Pictures from Sydney

Hey all! Here are some pics from my trip to Sydney:


I met up with my friend Steve and his buddy Dave. Sydney was the last stop on their tour of Australia, so I was really glad that it coincided with the end of my semester.


We took a lot of pictures of the Opera House...


...and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.


We happened to be in Sydney over Thanksgiving so we had a little feast for ourselves:

Yum! In the absence of turkey, chicken and steak are a perfectly acceptable substitute.


We went to the aquarium where they have this awesome tunnel through the shark tank!

Sydney skyline!


It was a great trip! We walked and saw a lot of the city and ate a lot of food. We did manage to get some surfing in which was good, and we saw the movie Australia! How could you pass that up?

In other news, the completion of my thesis also means the end of the Year Without Music. If you remember, I decided not to buy any cds or music until I was done as a way to practice good stewardship and self-control. So to celebrate the end of this phase, I went and bought a new cd: Paul Kelly's Greatest Hits. I was after a few favorites by him such as "From St. Kilda to Kings Cross", "Everything's Turning to White" and "From Little Things Big Things Grow".

Now this doesn't mean I am going on a cd buying binge. On the contrary, I feel that itch less than I used to, but it's nice to allow myself the treat occasionally.

DONE!

I have so much to write about from these past few weeks, but for now let me dwell on the satisfaction of completing my thesis!!!

The last few days of work on it was mostly fixing typos and rephrasing tricky sentences, and making sure I had the correct format. I spent hours trying to get my table of contents looking nice and sensible. The final draft is 80-something pages long!

At this point I had done the best I can possibly do, so there was nothing left to do but send it off to the bindery. They put it all together like a book, and in a few days I should get it back from them so I can submit it to the office. You get to choose the colour of your cover, so I chose yellow, the brightest colour they offered.

One of fun parts about finishing my thesis was writing a dedication and acknowledgments.
Here's what I wrote:

This Thesis is dedicated to my parents for their unfailing love, support and encouragement over great distances; and to my sisters Bethany, Brynne, Emily, Kim, Kimiko and Rachel, because we all do different things.
I gratefully acknowledge Nabeel Zuberi who thoughtfully advised and guided me through the entire process of writing this thesis; and to the faculty and staff of the Film, Television and Media Studies department at the University of Auckland for invaluable instruction and support. Also, I owe much gratitude to the Biola University Financial Aid Office of La Mirada, California for financial support, friendship and enthusiasm that has supported me during these last few years of study.

If you see a typo in there, please do not point it out to me, or I will lose my mind.

I also wanted to take this moment to thank you: the many other friends and family members who have supported me during this great adventure. While I wasn't always the most reliable correspondent, I am grateful to all of you who take an interest in my studies and travels, who have prayed for me and encouraged me. I couldn't have done it without you.

That's all for now, but check back soon for some awesome pictures from my trip to Australia, some more stories from these last few weeks, and (hopefully) some news about what is next for me!