...y'all.

So I'm thinking that the daily updating has run its course. Not that I'm not thankful for new things every day, but often recently it's gotten to the end of the day and I realise that I don't have a photo and then I make something up/take a random photo and I don't think that's the point.
I'll still post here. Just not every day probably.
Today I'm thankful for my readers/commenters. That's you. It's nice to know that someone's seeing my photos and all of your comments have been wonderful and inspiring.
Have a great evening :)

...finishing my thesis!

I am SO thankful it's over. I was in such a hurry to hand it in that I even forgot to take a photo of the memorable event. Instead, please enjoy the view of some drafts, text books and other fun pieces of paper I've been carrying around in my honours folder for the last 8 months.

...engineering at utas.

There's a certain camaraderie that comes from studying in a smallish school of a smallish university. You've all had classes together, loved and loathed the same lecturers, failed the same tests. I'm going to miss it.

...a wake-up call.

I don't have a cool picture (ED. Yeah I do.) sorry. I guess that means I fail the whole picture a day thing. I have a story though...

We had presentations and demonstrations for honours today. Mine went pretty well, I think. There were 3 projects in my section, and it turns out there's a prize. It was pretty clear who was going to win, though we were all doing the classic Aussie talk-yourself-down thing. But, even though I spent the whole time saying 'nah, I'm not going to get the prize,' there was this part of me thinking, 'I've worked hard on this project. Maybe I will win. Maybe...'

I didn't win. The project that did was great (they all were really). And for a bit I was actually kinda upset. That's weird, I thought.
Then tonight our bible study discussion topic thing at youth group was addiction. We were talking about all the different things you can be addicted to and the reasons behind them. Someone brought up being addicted to the approval of others.
Bam.
It hit me.
As much as I say it, as much as I tell myself I don't really care what other people think of me... I'm still really addicted to approval. As much as I know in my head that God's is the only opinion that matters (and I know he loves me), I want people to acknowledge when I do good stuff. To like me. I want to be called out from the crowd, to get a silly certificate I'll never look at again. I am totally addicted to the feeling of the world calling me special.

So yeah. I guess that's something I really need to work on. Realising that I am special and that I don't need the world to tell me that. That my work doesn't need to be rewarded with accolades all the time. And I need Jesus to 'quench my thirst', to fulfil that desire in me, as cliche as that might sound, because he's the only one who can.
I don't know if I've explained this very well, but I'm thankful for the wake-up calls God sends me. I don't want to doze my way through life. Also sorry if this seems preach-y or anything. It's not. It's just how I feel.

...good friends.

I'm so thankful for my amazing friends and how amazing they've been during the final stressy thesis-ing. People have cheered me up/on, cooked me food, made my poster look pretty and even waded through 30 pages of engineering waffle to make it sound like real words. I wouldn't have a thesis without them!

...little things.

I walked out the front door instead of the back door today and noticed these pretty flowers. I got a straight run of green lights through the city with no silly cars making me slow down. I think it's the little things that make a day good.

...USB sticks.

So handy. I think my first one was 128Mb? Maybe. Or maybe 128Kb. Small anyway, compared to the 4Gb sticks I have now. And I thought it was so cool! But yeah. Very helpful. So thankful I don't have to try and split my thesis onto multiple floppy disks or anything.

Lol. Floppy disks.

...Scilab.

As much as I complain about it sometimes not working on my computer*, I am so thankful for scilab. My thesis graphs are starting to look good, and it's heaps easy to write new bits into the code when I need to. Open source = awesome.


*Which is probably mostly because of my computer, not scilab

...caramel apple cupcakes.

If you've started talking to yourself/your thesis, I thoroughly recommend a break to make cupcakes. These taste awesome. Best of all, when I went back to my thesis, the heading numbering magically decided to work properly.

...toasted sandwiches.

With cheese and bolognese, these are the yummiest, easiest lunch ever. Are they actually called jaffles? I get confused.

...twitterchat.

I know it's not really how you're meant to use Twitter or whatever, but it's kinda fun having 5 simultaneous conversations that random people interject in and that you can leave and come back to at any time.
On a slightly more serious note, I'm thankful that it's so easy to stay in touch with people. Letter writing has its charms, but there's no way I'd still be in contact with half of my friends in America if we relied on letters.

...White Box Noodles.

Quick, ridiculously close to my house and soooo good.

...variety.

There are so many possible routes to uni from my house. Sometimes I pretend I'm pacman and I have to collect all the dots during a week's worth of walkings. Haven't quite figured what the ghosty things would be.

Yes, I realise I am weird.

...being fearfully and wonderfully made.

Jess and I read Psalm 139 this afternoon. It's an incredible thought that I sort of skip over a lot of the time, when I'm feeling crappy about something or other. God, who made sunsets and rainbows and millions of different pretty flowers and chocolate and tea and so many other amazing things... also made me.

Seriously, what is there to feel crappy about?

PS. Those are some of the hairs on my head (we also read Luke 12:7), in case you were wondering why I spent 5 minutes trying to get an unblurry photo of the back of my noggin.

...driving with the windows down.

Will forever remind me of summer in Tennessee; four girls singing loudly to embarrassing songs on our way to fun adventures.

...scheduled time off.

An hour off to sit in the sun and read makes a whole day of study bearable. I'm thankful I can still do this without feeling mega-guilty.

...Spring.

And the reminder that not all Spring days are moody and/or windy. I'm thankful for such a beautiful day!

...ticking the boxes.

Had a big presentation this afternoon. I'm thankful it's over. One more task complete in the countdown to the end of semester!

...chillin with Gillian.

An hour off with a friend makes the world of difference to a day :)

...heart gifts.

I had lunch with Lisa yesterday and she gave me these to help with study/thesis writing. Such a small but thoughtful thing. Now I think of her every time I take a snack break :)

...bed.

I don't even care if I've blogged this before, or what the world thinks of the fact I didn't make it properly this morning... I am SO thankful for my bed tonight.

...a change.

Not that my hair looks any different, but it's fun pretending.

...the bedside book stack.

Some of these books have been there all year. Some I've read before, others are new. Some are mine, some are borrowed from friends. But I'm thankful that they're there, a wide variety to greet me when ever I have a few minutes to spare for them. I can't wait til the holidays - I have plans to spend many warm days with these friends, sitting in the sun with a cup of tea and a notebook to record my thoughts.

...mood-improving weather.

You wake up and look out your window to find that the weather is nasty. Sad face. You dress/coif based on the fact that you will be getting saturated and/or blown away just walking to your car when you have to go out at lunch time. But then, fantastically, when midday comes the clouds are gone and the tshirt you have on under 2 other layers turns out to be sufficient for the enjoyment of the beaming sunshine.
Your mood magically improves. Birds are singing. Life is great. You take a photo and spend the car trip to Kingston writing blog posts in your head.

...youth leaders.

Having a leadership team makes such a difference. I'm so thankful to have co-leaders this term.

...Mt Wellington.

It's such a constant. I can see it from practically everywhere I go. I love the view and the bushwalks when I go up there. It reminds me of a sermon I heard ages ago about the difference between wishing and hoping. I can't really describe exactly why I'm thankful for Mt Wellington, but I am.

...social soccer.

It's so nice to get outside and run around for an hour or so. Especially now that the weather isn't completely icy-freezing and it's light for at least the first half of our game. I'm thankful for the time away from my computer, from uni and honours. It's nice to forget for a bit.

...moments.

I was running early (shock-horror) to a meeting today so I went to the beach, sat down, took off my shoes and squidged my toes in the sand for ten minutes. It's been a pretty good day, but I think this was the highlight. I'm thankful to live near the ocean. I'm thankful for sunny days and fresh air. I'm thankful for a moment to sit and reflect and breathe.

...days warm enough for Chacos.

Today was such a promise of things to come. A reminder that there's a whole summer coming where I won't have to wear closed shoes or sit inside huddled against my heater. Beautiful :)

...my pretty little car.

Life would be so complicated these days without my car. I can walk to uni, but somehow I end up needing it almost every day. I spent a car-less year in America, so I'm also thankful that I can help my friends out by driving them places like my friends did for me.

...shared food with friends.

It's kinda powerful really, when you think about it. Jesus did it, although maybe not with cupcakes.

...parents who know me.

Mum says they saw this at a market and knew instantly I'd love it. Cupcakes on a teapot... what's not to love!? I'm so thankful to have such awesome parents.

...warmth.

...notes on the whiteboard (to myself).

Sometimes I just need a friendly reminder/kick.

...a bargain.

To think that I was about to spend $2.79 on a loaf of bread when I spotted this! Yummy too.

...Skype.

Makes keeping in touch with friends so much easier. I printscreened a call this morning, but forgot to save the picture, so thanks also to Alan for this replacement.

PS. these totally count as photos.

...email.

Haven't been very organised lately. Turns out we have a presentation due tomorrow. Thankfully the lecturer emailed us and we checked.

...a hijacked oven.

It's so nice to be able to put something in the oven, set the temperature and walk away knowing it'll cook but not burn.

...leftovers and The West Wing.

My first Friday night home in ages. I'm exhausted. Apologies for the unimaginative post/photo. I'm thankful that I can be exhausted.

...Jess.

This girl brightens my day. She is a joy and a delight and I absolutely love hanging out with her.

...complexity.

The world is such a fascinating place. I think we miss the wonder of it.

...sunglasses.

I'm triple-thankful for my sunglasses today - they keep the sun out of my eyes, hide the lovely dark circles around my eyes and are useful for keeping my hair out of the way when I'm inside.

...an evening at home.

It's so nice to come home from uni and not have to rush off anywhere. Today has been such a day of rushing that I'm skipping small group to work on my thesis. Even deciding to do that has made me feel about a million times calmer than I did a few hours ago.

...my access card.

This little piece of plastic lets me into the engi building on the weekends, specifically those Sundays when I realise I have an assignment due Monday. I'm so thankful for it!

...ANZAC biscuits.

Egg-free since World War 1 :)

...a few hours off.

For once I'm not running around like a headless chicken trying to organise youth group stuff for tonight. I should try and get ahead for next term, but instead I'm chilling in the youth room with a book I liberated from Steve's bookshelf. I'm thankful for a quiet afternoon before the craziness begins!

PS. I'm not as tired as I look in this photo. Promise.

...plastic containers.

Because I am incapable of cooking for one, I always have a lot of leftovers. I'm quite thankful for my collection of containers (mostly 'borrowed' from mum) so I can put said leftovers in the fridge and take them for lunch/dinner the next day.

And sometimes the day after.

...drains.

Welcome to another episode of "you don't appreciate what you have until you don't have it any more". And then you appreciate it a lot more when you get it back. Like our shower drain, which finally actually drains the water from the shower again.

...rain.

This winter hasn't been very wet, but I know we need the rain - even if it forces the rearrangement of plans. Our garden tea party became an indoor outdoor tea party and was still lots of fun. We wandered through the gardens during a break in the showers. Beautiful!

...being on the winning team for once.

I hope I haven't jinxed us, but it's nice not to be losing canasta considering that I taught everyone I play against.

Must stop being so competitive.

Tomorrow.

...tissues.

I know they're bad for the environment, but I tell you what: I'd be a dripping, snotty-sleeved mess at the moment without them. Just tellin' it like it is!