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Well, it’s now official 2010 (and has been for a few days now), so I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all my loyal blog readers a happy new year! (All my unloyal blog readers can take a running jump :p)

It’s been a good new year for us. We came back home on the Tuesday after Christmas, after which I proceeded to get a nasty cold :( Well, it left me in bed for a day or so. But apart from that, New Year’s Eve went well – we had over a whole bunch of people for a mini party. Kirsty, Sarah, Anne-Marie, Alex and Heather all came round and we played some silly games, at lots of food, and generally chatted.

We didn’t get to bed until late that night (or early that morning, I should say) so we didn’t do much on New Year’s Day in the morning! In the evening we headed round to Anne-Marie’s for dinner and Doctor Who. We did enjoy the last episode of DW, although – to be honest – I’m not sad to see the back of Russell T. Davies. The episode was good although I did feel it went on a bit too long at the end, how much can you drag that kind of thing out? Still, seemed a fitting end for what is really the end of an era. All hail Stephen Moffat, though, I see the weeping angels are back for the next series so that’s something to look forward to!

On Saturday we did a bit of shopping for various random things, and then in the evening went to the pub with Alex, Tom and Heather. Then we went on for a curry at the Ashiana, before heading back to ours to watch some random DVDs.

I think that’s pretty much all that happened in terms of new year festivities… in general, it’s nice to get back to work for a bit of a rest ;) But here’s to 2010, hopefully it will bring many good things!

Speaking of which – I’ve just sent off an email to the Diocesan Warden of Ordinands. Basically that’s the first step on the rung of becoming an ordained Church of England minister. Scary stuff! But exciting, too – hopefully I will hear something back about that soon. I will keep you posted.

On Thursday night last week it snowed pretty heavily. This meant that I wasn’t able to get into work on Friday, but I was able to do some work from home.

And we had another party on Friday night! Fortunately it didn’t involve driving so we were able to walk across town. We went round to Tom’s place for a Christmas ‘bash’, there were a whole bunch of people there and we had a whole lot of fun. This included drinking lots of mulled wine and eating lots of food (and I do mean, LOTS of food. There was enough to feed an army!)

So that was good. Then on Saturday we did a bit of shopping, present wrapping and the like. In the evening we watched “The Hangover”. I’d heard some good things about it from my colleagues. It was quite clever and well-written, but… I don’t think I really got the joke. I’m not sure whether it’s a difference between British and American humour, there just didn’t really seem to be any jokes in it! Kind of like “Wimbledon” (the film) – kind of amusing but it didn’t really make me laugh out loud.

Anyway. On Sunday we went to church twice – despite the snow! After our carol service in the evening – which was relatively well attended despite the poor weather – we went round to Jo’s for some tea.

Apart from all those things, I’ve been playing a fair amount of Red Alert 3: I ordered it last week, and it arrived on Friday. It’s got pretty poor reviews on Amazon, but I think there was a problem with DRM / Product Activation which made people give it bad reviews. Perhaps I went in with low expectations, but I’ve actually been really enjoying it. Someone said that it wasn’t as fast-paced as RA2, which I don’t quite see at the moment: it appears to be just as fast-paced in terms of the missions.

The graphics are decent, and I like with what they’ve done with the units. The only problem is, it is a bit complicated for my tiny brain. Each unit has an ‘alternate fire’ mode, for example, which I never use. (Although I probably should…) Oh, another minor problem: Apocalypse tanks can no longer defend themselves against air attack. I suppose the ability did make them a bit too powerful in RA2, but nonetheless it is annoying. You now have to remember to include Bullfrogs or MiGs into your attack force – not necessarily a bad thing I guess, just keeps catching me out! I do like, though, that there are more airborne and seabound units, and in fact several units are amphibious. The battle is much more ‘all across the map’, rather than just being fought purely on land like it was before. Even with Kirovs and Black Eagles / Harriers in RA2, air attack was pretty limited – and I don’t think anyone really used to battle on the sea, outside the missions.

Aaaanyway, the above is only my experience after playing through most of the Soviet campaign (there are three campaigns – Soviet, Allied, and Japanese). I’m really enjoying it so far, and look forward to completing the rest!

It’s that time of year again! On Friday night we had the 21 Christmas party. It went down pretty well, think all the kids had a good time. Then on Saturday we did a bit of Christmas shopping (nearly all done now… so close to the end!) In the evening we went round to James and Tash’s house for some Christmas drinks, nibbles and games. We ended up playing “Pass the Bomb”, which was good fun, and just generally chatting.

On Sunday we had church as usual, and then went to Sunday@6 in the evening, where I was leading. So, in general, it was a good weekend. I have a youth leader’s Christmas party tonight, and then it’s not long to go until the day itself!

Quite looking forward to Christmas this year, I need the time off and it will be nice to see family! Going to try and take it slowly. Anyway, it’s absolutely freezing tonight so I’m going to try and get warm next to a radiator! All for now…

It was half-term last week, so we had no 21 to go to! Phil was wedding dress shopping with her sister though, so I was left on my own. Fortunately, Alison had a birthday meal on Friday night so I was able to go to that :) It was a really nice evening – we went to the Lemon Tree, and then the Hospital Arms. The dinner was lovely, and then I discovered at the Hospital Arms that they serve Bitburger (a beer which I first had visiting Andy C in Trier). They also had a Weizen beer which looked interesting but I didn’t get around to having any. Afterwards, as Alex was staying round, we stayed up light chatting about random things (ah, I’ve missed those crazy random chats from uni days!)

On Saturday, most of the morning was spent doing various catch up things (i.e. shopping). In the evening we went round to Phil and Jenny’s for Jenny’s birthday party (“we” being Phil, Alex, Phil P, Esther, and myself). It was a great evening – really good to catch up with a few people I hadn’t seen in a while, including Steve and Karen and Chris and Louise, as well as the aforementioned Phil P and Esther.

So, two parties in one weekend, I’m such a party animal ;)

On Sunday we went to church in the morning and then went out for lunch with the Reynolds, with a few other students who had been working on some sort of drama together (long story, don’t ask). And then we went to Sunday@6 in the evening! So… a full weekend. But we didn’t have to cook once, not bad going!

Well, I didn’t just have one day for a birthday this time round – I had a weekend! Well, sort of.

On Saturday afternoon, a whole bunch of people came round for a BBQ. This included, but was not limited to (just in case I forget anybody, which I hope I don’t!), Anne-Marie, Sarah, Kev L, Caroline, Tom, Alex, Dan, Jenny, Tash, and our next-door-neighbours Paul and Mary. I’ve put a few photos up on Facebook, so if you’re a friend of mine there you’ll be able to see them.

Anyway, it went really well – eating lots of food and playing random games up until the late evening! Apart from getting bitten by midges, I think people had a good time and it was really nice to see them all :) Particularly Kev L, who I haven’t seen in ages.

On Sunday morning we went to church in the morning, and then in the evening went to Sunday@6. Apart from everything that could go wrong actually going wrong (technically speaking that is – oh the joys of having a newly installed building!), it was a good service. The music particularly seemed to go well. Perhaps if things go badly you can’t rely on yourselves, which is maybe where God is able to step in. Perhaps a lesson to be learnt there in general, I don’t know!

Anyway. This evening we went round to Mum and Dad’s for another BBQ, which was really nice! It’s unusual for me to actually be at home for my birthday, so it made a pleasant change. Right, I think it’s getting late so I’d better stop there!

On Friday night we headed round to Karen and Steve’s for their leaving party. They are leaving Colchester in a couple of weeks, sadly, so we went round there for a BBQ. It was a good evening – good company, good food, and it didn’t rain! Nice to see Foz again too, as it’s been a while.

On Saturday, I spent the afternoon taking Sarah round to various garages to try and find a car for her (she passed her test a couple of weeks ago). No luck so far – small cars are expensive because a lot of people want them! We saw quite a few big cars which were pretty cheap – including a couple of Saabs! I was quite pleased because we saw a similar one to ours which was more expensive.

Afterwards we headed down to Phil’s parents. In the evening we went round to see Julie and Dave, and then on Sunday afternoon we went to Emma’s christening! It was a really nice service, although the rector was very… quirky. But still, everyone enjoyed it. And then we had a nice reception at a nearby pub!

And we were home in time for Top Gear ;)

So that’s pretty much a quick summary of our weekend. Apologies for the briefness, but we’re watching “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”! Kevin Smith films are both disgusting and sweet in the same measure.

Well, this weekend was a good one :-) All too short, but there you go. As it was half term last week, there was no 21 on Friday night. I used the time to do a bit more work on the talk I’m doing on 5th July, I actually managed to finish the first draft which I’m quite pleased about! Still plenty of work to be done though.

On Saturday morning we did a bit of shopping, and then in the afternoon we went to Colchester Beer Festival. It was a really good afternoon. We saw Tom, Alex, Dan, Alison and a few other people. Because it was such a lovely day we all sat out in the graveyard (Colchester Arts Centre is an old church), which was somehow appropriate. There was a really good atmosphere the whole time.

We left at around 6PM to head over to Wivenhoe for Anne-Marie’s birthday party. We had a really good evening just chatting with people – all the usual suspects were there!

Late on Saturday evening, Phil’s sister (Roz) came round to ours after a wedding in Cambridge. She stayed over and then came to church with us on Sunday morning. It was really nice to see her as we don’t often get the opportunity! We had lunch together in the garden as it was such a beautiful day. Afterwards we headed out to Sunday@6, followed by a mini-party for Suzi and Matt who are getting married in August.

So, it was quite a packed but nice weekend!

Anyway. In general blog news, I realise that I’ve not actually blogged anything other than my usual “the weekend” style posts recently. I’m sorry, and I shall endeavour to do better. But probably fail ;)

Well, this weekend was a fairly eventful one! On Friday evening we were helping out at 21. Fortunately I wasn’t doing the talk this week – I say fortunately because it was a difficult passage! Judges 14. But AJ did a good job despite that and I think everyone had a good time.

On Saturday afternoon we met up with Tom and Chris J at the Bricklayers pub for the first part of “The Magnificent Seven” – a pub crawl encompassing the seven Colchester pubs which are in the good beer guide. Unfortunately we were only able to stay for two (The Fox and Fiddler was the next one) but it was a good time and hopefully we’ll get a chance to do the full one sometime later this year. I tried a couple of beers I hadn’t had before including one called “Binary Bitter”, a pale ale which was very nice!

In the evening we went to Matthew’s birthday party. It was superhero-themed, so I dressed up as Christopher Ecclestone’s Doctor Who (well, he’s sort of a superhero) and Phil dressed up as Rose. It was a fun evening, although I think I ate my own body weight in chocolate covered things (the chocolate fountain was good).

On Sunday we went to church in the morning, and then straight afterwards went round to Laura’s. We had a very nice Thai style curry, and then spent the whole afternoon watching Gavin & Stacey Series 1 – which none of us had seen before. It was brilliant, I’ve really got into Gavin & Stacey (we’ve been watching series 2 on BBC3) – it’s very clever, although it’s really funny at times it also has some great ‘drama’ style moments and is actually quite touching. It’s also quite realistic – the families are both so well written and played, I feel like I recognise them! Bryn (played by Rob Brydon) is probably my favourite character.

Aaaanyway. After that we had our meeting about the music for Sunday @ 6. The meeting actually made me realise (again) how far I have to go with the guitar – although I can play chords pretty well, there are still lots of other things I want to be able to do. I’m getting there slowly, I just hope I do actually ‘get there’ in the end though!

Afterwards we came back home and did a bit of revision for the Moore Course exam (not long to go now – 4th April!) and then we watched the Number One Ladies’ Detective Agency, which was good fun.

This weekend has been a good one! On Saturday afternoon Foz came up from London. We went round to see Bob and Ruth, who Foz knew from his student days and who now go to Fordham.

Afterwards we headed round to Steve & Karen’s for a gathering of people and spent most of the evening chatting and hearing random stories from a friend of Foz’s who I hadn’t met before.

On Sunday morning we went to church, and then in the evening we had the youth service. I was playing piano in the band, so we had a music practice for it beforehand. It all went well – the whole service! There were more people there than at the last youth service, and I think they all seemed to enjoy it. Apart from one or two minor blips the music went without a hitch, and people were able to sing all the songs without problems. AJ’s talk was really good as well – it involved a lot of audience participation which I think went down well!

Fordham are going to start up a second service on Sunday evenings which I think is going ot be more like a youth service. Hopefully that will pick up some momentum and will go as well as the youth services have gone.

Aaanyway, that’s all for now!

First all, let me say – happy 2009! I hope it is a good year for you :)

Well, the past few days have gone by pretty quickly. Last Sunday, Phil and I travelled down to Kent to stay with Phil’s parents for a few days. We had a great time – very restful!

We also test drove a Saab 93… we went to see Julie and Dave, and as we were leaving Dave happened to ask whether we wanted to buy a car! So we went back on Wednesday morning on the way back home to give it a test drive. It was very nice, very smooth. Saabs are well put together cars generally, and it showed with the nice smooth ride and quiet interior. The only problem is, it has a bigger engine than our current car (it has a 2.0 Litre turbo) – which means it will be less fuel efficient. I don’t think it will make a huge difference depending on how you drive it, but it does have a good kick of speed if you need it.

Aaaanyway. On Wednesday evening we had a few people round for a New Year’s Eve party. Matthew, Ellie, Phil B, Anne-Marie, Sarah and Alex all came round. I think everyone had a good time – despite the rather hard quiz we made up!

And… I think that’s pretty much us up to date. I’m going to go into town later on to look at guitars… I may even go crazy and buy one! (Oh, the crazy mixed-up world we live in. Well, I live in at least).