The Mixed Bag

This blog has moved

2009-02-12T17:40:00.026Z

In case anyone's interested, which might be unlikely, I think I'll be blogging at http://chossienossie.wordpress.com in future. Run along over and see, if you like. Read, if you like.

I know this kind of behaviour's a bit annoying, but everyone needs a fresh start occasionally.

So I'm not here now. I'm there.

Sorry.

Hot drinks and alarm clocks

2009-01-28T20:48:00.051Z

I have finally discovered that hot drinks and alarm clocks are not useless. It's taken me a while to discover this—maybe that I now know they actually have a use is an indication that I'm growing old—but here are my proposed uses.

Hot drinks are for the purpose of making stomachs think they're full when they're not. This is useful when hunger pangs strike with one and a half hours to go before tea time, or when boredom eating attempts to kick in. At least, it WOULD be useful if I could remember that hot drinks are for that sort of occasion BEFORE I scoff sultanas (remembering AFTER is no good at all). Never mind, though. Sultanas don't need waiting for and won't burn tongues (I haven't burnt my tongue on a hot drink that I remember, but it should be possible).

And alarm clocks are to wake people up. Yes, I know, what's the use of that? Well, I think reading is best done in the early morning, because everyone else is asleep (and therefore quiet!) and normally my brain is totally empty at that time unless I've had a vivid dream. However, I don't have an alarm clock, and with five other people in the house using one would be pretty dangerous if it was set to six thirty. I'll just have to make do with half an hour to an hour of reading in the morning, then, unless I discover a way to naturally wake up at six thirty or seven—between five and six would really be the ideal, but that's not going to happen at present.

So, there you are. Hot drinks are to stop binge eating and alarm clocks are to enable reading at a respectable rate.

This, that, and the other half-heartedly revisited

2009-01-14T19:48:00.003Z

Writing things down enables one to move on. Well, it enables me to move on, anyway. I never noticed until this week when I finished writing something down in story form—pretty rare for me to do—and then noticed that the next day I wasn't dwelling on it at all and rather wanted to put it behind me and forget it.

Maybe this is why after something 'major' happens I normally want to write it down in story form. Quite often, however, this exercise doesn't get past the first few paragraphs. Indeed, the last time I felt like writing something down in story form (October) I took pity on my known to me in real life ~~villains~~ characters, and decided not to do so. That doesn't mean that I won't go back to it later, though. But the first few paragraphs will probably tantalize me in three years time when I've forgotten all about it.

*******

Well, I want to put what happened behind me, but maybe some are curious. Suffice to say that on Saturday I bumped the back of my head and threw up a while later, and mum phoned the doctors who advised her to take me to accident and emergency. I pronounced myself unimpressed, but that didn't matter: mum and dad took me to A & E, where someone with a broken ankle recognized dad (apparently he played the piano for this other man once) and said that dad would look like Brahms if he was shorter and tubbier.

Anyway, I was correct about not needing to go, because after I read the whole eye chart to the doctor he decided I was fit to be released.

Oh, and how did I bump my head? Horse riding. This horse as tall at the shoulder as I am at the head decided that it would be fun to try and touch the sky with her rear hooves, and I tumbled off onto frosty sand (and yes, I was wearing a riding hat). After I fell off, she continued to race around bucking for a little while. I should note that this horse is one of the laziest and most laid back at the riding school, and this performance was produced from walk. No, I didn't get back on. My instructor thought I should sit down, and I was not feeling like arguing.

The throwing up happened after I'd gone home.

So that, in a nutshell, is what happened. Oh, and I do have a new riding hat now. Also, no sympathy is needed; it was one of the most exciting days I've had in a long time (though I wouldn't advise anyone to try to recreate it themselves.).

*******

Bach wrote a cantata about coffee. Strangely enough, this is known as the Coffee Cantata.

I never knew that before last week.

Anyway, this cantata is about a woman who drinks coffee. Her father wants her to stop, but she refuses even when he starts telling her what she won't do. In the end, her father tells her that she won't get married until she gives up coffee, at which point the woman decides that she can give up coffee for a husband...and then makes it known that anyone who wants to marry her will have to agree to let her make coffee whenever she likes.

No, I don't know any german, but I found a translation of the text. I used google (and, if you are interested, you can too.).

*******

Okay, so I wasn't intending on publishing this post. I intended to press 'save as draft' and leave it, never to be returned to again. But I accidentally pressed 'publish post' and I don't think it's so bad that it needs to be deleted. So it stays.

*******

I like quotes. This is one of my favorites, and has been ever since I first heard it:

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. --Galileo Galilei

Forgiveness

2009-01-08T20:33:00.001Z

...and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. --Colossians 3:13

...and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us...

We are commanded to forgive others. We are to forgive, because Christ forgave us. And Christ forgave so much more than we will ever be called upon to forgive. But, as the Lord's Prayer shows, if we expect Christ to forgive us we should forgive others.

How can we, being forgiven, refuse to forgive? I wonder if there isn't an element of pride at work. We think we deserve to be treated better, even though we probably don't deserve to be treated so well. And so we expect the other to ask forgiveness, to say sorry, to just acknowledge their wrongdoing. It would be so much easier to forgive then. But to forgive before there's even been a suggestion that forgiveness is needed? Pah.

We blow things completely out of proportion, taking little things which may well have been meant with all the good will in the world, and turning them into a major crime against our most righteous personages. We do this to our shame. We're not righteous personages.

How many things have we done, without realizing, that required forgiveness? How many little things have we done to others which have caused animosity to rise in their breast like it is rising in ours now? How many people have forgiven us?

If we are to expect others to forgive us—and we do expect others to forgive us, and others normally do forgive us—we should extend the same courtesy to others.

I'd be lying if I tried to say that forgiving was easy—I am beginning to learn that it is not—but forgiving is essential. And so I will learn, am learning, to forgive.

It is a lesson that needs to be learnt.

This, that, and the other

2009-01-07T19:57:00.001Z

It's the little things that matter.

The minister and his wife at one of the churches where dad plays the organ sent him a pair of fingerless gloves. Just because one of them chanced to remark to dad that it was cold in the church and wondered whether he could wear gloves while playing, and dad said he'd need fingerless gloves (which, by the way, he didn't have before, but has now).

Wasn't that nice of them?

*******

I stumbled upon this today, and it is well worth reading. It's on prayer. And it is excellent.

And also, this by Purcell. I found it on youtube. And I, being prepared for beauty, though it an ugly piece, until I heard this rendition. And then I returned to the first rendition, being prepared to think it ugly, and couldn't see what the problem was.

Oh, and J.S. Bach's Sheep May Safely Graze is very nice. But I'll leave that one to you to search for if you're interested. Yes, I'm lazy.

*******

The title came from my sister, who looked over my shoulder and said "This, that, and the other". I credit her for it here.

I'm sure I've written a post titled "This, that, and the other" before though.

After having carefully looked through all my published posts' titles, it would seem that I haven't. There was a post with a similar title, but it is far too cringe worthy to link to. All I have to say about this is that immature teenagers should NOT be let loose on the blogging world under any circumstance whatsoever, for EVERYONE'S good.

*******

Now, for a short weather report.

Monday, awoke to a light sprinkling of snow, which was melting at eight thirty am and all gone by twelve noon.

Tuesday, no snow.

Today, a few snowflakes fell, but they did not settle. They melted when they hit the ground.

So there's no extreme coldness in this part of England.

*******

Our woolworths has now closed. Everyone's woolworths has closed. So, in memory of them, here is a list of things which I have from woolworths.

--a nice pair of gloves. They're black with grey fake fur and I've had them for ages.
--a notebook. It is from Christmas 2007, I think, and I haven't yet filled it.
--a pair of cheap sunglasses which I never wear because my little sister mangled them a little and I'm not a sunglasses person anyway
--a book on British wildlife
--chocolate. It's all been eaten long ago, but I'm almost certain I bought chocolate from them last year...hey, no, in 2007. Two years ago.
--pom poms. I kid you not. I will use them just as soon as I think of a craft project which needs pom poms to make it perfect.
--glitter. It should be useful at some distant point in the future.
--christmas presents and easter presents for other members of my family. I won't list them here because they're not mine, and so I don't get any use from them. Presents I've bought for my family should go on their lists of things they own from woolworths.
--a torch. It's a silver colour.

There must be, must have been other things. I just don't remember them now.

Goal for 2009

2009-01-01T20:44:00.000Z

Okay, yesterday I said I intended to chase shadows. And while it's all very well to chase shadows, there is a chance that I may not catch any. What then? Will this new year have been wasted?

No. I won't make catching a shadow my goal for 2009, because so many things influence whether or not I will succeed. My goal for 2009 is instead to walk in integrity—and then when I fail, I will have absolutely no excuse. For someone who likes excuses, this 'no excuses' bit is important.

--But as for me, I will walk in my integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me. Psalm 26:11

I read this a few days ago, and it grabbed me because to walk in integrity is hard. Maybe, though, I'm the only person who thinks the phrase 'walk in integrity' means to ensure that beliefs line up with actions—and then, when the beliefs are congruent with the actions, to keep away from compromise.

And when I read it, I wrote a list of things that I should do to walk in integrity. It was a short list—so I obviously didn't put enough thought into it—but here are some of the things that I wrote. These require a real change in my actions.

-witness to others about the Lord Jesus Christ
-give money to charity
-stay away from gossip, refuse to partake in it, and most especially NOT spread gossip myself
-refuse to 'hide' and subtly change myself among unbelieving relatives. (How can I be a witness if I'm always downplaying differences and trying not to have them think I'm strange or offend them simply by being different?)

And an extra one:

-study the Bible. It's God's Word and it's important to know what God says, not take someone else's word for it. And if God says something, then He means it. No ifs or buts.

So, my goal for this year is just to get closer to walking in integrity, just to begin to make my actions the same as my beliefs. It's all very well to believe something, but if that belief does not influence action, it is pretty worthless. And so, my beliefs and my actions must grow closer.

If that happens, 2009 will not have been wasted, no matter what else happens or doesn't happen.

Actually, no, I need to learn to pray. So my goal will firstly be to learn to pray, and then to walk in integrity. Or maybe learning to pray is the first step in walking in integrity. It could be.

The end of another year

2008-12-31T16:34:00.000Z

And another year has ended. Tomorrow is the first day of 2009.

The end of the year is a time when many look back, and I am no real exception. I can't remember what my goal at the beginning of the year was, but I do know what's happened and what I've done this year. So, here are the major things that have happened this year.

--I have learnt to play the piano with both hands. Finally I've started to take advantage of the piano that's been around longer than me, finally I'm using it for something other than melody lines for hymn tunes. I play it incredibly badly because I have no real sense of time, but I play it much better than this time last year.

--I woke up to the implications of 1 Corinthians 11:1-15, and started covering my head in church. And most of the time outside church, too. I have always liked hats, and I only stopped wearing them because no one else wore them, so I am now growing closer to my childhood ideal of a hatted woman with a wicker basket. And I don't care.

So, inside the house I wear a bandanna, outside I wear a winter hat (because it's winter) or a headband. Church is normally a winter hat. I do love scarves, and I would probably wear them if they weren't connected with all sorts of other religions.

--My family left our church—that would be the one that seemed sent from God. Long story, which I'm not prepared to go into here. Anyway, we are now pretty churchless: we attend churches where dad plays the organ, and we occasionally visit our friends' church—though we haven't done that for a while now. I should note that the churches where dad plays are not the best.

--However, all things work together for good. Since leaving the church we used to attend, I've been finding regular Bible reading easier: I have to read and find for myself, because the churches dad plays at sure won't do it for me. And so Bible reading is something that I must cling to, because if that stops, drifting away from God is a very real possibility. I need to get prayer sorted, too, though.

--I still do not know what I will be doing come next August. I know what I won't be doing—attending university—but I don't know what I will actually do instead. I would like to fill my days with a part time job (because I must earn money: a steady and regular amount of money coming in is almost independence) and voluntary work (because I want to be useful.).

However, I didn't tell this to relations at the annual Christmas get together, preferring instead to scandalize them by saying very firmly that I wasn't sure who decreed that as soon as somebody got old enough to do things they should immediately saddle themselves with a huge debt. I'm not sure how well this went down, because mum chipped in almost immediately afterwards to say that I'd learnt how to run a home.

Well, that statement was like a red rag to several bulls. The only saving grace was that it wasn't me who was trying to console them with 'well, I know how to run a home'.

Next year, if the Lord wills it, I should have more to report. Changes. Change has to come, and it will come. However, I do feel that this year's been quite productive because I no longer feel directionless and lost. I know where I want to go. I just don't know how to get there. And so it only remains to begin to chase the shadows of what I want in the hope that once the shadow has been caught, the substance will be obtained soon after.

So that's how I'll spend 2009. Chasing shadows.

But what?

2008-12-30T20:05:00.001Z

Well, I've now ended my internet break. I ended it two days ago. Yes, I had a good Christmas.

I got given a Waterstones card, so yesterday morning found me in Waterstones. And I bought a couple of books there: Paradise Lost by John Milton (which I have yet to begin) and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (which I have begun, but have yet to finish).

One thing I should note about these books is that they were both on the list of books I took to Waterstones with me. I didn't actually use the list when in Waterstones, but I do like to write a list of books to jog my memory before hand. Another thing I should note is that the Solzhenitsyn book, being a popular work of fiction, was with the popular works of fiction—and that's a section of the bookstore that I never browse. I only looked because I was wanting a particular book.

I think the books someone buys says something about them. I'm not sure what, but it says something—and it's possible that it says more about what the person hopes to become than about what they already are. If you control someone's reading matter, you essentially control their ideas, because what people read does influence their ideas. That's why I should read the Bible.

I think that I maybe know what my choice of books says about me, too. I want to be well educated—and I think the best way to ensure that I'm well educated is to ensure I read good books. So I'm buying books to that end. However, because I'm not the best at sticking to things—when I do stick at things, I always surprise myself because it's not really my strong point—I have to ensure that I buy a book that will interest me. And the interest has to be over the educate factor. I have tried to read books this year that I've dropped after the first chapter, and I don't like doing that. So the books I buy have to interest me.

I digress now to tell you that I am working at the sticking to things bit. And recently I have been succeeding better than normal. I think the secret is to have a goal that I want to achieve or to know why I'm doing something (and they had better be good reasons, or I won't stick to whatever it is that I'm doing).

And talking of sticking to things reminds me—this would be a second digression—that I need to write thank you letters. I plan to make nice thank you cards, and then write them. I have not yet started either the making or the writing. But people must be thanked. I think I'm giving the impression that it's a nasty chore, and I don't think that's a good impression to give, but I do tend to view it as more a chore than anything else. However, I know people like to receive thank you letters and when I start writing them I probably won't find it too hard. It's just finding matters of general human interest to write that won't upset my friends and relatives. And that is harder than blogging, but I think blogging has improved my thank you letter writing abilities.

We were talking about books, and I made a rather blanket statement that books say something about the person who bought them. They say something about the person's interests, personality, and hopes. In fact, all reading matter does. But what does it say?

And to know that, you need to know the person. You need to know the whole story: where they are now, where they came from, where they want to go. Otherwise it is vain to speculate.

But now I digress again. My sister is asking if I will publish this blog post. I think maybe. But then, maybe not. But why ever not?

So I shall publish this. But say this of it: my sister, not knowing what I wrote about, asked me to publish it. And so I did.

Talking of Christmas. And food.

2008-12-16T20:25:00.001Z

It's almost Christmas; there's only just over a week to go. And this will probably be my last blog post until sometime after Christmas—I intend to have an internet break over Christmas and my recent rate of posting does not support the idea that I'll post during the remainder of this week. Nor does it support the idea that if, by some strange chance, I did post during the remainder of this week, the post would be worth reading. So this is it until after Christmas, and then I will think about writing meaningful posts and decide to write boring filler posts instead.

Christmas. Some Christians don't celebrate Christmas, and I have every respect for them and wouldn't want them to begin. Some Christians do celebrate Christmas, and my family fall into this camp. So we have a Christmas tree in our lounge—a real tree, not a plastic one. And, come Christmas, there should be some presents under the tree and some turkey in the fridge awaiting its fate. Its fate is not very dignified—it will be carved and served up, before its remains will be taken back into the kitchen where members of my family will pick bits of meat off its carcass for the rest of the day—but the turkey will be dead, and therefore it will not care.

Talking of roasts, there's a big piece of beef currently in our fridge. We have to eat that soon, otherwise not only will it turn green (or something) but there will not be room for a turkey. And it would be a pity to waste beef. So we shall cook it on Saturday, which is before its best before date so the beef had better be okay. We could cook it tomorrow, but I believe we're having cottage pie for dinner and it would be greedy to eat two cooked meals on one day. That said, however, we probably should have cooked the beef today, but we didn't. And so, today we had bread and cheese for lunch and bread and cheese for tea.

I'm not sure that my blog's the place to describe the eating arrangements of my family in great detail, though. And so, I will move from eating to craft work. They are related, I tell you. They are related, for we do craft work at the dining room table. And, surprise surprise, we also eat meals at the dining room table.

So, today my family had some friends round and did christmas crafts with them. We made some nice stars which I shan't describe—they did turn out well, but I can't think of how to explain them without sounding like an idiot. So I may as well tell you that I am an idiot, for I cannot describe the stars we made. And then I made a snowman christmas card out of scraps of silver card. I thought it was a nice snowman—I put coloured stars on it for the eyes, nose, mouth, and coat buttons, as well as silver stars for snowflakes—but my sister says that my snowman looks more like a robot. Make what you like of that information.

Finally, have a happy Christmas. And I shall blog again, but maybe not until the new year.

Two things for which I am thankful

2008-12-02T16:31:00.003Z

I know, I know: two things. That's a bit of a poor show...or it would be if I set out with the goal of writing a list of things for which I am thankful. However, I didn't—these two things are just things that yesterday I found myself really thankful for and still am really thankful for. So, here they are.

--Friends. The "wow, how great that you're here" type friend, rather than than the "you're here too? That's...cool" type friend. The "won't it be such fun to talk" type friend, rather than the "I'm bored, and as I sort of know that person, I'll make small talk" type friend. The "oy, you can't stand on the sidelines" type friend as opposed to the "let's pretend she's not there while she pretends I'm not here" type friend.

So, I'm thankful for those which I somehow seem to end up talking to in a chatty way such as most people who are acquainted with me would be surprised to see.

--A heart that sings once more. I have a habit of sort of humming small snatches of tunes to myself when I'm happy. The emphasis here has to be on the 'when I'm happy' bit, because if I'm not happy I will not sing. Well, I will sing, but not of my own free will while I'm doing other things. So I'm thankful that I seem to be humming more these days. I just feel happier than I did this time last year–and while this may indeed just be my imagination, I'm thankful that I feel happier. Don't ask me why I feel happier, because I could not pinpoint anything and I refuse to make any educated guesses.

A post of links

2008-11-25T20:59:00.004Z

I'm not actually sorry for producing this puny collection of links, because I think they're worth the time they take to read. Only two of them are even remotely depressing.

First, I'll begin with these YouTube videos because I've wanted to share them since I heard them at the end of September. The music is Hear my prayer/O for the wings of a dove by Mendelssohn (whose name I always spell wrong and so I always have to find out how to spell it properly, which is annoying, and normally even when I've looked at how to spell it I still succeed in spelling it wrong.). Part one is here and part two is here.
Now, for this article from the BBC which I've only wanted to share since the end of October. It tells what happens to people when their friends and relatives don't pay for a funeral and I found it very interesting. I do count it as one of the remotely depressing links, though.
Then there are these pictures of babies in the womb. They're incredible.
To go with the pictures above, read this story from the BBC. Then stop to consider how anyone could ever abort a baby when they're so well formed and many who want children have difficulty having them.
This is my three year old sister's current favorite poem. I have read it many times recently, and that is why I link to it now.
This story surprised and saddened me. Disagree with the great names which are banded around. Look into what they say. This is the second slightly depressing link.
Now, this is good. That is how prisoners should be treated. And, believe me or not, but I found this by pressing the random button at the top of the Snopes website.
And finally, these are the instructions I used to obtain my nice new three column blogger template. They are very clear indeed, hence why I was able to work out exactly what I should do. So I finally got a three column blog, which is something I've been interested in for a while.

I came across this...

2008-11-21T19:06:00.001Z

I came across this (http://www.typealyzer.com), which claims to Myers Briggs analyze blogs. Being a curious sort of person, I put my blog's URL in and it gave me this result:

INFP - The Idealists

The meaning-seeking and unconventional type. They are especially attuned to making sure their beliefs and actions are congruent. They often develop a passion for the arts or unusual forms of self-expression.

They enjoy work that are aligned to their deeply felt values and tend to strongly dislike the more practical and mundane forms of tasks. They can enjoy working alone for long periods of time and are happiest when they can immerse themselves in personally meaningful projects.

I have to confess that I have removed a couple of original typos or spelling mistakes. I can't actually tell the difference between a typo and a spelling mistake, because the result of both is the same. But anyway, I corrected them.

I don't know how accurate the result was, either—according to the site's About page, I should look at the results over a period of time for more accurate results.

I should note that I don't do anything that could be called an unusual form of self expression, and I'm not sure whether I like mundane tasks or not.

Finally, I don't know what Myers Briggs type I am. For some reason I always seem to come up as an introverted something or other on online Myers Briggs tests, but I'm not too sure that I'm not an extrovert masquerading as an introvert. Admittedly I'm not the most chatty person, but I can talk when I both have something to say and feel like saying it.

Attending the abbey

2008-11-03T17:49:00.000Z

Yesterday we went to the abbey for evensong. The abbey in town is church of England; this means it’s the official parish church for the town where I live, and therefore it is the default church for us to attend. We hadn’t been there since Christmas, when we went for a nativity play service on Christmas Eve.

My littlest sister was very interested. She was surprised by the choir, and she was surprised by the height of the ceiling. She was surprised by the format of the service. But she was very good and quiet, and the most important thing when at church for three year olds is being very quiet. If little children are quiet, crawling along the seats behind the other members of their family will be overlooked...

What did I think of the service? Well, the prayers were satisfactory, and the readings were satisfactory too—they weren’t from the AV, but the version wasn’t annoying. There were two mid-length readings, one from the Old Testament and one from the New. Also, the choir sang two psalms while the congregation silently read them from the book of common prayer, copies of which had been handed out with the hymn books. The hymn books were reasonable, and the music was good. I’m not particularly fussy about music as long as it isn’t a guitar, drum kit, and keyboard and as long as it hasn’t been jazzed up. Plain is fine. But I have to say that I wouldn’t tolerate attending a service where the music was such that I wouldn’t want it played in my home—and that does narrow churches and services which can be attended significantly. I know every church has faults, but attenders do have to decide which faults they can cope with.

Now, for the sermon. At the service yesterday, this was like the elephant in the room. They had what they called a sermon. I wouldn’t call it a sermon, though, because it was not long enough and it did not have enough Scripture in it. Also, the man mentioned halloween, but he did not decry it. Now, if you’re going to mention halloween in a sermon, you may as well do it properly, and tell everyone it’s Satanic and they should have nothing—that’s right, nothing—to do with it.

So, prayers get three or four stars, readings get the same, music gets five stars, and sermon gets one star. However, the church gets extra points because no one there took it upon themselves to go to someone in charge and describe my family as a ‘disaster’. The church also gets extra points because we can walk there and back, and it is nice to walk to church.

We may go back to the abbey for evensong on some Sundays. After all, why not?

Two random things related to going to a nearby city to shop this morning

2008-10-28T15:20:00.000Z

(Yes, clumsy title. However, it is pretty descriptive, and I can't be bothered to think of another one. So it stays!)

I was in a department store with some of my family today. It fell to me to take care of my little sister, and the rest of my family left the shop while I searched for somewhere to pay with my little sister. My little sister is three.

So, my little sister gave something I wanted to buy to the woman behind the counter. And the woman behind the counter said to my little sister, "I'll put that in a little bag for you and you can carry it for mummy."

!!!!!

She quite obviously thought that I was my little sister's mummy, and I just smiled. There was no point in doing anything else.

After she'd put my purchases in a bag, she handed them to my little sister, and said, "You can carry it for mummy."

I'm not sure what my little sister thought of this. She knows I'm not her mummy.

I suppose it's just as well that I'm past the stage where I'd be offended if someone suggested that my little sister is my child.

Oh, and while shopping, my sister and I bought identical black skirts. It's been a long time since we've had anything identical. Last time we bought identical clothes we were quite a bit younger, and so the clothes were in different sizes. This time, though, our identical clothes are identical sizes. Fun, fun, fun.

I think one, or both, of us will have to find a permanent marker and mark the label of the skirt(s) so that there can be no arguments about whose skirt is awaiting the washing machine and whose skirt has just finished drying on the radiator.

However, it would be fun to dress almost identically and go somewhere. We've both got pink roll neck jumpers (albeit slightly different) and pink tee shirts (again, slightly different) but I hope the overall effect would be enough to make people think they were seeing double...

5 reasons why there probably is a God

2008-10-24T15:43:00.003+01:00

According to the BBC, some buses in London will carry the slogan "There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and get on with your life" at some point next year. I know this isn't new news, because I read about the buses first on Tuesday, but I thought it gave me an ideal excuse to list a few reasons why I believe that there is a God. I don't present them to you as a water tight argument, because I've got passed the stage of worrying about God's existence and on to the stage of worrying about what he would have me do.

1) Creation. Although some people believe the world came into being from nothing, that is not very logical. Logic dictates that if you take nothing, and leave nothing alone for a long time, after the time has passed you will still have nothing. That does make God into something of a problem—if God caused everything, then what caused God? And I would say to you that, given the other evidences for a God, it makes more sense to believe in a creator God than it does to believe in something coming from nothing.

2) Moral absolutes. Can one know the difference between right and wrong? Undoubtably. Are the basic principles of right and wrong the same for everyone? Certainly. Is there a God given standard of right and wrong? No, for there is no God. If there is no God given standard of right and wrong, how can we know the difference between right and wrong? Right and wrong is something arbitrarily decided by government, parents, and others in authority. However, different people are in authority all over the globe, and therefore the basic principles of right and wrong are different for everyone—in direct contradiction to our second premise that the basic principles of right and wrong are the same for everyone. Therefore, there must be a God given standard of right and wrong, and for there to be a God given standard of right and wrong there has to be a God.

3) The Bible. No, I am not joking with you.

The Old Testament has been carefully kept by the Jews, and the New Testament has more documentary evidence in its favour than any other book of its time. There is no real reason to doubt the authenticity of either. When the Bible is compared with other sources of history, it is reliable: so why doubt the Bible’s testimony on things which aren’t as easy to check up on?

It’s also noticeable that when society runs on the Bible’s principles, it works very well, and it’s only when society departs from Biblical principles that problems begin. The Bible’s portrayal of man is accurate and very real, so why doubt its portrayal of God?

4) Widespread tradition. It’s noticeable that throughout history, most humans have believed in some kind of God. It is the way that it always has been. And that suggests that God actually exists, and that at one point all men knew him.

The Biblical story of Adam and Eve fits this perfectly, for if all descended from ancestors who worshipped a God that they had seen and knew only too well it would not be surprising for them to continue worshipping some kind of god, even if they forgot exactly what their god was like. It’s also noticeable that most people worshipped a pretty angry god who they would pacify with offerings—and that would fit with Adam and Eve being thrown out of the garden.

5) The lack of any compulsive arguments against Christianity. As a Christian, I cannot believe there is no God: it is the Christian God, the one true God, in whom I believe. And I have never read or heard any thing against Christianity that holds any water when looked into properly.

Related to this, the early Christians. They gave their lives. They lived so close to the time of Christ that they would have known had it all been an elaborate hoax. But instead of giving up their faith when challenged, they gave their lives.

Finally, I should note that it does no one any good to be convinced of God’s existence; one has to actually have their lives transformed by a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ before their knowledge of God is any good at all. And so my purpose in sharing these feeble reasons is not to start an argument (and indeed, I’m not convinced that’s possible to do with about two readers) but to try and explain why I disagree with Dawkins and all his atheist friends.

Six Random Things About Me

2008-10-17T19:22:00.000+01:00

First, a quick acknowledgment to my sister, who did this first on her blog. Oh, and I wrote all the top five four days ago, but couldn't think of a sixth so didn't post. However, I finally thought of a sixth, so here you are...

1. I aim to cover my head full time, and have been doing so now for about six months. I use a wide headband sometimes, though, and for some reason I feel that’s almost cheating. Anyway, 1 Corinthians 11:1-15 is my basis for covering.

2. When I was very small, my favorite stuffed toy was a dog named Timmy after the dog in the famous five books. I still have this cuddly toy, though it does not now travel to relatives and on holiday with me.

3. I currently think that I would like to be a childminder when I grow up. This does not mean much, as it is merely the latest job in a list of several (and also it's not a very feasible job for me!). In the past, I have thought that I would like to be (in alphabetical order) a lawyer, secretary, teacher, or writer. Lawyer and teacher are definitely ruled out, though, because I don’t really want to go to university.

4. I don’t like the telephone. It is the most dreadful thing ever. It rings, and you have no clue who is on the other end; but if you pick up the phone, you have to speak to this random person. You phone someone, and you have no idea who’s going to pick up the phone or whether they want to speak to you. If something has to be said, letters are best. Failing that, face to face is good. But the phone? Not if I have to use it. Oh, and there are some people who I can phone and talk to on the phone perfectly happily. The problem, though, is that they all live with me.

5. I have a deep hatred of arriving at appointments, church services, and similar things late. Arriving at 3:28 when you’re supposed to be there at 3:30 is almost tragic, and arriving at 3:31 is so awful that one may as well slink off home and pretend that they never intended to turn up in the first place. I don’t know whether this has been bred or trained into me, though, because one of my parents also dislikes being late; however, I am a little more relaxed with friends—3:31 instead of 3:30 is not tragic, but 3:36 is.

6. I hate algebra but love geometry.

Nice dogs, wonderful caption

2008-10-06T19:34:00.002+01:00

see more puppies

I have to say that I wish I discovered that site earlier. The pictures are nice, and the captions are good.

And yes, I did squish the picture slightly. :-/ I must be incompetent, for I couldn't figure out any other way of resizing it.

Oh dear and oh well

2008-10-06T17:23:00.001+01:00

Some stones are better left the right side up.

Some things are better never said.

Some itches are better left unscratched.

Self control. Self control. Self control.

Oh dear. And oh well.

One day, I will learn this, and maybe one day my siblings will learn it too. Yes, I do argue with my siblings, and they do argue with me, and we did argue today...is that relevant?

I'm not sure.

Does it matter?

Yes.

Do I care?

Not really. Not now I've written what I wanted to write, sort of publicized my fleeting feelings.

It's strange. I had several ideas for blog posts, and in the end I have an irresistible urge to post this. But never mind.

One more verse

2008-10-02T09:04:00.001+01:00

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we do all fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. —Isaiah 64:6

Emphasis mine, again. I think it's easy to forget that nothing we do can make us right with God, easy to forget that as Christians we're supposed to bring glory to God, and easy to forget that both strutting around saying "Look at me, I match God's word perfectly" and slouching around saying "God's grace saves us, therefore we can do what we like" are not glorifying God. That's right, neither of them.

Rather, we should highlight God's grace and mercy to sinners without assuming that God's grace and mercy gives us license to sin whenever and however we desire, without taking God's grace and mercy for granted.

Following on from yesterday...

2008-10-01T19:42:00.002+01:00

Remember that verse I posted yesterday about not being ashamed of Jesus' words?

Well, I'm now going to say that I think most Christians today are confused about what Jesus actually said, confused as to what the Bible actually states. In fact, I don't think: I know. There are many views on every little thing in the Bible, and two churches in the same city will preach totally different things. On one side of the road we will have the pentecostal charismatic church, and on the other side of the road we will have the methodist church. Down the road there will be the Catholic church, and the other side of the city will be the Church of England church. All teaching different things, and living in different ways. And when you add to this the fact that in these churches different people will believe different things, you have even more confusion.

Okay, I don't have all the answers to all these people's differences, but I do have the Bible, which is the inerrant word of God. And from the Bible, I can draw conclusions about a lot of things. From the Bible, I can decide that the Roman Catholics believe a false gospel, and most churches which speak in tongues should not be doing so, and all sorts of other wonderful things. I can even decide that it is pleasing to God if a Christian behaves in certain ways, and therefore displeasing to God if a Christian does the opposite.

However, once I have decided these things from the information that I have on hand, from Bible verses and the accepted interpretation of them in my home, I am then somehow being evil, judgemental, and legalistic. I am focusing on works, and not on grace. I am somehow adding to God's word, and all because I don't happen to want to subtract from it and downplay issues which will annoy people.

I'm now going to use an example. Suppose I frequented a place where christian women wore tops so low that every time they bent over in front of me I could see a large proportion of their chest. Suppose some of these tops were cut so that I could see the woman's chest even when they weren't bending over. And I'll note that by ''chest" I actually mean that area of a woman's chest which should be seen by no other person than her husband. Yes, that does mean that if she has no husband, then she should keep it totally private.

Now, suppose I went to my Bible and saw that Jesus said that if a man lusts after a woman, he has broken the commandment not to commit adultery. Suppose I also read Song of Songs, and noticed that from what it said there, seeing a woman's breasts could conceivably cause men to lust. Suppose that I then read that a woman should dress modestly in one of Paul's letters. And, to top it all, suppose that I read that no one should cause another Christian to stumble.

It would be not inconceivable for me to connect all the dots, and decide that it was sinful for a woman to wear a low cut top. Now suppose that I suggested this to someone who wore a low cut top, suppose I mentioned my opinion that women should not wear low cut tops.

There are no prizes for guessing that I might be told to mind my own business, and accused of turning salvation into something which could be gained by man's works. "You pharisee, how dare you!" might conceivably be the response. Someone would smile sweetly, and explain that grace was all that mattered, forgetting that Jesus' words to a woman he forgave were no others than "go and sin no more." They'd say that because they'd been saved by grace, they could do what they liked.

And, you know, I think that many Christians who know what they believe and why are put off stating it for fear that they will be labeled legalistic by those around them. After all, it's so much easier just to say, "Oh, to say women shouldn't wear low cut tops is legalistic. I shall wear what I like, as Salvation is all of grace" than to go and examine the Scriptures to see if it really is true that low cut tops should not really be worn by Christians. It's hugely off putting if you know that to stand up and say that something is wrong or right will mean that other Christians will turn their backs without even properly considering what you're saying.

So, my options seem to be either to be confused as to what I actually believe—no thanks!—or to be called legalistic—and again, I don't actually want that. But I can tell you this, and that is that if two people have two directly opposed opinions on what the Word of God says on a particular topic, only one of these people can be right. God's Word never contradicts itself.

However, I think we—as Christians—need to know what we believe and state it, rather than drift around confused as to what we believe and afraid to state it lest someone cries 'legalism' on us. Speak the truth in love, yes, but don't refrain from speaking the truth; I think there are many Christians who simply won't consider certain issues until these issues are pointed out to them in words of one syllable (I am most probably one of them)...not because they deliberately want to ignore the issue, but because they genuinely have never considered the issue in the light of God's Word.

Finally, I also think I need to read my Bible a bit more so that instead of saying "I think, I think, I think" I can say "God's Word says, God's Word says, God's Word says". Oh, and I should also state that I really don't know how exactly one speaks the truth in love, and therefore can only say 'forgive me' if I speak the truth harshly. Maybe I should find out how one speaks the truth in love, but I'm sure speaking the truth in love doesn't mean downplaying the truth. However, if you don't downplay the truth people don't normally consider it's been spoken in love, and so...

Share the gospel with unbelievers and believers, yes, but go further with the believers and state the impact the rest of God's Word should conceivably have on their life.

One verse

2008-09-30T19:52:00.000+01:00

Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. —Mark 8:38

The emphasis, of course, is mine; but that's what jumped out at me when I read this verse yesterday. I think it's all too easy to downplay Christianity, and try to sweep what the Bible says under the carpet; I also think that parts of the Bible are too easily overlooked if the reader doesn't understand the implications of what they're reading. I have done that myself. And finally, I don't think people like to admit the great power the Bible has on their life; after all, it's far easier to do things which are opposed to what most others are doing with a shrug and a "Why not?" than a full blown explanation that we're doing something because the Bible says to do it. But why be ashamed of following the Bible? Why be ashamed of seeking to live how God says to live? After all, God is all knowing, and therefore what he says to do has to be best. The Lord will do good to those who follow him. So why pretend that we don't want to follow him?

Why not be like Joshua, and have an attitude of "you choose who you will serve, but as for me, I will serve the Lord"? Why not be upfront with this attitude?

And I did not die

2008-09-29T19:57:00.000+01:00

I went shopping today, and I did not die.

Well, what of it?

At lunch time I was really worried about going shopping. The idea was that my whole family apart from dad went into a nearby city on the train, and then my mum took my little sister and brother to the shoe shop to have their shoes checked while my other sister and I went clothes shopping.

This did not please me, because the idea of being in a city without my mother's apron strings to cling to made me want to stay at home and become a hermit. However, I needed to go to a shop to buy some pencil leads for my mechanical pencil, and so I said that I'd go.

It turned out that it was not at all scary being in a familiar city with only my sister, and that after I got on the train I was not worried about it at all. So I have no idea why I was so nervous beforehand.

Well, we went to the clothes shop where we'd arranged to meet mum, and I said to my sister, "Let's browse together. It'll take more time that way."

We then went to look at the winter hats, and it turned out that my sister thought she might want to buy one, so she tried several hats with gusto. I was horrified at this liberal trying of hats, and slunk away before the security guard inevitably came to chuck her out of the store...only the inevitable never happened, and after a while she came and found me, and remarked that we hadn't browsed together for very long.

Mum turned up after a while, and we went back to the hats, and my sister tried on several for mum and then tried on several in front of a mirror. She finally bought the first one she had tried, and which I had said suited her but mum had disliked.

After we left this shop, we went home. I spotted a man and his wife—pregnant with what was probably their first child. They were young, not much older than me; they can't have been older than twenty, and the girl was surely as near my age as makes no difference. She was heavily pregnant, so they must have been married for a while. I assume they were married because they appeared to be Muslims. And as far as I could tell, they were fond of each other.

Finally, I know I haven't been blogging recently, but my last few blogs have been quite wooden and I really did not want to post yet another wooden blog. So I waited until I could write something that wasn't wooden and could be posted without worry.

Things I like

2008-09-12T20:00:00.000+01:00

—dogs. They must be some of the most wonderful animals on the planet. I like them big, I like them small, I like them bouncy, I like them placid. I just don't like large dogs with big teeth jumping round me with their mouths hanging open hoping that I'm going to give them something to eat, and surely that's understandable? (I should probably mention here that I don't have a dog, and that a family member with more authority than I have (a parent!) is very against the idea of a dog in the house.)
—Handel's music. I just love his style, and of all the baroque composers he has to be my favorite. I know some people prefer Bach, but Handel's music sounds nicer in my opinion. It's just that little bit more open and flowing, and it seems more warm hearted and smiley.
—little children. When you talk to them you realize that they have ideas about the world and what's going on around them, and most of them are wonderfully creative. They're also refreshingly truthful.
—daydreaming. I know it's not a very useful occupation, but it always makes me feel happier if I've time to think, time to daydream, and time to just generally sort things out in my head.
—talking to people. Or rather, other people making an effort to speak to me, because for some strange reason I'm always nervous of going and talking to others lest they don't want to talk to me, or I say something that puts me in a bad light...and I really shouldn't worry about putting myself in a bad light, because there is no point in doing so. Anyway, I enjoy talking to people when I'm not worrying about appearing a total idiot or saying something that really upsets them.
—food. I don't like food excessively, but it's very pleasant to sit down and eat something that's been freshly cooked. And it doesn't matter whether that something's bread, apple crumble, cake, or a simple first course; it's nice to cook, and then to eat. If you eat what you've cooked, you feel as if you've earned your food.
—live music. When someone half competent plays the piano, it's enjoyable. And the piano is probably my favorite kind of instrument, if only because I've heard so much of it. And even I can play very simple things on the piano. Playing the piano and hearing it played are both enjoyable, and I get to do both frequently.
—beating my brother at chess. Now, he is five years younger than me, but he still succeeds in beating me more often than I beat him. I don't play chess particularly competitively (it isn't the end of the world if I lose!), but I do like winning.
—smiling at people in a kind and maybe motherly way. Ha. Motherly. Motherly. What do I know about a motherly way of smiling at people? I'm certainly not a mother!
—listening to a sermon that seems directed at me in an encouraging kind of way. (Although sermons that seem directed at me in a rebuking sort of way are probably better for me, a sad fact of life is that I don't enjoy listening to them as much.)
—thinking long and hard about a small issue that has been troubling me and then coming to a satisfying conclusion about it. This is especially true if the matter pertains to Christianity.
—knowing that some people other than me care about issues that I feel strongly about, that there are others who think like me.

No, nothing really prompted this post. I just thought that I'd like to blog about some things that I like. After I counted them, there were only twelve things; but I don't really feel like adding any more.

Plant a sunflower

2008-09-06T17:09:00.000+01:00

One of our neighbours had a beautiful little tree in her front garden, with 'had' being an important word here.

Today this tree was cut.

It now looks like a bundle of firewood. A few straggly branches have green leaves on, but most of the green leaves have gone. It's been cut back drastically.

But what do I know about trees? After all, I'm a member of a family that likes trees 'au naturel', and thus doesn't cut them very often.

So why, in a built up area, is it expected that all trees will be a tame kind of height, and not only that, but will have been drastically lopped to such a height in such a way that makes them look ugly?

If someone wants a plant that's seven feet high in their front garden, they should plant a sunflower.

Do not leave dirty dishes unattended for a long period of time

2008-09-01T17:28:00.000+01:00

Washing up is important, very much so.

It's all very well to think that it can be left until later. But in a family of six, the kitchen is filled with dirty washing up after two meals. And the really annoying thing is that this is true after tea and breakfast, even though it could be assumed that meals which don't require cooking don't require lots of dishes. Yes, I do know this from experience, and yes, it is probably my fault if this happens because mum isn't feeling too well currently. And no, that's not anything to worry about at all.

And if the washing up has been left from tea and breakfast, making dinner is a pain. As the kitchen is full of dirty dishes, it's not as simple as walking into the kitchen and preparing food. No. First one has to sort the dishes. As we've got a dishwasher, this isn't quite as bad as could be assumed, but it still isn't really very nice to have to sort dishes before cooking. This is even more relevant if you only thought of dinner at eleven am, and you don't like to eat later than one pm.

When faced with a pile of washing up, the person who has to cook will begin to stack the dishwasher and wash up....and by the time they actually get to cooking the meal, they will not be feeling happy. In fact, that is an understatement. They will be annoyed and stressed. This is true in my experience, but maybe I just get annoyed and stressed easily.

I know all this. So why is it that I still don't feel a great urge to sort the dishes after tea? Not that we've already eaten this evening, but I know that I won't feel a great urge to do dishes later. I never feel a great urge to do dishes unless I need to use these dishes or need the area they occupy—although I can stack dirty dishes very neatly and very space efficiently.

And, although not much else can be said for stacking dirty dishes neatly and space efficiently, they look a lot nicer that way. If the dirty dishes were to be stacked neatly and someone popped round unexpectedly and happened to look in the kitchen, they would automatically assume that the dirty dishes were under control. If the dishes were just put in the kitchen any old how, as so often happens in this house, an unexpected visitor would assume that the dirty dishes were out of control.

But I must ensure that someone does the washing up after tea tonight, because no one's going to do it before breakfast tomorrow.