A day in the life of… you?

Just set me thinking.. I’ve nearly got a 1000 views on this little old blog now.. which is pretty intense. I started this up because a lecturer on my course suggested/recommended it but I’ve.. obviously taken to it now if you’ve been keeping up on stuff here. I know quite a few different people off my course probably read this but.. the fact people do so consistently is really something. I wonder if people ever just stumble on my blog too?

I guess I just end up thinking about the sort of lives people live, you know.. like people on the bus (or in this case the blog) or rather. The Christian Union at Uni have been doing some promotion work on a couple of talks on post modernity and religion/media which.. though I had no part in setting up was really.. generally up my street. It was perfect really. I was quite involved in a few things.. designing flyer’s as well as doing stints the three days before on the stall we had in the Uni and the Arts Institute giving out free tea, coffee, hot chocolate etc. it wasn’t a strings attached deal it was just.. giving it away really but its good to talk with people and they ask why? Well its a good chance to talk about your views on the world and particularly what we’re trying to do to let people know more about stuff like how we feel with things.

What was great was the room we were holding the talk was bursting by the time it started and we got some really good feedback. We’re doing another event tonight too revolving around a movie (Little Miss Sunshine) showing which should be interesting.. but yeah.. anyway. I guess the thing which struck me was especially if your sitting at this table for awhile is what sort of stuff people or up to.. what sort of lives do people lead. Why some people respond different to your presence, ie; ask if they want a cup or tea/coffee and they’ll be like “Yeah great!”, “I’ve got a lecture now”, “No thanks” or completely blank you. We do similiar stuff every Friday outside the student nightclub in town giving out water for people to drink before going home, you think about the same thing doing that too. I guess its only in times like that that is strikes me so strongly that.. well theres so many different people out there and I try and qualify whatever I do by my own perception but so many ‘worlds’ exist for other people (Theoretically). But to a degree is this (our) world view all a little.. in a ever so tiny way narcissistic? Do we view other people as things to judge, observe and check ourselves against rather than.. actual people? I guess this is me speaking after a healthy dose of.. whatever I get up to in the day but I’m sorta glad that this day has really reached out and touched me and brought this to the fore of my mind.. its like a goldfish swimming around inside of me as I just turn it over and give it another thought while.. playing guitar.. reading or whatever.

I could say more, but please forgive me because perhaps I tend to say too much. I guess I just like to put thoughts down on ‘paper’.

New JBT song.. for yoo

Giant Squids

This stuff keeps me interested.. I just think things like this just send my brain spinning.

 

I just remember reading stuff on Giant Squids and live footage of them underwater yesterday and this has just been floating around my head for the last few days. It just reminds me how huge the world really is and what sort of life there is going on all over it, we haven’t discovered the majority of the rain forest or the oceans and already we seem so intent on rushing off into things like space and whatever.. which is nice to look at.. but its just empty in comparison. We do so at the cost of creatures like this (not specifically per se but ones which undoubtedly have been the source of great stories and tales throughout the ages) some species haven’t even been discovered yet.

Squids like this are meant to give squid rings the size of car tyres (Apparently they taste like ammonia. Don’t ask how they know! I sure don’t) and be bigger than double decker buses. I mean.. its just nuts stuff like that just sticks with me when I walk about Bournemouth doing whatever I do. The sort of stuff they would get up to and how I’d be affecting them. They say they’re prey for giant Sperm Whales and when I read the article they linked to the Sea Shepherds page. These people enforce whaling bans by ramming whaling ships.. I can’t say I agree with ramming like that and it only gives short term solutions to long term problems.. like any sort of violence.. I dunno I just think its so sad stuff like goes on. Its tragic these huge creatures are treated with so little respect when we don’t know that much about them to be honest. We view the world as a commodity and even then when we try to change things.. it only fosters enmity and violence.

I dunno why I feel like I do but why is consideration and conservation authentic simply existing to the extent of a fashion statement for obtaining popular appeal? Brutality is dressed up to look like the world Morality. I mean if we were always tragically like this at least in the past our technology restricted us in such a sense to limit the damage we caused. When we’re on a personal level its easy to see us as OK really but.. if our actions speak for us what does it say?

I guess this doesn’t relate with Squids really but I guess.. one argument against hunting creatures like the sperm whale etc. is we don’t know what effect it will have on the eco-system. We live in a unsustainable fashion which.. I dunno my mind is already pointing to H.G Well’s and his dead planet in the time machine. Just observations I guess.. things like this occupy my mind.. I just ask, what should I do to change things?

I have issues with the effect of the media on society but I hope whatever I do in the future will be good for someone or something. Life if anything I know by thinking on this is incredibly diverse and again.. with my time at university I’d like to set a trend which would carry me out through till the rest of my days.

Whats it like now? I’m just pondering.. and praying

I’ve been reading the site bethinking.org and one article got me thinking in particular. It was rather unrelated to the topic at hand though and it’s got to do with university’s really.. I mean.. it is pretty easy to get into Uni’s it seems these days and I’m only a first year with no real long term experience in this sort of thing but I mean.. anyone can really can into Uni these days.. we don’t get grants, we get tuition fee’s.. is it just another form of tax for future working adults? The thing many people I know focus on is getting a job when they leave.. but amongst how many others? The amount of debt we have to pay back is something close to the deposit of a small house.. I’m going to be living like a student for awhile after I graduate university it feels sometimes.. I could be wrong though but I can’t help but wonder.

If more people go to Uni.. does this mean we’re getting smarter.. or are people turning up who really aren’t qualified? If I went on my A-levels I shouldn’t strictly speaking on my course as.. ironically my grades in IT didn’t match what was required.. I did do extra-curricular activity’s to bump my ucas points but.. do I deserve this? Even then how many people are in my position? I dunno.. it sometimes feels like its like economic over-inflation except with a graduates on the market.. is a degree devalued now its as common as something like A-levels? Regardless.. will we end up with the jobs we’re meant to have open to us at the end?

I’ve got a friend on a scholarship but even with that he works whenever he’s not studying.. is our life and soul now qualified by a whole in a wall? Are we just living for cash machines? When I was backpacking I was warned to be careful if I ever signed up for anything “They want your money first.. your security tends to come afterwards” ..but I think you could give similar warnings with politicians or the government in general.. though this does sound like a stereotypical ‘Are we just numbers and statistics?’ comment. But I do wonder..

The lowest common denominator at university is you try and get along with each other. At High School that wasn’t the case.. there were certainly cliques at my High School but everyones a ’student’ at university.. and when you graduate.. your still end up the same. The less resistant the better, it makes better working relationships in a culturally diverse society in todays world. Likewise our opinions or choices need not be long term commitments.. its like most ideal relationships today, whatever fits the bill at the time right? At first this seems mainly down to the fact we’re more ‘culturally aware’ and so able to select from a wider range of choices for our own pick and mix world view.. but is that an ideal when in actuality we.. really are just loosing the ability to make reasoned choices with any sort of sincere value judgment? This was mentioned in the article I read.. Marcus the author called it Hyperchoice. The reason I read this article was because I’ve seen Marcus speak in person and he’s a pretty impressive character.. but thats probably completely off the point.

I value consistency but it seems inconsistency is something celebrated in todays world.. but theres another term for that really.. I’d call it apathy.. and generally any adherence to any sort of belief is ritualistic and/or fits the bill at the time. Uni is.. for me thanks for the Christian Union a incredible place for personal development and change.. but for the vast majority is it just a career move? Something to tick off on the list of things to do before you die? Douglas Coupland commented in his book Generation-X “Most people spend the first halves of their lives getting rich.. the second half is using their money to try and relive their wasted first half of life.”(paraphased obv.) Now.. I know I’m probably getting close to getting on the soap box again but life.. faith.. commitment.. even anything outside your self is generally something not even considered.. worse it’s something to many which actually pulls away from that ideal first half of life.

Perhaps the university I was expecting existed.. just 30 years ago. When I actually looked at university’s I looked and asked about the political societies present at the university.. I looked for socialist parties mainly.. I would say I’m left-wing ‘libertarian’ if that means anything to anyone but I would of still joined despite being a christian because I can support a lot of stuff a decent society would lobby for and try to do in a university campus. Ironically Bournemouth’s only political society is the conservative society ..eugh thats just wrong.

30 years ago sex drugs.. alcohol and rock n roll were a means of self exploration.. now you replace rock n roll with d n b, house, trance, techno or whatever and the sex, drugs and alcohol just are fronts to go precisely against anything like exploring the self.. in fact its only motivation is hedonistic or narcissistic in nature. Whats important today.. getting along with each other.. relationships? and yourself? Who are you? Who am I? What are you doing?

This isn’t a critique but stuff which.. just fills up my head-space and to be honest I find it hard to find any other forum to voice this sort of thing outside the Christian Union. I have issues with relativism seriously it seems and that probably isn’t the best thing in uni or society today. Communist Russia was the ultimate modernist example.. but atleast they stood for something concrete. Though with things like this in Uni.. I guess as a Christian I can say nothing has really changed throughout history for someone in my faith. People always had issues hearing about jesus, the gospel and christianity so much so that society is saturated with alternatives just to drown it out today. But what can I do to change peoples opinions or to make them start thinking.. I just really want to reach people.. and considering its only since I’ve come to Uni and travelling before that in the summer that I’ve really begun to grapple with this. I’m not a loud person but I’m trying to increasingly work myself to a point to really live and provide an alternative for those around me.. I can’t force it because it does nothing to further peoples somewhat ambigious life ambitions. I can only show examples and be there for people, I just pray that God gives me the strength to really take it out to those around me.

Phew, I wish writing essays would be this easy.

Heres a Jeff Buckley video..

Donavon Frankenreiter

Another musician for the list is Donavon Frankenreiter.. another ‘roots musician’ and also a surfer. He’s best buddies with Jack Johnson and got signed to Billabong when he was 18.. but plays music mostly now, just like Jack. Born and raised in California in the US this guy has got some smooothhh tunes.. and nice hats.

He’s got a unique voice and a unique style which despite being mostly acoustic blends alot of folk, funk and soul. He’s definately one of my fave musicians at the moment.. which is only improved by the fact I’m about to buy tickets for his london show in march! He sings about this and that.. good times, good friends, perfect days and family. He’s got a quirky appearance too which makes him stand-out from the rest. He’s biggest in Australia and supported Jack Johnson alot and was signed to Jack’s ‘Bushfire Records’ originally.. he’s also doubled up with other Bushfire artists like G.Love and Special Sauce and other aritists like the Eels and Breeders which I think he is working with at the mo actually..

So yeah.. its definately beach music and for sunny days with your mates when your drag your sofa’s out into the garden and generally intend to do nothing. Something I hope to be doing a little more of now Winter by all rights should be chased away in Bournemouth in a few months.. bring on March!

Reading, Guitar and Ramblings.

Well its been awhile since I posted anything.. busy no doubt but whatever has been going on has been occurring so frequently these last few weeks it doesn’t seem strange anymore. Sorting out my accommodation for next year was pretty nuts, project deadlines and briefs have both come and gone. But you know.. theres been some pretty cool stuff going on too. I guess the stuff mentioned only seems the abnormal and out of the ordinary to come up in mind.. is that good or bad?

I’ve started reading again and this time its quite a list..

The Cloud of Unknowing and Other works by A.C Spearing.

The Gospel in Brief by Leo Tolstoy

‘We’ by Yevgeny Zamyatin

‘The Idiot’ by Fyodor Doestoevsky

The Kingdom of God is Within you by Leo Tolstoy.

On top of all that I’ve got a new tab book for my guitar too.. all the way from the land of Oz I’ve got the first John Butler Trio songbook. He plays in open C and D tuning which is ammaazzzingly fun and lets you do things you do things you otherwise just wouldn’t think of. I don’t know so much theory on the tunings so I’m still getting on improvisation but these typing fingers are the fresh host to a number of happy blisters, it wastes the hours in the evening in between reading those books.. and to be honest I’m getting pretty involved in the CU now too. I’m the Vice President of the University’s Christian Union next year and will be involved in organizing the music, musicians etc. as well as leading a study groups for any Christians in the student villages next year.. which is something I feel humbled by in having been considered. I spend more time doing stuff like that than any actual work though it feels sometime.. still my grades haven’t turned out too bad so I’m quite happy to continue and push it to max.. its tiring sure but I just love this stuff.

The books in question are quite a mix but most of them are by Christians apart from ‘We’ which is pointedly anti-christian really. Its a interesting book set in the future and you can see a lot of the influences from where the author pulls his dystopian view of things together. Obviously at first my reaction was one of dubious nature being a christian but I’ve nearly finished it now and while I likewise pointedly note criticisms of the main characters point of view.. it really does capture human nature but its quite surreal at the same time and the world he exists in is truly fictious. That said I agree with a lot of his observations on the ‘One State’ he was part for part of it, I just fail to connect his dots as he goes on. Considering it was written in the 1920’s and was predicting science fiction ‘then’ Yevgeny really was thinking ahead of his time.. and I’ve always been curious, it certainly leaves a impact on you regardless this book.

Another note is the book is titled We.. precisely because at the time this was when communism was popular and it was also a critique of.. communist culture in Russia and the lack of the self. The One State a imitation of Russia then which was why it was so critiqued in the past. Today though we have the opposite.. you’ll look long and hard to find the term We over I, especially in my course… Interactivity is all about choice and consumer satisfaction and this is the same for things across the board really. I can’t deny I like to think I’m a individual (just like everyone else) but when it comes to society.. well we are social beings and society needs coherence and common-ground.. I guess its that dirty word democracy.. where did it come from? It just evolved really and its something we inherited. To be honest.. my christian ‘weltanschuang’ aside I’m a bit of nihilist at times.. ‘In a democracy you just vote for you dictator’ values.. morals the whole thing.. its just lies if people really believed what they said. I have issues with Nietzsche but I think he was logical in his line of thinking to a extent.. I also think he was wrong obviously as I can’t deny my faith.

Also.. I’ll just add it.. theres something about Refuseniks or Luddites.. I think there sorta the same thing which came up in a lecture this week and my friend Tim suggested something which brought the thing up. My other course mate friend says ‘progress is for progress’s sake’ which.. as far I can see is pretty much bang on.. I mean its just tradition and cultural conditioning because people do reject it and critique it.. how do you quantify, qualify and justify any of Web 2.0 and progress in society? I guess Humanists some how seek some sort of justification in it but humans exists still with any of this stuff or not.. so whats the point?Anyway, Tim commented how a lot of this new fancy stuff is just.. the next big thing (just like clocks when they came out.. and cinema.. and computers etc.) and.. media will always be striving to change because we’re consumers.. (What does the billboard say? come and play, come and play..) living in a instant-generation and we will get bored and simply attach to the next new thing.. and the more appealing and easier it is for us to get it the better.. but its just a crazy product of consumer pseudo-religious ritualism! I try not to generalize but society just seems to boil down to the mob rule or herd mentality the majority of the time it seems. Not everyone is like that though, not by any measure. I don’t intend to suggest the masses are mindless.

I used to spend ‘a lot’ of time on a computer.. and watching TV but more time on the computer to be honest. Yet.. it’s only when I started pulling away from it I realize it really was just wasting my time with otherwise non-essential stuff.. attacking me with adverts from within the apparent safety of my home with everything from viagra to online dating and also most importantly the chance to buy stuff or get involved in dialogue with people on the other side of the planet.. that might be hyper real or multi-culturally representative of the world I live in.. but does it do me any good? I guess if I wasn’t a christian would I ask.. would it matter?

I like playing a electric guitar but I’ll always go back to the acoustic because it feels more genuine.. less filtered.. I dunno.. less cosmetic. We can reinvent ourselves and represent ourselves with technology and the media but.. at the end of the day the only person your reinventing effects is yourself. Everyone else is too busy looking in the mirror. But don’t worry.. we’ll wake up one day and whoop! We’ll realize the house (or rather world) will have burnt down. Any relationship dies off unless you nurture it and a relationship requires common ground. You can fool some of the people some of the time.. but not all the people all the time.. subjectivity don’t give you nothing and if thats all it is to you then thats all you’ve got.