Ruth's blog

Wait

2011-12-12T22:20:00.000Z

I don't know if any of you have children, or have ever worked with children, but there is one thing that I've notice is difficult for them: waiting.

I do a variety of work with children, as a Beaver Scout leader (6 - 8 year olds) and Sunday School (4 - 11 year olds). I've lost track of the number of times that I have felt like I've been pulled in a hundred different directions when the children have all wanted my attention and I've only been able to deal with one at a time. And I've uttered the dreaded word: Wait. Something that is difficult to understand. They want to know why I can't help them that second, why they can have the thing that they've requested right now, why must they wait.

The same is true in my walk with God. Except this time, I'm the child wanting to know why this hasn't happened, or why I can't have that now. When will the perfect job appear, my career path be revealed, other issues much closer to my heart. Waiting is sometimes the hardest thing. I've learnt over my many years of walking with the Lord, that His timing is never wrong. There reason something didn't happen is because... I've needed to grow more, experience something, move somewhere else, learn patience (isn't that a hard one!!).

I follow someone called Louie Giglio on twitter, and recently he tweeted "Waiting is not wasted when we are waiting on the Lord. God works while we wait." Followed by "Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14"

"God works while we wait": he is moulding us, challenging us, changing us to be more like Christ. Waiting is part of the long journey. What do you think a child would be like if they got everything they wanted straight away?

Christmas is only a week away, a time when we remember the birth of Christ. (On a side note, I was delighted that my Beavers seemed to know about the Christmas story, it's an important story that needs to be shared). Bit it is also a time for giving and receiving gifts. That period of time between Christmas eve, and Christmas morning seemed like such a long time, having to wait until you could find out what was hiding behind the coloured paper. The gift seems that much better if you've been able to wait, to have patience.

So we may not always see what is in our future, and why we must wait, but I trust and love God. I know he has my best interests at heart, so like the children that I work with, I must learn that my prayers and requests will be answered in time, just not always right now.

God bless,

Ruth x

Avoiding the most talked about topic of the day

2011-11-30T21:13:00.001Z

I was going to write a blog post today, then I actually sat down to write it, and couldn't think of a thing to write.

I could always revert to one of my favourite topics, Formula 1.

This week, Kimi Raikkonen announced that he was making a come back to Formula 1, about 2 years after he left to try new things such as WRC and NASCAR. I greeted this news with mixed feelings: I have followed Kimi's career since 2001, when he was a rookie, driving for Sauber and making quite an impression on the bosses at Mclaren, and myself. It was with joy, excitement and tension that I watch him have good races and bad races, and get with in touching distance of a World title in 2005, before he lost it to Fernando Alonso.

Then in 2007, he final won the World Championship, much to the disappointment of British fans everywhere, as Lewis Hamilton lost it by 1 point in the final race. I remember watching the race back in second year. It was an afternoon race, and one of my housemates and I decided that we would be late to church, just so that we could see live the end of the championship. I couldn't believe it when Kimi won, and then we had to leave, arriving at church just in time for the sermon I think. I also think that one of the guys on the sound desk has also been following the race so that most of the congregation knew the result before we got there.

You know what, having go this far I have no idea whether I blogged about Kimi winning at the time or not. Ah well, I'll carry on anyway.

Things didn't go so well for Kimi in following years, and it wasn't much of a surprise when, despite still being in contract, an opportunity opened up in World Rally Championship for him and he took it.

And now he's back! I love the reaction I get when I tell people at motor sport event or motor sport fans, like my former driving instructor that I'm a Kimi fan, they groan, and dispaire. Why when we have great British talent, did I choose a bloke who in a lot of peoples opinions has no personality and barely opens his mouth when he talks? To be honest, back in 2001, I picked up my dads Formula 1 magazine and just looked through to find who I thought most interesting (or cute, knowing me at that age...). And followed him ever since.

When he left the sport, he did an interview discussing who he tipped as a future World Champion. He suggested this young gun, a kid as he was when he first started who'd managed to make quite an impression early on. Now two years on, and 2 World Championships under his belt, you can see that Kimi's judgement of Sebastian Vettel was correct. I just hope that his judgement to come back to Formula 1, with all the barriers that can face any driver coming back will have, is the right one.

And who will I support? If Kimi and Sebastian happen to be fighting for a win, who would I want to win? Hmm...

There you go, a whole blog about Kimi, sorry for that. I hope that one person manages to make it to the end :)

And I didn't mention the strike once... oops!

Take care,

God bless,

Ruth x

Recently I've mostly been...

2011-11-26T18:36:00.001Z

Well hello! I'm still here.

I've been thinking (no insults please!), and I came to a conclusion: when I first set up this blog, at the insistence of a few of my friends, it was to keep people updated on what has been happening. Most of my readers then were the people regularly mentioned in my posts because they were there. Now that I'm further away from most of my friends, now is the time that I should be using more. Admittedly I think that my life is a lot less interesting, and my spelling has got worse(!!), there are still plenty of things that I could blog about.

For instance, I am now regularly helping with the church youth club every Thursday. We get anything from 6 youth, to 25+ coming along, mostly from the estate our church is based on, coming along to play pool, video games, air hockey or just hang out, with a short "God Spot".

I am now driving, having passed my test in February, and am very grateful, that without too much traffic, my 1 hour 35 minute bus journey, has dropped to about a 40 minute drive, in the warm.

I finally have a pet, after a lot of begging during my younger years, I went out in May with two friends to at pet shop, and came back with an eight week old Syrian hamster, who I names Tiberius. If I ever get another I'm choosing an easier name, like Joe, as my hamster is regularly called Tibs out of laziness!! He's a lovely hamster, who will constantly try to escape given half a chance and bite me if I don't pay attention... but his antics are very entertaining, even if it did cause a few sleep disturbed nights in the beginning with a squeaky wheel.

Some things haven't changed. I am still Formula 1 mad, even if I now support that unknown up and coming 24 year old (how can a 2 times World Champion be younger than me?) Sebastian Vettel.

I'm still working as a science technician at a school, with all the madness that can come with it, as well as the strange requests. I bought 5kg of salt and a few bars of chocolate early on Thursday morning and Friday saw me grating chocolate, and making fake urine! What a combination!!

The Beaver Scout colony at which I'm the Assistant leader is doing well. Six to eight year olds can really tire you out though! We recently has a Doctor Who in Space themed sleepover with two other groups, involving a lot of craft, and plenty of glue on the tables, chairs and floors, and lots of outdoor activities. On the night hike only one person fell over...me! How embarrassing. The good thing was that the Beavers had a good time, and were tired at the end, not just us adults.

I miss a lot of the social life that came with being at University. I don't have as many friends that live near here in Bristol, but having a car does help! An I don't see my friends who are living in places around the country as much as I would like.

I'm going to attempt to post at least once a week, that shouldn't be too ambitious I hope, just to keep everyone informed. It's also nice to have a record so that I can see what I have done, and how God is working in my life. I'm in a supportive church, where I'm starting to feel like I'm part of it, not just an outsider, and I'm anticipating that next stage of my life that He has in store, where ever or whatever it may be!

Take care,

God Bless,

Ruth x

School trips

2010-03-29T17:05:00.000+01:00

On Friday, I was lucky (hmmm...) enough to be asked to go on a school trip with the year 7 & 8 science clubs that I help out with. The trip was to a science fair hosted as part of the STEM clubs group (STEM is science, technology, engineering and math, as I discovered!). The fair was an opportunity to show what we had been doing over the past year and meet (and steal ideas from) other schools also involved. Also there were the MoD, the institute of physics, an aeronautics group (involved in the flying start challenge our year 9's took part in) and the Bloodhound team with the scale model of the car they hope will break the land speed record!

It was great fun and good to "network" but it was also slightly strange. It's the first time I'd been on a school trip in over 5 years and the first time I was there as a "responsible adult" (gulp!). It was a chance to get to know two of my collegues better as there was a fair bit of waiting around, and a rock physics lecture (about the physics of rock music, not stones), taken by a Dr Lewney, where Becky and I were in our element! It was also impressive (I think that's the best word) that one of our kids managed to get the number of a girl from one of the other schools!!

I'd been having a rather bad week at work, so being able to do science, get ideas and relax a bit more than normal and get paid for it was a real relief. Next time though, can we leave the kids behind?? Actually, next year I think that it's our turn to plan and host it...we have quite a challenge ahead of us!

We also had a bit of excitment today. One of the year 7 science club projects has been hatching chicken eggs. For the past three ish weeks we'd had these eggs incubating in our prep room, and had pretty much given up all hope of them hatching. The school doesn't have the best track record. So imagine my surprise and excitement when one of the teachers simply said this morning "aparrently it'll be ok to move the two chicks into the incubator in a bit." wow!! Over the weekend four of the chicks had hatched!! And they are totally adorable, but really distracting as they sit and cheep on the side! One of them has a bit of a dodgy leg so has been removed of extra special treatment but the others are all healthy. Now we need to name them...! Any ideas?

That's it for now,

Clare xx

6 Months

2010-03-13T08:49:00.000Z

I have been meaning to up date this blog about 2 or 3 times since October, but seem to have got distracted by everything else. Really sorry, I'm not going to make any promises about blogging more regularly, as I'm not entirely sure what to blog about. I can keep putting up my news, but is there more that I can use this blog for?

News time then. I am now employed, as a Science Technician in a South Gloucestershire school. I started back in November, (2nd November to be precise!) and I'm finding it great. There are stresses that come with working in a school, no money left in the budget, teachers changing their minds 5 minuets before they need equipment, and kids coming and disturbing us regularly because they need a pen or pencil! But the staff are great. I'm part of a team of 5 technicians, which is higher than most schools, one of whom is part time. We get on, have a laugh and still manage to get the work done. The teachers are also great, as long as you don't catch them in a highly stressful situation. Of course two great things about working in a school are fixed holidays, and every weekend off!

I am still involved in the Bristol Nights project, going out once every 6 weeks to give tea and coffee to anyone in the city centre who is around between midnight and 3 and would like one. A few months back, our generator broke down, it was spitting out sparks and plumes of black smoke, so we were having to use gas to boil our kettles, which slowed the process down slightly. It also meant that we haven't had any external light available. But we managed. The good news is that a new generator arrived in Bristol a few weeks ago, and is being installed on the bus. So we're praying that installation goes well, and we can have electricity when we next go out on the 10th April.

I'm going to stop there, I was hoping to finish on something interesting and thought provoking, but there's nothing that springs to mind right now, but who knows, I may be back soon with something more interesting!

Take care and God bless

Ruth xx

Two Weddings, a Whole Lotta Laughing and a Birthday!

2009-10-08T19:53:00.002+01:00

So I have a lot to tell you, September was busy.

I was privileged (I think that's the right word), to be invited to two weddings this September. They were both lovely weddings, and I wish both couples all the best for the future. I'm not sure what else to put for this part, this is the biggest problem with leaving the blog for ages!

I was very lucky to be given a ticket to go see Michael McIntyre, in Portsmouth for my birthday :) It was such a fun evening, not just seeing him live, but spending time with some of my lovely friends. Michael was so funny, really worth seeing live, and with jokes that we kept repeating throughout the rest of the night. It turns out though, that he was live in Bristol the night before!! But it wouldn't have been as much fun on my own. I also went to see the Bristol Comedy Gala, later in the month. This was to celebrate the re-opening of the Colston Hall, and to showcase some of Bristol talent, and beyond. The evening was, dare I say it, better than Michael McIntyre, but that was probably because there was a wide range of comedians, including Russell Howard, and ending with Justin Lee-Collins. The evening was long, just under four hours, but well worth it. There were some jokes that would have been lost on anyone who wasn't from Bristol, such as Peter Andre's signing at Asda, Bedminster.

As the title suggests, there was a birthday. I turned 23 at the end of September, and a lot of my friends are now taking great pleasure in calling me old... :(! I was back in Pompey to celebrate that with more of my friends, and I was able to go back to King's Church. I really do miss that place and all of my friends there, I'm going to try to make more of an effort to visit more often, I just need to find somewhere to stay!!

And finally, (these are turning into a news report :S), I have a job!!! On the 2nd November, I will be starting work as a laboratory technician at Mangotsfield School. It's maybe not where a lot of people would recommend I go, but it feels like a good place, and should be an exciting challenge!

That's it!

Take care,

Ruth xxx

Remember me?!

2009-08-12T13:00:00.003+01:00

Ok, it's been three months since I last posted, and so much has happened that I want to catch you up on, so I'm going to divide the post into sub-headings to make it easier to miss out the boring bits!

University
I have officially finished my degree, after much stress, tears and some hard work. I graduated at the Guildhall, on the 17th July with an upper second award in BSc (Hons) Biochemistry. University has been such a life changing experience. I have learnt so much, both academically, but also it has given me life skills, I can now use a washing machine! Plus I have made so many new friends, people who I hope to still be friends with when we are all old and grey and our university days are a dim and distant memory. But that chapter of my life has closed now, I will probably still visit, but my world will be a slightly different one now.

Silverstone
My parents paid for me to go to the British Formula One Grand Prix this year. If you don't know I am fanatical about the sport, and unlike most British fans, I follow Kimi Raikkonen. My aunt and uncle go most years, as they live fairly close to the circuit, so let me tag along. What a weekend! There is something about fast cars that I find really exciting. And to see these cars and drivers that you are used to seeing on the small screen actually on the track was fantastic. We were in a Grandstand, so had quite a good view of the corner where we were. I took too many photos, but that didn't matter. The atmosphere, the noise, I can't describe it. Most people were supporting Button this year, and would stand up and cheer during the parade lap as he came past. The only downside was the early starts, I was exhausted by the end of the weekend. It was about a half hour walk to our stand from where we had parked, but I am so glad that I had the opportunity.

Holiday
The day I got back from Silverstone, I was off again for two weeks of canal boating with family and one of my University friends. This year, mostly at my request, we did the Kennet and Avon canal and the river Avon. This included coming back into Bristol, which was great fun and gave me a chance to see my brother and show my friend how much Bristol has changed. We had a great time, with only one really wet day, the day we went up the Caen Hill flight of locks, near Devizes. We generally had really nice weather, very hot, which gave us more time to explore the areas we stopped at. We had such a great time, we had started planning the next holiday before we had given the boat back. We are writing a narrative log for the holiday, if anyone is interested in the details of the trip!

Family
Due to the joys of no money, whilst I find a job, I'm back living at home. I moved all my stuff back at the end of term. When I moved down in first year, I fitted everything into a Volvo estate. By the end of third year, we used a transit van. So you can imagine how much stuff I now have. To complicate issue slightly, my brother unexpectedly moved back home. It was a bit of a shock to the system, to get used to all of us back at home, but we're getting back into the routine.

Church
Having come back home, it made sense to go back to my home church, the church I've been at since I was 7, and who have supported my during my early Christian development. However, before coming home I was starting to feel that it was time to move on, and after much prayer, this has been confirmed. Given that I haven't regularly been to my church, I'm not sure this is much of a surprise for some people. Last week, I went to a different church, River of Life, based in Hartcliffe. It's further away than my present church, but is on the way to my dads church. This in itself suggests that this is all part of God's plan. I received a really warm welcome, and felt at home. This week I met up with one of my elders for a chat, someone who has been like a second mother to me. She was very supportive of my and believes that this is the right choice for me. I will keep you posted as to where I end up. Can you keep me in your prays, that I will make the right, God led choice.

Jobs
Right, jobs. Now that I've graduated, I've got to start the fun old process of job hunting...yay! I have already found and applied for three jobs, one of which I got an interview for. It's not looking good for the other two jobs, so I'll keep looking. Eventually I'll have to widen my search, but at the moment, I want to find a science based job. Ah well, I'll keep looking, and hopefully something will turn up.

Banksy
As you may be aware, Banksy, famous graffiti artist, opened an exhibition at the city museum and art gallery. Due to popular demand, that queues have been up to 3 hours at times. We decided that it was too good an opportunity to miss. After one and a half hours we were in. It was a great exhibition, well worth looking around. There was one area which was solely his work, but if you looked carefully, you might spot the little touches that he had made to the rest of the exhibition, like new paintings. If you get the chance, its worth going, even if you have to queue.

Right, that was a brief update. I will really try to go back to regular posting! But not promises!!

Ruth xx (I now seem to be back to my birth name!)

Back Again

2009-04-07T11:39:00.002+01:00

As you will have noticed, this blog has been very quiet again. Whenever I come to write a post I get distracted, or remember something else I need to do.

Life has been hectic with all the work I have on. I'm into the final push now. Term ends, forever, on the 5th June, my dissertation has to be in 11th/12th May, plus I have two posters to do, and all my revision for exams which start the last week of May. And now I've scared myself with it all!!

I am back in Bristol for Easter, and torn between wanting to see my friends, and the knowledge that I have all that work. Plus the Easter weekend will be fairly busy with a variety of events and services to commemorate and celebrate the sacrifice made for us on the first Easter weekend.

I still have very unformed plans as to what I will do when I graduate (ceremony is the 17th July), so I am constantly praying into that.

I hope that there will be another post before I graduate, but I can't promise anything. Now I have to go to Sainsburys to buy food!

Take care,
God Bless

Clare/Bristol xxx

Tonsillitis

2009-02-24T21:08:00.002Z

I don't seem to be having much luck at the moment. I started feeling ill last week, but passed it off as a virus, the main symptom being a really sore throat. Over the weekend I went to the pharmacist who told me I should see a doctor. It turns out, as the title suggests, I have tonsillitis. Ow!

In other news, it's the Intensified weekend away with King's next week, which I am really looking forward to! Steve came to visit last week. It was good to see him and included a meal and quiz at King's to launch the student meal, which was fun!

There's really not been much else happening!

Hope you're all well!

Clare xxx

Sorry

2009-02-09T21:43:00.003Z

I've been incredibly bad at updating this, woops! If there's anyone still reading, thanks for hanging in there.

It has been crazily busy recently, I had my exams about 3 weeks after coming back from Christmas, so most of my time has been spent preparing for them. I only have two exams to sit in the rest of my degree, scary. Deadlines seem to be rushing at me, work piling up, and it's getting harder to catch my breath.

I spent the weekend in Reading, seeing Ben, Dan and Kita. It was so good to be able to stop, not think or worry about the work I had to do. The friendships that we had built over the last two years made it easy to slip into the familiar banter etc.

I think I'm fully starting to realise how much this period of our lives is a time of change and development. People are getting engaged and married. Some of us are closing in on graduation and the scary world outside of the university environment. It's a time when we move around, find out feet and build on the foundations of our formative years. It's when we make the friends for life, and the decisions that go along way to shaping our future. When I was at primary school, we had to write our autobiography. It was a little difficult at 11 to really understand what it meant to grow up. Here we were writing about our secondary school, the G.C.S.E's we got, the A levels we did, our university degree and our futures. I think I got married and had 3 children, and I studied to be a doctor specialising in sports injuries (I don't even know if I could have done that!!). I was treating the F1 drivers of the future. I didn't have any idea about what Biochemistry was, and looking back on it now, I've just realised God played very little role in my "life".

Oh how different reality is. God is a massive focus in my life. My doctor ambitions kinda fell through when my A levels weren't quite as good as the should have been (ok, they were no where near...). I am still vaugly considering getting involved in F1, but I think its a slim to zero chance, and not actually where I want to go. I may still end up in the NHS tho! I don't want 3 children anymore, but at the same time, I hope that I will be contented with as many or as few children as God choses for me (not that I want any right now, just in case you're getting worried...). I know have a better idea of what life is actually like, proper grown up life, and it still scares me, even though I'm taking tentative steps into this world of being a "responsible adult" (adult, gah, not yet, can't I wait a few years...?).

I can't remember if I've mentioned it, but I now have a mentor through church. It's been so good to have someone I can meet up with and chat God with, all the different things in my life, the struggles and the triumphs. It helps me keep balanced and focused. There are certain issues that I am struggling with letting go at the moment, but I have very much felt that I need to to move on and get where I need to be. (ok that was kinda vauge, but I hope you know what I mean).

Right I'm going to stop there before I go anymore crazy. It was more thoughtful that I was intending, but hopefully someone will read it!

God bless,

Night all,

Clare (Bristol/Ruth/Brian) xxx

Long time no chat,

2008-12-06T21:16:00.002Z

so how are you all out in the blog world? (I know I haven't blogged in agessss, again, rubbish I know, i am very sorry about that! There is no excuse!!)

I have, unfortunately, been ill for the past two weeks, a really bad cold, but something that refused to get better. My supervisor told me to take the time off, so I haven't worked on my project for two weeks, and term ends next week...ah!! But I'm confident that everything will work out. I just need to get better!!

God has been very good to me over the last month. First, I received a message from one of my old school friends, reminding me of a conversation that we once had about Christian rock music. He had found a song, All the Words, by Kutless that he loved, but was very surprised to find out, on more research, that the band were in fact Christian. For some reason, and I'm really not complaining, he decided to share this story with me, which was awesome! The song is a song that I've found really inspiring, so I'm grateful to him for that as well. It's strange how God works isn't it!

We had a really good God time at cell a few weeks ago, talking about the gift of the profetic. The session ended with a prayer time asking for words for the other group members, which was awesome. Every member got at least one word. The words for me were very true, and helpful. I love how God works.

In another random event, I went to a church in Swindon a few weeks ago with a friend, to support them at their first visit to this church, in fact any church in a long time. It was a privalage to be able to go with them and provide the support. They were crazy enough to drive and pick me up so that I could go, as well as drive me back at the end of the day. Absolutely mental!! I had a fun time, and enjoyed the church. I was impressed with how welcoming they were, but was slightly surprised by the 2 minute break beween the worship and the talk, that was new on me!

Also, last Thursday, instead of cell, a group of us took mince-pies into halls to wish people a merry Christmas (yes, because it is nearly Christmass, somehow...not sure where November went, I think I blinked and missed it!!). We were also offering to do students washing up. People were either surprising clean and had already done it(!) or didn't want us to see the mess, and let us do it for them. Rachael did pray for one girl with a cold, and we had a couple of good chats, steming from the "why on earth would you want to do someone elses washing up?" question. I really pray that some seeds were planted in people, and that they remember us and think more about out motives.

I now have all of my coursework back, and was amazed by one piece in which I got 82%, I'm not sure how it happened, but I was overjoyed!! The rest of my work was good, but not quite as stunning.

I'm now looking at what next, after graduation, and that is a massive maze to get through, with so many options, and requirements, deadlines, etc to fight through. I am really praying into where I should go, but it's still going to be a lot of work. I know I will end up where God wants me if I listen to Him.

I really feel like I have missed something, this is why I should blog more regularly!! Woopsie!

I shall wrap up there, I really don't feel like I have done God justice in this post, but I hope and pray that His awesomness will still come through this post, and my blog, and my life!

God bless

Bristol xxx

Busy Week

2008-10-18T11:08:00.003+01:00

Hello again,

I've just completed my first week of project research, which was really good if a little tedious. There are two of us try to use the same piece of equipment so we can be a little limited as to what can be achieved in a day. I am working on the BIACORE machine, using SPR (surface plasmon resonance) to detect binding of small molecules to a protein. There is a lot of set up that has to be done first, such as checking the right pH levels (pH scouting, which I have completed for the RNase E E. Coli molecule, but still have to do for the RNase E TB molecule) and finding the correct buffers, so as not to make the protein too unhappy. Toni, I will be working with HPLC in a few weeks I think, so I am not fully sure of the methods used yet, as I still need to be trained on the machine. Just in case you're wondering, (most of you probably aren't!) I have also been studying the turning on and off of genes, and embryo development, including a practical in a few weeks cutting up a chick embryo.

In other news, I've had a really good God week. I asked if Adam (Blade) could find me someone to mentor me through this year, as I feel that it is something I really wanted to do, and would be good to have that extra support. I met her on Sunday, and she is lovely. We had our first "proper" chat on Monday evening over coffee, and it was really good! I found it incredibly helpful, and I had space to think and hear God. Things had got a little...foggy, over the past few weeks, and after letting some stuff go, it was really good to feel God's presence everywhere in my life.

I'm settling into the house well, and getting back into the swing of fending for myself, kind of. My clothes are mostly clean and I haven't starved yet!!

Last weekend I paid a trip up to see Ben, Dan and Nikita in Reading. It was great to arrive on the Friday evening, and feel like old times again. I miss it, but realise that the friendships I've made may be sightly different, they are still as strong as the were. The one problem I've found with going to Reading was that I always end up bringing back more than I went with, and that usually means I've been shopping :S but it's still fun!! Ben and I met up with some of the King's guys who had gone up for a conference, and came back with them on the Saturday night, so Ben could see Portsmouth people. And annoyingly they are renovating the lock near Ben's house on the Kennet and Avon canal, so I could go sit on the balance beam as I wanted...so I'm going to have to pay another trip to see them just to do that :P.

Finally, if anyone can help me make sense of miRNAs that would be appreciated! I have a paper analysis to write by next Friday, and I am totally lost in my subject!!

God bless,
Clare xxx (Or Bristol, as I seem to now be in the house!!!)

Major woops!

2008-10-07T19:53:00.002+01:00

I seriously hadn't realised how long it had been since my last post, but the answer is quite a while, my bad!

I've officially started year 3 (argh!! How did that happen?), moved out of Stansted Road ( :( ), moved into my new house, with 4 other girls (3 from church, one on my course), turned 22 (!) and been on holiday (on the canals in and around Birmingham! Great fun, but stupidly early starts for a holiday!).

It's been an emotional time. I found moving back here much harder than I expected. I've become close to two of my friends from back home, so I think that played a factor in my homesickness. But I think the biggest factor was that I was really scared about starting year 3, my final year, the big one! I felt, (and still does a little) like I was standing on the edge of a huge dark abyss. I couldn't see the bottom, or the other side, and there in front of me was a tiny white line, or tightrope that I had to walk across, with the knowledge that one wrong step and I would fall and fail. But I've started walking. My big fears are all turning out to be stupid. Yes, it is going to be a very hard year, but as long as I am sensible, do my work, not sit around blogging all the time (!), and most importantly, trust God, I will succeed. I won't just get through, I'll do well.

I am also realising how blessed I am by all the amazing people I have around me, who I am proud to call friends. There are some who I don't get to see all the time any more, but who are still supporting me. But there are others who are here, at church, in my house and on my course, who are all so amazing. I hope that I can be as great a friend back as they are to me.

This is a very serious blog today, but in a good way. And just think, it could be worse, and I was writing about telomers or HPLC.

On a random side note, I now have a deviantart account, where I have posted some of the pictures I have drawn over the past few years, some really reacent, some much older. The address is: http://roofster86.deviantart.com/

So I'm back! And I will attempt to update this at least once a week.

Clare xxx

It's like buses...

2008-07-16T20:30:00.001+01:00

you wait for ages for one, then two come along at once. Yes, that's right folks, I'm back!
Second post in one night!!

Well, I'm back in Portsmouth, came back yesterday, having been in Bristol for nearly a month, but had a change to catch up with a few friends. I was a little concerned about moving back to the house on my own, but it's been ok as there's another girl living here called Emily. I've only met her briefly but she seems nice. I'm going into the lab with my project supervisor tomorrow morning which I'm very excited about!

So what else has been going on? Erm, not a lot to be honest. I gave my testimony at church, which went well; I went to my grandma's with my parents, including a trip to the huge Borders in Oxford; I've seen two of my friends new flats and stayed up all night and watched the sun rise on Clifton Suspension Bridge, in a moment of madness with a friend, but life's been fairly quiet. Ooo, and I got a new bed, and my room is really tidy, which is astonishing, which those who know how messy I am, know how amazing that is!

I hope that I will be updating more regularly. Because more stuff has happened, it just doesn't seem as important any more.

If anyone wants to read my testimony from the last two years, I can put it on my blog, as I typed it before hand.

I'll wrap this up now, and appoligise for blogging twice in once night!!

Clare xxx

Praise You In This Storm

2008-07-16T19:45:00.000+01:00

There have been a few songs that have really struck a chord with me at this moment in time. In this blog I want to focus on one in particular: Praise You In This Storm by Casting Crowns. If you haven't heard this song, below is the video, sorry the videos not that great, but you can at least hear the song.

I also wanted to put the lyrics down as well:

Praise You In This Storm by Casting Crowns

I was sure by now,God, that You would have reached down
and wiped our tears away,
stepped in and saved the day.
But once again, I say amen
and it's still raining
as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain,
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away.

Chorus:
And I'll praise you in this storm
and I will lift my hands
for You are who You are
no matter where I am
and every tear I've cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to You
and raised me up again
my strength is almost gone how can I carry on
if I can't find You
and as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away

Chorus

I lift my eyes onto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth
I lift my eyes onto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth

Chorus

There are lines that are so relevent to me right now. There have been changes in my life. Two of my housemates have secured placements in Reading, and are living together next year. I've found myself a house with 4 other girls for next year. Another of my friends has got engaged, and one of my friends is two months away from getting married. There have been some major complications with financing the summer, and whilst a vague plan has been formed, as I write this its still not fixed. And with all these things, come all these different emotions. Since having a major chat with one of my friends, things have been more settled, but there have still been a few tears and wibbles.

When things get tough, we do sit and question why all of this is happening, why does life sometimes hurt so much. But as that first verse says, even when we go through the storms of our lives, no matter the cause, God is right there, whispering to us. We are not alone, whether we feel it or not doesn't change the truth.

"Every tear I've cried, you hold in your hands" God cares, our tears don't just fall for no reason, nor do they fall into oblivion, but our caring, loving Father catches each one. In the chorus, they sing of one of the hardest things to do, worship God when life feels impossible. God is unchanging, and is still worthy of our praise. And the best thing we can do when we feel down, caught in the middle of the storms of this life, is to turn our eyes back to God, to worship Him, give everything to Him, and to let go (which is also hard, really hard, I know, I keep struggling with it). The last bit of the song is taken from psalm 121:

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?

2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

The maker of Heaven and earth, the Creator, is willing to help, not only willing but wanting to help us. He doesn't expect us to do things on our own, and we can't do things on our own, no matter how hard we try.

This seems to have turned more into a preach than a blog, woops, but hopefully it'll spark something.

Stay tuned for the next post!

Clare xxx

For those you that are wondering...

2008-05-30T12:57:00.003+01:00

I am still here, even though I haven't blogged in over a month!!

So whats new?

Well, I am nearly at the end of my second year at uni (how did that happen??) and I've completed one exam in macromolecues (proteins and all that jazz), that went much better than expected.

I have a house (nearly) secure for next year, with 3 other girls from church, just need to find a 4th housemate.

I am actually loosing the weight thanks to the new diet, even if it has been hard for me and those around me, (thanks for putting up with me!!). At the first weigh in I'd lose 3kg in just over 3 weeks :).

I'm starting to get more involved in the youth work at King's, the 11-15's age group, where I feel my heart lies more.

We didn't get the grant that we applied for, for the summer project, but there are plans being made that will hopefully still make it possible, and prayers are appreciated.

On a more serious note, God has been showing himself so much to me, both through events in my life, placing people, and things like Bible verses in my life at the time when I need, as well as showing the power of pray etc, in other peoples lives. It's been a great month, and whilst I know that there is still a lot of room for growth and improvement (as there always is) its going to be an exciting, challenging, tough at times, worthwhile thing.

This has been a bit of a random, all over the place, post, kind of how my head is at the moment. Things are changing, my housemates are moving to do years in industry, I'm going into my final year of uni, and have no idea what comes next, its a bit of a muddled, mixed up time, but new things are just around the corner.

I'll try to be back with a more in depth, proper post soon.

Until then

Clare xxx

One week on

2008-04-19T00:59:00.002+01:00

So I've been doing this healthy eating thing for a week now and it has been hard, really hard. I think anyone who's been near me over this week will have realised that I was struggling. There are so many temptations around, it's easy to get caught up in it.

I have also found myself being more emotional and getting more teary than usual. But I've managed to keep going because of the awesome people around me. I have my friends praying and supporting me. I am also getting support from my tutor and one of the chaplains here.

I have had so much to think about and it's easy to lose focus. I have a week of 9-5's next week in the lab doing recombinant DNA techniques, that I have to read about this weekend :S. And I could list the problems that I can forsee because of all of this, but I won't because it will work out, I have great friends, housemates, family around me that will help.

Last Friday night, Ben, Dan and I gathered in the kitchen for a prayer session, which whilst being the tiniest bit random, was awesome. Tonight we did it again, and after the bumpy day today has been, it was really good to spend time with God and my friends, and have a chat as well as praying.

Whilst I still acknowledge that there will be bumpy times ahead, when I just want to attack a bar of chocolate or whatever, I know now that I can turn to my friends for that extra support to get me through. I know that there are many people praying for me and that ultimately God is right there by my side, never leaving me and never letting go!

This has been a bit of a random post, so I may re-read it tomorrow and wonder what on earth I've written, but I hope that it has made sense. And thanks once again to all those that are supporting me, in whatever way, it all helps!

Until next time...!

Clare xxx

Hold On

2008-04-11T19:51:00.003+01:00

It is fair to say that things haven't be going brilliantly well for me at the moment. I've have a series of doctors appointments and a blood test to confirm a diagnosis. It has been playing on my mind a bit, and today, the final diagnosis came through as being the same as what was suspected. Please forgive me for being vauge, but I really don't want to write what it is. It's not life threatening but is life altering. I have been told by the doctors to lose weight...ah. But as I will waffle on about later, I have an amazing group of people surrounding me who are supporting and helping in various ways.

I have friends who are supporting and praying for me even thought some of them are unsure of the difference they are making. Believe me, it is making a difference, a huge difference, whether you can see it or not. I have been so blessed by the people placed in my life, who are being so amazing!

All the troubles and hardships will make us stronger when we get through them. They can show us our friends, and can remind us to let others help, and where our help comes from. Yes there are times when we have to fight the world and ourselves to continue, when we have those massive struggles but have to keep going, and follow the light at the end of that tunnel. There are times when it feels like everything is dark, but then you realise that there are glimmers of light breaking through the darkness, the light coming from our friends, those that love and care
about us, that walk with us, supporting, guiding, helping and sometimes being very honest with us and telling us when we are being stupid. Our brightest light comes from God, who sent Jesus into the world, to be light, and chase the darkness away, how amazing is that.

I know that there are always going to be times in my life that are going to be hard, that's part of life, but I also know that I have a God who loves me, friends who love me and that things will get better.

I hope that this makes sence. Thank you to all those who have supported me, I won't name you, but you know who you are!!

Clare xxx

Space

2008-03-16T23:12:00.002Z

Not the cold vacuum, but stopping, having a break. By the end of term, life can get a bit frantic, life can get on top of you, and a break is greatly required.

I was looking forward to coming home, especially as I haven't been back since Christmas. My first day back home, I went to a retreat day in preparation for Holy Week. One of the most useful things about the day was not the teaching, but just the quiet, the stillness, the time to "stop". It was raining, but that didn't bother me, and I spend time in the garden, just walking around, thinking, sorting out my thoughts and listening to "The Stand" and "Awesome God". It was good to give God some space.

Life seems to be constantly busy now, for everyone. People are working, then house keeping, with less and less time left for socialising, resting etc. There are times when I feel that we need to take a breather. One of my friends facebook statuses was ...is taking a deep breath ready for a busy week. It does often feel like we are diving into busyness and sometimes even trying to swim against the tide.

The creation story, as most people know has 7 days, the 7th being a rest day. I believe this is for a reason. Whether you believe in God or not, we need that 7th day to collect our thoughts and catch our breath. But in this world, when we work everyday of the week, we are removing that rest day. And we are suffering, the world is suffering.

I'm not sure where all this has come from, but I feel it's important. In a society where more and more people are suffering from stress, depression, other illnesses like that, we should be noticing this trend that working too much is bad for our health. So as we head towards Easter, maybe we should take this opportunity to slow down and take a breather.

And on a totally unrelated note, fish.

Ok, hope I haven't offended anyone, said anything too factually incorrect, or talked a load of jibberish!!

Take care, God bless,

Clare xxx

Our God is Amazing!

2008-02-25T10:20:00.002Z

I make no apologise for the highly God filled nature of this post!

When I was younger, I went through the whole girly teen magazine phase. One of the features every fortnight or month or whatever was the horoscopes. If I squinted, they could probably apply to me, but there were days when, not only was the horoscope wrong, it was very improbable that the future as told by this horoscope could happen! However yesterday, there were two separate instances when the sermon at church and my daily bible reading hit right where I was, were exactly what I needed to hear at that time, even though both the sermon and the bible verse would have been thought about and written without any knowledge of what I'm going through and weeks if not months before this moment in time.

If I'm honest, things have been a little bleak over the past 4 or so days. But I have been provided with some fantastic friends who have helped me to keep going. My faith was not at it's strongest, lets be honest, it was hard to pray and the words from the Bible weren't really sinking in. The sermon last night was on worship, and turning our focus back to God. It was a good sermon anyway, but as I said earlier, met me where I am.

I know that having been a Christian for as long as I have, I should expect the unexpected, but there are still times when God surprises me.

And just to finish, Philippians 4:12-13 says: I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

God Bless

Ruth xx

The Next Instalment...

2008-02-16T17:26:00.003Z

As quite a few of my friends have blogged, I kind of feel like I should.

So what's been happening?

Well, lectures have restarted, and seem interesting, if a little hard in place. For example, we had a whole lecture on opening cells and separating the contents, including using a centrifuge. Included in all of that was the physics and equations behind it... oh dear!! But we are looking at things that are more relevant to my course and chosen career path.

The application grant for my summer project was completed and sent off over a week ago, which is good. It is to do an 8 week summer project working with RNase E, found in E. Coli, for which the crystal structure of it was found by my project supervisor. If we get the grant it should be a good experience, as well as working in an interesting field of research.

Ok, non-sciencey people can start reading again. It's been quite a socially active week, with people coming round, or us going out nearly every day this week, including seeing the UPBB playing and going to a kid's party, thrown by Paul. Although, I get the feeling that most children wouldn't be playing monopoly!!

Tonight, I am going to the launch of Student Alpha at King's which is very exciting. There's not much planned for the next few weeks, just hopefully trying to keep on top of work, and understand it all!!

TTFN

Clare xxx

Two hours sleep...

2008-02-06T17:38:00.000Z

does not set you up for a productive day!! I can be very silly sometimes. But there is reason, not just seeing how long it takes for my body to give up, although it is trying, very hard.

I was having a conversation with one of my friends, and we were talking about some of the things we wanted to do, one of which, for me, was watch a sunrise. It is one of those targets that is achievable with just a small amount of effort. So I decided to do it, I have a week off from uni, nothing to get up for, take the opportunity whilst I can, and go watch the sunrise...on my own...ok not such a great plan. So I ask Ben and Sarah if they were interested, and surprisingly they were :). A plan was formed!! SO this morning, at 5:30, having gone to bed at 3:30...woops, I got up. We left at around 6:30 to head to the sea front, being the best place to watch. And it was worth it, even if I'm now very tired, and will probably sleep for a week. It was nice to spend some time with friends, even if it was a little chilly, and watch the sun as it climed up the sky, spreading light and warmth to the world!

Lent started today, and instead of giving up something, it was chocolate last year, remember? That was hard! I've decided to take something up, reading the Bible everyday, because, I will admit, that isn't my strong point. I have three different sources so hopefully I can keep it up. I also hope that putting it on here will alert people to it, and that you will help encourage me, guide me etc, into something that I hope to continue for more that the 40 days of lent. Because last year, after lent I started eating chocolate again, this year I want to keep it up.

I think I've rambled on for long enough. Just to warn you I haven't re-read this so who knows what I've put!!

And thanks to the grammar police. :P

Clare xxx

Truth Time

2008-01-26T17:03:00.000Z

Ok, I need to be honest about this, as hard as it is. I am struggling quite a bit at the moment, with "keeping my chin up" and "staying positive", when revision is nasty. It's a stupid thing, but it's when I'm tired, looking at exam papers and despairing, that old thoughts and feeling come back. And I really hope that good thoughts will come and over come them. I've got some great friends, but I ask if you are reading this and are Christian, can you please pray for me and my exams, that I will get thought them in one piece.

Now to make it sound like a news report!! :P (can you tell that I really don't want to learn about PCR??)
Firstly, the sky is pink. This is nothing to worry about, and will pass in about an hour, by which point it will be dark.
Secondly, I can confirm that the light house on the seafront has always been black and white, but Third, I'm sure that if you want it in red and white you could photoshop it!!
Fourth, My Japanese is done, finished, over!! I just really hope I passed, I think there's a good chance I have!
Fifth, there has been a spieght of grammar police checks happening, victims of which have included "The Whom" and "Doctor Whom". And this report will probably be stopped, checked, corrected and found guilty against crimes against punctuation.
Six, and most exciting, I have a possible placement for summer research here at the University! It will be looking at inhibiting RNase-E in E. coli. (does anyone know what I'm on about??)
And finally, this reporter is convinced that she has forgotten to add something, but she's sure it doesn't matter.
For all those that are revising, and have exams, all the best.
See told you it was dark!!
And Dan, great lamb last night!!

Clare signing off now,

good night, well evening, ish...what, its only 5:25???

Clare xx

Sorry

2008-01-16T18:35:00.000Z

...I haven't blogged recently and that I've been a bit grouchy. My stress levels have been through the roof, mainly caused by a poster group project that we had to do, that virtually consumed my life some days. We seemed to have issue after issue, weren't entirely sure what we had to do, and still had to put it together by the due date yesterday morning. But remarkably everything seemed to come together and we all got over 90% for it, which was nice, made it more worth it. Today I had my Japanese Reading and Listening exams, and was convinced they weren't going to go very well, and had just about upgraded myself from a fail to a scraped pass when I entered the exam. Even doing a review at the beginning of the exam scared me, but it went well, my brain co-operated and the answers were mostly there. Thank you to those that knew about the exam and were praying, with out a doubt it helped!!

Life is generally pottering along, having to fight the dark days more than usual, and remember the good in life. My raised stress levels mean that everything gets to me that little bit more. I become that bit more clingy, cuddling teddies more often... :P but it helps, and the love and support that I have around me, makes life easier.

I still have more exams to come, but I'm hoping that things will ease of a bit, and the I'll have a chance to catch up with myself at the end of the exams before starting the next slog. Also that I will stop feeling so drained and tired all the time. I wanted to go to church on Sunday but didn't cos I felt so tired.

Hope that the positives have come through ok, because are are many, but I felt I had to voice the negatives so that I'm no longer carrying them on my own.

Ok, that's enough for now,

Until next time...

Clare xxx

Merry Christmas!!

2007-12-25T17:58:00.000Z

Hope that this post finds you all well, having have a good Christmas day, how ever you chose to celebrate it.

I did the usual family thing today, with my brother spending half the day with us. Having been to midnight mass at my dads church, I was still a bit tired when I woke up, but still managed to have time to open my stocking in my parents room before church!! The service was good, the usual section of the children showing what they had got, intermixed with carols. There was then a gap before Christmas dinner, great as always!!! The washing up, had to be done, then presents!! All great this year, including a Rubik's cube, the Snowman DVD and a microwavable bear, one where you microwave the whole bear! It was good to see how well the presents I got went down, given that I deviated from any list given!!

Have a great break, what you have left, and a Blessed New Year!

God Bless,

Ruth xxx

Home again!

2007-12-17T11:07:00.000Z

I'm back in Bristol, having ended my term last Thursday.

So what's been happening?

Well, we've had our house Christmas meal and present swap, which was great fun, but felt "grown up" which was nice! We had a Freshers party at our house for the four "adopted" freshers, which Sarah H and Gill came to. We had party food, more presents, and games. Lastly, there was the King's Cell groups Christmas meal and quiz night, with a nice Christmas dinner and 5 quiz rounds, including the Music Intros round created by Ben, Dan and me. So Christmas has been going for about the last month. I was also asked to help as a steward at the University carol service. That involved greeting people, handing out candles and books, being there in case of an emergency, taking collection and lighting the candles. It was fun, but hard to focus on the service.

It is kind of strange to be home, as, honestly, home is feeling more like a visit, than coming back to my home. I'm not surprised about it, I just didn't expect to feel that way. The good things about being home are: home cooked meals, seeing my family, and getting the post that I had ordered, like the Bourne Ultimatum and the Oceans 13. :D

I am also now a proud owner of the 1:18 F2007 signed Kimi Raikkonen championship presentation car. That's a mouthful...have I lost any one yet?? See the photos below:

I have the usual family Christmas plans, plus the Youth Group meal, and hopefully seeing a few friends.

I will try to update after Christmas!

Clare xxx

Konnichiwa

2007-12-03T11:53:00.000Z

Well, I've realised that I haven't really put much on here reacently, so I now have to force my brain to co-operate so that I can write this.

Uni has generally been going ok, it has been harder, but I'm not sinking....yet! My main struggle is my Japanese, which I'm finding great fun, but have a few trouble remembering everything, and there's a lot of it!!

I've been away for the past two weekends. Last weekend, I was up in Hedge End, near Southampton, about a half hour train journey, to visit some friends, Richard and Ruth, that we knew from back home. They now have two children, Michael who is 4, and Philippa, who is 1 and a half, and my dad's God daughter. I spent the weekend enjoying being a child again! Michael got a second hand Tracy Island on the Saturday, so spent most of the weekend playing with that. And he let me join in and rescue Thunderbird 3 from Philippa. We also watched some Thunderbird's :). It did also give me a chance to have a girly catch up with Ruth on Saturday evening.

The weekend just gone, I was in Southampton, staying with my friend Karen from home. It was her 21st Birthday on Sunday, and she had a party on Saturday evening. It was Japanese themed with food, drink and costumes with that theme! I was a fun evening, and I got to see some of her friends that I met last year, as well as meeting some more of her friends this year. The only down side was that I have a cold, and really wasn't feeling that great and was sat in the corner for most of it, kinda zoned out. But no one really minded. They did laugh at me when we played "stick the piece of paper on Sonic". We were all blind folded, and most people had a shot and were spun three times. Due to not feeling great I asked if I could miss that bit. I still couldn't walk in a straight line!!

That just about brings me up to date. I've probably missed something, but never mind!!

Clare xxx

Me again

2007-11-17T21:42:00.000Z

Spoke to my brother today. Rang my mum to find out how he was, and she passed me across to him. He came home today. Still can't eat properly, and is in a lot of pain. But that's understandable. His appendix hadn't burst as we had though, but there was a complication. The had some trouble finding his appendix and had to make quite a large incision. He's defiantly of college for a week, but even when he goes back will struggle with the active parts of his course. Keep praying that he recovers quickly.

Ruth xx

Update again

2007-11-15T23:07:00.000Z

Well, Tim's appendix burst, and a half hour op took 3 hours. But he seems ok. In pain, understandably, but ok. He's not really eating yet, and has two drips in to try to get his fluids and salts back up after he lost them during the night. They are keeping him in to make sure he's ok and to make sure his salts improve.

Still don't know whether to go home, but hopefully after a good nights sleep my mind will be clearer. I don't want lectures atm :(

I just want to say thanks to those people who read this and have been praying and supporting me and my family, either in person or across a distance. :)

Update

2007-11-15T18:27:00.000Z

Surprisingly, Tim was in surgery by 10:45 this morning. I'm not entirely sure of the details, but I think his appendix has now been removed, and they are currently looking at sending him home on Sunday or Monday.

All our information is coming via Tim's girlfriend, who isn't fully sure of all the medical details. I really want to be at home, but as several people, including my mum, have pointed out, there's the cost factor, and there's not a lot I could do at home. Doesn't stop me wanting to go, and see Tim, and be there.

I am pretty much constantly on the verge of tears, but annoyingly, not actually properly crying at the moment. I feel so helpless...

For the first time...

2007-11-15T10:06:00.000Z

in a while, I really wish that I could go home.

I got two texts this morning from my mum, telling me that my brother was taken to hospital at around 5 this morning with appendicitis, and that they are going to operate on him sometime in the next day or so. I know that everything should be ok, but that doesn't detract from that fact that I want to see him and be with my family, and that I feel really alone right now.

If I go home, it'll cost quite a bit, there will be nothing I can do, and I'll probablly end up missing all my Friday stuff this week. If I stay here, I'll worry, but at least I have a good support network. Hmmm...

Can you please pray for him, his girlfriend whose with him, and us please? Thank you :)

Ruth xx

**edit**
He went into theatre at 10:45. No idea how long he's going to be in there.

Visiting Home

2007-11-05T12:27:00.000Z

I went home this weekend, for my brothers 18th birthday. It also gave me a chance to pick up a few things from home.

The journey home was good, not too busy, the train even had four carriages..!! I had a nice tea of salmon that my dad cooked. I love home cooking!! :) I looked through the massive amount of post I had, most of it junk, but some stuff I wanted, including and Amazon order I hoped would be delivered before I came back to uni, and a few magazines. Plus, the stuff to say that I am now an official graduate of the University of Interesting, with a BSc in Tea Chemistry!

Saturday was fairly quiet, sorting a few things out, getting some photos printed, before going out for a meal for Tim's birthday. It was nice to see him again, as it's becoming such a rare event. And much to my surprise he's quit smoking!!

Sunday, I went back to my home church. Only my parents knew I was back, so the reaction I got was very funny!! I also realised home much I miss the youth group when I'm not there. It has grown since I was leading, from 5 youth to 10 ish when I was there, which is great!! I had an opportunity to have a good catch up with Ollie, chatting about how things are going, including the fact that he is now engaged, how exciting!!!

The weekend wasn't long enough, but I was wanting to get back here as well. The train journey back was really boring, was slightly longer than the journey to Bristol, but felt a lot longer. I had a book, but I wasn't really interested in it. I wanted internet access to check a few things, but most of all I just wanted the journey to be over.

I had a nice surprise when I arrived at Fratton. At to end of the platform were Ben and Ineke waiting for me. It was lovely of them to come and meet me, and great to see Ineke again! We realised that I had planned to go home the weekend she was visiting...woops... But we did get a chance to chat for a bit!

We went to church at the end of the service, and then on to the pub. Then Sarah, Sarah, Sarah and Jen came back with us, making our house busy, which was nice.

That about wraps it up for this weekend. Hope it's not to boring to read!!!

Clare xxx

Missing...

2007-10-28T00:08:00.000+01:00

one appetite. If found please can you return it to me?

Thanks :P

Clare xxx

Result!!

2007-10-21T21:47:00.001+01:00

After what has felt like many long years of struggle, Kimi Raikkonen has finally won the Formula 1 World Championship. I am both amazed and very excited. I knew he had a chance, but he's come closer than he was a still lost it. But today, the cards fell well, and everything that needed to happen to allow him to win, did. Much to my amazement.

I do feel to was very unlucky for Hamilton to have such hard luck. But ultimately, it's Raikkonen I've been following since he joined F1 and therefore, despite not being British like Hamilton, Raikkonen I wanted to win.

Clare xxx

Thoughts

2007-10-20T13:01:00.000+01:00

Firstly, an update on my dad. Thank you for all those who prayed. In an email he sent to the family, he said that he really felt the prayers. For a guy who is usually scared of hospitals, he said that he was calm and relaxed. A real answer to pray. The outcome of the appointment was that he does have a hiatus hernia, but that it's treatable. Hopefully the pain and discomfort he feels will fade.

I've started learning Japanese this week as an elective on my course. The first lesson was intense and fast, but also really good. I have, what seemed like, the mammoth task of learning Hiragana, one of the Japanese scripts. But after breaking it down and following advice from our Sensai and websites, it's gradually getting there.

In other news, I'm back helping at King's Kids on a Friday evening, and due to a lack of male leaders, I help on the boys side. It's interesting seeing the difference between the boys and the girls behaviour wise.

There's probably other stuff, but life's normal, but not that news worthy atm!

Clare xxx

Purple Box

2007-10-16T15:55:00.000+01:00

I have this purple box. It's a box of memories I think it's sometimes called. It's where I put objects and pieces of paper that means something to me but to most people is worthless junk.

I was going through it recently looking for things I can put on my wall and realising how much stuff I have in there. I have a card and a necklace from an old friend, something I keep thinking I should get rid of, but I'm not sure how. I have an old key, that apparently was for a side gate at a friends old house, but became symbolic as a key to something else. I have a programme and tickets from when I went to watch a friend race cars. I have the ticket from the play I went to see whilst my brother was being rushed to hospital, but that I still went to because "life goes on". I have the thank you cards and passes from my gap year. The tickets from going to see one of my favourite, but little know bands play. I have the tickets from when I went on the London Eye, the Tube, the Scottish Tube. I have a purple heart badge that I was given by the youth at the kids club I did at home, one Valentines day. The peg that was randomly put on my by one of the CU during the baptism service at my church at uni. The badges that I got given during primary school for various achievements also sit in that box.

It's a box of memories. Of funny times, sad times, happy times. But there are also little bits of encouragement, letters written, those pieces of paper where you write something about the person on them, the random things that make me smile and laugh because of what's linked to them.

I don't really know the point of this, I just felt like writing it. Maybe one day someone will look through that box, a relative, someone who knew me, after I've gone, and wonder the significance of an Eeyore keyring. Will it just be a piece of metal, a pretty thing? Or will they know? Who knows?

Clare xxx

Prayers

2007-10-16T11:09:00.000+01:00

I should have put this on here earlier but I forgot...woops.

Can I ask people to pray for my dad. He is going into hospital today to have a tube with a camera put down his throat, to see if he has a hiatus hernia. He is hoping he doesn't but we will find out today. He was surprise at the pace that everything has moved from the GP visit to the hospital appointment and that has unnerved him slightly. He doesn't like hospitals. Can you pray also for my mum who will worry.

Thanks

Ruth xxx

God didn't screw up when He made us

2007-10-13T11:43:00.000+01:00

I was listen to Our God Reigns, by Delirious? and one lyric caught my attention "God didn't screw up when He made you". So I googled it and found the rest of the lyrics.

Psalm one hundred and thirty nine is the conscience to our selfish crime,
God didn’t screw up when he made you,
He’s a father who loves to parade you.

So I looked at Psalm 139, verses 3-5 say

3 You chart the path ahead of me
and tell me where to stop and rest.
Every moment you know where I am.
4 You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, Lord.
5 You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.

In what ever is going to happen God already knows, He's there Guiding my path.

Psalm 23

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

How amazing is Our God. How little do I say that?

21!!

2007-10-07T11:04:00.000+01:00

I had a joint 21st birthday with Sarah, who's 20.

We had a fairly quiet evening watching a film and chatting. It was great to see various people again, including one of my Bristol friends. We had a lot of food and drink...and we still have tones of stuff left!!

I finally got to bed at 2am, and got up to watch the F1 at 6...and haven't been back to bed yet. Feeling more than a little tired now, but never mind...!!!!!

Sleepy and confused...

Bye

Clare xxx

Once again, Into the Breach

2007-10-02T16:43:00.000+01:00

Well, I'm back in Portsmouth. The summer has been long, and I'm just about ready to start again!

After my last minute packing...(woops!!) on Friday, the car was loaded to the brim with all my random stuff ready for the trip down to Portsmouth on Saturday. I was excited, but also really worried about how I would cope, missing my family and having to re-adapt to life in Ports again.

The journey down was smooth most of the time, but when we reached Ports, we reached the traffic, it was horrible...!! My brother and mum, who travelled by train, reached the house first... :O! It was great to see Ben, Dan and Kita, who was visiting for the weekend, again. All the boxes were moved up to my room. Saturday evening was fairly relaxed. I got to meet Phil, who has become the fourth house mate after James had to pull out. Phil is from Germany, studying for his masters. Kita made us jacket potatoes and we just chilled out. Ben had to take the car back to his house, so didn't stay the night.

The first night was good, I just about slept, but had a 4:30 start to watch the Formula 1 in Japan. It was a bit of wet race, and was under the safety car for a lot of it, and I was running the risk of falling asleep, but there were some good parts! I went back to bed for a bit, but ended up just reading and watching kids tv. There was a BBQ at Adam's to welcome the new students. It was great to see everyone and catch up...!! :D The service was really good, a baptismal service. Some of us, went for drinks at the pub just down the road after. We walked some of the freshers back, then two of them decided to come back to ours and watch a film.

Didn't have much to do on Monday. Eventually got up, Ben, Dan and I had a really late breakfast, then headed to Southampton so the guys could buy more hi-fi stuff (sigh). The evening we all (the house mates) went to 'Spoons for tea. Apart from the fact that they had very little in the way of food, it was good.

Today I had registration and getting a few essentials, and another chance to see old friends again.

Oh, and I turned 21 on Thursday!! Scary!!

I'm sure I've missed something, but it happens...!!

Clare xxx

Yellow!!!!!!!

2007-09-09T23:10:00.000+01:00

Posts have been a bit lacking this summer. Generally it's been a quiet summer, I've had a chance to catch up with a few friends, see some family, and family friends, and generally relax.

My room is now a lot tidier then when I came home, much to my surprise. I have got rid of sooo many things. Also acquired a few more things, like an advertisement board for Tag Heure eye wear with Kimi Raikkonen on it...don't say anything, I know that it's a bit sad...but hey! :P

I've been reading David Coulthard's autobiography: It is what it is. It's a very interesting read, giving insight into the world of racing and the progression into Formula 1. I think it helps to have some interest before reading, but is still informative even with out that knowledge.

I've only been to the cinema a few times this summer (where as I went to the cinema nearly every week at uni!). I've seen Oceans 13 and the Bourne Ultimatum. Both sequels, but good. The final Bourne film is very good, and I would highly recommend seeing it. You do need to have seen the other ones first!

Sorry if I've repeated anything I've already said.

I am glad that the summer's nearly over. It's been difficult at times, being away from friends and King's church. Especially when a few things went wrong this summer and I felt isolated and down. But I have had some great support from my Portsmouth friends, via MSN and the phone. But having said that, I'm also worried about going back to uni, getting used to working again, and not seeing my family everyday. But, I'll have to take it one day at a time, as I have with everything in life.

For now...

Clare xxx

Unsettled

2007-08-21T01:32:00.000+01:00

I don't know when people are going to read this or even who reads this, but I ask if you can pray for me at the moment, as things seem to keep going wrong, and I am struggling, and not being honest about it. I really need God's focus and guidance on a few situations and I ask you to pray that he will give it to me.

Thank you so much

God Bless

Ruth xx

What I did over the weekend

2007-08-06T14:47:00.000+01:00

When I was at primary school, every Monday morning we had a time to write our diaries, accounting what we did over the weekend. Quite regularly mine mentioned watching the F1 (no change there!) My teacher would comment saying that it was too loud for her. But, remanicing over, this weekend I went to Snetterton race track in Norfolk.

I had somehow persuaded my parents to take me (as I still can't drive!) and as it was near where they had lived for 10 years and they had friends near there, so it was a good excuse to do some visiting as well.

For those who don't know, one of my house mates for next year, James, races in the Formula Ford series, and was at Snetterton last weekend, and had invited me along.

Now, as things sometimes do in racing, the order of events moved and instead of James racing on both Saturday and Sunday, he was now only racing on the Sunday, and we only had tickets for the Saturday...ah!

As we had tickets, it was still worth going and we knew James should be there at some point on Saturday afternoon.

So on Friday 3rd August. The plan was to leave around 10 am Friday morning, to avoid the most of the M25 traffic, and visit both Walsingham shrines. One of the people at my dads church had invited me to an event at the RC shrine, and as I was unlikely to go, we thought it would be nice to visit them so I had seen them. They were both interesting places, the RC one being more busy because of a festival being there. But despite that I still preferred the Anglican one.

We were staying in Norwich on Friday night so that the run to the circuit would be fairly good on Saturday.

On Saturday morning, we drove past my parents old work places, my first house and the first church I went to at about 2 weeks old. (Another little piece of info: I was born in Norwich, but moved when I was 2!)

We arrived at the race track in time to see the end of the EuroBOSS qualifying and the lunch break. Once we'd found a place to sit - easy really - at Russell bend, dad and I went exploring. We found our way into the paddock and near the pit lane. It was good to get close to the action and the cars and get a better feel of the atmosphere. We managed to get a programme so that we knew what was happening when, and found where we could eat, before heading back to where we were sat. Most of the afternoon was spent in the sun, so even with sun cream some of us burnt...! James arrived with his mum and 2 of his friends at 5, whilst the last race was still happening. I was good to see him for a bit before we had to leave to get to London. As we left the track, for London, I thought that we wouldn't be going back, but I had hoped that my parents would change their mind.

And fortunately they did!! So on Sunday, we headed back to the track. It was busier than the Saturday, but that not at all surprising. We cut the timings a bit fine, and I got out the car as soon as we got to the circuit just in time to see the end of the lap before the start of the race and locate the car James was driving. His first race was good, but fairly uneventful. At the end, we wandered down to the paddock to see James and his car closer up. We stuck around the paddock for a bit catching up with the race news that wasn't on the commentry, before James' friends decided it was lunch time and we headed to the on site restaurant, leaving James sorting out a few race bits. The good thing about using the on site restaurant was the large tv on the wall, brodcasting the coverage from the Hungarian F1 grand prix. That was the only problem about the weekend was missing the F1 news, so this was ideal, and there were a lot of other F1 fans to watch it with. James and his mum found us in the restaurant and we all watched the out come of the race before heading back out to watch the live racing. James had to spend his afternoon making sure he was ready for his other race, so I spent time with his friends, watching the racing then packing up the tents. I was able to see James before he went off to his final race as we had to run at the end of his race. The second race was more eventful, with one car loosing it's nose, another spinning and two cars, including James, hitting the posts on the corner. James started 10th in the first race and finished 7th, then finished 8th in the second race. The journey home took about 5 hours including a break at a services.

It was a great weekend, and good to finally see James racing after hearing so much about it.

Just in case you're interested the races on Saturday were: BRSCC Formula Jedi Championship, Sports 2000 Historic series, Snetterton EuroBOSS Super Prix and Uniroyal Fun cup (which was 4 hours...4 HOURS!!!). And on Sunday were: BRSCC Club Formula Ford (MS) Championship, Sports 2000 Endurance race, Snetterton EuroBOSS Super Prix, BRSCC Formula Jedi Championship, BRSCC Alfashop Alfa Romeo Championship, BRSCC LMA Euro Saloon & Sports Car Chamionship and another BRSCC Club Formula Ford (MS) Championship.

Hope this makes sence!!

Clare xxx

I'm home...

2007-07-04T17:01:00.001+01:00

and have been for a while so it's update time I suppose. Both a lot and nothing has been happening since I came home.

I came back on the 7th of June, so I've been home nearly a month. In that time I've been clearing my room, a mammoth challenge, gone shopping and seen a few friends.

The evening before I came back, Ben, Ineke, Dan, James, Hayley, Sarah and I went out for a very enjoyable meal at Tootsies, before most of us heading out to Ben's house in Titchfield Common (hopefully spelt correctly!) to watch The Pursuit of Happyness. It was a bit of a late one, but a very nice way to end to year!

I've restarted my work with the Beaver Scouts every Tuesday night, although I was doing a few things for them whilst I was away. At Beavers we have been looking a safety: Safety in the home - what to do in a fire, chemicals and electricity hazards; Safety by water - going to visit someone at Bristol floating harbour who gave us a talk on keeping safe and the hazards of being near water, as well as a planned walk, but that was called off because of a massive thunder storm. Not that that dampened the Beavers spirits and they would have been quite happy to have gone out in it; Personal safety - stranger danger mainly, who you can trust and who you can't. They were shown some faces, and asked to decide who were strangers. All except one face should have been identified as strangers, only one was...oh well, hopefully they know now; and last night we had an American evening - match the English words to the American words, identify the National anthem and eating cookies and doughnuts, and drinking coke and fanta, and having a visit from a police office and a PCSO (both very nice people and worked very well with the Beavers!)where the Beavers could look at the warrent cards, hand cuffs, pepper spray (not that they were allowed near it!!) and the radio, as well as looking at a PCSO's car, which they all loved doing.

I was also back in time for Meg's baptism. Meg is one of the girls in the youth group that I helped lead last year and it was such a joy to see her go through the waters of baptism and to see some of the people we met last summer come and support her. I just hope and pray that she can keep relying on God's strength to get her through the challenges she faces and will face in the future.

On the weekend of the 23rd, I went down to Ben's house for the Goodwood Festival of Speed. We had been planning it for a while so I was excited, despite the early morning and long day. Ben, Ineke, Dan, Tessa and I had a good day (I think!) and it was great to be around cars (how sad am I???) The only down side (except a painful shoulder and aching muscles and cut ankles...) was the thunder, lightening, rain and hail that descended on the site and turned it a little bit muddy! I arrived at Romsey on Friday and was met by Ben and Ineke, and stayed until mid Sunday, so got to visit Ben's church and meet Ben's family.

I also lead a Bible study with some of the children at my dad's church, that seemed to go well, even if the kid's were a little on the quiet side. But reports back have said the the kids were impressed.

Results are back... and I have officially passed the first year!! Yay, that's a relief, and the good news was that it wasn't as close to failing as I had feared :D.

Final thing: my right shoulder has been hurting, aching and generally being annoying, for a while, but was aggravated during the Goodwood weekend (the heavy bag didn't help... :S). Can you please pray for healing? I am probably going to have to take it to the doctors but feel pray is the permenent solution. Thanks :)

It's my mums birthday today so were going out for a meal soon ish so I should get ready. I hope to see some, most, all (maybe?) of you over the summer before restarting in October (October...?? My dad's not impressed, he thinks it's far to long!) Hopefully the weather will start being more summery.

Bye for now! Have fun! God Bless!

Clare xxx

I'm a Meerkat...

2007-06-01T23:49:00.001+01:00

...according to this site. It's really interesting! My "power animal" (whatever one of those is...!) is a Kalahari Meerkat.

My name backwards is HTUR SENOJ, and in ASCII Binary 01010010 01110101 01110100 01101000 00100000 01001010 01101111 01101110 01100101 01110011 ! I am also averagely envoweled as 33% of the letters are vowels!

Hope that's enlightened your day!! And the picture is very cute!! :P I got the link to the page from Ben's blog.

Clare xxx

Then there were three...

2007-06-01T22:11:00.000+01:00

The flat is slowly emptying...it's quite sad really...signals the end of the year, the first year at uni, my first time not living at home, with total strangers, in a new city...wow!

Clare went home yesterday, and Nick and Sam went home today. Now it's just Sammy, Lewis and me...and is quiet and empty. It's Friday night and I know that the kitchen will still be tidy tomorrow, that I won't get woken up...and I'm actually sad about that...

I wonder about what life will be like at home, I'll settle back ok, but before, I've always known that I'll be going back, but not this time. The next time I won't be living at home, it will be with a new set of people, people I know and have chosen to live with...yet another new experience!

So, Lewis, Sam, Sammy, Nick and Clare, if you happen to stumble upon this, it's been fun, and I'm so glad that I had such a nice bunch of people for my first ever flat mates!!

For now...

Clare xxx

Wow!!!

2007-05-23T22:36:00.000+01:00

Pirates of the Caribbean: At worlds end, was amazing!! It was a really good concluding part to the trilogy, and I would say, maybe better than POTC 2. It's really difficult to write this with out giving anything away... so it's going to be brief.

There are some very funny moments, few sad, few scary. All the usual characters are there as well as a few we haven't met yet. It feels like any loose ends are tied up. And if you go to see it, don't forget to stay to the very end after the credits and see the final scene.

My only moan about it was that, due to a cinematic error, we had to watch the film with subtitles...

Great film, worth seeing, I wanna go again.... :P

Clare xxx

Steve...

2007-05-18T19:31:00.000+01:00

Just for the record....I am not in competition with you...end of story...for now...*cue evil laugh...!!!"

Clare xxx

Me again...

2007-05-17T13:36:00.000+01:00

Hello!!

Once again we have entered the dreaded exam period... :(, but that also means that I have nearly finished my first year at uni. I think that I more scary... To think that around 8 months ago things were sooo different, I had very few Christian friends, very few close friends, I rarely went out, whether it was just to see a friends, or a film, or clubbing. I never imagined quite how settled I would feel down here, that I would get on well with my flat mates, and hopefully not loose contact with some of them next year, that I was have a house sorted with house mates I'm looking forward to living with.

I go to a good, active church. I'm part of a great cell group, where I don't feel like I have to hide anything. God has been doing alot of work in my life, both with issues that I was aware of, and some that I had tried to bury. I would say that I have been broken by Him, but healed by Him. My faith has grown, through the rough patches, the really bad homesickness (which, I'm pleased to say has nearly gone..!! I still miss home tho!), the times I felt really distant from God.

The course is going well. I have found me feet, and am understanding lectures. The work side still need some more improvement, but it'll get there.

Things have been very positive. Four months at home, then back to the uni life.

Clare xxx

Blog Design

2007-05-14T19:25:00.000+01:00

Since I set up this blog, I have been trying to find a design and colour scheme I vaugely like. Ben has been helping me with this, by re-colouring sections of the site I couldn't do with Blogger, and centering the sunset picture.

Cheers

Clare xxx

Heehee..!!!!

2007-05-08T18:58:00.000+01:00

I have an account on Dan's Mac...!!! :P And I'm very slightly hyper....and I'm listening to Transition...and...and...

Nah, I think that's it...!!

Heehee!!!

Clare xxx :D :P

Transition...

2007-05-07T22:43:00.000+01:00

...were absolutely AMAZING!!!! I'm really glad that I got to come back to see them.

Friday night was the acoustic gig, it was lovely. When I arrived, I managed to find Martin and Tina, Steve and Niall's parents, who I met and worked with for the Love Bristol Festival last summer. In the hall were large tables, with chairs and candles. The atmosphere was really relaxed as well. I ended up sitting at a table with some of the bands relatives: Steve and Niall's parents, and 3 cousins, and Jesse and Josh's mum and aunt...weird. The night started with Fiach, an Irish singer/songwriter, also Niall and Steve's cousin. He played a few songs, and really helped set the tone for the evening.

Then the band came on. The set was a mix of really old, old, new and very new songs, intermixed with funny stories about the band, mostly told by Jess but with input from the others. I'm not sure how funny it was meant to be but there were some very funny bits. On two occasions, the guys got us to sing along, complete with three part going during one song!! The band generally only play: bass, guitars and drums, but they even managed a harp for one of the new songs... I also got a Transition jacket :D

Saturday was the electric set, a lot louder, and with more audience participation. They had two support bands, who were good, before they played. What was weird was that the various members of Transition were wandering around the audience during the support acts. I brought their album, Openhanded and Undetected (again!!!, 'cos my last copy is still on loan somewhere...) and got the guys to sign it... Tina was with me and asked Jesse, who was stood next to us, if he would sign it, and he then offered to get the other guys to sign it as well, they really are lovely guys!!

The actually set was amazing, similar to the Friday, with the mix of songs an stories, but different stories, more relevant to the crowd, and a different set, ending with two fantastic new songs, which have made me even more excited for the new album... :D. Unfortunately, I had to leave before the guys had come out, so I didn't get a chance to say bye, but that can be said in the email.

And incase you don't know who Transition are... their website is here

and this is the video for While We Walk, played on MTV:

As to the rest of my weekend, it was really good. I had a good time at home. I helped to do the display for the 229th Scouts AGM, well the Beavers part. On the Sunday, I got to got to Salem again, an see everyone, and was there for a service for one of our missionaries, and for a bring and share lunch. In the evening, I went with the youth group, to the Mix, a monthly youth service. It was really good, and had a very good message about the Church. It also gave me a change to see a few people who I worked with during the Love Bristol Festival.

I came back today, and had a surprisingly good journey.

Think that's it...

Clare xxx

Manic...

2007-05-04T03:02:00.000+01:00

...I have no idea what the time of this post will be, but it is now 3:02 according to my computer.

After leaving Dan's I came back to mine, to pack, and then get a semi-early night...why do my plans NEVER work...?? I had just finished packing when one of my course mates came online, then wanted to ring me. It was now 12:30 ish...not entirely sure... He rang me, and the conversation made me feel upset and guilty, I won't say why, but I really felt like packing everything in and just giving up...what was the point anymore...?

I rang Ben, and he was still at Dan's...which was good for me, because it meant that I could go up and see them for support, what I needed right then before I fliped, or started on that horrible dark, downward spiral that could have happened. Dan made me a great latte, hit the spot, and I had space to talk and cry. I then stayed for a bit, before I started falling asleep. At that point, the guys realised that there was some printing they needed doing. could I do it? It was gone 2...but sure, why not...? SO ran back to my flat, did the printing and then back up to Dan's. I have now left for the final time, and will probably try to sleep soon. TBH, I don't really feel like sleeping. Still feel a bit unsettled and upset, so my have a nice little chat with the Big Dude up stairs.

So much to do...so little time...

Clare xxx

My Week...

2007-05-03T20:16:00.000+01:00

I am currently getting overly excited because I'm going home tomorrow!!! :D But it's te reason I'm going that I'm really looking forward to!! I am going to see Transition...yay!!! Have I lost you yet?? Transition are a Bristol based band that I met last summer and love!! It is their 10th anniversary gig, playing an accoustic set on Friday night and a electric set on Saturday. The only downside is that my dad is taking me, and it's about a 45 minute drive from home...so I owe him big time!! :P

My week in general has been fairly good, not quite the average week. Probably best to start on Sunday...

Sunday: My morning was lazy as usual, and things didn't really get exciting until the evening. Last Sunday, there was a baptism at King's which is always exciting, but we also had a really good speaker over from Australia. His talk was about trying to balance giving and praying. It was very challenging but such a good talk. God was really talking to me both then and during this week, prompting me to do a few things that I wouldn't have normally done, and had never done before.

Monday: I had a few lectures, then I met with Ben and we went shopping. We decided that for tea, as Dan was away, we would make Shepherds pie. So after Ben had got back from Big Band we went back to his kitchen and cooked! It was quite exciting really! And tasted good!!! :D

Tuesday: Started off the day by going to the beach with Ben and Sam, having ice cream (yay!!) and then lying on the beach before an early lunch so that Ben and I could get to our lecture on time. After Ben had finished work we went down to Jamocha's for Cell, complete with a cardboard cutout of Dan...!! Cell was good. We were looking at the main focuses of student life and how we can evangelise in those circumstances.

Wednesday: No lectures...!!! Tesco with Dan (who arrived back on Tuesday evening, very late...), then Diane came round to work on our project for a bit, before I headed up to Dan's flat, where we sat for a bit before deciding to go to see Shooter, a verg good film, better than I expected...!!

Today: (is it really Thursday??) My longest day this week...but surprisingly managble...Mervyn came round so I could go through Differentiation with him...so fun!!! And now, I am, as usual, sat in Dan's flat, typing this post, on Ben's laptop with a dodgy 'H' key... I do need to pack at some point...and I may go put the oven on, so we can eat sometime before midnight..!! :P

TTFN

Clare xxx

P.S. We're gonna have pizza...!!! :P :D

Yeehaa..

2007-04-27T19:28:00.000+01:00

..is apparently spelt yahoo, but not...

Ok, on to what this post is actually about. I am not turning into a cowboy, and I am not moving to America, I have actually started helping with King's Kids, at King's church. I started last week, and meant to post something then....but didn't...oops. The theme for this term is, funnily enough, Cowboys. Which probably explains the dodgy accents, and why I'm sat in Jamocha's, wearing a checked shirt with a cowboy hat on the screen... :P.

It is really good to get back into to kids work again, even if I have to learn new formats and ways of working. The team meet at 5 for a briefing, and prayer. Then we split into "walking bus" teams, to collect the children and walk them back to the church. There is then a hour of games, songs, a talk and a prayer. There is a competition between the boys and the girls, and prizes up for grabs. Its a really fun thing for the kids. There are some really good messages going out from that church, and a good relationship with the kids. It will be a shame to miss it next week.

Thats all for now folks!!

Clare xxx

The Matrix

2007-04-19T23:56:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the Matrix...

Not much has been happening recently. I had a great few days lecture free, which have still really hectic, but good all the same. On Tuesday afternoon I went shopping with Sam for some summer clothes. In the evening I missed cell to go out for a meal with my flatmates to celebrate Clare's Birthday.

On Wednesday, we had a tutor meeting, planning our presentation, then after doing some work, and tidying, and watching a film, I went to see Ben at his work, 'cos I was bored! Later I went to see the University of Portsmouth Big Band with James. It was a film and tv themed night, so there were some really good songs played. Sam also managed to join us for the end.

Today, I had a really lazy day, and after not doing much, I relocated to Dan's flat and didn't do much there instead... :P. We decided to go to 'Spoons for tea, the watch the final of the Matrix Trilogy, the other two we watched on Sunday and Monday.

That just about brings you up to date, as I said not much as been happening...

TTFN

Clare xxx

Back!

2007-04-14T23:29:00.000+01:00

And front!!

Well, I'm back! Where on earth did two weeks go?? I always seem to loose hours or days at a time without realising. But it was good to be back, even if it was for a short space of time. I got to see a few old friends, go back to school, play at my dad's church, go to my church, get a new phone...how exciting...!!

That's all for now...

Clare xxx

Old friends and a new phone

2007-04-11T20:18:00.000+01:00

Today, I set out with the intention of doing some shopping in Bristol before I go home. I even had a plan as to the order I would do things. But as usual plans don't always work.

I caught the bus to town with my mum (I love Pompey, I can walk to town!!), then caught another bus to the top of Park street. I think that I was having a very bad day when the first thing that happened as I got off the bus was I got "got" by a fones 4 U salesman...oh dear!! I for some reason agreed to go into the shop to talk about contracts. After a while they needed forms of ID etc, but I didn't have them. As I was leaving, the guy serving me whispered that it may be worth me going next door...to the Carphone Warehouse...!!! When I escaped, I made it about 100m nearer to my initial destination before a guy from face2face stopped me. After chatting to him for a short period of time I escaped again!

I then continued my journey. I was heading to the Royal West of England Academy to see an old (sorta) friend, Dan, who I hadn't seen in nearly 2 years!! Shocking...!! But unfortunately that seems to be the same for most of my friends... I arrived, and after wandering around for a while looking for him decided the best option was to ask. I did, and he was contacted and came to see me. I think he was slightly surprised to see me...in a good way I hope(!), and it was good to have a chance to catch up. He also got me free entry into the gallery. Not that I really cared, and I was glad not to have to pay. TBH I'm not really a big fan of paintings...and we ended up talking more about whether they were straight and how bored the artist must have been instead of the content...We chatted a bit more before he decided it was time to go back to work, and after a hug, and promises to see each other in August/September time, I left.

It was time to try to continue the phone saga. As I had started it, I thought that I may as well finish it. So I headed to Carephone Warehouse (am I allowed to state brands???). The first thing I notice about it was that it was smaller, and busier. So I joined the queue. It was about a 10 minute wait before I got to speak to someone, but he was very apologetic. After telling him roughly what Fones 4 U had said we started talking about options for that phone. Then other contracts and other phones. I was a lot happier with this guy than the other one. He seemed more open to the fact that there may be a better taffif out there for me and a phone I may like more. There was lots of cerfuffle (is that even a word??) but eventually, after over an hour...(!) it was sorted, and I now have a new phone, a MOTOKRZR K1 in cosmic blue (yay!!) and a new number. Hopefully, if I have your number you should be getting a text from me with the new number in it.

I then picked up a cable for my old phone to connect it to my computer, the on to Wesley Owen to get a few C.D's, then Travelling Man for some books, before calling it a day and going home, rather than into Broadmead as was my original plan.

Phew, what a day!!!

I think I've covered everything!!

Clare xxx

Missing Pompey...

2007-04-10T00:17:00.000+01:00

Had the first really missing Pompey sadness hit me on Saturday evening. I was playing clarinet at my dads church for their Easter Vigil, and tbh I was very worried. I had only received the music about a week previous, only played through it with the arranger, Helen, and the soloist, Lisa, on the Tuesday and only play through it with the other band an hour and a half before the service...and that didn't go to well...plus I hadn't played that much over past year or two and I have always had others to support me...

For a bit of prayer and support I rang Dan. And it was when the call ended that I really realised how much I miss everyone down there, all the new friends I've made, who I know will and do support me. The phone call was good, but I missed actually seeing people, the smiles, the hugs...and I started crying... I didn't want any awkward questions so I found somewhere quiet to be, which isn't easy in that place...and calmed myself down.

I went well in the end, Helen quietly humming some of the rhythms I was less sure of, and people were saying that I had played well both to my face and to my dad. Although now I may get lined up to play at other Masses and at Christmass...oh dear!!!

Clare xxx

A trip down memory lane...

2007-04-04T16:47:00.000+01:00

I went back to my old primary school, Luckwell Primary, today for a special assembly to wish the headteacher, Mr Keith Johnson, a happy retirement. They did a slide show and at the start of it, it put the dates that he had been at the school, 1991 - 2007. Then I realised I started there in 1991 and left in 1998, then I did the maths. It's been 16 years since I started my journey through school, and 8 years since I left Luckwell.

Watching the children play was a bit weird. I was once one of those children, playing in the play ground, sat in Mr Johnson's assemblies and learning in the classrooms. Two of my teachers are still there as well! Things have changed a lot in in the 16 years since I started. Teachers have left, some whilst I was there, others after I had moved on; others have arrived. Classrooms have changed and moved. New entrances have been made, buildings knocked down and replaced with better ones. But things have also changed in my life. I've grown up, become a different person to the 4 year old who started that primary school. But because of the people, and the events that happened at that school, it helped shape who I am.

I was reminded of that today, of the trip to Tregginnis, of the student council meetings, and the first student council conference for Bristol school, the science experiments, the dance, the music and so much more.

This has turned into more of an essay than I expected, but I hope that it makes sence if you have taken the time to read it!

Clare xxx

Houses and home

2007-04-02T17:14:00.000+01:00

I just realised that I have forgotten to put on here that we now have a house for next year!! We, Dan, Ben, James and I, have signed the leases and sent off the deposits so it's sorted!! WOOO!

It's a little weird being back. I went to church for the first time in over 2 and half months yesterday. It was good to see everyone and I got a really warm greeting with quite a few people coming to catch up and I nearly got knocked over by two people who are in the youth group. There was one difficult part and that was having to tell one of the youth group that I was only visiting and the I wouldn't know when I would be back permanently. I honestly don't know I will come back here permanently (that will make my parents happy :P!!). Home is now feeling more like its in Portsmouth rather than Bristol. I enjoy being back here, but I miss the place and the people. I have my own church rather than going to my parents church and my own life, that I organise, or not as the case may be!!

So where's home?? TBH, its both places at the moment. And whilst I'm glad to be back, I am looking forward to going back to Pompey.

For now...

Clare xxx

Home!!

2007-03-31T12:23:00.000+01:00

I'm going home today!! Yay!!

Sorry for the fact that I haven't posted for a while...but my main reason, excuse, whatever...is that I've been ill... :(.

Hopefully there will be one or two post whilst I'm at home...!!!

But for now...

Clare xxx

Hmmm...

2007-03-23T18:43:00.000Z

As usual, I have gone a few days without blogging and I have no idea what to write here. Oh well...

We had a practical on Wednesday in extracting DNA from E. Coli. It was really interesting, if slightly tedious... Having to shake a bottle of solution for half an hour wasn't fun...!! But hey, we got results, not the purest possible, butn I was happy with it!

OK...no I've run out of ideas. I'm sat in Jamochas...I have been in this shop everyday it has been open since last Saturday...James is on the phone next to me, Ben is two seats up from me on another computer and Dan is kinda working!!

Do be do be doooo!!

Clare xxx

Weather

2007-03-19T19:38:00.000Z

I am proving my true worth as a Brit by talking about the weather. Because it is defiantly well worth talking about!!

Today: the sun shone, it was cloudy, there was rain, there was hail, there was wind and there was snow!!! Its march...why is there snow???

Oh well..weather broadcast over...!! :D

Clare xxx

He did it!!

2007-03-19T15:40:00.000Z

For the first time in over a year, Raikkonen managed to finish a race, and WIN with out the car breaking or making a silly mistake...!! On the down side, I am REALLY tired and going through the hyper stage....:S! I also can't type!

Tyhat was a totally random post bought to you by my tiredness :P

Clare xxx

Aus

2007-03-18T01:47:00.000Z

Just thought I would do a very quick post before the race...

For some reason it feels earlier (?later) than yesterday, 2am seemed natural yesterday, it seem silly today :S. Maybe that's because I tried to get a few hours sleep first, and slept like a child before Christmass, waking up every 5 minutes to see if it was time yet...!! But now it nearly is time. And this is just proving how mad, (and very tired!!) I am!!

Clare xxx

I'm still here...

2007-03-16T01:16:00.000Z

As Ben pointed out earlier I haven't posted in a few day, so this mainly just to say that I have...!!

In other news, we were looking at ameoba and other protists today. I got kind of attached to my ameoba...oops! I named him Bob! Hehe! Unfortunately, he didn't make it through the practical...

That is a little bit of my randomness shared with you today!

Until next time...

Clare xxx

Grrr...

2007-03-12T22:06:00.000Z

I really want some chocolate, or hot chocolate or something chocolaty...grrr...I know why I gave it up for lent, but it's been really hard at times... :(, oh well...life goes on...!!

Clare xxx

That was the week that was...

2007-03-09T22:22:00.000Z

Ok, the title's not great, but I have no idea what else to put. My friend Karen is down for the weekend from Southampton..!!! Yay!! We had tea in 'Spoons tonight and now we're at Dan's with Dan (obviously...), Ben, Ineke, and Hayley playing cards and listening to music.

We had a lab on Wednesday continuaing with our microbiology work. We had to streak agar plates with a culture mix to separate them, did a pour plate with diluted E.Coli solutions and made blood agar, onto which we smeared bacteria from our teeth...ew!

Now Dan is playing Bon Jovi, You give love a bad name very loudly...!!!

On Thursday we had to go back to look at our results...fun!! Then I had brunch in Jamocha's with one of my course mates before tutorial.

Today was quiet, washing, tidying, had breakfast at 'Spoons, at a very unreasonablt 9:30...on a day when I could have had a lie in...!!! Might explain why I'm so tired now..!!

The real excitement was yesterday when we had more water trouble with a burst pipe and flooding on the top floors, and no water for a few hours...fun!! Oh well...life goes on...!

Week report finished

Over and Out

Clare xxx

Tuesday Cell

2007-03-08T14:46:00.000Z

Its been two days since cell group. I've been meaning and wanting to write about it, but I've really struggled to find away to communicate it effectively. I'm going to try my best now, but who knows what will happen.

The main point of the evening was just to spend a lot of time in prayer and worship and really come open hearted to God and honestly and openly talk to Him and meet with Him.

We started with a time of worship, writing a letter to him and just thanking and praising Him.

We were asked about things that we would like prayer for, things that we felt needed prayer for. I had two major points weighing on my mind. One was a connection with God, something that I have felt slipping and fading, the other being mental healing. We were then asked if we felt more comfortable praying in small groups, which I did. At that time, even though there were only 7 of us, I felt like that was still too many. So we split, with Dan, Dan, Ben and Matt in one group and Rachel, Adam and I in the other group.

TBH, I was dreading it, I had to be open and honest, and that meant revisiting painful things. Not something anyone wanted to do. I had been vauge about the cause of the emotional hurt in the larger group, and it was good to feel able to tell the others what was going on. I didn't manage it with out the inevitable tears but there was so much love and comfort around me I felt safe to do that and almost forget the situation and focus on God and the prayers.

I don't know how long we were praying for. But the more we prayed to more everything changed. This is the really difficult bit to explain. When we felt ready to finish praying we did. Adam asked me how I felt. I felt drained, empty. The really strange thing was, whilst I was vaugly aware of what the main prayer points were, it was, and still is, very difficult to focus on them. It was always a small trigger that could set my mind off, but it no longer feels that way. We then prayed for a filling and restoring for me. Things felt different.

We then went on to pray for Rachel and Adam for the various things that they needed.

The connection feels more there. The knowledge that I always held hasn't changed. Just the feeling and my heart.

I hope that this conveys everything clearly. I am sorry about the fact that some parts of this have been vauge but I hope that the general points are there.

Until next time...

Clare xxx

The Truth is Out!!!!

2007-03-05T14:30:00.000Z

I have also decided to take the superhero test...and guess what...

Your results:
You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man		75%
Robin		58%
Hulk		55%
Iron Man		50%
Green Lantern		50%
Batman		50%
Superman		45%
Catwoman		40%
Supergirl		38%
Wonder Woman		33%
The Flash		30%

You are intelligent, witty,
a bit geeky and have great
power and responsibility.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...

Hehe!

Clare x

The Freestyle Funk Collective

2007-03-04T23:38:00.000Z

The weekend was fairly normal, spent most of Saturday in Jamocha's with Kita, Ben and Sam. Then the evening we watched Men In Black 2 and watched the moon disappear and go red.

Today was mostly uneventful, nothing in the day, then church in the evening. After church, I joined up with a group of people who where going to see the band that Gaz (our worship leader) plays in. They are called the Freestyle Funk Collective. |It was a really nice end to the weekend, nice bit of music and dancing. I'm glad I went, even if I was just following people...lol

That's it for now,

Nite

Clare xxx

Clumsy

2007-02-27T23:10:00.000Z

OK, I'll admit it, I am an idiot...!! I managed to burn my finger today...I think that I should no longer be allowed near hot objects...I'm dangerous...

I also have a lab at 9, that I am NOT looking forward to...4 hours... :O

Oh well,

Clare xxx

Update time!!

2007-02-24T23:18:00.000Z

I just checked for when I last properly posted, and it was over a week ago...oops...

So what have I been up to?

Apart from the usual church, lectures, and Cell, I've seen Music and Lyrics (again!!), and Hot Fuzz at the cinema, and quite a few dvds including Save The Last Dance at Sam's and Goodbye Lenin! here and ate fish and chips. Sounds quite boring really, but it wasn't...

Oh, and tonight, I went to see the Portsmouth University Big Band (PUBB), play at the New theatre Royal tonight. The were amazing as usual!! I booked my ticket quite late, but some how managed to get a seat right next to Ben's parents and sister, and Ineke. Due to a seating problem, I sat next to Ineke, and Ben's family moved somewhere else. It was really good to watch them play again, but I have to say that personally, I preferred seeing them at the Reg, it was a more relaxed atmosphere, something I think helps and that I also found at a Transition gig I went to last year.

I think this has updated you, I know it was only a brief overview (again) and I will try to post more regularly in the future...!!

Clare xxx

Oopsie!!!

2007-02-24T22:21:00.000Z

Um...I have a confession...I don't want to make it, but here goes...I gave up chocolate for Lent this year and was doing good, until tonight, I accidentally had a piece... :S. I'm not giving up, this is just a blip. For some reason the connection in my brain temporarily lapsed...so sorry....I will try harder....I promise...

Clare xxx

Pop goes my heart...

2007-02-15T23:56:00.000Z

...ok not really, but I though it made a good title. Plus it's from music and lyrics, the film i went to see yesterday with Ben and James.

I've had a good few days reacently . Yesterday, I had no lectures so after sleeping in far to long... I finally made it to Tesco, then Ben and I decided to go up the Spinnaker Tower. My first time...heee, I was so excited!!! :D It was awsome. Later we went out to see a film. We were planning to see Hot Fuzz, but it was full :(, so instead, and kinda against Ben and James' wish, we went to see Music and Lyrics. It was awsome!!

Today, I had a lab at 9am calabrating microscopes.....fun!!! But then this evening Sam, Ben and I had curry, ok, well Ben didn't, and then Sarah joined us later, before going back to Sams for a bit.

Got the day off tomorrow! Seeing a few friends.

That's my brief over view for now.

Bye

Clare xxx

Nothing...

2007-02-11T11:56:00.000Z

...pretty much sums up what I have been up to over the past few days. Last night I went up to Dan's and we watched Batman Begins. It was quite good really, bit surprising! I also went to Jamochas in the afternoon for a bit which was nice. Other than that I've rearranged the shelves, sorted and catologued my dvd's (sad I know, but I was bored!!), and watched quite a few films...!!! Back to uni and lectures tomorrow. A 9 o'clock start is going to be a little bit of a shock to the system!!! Hopefully there will be more going on again so there will be plenty of blogs to keep you entertained!!

But for now...

Clare xxx

So it's over...

2007-02-07T01:08:00.000Z

...I've now finished the rest of my exams. I've now got until Monday before getting back into the swing of lectures etc. Todays exam was ok, the first bit was multiple choice. That bit went ok, but the second bit, 2 essay type questions, didn't go so well. I managed to write a few sentences for each, but generally it went bad...! I left early again, but was lucky enough to leave just as one of my tutor group was as well so we could chat about the exam...by the sounds of it, I wasn't the only one to struggle!! But that's it now :D.

We have cell group tonight. As exams are still going on at the university, some people have gone home and others are still doing work, there were only 5 of us at cell excluding Adam. The others played chess. They managed to make one game last 2 1/2 hours....oh fun! I watched for a bit, then put my iPod on and wrote for a bit. Then back to my flat to have tea, it was at least 11:30 lol!!

That's it for now!

Night all, and thank you all for your prayers and support during exams...!! It really helped!

Ruth xxx

Scared no longer covers it

2007-02-05T22:32:00.000Z

I am incredibly worried about my exam tomorrow. I'm reading through my notes and it feels like nothing's stick. I just have to hope that when I see the questions it'll come back to me....

please pray!

Many thanks

Ruth xxx

Roofonfire

2007-02-04T16:30:00.000Z

My website, or something that passes for one, is nearly back up and finished. I think it ok, but as I have no programming ability, no idea how to make a site from scratch and whatever, I'm using one of the freesite, that I've personalised a bit. Let me know what you think and if there is anything you would add/remove. There is also the guest book you can sign. Click here.

That's it for now,

Clare xxx

Didn't realise it would be so hard...

2007-02-03T18:26:00.000Z

...to say goodbye to my mum today. As soon as she had got on the bus the tears started forming. I had a really good day and I guess the I just didn't want it to end. I had to fight the tears to get back to my flat without getting hit by a car. I got back ok, but bursh into tears when I got into my room, had to fight them when I was in the kitchen because I don't what people to think I'm stupid, as I've only just seen her yet I miss her already. So I decided to write this blog, but the tears come whenever I think about it. I want to know how long this will go on for. Will I always cry when I say goodbye to my mum, when I'm 30, 40 etc?

Clare xxx

Yesterday

2007-02-02T13:07:00.000Z

Yesterday was an interesting day, with a few highs and a few lows. The day started with having to get up at 7:30, to go to my Introductory Forensic Biology exam. First off, I want entirely sure where the building was, but it was fairly easy to find in the end. Once we got into the exam, there was about a 5 minute wait before we could get started. The exam wasn't to bad, but there were definate holes in my knowlege, and in the end, I decided to leave early, than sit and stare at the paper. I was feeling a bit unhappy with the exam, convinced I'd failed it, but glad it was over. I was looking forward to getting back to my flat and ignooring it. On my way back, one of the guys from my course saw me and came over. I think he could tell from my body language that I wans't happy with how the exam had gone. Talking to him helped, and a few people had found it hard. I'm just glad I'm sticking to biochemistry.

I got back to my flat, washed up, then cooked myself a late breakfast, then spent most of the day just chilling out and unwinding.

That evening was the King's student cell group social. We met at Jamocha's first to decide where we were going. There was only three of us from the Tuesday night group, but I was good to see some of the other group, and meet some new people. We decided to got to the pub and play pool and darts, and then see if we wanted to go somewhere else.

On the way to the pub, I got a text message, asking me to ring one of my friends. As I knew the effect that conversations with this person can have on my, and the problems he's had, I asked one of the guys to pray. As I had expected, the phone conversation was a difficult one, and I could feel myself getting closer to tears the longer I talked. I was greatful for the fact that Adam had stayed with me. When I got of the phone, I felt really down. My gut instinct was to separate myself from everyone, but I knew that wasn't a good idea. I chatted to Adam about the call for a bit before joining the group. I had fun, and was able to forget about it. We left the pub, got chips and went back to Adam's house. The guys played the usual Xbox and table football. At one point during the evening, Steve rang. It was great to just chat. It was his fault that I have High School Musical songs in my head alot of the time.

So after the eventful day, it was good to end it with friends laughing.

Two prayer requests:
1. For the friend I mentioned earlier, Danny. He needs alot of prayer at the moment. I'm not going to go into details on here, but he is going through a very rough patch and feels like there isn't onyone who can support him. Also, can you pray for me? As I mentioned earlier the conversations I have with him can affect me alot. Can you pray that I don't get dragged down by this and can let go after conversations with him?

2. For my exam next Tuesday, I am really worried about it. Can you pray that I won't panic and the information comes to hand when I need it?

Thanks

Ruth xxx

Hello...!!!

2007-01-31T23:17:00.000Z

Ok, as people have been noticing, there has been a distinct lack of blogging from me reacently. Sorry about that. I will update properly in the next couple of days, but as this mornings post showed, I am still here!!

Clare xxx

One down...

2007-01-31T10:35:00.000Z

Finally, the first exam is over and done with, yay!!!

TBH, I was a bit surprised that I woke up on time this morning. I had a problem getting to sleep last night, but was awake at 7:30 this morning. Anyone who knows me well, will know that I can get horrible bouts of nerves: I don't feel very well, don't want to do any thing, can't eat etc. Well, this morning that didn't happen, yay again!!! I even managed something resembling breakfast! That's not normal for me before and exam. I also felt calm, if not ready.

The actual exam went well as well with only 2/3 questions out of 40 that I took a total guess at. So hopefully I didn't do to badly. Now I can finish preparation for tomorrows...Introductory Forensic Biology...oh fun!!

Bye for now!!

Clare xxx

I got myself a man...

2007-01-24T23:02:00.000Z

...admittedly only for the duration of the ballroom class tonight. It was great fun tonight, even if my partner was new to it and therefore we went a bit wrong (ok, I can't blame it all on him :D, I went wrong aswell...!!)

I also went shoe shopping yesterday...!! I bought a pair of Dunlops and a pair of Converses :D :D :D. Even thought it meant spending money, I love them. Unfortunatly, gotta go buy some heels this week for ballroom dancing...!

The revision continues! All be it slowly....heeeellllppppppppp!!

Bye for now,

Clare xxx

Exams

2007-01-23T13:11:00.000Z

I have unfortunatly reached the port in the semester when the dreaded exam start :(. Oh well, has to be done. I would appreciate anyone who would be willing to pray for my exams. I have alot of work to do before they start and I'm getting more and more worried about them.

The dates are:

Wed 31st Jan, 9-10:30, Biological chemistry

Thurs 1st Feb, 9-10:30, Introductory Forensic Biology

Tue 6th Feb, 9-10:30, Biodiversity

Also, I would love to pray for anyone elses exam that are coming up. Just leave a comment.

Thank you

Clare xxx

Confused.com

2007-01-22T19:20:00.000Z

For those of you who have been baffaled (sorry about spelling!!) by the appearence of Brian, you need to read the comments in this post....here.

Other than that...

Clare xxx

procrastination

2007-01-20T21:52:00.000Z

I am slowly perfecting the art of procrastination. Got up at 10, my dad was surprised that I was awake! Managed to do nothing until I met Ben at 12:30. We then went to Jamocha's where I staryed until 3:30, playing chess, drinking coffee and reading before deciding it really was time that I went home. Pick up some essentials from Tesco then back to the flat. Had lunch of soup and toast, then time to do work, or tidy my room, organise files, change the colour scheme on my laptop, listen to music, read and chat online. Then I watched the Lion King, and now I'm in Ben's flat. No idea how I ended up here but hey, better than the seafront!!

That was my day in a nutshell!

Clare, Brian and Ruth xxx

It's far to windy...

2007-01-19T15:33:00.000Z

Yesterday was soo windy. I was being blown about all over the place, argh! They also had to close St Micheal's during the day because of loose objects.

Today was alot better. I had an exam in the morning, that didn't go to bad, and two lectures in the afternoon. The last of the lectures are over, so now it's time to fully concentrate on revision...!! Oh help!!

Helpfully, I've had High School Musical songs going through my head for the past few days. That kind of reduces concentration span tho...!! Oh well!!

I have no idea what else to post, I feel like there was something, but I can't remeber it at all..!! Meh...

Brian xxx

Good! I like subheadings!!

2007-01-17T11:50:00.000Z

Ok, the title has nothing to do with the post but it was writen on my essay so I thought it was entertaining.

This is my third attempt at writing this... argh!! Where to start? Well...today, I woke up, got ready and walked into the kitchen. I was greeted with questions as to whether I had seen two of my flat mates today. Turns out that one went with the other to the hospital at midnight and they hadn't been heard from since. And to cut a long story short.... we turned up at the hospital just as this person had been discharged. They had a swollen apendix...painful, but seem ok now!

Right, this week has been a week of birthdays! Last fridays was Ben's. But as he was going away for the weekend, we couldn't celebrate until this week. So we did. We carefully planned the party for Monday, got the number of one of his flat mates... :D, and planned to go in when he was at Big band. The decorations were bought on Saturday, and we were ready to go. Dan and I went to Tesco to get las minute supplies like food, cider ansd cake!! Then we recieved an unwelcome call!! It was Ben's flat mate telling us that he may not be going to Big Band after all.... PANIC!!! Dan came up with the idea of going to play pool with Ben... and it worked!! Phew, panic over. That did leave us with 24 cans of cider to take tho...along with everything else, but we managed between three of us! When Ben was out the way, we started decorating the kitchen. I forgot to mention the decorations....they were random!! St Patricks day, 25th anniversary, 50th anniversary, 10th birthday, 60th birthday, easter, you get the picture..!!! We were ready by the time they finally(!!) got back! Then we encountered our next problem...how were we suposed to get him into the kitchen......!!! After several attempts, Dan rang Ineke to ask her, to tell Ben that Dan was injured and needed his help! Well, he didn't fall for it, but we got him into the kitchen. Enter picture of Ben, looking very surprised!!!

We had a really good time: bacon sandwiches!!, Doogle from the magic roundabout cake, ballroom dancing..!!! etc, amazing!!!

On Tuesday, we had cell as usual. Except that once again, we did more decorating, this time to surprise Adam whose birthday is today!!! Again it was so much fun!

Tonight we went ballroom dancing again!!! Its so much fun and starting feel more co-ordinated!!

Think thats it for now!!

Nite guys,

Clare x

Meet Jack...

2007-01-13T22:55:00.000Z

the dog, the large toy dog I bought in a fit of madness for Tesco today. Also included in this fit of madness was Highschool Musical on DVD and the three Torchwood books!! Oops!!!

Whilst I was in Tesco with Sam, we ended up having our photo taken with said toy dog and a random guy for some challenge....weird!!!

Went to Jamocha's late afternoon and stayed until closing time.

Been watching films all evening!!

Nite

Clare x

No idea...

2007-01-12T23:24:00.000Z

What to put for a title....!! My finger is getting better, but has started hurting a bit and blistering :s. I didn't expect that after 5 days... So I'm going to the pharmacy tomorrow to ask for their advice.

Things have been ok. Had a bad patch tonight, so spoke to my mum, which made things worse. So I ended up crying in Dan's flat... I know things will get better, but miss mum. Still I'll see her soon, about 3/4 weeks I hope.

Apart from that, uni's been going ok, preparing for exams. Bit weird to be back tho...settled back in again ok, but still....

Um...don't know what else to put, so night

Clare xxx

Ow

2007-01-10T12:05:00.000Z

I was an idiot last night, I know that, no need to tell me...!!! I scalded my fingers last night when I removed some cling film from the top of the soup I was microwaving. Owwie. I was good and run it under lots of cold water...and its not to bad now, just red and a bit sore. :(

In other news, I got an A+ in one of my practicals :D :D :D!! I was so happy.

The home sickness is getting better. Still haven't gone a day with out crying yet... never mind!

That's all

Clare xxx

Ballroom: the results

2007-01-08T22:26:00.000Z

I'm back. And it was really good...but Sam and I decided we need to find two guys to come next wednesday with us!! Any volunteers?? We started learning the waltz and the cha cha cha!! So much fun, cheered me up. Also chatted to my mum for a bit... cried alot today tho but smiling now!!!

Thats all!!

Clare xx

Ballroom

2007-01-08T20:12:00.000Z

Just about to go ballroom dancing!! Wish me luck!!!

Clare xxx

Pompey

2007-01-07T23:50:00.000Z

Well, Christmas is over :( and I'm back in Portsmouth again. It's good to be back but I hadn't realised it would be hard leaving everyone again, the things you get used to. I wanna see my mum again, already.

But, lectures start again tomorrow and I'll get back into the swing of it.

Nite

Clare x

Christmas highlights!!

2007-01-04T18:18:00.000Z

Ok, so over the christmas period I have got majorly slack at posting. That's either because I've had better things to do, or I haven't done anything worth writing about. So here are the highlights of my Christmas break:

Christmas day was in Wheatly, Oxfordshire, with my grandma. Most entertaining, especially as the 50 year old oven (seriously, should be in a museum!!) decided to old half work, so my brother took great pleasure in hacking up to chicken to cook it somewhere else!!

Last week I met up with Darren and Gemma for coffee in Clifton, (it's become a tradition!!). It was great to see them again and catch up. Shame the others couldn't make it!!

I saw James Bond (again) in the first week back with my bro, good film, but not quite the same the second time!

We had the youth group Christmas meal, just before Christmas. Meant to be formal, I was wearing jeans (!!!) when the other girls were in skirts and dresses!!! Oh well! Has a fun evening, didn't get food poisoning or burn the church down!! Go us!!

Ok, this is sad, when I can only think of 4 things that happened over Christmas worth mentioning...!!

Oh, and just to let you know, my love of Torchwood has grown to an obsession...!! Sorry for anyone I drive mad with it...!!!

Think thats it!!

Bye for now

Clare xxx

Blogs

2006-12-30T00:34:00.000Z

I suppose I should blog, but tbh I have no idea what to write. Life hasn't been that interesting, I haven't really done anything. If anything, apart from a good Christmas Day, lifes not been that great. I've been feeling down quite alot reacently, and stuffs happened here that hasn't helped. I miss Pompey and the people there... I just want to go "home", back to Pompey.

Sorry to be depressing

Ruth x

Christmas Pic

2006-12-26T14:43:00.000Z

Thought you guys might like this. Its a Christmas picture I made reacently and like, hope you do to!

Ruth xxx

Merry Christmas!!

2006-12-24T23:49:00.000Z

Just a quick message wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!!! Hope you all have a great day!!!

Ruth xxx