I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive my neglect, and read on with eager anticipation.
The past few weeks have seen many exciting things happen. It was my birthday; I got presents and praise just for being born - it was totally awesome. I booked a trip to New York with my mother, a long overdue birthday present which was cancelled the first time around due to a volcano exploding. Casual.
I have read some good books. I read Of Mice And Men; my class was strangely excluded from this seemingly ubiquitous Year 10 rite of passage. I think we read Silas Marner instead haha. Now THAT is a book. It's about an old man who lives by himself and is really secluded and he has this pot that he loves and one day it breaks and he's really sad. Other exciting things happen too, but the pot episode really stuck with me. I'll tell you more about my current read in a minute.
I got some books for my birthday too, ridiculous levels of enjoyment taken from their solid spines, all ready for bending and loving. Oooooh.
ALSO my class has started studying Macbeth (studying? Do we think primary school children "study"? Not sure.....). Anyway, they're being taught it. I flipping love Macbeth. I did it in Year 5 too, and liked the witches ("when shall we 3 meet again?" EEE!) but I made the mistake of mentioning that I did my dissertation on it, so now I keep being called on upon for verification of facts. I have a terrible memory; I read something and if I don't write it down over and over, I will forget it within a few days, so I can hardly remember any quotes or historical facts or anything, so now I look like a huge fraud and will probably be put in prison for pretending to know loads of stuff and then not actually knowing anything.
So now you know all about where I am in life, here are some things I would like to tell you about.
ONE.
I am reading Brick Lane by Monica Ali. So far, it's very good. I love books set in other countries or cultures, like A Thousand Splendid Suns. Oh my days, that is one of my favourite books ever. EVER. But Brick Lane is living up to the back-cover-hype, and many friends have said they enjoyed reading it too. It's about a Bangladeshi girl who is married off at 18 to a man living in London. He's fine and sort of nice, but he's older and fat. Not a good combination for a young girl. So far, I have learnt that their flat is very cluttered and they have plates on the walls, and he drops food on himself when he eats. And she doesnt know any English. One negative point - it's written in a very questionable font. It makes me doubt its quality. That is all so far.
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| "Read my book" |
This weekend, I went with Matt to visit dear friends Tom and Sarah. We stayed in their lovely little flat in Winchester, and we did a big photoshoot for a project of Tom's on Saturday. We went to the New Forest and posed about in the trees, and it was soooo fun! It took a while to set up all the lights and stuff and Sarah and I wandered off into the woods and got stuck in a bog. It was all very Mordor and Gollum-esque. But we escaped the bog and found a pretty little stream and grassy bank, which was much Shire-esque. You can't escape the LOTR imagery in forests. Then we went to Ikea and did more posing on the roof of the car park there, and I nearly bought a box but then didn't. And then we had Dominos and accidentally stole a laminated menu. Then today we had an epic roast and a lovely walk in the water meadows in Winchester. I took some photos but I can't show you lots of them coz they give too much away of Tom's project but here are three...
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| New Forest |
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| Miss Hasler and Dr. Pickering |
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| Getting our roast on |
THREE.
I know that a great many of you are fans of Pin. I also know that a great many of you have been sorely disappointed at the lack of Pin exposure in this blog, despite the rather promising URL (exitpursuedbyabear.com was taken, alas). However, all is not lost, for she has been rather mischievous and hilarious of late. I'm sorry to say that I have only been able to document two instances of hilarity which you may have already seen but they are just so enjoyable that I shall share them again. She has taken on role of House Protector Against Big Fat Strange Cats. There is one in particular who seems to feel he can just roll on up and help himself to our food and facilities, but Pin takes issue with this. She now sits at the window, making sure he doesnt come in and makes her tail very big and poofy and makes angry growls. Her job as House Protector is a predominantly office-based role though; she sends Lucy out to do the dirty work - the chasing away, the verbal threats, the hissing.
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| Keeping watch |
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| The Repeat Offender |
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| Living the dream |
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| It's like Where's Wally? |
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| AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH |
FOUR.
Lent started this week and I had sort of decided not to give anything up because I couldn't think of anything meaningful, but after a great ((resonate)) at the abbey this evening (our 20s-30s sesh) I have taken on a focus on prayer for every day, with the aim of using these 40 days to come before God and pray over the same thing every day, and sort of focus on who I am as someone who loves Jesus.
I believe that without Jesus, I have no hope; there is no hope for a fearless life without knowing that it's all in his hands. When I get worried, or go through horrible anxious periods, it means everything to me, literally everything, that my life is in his hands, that he is leaning into me and my life, delighted by my existence, and picking me up when I struggle. Without that knowledge, the fear takes over and I sink into anxiety and depression. I have no hope and no joy without Jesus as my saviour. For me, it's as simple as that - my life is richer, fuller, more joyful, more alive, more wonderful, more exciting, more complete with Jesus. I'm using Lent as a time to reconnect to that truth and to remember that I work so much better when I let Jesus do his thing and stop interfering by thinking I know everything and ploughing on without his help.
Hope that wasn't too heavy, but that's where I am with that and you can think about it or ignore it. This is a good video about Lent with a lovely song played over the top.
FIVE.
Carrying on the God thing, this is also a video that I quite enjoy. It's all over the internet, it's been shared over and over again and has over 19 million views. It's controversial and I think a lot of Christians don't like it. I think a lot of non-Christians don't understand it. I like parts of it and don't like other parts. I thought it might be quite interesting to post it on here and see what people think. I'm easy with wherever you are; watch it, don't watch it; make of it what you will.
Have wonderful weeks, be good, be blessed.
Big love
x x x
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