Oh dear. And I was planning an early night tonight ! I love my housemates and house for this year ! Our house is so random and fun - where else could you randomly meet your housemates on the top floor landing and then procede to have a conversation, which lasts about half an hour, on the subject of what you would do if your eyes suddenly popped out ?!! And that's not the only random conversation we've had in the last few days ! There was also something involving Las Vegas...
Other news: it was my turn to cook again tonight, and I so decided to branch out - I did my first stir fry ! It was surprisingly nice actually, although I did somehow manage to use up rather a lot of pans/chopping boards/cutlery etc. in the process of cooking it - not quite sure how.
Oh, and I managed to recruit two more of my housemates to join the facebook over the weekend ! Now 4/5 of us are on there, although I do feel a little bad for encouraging other people to 'waste' so much time on the internet.
Anyway, really must go to bed, after having shared those random thoughts, which you probably didn't really want to know about anyway... :-) I hope that people have had good days which were mondays...and don't forget the 'science and God' talk tomorrow (see previous post). Would be great to have people come along. Night night ! zzzzzzzzzz
Monday, January 30, 2006
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Grrrr...computers and another event plug
Before I mention why I am currently fed-up with computers, I shall first plug an event (since I am knee deep now in internet sites, I may as well use them for telling people about events ?) :
Anyway...(for people in Bristol)...there is a talk this coming tuesday (31st Jan) at lunchtime (1-2). Professor Halestrap, one of the professors from the biochemistry department (very good lecturer and also my literary project supervisor) is speaking on "Science and God, a contradiction in terms ?" It's going to be held in a seminar room in the chemistry department (there will be people directing on the day) and there'll be a free baguette lunch. So...do come along !!! It's an interesting topic - one which always has much controversy surrounding it (but especially at the moment in light of recent television shows and magazine articles) and one which scientists and non-scientists alike should be thinking about.
This event is part of the run-up to a week of events which the Bristol Christian Union are putting on from 6th-10th Feb, when there will be talks on many different subjects, inviting people to consider the issues surrounding Christianity and to find out more about who Jesus really is. I shall plug these more in due course I think, but do be thinking about whether you could/would like to come along to a talk that week. Ask me if you'd like more details (before I post again and if I don't manage to speak to you in person.)
Well then, plug over, I shall move onto (and finish on) the topic of computers...why is it, that the one day you have no lectures (yesterday) and so decide you will spend a whole day of working really hard, is the one day when your computer decides to play up ? (Mr Sod has a lot of things to account for in this life, lol.) My computer keeps needing to run disk scans before it can boot up, and then yesterday, even when I did manage to get it to boot up, it then proceeded to crash every time I attempted to open "My computer", or "Search for files", or in fact, pretty much anything. It also sent me a whole load of error messages. The problem isn't fixed I don't think - as yet. I did however manage to make my computer respond enough for me to do some work, but it was just annoying as it meant that a good proportion of my "work time" was eaten up with just trying to make my computer respond to me and trying to then run virus scans - Another example, I think, which shows how dependent I have become on computers for everything ! (I feel a post coming on...sometime soon anyway...)
Anyway...(for people in Bristol)...there is a talk this coming tuesday (31st Jan) at lunchtime (1-2). Professor Halestrap, one of the professors from the biochemistry department (very good lecturer and also my literary project supervisor) is speaking on "Science and God, a contradiction in terms ?" It's going to be held in a seminar room in the chemistry department (there will be people directing on the day) and there'll be a free baguette lunch. So...do come along !!! It's an interesting topic - one which always has much controversy surrounding it (but especially at the moment in light of recent television shows and magazine articles) and one which scientists and non-scientists alike should be thinking about.
This event is part of the run-up to a week of events which the Bristol Christian Union are putting on from 6th-10th Feb, when there will be talks on many different subjects, inviting people to consider the issues surrounding Christianity and to find out more about who Jesus really is. I shall plug these more in due course I think, but do be thinking about whether you could/would like to come along to a talk that week. Ask me if you'd like more details (before I post again and if I don't manage to speak to you in person.)
Well then, plug over, I shall move onto (and finish on) the topic of computers...why is it, that the one day you have no lectures (yesterday) and so decide you will spend a whole day of working really hard, is the one day when your computer decides to play up ? (Mr Sod has a lot of things to account for in this life, lol.) My computer keeps needing to run disk scans before it can boot up, and then yesterday, even when I did manage to get it to boot up, it then proceeded to crash every time I attempted to open "My computer", or "Search for files", or in fact, pretty much anything. It also sent me a whole load of error messages. The problem isn't fixed I don't think - as yet. I did however manage to make my computer respond enough for me to do some work, but it was just annoying as it meant that a good proportion of my "work time" was eaten up with just trying to make my computer respond to me and trying to then run virus scans - Another example, I think, which shows how dependent I have become on computers for everything ! (I feel a post coming on...sometime soon anyway...)
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
p.s.
p.s. I have just noticed how odd that looks ! It looks from my last post as if I'm going to go to sleep at 5.51 pm ! I wish I could have, but seriously...this blog is very annoying the way the time it says is when you started the post, not finished it - so if (as I often do) you start writing a post, save it as a draft, go away and come back, you find yourself saying silly things like going to bed soon at what looks like 5.51 ! I am going to bed at 10.00pm. Just thought I'd clarify.
p.p.s. I've also just noticed how repetitive my post titles are - they all seem to end in either exclamation marks ! or ... I shall TRY to be more adventurous, but how else does one express emotion over the internet unless using exclamation marks and smileys ? Maybe I do use them too much ? Oh well. :-D
p.p.s. I've also just noticed how repetitive my post titles are - they all seem to end in either exclamation marks ! or ... I shall TRY to be more adventurous, but how else does one express emotion over the internet unless using exclamation marks and smileys ? Maybe I do use them too much ? Oh well. :-D
"Good friends..."
My last few days have been really, really cool. I had Charly, a good friend from home, come to stay with me (monday til today). I love having friends come to stay ! We had so much fun together and I discovered even more places in Bristol that I didn't know before !
Monday we went to LiveSoc in the evening, where (as I said in my last post and comment on last post) I played a short 4-song set. I didn't feel the set went amazingly (I did give it my all, but I was just too nervous really and so my voice was really, really shakey) but I think people enjoyed the songs all the same, which is the main thing. I was really glad to be able to see some LiveSoc people again, and that a couple of friends from church were able to come too - all of whom I introduced Charly to. We did all enjoy the evening. Tuesday we then did "the other side of music", (classical as opposed to acoustic/rock/pop) and went to Evensong down in Bristol Cathedral - which was a first for me, but I did enjoy it. I enjoyed the quiet, reflectiveness, and prayerfulness of the service, especially after having had a busy day of lectures ! We then visited another friend from home, who's at Uni in Bristol, and got to see his 12-person house !! We did various other things throughout Charly's stay, including visits to several eating places and coffee shops, oh and discovered the "Shoe tree" (as we so named it) - if any of you are ever down by Bristol Cathedral you'll see what I mean ! We had a great time, and it felt really odd when she had to leave earlier this afternoon :-(
I had fun for the rest of the afternoon, since Charly left, wading through e-mails and catching up with peoples' blogs (amazing how much builds up even when you're not online for just a few days ! Probably shows how dependent I have become on the internet, but that would be a whole new blog topic). Also means I don't have an excuse anymore for not working - I need to work hard the rest of this week to catch-up, but I wouldn't have had it any other way :-)
I think I now need some sleep slightly desperately (- I'm really tired tonight even though we didn't stay up tooooo late this week!) And tomorrow is another day; I shall deal with it when it arises.
Monday we went to LiveSoc in the evening, where (as I said in my last post and comment on last post) I played a short 4-song set. I didn't feel the set went amazingly (I did give it my all, but I was just too nervous really and so my voice was really, really shakey) but I think people enjoyed the songs all the same, which is the main thing. I was really glad to be able to see some LiveSoc people again, and that a couple of friends from church were able to come too - all of whom I introduced Charly to. We did all enjoy the evening. Tuesday we then did "the other side of music", (classical as opposed to acoustic/rock/pop) and went to Evensong down in Bristol Cathedral - which was a first for me, but I did enjoy it. I enjoyed the quiet, reflectiveness, and prayerfulness of the service, especially after having had a busy day of lectures ! We then visited another friend from home, who's at Uni in Bristol, and got to see his 12-person house !! We did various other things throughout Charly's stay, including visits to several eating places and coffee shops, oh and discovered the "Shoe tree" (as we so named it) - if any of you are ever down by Bristol Cathedral you'll see what I mean ! We had a great time, and it felt really odd when she had to leave earlier this afternoon :-(
I had fun for the rest of the afternoon, since Charly left, wading through e-mails and catching up with peoples' blogs (amazing how much builds up even when you're not online for just a few days ! Probably shows how dependent I have become on the internet, but that would be a whole new blog topic). Also means I don't have an excuse anymore for not working - I need to work hard the rest of this week to catch-up, but I wouldn't have had it any other way :-)
I think I now need some sleep slightly desperately (- I'm really tired tonight even though we didn't stay up tooooo late this week!) And tomorrow is another day; I shall deal with it when it arises.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
"You call me beautiful"
Well, it's been a while ! And again, as last time, (I think it's to do with the fact that uni has started up again - although I can't believe that it's only been a week !) my thoughts have been moving too fast, and so I have failed to blog about many things that I intended to. So, I will comment further on point 1 from my last post, plus a couple of other things, and then (before I start rambling too much) I shall leave you with a song by Ginny Owens, the words of which have really struck me recently, for you to ponder on.
(Btw, I'm starting to like this "bullet-point thing" - it helps me order my thoughts, plus probably makes it easier for you all to read than my standard, long rambles !)
So: 1) remember when I said last time that when I was feeling down, I was faced by the choice to "lie" and say I was fine, or to "be honest" and say I'm not ? Well, I actually don't think the telling everyone I'm feeling rubbish is being honest either and isn't helpful: So often I just get things out of perspective so badly. In fact, I do have so much in my life to be grateful for, and my rollercoastering emotions aren't really an accurate indication of how things are going.
Other things:
2) I have now started an HTML tutorial, which is proving really interesting ! At the moment it's just giving me basic grasp of the concepts used, but hopefully eventually I'll learn something to help me as I fiddle with blog and MySpace pages. - Don't expect too much though, yet !
3) If anyone is interested, tomorrow night in the Bristol Student's Union LiveSoc (The Live Music Society) is going to be having their fortnightly "open Mic Night" (in which I'm playing a short set). It's always a really good time, fairly chilled with some good music ! It's in AR2 from 8 onwards (til bout 10.30/11ish). Sorry for the plug - but then it would be good to see people there, and I'm never very good at telling people about things. Plus I spose it's allowed for me to plug shamelessly on my own site ?
4) The song I promised you:
Do take some time to read through the lyrics. No pun intended, but the lyrics are beautiful, and even better - true !
"I've been waiting
For a hero who's brave and strong-
Someone to love me,
Someone to tell me I belong,
So I pretend I'm satisfied,
And I stand watching from the sidelines,
Till You pull me into the light
And say, "It's Your turn now,
Welcome to your life!"
(Chorus)
And You call me beautiful,
And say You've loved me all along,
And You've always held the keys to unlock my soul
Oh You call me beautiful
There's a smile on my face,
And a brand new light in my eyes,
It's a new day,
And I've never felt so alive-
I feel as if I could conquer anything,
Oh thats what Your love has done for me,
And now all I want to be,
Is everything You want me to be-
(Chorus)
And You call me beautiful,
And say You've loved me all along,
And You've always held the keys To unlock my soul,
But I didn't know-
Now I can finally start to live,
Take those chances I have missed,
Things will be much different,
Now that I know You call me beautiful
(Bridge)
The story is better than I could dream after all,
Now this is reality
To know You and to hear You call me beautiful
Call me beautiful-
Now I can finally start to live,
Take those chances I have missed,
Things will be much different,
Now that I know-
Now that I know
You call me beautiful"
-"You Call Me Beautiful"
song by Ginny Owens
(Btw, I'm starting to like this "bullet-point thing" - it helps me order my thoughts, plus probably makes it easier for you all to read than my standard, long rambles !)
So: 1) remember when I said last time that when I was feeling down, I was faced by the choice to "lie" and say I was fine, or to "be honest" and say I'm not ? Well, I actually don't think the telling everyone I'm feeling rubbish is being honest either and isn't helpful: So often I just get things out of perspective so badly. In fact, I do have so much in my life to be grateful for, and my rollercoastering emotions aren't really an accurate indication of how things are going.
Other things:
2) I have now started an HTML tutorial, which is proving really interesting ! At the moment it's just giving me basic grasp of the concepts used, but hopefully eventually I'll learn something to help me as I fiddle with blog and MySpace pages. - Don't expect too much though, yet !
3) If anyone is interested, tomorrow night in the Bristol Student's Union LiveSoc (The Live Music Society) is going to be having their fortnightly "open Mic Night" (in which I'm playing a short set). It's always a really good time, fairly chilled with some good music ! It's in AR2 from 8 onwards (til bout 10.30/11ish). Sorry for the plug - but then it would be good to see people there, and I'm never very good at telling people about things. Plus I spose it's allowed for me to plug shamelessly on my own site ?
4) The song I promised you:
Do take some time to read through the lyrics. No pun intended, but the lyrics are beautiful, and even better - true !
"I've been waiting
For a hero who's brave and strong-
Someone to love me,
Someone to tell me I belong,
So I pretend I'm satisfied,
And I stand watching from the sidelines,
Till You pull me into the light
And say, "It's Your turn now,
Welcome to your life!"
(Chorus)
And You call me beautiful,
And say You've loved me all along,
And You've always held the keys to unlock my soul
Oh You call me beautiful
There's a smile on my face,
And a brand new light in my eyes,
It's a new day,
And I've never felt so alive-
I feel as if I could conquer anything,
Oh thats what Your love has done for me,
And now all I want to be,
Is everything You want me to be-
(Chorus)
And You call me beautiful,
And say You've loved me all along,
And You've always held the keys To unlock my soul,
But I didn't know-
Now I can finally start to live,
Take those chances I have missed,
Things will be much different,
Now that I know You call me beautiful
(Bridge)
The story is better than I could dream after all,
Now this is reality
To know You and to hear You call me beautiful
Call me beautiful-
Now I can finally start to live,
Take those chances I have missed,
Things will be much different,
Now that I know-
Now that I know
You call me beautiful"
-"You Call Me Beautiful"
song by Ginny Owens
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Stuff
Well, again, this is the problem with not posting often enough - I find I think up stuff I want to say in a post, then I don't write it - saying I will later - then think up even more stuff to say, and so end up saying none of it ! So it goes in the world of Ro's blog. This shall therefore be a short post (for me that is, lol!) which is not very exciting and containing none of the things which I originally intended to blog about, in true Ro Rambling style:
1) Life at uni is hard. It's a shock being thrown back in at the deep end again - you'd think after 7 terms of this I'd be used to the going in and out by now ! But no, it feels completely different each time. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed atm, work and other stuff. In consequence, I feel really bad, cause on the one hand, when people ask me how I am, if I say - "I'm fine thanks", I'm not really telling the truth and so end up feeling rubbish. But , if I say "I'm not great", then I have to precede to say why, which is long and complicated, and also makes me feel rubbish because it makes me feel like I'm dumping on people, as I always feel I do at Uni. Also, sometimes there's nothing I'd like more than to tell people how I'm really feeling, that is, if I actually knew how to express it in words - it can get very frustrating to say the least. So I therefore tend to go for a middling option, trying to making light of things, of "I'm not wonderful, but it'll be ok. Moving swiftly on, how are you ?" But yes, things will be fine really. I just really need to stop pretending that problems just go away if you ignore them !! I can't believe how stressed I am already - and I was supposed to not be getting stressed this term !
2) I have made a new addition to the sidebar of this blog, as you will see - it's not until I added it, that I realised actually how many quotes I have which I like ! So, I may rotate them quite frequently. The quote doesn't look entirely how I want it to, but until I make time to go through a proper HTML tutorial, it will stay that way unfortunately. If there are any suggestions of quotes, comment and they will be considered !
3) I have also added my MySpace page as a link. This is a fairly recent addition to my online profile pages (now number 3 I think in total) and so it is not wildly exciting. I made it mainly so I can chat to friends online on it, so if anyone does also have a MySpace page, then tell me and I'll add you.
Well, exciting as that has been, I think I must go and sleep - I could blog on many other things, but I do want to be able to follow my 9 lecture tomorrow morning ! So, farewell for now.
1) Life at uni is hard. It's a shock being thrown back in at the deep end again - you'd think after 7 terms of this I'd be used to the going in and out by now ! But no, it feels completely different each time. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed atm, work and other stuff. In consequence, I feel really bad, cause on the one hand, when people ask me how I am, if I say - "I'm fine thanks", I'm not really telling the truth and so end up feeling rubbish. But , if I say "I'm not great", then I have to precede to say why, which is long and complicated, and also makes me feel rubbish because it makes me feel like I'm dumping on people, as I always feel I do at Uni. Also, sometimes there's nothing I'd like more than to tell people how I'm really feeling, that is, if I actually knew how to express it in words - it can get very frustrating to say the least. So I therefore tend to go for a middling option, trying to making light of things, of "I'm not wonderful, but it'll be ok. Moving swiftly on, how are you ?" But yes, things will be fine really. I just really need to stop pretending that problems just go away if you ignore them !! I can't believe how stressed I am already - and I was supposed to not be getting stressed this term !
2) I have made a new addition to the sidebar of this blog, as you will see - it's not until I added it, that I realised actually how many quotes I have which I like ! So, I may rotate them quite frequently. The quote doesn't look entirely how I want it to, but until I make time to go through a proper HTML tutorial, it will stay that way unfortunately. If there are any suggestions of quotes, comment and they will be considered !
3) I have also added my MySpace page as a link. This is a fairly recent addition to my online profile pages (now number 3 I think in total) and so it is not wildly exciting. I made it mainly so I can chat to friends online on it, so if anyone does also have a MySpace page, then tell me and I'll add you.
Well, exciting as that has been, I think I must go and sleep - I could blog on many other things, but I do want to be able to follow my 9 lecture tomorrow morning ! So, farewell for now.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Well, I'm back in Bristol...
and feeling very mixed about it. I haven't for a long while felt so many conflicting emotions within the space of 14 hours. I have felt: fear, anger, bitterness, sadness, and just felt generally overwhelmed. Yet, also I have not laughed as hard as I did a couple of hours ago for a good while, and also a good deal of joy at seeing some good friends again after not having seen them for a few weeks, (even if I couldn't speak properly !). So, an odd mixture really.
Well, a slightly different topic (the problem with not blogging for a while): the evening service tonight. For those who don't have a clue what I'm going on about, I refer to the first of the "3rd sunday" special "high-impact" services at Woodies. It seems to be kinda like a replacement for the termly guest services, to which we can invite friends. The series for the rest of this year is on "Believe it or not". I would describe tonight as, well, interesting. One comment I heard of "an adult version of the mix" seems quite a good way of summing it up. It's really hard for me to comment as to how I personally thought it went overall, as I wasn't tonight perhaps in the best place for that (no, not seating wise, I mean emotionally wise). But generally, I think it's a good idea, but I think, as with anything new, it will take people a while to get used to and catch hold of the vision for, and we also all need to reflect on and chat about how we felt things went, to between us build up a picture of how it went and to see if there are things which need work for next time.
I think it's good to do things differently sometimes. The lighting and powerpoint presentations I thought were good, and I especially liked the way Philip Jinadu read the passage tonight !! I liked the way there were various things you could do at the end as 'alternative worship' e.g. writing prayers on a big sheet of black paper etc. The music being quite so loud may put some people off, but I thought the band sounded really good tonight. One thing I did find unhelpful, was the way in which they overlayed the words to the songs onto live images of the band - personally I found it a bit distracting (not because I don't like seeing the band, but just because me being kindof musical, sometimes, I have enough problems trying to keep my mind focused on God rather than what riff the bassist is playing next as it is !) but I know that some other people I spoke to really liked it. Philip Jinadu spoke really well, and although I was a bit tired, I was really awake for his talk - bits of it really resonated with me. I know that's all a bit vague, but it is late, and I'm tired. Maybe I'll blog on the topic again once I've had a bit more time to reflect (and sleep !)
One last thing before I do go and get some sleep, on my original topic for this post: During the service tonight I was again reminded of the passage I mentionned before, in Acts. I'm going to write it out this time:
"From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would SEEK Him and perhaps REACH OUT for Him and FIND Him, though HE IS NOT FAR FROM EACH ONE OF US. For in Him we live and move and have our being." Acts17:26-28
Even in the midst of all those people tonight, I found myself feeling very alone - partly a consequence of the quick transition from home, where I'm constantly surrounded by people, to Bristol, where well, even when I am with people, I still feel more independent, but partly I think also a good trick of the enemy (cause we are all in a spiritual battle, whether we know/admit it or not). Cause I AM NOT ALONE. I have to keep reminding myself of that fact (and in fact, that's why I looked up this passage again during the service tonight). Even when I'm feeling far from home and family, not only do I, amazingly, have some really good friends around me, who do care about me, but I also have an amazing God who loves me (amazingly) and watches over me, and says He'll NEVER leave me alone (cf Psalm 139). How amazing is that !!! If knowing that doesn't comfort me, then what will ?!!!!!
Well, a slightly different topic (the problem with not blogging for a while): the evening service tonight. For those who don't have a clue what I'm going on about, I refer to the first of the "3rd sunday" special "high-impact" services at Woodies. It seems to be kinda like a replacement for the termly guest services, to which we can invite friends. The series for the rest of this year is on "Believe it or not". I would describe tonight as, well, interesting. One comment I heard of "an adult version of the mix" seems quite a good way of summing it up. It's really hard for me to comment as to how I personally thought it went overall, as I wasn't tonight perhaps in the best place for that (no, not seating wise, I mean emotionally wise). But generally, I think it's a good idea, but I think, as with anything new, it will take people a while to get used to and catch hold of the vision for, and we also all need to reflect on and chat about how we felt things went, to between us build up a picture of how it went and to see if there are things which need work for next time.
I think it's good to do things differently sometimes. The lighting and powerpoint presentations I thought were good, and I especially liked the way Philip Jinadu read the passage tonight !! I liked the way there were various things you could do at the end as 'alternative worship' e.g. writing prayers on a big sheet of black paper etc. The music being quite so loud may put some people off, but I thought the band sounded really good tonight. One thing I did find unhelpful, was the way in which they overlayed the words to the songs onto live images of the band - personally I found it a bit distracting (not because I don't like seeing the band, but just because me being kindof musical, sometimes, I have enough problems trying to keep my mind focused on God rather than what riff the bassist is playing next as it is !) but I know that some other people I spoke to really liked it. Philip Jinadu spoke really well, and although I was a bit tired, I was really awake for his talk - bits of it really resonated with me. I know that's all a bit vague, but it is late, and I'm tired. Maybe I'll blog on the topic again once I've had a bit more time to reflect (and sleep !)
One last thing before I do go and get some sleep, on my original topic for this post: During the service tonight I was again reminded of the passage I mentionned before, in Acts. I'm going to write it out this time:
"From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would SEEK Him and perhaps REACH OUT for Him and FIND Him, though HE IS NOT FAR FROM EACH ONE OF US. For in Him we live and move and have our being." Acts17:26-28
Even in the midst of all those people tonight, I found myself feeling very alone - partly a consequence of the quick transition from home, where I'm constantly surrounded by people, to Bristol, where well, even when I am with people, I still feel more independent, but partly I think also a good trick of the enemy (cause we are all in a spiritual battle, whether we know/admit it or not). Cause I AM NOT ALONE. I have to keep reminding myself of that fact (and in fact, that's why I looked up this passage again during the service tonight). Even when I'm feeling far from home and family, not only do I, amazingly, have some really good friends around me, who do care about me, but I also have an amazing God who loves me (amazingly) and watches over me, and says He'll NEVER leave me alone (cf Psalm 139). How amazing is that !!! If knowing that doesn't comfort me, then what will ?!!!!!
Monday, January 02, 2006
First post of 2006 !
Well, I know it's been a while, but let me wish everyone a belated HAPPY NEW YEAR !!! Welcome to 2006 ! I hope that everyone had a good Christmas and enjoyed celebrating the new year.
At the start of a new year, I always try and take the time to reflect on how the past year has been, and where things are going for the next year - I don't ever manage to make enough time as I should or I'd like, just because everything is so busy, and it does feel weird trying to think over a year in terms of date (since being at Uni i tend to think of everything in terms of academic year!) But it is a useful thing to do.
2005 has been, or I spose was, quite a year ! I won't go into specifics here, but suffice to say that I feel like a lot has happened and just know that 2005 was a big year for me in many respects. And 2006...well...I have to say I'm scared stiff about what's coming - about this next term (for many reasons) and then what I should be doing after this year finishes (as I should have been applying for things already). But I just need to remember that whatever is coming, I don't have to face it alone. (Over this holiday, ever since I was directed there by a friend, I have found certain verses in the Bible really helpful to me - Acts17:24-28, especially 27-28. If you have a Bible you may want to check them out.)
At the start of each new year I am reminded of a sunrise. I have always loved sunrises - as well as being very beautiful, to me they always symbolise a fresh start, a new day (or in this case year). I want to live this year yes being mindful of the past, but at the same time pressing on into what God has in store for this year !
Anyway, I should be getting on with things - amazing how you can spend weeks in the holidays feeling very busy but then at the end of the day you don't quite know what you were busy with or where the time has gone ! (Is that a common experience or is it just me ?) I will blog again when I have something worth blogging about. Til then, enjoy 2006 !
At the start of a new year, I always try and take the time to reflect on how the past year has been, and where things are going for the next year - I don't ever manage to make enough time as I should or I'd like, just because everything is so busy, and it does feel weird trying to think over a year in terms of date (since being at Uni i tend to think of everything in terms of academic year!) But it is a useful thing to do.
2005 has been, or I spose was, quite a year ! I won't go into specifics here, but suffice to say that I feel like a lot has happened and just know that 2005 was a big year for me in many respects. And 2006...well...I have to say I'm scared stiff about what's coming - about this next term (for many reasons) and then what I should be doing after this year finishes (as I should have been applying for things already). But I just need to remember that whatever is coming, I don't have to face it alone. (Over this holiday, ever since I was directed there by a friend, I have found certain verses in the Bible really helpful to me - Acts17:24-28, especially 27-28. If you have a Bible you may want to check them out.)
At the start of each new year I am reminded of a sunrise. I have always loved sunrises - as well as being very beautiful, to me they always symbolise a fresh start, a new day (or in this case year). I want to live this year yes being mindful of the past, but at the same time pressing on into what God has in store for this year !
Anyway, I should be getting on with things - amazing how you can spend weeks in the holidays feeling very busy but then at the end of the day you don't quite know what you were busy with or where the time has gone ! (Is that a common experience or is it just me ?) I will blog again when I have something worth blogging about. Til then, enjoy 2006 !
Friday, December 23, 2005
Last post before Christmas...
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE !!!!!
I thought that I should say this now, as I now definitely won't have time to post again before Christmas !! I hope that everyone has a really lovely day, and do also be sure to take a moment at some point during the day to reflect on what Christmas is really all about (I know I will be) - more than just the wrapping paper. (See previous post entitled "firm Foundations")
I shall leave you with a few words about Christmas which are not written by me. I know they're words we sometimes sing 'off-pat' at this time of the year, especially when like me you've been used to singing/playing in a couple of carol services each year; but last sunday at our church carol service I was just really struck by them, and what the song really means ! Enjoy.
"Hark, the herald angels sing: "Glory to the new born king".
Peace on earth and mercy mild; God and sinners reconciled !
Joyful all you nations rise; Join the triumph of the skies.
With the angelic host, proclaim: "Christ is born in Bethlehem".
Hark, the herald angels sing: "Glory to the new born king" !! "
Traditional carol, punctuation added by me.
I thought that I should say this now, as I now definitely won't have time to post again before Christmas !! I hope that everyone has a really lovely day, and do also be sure to take a moment at some point during the day to reflect on what Christmas is really all about (I know I will be) - more than just the wrapping paper. (See previous post entitled "firm Foundations")
I shall leave you with a few words about Christmas which are not written by me. I know they're words we sometimes sing 'off-pat' at this time of the year, especially when like me you've been used to singing/playing in a couple of carol services each year; but last sunday at our church carol service I was just really struck by them, and what the song really means ! Enjoy.
"Hark, the herald angels sing: "Glory to the new born king".
Peace on earth and mercy mild; God and sinners reconciled !
Joyful all you nations rise; Join the triumph of the skies.
With the angelic host, proclaim: "Christ is born in Bethlehem".
Hark, the herald angels sing: "Glory to the new born king" !! "
Traditional carol, punctuation added by me.
Monday, December 19, 2005
"Won't that be fine !"
"I've been feeling a little bit overwhelmed,
I've been a little too wrapped up in myself,
So many things to cloud my mind,
I need to leave them all behind,
And think about a place and time
Beyond this life
Won't that be fine,
Oh when the sun always shines,
Nothin but love all the time,
Oh won't that be fine.
I love to get caught up in this daydream,
I smile to think about all that I'll see,
And any need I've ever had,
Any question that I want to ask,
Won't even matter
Gone with the past
Oh won't that be fine,
Oh when the sun always shines,
And there is love all the time,
Oh won't that be fine,
And won't that be fine,
When everything wrong will be right,
And when we will walk in the light,
Won't that be fine"
Ginny Owens
A song from a new album I've just had last week, thanks to one of my housemates :-) The album is awesome, and this song keeps coming back into my head. Amazing words, and the first verse kinda sums me up at the moment right now I think !
So much for me not posting again before Christmas ! I am now safely at home, as of saturday afternoon. It is good to be home, and to be able to be back with my mum, dad and brother, although it does feel a little strange with having had such a quick transition.
I've been a little too wrapped up in myself,
So many things to cloud my mind,
I need to leave them all behind,
And think about a place and time
Beyond this life
Won't that be fine,
Oh when the sun always shines,
Nothin but love all the time,
Oh won't that be fine.
I love to get caught up in this daydream,
I smile to think about all that I'll see,
And any need I've ever had,
Any question that I want to ask,
Won't even matter
Gone with the past
Oh won't that be fine,
Oh when the sun always shines,
And there is love all the time,
Oh won't that be fine,
And won't that be fine,
When everything wrong will be right,
And when we will walk in the light,
Won't that be fine"
Ginny Owens
A song from a new album I've just had last week, thanks to one of my housemates :-) The album is awesome, and this song keeps coming back into my head. Amazing words, and the first verse kinda sums me up at the moment right now I think !
So much for me not posting again before Christmas ! I am now safely at home, as of saturday afternoon. It is good to be home, and to be able to be back with my mum, dad and brother, although it does feel a little strange with having had such a quick transition.
Friday, December 16, 2005
Phew, made it !!
End of term ! Woohoo !!! - Or at least I had my last official lecture yesterday morning. I was so glad I didn't have to go in for 9 today: it meant I could sleep in a little (i.e. for me a lie-in counts as sleeping til 9 rather than waking up at 7 !) I'm now very much looking forward to going home, and although I have much work I need to do this holiday somehow, I think I'll just give myself a bit of time to recover from the term first before I start on that.
I've had a very hectic and rather stressful week, but that's more in terms of trying to fit in all the things I was supposed to be doing. I did have a rather trying day on wednesday too. But although it has been hectic, I have done some really nice things too. Yesterday evening was such fun - we had our house Christmas dinner ! Being the first year I've lived out in a house, this is the first year I've had anything like that, and it was really fun ! We had lots of food, crackers, a bottle of wine, took lots of photos...plus we opened our 'secret santa' presents - everyone was really inventive for having only had £10 to spend ! We then played pictionnary til about 10.30. I've also had other fun things this week, a few of which include: my first time going to the Christian Union Christmas banquet (on tuesday), the carol service back up in Wills (on wednesday), yesterday I also went out for lunch with everyone from the lab where I've been working this past term. That was really nice, but very sad too cause it marks the end of my lab project, or at least the actual practical work side of things as yesterday was also my last day in the lab. I'm going to miss the people I've been working with so much. Although it has been very hard at times working in the lab, I will miss it, and it'll be odd going from working alongside these people pretty much every day 10-5/5.30 to then not seeing them much next term at all.
Anyway, I have a few bits and pieces to finish off today, not least of which is packing (haven't even started thinking about it yet, and I'm going home tomorrow !!) so I had best go for now. I will hopefully still post a bit when I'm at home, but I can't be sure how often it'll be yet. I'm sure I will probably post again before Christmas, but I shall say anyway that I hope that all those going home from Bristol soon have safe journeys and that everyone has a really great Christmas. I shall blog soon. xx
I've had a very hectic and rather stressful week, but that's more in terms of trying to fit in all the things I was supposed to be doing. I did have a rather trying day on wednesday too. But although it has been hectic, I have done some really nice things too. Yesterday evening was such fun - we had our house Christmas dinner ! Being the first year I've lived out in a house, this is the first year I've had anything like that, and it was really fun ! We had lots of food, crackers, a bottle of wine, took lots of photos...plus we opened our 'secret santa' presents - everyone was really inventive for having only had £10 to spend ! We then played pictionnary til about 10.30. I've also had other fun things this week, a few of which include: my first time going to the Christian Union Christmas banquet (on tuesday), the carol service back up in Wills (on wednesday), yesterday I also went out for lunch with everyone from the lab where I've been working this past term. That was really nice, but very sad too cause it marks the end of my lab project, or at least the actual practical work side of things as yesterday was also my last day in the lab. I'm going to miss the people I've been working with so much. Although it has been very hard at times working in the lab, I will miss it, and it'll be odd going from working alongside these people pretty much every day 10-5/5.30 to then not seeing them much next term at all.
Anyway, I have a few bits and pieces to finish off today, not least of which is packing (haven't even started thinking about it yet, and I'm going home tomorrow !!) so I had best go for now. I will hopefully still post a bit when I'm at home, but I can't be sure how often it'll be yet. I'm sure I will probably post again before Christmas, but I shall say anyway that I hope that all those going home from Bristol soon have safe journeys and that everyone has a really great Christmas. I shall blog soon. xx
Monday, December 12, 2005
Pass the tissue box please !
Hmmm...you know those mornings when you wake up and just know that you're developing a cold ? Well, today was one of those mornings. And the rest of the day did not prove me wrong either: I now have a full blown cold, complete with tap-dripping nose and throbbing headache. I think it's a combination of lack of sleep having run my immune system down and my body going: "NOOOOO !! STOP, I need a rest, surely it's the end of term by now ?!!" Well, just one more week of term left to go, be it a rather busy one, and then I can collapse at home for a while - I may need a few days to recover before I can start on this mountain of work I have to do. And for now, I'll be happy if I can manage not to pass this cold to anyone.
Slightly better news: I have found some websites which have much 'better' Christmas jokes than I could ever come up with or remember off the top of my head. I especially liked:
Q: Why does Santa have 3 gardens ?
A: So he can hoe-hoe-hoe. :-D
For a wider selection, visit the websites below for a bit of a festive chuckle. (I'm sure there are other good sites too, but these are just the first few which came up when I google searched).
http://www.goofydave.com/christmas.htm
http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/xmas/games/riddles.html
Slightly better news: I have found some websites which have much 'better' Christmas jokes than I could ever come up with or remember off the top of my head. I especially liked:
Q: Why does Santa have 3 gardens ?
A: So he can hoe-hoe-hoe. :-D
For a wider selection, visit the websites below for a bit of a festive chuckle. (I'm sure there are other good sites too, but these are just the first few which came up when I google searched).
http://www.goofydave.com/christmas.htm
http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/xmas/games/riddles.html
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Sleep, ahhhh......
As I suspected that it would be, it was a very late night last night - great fun, but very late. I wasn't TOO bad getting up this morning, what's going to be interesting is about midway through the afternoon when it hits me. I think I need some proper sleep tonight !
Was a good service this morning though. Rather confirmed some things I've been hearing during the week and yesterday. Really need to make time to sit down and think things through. Also, for being so tired, my playing was amazing ! Now I'm not saying that as an ego boost or to boast or anything at all, just saying that God works in all circumstances and I'm sure must have helped me play this morning - I've never been able to play fiddles and fill-ins like that before !! (Maybe I should have late nights more often...or not ! :-D )
Was also exciting this morning cause as I was walking up to Woodies I saw the first flock of Redwings I've seen so far this year !!!! (For those of you non-birders, Redwings are only in this country over december/jan/feb time as they migrate over here, from Scandanavia I think. They hang around in flocks, eat lots of berries, and look like thrushes, but with red patches under their wings - hence the name !)
Also, I'm having trouble with Christmas jokes, as you may have noticed ! So if anyone has any really good ones (nice preferably) please post them up as a comment.
Was a good service this morning though. Rather confirmed some things I've been hearing during the week and yesterday. Really need to make time to sit down and think things through. Also, for being so tired, my playing was amazing ! Now I'm not saying that as an ego boost or to boast or anything at all, just saying that God works in all circumstances and I'm sure must have helped me play this morning - I've never been able to play fiddles and fill-ins like that before !! (Maybe I should have late nights more often...or not ! :-D )
Was also exciting this morning cause as I was walking up to Woodies I saw the first flock of Redwings I've seen so far this year !!!! (For those of you non-birders, Redwings are only in this country over december/jan/feb time as they migrate over here, from Scandanavia I think. They hang around in flocks, eat lots of berries, and look like thrushes, but with red patches under their wings - hence the name !)
Also, I'm having trouble with Christmas jokes, as you may have noticed ! So if anyone has any really good ones (nice preferably) please post them up as a comment.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Wow !
First bit of news: our fire alarm seems to have sorted itself out !! SO I won't be driven crazy by constant beeping for the rest of the weekend. I don't know what happened, other than when I went to bed it was beeping and when I woke up it had stopped (the first thing I noticed when I woke up was that it was silent in the house - i.e. no beeping !)
I was then planning on writing about quite a number of interesting things, in particular about a rather thought provoking programme I watched on tele yesterday. But I've been quite blown away by things that have happened today, and so all thought of those previous posts has gone out of my mind. I'm still working through things from today, and it would take quite a long time to explain what has happened, but I suppose I can't tell you that and then not say anything. Suffice to say that when things aren't going well, and you're not doing things you should be doing, even if you're not seeking and willing to listen, God finds ways to break in in the most dramatic and unexpected ways !! I certainly hadn't planned today, but I know that I needed to hear a lot of the things that God was telling me. I just now hope that it doesn't end here, but that I can continue to work through things which were started today.
I now have a further 2 houseparties to go to tonight - a lot of parties this weekend ! 1 is a kind of Christmas/end-of-term thing organised by one of my friends from my course, and the other is a housemate's 21st birthday party ! So, I may end up being in bed late again tonight - don't ask me how I'm going to get up for a rehursal at Woodies for 9 !!! xx
I was then planning on writing about quite a number of interesting things, in particular about a rather thought provoking programme I watched on tele yesterday. But I've been quite blown away by things that have happened today, and so all thought of those previous posts has gone out of my mind. I'm still working through things from today, and it would take quite a long time to explain what has happened, but I suppose I can't tell you that and then not say anything. Suffice to say that when things aren't going well, and you're not doing things you should be doing, even if you're not seeking and willing to listen, God finds ways to break in in the most dramatic and unexpected ways !! I certainly hadn't planned today, but I know that I needed to hear a lot of the things that God was telling me. I just now hope that it doesn't end here, but that I can continue to work through things which were started today.
I now have a further 2 houseparties to go to tonight - a lot of parties this weekend ! 1 is a kind of Christmas/end-of-term thing organised by one of my friends from my course, and the other is a housemate's 21st birthday party ! So, I may end up being in bed late again tonight - don't ask me how I'm going to get up for a rehursal at Woodies for 9 !!! xx
What an evening !!!
Indeed, what an eventful evening I've had - full of fun (both actual fun and the sarcastic kind, if you get my meaning.)
The first eventful thing that happened, was when I was cooking supper (or dinner as I should call it - so insists one of my housemates). It was obviously so smokey in the kitchen, that the fire alarm decided to go off. Now, this happens quite a lot, so as I have always done, I just push the mute button, and then try and reset it when the smoke has gone. But alas, I obviously tried to reset it too soon, as it kept going off again several times. When I eventually did get it to decide that it wasn't smokey, it decided that it was going to beep nevertheless, in an annoying -"once every 6 seconds" way, and no matter what we did we could not get it to stop (even cutting the power did nothing). So it looks like we're now stuck with this annoying beep until monday, when we can get the Landlord to come and look at it. And you can't escape it, cause no matter where in the house you go, you can still always hear it ! It's very embarrassing. So, if you see me next week looking very tired and frustrated...you'll know why !
Then I had, well I spose you could call it a scenic trip around Clifton. You might also call it 'getting lost'. (I prefer the first option myself). Basically I was going to this houseparty, in an afore unknown to me part of Clifton. I had ever so much fun finding the house (in the sarcastic kind of way). It took me just over half an hour, which is quite bad considering that this house was supposedly near Goldney, and I live by manor (sorry, that will only mean anything if you live in Bristol). I was also a little scared walking down these not-very-well-lit streets by myself, up and down steep hills (as is often the case in Clifton, or Bristol generally), while holding a map, and so letting everyone know that I indeed had no idea where I was going, which is never a very good idea when walking alone.
Anyway, after all that, I did finally make it to the party, and it was really good fun (in the normal sense of the word). It was quite chilled out, I had some good chats with people I hadn't chatted properly to for a while, and we played the most amusing games of twister ever - I haven't laughed so hard in ages !!! Although it was fun, it was also in a way quite sad too, cause the party was to say farewell to Ollie, who's soon leaving Bristol, probably permanently. He'll be very missed.
I'd better go and sleep now I suppose. This is probably one of the latest nights I've had this term. But before I go, 2 things:
-although I haven't been having a great week, my knee is feeling slightly better at the moment (well, at least nothing like the agony of sunday and monday) - I think the knee support helps a lot.
-Secondly, I realised that I haven't been keeping my promise of more Christmas jokes ! So here comes another (very bad again, sorry.)
Q: What national disasters occur when you drop the Christmas dinner ?
A: The downfall of turkey, the disintegration of China, and the overthrow of grease (Greece) - get it ! Haha...well, ok, I'll try and think up a better one for next time. You have to excuse me, my poor brain is tired. :-) Night night !
The first eventful thing that happened, was when I was cooking supper (or dinner as I should call it - so insists one of my housemates). It was obviously so smokey in the kitchen, that the fire alarm decided to go off. Now, this happens quite a lot, so as I have always done, I just push the mute button, and then try and reset it when the smoke has gone. But alas, I obviously tried to reset it too soon, as it kept going off again several times. When I eventually did get it to decide that it wasn't smokey, it decided that it was going to beep nevertheless, in an annoying -"once every 6 seconds" way, and no matter what we did we could not get it to stop (even cutting the power did nothing). So it looks like we're now stuck with this annoying beep until monday, when we can get the Landlord to come and look at it. And you can't escape it, cause no matter where in the house you go, you can still always hear it ! It's very embarrassing. So, if you see me next week looking very tired and frustrated...you'll know why !
Then I had, well I spose you could call it a scenic trip around Clifton. You might also call it 'getting lost'. (I prefer the first option myself). Basically I was going to this houseparty, in an afore unknown to me part of Clifton. I had ever so much fun finding the house (in the sarcastic kind of way). It took me just over half an hour, which is quite bad considering that this house was supposedly near Goldney, and I live by manor (sorry, that will only mean anything if you live in Bristol). I was also a little scared walking down these not-very-well-lit streets by myself, up and down steep hills (as is often the case in Clifton, or Bristol generally), while holding a map, and so letting everyone know that I indeed had no idea where I was going, which is never a very good idea when walking alone.
Anyway, after all that, I did finally make it to the party, and it was really good fun (in the normal sense of the word). It was quite chilled out, I had some good chats with people I hadn't chatted properly to for a while, and we played the most amusing games of twister ever - I haven't laughed so hard in ages !!! Although it was fun, it was also in a way quite sad too, cause the party was to say farewell to Ollie, who's soon leaving Bristol, probably permanently. He'll be very missed.
I'd better go and sleep now I suppose. This is probably one of the latest nights I've had this term. But before I go, 2 things:
-although I haven't been having a great week, my knee is feeling slightly better at the moment (well, at least nothing like the agony of sunday and monday) - I think the knee support helps a lot.
-Secondly, I realised that I haven't been keeping my promise of more Christmas jokes ! So here comes another (very bad again, sorry.)
Q: What national disasters occur when you drop the Christmas dinner ?
A: The downfall of turkey, the disintegration of China, and the overthrow of grease (Greece) - get it ! Haha...well, ok, I'll try and think up a better one for next time. You have to excuse me, my poor brain is tired. :-) Night night !
Monday, December 05, 2005
Knee update
...For those who may be interested. Although I know that God can heal people, I do think he uses doctors sometimes too :-) Hence I went to Student Health today (the first time I've been to see a doctor for years and years !!!) I was expecting long queues and a very long wait, but in fact I was in and out again within half an hour !
I was told that I've damaged a ligament on the right side of my left knee, but that it should sort itself out within a few weeks (and to come back again if it hasn't). The doctor also said that apparently I have very lax/loose ligaments, far looser than she'd expect to see on any normal person, and that's why I may have had problems with my ankles in the past. I was recommended a knee support and ibuprofen.
In some senses I was very relieved that it was nothing more serious, and that I wouldn't have to have any further appointments etc. But in another sense I'm a bit annoyed/upset/etc. that I have this tendency to do this - have problems with my limbs. I do love walking and running so much, but it's just made really hard when my some part of my limbs start aching after walking a little way (don't ask me why I chose to come to Bristol !!!) I know that if this is my main health problem I should be very grateful. But that's very easily said, but much harder to act out.
p.s. Thank you to those who have been praying. Especially to the person who prayed at about 11.50pm last night - my knee was really painful all yesterday, but suddenly at 11.50 it stopped hurting ! (Not completely, I could still feel that something wasn't completely right, but enough for me to be able to sleep well and not be distracted as much.) Just the suddenness of it couldn't have been anything other than God answering a prayer, so thank you.
I was told that I've damaged a ligament on the right side of my left knee, but that it should sort itself out within a few weeks (and to come back again if it hasn't). The doctor also said that apparently I have very lax/loose ligaments, far looser than she'd expect to see on any normal person, and that's why I may have had problems with my ankles in the past. I was recommended a knee support and ibuprofen.
In some senses I was very relieved that it was nothing more serious, and that I wouldn't have to have any further appointments etc. But in another sense I'm a bit annoyed/upset/etc. that I have this tendency to do this - have problems with my limbs. I do love walking and running so much, but it's just made really hard when my some part of my limbs start aching after walking a little way (don't ask me why I chose to come to Bristol !!!) I know that if this is my main health problem I should be very grateful. But that's very easily said, but much harder to act out.
p.s. Thank you to those who have been praying. Especially to the person who prayed at about 11.50pm last night - my knee was really painful all yesterday, but suddenly at 11.50 it stopped hurting ! (Not completely, I could still feel that something wasn't completely right, but enough for me to be able to sleep well and not be distracted as much.) Just the suddenness of it couldn't have been anything other than God answering a prayer, so thank you.
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Firm foundations
Before I start properly on this new post, can I first apologise for the seeming way that my blog doesn't really flow and that my posts are all on completely different topics. In some ways this also reflects my current state of mind, as I do flit from one thing to another generally, but in another sense it's partly an artifact of the blog cause I only post now and again. So, after having said that, I'm sorry for yet ANOTHER post on another different topic !
I was in church this evening (good service btw, apart from the fact that my hurting knee was distracting me a lot so I ended up sitting most of the time, but that's another story, which I'm sure you don't really want to know about...although, if any of you Christian friends of mine have a spare moment, prayer would be appreciated, as my knee is giving me quite a lot of trouble and is getting worse). Anyway, as I was saying, I was sitting in church, and had a moment where I was just thinking about Christmas. In the past few weeks, most people have been talking about whether they feel "Christmassy" yet, and whether they feel in the Christmas mood and like writing Christmas cards etc. And I've been getting caught up in this too, thinking that after my shopping trip yesterday I was feeling more "Christmassy" and more ready for Christmas. But in fact I'm not ready for it at all. I thought: Feeling "Christmassy", what does it really mean ? Surely it's just a state of mind and emotion which we hype ourselves up into ? In fact, the real reason why we celebrate Christmas is far more solid and firm than that. It doesn't come one day and go the next, like the feeling of "being Christmassy" does. Why do we celebrate Christmas ? It's because we're celebrating when Jesus came into the world as a human, to live the human life, and then ultimately to die that humiliating and painful death so that we could be brought back into relationship with God (He then rose again !) I was just thinking how amazing that really is. I just can't get my mind round the fact that Jesus would choose to do that for us, choosing to go through all the pains and trials of life on this earth, and then how it ended too.
What I'm really trying to say, in my long-winded rambly way, is that in fact we surely shouldn't feel the need to be concerned with "making ourselves feel Christmassy" because the foundation for Christmas is much more solid than that. (Hope you see what I'm saying ?) And before any of you interpret me wrongly,I'm not saying Christmas lights and trees and cards etc are bad and we shouldn't have them, I love seeing all the pretty lights as much as anyone else, (in fact possibly more than some people). I'm just saying that I (and probably all of us ?) need to be careful not to let all of that "wrapping paper" distract me from the gift inside the wrapping paper, of what Christmas is really all about, like I have been up until now.
I find, for me at least, that to be true about a lot of areas of my life: that my life can be an emotional rollercoaster. I feel so excited one moment I can hardly contain myself, and the next can feel so down. But there is something more solid than my feelings, and I want to learn to live more and more not just being ruled by my emotions, which are good things sometimes, but are also here one minute and gone the next. I want to learn more and more how I can put my trust in Jesus more and live with His truth as the rock under my feet which never changes.
p.s. Just before I go, I feel I should tell a Christmas related joke (since a few of my posts have been on this theme recently) - i apologize in advance that it is so bad:
Q: "What goes 'Ho, Ho, Ho, swish" ?
A: Santa Clause stuck in a revolving door ! *Groan* :-)
(I may unleash more Christmas jokes on you next week)
I was in church this evening (good service btw, apart from the fact that my hurting knee was distracting me a lot so I ended up sitting most of the time, but that's another story, which I'm sure you don't really want to know about...although, if any of you Christian friends of mine have a spare moment, prayer would be appreciated, as my knee is giving me quite a lot of trouble and is getting worse). Anyway, as I was saying, I was sitting in church, and had a moment where I was just thinking about Christmas. In the past few weeks, most people have been talking about whether they feel "Christmassy" yet, and whether they feel in the Christmas mood and like writing Christmas cards etc. And I've been getting caught up in this too, thinking that after my shopping trip yesterday I was feeling more "Christmassy" and more ready for Christmas. But in fact I'm not ready for it at all. I thought: Feeling "Christmassy", what does it really mean ? Surely it's just a state of mind and emotion which we hype ourselves up into ? In fact, the real reason why we celebrate Christmas is far more solid and firm than that. It doesn't come one day and go the next, like the feeling of "being Christmassy" does. Why do we celebrate Christmas ? It's because we're celebrating when Jesus came into the world as a human, to live the human life, and then ultimately to die that humiliating and painful death so that we could be brought back into relationship with God (He then rose again !) I was just thinking how amazing that really is. I just can't get my mind round the fact that Jesus would choose to do that for us, choosing to go through all the pains and trials of life on this earth, and then how it ended too.
What I'm really trying to say, in my long-winded rambly way, is that in fact we surely shouldn't feel the need to be concerned with "making ourselves feel Christmassy" because the foundation for Christmas is much more solid than that. (Hope you see what I'm saying ?) And before any of you interpret me wrongly,I'm not saying Christmas lights and trees and cards etc are bad and we shouldn't have them, I love seeing all the pretty lights as much as anyone else, (in fact possibly more than some people). I'm just saying that I (and probably all of us ?) need to be careful not to let all of that "wrapping paper" distract me from the gift inside the wrapping paper, of what Christmas is really all about, like I have been up until now.
I find, for me at least, that to be true about a lot of areas of my life: that my life can be an emotional rollercoaster. I feel so excited one moment I can hardly contain myself, and the next can feel so down. But there is something more solid than my feelings, and I want to learn to live more and more not just being ruled by my emotions, which are good things sometimes, but are also here one minute and gone the next. I want to learn more and more how I can put my trust in Jesus more and live with His truth as the rock under my feet which never changes.
p.s. Just before I go, I feel I should tell a Christmas related joke (since a few of my posts have been on this theme recently) - i apologize in advance that it is so bad:
Q: "What goes 'Ho, Ho, Ho, swish" ?
A: Santa Clause stuck in a revolving door ! *Groan* :-)
(I may unleash more Christmas jokes on you next week)
Saturday, December 03, 2005
"What is easy" vs "what is right"
And, to make up for not posting much this week, here's even more from me !
I've just gotten back from going to see the new Harry Potter film with one of my housemates. I thought it was truly amazing !!! I think it's gotta be my favourite film so far (which is odd since book 4 was by no means anywhere near my favourite book). I got completely lost in the film, and while I thought it was a shame that they had to cut out so much 'non-essential' stuff, I thought they did do it really well and cast all the new parts well (though of course you're entitled to disagree with me if you like.)
What struck me a lot in the film, was when Dumbledore says right at the end about how Harry will have to choose "between what is right and what is easy". It may not be totally true, but it kind of has some truth to it perhaps (though again, feel free to disagree with me on this). Again, this is an example of how I think deeply about things. Many of my best friends in Bristol have long since learnt that films (most of the time) affect me very deeply. Not in the way I think about the film itself, but on what it leads me to think about. Let me give you an example from tonight...the whole good vs evil thing, as my housemate said, has many parallels which may be drawn with Christianity (bear with me), however unintentional they may be. I think that is going to be inevitable in a film based on this topic of good vs evil, and is in fact why I love such films so much. Many people will argue that we should only have films/books which end sadly, or not so in an 'unrealistic' way. But I think they're wrong. Although life is hard, ultimately inside us we know that there is more to life that the way things appear to go, even when hard. When we see a happy ending, it feels natural somehow and we feel that this is how life should be. But ultimately, we can know that life DOES have a happy ending, despite whatever may be happening to us right now. Good WILL always triumph, and in fact already has - God has triumphed over evil.
Phew...told you I thought deeply. And all from Harry Potter !! Please do know that I'm not trying to preach or anything, or sound superior in any way. That's not my intention. My intention is, as always, to just share my thoughts as I think them (or perhaps slightly after I think them as I cannot always find a computer whenever I need one. Lol). But do come back at me in the comments if you disagree with anything I've said, or comment too if you have any suggestions for my blog, or in fact why not just say hi :-)
I think that's enough from me for one day. (It'll keep you going in case I don't get a chance to post much next week !) I shall now go and listen to Dave Matthews Band (CD borrowed from a good friend - the band is awesome btw) and then head to bed. Night !!
I've just gotten back from going to see the new Harry Potter film with one of my housemates. I thought it was truly amazing !!! I think it's gotta be my favourite film so far (which is odd since book 4 was by no means anywhere near my favourite book). I got completely lost in the film, and while I thought it was a shame that they had to cut out so much 'non-essential' stuff, I thought they did do it really well and cast all the new parts well (though of course you're entitled to disagree with me if you like.)
What struck me a lot in the film, was when Dumbledore says right at the end about how Harry will have to choose "between what is right and what is easy". It may not be totally true, but it kind of has some truth to it perhaps (though again, feel free to disagree with me on this). Again, this is an example of how I think deeply about things. Many of my best friends in Bristol have long since learnt that films (most of the time) affect me very deeply. Not in the way I think about the film itself, but on what it leads me to think about. Let me give you an example from tonight...the whole good vs evil thing, as my housemate said, has many parallels which may be drawn with Christianity (bear with me), however unintentional they may be. I think that is going to be inevitable in a film based on this topic of good vs evil, and is in fact why I love such films so much. Many people will argue that we should only have films/books which end sadly, or not so in an 'unrealistic' way. But I think they're wrong. Although life is hard, ultimately inside us we know that there is more to life that the way things appear to go, even when hard. When we see a happy ending, it feels natural somehow and we feel that this is how life should be. But ultimately, we can know that life DOES have a happy ending, despite whatever may be happening to us right now. Good WILL always triumph, and in fact already has - God has triumphed over evil.
Phew...told you I thought deeply. And all from Harry Potter !! Please do know that I'm not trying to preach or anything, or sound superior in any way. That's not my intention. My intention is, as always, to just share my thoughts as I think them (or perhaps slightly after I think them as I cannot always find a computer whenever I need one. Lol). But do come back at me in the comments if you disagree with anything I've said, or comment too if you have any suggestions for my blog, or in fact why not just say hi :-)
I think that's enough from me for one day. (It'll keep you going in case I don't get a chance to post much next week !) I shall now go and listen to Dave Matthews Band (CD borrowed from a good friend - the band is awesome btw) and then head to bed. Night !!
The difficulties of Christmas shopping.
This is the difficulty of not posting properly for a few days: I now have lots of things I want to share !!! You have been warned, this may be a long post (tho I may split it up into 2!)
Have had a nice if fairly packed day today. After a fairly substantial lie in (very needed!), I went down to broadmead this morning to start some Christmas shopping. (I know that I won't have any time after I get home from uni before Christmas, so need to be organised now).
Buying Christmas presents is REALLY difficult I find, (as in fact buying any present is). I think it must be due to the fact that as humans we are ultimately selfish creatures, when left to our own devices, and so when I want to buy a present for someone, I subconsciously find myself looking around the shops and seeing what things I like, and I guess most of the time I end up buying things I would like if someone was buying a present for me. At the end of the day, that's not what buying a present for someone is all about. It should be about buying something which will bring joy to the other person. I've been trying hard recently to change my attitude to present buying, and try to get into the other person's shoes, so to speak, and actually think about what THEY'D like ! Sounds obvious and really straightforward I know, but in practise it is actually really hard, because most of the time, because we are all so different, what the person likes and what I like are two completely different things, and I constantly have to keep bringing my mind back to the fact that I'm not shopping to buy myself things. But, whenever I have done this, it's always in the end been more satisfying: both for me when I've bought the present and for the person receiving the gift. Hmmm...(or maybe I think too deeply about things which shouldn't be thought about that deeply ? I do have a tendency to as I have been told.)
Anyway, I think I did reasonably well for having only had 3 hours - most of my Christmas shopping is now done, plus I had the fun task of buying lots of decorations for our house !!!! (Our Christmas tree looks really cool !!)
Have had a nice if fairly packed day today. After a fairly substantial lie in (very needed!), I went down to broadmead this morning to start some Christmas shopping. (I know that I won't have any time after I get home from uni before Christmas, so need to be organised now).
Buying Christmas presents is REALLY difficult I find, (as in fact buying any present is). I think it must be due to the fact that as humans we are ultimately selfish creatures, when left to our own devices, and so when I want to buy a present for someone, I subconsciously find myself looking around the shops and seeing what things I like, and I guess most of the time I end up buying things I would like if someone was buying a present for me. At the end of the day, that's not what buying a present for someone is all about. It should be about buying something which will bring joy to the other person. I've been trying hard recently to change my attitude to present buying, and try to get into the other person's shoes, so to speak, and actually think about what THEY'D like ! Sounds obvious and really straightforward I know, but in practise it is actually really hard, because most of the time, because we are all so different, what the person likes and what I like are two completely different things, and I constantly have to keep bringing my mind back to the fact that I'm not shopping to buy myself things. But, whenever I have done this, it's always in the end been more satisfying: both for me when I've bought the present and for the person receiving the gift. Hmmm...(or maybe I think too deeply about things which shouldn't be thought about that deeply ? I do have a tendency to as I have been told.)
Anyway, I think I did reasonably well for having only had 3 hours - most of my Christmas shopping is now done, plus I had the fun task of buying lots of decorations for our house !!!! (Our Christmas tree looks really cool !!)
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Grrrrrr...
Well, to my shame, I missed a day yesterday i.e. I didn't post. I was just exhausted, as I'd been up fairly late doing lots of reading I had to do for this morning (3 long research papers full of structural information!) and so couldn't face blogging after I finished.
This post isn't going to be very exciting either really...but just thought I should let you all know I'm still alive, despite having not been posting :-)
I've had a very very very frustrating morning (hence title) - see post on monday about protein gels. I'll spare you the technical details, since a good many of those who'll be reading this are non-scientists, but suffice to say that either the gels wouldn't set, or they leaked too much, or they didn't leak enough, so I'm not going to now be able to do all I needed to today. Grrrr. Protein gels don't like me for some reason !!! Well, at least I actually understood the lecture this morning for once ! (Obviously the reading last night paid off.) Right. I'm off to have some lunch before I'm due back in the lab. I may post again later, depending whether or not I have anything vaguely interesting to say. Hope you're all having ok days. xx
This post isn't going to be very exciting either really...but just thought I should let you all know I'm still alive, despite having not been posting :-)
I've had a very very very frustrating morning (hence title) - see post on monday about protein gels. I'll spare you the technical details, since a good many of those who'll be reading this are non-scientists, but suffice to say that either the gels wouldn't set, or they leaked too much, or they didn't leak enough, so I'm not going to now be able to do all I needed to today. Grrrr. Protein gels don't like me for some reason !!! Well, at least I actually understood the lecture this morning for once ! (Obviously the reading last night paid off.) Right. I'm off to have some lunch before I'm due back in the lab. I may post again later, depending whether or not I have anything vaguely interesting to say. Hope you're all having ok days. xx
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