I got two of my essays finished on time! Bedtimes of three o'clock were involved, but never mind. Just got one more to do for Monday now, and that's a lot easier than the other two, I'm half done already.
Lauren arrived yesterday evening. It's so great to see someone from home again. We didn't do much becuase we were both shattered, but went for a walk along the beach to the pier and back at 11pm. The moon was big and gorgeous, there was a big shimmery reflection on the sea, which as really peaceful. It's like a breath of fresh air being up here compared to Norwich. Living next to the sea is like a dream come true. I love watching the sea, it has such a claming effect.
"After all the battles and wars, the scars and loss
I am still the queen of my domain,
and feeling stronger now.
The walls are down a little more each day,
since you came, finally,
finally things are changing"
~ Dido
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Window to the soul?
Doing the church history essay now. I've written a paragraph and feel the need for a break.
There's a saying that the eyes are the window to the soul. I think there should be a 21st century update: the MSN name is the window to the soul. It's a chance to hint at what you're feeling, in the hope that your best friend might be online and might pick up on it and give you a vent for your thoughts on whatever it is that's bothering you - "arguments: i hate." Sometimes they're thoughtful and reveal a side of your friend that you never knew they had - "I feel like Alice in Wonderland." And sometimes people want to be taken for who they are - "Alistair". (Or sometimes they have multiple personalities, don't they, Al?!)
This seems to be an unwritten rule - people know that there must be something behind your name. I've been quized on my MSN name twice this week. It didn't really mean anything, it was a random thought in my head one day and I typed it in. I must be the only shallow person out there.
There's a saying that the eyes are the window to the soul. I think there should be a 21st century update: the MSN name is the window to the soul. It's a chance to hint at what you're feeling, in the hope that your best friend might be online and might pick up on it and give you a vent for your thoughts on whatever it is that's bothering you - "arguments: i hate." Sometimes they're thoughtful and reveal a side of your friend that you never knew they had - "I feel like Alice in Wonderland." And sometimes people want to be taken for who they are - "Alistair". (Or sometimes they have multiple personalities, don't they, Al?!)
This seems to be an unwritten rule - people know that there must be something behind your name. I've been quized on my MSN name twice this week. It didn't really mean anything, it was a random thought in my head one day and I typed it in. I must be the only shallow person out there.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Pink is sooo yesterday
Okay, so maybe I'm leaning towards pale blue/lilac tranquility, I haven't quite decided. But the yucky orange is gone. I really need to learn some HTML so I can edit this and make it mine.
I can't wait for my Theology module to turn into theology instead of philosophy, it's getting boring. Not so much boring, I just don't have a philosophical mind and I can't cope with all the abstracts! And I can't wait to finish this semester and be done with Church History, what an utterly tedious subject. Maybe it's jsut the way it's taught. Or maybe because I haven't done much background reading for the lectures. Never mind, once the essay-marathon is over I'll catch up with all that other stuff.
I'm determined to try out a church this Sunday, I've only been to one so far. That was St Salvator's, the university chapel. It was quite impresive, everyone wore their gowns (except a few first years like me who haven't got one yet!) There was a procession of teachers all wearing their gowns too, led by the "mace bearer" (the mace is supposed to stand for something). Then a huge Bible was paraded in. There was a choir and lots of very crazy organ music. It wasn't my kind of church by a long way, but it was quite cool to take part in all that tradition at least once. I won't be going back. This week it'll either be baptist or charismatic. I'm leaning towards baptist purely for comfort, but I'd like to investigate the charismatic one as well, they intrigue me.
Today it rained. And rained. And rained. It was a pretty wet day. Yes, I'm in Scotland, but it hasn't rained much at all since I got here! I guess the honeymoon period is well and truly over, in more ways than one.
I can't wait for my Theology module to turn into theology instead of philosophy, it's getting boring. Not so much boring, I just don't have a philosophical mind and I can't cope with all the abstracts! And I can't wait to finish this semester and be done with Church History, what an utterly tedious subject. Maybe it's jsut the way it's taught. Or maybe because I haven't done much background reading for the lectures. Never mind, once the essay-marathon is over I'll catch up with all that other stuff.
I'm determined to try out a church this Sunday, I've only been to one so far. That was St Salvator's, the university chapel. It was quite impresive, everyone wore their gowns (except a few first years like me who haven't got one yet!) There was a procession of teachers all wearing their gowns too, led by the "mace bearer" (the mace is supposed to stand for something). Then a huge Bible was paraded in. There was a choir and lots of very crazy organ music. It wasn't my kind of church by a long way, but it was quite cool to take part in all that tradition at least once. I won't be going back. This week it'll either be baptist or charismatic. I'm leaning towards baptist purely for comfort, but I'd like to investigate the charismatic one as well, they intrigue me.
Today it rained. And rained. And rained. It was a pretty wet day. Yes, I'm in Scotland, but it hasn't rained much at all since I got here! I guess the honeymoon period is well and truly over, in more ways than one.
Monday, October 18, 2004
Typical block 1 procrastinator
I'm four weeks into my university career, and already I have an essay overload. I admit, it's all my own fault! I was given the briefs on the very first day when five weeks sounded like a long time. I've been frantically searching the library shelves to find the suggested books and will be writing two essays by Thursday hopefully. And as soon as I finish, I'll be looking up the books for the next ones... yeah right!
Lauren, my best friend, is coming up from Norwich on Friday. I can't believe she's coming all this way, it's really sweet of her. She's staying until Tuesday. Four nights to do all things girly... alas no chick flicks though because house 2 is devoid of a TV! Might borrow Ellie's laptop...
I just had an Ancient Israel lecture which was about Hebrew narrative, studying some of David's story. It's really interesting how tension is built up in such subtle ways. And ever noticed how stories are told mainly through speech? I hadn't. Maybe that's why people think the Bible is boring, just because it's written in a style different to our culture's. (Then again, maybe it's bacuse they've never opened a Bible). English stories are all about description and what the narrator tells you about the mood and feelings of the characters. Hebrew narrators hardly intervene at all, not even to give a moral judgement (which you'd probably expect from the Bible!) and the character's mood is ascertained through his speech. No description is given of the surroundings, it's a very succint way of telling a story. Maybe I'm sad, but I find it fascinating.
Off to study narrative technique in the story of David and Bathsheba now!
Lauren, my best friend, is coming up from Norwich on Friday. I can't believe she's coming all this way, it's really sweet of her. She's staying until Tuesday. Four nights to do all things girly... alas no chick flicks though because house 2 is devoid of a TV! Might borrow Ellie's laptop...
I just had an Ancient Israel lecture which was about Hebrew narrative, studying some of David's story. It's really interesting how tension is built up in such subtle ways. And ever noticed how stories are told mainly through speech? I hadn't. Maybe that's why people think the Bible is boring, just because it's written in a style different to our culture's. (Then again, maybe it's bacuse they've never opened a Bible). English stories are all about description and what the narrator tells you about the mood and feelings of the characters. Hebrew narrators hardly intervene at all, not even to give a moral judgement (which you'd probably expect from the Bible!) and the character's mood is ascertained through his speech. No description is given of the surroundings, it's a very succint way of telling a story. Maybe I'm sad, but I find it fascinating.
Off to study narrative technique in the story of David and Bathsheba now!
Sunday, October 17, 2004
This is me
Okay, here's my first proper post. I think this is going to be a rainbow blog, though with a backdrop of pink, because you must agree that pink is a very cool colour. (If you don't agree, you don't have to look!)
So, first blogging... and I'm stuck already. What a great start. Maybe I'll write a bit about my greatest passion in life: Jesus. I want to follow Jesus so much it hurts sometimes. But it's not an easy thing to do... I'd like to be living for Jesus every minute of every day, worshipping him in everything I do, living an abundant life in God. That's kind of the reason for the title of my blog, it's from Psalm 27:13: "I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living." I only discovered it the other day. So many "good Christians" (the kind who are really good and write books) go on about how we should be living an abundant life, asking and expecting God's blessing because he wants to give us so much. I've always been a bit sceptical of that. Why would God bless me so much that I overflow with his goodness? But then David, or whoever wrote the psalm, was confident that he would see God's goodness in this life, now, he didn't have to wait until heaven to see the Lord's goodness. I want to be confident of that, and to be confident enough to ask God for it, because living in apathy and unhappiness is no good.
So, first blogging... and I'm stuck already. What a great start. Maybe I'll write a bit about my greatest passion in life: Jesus. I want to follow Jesus so much it hurts sometimes. But it's not an easy thing to do... I'd like to be living for Jesus every minute of every day, worshipping him in everything I do, living an abundant life in God. That's kind of the reason for the title of my blog, it's from Psalm 27:13: "I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living." I only discovered it the other day. So many "good Christians" (the kind who are really good and write books) go on about how we should be living an abundant life, asking and expecting God's blessing because he wants to give us so much. I've always been a bit sceptical of that. Why would God bless me so much that I overflow with his goodness? But then David, or whoever wrote the psalm, was confident that he would see God's goodness in this life, now, he didn't have to wait until heaven to see the Lord's goodness. I want to be confident of that, and to be confident enough to ask God for it, because living in apathy and unhappiness is no good.
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