It really is all uphill!

For those of you who have ever watched Lee Evans Live in Scotland you'll know what I'm on about. Glasgow is huge!! And everywhere is up a gill! Not a small hill, but one you could kill yourself on if you fell over at the top! I know its not a pleasant thought, but its the only way I can describe how huge the hills are. The rest of Scotland is absolutely amazing - the views are incredible and you really can appreciate creation if you drive from Kilmarnock to Glasgow.
I've also been to Edinburgh and almost brought a purple furry coat, but I don't think anyone would've been impressed by my purchase, so I didn't waste my money. He rest of the time was spent catching up on all the sleep I lost over Christmas!
I hope my readers had a wonderful Christmas, now we all have to survive New Year! I won't be seeing Henry this evening, so I'm a little sad - lots. I've done my usual 400 texts in two weeks so now I have to start paying for the privilege of text!!
Drink and be merry!!

What's the next thing you've got to look forward to?

Well I fly to Glasgow tomorrow, to see Steve. I'm looking for ward to flying and to four days going around Scotland! Apparently the four days I have are filling up really fast! I know I'm going to Edinburgh and obviously Glasgow, but as for the rest of the time...only Steve knows!
Then I fly back on the 31st and go straight to the New Years Ball at my Church! After the first of Jan 2005 the next thing I'm really looking forward to is seeing my boyfriend! 12th Jan! I can't wait and I know its about 16 or so days away (all that eating has made my brain slow) but he phoned me yesterday and it made me miss him even more! There a time during the day when I want to get on a train and visit him, just so I can hug him. I know its sickening for all of you who are single. Believe me, there is a reason why you are! You are loved by many, whether you feel it or not and you don't need a bloke (or girl) to tell you that you are.
Anyway... What are you looking forward to the most?

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

At Christmas time...

...well you know how the song goes! Good old Band Aid!! I can't believe I've been around the whole time thats been going on. It feels really weird! (Imagine what it feels like for the people who can actually remember the first release!).
Its Christmas Eve and I still don't feel like I'm going to enjoy Christmas. I'm struggling to understand that tomorrow is one of the best days of the year (my birthday comes a close second).
Anyway, I'm going to Scotland on Monday (although my days are confused) so I probably won't blog til after new year.
Have a good Chirstmas and an awesome new year! Remember what its really about...

Christmas Eve eve!

Oh dear, we're almost there! Its ten days since I last saw Henry - it feels like a lot longer and made worse by the fact that he sent me a letter! My sister said she'd under-estimated how much we like each other and I think I'm guilty of that too. I have been taken by surprise by my feelings. Its weird!
I was sitting in the same pub as my little brother as well yesterday, its less than two weeks till he hits 18 - yes I know he was drinking illegally, but theres not a lot I can do - the funny thing is that he woke up still drunk! Hey - I'm praying for him and his mates! 2 weeks...my oh my. Well I've already brought his birthday present and just need to think about getting him a card.
I need to buy my housemates secret santa present as well.
I had an encounter with James today - which was weird. I haven't seen and spoken to him outside of the Boar for ages. He's always been at work - and what did we talk about? Work! And Christmas. Anyway, less of that. I also saw Dan too. Its been a day of surprises, and I could well be going to the pub tonight... again. I'm not an alcoholic, I just have a lot of friends!
I'm going to check out the pictures of my boyfriend on My sisters blog!! Yeay!!

Gloomy Essex - made better by the fact that my social life kicked off 5 hours after I arrived!!

I've been at home (EH-SIX, EH-SIX!!) for less than 2 days and I've already been to the pub twice and told my life story (over the last three months) at least four times!
There are a few people that I haven't seen but I did manage to walk into the local whetherspoons and still know the bar staff!! Ah James - where would I be without someone who tries to serve me everytime I go to the bar? I am enjoying being at home but when my sister came home and showed me pictures of Henry all I wanted to do was get on a train to London and go to Malvern! I haven't quite let on how much I miss him, but its enough to make my heart jump everytime I hug the Stitch that he gave me!!
I'm still ill. I've been given ear drops by the doctor! Hopefully I'll be well by the time Christmas comes around. Umm... not long now!

Less than a week...

There is a song that commercial radio does called 'sleeps til Santa', now I can't tell you how many sleeps there are (because I'm normally out of the house before they sing) til Santa comes but its not very many!! Yes I am slowly getting excited about Christmas. I think it'll be better once I'm the other side of London and with my family.
Fusion Christmas party tomorrow. It has been over 6 weeks in the making, but we finally finished preparing today. It has been a lot of hard work with more than enough people sticking their ores in but tomorrow we (Helen and I) will get to show over 20 young people (hopefully closer to 40) how good we are as leaders!
I have news from Amy (who is going to West Africa and not South, my fault, d'uh!!). Her parents organized a breakfast for her and she's managed to get all the money to pay for her training whilst she's on the ship. Now we have the easy task of raising the money to bring her home!! If anyone feels so inclined to give money to Mercyships in general - here's ! your link

I am happy but ill and have got to the stage in my life where paracetomol doesn't work. I know this is a stupid question, but I'm going to ask it any way - is there such thing as a safe overdose?

I miss Henry loads and it royally sucks that I won't get to see him until the 12th Jan. But my sister is in the habit of sending me pictures of him. I know that I want a cowboy for Christmas!! One of my housemates, I won't name names, has decided that we are going to get married too. She was telling me as we were walking to a lecture (kinda narrows it down of you know my housemates!). She knows me well enough to decide that just because we have the same beliefs that we are going to get married - well, I dunno, but its early days yet (p.s. We've talked about marriage and kids already!)

Right I have to sleep so I can get up and have bacon for breakfast tomorrow!!

Full of God's love

We went the wrong way into town and I prayed for a parking space, God gave us one right outside where we needed to stop.
I had a productive day at work.
I got a pink Christmas Tree.
I've had such a God filled day it's been great. Even better - I get to share the story of 'Baby' Jesus tomorrow in the coolest way ever - through a chocolate advent calendar (show me the people who say God isn't relevent to today's society, I'll tell 'em they're wrong!). I love my life at the moment, its a shame my boyfriend is texting me rather than sitting sharing with me!

My Weekend!

There has been a post that says I didn't give out enough info about my weekend with Henry. How much do you wanna know? I'm not going to kiss and tell, that would make you all sick. I've not got the time to give you a full account.
We went to a Musical (Am. Dram.) on Saturday (our first proper date!) and didn't go to bed till 2 in the morning. I got up at 10am and we spent 3 hours doing nothing! We did some shopping and then watched Zoolander (I'm yet to be converted). I cooked and then went to Fusion. I came home to find Henry talking to Aimie. Aimie told me that her uncle was in a bad state and probably won't see Christmas. I'm praying for her and her mum's brother, as well as their family and I'd love it if you joined me - thankyou.
We said goodnight and I slept on the couch. I got up at 7.30am to do my mentoring top-up training. I got home and we went out for lunch. We played pool for a bit (we both won one game) and I watched his bus leave.
He's been gone for 23 hours and I'm already hating life without him.
Enough? I think so.

Disney is so much fun!

Henry's gone home :( I won't get to see him til January now! Its well annoying, but I should expect it, seen as I'm so busy and he's a late addition to my schedule! But I've had an awesome weekend and I will miss him loads!! He brought me the coolest Christmas present, I was so shocked cos he said that he was worried about not having enough room for hair gel!! Cheeky boy! I got a Stitch dressed as Santa!! Now I have to buy him something!
Tee Hee, I'm so happy!

Its the weekend!!

Hazzar, 2050 words!! A little over (to be honest I tought I'd be under) but hey, I'm happy! I think I'm getting RSI in my wrists from doing too much typing, which is never good. I'll probably come out of Uni with really bad wrists and end up with arthritis in my arms and hands, but I guess thats what you get for being so clever!
Henry is going to be here in just over 3 hours but bless him, he has a cold, so I'll probably be ill on tuesday morning! I'm so excited!
I have to do my christmas shopping!!

zzzzzzzz....

I'm currently resting... I'm very close (452 words) to finishing my essay so I'm talking a rest, I'm told every 45 mins you workyou're meant to have 15 mins off, or is that for revision? Anyway I figured it was time I stopped writing about 19th Century Sociologists for a little while so for the next ten minutes, I'm going to dose.
I'm so excited about tomoro. I get to see Henry! Less than 24 hours. I have to tidy my room and do some food shopping. God bless the fact that I've got a 24 hr tesco practically next door!!

And then there were 990

Yes I'm taking a break from essay writing, again! I'm half way into it - I figure if I can finish doing my section on Marx this evening I can do Weber and my conclusion (which in total will be less than 800 words!) on friday! I can't believe how unmotivated I am to do this, I would be so much more excited to be writing about the effect of modernity on religion, but I don't write the module guide. Still if I get 200 words done by 11 tonight I'll be happy!

Exam timetables!

Ah ha! The joy of a well organised uni... well at at least when it comes to important things like exams (sod taking money from me so i can actually get an education so i can pass the exams!). Any way, I've got three exams at the end of this semester (which finishes on the last weekend of January) and they are within 6 days of each other. Which is good because I finish the first semester of my second year on the 24th January! Yeay for a whole week of doing nothing!
Right, I have to write this essay otherwise I will not pass at all!

If I...?

If I eat a chocolate and follow it with a mouthful of water am I being good or bad?
If I haven't done any of my essay but I have done my God and Evil reading, am I being good or bad? (I didn't do my reading last week but did do my essay, needless to say the lecture was really poor because no-one had done the reading)
I think I'm averaging out at the moment - I'm just about to start my essay and I have been doing a lot of reading for it because it covers a broad subject (as wide as the Atlantic ocean from a sociologists perspective). I'll do essay writing for an hour or so, then eat, do some more and then get ready for D's birthday celebrations!
And the point of this partiular blog entry, I hear you cry...I remembered where the song lyric comes from! Savage Garden - such a good band, shame Darren Hayes got a record deal all on his own!! I leave you with that thought, while I think about 19th Century Sociologists and the historical concept of Modernity.

What a weekend!

God is awesome. He totally looked after me the entire weekend. Not once was I over-stressed nor did I worry about feeding 26 people.
For those of you who don't know I volunteered myself to feed the members of the CU for the house party. I managed it all on my own and now I'm quite happy to say that by the age of 20 I have catered, for a whole weekend (that's 6 meals + afternoon tea) for 26 people and I still had food left over. I think its quite an achievement at such a young age. I'm looking forward to doing a similar thing again, as long as I know I've got a God who loves me looking over my shoulder.

In the two teaching sessions that I did sit in on I picked up on something that I guess I'd never spotted before. In Matt 3:17 it says "And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." " I was listening to what David (the speaker) had to say and it hit me. God was "well pleased" (love that phrase) with Jesus, even though he hadn't started his ministry. God has loved me from the moment I let him into my life, before I'd even done anything, even before I knew the Matt 28:20 is the greatest commandment. Its quite an emotional thing, to know that someone has loved you even before you've met them (I'm sure thats a song lyric), it fills me with joy to know that.

I've had such a great weekend, it seems a shame to know that I have to get this essay done completely before Henry comes to visit! Its all work, well for the next four or five hours, then we all start getting ready for Di's birthday bash (we're dressing up as gangstas) and then all of tomoro (until committee meeting at 4). This week has started on a high (I got a lovely letter from Henry this morning - hes going to see Blink tonight) and will end on a high (when Henry hugs me on saturday).

It may only be monday but all I can say is "BRING ON THE WEEKEND!"

God is good part deux

This evening I was in dire need of a pick-me-up and I found it in a talk and a piano. Let me explain....
The semesters topic for CU is the story of David (found in 1 and 2 Samuel for those of you who struggle to remember your bible stories). This week it was David and Bethsheba. Basically David sees Bathsheba, gets her pregnant and kills off her husband. Lovely. The Bible is the best place to find stories of adultery and murder! The speaker was really challenging us to pick out where we fall down in the sight of God and to change our ways. I feel like I've let a lot of stuff go tonight.
Ok the piano. For the last week or so I've known that Dan (the music man) was leading worship on his own the whole weekend for the CU houseparty, Isobel was able to sing but what she really wanted to do was play. We had phoned a lot of churches and had no luck at all. This evening (the night before the weekend) Matt the president rang someone at his church to enquire about the spare keyboard they keep. Its not being used for the weekend so the CU will have a piano and a guitar for worship this weekend! I am over the moon, I love to listen to Dan and Isobel play, they are awesome together!!
Still its worthwhile praying that I don't have to feed a vegan this weekend, I've got two people who don't eat beef so I might switch from Beef to lamb for the bolognese. For everyone elses safety too?? ;)
Henry and I are fighting about which is better - neighbours or Family affairs? I'll be greatful for you input (though if you say family affairs I will disown you!), there is nothing better than an aussie soap on the BBC!

Life is a rollercoaster, you just gotta ride it!

Thankyou Ronan, for those immortal words!
That how life feels. I've just found out that my University are stupid! They can't understand that if I give them my bank details and make sure the money is in the bank they can take the money from my account on the relevant dates. Ooooh noooo, I have to set up a direct debit account to do this. How can I when I don't know how and wasn't given ANY indication that I needed to? Crazy world, so now instead of having a nice break between paying my funking tutition fees I now have 3 weeks between the two dates. ARGH! And because the University payroll system is crap too I won't get paid a lot in January either.
I was on such a high after talking to ten four year olds about David and Goliath (and chocolate advent calendar's!!) plus walking down the road named after the place where my boyfriend comes from! Now I don't know where to get my smile from at all. At least I get to off load an essay today and enjoy the final CU before the nightmare that is houseparty!!

Giving up slowly...

Today has been an indifferent day. I have done many things that I didn't want to and haven't done enough of what I wanted to do. Take Christmas shopping for instance, I've not even written my lists, let alone know when I am going to do it all. I know what I am going to buy my Secret Santa person, but the rest of the list slips into oblivion, so much so that everytime I go to think about it I find myself thinking about essays instead! Christmas is too much to tackle at the moment, we talked on sunday about giving up things for Advent, just as we give up things for Lent. My question is can I give up commercial christmas for one year? This year?

"Today is the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord" Lk 2:11

Please, there is no reason why we need to spend so much money every year. Yes it is cool to get presents, but lets not be too greedy, eh? If you do feel inclined to buy presents, buy those that are Fairly Traded - http://www.fairtrade.org.uk Help loads of people have a good Christmas!

Sorry for the guilt trip, it how I feel and to answer my own question, my favourite thing at the moment is m Divine (Fair Trade) Chocolate Advent Calendar!!