facebook fatigue and other stories

So - in my love/hate relationship with facebook, I'm off again. Although of course, you are (as I've discovered ) never really off No, facebook knows all about me. And you, and everyone you've ever met. My reasons for being off are really simple - I was discovering a lot of things about people that I didn't know - and more importantly, things about them that I didn't need to know. I like finding out about people face to face. I miss arranging to have coffee - but, for those who are in my life and close, I'm probably able to do that (drum roll please) in person For those far, far, far away -I'll probably cave and rejoin just to say hi every now and then. But for those of us who are friends, we're friends...

Anyway, we're dogsitting and have wifi... which makes it possible for me to do this and watch newsnight live. I'm being assaulted by Kirsty Wark's outfit, never mind the conversation. There are some really good things about radio.

I know, I sound Bah humbug and all that. I think it's because I've conceivably had the worst couple of weeks... topped off by a vain attempt on my part to get up, get going and WRITE, only to discover that my files were corrupted. On the bonus side: I've staved off a cold; been doing a little bit of detached on the estate near the church; held a five-day-old puppy; had two lovely friends send me coffee and chocolate; had coffee with others; resisted the urge to be outraged at the GMC [mercifully for some of you that will only relate to cars]; heard my dad give some great and thought-provoking lectures; and, unless something goes really wrong tomorrow I'll be able to be at the allotment for a good couple of hours.

So reading is all PhD focussed. Listening to Goldfrapp, Pocket Satellite and classical. Anxiously watching the US elections. Mourning with friends who've had difficult lives - death, burglaries, job, house loss...

Other good things [on church level] are that the church's allotment project is off/on the ground and we're part of a rolling night shelter for a small number of the destitute and homeless asylum seekers from November to March - (volunteers welcome at both :-0); and [on personal level] Andrew's been accepted for his PhD - though we still wait to see if there's funding...

Also, been watching with interest the implosion/ reforming of the emergent movement. Obviously significant for the last chapters of my never-likely-to-be-finished thesis. Tony Jones as the spokesman [sorry, coordinator] for emergent is gone, others are predicting the demise and still others are defending the whole shebang...

Well, Kirsty's bugging me, so I'm going to shut her off, and shut this down.

Reading Louis L'amour and other exploits

So, there are a few things that bring me more pleasure than reading things that a) end well, b) have a familiar plot line c) have clear good/bad guys, and best yet d) you know that the good guy wins. Sad, I know. But I've always been a fan of simple. I think it stems from having such hefty doses of reality in life where bad wins as often as not, and ugly happens, and gets uglier... where people have crap lives, and where there's no end in sight for some of them... So, there. I like Louis. I also like Uncle Arthur's Bedtime stories. Donna Leon mysteries (although they often end in sorrow)and recently I've been trying to get my head around Bill Bryson's A short history of nearly everything... (or whatever it's called).

Anyway, I've given myself fifteen minutes to write this before I try and start writing PhD like things, where I use words like ecclesiology, eschatology and rubbish and mean them. It's been a really long week (does that sound familiar, I think I'm becoming like Eeyore). Some of that is because of people, and the sudden discovery that when people [me] take their eye off the ball, well, okay, maybe I mean Jesus, they [I] become quite petty. It's very difficult for me to elongate my patience, with myself, other people, and I'm finding that 'bitty' things are getting on my nerves - I honestly don't want to be preoccupied with little things, and I find myself thinking sometimes that if people [I] were involved in things that are bigger than themselves/ [myself] then the little things don't/ wouldn't seem to matter so much. In fact, it's a really odd phenomenon in my life: when I've had some kind of breakthrough, honest revelation, incredible moment, epiphany and so on, something infintisimally small creeps up and sucker punches me with the most incredible accuracy, right on my weakest spot and BHAM!!! I'm not who I should be. Argh. God grant me grace!

Read a book called The Great Emergence which has been really rated by some people. I was incredibly disappointed in it - found it superficial in its analysis, narrow in its focus and generally its thesis didn't grab me much. Neither Great, nor particularly helpful about emergence. And, it read a lot like Burke's A Heretic's guide to eternity which didn't really strike me as heretical, but reading it did seem like eternity. Ohh, I sound grumpy. Maybe I need some sugar (or fresh air).

On the other hand, I went to an Urban Expression hosted conference last week with Michael Frost as the speaker (of Exiles, etc) and REALLY was inspired. Some great stories, and really evocative about church. A British Billion miles away from Longsight in the kind of people-groups he encounters, but nevertheless really fascinating. Okay. Time's up. Back to my chapter. :-(