I'm considering making a separate blog for it, even though it is part of my gap year...should I bother? Any input on it will be gladly welcomed.
It involves walking a really really long way with a couple of mates, it's inspired by Into The Wild and Geohashing, and I'd probably blog every night to keep people up-to-date (as well as the odd tweet). I'll also make a Twitter hashtag when I've thought of a cool name for the expedition.
So, new blog or keep on this one? You tell me!
Monday, 29 March 2010
Monday, 15 March 2010
A Leap of Faith
Some of you may be wondering where I've been for the last...*checks blog time tag*...month and five days! Now I realise it's been that long I'm wondering myself :S
Last time I was saying how the jobhunt had slowed down considerably. Well, last week it got to the point that I was getting pretty down, not because I couldn't find a job, but that I was on benefits because of it and I frankly wasn't feeling the love. In honesty, I've felt pretty horrible about claiming while being as well-off as I feel I am - with good reason of course; tax-payers aren't paying for me to sit and get bored.
Anyway, long story short, I had a chat with JC about it, and got the feeling I should sign off jobseekers. Being a Western Society human being, I naturally wanted a solid bit of evidence that I should be taking this leap of faith that I wouldn't be skint for the rest of the year (I know this contradicts the definition of faith, however...). No sooner had I asked Him for some clarity, I turned on my computer and my Gmail Notifier "pinged" at me saying I had received the latest Miracle Street newsletter, entitled "Leap of Faith!" - clarity I think, yes?
Better yet, not a few hours later I got another email (who says the internet is Godless, really?!) from Tavcom - whom I have worked for a few times in the past - saying they've got a bit of work for me, and on attending that on Friday, they gave me some more.
All in all, God is good.
Aside from that cool story (I'm sure it'd be cooler had I paraphrased it), I'm booked up for Soul Survivor B and C - chyeah! The Miracle Street touring thing looks set to go ahead, but I get the impression it might not be as extensive as I previously thought. I will hopefully be returning to SUbmerge again this year (i.e. I've written and I'm waiting for a reply). And Matt and I are considering a road-trip to Madrid to see Tori in September, but that depends on uni stuff as far as I'm concerned.
I'm sure I've bored you enough now - don't read blogs this long so I doubt anyone else does.
Fin.
Last time I was saying how the jobhunt had slowed down considerably. Well, last week it got to the point that I was getting pretty down, not because I couldn't find a job, but that I was on benefits because of it and I frankly wasn't feeling the love. In honesty, I've felt pretty horrible about claiming while being as well-off as I feel I am - with good reason of course; tax-payers aren't paying for me to sit and get bored.
Anyway, long story short, I had a chat with JC about it, and got the feeling I should sign off jobseekers. Being a Western Society human being, I naturally wanted a solid bit of evidence that I should be taking this leap of faith that I wouldn't be skint for the rest of the year (I know this contradicts the definition of faith, however...). No sooner had I asked Him for some clarity, I turned on my computer and my Gmail Notifier "pinged" at me saying I had received the latest Miracle Street newsletter, entitled "Leap of Faith!" - clarity I think, yes?
Better yet, not a few hours later I got another email (who says the internet is Godless, really?!) from Tavcom - whom I have worked for a few times in the past - saying they've got a bit of work for me, and on attending that on Friday, they gave me some more.
All in all, God is good.
Aside from that cool story (I'm sure it'd be cooler had I paraphrased it), I'm booked up for Soul Survivor B and C - chyeah! The Miracle Street touring thing looks set to go ahead, but I get the impression it might not be as extensive as I previously thought. I will hopefully be returning to SUbmerge again this year (i.e. I've written and I'm waiting for a reply). And Matt and I are considering a road-trip to Madrid to see Tori in September, but that depends on uni stuff as far as I'm concerned.
I'm sure I've bored you enough now - don't read blogs this long so I doubt anyone else does.
Fin.
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
What to tell...?
Well, the jobhunt went well for a while, but has kind of slowed down a little now sadly. A few little temporary jobs in the last month have built me up a little spare cash wish is nice, but your prayers are still welcomed; I'm hugely appreciative to those of you who have been praying for me throughout this year.
I had a chat with Steve Lee on Sunday after he gave an inspiring talk at St Tom's, and we're both super-psyched for the events in the summer, beginning with the Normandy Beach event on the 5th-6th June.
There was a slight panic over some statuses on my UCAS site, but after some hectic emailing and calling the admissions tutor at the Tonmeister course, I am definitely definitely going there in September, so panic over there.
My excitement is growing exponentially for this weekend, which is the Youth Network Weekend Away (which is probably one of my favourite things in the whole year ever), which this year includes lots of awesome things, very few of which I'm not allowed to disclose. There'll be a TV with the Saints/Pompey match for sure, and some new skins on my drums which I put on yesterday and have been breaking in this morning. There will also be a tuck shop, for which Lauren and I are going shopping in 20 minutes.
Minor news, I'm now attending proper Russian lessons (отлично!). Oh, and I've started reading books again, so if you have any suggestions for me, fire away!
Much love, and God's blessings to everyone!
I had a chat with Steve Lee on Sunday after he gave an inspiring talk at St Tom's, and we're both super-psyched for the events in the summer, beginning with the Normandy Beach event on the 5th-6th June.
There was a slight panic over some statuses on my UCAS site, but after some hectic emailing and calling the admissions tutor at the Tonmeister course, I am definitely definitely going there in September, so panic over there.
My excitement is growing exponentially for this weekend, which is the Youth Network Weekend Away (which is probably one of my favourite things in the whole year ever), which this year includes lots of awesome things, very few of which I'm not allowed to disclose. There'll be a TV with the Saints/Pompey match for sure, and some new skins on my drums which I put on yesterday and have been breaking in this morning. There will also be a tuck shop, for which Lauren and I are going shopping in 20 minutes.
Minor news, I'm now attending proper Russian lessons (отлично!). Oh, and I've started reading books again, so if you have any suggestions for me, fire away!
Much love, and God's blessings to everyone!
Monday, 11 January 2010
...And Hello 2010!
It's been a few weeks now...I'm a few weeks older, wiser, I'm starting to get hair in really strange places... Jokes! That was a Wayne's World 2 reference, if you weren't sure where I was going with it.
Anyway, Christmas brought some fun times - Dan Viv did his annual stint at my house for New Year's Eve and a night either side (which this year included a Lord Of The Rings Extended Edition marathon viewing), an amusing poker game, and eating chocolate liqueurs while pretending they were shots. Heh heh heh.
Of course, the snow last week provided some mighty-fine entertainment in multiple forms, from the obvious - sledging/tea-tray sliding down icy hills at stupid speeds - to the less obvious - laughing at the over-confident Ocado man trying to ascend our road after ignoring our warnings. As is our custom, both Tori and I managed to injure ourselves (Tori slipped and fell, I less-glamorously pulled a muscle in my shoulder) so we spent a nice day or so sitting at home watching films. We'd collectively recommend Garden State (for its arty goodness) and warn against The Heartbreak Kid (which is just awful).
Onto the serious stuff, I am now on Jobseekers Allowance, which if you are unclear means the government pay me to find myself a job. As such, if any of you know of anyone based in my area who have any vacancies please give me a shout with some details (I'll love you forever!).
Your prayers would once again be appreciated, both for my job sitch, and also the matter of selling our house. Thank you for your continuing love and support for the fam and me.
God bless, love Julez xx
Anyway, Christmas brought some fun times - Dan Viv did his annual stint at my house for New Year's Eve and a night either side (which this year included a Lord Of The Rings Extended Edition marathon viewing), an amusing poker game, and eating chocolate liqueurs while pretending they were shots. Heh heh heh.
Of course, the snow last week provided some mighty-fine entertainment in multiple forms, from the obvious - sledging/tea-tray sliding down icy hills at stupid speeds - to the less obvious - laughing at the over-confident Ocado man trying to ascend our road after ignoring our warnings. As is our custom, both Tori and I managed to injure ourselves (Tori slipped and fell, I less-glamorously pulled a muscle in my shoulder) so we spent a nice day or so sitting at home watching films. We'd collectively recommend Garden State (for its arty goodness) and warn against The Heartbreak Kid (which is just awful).
Onto the serious stuff, I am now on Jobseekers Allowance, which if you are unclear means the government pay me to find myself a job. As such, if any of you know of anyone based in my area who have any vacancies please give me a shout with some details (I'll love you forever!).
Your prayers would once again be appreciated, both for my job sitch, and also the matter of selling our house. Thank you for your continuing love and support for the fam and me.
God bless, love Julez xx
Sunday, 20 December 2009
Goodbye 2009...
Ah, I have a little more time to write today, although also a little less to say.
Last Wednesday - as I mentioned in my last post - took me on my first trip out with the Miracle Street mainstage, and it was a really rather fantastic day, despite it snowing/raining/sleeting most of the day and night, and being awake 06.30-01.00. Tiring but excellent. For a more relevant rundown of what happened than I can convey, have a read/watch of Steve's blog. [Bonus points if you see me walking around in the background]
This Christmas is going to be a strange one for me (and my family as well, I'm sure); it's the first for a long time that my dad hasn't been around (he's in Hanoi now...not sure if I mentioned that before or not), and isn't back until February as far as I know. Despite his frequent trips abroad, he is usually around for Christmas. An equally strange prospect, however, is that this will almost definitely be our last Christmas in Willow Grove, a house that I have lived in since I was one year old (except the obvious few years in India), so that's a big change on the horizon.
On a lighter note, I've started using Twitter again so as to voice my random thoughts without clogging up people's Facebook feeds - how conscientious am I? @mulebeatsdrums if you wish to follow me, and I will put a box on this page as well.
That's about it I think. This will most likely be my last post of the year, and certainly the last before Christmas, so I will leave you all with my prayers of blessing for you and your families, wherever you are in the world, for the Christmas season, and you will hear from me again in 2010 (I'm a poet...)
Love to all! Julez xxx
Last Wednesday - as I mentioned in my last post - took me on my first trip out with the Miracle Street mainstage, and it was a really rather fantastic day, despite it snowing/raining/sleeting most of the day and night, and being awake 06.30-01.00. Tiring but excellent. For a more relevant rundown of what happened than I can convey, have a read/watch of Steve's blog. [Bonus points if you see me walking around in the background]
This Christmas is going to be a strange one for me (and my family as well, I'm sure); it's the first for a long time that my dad hasn't been around (he's in Hanoi now...not sure if I mentioned that before or not), and isn't back until February as far as I know. Despite his frequent trips abroad, he is usually around for Christmas. An equally strange prospect, however, is that this will almost definitely be our last Christmas in Willow Grove, a house that I have lived in since I was one year old (except the obvious few years in India), so that's a big change on the horizon.
On a lighter note, I've started using Twitter again so as to voice my random thoughts without clogging up people's Facebook feeds - how conscientious am I? @mulebeatsdrums if you wish to follow me, and I will put a box on this page as well.
That's about it I think. This will most likely be my last post of the year, and certainly the last before Christmas, so I will leave you all with my prayers of blessing for you and your families, wherever you are in the world, for the Christmas season, and you will hear from me again in 2010 (I'm a poet...)
Love to all! Julez xxx
Monday, 14 December 2009
Six Weeks Later
I am very aware now that I haven't posted anything on here for a long time, and while I am apologetic if you were actually interested in what was happening, there was nothing out of the ordinary going on particularly (oh, except my dad moving to Vietnam for his new job there)
Sally is currently running a stall at the Winchester Christmas Market, which is very lovely and great for getting Christmas presents for parents etc. I helped her set it up last week, and I am jumping on the bus in 45 minutes to help her out again this afternoon.
The studio's been a little quiet these last couple of weeks, but we've had some fun sessions with nato and Joe Gosling among others. nato have put one of the demos up on Myspace, so click and have a listen. In other local music news, last Friday I went to the Sotones Christmas Bonanza at Hampton's, which was a fantastic showcase of the cream of the Sotones acts (Moneytree, The Moulettes, nato, Joe Parker, Fresh Legs and a few others), as well as being right good laugh.
This coming Wednesday I am doing my first roadie-ing stint with Miracle Street. This one is at a school in Portsmouth, but beyond that I'm not really sure what's going on (although I have no doubt it'll be pretty sweet. They also invited me to do another one in Camden on Friday, but I sadly had to turn that one down as there is an event at St Tom's with Simon Guillebaud that day which I'm involved in. If you're around, come to that, it's going to be really cool - there aren't any details on the website yet, but I think it's 7pm at the church building.
Sorry that was a bit of a rambling list, I blitzed it a little bit as I want my lunch before I get the bus.
Love and blessings to you all.
Sally is currently running a stall at the Winchester Christmas Market, which is very lovely and great for getting Christmas presents for parents etc. I helped her set it up last week, and I am jumping on the bus in 45 minutes to help her out again this afternoon.
The studio's been a little quiet these last couple of weeks, but we've had some fun sessions with nato and Joe Gosling among others. nato have put one of the demos up on Myspace, so click and have a listen. In other local music news, last Friday I went to the Sotones Christmas Bonanza at Hampton's, which was a fantastic showcase of the cream of the Sotones acts (Moneytree, The Moulettes, nato, Joe Parker, Fresh Legs and a few others), as well as being right good laugh.
This coming Wednesday I am doing my first roadie-ing stint with Miracle Street. This one is at a school in Portsmouth, but beyond that I'm not really sure what's going on (although I have no doubt it'll be pretty sweet. They also invited me to do another one in Camden on Friday, but I sadly had to turn that one down as there is an event at St Tom's with Simon Guillebaud that day which I'm involved in. If you're around, come to that, it's going to be really cool - there aren't any details on the website yet, but I think it's 7pm at the church building.
Sorry that was a bit of a rambling list, I blitzed it a little bit as I want my lunch before I get the bus.
Love and blessings to you all.
Sunday, 8 November 2009
Where do I begin...?
It has been an embarrassing 19 days since my last post. Nineteen!! As fellow (far more interesting) blogger Tom In Egypt stated in his post earlier today, once you stop writing, it is very hard to get back into it. So yes, I am truly sorry for the huge gap in updates, but as you will see, there are some perfectly valid reasons.
I'll get the nasty stuff out of the way first of all: many of you will already have heard, but for those of you who don't, my parents are separating and getting a divorce. I don't think it appropriate to share details on a public website, so I'll leave it at that. The last week and a half or so, therefore have been rather busy, doing numerous painting and decorating jobs on Willow Grove (my house) to get it into tip-top condition before we sell it on to some lucky family.
Away from that state of affairs, there have been some rather nice things happening of late. On October 31st St Tom's held it's first ever "Not The Light Party" in the church building, which managed to take the form of an open-mic night, and although that wasn't the initial intention, it was most enjoyable. There were also various games consoles and a friendly Fairtrade café (incidentally, Fairtrade Dairy Milk ftw). So yes, a very enjoyable evening.
Mad Cow has been keeping me busy the last few days. We had local rock quartet Yogo Kid in to demo a couple of tunes the other week, and I finally got around to mixing Tori's EP which she will be releasing very soon for a modest price to fund her year out at Mountainview International Church in Madrid next year - I'd recommend the CD, it's very good. Next week, nato are recording 8 songs in 3 hours - mission - and Joe Gosling is recording something. If you wish to be record for free like these lovely people, email me at madcowstudios@sttoms.co.uk
Steve Lee informs me that the Miracle Street Christmas Tour isn't really happening now, which is a great shame, but God is in control, so who knows what will happen. The summer tour is taking shape as far as I know, so hopefully that will, in turn, create some good reading for you faithful followers.
That's about all really. I hope I haven't bored you, but alas I probably have. I promise I'll write again sooner and therefore less. As it is now clear what God wanted me at home for this year (I think this is it; He will surely correct me if I'm wrong), I would appreciate your prayers not just for me, but for my whole family.
Do svidanya, druzya!
I'll get the nasty stuff out of the way first of all: many of you will already have heard, but for those of you who don't, my parents are separating and getting a divorce. I don't think it appropriate to share details on a public website, so I'll leave it at that. The last week and a half or so, therefore have been rather busy, doing numerous painting and decorating jobs on Willow Grove (my house) to get it into tip-top condition before we sell it on to some lucky family.
Away from that state of affairs, there have been some rather nice things happening of late. On October 31st St Tom's held it's first ever "Not The Light Party" in the church building, which managed to take the form of an open-mic night, and although that wasn't the initial intention, it was most enjoyable. There were also various games consoles and a friendly Fairtrade café (incidentally, Fairtrade Dairy Milk ftw). So yes, a very enjoyable evening.
Mad Cow has been keeping me busy the last few days. We had local rock quartet Yogo Kid in to demo a couple of tunes the other week, and I finally got around to mixing Tori's EP which she will be releasing very soon for a modest price to fund her year out at Mountainview International Church in Madrid next year - I'd recommend the CD, it's very good. Next week, nato are recording 8 songs in 3 hours - mission - and Joe Gosling is recording something. If you wish to be record for free like these lovely people, email me at madcowstudios@sttoms.co.uk
Steve Lee informs me that the Miracle Street Christmas Tour isn't really happening now, which is a great shame, but God is in control, so who knows what will happen. The summer tour is taking shape as far as I know, so hopefully that will, in turn, create some good reading for you faithful followers.
That's about all really. I hope I haven't bored you, but alas I probably have. I promise I'll write again sooner and therefore less. As it is now clear what God wanted me at home for this year (I think this is it; He will surely correct me if I'm wrong), I would appreciate your prayers not just for me, but for my whole family.
Do svidanya, druzya!
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