....happy new year

happy new year to one and all!!

before this years resolutions/missions what of last years

.....well my mantra was ....stronger, slimmer, smarter
am i stronger - physically... a little, mentally.... alot. this insistence to slow things down has developed a stronger, happier me
am i slimmer - no.... but i'm a different shape, still got my spare tyre(!!) but..... i have trimmed down my life so my life is slimmer ....while i'm still busy and still have trouble saying no to gtting involved i have a better pace about how i am involved
am i smarter ....yes ....smarter in the way i approach my life, my work, my family

this year ...."chilled, concerned, concentrated"

....last years missions
* lose more weight .....not really, will do better this year!
* run a marathon .....did this and am going to one this year!
* and here's the biggie - release a cd ep every month during 2008! .....failed! one in january and one in december! oh well one at each end of the year but two more than the previous year
* move jimmy two times forward .....well hmmm.... yes and no ... we made plans that didn't come off but there would good reasons - mainly that we were all too busy but i feel 2009 may be a good music year
* oh and i guess be a good dad, partner, son blah blah blah!!! ...i think i've done ok here ....i've developed patience with luke that i still need to work on ...i'm not a natural parent but i'm getting better, and when i ring my mam now she says i sound as though i've got time to talk ...so that's good

.....this years missions
well, intersting i think.....
i'm going to read the bible, well the new testament at least. for someone who has spent probably half of their life professing to be a christian i have not really read the bible. and now that i am living in the post dawkins era and have a different view of faith/god i find myself falling into the sale traps i criticise christian's of being in. namely that i nod sagely and in agreement when people say (or i read), "you know jesus never says he's the son of god", or "paul's letterd seldom mention jesus" or such and such contradicts such and such.... well i want to know for myself.... now the problem straight away here is that i don't know greek or hebrew so i am going to have to rely on flawed (or allegedly flawed) translations but i guess i just have to accept that so accept it i will..... worry not fellow atheists this is not going to lead to a reconversion experience ...it's a fact finding, informing myself, mission.

i'm going to watch the first series of "house" lovingly purchased for christine and i by pete. i will watch and pass comment on the content.

i'm going to run a marathon, cycle some serious two day journeys in preparation for a 2010 mission, i AM going to lose weight, and i am going to be fitter.

i'm going to dabble with veganism/vegetarianism. not from some ethical we must not kill the animals stance. killing animals for food worries me very little. i'd like to think they'd had good lives before they are killed but see no problem with killing them for food. i'm also not convinced by the argument that beef farming causes methane which contributes to global warming .....and as you probably know i'm not particularly convinced about global warming. i subscribe to the cyclical nature of the planet view. i feel environmentalist's are not concerned about the planet but about themselves. the planet will survive the catastrophe that may be global warming by descending into an ice age to preserve itself emerging as it has done in the past. it's us that won't survive..... and would that be a great loss? in terms of the countless billions of years the planet has been here we are but a blink of an eye. in billions of years time woggle children who have evolved post ice age will read in their text books about "humans" who stalked the earth billions of years ago but were wiped out by some mysterious catastrophe
as the dinosaurs were before them. let's not get carried away thinking we are of any consequence to this planet we inhabit..... anyway..... gonna look at the vegan/veggie thing from a health point of view and see if it could make me a healthier fitter person....

....but for now i need to get of 'cos tony, dawn, and charlotte are coming over and i need to prepare food ....and yes i am inflicting my new found enthusiasm for vegan food on them!! ...lucky them!!

happy new year
love you all!