The Big Essay Push - Days Six, Seven, Eight & Nine.

The last four days have seen some coming together of the essays. Days Six and Eight were particularly fruitful, and the result is 2 draft essays that, with perhaps another few hours work on both, would be about ready to hand in.

As ever, I'm not happy with them, and feel I can do better had I had more time. Here's hoping they get through the stern eyes of the markers and pass (though it would certainly be an adventure if they didn't).

Days Seven and Nine have had slightly different foci. Day Seven was a church day; Day Nine my normal day off which I try to keep no matter what the situation.

Thus, today has been filled with two lovely meals - courtesy of a carvery lunch with the boys, and dinner with the lovely Nic & Ruth - the beginnings of some seminar reading (that didn't last long), and an evening filled with a phonecall home and starting a new book - 'Major: A Political Life' by Anthony Seldon - whilst listening to Iron & Wine.

I read Seldon's book on Blair over the summer of '09 and thoroughly enjoyed it. So far, his words on John Major are reading just as enjoyably.

Tomorrow is going to be re-designated 'The Big Seminar Push' as prep begins for a seminar on the Sermon of the Mount I'm leading on Monday. Let's see if we can't sort that out in a day...

The Big Essay Push - Days Four and Five

This morning I had to pay our electric bill to E.ON. Nothing strange there. However, I was spoken to by a computer with a female voice, and I had to have a conversation with this female computer (telling her my bank details etc.) - suffice to say the conversation did not flow. Bizarre.

A friend of mine, Mark Tatton, recently recommended some music to me... Kilmory Day Trip. You should now stop reading this, open up a new tab, and listen to them - especially their song 'You Are' - then come back and continue reading this as you listen.

You should also check out Mark's photography, here.

Another recent discovery is Christian Audio. They give away a free audio book, and this month it's Mark Driscoll's book 'Religion Saves: And Nine Other Misconceptions.'

So, the essays...

Yesterday was great between 9am and 1pm. Then I crashed, having worked for a week and a half with no day off. Before I crashed, however, I managed to reach my 'Day Four' target - so it's not all bad. I've taken today off - went and saw Dave Marriott which was great.

So the plan is to have an early night tonight and finish the essay by the time I go to bed tomorrow. Not an easy task - keep me in your prayers.

A Throwaway Snow Comment.

I find it fascinating that we English are so incompetent at dealing with snow and at the same time so unbelievably transfixed by it.

Here is proof via the social networking site 'Facebook', you may have heard of it... (I know, using Facebook as proof is a bit of an oxymoron. But in my defense, I had to work all day and consequently didn't actually meet any of my friends, if I had I am certain they would have said similar sentences to me). Some selected statuses from friends posted during the last 8ish hours:


"snowtastic"

"first day of term cancelled due to SNOW! amazing."

"Snow day! Huzzah!"

"snowflakes continue to fall"

"my snowman is dead!"

"has a day and a half off school to play in the snow! Yay!"

"more snow - no work"

"built a snowman"

"reckons a little bit of white stuff and everyone goes silly ... don't you just love it !!!"


I'll stop there... but you get my drift.

We love it. I understand, I really do. I guess it taps into the British 'weather taking' psyche - just we go on about it forever because it's not as normal as, say, drizzle.

Anyway, for what it's worth, here's my throwaway snow comment of the day:

You see more when it snows, especially at dusk, because any light that is left is reflected by the snow on the ground, thus making it seem lighter and more eerie than it actually is. I like this bizarre state of flux in the earth's lighting.

In other news - Norah Jones has an incredible voice. Just incredible.

A Clear Desk is a Clear Mind...

Before...

After...

A week and a half until deadline day - nearly finished a full draft.  Then it'll be copious amounts of editing right up to the end.  Here comes the final push!