mac make a big mistake – a gadget with unfortunate name

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Happy Christmas

I am in a bit of daze over Christmas preparations. I have lots of services to do before I have my dinner and the house is full of people. So, I am sorry if this posting will be brief. I just wanted to say Happy Christmas dear reader and I do hope you have a peaceful season.

the death of popular culture

I have had a bit of a bonkers 10 days – full of Christmas cheer, popular culture and a viva that nearly tipped me over the edge.

I missed a lot of the run up to Christmas last year because I was caught up in jury service but this year I am getting the full hit of being a priest at Christmas-time. There is so much to do – and advent has been a lively spiritual challenge for me. I am loving the waiting for Christmas and all the lead up to it. That said there have been a few things that have been quite disturbing – The X-Factor for one. I am not sure I can express my disdain for it without rude words but I will have a go. I once thought it was as innocuous as karaoke but now think it is destructive. You know, dear reader, that I love popular culture and can usually find some worth in nearly any of it (even Miley Cyrus has her good points) but xfactor is a cruel twisted popular culture that is sucking the life out of everything that is good about music. It is a vampire draining the life-blood from young people’s talent and leaving them with nice teeth, lovely hair, shining legs and a look of vanity. I want it to stop – with all my of my heart I want it to stop. I want our young people to come back and stop following the nasty child catchers into the little box. I want them to run free and make pop music that is about them and not about a strange middle aged man who likes everything to be pretty. So there…

I am a bit tense at the moment (can you tell). I had my PhD thesis viva last Friday and whilst I am not knocking my achievements I still have some more work to do on it…work that I am disappointed about really. They are asking me to shift my work away from my practice and more toward the theory that underpins it. Of course my theory is completely sound and the work they are asking me to do is perfectly reasonable but I am gutted that I didn’t express the worth of the practice clearly enough to validate it. It’s not the end of the world but I do have to spend some time digesting their comments and working out what my response will be in terms of the work. It shouldn’t take me too long to sort it out but at the moment I am not sure where the time will come from. Some reflection and careful prayer about time management, stress and workloads will also need to be done.

Anyway, I hope you are enjoying advent and that your Christmas preparations are bringing you joy. Remember Jesus isn’t just for Christmas and that when the heavens and the earth are reunited there will be salvation from xfactor and all bad things. Until then it is up to us to make this world a better place and fight against injustice (wherever we find it) and seek the Lord in all things good and worthy. Lets get to it.

Carl Sagan – ‘A Glorious Dawn’ ft Stephen Hawking (Cosmos Remixed)

big thinking on a day off

bridlington beach huts

I am often jealous of people who live by the seaside (though to be honest I am a city dweller so perhaps it’s best for it to continue as a holiday romance)…but, I am particularly impressed by this take on the advent calendar. Farli will know the answer to this – Is it possible that Bridlington Rocks!?

back blogging

Hello dear reader. Thanks for your patience whilst I have been away finishing off my PhD thesis – you’ll be pleased to know it has been submitted to The University of Liverpool and I am now waiting for a viva date. So, I hope to be back here blogging on a regular basis. I am thinking about a re-brand (again) but I suspect that is a while off but in the meantime I will let you know about a few things that have been happening:
– Eva has started walking to school on her own
– We have adopted a puppy from Freshfields – his name is Jacob and he’s very cute (as you can see above)
– Eva, mark and I have been to Belfast for a little jolly – which was great…lots of sitting about, chilling out, catching up with family and friends.
– I have had a cold – I feel much better now, though I am still very tired.
– I am at last feeling like I can get stuck in to parish life. I just hope nothing else comes along to get in the way of being able to be in the parish full time (apart from my more formal curacy training commitments of course).

So, with that in mind I had batter get back to parish life…

eternal earth bound pets

thanks to notbovvered for this link:

“You’ve committed your life to Jesus. You know you’re saved. But when the Rapture comes what’s to become of your loving pets who are left behind? Eternal Earth-Bound Pets takes that burden off your mind.”

a week

It has been a whole week since I last blogged and so much has happened…I can’t even begin to start on the mad business of the week, the juggling I have done is week is exemplary and the mere fact that I have managed to get through without decking someone should been seen as a feat in itself.

Probably the main reason I have survived is that Becky has been here looking after Eva and keeping an eye on me – PhD fever has been quite bad and having someone to remind me that I am fine has been very useful. Also, Becky being about has helped me to keep up my parish commitments…of which there have been a few this week.

Anyway, I wish I could write more but I really must get on with preparing my latest thesis draft which is going to my favourite proof reader tomorrow…

run’s house

Eva and I have most evenings to ourselves at the moment because Mark is off with Da Boyz…as a result we have been watching some rubbish TV. However, the best thing we have found to watch is Run’s House ‘an MTV reality series. It shows the family life of rapper and hip-hop music pioneer Joseph Simmons a.k.a. Rev Run.’ We actually laugh out loud…

bad vicar

Jonathan Swales posted this on facebook today and it made me chuckle so I thought I would share it with you. I am still battling with my PhD tweeking (feels more like a rewrite at the moment)…and I also feel like a ‘bad vicar’ (though not in the same way as the vicar in the video). I am neglecting my flock with all this PhD stuff and it is making me all figetty widgetty. I want to get out there and do stuff but I am in here doing other stuff…anyway, best get on with that stuff!