As I mentioned already, I'm going to Brazil in May/June to help do some work on a run-down school in a really poor part of Rio. We've now got a page set up on our church website with a bit more information. There is also a link there to make a donation via PayPal, if you are interested in doing so.
The page is: http://www.glasgowelim.org.uk/rio2006/
Friday, February 24, 2006
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
The circle of life
Years ago, a fish was born. Ok, it might have been hatched but either way it came into existance. It probably didn't have a name or indeed much of a life but it was a tuna, so it was well looked after and didn't lack much.
Elsewhere, in a seemingly unrelated story, a hen laid some eggs. I think the hen had a name but it was more like a number, "10937.7". (No, really - it did have .7 on the end!) It might have had the luxury of being of the "free range" persuasion but more likely it was cooped up in a ...erm..coop and didn't see any more of those eggs after they rolled away through a maze of complex egg-gathering contraptions.
Meanwhile a cow chews the cud and performs a number of other cow-like activities that I will not elaborate on at this point. Her name is Mildred. Hopefully Mildred has escaped the wrath of the "cow tippers" who can damage a cow's milk for life (so I hear) by the trauma infliced on the poor beast. Speaking of milk, Mildred happens to be in fact a dairy cow, and today is milking day. So along comes the friendly farmer and milky-milky there you go. Mildred-minus-milk carries on the rigours of cow life.
In the dark soil of another, quite possibly distant field, a potato grows. I would be very surprised if it had a name but let's just call him Bob. Well, Bob's been sitting around for a while and it is with some alarm that he hears a rumbling sound as a potato-gathering-device-ok-I'm-not-a-farmer-give-me-a-break came along and wheeched Bob clean out of the ground. I say "clean" because this was one of the state-of-the-art kind that clean the potatoes as they're plucked from the bosom of the earth.
Bob's encounter with the potato plucker was nothing compared to what would happen to him a few days later. You see, he was baked for a while in an oven along with some of his pals, introduced to some butter made with Mildred's milk, some mayonnaise made from 10937.7's eggs and the meat/flesh/edibles of the nameless tuna from Paragraph 1! They were all then promptly carried home and scoffed by me for lunch today, giving me the energy to write a meaningless entry in my blog just now.
It's good to know that your life serves a higher purpose. Isn't it, Bob?
Elsewhere, in a seemingly unrelated story, a hen laid some eggs. I think the hen had a name but it was more like a number, "10937.7". (No, really - it did have .7 on the end!) It might have had the luxury of being of the "free range" persuasion but more likely it was cooped up in a ...erm..coop and didn't see any more of those eggs after they rolled away through a maze of complex egg-gathering contraptions.
Meanwhile a cow chews the cud and performs a number of other cow-like activities that I will not elaborate on at this point. Her name is Mildred. Hopefully Mildred has escaped the wrath of the "cow tippers" who can damage a cow's milk for life (so I hear) by the trauma infliced on the poor beast. Speaking of milk, Mildred happens to be in fact a dairy cow, and today is milking day. So along comes the friendly farmer and milky-milky there you go. Mildred-minus-milk carries on the rigours of cow life.
In the dark soil of another, quite possibly distant field, a potato grows. I would be very surprised if it had a name but let's just call him Bob. Well, Bob's been sitting around for a while and it is with some alarm that he hears a rumbling sound as a potato-gathering-device-ok-I'm-not-a-farmer-give-me-a-break came along and wheeched Bob clean out of the ground. I say "clean" because this was one of the state-of-the-art kind that clean the potatoes as they're plucked from the bosom of the earth.
Bob's encounter with the potato plucker was nothing compared to what would happen to him a few days later. You see, he was baked for a while in an oven along with some of his pals, introduced to some butter made with Mildred's milk, some mayonnaise made from 10937.7's eggs and the meat/flesh/edibles of the nameless tuna from Paragraph 1! They were all then promptly carried home and scoffed by me for lunch today, giving me the energy to write a meaningless entry in my blog just now.
It's good to know that your life serves a higher purpose. Isn't it, Bob?
The Cave - Take 2!
This past week we made another bold attempt at finding the cave. Spirits were high and confidence in the nineties when we set off at 7 pm on Friday night. I know what you're thinking, "7 pm in February? Won't it be dark then?" Well...yes, it was. And I know we couldn't find the cave before and ended up sleeping on the beach in the rain as a result but this time was different. You see, we'd been back during daylight and found the cave then so it meant this trip was much more likely to succeed.
As it turned out, we found it really easily this time. There were no wrong turns or stopping for directions. It was a guys' navigational dream come true. We got to the cave at 9 o'clock and made a fire. Well, Alan and Collin made a fire while I sat about and wondered when I'd finally learn how to make a fire.
We ate some food and eventually went to bed, or "bag" as the case may be. It was a bit chilly and slightly damp, although very tame compared to the DELUGE we slept under that fateful night last September. There was the occasional drip but that was all. I was sleeping on a slope, though, and whenever I woke up I found myself half on top of Alan whose only response was a slightly different snore to the usual one.
In the morning we got up and made some rolls and sausage. The sausage meat was cooked on a piece of slate which was pretty impressive work on Alan's part. Again, I was more of a spectator than a real participant. I did participate in making the food disappear. I've been doing that for years so I'm quite good at it by now.
We had a wee walk round to the top of the cliff overlooking our campsite. Collin "happened" to bring his abseiling (rapelling to you N. Americans) equipment with him. After a look around, we found a pretty good spot to anchor the rope and he proceeded to set up the equipment and then cheerfully hurl himself into the abyss, slowed down only by his skill with a rope. I thought he was mental. Then he tied the harness etc. onto the end of the rope and sent it back up to me using the pulley. "There you go!" he shouted and all of a sudden I started to feel a tad uneasy.
You may be forgiven for wondering why a rock climber such as I would go weak at the knees at the thought of abseiling. The main reason is that I'm used to using a "GriGri" for belaying. This device has an automatic locking mechanism so if you suddenly let go, it catches you. Well we were using the "old school" option of the basic abseiling device. If you let go of the rope with this one, you fall at full speed. (Still reading Mum? It's ok, it's got a happy ending!)
It took me a considerable length of time to convince my body to roll over the edge of the cliff while holding the rope quite firmly in the "locked off" position. I was so nervous I almost backed out and gave up completely. Finally when I was hanging there, it was pretty good. I didn't do it exactly right, though. The proper way to descend is to let go your grip slightly on the rope to let it slip through your hand. Well, I kind of chickened out and fed the rope through my hands a few inches at a time. It was pretty pathetic really, looking back on it. I mean, Collin was bouncing off the wall (his feet, it was his feet) and there I was going down at about 2 feet an hour.
So there we are. That's another couple of "firsts" for me. My first sleep in a cave and my first abseiling experience. Hey, I just realised something. I wanted to do something new each year and I've done that already in February. I need a new goal now...
I leave you with a picture I took of a stream as we made our way back to the car.
As it turned out, we found it really easily this time. There were no wrong turns or stopping for directions. It was a guys' navigational dream come true. We got to the cave at 9 o'clock and made a fire. Well, Alan and Collin made a fire while I sat about and wondered when I'd finally learn how to make a fire.We ate some food and eventually went to bed, or "bag" as the case may be. It was a bit chilly and slightly damp, although very tame compared to the DELUGE we slept under that fateful night last September. There was the occasional drip but that was all. I was sleeping on a slope, though, and whenever I woke up I found myself half on top of Alan whose only response was a slightly different snore to the usual one.
In the morning we got up and made some rolls and sausage. The sausage meat was cooked on a piece of slate which was pretty impressive work on Alan's part. Again, I was more of a spectator than a real participant. I did participate in making the food disappear. I've been doing that for years so I'm quite good at it by now.
We had a wee walk round to the top of the cliff overlooking our campsite. Collin "happened" to bring his abseiling (rapelling to you N. Americans) equipment with him. After a look around, we found a pretty good spot to anchor the rope and he proceeded to set up the equipment and then cheerfully hurl himself into the abyss, slowed down only by his skill with a rope. I thought he was mental. Then he tied the harness etc. onto the end of the rope and sent it back up to me using the pulley. "There you go!" he shouted and all of a sudden I started to feel a tad uneasy.You may be forgiven for wondering why a rock climber such as I would go weak at the knees at the thought of abseiling. The main reason is that I'm used to using a "GriGri" for belaying. This device has an automatic locking mechanism so if you suddenly let go, it catches you. Well we were using the "old school" option of the basic abseiling device. If you let go of the rope with this one, you fall at full speed. (Still reading Mum? It's ok, it's got a happy ending!)
It took me a considerable length of time to convince my body to roll over the edge of the cliff while holding the rope quite firmly in the "locked off" position. I was so nervous I almost backed out and gave up completely. Finally when I was hanging there, it was pretty good. I didn't do it exactly right, though. The proper way to descend is to let go your grip slightly on the rope to let it slip through your hand. Well, I kind of chickened out and fed the rope through my hands a few inches at a time. It was pretty pathetic really, looking back on it. I mean, Collin was bouncing off the wall (his feet, it was his feet) and there I was going down at about 2 feet an hour.
So there we are. That's another couple of "firsts" for me. My first sleep in a cave and my first abseiling experience. Hey, I just realised something. I wanted to do something new each year and I've done that already in February. I need a new goal now...
I leave you with a picture I took of a stream as we made our way back to the car.
Friday, February 17, 2006
Nutella is a dip!
I realised today that the people who make nutella could probably sell a whole lot more if they marketed it as a dip instead of a spread.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Regarding my previous post
In case anyone's concerned/wondering/at all interested, my previous remarks regarding Valentine's Day weren't motivated by a sense of loneliness or misery. I just happened to think, "Oh yeh, I suppose it could be single awareness day." I had barely thought about it all day. Actually my biggest concern was that I was meeting a potential client at a restaurant at lunchtime to discuss a contract and I was concerned that people seeing me with him could get the wrong idea. The situation was saved, however, by the presence of a third party and a large pile of business-like paper on the table.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Single Awareness Day
I was just thinking about Valentine's Day (which has just passed in my time zone). I noticed my good friend Steve had the title "Happy Single Awareness Day" on his MSN today and it got me thinking. There are a lot of issues I have with Valentine's Day.
Here they are in no particular order.
1) It has very little or nothing to do with Saint Valentine. It seems the closest link was that he was martyred on the 14th of February. Rather than remembering someone who really loved God to the point of surrendering his body to whatever end, people now buy dodgy cards with sexual messages and we have a day more focussed on sex than anything else.
2) It's a social obligation. Everyone in a relationship HAS to buy something for their significant other on Valentine's Day. If they don't, the world at large would agree that they are an unromantic whatever and the other person is better off without them. What happened to spontinaity? I think a lot of people don't really receive their gift at Valentine's Day because they know it's being given out of obligation. Hey, here's a thought. It's become religous. It's people doing what they're meant to do when they're meant to do it, regardless of whether they really want to.
3) It emphasises the solitude of those not in a relationship. As you get older and friends start pairing off it gets more noticeable. Trying to arrange anything on the 14th of February is pretty tricky because everyone (thanks to point #2) feels obliged to fulfill their social duty, national service or whatever you want to call it. In the end the "left overs" have to either sit and feel sorry for themselves or pretend that it's not really Valentine's Day and it's just another day (while checking the mail again just in case.)
4) It's a commercial rip-off. Everything is more expensive, such as flowers, chocolates and so on. First we have the social bullying to force you to buy things on a fairly un-special day and then we have the entrepreneurs cashing in on everyone's plight.
I'm going to stop at 4 because I don't want to appear completely heartless. I will say this. I am a romantic person. Really, I am. I just don't like being told when to be romantic. I'd much rather pick a random day each year to surprise that special someone in my life:
"Hey, happy Valentine's Day!"
"But it's September"
"So?"
etc...
Something as simple as choosing a different day would show that you are thinking about the person and being creative and maybe even spontaneous. Now isn't that so much better than being religious?
Another thought is that maybe if people were generally more romantic the rest of the year, there wouldn't be the same pressure to produce the goods on Valentine's Day. I think a lot of people cling to Valentine's Day as a lifeline of the last hope they have of receiving some kind of affirmation because their significant other will at least do something on Valentine's Day. Let's rise above this, people! Let's be romantic ALL YEAR ROUND! It doesn't need to be expensive, just thoughtful.
Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now. I just need to check the mail. I think something might have got stuck behind the door...
Here they are in no particular order.
1) It has very little or nothing to do with Saint Valentine. It seems the closest link was that he was martyred on the 14th of February. Rather than remembering someone who really loved God to the point of surrendering his body to whatever end, people now buy dodgy cards with sexual messages and we have a day more focussed on sex than anything else.
2) It's a social obligation. Everyone in a relationship HAS to buy something for their significant other on Valentine's Day. If they don't, the world at large would agree that they are an unromantic whatever and the other person is better off without them. What happened to spontinaity? I think a lot of people don't really receive their gift at Valentine's Day because they know it's being given out of obligation. Hey, here's a thought. It's become religous. It's people doing what they're meant to do when they're meant to do it, regardless of whether they really want to.
3) It emphasises the solitude of those not in a relationship. As you get older and friends start pairing off it gets more noticeable. Trying to arrange anything on the 14th of February is pretty tricky because everyone (thanks to point #2) feels obliged to fulfill their social duty, national service or whatever you want to call it. In the end the "left overs" have to either sit and feel sorry for themselves or pretend that it's not really Valentine's Day and it's just another day (while checking the mail again just in case.)
4) It's a commercial rip-off. Everything is more expensive, such as flowers, chocolates and so on. First we have the social bullying to force you to buy things on a fairly un-special day and then we have the entrepreneurs cashing in on everyone's plight.
I'm going to stop at 4 because I don't want to appear completely heartless. I will say this. I am a romantic person. Really, I am. I just don't like being told when to be romantic. I'd much rather pick a random day each year to surprise that special someone in my life:
"Hey, happy Valentine's Day!"
"But it's September"
"So?"
etc...
Something as simple as choosing a different day would show that you are thinking about the person and being creative and maybe even spontaneous. Now isn't that so much better than being religious?
Another thought is that maybe if people were generally more romantic the rest of the year, there wouldn't be the same pressure to produce the goods on Valentine's Day. I think a lot of people cling to Valentine's Day as a lifeline of the last hope they have of receiving some kind of affirmation because their significant other will at least do something on Valentine's Day. Let's rise above this, people! Let's be romantic ALL YEAR ROUND! It doesn't need to be expensive, just thoughtful.
Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now. I just need to check the mail. I think something might have got stuck behind the door...
Monday, February 13, 2006
I'm going to Rio!
Yes, it's true! I am really going to Rio! A team of us from the church are going this summer to do some practical work on a school building in the City of God, a favela (slum) in Rio de Janeiro. We will be there for around 10 days at the end of May. I'm pretty excited about it already! I've never visited the southern hemisphere before and Ali, my wee sister, already beat me to it so I need to catch up.More importantly, though, it's really great to be part of something that actually matters. I often think to myself, "How much of what I do with my life really matters?" In the end, when all is said and done, what will last? I love snowboarding and rock climbing but it's not going to be these moments that count for much. It's going to be the times I showed kindness, compassion or love to someone who really needed it.
I've been learning about Rio in preparation for the trip. I've watched a few DVDs that are fiction, although they're based on the kind of thing that happens there. I've seen Cidade de Deus (City of God) and Cidade dos Homens.(City of Men) Both deal a lot with the day-to-day trials of children living in poverty and tempted by the drug culture as the easy way to make a lot of money.
Something that I realised while watching was that a lot of these kids don't set out to be drug dealers. They simply want to make money to survive. I know there are those who crave the power, the status and the notoriety but there are others who just want to make some money. It's so hard for these kids to make money any other way.
I really feel for the street children in Rio and I hope that by me going there I can show them love, maybe communicate to them that someone cares and the world's not forgotten about them.
Now would be a good time to mention that I'm raising my own funds for the trip. If anyone is interested in helping me out, please comment and we can talk.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Extra Thick Bread
I bought a loaf of bread today that boasted the title "Extra Thick White". You can imagine my surprise when the "heel" turned out to be almost as long as my thumb! The rest of the loaf wasn't as thick, thankfully. It would probably have only had 6 slices if they were.
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