I have not blogged for a while!

11 months in fact.

Hi :)

Situation normalish

Hello. So ... soon ended up being 3 months later, oops! Sorry about that.

Rach and I moved into Hastings at the end of July and have spent some time getting used to our new home and surrounding area. It's been really nice so far. There's certainly a lot more going on around here in comparison to Swindon. It think it helps that there are some other towns fairly nearby too, such as Rye and Battle.

I started work about 3 weeks ago and settling in nicely into that. I don't think I could ever take working for granted, all I can say is I'm glad and blessed to find one after what was only a short while of searching, but felt like a lot longer!

While settling back into a work routine I've looked at where I can get spare time here and there. Making music can take a while, but I found some android apps such as the 1 bit version of pixitracker, that encourage me to use small breaks (such as in my lunchtime) as a way of working on music without encroaching on the day to day stuff of life. Here's an example.

I will

Update this page properly soon! I've had a bit of a busy one, what with preparing a move back down to East Sussex. Most recently we secured a place to live in Hastings. I'm still looking for work down there, but there seems to be a LOT of opportunities to follow up, so... that's what I'm doing! In the downtime be sure to read more proliferate blog writers and perhaps read a cool webcomic that include bears that look like potatoes such as http://nedroid.com .

Speccy

Made this over the weekend. It's the first time I've used the old ZX Spectrum music engine for music, and it sure is quicker to make things in, forcibly so, as you have limited options to fiddle about with. Its fun in a nostalgic way to use this system as it was my first exposure to videogames. My brother and I used to play the spectrum decades ago, waiting sometimes for 20-30 minutes just for a game to load from the tape cassette, even turning it round to side B if it hadn't finished loading by then! Half the games we had weren't all that much good, but we forgot which ones were, so I remember trying out all of them one by one and occasionally stumbling upon a great game. Dave enjoyed a Brian Clough Football Manager game, I seem to remember being happy when he decided to put me in his custom team once, only to find out to my dismay that the first game of the season gave me a career ending injury!

Hello trouble

I was struck by something that appeared on Richard Walker's blog today, about Thomas Nagel who has distanced himself from using scientific reason as a basis for understanding everything that the universe contains.

What strikes me most is what he said about his atheism;

“I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that.”

I have a lot of time for what he's saying here - I think he's being a lot more honest about the real intentions of his atheism than those that use the scientific route to solidify what is essentially an uneasy feeling towards the idea of a God. The idea that, if there were a God, that made the universe as it is, it would bring a lot of trouble to our heads. And potentially to our souls.

It would bring about questions, and worst of all, the kind of questions that may never get a satisfying answer.

-If this world is yours, why make it like This??
-Why are you not more visibly active?

There can also be more awkward questions based on looking inward rather than outward too, like

-Am I a dead man?
-What is your opinion of me?
-Are you a God of mercy, or of judgement?

Either way, one things for sure, and it's a point that Thomas Nagel and I and Jesus all share; if you catch sight of God and what he is about, there is trouble coming.

"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me"

Upheaval is a painful process. Especially when it involves what we count as the basis of our lives. We may have built up our life to be supported by so many things, people, ideas, and to lose that in favour of a God we do not see in the flesh - well, it seems a fragile and vulnerable path to take. Not to mention the potential backlash from friends and family that may never see you in the same way again.

Clearly Thomas Nagel is not after upheaval or suffering, if he can help it. He doesn't want to believe in God, because of the repercussions, because of what it would then mean. I don't blame him at all, it's almost unaddressable.

However, I think that he may have underestimated that there is a problem with "avoiding the problem". If we do not even entertain the questions that arise if there was a God of the universe, or look intently into what others think of the outcome, then we could end up assuming for the rest of our lives that belief in God comes with its burdens, and that our beliefs or systems of thought without a God are burden-free.

"For my yoke is easy and my burden is light"

This is one of my favourite verses in the bible. It is Jesus talking honestly about what following God means. It means that we take on a burden, but it's not going to be like any burden we've ever known.

I think I like it a lot because it's so mysterious and can mean a lot all depending on how you view the word light. Does it mean his burden is not heavy, that we are exchanging our burden of a unrelenting life sick of self-sustaining, with a not-so-heavy burden of co-dependence, where it is easier and yet there is tension because we know that someone else has a say, someone that is remarkably different to us?

I think it could also mean that his burden is light, freedom from darkness - that we are exchanging our self made quandaries and circular patterns of thought and behaviour, with receiving something new that we never saw before. That our burden is the Gospel, to be able to see the good news of Jesus that truly satisfies our hearts, but brings us to our knees in humility, and for the people that don't know Jesus.


Overall, my belief is that it is healthy to consider ourselves as having a burden, and that, whatever it is, we should strongly consider whether it is the burden that we wish to have for the rest of our lives. What I get from what Jesus says, it seems that options are available.

As for me, I've chosen my burden and I do not regret that it is light.

"But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed."

Truce

Another one I finished up today. Sometimes it's hard to bring about peace and forgiveness, sometimes it will be costly. As Jesus took the first step to form a truce, breaking the silence through a deadly cost, I think of the steps I wish to take in my own life.

A short one

Something to get back into using the platform. Hysteria took a while so I took a break, but found the time recently for something small and fun.

Brain teasers

So the rules are -

1. Answer for one point (in the comments section at the end of this post) what comes next in the pattern.
2. You get an extra point if you can say what the pattern is.


Are you ready?

a) 1, 2, 4, 9, 7, 7, __ ?
b) 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 13, __ ?
c) 2, 4, 9, 16, 16, __ ?
d) 1, 5, 9, 15, __?
e) 5, 1, 2, 1, __ ?
f) a, a, b, c, e, h, __ ?
g)





h) 3, 1, 4, 1, 5, __ ?
i) 44344, 33233, 22122, 11011, __ ?
j) e, g, b, d, _ ?

There's 20 points up for grabs in total - if you end up getting 15 or more, I'll muster up some kind of a prize..

Hydra Dead

I heard some sad news that one of my favourite metal labels Hydra Head are going to be no more. See the news here ->

I don't know what your opinion or first impression of metal would be, but the kind of music that this label brought out would not be it. The owner of the label is the frontman of a band called band Isis, and they were the first band that really got me into metal, and it would be surprising to think what kind of music I'd have missed out on if they weren't around at the time. So many cool bands came from there - Cave In, Jesu, Old Man Gloom, Knut, Torche, Zozobra and of course Isis. I think it's safe to say that without this labels influence on my music preferences, I wouldn't have met all the cool metal rabble I became friends with at university, or had the privilege of being a drummer in a metal band.

I hope all the bands involved still get paid for the most recent things they put out for this label and get a chance to play some out there music in the future.

Here's some videos of some stuff by the label that I've enjoyed;



With a killer between-the-verse part - that bassist has a set of lungs.



They also did some stuff without screams, or even riffs...



Experiments with time signatures were often a success.



Doesn't sound much like metal does it?

Christmas limericks

There once was a moment called Christmas
When a baby born was restless;
Born in order
to end our disorder
and my list to be thankful runs endless


There once was a wise man with Myrrh
Who caused quite a bit of a stirr
Bringing embalming oil
On Bethlehem's soil
That death may not have the last word


A donkey one, not relating to Christmas per se, but donkeys do appear in the Christmas story.

There once was a man called Balaam
Whose donkey brought him alarm
Where upon the wrong road
He cried out "Don't go!
The Lord gave me speech for no charm"

Hysteria 8-bit cover

I recently finished a cover I've been working on for a bit - I hope you enjoy it!

Feistodon: indie artist Feist and metalheads Mastodon collaborate!

My wife Rachel doesn't like metal all that much, but she does like Feist. I think she's pretty cool too, having appeared quite a bit in one of my favourite bands Broken Social Scene. However, now she's joined the ranks of supercool, having joined forces with one of my metal loves Mastodon! Feist has covered a Mastodon song in her indie pop style, while Mastodon have covered a Feist song in their traditional bombastic heaviness.

And here's the results!





It's funny, the one that Feist performs ends up sounding pretty sinister, and the Mastodon performance is the nearest they've ever got to "happy metal"! I love it when very different styles come together and make something a little bit different in end product. Even Rach likes it :)

Quote Cuisine

Whenever I chance to visit the micro-blogging site twitter, I find that a lot of people follow people, dead or alive, so long as they have something meaningful to say in a punchy, one-sentence form. I'm not convinced yet and my blog is sure to carry on for a good old bit. I can understand the success of Twitter with the emergence of smartphones and the need for media to be smaller and more to the point as a result. It's far easier to check up on the world if we don't have to read a sprawling scrolling article on a mobile phone, if instead we can get a headline of the situations around us. I think that's it - what we get now is the headlines, of people and other subjects. Some things are explainable in this format. In Christianity key truths can be demonstrated in this way. Often my friends' tweets are quotes from well known Christians old and new, who are able to capture the truth of Jesus in such a format. There are of course, other subjects that, if we were to assess it through just one sentence, we would miss out understanding entirely. People can also use this to their advantage on twitter. If we misunderstand a person to the point that it makes someone sound funny, clever or popular, then for them it comes as a great benefit.

My failing is that I quickly dismiss quotes where they genuinely are helpful pieces of advice. Of course, I have to be discerning when seeing what people out there have written. One of the biggest ones is wisdom - I find myself disassociating myself with quotes because they are so disposable, even if they contain great wisdom. I miss out on nuggets for a few reasons and these are things I know in my heart I need to address;

1. Sometimes it's a bit of a minefield with Christians and posts, because so much of what is said, I try to find if there's anything in it that reminds me of what the Bible says. If I find nothing that relates it to what the Bible says, I'm quick to dismiss it - and I have a feeling that may not be the best approach. Though it's a great safeguard against trash and legalism, it does over-limit the influence godly people (and other people) can have in my life. After all, the sayings of Proverbs are as likely to be in someone's heart regardless of whether they know and trust God or not. Secular advice can at times be just as valuable as biblical truth, under the common grace of God.

E.g.

"Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for." - Socrates

When I see this, it reminds me of what it must have been like for the early church pre- Paul's letters. What those churches strived to gain (and making mistakes in the process) is something that can come us to us as hindsight's instruction through Paul to us today, so that we may not have to go through what they did.

2. Reading vs action. The idea of condemnation via just reading something and not acting upon it. A lot of the advice out there on twitter carries instructional emphasis, so to do not Do or to not Be what it prescribes straight away can hit like a wave of futility when reading more. Condemnation doesn't especially care that becoming like Jesus is a gradual process, and if the results aren't eminent then the enemy can use that to try and stop us edifying ourselves with more wisdom (and also scripture). I know he uses that on me. Ever heard the phrase "you are what you eat"? I think I've touched on it before with other blog entries, but even if the results from taking in scripture and wisdom aren't there immediately, the solution isn't then to stop feeding ourselves entirely, but that isn't always my response. The reality is we carry on to keep living.

Introspection

Post 101

So, my last post was #100, but I forgot to mark it with anything! Oh well. Old friends will know there's been many iterations of my blog, so it's not exactly an accurate milestone. I bet the real blog count is more like #400 by now.

Anyway, here's some music.

The coolest verbs of this week

• Finding a flat for Rach and I to live in when we are married. I find myself getting excited about the small details of it, like airing cupboards and dishwashers. It'll be really nice to be able to invite people round!
• Finalising catering and church arrangements for the wedding, and getting sound wisdom from a great couple in the church at marriage preparation. Its all coming together nicely.
• Hanging out with the McBurnie family. They are such a cool, generous, fun bunch. Did I say cool?
  
• Listening to some live bands in Exmouth. One band also had an inflatable parrot - what's not to like?
• Walking by the beach, getting my overdue seaside fix - and just so happened to catch the red arrows at the same time, doing their ducking, diving, streaming aquafresh colours thing.
• Visiting Bath and seeing some incredible busking - I guess someone briefed them about the strict 'no Wonderwall' policy. But Stairway wasn't denied!
• Cruising the Swindon ice rink. There were, of course, lots of small kids way faster than me. They have these cool small penguins that you can hold on to as stabilisers but there aren't any grown-up versions!
• Lastly, it can't be considered a cool week without the addition of eating a criminal amount of cake..

minecraft in pictures

My first minecraft world that got a bugged save and died. The thing in the sky in the top centre left is a skyway.

Cows eyes can't hide their crazed wheat addiction.

First time I found an abandoned mine. I wonder what the cobwebs mean..

Oh, it means poisonous spiders! There were two of these spawners in a row. So many deaths.

My house. Well, cave house. In fact its just a cave.

My fire fences made my other fences a lot more redundant, and also a lot more in danger of being lit.

Outpost in an ocean biome. The lighthouse has a weak revolving light system.

I found a floating island the other day near one of my outposts. Not so much laputa, more like the angry moon in Majora's Mask ready to collide..

And another one..

I actually quite like this one.

One thing I'm learning is that it is easy for me to obsess on the way the drums sound, just because it was the first instrument I learnt to play. It's takes a bigger force of will to put more time into melodies as it is the weaker, less practised side of my normal musical creativity (hence one melody that I only just realised is straight out of a rihanna song - doh!)

laboratory

Practice makes.. practice

'like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
so do our minutes hasten to their end'