OK. there are a few mornings where I think that I might ACTUALLY have lost my marbles, if I ever had any. This morning’s cheese-induced dream:

My parents were round at our house, as was an old school friend and for whatever reason, the fish decided to jump out of the tank. Only the little ones, such as the Neon tetras, not the big ones (although there was a scary one that looked a bit like a massively shrunken Noah). Somehow they were able to swim through the air and sail round the room. I got a bit cross and started to flap my arms about saying “What are they DOING??” Then they all got a bit suicidal, realising that they couldn’t in fact swim through air and, one by one, fell to the floor, gasping for breath. I went in to a mad panic, I know we haven’t changed the fish water for a while but why should they all go suicidal on me?? I grabbed a folded piece of paper with which to scoop them up one by one and plop them back into the tank. One by one, they (mostly) revived themselves, but the hallway was just a mess of Neon Tetras and with every one I scooped, the others became weaker. The alarm clock went off (in real time) and something of that “I’m just too tired to get up, just 5 more minutes” feeling entered my dream. I just couldn’t drag myself to pick up the remaining few Neon Tetras because I was tired and they must be dead. Guilt.

I woke up with Twinkle’s nose right in my face (gave me a bit of a fright) and noted, before I woke up properly, how remarkably like the Quicksilver Roxy Life logo cats’ noses are. Then I woke up properly and frowned to myself … What is wrong with me??

I came online and began to chat to Tim (big bro) about the same sort of subject of what goes on in your subconscious mind, by reminiscing about the strange things that you remember as a child. For example, he remembers buying block paints (kiddie paints) in Bath when he was 3, because my Mum had wanted to go shopping on the train, but because she made the mistake of telling him they were going on the train, he wanted to go too!

I remembered my Mum going to Reading and coming back with two teddy bears for us (Lionel, after my friend and Benji - no idea - Tim’s choice). We had to swap because they were the wrong colours!

I remembered being served rock buns with pink custard and hundreds and thousands (I hate custard) in the school canteen in Surrey (I was only at the school for about a month and a half) but I don’t remember much of the rest of the school very well. Why do we remember strange details like that and forget the big ones? I do remember having to say “My name is Naomi and it means charming and delightful” in a school assembly and then having to say it again because I was so shy of saying my name that I said it as quietly as I possibly could. I was then rewarded when, after putting my hand up the highest and nearly taking it out of its socket, by being allowed to hold the plastic apple for the harvest song (there was a variety of fake fruit and veg but this was the only one left).

Odd.

Sometimes, people confuse me.  Particularly those who frequent the streets of Cheltenham town centre during the week when a lot of people are at work.  Today, as I wandered past Woolworths, a man shouted (almost in my face) “DANCE!!!! ENERGETICALLY!!!!” He waved his fist to reiterate the point, whatever it was.  I was so surprised that I almost felt compelled to do so, as I jumped silently out of my skin, collected the same discarded skin and replaced it, gathered my thoughts which were now scattered about the pavement and carried on chatting to my friend.

That was freak number one.   I could continue, but he was the most ’special’ so perhaps I will just highlight the real weirdies that I come across.

Today is JT’s *ahem*32nd*ahem* birthday.  After a slightly rushed present ceremony I went into Trinity offices with him to do a bit of work.  There are many things that I miss about working at Trinity and one is the immense effort that they go to in order to make your birthday special…  Check out his desk!

Recently Monty has cleaned up his act.  He is no longer bringing us little presents that flap, squark or squeek (thank goodness, after rescuing a bird that could only half fly and a hobbling mouse, I was getting a bit fed up!)  Instead, over the past few days, I have received a stick, a leaf from a pond (whoops…), a crisp packet and another stick from a pond!!!  I have no idea where he is finding these things but every time he does, he runs at full speed and almost crashes into the back door, before dropping the offering at my feet.  Good boy.  Sorry for the awful picture, it was dark and he wouldn’t sit still!

We like La Scala….

Anyone for a perm?

How embarrassing…  I was caught in the library borrowing no less than 12 books for my essay.  More embarrassingly, the weight of the books almost pulled my trousers down!

My friend’s Facebook status made me laugh… It said “And they’re off! Literally…. THE CHELTENHAM RACES ARE OFF?!” Indeed it is true. Due to “severe weather”, the races have been cancelled today! It is windy, but I wouldn’t call the weather “extreme”?! Angry Irishmen to be found on the streets of Cheltenham, no doubt.  Still, I am enjoying my complimentary “reading day”, time to get my teeth stuck in to my new project on sustainability!  Looking forward to this one…

How trendy this phrase has become… “Post-modernity”.  And yet it poses a serious problem for the Christian faith, as it causes public apathy at a gargantuan scale and offers what I have often referred to as a ‘pick ‘n’ mix culture’.  The best way to sum up this political and philosophical buzz word/phrase is in the lyrics of one of my favourite ‘Talk Talk’ songs (it is not a favourite because of the words, just the tune!)  The song is called “Life’s what you make it”. Is this not the attitude of so many people out there?  I don’t know if Talk Talk were aware that they were exhibiting a prophetic message of doom or whether in fact what they said was actually quite wise.

I, for one, know that I cannot make anything of life on my own and this was hammered home to me last night in a cluster discussion about heavenly crowns.  “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:19) This is the advice of the Bible, based on the fact that we could make ourselves multi-millionaires, but then we could walk under a bus (or, indeed, come to a more timely end) and then what would we take with us of our riches?  Nothing.  Would our riches leave a lasting impression?  They might make some relative or dogs’ home wealthy for a time, but then they would disappear.  What would we have done in this life to change lives or show love, hospitality, generosity etc to those who needed it?

Life’s what you make it. What does this mean in a post-modern culture?  In relation to a modern and indeed dangerous perception of the Bible, it translates as “you can interpret the Bible how you want to” or “you can take from the Bible what you want”, because post-modernity states that there are no absolutes and that life is ‘me-centered’.  However, what people forget is that post-modernism is not an authority.  At best, it is a philosophy, a lifestyle or an attitude.  At worst it is also a philosophy, a lifestyle and an attitude.  The Bible is not post-modern.   It was certainly not written in the ‘post-modern era’ and was written under the direction of the one true authority (and the one absolute truth) - God.

Therefore the Bible is either true or it is not.  It is up to you to decide.  No one is willing nowadays to to give their allegiance to one idea, because we are too afraid of being wrong, what people might say if we can’t backtrack, or perhaps we just don’t know the answer.  Although post-modernism centres the world around self, we should all learn (in the words of teenagers) to ‘get over ourselves’.  Why do we think we’re so great?

I choose to put my faith in the Bible, the Word of God.  I believe that it is true.  Life is what you make it.  What will you make of it?  I know I can make nothing worthwhile of life without God.