Uploads from the summer, but meh, what ya gonna do!! There are 11 & I will try to put them in on the correct date…well I say try!!

28 - Friday - nightmare first start – came in a little late to the meeting, but walked into a sh*tstorm – 2 of the campers were in trouble & were to be sent home that day – not good mes amies! Kept out of it as far as possible, wasn’t that hungry, so started prepping for session at breaky, outside & sat with The Ama. Had some inspirational thoughts for he & a rad track called ‘Needle in the Hay’ by Elliot Smith [for her from the Adam Freeland – Back to Mine Album] because of her ‘rents being ‘a little silly’ about her GCSE results & that it might generally help! Had the 6th session, then headed out for the shopping challenge [in Bournemouth]. We parked in almost the exact same spot when I came down to see Mich – how bizarre, how bizarre! I hung around Footie match - England vs Wales part 2! Head injury much! Was quite a blow to the head – mentioning no names - but it’s given me another rad scar tho!! So let me get this straight – Junior Week nothing – Seniors week – 2 narly scars on my leg & something to make me look like Harry Potter on my eyebrow – fail lolz!! Big dinner dressup, but feel lousy in the evenining & chillax as much as possible, don’t really take part in the games session thing, but did throw a bucket of water at James M whilst he’s in the stocks – come on it’s the law…officer lolz!

29 - Saturday - final day on camp today – d’oh! Final session – write the cards for everyone – try to come up with a verse for each in the tent crew. Goodbye’s were pretty emotional, but rad. Got some really positive encouragement from one of my tent-crew Paul. It’s weird – everyone has now gelled & getting on great…but it’s the last day – grrrr!! Captain Beakie turned up – bizarreness, but cool! My final act of camp is to go to the pub, but first lose phone, then go to pub & forget bag – I think I may be a little tired!! Hang out till late – then run away home!! But wait there’s more bbloggites – go see Mad Eye on the way home, have coffee, chillax – even though I think I may need a shower!! I see an insight into the wonderful world of girl lolz, then Maddie gives me a glass heart & I go home lolz!!!

30 – Sunday – a recovery day…or not! Bruv hassle – dare I even begin to go on about this – in short – no! Also showed my predecessor & HB around the new Youth Centre, as they hadn’t seen it! Next had a big-ass bike ride – awesomeness & win! Then chillaxed with hobbit, a little bit of the IT crowd & a beer, then texting till 2am loz, mentioning no names lolz!!

31 - Bank Holiday Monday - established the funding for the big finale of my Road Trip ’07! Then met up with Soph & helped her with her computator. In the avo met up with me Da – had a steak in Café Rouge…in London & went around St Paul’s cathedral, then tried [& stress the word tried!!] to get home – the traffic really REALLY sucked, but I talked to a certain Mad Eye on the way home!!

32 - Tuesday: 1 bike ride of doom - hobbit gets puncture in Kirtlington & has to get his dad out to recover him – d’oh, but then I cane it all the way back from there – was so very liberating!! Then make choons for the Madders [rawk & dance if you were wondering!], then off to Mr Olivander in London! Curry & Sunshine, red wine & nachos!! Up till 2. Then crash on sofa! Yeah that pretty much sums it up lolz!! It was good to see young Mr Olivander settling into his new life in Londinium & meet his house-crew – they’ve very rad – a little sketchiness, but that’s to be expected lolz!!

33 - Wednesday: it’s a Hodgkins/Warman family runion – let’s try to see all of my Dads side of family in 1 day!! Manage to See Nanna & Grandad, Shirley & Greg, Andy, Gaz & Emma! Impressive Obi-Wan! Then back in Ox by 12.40am - harcore!! It was a really awesome day – just seeing family – not for a function, just because I wanted to! Special mention was for seeing Grandad – I’ve never really just hung out with the great man & talked about many things – even reflecting on this now it’s a very happy memory – one of the best of the whole summer! Like finding out he loves the music from Ol’ Blue Eyes [that’s Mr Frank Sinatra for those who don’t know!!] & what he did for his career & during the war – even about him knowing the current Duke of Malborough & meeting him 50 years later druing the VE 50th celebrations at the Duke’s home [Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire] a few years ago – bizarre, but so insightful. Also the awesomeness of seeing mes cousins – they’re a great bunch & we don’t hook up often enough – oh the joys of youthwork vs married & very busy lives! Also seeing my aunt & uncle was great – my Godfather always has some great advice & really listens to what I have to say!

34 - Thursday: up super-early - sorting out Richard’s laptop, then bike-ride repeat of previous route - super-fast! Then off to Woking to pick up Madders, then back to Bicester Village, then drop back in Woking then home - eeeek much drivering methinks! But how much fun!! I don't buy anything, but the Madders does - Diesel jeans & top (silky!) & a rad top from French Connection! I very nearly bought smart jumper from Paul Smith, but their price was down from £52 to…£50 - fail!!

35 - Friday: get stuff together & head down to see JMC, but see Mikey on the way in somewhere beginning with T near Cheltenham [lolz]. Many a phone conversation on the way down to J’s & it took aaaaaaages! Need to pick up Josephine at Tiverton station, arrive 7.15pm, Jo arrived at around 9 lol!! Then drove the rest of the way to J’s [about an hour] where he had pizza & vino waiting for us – I managed to consume a bottle & a half somehow! I got him a list together of everything bike-orientated that he might need to get eventually. We stayed up late chatting & putting the world to rights, whilst sending a text or two lolz

36 - Sat: got up when J did & really struggled till about 12 – d’oh!! Then we headed to Woolacombe beach for a walk, to check out the narly surfers & kayakers in the sea. Jo then took me out for a meal in a pub called the Red Barn – the all-day breakfast for the ultra-win!! Then back for another walk on the beach to the car, to meet J in a village called Braunton [famous for me, only because of its fish & chip restaurant – the best I’ve ever had – it’s called Squires & it owns!!!] so he could get a bike!! He had already chosen his Felt bike…which turned out to be a GT Series 4 [muppet!!] but I helped him get some clothing & accessories [using the list I made last night] including the essentials: Endura shorts & jersey [yellow], a [blue] Bell road helmet, mitts, plus a bottle & cage, a really good bag for his saddle [small & aerodynamic], which had no emergency kit in it…but I suggested tyre-levers, a multi-tool, & puncture plasters to keep him going. He got the bike & all accessories with a healthy 10% discount - marvellous! Then we went to Squires for fish & chips [win win win!!] & headed back to J’s for some food & vino!! Watched the Inside Man & then Enigma…while I was on the phone!! Then went to bed.

37 - Sunday: Walk with Max around Ilfracombe Church [vision], dinner with Granny Cranston, walk with Max & Sammy [rope burn for the fail], drop Jo off with J’s friend who would drive her to Tiverton train station, then pint in the red barn [yaaay], walk with Max near Woolacombe, then visit J’s ‘local’ where he know the staff really well, try to help kids with pool – fail miserably!! J treated my to dinner [nice one mate!], then home, vino, internet’s & bed…eventually!!

38 - Monday: cycle [my bike is officially broked], sort out J’s iTunes library & iPod…nearly lol! clay pigeon shooting, JMC horse riding while I get my stuff together, then surf time, then drive home!! A short note – for such a big day!!! The final finale in the BIG Road Trip 2007 for the Pikachu!!!

Thursday GCSE results day

Got up, 4 minutes to get dressed & some coffee before the morning meeting! This was nice & encouraging, but I prayed my prayers in silence, rather than out loud - for blessings in every conversation over the day...could be interesting day! Next was the 5th session, was cool, & talked to the Ama & Tim about their results – two very different tales, but both enlightening! The afternoon’s activities was a rad bike ride! Was like 15 miles, but proper narly!! Managed to injure my leg, by getting the cog-bit [yeah I’m sure that’s technical term dude!] digging in my shin – now that’s why I hate mountain bikes now lolz!! Then on the way back was proper hardcore, 2 of the tent-crew had 2 punctures within 5 minutes of fixing the first one – nightmare! Then had to guess our way back to the start point – was cool skills-work – big shout for the BELA lolz! Then was really nice to Kirsten & she gave me a hug & a diet-coke – things is getting better relationally with all the leaders, so feeling more stoked. The evening’s activities was the fireworks display at Poole – was rad & I accidentally picked up some sand from the beach for my room – overall, a good day!

Day 26 - so fresh & so clean!

Day 26 - Wednesday

Got up, when James did, except he was going for a run - d'oh! Went back to bed till 7.55, then got up all in a panic as the morning meeting was at 8!! Prepped for the discussion group - going to be tough - doing study in Romans, which was hard enough for the leaders to understand - hopefully some wisdom will be granted for the discussions. Had the 4th Session - a recap, then Jesus' life, death & resurrection. Before session, had some really great songs - 'This is Jesus' & 'How Great is our God' - yaaay, but my voice is definitely not in the right place at the moment & not as strong as on junior week. The discussion session went ok, got everyone talking which was really great, the only problem was really the wind, which was blowing the marquee like a giant sail (definitely the most windy day so far!).

Swimming - ahhh a shower & a swim - ain't nobody dope as me, I feel so fresh & so clean lol (that's from an Outkast song if u were wondering!) it was rad to get clean again, & try to exercise my aching knees & shoulders - w00t w00t!!

When we got back, we prepped to play a Manhunt/Fugitive game in the woods! The theory was that there would be 7 leaders hiding, with a 3 minute head-start, then each tent crew had to find each of the 7 leaders, in a specific order. In my infinite (though most would say questionable!) wisdom, I decided that we should add a little more hype & realism to the games - cue a couple of Super-soakers & cap guns for the woods! Well I thought (quite correctly) that if I'm hyped up & wanting to take part, then the campers would be to! So we got 'locked & loaded' & set off to find James M, & did...eventually, then were on an actual mission to “find Phil” (who had been running the spiritual program!). After what seemed like a really long time [it really was!], a hole was found in the plan - one group had no leader, or torches - so went missing for a bit! Also managed to lose Phil - he turned up well over a mile away from everyone else, but we got him back…eventually!!

When we got back to base, Kirsten was already running the Saloon - this time with a chocolate fountain - was proper rad, then debrief & bed…at last!!

Day 25

Day 25 - Tuesday
Morning breaks & crawl out of my sleeping-bag! Had breakie & then the 3rd session - rest of the Old Testament, then had an OK discussion group, followed by a footie match - English vs. Welsh, the result.........no score draw!!!

The afternoon activity was the stagecoach rally - went to the woods, a town & the beach for a photo challenge - did have to stay in the coach with Tim - he'd busted his knee (during the football) & might have damaged the ligaments in his knee, so had to sit out of the activity – hopefully he will recover before the end of the week! This was quite a rad activity & the group worked well together again! Also, not that I'm a jelous man, but when we went to the beach it was perfect for swimming & I didn't have my boardies - fail!! But some of the crew went in, as they were prepared for just such an occasion!!

When we got back, spent time chatting to Little Lauren about many things; spiritual gifts, the trinity & revelation - was tough, but alright (I hope!). Also spoke to Jen on the phone, who didn't have much to say, which was pretty rubbish, but hey, she's at SS with the crew!

Evening was wathcing the film The Wild Wild West, followed by a campfire, with cocoa & toasting marshmallows, but hit the sack (or sleeping-bag if you will) early - like 10.30!!

Day 24

Day 24 - Monday
Another struggling wake up - earlier today for a communion - with real vino (well Blossom Hill lol) & a massive loaf of bread! Then breakie, & the 2nd session & the 2nd discussion group - not as stagnant as yesterday - sat outside today as it was almost sunny lol! Then luncheon, closely followed by bowling - western style! We all (well the leaders) dressed as cowboys (I had my red-checkered grunge shirt, & red buff as a neckerchief thing, cowboy hat & some jeans - winner! Bowling was coolie, played Ghost Squad (awesome guns & perfect arcade action) & House of the Dead 3 (we should have shotguns for this kind of deal!) oh & had 2 games of 10 pin bowling lol! I didn't do particularly well (surprise, surprise lolz!) but managed to get a strike & a spare over the course of 2 games (but Giz would still have whooped me lol!)!

The evening's activity was the Cowboy Catwalk! This was a dressing up campers affair, we dressed up 2 camps - one in full cowboy attire, the other as a Indian princess - we were pretty good – I think we should have won the competition, but we were third - beaten only but the cooks/tech team (well who would out-vote the cooks, unless they didn't want any food lol!). This was the first time that the whole group really gelled & worked as a team – was pretty awesome! The Saloon with milkshakes with glow-stick straws - very unique lol! Then had to prep for the next day's discussion group before heading to bed.

Day 23

After that first difficult day many a prayer request, hopefully things will get better! Let's find out:

Day 23 (ish) Sunday

Got up (struggling lol), had the prayer meeting, then breaky, 1st session & discussion group - real quiet, will have to micro-manage the questions more carefully & encourage them to be more open to discussion.

Next was designing flags & teepee-exterior-things (for evening's activity). Next was team games/activities - we cheated, but never won! Eventually got rained off! Then came into the marquee, James M ran a few quizzes, quite good, but the Shooting Stars went down the best - proper lol e.g. (Q: Name a day of the week. A: Tuesday)

Got a call from Hobbit, although it transpires that he didn't technically call me, it was still good to chat to him about stuffs - bless him! Turns out that Rosie & Mad-Eye are at the same week of Soul Survivor as The Others (KBC crew; AJ, Hobbit, Jen, Lego, Duplo, G, etc.) & actually met up with Hobbit & Jen - bizarre!!

The evening's activity was the teepee making - 8 garden canes, string, gaffa-tape, & our bed-sheets that were decorated earlier - ours was definitely structurally the best, with guy-ropes, pegs, etc. but hey, what can u do?! Also got given glow-stick necklace & stick (which I used as a pendant - winner) Strangely no1 has broken theirs open...yet!!

Saloon - pancakes - much better than Junior 2 lol! Now is about 10 & feelin properly knack'd, will try to crash out at the earliest possible opportunity lol!!

Day 22

OK it's been a little while since last I blogged, but don't worry kids - I kept me blog going using word on my mobile lol!! This blog is starting with MWCC Senior Week - but be warned I found this week a real challenge! Enjoy:

Day (I dunno 22 maybe?!) - Saturday

Woke up at silly o'clock (6.45am), got out of bed an hour later, & then threw some clothes in my holdall, got the rest of my stuff needed for camp, got dressed up in my narly O'Neill trousers & red Muse top & headed down to pack the car. Had a quick chat with Ian, but going to not borrow any money this week (my mum filled my car with fuel & gave me £50, so should be sorted for camp...hopefully!). Chucked everything in the car (including a warmer 3-season sleeping bag) & progged my TomTom to get me to camp home base & set off for camp, albeit a little more nervous than on junior week 2.

The journey down was ok...then it started raining with about 40 miles to go (d'oh - why am I wearing trousers?!) & decided to try to avoid Lyndhurst, by going the way me & Hobbit used when we dropped of that camper a couple of weeks ago. I tried to do this by progging the TomTom to miss out the road to Lyndhurst, but it was going miles out the way, so I tried that way through Emery Down (or Green or whatever it's called lol), which confused the living crap outta my SatNav lol, but hey it caught up with my plan...eventually lol!!!

Got to camp & said g'day to the weeks head honcho - James, helped set up some monumental tent & a couple of smaller ones, & found where we were sleeping! Then the rain started.......& continued all afternoon! We had a little leaders intro, some luncheon & had a look at the program.

I'm leading a crew with a guy called John & a girl called Jo (who would be arriving later on that afternoon). Met a couple of our tent crew & they seem cool, will see how relationships develop through the week.

Feeling more than a little nervous at the moment - mostly because I don't really know anyone (apart from Loz) so I think this is going to be a really challenging week. This not exactly helped by a big drive over the past few days, my unnatural tiredness (through the Ami) & the fact that the weather really sucks - cold, wet & thoroughly miserable!!

...to be continued!

Well had an introduction by James, now on a bit of down/unpack time before dinner, the rain has eased to be more of a dribble, which is much betterer lol! We're all (me John & another James) in one of the really dark tents which is great, but I can't see lol, also had to mop it out, because there were a couple of pools of water on the groundsheet - d'oh!! Feeling a little less apprehensive, but this is still going to get getting used to methinks!

Had a good dinner & chatted to Stevie G & John C - good times, good times!

Next headed off the beach (but Highcliffe Castle this time - not the same as Junior Week) for a wander & to get into teams & come up with a team chant - ours was kinda silly, but funny at the same time - we're the sherriff's & ours went:

'Nothing rhymes with sherriff, shake & bake cowboy!!!'

Classics lol! However, walking solitarily on the way, & chatted with Ian T on the way back. Also on the way, sent out a mass prayer appeal (if your one of those who got that text, many blessings!) to try to sort out; the rubbishy weather & my lonliness & apprehension, feeling out of place, etc. Got a few replies, which was great, but really not finding this cool so far - patience my son, patience!!

Got back, had the saloon, but wandered out to chat to Jo (thanks my dear Josephine!) & chilled out, then off to bed for 11ish (takin the Ami so crashed straight out!). Did get a few texts from Jennie which was cool - lookin after me from afar...kinda! Hopefully things will improve over the week

Return to Oxford

Day 21 Friday

Got up at a reasonable hour [9ish], got all our stuff together, & started off on the journey back. However, I managed to forget all my sugar – not good for a 170 miles trip lol! So re-started the journey, & got stuck in horrible traffic lol! Got back to Oxford around 2.30, got all my stuff out of the car [w00t] & got some washing done [w00t w00t!], then had a ‘conversation’ with my Brother – oh the joys lol! This took a little while, then had to drop off some more stuff to Hobbit & Jennie then eventually had some chillin’ time! Still got to chat to Ian, so I can secure some funds for the next few weeks! Also not going to pack till the morning – too tired lol!

Day 20 Thursday

Day 20 Thursday

Got up early[ish] & had received an anonymous text asking about what I thought about someone, so I gave it to them as straightforwardly as us guys can do!! i.e. we’re friends & no more & don’t misinterpret warmth & affection with love & fancying someone!! Then after getting beach-ready, me & Jen got beach-bound! Taking in the wonderful shops of Paignton [hmmm not convinced lol] before picking up a copy of Youthwork magazine & hitting the beach [yaaay red sand lol!].

We headed to subway for luncheon, before disappearing to the pier again for amusements [again] this time Jennie was playing the weirdest 2p machine I’ve ever seen – you play it whilst playing Pacman – dude whaaaat?! Then wandered through the surf again, then headed up the dreaded Doom Steps [there’s lots of them & they’re very steep, so don’t ask lol!] to go back to Jen’s.

Am currently sat writing my blog after polishing off my September edition of the youthwork report for the local newspaper thing [Nor Lye News w00t w00t!!]. Tonight gonna actually watch Shooter & get my stuff together – need to head off fairly early tomorrow, as Jen needs to be in Oxford earlyish & as I now need to talk to my Grandfather [Ian] about my sibling & he possibility of my 3rd road trip….or I ain’t going nowhere lol!!!

Also had a couple of phone calls from a panicking parent [Mother!] about my little brother – I think I’m going to need all my powers of persuasion, to get him out of his problems methinks! Oh & Hobbit rang, missing all the crew [presumably a post-camp blues] & so I advised him [as his attorney to take a hit from the little brown bottle…oh wait that Fear & Loathing lol] to shut up & go to Soul Survivor lol!! A friend of ours had offered him a free trip, transport both ways & to stay with his crew. So get on with it…any questions? No? Gooooood!!!

Had some beef stroganoff – yummy & watching some drama [kind of a Morse knock-off by BBC1] on the box.

To the beach!!!

Day 19 - Wednesday

OK got up real late [I think my Ami is playing tricks with my sleeping patterns...again!] – i.e. just before 12, now planning to head on down to the beach/into town. Spoke to Vicky & as she only lives about 10 miles away suggested we all [Tuckett also lives near her] meet up at a pub somewhere in Paynton this afternoon. Also, did some more blogging [about the Scuba Diving day] & Facebook messaging to young Jules [we’re still praying my dear!], then grabbed my boardies & headed into town!

Got a lift in with Jen’s mum, & walked along the beach & dipped [kind of] in the wash of the sea, then it started tipping it down, so went to a pub [The Spinning Wheel] for a Guiness lol. When we were sat, we chatted a bit more about us & how I think our relationship could work, both for this year & in the years to come – was cool, but I’m still going to have to wait & see! We then went looking around the shops, which were very um seaside-towny lol! But we did find a narly surf-shop called 360 degrees – they had some real rad stuff, but a little expensive & my wallet was not full enough to indulge lol!!

Next we met up with the Tuckett & the Vickster for another Guiness & some chips [yaaay chips!] in the pub [this time the Inn on the Green], then headed off to the pier for some fun on the arcades – a very good use of time & resources – Jennie & Tuckett hit the dance machines & me & the Vickster blew stuff up!! It was a very narly game called Ghost Force [or something like that] with what I think were MP5 assault rifles – very narly!! Finally we tried to kill a load of vombies on the ridiculous House of the Dead 4 [very silly – you had to shake your Uzi to reload it & shake it more if a zombie thing clung on to you – dude whaaaaat?!].

When the other 2 had gone, me & Jennie met up with Jennie’s mum [Sue] for some fish & chips, from some award-winning place [not sure what awards they won though – suspect lol!!] then came back & watched some more TV & then my new movie Shooter [but I felled asleep….again – there’s a total surprise!!]

Day 18 Tuesday

Mad-eye & Rosie joined Facebook, so convo’s beginning via that medium, also rubbish weather & mostly spent time on the interweeb updating my blog with about a week’s worth of posts…including this one lol!!

Then had luncheon, & headed off to Morrison’s for some munchies & a couple of DVD’s & came back home & started watchin’ Shallow Hall & eating popcorn – basically – ‘Chillin’ like a Villain’. Also, around 9 there was some really rad choreographed fireworks. Finally, fell asleep [on the floor] watching Life on Mars, so went to sleep properly lol!

Let's do a road trip!!

Day 17 Monday

Got up at a reasonable hour, pack & began Road Tip Part 2!! Using the joy’s of TomTom, I programmed in my destination postcode & started my journey. It was really quite useful, but the voices were quite irritating, so changed it to Australian guy – brilliant, but I think I want to [ahem] borrow some more from Mexico lol!

Anyways, drove down to Jennie’s – it’s actually quite far – over 170 miles each way, so by the time I got down to Jens, I’d clocked over 1000 miles [yaaay!!] this summer!! On the way down gave the Global Soundsystem CD another bash [or should that be bosh lol – oh, you don’t understand do you! Well…oh nevermind!!]. Anyways, it is real good – the 1st disc is a bit of Electro House, but with trancier elements, the 2nd disc is [jaw drops, pulls face of ecstasy] REALLY good, right from the beginning all the way through – there’s reversions of classics & trance mixes of electro, & it just OWNS!! The 3rd disc didn’t really get a list to, but there’s always the journey home lol!!

So arrived, chilled out & had some dinner, then disappeared off to the cinema to watch Simpsons the movie – which was really funny [even if we did arrive a few minutes late lol] & used a mix of slapstick & less obvious humor, like reference & political – win!! Finally came home & chilled the hell out lol!

sleepy day off!!

Day 16 - Sunday

Oh snap! Got up around 1, chillaxed & unpacked/sorted stuff, then had 4 bud's & went to bed lol! Between those 2 momentous events [yes, getting up & going back to sleep!] managed to do my mountain of washing, catch up with my Mum & Ian & then spend a lot of time on Facebook, mostly adding new crew & photo’s & textin the Madders & Vickster. Also watched some Robot Chicken, etc. just for giggles [“Well what the hell is an Aluminum Falcon?!”, “Martiniiiiii’s”, etc.]

MWCC Last Day!

Day 15 - Saturday

Well it’s official, it’s the last day of Junior week of Mid Wessex Christian Camp 2007 – yaaay & nooooo all at the same time!! Feeling stoked about going back home to get a bath & a beer, but real sad that I’m not going to see all the campers for another year. I’m even sadder about the leaders – they’ve been an awesome crew & I’m going to miss those who I developed the beginnings of brilliant friendships with, naming no names [What? I wouldn’t want people to get too big an ego lol, plus I wouldn’t want to create anything like the girls’ Fit List lol!!]

Anyways, it was Shani’s turn for leading the leaders prayer & bible session & was great, then for prayer, we made a circle outside, & we prayed for our brothers & sisters on our left & right [mine were Wrighty & Geoffers], then for the whole camp & back-up crew & the following weeks of MWCC [of which I’m also doing the seniors week – sounds like an OAP camp, but I don’t think it is lol!!].

I decided we should try to wake up the campers ‘properly’, so did a repeat of last years wake-up call [In Your Honor, by the Foo Fighters], but this time with the great Muse lol. I drove my little purple bubble round to the back of the oldest boys’ tent, cranked up all the amps & sub to maximum levels, then selected a track called Stockholm Syndrome [yes hobbit, I know you know it well!] by the Muse & blasted it out at 25 [that’s REALLY loud, normally 21 is ear-shattering, so 25 is bad lol!!]. I think it’s fair to say that I managed to wake everyone up with that lol!! However, I was getting approached by someone on camp who obviously didn’t approve of my taste in music & I’m sure that if I’d let it blast on for a few more tracks I would have got my wrists [or somewhere else] slapped lol!! Come on people this is camp lol!!

After a hearty [but colored-porridge-less] breakfast, me & Wrighty distributed the photo’s of our tent crew. We all wrote encouraging notes, verses, etc. in each others [the photos were in like a card layout thingy, so there was a blank space next to the photo itself]. Then in my infinite [or some might say questionable] wisdom, I decided to go pegging [for those uninitiated it’s where you get a clothes-peg & peg it on unassuming victims for giggles lol!] but with a twist, on the peg I put ‘pegged by Pikachu Ind. lol’, so the culprit could be identified – me lol! I started off with a couple of easy ones, but was challenged to do someone difficult – the Tizzmeister – hmmmm!! Was not really a challenge, but hey, what can you do lol!!

Next it was the clear-up & pack-away mission. For this, because I was loading up my car, I decided now was the appropriate moment to see what my new Global Soundsystem CD would be like – yaaay! Not a bad choice – starting with some Chemical Brothers , then moving on to some rock & Ibiza beats – a good start, will have to give that a real good listen to when I’m next on a road trip…so Monday then lol!!

Also had to persuade Tizzy it was a really good idea that she gave me back all my monkeys’ lol! Generously donated my big chimp to Tizzy [well she is the monkey pimp lol] & the little grey possum-thingy to Mad-Eye lol, so only had my snoring monkey left to give to Jennie – awwww [I hope she like it lol]!! Also we’d received the leaders photographs from Loz, so I thought I’d try to get mine signed…a little bit…by all the tent crew officers – yaaay! Then I got what are know as Rosie Cheeks – yeah as Rosie attacked me with an orange felt tip lol [it wasn’t until later on that I noticed my nose was the same color – double-lol!!].

Next it was time for the final morning session – which was a look back at what we had learned this week & finished with the famous MWCC song…ummm which I’ve kinda forgotten [what is it Jules?!]. After the last session finished, I drove the Tizzy back into New Milton, so she could repay me for the Medieval Fair thingy, back to the Tesco’s, where she popped in to grab a bottle of water & spotted a Leffe beer which was “calling to her” lol, so I told her I never go anywhere without a bottle opener – so go get the mofo lol!! Chilling out, with a beer, with a new friend, like naughty kids – win, win, WIN!!

When all the campers had gone & the leaders were ready to go, we were all going to go to the pub in a convoy – yaaay!! I was taking Hobbit back, & so as a tribute to the week, we left to the sounds of the Knights of Cydonia [come on Mid Wessex – “No one’s gonna take me alive, you & I must fight for our riiiiiiights, etc. COME ON!!!]

All the way to the pub, in for a quick Guinness [or 2 for Hobbit] & a sacrificial Magner’s – on behalf of Tizzy [who was going with Captain Beaky & couldn’t join us – d’oh], before heading back with some quality rock! The final act of craziness was to go for a quick burn, listening to those Knights again, & New Born [both by Muse for the uninitiated lol] at a blistering volume of 22-23 & belting it out [I think we’re going to have to learn & perform the Knights for the next MWCC wethinks lol!!].

After dropping off all my stuff at my house [thanks Hobbit], I dropped him back, & got a bath on the go, & a bottle of Magner’s lol! The washing of necessity lol!!

After being made clean [oh so clean!], I decided to drop in to see Jeanie [me Gran] to check about switching the gift of a camera to a SatNav. She was 100% cool about me changing it [well it was a gift after all!] – so now stoked & will get the monies from me Mum & go straight down to Sainsbury’s…if it’s open lol!

So yeah, did just that, & [eventually] got a TomTom one – win, win, WIN!! It was supposed £160, but I used my Nectar points, oh & the people in Sainsbury’s can’t count, so I got it for £160 minus £12.50 minus £10, so like £137.50 [I think!] wicked! Then finally, had another Magner’s & stayed up real late & watched some of the TV I had recordified [The Bill – yaaay!] lol!

Penultimate nite

Day 14 - Friday

Ahhh another day, another early morning, only one more day till the end of MWCC Junior Week 2 & definitely feeling the strain lol!! Today was Dave Wright's early morning session, was good & inspirational - everyone can struggle, no one can be perfect all the time!

After breakfast, me & the Tizzy, went shopping in New Milton, officially to get some beads, but also to find some form of outfit for the medieval fair. OK, here’s where we went to; Party Spot for outfits [knight & gypsy wench lol], a toy store for cowboy hat & crown & wear it down the road lol, Woolworths for 2 mahoosive guns, beads, more beads, & some beads, choons, & sweets! A haberdashery (dude what?!) for hair wrap stuffs, Help the Aged (help the mofo aged lol) for an outfit for Rosie. Was all good fun lol!

The afternoon’s activity was the Medieval Fair, with knockout-joust-things, a bouncy castle, stocks [for pelting leaders with sponges], a doughnut eating competition, face-painting, splat-a-rat & finally me & Tizzy’s stall – with temporary tattoos, hair braiding, & beads. Was really busy, enough for us to need a break to re-setup the stall lol!! After a couple of hours [I think] a mass water-fight erupted lol! I believe that young Tim & George [those crazy Ministry of Fun kids] may possibly have started it a water pistol [with my own super-soaker no less] & water bombs! The challenge was accepted by the guns of the mighty water-warriors of; me, Tizzy & Rosie, to be joined by Mad-Eye [when Tim relinquished my super-soaker lol]. When a halt had been called i.e. every single leader [apart from Captain Beaky & a few others who ‘might not approve’] had been drenched, everyone sorted themselves out & got ready for the evening’s BBQ.

There were a few issues I had about the course of the conversation [I got a little irritated with mes amies], but a chat with Hobbit & some good QOTSA & Arcade Fire sorted me out! The night’s activity was Line Dancing [eeek] – led by the Tiz, during which I actually took part, until I started getting my feets trod on by Nate & Wrighty [ouch]. After this was cocoa & then PJ's - encore was the pie sketch – legendary! It was a real late night chatting & stuffs & then get into bed & hear the pitter-patter of silly feet - Madders & Rosie - them crazy kidz lol!

Day 13 - Thursday

Day 13 - Thursday

A lie-in for all the crew today – only had to get to the meeting for 8.00am lol! Early morning with Josephine leading, followed by the leaders initiation – was proper messy – beans, porridge, etc. all poured into socks, then worn by the new leaders who had to dance to the YMCA lol! After people had got cleaned up it was swimming time – yaaay a shower lol! On the way back, Smellit bought all the last minibus back to camp some ice cream & we sat & ate it, overlooking The Needles - sweet!

The evening’s activity was a Gala Dinner [a posh way of calling it a fancy dress dinner lol!]. I decided to dress up as that lovable rogue Sean Dillon! For those who have no idea [i.e. everyone apart from TC, PC, oh & Vicky M]; the author Jack Higgins wrote a series of novels with the hero as Dillon, once the most feared enforcer the IRA ever had, now he works for most secret part of the British military service. Anyways, was loads of fun, with a 3 course dinner – win! The PJ’s included; 6 constipated people in the Bible, Pie Sketch, some Bill Bailey musical number! When all the campers went to sleep, we tried to do a prank – failed, so went to sleep! However, overnight some people took the initiative – in the morning, there were upside-down tables fully laid out – wrapped round with cling film, the final part was to dress up the Ressuci-Annie up in a baby suit – proper winner!!

Monkeyworld!!

Day 12 - Wednesday

Another very early morning, meeting at 7.15 lol! Young Sarah was leading it & gave us a rendition of her favorite song, was really cool. My crew [Alpha Squad] were all going to Monkeyworld today which looked to be good fun. We were to board a big yellow coach thing – yaaay on a coach with many screaming young campers – eeeek!! Also, as it was my cousin’s birthday [Andy – The Giant] so I gave him a call to wish him Happy Birthday [he’s old now – 27…oh wait, he’s only 6 months older than me d’oh!].

Monkeyworld was pretty rad – there were monkey’s everywhere lol! However, there were a few problems [well 7 of them lol], no really it was good fun, but there were what appeared to be a million young people milling around – eeeek! We also visited the gift shop & I got some monkeys – a big chimp, a really cute…grey…monkey…thing & the best thing ever – a snoring monkey – it’s a monkey…that snores heavily lol!!! After we had finished looking at all the monkeys, with our monkeys [lol], we got on the coach & headed back home.

On the way back, I got all my monkeys stolen by the Tizzy & fallen asleep on by the Mad-Eye! Although the funniest thing I’d seen all day, had to have been when we de-coached & Mad-Eye [having just woken up] picked up a box, got off the coach & staggered & fell over – so harsh, but so very funny lol!! She did look like a drunkener, it was proper funny, then me, Tizzy & Rosie helped her back up & escorted her back to the camp [where she stayed till 2nd Helpings lol!].

The evening’s activities were a campfire, then cocoa & sleep for the campers! The campfire was cool, testimonies [including one from Nate which nearly made me cry with happiness – go on my brother!] & some acoustic worship – that always rocks my socks [as the great Oli would say] – especially: blessed by your name [plus one other – I’ll remember which one…eventually lol].

For the last bit of the night, hung out in the kitchen, with crazy conversations going on, including; me & Nate whispering expletives to each other, Smellit talking about taking a dump & it being a penguin, etc. lol! Then me & Nate went back to our tent & had a torch fight - why?! I just don’t know, but it seemed funny at the time, but we might possibly have woken up Hobbit lol!!

Day 11/A very busy day!!

Day 11 - Tuesday:

Started off today with one of those magical early-morning prayer & bible study sessions, but had to be there for 7.15 [ouch!]. I turned up just after 7.10 & was amazed to find out I was supposed to be leading it – d’oh! Well it was in the leaders pack, which is great, but as I still didn’t have one [as I wasn’t there on the first day of camp, I was at the wedding!] I had no idea lol! So I had about 4 minutes to prepare something, so I did it on Micah, which had come from a talk at my placement church [St Mary’s, North Leigh]. It went ok, but I’m not sure it was up to the standard set by everyone else! At the meeting, we found out if we were going to go Scuba Diving, or to Monkeyworld – today it was the turn of the younger tents to go Scuba Diving & the older one to Monkeyworld. As per yesterday, I was working with Shani & the youngest boys & girls tent, but as an added bonus, we had AJ [whose real name was Adam & I’d forgotten that – been calling him AJ for years lol] & Maddie [aka Madeleine, Madders, Mad-Eye, etc.]. After the morning teaching session, we had to get our packed lunches & drink & load it into the minibus, then off to a place far, far, away [honestly I have no idea where!!] where we first had to have some luncheon, then head off on a photo-challenge-treasure-hunt-thing! This was quite cool & I think we did get most of the answers, but we were with the little ones, so things always took a little longer lol!!

Next came one of the highlights of the week [for me anyways lol] – Scuba Diving!! This was not far from the treasure hunt thing, & we went as a whole crew [apart from Shani, who didn’t want to!] so there were 10 of us in the water & one watching [i.e. Shani]. First we had some safety announcements, then were introduced to the kit & the leaders were asked to help the younger ones on with their stuff first, before getting their own kit sorted. The kit we were using I assume was for beginners [but don’t quote me on that lol!] with basically a pack on your back with shoulder, chest & waist straps to attach you to your pack, then there were 4 different attachments to the pack – one for your air apparatus [respirator], a spare air apparatus, a divemaster computer [how much air you have left, direction, depth, etc.] & a method to control your ascent/descent – this was a method of inflating or deflating your pack [it had an air lung inside it which was linked to the air supply I assume] so you could sink [presumably with natural gravity & the weight of your pack – it really was quite heavy]. Once everyone had got the packs on, we had to get on some swim-fins [although they were a bit unnecessary in the pool!] & a mask [so we could see underwater!]. Then we had a chance to play with the kit we had on – try breathing above water to get used to the respirator, then using the ascent/descent control, try sinking down. The pool was only about 20m long & was split into two depths – 1.5m in the shallow end & 3m in the deep end. We weren’t allowed to go deep [although other groups had been, as they were the only group using the pool] - there was another crew of more experienced divers at the deep end, so they didn’t want to have too many people in the same part of the pool! Because there were 10 of us [no there were actually 11 – Smellit was there to!!] it was quite crowded, & for the leaders, it was quite frustrating as 1.5m of pool is not really enough to do more than swim around a little bit – I felt that if we had the 3m part, we could have at least dropped away from the rest of the campers & had a bit more space – near the bottom of the pool!! After about 45 minutes [of which only about 15-20 was spent in the pool] we had to de-pack & shower & change [a shower – eeek that might make all the dirt & stuff go away & where’s the fun in that lol!!]. Once all the campers had showered & changed, the leaders disappeared to do the same thing.

We had Smellit [i.e. Dave Adams] with us on the journey back & we actually drove through some rain - so far this week, there had been no rain, only glorious sunshine!!! Also on the way home I had to look after Mad-Eye’s wooden heart necklace, which she had snapped the string which kept it around her neck. It was a very pretty heart, made out of King Wood [quite ironic as Mad-Eye’s surname is King] by her dad & she had to take it off her neck for Scuba Diving, & me, being me, said I have some string to fixify it lol!! So I had to look after it [& not snap it lol!!] till we got back & then I put some elastic string around it & gave it back – 1, 2, 3, awwwwww!!! When we got back, there was going to be quite a wait for the Monkeyworld crew to get back [the traffic was awful on the main roads back to the camp base], so Smellit & Me got a match going between the leaders & campers – to start off with, it was, Smellit, AJ & me, but as soon as people wanted to get involved it got a bit larger lol! Was a lot of fun, but it kind of defeated the object of having a shower after diving lol!! When everyone came back, it was time for Tent Time & then dinner [yaaay dinner!!]. During dinner, I noticed that one of my tent-crew was not looking particularly happy, so I checked to see if he wanted a chat after dinner, he did, so I told the man Wrighty that I would have to take some time after dinner & to excuse us from the washing up. I chatted to the camper about what was up, & it was a member of his family that he felt really close to, so that was not cool. I prayed with him & then he asked for some thinking space, so I gave it to him. I then caught up with Wrighty to explain what was up & for each of us to keep an eye on him.

The evening’s activity was a chilled-out movie – Happy Feet. However, I really didn’t see that much of it! It probably too me an hour to walk from the kitchen to the main meeting tent, as almost everyone I passed needed to talk to me! From Josephine & Sarah who needed jumpers as they were always too cold, to Lauren who needed to chat as a member of her in-laws who she’s know for ages had developed a cancer, & needed to talk to someone. It was good to feel needed, but my only problem was that if you’re always giving out support, sometimes you need to receive some support yourself – I really felt that tonight. However, as a bit of good news, my mother rang me to tell me that my Grandmother Jean [on her birthday no less] had decided to give me £120 to buy a camera!! I reckon that I might use the money towards getting a SatNav instead, but I will have to talk to Jean to confirm if she would be happy for me to do that.

Finally today, there was no PJ’s so it was chill time, then sleep time – a very busy & draining day!!

Day 10/Indiana Jones Day

Day 10 - Monday:

Woke up early (well early for me lol) at 7 (ouch!!) ready for the day! Firstly there was a leaders meeting with Jules leading an early morning bible study, then a mass prayer session & information about what was happening that day & trying to inspire all the leaders for the rest of the day/week.

Today was the Indiana Jones adventure day. This meant a series of challenges in the New Forrest, including transporting Yeti Blood [bleuch!] [with Captain Beakie], picking up Dollie’s & climbing trough a rope-web [with Smellit], lugging trees around a course [Captain Bear & Tanya], guiding someone blindfolded round a course [Ginger Ninja & Mad-Eye], guiding a boat [loaded with a Resussi-Annie] road a course [George & Rosie….I think] before the most evil of them all – the bog pit [Wrighty & AJ] – where you first of all had to get your feet wet by walking 250m up a stream, then go into a boggy area & play search, rescue & hide – it was really disgusting & I was not completely impressed with trashing my fairly new Merrells, but hey what can you do! For all the challenges etc., I was working with the youngest campers & was working with the great Shani, who was loads of fun [even though she kept calling me Dave for some reason….hmmm!]

After cleaning off we chilled out before 2nd Helpings [with Jules] whilst I sorted out my tent & moved some stuff around, so I wasn’t sleeping practically on top of Nate lols!! Then it was PJ’s, this time with ‘Just a Minute’, a Bill Bailey track, etc. Next off to bed for some more sleepage!!

Day 9/MWCC Day 1 or 2, not really sure!!!

Day 9 - Sunday:

Woke up & finally feeling stoked for camp! Had quite a leisurely breakfast (this hotel has the narliest cutlery ever - everything was long & thin - bizarre) & some strong coffee with Jen & waited for her Dad to pick her up from the hotel. Which is where I currently am, updating my holiday diary!!

Bring on camp!!

Got to camp.....eventually! & met up with mes amies (Jo, Smellit, Nate-Dawg, Judge Jules, Cookie, etc.) & got much huggage.......mostly from da Boyz lol! Then started making a journal with 'Pikachu Ind' on the front & got Nate to draw GIR on the back & then put 'What does the G stand for?' next to it lol - always a good laugh being around the Nate, but I think it's a bad idea - we'll corrupt each other lol!! Next was a tasty lunch, then I was 'volunteered' to rush a camper (who was from my tent group last year) who was really ill (he's already been to hospital & diagnosed with either a UTI or Appendicitis & needed to go to the pediatric ward of his local hospital) halfway home (which was also very close to where I started from this morning - d'oh!!) & there was a distinct possibility that I might miss going to the beach - eeeeek!! However, with some rather fast & furious driving, both me & Hobbit made it to the beach & managed to dive straight in the sea - yaaaaay! I love the sea lol!!

After getting back & playing the obligatory game of football, I was introduced to the concept of PJ's (it stands for Pete & James) & they did some classical Mighty Boosh stuff & some Blackadder 4th scripting - it was pretty awesome, but the Boosh went down the best I reckon!! Then I was on duty to make sure all the male campers were asleep!! So late (ish) night for me!

The Wedding [Day 8]

Day 8 - Saturday:

Ahh the Wedding! Yes, well as I'm sure all the students in my year group know, two of my Uni crew are due to get married today.....however, I am also due to start camp (Mid Wessex) today to - d'oh, how can I be in two places at once? Hmmm! Well with the good grace of the man in charge of my camp this week (Tim Beacon) I'm allowed to turn up tommorow (Sunday, I think!) which is great, as it means that I get to see some more crazy people get married - eeek!!

Anyways I got up & had a leisurely breakfast & repacked my car & took myself & young Jennie down to this posh hotel (Norton Park) near Andover. When we got checked in, with about an hour to go till the wedding, we checked out the room & I have to say it was pretty awesome - a little better than the last time I stayed at a 'hotel' (aka Travellodge) - with a rad 28 inch LCD TV built into the wall, a really nice bathroom & a really comfy bed with nice surrounds, a fridge, safe & allsorts!

So we both got ready to go (Jen ironed my shirt for me to tee hee!) & tried to find the church in Andover lol which was classic: 'oh look I see a church tower - that must be it....but where can we park eeeek!!' etc. We did arrive, a little bit late, as both bride & groom were already by the alter by then! We found some seats & I recognised Nick from my course, then Mikey, Hannah, Claire & even Yolanda - not a bad turnout methinks! (afterwards Dom was there to!)

The service itself was really good & very Han & Mark (now Mr & Mrs Vicarage lol) where they exchanged standard vows, as well as their own commitment vows (1, 2, 3.........awwwww!!) also there was loads of worship, & Yoko (Yolanda) sang Amazing Grace (Gospel style) & there was a song made up for the bride & groom, & poetry & it was just really chillaxed & cool & best of all, the after-wedding photo session was fairly fast - win!! The church itself had really narly decorations; candles, sashes, flowers everywhere & an archway just in front of the alter covered in ivy for them to stand under - all very cool! Oh & for all the girls, the dress looked like a cross between the dress from Pirates of the Caribbean & mixed with lace & gold underlay & was corseted - rad! She also had some flowers in her hair, but I am a man & I have no idea what flowers they were lolz!

After the service we all gathered together for the reception & that, although was an 'interesting' journey (yeah Satnav only works if u a postcode or any clue where you're going whatsoever lol!), was really awesome!! It was a mill & all outside, the food was great & there was Pimms....what could be better?! A great time was had by all!! They also had a narly idea of taking photo's of all the guests for an album & getting them to sign their good wishes - genius, & crazy Han decided to stand in the river for some photos.....in her wedding dress - the crazy Foo lols!!

Afterwards we went back to the hotel & chillaxed & watched more bad TV (Jaws 2 & Lake Placid on the same night - d'oh!) & I crashed on out!

day 7!

Hey y'all as you can probably tell, I've managed to get my phone online - yaaay! As such, expect a few more updates today lol! currently sat on a minibus full of kids from the youngest boys & girls tent (of camp) & am on the way to scuba diving - sweeet!!

We continue!!


Day 7 - Friday:

Mostly a chilled day, had to go over to sort out some things with my Brother & to try to get him to clean my car - yaaay clean car!! Then went back home & had my Mum being all panicky & going off in a huff - yaaay family politics lol!! Anyways spent the rest of the avo repacking my clothes for camp - trying to weave some magic & only take about half the stuff I had last time & sort out a computator for Jen as well!! Also during this time I managed to find a rad hotel to crash at after the wedding tommorow - not bad, 4 star & about 10 minutes drive from Andover - excellent!

Picked up Jen in the evening, took a little while & wasn't helped that she did not have a phone for me to contact her on - d'oh!! Yeah I kinda wasn't sure whether I was supposed to get her from the coach or train station......oops!!

Then me & young Jennie had a rather nice & posh dinner (even if I do say so myself lol!!) of; sunblushed tomatoes, rocket, baby spinich & camembert, in a puff pastry, & chicken, pesto & tomato en croute (in a cross pastry ting!) with roasted potatoes & some good wine - yaaaay! Was good to cook again, & loads of fun to!! Then it was back to chillaxing & watching 'Five Children & It' (again!) & falling asleep in the middle of it (again!!).

more holiday diary bloggerage!

Day 6 - Thursday:

Had an interesting sleep - mostly because of the dreams & visions about Jen - & no not in that way, but it was an answer to prayer that I was not really expecting lol!! Then got up at a reasonable hour & got my stuff together & ready for the off. Then got my car packed & showed Sid the delights of 'Caturday' (cats doing silly things or in funny poses, but with captions - yaaaay captions!! If you want to see more, there are some fine Caturday example on some earlier blogs!). Then I took my leave of young Sid & disappeared off toward Andover in search of a reaonable campsite near(ish) to Andover itself.....& seach I did, & search & search & search!! I found one, about halfway between Andover & Mid Wessex - great! Oh except it was miles out in the middle of nowhere & I doubt I'd find it again.....ever!!

En route to Andover(ish) I also rang Jen & shared what I had been considering, praying about & then getting dreams & visions about! Basically it was about getting back together, but giving purpose to our relationship (oh & for me to get off my long-distance-is-a-terrible-thing high horse) I think my exact words were that I should stop being a pr*ck & be serious - yeah let's work it out!!

Then, after much frustration trying to get out of somewhere called Romsey - it has a weird road system enough to rival Oxford - I reckon I had to go round the place 5 times & be at exactly 88 miles an hour to get out of it's orbit lol! In the end I decided a good use of my time would be to go back to relax & have a bath! Not an unreasonable idea lol! Also because I am going to the wedding (Hannah & Mark) with Jennie & she wanted me to pick her up from Oxford I thought it no harm at all to be back!

En route back to Oxford I called a couple of people; my Mum, Oviler & Hobbit, to see what was going on tonight & found out that Da Boyz were going out for Hobbit's leaving do & why don't I join them - it didn't take much to convince me that was a good idea lol!!

So after getting back & unwinding, I picked up Hobbit, who told me that I also needed to pick up Oli (d'oh back to mine to unload my car then!) so we got Oli, who then told me that I also needed to pick up Katie as well (uh-oh I only mae space in me car for one extra passenger lol!) we then headed over to the Head of the River pub on the Thames & hung out having just the one beverage ('cos I was driving - duh! Then went home & chilled & watched some rubbishy Tv - yaaay rubbishy TV!!!

Holiday Diary Day 5

Day 5: Wednesday

Got up by 10am & after a life reviving cup of tea, got down to the buisness of the interweeb lol! Posted a couple of my diary entries & checked all Facebook & email entries - nice! But at the same time giving some advice to the Sid to try to get a journal finished (he had to resubmit a couple of bits of work) he's got one more & hopefully I'll be able to help him nail that to!!

Spent much time on the net today, with young Sid, with only a couple of breaks for food & drink! Got one journal nailed which was great & repacked the car & got my bike out (& it had a flat tyre hmmmmm not cool!!) & am about to go for a ride........after my cup of tea though lols!!!!

Went for a massive bike ride (about 3 hours) & took in some cool sights, like the biggest cemetery (scary) & some army testing places - was very cool, but managed to get a puncture (Sid, mate, riding a road bike over rocky ground is a really bad idea lol!!) when we got back (in the twilight lol) I was totally exhausted (a good thing some might say!) & we just monged out in front of some comedy on TV & had a flick through Private Eye!

Also spoke to my Cousin (Kat) & it looks like I'm not going down to Brighton tommorow now, she's busy & her parents are away - d'oh! My plan is now to try to find a campsite somewhere near Andover & be there for 3 nights, then head down to camp instead!!

Just before going to bed me & Sid had an intense pray for each others needs; kids, situations, opportunities for Sid & heart, family, situations, health, opportunity & kids for me. Was really good to be encouraged & encourage someone else in prayer - it'd been a fair while since that happened!!

Day 4 of teh travelling!!

More bloggarage - this time from the hip & happening metropolis of Woking!! Day 4: Tuesday

Woke up.......eventually & trekked down to the beach (where I currently am) on the way went to a professional tatoo parlor & chatted to a artist - who seemed sure that I was not entirely 100% sure I wanted one & should really think first for a while & see, but could come back on Saturday if I wanted to get one for sure! Hmmmmm we shall see!!

Next we went to a coule of shops & I ended up getting a narly new Vans back-pack & new Mambo beach-towel in the sales - all very good! Then proceeded to have some McLunch & head on down to the beach!! Played a new & very bizarre card game called sh*thead!

Also spoke to young Sid at lunchtime & it looks like Woking is my next stop, so about to get my stuff together & head on off on the road again for more craaaziness!! When will it all end lol!

Eventually left the beach around 3ish & was really burned on the backs of my legs - d'oh! & on my shoulders quite badly, but all is fair in love & war........& sunshine!! Treked back to the car & left Mich in Bournemouth & started the very unknown journey to Woking - I think it's in Surrey, or so I'd been led to believe...an hour later & driving into the county of Surrey means yes, yes it is in Surrey lol!

Anyways got to a little village just outside Woking called St Johns & met up with the Sid (who's now sporting a rad mohawk!) & had dinner & went straight out to meet some of his amies!

Had a delayed pub visit, as Sid had no I'd (he's like 22 but they were being a little funny about it) then had a beer or 5 with his friends. Met some really rad people like Luke, Ben, Adam & a guy called Mark who was the ginger Jack Bauer (i.e. From 24!) complete with his own action figure!!!! Ttoally random, but funny bunch & we got on really well, based on our knowledge of the interweb - Zim, Family Guy, etc. & our similar humour - definite lol! We then went on a massively detouring detour via the train station back to Sid's at about 12.30 tired but in very good spirits!

Bournmouth Day 2

Mooooooooooore holiday diarying! Day 3: Monday!

Definitely not a regular Monday! Woke up at 9, in definite need of a life-restoring cup of tea lol! Today Mich had an induction-day at a water park in Poole called Splashdown - it was very VERY rad!! We were there from 10-4 & I was going on the flumes & am thoroughly knackered! Then had some Nando's & am currently walking down to the sea again - hopefully will go in the mofo this time lol!

On the way to the beach stopped off in a Ben & Jerry's shop (next door to an Odeon cinema) & both got a double core sundae each & a milkshake with a double scoop in it - that's 4 scoops people - a lot!! That nearly killed us both so we staggered back home & grabbed a couple of DVD's & chilled out watching '5 Children & It' which was good & funny, but I fell asleep & started snoring.....allegedly lol!! Also tried to decide a) should I get a tattoo? & b) what to get? Eventually decided on a GIR (in dog disguise looking craaaazy) tattoo......somewhere, but not sure where lol!

I'm going to write more in a bit, cos it's not day 1/2/3 - it's day 5! Also I think I've missed a load of things that have happened since the 'Rock Off' post a while ago....HP7 book, Transformers, HP5 movie, my brother - hmmm I feel more blogging w00t w00t!!!

Road Trippin' Day 2

More you say? Day 2 - Sunday:

After going to bed at midnight, woken up by 'Cat of Doom' (scary eyes & coughing up a lung at 4am!) hung out with Steve, Sarah, Emily & baby Oliver in the morning, mostly being bossed around by young Emily (playing with special scissors & a tea set w00t!) About to take the dogs for a walk in the woods (they have electronic collars with shocks from 1-4, Ste tried it on me on level 1 - ouch, but Ste had it on 4 - shocking - allegedly it hurt till the next day lol!!), then got a meeting for camp (seniors week for Mid Wessex) at lunchtime.

Spoke to Jen who now has tonsillitis - not cool, but will try to visit her....if she's feeling betterer - need to stay healthy this summer - have places to go & many people to see lol! A trifle selfish - but also very realistic! Oh also just got a call from Mich - she's finished work early so will head down to Bournemouth nice & early w00t w00t!!

Meeting finished at around 4.30 & met with some cool people for camp - definitely a youthful, yet mature bunch of leaders & very different to the junior 2 leaders (I think that's mostly down to the fact that I knew 50% of that crew outside of Mid Wessex context). I'm definitely stoked by the content & crew I'm going to be working with - Jo & John are pretty rad & I think that by the end of the week fellowship should be definitely coming into play!

Got down to Bournemouth at about 5ish & met up with Mich, then walked from her new Uni house in Winton into Bournemouth town centre for some fish & chips on the beach (courtesy Harry Ramsdens's) then some beverages. We went to a few bars & ended up drinking a Brazilian beer called Brahma & with every couple of beers getting another free pair of flip-flops - eventually we ended up with 7 pairs between us!! The walk home was cool & we really got caught up on stuff that'd been going on, etc. We crashed out at like midnight & were rather merry!!

Holiday Bloggage - Day 1

Fresh from the pages of my phone - enjoy:
Day 1: Saturday

Started off on the road & it felt amazing!! Spoke to the Ste, Mr Olivander & Sidney - all quite stoked about the road-trip, but not as much as me lol!!

Eventually arrived (off the beaten track & I think I really do need to get Satnav now lol) at a country-retreat just outside Marlow - totally outrageously awesome pad - swimming pool, hot tub - no neighbours - proper rad!

Had a few beers & a dip in both pools, then went out into Marlow (The Ship) & had some more beers & am havin fun & hangin out with Dan & Ste!

Food was officially leftovers, but was BBQ meat, pizza, chips & wedges - but was amazing - nice one Ste & Sarah!!

We really do continue! ;o)

What are YOU doing.....this summer?!

OK for those who don't already know - this summer I am mostly going to be doing a Road Trip. This is basically going round the country to see my friends & family, amongst the 2 weeks of summer camp I'm leading on. I started last Saturday & I have been keeping a diary, so that I know what on earth I've been doing for the whole of August!!!

The theory for this is to pack my car with a months worth of clothing, plus about a weeks worth of food, my bike, & full camping gear [oh & Sully] & drive here there & everywhere, but basically hang out in the south of England!

I'll be posting my holiday diary things whenever I get the chance [& WIFI] so expect updates quite regularly - the first couple will go up later today I think lol!

Adios amigos!

Rock off

Seriously this blogging is getting rather addictive, which is nice - I'm finding that this a good way to get my brain on paper - the traditional way of describing writing my testimony or a real heartfelt email - don't look, just type!!

Having not been listening to any rock in about a week - that leaves me with Trance, old skool Dance & of course Breaks! Mostly some stuff from Fabric Live (breaks) & some good old 'Crasher favourites (that's trance for those who don't know). The last thing vaguely rocky I listened to was Arcade Fire's 'Neon Bible' & I'm not convinced that counts lol!

But me being me & changing my music preference rather frequently shall we say, I'm sure I'll switch the rock back on - I think I just overdosed on Muse, well it's a theory at least!!

As the great Pete Tong puts it..........we continue!!

Feeling old much!

OK, this writing [for want of a better phrase] is a reflection about my relationship status & what I'm feeling. It's allegedly highly irregular for a guy to want to think or discuss his feelings, well then that must speak volumes about me then lol!

true Having been to a few weddings over the past couple of weeks [my cousin Emma & my good friend from Uni Hannah] & with another coming up in a couple of weeks [another Hannah - this time the more madder of the two ;o) - sorry Han, but it's true lol] but always as the single man. This is obviously because I have split up with my girlfriend [Jennie] after about 2 1/2 years, back in April. Since then I have remained more solitary & much less social as I have previously, shall we say. I have spent time with friends occasionally, but seem to be having 'too much time' with myself.

This seems to have caused a worrying trend of reflection. Part of my degree is to train youthworker's to be 'reflective practitioners' - this can have it's drawbacks though - a tendency to either over-analyse or dwell on thoughts & feelings. This seems exactly what I am doing with this whole 'being single' thought process.

So, when I see let's just say not just one or two people getting engaged, it creates interesting feelings deep within me & not all of them are positive! It's not because I fancy or am deeply in love with these people, it's more a form of resentment - because these immensely happy things are not happening to me! For example at Uni I think there's only me who's remotely single - out of my whole class! Outside of Uni, anyone resembling an available female appears to be in a relationship. It's frustrating & maddening! I find myself thinking "Oh dear [or words to that effect!] what if I never find someone who's right for me - what if I never get married?!" Now that thought terrifies me! I'm a youthworker - not a Catholic priest or a Monk!! It's not as though I am a young man anymore - I'm 26!! Am I going mad, or having a mid-life [kinda] crisis - or just over analysing & dwelling on things that are unimportant?!

The problem is that my brain has been used to being full of all the crapola associated with Uni over the past 2 years & during almost all of that time I've been in a relationship - now with nothing to preoccupy my mind, I've started looking more inwardly - toward my heart & where it's at. I know that deep down God has a plan for exactly the person, time & place for if/when I fall in love with 'the one for me', I've just no idea who, when & where the heck that is!! But this should not be read as desperation - it's frustration! I almost dislike having the space to think about these things - because I don't think I want to reflect on my own needs - for; security, reassurance, presence of people, to be loved, cherished & feel needed.

I don't think these are bad needs necessarily & I do know where they come from - because there are sadly only a few people who truly know me [other than God & myself] & what makes me tick. There are a select few who know about my 'dark days' - not that they happened, but the reasons behind them. But when reflecting on what makes my heart ache & brain tick, I think that what was missing, appears to be needed now.

I think this is the crux of what's going on with me now - I'm reflecting more on past things - because of counselling & too much free time [apart from when I'm gaming or occasionally working lol!] knowing myself well enough to know what I want/desire/need & getting......nothing at the moment frustrates me. It's depressive to a degree, but not enough to make me depressed.

But I'm thankful for those who are around me - even when I annoy the hell outta them lol! [it happens!] I appear to have built up a strong network of support, but I'm yet to use it to work on this aspect of what's going on with me - all I've said is I feel like a bit of a sad old man........people get that about me already - I've been the oldest amongst my friends for many years, but right now I really feel that!!

Right, what's that spell, oh yeah "mischief managed"!!

zupDATE pt 2

Also last weekend was Mr TC's Birthday Bonanza Weekend, which was both really good, yet also really challenging, because I saw an old friend who I had not seen since my dark & distant past. This was really difficult due to not knowing how they would see/judge me to be - in the same state as I was all those years ago [a little more explosive, charged & unhinged] or as I am now [slightly less of the above!!] The whole experience really shook me up, & caused me to leave one of the parties early [not the norm for me!].

It was bizarre, because before all that, my weekend was going rather swimmingly - had one of my really good friend's Wedding on the Saturday - Mrs Hannah Woods [as she is now called lol - go Hana!] followed by some crushing football & then loitering around in a pool [well I say pool - it was more like a large paddleing pool for adults lol!] with my best friend JMC passing me a beer every couple of minutes - so it was all shiny!! But that negative experience transported my back about 8 years to someone I once was - not good! However, I did manage to get my head around it & bring in some peace, with the aid of my esteemed counsellor - JP. That followed by some hardcore gaming with Nate & it was all green for me! Although when I heard the following song, I was challenged to think about my actions & reactions [which I haven't really gone in to, but I don't think it appropriate - so there!!]

"Right now we can't we can't stop what's coming on my way
How many more dark clouds will pass me in a day
Why, can't I tell myself to walk away?"

From a track called Stonecold, on one of the best albums I own - Mixmag: Big Room Trance, mixed by Armin Van Buuren - choon after choon aften choon, from back in 2003. It was a freebie that I bought on my way to Spring Harvest [Skegness] the first time I went & was the only CD I listened to all week & is just about the most perfect trance CD out there - although Sundissential 1, Disc 1 could give it a run for its money lol!

We're back!

ZUPdate

Hey mes amies,

OK been a very quiet week - the most exciting thing I've done is watch ALL the Harry Potter movies back-to-back, then go to the cinema & watch the new one [Order of the Phoenix].

First a little about that movie - ignore all the media attention & just go see it, it is the best one in terms of special effects & acting [OK, with the exception of Dudley who is just a little too hammy for my tastes!] it's definitely trimmed down from the book, but that was huge to begin with. Everything just seemed a little more polished than before, it was less about gimmicky things [I assume because people are used to this magical world by now] & more about the story & development of major characters. All the scenes with Sirius & Harry feel really heart-warming, as does the stuff with the DA. Umbridge appears to be as loathsome as in the book, & as for the battles near the end - they left me speechless. It did feel quite true to the book, but with some changes & trimmings. For fans of the books & films, I don't think you will be too disappointed! I intend to go watch it a second time - I think it THAT good!!!

Anyways, enough pottering about [sorry!] have also spent a lot of time gaming & boosting my Gamescore [the infamous points system on the Xbox 360, where gamers get points for if they complete certain stages of games on harder difficulty settings, or exceed at certain aspects of games] which is now approaching a fairly respectable 4500G [thank you Dynasty Warriors lol!]. Rainbow 6 Vegas has also been played heavily & has gotten very challenging shall we say!

To be continued!

What ARE you doing?!

[Written Saturday 7th July & imported just now!]

Currently blogging in Starbucks in high street Oxford dressed up as smartly as I get these days (smart black open-neck shirt, jacket & chino's) reading Disconnected (Nick Barham, 2004) & reading all about blogging, so I thought I'd update again!

Been a very quiet week - ran 1 youthgroup, & have hung out with my friends Hobbit & Nate for most of the rest of the week, just playing 360 games & causing mischief lol! But mostly playing a few highly unethical games - Crackdown & Rainbow 6: Vegas.

Crackdown is basically Grand Theft Auto with steroids! Cue guns, explosions & killing bad guys, all from a 3rd person perspective. A patch was released for this game recently & it has yielded 2 cool things - resurrect the dead gang-members (i.e. the bad guys) & God mode - you can't die & have unlimited ammo - nice! This has mean being more creative with said bad guys & how you (ahem) stop them causing any more mischief!! It's all a little silly & comic-book violent & doesn't take itself at all seriously - I mean come on - how often do we jump off skyscrapers, into skyscrapers or even over 3 storey buildings - I suggest at least not often!!

The second game is much less comic-book & more 'real life'......kind of! Rainbow 6 Vegas - custom weapons hundreds of bad guys (not gang members this time - terrorists) & again it's set in America (umm Las Vegas) & the bad guys are either Russian, Mexican, Chinese or South American. The key emphasis for this game is not brash balls-out mayhem (although that sometimes happens!!) it's stealth, teamwork & trying to be as sneaky & silent as possible. But this is both punishing & rewarding in equal measures - it's really difficult to not die a lot, but amazingly satisfying when you move on to the next level!!

Frag this!


Si

Demotivator

Morning gang!

Bit of a weird day - am feeling a little demotivated today - not really sure the reason why - I think it's something to do with my pain-suppressants for my prostate condition. This is making things like planning for tonight's youth group much harder than normal - not sure what to do - hmmmm! It does indeed seem to be difficult to get motivated to working - frustrating to say the very least. Hopefully when my body gets used to the new chemicals I can get more awake & motivated, but we shall have to see! Right enough bloggerage - time for more sleep [grrrrr!]

We contine [with sleep that is!]


Si

Tea Break 1

Right enough of the seriousness - here are some pics from my Caterday huntz! Enjoy:

IC Pt. 2

OK......we continue!

This double-blog posting came from investigating a website called Christianity Meme which has many essays citing Christianity as a meme & going into how the virus of Christianity is being proselytised for the detriment of society.

On this website, none of essays/articles are 'signed' by an individual - all collectively as just 'christianitymeme.org' - interesting but very much aloof. The website is divided into sections, including the Main Argument [against Christianity], Additional Content [articles from Richard Dawkins, Susan Blackmore, Don Baker, to name but a few], as well as some dialogue & reference information.

I looked at most of the information contained in the main argument section & there is some highly different 'theological perspectives' on Christianity, especially with young people:

"The young are especially good targets because they are easily manipulated and because of their life-long potential to proselytize and support organizations that further the Christianity Meme through money and their directed effort - not to mention their offspring."

Now this example appears to be a slanted take on how Christians do youthwork. It does, raise a question - if young people are 'easily manipulated', how should we as youthworkers use this knowledge?

Discipleship is now common practice for church-based youthwork - this [atheistic] theory would describe this as 'proselytising' [advocate or promote (a belief or course of action)] & as such this is a negative thing. This appears to come from the postmodern thinking as questioning everything, not holding onto any absolute truths, etc.

Having looking at most of this content, I have to say, I disagree with the point of view of the website - from a theological perspective. Wherever Christians would see their work as positive, this meme theory would see this work as negative. Wherever Christians use faith - the meme theory could not hold this to be true.

But of course, this is only my opinion - if you want to make up your own mind, or investigate for yourself - check out this controversial website for yourself: christianitymeme.org

Happy hunting!

Internet Confustigations

Morning bloggites! [ok it's more like evening but hey what the heck lol!]

Just for a change I have been un teh interweeb [shock horror] looking up some meme's. I always took this idea to be a bit of harmless Internet comedy [Internetus Humerous to give its proper Latin name] where some Internet catchphrase, for example the pic below from Lord of the Ring's [the scene is in Rivendell where they're trying to work out what to do with that darn one-ring] & Boromir says "One does not simply walk into Mordor". With the aid of Photoshop, a screenshot & some text brings in slightly new meanings, e.g.

or

Genius! However, what was quite disconcerting was that when I checked out Wiki for the actual meaning of the word 'meme' as a scientific term:

"A unit of cultural information that propagates from one mind to another as a theoretical unit of cultural evolution and diffusion."

This was a word was originally coined by Mr Richard Dawkins - a famous writer & atheist - in his book the 'Selfish Gene'. Now stick with me, my story gets better! In this book, Dawkins goes on to compare Christianity with memes, to the point that Christianity is a meme in itself.

To be continued...

The Beeb has just published this article on their front page. It may appear to be the stuff of Daily Mail legend, but unfortunately it's true! The contents are the results of a survey from Barnado's Trust & shows the inequality of crime statistics vs. what 'real' people think! The good news is that Daniel Craig [i.e. Bond, James Bond!] getting involved, & who can stop Bond?!:

"The publication [of the survey results] comes as Barnardo's launches a campaign to show even the most troubled children can be helped. The campaign, which will be promoted in newspapers and on posters, will also feature radio advertisements voiced by James Bond actor Daniel Craig."

There is still hope then?!

Si <><

PS Follow the link if you want to see the original article [or click here]

Musical Muse

OK more updates time [told you so!]:

I went to a gig on Saturday 16th June.....in the new Wembley Stadium.....to see a little band called MUSE! [check out my Facebook Photos to see more!] Without a doubt this was the best gig I've seen - Muse seem to have this presence on stage - surprising for a 3-piece band, but the sound was just excellent. The lead guitarist [Matt] gave such a versitile and virtuoso performance, and the bassist [Chris] and drummer [Dom] balance the whole sound and give it volume.

The setlist was long and included hits from all their 4 studio albums, then just to be awesome, they did 2[!] encores - which was all rather good! So overall, the sound was great, the tracks were tight, the performance was awesome & the lighting & special effects were brilliant lol!

The theory is that this is coming out on the most devious of D's [that's DVD for the hard of thinking] so you may all enjoy it to!

We continue!

Update 2.0

Hey mes amies, it's been a while - a little too long methinks - since my last blog, so it's time for an update!!

It's now the end of Uni term.....& all Fieldwork & essays are done & handed in......which is nice lol! Have been working like a madman to get it all done, but it is over till September [phew!]

I'm going to get a few blogs done in the next few days, so expect to be inundated or unindated..one or the other lol!

We're back.

Blog This

Morning y'all!

Spent most of yesterday trying to sort out my project's website with Oli & managed to get it looking pretty good & with all the links working & even got the photo's up &amp;amp;amp; running & everything! So go check it out if you get a moment!

Easter & Cycling

OK so enough of the depressive - on to the positive! After a meeting with young Lego, who advised me of 2 things:

1. I need to get my head together!
2. I need to get out of my room/house & get me a hobby!

I decided to [shock, horror] take some advice! & decided to get off me bum & get some cycling done, but first I needed something useful - a bicycle lol! So I got me Trek 1200 [2007 Edition]. Which looks like this:
I also got all the other gear - lights, helmet, jersey, emergency road repair kit, a CamelBak pack & ummmm lycra shorts!!! So I can at least look the part, well apart from the shorts - Simon is not convinced lol!

For those doubters [i.e. everyone!] who think I'm never going to use it - you are severely mistaken - because since I got the bike back to Oxford, I've been on a long cycle ride [i.e. over 10 miles] 5 times - including cycling into Uni - so there!

Hopefully I'll get more used to it, because the riding style & positition are totally different from all the bikes I've had before. Also I need to keep my motivation up & keep at it - the idea is to go both on my own & with others - Oli, TC, Hobbit & Pete Barker for starters & hopefully more if people get in to it.

The bike is super-light & is pretty quick [although my brother will most likely disagree with that!] but seeing as I'm not in "peak physical fitness" [or an old fat git as it's normally put!] then I think it's going to take a few weeks/months for me to be able to do some real speeds & distances on me bike. The route into Uni is about 7 miles or so & that takes me about 35 minutes so far, but hopefully that will get faster - I reckon!

The other side of things - i.e. my head - I'm should be starting to go to counselling in May [financial issues stop me from starting any earlier] so I should then be able to rant to get all the things occupying my brain out - which is super-shiny!

Right enough blogging today methinks - adios!

Easter

Easter break was another interesting one for me - this time last year I needed some time off from youthwork because I got very close to the burning-out stage [so commonly associated with youthworkers] - well this year was unfortunately more of the same - the youth centre work [trying to make it look less like a big lounge!] absolutelty drained my down-time to almost nill - the only time off was driving 600 miles over 4 days with my Dad, which was quite frankly sh*te - whereas I'd expected some actual family time - it was more about my Dad focusing on my half-sister [10 years old] who was demanding all the attention, time, money, etc. I ended up having to use all my monies on trying to do what I could - then got it all back the day he left - suspect! For those who don't the situation - my Dad lives & works out in Switzerland [Zurich to be precise] & comes back every month or so to see his daughter [note: not his 2 sons!] so myself & my brother see my Dad rather infrequently - which is rubbish, but that is unfortunately pretty much my family for you!

Also I managed to split up with my girlfriend Jennie after 2 & a half years which really sucked, but it was mutual[ish] & was at least amicable. I'm not going all sloppy & girly but it was definietly a difficult time for me.

So add those 2 together when all I wanted to do over Easter was chill out with my girlfriend who I'd not seen properly in weeks & my Dad who I'd not seen in months & my friends who I'd not really seen properly all term & it made Easter all a big pile of poo!

This caused a small problem in Simon's brain which meant I didn't feel my ususal bright chipper self - not good & just for fun I seem to have done insufficient fieldwork as I have been fucusing all my efforts on my placement work, rather than anything else - rubbish! There were some more positive things to come out of my Easter break, but more later! but for now I leave you with the following pic from 300 an excellent boyz movie:


Si

More Bloggage Time Pt2

OK the men's breakfast was really good, we had a speaker [Richard Meryon] from CVM [Christian Vision for Men] who gave a presentation about the problems of the Church trying to reach men in programs of fellowship or disipleship & encouraged the church to try to do more things that could appeal to 'not-yet Christian' men. It was all very good & valid & afterwards I spoke to the minister about how fellowship can be coordinated in our church & how this can then be more inclusive for those friends of ours who have never heard the Gospel message, although who would do this would have to be decided by the current group later on.

More Bloggage Time

OK people's it's time for my most randomist blog methinks!

So firstly muppet tests, go check out this quiz to see which muppet your personality most fits in with - I'm Kermit. I think that it proves beyond all reasonable doubt that I am a muppet lol!

Now what's been happening with me, well it's been the Easter holidays [duh] & I've been trying to turn the empty shell of a building into something resembling a youth centre! The time imput has been massive, as have the contributions by all the youth team & this led me to succeessfully run my first 2 groups in the New youth centre on Tuesday & Friday this week - winner! This meant we only had a 2 week turnaround from when I got the keys to when we opened - not bad, methinks!

Also in the youth project I wrote me first newsletter for the local press [the very awesome Nor Lye News] with some info for young people & their parents & with a request for some volunteers to help the youth project. The press deadline is Monday so we'll see if it makes a difference.

Also managed to drop some heavy requests to my Managment Committee because I asked them for 2 very big things:

1. 15-20 leaders asap
2. a vision for the project

These things are so critical for me doing my job that I deemed them critical to the project's survival - so that was a fun meeting!

More later - it's time for me first Men's Breakfast at my home chuch - nice!