Finish well

It does not matter where you start, it matters where you finish.

You may have grown up with an alcoholic mother, and a father who works all the time and is never home.
You may not have a father because he left when you were little.
You have been one of those children who are only at school about 80 days out of the whole year.
You may not believe that love can last because you saw your parent's marriage fall apart.
You may have grown up with a disabled sibling and felt unloved as a result of your parents never having time for you.
You may have had a perfectly good home and loving parents, but got caught up with the wrong type of people and done things that you regret.

Even if none of the above describes you, I know that you have had some type of pain or difficult times in the past. I know it hurts to think about these types of things, and I'm sorry to bring it up, but I am going some where with this.

I'll dissect my opening sentence; It does not matter where you start (in life), it matters where you finish. This sentence can have a different meaning to two audiences, Christians and non-Christians.

A non-christian may understand this sentence as meaning that even if you have had a tough up-bringing or done some bad stuff, it doesn't matter as long as you end up being successful, wealthy, having a loving family, or happy.
A christian though, will understand this sentence as meaning something along the lines of the following.

That regardless of what we do in this life, all that matters is that we do what is necessary to ensure that we have an amazing place called Heaven to go to when we meet our end.

For many people, death seems like the end, the end of our existence, the end of what we know. It is the end of our existence on earth, and yes, it is a bit daunting to think of leaving all our friends and family and we will be going into the unknown. The end is just the beginning, just the beginning of eternal life. It is up to us, in this crazy messed up world, to seek the truth. The truth is that Jesus is our Saviour, He is our ticket to heaven.

He died for our sins 2000 years ago, this was so that despite our human nature we may go to heaven. It is impossible to not sin, God knows this. So what He has done for us (sacrificed His son Jesus in our place) has made everything a lot easier for us! All we have to do is believe with all our heart that Jesus is our saviour and that he died for our sins, ask for forgiveness, and ask that God may help you to do the right thing. A lot of the time it is difficult to know what the 'right thing' to do is. This is why God's help and guidance is so brilliant. We can gain knowledge about what the right thing to do it by reading the bible and talking to God.

Grabbing onto to Jesus is the best thing that I've ever done.

Naturally, when we find something good, we want to share it with other people. We will recommend music, movies, shops, restaurants, and we'll share jokes, photos, and stories and every other thing that has brought us happiness, We share it! Share the happiness, share the love.

Share Jesus. Jesus= happiness, love, fulfilment, peace, and every other nice adjective in the dictionary.

I've just shared Jesus with you and also my opinion of how people may understand my opening statement.

I'm not forcing my beliefs onto you, its your life. You have to find the truth for yourself.

Remember, it does not matter where you start, it matters where you finish. Regardless of how you understand this statement, I think its a good one to remember. Make the most of your life, and finish well.

Embarrassment, the essence of life

Embarrassing moments... We all have them, some moments are more embarrassing than others. Some you can laugh about afterwards, some you can't...

I, Jackie, will share some of these precious cringe worthy moments with you.
So, I hope you a mildly amused by these, erm, interesting little incidents.


Embarrassing moments:
- So I was at a party, and I helped myself to some of the potato salad and then I was like 'Mum! This potato salad is disgusting, what did you put in it?', because her potato salad in normally really good. Mum replied, 'That's not my potato salad'. Then I realised that I had just insulted the hostess who had been in ear shot, the genuine maker of the potato salad.
- The time I went swimming in a pair of hand-me-down togs at the age of 10 and had heaps of people pointing and laughing. It all made sense when I realised that there was a large hole in the back of the togs and my bare bottom was visible.

- Telling a kid about something that I over heard the principal say when I was in the staff room one day and being tapped on the shoulder by the Deputy Principal who told me off and took me to the Principal's office to apologise for 'gossiping'.
- Drowning in a swimming carnival because I'm such a terrible swimmer and having to be saved by my Math teacher.
- Having a huge laughing fit in Math one day and not being able to stop even though everyone was staring at me. I ended up being kicked out of the classroom for 'disrupting' the lesson. and even then I couldn't stop.
-The time I secretly took a photo of a guy that I had a crush on. The embarrassing part? When he went through my camera, found the photos and asked me to delete them.
-Having a girl 'accidentally' slip in a rehearsal for a Kung Fu performance for Drama and sit on my face. Everyone watched and laughed as she sat on my face for another minute unable to move because she was laughing so hard. I was wearing a plastic mask thankfully but this created a 'hilarious muffled scream'. This is what my Drama class fondly refer to as the funniest Drama moment ever and they love quoting when I said "It was warm, and dark in there". It was bloody scary, that's all I'm saying.

And, Ladies and Gentlemen, our trip down memory lane is coming to an end, so please re-attach your asses (in reference to that hideous acronym , LMAO (laughing my ass off) that is used far too often amongst teenagers online), wipe away those tears (the tears that I doubt exist because there is nothing funny about these events..),scroll down and read my other posts.

Ciao! :D

Tinted Glass, Man’s Best Invention

‘From our sun, we receive light rays, heat rays, and ultraviolet rays, and that’s it. All other forms of radiation are filtered by our atmosphere. Of all the rays we are exposed to by the sun, the ultraviolet rays (UV = 3% of the suns total radiation) are the worst for human beings, and is partially responsible for unwanted health conditions.’

Blah blah blah blah, then some wonderful, considerate, thoughtful man/woman (whose name I cannot find in Google) invented
TINTED GLASS.

Let’s look at the history of tinted glass. ;)
‘In the beginning...’ What?!

Hem hem, this article isn’t very informative, DATES PLEASE?
‘In the fifties...’

That’s a bit better. :)
‘In the fifties the rise of air conditioning led to the marketing of tinted glass that would absorb and reduce solar gain’.

Then in the nineties, some smart people made a "hybrid" film containing dye to absorb heat and metal to reject the sun's rays. This hybrid design window film often provides 25% greater heat reduction...meaning that...’.
‘...which is helpful to...’
‘...in addition....’.
‘blah blah blahhhh’...TINTED GLASS IS AWESOME! :D
Why?

Not because it provides 25% greater heat reduction than normal glass...
Not because it filters UV rays that cause unwanted health conditions...

BUT BECAUSE IT
PROVIDES


PRIVACY! :D
Privacy so that you can make sweet, passionate....


Sandwiches in your kitchen without those nosey neighbours commenting on how much butter you use.

Also as technology has advanced, the US company SAGE Electrochromics have been able to manufacture a special glass that can be made tinted by the press of a button. The amount of sunlight filtered is entirely up to you with the handy, magical tinting control system that is capable of providing up to :
• 40% savings on energy bills
• 20% savings on operating costs
• 24% reduction in peak demand
• 25% decrease in the size of HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) systems.

Yippee! Privacy AND all those savings.

You can own this magical tint control system now* if you call:

1800-CAN-I-HAS-MAGICAL-TINTING-SYSTEM in the next twenty minutes!

*only available to citizens of the US who drive silver McLaren F1s, eat organic food, have a personal assistant and a hair dresser on speed dial.

The McLaren F1 I will buy if
 I win the lottery





Thank you.





Math class poem

Below is a poem that I wrote when I was particularly disgusted with humanity. Funnily enough, I wrote it in a math class.

Self-explanatory perhaps?

The reality of the situation is that...

We say we’re trying

But we’re not

We say we’re good people

But we’re not

We say we’re sorry

But we’re not

We say we won’t do it again

But we do

We claim that we care

But we don’t

We claim we know what we’re doing

Ha, could we be so delusional?

We are so hopelessly lost...

Lost in ourselves

Lost in the world

Lost in expectations

Lost in time...

We’re like a flame

Tearing across a fuel soaked rope.

Recklessly going forth,

Feeding off every good thing in our tracks,

Trying to make ourselves feel good

Trying to have fun.

This way of life ends

When we reach the end of the rope

And

Extinguish.

Palm tree madness!

One of the first poems I ever wrote...

Enjoy. ;)

Palm tree Madness
They say dreams come true,
I certainly hope they don’t.
Reality is a nightmare to me,
my dreams are beyond nightmarish.

If the things of my dreams came true,
the government would have to put a
restraining order on palm trees...

It was the dream I had
the night before last.
The dream I've been having
that never does pass.

The dream always comes
I've noticed,
the same night that Mum watches
her gardening show…

I succumbed my fear after the
fifth episode,
'Palm tree madness',
by searching Dad's shed

Ahah! Found it...

NNNNnnnnnnnn,

the chain saw squealed as
I brought it to life.

The palm tree stood there
all serene and innocent look...
it knew what was coming.

I could see the sweat
trickling down it’s leaves

As steel made contact with bark,
the screams grew louder...
and LOUDER.

The screaming stopped.
The palm tree wobbled there
for a second,
in shock.

Then it came CRASHING down
it gave one last pleadingrustle of leaves then was still

Now if my dream comes true,
that is one less palm tree to worry about.

However, there are more palm trees out there.
More than any amount of police officers could
ever restrain!

Please, if you have a palm tree
in your backyard
dispose of it
NOW!
They say dreams come true
I certainly hope they don't
'cos then they will come for you...

My Miraculour go-cart accident

‘Miraculour’ is a word that I invented one day after accidentally making a typo when trying to type miraculous. Go to the link below and you'll be able to read my very own definition. ;)

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=miraculour\

If for some strange reason the link doesn't work then simply go to Urban dictionary and type in Miraculour. :)

Anyhow, here goes my story. (True story)

I live on a sugar cane farm in Australia with my Mum, Dad brother and sister. My brother Cameron and my Dad both have motorbikes and race monthly at a motorbike club. We have a dirt track on our property that Dad and Cameron practise racing on. I don’t like to ride the motorbike but I love to drift in our go-cart!

One day (a few months ago) Mum, Dad and my sister Celina were out. Cameron and I decided to ignore our parents rule about not using the go-cart when they are out and take the go-cart for a spin. The go-cart has a single seat, a roll cage, a broken seat belt and a space at the back where a passenger can sit (although it’s not designed for that purpose). The go-cart can reach a speed of about 50km an hour. Dad had put a bolt under the accelerator to prevent the go-cart from reaching full speed but the bolt had fallen off. I was excited to be able to drive the go-cart at full speed and not be stopped by anyone.

Cameron sat on the back and we went speeding down the grassy headland. On both sides of us was tall green sugar cane and in the distance trees and tall blue mountains made up the beautiful landscape. I was admiring the scenery as I drove and the wind in my face felt good. Something reminded me that what I was doing was dangerous so I said a quick prayer, asking God to protect Cameron and I. I was aware that any accident would potentially be fatal for Cameron where he was sitting as he had no seat belt or roll cage to protect him. After driving 2 km which only took a few minutes we reached the dirt track. The track consisted of four sharp corners and a 20 metre stretch of dirt that is commonly known as the ‘straight’.



I exercised my need for speed as much as I felt I safely could. I wasn’t hitting full speed because I didn’t want to put my brother in too much danger. I loved drifting around the corners. It gave me such an adrenalin rush and after 5 minutes I started going faster, trying to make my drifts better. It both scared and excited me whenever I rounded a corner at such an angle that it felt that we were going to roll. I had stopped considering safety and was just focusing on my control of the accelerator, breaks, and steering wheel. This did not impress Cameron at all and he asked me to stop. As Cameron dismounted the go-cart he called over his shoulder “be careful”.

The words echoed in my head for a second before I carelessly disposed the advice from my conscious.

As I took off in a cloud of dust I was filled with excitement, adrenalin and fear. Next thing I clearly heard a voice, a voice that I had heard on several occasions that I recognised as God. My Heavenly Father firmly said to me “Slow down”.

I said “Just one more lap”!

As I was speeding towards the last corner I turned a second too soon. Aware that at that speed correcting the mistake could cause an accident I held the steering wheel in place and tried to ride it out. However the sharp right handed corner appeared to suddenly freeze. Everything felt as if it were in slow motion as I felt the right front tyre hit a bump sending the go-cart air-borne. At this point I became aware of the absence of a seat belt and helmet as I was thrown out of the go-cart. I enjoyed a brief lovely view of the scenery while my mind screamed ‘this isn’t good’! Before being greeted by the grounds solid presence. In the corner of my eye I saw a less appealing sight, the go-cart suspended in the air for a second before landing on top of me.



If I stop the story here, it sounds quite bad doesn’t it? However I can assure you that the only injuries I received were a shattered knee cap and a few bruises.



My knee before
the pretty bruising
started

The go-cart however, has never quite been the same...(the roll cage is a bit bent, the battery a bit damaged, and err well, it needs a bit of repairing).

I thank God that my injuries weren’t worse and I feel more obligated to listen to him from now on (no matter how much fun I’m having).

On another note, Dad asked me if I wanted to start riding his Kawasaki Ninja 250 today. Should I take up the offer?

The urge to write

It is 11:38 pm. My parents are sound asleep in there cozy bed in there nicely air conditioned room completely oblivious to the fact that I am on the computer. My parents have the best air conditioner in the house, the one in my room just blows air... it never actually gets the room to a nice comfortable cool temperature!

So, why am I online at this insane hour I hear you ask...or maybe I don't hear you ask that because you don't consider 11:38 pm to be an insane hour...well not many people would I guess.

3:45 am. Now THAT is an insane hour.

I feel like making up a story, I probably won’t finish it, but it should be interesting none the less. Let’s see what my tired brain can come up with...


Are you ready?

From within the darkness of her son's bedroom, she heard it, that laugh. The laugh that makes her stomach somersault and her heart miss a beat, the laugh that she had missed for so long. She brushed her hand past the door frame, flicked on the light switch and tip toed into the room. In the middle of the bed the odd shaped lump of her son was rising and falling slightly. A little tuft of his black hair was vivid against the white doona. She fought not the laugh. Four year olds are so cute; they pull a doona over their head and think that you will never find them.
"Where's Tony? I can't find him anywhere".
Tony's laughter once again tickled her ears and she fought the urge to pull the cover back and hold her son in her arms. As tempting as it was, she didn’t want to spoil the fun. She walked towards the bed then turned and opened the closet. "He's not in the closet...or behind the curtain". Down on her hands and knees she peeked under the bed and saw the same toys that she had seen the night before when she 'couldn't find Tony anywhere'!
The 'search' had almost become a routine to her with Tony running in his room and 'hiding' in his bed every night. She hoped that the day that Tony realised that she was pretending was far, far away. She enjoyed it as much as he did, maybe even more.
"Here are all of Tony's toys, but no Tony"! She exclaimed in mock surprise.
More giggles escaped from the little boy.
“I’ve looked everywhere! Where ever could he be"?!
Right on cue Tony exclaimed "Here I am"! And threw the covers back with a huge grin on his little face.


How's that for midnight writing? ;)

If you thought that that little story start was rubbish then I'd agree with you. Haha. But please, don't leave my blog yet. I'm going to post a better entry after I've had some sleep.

I fear I must now succumb to sleep.
Nite. :)