Regarding a genius...

I find the general animosity towards Bob Dylan in today's generation very frustrating. In my mind Dylan is one of the most influential cultural figures of the Twentieth century, his music inspired a generation and he can be seen as much a radical poet as Keates or Shelley. Yet my housemates won't let me put his albums on because: "he can't sing" or "He's boring".

In my opinion 'Bringing it all back home' and 'Blood on the tracks' are two of the finest album i've ever heard. May his prophetic words be "blowin' on the wind" for a while longer yet.

Listening to now: Patience- Guns 'n' Roses

What a difference a bit of fitness makes...

This year I have been playing Ultimate Frisbee extremely poorly, I seem to make mistakes all the time and often can't grasp the basics of throwing and catching. I've been so bad that last week I left training early in a rage having not managed to complete a single pass... not a good example for the men's captain to be setting for the club. However last night there surfaced a small glimpse of my old self, I played hard, concentrated hard and everything seemed to come together. At my best I am the kind of player who likes to bully a game, always demanding the disc in my hand and moving it up the pitch at my own pace, last night I did that effectivly. As Costas (the club social sec) said "you like fit, fast and good. That scares me!" I'm not really a player that stands out at any part of ultimate, i'm not a great handler, reciever or defender but i'm generally good at everything which means that I can fit in anywhere. I'm known at the club for my speed (hence the above quote) something that has always been a factor in my sporting life whatever the sport and recently i've found that my fitness is improving and therefore also my speed (logical I know) last night was a great relief for me. I love Ultimate passionatly and its always frustrating to play poorly, i'm glad that last night I was able to feel good about the way I played.

I now have three straight hours of lectures and no pen... its going to be interesting...

Listening to now: Roses for the Dead- Funeral For A Friend

Musings...

Hamlet is a far easier play to get to grips with than I had previously thought, although the sheer volume of the text is daunting it is very engaging and allows for easy reading- as easy as possible for early 17thC literature. I still wouldn't study it out of choice but then that sentiment is felt for nearly all the plays I have to study on the Shakespeare course. Personally I would only choose to study The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night and The Tempest of the plays given- my personal favourite Shakespeare play are: Macbeth, Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, Richard II, Taming of the Shrew and (surprisingly??) Romeo and Juliet. Nevermind, I was warned years ago that i would never actually get to do anything I liked at University... a slight exaggeration but sometimes it feels so.

I would like to take some time to present the various sites I visit, those under the heading 'Haunting Grounds' on the right:

Waiting Room Of The World
The home of one of my oldest friends, Jon, a student at St Andrews University in Scotland- a very well maintained blog that is regularily updated with various items of news- usually involving his acaemic area of expertise, theology.

Unbeknown Paedobaptist
Named after a succesful googlewhack I seem to remember... the blogs owner, James, is a friend of mine from CCIW unfortunately James seems to update his blog even less frequently than myself...

Ashes In The Fall
I'm never actually sure whether this is the blogs title or if its You Forget So Easy as the webs title suggests... maybe i should ask sometime. Thom's blog is a very entertaining read whatever the weather and i'm glad to see that he's studying a worthwhile subject...

Student of Life
Bec's brother Caleb- a student at Cardiff University. Again, a very intersting read, whether he's posting on theology, literature or the day as he sees it.... just don't get him on to Doctor Who...

The Zone
My good friend Mark, studying with me at Bangor. We are both former Rathboners and current CU execers. Mark is one of the funniest people I know and one of the best people i've ever met, I would encourage everyone to check out his blog (theres currently a picture of my on there which should provide extra incentive!!)

The Bangor Theologian
Home of Hwee-Chung, also a student at Bangor and Rathboner. Hwee has a grin that would melt butter and is still waiting for me to bake the merangue I promised...

Shared4u
Shared4u is the home of Rob Whiteway, my former youth leader and pastor in the making- check out his weight loss program, it only comes round once a year!!

Listening to now: Echo- Incubus

Everyone knows that Monday's suck...

I don't have any lectures on Mondays and therefore everyone thinks that I do nothing... here's news for you... sometimes I do stuff. Seriously. Today I have to read/understand/analyse Hamlet and The first canto of Don Juan before 5 O'clock and if you've ever seen either of those publications in print then you'll know that they are both very meaty works. I can't stand having to do reading, it takes out all the enjoyment. Anyway, i'm not really doing anything else much at the moment so if I don't have anything to blog, I won't- simple as that.

Listening to now: Soco Amaretto Lime- Brand New

Sometimes in life I need a good kicking...

... and Caleb has very kindly helped give me one in his last blog-post. I've had a fair few epic theological debates with Caleb over the years (usually when Becs is at work) and I very rarely admitt he's right (:-P) but... I realise from reading his argument that too much of the time that I am one of the dreaded 'Knowledge-seekers'. Probably because of the various things i've experienced in my Christian walk I take a very reactionary stance against 'experience-seekers' which as Caleb says is extreme- but not extreme enough. It shouldn't mean that I push all forms of experience away in a mass dustbin bag. I shall strive to be a far more Godly Christian, seeking to please God on his terms, not mine. So thanks Caleb :-)

In other news: I'm going to watch the new Harry Potter film tonight, which isn't really a good idea for those i'm going with... I find that the films just don't meet up to the standards of my imagination, and therefore complain lots... :D Becs refuses to watch them with me after the last one (hehe) But its a pretty good chance to do things with my friends and it just might be half decent... oh well :)

Listening to now: Grey Street- Dave Matthews Band

Tonight at 12 Snowdon view...

There commences an epic game of conflict, pitting academic goliaths against each other in an intense game of wit, confuson and plain old frustration: it's Moa time!!! Should be pretty awesome, theres about twenty people coming round which means some crazy play and at least one casualty (probably Mark) Other news in Bangor: i'm currently working on a seven part poem based on Eliot's Waste Land. So far I have completed the first three parts (Song to the dead, Under the bridge, and Life is for living) up to first draft level. Actually I don't bother with re-drafting so unless I have any major ideas they're finished. I'm also starting another seven part poem, although nothing is comitted to paper at the moment. Academically i'm reading DH Lawrence's Rainbow, Hamlet and Byron at the moment, not my personal choice of literature (i'd go for Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, Merchant of Venice and Shelley) but then it rarely is...


Currently listening to: I could die for you- Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Two whole Posts in one day because its.......

The Rich Awards 2005!!!!!

'The most vied for music awards in Bangor.'

Album of the year: Morning View- Incubus

Artist of the year: Bob Dylan

Song of the year: Play Crack Sky- Brand New

Cover of the year: High and Dry- Jamie Cullum

Video of the year: Always- Blink 182

Best Newcomer: Hobo Exile Hotel


Live album of the year: Rage Against The Machine- Live In Mexico City

Gig of the year: Martin Grech- The Colliseum, Coventry

(Honourable mentions also go to: James Blunt, Counting Crows, Dave Matthews, Pink Floyd, Chikinki, Elbow, Guns 'n' Roses, Elton John, My Chemical Romance, U2, Idlewild, Funeral For A Friend and Delirious)

This blogsite has been running for almost two years but has just 65 posts- an embarrassing statistic that proves my incredible laziness. I'm going to try and get back into regular posting again... so here's to a post a day for the next month and not much after...

In fairness my life gets so hectic at times; you wouldn't believe how much. For example, this week I reckon i've had about 20 hours sleep in total- sleeping problems? Nope. All night drunken revels? Nope. Five essays a week? Nope. Just doing work till the early hours and getting up at half six every day (actually thats a lie, today i had a lie-in: up at 7:55.) Here's what I did yesterday as a small sample: Up at half six for an hours private bible study and prayer, shower, breakfast etc., CU exec prayer meeting at Eight, seminar at nine till ten, hours break, seminar eleven till twelve, work twelve till half seven, reading till nine, Parkour on the rooftops of Bangor till half ten, bit more reading, bed. Stupid huh?? I mean where was I supposed to fit in the quality Xbox time?

Ah well nevermind, i'm a student- i'm SUPPOSED to not sleep and drink far too much caffeine and get exhauseted.

In regards to the old PK, i've taken things to a whole new level recently. It used to be about ground work- small buildings- walls I can easily vault etc. but now its gone far more special. Last night we got onto the roof of Time, the SU nightclub, and almost got caught by the bouncers and then went on a rooftop journey over the major science buildings. At one point I was holding onto a rail by one hand a good twenty meatures above a very hard looking ground. That was an adrenaline rush (more like toilet rush.) I took some photos on my digital so if the light has worked ill put them on here.

Anyhow, time to get going home- life is too short to spend on the computer, esp when there's the Chemistry tower to conquer...