perth on saturdays.

I am glad to announce that today, I am offically smarter than on all the other Saturdays of last year combined. I took a bus route that enabled me to not have to spend an hour to get to church, and it leaves half an hour later to boot, so going to church doesn't involve the Grand Prix. I can actually get up at a reasonable hour and take my own sweet, sweet time. Ah. Bliss.

At any rate, all my church friends decided to take this weekend off to go to AYC in Melbourne, so didn't really see everyone, which was disappointing. I actually really wanted to go to AYC, but it started on Wednesday, and I only got back to Perth on Sunday, plus I really didn't want to scab more money off my parents for a ticket to Melbourne after I talked them into going to Singapore! For the uninitiated, AYC = Australian Youth Conference; it's basically one huge youth rally with really good speakers. A spinoff the GYC (General Youth Conference) held in America, certainly, but all the better of us staying on this side of the universe who can't afford to fly halfway round the world. Nonetheless, I actually enjoyed church today, which is surprising since I found that I couldn't really have said that of the last year or so. I think that that's because I spent most of last year running away from God and bitching that I couldn't find Him - but running gets tiring after a while. I don't think one necessarily finds God in a church. Before I ever found God in a church, I found Him elsewhere - I found that I was closest to God while being still in beautiful places, or basking in the sunshine somewhere... Strange how some things are.

I lunched in Perth city this afternoon, sitting on a bench with a wholemeal cheesymite and Gloria Jean's Iced Cappuccino (with cream). I like Perth on Saturdays - it's when the people come out to play. There's buskers lining the pavements, the artists and their wares, the goths with that scary black eyeshadow, the lost tourists, the 13-year-olds making out in front of everyone... and of course the normal, everyday people as well. Everyone's in weekend mode, all laid back and laughing. I sat there listening to a pair playing guitar, the chill-out kind of music, of the is-it-even-humanly-possible-to move-your-fingers-so-fast category, and watching people go by.

I might go out with a camera and a sketchbook later.

I love Perth on Saturdays.