I celebrated my first Christmas party today... so much food... then to the hospital to visit a dying woman, then a few meetings and another liturgical celebration and another small 'drinks' party!! Woah!! I'm becoming a mean party machine ;) (huh???##??)!
Played at a mass today with the year 9 (15-16 year-olds) students. They were great!! Before that I spoke to a class of about 50 students for well over an hour... lovely!!
I just got back from an intensive weekend with 16 'less advantaged' kids. 2 days of games, running around and very little rest! Brilliant!! Will be sleeping most of the day tomorrow;)
I've played two 'gigs' in the last three days. Last night I drove two hours to a town called Shepperton (the village of the colourful cows) where we launched the new song I wrote for the local World Youth Day celebrations. An auditorium packed with 1,000 hyped teenagers... amazing!
A day off today... spent it relaxing, doing some shopping (toothbrush, deoderant and other necessary but mundane stuff;), and recording a rough demo for a new song I wrote. You can listen to this home-recording on Myspace... I put it up there for a while to get your feedback... Listen Here >>
Hey!! Concert yesterday went great. "Bic cajt ic cajt" I ended up coming first in the songwriting competition over there... winning a day in Melbourne's best recording studio!!! I will use it to begin work on my new album... an acoustic one this time - just me and my guitar!! God is good (mind you...he'd still be good if circumstances weren't tho!!;)!! Tomorrow I'll be working on another song!
Today is concert day.... I have to drive down to Melbourne tonight to play 4 or 5 songs!! Those of you who pray... say a littl' pray'r for me;) I have been traveling a fair bit lately.. yesterday I drove for 2 hours to a place called Shepperton for an hour band-practice session. I have to do this 2 more times next week!!
Woah!!! I don't know where to begin! I'm lovin' it here!!!!!!! Had college classes this morning one of which got me a cake and sang 'Happy Birthday' to me;) Awesome! Then I got a call from Melbourne Youth Ministry asking me to sing at a Youth Festival (ABLAZE) this Saturday. After that I went to the school kids social (fancy dress disco)... I just love being around them!
I have added a NEW ARTICLE called "I Hate Religion" to the articles page. Take a minute or two to read it... it just may be of some help to you!!
Back to busy Sundays!! Mass reading and announcements, then a quick lunch, meeting at the Chancery (Curia) for some World Youth Day planning, then a short afternoon rest and off to our first youth BBQ.... Man there was alot of eating!!!! I played cricket for the first time and some Australian Footy (almost like rugby, but the Australians would never admit that!!;)
Woah!! What a hot day!! Temperatures are risin'! I spent the day doing some administration and song-writing today. Enough about me.... I want to talk to you about a friend of mine!
This morning I took the train into the Melbourne City centre for an interview on SBS radio, then I had to rush back to Bendigo for a short TV interview on Waltzing Matilda (for Malta's PBS and Australia's SBS channels). I also had a 2 & a 1/2 hour lecture for a children's camp I will be doing in a few weeks. Working with children here is not taken lightly at all... I had to sit for training, have the police check my records and attend many briefings on the weekend! It's all good but it's also so sad that we have to take things so far!!
Had a full day yesterday as I began my 3-day break. I woke up, prayed, went to the gym and then drove down to Melbourne. My terrible sense of direction and lack of patience to plan well were the cause of me getting lost for half an hour or so!! Once I arrived I helped make a chocolate cheesecake, then rested a little and went out to eat a barbaric meal (huge steak and fish platter)!! We met up with some friends later for a coffee and then they came home and we watched the movie "Click" . Expecting yet another great day today!!
A fantastic coupl'a days! Fancy dinners, lots of preperation for meetings, meetings and plans for more meetings!! I just love being around teenagers. As time goes by I'm finding myself moreand more surrounded by youth!! My heart burns for them to see the Truth!!!
Hey... anyone wants to add me to their MYSPACE? I just got one going: www.myspace.com/robgalea. I just came back from the cemetery.. we had a mass in a really spooky graveyard in the middle of nowhere! I had to be careful where to put my guitar and stuff down as it was full of worms and creepy crawlies!!! But it was a wonderful mass anyway!
I just returned from a meeting... I arrived what I thought was 10 minutes late so I apologised for that.. after 3 or 4 minutes the meeting was over!!! I asked why it was over so soon. I had apparently gone to the meeting 1 hour late!! No wonder they gave me a strange look when I announced 'sorry I am late'! Anyway... another blushing moment!!
The spring weather here is at its best!! Though most of my day was spent indoors catching up on e-mails and updating my website and other sites. I also added some more songs to my PureVolume page. I may eventually add some more songs (any suggestions?). 2 busy days ahead with a packed teaching time-table. I have really come to admire teachers and the energy they need.
