Given up - Week 8

Yeah, I've given up on the river idea, I just keep forgetting and have other stuff to do, well, I've not completely given up on the idea. I've given up on managing the Neural Net Othello program, I've got a load of other stuff to do such as websites and a database I can stick in WoA. Speaking of WoA, we're about to finnish the current World and move onto the next, it's really doing very well. Nothing big happened during the week here, though, Luke and Rosie came back. Here are the two key parts of the conversation. Me: When was Jesus created? JW: At the beginning of time Me: Ummm, were people not created on the 6th day? JW: Jesus is an Angel It gets better. Me: Why is He an Angel? JW: *flicks to Revelations about how Michael has an army of Angels* Me: That's Michael, not Jesus JW: The Bible mentions Micheal's army and Jesus' army, nowhere does it say there are two armies Me: I'll be honest, that makes no sense, but rather than just say you're wrong, how about this. Satan, along with his buddies such as PrinceB are stupid. He has 1/3rd of the Angels, God has 2/3rds. This means that even without factoring in the All Powerful God, Satan is at a 2-1 disadvantage. When you have an army twice the size of your opponents, isn't it quite possible you would split it in two? JW: Hmmmm I intend to ask them again about Jesus being Micheal. It gets better yet. Pete (he's been helping me loads with this) and myself looked at some stuff and they believe that God created Jesus and that Jesus then created everything else. This to me says two things (if it were true, I'll be asking them to prove it this Friday). 1) God is very lazy, He creates Jesus and takes the rest of eternity off 2) If Jesus created everything bar God, why not worship Jesus? And that's not even mentioning the part that their Bible refers to Jesus as a "god" (i.e. a lie or falsehood of a deity) or the lack of free will on the part of the 144,000. Youth Group was very good fun, mostly because I carried the stuff back to the building before the shaving cream fight, so was sadly absent for it and remained free of shaving cream. Today Wyn (Johnathan is on holiday) talked on seeing things the way that God wants us to, I felt it was a good thing to keep in mind and one I should keep in mind more. After the service I talked to the Gentleman I am making some websites for, we spent a good 15 seconds talking about websites. Me: Anything I need to know? John: There are no Sacred Cows Me: Awesome And spent the rest of the time talking about the internet and the military. The couple that gave me a lift home told me some stories of their own encounters with Jehova Witnesses, sadly they all ended with the "high up" JW's telling the "lower down" JW's to not talk to them, almost as if their faith were not real. So I end on this note, it applies mostly to those of a religion, though if you've not got a religion and are starting to think about it, it might be worth keeping in mind. "If you have a Faith you cannot question, is it really true enough that it's worth having?"

On time! - Week 7

Wow, it's been nearly two months since my holidays started, it certainly does not seem that way at all. Thursday consisted of lots of WoA web design. And not a lot else.... Friday was a lot more eventful, in the morning I got a visit from the Luke and Rosie the Jehova Witnesses again, in the evening there was a water fight where Vicky got really wet (and her Boyfriend just laughed at her). First things first, the Jehova witnesses. The point we argued was about Jesus. Christians such as myself believe he is God, Jehova Witnesses believe he was simply a man given power. My argument went something like this... Me: Can God do anything he wants? JW: Yes Me: Can we do anything we want? JW: Of course not, we're not gods Me: So, assuming God was a ruler and so were we, we'd be like a 30cm ruler and he'd be like an infinitely long ruler? JW: Ummm, yes... Me: And you say Jesus was a man? JW: A man given power by God Me: How much power? JW: The Bible doesn't say Me: What could he not do? JW: Ummm... Me: Well, assuming there was nothing he couldn't do, would it be safe to assume he had infinite power? JW: God gives Jesus power to do things, that doesn't make Jesus God Me: Well, if Jesus has infinite power, I fail to see how It sort of ended on that note, I have no doubt Luke and Rosie will have excellent answers for me next week. Friday evening involved a water fight with the Youth group, I started things off by pouring about a litre of water over Vicky, over the course of the day I and many other people, leaders included helped to contribute to that and I am happy to say that I feel I came off somewhat better. Saturday was WoA results as per usual, though very very hot. Sunday was somewhat more blog-worthy. I cycled to church as per usual, the service was a bit longer as there were more people bringing us news, we had a gentleman from Tearfund, some missionaries who I've never seen before, a Lady called Cath (who I have seen before) talking about a play they are putting on in 6th forms. Then, Sam came to give the message. He's talked before so nerves were not a problem, he started with a funny story, then, forgot to link back to it at the end. I didn't laugh at him too much about this. After the service I spent some time talking to the Simmons family, in the afternoon I talked to their eldest Daughter and was given a link to their website, then it hit me. I need stuff for my CV, some people need websites, how about I make websites for free? So I whipped together a website for them and used content from their site. It took me a whole afternoon which isn't bad considering this guy is able to charge £395 (though that includes things like hosting). I stuck it online and am awaiting feedback from them, best of all, it'll cost them nothing. So, here's my idea, if you've got some sort of a buissness or know of a small buissness that wants a free website, give them my address arl@woarl.com and I'll probably be able to furnish them with a free site in my free time. So far I've made my site and one for a guy called Paul Stockwell. The evening consisted of teasing some people, playing games and more WoA web design.

Yeah, late again - Week 6

Lets see, the Sunday after last Blog was about Noah and how you can easily get the wrong idea by thinking he was righteous and blameless, not quite, he was just the one God chose. The evening was a baptism, I was going to be baptised but my Parents were away on Holiday so it's being postponed for another time, possibly in Portsmouth (which means they get to come down and see all my friends, poor Parents). Monday, Tuesday, Wednessday, Thursday and Friday involved mostly computer games. Edward came over several times and we had great fun, quickly removing any acutal competition from all games and simply playing for total fun. I recall that we had a game of Total Annihilation that lasted for about 5 hours, that's because we were just trying to outdoo each other and not playing properly. Friday also invovled the return of the Jehova Witnesses, they'll be back again and I've gotten down the key points of argument, not only that, my excellent support group of Christians have provided me with some excellent points and helped loads, it's really great! WoA on Saturday was nothing special, my family arrived home in the afternoon, they were slightly tanned and upset that it was too cold for them, for me it was just fine. Sunday was about the Tower of Babel and Abrahm's journey. I quite liked the part of the sermon where Johnathan pointed out that though this tower was rather large by human standards, God had to "come down" to look at it, showing just how small it was. To quote Johnathan "the author of Genesis is taking the mick out of the tower, he's saying it's tiddly!". Sunday afternoon and evening consisted of mostly computer games, there's an excellent mod for Counter Strike called "Hidden" where one player is invisible and pitted against the rest, it's very well done and very creepy.

A bit early :) - Week 5

Yes, I figured there was no point in delaying, the blog must go on! Monday wasn't overly eventful, I had to prepare for my exam the next day, oh and I played a little CS Source, so nothing blog worthy there except that CS is much more of a serious game than most other shoot-em-ups and I'm not so keen on it for that reason. Tuesday was the day that was rather long. I was up at 0530, left the house at 0700 and got to Port Talbort at some time later (I can't remember the time), I then got to Cardiff to switch trains, got to Portsmouth two hours before my exam. This was all as planned, I had a nice revision session in Portsmouth and then sat the exam. I can think of some stuff I didn't remember correctly, but overall I got most of it, I even found out (before the exam) the method of doing something I'd not managed to find anywhere, and I remembered it for the exam! Now for the fun fun part. I left Portsmouth at 1630, that's 4:30pm for those on "wuss time". The train was meant to get to Cardiff at some time or other. It got delayed, delayed REALLY badly. As in, the train broke down. This was not a good start. Add to this that I'd had the really really bright idea of buying some lemondade to drink (it only makes you feel less thirsty when it's cold). It was some massively high tempreature out there and the trains don't have a lot of air conditioning, if any at all. Another train arrived half an hour later and I hopped onto that along with all the other disgruntled passengers. This train was itself twenty minutes later than it was meant to be. Luckily the connection to Swansea I'd have gotten on (if that train wasn't late) was there at the time and I pegged it over to the train. I got to Swansea, guess how long after my bus? Yes, only a few minutes. It was now about 2200 (10pm). It was an hour till the next bus and I'll be honest, it was not the most confident moments of my life. Yet, the only incident was with two youths, maybe each four years younger than me. They walked up to the bus stop and though they asked for a quid, they were speaking in a tone that demanded it. Knowing full well that getting my wallet out would be a bad idea I told them I didn't have enough to give them any money as I needed it for my bus fare. After also telling them I didn't have any "fags" I offered them a Chewing gum which for some reason made them go away. Within 10 minutes I felt a lot safer because there was a group of 8 or so bikers loitering to my right, this may seem odd, but once I realised they were not going to be nasty to me, I felt a lot more confident. I mean, are you going to start a fight with someone a few meters away from that lot? When the bus came (it was only an hour but it seemed like three) I got on as fast as I could. When I got to Ammanford I decided to walk, it was now 2400 (midnight). On the way home it was somewhat cooler (though I knew I was very dehydrated and needed a drink). I got home at 0100, tired, hungry, thirsty, but, safe. I also saw a Shooting Star on the way home. Wednessday and Thursday involved Edward comming over to play multiplayer games with me, he's the same year as me and we get on really well. We turned CS into a not-so-serious game very fast, for example I challenged him to a knife fight, then after building up the tension massively, pulled out a gun and shot him. We were both messing around so he wasn't annoyed, he did the same to me later. Friday (today) I got up at the crack of dawn, about 0550, no alarm needed, sunlight is nature's alarm clock. I spent the first half of the day doing some WoA stuff, discussing Christianity with a WoA player and also watching a game trailer. It's a sequal to a game I've loved for years and it looks amazing, there's a HD Trailer of it, just goto http://supremecommander.com and download it. This evening I helped at the youth group. Cherrol (apologies if I misspelt your name, nobody told me how to spell it) keeps trying to get me to ask girls out. Yes, notice girls not Ladies. That's because everybody at the Youth group minus the leaders and assistant leaders are under 18. It's quite funny all the same, I might just turn up with a load of Chocolate later anyway, just to see what happens. The activities for the evening involved water. Paul was the main leader, myself and Sam (just finnished Uni) were assistant leaders. The games genrally revolved around us getting rather wet. One last thing, on Wednessday, I was understandably tired (seeing as I got to sleep around 0300). At 0800 I had to get up to put the cat out or I'd be left a small brown present that smells bad. After that I went back to bed, then at 1000 there was a knock on the door. A pair of Jehova Witnesses were there. Pre-Christian I had two options, 1) politiely tell them to go away or 2) make jokes at their expense. Since becomming a Christian I have a new one, 3) Invite them in and keep them from talking to other people. I can't find many differences, there are a couple, but they're not huge. One of them I knew at school so when he offered to come back next week (the comming week for readers) I accepted and now have a little more info on the differences.

A day late... - Week 4

Monday was umm, uhh, I have no idea if I did anything constructive on Monday. Tuesday was uhhhh. Lets skip to Thursday. On Thursday I continued to help with building the Church. The wall out the front is now looking very very good (John was there all day while me being a slacker turned up from 1800 till 2100). We've started to concrete in foundations for the other side and after that have a load of rubble to clear away. Friday was good, the youth went down to the Mumbles (it's a beach near where I live). I turned up at the Church youth center to get a lift with Johnathan, while there I watched the small children play water games. Then, they made the mistake of asking me to play. Sadly the games had to stop shortly after that because of "the time". However, they continued just long enough for a Lady called Vickey to drench me in about a litre of water (pretty much what Brierley did but this time without warning or provocation). And it was from behind so I didn't have a chance to dodge. Sadly Vickey is going off to Spain for two weeks, I happen to be in the fortunate position to know quite a few people. One of those people happens to be fortunate enough to know a rather large number of practical jokes. I plan to test as many as possible out on Vickey when she comes back, I personally feel it's very nice of her to volunteer like that. It'd be rude to pick random people from the Youth group or even the Portsmouth CU... The seafront at the Mumbles had a lot of flies but it was an enjoyable evening of socialising with people from other Universities (it's like the CU but cooler because they actually have the ability to match my jokes). The most, ummm, unsure part of the evening would be Johnathan's car. It's a little old and it makes a noise like a tractor. For those that have seen "Uncle Buck", it's not quite as bad as Buck's car, but we're just waiting for it to be. The journey there wasn't bad at all, most of the journey back was also fine. However, after dropping off a Lady called Amy, we had to go up a lot of hills. I did make it home so did Johnathan, still, it was quite a worrying few minutes as it crawled up the hill. Saturday was WoA, though in the evening Caz (that's how it's pronounced, I have no idea how to spell it) and her husband Mel came over and had dinner with us. They're friends of my parents from when we still lived near London. It was nice to see them again. Sunday was very very hot. I cycled to Church, that wasn't too hard. Cycling back was a massive effort. By the time I got back I think I was suffering from some form of heat exhaustion. The service was by Dr. Henry Blackaby (not sure if that's spelt correctly) and was most interesting. It revolved around putting God first in your life. Sunday afternoon was nothing special, though I did stay up rather late playing team matches in Counter Strike (it's good if you play it with the right people).

2nd part of Week 3

Thursday was mostly boring (blog wise) though in the evening I did continue to help with the Church wall. We've now got foundations and several Breeze Blocks cemented down. I'm learning how to perform Brick Laying too. Friday was also mostly boring. In the evening, the students of the Church all met at Johanthan's house and we sat around and talked for a few hours, next week we're going to go somewhere on the Friday, either a beach or something indoors if it rains. Saturday would have been filled with WoA, however, my internet was playing up so much on the Friday that I had to cancel. On the plus side this meant that I could go with the Church to Alton Towers. It was only £20 (half what it normally is) and I got a free bus there. The only downside was that I had to endure the bus ride (four hours) and also help look after some children. The difficulty of the Children was not behaviour, they were very well behaved, no, one half liked the rides myself and the leaders liked, the other half didn't. Overall, I enjoyed it. Today (Sunday for those that haven't noticed the pattern) involved going to Church as per usual. Today Sam (one of the Students) was leading the service, it was his first time and he started off a little nervous but after a few minutes he was fine and going as if he'd done it hundereds of times. The service today was about Noah, but nothing to do with the flood directly. Instead, it was all about how Noah was a rebel against society and trusted in what God was telling him. Sunday evening involved a BBQ where some friends of my Dad came around. We talked about computers a lot (we all use Macs), played Badminton (they brought Children and joined in themselves) and also ate food (surprise surprise). It was quite a long day but I enjoyed it a lot.

Ummmm.... Week 2/3

Yes, I have been neglecting my blog. I can think of a list of "reasons" which most would probably label as "excuses", however, I won't. River Not an awful lot of progress. Coel had a BBQ and after that I had a lot of other physical activity which resulted in me not being able to carry on. However, now I am fully rested I think I shall be moving on. I'd have more pictures up but I've moved to a new computer and I've not gottten around to sorting it out. Church The students are now all back, there's about 4 or so of us all-told and it's quite nice to have more people my age at the Chruch. Ammanford's Church (well, the one I go to) has a slightly different spread of ages. The work outside the Church is going well and we've concreted almost all of the foundations that I was digging (with a few others who turned up late). Family They're faster than the people at Portsmouth, they get in the way a lot more than the people at Portsmouth and they provide free food? Well, what more am I really meant to say? Thought for the Week(s)? One thing about Johanthan of Ammanford is that I knew him before he was a preacher. Simply put, he'd not have been what I'd have said was "ideal preacher material". He is quite boyish and happy to have a laugh. Yet, when he Preaches he's quite different. I'd not go so far to say he's a whole new person, but it is certainly a side I didn't think he had. The thought is that people have hidden attributes and you need to think carefully before making an important choice about people fullfilling roles. I put the one about Johnathan down to me not knowing him well enough (seeing as I'd only seen him at youth group, this sounds rather likely).