Been Awhile

It has been awhile since I last blogged, sometimes I struggle with consistancy (and spelling but that's another thing entirely).

The wife is now on summer holidays, has completely changed the dynamic of our evenings/mornings. No longer is early to bed and early up, instead we have late nights (this week mainly watching Grey's Anatomy) and late mornings! Just a shame I have to go to work!

So I just downloaded some new music - http://www.noisetrade.com/futureofforestry - check it out, tres good!

Need to eat some cake and play my guitar, prep for the gig next week.

Wife Will Be Home Soon

I dunno what it is; maybe it's me, maybe it's love, maybe everyone is like this. I hope I never lose it and because of this I realise that I am going to have to work at it but...

I love it when I know my wife will be home soon.

I might actually just stop now and go and sit by the door like a cute lil puppy waiting for it's owner or dinner or something!

Selfishness and The Complainer

I'm currently sitting in my usual seat, on my usual train, going to the place where I work. The sun is shining, it is warm, it is by all accounts another beautiful day. I'm wearing nice clothes, a lovely new tie my brother and sister in law bought me for my birthday(reminds me of my ole school tie).

I live in a wonderful apartment, have plenty of food on my plate, water, beer and wine to drink.

I've been married for nearly 14 months to a woman who is both beautiful and kind. Loving and intelligent. She drives me places, puts up with all my stuff cluttering up her place. She is patient with my idiosyncrasies, and doesn't get too mad with my emotional ups and downs.

And against this back drop of supreme blessing I am selfish, my words are lacking in grace and full of complaint.

As ever she is a fountain of sensible thought and suggested I make a list of things I want to change;
So...
Instead of gossiping, pray.
Instead of overthinking, act.
Instead of complaining, do something.
Instead of sitting on my behind, be creative.
And finally do more stuff for my wife.

The Daily Grind

Not every day is easy.

And not every day is filled with good things.

I do however believe that every day is a blessing and an opportunity to make the most of.

However some days are much easier than others.

Right now my throat is sore and I feel rough, I have close friends who are going through hard times, it looks like my guitar isn't going to be ready for the gig at the weekend and I'm unlikely to see much of my wife this evening. However, this does not detract from the fact that today is a blessing even if I can't always see that.

Dumbledore, A Boring Blog and Taking Out A Mate

So I aged over the weekend.

And the way I feel now on Monday, no wait Tuesday morning I feel it.

I'm now 32, it's not 35 mind you*.

All in all I had a pretty fabulous weekend, as I look back on it I realise how blessed I am. Friday night with the wife, a movie and a romantic maccy ds.

Saturday taking my guitar to Denmark Street to get fixed (tres expensive but will be worth it - thank you wifey and MIL). Followed by watching the FA cup final in a pub in London with some chair crashing moments* and then seeing the amazing Demon Hunter.

My birthday with breakfast and treats in bed. We then travelled to a small town near Cambridge to spend 24 hours eating, drinking and playing games - uno, poker, power grid, who's in the bag. "LORD OF THE RINGS"... "Dumbledore?"*.

No!

And Monday was celebrating my lil bro's bday, some footie and food and good company.

The first half of the game I managed to miscontrol and pass the ball twice, chop my mate in half when he was clear on goal (not proud of that) and then I scored - right foot, BANG (shot nearly broke the goalies wrist, not proud of that either).

Went on to play much better and score a perfect hatrick, diving header (amazing!) and a left foot tap in after a lovely little passing move through the defence and round the keeper. Feeling the effects of playing on grass in trainers. Aching.

Seeing family and friends, such a joy. So thanks to one and all for being a part of it and making this weekend what it was.

And here ends my boring blog which currently is not monetised!*

* = in joke (sorry!)

The Joy Of The Retweet

Tis a strange ole world that we live in here in the 21st century. Methods of communication have become so diverse and intrinsically linked with the way in which we operate as human beings.

Last night on my way to play football, or soccer if you are so inclined, I tweeted that I was listening to an album by one of my favourite bands!

This morning I awoke to a message on my phone saying Project 86 has retweeted you.

Now I was very sleepy at the time but this little piece of 'news' made me very happy. But the question I find myself asking a few hours on is why? Why does a retweet bring such joy?

Affirmation? The craving of acceptance? Recognition, even if fleeting, from someone I admire? A deep seated void in my soul?

Hopefully it is not a reflection of the profound need to be loved. I say this because firstly I believe that need can really only be satisfied by God and secondly as a very happily* married man it would reflect poorly on that relationship.

I think I'll pencil it down to "I love this band and they showed a bit of love back" and that is a good thing!

Tomorrow though when I wake up, I shall try and interact with the two who love me unconditionally first before I find my acceptance in Twitter. And I might also ponder how I can communicate and interact with the world in more positive ways. Whether that's less time on brightly lit screens or being more positive on them.

* understatement

The Subtle Reminder of God's Abundance

At present we have a kind of financial situation. Now before people start worrying or getting their underwear of choice in a twist don't worry, we are not about to be evicted or some such other catastrophe!

Anyways, on Sunday evening as the wife and I do most Sunday evenings, we left church and hit Jacks. For the uninitiated Jacks is a purveyor of fried foods. Our routine for the last year has meant that as soon as we walk in they now say hello and get our order for us. We don't have to ask anymore. One day this may become an issue if we ever fancy a different meal but right now it's pretty cool!

Yesterday we were running late, got there about fifteen minutes before they were closing. And they said to us, do you want 3 battered sausages instead of 2. We were like err ok then. So we got a free sausage.

Now this might not seem like much BUT for me it was a timely reminder of God's blessing and abundance and how he can make more out of something. We paid the same price, £5.10 but got more.

Right now the facts or whatever we care to call our situation say one thing but that doesn't mean we have to be tied down by it. God's economy is rather different to the world's one.

Am gonna be trusting in the One who says I can meet all your need.