Well, for once I have been quite the party animal this weekend! Last night we went to XPOSED Club at uni, where we saw three brilliant, yet extraordinary acts.  The headline band was Sirr, a combination of Nik Turner from Hawkwind, Steve Noble, Pat Thomas and Chris Cundy.

After the gig, we popped into the Beehive for last orders, to meet Al and Mark…  Or so we thought!!  It turned into a very random yet entertaining evening when we discovered that Al and Mark had been accosted by several rather drunk women and a man, who were proceeding to tell them about…  Well, whatever popped into their heads really!  They were quite amusing (I had only had a Coke).  Surreal night and a hilarious drive home.  There were a few epic quotes from the night, but they are better kept in Chatham House I feel.

Today, I was in for a real treat.  JT went for lunch with Hitchmo last Monday and they made plans (amongst chatting) to take me to my first ever football match!  I have always liked football, but somehow have never ever been to a match!  JT is not a huge fan, he prefers Formula One and tennis.

So today, we headed off to Whaddon Road to watch Cheltenham Town vs. Brighton.  There were loads and loads of people piling in and, in classic fashion, I proceeded to have a pretty major panic attack because I had not been able to figure out how to get in and out of the ground if necessary and loads of fans were hurtling past along with policemen, security etc.

There are occasionally benefits to having anxiety.  I have to say, the football ground staff were absolutely amazing.  They were so kind and took me outside, asking if I would like to see a medic.  When I explained that I just needed a way to get in and out if possible, they arranged with every exit door person in our stand to let us in and out at any time.  Everyone was very kind and totally unphased.  I guess it happens quite a bit.  They also moved JT and I to front row seats right by the pitch and right by the exit tunnel!!  We were so lucky.

We ended up sitting by a hilarious old man in a wheelchair.  Never underestimate little old men.  He asked me about my camera and I started gently explaining about it, offering to let him have a go and chatting about this, that and the other.  I though “bless him, what a sweet little old man”, until the ref failed to notice a foul against our team.  ”REF YOU’RE A BLOODY COWARD GO ‘OME!!!!!” he yelled in a quavery voice.  I was aghast!  And then I chuckled.  We also had an old lady behind us giving a HILARIOUS commentary.

Cheltenham scored two great goals and then Brighton scored one.  They played pretty dirty, and achieved 5 minutes of extra time, in which they equalised, which was very disappointing.  It was so exciting though, sitting right by the pitch and once I had stopped panicking and looking like a bit of a weirdo, I really enjoyed it!  Mark Clements was in the Brighton stand supporting his team and I caught him on camera through my long-zoom lens!!  Hitchmo and Hitchmo jnr seemed to have a good time also and we enjoyed a lovely cup of tea with Mr and Mrs Hitch after the game.

My toes have just about thawed….

After writing my last post, I felt inspired to get the plasticene out and make a little Morph stop-frame animation.  19 frames later and about 2 seconds of jerky video is achieved…  Imagine making a Wallace and Gromit film!

Tony Hart has died I feel genuinely sad.  At the age of 83, he passed away after a 50 year television career.  I used to be an avid fan of Hart beat and, in particular, Morph (inspiration to Nick Park and many little kids like me who wanted a career in plasticene – I still have a packet in my drawer for moments when I just need to make something cool!)  RIP Tony.  You inspired many.

HAHA!!  Poor ‘old’ JT…

This is sheer beauty.  A bathroom tap!

I don’t know how well you can see this advert as I couldn’t get a very good picture, but this leaflet popped through my door today, advertising, amongst other companies, one called “blu-fish”.  In a bid to be cool, they decided to accent a couple of letters in red, although unfortunately they settled upon the letters B and S.  Since the logo is white outlines on a black background, the red “BS” is rather, well, ‘enhanced’….Ooops.

Today I stumbled upon a new art.  Sleevefacing.  Check it out, (www.sleeveface.com).  The idea is that you find a record sleeve with a head on it and try to become that person.  I don’t own any records but I still feel strangely compelled to have a go.  This one made me laugh:

Why do I never think of anything like this?

Today, the wonderful Lucy Johnson made my day.  To anyone who doesn’t know Lucy and Tom, they are incredibly generous, kind, loving and brilliant people, with fantastic humour to top it all off.  Anyway, I was feeling seriously overworked, with 2 deadlines popping up in… Oooh a few hours now because it is tomorrow!  Well, today.  Oh, whatever – I am tired – I have just produced near on 40 sheets of designed A3 visuals!!

Anyhow, imagine how perfect the timing was of a delayed Christmas present when you have spent days at the computer trying to finish off a stressful module.  Especially when said Christmas present is in a pink fluffy “Fairy Christmas” bag and contains:

!!!!!  A pink lover’s dream!!!!  So Lucy, if you are reading this, thankyouthankyouthankyou!!!  Lots of things in here that I really needed and lots of very thoughtful treats.

This is an actual book….

The picture above is a game that I used to play at school called Cat’s Cradle.  You would have a circle of brightly coloured elastic which you would wrap around your hands and stretch out into different shapes in order to transfer the cat’s cradle onto your friend’s hands in a new shape.

When this article came to mind, I saw in my head a picture of this cat’s cradle and hopefully I can explain why later.  The other day I was chatting to a close friend of mine, who asked me what my dreams were.  Sometimes, when life is a bit tough, it is easy to lose sight of what your dreams are (or were) and you can easily contract into a tiny little ball where everything is comfortable and secure.  As we chatted, this person somehow managed to draw out of me dreams that I had hardly dared to think about, let alone had felt secure enough to pursue, in particular, those relating to work and my future plans with the business.

I just want to thank that person and say that I really feel that God used them that day to teach me some valuable lessons of truth but also to act as a great source of encouragement.  When we learn something important, it is really good to pass it on, so here are a few reflections. 

If somebody tells you their dream, encourage them.  Don’t chuckle, or be defeatist, telling them that it is unrealistic.  Don’t sigh and wish them all the best and definitely don’t tell them they are not good enough.  This is most important if they are your children, or someone who you have authority over.  I had a brilliant A Level fine art teacher, who joined the school just as I got to AS Level.  I was absolutely terrified in my first lesson because I had not done GCSE art like everyone else.  The first thing he said to us was that everyone in the room could get an A.  I was totally taken aback, as he didn’t know us and had never seen our work, yet there was a confidence in his tone that you could not ignore.

He would also get really excited about your work, however horrendous it was.  He always said that he liked it and suggested artists that you might want to look at.  Somehow that combination of enthusiasm for our dreams and belief in our abilities made us all work really hard and want to succeed.  Sure enough, there were lots of A’s.  No one got below a C.  

Since that experience, I have always been absolutely determined to believe in people, because for some reason, God believes in us and gives us dreams to pursue.

I have always believed in the saying that says “Aim for the skies and you might just hit the trees.  Aim for the trees and you might hit the floor”.  I think it is really important to be ambitious in every area of your life.  Sometimes as Christians, we get slightly the wrong idea about pursuing dreams if they don’t appear to be directly related to God.  But I do believe that it says in the Bible, “Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God” (I think it is in Corinthians!)  Now, this doesn’t say “Whatever you do, so long as it is in church, do it for the glory of God”, it says WHATEVER you do.  

So at work, work for the glory of God.  What glorifies God?  Obviously working with integrity and treating people as Jesus would treat them, but also being successful and doing your very best glorifies God, rather than doing a half-hearted job.  It is what you do with success that counts.  The fruit of success is a city on a hill that cannot be hidden, or a lamp on a stand that gives light to all that it touches.  The flip side of success is greed, pride and selfishness (we are instructed not to pursue selfish ambition).

If you dream big dreams in all areas of your life, you become stretched out as a person, a bit like the cats’ cradle game.  You are no longer, as the Bible says, an insignificant mustard seed, but a mighty oak.  If you become a mighty oak, it is likely to transfer to your faith as well if, as mentioned before, you are the lamp stand and not the wall of pride.  If you know how to dream big and carry out those dreams in your everyday life, you will learn skills for dreaming big for God.

Do a little dreaming – see what you come up with and go for it.  I have learnt that life is too short to worry about everything.