Nodrog's Gruntlings

Week 3: second opinion

2010-11-29T11:15:00.005Z

Well I stepped on the scales and my heart sank - it looked like I had regained those 2 pounds!

Still, I comforted myself with the fact that I had been successfully elected as a parish minister yesterday!

Then I realised I hadn't visited the bathroom and also hadn't accounted for the weight of a vest and tshirt (well it is cold today).

Voila - 15 stone 1. At least I'm at 'evens' for the week - and given the week it has been, with preparation and nervousness about Sunday, I reckon that's not bad.

However, getting to 15 stone by the end of November was the target. I'll have a weigh-in on Wednesday morning to see but 'I hae ma doots'!

Maybe it was too many cakes yesterday!

Week 2

2010-11-22T23:01:00.004Z

15 stone 1 - hurrah!

It looks like I've lost 2 pounds of weight. I'm not entirely sure how accurate our scales are (though i do use them on a hard floor) and it depends if I shift my weight on my feet, but it certainly looks like I've lost something.

It may be down to the fact that I've had a cold bug this last week that has affected my stomach (though normally I eat more and exercise less when I'm ill!) but I'll take whatever comes.

Next time we buy cereal I'm going to go for Sultana Bran too, and I'm also planning on getting in dried apricots as snack food.

Target is still to get to or below 15 stone by the end of November. I'll probably be feeling stressed this week due to my big gig on Sunday so that may either hinder or help - due to greater input but maybe greater output too!

I've also got my second set of Pause for Thoughts on local radio to record for next week, and a number of other things to polish off.

Busy as ever.

Attempting to lose weight

2010-11-18T12:19:00.006Z

I achieved a relatively significant birthday this month. Not one with a zero at the end, but suffice to say I am one-third of the way towards being 105. (Somehow that sounds better than being half-way to 70).

This fact, along with reading John & Deirdre's blog caused me in a fit of enthusiasm (again) to decide to lose weight.

Step 1: What weight was I on that fateful day? (Helpfully it was a Monday morning, and I had not had breakfast).

15 stone 3. 15 STONE 3!!!!! Argh! I know in the grand scheme of things this may not be too terrible but it's possibly the heaviest that I've known I've been (allowing for the fact that I haven't weighed myself often in recent years). I'd just about accustomed myself to the idea that for the last few years I was hovering around about 14.5 stone, maybe a bit more.

In fact in my 'Learning and Serving Covenant' (a kind of Personal & Professional Development plan for ministers in training) I have had the goal 'Improve Fitness' sitting in the 'Personal' section for the last 2 or 3 years. Largely undisturbed, it has to be said. And as a goal it is neither Specific, Measurable, nor Timebound. As for being Achievable or Realistic... well that remains to be seen.
My supervisor this year has constantly joked and joshed with me about 'outcome number 3', often as I have taken a (second) biscuit. And biscuits are certainly one of my many areas of weakness. I could hoover through a packet in an evening given half a chance. (Though not too often, hopefully - but still it's not unusual for my better half to not have realised a packet had been open only to find that it is fairly well down). On top of that my regular consumption of chocolate, and lately a return to eating crisps and coke (other fizzy black drinks are available) are not good signs, especially having watched this week's Panorama in which John and Deirdre feature. I wish them well, and hope that they can soon rename their blog 'two tenths of a ton couple' or whatever figure relates to their target weights! (Yes I realise it's not a very snappy title...)

So, I thought to myself, I know I don't always have great willpower, and I don't like the idea of paying to join a club to lose weight. How about blogging for accountability. (Leaving aside the obvious that I haven't blogged here for over a year and am unlikely to have any readers at the moment). It's taken me 10 days just to get round to this initial blog post.... not a good sign.

So, I further thought to myself, don't try and make any radical changes straight away, just try to be a bit more sensible. And perhaps I was, maybe not eating as much junk as I might have done. Unfortunately I then went to a lunch/afternoon party my mum threw and ate masses. So much so that I felt ill and indigested, having to wait a bit before feeling able to drive home, and only really feeling better by not eating any tea, and waiting until the next day. Not a particularly good start.

I then failed to remember to weigh myself before the following Monday breakfast. However I did manage to on Tuesday morning and stepped with trepidation on to the scales...

15 stone 3! That's right, I had managed not to put on any weight despite my Saturday binge! I felt a bit pants at the time but with a couple of days retrospect I can claim that as a WIN! It doesn't get me towards my initial target of 15 stone 0 by the end of the month, but I think that is still reasonable and achievable - if only I can resist the idea that the best way to diet is to finish off all the bad foods in the house first.

Wish me luck or pray for me as you feel able...

More blogging?

2009-10-01T21:43:00.004+01:00

I'm thinking of returning to blogging. In fact, since I am writing this post, I guess I have returned but it could easily be a one-off (again!). My thoughts are that I could start a new blog with a theme of 'worship stuff'. Yes, I know there are tons more out there on that theme. No, I probably won't be posting world-class material that will outshine everyone else. I probably won't even be very adventurous or 'alt-worship'-y.

But somehow it seems like putting worship materials (sermons, prayers, meditations etc) out here is a safe(ish) thing to do. By that, I mean that one of my reasons for stopping/pausing blogging almost a year ago was the concern that as a minister, you have to be very careful about just what you write and publish (with deep and grateful thanks to those who gave helpful insight to that discussion and thought process!) And if that applied in 'placement-land', it certainly goes double for probation.

But worship is public material anyway. I will either have delivered it or be going to deliver it in some sort of public setting. And feedback on the content (albeit text descriptions cannot do justice to something that may look very different when delivered) would be useful, to hone, prune and generally sharpen up my act!

So the new blog can be found at:
http://nodrogsworship.blogspot.com
but it's only just started so check back for updates!

It's that Archbishop again

2008-10-30T01:01:00.004Z

Dr Rowan Williams (Archbishop of Canterbury) was involved in a public discussion with Prof Mona Siddiqui at Glasgow University today (well, yesterday if you're being picky).

Watching it on webcast on a machine with insufficient memory that kept stopping to buffer, and watching it over the tea table was perhaps not the best way to experience it, but among many interesting points was one particular comment.

Regarding the Humanist Society's Bus Campaign, Dr Williams commented on the use of the word 'probably' in their slogan as being a typically English approach (or words to that effect - I don't have a transcript!).

Or a Welsh one, your Grace?

PS My blogging, never as regular or dependable as even a (bendy) bus, may become even more sparse for the next while, as I try and get to grips with this year's academic and other work, and perhaps even re-think what my purpose, motivation and approach to blogging is or should be. So in the meantime, thanks for reading, now go and do something less boring instead.

In memoriam

2008-09-30T22:04:00.004+01:00

I heard this morning that Ted passed away last night around midnight.

I don't know what to say.

I'm shocked but not surprised. The shock still comes from the suddenness of the onset of his cancer - about six weeks since diagnosis, I think. And if it affects me (and others connected with ICC) how much more so will it affect his family? The 'not surprised' part comes because I was hearing/reading updates over the last few days that simply made me think - this can't go on, this has to end one way or another quite soon - whether by miraculous healing, or by death.

Yet as Ted said himself in the messages (see previous post) - why, what's so bad about what happens next? (He, like me, is a Christian and in particular a believer in a heaven where there will be no more tears or pain) It's a 'no-brainer'! The hard part, as he acknowledged, is for those left behind.

Ted's family, a couple of months ago, had they even thought about this, would have had reasonable expectation of having him around for another 20-30 years. Now what? His children are adults, yet I know that had I lost my dad when I was 20 rather than 28, I would have missed out on a whole lot. A developing relationship between two adults, not between a child and an adult. Even now, I miss my dad, regret not being able to talk about my training and progress (though he wasn't a churchgoer), regret him not knowing his grandsons - our son and our nephew, though he did know our niece. I regret him not having a reasonably active and healthy retirement, or the fact that he had to retire just as he felt 'on top of his game', workwise.

And yet... we could have lost him when I was 8. Or 9. Or various times in my teenage years. At least we had 'bonus time'. Anyway, this wasn't supposed to be about my dad.

I urge you again, please pray (if you do) for Ted's wife and children, and the wider family.

And remember ICC, too. A whole new intake of first years may only have met Ted on an open day, or just heard the second of the two messages below, yet many more continuing students, graduates, and of course the college staff past and present will also miss Ted, as a person, and also for the key role he played in the operation of the college. Of course there are others who play key roles too, of course the institution is bigger than any one person, but nonetheless this will leave a big hole that will never be filled in quite the same way. Adjustments will need to be made, and will not necessarily be easy.

Ted was someone I first knew through my wife getting the job as afternoon receptionist, right at the beginning of ICC (formed from the merger of two previous colleges). Then I came to chat to him when I was considering coming to the college. Then, of course, I took O101, the famous 1st year Old Testament course, with 'Ted's Tests' (interestingly he told me they weren't his idea - he inherited them from a previous lecturer!). Obsessed with what a guest lecturer once called 'the fruitless pursuit of perfection', I did manage to achieve high scores, even with the 'word on the street' that Ted was very particular about the answers. Yay for my good memory. But boy did it make us read the set texts, since we knew we would have a test every other week for a whole term!

He was simply always there, doing probably far more than I knew about for the college - certainly in the process of seeking accreditation to train Church of Scotland ministers, in gaining validation by the University of Aberdeen, and in so many other things. Once he even took a Greek class for us, self-deprecatingly suggesting that he was the fourth or fifth down the list to stand-in (I can't remember now why the NT staff were all unavailable).

He was interested in everything, sat with students at lunches, played TT like nobody's business... what a guy. Maybe I should have said all this last week, and passed it on via his daughter. But anyway, it needed said, so here it is. Probably not the last or the most complete word, but an honest word from a former student.

Dr Ted Herbert

2008-09-27T23:14:00.003+01:00

An inspirational man from an inspirational college, ICC - ok so I'm biased, I studied there and I still work there. But check out these testimonies from him - in advanced stages of cancer.

First, in person to a prayer meeting at his church.

The second covers similar ground to the first, but directed to students of the college. It was done as a recording, less than a week later.

If you pray, please pray for him and his family and the wide circle of friends, acquaintances, colleagues and students who are affected by this. Healing, relief from nausea, I don't know what else to pray but please do.

If you don't (or if you do) - I hope it inspires and moves you as much as it does me.

What is Anglicanism?

2008-07-23T23:32:00.005+01:00

A short but hopefully provocative post for my return to blogging.

Having been reading all about the Glasgow East by-election, I happened across the BBC's Lambeth Diary (don't ask me how...) and came across a wonderful quote from the ABofC, Dr Rowan Williams. In the context of whether worldwide Anglicanism forgave the US bishops for ordaining an openly gay bishop (Gene Robinson) "50% of the provinces (individual autonomous national Anglican Churches) or a bit more said that's probably all right" [my emphasis]

Probably all right. Ish. A bit. We think. Well most of us. Some at least.

I don't know whether to laugh or groan, if only because I see this kind of thing closer to home too. I am not an Anglican, but I am married to one (albeit she currently has her 'lines' in the CofS) and so I am (hopefully) not criticising another denomination. What I do hope to do is say, why can large organisations not be a bit more definitive in what they think? Is it the very fact that they're large? I include the CofS in that definition though it's obviously a lot smaller than the Church of England. Regularly complaints are heard in Scotland (and were particularly before the death of Cardinal Winning) that the Catholic view and voice is always heard in the media but rarely that of the Church of Scotland. Usually because there can easily be found two (or more) opposing views among ministers, even in the same Presbytery (or town?). In extreme cases, opposing views from the same minister?

Is this the price we pay for Presbyterianism, for government by the many (or by committee)?

If so, how does this square with Anglicanism, which is instead, somewhat like the Catholic Church, hierarchical, top-down, bishop-led, but crucially (!) has no 'Pope-figure', instead deciding things in Conferences and Synods - again, government by the many?

How can we hope to gain converts, members, disciples or even just fellow-travellers if we hold a vast range of disparate views on (what for some are) vital topics, and seem not to stand for anything in particular, but sometimes fall (in different directions) for anything?

Answers on a postcard please, or comment if you prefer.

Which "Princess Bride" character are you?

2007-09-02T01:41:00.000+01:00

Vaguely continuing a theme (well, the film The Princess Bride does feature a pirate), here's something I came across on Facebook where I seem to be spending inordinate amounts of time at the moment.

Which Princess Bride Character are You?
this quiz was made by mysti

What this says about me is a little worrying? I'd probably have preferred something like the Impressive Clergyman, or maybe the Albino. Even Miracle Max's wife! Oh well. In other news, my Myers-Briggs personality type has either changed (not possible according to theory) or my preferences have become differently expressed, or summat. I was an ESTP according to an assessment a couple of years ago, now I'm an ENTP. Can we blame fatherhood for a move from details to big picture? Or the sense of a purposeful future for move to vision from immediate senses? Answers on a comment, please (and if you don't know Myers-Briggs/MBTI, let me know).

PS be patient - more serious posts on sins, ministry and maybe a few other things will pop up at some stage.

Talk like a Pirate

2007-08-16T00:17:00.000+01:00

This just came to mind now, so I thought I'd post a 'heads-up'

International Talk Like a Pirate Day 2007 - Sep 19.

talklikeapirate.com

[PS blame the gap since last post on holidays, and discovering Bebo & Facebook]

Great Quote

2007-07-19T01:30:00.001+01:00

PS Saw this on the side of a lorry on the M77 this morning! It was attributed but I can't remember the name.

Discovery consists of seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what nobody else has thought.

I may have got the odd word wrong but that was the gist of it. Fantastic eh? On a lorry, too.

G'night.

Seven Deadly Sins - Overview

2007-07-19T00:45:00.000+01:00

So finally I begin my long-promised (but probably not long-awaited) series on the Seven Deadly Sins, readily acknowledging Wikipedia for factual and historical stuff (assuming that the Wikipedia article in question is both factual and historical!)

Long-time readers of this blog have probably given up and gone home long ago, but if they have survived, they might remember I mentioned sin and sins in January. This was because during the ICC Weekend Away, one of the issues that came up (at least in my head) was about sin. I was becoming a bit more aware of certain areas where I fail and fall. Now I know sin is not a popular notion in our (Westernised) culture at this point in time, it's all to do with postmodernism and the lack of absolute values and all that (so they tell me) but what is worse is that many Christians and Churchians don't talk about it much either. Don't worry, I'm not going to turn into a fire and brimstone preacher, but sometimes it might do us well to consider sin - what it is, what it does, and what we should do about it - without focusing so much on it that we lose focus on God, Christ, life, loved ones and all the important stuff. Of course 'what it is, what it does, what to do' would be a series if not a dissertation in itself, but suffice to say for now that my working definition includes: something that separates me from God, something that is unacceptable behaviour, not up to standard, and that has an impact on me and those around me. Further general thoughts on sin will hopefully become clear as I think about each of the seven.

And because there were several areas that I noticed coming up, some of which might possibly overlap with the so-called Deadly Sins, I thought they would be handy pegs on which to hang some confession and reflection.

So here's the list, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Lust

Gluttony

Greed

Sloth

Wrath

Envy

Pride

Just for the record, I haven't seen the Morgan Freeman/Brad Pitt film Se7en, and don't particularly intend to.

I hope to reflect on and explore what the terms mean and meant, and what they mean to me (hey, now that is postmodern...)

So just to get it right, we probably shouldn't refer to Seven Deadly Sins but Mortal or Cardinal ones - the distinction being made by (primarily) the Roman Catholic Church between these (which could lead to eternal damnation and had to be resolved either by confession or perfect contrition) and venial sins, which were less serious and could be forgiven through any sacrament of the church (incidentally the RC church also has seven sacraments - as opposed to the Church of Scotland's two - but I don't think there are direct parallels with the sins. Might be an interesting study though...)

I had hoped to do a quick intro and one of the actual posts tonight but due to a few hyperlinks and my usual obsessive-completist tendencies, this will have to do for now. Oh yes, and don't hold your breath for the series to come out regularly or even quickly. I have a two-week holiday coming up!

Graduation and other oddities

2007-07-09T23:43:00.000+01:00

So I graduated (again) on Saturday (07/07/07 - won't forget that date in a hurry!)
I am now David G Slater, B.Sc., B.A. (Theol.)
For those who are interested, my B.A. Theol is with majors in New Testament with Greek, and Practical Theology. I worked hard to ensure that my module choices gave me a double major or alternatively the option to choose one of two majors in my potential Honours year that I'm not now doing, including taking 30 credits more than I needed over my three years, and now they (my majors) gets very little mention. So much for Pride...
I am also trying to sort out going to Glasgow University, where I will (hopefully) get some more alphabet extracts to drag around my formal correspondance.

This is because the Kirk have accepted me as a Prospective Candidate in Training for the Ministry of Word and Sacrament, and the Presbytery of Irvine and Kilmarnock have nominated me as a full Candidate so assuming that I do all the relevant studying, attend the Candidates' Conferences, have three successful Student Placements and a fourth Probationer's Placement sustained, complete Church Law and Bible Knowledge Portfolios and probably get examined on walking with my left leg behind my right ear, I will nearly be a Church of Scotland Minister (assuming that one of the umpteen vacant charges is in agreement with myself and Cath that we are called to be their minister and minister's wife and they are called to be our charge).

But in spite of all the ifs and ands, it's been a big milestone that I have temporarily lost sight of through finishing my term, and indeed my time at ICC (you can tell I lost sight of it by the fact that it's almost 2 months after acceptance that I'm blogging it!). Before I was simply studying Theology in faith that God had called me to ministry. Now I have some sort of 'Status' in that representatives of the ?biggest denomination in Scotland (at least the biggest Protestant one, surely?) have confirmed that calling and I am 'in until I'm out' rather than being 'out until I'm in'.

This probably doesn't make a lot of sense, and isn't what I was going to post on in detail when I started. But bed is beckoning so the other oddities will have to wait. Still, at least I'm back blogging - it may not be regular or daily but I am still here. Anyone reading this who hasn't yet fallen asleep, please post to say hi.

Incidentally, I haven't come to any great conclusions about our new PM except to agree with Nick Robinson's description of him as 'Not Blair'. Which, let's face it, is a good start...

Resource for 'Housedads'

2007-03-07T16:30:00.000Z

I'm not actually a housedad, but do manage to spend more time at home than I would if I was on a 9-5, at least I have recently. So for all those dads out there, house- or not, I recommend DadsDinner.com. I haven't read it all yet, but I find it funny. [The management of Nodrog's Gruntlings accepts no responsibility for anyone who does not agree with me.] I particularly recommend 'Dear Dave' - no relation (I think. Much. Well as I said above I'm not a housedad. Look, just read it and laugh, ok? Or smile grimly if that's all you can manage - but remember that just looking after the wean for an hour on a Saturday afternoon may seem hard when you're going through it, but it's bound to get easier if you're doing it 24/7, right? Hmm...)

Survival or 'Thrival'?

2007-03-07T16:17:00.000Z

Can't believe it's been over a month! This term was supposed to be an easier one... but I find that having more time allows more time for procrastination and plain time-wasting, as well as work expanding to fill the available (space-)time. Then of course I have tried to prioritise my family (still getting used to thinking of my wife and son under that heading instead of my mum and sisters!) - not always successfully - and there was a cold in there somewhere as well (or a series of 2 or 3 of them for spouse & sprog :-( )

Anyway, in the midst of 'end-of-term' stuff - despite lack of decent preparation, did quite well in my final Hebrew test of term, and think I've done an ok exam paper (2 hours) for Greek Text: Philippians. Now I just have to write a few thousand words about some children's songs, mostly before Friday, and I'll be fine!

But I've just been wondering - am I surviving this week (which also included a 'Personal Development Interview' as part of my C of S Ministry application) or thriving on it. I feel like I've 'survived' the two language modules rather than thrived (thriven?) as perhaps I did last term (at least in Greek - or that's how my revisionist memory records it...) but at the same time, I've been trying to depend utterly on God. I'm a long way off yet, but feel it ties in with Brother Lawrence's 'Practising the Presence of God', and have made some progress in small ways. What I wonder is, has this intention to depend on God, led to an actual 'thrival' in terms of my studies? I certainly seem to be a bit better at not being anxious in these last few weeks.

The proof of the pudding will probably be if I get this independent study work completed reasonably well. I also recently decided that perhaps I should embrace the fact that I work in what my placement supervisor calls an 'exponential' fashion - the graph of work against time shoots up as the deadline approaches! As long as I time things right, there isn't a problem!

BBC Anti-Progress?

2007-02-02T00:57:00.000Z

OK so my post title is a bit exaggerated. I bookmarked this story a while ago but forgot to blog it until now. Still thought it was worth highlighting - it's so unusual to see anyone in mainstream media (he said, blatantly generalising) questioning the forward march of progress and especially technology - it's usually 'which gadget' not 'should we have gadgets' (I speak as a gadget fan myself...) Scroll down for some of the BBC readers' comments too - also refreshing (in some cases)>

This is part of my theory (not unique or even original, probably) that we are not postmodern entirely by a long chalk, yet - in the realms of science/technology, we are still modernist, seeking salvation from global warming, etc., by 'scientists' or by new technologies like energy-saving bulbs. (I got one. It went dud, for a while. I tried it again later, it worked, then died shortly afterwards. I know I can't base my decisions on one bulb, but it has decreased my inclination to try this method of saving the planet, at present.) TV adverts still sell on the basis of 'clinically shown to...' or just a picture of someone in a white lab-coat... I mean, what is going on? Is the appearance of authority all that's really needed? Just a stern voice ('Big Brother says come to the diary room') and we all follow because it's easier than thinking ourselves? (The oft-cited 'electric shock' experiment would be relevant here if I had a source).

Anyway, just thought I'd raise the point. Is progress always good?

Apologies

2007-02-02T00:39:00.000Z

I don't know about you, but I'm kind of stuck in a Churchian(*) habit of saying sorry for anything, regardless of whether it's big or small, my fault or not, deliberate or accidental. Part of it may be British/Scottish cultural influence, especially when you apologise to someone who bumps into you! Anyway, check out this SmuloSpace blog entry about apologies.

It blows me away.

How can we as a church/faith and as (individual) faith communities get back to this kind of corporate movement, that will lead to a physical action/change in the world? As our college principal mentioned today, you may not be able to change the world, but you can change someone's world.

(*) I reckon a Churchian is someone who is an adherent of Churchianity, that well known parody of Christianity (**)

(**) Whether we should even refer to Christianity or use something like 'I am a Christ-follower' (or 'I try to be a Christ-follower') is a debate for another time, possibly.

New World Order

2007-01-22T23:14:00.000Z

Am I the only one who finds reports of Gordon Brown's 'new world order' slightly sinister? See the BBC report and Nick Robinson's blog entry. I don't have a fully developed eschatology, as such, and take the scenarios portrayed by the Left Behind series and similar with a large pinch of salt, but it begins to make you wonder... how will things all end (if you're premillenial posttribulationist... if you're a pre-trib and a Christian then perhaps it's not quite so relevant!). I can't quite visualise Gordon Brown as the antichrist, but you never know...

Lurkers, Memes and 10 things I'll never do

2007-01-18T14:13:00.000Z

It seems that last week was 'De-lurking Week', or so a few bloggers have claimed (well, Brodie and John at least).

As I'm a generous soul (possibly - watch this space for the Deadly Sin post...), lurkers have extra time on this blog to post a comment and 'de-lurk'. I confess, blogger though I am, I lurk a lot - usually feeling pressed for time to write reasoned and thoughtful comments (or ones that are humourous enough) but here and now (probably until the end of January, if you like) there are no limits, just give me your name (assumed or real, your choice), and something about yourself if you want - location, blog, whatever. I note we've recently had a Hawaiian visitor so if you pop back, 'Aloha' and make yourself at home.

I'm still relatively new to the blogosphere, and learning my blogiquette, but I get the feeling that I have been very bad. Nick over at Learning to Walk tagged me with what I understand is called a Meme (do I sound like an oldster or what?) over a month ago, and I haven't yet responded. This particular meme is '10 things I'll never do'. My first response was that it was a waste of time/space and too much like these email chain letters you get, but given that my whole blog might fall under the first category, that's no excuse, and the second, well nothing's actually being sent so it's not using up bandwidth everywhere it goes, and furthermore no-one is telling you that terrible things will happen if you don't respond... so here goes (in no particular order):

1) Stop being a nit-picker
2) Use the word 'never' without questioning whether there might be any exceptions
3) Stop reading books, novels, magazines, cereal packets...
4) Stop loving my wife
5) Stop loving my son
6) Stop loving & following Jesus (imperfectly, in this phase of life)
7) Be entirely organised
8) Be a morning person
9) Stop enjoying science fiction
10) Be able to come up with 10 other bloggers who haven't already been tagged

In light of number 10, I may restrict my taggees to 5 (as the above-mentioned John has done here) but beyond that, if you're a lurker or other visitor, why not consider yourself tagged and either post your 10 things in a comment, or leave a comment to link back to your blog.

In the meantime I tag:

1) The Magic Porridge Pot who hasn't blogged for a while...
2) Brash by name... likewise may be offline or just lurking?
3) Looking for my Fig Tree - why is it all my blog-tacts have (temporarily?) stopped blogging? Was it something I posted?
4) New eyes - highly recommended blog of life in Rwanda
5) TJ's miscellaneous thoughts - a blog that I found highlighted on Blogger's front page (as with 4) and am starting to read and even interact with - it's good to expand your own blog-horizons!

Weekend Away

2007-01-14T22:16:00.000Z

Ma heid's burstin', as you might say. The three of us are not long back from Lendrick Muir, where the ICC weekend away was held.

I have lots of stuff I want to blog about - and might actually get to before it drifts out of my mind like sand in your hands.

Things like - family life and the changes that marriage and children bring, ministry in the future, attitudes to money, modernism and postmodernism, journeying spiritually, visiting Africa, holidaying with a small person, authenticity in faith and life, new ways of being/doing 'church', looking for right answers vs asking the right questions, venturing out of my almost exclusively Christian enclave, sin - including some of the famous 7.

There are more topics there than I expected, and others might come up as/if I blog more!

Overall, though, it has been a weekend that has excited me. I haven't felt quite like this possibly since first year, and my encounter with lots of different ideas and topics around theology. Thinking about it, some of my module choices have avoided the subjects likely to bring new ideas into my head and have instead been about techniques (sermon preparation, music) or factual learning (history, languages) - though I recognise that even in these subjects, there are opportunities for mental expansion if you look. One thing's for sure - I am reconfirmed in my desire to get the most out of ICC, particularly if this is my second last term here.

However, 'getting the most' should not be (or not just be) taking as many modules as I can and racking up (or attempting to!) the good grades - which has often been my approach till now. I need to be seeking to find and think the 'big ideas' and new ideas, and integrate them into my practice - not just to get better at a technically good sermon that includes clever references and Greek/Hebrew words, or improving my listening skills for pastoral care. The stuff I need to do could lead me broadly in the same direction as our two weekend speakers: Brodie from Queen's Park Baptist and Stuart from Mosaic, both of whom are ICC graduates who are now in church leadership positions (see also Santa Fe Trail on the sidebar under 'ICC related blogs').

It's a scary thought - I could be a church leader, part of a church leadership team. Of course, I've been on course for that (as far as I'm aware) for nearly 5 years - but really (hopefully) a lifetime/since the world began (depending on your theological flavour of predestination) from God's perspective - but as this weekend's journeying theme has highlighted, it's one thing to be on the road to somewhere, and another to actually arrive. Not least because 'arrival' is probably a bit of an illusion until we reach the heavenly city, and is rather the start of the next stage of the journey...

So it's been a weekend away from ICC, away from routine (though we hadn't really got back into one from Christmas/New Year), and away from studying (oh, Hebrew homework for tomorrow...) but in a sense, it's been a weekend back - back to God, back to the journey instead of the apparently attractive side routes, back to a way of doing holiday with family that suits all of us (in comparison to our trip to Carberry last year - more on that story later!), back to what it is all about - integrating the gospel in our lives and presenting that gospel through our lives.

Skype and stuff

2007-01-08T19:51:00.000Z

Forgive me father for I have sinned... it has been some weeks since my last blog entry. But so much has gone on - we've covered probably 1000 miles, done the whole family/Christmas bit, put in lots of work tiling this bathroom (the completion date: possibly before the new Wembley) and even done some filing. There's still a war on paper in our house but I feel we've won a couple of skirmishes anyway. Now we're into the new term, I have Greek and Hebrew to keep up with, a possible new language to learn in a Bible Translation course and/or an independent study course to decide on relating to worship/music/childrens' ministry, and of course my placement which will now include further reading, preaching (next time is in less than two weeks), individual and organisational visits... Not forgetting being a husband and father.

So why on earth did I spend most of yesterday downloading and getting started with Skype? OK so it's really cool, easy to use and basically free. Ok so now at least one of Peter's aunties can see him on screen (although not last night because he was asleep by the time I got the video working!). Ok so I had a great (free) chat with a cousin in Norway! And ok, so the search facility in the 'phone directory' is really quite good. But apart from all that, what have the Romans ever done for us? Seriously, it did use up time better spent doing Hebrew (although I got it done on the train) - and seriously, I do like it as a piece of software. I still have to work on this arcane skill called time management...

Calm after the storm

2006-12-11T13:30:00.000Z

I am just about recovering from an intensive week. It was my own fault entirely, of course, but as usual I left all my work to the last minute, revising in double-quick time for Christology (Wednesday) and Greek (Friday) exams as well as trying to write a coherent New Testament exegesis on Romans 8:1-17 in time for 4pm Friday. And there's not any room for manouevre on that deadline (except once when I was *very* blessed/fortunate to survive handing in at 4.05pm... but that's another story). As it happened I actually handed in about 3.35pm - an odd experience!

I can only attribute my managing to actually write stuff for the full time of the exams and to the amount of words required in the exegesis to:

THE GRACE OF GOD

and within that comes

The support of my wife
The prayers of my wife, my family and friends. Special mentions to Nick, Sarah and doubtless many others at my churches (home and placement) who are faithful prayer warriors.

Note that I am writing this before getting my results (tomorrow) so who knows how I'll feel then! :)

Sleep was something I ran very short of, so have caught up a bit this weekend. I am struggling to find things to do (well, not really - there's loads of stuff I haven't done around the house because of studying that I should have been doing over the last few weeks) and it just feels a bit strange. Still, more time to spend with the boy (will be 10 months old this Sunday!!!!) and with Cath, who has had stress from several directions recently.

One of my time-wasting activities is the BBC News website, especially the Magazine. While staying up late to write some exegetical words on Thursday night/Friday morning, I watched the Shuttle not launching (then promptly missed the actual launch two nights later through catching up on my sleep!) and submitted a sarky letter to the Magazine letters page - it got published! Of course, the news item that it links to was being updated through the night and therefore the quote in my letter no longer exists in the article to be laughed at, so either people will think that I'm very odd (likely in any case) or I can take credit for improvements in the prose of some journalist. As if to compensate, they added a 'deliberate mistake' in the punctuation of my letter so that it doesn't make complete sense (transposed a space and a quotation mark) but I can live with that.

It made me wonder how often I've actually got published on the BBC - back in the day when I spent hours (lunch hours of course) on the internet when I was working for a living, I used to submit to the site quite a lot. The BBC search facility is not always up to scratch, but I found quite a few references against "Dave Slater" and "David Slater" that were definitely me, a few that may not have been, and some that surely were not. It's quite disturbing to read a news item about someone with your name who was murdered.

What a depressing thought to end on. I'm actually quite chirpy at the moment. Three weeks of holiday ahead does that for a person!

Testing, testing

2006-11-24T00:22:00.000Z

I usually avoid tests and quizzes, ever since an unpleasant experience with a so-called "Purity Test" during my first taste of higher eduction. But browsing this former ICCer's blog, I found a 'What's your theological worldview?' quiz which sounded intriguing.

My results:

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavily by John Wesley and the Methodists.

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan

75%

Emergent/Postmodern

68%

Neo orthodox

64%

Charismatic/Pentecostal

46%

Fundamentalist

46%

Roman Catholic

43%

Reformed Evangelical

36%

Classical Liberal

32%

Modern Liberal

29%

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

I know that the test results are only as good as the quality of the questions set and the accuracy of my answers, but this took me a little by surprise. My father-in-law (a Methodist Lay Preacher) would probably approve, but I know of late I have tended to describe myself, slightly ironically, as a wishy-washy liberal – if only because ICC has shaken up so much of my theological thinking (especially the bits I hadn't thought much about before). Once an evangelical, always an evangelical? I've barely ever been in a Methodist church or chapel, could probably count the occasions on the fingers of one hand. I'm surprised to see Reformed Evangelical so far down the list, except that I still don't know if I'm Calvinist or not (but God does! *grin*). Once I would have been relieved to see that the 'Liberal' ones were the lowest scores, but now, I'm not so sure. Catholic above Reformed Evangelical? And what on earth is neo-orthodox? Or Emergent/Postmodern? I don't like the idea of being even 46% 'Fundamentalist', whatever that may mean (it's certainly not what it meant in the 1930s, as I understand the story) Anyway, I suppose it's something to ponder...

WMD

2006-11-16T23:25:00.000Z

I was just browsing BBC News website, as I tend to do (quite a lot in fact) and came across a blog post about the launch of Al Jazeera English, (AJE), a new international news channel. This in itself is interesting (if we ever reconnect our Sky box I might tune in to see it, if it's free-to-air), but it was a comment that a reader posted that grabbed my attention.

Peter in comment #35 suggests that the BBC stood up to the UK govt over the WMD issue and turned out to be right. Since when? The Iraq Survey Group found the remains of dozens of chemical weapons, as predicted by the pre-war intelligence, and said so in their report (Vol 3, Annex F). The BBC, and pretty much everyone else as well, still refuses to report this, due to a misunderstanding over terminology. The net result is that many people are convinced that NOTHING at all was found in Iraq and that the pre-war intelligence was totally false. This naturally leads some people, including the 7/7 bombers, into various conspiracies - that the intelligence was cooked and that there was another motive for the war - which need to be resisted.
One wonders whether the 7/7 bombings would have gone ahead if the BBC and other media had reported accurately on the findings of the ISG (and on the 9/11 commission - which only ruled out one particular link between Saddam and OBL not all links).

Now this is just someone's opinion, they could post anything (and believe me, on the BBC site many people do...) but is this true? I don't have time just now to go looking for web versions of the ISG report or the 9/11 commission... so I am at the mercy of media reporting, accurate or otherwise, but does this sound familiar to anyone else? Is this accurate, did anyone hear it? (Even if true, I still tend to think that the sooner Blair and Bush are out of office, the better, but that's partly down to my conviction that no one person or party should be in power too long. Maybe because I grew up during the Thatcher era!)

Stock clichés like newspapers being the 'first draft' of history, and history being written by the winners (or those with the loudest voices?) spring to mind...

Photo

2006-11-15T17:02:00.000Z

Just getting a photo into my profile, hopefully. Someone told me yesterday I scrubbed up well - you wouldn't know it, would you?

Survival

2006-11-14T00:20:00.000Z

Hello South America! And to all other visitors! Please continue to make yourselves at home!

I survived that week. And then came another one. I had my 31st birthday, a 170/180ish mile drive (and back again 2 days later), a difficult situation, Hebrew homework and another sermon (for Remembrance Sunday!). I survived that one too. Yet, not me (as someone might once have said) but Christ in me.

The blog is a strange creature - on the one hand (to me) it's about journalling, exploring - recording feelings and reactions to events; therefore you record these events, to some degree. On the other hand, it's a public forum - ok so not as many people may read my blog as Nick Robinson's for example, but they could. So I feel discretion is the better part of valour regarding the 'difficult situation' mentioned above.

I really want to write about it, but it's not mine to write about. It has stunned and saddened me, it has made me (as usual) want to try to help fix it, while I recognise that I probably can't, given that I'm not God and not omnicompetent. (Fortunately. One of my lecturers has recently pointed out that much of evangelical prayer consists of apologising for not being God!) I just pray that all parties concerned will indeed survive, that long-term positive(s) will come from the apparently negative, and that I can say and do the right things at the right times (and refrain from the wrong ones) to provide what support I can.

Survival has to do with future as well as past. The second (shorter!) 'half' of term has begun, and with it the majority of the work (at least for a last-minuter like myself. Sensible folk will be well on their way through most of the assignments and exam preparation. I am not.) All I can do is 'Trust in the Lord with all [my] heart, and .. not rely on [my] own understanding [, a]cknowledge him in all [my] ways, and he will make [my] paths straight.' (Proverbs 3: 5-6) Easier said than done.

Struggle

2006-11-03T22:29:00.000Z

OK so now it's been over a month since my last entry. And if I keep mentioning how long it is since my last entry, this will end up sounding like a transcript from a confessional (Forgive me Father...) but as my only image of that is from TV it's probably inaccurate anyway.

I did at least manage to add the funky ClustrMap in the meantime, and surprisingly enough I have had visitors from 2 other continents! My self-deprecating tendency is to say 'surprisingly I've had visitors at all' but I suppose at least a few people want to know what a Gruntling looks like, and perhaps even how to cook one...

I'm struggling just now - with enthusiasm or rather the lack of. Although literally I suppose I believe that I am still en-theos-ed i.e. still 'in God', my get up and go has got up and went. My sister from NZ was really wise tonight on the teflon - she reminded me that just because we aren't getting direction to do something, the fact that God isn't directing us to stop doing it is often all we need.

I'm also struggling because as usual, I'm trying to do too much - in this case, be a husband, a dad, earn a bit of cash, prepare for a presentation on Monday, write an assignment by Monday, prepare a short sermon for Sunday... Not by might, by power, or by my strength, but only through Jesus Christ who strengthens me.

Unchained?

2006-09-26T00:14:00.000+01:00

"And time... goes by... so slowly..."

YEAH RIGHT!

Who wrote that track anyway? I remember getting a copy on vinyl as a ?16th birthday prezzie (along with another record... think it may have been Crowded House, not sure...) - ah, vinyl. A gent of my acquaintance says that his daughter asks him 'what are these black CDs you've got?'!.

Hmm, time for some internet searching I think. Is there a music equivalent to imdb?

*after a bit* I thought I'd found it - Gracenote, but it doesn't seem to list release dates of singles etc, more a track listing service. *dives back into Google*

*later* nor is it Online Music Database. Where am I going wrong? Do I need to find some obsessive Righteous brothers fan's fansite with exhaustive discography?

*later again* I've found All music (ok, so it was the first result on google but how often is the first result the one you want? Or is my usage of search terms not very good?) Evidently the single was (re)released 90/91 although it did seem to be a mainly US site but 91 would tie in with my 16th birthday (an exciting affair with non-alcoholic wine. How cool I thought it. History doesn't record my friends' opinions of the party or the wine but at least I mustered a few people to come...) Now I need to find a list of other chart hits for that period. In the meantime, it turns out that Alex North and Hy Zaret composed, Phil Spector was the guy behind this and most of their other successful songs, and there were so many other people who performed this track that the site kept giving me an error (at least I assume that's why I got an error. Probably something more mundane.)

The trouble is that although this site has a good search facility (as far as I can tell) it will give you US hits not UK ones and I've a feeling that this other single was from a UK band, who may not have been known in the US. Aha, the title has just come to me - "I need a little time" - I think that's the one anyway. OK so they may be Irish rather than UK but I had the right side of the Atlantic... some more searching needed to jog a late-night memory.

*back*
Of course, the Beautiful South! How could I forget... and I was right, they are British. (Readers may be amazed at my lack of knowledge of fairly basic music info, but I can't keep everything in my head at once, you know - and there's a lot about tiling just now, soon to be displaced by theology and New testament Greek, again. I rarely score highly on PopMaster and don't usually bother to count, but I did once get 18 points!) So my blathering about this site not showing UK hits/bands was way off target. It does seem to suggest a 1990 rather than 1991 release, so perhaps it was my 15th birthday...

Of course, these weren't my first singles. Not by a long shot. Well, a long shot if you're using a very short ruler. My first ever single (another gift, I think), bizarrely, was Adam Ant (or was it still Adam and the Ants?) with Plastic Surgery/Deutscher Girls. Memory fails to establish if this was a double-A or which was A and which B but I'm not doing much more music searching just now.

Anyone who reads this, let me know your first single (and indeed your recommended music search site - there must be one that is as good for music as imdb for movies - or else let me know if there's a better site than imdb for movies).

However, the first single I bought was Take On Me by A-ha, and some night when I'm feeling more like embarrassing myself (or embarrassing myself even more) I'll relate a tale of me, a primary school disco and unreturned love (or at least attraction...)

The point of referencing those lyrics at the start of this posting was to say, actually time has gone quite fast since my last posting, I'm blaming it on the boy and on my work, tiling a bathroom. A slightly more experienced friend/tiler came and basically said 'it's a big job - I'd have thought twice before taking it on'... which was a bit of a downer! However he more than offset that by coming to help me with some tricky bits of tiling and even lending me his tile saw!

I think I'll sign off here, I need some sleep before doing more sawing tomorrow and also want to check on my sleeping family.

Toodle-pip!

When is a baptism not a baptism?

2006-08-31T23:57:00.000+01:00

Honestly, you turn around and suddenly half a month's gone by!

To be fair to myself, things have been a bit busy, what with my son's baptism and all.

Does anyone draw a distinction between Baptism (of infants) and Christening? We've preferred to say 'Baptism' (though doubtless some Baptists might object on theological grounds) but the term most familiar to those of our family without church connections is Christening - and probably to those with church connections too! It seems to me to be odd to say 'we are Christ-en-ing this baby' i.e. we are making him like Christ, although that's probably what the doctrine of baptism says, among other things. (That's the trouble with me - I'm a theology student whose worst subject is doctrine. Well, second worst, after History of Christianity. Come to think of it, I'm not much cop on Mission Studies either. I'm a Biblical Studies/Practical Theology guy really.) It seems clearer to say, this is his baptism, and ok there is something to be done later on (confirmation, or as our minister described it, 'plumbing yourself back in' to church/Christ) but this is the event to point at in later life.

Personally I struggled as a teenage Christian to connect with my initial Christian experience and baptism, hence why I went through an adult baptism (in the North Sea!) but I've come back to accept and agree with infant baptism. In order that our son doesn't experience this disconnect, we had the service videoed, and we have many things (like baptism certificate, letter from minister, letter from godmother...) to show him later in life to say "look, this is what happened on a sunny August Sunday". We can only pray that he will grow up in the faith, but if I'm a major influence on that, I feel very inadequate to help him.

Next family event is this weekend, granny's birthday (it seems that later in life you only have big celebrations every 10 years - why should that be, when every year's birthday was an exciting event as a child?) so expect another gap before I post again. Hopefully will be able to do some research/family interviews to fill in genealogical info on our family tree...

...here we are again

2006-08-15T23:46:00.000+01:00

Goodness, a couple of days without posting. My enthusiasm obviously has waned, as predicted. I started with 2 or 3 posts per day, I think - and that was only last week. Although to be fair, one can blog or one can do other things - I've had some time doing other things (including reading other blogs...)

I'm taking a couple of days off work - not because I couldn't use the money, but more that after one's sixth shower having been de- and re-sealed with silicon (and various other bits of maintenance) things can get a little, well, boring is too strong a word but there are certainly few surprises left! Besides, there are lots of useful DIY and maintenance jobs at home that I can deliberately not do, rather than just not do because I'm not here!

To be fair on myself, I did have an argument with a rather prickly hedge out behind our house on Sunday, and while the hedge is now looking a smaller version of its former self, I didn't come off unscathed. Savlon is a wonderful thing!

Monday saw the first meeting of the new session for me - of a church-related nature. When Peter was born, I tried to give up a lot of things but have either been drawn back in or just not said no to some things. Already my diary's looking like it will fill up very quickly between now and Christmas (doubtless afterwards too, but shops don't seem to stock 2007 refills yet), and that's without my new placement, which will start about October, D.V.

This is to be a schizophrenic placement - on the one hand it will stand as my 3rd year ICC placement (two reports on me by my supervisor plus one placement report by me) but on the other it will also serve as my (second) Assessment placement for acceptance as a Candidate for the ministry by the CofS. I'm approaching it with mixed feelings and questions - why should it be necessary; what do I need to do differently this time; I'll enjoy it; I'll not enjoy it; how will I relate to yet another group of new people in a Christian community; what if I don't get through? However, if I am being called to the ministry (something I currently feel the need to be re-convinced about), then this seems to be the right thing to do at present. Watch this space - I have an initial meeting with my supervisor (the minister of the church where I will be placed) towards the end of this month.

Anon?

2006-08-12T23:59:00.000+01:00

I suspect I'm being a little paranoid about anonymity - although there are current concerns about identity theft and identity fraud (once again I've been listening to Radio 2), my overcautiousness is probably excessive. And letting people guess who I am seems really childish!

So if you're interested, my profile has now been updated a little more.

Flea time?

2006-08-12T13:35:00.000+01:00

Ah, the weekend... a time to relax, kick back, enjoy unparalleled family time...

Or, pile down to the vet's before it shuts to buy anti flea treatment for your cat and house, and continually catch things vibrating off the kitchen worksurface because the washing machine is on doing multiple loads. Anyone know if it's easy to attach a washing machine to a floor? Bearing in mind some of the kitchen floorboards are a bit wobbly anyway.

I must stop spending so much time blogging and reading others' blogs!

Nodrog's NaNo

2006-08-12T01:02:00.000+01:00

You can now follow my progress here. Judging by the fact that I blogged over 500 words just in preparation, and have blogged over 3,500 words on Gruntlings since I started the other night, I can at least churn out the words - the difficulty, as before, being willing to press on and write when I just want to go back and polish; or rather to write it right first time.

Novel writing

2006-08-11T23:36:00.000+01:00

I once had a couple of goes (if that even makes sense) at writing a novel.

Actually I've tried more than that. The first attempt I can remember was about 20ish years ago (I can count my life in decades now, how scary is that?) I was quite into 'choose your own adventure books' which those of a similar age may remember were very popular in the ?late 80s or so. You know, do you choose to fight the dragon (turn to page 84) or run away (turn to page 6). Brave brave Sir Robin indeed. Anyway, I don't know if that survives - might be in my mum's loft or even my own loft...

I also had an attempt at a novel, based on a short story written at school that won a prize, I think, around my last year at school. This one was highly derivative sci-fi, and when I realised I was writing something that was a cross between Anne McCaffrey and Star Trek: TNG, I stopped. (Not that either of those are bad - that was the point, I liked them so much, I unconsciously drew heavily on them). Bits of that one survive but I think the most complete version of what I had done - only a chapter or so - suffered some sort of disc problem.

But what I thought was the most promising attempt was my involvement in NaNoWriMo [National Novel Writing Month], a few years ago. I was somewhat unemployed, to start with, and thought that this was a far better use of time than jobseeking (still do to be honest - why can't governments come up with a better solution than the soul-destroying JobCentres?) As I recall, it was an article on a Radio Scotland programme that clued me in on it, the idea being that people plan to write a novel 'one day' but don't, or start but worry about the quality (see above) but that if you join in a group who say they will write 50000 words in a month without thinking about quality (i.e. just do 1700 words a day on average) then you have a deadline (it takes place in November) and once you have something down, I believe there are some who organise a NaNoEdMo in about March. "Winners" are those who achieve 50K words (they verify the word count but don't read it). My first year of participation was fun, but I got a job after about a week and I had already fallen behind on word count so that was a shame. My idea was a good one, I think, but the rules state you must start with a clean slate (although you can plan characters, plot etc beforehand but not come with a half-written manuscript). The second year I did it, I got even less far, just a couple of thousand words if that - again with what I thought was a good idea. These two openings to novels may still survive on a 3.5" floppy or a disused PC hard disk somewhere...

The point is, I obviously want to write a novel. Can I do it? 'If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything' - George McFly, Back to the Future. I'd love to do Nano again this year, having both been away from it for a couple of years, and now knowing that I can write a couple of thousand words in a day if I have to. But it's one thing to do that once, and another to do it for 30 days on the trot. Still, not worrying about quality is a bonus. The biggest downside is that it will be getting close to the end of a busy term, including 'Paul's Gospel and Mission' and 'Christ and the Christian Faith' (Christology) and a placement to do as well. A possible downside would also be not going back to a previous good idea (though I don't think I'll revisit the choose your own adventure...).

Idea - maybe I could do it as a blog - I'm probably writing loads of words per day already, so why not make them a novel. Then people can interact too... Not sure if that would be in the rules but hey, it's pretty flexible anyway.

Right, I'm off to create a new, connected blog, and to try and come up with some character and plot thoughts.

End of week

2006-08-11T23:02:00.000+01:00

Well, I made it - the end of the week. I have been doing a maintenance job, basically doing the same thing in 5 different rooms over the past 2 weeks - 3 rooms this week. One point of view might say "well, you should actually be making a decent job of it by now" (although the last one was a bit of a rush job this afternoon!) while another says "this is beginning to be monotonous". I have one more to do on Monday and then I will have to look for some other work. If anyone is reading this and would like to pay me for some work for a couple or three weeks in the Glasgow area, let me know! I'm a bit of a handyman, can do admin and accounts but would also like doing something interesting (ghost writing speeches sounds fun!).

The mysterious inaccessible blog need no longer be fretted over, as my blog-friend (who was one of the inspirations for Gruntlings) has started a new blog. Check out broth pot as I have every expectation of it being fascinating, thought-provoking and even challenging as it develops (no pressure there then!).

I really must try and post entries in the morning - I've always been more of an evening person but I can't help thinking that underneath there's a lark waiting to sing. (How cheesy does that sound?) Even for me, I probably have more creative thoughts in the morning. However they usually disappear into timewasting for a couple of hours - I don't think I got to work before 11 this week (and I'm paid by the hour so not doing college out of any cash).

Other blogs I have encountered

2006-08-11T01:10:00.000+01:00

I finally tracked down one of the blogs I followed - a time-limited one to do with Edinburgh International Film Festival 2005. Sadly this has not been repeated this year, due, I expect to life circumstances (but then, isn't everything?). I still like his idea of going round every film festival in the world, continuously.

I've also got the address for the other one but it seems to be inaccessible in some way. Again, watch this space.

Bizarrely, I came across a bookmark that I had made some time ago - a fellow student did a wee talky bit about blogs and I obviously looked his up, bookmarked it and then committed it to oblivion. Seems there's a handful of bloggers at my place of study already. I'm thinking that I can't hide behind a blanket of anonymity forever so yes, I am a student at ICC, Glasgow and all my fellow ICCers have to do now is identify me. This could be a fun game - or just a stupid 1am idea that will be revealed for what it is in the cold light of day. This is my second post since claiming I was going to bed.

Slow, slow, quick-quick ?

2006-08-10T22:35:00.000+01:00

Maggi Dawn has an interesting section called 'SLOW'. I haven't dug deeply into it yet, but one comment from the entry 'left unsaid' grabbed my attention. 'You can dash off a bit of writing, of course ... but you can't just dash off something really good' was the general gist. Oddly, my last-minute nature says 'is that really true'? My academic essays are almost invariably started within a few days of the deadline. In first year, shorter ones were started within 24 hours or even on the day they were due (although I had done some reading beforehand) and even longer ones (2.5k) have been done in a day and a half. Now I'm not saying for a moment that this is ideal, far from it, and perhaps I have been writing at a fairly basic level where I don't have to do much critical engagement yet (won't 3rd year be fun) but without blowing my own trumpet, some of these 'written at high speed' essays have come out with good grades - B+, or even A.

I know an essay is not the only form of writing by any means, and I doubt that many people would want to read mine, but I can't help wondering - am I a person where a lot of 'percolation' goes on in my head before the final - and only - draft comes out at top speed? I certainly hate substantially revising essays, even when I have the time to do it, although minor edits are good, and help me to thin out my more oblique and long-winded sentences. (No, I'm not revising these posts - what you see is what comes out at the time of writing. This may change, but I don't want to be like the person or character I read about who put post-it notes in her (I think) diary, to reflect how things should have been. (Apologies that I can't remember the source - if you know it, let me know and I will attribute it)).

However, I can sometimes be reflective rather than rushed, and here's a poem (one of about 6 that I've ever written, as an adult) from a recent holiday:

Carberry 2006

Baking hot stickiness
Moving giant's specs
Chilling time among tents and vans
Rowdy, conversation-filled dining
Wit and wisdom, Spirit and Word
Talking heads enable voices, heard
Creativity and creations
Exploding, colliding
Emerging, seeping
Into fabric of faith, fellowship, fun.

I don't know if it's finished, and is perhaps not liable to mean as much to those who did not share this holiday, but I offer it for any responses going.

Chaos, memory, interactivity, work and Radio 2

2006-08-10T21:19:00.000+01:00

Wow, what a day. Not mine particularly - it's just been a continuation of my summer job (of which more later).
But the news! To think that there could have been 9 or 10 aircraft bombed in flight scarcely bears thinking about. I can remember how I felt on 9/11 when some of the wilder rumours suggested not only aircraft in the US had been hijacked but also several in Europe (although I can't remember the detail of these rumours now). Glad my route home isn't very close to an airport, although traffic was fairly busy.

I've started refreshing my memory on a number of fronts, including basic HTML tags - hence the new 'links' section - and that I had read (and meant to read more of) another blog - Maggi Dawn's, which I have now linked to. Whether I get a chance to get back to it and start interacting with it... but yes, I know that's the point of blogs, despite today's comment from Chris Evans likening at least his blog if not blogs generally to Plato's Symposium, that each post should take things onward rather than dialoguing or turning into a 'tennis match'. All of which sounds intellectual but primarily of course he doesn't have the time to interact with over 100 comments per day (so far - after only 4 blog entries! Still, I don't have a primetime national radio show on which to promote these gruntlings - in fact I've only told my wife about it!)

Thinking about it, Nick Robinson's Newslog operates in a similar fashion (or at least, it did when I used to read it regularly) albeit with the odd nod to interactivity. Perhaps it's more about a 'BBC style' of blogging as opposed to what I assume is the 'proper' or 'true' or 'only' way to really blog - you put on stuff you've read, written, thought, others post responses, you interact with some, all or none and build a community of sorts... Experienced bloggers are welcome to enlighten me on this point (or indeed any point - it will annoy me to be corrected, but not as much as being wrong and not being corrected! As our transatlantic cousins might say, 'Go figure'!)

I find that I have interesting thoughts on which to muse on the blog when I am far from able to post them - e.g. in the car on the way to work this morning, some 10 or 11 hours ago. Haven't a scooby what they were now. Still I was reflecting on the fact that I am 2 years into probably a long period of study and training before I enter my chosen(?) career, yet find myself thinking, if the summer job that I am doing (at the institution where I study) came up as a permanent role, would I apply for it? It would probably be interesting for a bit but I suppose it's really a distraction from using my copious skills (irony alert). And I wouldn't want to see the present incumbent (on sick leave) actually leave the job because he's so good at it and an asset to our little community. But I probably do need to make more of an outlet in my life for doing some sort of work with my hands as well as all the word-shifting that I do. In fact, I wanted (still do) to take up woodcarving, something my dad did a lot of, but haven't yet translated it into action - although I do have a number of woodcarving tools, and the 'trunk' of an old Christmas tree drying in our loft, and even a vague plan as to what I would start with - a chess set. Oh yes, aim high (though it's a kind of Art-Deco-y era one that's based on cubes - I think the designer was Schmidt).

While working, I have been listening to Radio 2 for virtually the whole day. As I'm working by the hour, and have had lack of motivation to get up (yes I know that doesn't square with my comments above but part of the work is getting boring) - anyway, I haven't been leaving till midmorning. That means that I rarely catch Wogan, so it's a diet of Ken Bruce, Jeremy Vine (or Clive Anderson while JV is on hols), Steve Wright and Chris Evans. Ken takes me back to days of a twice weekly trip across the Central Belt to perform a 2 hour task because the powers that be had closed the equivalent department on our Lothians site (when I worked for an electronics company). The lunchtime show is often interesting although I do tend to mentally switch off when it's apparent that the producers just want to engineer some conflict among people with opposing points of view (e.g. today, should Maggie Thatcher get a state funeral when she goes?). Steve Wright is also nostalgic for me, going back almost half my life to a hospital cleaning job! And Chris Evans does remind me of his days on TFI Friday but seems to have calmed down a bit. Anyway, all that to say this: you know when you get a song stuck in your head because it's the first or last thing you hear in the morning. Well I have had one or other of R2's top playlist songs going round for days, because I hear them 2 or 3 times a day - sometimes in consecutive shows. Presently the Scissor Sisters are revolving round my head, despite their protestations that they don't feel like dancing. If it's not them it'll be the Rolling Stones biggest mistake, or some other song that I haven't managed to match band and title to but still feel that if I never hear it again, it'll be too soon. So why do I keep listening to the network? Mostly for the bits inbetween. e.g. On Ken Bruce today, I actually counted my score on Popmaster, for about the first time - it never seemed worth it as I have reasonably little knowledge of obscure (or not so..) bands and songs, but I achieved 18 points on one of the rounds today which was miraculous. OK so it wouldn't often win, especially against the guy who got 33 of the max 39, but it made me smile and even raise a celebratory fist!

I've shied around giving too much personal detail, as mentioned yesterday. Anyone who has a view on this angle (especially given that I am actually writing and publishing a blog!) please post - or even if you don't have a view. It certainly makes it trickier if I want to refer to family or work people or situations, though there will no doubt be issues over putting names on the web without consent.

Tonight I'm trying to get to bed earlier - not too tricky as it was 3am or after yesterday! As long as I don't keep surfing...

First post

2006-08-10T01:42:00.000+01:00

Well, I've joined the blogging community. Feels odd - (though probably everyone writes something like this as their first post) because I've not really been reading many other blogs. The ones I have are Nick Robinson's Newslog on the BBC, and Chris Evans' new SHLOG (also BBC). [I realise blogiquette probably requires linking to these but I can't remember how to do that at the moment - watch this space.] I also followed a couple of others on this very blog hosting site that I can't find at the moment! Note to self - remember to bookmark things you want to read again.

Thoughts - why am I blogging? To see if anyone else reads this? To try again to do some writing? To try again to keep a sort of journal? To take up even more of my sadly limited time (study, work, parenting, church... all take their toll)? Not sure but I want to keep track of some thinking that I intend to do over the next wee while and this seems a good way to do it - especially if anyone does look at it and interacts with it/me.

I'm not sure how much to say about myself - Chris Evans' blog mentioned the idea that he doesn't know what his friends do (or rather did) for a living and many blog responses agreed that they don't tell people what they do (or invent other occupations). But if I want to do thinking on the blog, a lot of it may well relate to my field of study and potential occupation. However, attempts at remaining anonymous entirely are probably fraught with danger - what if I talk about a situation or discussion thinking that as my blog is anonymous, the person/people concerned won't read it or won't recognise themselves? Bad thing to do so best not to.

I'd like to be a writer. I've had a couple of (failed) goes at nanowrimo.com - writing a novel(ette) in a month. It may yet happen... But what I've read of other writers is that it's something they do almost compulsively rather than something they set out to do. Still, I've been putting words in front of each other for some time in one way or another - writing essays for one!

What else? I struggle a bit with identity - what makes me 'me' and not someone else, and what things do I want to make 'me' up with - if you catch my drift? I want to have more energy but fail to either exercise (to increase metabolic rate and get rid of sluggishness - as mentioned on Chris Evans' show this week) or go to bed early (it's nearly 2AM - fool!) I have too big an 'appetite' for doing stuff - bad at saying 'NO'; my eyes are bigger than my stomach as it were.

And why does the Express have such a Diana fixation? It was tragic what happened but it can't be helping William and Harry for them to continue to have weekly headlines (usually a Monday - thanks to news.bbc.co.uk/magazine 's Paper Monitor for drawing many people's attention to this tendency) about 'Diana conspiracy' or similar. Today they've even twisted a different story - the McCartney breakup - to include 'Diana' in the headline (something about one of them retaining the same lawyer, I think). Incidentally - leave them alone, breakups must be hard enough without daily updates in the national press. To be fair, the Mirror also noted this connection with an almost identical headline, although I should point out that I don't read either of these papers, or any paper regularly - if any, it's occasionally the Indy, Grauniad or Times (where does that put me politically?)

So much more to say, and so little time - if you drop by and visit, please leave a message and I'll try and update regularly (but no promises - my enthusiasm is notorious for waning...)