The end...

After much contemplation, I have decided to end my time blogging on 'Walk On...' I feel that a new start would be a good thing, and so have begun to chronicle my life at a new location and under a new title.

I would like to thank the thousands of people who have logged onto this blog during its time. It will remain accessible for some time while I document what has been written here.

If you would like to continue to follow my progress as a blogger and indeed as a person, please visit this link

The Alan Show

So, perhaps for the last time, I bid you good-bye, God bless and bid you to Walk on...

"Which tyre?"

I tell you, the wit of some people around here when you tell them "we've got a flat!". It just surpasses anything I've ever encountered!

But indeed, Sarah and I have a flat which we will live in for at least a year, probably more. Its a lovely little thing, at the top of Byres Rd in Glasgow. In a very green area and right where we wanted to be. God has been good to us this month!

Since I last blogged I've written 7000 words in completed essays, a further 1529 of the essay I've taken a break from writing to write this, and I've still got a greek exam to try and bluff my way through too. But I do get the feeling that after that will come the calm after the storm; the eeiry silence of 'no work' hanging around. I look forward with great delight to monday the 11th at 12pm, where I'll have finished all my exams and essays, and all thats left to do is a reflective paper which will take me half an hour. They seem to be easy though, it took me half an hour to write it last year. I get the impression that you'd have to write several pages of 'my brain is melting' to render a 'fail'.

But tonight all writing and stress stops because I'm going to Pizza hut with Sarah and a few friends. Good food and good company means good evening. Sarah's been finished for about a week, and from her example I've found that its fun to do nothing. Seven weeks and a few days left until our wedding, and I can't wait.

Keep lovin' Jesus!

And check these out

ICC student council

Marc

Reflections

And so this morning I woke up as a man aged 21. I'm quite sure I've been a man for a number of years now, but there now seems to be nothing left to hide behind. Peter Pan has grown a beard and carries a briefcase. At a time like this I always find myself reflecting a whole lot on the present, past and, most importantly, future. There's a line in the film Men in Black which contains some wisdom. It goes like this:

"A thousand years ago, everybody knew that the earth was the centre of the universe. Five hundred years ago everybody knew that the world was flat and fifteen minutes ago you knew that we were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow."

Knowledge is only knowledge once it's acquired, and I am more knowledgeable than I was a year ago, and nowhere near as knowledgeable as I will be on my 22nd Birthday. It was a year ago today that I really started to feel at home here at ICC - it took me that long. In a year's time I'll have been married for more than ten months, which at the moment still seems like a lifetime away (although its not, check the bottom of the page!). I've also been thinking back to previous birthdays, for example my 16th and 18th. I was ill on my 16th birthday, and so I watched Frasier box sets and shaved my feet and a large tennis ball. On my 18th birthday I was in 6th form, with many of the same people who I know a love right now around me.

Tonight we're going to have a big Chinese buffet here in Glasgow, with about 20 people coming and about another 10 joining us at the pub later on. Sarah said to me yesterday, "We were at the Kublai Khan this time 3 years ago, with no one who'll be there tomorrow night present", which made me think of how life is like a river, and that you cannot step into the same river twice. It can be similar, for example in 24 hours time Sarah and I will step off a train and go see our families and have a big meal tomorrow night with them and some friends from Newcastle (you know who you are!), but even if we did the exact same thing as last year, it wouldn't be last year. Its now, its present. All this interests me. That's why The Alan Show is constantly changing its cast, to varying degrees, but there's never the same exact cast from season to season. I guess that's why it stays interesting.

My birthday present from Sarah was a complete secret until we got off a bus in Edinburgh outside the zoo, and she explained that she'd gotten me an evening with some rhinos! She knows me so well! These animals are half their full size and they're still as tall as a man! Such amazing creatures, their eyes, their skin, the way they look like they've been assembled from a build-a-rhino kit. They're gentle giants, a testament to God's creative tendencies.

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Recently on The Alan Show...

Greetings traveller. Come, take off your coat and rest a while. I'll fetch you a drink, would you like water or ale? Ale it is, but do you have a preference as to the type? Newcastle Brown? I think we could scour up one of those...

Many weeks have gone by since the last time I sat down and asked myself, "what does the wider world want to know about me?" Usually I conclude that the world's interest in me is akin to that of my interest in thermodynamics. However, since thermodynamics can be used occasionally for the purposes of humour, I present to you this: The blog.

Well, I've had a month off college because of Easter, which was a relief. ICC life just never seems to stop during term time, so to have a month off here and there counts for a lot. I'm now part of the student council, looking after guys as "Male Student Support". Its not too demanding as of yet, but I feel that my duties will increase a great deal from September. But its good for me to experience being in an elected position. Another elected position I now hold is that of Scripture Union England and Wales, which has people on the board who are head of theology and writers of great books and me: The guy who can hit oddly high notes for his size. The meeting in Coventry next week should be good though.

Work is good, got letcutes about the atonement, the gospels and interpreting the Bible, as well as greek greek greek! We're finally into reading some of the Bible, which is a really edifying milestone. Other than that, Sarah is beauitful and brilliant and we're getting married in 100 days, friends are great, weather is pleasant and I'm allowed to wear shorts because of it!

And finally, my facial hair has reached the status of 'beard', or at least 'Mr Tumnus fluff'. Life is good eh?

New Look

Not the shop, the blog! I decided it was about time I stopped faffing around with HTML and started using the new blogger. However, although I've spent the last hour working on my blog, I don't think it looks much different. Check out the banner at the bottom, along with the super-sized Wedding countdown, along with the all new clock! Wow!

Am in the midst of an essay about Martin Luther, he was quite a man. I cannot even presume to shine the shoes of this steadfast fellow! Am also in the midst of my Nazirite vow for Lent (see Number 6:1-8), so I'm craving coke, which I've included, and my facial hair is longer than certain people would like.