Looking back on a day

Ok so ... what the heck happened?

Today went mostly without a hitch I suppose; our plans for eating sushi in Bristol though were totally messed up from start to finish. It was definately the most anti climatical birthday that I've ever head and the most dull, though I don't altogether regret it.

Obento aparently doesn't open Mondays, so half way to Bristol I had to change quickly and make a snap desicion - where were we going? I had my heart utterly set on eating some sushi, and nothing (even mad prices or small servings) was going to stop me getting my one desire.

We ended up seeking parking near Park St with a short walk from our eventual parking on Frogmore St (some weird guy waving a newspaper fended us and other cars away from a perfectly good space in Park St). Arriving at the chosen second place sushi place, it was exactly as I remembered - cheesy, black, mostly empty and with service by faceless, bored-looking males.

But I got my sushi!

I don't think the others really enjoyed it there, and mostly suffered it and the prices which were rather steep considering what we got on the plate (though the food did taste good and was very nicely arranged). But we did appear to all have a good, social time.

After this, the trip home was pleseant enough ... Jazz was good enough to bring his car. Then it wa sa stop at the Wine Rack to grab beer, before ending up at my place armed with said drinks, for a spot of New Dominion Tank Police on DVD!

We got through about two or three episodes before Will clearly couldn't stand it, to be honest. I personally thought that aside from the brief little flutter, it wasn't a patch on the old stuff. Still, I hadn't seen anything anime for so long I still was able to enjoy watching it, and am grateful to Ken for purchasing it as a gift to me.

Then Bottom was voted on, after a TV episode caught the eye of everyone previous to the DVD going in. On went the DVD of Bottom, and this seemed to lift the mood.

Then it was kicking out time, as people volunterily left so that Jazz could lift them all in his car. I enjoyed a bit of online capering, some snuggling with Ken (nothing major - bodyclock saw to that!), UrbanDead scuttling around almost getting stuck in a lag fest out in the open ... before bed and an ancient, self-told, TFs story tape to get me to sleep quickly - which it did.

Earlier in the day I'd been made a cup of tea by Robin (he tried, it was drinkable but not the best tea, he needs more training!) and visited Grandma and Granddad for tea and biccies. Both trips out were well worth it, and the grandparents gave me a huge and very generous present which was cash, sorely needed for shopping! I am so grateful to them both for giving out of what little they have so generously, to me.

Can't think of anything else to write for this blog spot ... this has been my 27th birthday in 2005, on Monday 26th September. It was fun, it went all wrong in the planning, and it was the worst yet in terms of not being how you remember birthdays being as a child. But I enjoyed it, was truely blessed by my friends and family, and have learnt now what it means to 'have an adult birthday' :)

Roll on the 'year of achievement'! (see last blog post before blue penguin one)

Blue penguin explodes over PC!

Matt just accidentally burst a stress ball penguin christina gave to me and Ken, all over my entire PC and the wall and all my important paperwork ... whilst I was on a webcam and audio convo with christina.

There is blue slime everywhere and Matt is freaking out and really sorry and embarrased. Managed to get most of it off with toilet roll. He was just holding it whilst he spoke to me and it just splurted.

Death (zombies) and birth (mine!)

Yes, fans at home and around the world ... on the 26th of this bonny month of September, the world gathers to celebrate exactly 27 years of life for the one that friends, enemies, admirers and axe wielding fireman alike call 'Miss Kim Kaze'. Or possibly George Morgan. Depends if they've been drinking with me before.

On Monday, which is tomorrow, I turn 27. That's SO scary if I dare to stop and really think about it. The worst part is having a Husband who is a year older than myself, meaning that I get a somber reminder every year when HIS birthday arrives, that I am encroaching on 'that age'.

All in all though, I still feel and act quite young. I believe that age itself is a very interesting thing, since you cannot escape it or stop it, speed it up or slow it down, but you can do all sorts of things within the age that you are to make each year packed with life experience and interesting, new things. Personally I am making this next year my year of 'achievement'. Personally exactly what I achieve, I don't care. I want to learn new things, get a new job, get better at stuff I already do, go new places, re visit old places long left behind, contact old friends and make new ones, you get the general idea. I don't think it's so much a five year plan; it's more of a one year stonk or sprint.

The last year if I am honest, outside of God stuff has been altogether a struggle and rather pants achievement wise. I feel rustier, unluckier than when I started, key skills seem less sharp and mooching seems to have taken hold more than is healthy to do so. I noticed fat pockets on this skinny body, which is unacceptable. Willpower's definately taken a blow or two, as has the old ego and the old desire to succeed. I have managed though to remain essentially thin, wiry and strong, not to mention healthy, thanks to God :) Cardio is pretty lame right now though. I need to swim again.

But I'm taking it all back this year coming. Oh yes. Time to 'just go for it'. Why not? I'll be 28 next time I write anything like this and by that time, I want to have done at least 80 per cent of what I wanted to do. No less. It's as simple as that. Age is more than just a number, but every year can be packed to the gills with fascinating experiences, or it can be another year of you hiding behind the walls of 'castle familiar' and becoming a 'in my day this was all fields!' lamenting machine of doom.

As for the zombie mention at the top, right now myself and a few friends (Dave, Mat, Will, chris and Dana thus far...) are playing through a great little, browser-based MMORPG with low tech graphics like a visual basic program.

It's really decent if you first read the wiki! Go to www.urbandead.com and check it out, then create a character (I recommend a cop or a fireman for a starter).

Unethical or advancement ... or both?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/4227554.stm

What you have here is a bunch of comments talking about natural selection and darwinism almost in a religious context. Then you have comments by others who strongly disagree.

It seems to come down to worldview and what you see as the ultimate right and wrong for mankind. Those who think we're nothing more than developed apes are bound to say 'shoot to the stars' all you can. Those who do not, are going to think harder on the issue and ask 'is there a reason to stop or curtail our playing with life itself?'

Personally, I am all for developing operational science, but there should be boundaries in place which cannot be shot down by every liberal or human rights group out there. There are certain natural barriers in place within nature that I believe prevent us from creating a nightmare we cannot fathom as of yet. We tend to think we are so smart, yet man has written for as long as he's known how to write, of the potential horrors that could face us if we throw sense and ethics out altogether and become slaves of science and build a new religion out of humankind itself.

A baby should be biologically made from a mother and a father. End of story. Yes, offer genetic treatment if you like. But not anything which could lay a claim to any 'second party' to state that genetically, some of that child belongs to them.

Children are not a right, they are a privaledge. We tend to think of them as a right these days, because so many of us can have children. Sometimes there are bigger reasons than we can grasp going on around us that dictate why sometimes we cannot always have what we want out of life.

I don't pretend to have all the answers, but I do think man is currently facing the temptations to become increasingly arrogant, and pride will come before a fall. I say that solemly, but I know very well that arrogant man will have the smirk wiped off his face as every generation before us has done. We are incredibly arrogant to assume we are so different this time.

Are we afraid to say yes or no?

Another 'Have your say'; another short rant about a culture of respect and can we make any changes whilst it's not cool to limit anyone, anymore, no matter the cost?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/4124042.stm

'Respect will only be recognisable and doable within a paradigm of some sort. If the country wants to promote itself as secular and anti-strong views such as religion or other firm views, then I see no way forward for us to ever improve. Every time something is done to try to set a standard, it gets attacked by human rights and civil liberty activists, intent on insuring that everything and anything is always possible and permitted.

The trouble with this nice sounding mantra is you allow everything that comes with it - the crime, yobbish behaviour and failing sex education. Last night I spoke to a 15 yr old male on the streets. He had got several girls pregnant though they aborted the children. He could have been a father several times over. He is a frightening product of a society afraid to say anything is right or wrong anymore, for fear of being seen as a bigot.

1+1does not equal five though. If that makes me a bigot, so be it.'

Introduction ramble: Absolute truth exists

I have a lecture in me yet, that's about reality. This isn't it, but it is a brief comment in response to someone else's Livejournal. I don't have the link - they want it that way. But anyway, here's their scribble:

'It's the holy grail of academia as one author dissects another author's book, until you've got books of waffle, that never go anywhere, and never make their minds up about anything. Topics are always discussed, but nothing is ever right or wrong, and no decisions on any key issues are ever made, as academics remain open minded, and critically aware. And you begin to form this impression, that these "intellectuals" are just elitist nerds, writting a load of crap, to just sell it, get their name about, maybe a bit of prestige, and to your ordinary person, living an ordinary life........it's really all irrelevant bullshit.'

Ok. What we have here in a nut shell is the belief that open mindedness entails being criticially aware, which entails never agreeing with any one thing or having faith in anything. The author explained this to me the other day on a bus in Swindon, and to be brutally honest, I totally disagree. In fact, I think the only people who could possibly live by such a philosophy are either uni students, or academics in their ivory towers where words rule and actions are of little real importance.

The idea that 'absolute truth exists' is true. You can prove it very quickly by doing a simple test. This is it.

The only alternative is that 'absolute truth does not exist'. This is an absolute statement. Therefore, if it is true, it cannot be true. It is impossible logically. If it is impossible logically, then it is untennable as a logical philosophy.

Therefore, absolute truth exists. If for no other reason - because any statement saying otherwise is itself, a truth statement and therefore proving that absolute truth exists. You can wiggle around it if you really want to using clever terminology, but logically you cannot escape this ravine of reality. Clever words mean nothing if the logic is not sound, and sound logic requires cutting straight to the chase.

Absolute truth must exist. Therefore, the quest of life most noble, is to establish what that truth is.

Be open minded, yes. But only in the search for truth. When you locate truth, get inside it. Continue to learn, yes. Continue to be open minded within the boundaries of truth.

But to find truth and then walk away simply because 'you must remain open minded' is a crime against the whole point of open mindedness! What is open mindedness there to achieve, if not to protect us from spending our entire life being wrongly shut in a bad mindset? A closed mind is a dirty word, but if I am closed to the idea that 1+1 could possibly equal 5683, forgive me but, I prefer truth. Does this make me closed minded? To logical fallacy, yes. Am I a closed minded person in general though, because I believe 1+1 will always equal 2? I challenge anyone to negatively accuse me of such a thing.

The point is, you can be generally open minded and a learning, breathing, experiencing human being who is ciritically aware and critically examines whatever comes their way, whilst still having absolute truth claims within your own life. Examples could be 'I do not eat meat' or 'I hate boybands' or 'Cars are a bad thing to have because they pollute and cause athsma' etc. You could have any selection of a zillion zillion personal beliefs in your own life.

It is alright to have a paradigm and still be considered open minded.

In fact, it seems very closed minded to me to suggest that one can never have a paradigm, and if they do accept one (a reference framework for their life's thoughts and beliefs) then they become closed minded. I would argue that true open mindedness is trying things and testing them.

If they work, keep them. You don't throw out truth as best you currently know it, that is where you dwell. Of course, there is always the chance that something may come along to change your beliefs later; there is always that chance and you can remain open minded enough to keep your ears and eyes open. But for this reason, do you refuse to call your faith position/belief 'truth'? Surely this is insane reasoning to do such a thing, for then you can never reach any conclusion and the only thing you are 100 per cent certain to attain in life, is to fail therefore, to know. Anything. Anything at all, in fact.

If you can never reach truth because you will not allow yourself to do so, then you in fact are already dead. Your quests are all meaningless and pointless, because none of them will ever end. The journey has no meaning without purpous. Take away the ability to learn new things and why bother with anything?

I am open minded, in my view. I learn new things, views and opinions all the time. But I weigh them against what I understand and know to be true. For example, if someone tells me to drive at 100 mph whilst drunk to win £4000 in a race, I know this is wrong although there is a chance I could become rather wealthy for doing it. The slight gamble for a positive outcome is seriously outweighed by the very heavy chance I will either die or get arrested. In addition to this, it is morally wrong because it will places lives (mine and others) at risk and life is prescious.

In the end, truth does exist as we proved earlier and so simply. If it does, then life's quest is to find it. When something works and fits, you collect it and add that to your paradigm of life. Over time you learn more and become wiser, recognising false teachings and ideologies that sound so good and taste so sweet, yet the fruit of which is a pointless and meaningless, or sometimes directly harmful life.

In the ivory towers of academia, words rule and reality can be anything clever arguments can construct it out of.

But clever arguments don't work on the street. When people are mugged, or raped or killed; when drugs grip you; when someone you know is trapped in alcoholism; when you lose your baby ... words cannot help you. Academia fails, and life begins. Questions begin.

For me, God works. Jesus heals and He saved me. I challenge anyone to come out of their ivory tower and leave their words behind, to see what happens when reality meets philosophy.

I'm not kidding. If this didn't work, I wouldn't subscribe to it. Frankly I have better things to do with my life than spend it being wrong.