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I thought this picture was funny, it says in large letter "Everyone's invited. Everyone's Welcome", but then below it, it says NO ENTRY.

There weren't many really harsh criticisms on World Youth Day, but for things like Merchandise and paraphernalia, where does the money go to? Charity? Where will the money gained from WYD go?  There was one issue I had in regards to the Merchanidise shop, and this occured during the Opening Mass and most probably during the Papal Mass. Now in the bible, there is a story where Jesus gets angry and fed up because there are markets selling things in and around the temple of God, and he gets so angry and he goes around destroying these stalls by pulling them apart and breaking items, he says something like, This is God's temple and you are desecrating it by selling things (not exact words, but something on the lines of that). During the Opening Mass I witnessed the Merchandise stall being open whilst Mass was on and pilgrims continuing to swamp the place to buy the latest Benedict T-Shirt or cap. Not only that, but there were ice-cream vendors and soft-drink stalls. Who eats ice-cream and drinks soft-drink during mass?

I personally think that the church should have made sure that the merchandise shops were closed during the Mass otherwise they wouldn't practice what they preach, on the other hand there argument would be that Catholics would test there faith by either resisting or succumbing to temptation, I wonder if they sold more things during the Mass or after the Mass? I thought this was highly inappropriate and should be addressed for future World Youth Days.

Another criticism would be more about logistics, now where I was staying at was a suburb called Mosman which is a northern suburb of Sydney, and after a event which occurred in Darling Harbour, the World Youth Day organisers decide to send everyone to Central Station, which meant that me and my group were heading south instead of north! This was really frustrating because A) we were forced to head the wrong way B) it was nearly 1am and we were buggered and C) they closed of all other exit points at Darling Harbour, which meant we had to keep walking down the riverside. I thought it was a bit stupid to send all the pilgrims to one location, which meant the train station was going to be packed to the brim and there would probably be a traffic-jam of people. Luckily for us after arguing and convincing a volunteer, he let us cross a road and continue our way to Town Hall train station, where we got off at Wynyard and finally caught our connecting bus back to Mosman.

Of course another criticism would have to be the food, but I guess the food they gave was better than nothing. We did survive on canned Tuna and baked beans for lunch for around 3 days, dinner tended to be either weird tasting curry or Beef stroganoff which always looked like slop, some days we just bought McDonalds or KFC. On the other hand, our group was lucky, as I stated earlier we stayed at Mosman, which is regarded as an upper class suburb of Sydney, and they gave us fruit and other extra food, whereas other pilgrims which I talked too, never got fruit or any other extra pieces of food.

Overall I think some of the things I have highlighted can be resolved in time for Madrid and future World Youth Days, whereas catering for 400,000 people was never meant to be easy, and I guess a better pilgrim management plan should be in place for the future.

Image originally uploaded by Bababooobie

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World Youth Day 2008 has ended, to sum up what has just occurred in the last week is beyond words. Before I left for Sydney I had no idea what to expect and had limited expectations on what to foresee, but if I can give one word to describe my whole experience, it would probably have to be EPIC. The reason I went to World Youth Day was to potentially get closer to God and to challenge my faith and beliefs and throughout the past week I have been challenged physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally. From  the time I got onto the bus to the time I saw the Pope whiz past really fast in his Pope mobile to being stuck in the bus again on the way to Brisbane, I have been challenged.

World Youth Day wasn't just any event, it was an experience, and to see thousands of people from across the globe believing in the same thing as you was amazing. I could not believe the amount of people let alone each country they represented and it was interesting to note that even though we had traffic-jams of people, and it took forever to enter some sites, such as Barangaroo, it was unbelievable that no fights broke out, and people didn't even push or shove there way through, everyone seemed to walk through calmly without any incident.

I was afraid that Sydney may have been too cool for religion and potentially shun or insult pilgrims, after all it occured in Brisbane where some pilgrims were heckled during the Pre-World Youth Day celebrations, but it seemed to me that Sydney embraced and almost loved the pilgrims. An example would be when we were heading towards Randwick, there were construction workers in a building and they were blowing a whistle and chanting 'Benedictus!' with other pilgrims. I did notice however that Sydney almost turned into pilgrim city, with next to no office workers or 'normal' people in general, I think they just wanted to avoid the traffic issues and I believe that employers allowed workers to take a day off to avoid the crush of pilgrims.  Overall I think that this was a once in a lifetime experience for myself and has been worth all the pain and glory.

Images originally uploaded on Facebook

World Youth Day 2008 being held in Sydney is going to begin next Tuesday, and to be honest I had no idea it came so fast! I haven't even started packing yet, but it hasn't officially hit me. Today we had a welcoming ceremony for pilgrims from Papua New Guinea to our parish, and just meeting them gave me that buzz feeling that there are more international pilgrims to come. So you might not know what World Youth Day is, or what its about. Well it pretty much is a time to gain a better understanding of God as well as the profound teachings of the Catholic faith and what is all means, its also a chance for young people to question there belief and to challenge there faiths and beliefs, whilst also meeting various people from around the globe. Here is a promotional video about World Youth Day 2008 as well as the theme song, Receive the Power.

WARNING: The Promotional Videos are quite long, so if you want to watch them, just letting you know that it will go for around 12 minutes (both clips combined)

Promotional Video

Part 1

Part 2

 Receive the Power

 

All videos are uploaded on YouTube

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With only a couple of weeks left for the holidays, the partying and drinking has increased, luckily having 4 jobs keeps the money flowing into the bank account, but it can be painful at times to realise how much money was actually wasted on a night out. For an update on my current jobs, I am technically still employed by QBD the bookshop, but haven't worked there in a while, as they stated they would call me in for work. But I still work for my university, QUT, I am now an usher at the Brisbane Cricket Ground (also known as the Gabba), and I work at 2 OSHC (Outside School Hours Centre) for a private and state primary school, both walking distance, which is great, unless its raining.

With the weeks counting down to the return of uni, I REALLY don't wanna go back, I prefer my lifestyle as it is, working, partying and socialising. But at the same time, I just want my degree over and done with, so I can go overseas, teach and travel the world! But I guess patience is a virtue, and for gain there must ALWAYS be pain.

Image originally uploaded by colinorwhat

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Well if I haven't told you before, I am a bit of an entertainer, I am a singer and I supposedly can dance really well, (Thats what people tell me, I am just going off there comments). I had my first 'gig' last Friday night for the Sri Lankan Sports Association, and boy I had fun. So you might be wondering? How does a short, usually quiet, good Catholic boy get a random gig? Well thats a long story, and it was very controversial, I will have to tell you in person, instead of writing it for the world to see

So anyway, you might also be wondering, what do you do in a 'gig'? My role, was quite different to my previous role, I was asked to sell some memberships as well as raffle tickets and some other monetary things. Apparently I am a good salesman, I was never told of the returns or how much I got for the association, but I am positive that it was good. The gig was held at the RNA Showgrounds and it was a concert which was played by arguably one of the more popular 'oldies' bands in Sri Lanka, one of those bands which were awesome back in there hey day, and still are popular just by looking at there world tours.

Funny thing is, the pictures you see above, were never part of my role, they were just a random act that I perform. I met the band beforehand and got to know them pretty well, and when I was dancing in front of the stage, the lead singer, called my name and pulled me up on stage. Then I did my repertoire of dancing moves, and a bit of miming (gotta do miming with gloves ).

I am keen to do another gig for the same association, as all there fundraising goes to a good cause, as they are trying to build a small school in Sri Lanka to help train young cricketers. They did tell me, that I can't officially work for other organisations, but I never saw that in writing nor did I sign anything , so I think that maybe a sign that I am a keeper, hope to entertain some randoms soon, maybe next time I should try and meet some new girls

It appears that society calls for it! It appears that the social norm is for girls to go out with guys taller than them! ... of course the problem with me is ... I am shorter than the average girl! Which begs the question, for me to eventually marry and/or find the 'right' girl for me (whatever that means), does she HAVE to be shorter than me?? Because as far as I'm concerned there is a pretty limited range in terms of girls who are shorter than me!! Ladies who are reading this, if you think your short, try 153cm ... for a guy! Laugh! Cry if you must! ... but I appear to be in ... deep shi? ... umm trouble?

Sure my height is great for dancing with random hot girls in the nightclub, where their cleavage is pretty much the best view in the club. But when things start to become serious, do I have to marry or find someone shorter than me? Can't I marry some really hot tall blonde/brunette girl, so when I walk with her in the shops everyone will go ... how the heck did that little guy do it!!! I wouldn't mind that, then again EVERY guy wants that fantasy, but can't the little guy win?? Once at least?? Is it possible? Are there real life examples of tall women dating/marrying shorter guys?? There is heaps of research against me, because apparently taller guys get more sex than shorter guys, and women are attracted solely to taller guys.

Can I defy all social norms and be the guy who marries a girl taller than me? Sure one of my short term goals would be to date a hot tall chick, I think also a long term goal would be to find a soul mate which would be taller than me. But that is not the ultimate goal, my ultimate goal, would be whoever she is, be her short or tall, I hope to find her, I hope to find that she respects me for who I am, and what I believe in, and I also will respect who she is and whatever she believes in.

Image originally uploaded by nimboo and at God only knows

As stated in a previous entry I talk to random people including friends and people I associate with via MSN Messenger. Recently in the past few months out of all the themes thrown at me from various people the main re-occurring theme is Relationships. I have talked to a few which of whom have had commitment issues and those who are kinda stuck in the relationship and feel like they want to let go, but they are afraid of the future and the outcomes of breaking up for either the first time or for the 25th time. Also with the price of living going up and up another reason for relationship issues or meltdowns are money. Which happens in all forms of relationships even in marriages.

So, ok, once your married you have to live through the thick and thin and make certain sacrifices and whatnot, and no I have not been talking to married people via MSN if you must know. But with everything I have heard from the issue of money to the openly talked about subject of sex, I ask myself with all this jazz and stressful issues, is it really worth having a relationship? I suppose with every relationship you know the pros and cons and you grow as an individual, whilst I have seen some people blossom over relationships I have seen plenty more been torn apart and being near breaking point. I also have witnessed some people move from one person to another in the matter of a few weeks. Why not take a break and enjoy life being single? What are you afraid of?

At the end of the day, those who are reading this and are in relationships I hope that you and your partner enjoy a life of fun, enjoyment, love, happiness and pure bliss. For those who are single, I hope for now you enjoy life being single, enjoy being free and doing things you couldn't do when you were committed, and I hope after your break however short or long, I send my blessings that you will find the right person and from there you will become inseparable.

Image originally uploaded by misocrazy

Somewhere in mid-July, I will venture down south to Sydney to attend the World Youth Day celebrations with fellow Catholics from around the globe. For those who aren't aware on what World Youth Day is, the event is designed for Roman Catholics and Christians, and features a range of festivals and pilgrimage events followed by a huge mass conducted by Pope Benedict XVI. While most people are excited to mainly see the Pope, it isn't something that I am looking forward too. While he is the leader of the Catholic church and probably a great man, I am hoping this pilgrimage will bring me closer to God than ever before. I don't think the Pope is the closest thing to God but it's also a once in a lifetime opportunity for myself to watch a mass conducted by the Holy Father. I think it would be amazing to see the amount of people who believe in the same way I do and hopefully all the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims will gain much more than saying a couple of prayers. 

I can't say I'm excited yet, but I think when I leave Brisbane I'll start to get really excited, I think this journey will also be a test of my faith and if I can stay commited to the underlying messages of the journey.

Image originally uploaded by thepretenda 

UPDATE: For those who may be wondering, I can't say I am back to my old ways of Facebooking, ever since I logged on, I have been too lazy or found no motivation like I used too, in terms of 'poking' and checking out the latest on other people, including looking at pictures. I now find it almost a chore to be honest. However when I did log-in after my month off, I had around 15 friend requests and 4 event invitations as well as over 100 application invites. I tell you, approving all the people who added me was a real turn-off and I felt too lazy to even add all of them.While I still have no trouble logging in at least once a day, I can say that I am pretty happy that I have no craves to actually get any notifications or friend requests. All I can say is that I highly recommend everyone do a Facebook detox, it would be good for you  

Note: The image above was from my Facebook account after my detox session

Well ... my month of a Facebook free life has officially ended, and I am glad to report that I survived one whole month without Facebook. In my previous post I was challenged by a friend of mine, to not use Facebook for a month. I must admit looking back it was hard at first, but I got over the initial cravings and I think I might be over Facebook for good. However I am worried that when I log back in, which will be soon, I will be back to my own habits. Looking back, when I was addicted to Facebook, it looked rather sad. It really is amazing how influential and powerful this social networking website can be to some people. I did however find myself missing out on social events and people questioning my friendship purely because they added me on Facebook, but I never accepted their request. 

I cannot believe the amount of people who've came up to me and told me that they couldn't survive a day let alone a month off Facebook. Those comments were rather scary to hear, and you somewhat question whether Facebook could really become an addiction epidemic. Before I temporarily left Facebook, I did have a look at there closing down account options, and one of the options people could choose was 'Facebook is taking over my life, and I need to stop' or something on the lines of that. I really wouldn't be surprised if there are Facebook Anonymous Meetings or Social Networking Help groups in the near future, but isn't it just a tad too far? I even realised people at social events were saying 'I've seen you before, maybe on Facebook' ... or 'Hey, your that guy off Facebook', when clearly I hadn't been using it for a month.

To my credit I ended up going over my month period and added a few days extra purely because I had assignments to do and I was afraid I would be addicted and get sidetracked from my priorities. The upcoming days or hours will be interesting, will I go back to my old habits and log-in 6-7 times a day? Or will I log in once or twice a week? I am hoping for the latter, but we shall see what happens.

Image originally uploaded by kpontar1