Small, Grey and Dangerous

This post is for anyone who thinks koalas are cute. In other words, some Australians and all foreigners.

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A cranky koala achieved what an angry croc couldn't - it beat off thieves.

The bizarre incident began when Rockhampton police in Queensland received a tip-off that someone had a crocodile in their possession.

"The police came to the zoo, checked out our exhibit and we were down a female freshwater crocodile,'' said Tom Wyatt at Rockhampton City Council.

The 1.2 metre crocodile - known simply as "the girl freshie" - was dragged by thieves over a 2.4 metre fence in the middle of the night.

"Can you imagine these people struggling over a 2.4 metre security fence with a writhing wild reptile?" he said.

"It's not a baby you are holding in your arms here. We are talking about 40 kilograms and 1.2 metres of absolute fury."

"They are not man-eaters [like salt water crocodiles]. But they can still give you a nasty bite."

The thieves originally planned to take one of the zoo's koalas and only changed tack after it proved too vicious, 21-year-old zookeeper Wil Kemp told smh.com.au.

He had been told by police that four people were involved in the wildlife heist, which allegedly involved stealing a koala and swapping it for drugs.

"The original plan was to steal a koala - that's what they were going to use to swap [for] the drugs,'' Mr Kemp said.

"[But] apparently [the koala] scratched the s**t out of them.''

"The blokes have quite a lot of scratches and lacerations caused by the koala.''

The thieves then decided to take a crocodile instead.

"I don't know what makes someone go, 'Oh we tried to steal a koala and that didn't work so let's go and steal a croc.'"

"The people who did it must have been quite stupid. It's the last thing I wound have thought a member of the general public would try to steal for drugs.''

Mr Kemp said the meat and skin of a freshwater crocodile was worthless, but the stolen reptile might be sold in the pet trade for about $600.

"I'm worried and angered. I spent the last three years looking after it. I hope at least [the person who has it is] looking after it OK.''

(Source: smh.com.au)

Not Thought-less, Just Time-less

I never imagined I would sink to such depths of blog neglect. Yet here I am, struggling with the decision of what to write about after nearly 3 months of blog barrenness. At least I know I'm in no danger of becoming Blog Nerd.

Given my silence, this post will cover a few events/observations...

At the time of my last post, it had been for several days since Pastor Eddy Yang drowned while fishing. Such was the faith of the Parramatta Chinese extension service, though, that I hesitated to blog about his passing in case he did a Lazarus on us! From all accounts, the congregation prayed around the clock for a week after his death. What faith!

To me, Pastor Eddy always made walking into the 6pm service at church interesting. On more than one occasion, his greeting at the western foyer door involved grabbing my arm (and not letting me go for a good 20 seconds)and telling every nearby female about my eligible status.

I appreciated your endorsements, Pastor Eddy. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have had any effect. Hope you're having a great time fishing with Jesus!

Then, a few weeks later, we lost Jeremy Wong in similar circumstances. It had been quite a few years since his family were involved in Asian Service (he was one of our drummers) and he had become a popular guy among the youth at the Hills campus, but still he always had time for a chat and a laugh.

The celebration service (AKA funeral) was very inspiring. I knew he was a good guy, but there was so much mettle beneath the surface.

Jeremy, you were gone too soon but you certainly left your mark. Thanks for keeping it real.

Although it is unfortunate that death has reared its ugly head too often at the start of this year (a couple of other young guys passed away last week), I want to have a rant at something I heard said in response to these circumstances: it was something like "The devil has won the battle, but he won't win the war".

He most definitely won't win the war, but let's not even give him credit for winning a battle either! Besides the fact that the Apostle Paul said that "For to me, living is for Christ, and dying is even better", the fact remains that nothing occurs outside the sovereign will of God. I wouldn't be too fussed about a person's lack of sound theology if they kept it to themselves; but he is someone people look up to and he said it in front of a large group of people, many of whom are new Christians. If you're interested, have a look at this article for an excellent explanation of what God's will is.

Thursday 16 Feb will forever be known as Shaun's Independence Day, for it is the day I moved out from under my parents' roof.

I am now a Resident Tutor (RT) at the Herring Road Apartments, a collection of shabby-looking townhouses on the Macquarie University campus that have been on the "To Demolish" list for quite some time, apparently. Fortunately, the interiors are decent.

In return for paying no rent, I am one of two RTs responsible for letting students back into their rooms if they lock themselves out and generally making sure that students don't cause trouble. Despite the horror stories told by my fellow RT, Aurora, the worst thing that has happened was getting woken up at 4am by campus security... two local students who had gotten friendly with some female American exchange students were caught running around the complex in their underwear. More annoying than traumatic.

A good inexpensive transition into independent living. It's working out well so far.

Although I will admit I have only cooked once in the 6 weeks I've been there, most people don't believe me when I say I haven't been frequenting dining establishments that feature menus behind the counter. I haven't gotten around to keeping a meal diary (I should), but trust me on this: the vast majority of the meals I've eaten since moving out have taken longer than 30 seconds to arrive.