A plug for the excellent spotify service. I haven’t bothered to shift all my music files from my back-up back to a PC because I’m using this instead – currently indulging my new romantic nostalgia, tho’ wikipedia doesn’t know what a quiff meant in those days. For a real one see this.
Got up with all sorts of good intentions as I was beginning to feel normal again – even managed to take Ollie for a walk for the first time since Sunday morning – but then discovered that my computer was going wrong, in that I was immediately logged off as soon as I entered Windows XP. I have since spent almost all day trying to fix it, going to the extreme of installing Ubuntu (which, frankly, is easy to put on to the PC and then absolutely awful to try and run anything on, or connect to the internet, so I’m giving up on that idea) only to find, after trying a complete re-install of WinXP that my hard disk is non-functioning. All that the machine can cope with now is Ubuntu run from the CD-Rom.
One bit of good news – I’ve got all my files backed up. What’s going to be a pain is re-establishing all my settings on a new PC. Still, for now I can steal my wife’s as she’s not going to be needing it for a week or two. And I might just be tempted to upgrade my system….
Not a nice way to spend a day (but thanks to PB for some key assistance half way through).
Last weekend I went up to the Peterborough Diocese to lead a study day on ‘Transforming the World’ using my LUBH material, which I thought went well, and the feedback has been solidly positive. Along with the positive feedback, however, came two bits of ‘criticism’, ie that I ask ‘is that clear?’ or ‘does that make sense?’ a bit too often, and I have a tendency to smile too much (something of a nervous tic) which might suggest that I don’t take the material as seriously as might be expected. This I felt was an excellent example of constructive criticism – things that I can do something about to continually improve my presentation skills so that the message gets across ever more effectively.
I do think that our culture as a whole, and clergy in particular, need training in how to give constructive criticism; it’s an incredibly useful art and would probably lead to many fewer of the conflicts now afflicting us if we were able to practise it more effectively. I suppose it’s a way of ‘speaking the truth in love’, which is something I need to work on myself (that is, I think I’ve got the ‘speaking the truth’ bit down OK, it’s the latter that needs attention….)
Every so often, someone who knows me reasonably well – as opposed to extremely well – will either ask me if I want to be, or suggest that I will end up being, a bishop. The trouble comes when they don’t take my denials at face value and think I’m coming on all Heseltiney, but I really don’t think it’s an attractive job, and I don’t feel any particular vocational call in that direction (for which I am most grateful, thanks boss). I am an ambitious person, but my ambitions lie in different directions, partly all the material associated with my book, partly in (and this is my real deep dark secret) a desire to one day run a theological college and train priests for the ministry. The sort of priests I most admire tend to be like John Keble who turned down a Bishopric (and whose feast we celebrate today – which partly provoked this post) and David Hope who gave up being an Archbishop in order to return to parish ministry.
However….
Having said all that, I do occasionally see things that make me question my certainty on the topic – and this post from Nick Baines is one such. Perhaps being a Bishop is not the muzzle that I perceive it to be!!
I wasn’t going to comment on this, but….
The other day my therapist told me I was “different”. Obviously everyone is different, and he did say – reassuringly explicitly – that I wasn’t “different” in the sense of being dysfunctional (along the lines of, eg, crack addicts or something like that); another thing that my therapist said is that I’m not someone who needs therapy, I just want to grow as a person. It put me in mind of a comment from a friend in church about the recent unpleasantness in the parish (on which topic I might write something before too long – in brief, as it is no longer in any way a secret, I asked the Director of Music here to retire) who wrote to me – objecting to what I’d done – but did so in a really nice way, listing my various eccentricities, such as growing a ponytail and taking a service whilst wearing a Hawaiian shirt. That’s what the therapist had in mind – I’m an eccentric. Which is fine, I probably am.
I think that one of the reasons why people find me a bit eccentric is that, to borrow the cliche, I march to the sound of a different drum. I would say (I would wouldn’t I?) that I’m trying, more or less successfully, to follow what God is telling me to do, and that, inevitably, leads to conflict with the consensus of a particular community – any community. I also suspect that I’m keener on the truth – possibly to a pathological degree – than is comfortable for most people. (I should add that sometimes my pursuit of truth is a tilting at windmills; one example would be the 9/11 truth movement which I spent some time having sympathy for, but mostly don’t any more. Thing is, having explored the issue in a great deal of depth I end up in a place which is much more solidly grounded than before, even if where I end up is basically where conventional opinion is – to leave a place and return and know it for the first time – but that’s what happens when you grow.)
So, all that is by way of preamble, and why I mention it is because of all the crap that is being hurled at Palin over her decision to resign from being Governor – which is, of course, not much changed from all the crap that has been sent her way for most of the last year. She is marching to the sound of her own drum, she is an independent eccentric and it scares the willies out of conventional consensus opinion – because she has the capacity to be a game changer. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
She said “Energy independence and national security, fiscal restraint, smaller government, and local control have been my priorities and will remain my priorities.” That’s a genuinely conservative statement of principles – and a statement of genuinely conservative principles which I’d support. In the context of the utter FUBAR of Obama’s economic policies I can well imagine her becoming the head of a revolutionary movement that takes her into higher reaches of power, not least given the three years of mounting disaster that the US will endure in the meantime. But maybe that’s just me tilting at windmills again.
Anyhow, I recognise, respect and admire her independence of character. Even if she never runs for political office again (and I wouldn’t blame her for making that decision): Go Sarah!
Having a brief moment exploring the potential of my mobile phone. It looks like i might be able to blog… Having a very positive, restful and spiritually centring time here. It is already the best retreat I’ve had in many years. Pondering intercessions, exorcisms, liturgies and learning suppers. Read three books so far as well, including Moitessier, but more on that when I return. I might also try and upload a photo…
I’m off on retreat for a few days, to Mirfield, possibly the best theological college in the world.
… is the best medicine. If it is true that losing your sense of humour is the earliest sign of burn-out, then I am greatly encouraged by how much I am laughing out loud this morning.
First this (from my regular correspondent 🙂
A gynaecologist had become so fed up with malpractice insurance and NHS paperwork he was burned out.
Hoping to try another career where skilful hands would be beneficial, he decided to become a mechanic.
He went to the local technical college, signed up for classes, attended diligently, and learned all he could.
When the time for the practical exam approached, the gynaecologist prepared carefully for weeks and completed the exam with tremendous skill.
When the results came back, he was surprised to find that he had obtained a score of 150%.
Fearing an error, he called the instructor, saying, “I don’t want to appear ungrateful for such an outstanding result, but I wonder if there is an error in the grade.”
The instructor said, “During the exam, you took the engine apart perfectly, which was worth 50% of the total mark.
You put the engine back together again perfectly, which is also worth 50% of the mark. This equalled an A.”
After a pause, the instructor added, “I gave you an extra 50% because you did it all through the exhaust pipe, which I’ve never seen done in my entire career.
Then this.
And finally, the cutest ass you have ever seen.
Onwards and up em!
How can you stay grumpy when you see something like this?
Didn’t go far, but it proved to be remarkably refreshing. That is, I slept a lot 🙂
For a better picture of this sunset, see Juliet’s piccies.