward to being better at staying in touch. xx

A very long-winded way to say: I'm thankful.

In 2011 -- as far as I can tell -- I'll be living in the same place I spent 2010 in, and doing the same stuff I spent 2010 doing. But it feels like a new beginning all the same. For one thing, I'm sharing a home with my parents and little brother again. For another, both my sisters have just settled into new homes and are expecting new babies in the first half of the year. And there's this thing of me looking for a new, more local, church community. So there is still a lot of newness about this new year.

Of course, though, with the beginning of one thing comes the end of something else, and the end leaves me pondering the bleak truth that we don't always leave an impression behind us. Sometimes we're just... forgotten.

This, in turn, has made me think long and ponderous thoughts about the nature of friendship and, in fact, most kinds of social interaction. I confess that, sometimes, it all seems like a bizarre dance and I don't know the right moves. At other times, this idea of interacting -- especially within the church where, idealistically, I tend to imagine that relational barriers won't exist -- feels sort of like a reverse emperor's new clothes: we spend all our time piling on more and more ridiculous layers, and none of us is bold enough -- or cares enough, possibly -- to be naked (and of course I mean this figuratively) before each other. There are some who are willing to get to that soul nakedness -- by which I mean being really real, really loving, and really telling the truth -- but there is no one who sees enough or notices enough or cares enough to respect and appreciate that vulnerability. How many of us have shared a deep need or a sincere heart's cry only to have it evaporate, unnoticed, in the air?

We laugh as we relish the seemingly bizarre societal conventions that so complicate the romance of Darcy and Elizabeth, but we're surrounded by just as many ourselves. They take a different form, of course, but they exist all the same. Just as in the days of Bingleys and Bennets, beauty opens relational doors where plainness does not. Similarly, those with charm and charisma may find pathways into friendships where quieter people do not. And one social trick that often trips me up is the sense that involvement seems to equal relationship, especially where church life is concerned -- but of course it doesn't. We feel connected to someone because we go to school with them, or we both teach the same Sunday school class, or we helped out with that thing that time, or she goes to the same writer's group as I do. We feel connected because we are in proximity. But when circumstances change and the proximity lessens, the relationship is proven for what it is. A true friendship survives all that, but others... don't. And it can hurt to be reminded that we are not as valued, loved, connected, or even as remembered as we'd hoped.

And all of this, in turn (I feel like Fiddler on the Roof's Tevye, with his multitude of 'other hands'), makes me realise how very very blessed I am by the handful of really true, really dear friends I do know. Interestingly, only one of them lives in the same neighbourhood as me. Many live outside Queensland and even outside Australia. Most of them I have known for many years, and some of them I'll only see once or twice a year, if that. Some are related to me. With others, I have nothing external in common. But all of them are people who don't require me to pile on the layers in order to be their friend. In fact with these precious people I don't need to be anything. I don't need to be loud or quiet, funny or serious, pretty or plain, dressed up or dressed down, happy or sad, ultra religious or worldly wise. And because of their unconditional love and their lack of relational requirements, I can actually just simply be the flawed person that I am, loving them and growing along the path that God has for me, as content to sit alongside them watching a movie as engaged in discussions about the real challenges of living faithfully.

Such a level of grace and commitment and get-along-with-ability is a rare thing; I'm learning this all the time. So here's to those precious ones whose kindness and love are beautiful, cheering, comfortable reminders of what great relationships are really like. Love to you!

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Conversations:

Samantha R -- bravo, you! Relish your year of yes!

Rebecca Simon -- it was indeed. Are you home and settled again now?

Katie -- so true. Happy things mean life goes on.

Elisabeth -- really? You're one of my adventuring heroes whom I feel convinces says "yes" to everything! PS. I owe you an email. Coming soon.

Simplythis -- you little Brisbane local, you.

Nan -- thank you for dropping by. xx

In spite of everything...

In spite of floods that soaked Brisbane, upset bridal car arrangements, and kept some of the wedding party out of the state, nothing dampened Hailey's joy as she married Josh today in a beautiful old church in the city. Given the setting, their wedding is pretty much a historic one and I just know they're going to have the best story to tell when they are grey and wrinkled and small grandchildren are clamoring for tales. Happy marriage, you two! Love Him and love each other.

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Conversations:

Jessica -- that's pretty much one of the nicest writing-related compliments ever. Thank you!

Abbie -- sometimes it's not so easy to see which lessons have been shared, so it's exciting when it does seem a little clearer. Here's to a 2011 full of grace and awesome fellowship with Jesus :).

Asea -- you are totally brave and heroic in my book :D.