5 Dec 2006

Last Week's bloggerage

Bloggering 2

G'day bloggerites, sorry it's been a little while since my last blog, but it has been a very busy week!
However, it has been an interesting week to!

I had a meeting with Ant Sayles on Monday & found out about a fund for young people which I hadn't come across yet - the Youth Opportunities fund, which can help youth groups with capital & revenue funding. The only stipulation is the emphasis on young people participating in the bid - realistically they have to fill it out & be involved with all the stages of the bids - fantastic! Well a minor complication is that the bids needed to be in on Wednesday (i.e. 2 days ago) so speed was of the essence, this balanced with trying to finish an essay for Uni on management - d'oh! I managed to finish off the essay (yaaaay) then printed off 3 copies of the form to take to the Tuesday Group.

I had a bit of a chat with the Tuesday crew & explained the importance of the opportunity & about the speed of the response necessary. I'm pleased to say that they took the challenge & completed a form for both revenue & capital - for 7900 & 8000 respectively! Not bad for a student youthworker methinks lol!

Also had my last lecture days on Wednesday & Thursday. Wednesday was scary, yet informative - public speaking skills! Something which really scares me normally......& still does! But now I know how to prepare for my talks etc. Coolies!!!

Thursday, now that was a different kettle of Tuna! Ian M's opposite number in Peterborough - Paul turned up with loads of games & ides for group sessions for young people. We all thought he was nuts to bring the amount of stuff that he brought with him. However, the stuff he brought was very very cool: uni-hock, parachutes, scruples, hundreds & hundreds mini-beanbags, a giant inflatable cube, etc. & best of all he let us play - yaaaaaaaaaaay - be teenagers & small children for the morning lol! I don't think anyone got bored of throwing beanbags at each other all morning!

Fun as it was though, it still really challenged me to think about my own youthwork & what games we play. They may be fun(ish), but I think that with some more fun (youth-friendly) resources I might be able to enhance my youthwork practice.

Also on Thursday(this IS turning out to be a bit of a BIG blog!) I presented the funding bid to the PCC & their monthly meeting - nice! But people were both surprised & happy about it though - win!

OK (nearly there) Friday had lunchtime club in the Primary School in North Leigh, which went fine - we were rehearsing for the play at Christmas. However, the evening - now that was fun....kinda!

Rewind (my Friday night, open youth group) was both good, & bad! Good because I informed this group about the funding bid, but also because we talked about an article in the local newsletter (Nor Lie News) which had a report from the Parish Council criticising young people in North Leigh over them hanging out in the park next to the Primary School. The discussions were really interesting, & the group decided to look at their main hang-out area (skate park) which is currently unusable because it's covered in glass. The decision which came out of these discussions was to possible do some form of social action in the new year!

However, there was also some bad news as the leadership is going to be severely reduced in numbers, with the loss of both Kathy & now Katie from the Friday group.

Simon, signing off!

26 Nov 2006

Sundaynessess

Good avo once again blog-fiends & welcome to another blog from Simon's brain!

Today is Sunday (uh-hu) & I didn't go to my placement church, because I went instead to my home church as it was young AJ's baptism this morning. The service was very good - Andy Richens' serman was aimed mostly at newcomers to Christianity, which was good & challenged the congregation. The 2 testamonies were both interesting, especially the other guy Rob whose words really challenged the whole church!

So 2 baptisms this morning....then off to Aldates this evening with, that's right 6 more baptisms lol - isn't God wonderful!

23 Nov 2006

ahhhh Gears......of War

More blogging you say - surely not!

Tough - lol! Just for fun here's some more thoughts from yours truly, about.............something a little different - the gaming world of the XBox 360!

OK there's a new game on the 360 called Gears of War. It's a third person shooter set in a pseudo-earth with some very stereotypical Americans as the hero's (3 guesses as to the nationality of the American developers......hang on - d'oh!) who fight against some very tough enemies - none of you Call of Duty 2 shots & your dead type baddies, not 10 headshots & they're still charging at you - in a word.......cool!

The physics, graphics & sheer gameplay are all-encompassing & totally own you whilst play. Mind you it is an 18 certificate game, but seeing as I'm 25......who cares! It gory, they swear, but overall it's a blast (so to speak) to play.

There are just so many nice bits, like the system which allows you to get into cover & 'blind-fire' from cover & shred the enemies & the badass machinegun which is cool, but has a secondary function of.........a chainsaw - genious! So that I'd give this 11 out of 10 for the sheer audacity of it all. If there is only 1 gripe however it's this the snipering modes don't impress me too much, as the aiming is a little cumbersome, but apart from that - WOW just buy this game if you own or have 'borrowed' a 360 - a proper WIN!

Thursday?! is it, already

Yeah well!

G'day bloggers, today young Simon is most confused - it's Thursday.......I think, but I don't know where the week has gone - but I have an idea!!

It's essay season in the world of the CYM student & as such I have one essay due in tomorrow & another next week - d'oh! However, the good news is that I've finished the one due tomorrow & submitted it today - winner! It was all about Christology & its relationship to prejudice/stereotyping that happens in my of contemporary culture. Somehow I even managed to get in a quote from Dylan Moran about prejudice of gay people which although is initially can be seen as comical , actually reflects some deep human judgements which are as present today as they have ever been, it's just that now we are more aware of them i.e. Enlightened.

The other essay.....well I haven't even started yet, but I'm going to get cracking on with it over the weekend - joy!

Also today we had small group again which was cool & really relevant to me at the moment as it was all about keeping going under pressure & this is what I'm feeling at the moment from all side of life.

But it seems like one thing after another at the moment & when things like my health are affected it's just no fun! I've now been feeling flu-like with a headache, dodgy stomach & an irritating cough for about a week & it's sapping my energy which makes me think that I need a break.....but I have too much to do so I end up working rather than recovering. It's not that my health is unimportant, it's just that I deem the work too critical. Hmmm.

Youthwork Conference Pt2

This blog was written on 21/11/06

Good avo my fellow blogfans!

Right I'm going to give some more feedback about Youthwork the Conference! But first.......congratulations to 2 people - my 'little' brother James, for making it to the grand old age of 24! (21/11/2006) Also to Ian for managing to read my last blog post on Saturday about an hour after I wrote it & talked to me about it that day - impressive Obi-Wan!

Right then the conference, it was weird bumping into so many of my fellow CYM students outside of Uni, as well as Ian (bizarro). The conference seemed to be a bit spread out for me & the venue & amount of people there was far bigger than up in Southport. It was really good, but unfortunately because I wasn't feeling too great still, my concentration was not as focused as I would have liked, also because I went in solo it lost any purpose of relation-building. I have to say that whilst everyone else was in groups, they may have had a better time. But don't misunderstand me I still enjoyed myself, but it could have been better!

Finally I'm now off to see Casino Royale with the famille crew, then it's off to group - more mixing & chilling - win!

18 Nov 2006

Uodate & exams

Hey-oh!

Right a quick update. Had my exam on Thursdays & that went pretty well, I finished both questions & added appropriate theory & theology & used the format from Ian etc. I think I've done ok, but will have to wait & see.

Friday was a day of sleep mostly. I did the group in the evening, but felt like I should have been resting still & managed to lose my temper more easily then was strictly necessary.

Right now I'm sat listening to Andy Hickford at Youthwork The Conference in Eastbourne in a big theatre - bizzare!

15 Nov 2006

Me

Now it's a little later in the day, we've finished for the day......which is nice! Had a really good/relevant/interesting lecture from Paul - Christology & it made my brain hurt lol! He also gave us some really good essay advice & so should help me loads when I come to write about what I'm going to write about.......huh!

Right I've also firmly made up my mind to definitely go to Youthwork The Conference down in Eastbourne this weekend ~ my boss called me today to confirm that my placement church had found me sponsorship to go to it & it should be really good - win!

Finally, the worship session that I ran......I think it went ok, but people listening tipo me freaks me out lol. I believe that those peoe listening appreciated the culture difference that I brought to the session & the use of different forms of media. I also think that the way I ran it was good.....to a point - when I got people into groups to pray with each other - there was no real purpose to it, which I think would have helped, also I think that the bible passage was not as applicable as I first thought. However, having said this, it is good to reflect on one's work & see where things can be improved. Also thanks to Steve for doing my observation & giving me reall constructive feedback - thanks mate.

Adious

Me....leading worship?!?!

Hey ho, another day, another blog!

I had group last night, which although was "not the best planned ever", still went really quite well! We played with soem new tech equipment that the youtth project may well end up getting from my Dad, which was fun, a mixing desk, amp & speaker set & even more fun, some CD-decks lol. I thought I'd bring along a shed-load of my old CD singles that I have been clooecting over the past couple of years & see what happens when you let some young people loose with some fun tech stuff!!

The results were pretty good actually! Based on my huge experience of being a DJ [huh!!]....or not! I explained the basics - mixing of 2 tracks into each other, with the idea of creating one seemless track, using a combination of cuing up & fading in one track to the next, & so on.

By the end of the evening we were getting some good sounds from the kit, & the speakers, amp etc. were more than capable of hodling their own & cranking out the tunes - win!!

This leads me nicely onto today.....for which I'm running the worship for uni.....in about 3 minutes ahhhhhhh!!

Anyways, I'm using as much contemporary worship ideas as I know, looking at what worship is & looks like.....a good debate, as my theology tells me that God does not care about what the tune sounds like or even the words....it's all about the heart of the worshipper......to be continued!

14 Nov 2006

New Look Blog

G'day there blogfans, well for those people who do read my blog, you will have noticed that I have changed the layout of my blog & have also moved to a beta version of blogger. My feedback so far is that it is much better than the original, with more possibilitiy of customisation & it's all a little bit smoother. Let me know what you think.

13 Nov 2006

Monday Stuff

Morning all you craaaazy blogfans.......well Ian at least lol.

Well it's been a few days since my last blog, but it's been very busy (hey that's youthwork for you) had the service for rememberance Sunday yesterday morning followed by Quake in the evening, with the day only broken up with a spot of luncheon & some journalling....again! Not entirely sure how I'm going to submit stuff tho as I don't have the interweb on my computer......still!!

Also had a runion for the Mid Wessex camp I did over the summer this weekend which was really good. I always find it facinating to see how much young people change in just 4 months!!

Rewind (Friday group) was great fun & I ran the whole session with loads of silliness......quite right really, but the young people were being more than a little disrespectful & so I sa them down & had a chat with them all about why it is important to respect leaders & those adults in their lives. The conversation then turned to respecting each other & those of a different ethnicity or faith belief than themselves. To be honest I was pleasantly surprised by their reactions & I think that this might be a good idea to do at the end of the evening/session for this group.

Finally in my more reflective mood, I have been reflecting on the whole aspect of team in my reworked journal & the thing I want to share about that is this; without God as part of your team, you will never have complete success. I know it seems bold & sweeping, but my experience so far backs this theory - when God has been simply ignored then the team has never worked, but where He has been there at the ginning, middle & end it has been a winner!

A good thought for the day! If you haven't ever checked out my most inspired bible verse.......do so NOW! Joshua 1:9

Blessings


Si

8 Nov 2006

More Wednesday-ness

ok so small group was great again - had some really good conversations about the exam we have next week that a lot of people were panicing about, Han W led us through a journal which was relevant because it was all about soteriology (the study of the Christian theology surrounding salvation). I say relevant as it's one of the things that we're studying this term at Uni. Was sad that Mikey & Nikki were missing, but hey you can't help you, or your car being ill!!

I then had a chat with Ian about the stuff I was working on today - a workflow diagram & breakdown - as I'm feeling the pressure on every front & to be honest am struggling a little with keeping my head above the surface as much as I would like. He helped me go through some of the key work patterns that I'm trying to do - which was awesome! It's given me some ideas & thoughts to mull over this evening, with a view to progressing & keep (relatively) sane!!!

Now I'm on the bus home reflecting on this discussion & I'm now feeling much more positive about stuff. Hopefully I'm not whining too much, but if I am, you'll get over it.

happy blogging


Si

Wednesdayday

OK firstly apologies for the title - I need to get a better set of titles lol!

Well today it's time for the professional formation group (aka small group) which is always good for a bit of teaching! It's where all the CYM students who live near Oxford get together for some shared learning, under the wise tutalige of Ian. Should be good!

However, this is not the only thing going on today - managed to lose service on my interweb, stand on my glasses & have the most awesome headache - which either means I need to lay off the coffee........or go get some lol!

Other things for frustration include my laptop needing repair, the Daily Mail & totat lack of sleep - of the fun of 2nd year lol.

Right now I'm gonna try to get my ass organised!

7 Nov 2006

Thankfulness

Well today is another day to thank God for, yesterday managed to have a major headache (an old & huge financial burden) lifted, also a family member is going to contribute to sneding me out of the country for a uweek in December, then I took my Dad's car in for repairs & something major ly wrong with the car might still be covered under warranty - cool!

On an even brigter note, my boss has suggested that I go to 'Youthworh The Conference' in Eastbourne in a couple of wekks as well - even better!

Right enough fun, now to plan the group for tonight!

Adios

Si

6 Nov 2006

Monday, the endless......ness

Good avo blogfans!

Well an interesting day it has been - one of the biggest stresses for me in recent times has been lifted - yaaaaaaaaaay! Not only that but driving to Heathrow was hilarious fun - magic fog lol!

Also 2 random things to annoy me; the Daily Mail & something which is important & relevant - the book The God Delusion. Hmmmmmm! Mr Richard Dawkins seems to be on some sort of anti-religious crusade. We had a lecture on this last week & it affected me so much that I thought I'd get it, read it & critique it - win.

Right I'm off to see if the muppets who 'fixed' my laptop can sort out the mess that they left behind - in this day & age - what is the point of not having WiFi on a laptop with it built in - d'oh!

Si

5 Nov 2006

Sunday mornin'

Morning blogfans! Well it's been a very busy weekend - again & young Simon is feeling the pressure again from all sides (makes me sound like a damn submArine, but hey!); have got a tonne of written work to do for Uni - an essay about management, an exam coming up next week & have to lead worship then to! also gotta redraft most of the work that I've already written this term - as I'm not yet working to a 2nd year level - a bit of a problem based on the fact that I AM a 2nd year!!! Oh & lets not forget my placement - have got to plan for all groups, come up with a script for 1 group, plan a talent evening for the other & try to get the 3rd off the ground! oh just rewrite all policies & procedures for the project & get some sort of leaders pack together for my volunteer leaders. then find the time to sort out an additional placment & deal with my mounting correspondence lol it's all green really lol Well my theory is that worry not, ecclesiastes 3 & I assume that in heaven life is much less papaerwork!!!!!!!!!!

Happy bloggeringnessthingworkerisms

Si

4 Nov 2006

overblogger

Good morning Blog fans & greetings on this cold but glorious morning!

Well saw the great Lab 4 & they were as spectaular as I expected, they even managed to fina a DJ who could actually play after a set from the boys - good old Proteus from Finland!!

The atmosphere was pretty good for a Zodiac gig, the crowd were up for it but were all a bit f##ked by 12,so but thw time Lab 4 came on at 1am, I 80% of the crowd were more than a little wasted!

However, to be honest it's something that I've come to expect with the clubbing scene & although I don't agree with those people who feel they need drugs, I can see why they do it. As we discussed this in lectures recently, my theory is that people (especially in the clubbing scene) are trying to get this sense of euphoria.

As a Christian, I would argue that this is really people exploring their own spirituality & trying reach 'something'. Again my own interpretation of this is that people are trying to reach God, but without necessarily working this out.

I believe that this euphoria that is both being sought & obtained can be compared to an interpretation of the experience of the Holy Spirit that Christians get.

An interesting point? I think so!

My final musing for this time in the morning is this - it's very easy to judge, have prejudice & make assumptions about the club culture, but until you actually go & experience it, you may be well wide of the truth!!!

We continue


Six

3 Nov 2006

2nd blog

OK this is my 2nd post, and guess what - I'm blogging from me new phono lol! Anyways this us just a quick post to see if this works & to test out Opera 8 Mobile!

Tonight I have my 1st group back after half-term, then I'm going out to see the final performance of a group called Lab-4 - they've split up after 15 years of creating some of the most tough & outragous hard dance music I've ever experienced - they're presence will be sorely missed!

Right now in true youthwork fashion, it's time to plan my group!!!!

Si

My First Blog

Morning Blogfans, well I say morning, could be anytime really lol!

This is my first blog....well I say first, I've been blogging for over as year really, it's just that it's been on my Bebo page! For those interested, check out http://pikachuind.bebo.com win!

Right that'll do for my first blog, keep checking for updates