Archive for the ‘Events’ Category
August 11th, 2006
On my Friday lunchtime stroll in Lichfield park today I was surprised to find a whole load of Cowboys and Cowgirls gathered in tents, tee-pees, motor-homes and caravans for the Wild West Weekend. Ok, so Lichfield isn’t in the Midlands, but it’s near enough. Besides it’s a clever title right? Right??
I love Lichfield for stuff like this, we’ll randomly get interesting things in the park, but this has to be one of the most surreal ones I’ve seen to date. Especially the shootout at the OK Corral, where two guys shoot at metal targets about half a metre in-front of them
Wish I’d have had my camera with me rather than just my phone, those guys shooting stuff would’ve made some pretty cool pictures. Oh well, just thought I’d tell you about the random craziness that is occurring this weekend. If you’re interested, get down there. It’s on til Sunday apparently.
Oh, and I resisted the lure of the Coca-Cola today!
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July 24th, 2006
Has it really been over 12 months since I last went camping? But it was certainly worth the wait! Last week we’d had some of the hottest temperatures on record, and looking forward to a camp weekend was just the thing I needed to get me through the work week.
As the weekend approached, it got hotter and hotter and as temperatures soared to the mid 30s the good old bbc weather told me there was torrential rain forecast for Saturday in Derbyshire. Well, the weather didn’t disappoint! Amazing lightening and the welcome refreshment the rain brought just added to the fun of the weekend.
So as the rain set in we decided to visit some caves called the Devil’s Arse, so called because of the wet farting noises the river makes when it’s draining away post-flood. Unfortunately we didn’t get to hear the cave’s flatulence, but we did have a very interesting cave guide. She was magnificent to say the least!
Anyway, we got some cool photos, so if you’re interested have yourself a look.
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June 19th, 2006
I know I said I was taking a short break, and I still am, but this is just a short break from the short break to bring you this one post…
It was an amazing privilege to see four people I know and respect get baptised. For those of you that don’t know, the idea behind baptism is as a declaration of faith. It says that you’ve chosen to follow the message of Jesus, and symbolises new life, basically you believe and get dunked! Maybe you should see what answers.com has to say about it.
A brilliant day for all involved! If you’re interested (probably only if you were there), you can see ALL the photo’s I (and whoever had my camera) took. Feel free to help yourself to the ones you want. You can find them here.
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March 22nd, 2006
I had such an awesome day yesterday as Josie very kindly let me shadow her teach. Yeah, I was a bit nervous but also dead excited to be out of the office and having fun with a bunch of kids all day. Some of you will know that it’s crossed my mind to go do teacher training in September, so wanted to see what it was all about before I signed up to anything.
It’s weird seeing one of your friends tech a bunch of 8 and 9 year old, to me it doesn’t seem all that long ago that I was their age. I was really impressed with the way she controlled the class, and the obvious affection the kids had for her.
I’ve got to say, teachers work damn hard. They work their collective asses off. Which is a big sticking point for me. It’s not that I’m adverse to a bit of hard work (ahem) but quite a lot of the paperwork seems so unneseccary. I can’t imagine anyone becoming a teacher unless they had a passion for working with kids, and the government seems to be squashing this by putting undue pressure on hard working school staff.
I’m not really ruling out teaching as a possibility, but I’ve spoken to entirely too many people in the profession that are bitter about the workload. I dunno, we’ll see. It’d be good to check out a few more schools (and years) first I think.
The best bit of the day for me was thirty-five manic kids singing me the bumble-bee song. Awesome!
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March 13th, 2006
I went and did it, huh, I think I did it. Yes, this weekend saw the biggest move away from Brownhills since University. I am now an official WS1 resident, slap bang in the middle of picturesque Walsall.
I guess this has been coming ever since I realised that Walsall (at least for the moment) is where I need to be. The Kidz Klub thing continues in Coalpool and I can see scope for getting a lot more involved there.
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March 10th, 2006
The Mighty Boosh? Wolverhampton Civic Hall? 9th March 2006? 7 O’clock? Yes, we’ll have a bit of that.
Although I’ve only even seen one episode of the tv series I had already realised the genius of the Boosh. One time is enough you see, one time only to drink in the sweet sweet nipple-nectar from the Boosh’s comedy teat.
In review I can only say brilliant brilliant brilliant! It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me spit my beer over the guy infront. (Sorry if you’re reading this). I’d recommend that you all go, but I’m pretty sure it’s all sold out. (I guess some simple checking would have confirmed this, but I really can’t be bothered).
Anyway, you can always look at some fine photos of the event.
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March 6th, 2006
Like a little kid I was, queuing for Madame Tussuad’s this Saturday morning. I was almost wetting myself with excitement we approached the “Queuing time approximately 30 minutes” sign. Being a bit of a London virgin, I’d never been to Madame T’s and was needless to say quite looking forward to it.
Walking round the universal cry of “Don’t they look life like” was heard from young and old. And they did. They looked scarily real. So much so that when we came to the infamous chamber of horrors I was at first a little disappointed. There was one rather rubber looking thing in a cage, and that was it.
But they do this to trick you. Trick you into thinking the chamber is crap. Then you go through the Chamber Live! As we stood in the que (queuing seems to be a recurring theme in London) waiting to go in, one woman ran out white as a sheet exclaiming “I can’t do that”… Wow, I thought, this must be good. At the door to the “Prison” (evidently of escaped mental patients driven mad… maybe by the fact that they were escaped but still in prison) a guide told us that the Chamber Live featured live actors (hence the name I guess) and they would get very close but not touch you, please don’t touch them.
What a job these guys have. Hiding in a dark room all day scaring the s**t out of everyone who walks through. Coming right in your face snorting and panting. It was horrible, it was scary… It was awesome!
So ends my post about a random Saturday in Madame Tussauds. If you get a chance to visit London… Go see this! It’s worth it.
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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 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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