Lacking in Creativity and Originality

I am currently lacking in creativity and originality right now...if you have any topics you'd like me to talk about...feel free to let me know!

For instance, at some point in the past...Miriam Ford suggested me write about ninjas which I hastily did. Then, Grace Miller suggested I write about Perudo and Gerard Butler...which I did.

Now, I'm open for ideas. Seriously, anything to save me from my boredom.

Would you like a hot drink?

The answer?

Yes, please.

I love a nice hot drink now and then.

For years and years, I'd only ever have hot chocolate as my hot drink...this was seen as unusual, but it made me unique. Last May, I tried tea for the first time. It is now my staple hot drink, and I no longer have that specific uniqueness in that area of my life. Sad times.

BUT! This tea phase of my life has begun...and it means now I can accept offers of tea, cream teas, afternoon teas, and feel part of it!

Another fun thing I can do is that if someone offers you a drink, I can hold my hands up in the shape of a 'T' and people will chuckle, and know juuuust what I'm requesting. The only problem comes when they ask about sugar and milk...hmm...maybe I should think of a sign.

Drinking tea makes me feel more like an adult too...I am being a sheep, COMPLETELY. This is what adults do, therefore, I now feel more like an adult.

The pros and cons of drinking tea, eh. Who'd have thought it would this complex?

Oh well...I'm over it. Right, off to put the kettle on...would you like a hot drink?

Communications

Communication has expanded recently, it's hard not to notice. What with facebook, msn, Skype, to name but a few.

Despite the masses saying that online communication removes elements from a relationship. Sometimes you seem to find you will start appreciating those removals.

In life, I have met people who often say things that make you feel so small and inferior, and that I don't really have the right to say anything - because whatever I say will be ridiculed. And it happens...so what can you do?

Not much if you don't like person to person confrontation...but using online communications can help straighten out problems and get across everything you want to say. However, this is awkward but removes the chance of a heated direct discussion...as you can think of what to say, and then type. Whereas person to person you can say things which can frequently be taken the wrong way. People are all different...some can take comments, others can't. Some people can take comments from certain people, some people can only take certain comments from people. See what I'm getting at?

For example...

I can give comments and take them just as much...but sometimes there is a line. Constant criticism is past the line. I can cope with some criticism, who can't? But imagine being criticised for pretty much everything. Food habits, general life habits, and things you do that are different, not wrong but different. So, everything you hold dear is criticised. This is past the line. Once this is past, I feel small, insecure, rubbish...and I don't talk much because I know that anything will be criticised. This doesn't happen regularly, thankfully - but often people have to stand back and think have I been getting on this person's back an awful lot recently? If the answer is yes...then reconsider ridiculing them for the next little thing...

I love this song...

Is there a plank in your eye,

Big enough to walk on,

Big enough to build a ship,

Or even build a bonfire.

Don't point your brother and say 'Hey!',

You're doing it the wrong way hey hey,

Your own life is far from ok,

Don't point at the speck in your brother's eye when there's a whopping great plank in your own.

The actions are fabulous, and it has a great message. Before helping your brother with his problem, sort your own problems out...then you can help him properly without anything getting in your way! Isn't that great?!

I know I can be just as bad...but writing this blog right now really reminds me to take a step back and apologise for any rudeness. Sorry!

Life...Past, Present and Future.

I always log into my blog thinking I'll have something incredible to write about that will have people interested in what I have to say by the masses. However, as soon as I get onto the new post bit and it says 'Title:' - I'm stuck for words. I don't know what I want to talk about! There's so much...but I never quite know how to put it into words.

I'll begin with saying that I'm on my Easter break. I've been at home for just over seven days now...and it feels like I've done a years worth of stuff in it! Last weekend I was able to see some of my friends from Romania - which was amazing, and we hung out and had I stayed with them for the night where we watched 'Sister Act'. The night was really good - and I loved being able to talk to them again...they're really great people.

Then since Monday, I've been helping out at my church's Holiday Bible Club. It's such a great opportunity to be able to freely tell children about the gospel of Jesus - but it is tiring work. Up at 7.30am...then a fun filled morning until around 1pm. You can't imagine how much you can do within this time unless you've experienced it yourself. It's really good to be able to talk to the kids about Jesus, and getting to know a couple of the kids so I'm hoping I'll be able to talk to them a bit more tomorrow!

After the stories, songs (I'm in the HBC band), quizzes, challenges, games, challenge sheets and dancing...you're tired, but it never kicks in until the night. It's incredible how God has been keeping us strong!! We can't do it by ourselves, I'd be a complete wreck...but relying on God's strength means I can wake up each morning (not necessarily quickly or with a big glistening smile on my face!) and get into what I'm waking up early for...to teach these kids about God, and it's all for His glory! Brilliant...

There are moments of silliness...a hair gel challenge. I was the judge who had to judge my friends who had just had their hair restyled by the kids. Yeah...I should have known what the aftermath would be. I strolled into the corridor and got jumped by the hair gel crew. We had a brief spell of immaturity, before realising, this is going to set soon and we're about to go to the cinema. SHAMPOO? ANYONE!

There is a tradition of silliness...and I'm quite glad it came out. Another tradition that we have is that on the Wednesday of HBC week, we go the cinema. 'Clash of the Titans' was this year's film. Considering I hadn't a clue what it was about, it was a 12, and with it's given name - I wasn't expecting much. But I loved it! It was about Perseus - and if you know your Greek mythology, you'll know what's to come...but the film exceeded my initial expectations with flying colours. The cast was incredible. Liam Neeson - need I say more? Yes...Ralph Fiennes. Two amazing men.

This was with my church friends. Away from this, I went out with my friends from school on Tuesday evening for some drinks and then to play pool. Girls won again...2-0. The boys have never defeated us completely, they've won battles but we've always won the overall war! And with my family, well mum, we went to the cinema tonight to try and see 'Dear John'...turns out it's not out til next week. So we opted to see 'How to Train Your Dragon'. Again, my expectations were low - having not been to see an animation in ages. But, it was quite entertaining...not my favourite animation...but certainly a good watch. It had a good voice cast, Gerard Butler provided the voice of Stoick, the top Viking leader guy...I wasn't so impressed with his looks in this though...but his voice was still definitely worth listening to. His emotion really shone through, especially at the end. He had proved himself in the animation area as well...which means his range is increasing...and at a fast rate.

So, this was all within a week. Now, what's to come?

Tomorrow, up again at 7.30 - and HBC again! With all the shananigans included I shouldn't wonder - I know one thing which is happening...mwahaha. Then we're going out to lunch later on (and rumour has it the people have a pool...and HBC haven't had a traditional water fight in 2 years...maybe it'll make it's comeback tomorrow?). Then I'll be waiting round for 7.30pm, where I shall be going to a planning meeting for the Romania trip in July/August. I can't wait for this - 14 days!!! Beats the 10 days we did last year -- because it's 4 more days there!! I'll be playing guitar there, so we'll be picking songs soon. Aaaand, dramas...I love dramas, can't act for toffee...but meh...I don't mind...we'll be planning those too. :o) I always played a bad guy last year...oh, and a random person being held down by my sins. Dramas are really good to portray a message...especially across a language barrier. You don't need to speak the language...your actions provide everything! We have this ability - God is amazingly great!

Then over the weekend, more HBC events! Fancy dress, and games. Then the Sunday morning event...pray that parents would come along with their kids...so that they too would hear the gospel too. I pray that God would prepare their hearts. It's another opportunity we have to share our lives with these non-believers, so we shouldn't be careless to waste it but remembering it's for God's glory not our own.

That'll be it to sum up the last 7 days and the upcoming 3 days. After that, I'll be at home for another week working on my last assignment. It's quite a change! But I'll be appreciating the extra sleep, I can imagine!

Ciao for now dear void.

Good Friday

Jesus' death and the purpose behind it is significant and relevant to me every day of my life...but sometimes I forget how significant it is, and I am reminded of it each year around this weekend. I should look to Jesus every day and thank him for the wonderful gift of life he gave me, but I often stumble and forget. Yet, God still loves me! I often wonder why...but in his great love and mercy, he saved me - and the chance of this amazing relationship was made through Jesus' death - and his death, a horrific, violent, and seen by many as a shameful execution...is what is known as Good Friday? Some have asked me why it's called 'Good'...surely an execution would be 'Bad'...and yes, an execution is horrible to think about. But on this day of Jesus' execution, it was *our* sins on Jesus' shoulders as he hung on the cross...not his own.

It is Good Friday, because Jesus took our sins from us...and our sins are punishable by death, that was the price that had to be paid. Jesus died for me.

I heard an story once about two brothers. One brother was a liar, a thief and frequently rioted in the town. His older brother had a completely clean rap sheet, wore smart clothes, and was respected by many in the town. The younger brother had been arrested after being caught rioting, and he was thrown into prison awaiting his trial - over his life, his clothes had become worn and torn, and he had become dirty from being in a grim cell. When his trial date came, he was sentenced to death by hanging for his crimes. The brother was able to escape...and he ran to his older brother's house -with the police close behind him. He had heard about his younger brother's death sentence, and saw him approaching the house. The brother came out of his house and looked at his sibling. He quickly told his brother to take his clean shirt, and give him his dirty shirt, and to go and hide in his house, and that he would sort everything out. His brother ran into the house, trusting his older brother to help. The older brother who remained outside put on his brother's dirty shirt, messed his hair up, and wiped dirt and mud over himself, and smeared mud on his face. The police soon came to the house, and took the older brother away. After a day, the younger brother had heard nothing so came out of the house and walked through the town. It was quiet, and not many people were around. He continued walking through, until he came to the town gallows, where he looked up and saw his brother hanging there on the gallows. The younger brother fell to his knees, and wept. He rushed to the police station and told them of the mistake and demanded they hang him, the true criminal. The police told him that the price had been paid...and that he could go free.

This story helped me understand exactly what Jesus had done for me...I felt guilty, and convicted. But I knew that Jesus had died for me - like the older brother...he was perfect, had never sinned, yet he took our sins and our dirty clothes and wore them for himself and took our place. He did not say "I told you so" or "Sorry, can't help you there" - no, he took our sins without hesistation and died for us. He went through Hell for us...for me, for you.

The reason why we are free today is because of Jesus' death...when Jesus was resurrected from the dead, he conquered death! He restored the relationship between us and God...giving us the chance to recognise our sins and to come to God for forgiveness, and willing to turn our lives around and live for God. The moment we do this, we have Jesus' white shirt on...and will eternally. The price paid, fully and completely. This is why it is Good Friday!

Famous Film Nuns

I came to the realisation that film nuns are quite amazing.

The two films that immediately come to mind are 'The Sound of Music' and 'Sister Act'.

Nuns to bring a smile to my face when I see them in films...even if they're not Julie Andrews or have an afro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqp89bkFe8k

Surely films like this really made society respect nuns for what they do. Given, they probably don't sing or perform like this...but in 'Sister Act' they help the community, they help the homeless, and hopeless. Films like this should be made more often...but they're not. Where have these timeless classics gone?

Same as 'The Sound of Music' - Julie Andrews as a nun...at the beginning anyway. Showed nuns in a completely different light - again, they were respected for what they did for the community, and for children!

Maybe films like this have contributed to why people now respect nuns so much? I don't know...just a thought!

Valentine's Day

Let's just firstly get this out of the way - I love romcoms...they're one of my favourite genres - but just because the film is, does not necessary mean I will instantly fall in love with it. However, this film...had just the right amount of charm, twist, romanticism, and general loveliness for me to fall head over heels for it.

The cast is outstanding. I haven't seen this sort of casting since...'Love Actually'...and in terms of what the papers say that it's the American version of 'Love Actually'. Casting wise...yes it is. Story wise...no where near. I actually preferred this much more to 'Love Actually'...maybe it was because it didn't have an unnecessary amount of sex scenes in it, or maybe it was just Hugh Grant wasn't in it...either way, I loved this film much more.

Some of the brilliant cast included Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel, Jessica Alba, Taylor Lautner, Taylor Swift, Patrick Dempsey, Anne Hathaway, Topher Grace, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Garner and Jamie Foxx among many many others. All the characters are linked somehow...much like 6 degrees of separation, and it's amazing how well they were connected.

Ok, some of the storylines were there to lighten the mood for example Taylor Lautner and Taylor Swift's. It was a story of two high school sweethearts, and they're both just very ditsy, and I loved it. But on the other hand, there were examples of how we can often be blinded by the bigger picture when it comes to love.

Ashton Kutcher's character had a really good story behind it, and he connected loads of characters together. He plays Reed, a local florist, and of course on Valentine's Day - he has lots of business, and he's a very romantic chap. He goes on a romantic rollercoaster for 24 hours...and it's heartbreaking, but it's a romcom - of course it's going to be happy in the end!

There are unexpected twists, you can tell you're not the only one when the cinema behind you are gasping or 'Awwww'ing, or even weeping. I wept tears of joy at the end of this film...and I rarely do this. With sad films, yes I cry at most. But happy endings? Rarely...but this film just got to me!

Julia Roberts played an unusual character in this for her...but she pulled it off. She's a soldier in the army who is returning home for a night, before going on her next tour. I would never have put Julia in this role, but full credit to the casting directors - it really worked. She's so down to earth, despite being one of the most famous people in the world...and this always shines through in her performances. Just magnificent.

I would never have expected Jamie Foxx to have been in this kind of film. From what I've seen him in, he's either in quite dark films like 'Law Abiding Citizen' or just action films like 'Collateral'. So, Jamie Foxx in a romcom? Unusual...yet again, it works! His character represents people who hate the commercialism on Valentine's Day and would much rather people did other things. This film had to have his character in it, otherwise it wouldn't represent Valentine's Day in its fullness. He did a great job.

The characters are great...the script isn't brilliant, but it provides you with enough to fall in love with the right people! The soundtrack is really good, I was loving it all the way through.

The film just deals with everything you could face in a relationship, young or old. And it does get you thinking about how "love" is perceived and changes depending on who you are. From loving your teacher, to the high school jock, to the random guy you met last night, to your husband you met 50 years ago...whatever, it covers it all.

The out-takes at the end are great - watch 'Pretty Woman' before seeing this, and you'll appreciate them even more so!

It certainly won't be to everyone's taste. It's a romcom, and you can't please everybody. But it's a lighthearted and beautiful film...that will make you laugh, cry, and possibly move you to want to buy the DVD...I certainly will in 17 weeks time. Bring it on.