Wednesday, August 31, 2005

One Year Older But Not Wiser....

Yep.

That's right, it was my birthday yesterday.

I'm now 31.

The only thing that's stopping me throwing myself in to a huge tub of shark-infested custard to drown myself, is that at least I don't look it....

hehe

I may be an old fart now, but when you lot are wrinkly and saggy, I'll still be fresh faced and young looking....

*grins*

*pulls tongues*

Note To Self.....

DONT talk about products you've bought, otherwise you'll get 101 million annoying spam comments....

Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!

We live and learn....

How I Spent Some Of My Birthday Money....



Buying this!!

Not only does it filter me delicious coffee, but it also warms and froths my milk at the same time!! At only £34.99 , one of the best uses of birthday money ever!! (ok i know I sound like one of those spam bloggers but I'm really made up with this sorry!! lol)

My room is now complete, not only do I have surround sound dvd, a cd player, a tele, and a leather couch, I now have this on my desk!! All I need now is a tiny fridge and microwave and supplies, and I can hibernate for the winter.....

Oh by the way VJ, can you do the honours, she needs a name?
(I'm presuming she's a she because she muti-tasks with the "making - coffee - and - frothing - milk - thing"!!)

Thanks Vj. :-)


Tuesday, August 23, 2005

The New TV Reality Show/Sitcom: "My Life"

Episode 1: 'Packdown From Hell'

It's 7:10pm on a sunday evening. You've been working hard all weekend in charge of a bookstall, at Merseyfest, a large Christian Festival/Event/Concert. So far the shop has been so busy you've hardly had time to eat or get a break, and you need to go for a wee badly. You've taken a couple of grand so far, and the day promises to get busier. Yesterday you worked from 11 in the morning till 10pm at night, and you were already beyond knackered when you started today. Serving approximately potentially 10,000 people does that to you........

You know the plan, it's already etched in your memory, since your Boss has just gone on holiday. You close up the shop at ten pm, then go home and cash up. On Monday, you will go and pack into boxes what you haven't sold, put them on a pallet, and wait for the Lorry that's picking them up to arrive at 10:30am. Simple!

Wrong.

It's not that easy, because what ACTUALLY happens is this:

You find out at precisely ten past seven pm, that the marquee in which your bookshop is located, is going to be slowly and methodically packed down by six oclock tommorrow morning. That means that you will have a bookstall in an open park in the middle of liverpool ready for anyone to come and nick. You pack the bookstall away as quickly as you can, and put it on to pallets. Satisfied that you've got it done in time, as they're taking the lights down as you put the final box on the pallet, you decide you can send all the staff home, except the person who's giving you a lift.

On a whim, you decide just to confirm that the security staff will be on all night, only to get an answer of "yes, but we're not gonna guarantee that your stock's gonna be there tommorrow mate". You then get presented with one of two options: 1. keep the stock on pallets in the middle of a park in liverpool, with very little secuity but under a dry tent thats coming down early in the morning; or: 2. move the stock via forklift to a temporary enclosure a short distance away with gates, but out in the open with no cover.

So, praying like mad, you go for option 2, only to be told that "the fork lift driver has other jobs to do and you'll have to wait".... You sit in the car and wait......

The fork lift magically appears 25 minutes later, but with a problem. The pallets you spent your energy on, packing up to perfection are not near enough to the entrance of the marquee for the fork lift to reach. So what do you do?

You unpack them. AGAIN.

(Each pallet has 20 boxes on each and there are three stock pallets, and an extra equipment pallet)

You drag the empty pallets to the entrance, and re-pack them. AGAIN.

With only two of you.

In the dark.

In the cold.

In the wet.

When you're tired.

FORTY minutes later, as it's getting really dark, you manage to finally get the fork lift driver to move your stock. You cover it with your own shop banners in the vain hope they will protect the stock from the very British noah-like weather that's forecast overnight.

Monday morning: you arrive, to find that some of the stock is water damamged, and to top it all off, the tent that was supposed to be taken down is STILL UP!!!!! Choking down your rage like a bitter tasting lemon poo porridge, you calmly wait for the lorry pickup at ten thirty....

Which NEVER arrives...

You ring the company who cannot find the booking you made WELL OVER a week ago, and wait for them to ring you back. TWENTY minutes later, you get a phonecall back saying "oh yes, silly us we've found it, he's on his way".

An hour later, the truck arrives, (THREE HOURS late) and you have to wait AGAIN for a fork lift to turn up to load the pallets on, (fork lift drivers are obviously like superman, immortal in character, they keep having to dash off to save the world) because the field has reached a state of swampness that is too treacherous for the sophisticated workings of a mechanised tailgate........

Needless to say, I have much less hair now....

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Underpants...




























They have changed over the years, (ok obviously I change them every day but let me finish!) and I find the syle of underwear I used to wear say when I was 8 yrs old is vastly different to what I now wear as a 30yr old...

Y Fronts
These icons of male britishness are confortable, but have the unfortunate reputation for being very unfashionable and geeky. They are usually used as the (forgive the pun) butt of jokes, and are seen alot in comedy sketches. They look particularly amusing when the subject is wearing them along with just shoes and socks. On a good note, scientifically they do tend to give the right support to the right areas if you know what I mean... also, their price is generally very cheap and you can pick them up 5 for £2 at market stalls, off the back of a lorry,etc. Major disadvantage is you have to pull them down if you want to have a wee. Overall, they've never really been able to get past their untrendy reputation...

"Briefs"
Generally speaking, these are a trendier version of the y fronts, and usually a bit smaller, making a more impressive display of the "contents". Originally seen as an item primarily worn by Gay men, now they have come to be appreciated by both sides of male sexuality. The advantage of briefs is that their overall design is a tad better than y fronts, so the general geekiness is hidden. Again, even though they are seen as trendier, their relation to the y fronts still lingers, and you still have to pull them down to have a wee. Older greek men were the original proponents of these I believe.

"Boxies" (type 1)
These are vastly different to both y fronts and briefs, in that scientifically they have a distinct lack of support for the undercarriage shall we say. Fortunately, they do look a lot better, and they have much more fashion appeal than the others. They still have the disadvantage of having to be pulled down to have a wee, but for some that is a small price to pay for the sleek look. They are produced in thousands of different clours, while technically the design stays basically the same. Proponents of these are your normal general run-of-the-mill male in the street.

"Boxies" (type 2)
These are yet another step along the evolutionary chain of underwear, as they have a button front!! This allows the "contents" access to the loo without the underwear being pulled down around the ankles, which of itself is a good thing. This now means with the joint introduction of "flies" on jeans and trousers, that a wee can be had efficiently and quickly. I think they must have been invented by germans.

"Trunks"
These are the ferrari of underwear. With their sleek lines, and lycra-based tightness, these are the boxer shorts of athletes, swimmers, and anybody else who has the body of a greek god. Unfortunately, this means that the general adult male population buy them in secret, or from mail order catalogues, so that their puny overall body doesn't need to be seen by the person at the counter. Males who wear these undergo a transformation from mild mannered to testosterone filled warriors very nearly straight away, and they have the advantage of having the correct support needed in the correct areas. These were probably invented by Superman, although not to embarrass the rest of us, he chose red y fronts to endorse publicly. Another advantage of these is that they can be worn with the label outside of the jeans, further impressing the ladies.

I hope you liked my tour, as you can tell, I am very very bored today!!

(p.s. yes the first pic is of me in my calvin's with the red band, but please don't look too long, or you'll go blind.... lol)

Day Off....

Yep, that's right, another one!

Unfortunately though, I'll be working the rest of the week, including Sunday at the Merseyfest bookstall.

Not done much today yet, read through ALOT of blogs this morning, but not left many comments!!

(Ike, your vlogs ROCK!!!)

Anyway, will write some more later, but boring for now 'cos I'm rushing this as I have house cleaning to do....

P.S, for those of a nervous disposition, please don't read the next post I blog as it will be about my underpants....

Thankyou.

Worldwide Computer Animated Greens/Well-Known Burger Retailer Conspiracy...

Today, there were unconfirmed reports that a certain employee of a certain Christian Bookstore was verbally accosted by a customer on the above mentioned conspiracy to create "fat kids" by advertising the seductive evil products that are burgers of a certain well-known food retailer, through the medium of vegetables on children's dvds....

Yes, you may have thought the cute yet charming computer animated mock-ups of your average green were harmless, but not according to out very verbal and angry and physchopathic source...

Apparently the vegetables are the mere tip of the iceberg, sending our little ones down the slippery slope of food agnosticism, where one man's food is another's poison. Said Bewildered Bookshop Employee when interviewed "I really don't know what she's going on about, I never knew there was a link between certain animated vegetable dvds and a worldwide food retailer, don't you think I would have tried to get free cheeseburgers if I'd known?!"

The aforementioned employee was accosted verbally for several long minutes about "damaging easily influenced young childrens minds", and eventually gave up trying to use the well known debating tools called reason and logic. During this time the detailed supposedly "bad theology" of the content of the dvd's was outlined in 75 thousand very intricately detailed points.

When asked why said store sells such dvds, the employee replied "because they're funny", which wasn't the answer the producer of the highly theological rebuttal against them had expected and certainly not the first answer the employee was trained to give; but certainly had the funniest reaction from the complainer. In reports, most eye-witnesses agree the complainer turned a bright purple shade, and recieved an enormous simultaneous boost of energy for her elderly years, which transported her across the other side of the shop to the door, very quickly...

After the controversy had died down, the Employee went to get a cup of strong tea and to have a lie-down.....

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Crash...

I went to the cinema with my brother and my sister-in-law last night to watch this film. It's basically about a bunch of people all inter-connected in some way or other throughout the film by different circumstances, and racism. It was really well produced, and even though the characters were completely different, they were written into each scene really well.

It really made me think, particularly as every single racial group (and, being set in L.A, there were lots!!) exhibited some sort of racism towards another group. It was quite eye opening, and I'd like to say if that's really what living in LA is like, I'm glad I don't live there!!

It raised lots of issues, particularly about choices that we make, either for bad or for good, and how they have specific consequences, even if we can't see them. Also, the way that our actions in a given situation interract and affect others' decision-making.

Very well-written and thought-provoking.

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Nicked from Jonny's Blog......

1. What morally questionable act would you commit if you knew you'd never be found out? I'd watch an episode of neighbours, followed by cash in the attic...
2. What one thing do you most want to do before you die? play at wembley in front of a massive crowd, and hear them enjoying themselves
3. What is your guiltiest pleasure? 2 FULL bottles of baileys in one night. just me on my own drank them. (I had to go up the stairs on my hands and knees to bed i was so drunk lol)
4. Do you secretly wish you had more problems than you do, because you feel then you'd be more interesting? No. I have tons of problems, in fact Im nearly having a breakdown and Im the most boring person on the planet.
5. What is music? It is that which takes you away somewhere else.
6. Where is music? It is somewhere fab, like New Zealand or Canada, or in your own Favourite Place.
7. If you were to make a film called, "Not Being John Malkovich", what would the plot be? It would be about a person called John Malchovich, who was no relation to the famous actor, and who was extremely pissed off at the fact he kept getting fan letters despite his protests. It would be set in a Post Office, with a fat ugly girl behind the counter with too much makeup and greasy hair that he was complaining to..
8. Who would ghostwrite your autobiograpghy for you? Casper.
9. So, just how reliable are ghosts, exactly? Not very... "solid" is not a word you'd use to describe them.
10. Do you find it hard to be sincere about anything? Just some things, like church and loving fellow christians.
11. Do you frequently have strong urges to shout obscenities in public? Yes.
12. What is the funniest swear word? Twat. I don't know why, the sound of it makes me laugh, it sounds like something a duck would say as it's similar to "quack" in some ways.... (ok now Im rambling...)
13. "The pen is mightier than the sword". Is this why most poets are terrible ninjas? No it's because their father isn't the Grand Dragon.
14. Did you like dinosaurs as a child? Yes! But I could never eat a full one.
15. Do irrelvant questions and worries keep you awake at night? Frequently.
16. Do you walk around your house naked when nobody else is home? No I drink two FULL bottles of baileys.......
17. A snowball or a cat - which would last longer in hell? probably the snowball because of it's novelty qualities being there!!
18. How many hours a day do you actively contribute to the common good? Probably 0.3
19. How many emotions are there? for a bloke four: happy/angry/sad/sexually frustrated; for a woman, BILLIONS!!!
20. Can you keep a secret? Why? Can You?

Friday, August 12, 2005

Random Blog Title....

Not very creative today....

I've been doing alot of reading, snuggling myself into my favourite leather couch in my room, in almost a foetal way.

I've decided to read "Knowing God" by J.I. Packer, over the next few days, to see if it helps answer some of the questions and doubts I have. I've only just started, so no blinding revelations yet.

I've e-mailed people in church to say I'm taking a break for a while, and will come back in October.

At least I think I'll go back.

(they don't know what happenned this week, they just know I was in hospital)

I'll wait and see what happens, see how I feel then.

Sundays I can do what I want now, read all day, listen to music, go for a walk, instead of worrying about what songs I've chosen, whether the music group knows them well enough, if they fit the theme, etc etc.

I went to the doc's and he's prescribed me some anti-depressants for a month at first to see how I get on. He's also booked some counselling sessions for me as well.

Anyway, that's my news, I'm off to read.

Changes......

This is a hard post to write.

It's strange, the way your life works out, as you get older, you tend to look back more and live in the past, especially if you feel you haven't achieved what you wanted to.

All who read this blog won't know, but yesterday afternoon, I took an overdose of my medication. I normally inject myself once a day with 20mg, but yesterday took 180. After injecting myself nine times, after an hour I started to panic, and called my brother, who called my dad, who called an ambulance. I was rushed to hospital, and was kept in overnight under observation,, as the drug I'm on for my ms is quite new, and no-one has ever overdosed on it before. I spent a horrible night, being checked on my vitals every two hours, blood pressure, temperature and heart rate, etc.

After a day in hospital, I came home this afternoon, feeling very very tired, and very emotionally exhausted. I still can't say whether I meant to kill myself or not, and doubtless some people will thrust me into the ranks of 'unbeliever' and agnostic for what I've done, and maybe they're right. All I know is that when lonliness and disatisfaction with your life reach an all-time low, there's nothing else to do.

I'm off work for a couple of days, and my parents have told my boss I had to go into hospital connected with my ms and because I was exhausted. (which is sort of true) Telling people you tried to kill yourself because of depression isn't really something you want to advertise, and especially not to your Boss. I've decided to have another day off tommorrow, and go back in on saturday. I'm seeing my GP tommorrow about starting on some anti-depressants.

I can't really say I want sympathy or understanding, as I'm just numb at the moment. I'm not writing for that reason. It's mainly for my own benefit, so I can try and put into words what I feel. I guess one word sums it up:

Emptiness.

Total, utter emptiness, where nothing matters, and all emotions seem one tiny part of a jumbled mix going on in my head. Something needs to change, I don't want to stay this unhappy forever. I'm being a burden on my family, and a drain on other people emotionally.

I'm not writing this to be spectacular, the internet has a sort of anonymity of sorts to it, and not many people who know me in real life rad my blog, so I think it's ok to write stuff like this. If you do know me in real life, please don't repeat what I've just typed, my emotional vulnerability is not something to be discussed like the football.

I can't write any more at the moment, I'm too drained of energy emotionally.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Hmmmmmmmm

It's 1:27am, and I'm not tired, although I have to try to be quiet typing, as my mum and dad are asleep in bed in the next room!!

I'm listening to music and pondering my life as usual. I tend to ponder quite a lot, especially when I'm in a strange mood.

I'm a little down, but maybe that's tiredness.

I fancy a chat on msn, but all the sensible people have gone to bed hours ago....

Monday, August 08, 2005

I was bored.... sorry!!










































































































If any of you are of a nervous disposition and these pics have given you terrible nightmares.... I sincerely apologise!!

:-)

Unbelievable!!!

Rofl click on the title of this post, and you will be amazed!!

Unbeknown to me, for the last 30 and a bit years of my life, I've had my own ministry!!!

Cool eh?

Lol lol lol lol lol

Sunday, August 07, 2005

Hobbit the Reader & Listener...

I've decided my blog's a bit boring, so I''l review (in my own way!) books I've been reading recently and albums I've been listening to.

I do have quite a lot of spare time on my hands, as I'm single, (lol) so read and listen to music quite alot.

Hopefully it'll make my blog a bit more interesting anyway.....

"Ruthless Trust" by Brennan Manning...

Brennan Manning is an ex-catholic preist who now spends most of his time leading spiritual retreats all over the U.S. and Europe.

This is one of my favourite books, it's one of those books that you find yourself underlining and making notes in the margins, and pondering single sentences for 20 minutes. It makes you think quite deeply about your own journey of faith, and how that journey impacts the people and situations around you.

The whole premise of the book is that Brennnan feels that as Christians we don't need more knowledge about our faith; we need to use what we already have to encourage us to do what it is that God wants most from us: Trust.

However, this trust is not a simple obedience when the going is good, it's a ruthless trust that carries on believing in God's Goodness and Love for us even when all our circumstances seem to deny it.
This book really made me think about my own trust in God, and how unreliable and fickle it is compared to how it should be. It's not a book that depresses you or makes you feel guilty however, because while it challenges, it points out that God gives us this power to trust when all seems lost, and it's not of us. It encourages us with a picture of God as a loving Father who never lets us go, who will passionately use everything and anything to make us the people he wants us to be, because of his undying love for us.

...Unwavering trust is a rare and precious thing because it often demands a degree of courage that borders on the heroic. When the shadow of Jesus' cross falls across our lives in the form of failure, rejection, abandonement, betrayal, unemployment, lonliness, depression, the loss of a loved one; when we are deaf to everything but the shriek of our own pain; when the world around us suddenly seems a hostile, menacing place-at those times we may cry out in anguish. "How could a loving God permit this to happen?" At such moments the seeds of distrust are sown. It requires heroic courage to trust in the love of God no matter what happens to us...

"Yes Man!" by Danny Wallace...

This is possibly THE funniest book I have EVER read!

If you're a fan of Tony Hawks, this book is for you. It describes the madcap adventures of Danny Wallace once he undertakes to prove himself from a drunken bet!! (why do these things always start with a drunken bet in a pub?! lol)

Poor Danny has been dumped by his girlfriend, and life just isn't the same. He can't be bothered to go out, meet friends, or go to the pub anymore. In fact staying in and saying "No" has become a bit of a lifestyle...

That is, until a chance encounter with a random stranger on a bus replacement service home gives Danny a new perspective on life. he feels he ought to say "Yes!" to life more often...

And so he does.


The conversation with the random bloke on the bus so changes Danny's perspective of the world around him, that he makes a bet with his mate Ian in a pub that he can say "Yes!" to everything for one week. The results of this week of positiveness are so over whelming, that Danny gets pen and paper and produces his own Manisfesto to live by:

"I, Danny Wallace, being of sound mind and body, do hereby write this manifesto for my life. I swear I will be more open to opportunity. I swear I will live my life taking every available chance. I swear I will say yes to every favour, request, suggestion and invitation. I swear I will say yes where once I would have said no."

Read about what happenned when Danny decided to live by this for a whole year!!

"Monster" by Frank Peretti...


This is the latest from Frank, and quite different to his other novels. I read it about three weeks ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Frank is known for his fiction being mainly supernatural, with the main characters usually being angels and demons battling it out in a realm unseen by human eyes, but in this novel he takes an entirely different thread altogether.

The main characters are mainly human, with no mention of spiritual beings. The content is suspenseful, and alot of chapters end on a cliffhanger, which makes you want-to-read-on, even-if you're-supposed-to-be-in-work-for-8:30-and-it's-already 2:00 am... (Ok, so that might just be my experience...)


The main plot involves gruesome deaths in the woods, caused by a creature thought to be a Sasquatch by locals.

Reed Shelton, and his wife Beck have decided to go on a hiking week through the mountains and forest, and they disturb and encounter a strange creature. During the encounter, Reed's wife is injured and dissapears, leaving Reed only one option: to track the animal that has taken his wife, and hope against hope she is still alive...

This is a very good book, and as usual Frank has a point to make through the story, involving our perception of nature and evolution v's creationismn and the advancement and debasement of science and genetics among other things. It's very well written, and if you're looking for a good bit of fantasy escapism that will make you think about deeper subjects, this is the book for you. I give it 9 out of 10.

One more leap and they were on the path, running up the trail out of the ravine, hoping and praying it was the right one, the one that would get them out of this hellish place and down to Abney, a town they'd only heard about.
They ran as fast as they could see to run, adrenaline rushing, the trail, the trees, the turns quaking in their light beams. They climbed, cut around switchbacks, clambered over rocks, dodged around windfalls, getting distance, getting away, getting distance.
But another enemy was stalking them, overcoming them like a slow, creeping death: fatigue. The steep grade, the altitude, and their heavy packs pulled them down, stole their breath, consumed their muscles...

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Blast From The past....

Hope you like the music video btw, it's from Seal, when he had hair, and wore leather!!

It was from the early 90's, and takes me back!!

If you watch the video without cringing at the point where he pushes the mic on a chain away from him, then well done!! I keep expecting it to come back and hit him in the face!! :s

He's got a great voice and it was a great song though!

*sighs happily at the associated memories*

:)

War Of The Hairstyles...

Right.

That's it.

It's on baby.

After recent comments, I am changing my hairstyle!! I AM NOT a Tommy wannabe!! lol lol lol

(sorry mate, no offence if you glance at my blog, I'm sure you're a great guy, but the competitive streak in me doesn't like being compared!!)

Ok, from examination of the evidence, I'll have to make mine more mohican-ish. My hair is shorter, as his seems to be long. Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd...... I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a purple streak through his!!

So there, all you hair nazi's!!! We are different!!

Watch this space for my new haircut anyway!!!

:p *pulls tongues at Loz and Lisa*

;) lol

Friday, August 05, 2005

Grrr I've got to post this here so I can get a url address so I can use it as my profile pic... what a palava!!!

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A few of the people in my life....

I thought I would tell you about...

It's kind of ironic, but for someone who doesn't have many really close freinds, I have a lot of people who seem to depend on me in one way or another...

In their own way, they're all a little "eccentric" is the word I think I would use.

Here are some of them:

Michael

He's about late thirties/early forties, and is a homeless guy I met in macdonald's once and bought a meal for. We got chatting, and he seems to know a bit of information about everything. He's a self confessed Heroin addict, although nowadays he just gets Methadone from his doctor just to stay normal and not get the shakes. I get the impression he's had a hard life and after talking and meeting him fairly regularly, I'm none the wiser as to what drove him to the streets. He's catholic, and seems to talk about God alot. He sometimes comes across as a bit bitter about his situation, (not surprising) but not enough to do something about it. He likes to talk about people alot, and seems to place value in people generally.

Chris

Chris is a heroin addict/alchoholic in his late thirties who I've met a few times over the years in town, and had some good conversations with. He knows the Bible well enough to quote it inside out, and I think he is actually a Christian, because I've heard him trying to pray when he's been high, getting upset asking God to help him get off it. He did go to a rehab centre and stayed dry in the past for about three months, but then missed his girlfreind too much (also an addict) and went back to her and to that lifestyle again. He regularly comes into the shop asking me to pray for him, and getting upset, but not seeming to get anywhere. I still pray with him and for him though. I see a desperation in his eyes that he wants to let go of the drugs but he just can't. It's really sad, but as long as he keeps coming in, I'll keep praying with him.

Luise

Luise is in her middle thirties, and is an ex-heroin addict, who claims that she re-dedicated her life to God and got clean because of talking to me. She says at the height of her problems, she came in to the shop and would talk to me, and that it helped because I listened. Without wanting to sound like false modesty, I honestly don't remember any of this, but will take her at her word! She still has alot of problems, an ex-husband who regularly tries to visit their children and beats her up when they have a fight, because of the drugs, she had to turn her kids into foster care, and she's only allowed to look after one of them now. I sense that she's also incredibly lonely, and feels like she's wasted some of her life through her past. On the positive side, she loves God, and is trying to live for him in very very difficult circumstances. She lives with a lot of heartbreak, and I chat to her quite often in the shop.

Steve

Steve is in his late forties, got to know me through another member of staff that went to his church initally. He never got many qualifications in school, and I think has some learning difficulties. He lives on his own in a very grubby flat with his three cats. He clealy loves his cats and talks about them alot. A lot of the time he doesn't wash before he goes out, so can be a bit smelly/musty at times. He volunteers three timers a week as a driver for a local animal shelter, and the rest of the time he comes in to the shop to talk to me!! He's very down on women, I think he's been hurt in the past and reacted to it negatively. He seems very lonely too.

Richard

Richard used to be in my Sundayschool class when I was still a teacher at the time. He's 19 and a half, and he has quite a few learning difficulties. He has a really bad stutter, and also sufferes from epilepsy. He basically has the mind of a 10yr old, and we tend to laugh a lot!! :> I take him to the cinema and invite him back to mine as much as I can because his mum and dad are divorced and seem to lead very busy, separate lives from him and he doesn't get to see them much. When he was born, he had to have several operations on his stomach, as he had a reflex reaction which meant he couldn't eat any solid food at all, even at 3 years old, he'd constantly throw up what he'd just ate. They operated on his stomach and oesophagus, which means that now it's impossible for him to vomit. While his understanding is limited, I think he could be smarter if he wanted to. He got baptised in church last Easter, and it was brill to see him moving on using what little faith/understanding he has. I try to look out for him as much as I can, as I still feel like his SundaySchool teacher!!!

Anyway I could go on all night, but I'll stop here for now. Suffice it to say, all thse people need your prayers (if you do) could you spare five minutes to pray for them? They're people special to God, and my freinds also!!


Thursday, August 04, 2005

me tonight, with my partial mohican-ish hair... Went a bit wierd cos of the rain tonight!! :s

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Me, after returning from London feeling very tired!! (this was before the purple addition to my hair) I look desperately sad in this, which I probably was. I'm a lot sadder than I used to be to be honest, but having a camera to take pictures when I feel like it helps. :)

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Final shot, as it was starting to go dark, and I forgot to press the auto-focus... :s

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Again taken from the steps where I sat people-watching and reading in the warm evening air... It was very relaxing.... :-)

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and Trafalgar Square again... Just so you know, this was taken at 8pm at night, and the weather was great!! It looked like the middle of the afternoon!!

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Trafalgar Square again...

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Can't remember the name of this road, but you come on to it just after you step off the Bridge. around the corner to the right, is a pub named "The Sherlock Holmes", so I guess this might be near Baker Street...

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One more view from the center of the Bridge...

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Another view from the Bridge, leaning out over it precariously!!

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The Millenium Bridge itself, with totally random people on it!!

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Another view of the famous skyline from Millenium Bridge...

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