phillsacre.me.uk

Just a very quick update on TYSIC. I’ve been doing well the past couple of days, I’ve spent some time practicing slowly. I’m still finding it difficult to force myself to actually practice things at a slow speed and ensure they’re perfect, but I think I’m doing better than I was.

I started learning the intro to ‘I bet you look good on the dancefloor’ by the Arctic Monkeys earlier and actually seemed to pick it up pretty quickly. So obviously the work I’ve been doing has somewhat paid off – even if the intro is actually pretty simple! And I’ve started working on my power chords as well which I’ve never really had to use before, but think might be useful.

Oh, and I’ve started an exercise about finding notes on the fretboard. So, in general there’s about a million and one things to do, but I’m getting there!

Another quick update about the weekend. On Friday night we helped out at 21, which was mostly preparing for the youth service on Sunday night.

Then on Saturday we did some shopping in the morning, followed by some Moore Course revision in the afternoon (the exam is on 27th, so just under two weeks left to go now. It will go by quickly!) Then, in the evening we had AJ and Jen round for dinner. We made a curry, and it seemed to go very well. AJ even took a picture of the bombay potatoes in the dish and set it as his phone wallpaper! I’m not quite sure why, but they did look good. Afterwards we played games, mainly a game called “Cranium” – which was great fun, although it was probably one of those evenings where you had to be there – and then we played Uno. It’s the kind of evening we should really do more often!

Anyway. On Sunday we went to the Mothering Sunday service in the morning, then back for lunch and a bit more revision, then out again for the youth service. So, there you have it, that was our weekend!

On his blog, Mark Watson recently started up an idea called the Ten Year Self Improvement Challenge (TYSIC for short). Readers of his blog were asked to submit things which they wanted to accomplish over the next ten years, and it would form some sort of community of people working on it together.

I didn’t post anything up at the time (the official start date was 4th March) but, on reflection, I’ve decided to take up the challenge. Here’s my TYSIC:

I’ve always lacked discipline when learning an instrument. At the piano, I always used to (and still do) learn things up until I can sort of play them… and then stop. I’m finding it the same at the guitar as well: I learn things up until I can “sort of” play them… and then stop. Well, no more. My aim is, over the next ten years, to try and get actually good at playing the guitar. (I say guitar, I didn’t want to be too ambitious and I already play the piano to an extent I’m relatively happy with … I might extend to the piano as well depending on how it goes).

So, from now on, when I practice guitar – and I’m going to try and do at least 10-15 minutes every day – I’m going to be doing the things no-one really likes doing: scales, finger exercises, and generally playing solos really really slowly to make sure that I’ve got them perfectly. We’ll see how it goes, but I started last night and felt better as a result!

I thought as well that it would be better to do this as TYSIC rather than just an aim of mine, because the TYSIC community will hopefully keep reminding me of this!

I’ll update here from time to time with my progress.

Well, not really, but I was on Saturday. For most of the day. The reason was, on Friday night we had the 21 overnighter. Now, I’d love to tell you why it was an overnighter, but the truth is I’m not really sure… we basically spent an hour or so playing games / praying for the ‘JOY’ event that’s happening in a couple of weeks, and then spent a couple of hours playing on the Wii or watching a film (the former for the boys, the latter for the girls) and then we went to sleep. Well, that is to say, some of us went to sleep.

I tried to go to sleep, but I met with limited success. AJ had left the heating on so it was very warm in the barn (it didn’t help that I was in a sleeping bag which was rated down to -9! I guess it will come in useful at the weekend away though – last year I was too cold in the sleeping bag I had), also I was sleeping on an airbed which was not the most comfortable think in the world. So I was pretty tired by the time morning came round!

Still, it was a good night. The kids really seemed to enjoy it anyway, so that was positive.

On Saturday we did a bit of shopping. I bought a couple of new CDs (Seasick Steve’s album, which I’ve wanted to get for a while now, and also ‘Is This It’ by The Strokes which I’ve always seen but never got round to actually buying before. They were on offer in HMV…) I also bought the Black Books box set (three series of comedy brilliance for £12, bargain), and I also bought a new shirt and trousers for work. In the evening we didn’t do much! Anne-Marie came round and stayed for dinner, and we watched some Black Books and Frasier, so it was quite a relaxing evening which I think we needed!

On Sunday we had church in the morning, as per usual – although as per, well, not usual – I was down to lead. Only I didn’t. Unfortunately I only found out about it this week, and due to one thing and another I felt like I couldn’t really lead! So I will have to lead that service some other time. Not really a big issue though. Then, in the evening we went to Sunday@6 and afterwards watched ‘Lark Rise’.

So that’s pretty much our weekend! Not much going on this week, tomorrow evening Anne-Marie and Sarah are coming round and we’re going to watch the last part of ‘Ashes to Ashes’ series 2. Apparently the two final episodes are some of the best TV the BBC put out last year, so I’m quite looking forward to it!

Well, Wednesday night was the last meeting of this year’s Moore Course module. We’ve been studying Ephesians, as I’ve mentioned before. (Well, I think I’ve mentioned it… can’t be bothered to go back and check now!)

I don’t know why but I feel like it’s not been quite as good as previous Moore Course modules that we’ve done. It just seemed to be based around a particular commentary a little too much. Sometimes the book would make statements which didn’t seem to be backed up by any of the verses it quoted – which I think is probably because the line of argument was traced through properly in the commentary, but not in the book.

Either way, I’m not sure about it. My exam marks over the past few years have been going steadily down – the weird thing is, I’ve been putting more time into revising since the first one! So this year I don’t know what I should do, perhaps if I spend less time revising I’ll do better… the exam is on 27th, so we have a little while anyway. No reason to stress about it either, whatever happens – whether I pass or fail – it’s not going to really affect my life in any meaningful way!

So, quick update as to what was going on this weekend. On Friday night we helped out at 21 (back after half-term), and then went to the pub with most of the 21 crew (AJ, Laura, Jen and her sister, and James and Tash). It’s nice to have so many friends from church at the moment – especially with so many Colchester people moving away … *sob*. Aaaaanyway!

On Saturday morning, Sam Norton (the Diocesan Warden of Ordinands, who I mentioned before) came round to chat to Phil and I about ministry. It went well, and what I need to do now is send off my form and he will forward it on to the Diocesan Director of Ordinands! I won’t go into the way the CofE ordination process works, but it basically means I’m sort of on the next rung of the ladder. So that’s exciting anyway :)

In the afternoon we did a bit of shopping and saw Alex for a cup of tea. Then we headed round to Tom’s for the “Great Essex Feast”. Basically the idea was a fund-raising exercise for the Essex Air Ambulance and Friends of Essex Churches charities. Someone (in this case, Tom) would donate the food, and people would then come round, eat the food, and donate money to the charity. It was a great evening and I think we raised a decent amount! I drank and ate an awful lot and felt a bit groggy on Sunday morning, but not too bad.

On Sunday we went to church in the morning, and then were invited out to the Carmels for lunch with some of the students. We had a good lunch there, and then stayed most of the afternoon chatting and playing on the Wii! Then we went out to Sunday@6, where I was leading the music for the first time. That seemed to go well although there weren’t so many people there, think we had a few regulars missing.

And then we came back and watched ‘Lark Rise to Candleford’, which is pretty much everything that happened this weekend!

I should also mention – last week we watched ‘500 Days of Summer’ which is a good film and very cleverly written. However, I wasn’t sure about the conclusion… I wasn’t sure whether it was saying the normal Hollywood thing of “You just have to find the right person” or not. (And I can say that without giving anything away, because the ending is probably not what you’d expect). So, it’s worth watching, but I don’t think it’s one I’d watch again.

A while back I wrote a blog post ‘about’ feminism. Well, sort of, more about the lad’s mag culture and what have you.

Anyway, I’ve just read a very interesting article which deals with a similar theme. The general idea is that our culture seems to believe that feminism has done its work – women have equal rights. In that kind of society sexism can thrive because it’s seen as ‘ironic’ or something like that.

Because women are now “equal” and the battle is over and won, we are now free to embrace things we used to see as sexist, including hypergirliness. In fact, this is supposed to be a relief.

Thank God girls and women can turn their backs on stick-in-the-mud, curdled feminism and now we can jiggle our way into that awesome party. Now that women allegedly have the same sexual freedom as men, they actually prefer to be sex objects because it’s liberating. According to enlightened sexism, women today have a choice between feminism and antifeminism, and they just naturally and happily choose the latter because, well, antifeminism has become cool, even hip.

It’s well worth reading!

Just a quick post to let you know what happened on the second half of the weekend! Most of Saturday was taken up with sessions – two in the morning and one group session in the evening. In the afternoon we went on a walk in the nearby countryside, alongside a canal, which was a very pleasant way to spend a sunny afternoon.

On Sunday morning we had another two sessions, followed by a roast dinner, which was very nice. The food over the whole weekend was great, actually – I ate far too much but still! After that came the drive home, which passed by pretty uneventfully with very little traffic. I slowed down a little bit on the way home as well, and it certainly affected the petrol consumption – the needle moved noticeably more slowly!

After that we headed out to Sunday@6, then came back home and watched ‘Lark Rise’.

I just wanted to mention the teaching at the weekend: it was based on Old Testament narrative – how to preach it. I think I’d feel much more confident if I had to preach and Old Testament narrative passage than I would have done before. It hasn’t made it any easier but does give me a way of breaking into the passage, and a few ideas about how to present it. Very helpful. If you’re involved with preaching or teaching the Bible, it would definitely be worth going to! Many of the people who I met had been there before, which I think just illustrates how useful it is. I will try and get there next year as well!

So, this weekend it’s the Proclamation Trust Bible Training Weekend. I’d post a link but I’M USING IE6 WHICH DOESN’T HAVE TABBED FRIGGIN BROWSING! *ahem* Apologies, it’s just that using IE6 is such an awful experience it’s actually almost painful.

Aaaaanyway. I thought I would do a bit of “Live Blogging” from the conference. Live Blogging, as defined by me, is blogging when you’re actually at the event, rather than looking back at it afterwards. That’s not the normal definition of live blogging. I don’t care. Talk to the hand…

So. As Wayne from “Wayne’s World” once said, let me bring you up to speed. I had the day off today (as I have the past couple of days). After lunch I headed over to pick up Quinlan, who I was travelling to the weekend with. Unfortunately I was about 25 minutes late (due to roadworks and getting lost, don’t ask), but we eventually headed off in his VW Beetle. Which I was driving. I think he quite likes being chauffered (he is a world-famous architect after all…) and so I drove. It was the first time I’ve driven a Beetle – new or old (this is an 04 model) and it seemed pretty nice. Standard VW really – drove well, steering felt light, decent engine. I did miss my Saab’s 2.0 litre turbocharged engine though – it really eats up the motorway miles and is pretty efficient. You could virtually see the fuel guage move on the VW!

Anyway. We got here at about 17:50, which gave me ten minutes to find my room and get to the first meeting. I managed to get there but stupidly forgot my Bible, notbook, pen, programme etc… looked over someone’s shoulder for most of it. It was OK though! The first session was from Adrian Reynolds on Ezra chapter 1, which was very interesting. Then we had dinner (Beef Chilli, nice, and some sort of chocolate cheesecake, also nice).

And then we had our second session, which was by Christopher Ash on Old Testament Narrative. I really enjoyed it actually, it gave a good taster of what we’re going to be studying this weekend. Won’t go into it now though as, well… if you’ve read this far you’re doing well.

Think that’s about it to be honest. After that I just chatted with some random people and started writing this blog… exciting stuff! To be honest I don’t have much else to say right now, so I’ll say ta-ta for now. We have some free time tomorrow aftenoon so I might update again then.

Just thought I’d post a quick update with what’s been going on here recently! We had a quieter weekend this week.

On Friday night, because it’s half-term this week, we had the 21 social. It was a cleudo-style murder mystery (well, technically a kidnap mystery), where the leaders all played suspects and the kids had to work out who did it! It was actually really fun, even though I’m not very good at that kind of thing.

On Saturday we did a bit of shopping, and then in the afternoon went round to see Jo and Evie. We took some dinner round – we cooked some Balti Butter Chicken which was absolutely delicious (even if I do say so myself. Well, Phil did most of the cooking, so it’s not like I’m praising myself anyway!) And we also played some Guitar Hero. I must say, I’m finding Guitar Hero more difficult than playing the actual guitar for some reason! Well, not more difficult as such, but it’s a completely different skill from playing the guitar. I’m sure that if you’ve never played an instrument before it would give you a bit of a leg up, but I doubt very much it would help you in any way other than rhythm, and perhaps strenthening your fingers a bit.

Anyway. On Sunday we went to church in the morning, then came back for lunch, and then went round to Jo’s again and went for a walk around Castle Park with Evie. We fed the ducks, which is something I haven’t done in a long time! The ducks didn’t seem too bothered though – maybe lots of people feed the ducks on Sunday afternoon?!

Afterwards we headed out to Sunday@6, before watching ‘Lark Rise to Candleford’. I think I’m enjoying this series less than I did the previous two… it’s kind of gone from being a quaint slice of English life to taking a few issues and hitting them with a sledgehammer. I don’t know whether the writing team has changed, but it seems this series is a bit more “hey, let’s have some social commentary in there!” than it did in the previous series.

This week is only a two-day week for us – we’ve both taken off our remaining holiday for this holiday yea, Wednesday to Friday. At the weekend I’m going away for a Bible Training weekend with the Proclamation Trust, so I’m quite looking forward to that. I’ll report back on that next week…