Sometimes, it seems life is just really hard. I'm not really sure why that's the case, but things just seem to stack up against you.
Wow, that was truly amazing.
There's not necessarily any major issue, just that loads of small things in various aspects of work, life and family get frustrating.
Man, this is an uplifting blog entry, don't you think?
Anyway, it's really great that CovYFC finally has an exciting new strategic focus, and I'm really energised by developing the shorter term goals connected with that. It's going to be an iteresting few months.
Now we just need to find some more trustees & build our general volunteer team.
Is it me, or did i just manage to turn a rather miserable post into one full of excitement and vigour?
Wow, that was truly amazing.
I've now learned how to solve the good old rubik's cube 3 times in 3 years. I basically learn how to solve it, practice till I'm really fast, and then put it down and walk away thinking "job done!!". And then 1yr later have to start from scratch and learn all over again.
So I picked up the cube again on Monday after months of non-use, only to discover that I'd forgotten most of the algorithms all over again. This was made even more frustrating by the fact that I taught Chris (the CYFC intern) how to solve a cube earlier in the year, and now he's super speedy at solving one.
Hence the challenge to, once again, be THE BEST!!
And today it happened, after just 3 days, I beat Chris is a rubiks face off (best of 3) and am now well pleased.
The question is, will I now put it down and forget it all again?
And the bigger question... will anybody actually get to the end of reading this rather dull post all about my competitiveness and rubik's cubes?
If you do, let me know!!
Byseee bye!!
So, I actually did it - I bought a pink jumper in the sales, and I wore it to work, and it didn't feel too bad.
I'm so happy with our new house. It's a real blessing to us, and I really can't wait to get stuck into improving it. I get a really strong feeling that this year is going to be a really positive one, seeing lots of positive change, both at work and home.
Anyway, I have a line management session now, so have to dash, but I'll blog again soon - it's so much FUN!!
Ciao, monkeys
Wow, a whole year without a single blog entry - mainly due to the discovery of twitter and other social networking sites.
2009 was a crazy year, but within the madness I think I actually acheived at least 3 of my resolutions!!
- I ALWAYS opted for the dessert that came with custard (you have no idea how nice it was to have a crumble with cream last saturday).
- We sold our house and now (after 2 other moves) finally own a house again in Coventry (come visit us).
- I found several new outlets for leading worship (inc. Boulder Gang @ New Wine (amazing) & Junction7.
I guess that's the beauty of setting so many resolutions - in some ways it almost makes it impossible to fail!!
And now for this year's list (and this year there are some real BHAGS - are you ready)...
- Develop an intense hunger for God and a "Whatever it Takes" attitude towards achieving that.
- Pray with my team (CYFC) more than any other single activity
- Get to the point where I feel I can honestly call myself a "cyclist"
- See at least 10 young people become Christians.
- Re-explore the core essentials of marriage
- Go snow boarding at least once
- To face some of my stupid fears (I may even buy a pink jumper/shirt).
- Grow bigger "managerial balls" (not my own phrase)
- Start Blogging again (but not just boring rubbish - stuff worth reading)
Is that enough? I think so.
Get ready for my next post (and do hold me accountable - i think?).
I thought I should probably list my new-year resolutions on this blog, so I can kinda be kept accountable.
I always make loads of resoultions, in the hope that I'll actually achieve one or two of them, and there's usually a combinations of serious, spiritual and fun ones. So here goes.
- Read through the bible in 1 year (again)
- Drastically improve my lead (and general) guitar playing!!
- When offered a choice of desserts, always choose the one that comes with custard.
- Develop a habit of going to bed earlier (and maybe even getting up earlier too)
- Read more (especially around the area of spirituality and leadership/management)
- Find new outlets for playing, encouraging & leading worship.
- Socialise (even) more.
- Sell (or rent) our other home in Stoke.
- Try to use the word "one" regularly when referring to myself (just for fun).
And that's it. Simple huh?
Well, I know there are still officially 10 days of Christmas to go, but I've already found myself asking people if they "had" a good Christmas.
Our Christmas was pretty standard (only in the sense that as usual we were (and still are) all ill. Lara's dad came to stay and so we went to my folks (and took him with us). The kids did well to say they were under the weather. The first presents were opened at around 7am, and the last ones were opened at 7.30pm with no more than a 20 minute gap between any two openings all day.
Lara seems happy with her DS, Maisey has a new found love of prams and dolls, and Zak is now surrounded by Wall:e gadgets and gizmos. As for me, I'm the proud owner of a new guitar effects pedal (although it hasn't arrvied yet). You can't beat the Boss ME-50.
And that's it. Another completed Christmas. Tune in again next year.
VID 00004-20081125-1906.3GP.ff.mov
So, it would appear that our kids are better at the FAME dance routine (that I'm supposed to be doing next week in a high school) than I am. That's quite embarrassing!!
Go on, click that link.
I so wish that I could sleep during the day, but it's something I just can't do. We've already been to the cinema today which was cool, if a little long, had lunch and I've prepared another batch of golden brown. 3 weeks and it should be ready to drink. And now I have to wake up the little girl to go to a family prayer event (apparently I'm leading some worship at it.
Do keep in touch.
Do keep in touch.
Wow, it's really been a long time since I was last here, which means as usual I have so much to report that I'll probably forget half of it by the time I get to the point where I may have considered writing about it, and if that is the case I can only appologise in advance for the small amount of detail that is missing regarding the last month of my life!!
Anyway, what was I saying? I forget... Oh yes...
Aaaarrrggghhh!! I've now officially been waiting over 2 months for my new mobile phone upgrade - that's frustrating enough, not helped by the fact I decided to use Lara's 4yr old phone for a while til it came so I could sell my orange replacement pda phone (the one I lost in France) before it got all scuffed and well used. But now to add insult to injury, I called Orange on Wednesday and amazingly they said they had the phone in stock, it finally got ordered, and I worked from home all day yesterday excitedly waiting to receive it. However, by 4pm I was bored of waiting so I called to get a consignment number in an attempt to track the courier, only to find that (apparently) between being told that it was in stock again, and actually completing the order process, it went BACK OUT OF STOCK!!! Aaaarrggghhhh!! So still no new phone and a very annoyed Jon to-boot.
So, what else has happened - oh, the CYFC exec agreed to buy me a spanky (nearly) new Macbook Pro, with a budget of just £700, and I managed to find one for £650 with a dodgy keyboard but 1yr warranty left so that got replaced for free, leaving me £50 to upgrade to the latest mac OS (leopard, for those of you that care). Owner/Carer and baby are doing fine, don't know the weight, but you get the idea!!
I would have totally written more about that if I wasn't trying to cover a whole month in one blog entry!!! (incuding the ebay purchase of an unsuitable operating system that I then re-auctioned and sold for a huge profit of -£19.00 (yes, that is a minus sign).
I'm gradually running out of beer. I bought a new kit like 2 weeks ago, and just haven't got round to it, so that's not much of a story.
Our new house is small but warm and the outside light finally works after 2 evenings replacing the whole lot and tracing wiring for faults - it turns out, you have to plug it in as well!! (oops) Lara actually made the discovery whilst trying to find somewhere to do the ironing. @What do you think this plug is for?@ she asks all innocently. Eureka!! (notice the strange quote marks... anyone that every changed from PC to Mac should find that quite amusing.)
And I've discovered a new found passion for the guitar - mainly through many nights with lack of an internet connection and seeing young people who can play better than me.
I really should have broken this down into several entries - do let me know if you need any more info on any of these points.
Oh, 2 other things...
Our house still hasn't sold, and now that our 2yr tracker has run out we're paying £200 more per month for a house we don't live in - GREAT!!
And Work at CYFC is going really well - a few interesting teething issues, but nothing that I wasn't expecting.
And thirdly, (for those of you that don't know where number 2 comes in the numeric system) Zak is having an amazing time at school - he gets so many stickers that we've run out of things to stick them to.
Oh, and fourthly, Lara now works part-time for St Matts as Children's worker, and Maisey has started going to nursery (the Maisey thing should really have its own point, but this is quite frankly getting ridiculous)
And I'll stop there.
Ciao people!!
ps. check out the new Cov YFC website - www.covyfc.org
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