Archive for February, 2006
February 28th, 2006
Over a week since my last post!? I’d been really getting into this writing thing too. To be honest with you I have six draft posts that I’ve half written and not published. Mainly because I’d write a line and then think “Crap, what would people think if they read that?” and given up and gone off to write about “safer” subjects.
Much like Lloydy I have a great desire to spew for all to read (or, in this case, not), but to construct posts of intelligence and wit (feel free to laugh out loud at this concept) and NOT the arbitrary “Today I went to the loo three times, and had corned beef hash for my tea”.
So then what am I trying to say? Maybe nothing, maybe I’m filling the void - bridging the gap until I have something remotely interesting to say. Or grow some balls and say what I really mean.
Until then, I hope this has kept you relatively entertained. I’m glad I could fill up 16 seconds of you day.
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February 18th, 2006
Big thanks to Nash who took us to see Beth Orton & guests last night in Warwick. I’d not really heard any of her stuff before, and after last night still can’t say I’m a massive fan. Don’t get me wrong, she was good, just need to listen to more I think. In fact, for me, the best bit of last night was the “& guests” who turned out to be a band called Clayhill.
Clayhill are a scissor toting, xylophone playing 5 piece from (by the sounds of the guitarists accent) somewhere in the South West of England. Their blend of acoustic guitar and double bass funk was without doubt awesome. Awesome enough anyway to get me to buy not one but two of their albums in the interval.
Favorite song of the night had to be “So Far Out” (at least I think that’s what it was called), which continued some serious thrash-acoustic (yeah, it’s possible) and well timed silences which seemed to suck all the sound out of the room.
Also just gotta say a word about the bass player. This guy obviously has a real passion for music, and put his all into entertaining the people of Warwick last night. Everyone was Loving both the bass slides and the scissor work.
Anyway, if you get chance, go and check ‘em out. They’re on the whole of Beth’s UK tour.
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February 16th, 2006
A strange mark appeared on my forehead on Tuesday. I went to the loo before lunch and checked myself out in the mirror (as you do) and it wasn’t there, but when I returned from Lichfield the mark had materialized slap bang in the middle of my head.
So what strange phenomenon caused this strange mark? I think I’m fairly safe as there’s not even a single six anywhere in sight, but it’s still a bit weird. Maybe it’s cos my brain has been on full-tilt crazy go-nuts power for the last six weeks, and it’s finally leaked. Who knows.
Additional… A top ten five of what this mark could be:
- A Laser (Kris)
- A leaky pen mark (Starberri)
- Lipstick (!) (Rachel)
- Walked into a Door (Han)
- Self Obsession (Dr. Paul)
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February 13th, 2006
There’s a song by one of my favorite bands Switchfoot called ‘On Fire’. It’s about God.
And you’re on fire
When He’s near you
You’re on fire
When He speaks
You’re on fire
Burning at these mysteries
I never really knew what this song was about. I understood that the guy was quite excited about being close to God, but really couldn’t relate to it. Yeah, I’d had some experience with God, the odd encounter, but not any kind of burning passion. Not being on fire. The thing is, I kind of half expected to feel different being a Christian, that I’d suddenly become holy, that I’d receive the answers to all of life’s questions. But, of course, I didn’t. In fact, I really didn’t fell any different at all.
I’ve got to admit, I thought it would be easy, and life as a Christian would just involve a bit of singing and praying on a Sunday morning. There would be no real effort, but I could still reap the rewards at the end. I really wasn’t expecting it to be this tough. I really wasn’t expecting to feel embarrassed of telling people about my faith, or the whole new world of questions it opened up. I wanted answers, not more questions. I guess that’s why a lot of people go to God, looking for answers. I guess that’s why a lot of people turn to other things; Drugs, money, sex, new age therapies. Looking for answers, looking for validation, looking for that most valuable yet fleeting of commodities: Happiness.
The thing is, God never promises answers or happiness. In fact, the only unconditional promise in the Bible is that there will be suffering while we’re on the earth. Well, no disputing that.
So why bother? I suppose the obvious answer is the “big reward” at the end. But it’s not really about that. I can’t conceive of heaven or the after life at the moment, it’s just something I don’t really spend a lot of my time thinking about. To be honest, I still spend a lot of my time thinking about how I’m feeling: happy, sad, hungry, messy, tired, ill, depressed, joyous, horney, in love. Whatever. You know, I’m sure you feel all this stuff (and more) too. So really, why bother? It says in the Bible that all you have to do is believe in Jesus, and you’ll be saved. Couldn’t I just spend a few more years of doing whatever I wanted, making me happy, then believe at the end? Best of both worlds, right?
Well, yeah, I suppose you could, I wouldn’t want to, but this is what some people choose to do. I’m starting to understand being on fire. The knowledge that God is with me. It’s not that He’s gonna protect me from any shit that happens to fly my way, but He’ll always be there to teach me something through it, to bring good from the bad. I’m slowly starting to understand that God is for me not against me. And I’m slowly starting to feel on fire that little bit more.
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February 8th, 2006
This is from an article published in “Housekeeping Monthly” 13th May 1955. My, how things have changed…
- Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially his favourite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed.
- Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you’ll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people.
- Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.
- Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives.
- Gather up schoolbooks, toys, paper, etc. and then run a dust cloth over the tables.
- Over the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering for his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.
- Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash the children’s hands and faces (if they are small), comb their hair and, if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part. Minimise all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet.
- Be happy to see him. (surly this one should still apply?)
- Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him. (oh, and this one.)
- Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.
- Make the evening his. Never complain if he comes home late or goes out to dinner, or other places of entertainment without you. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure and his very real need to be at home and relax.
- Your goal: try to make sure your home is a place of peace, order and tranquillity where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.
- Don’t greet him with complaints and problems.
- Don’t complain if he’s late home for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through that day.
- Make him comfortable. Make him lean back in a comfortable chair or have him lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.
- Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.
- Don’t ask him questions about his actions or question his judgement or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.
- A good wife always knows her place. (yeah, dealing with a lot of pent up aggression…)
16 Comments »
February 7th, 2006
Photos are cool. I was having a look through my mobile pics last night and they we’re reminding me of all the good times I’d had with mates the last year. So, not really that interesting for people that don’t know me, but it’s good to indulge in things once in a while. Here are some more…
Technorati Tags: mobile
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February 6th, 2006
Lets forget religion for a moment. Forget what the world tells you about faith or science and ask yourself the question: Do you honestly believe that we are no more than a bag of bones and other assorted stuff that all fits together to make us human? Can you conceive that there is absolutely no more beyond what we can smell, touch, taste, see and hear? If the answer is an absolute genuine ‘yes’ to this, then stop reading. You’re excused. Go off and play somewhere.
For the rest of us, I want to explore why we think this. Is it inbuilt by a creator to lead us on a life long search for him? Or is it a result of evolution, that this longing to believe in something bigger than us, something after death is somehow an essential survival tool that gave out ancient ancestors the edge of the people who didn’t believe.
It’s arguable that the worlds oldest “religion” was Animism. This is a general term to describe the belief in spirits, ghosts, gods call them what you will. Essentially other beings that have a hand in the affairs of man, and by extension a belief in the human soul which survives the body after death. It’s everywhere throughout history, I can’t think of any historical cultures where faith or a belief in something, anything, wasn’t a central feature. It seams to me that throughout the whole of human history we have been seeking “god” in some form or another.
So on the one hand we have a creator. The maker of heaven and earth, that gave us life, free will and an inbuilt desire to find him. If indeed god is the God of the Bible, then an overwhelming theme of life is love. Free will gives rise to the potential for evil. So God takes a risk, he creates these beings that He can love and then sets them free. If they come back to Him then He’ll have love in return, not obedience out of fear. But He also gives them a fighting chance, He plants the seeds of faith, the inbuilt idea that there is indeed “something more”.
On the other hand we have evolution. Darwin tells us that all life on Earth evolved from some simpler form of life over a period of millions of years, certain traits dying out and others surviving based on how well those things equipped a creature to not to get killed. (I know this is a massively simplified version, but for the purposes of this post please bear with me.) So what of things like faith? Could we have evolved a need to believe in things because it gives us an edge over the other guys? I suppose it gives us hope, and hope is a powerful thing.
It’s a bit of a weird one this. I’m now not 100% sure of the point I was trying to make, if indeed I had one in the first place. All I know is that the search for the human soul is not an easy thing, and I don’t think I’ll ever have any kind of an answer until I die.
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February 3rd, 2006
Friday night is Euro Millions night, the huge lottery which is open to players all over Europe. This weeks jackpot is now up to a staggering 183 Million Euros. Take some time just to say that out loud, slowly… One hundred and eighty three million euros! Now that’s a LOT of money.
My question is this: Would it make you happy? For my part, I think the answer is a very resounding no. It’s not that I wouldn’t enjoy all the cool stuff that I could buy with the money, or even all the people I could help, it’s more that I wouldn’t trust myself not to let it go to my head. We’ve just been talking about this in the office, and the general consensus was that after a certain point the extra money is just meaningless. What difference does it make if you win a million or 183 million, it’s still going to change your life just as much.
What would you do with all that money? Is money an intrinsically evil thing, or is it just what people do with it? (ie, does money change you, or does money allow your natural tendencies to out?)
Over to you for this one… What do you think?
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February 2nd, 2006
Yesterday our church started a 28 day period of prayer and fasting. Not that all of us will be fasting food the whole 28 days, but it’s a time of giving things up that we would normally enjoy as a sign that we’re serious about hearing God in this time. For example, one guy in the church is giving up sport for February, because he knows he has to put God first, before his passionate love of watching and playing sports. Yes, even though England are playing Wales.
So why is this so important to us? Well, maybe I should ask another question as I can only give you this from my point of view: Why is this so important to me? The answer is simple, I just want to get closer to God, have him guide me as to where I’m going in this merry-go-round we call life this year. I have questions to ask, and people are always telling me to invest serious prayer time, so that’s what I’m intending to do.
As a church were hoping to see some real movement on things like long term sickness and our work in Coalpool to shift up a gear. We should be people on the move, living the adventure that God has set out for us.
Please don’t expect me to be somber, or change my writing for the next month. I’ll still post the same amount of faith, personal and random crap as ever. I just wanted to share this with you, as I don’t always talk about my life as a Christian, and somehow find it easier to write. I don’t even know if this stuff gets read. OK, maybe that’s not entirely true I know it gets read by my friends, but comments from strangers who have taken the time to read my stuff are always very much appreciated, even if they are to argue with me.
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February 1st, 2006
One thing I’ve been thinking about the last few days is accents. Yes pretty random I know, but it’s been in there with all the other stuff that I really don’t want to write about at the moment, so you’ve got to put up with this. Sorry.
Anyway, the accents. Mine, for example, would be described as “Brummie” by someone who lived anywhere else in England except Birmingham, and they’d probably think I was a from Dudley. In fact, if you really want to localize it mine is a Walsall accent, coming from Brownhills as I do. But I guess that’s not important right now, so I’m going with “Brummie”.
It was my mate Dave that pointed out that certain words sound better in some accents than they do in others. Brummies can really say the number five, putting the emphasis on the “fi” so it sounds like “fi-a-ve”. Where as Geordie’s do well with the word “Conjunctivitis”, try it you’ll see what I mean. So it seams to me that accents have their own keywords that really define them. Here are a few that I thought of…
- Conjunctivitis- Geordie
- Five (fi-a-ve) - Brummie
- Thirty Three and a Third (terty-tree and a turd) - Irish
Well, I did say a few. Maybe you could come up with some more?
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