The Man...Freeland

OK this is a random musical shout-outs, for my favourite DJ's of the past few months/year: Mr Adam Freeland!

He's a DJ & producer who I'd link strongly & usually with the breaks scene. When I started to get into Breaks back in 2006/7 [thanks to Oli Long & First Contact, aka Ed Steele & Kostas from Fresh out the Box for that] one of my immediate favourite's was Freeland's "We Want Your Soul". For me this epitomizes the breaks scene & began to really get me into the whole genre. I then heard his Now & Them album. Check out one of the wicked tracks from it: Mind Killer [choon!]:



Next comes the most bizarre crossovers - I got given a CD, called "Back to Mine" mixed by Adam Freeland. Now this is my most listened to of all the music I own - no word of a lie - over 400 plays on some of the tracks. Now the reason for this really floating my boat is due to the chilled nature of the mix. Also it turned me onto a number of bands, such as Interpol, Autolux, And You Will Know us by the Trail of the Dead, TV on the Radio, Jape, Elliott Smith & Boards of Canada. Some of which I heard of but don't own & some which I was totally unfamiliar with.



To be continued!!

Failing, you have to love it sometimes - it's really funny!!

& one of my all time favourites [stick with it to the end]:

Guitar plea's!!

Oh & I now even have a list of stuff I need for my guitar so if you're getting rid of an amp, pedals, stand, case or even your old electric guitar - let me know!!! ;o)

Guitar Hero?

Don't worry not really succumbed to that fad of playing along with hero's on the 360 [phew!], no in actual fact I have begun to....learn to play the guitar!!

I came across a little electric guitar with no strings & in desperate need of some love, & I asked my good buddy Nate to fix it for me....well he didn't so last Monday me & Hobbit went to go get it, restring it & have a play & check it's all still in working order!

We went on a little jaunt to PMT [no seriously!] on the Cowley Road, just near where I've been having lectures for 3 years! Here I was advised to get some Ernie Ball strings & Hobbit suggested some Jim Dunlop plecks & then we say la piece de resistance a really, really, REALLY small, amplifier:

This is made by VOX [duh!] & is intended for personal practice, without disturbing your room-mates, neighbours, parents, siblings, pets, badgers, etc. & I have to say [even though I truthfully am a total n00b at this] that I was astounded as to how good it was - even through reasonably cheap & nasty headphones. The cool thing is I can practice without people wanting to garrote me with my shiny new strings & it actually sounds like an amp! IT runs with 2 batteries & lasts for like 15 hours [apparently].

Anyways, I've also got a tuner [as I can't tune properly yet - so will have to cheat for now!] & found [literally] a phono cable & dug out my old Absolute Beginner's Guitar book & have learned 4 chords now [so far]. Also Hobbit has been kind enough to chuck me his old guitar strap & has loaned me his beloved Marshall practice amp & a magical effects pedal - so it's a good start - I'll update this bit when I get reasonably reasonable & when I have a little money, but for now this, as it were, rocks!!

P.S. I have to mention my prime coercer into this - dearest Maddie - it's your fault methinks!!

D'oh well!!

Hey blog-peeps, it's been some time so it seems another update is required. You know I don;t think this would be so sparse if I spent any considerable time in Oxford or near my house!! Anyway I digress [meh!]...on with the blog:

OK didn't get the WinVin job, the feedback I got was that I did everything right, checking out the church before the interview, meeting the appropriate people, being communicative with the young people, having a sharing my vision for youthwork & working in Winchester, but in the end there were 3 really strong candidates [including me] but they went with one of the other 2.

I was a little disappointed, as you can imagine, but not terribly so, because like they said there's nothing I did wrong. I take this as meaning that it was down to a simple choice of personalities. When I am being interviewed & throughout this whole process, I've tried to remain as honest, as open & as 'myself', as possible & I don't believe this should change.

However, the issue is not just that I didn't get this one, it;s that it's now coming to the end of rather a long list of places that I have applied for. I now have just one egg left in my youthworker basket - St Alban's.

Or to be more specific St Paul's in St Alban's. This was a big challenge both the application form & the interview are simply huge - the app form was just under 3500 words & the interview is a 3 day affair. All-in-all a big deal. I will keep you posted as to what happens, but I'll also send round more prayer requests.

Chin up...as they say!!

Spore(k)

Ahhh Spore - the new game from the producers of the vastly successful Sim City & the Sims series of games. It's new & it's awesome - got a copy at the slightly reasonable £33 from Morrison's & it works of PC & Mac - shiny.

Basically you create a race of infinitely customizable creatures, from single celled organisms, all the way through to exploring space - it's a vast game, with large elements of individuality - I've not been able to recreate the same creature twice!! It's highly, highly addictive & my buddies over at X-Play have described it as the game of the year - probably the decade. I'm not 100% sure about that but it's definitely one of the best I've played recently. So go check it out!

Job Update

Hey all you bloggerites - here's an update on my job situation.

Went for an interview at Winchester Vineyard Church [WinVin] on Wednesday & it went really well, will hear about it after the weekend, but if you read this pray for me - as I'm really stoked about this one - it appears the best yet!!! It's a spirit-filled place & the crew seem great, as do the facilities & most importantly; the youth seem friendly & fun!!

We continue

Ministry Vision

Check it people!!

I would like to work with various young people from any cultural background & by the process of listening, get to know & understand their individual cultures. Then from a place of relevance & understanding, bring these young people to the knowledge & love of God, actively seeking Him & wanting to be saved.

If they already know & love God – fantastic! I want God’s grace to shine through my ministry & have a real impact on the lives of other young people, encouraging them to pray for their friends & begin their own ministries to the wider world.

Over a period of months & years, I want to grow in my own spiritual life, fulfilling my calling to Youth Ministry. I believe, wholeheartedly, that I can do some really good Kingdom work in this place.

EVEN moar update

KO moar updating - this time it's teh job hunting scenario!

Riiiight this is what's happening in the world of [or waldorf] me trying to find my first post-grad job in the field of youthwork.

So far...how shall I put this - I've looked at a great many with no success so far. I have a long old list of interview places, applied to & yet to be applied to places - predominantly from that old classic - Youthwork Magazine.

It all gets a little depressing if I look to see how many times I have 'failed'. However, as some very wise people [Maddie, Val, Phil, Jane, Julia & Matthew - you know who you are ;o)] have pointed out - each of these places are unique in that they are looking for an very specific type of person to be their youthworker - just because I'm not necessarily it should not dishearten me.

To be continued....

JNC Winning

I can haz JNC now k thnx bi?!

Moar Updates

OK bloggerites, here's some more updates as to what's going on with me right at this second!!

Diss/Uni/CYM update:

After the panic of my Diss, I managed [with a little help from Lego (nods appreciatively)] to resubmit my dissertation, & then last week rang Linda at CYM to confirm if I'd passed it - the most exciting news is I PASSED w00t w00t.....W00T!!!

This means that I ge tot graduatify on 8th October - now all I've got to do is to send off me forms, & books some robes & a silly hat - will post pix when I can.

Another excitement with this is that I'm going to finally have all my fambily behind me for getting my papers - both parentals, my baby bruv, my grandfather & the Maddie all supporting me in this last great hurrah of my degree! But for now.....


....mischief managed!!

FailTube??

This is a quick shout to say that I'm finally coming round to the idea of YouTube [oh snap!] it's still annoying & it's still a waste of my energy & low res. for the fail, but I've signed up & have added fav's etc. so check me out if you want to. Also more on other silly things coming up in teh not too distant future!!

Monday Update

OK here's what's going on; it's Monday & 10:10am & I'm in Woking & sorting out some applications for some more youthwork jobs - I'm still unemployed & searching for my first post-graduate youthwork job. So far I've sent in many applications & got nowhere - had interviews but still nowhere. What I've done is to go back to the drawing board with what I'm trying to achieve - let's wipe the slate clean & start again.

After much discussion & advice gleaning from wise & learned people I believe I've struck up on the answer to why I've not any further than the interview stage. The problem is a lack of vision - not of knowing where to go - but of what I'm going to do when I get there. This was present in my first interview [Morden Parish, London] but perhaps missing ever since [with the definite exception of St Luke's, Brighton].

I now believe that I'm going to need to do some serious thought & contemplation before getting more interviews!!

Now to waaaar!!

Lord of the Catapults

OK this had me actually crying with laughter - it's highly inappropriate & may well contain swearing so if you're easily offended - don't click it, but for everyone else [especially if you've seen Lord of teh Rings] it's a classic!!