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Monday 31 March 2008

Q&A

Blogger Frederick Buechner's Lovechild said...

In a recent interview with Joni Mitchell (showing my age again) she said that she preferred painting to poetry and quoted someone who said that all poetry involved was "muddying the waters to give them the appearance of depth"

1) Source the quote for me
2) Discuss!
3) Buy and listen to 'Blue' if you haven't already done so (listen with Gav and share the experience) and tell me that Joni Mitchell isn't a poet!
  1. She made it up. I've been unable, after much frantic googling, to find anything even similar to that quotation anywhere on the internets.
  2. Sometimes it's true, and poetry is intended to make our trivial, everyday feelings seem more important. Sometimes, however, they're a way of bringing our 'muddier' thoughts and feelings to light; clearing waters that are already muddy; making the deep things accessible. That's the thing about poetry, it can be anything that is felt or thought or experienced.
  3. Joni Mitchell isn't a poet. ;) I'm kidding; that's clearly a very indepth piece of writing, I'll look for more of her music!
Ben said...

Are humans naturally competitive or cooperative?
Yes.



I'm so witty. Honestly though, I think we can be both, as our nature isn't fixed. You may help someone out to your own expense, or you may take advantage of them, depending on your character and your choices. Reducing it to 'human nature' inevitably involves explaining away everybody who acts in the other direction.

Homer said...

This is honestly not designed to offend you, but in search of that one Jeremy Paxman star:

A) If you'd been born to a poor family in an Indian village and raised Hindu, what religion do you think you would be now?

B) What are the implications of your answer for your faith?

I'm not offended in the slightest, they're good questions :)
a) I think I'd be a Hindu with a lot of questions. As I am now a Christian with a lot of questions. There are things about my faith that I don't fully understand, but I do fully and completely accept my need to be forgiven. Christ offers that. While the Hindu faith commends forgiveness, the absence of a monotheistic God confuses the issue of who exactly I'm being forgiven by. If I'd been raised as a Hindu, I may well have answers to things that I don't have now, but that question is a very big and important one.

b) The implications, I believe, are that there are things we could learn from other faiths. Christianity does not have the monopoly on truth, and our 'doctrine' is not infallible. That's quite a controversial statement, so I'll clarify it. The church has accepted for hundreds of years things that are not necessarily Biblically based. I can't provide any evidence to say that they are incorrect, but I accept that they may be.

Luko said...

1- Don't you think that faith as an idea pigeonholes people into not to experience things that are forbidden in certain scriptures.
2- Does it worry you that whilst some people do use religion in a nice way a lot of people just use it as an excuse to be extremely crappy to each other (from the KKK to muslim extremists to the crusades)
3- Don't you think that by having an eternal afterlifethere is a strong message that this life doesn't matter. And in retrospect people deciding to be good is like a fetus worryong about being good or bad before going onto a 'new life'
4- The scriptual ideas of good or bad were written in a mysoginistic and gynophobic society several centuries ago don't you think that they should be re-examined?
  1. My faith doesn't stop me from experiencing anything. I could still murder, steal, insult etc (and sometimes I do, I'm not perfect (but not murdering though)), but I don't because it's not for the good. It's not to my advantage or anyone elses. Morality by its nature does affect what we choose to experience, but that's natural and good. Belief that doesn't affect our actions is worthless.
  2. Yes, absolutely! People who use God as an excuse to do terrible things do an awful lot of damage to God's reputation and to mine. Jesus was all about the love. If you're not acting in love, you're not acting in Christ.
  3. Quite the reverse. If life ended when we died, then ultimately all our efforts come to nothing and this life is a worthless attempt to stall the inevitable. If, however, there are eternal consequences to our actions, then what we do and say in this life has value. otherwise, you know, do what you want before the void claims you. Some people live that way and I don't know how they do it. No, I don't know why they do it.
  4. Hahaha... I think gynophobic is taking it a bit far, but I accept your point. Should they be re-examined? Yes, absolutely! There's no value whatsoever in preserving laws cryogenically. They should be constantly re-evaluated. Some, such as the ten commandments, will be true for all eternity - others, such as a lot of the cleanliness laws, aren't as relevant in a world with antiseptic wipes.
These are, of course, my opinions. They are not the views of all Christians, and I reserve the right to change my mind tomorrow if I should see fit.

Anyway! I hope these answers have been of some interest to you. Thanks!

Interesting thing of the day: online photoshoppish thing

Paris etc

I flew!
From above, France is much neater than England. Going up and coming down was exciting; inbetween that, it felt like my head was being squeezed through a cardboard tube, so I fell asleep.

The apartment was LOVELY. Very small, but very nice, and with a beautiful view! We spent a lot of time in there watching films.

We also walked about a lot, visiting various tourist attractions. We went up the Eiffel Tower more or less on a whim, resulting in two very chilly silly billies. We also saw the Arc de Triumph, the pillar at the Bastille, etc etc.

Films we saw:
The Devil Wears Prada (rubbish, read the book instead) **
Be Kind Rewind (good, nothing special) ***
Juno (very happy; yay!) ****
Chocolat (love it) ****
Silence of the Lambs (classic, pretty enjoyable, plus we got a story about it from the man in the video shop) ****
Black Sheep (possibly the funniest zombie sheep film of the year, enjoyable) ***
Have I forgotten any, Gav?

We ate mostly bread and cheese. 75% healthy, very good.

The journey back took sooo long, I began to get really edgy about going home. Another 3 or more hour journey would have killed me, and I was so tired already from getting up at 6.30am that I started to get all teary. Stupid female hormones, I swear I'm logical really. So Gav, bless him with many blessings, took pity on me and took me in for the night. It was SO good to have a bit of a rest before starting the journey home.

So now I'm with my family, yay! And also boo! Because much as I love them, my health rating has plummeted to 25%. Accursed easter eggs. Mm, if only I could say no...

It's been so wonderful, wandering around my beloved island listening to birds singing and enjoying the sunshine and making friends with the random kitties I find. I'm trying to catch up with whoever's still around, which sadly isn't many of them, but yay! for that.

Photos of my Paris trip are available here (flickr) and here (facebook).

In honour of how beautifully sunny it's been lately, I've bought a dress! Lookit!



And cool new shoes, lookit lookit!



I'll answer your wonderful questions in another post.

Monday 17 March 2008

Meeeeeeeeeme!

Fun to say, easy to do, it's a MEME! Are you excited? I know you're excited.

As you may know, I'm going to be sans internet for just over a week, so you've got that long to tell me what you'd like me to blog about.

Copied and pasted from Ben's blog:

“Everyone has things they blog about. Everyone has things they don't blog about. Challenge me out of my comfort zone by telling me something I don't blog about, but you'd like to hear about, and I'll write a post about it. Repost in your own journal if you are so inclined.”

It's actually quite similar to something I wrote a while ago, but I can't find it.

If you actually find something that is 'out of my comfort zone', I'll give you one Jeremy Paxman star.

Sunday 16 March 2008

Jesus puppet

Hahaha hahah.

Hahahahah...

I can't express in words how awesome this Jesus puppet is.



There are some amazing puppets on this website, have a look!

Saturday 15 March 2008

A brief history of light

Gen 1:1 In the beginning, when God created the universe,
Gen 1:2 the earth was formless and desolate. The raging ocean that covered everything was engulfed in total darkness, and the Spirit of God was moving over the water.
Gen 1:3 Then God commanded, "Let there be light"---and light appeared.
Gen 1:4 God was pleased with what he saw. Then he separated the light from the darkness,
Gen 1:5 and he named the light "Day" and the darkness "Night." Evening passed and morning came---that was the first day.



This is the first mention of light in the Bible. It's good, and it's separate from darkness. These meanings of the word light are used throughout the Bible, and it set me thinking. I'm supposed to be walking in the light, but I don't act like it. I'm supposed to be visible in the darkness, but I don't feel like it. However, there is... a spark, I suppose.

I've always visualised my faith as a flame. Sometimes bright and sometimes flickering but always there. Right now, I'm hoping to burn brighter in the coming few weeks - living in the light.

Prayers and encouragement would be so much appreciated!



Pro 13:9 The righteous are like a light shining brightly; the wicked are like a lamp flickering out.



Mat 5:14 "You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.
Mat 5:15 No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl; instead it is put on the lampstand, where it gives light for everyone in the house.
Mat 5:16 In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.



Joh 1:4 The Word was the source of life, and this life brought light to people.
Joh 1:5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.



Joh 3:19 This is how the judgment works: the light has come into the world, but people love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil.
Joh 3:20 Those who do evil things hate the light and will not come to the light, because they do not want their evil deeds to be shown up.
Joh 3:21 But those who do what is true come to the light in order that the light may show that what they did was in obedience to God.



Joh 8:12 Jesus spoke to the Pharisees again. "I am the light of the world," he said. "Whoever follows me will have the light of life and will never walk in darkness."



2Co 4:6 The God who said, "Out of darkness the light shall shine!" is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts, to bring us the knowledge of God's glory shining in the face of Christ.



1Th 5:5 All of you are people who belong to the light, who belong to the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.

It would have been a great day if it hadn't been night-time

I've been waiting for my productive side to kick in for a week. In accordance with Sod's Law, it did so at 11:30 in the evening after my last day of uni work before the holidays. I really don't see why I couldn't have had a surge of productivity in time to get my essay done properly, but ah well. Better late than never, as they say.

Still, it's hasn't been wasted; I've tidied my room, had a shower, done a few small but necessary things... I was gonna go out for a walk as well, but it occurs to me that 3:35 may not be the best or most practical time to do so.

I've been listening to Queen all evening as well, which has put me in a good, positive, hopeful mood. I heartily recommend it.

Good morning, world! :)

Thursday 13 March 2008

Every silver lining has a cloud

I have so much to look forward to right now, so I thought I'd have a rare (these days) moment of unbridled positivity. Yes, I am aware of the irony in that sentence.

So! I got my essay handed in, and tomorrow is that last day of lectures... and I think they've been cancelled. So technically it's easter! Hooray! And for Easter, G and myself are going to Paris for a week. I'm very very very excited about this!!

ALSO

ALSO

I'm moving to Cardiff. Wow.

I discovered a beautiful poem today, it's here if you want to read it. My poetry seminar went so well today! It's by far my favourite subject, and to be honest I'm gonna miss our lecturer. I've had differences of opinion with him, but that's a good thing; in so many subjects I don't have any opinion at all.

I bumped into Dainjamouth on the way home from university; the only beatboxer that I know of in Plymouth. It was good to catch up with him; he reminded me about a hip-hop battly type thing that's happening today but I don't know anyone here who'd want to go to that kind of thing with me, which is a shame!

I saw Lost last night! I missed it on Sunday due to being in Cardiff, and on Tuesday due to being a fool, but they repeat it on Wednesdays as well and I'm so very excited about that. Hahaha. Yes, my life currently is that dull, but it won't be for long!

On the downside, somebody I know really needs a cuddle and to be told everything's gonna be ok. Both things that inexplicably lose 99% of the meaning when you're not in the same room as the person.

Tuesday 11 March 2008

Cardiff Bristol Bath etc.

Wow. What an incredible weekend. I'll race through the main points!

Friday: Travelled up early. Gav met me at the station to give me sandwiches, a solar-powered keyring and some cuddles. I love this man!
The interview was easy, I was in there for ten minutes and as long as I pass my first year, I'm in.
So I'm moving to Cardiff.
I'm moving to Cardiff!!!
Then we went out to watch Son of Dave. I met a bunch of Gav's friends, which was ace, and SoD was awesome musically. I freaked out though. Got all claustrophobic; it hardly ever happens, but when it does I would give ANYTHING for people to stop brushing past me. G was a star so I didn't have to run away like last time.

Saturday: Slow start, which was lovely. We watched the rugby, England deservedly thrashed by Scotland, and watched Withnail and I which I'd never seen before.
The Bristol Beatbox heats were awesome!!!!! it was so good to see everyone again! There are photos here if you're interested, which you should be you ungrateful spoon.
Gav and I were on photo duty; he got some truly epic shots with TyTe's digital SLR.
After that, Gav, yasSon and I went back to Mr.T's house and crashed on the floor. It was so wonderful! We got all giggly and went to sleep fairly quickly.

Sunday: I woke up to realise that I'd slowly and steadily inched myself towards Gav, almost pushing him off the mattress. Heheheh. I'm a somnuggler.
His church was awesome. I'm not going to church enough, and it was very touching to be handed the bread by a man I respect so much. I got a bit weepy afterwards.
We had lunch with his family, who are all total stars, and T took us to the station. G and I said goodbye to Yass and got our train - I think I fell asleep on G! I was very good on Sunday night, I let Gavin get his sleep.

Monday: agh, I hate leaving in the morning. No more 8am trains for me. The frantic rush to get everything ready, and the fact that got there 1 minute before the train was due to leave and couldn't find my ticket so I had to buy a new one... gahhh! I'm a student, y'know? It's slightly scary to realise that I'm spending over £100 a month on weekends in Cardiff. On the plus side, when I move there, I'm gonna have more cash than I know what to do with, possibly maybe!

Anyway, it's back to Plymouth and back to work for me. I have an essay to do and three books to read, so I might not update for a bit... take care, all!

Friday 7 March 2008

Bye!

Right, I'm disappearing for a long weekend, so you can expect a lengthy and exhausted blog post when I get back. In the meantime, ITOTD: can you relate to this?

Monday 3 March 2008

Witterage is a good word

You know what, I've thought long and hard about it, and I've decided that buying chocolate eggs is a really arbitrary way of celebrating the resurrection. In addition, I haven't lost the extra squidge from all that Christmas chocolate yet! So I'm very sorry to inform Mr Cadbury's and all the rest of you that I won't be participating this year. If you're lucky I might make you something nice instead.

My housemates and I went to the pub quiz last night! We did ok, came over halfway which is an improvement on what we normally get, and our suggestion for the quiz's new name was chosen. So, yay, contributions! I was tempted to stay in and watch Lost again (I am an addict. Also, you just lost the game. But I didn't!!!) but I thought I'd prolong the agony and catch a repeat instead. Hooked though I may be on all that losty goodness - and the podcasts, heaven help me - it's high time I started having a social life again. Ah well, with any luck I'm out of here in a few months!

How very strange. I just wrote an email to gav and instead of the usual way I talk to him, I was talking in my blog-style. Peculiar. I wasn't aware I had a blog-style. Ah well, I can only assume that the boundless nature of my literary genius astounds even me. And I'm so freakin' modest too!!

So, yes, nothing terribly constructive today, but when is it ever. Thanks for enduring my witterage.

ITOTD: Online shopping discount codes. Never know when they might come in handy.

I'm free! I'm free!!

At last the curse is lifted!!