What's all this for, again?
Still having a serious attack of 'what is the point of my job, exactly?' interspersed with 'that was quite fun although I'm not sure what good it did the universe'. *sigh* I'm not even sure that changing jobs would help because at least I can argue that working for the University is good in and of itself *double sigh*
Sunday was Taize so no 'sermon' but we're in the middle of our 'Rebirthing of God' series and H had 'Reconnecting with the Earth'. She did a wonderful service that really encouraged us to think about the earth and how we relate to it. She did panic me at the start by mentioning 'dancing' but in the end it was more 'sacred movement', which I was more than comfortable with. I'm not anti-dancing by any means, even in church, but I have this idea of 'holy dancing' as one of those things slightly desperate middle-aged middle-class women do to prove their love for God or something. It certainly isn't something that I want to have inflicted on me without notice! We have offered space to a group called Five Rhythms who do that sort of thing but I've never gone along. Maybe I should be less up-tight and British.
My shiny new Surface Pro 3 arrived at work. It's not connected up to the network, yet, so doesn't quite do everything I need it to (like enable me to find important documents on Sharepoint quickly and easily - you know - my job!!!) but that will be sorted on Monday. It does have a nice drawing feature that I will be able to use for mindmapping, so I should be paper-free in no time. I won't be taking it to Birmingham on Wednesday, though. It would be just my luck to lose or break it! I'm considering a new, wide-screen monitor that's mounted on an arm rather than free-standing, like the boss has.
I've taken a complete break from Mannerley but I'm feeling the itch to get back to it, which is a good thing. I've done a new story for 70x700 but it needs editing. I also did this for the last Black Ship Books prompt. I think my next environmental story should be a more positive one, though - one that imagines a Star Trek type future.
After the success of 'Persuasion', I've now got D reading 'City of Golden Shadows' from the Otherland series. It does show it's age a bit, now - Tad Williams predicted some stuff quite accurately (the merging of separate devices into one, for example) but missed others (like wi-fi!), but the sheer breadth and imagination in it are still amazing. D has lent me 'The Big Fisherman', which is interesting. Not sure if I quite agree with his vision of Jesus - I think meeting him for real would be more challenging. But maybe a quite, serene Jesus has his own challenge. I don't know.
I'm also taking the 'Saving Jesus' course with a group of folks from church. Apart from the fact that P interrupts G every time he opens his mouth, the first session went well. The first session looks at how Jesus has been perceived through history, starting with the Age of Faith (first 300 years), the Age of Belief (most of the Christian Era) to the Age of Spirit (last 50 years or so). One thing that really stood out for me was the way Jesus says to people, 'your faith has made you well' - the idea being that it was their own confidence and trust that they could be well that healed them. It certainly shouldn't be taken as 'your belief in these statements about me has made you well'!
Well, the sun is out and I want to get some washing on the line. Bye for now, LJ!
Sunday was Taize so no 'sermon' but we're in the middle of our 'Rebirthing of God' series and H had 'Reconnecting with the Earth'. She did a wonderful service that really encouraged us to think about the earth and how we relate to it. She did panic me at the start by mentioning 'dancing' but in the end it was more 'sacred movement', which I was more than comfortable with. I'm not anti-dancing by any means, even in church, but I have this idea of 'holy dancing' as one of those things slightly desperate middle-aged middle-class women do to prove their love for God or something. It certainly isn't something that I want to have inflicted on me without notice! We have offered space to a group called Five Rhythms who do that sort of thing but I've never gone along. Maybe I should be less up-tight and British.
My shiny new Surface Pro 3 arrived at work. It's not connected up to the network, yet, so doesn't quite do everything I need it to (like enable me to find important documents on Sharepoint quickly and easily - you know - my job!!!) but that will be sorted on Monday. It does have a nice drawing feature that I will be able to use for mindmapping, so I should be paper-free in no time. I won't be taking it to Birmingham on Wednesday, though. It would be just my luck to lose or break it! I'm considering a new, wide-screen monitor that's mounted on an arm rather than free-standing, like the boss has.
I've taken a complete break from Mannerley but I'm feeling the itch to get back to it, which is a good thing. I've done a new story for 70x700 but it needs editing. I also did this for the last Black Ship Books prompt. I think my next environmental story should be a more positive one, though - one that imagines a Star Trek type future.
After the success of 'Persuasion', I've now got D reading 'City of Golden Shadows' from the Otherland series. It does show it's age a bit, now - Tad Williams predicted some stuff quite accurately (the merging of separate devices into one, for example) but missed others (like wi-fi!), but the sheer breadth and imagination in it are still amazing. D has lent me 'The Big Fisherman', which is interesting. Not sure if I quite agree with his vision of Jesus - I think meeting him for real would be more challenging. But maybe a quite, serene Jesus has his own challenge. I don't know.
I'm also taking the 'Saving Jesus' course with a group of folks from church. Apart from the fact that P interrupts G every time he opens his mouth, the first session went well. The first session looks at how Jesus has been perceived through history, starting with the Age of Faith (first 300 years), the Age of Belief (most of the Christian Era) to the Age of Spirit (last 50 years or so). One thing that really stood out for me was the way Jesus says to people, 'your faith has made you well' - the idea being that it was their own confidence and trust that they could be well that healed them. It certainly shouldn't be taken as 'your belief in these statements about me has made you well'!
Well, the sun is out and I want to get some washing on the line. Bye for now, LJ!