givemebackmymustache

The Wrestler

2009-02-02T13:59:00.001-08:00

wow. loved it. more than I could have ever hoped for. had such a lovely night watching it.

this evening

2009-01-26T14:23:00.000-08:00

I volunteer for a youth project each week in an area of Glasgow often associated with poverty and violence. Whilst that certainly exists in this neighborhood, there is also close and beautiful ties of friendship and hospitality to be found, right alongside the squalor and the addiction.
I was struck this evening by the pain and the suffering of some young peoples lives, and was moved and inspired by the heroism and the dedication of the families and workers who try and offer comfort and stability.

I was reminded of Abdu’l-Bahá, son of Baha'u'llah, Prophet Founder of the Baha'i Faith, and who Himself offered so much of His time and love to the people He thought would appreciate kindness, compassion and hospitality. Baha'is look to A'bdul-Bahá as the perfect example of service.

Therefore we also must strive in this pathway of love and service, sacrificing life and possessions, passing our days in devotion, consecrating our efforts wholly to the cause of God, so that, God willing, the ensign of universal religion may be uplifted in the world of mankind and the oneness of the world of humanity be established.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 230)

Rise up this mornin,Smiled with the risin sun

2009-01-26T07:01:00.000-08:00

I start uni again full-time today, for my second term of my second year, for 12 weeks. I woke up with the sun shining through my window and a prayer in my mind, which I memorized a couple of years ago when I woke up on a beautiful summers morning.

O God! Refresh and gladden my spirit. Purify my heart. Illumine my powers. I lay all my affairs in Thy hand. Thou art my Guide and my Refuge. I will no longer be sorrowful and grieved; I will be a happy and joyful being. O God! I will no longer be full of anxiety, nor will I let trouble harass me. I will not dwell on the unpleasant things of life.

O God! Thou art more friend to me than I am to myself. I dedicate myself to Thee, O Lord.

- 'Abdu'l-Bahá

(Compilations, Baha'i Prayers, p. 150)

the last week of my placement

2009-01-26T06:48:00.000-08:00

My fourteen week full-time youth work placement came to an end last Friday. It's been wonderful, galvanizing, heartbreaking and inspiring. One of the young people I've been working with was teasing me for accidentally swearing in front of him, and said I wasn't supposed to do that because I was a community worker and a youth worker. For me, that was a huge compliment, because for one of the youth I've been working with to think of me as a professional left me feeling like I was accomplishing something for the people I've been trying to serve.

O Lord! Make this youth radiant, and confer Thy bounty upon this poor creature. Bestow upon him knowledge, grant him added strength at the break of every morn and guard him 38 within the shelter of Thy protection so that he may be freed from error, may devote himself to the service of Thy Cause, may guide the wayward, lead the hapless, free the captives and awaken the heedless, that all may be blessed with Thy remembrance and praise. Thou art the Mighty and the Powerful.

- 'Abdu'l-Bahá

(Compilations, Baha'i Prayers, p. 37)

Royal Rumble

2009-01-25T12:54:00.000-08:00

Tonight is one of my favorite pay per views, The Royal Rumble.

This guy, Jeff Hardy;

might lose his heavyweight title to this guy;

my boy Edge, due to interference from the returning;

Christian
with his sidekick;

Tomko

Possible winners of the Rumble could be;

Triple H. Hope not.

Probably Randy Orton though;

That'd be ok.

maybemaybemaybeMAYBE Mr Kennedy. That'd be freakin' awesome;

But I think it'd be really cool if there was a guest appearance by this guy;

Yeah he won the Primaries. Yeah he won the Election. Win the rumble Big O. Then I'll be impressed.

this feels too good to be true

2009-01-22T15:41:00.000-08:00

what is yer man on the far right wearing?!

behold, this awesome group of tattooed, bearded, fearsome, electro-folk-rock German demons of madness, known as... In Extremo! This was brought to me today by the letters N and B, thanks Asi!
they have written a song especially for me, which can be enjoyed here, and contains my new favorite lyrics ever...'LIAM LIAM!'

Beards II

2009-01-21T12:39:00.000-08:00

legend
hero
awesome
inspiring
wispy

beards

2009-01-17T17:16:00.000-08:00

In honor of this fella, I'm growing a beard before I go see him live next month.

Here are a few other wonderful specimens, and I will post a pic of my own soon.

Also, here is a link my lovely mate NB sent me, to further your interest in this wonderful topic;
http://www.beardrevue.com/2008/12/portland-monthly-portland-beardiest.html

The hardcore legend Mick Foley, WWE's first ever hardcore champ, a man so tough can get away with wearing TWO plaid shirts at once.
Cameron Poe. 'why couldn't you just put down the bunny?'
Simon Neil fae Biffy
Jack freakin' Bauer
Robin Williams wise, tweedy, beardy magnificence
Big Barry White
The Count
Brain Blessed in Flash Gordon
Creedence
Chuck
Dave Grohl
Bill Murray in Life Aquatic
The Stath
Obi Wan

The Macho Man
Kimbo Slice. The Hardest Man in The World.
Sayid fae LOST

pic from today at my placement

2009-01-13T15:08:00.000-08:00

today at my placement

2009-01-12T16:10:00.000-08:00

a pic from today;
I sang this today with one of the young people I work with who had it on his phone, what a miracle of a song;

Dont worry about a thing,
cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singin: dont worry about a thing,
cause every little thing gonna be all right!

Rise up this mornin,
Smiled with the risin sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin, (this is my message to you-ou-ou:)

Singin: dont worry bout a thing,
cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singin: dont worry (dont worry) bout a thing,
cause every little thing gonna be all right!

Rise up this mornin,
Smiled with the risin sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin, this is my message to you-ou-ou:

Singin: dont worry about a thing, worry about a thing, oh!
Every little thing gonna be all right. dont worry!
Singin: dont worry about a thing - I wont worry!
cause every little thing gonna be all right.

Singin: dont worry about a thing,
cause every little thing gonna be all right - I wont worry!
Singin: dont worry about a thing,
cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singin: dont worry about a thing, oh no!
cause every little thing gonna be all right!

a beautiful ode to life

2009-01-11T10:24:00.000-08:00

lamps of the Company above

2009-01-07T14:14:00.000-08:00

This weekend my family, my friends and a few thousand other Baha'is attended a large Baha'i gathering in London. The purpose was to share some thoughts and insights about how we can offer the Baha'i Faith to the world.
The purpose of the Baha'i Faith is to establish unity in the world, through the application of our belief that all mankind are one human family. If you would like to read more about the Baha'i Faith, heres our official website.

O my Lord and my Hope! Help Thou Thy loved ones to be steadfast in Thy mighty Covenant, to remain faithful to Thy manifest Cause, and to carry out the commandments Thou didst set down for them in Thy Book of Splendours; that they may become banners of guidance and lamps of the Company above, wellsprings of Thine infinite wisdom, and stars that lead aright, as they shine down from the supernal sky. Verily art Thou the Invincible, the Almighty, the All-Powerful.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 259)

a few recent pics from my placement

2009-01-06T15:12:00.000-08:00

I wonder what Christopher Walken might think that this post needs more of?

2008-12-31T15:24:00.001-08:00

We've been playing this album...

on a continuous loop at work for the last week, which has meant Don't Fear The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult over, and over, and over... and all I can ever hear in the background...

... is Will Ferrell playing the cowbell

my local train station

2008-12-30T00:17:00.000-08:00

The Greatest and Best Film Ever Made

2008-12-20T13:35:00.000-08:00

Ladies and gentleman, allow me to present to you, The Greatest and Best Film Ever Made. In fact, if it wasn't for 'Romeo and Juliet' by Dire Straits, I'd have to say it's the greatest piece of art ever created.

I watched this magnificent triumph last night and felt moved to share with you how it made me feel. Yes, Die Hard has Alan Rickman. Yes Die Hard 3 has Samuel L Jackson. Yes, Die Hard 4 has a fist fight between Bruce Willis and A FIGHTER JET. With Bruce Willis winning. But Die Hard 2 is a little bit different, a little bit special.
It features John McClane, talking to himself;
'well we are just up to our ass in terrorists here John'
It has lines delivered by snarling bad guys; 'you're the wrong man, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.'
with such witty comebacks as;
'story of my life'
It has John McClane. ON A SNOWMOBILE!
Sneering South American bad guys!

John McClane, running in the snow, and falling over a lot. But always getting back up again. BECAUSE THATS THE JOHN MCCLANE WAY!

Sipowicz from NYPD Blue. SHOUTING A LOT!

The Greatest and Best Film Ever Made

Hallelujah

2008-12-19T12:08:00.000-08:00

I heard there was a sacred song,
That’s been covered in a way, that’s just plain wrong,
But Simon Cowell doesn’t really care for music, does he?
He wants to be Christmas number one,
But look at what he’s gone and done
That high trousered Grinch has put his hands on Hallelujah
On Hallelujah, On Hallelujah
He’s gone and put his hands on Hallelujah

Well its Len Cohen, that we have to thank,
For he’s laughing all the way to the bank,
for every copy sold he gets a royalty,
But let us think now, both you and me,
Of that beautiful singer, Jeff Buckley,
For he’s spinning in his grave just like a screw, yeah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Hallelllllllllllluuuuuuuuuuuuujaaaaaaaaaaah

Well maybe I’m a puritan,
But that’s better than being, a thieving businessman,
But worry not for I have a great plan oh it’s true, yeah,
We’ll go to itunes, for we know it’s there
and we’ll have Simon Cowell tearing out his hair,
FOR WE’LL ALL DOWNLOAD JEFF BUCKLEYS HALLELUJAH!
HALLELUJAH!
HALLELUJAH!
WE’LL ALL DOWNLOAD JEFF BUCKLEYS HALLELUJAH!

Well Rufus Wainwright, yeah he had a go
And so too, did Sheryl Crowe,
But theres only one man who ever got it right,
And Cowells soul, is as black as night,
But Buckley will lead us to the light,
And we must all download his cover of Hallelujah!
Of Hallelujah
Of Hallelujaaaaah

Well we must do all that we can,
Every woman and every man,
To put a stop to Simon Cowells nefarious plan,
This is a war that we must fight
We must do what we know is right
WE MUST DOWNLOAD JEFF BUCKLEYS HALLELUJAH!
HALLELUJAH!
HALLELUJAH!

And then you and me, on Christmas Day,
We’ll hear the radio DJ say
BUCKLEYS HALLELUJAHS NUMBER ONE YEAH!
HALLELUJAH!
HALLELUJAH!
And we’ll all join hands and sing we’ll all sing,
HALLELUJAH!
HALLELUJAH!
HALLELUJAH!
HALLELUUUUUUUUUUUUUJAAAH!

given a chance

2008-12-18T14:49:00.000-08:00

Taken to the floor
with the reach to the sky
I loosen my tie
locking down the door
with the rhythm and rhyme
I loosen my tie
given a chance
I wanna be somebody
if for one dance
I wanna be somebody
open the door
I wanna be somebody
now it's your time
and you know where you stand
with a gun in your hand
with a gun in your hand
now I 'm no longer an ordinary man
was this your big plan,
your gun in your hand?
given a chance
I wanna be somebody
if for one dance
I wanna be somebody
open the door
I wanna be somebody
Kings of Leon:Be Somebody

I have been going between two different teams of young people undertaking a twelve week personal development program, throughout my placement. Today was the last day for one of those teams, and the young people made a public presentation to friends and family, and people they had met during their experience. It was a group of seven guys, of different ages from different backgrounds, who had worked hard and overcame a lot. The standards are high, and the criteria for finishing the course is strict. It was a real, honest accomplishment, and it was a beautiful thing to watch. These guys have had to fight past stigma and poverty and addiction and mental and physical health problems, but they tried and they did it.

Heres a few pics I took going to and from my placement.

Jeff Hardy, the new World Heavyweight Champion

2008-12-16T12:17:00.000-08:00

After years and years of hard work and dedication and messy set-backs in his personal and professional life, Jeff Hardy has finally captured the most sought after prize in wrestling, the World Heavyweight Championship.

Yes it would have been good if they'd maintained the underdog storyline all the way to Wrestlemania, yes there is a danger he may just be a transitional champion, yes he has silly eyebrows, but this will mean so much to so many people, who have loved and supported him for years, so let us wrestling fans one and all unite and celebrate because Jeff Hardy is the Heavyweight Champion of the world.

bah humbug.

2008-12-15T10:08:00.000-08:00

I, like Bill Murray in Scrooged, hate Christmas.

the person I'm writing this for knows who they are...

2008-12-14T16:37:00.000-08:00

...for NB, my childrens book writing collaborator

placement day 8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,18,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50 ...

2008-12-14T15:17:00.000-08:00

...fell a little behind, sorry!
I have been doing my placement, working with young, marginalized 16-25 years, helping them undertake a twelve week personal development course, for 10 weeks now. I have seen determination, tenacity, kindness and love, been helpless with laughter, split up fights, called ambulances and seen the consequences of abuse and gang violence. I've tried to incorporate basketball into workshops about learning styles, lead team building problem solving exercises and spent a week in the wilderness of the Scottish mountains, in a lodge run by long haired mountain climbing brummie musicians, at an outdoor activity centre. And throughout it all, as always, my talisman has been the first Hidden Word of Bahau'u'llah;

1. O SON OF SPIRIT!
My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and everlasting.

(Baha'u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)

Here are a few photos I've taken around Glasgow in the last few weeks, going to and from my placement.

battle of the superpowers 8/11/08

2008-12-14T14:09:00.000-08:00

Calzaghe wins, unanimous decision 118-109

tonights Battle of the Superpowers

2008-11-08T15:25:00.000-08:00

Calzaghe and Jones

Joe Calzaghe is a boxer from Wales with an undefeated professional record of 45 Wins (32 knockouts, 13 decisions), 0 Losses, 0 Draws

Roy Jones, Jr is a US boxer, who for years was regarded as the best pound for pound fighter alive with 52 Wins (38 knockouts, 14 decisions) and 4 Losses (2 knockouts, 1 decision, 1 disqualification)

Calzaghe may never have faced a challenge this great before. He has claimed that whatever the outcome, this will be his last professional fight before retiring. He will be fulfilling a dream tonight of fighting in Madison Square Garden in New York. He has the chance to retire undefeated.

Roy Jones, Jr needs to prove tonight that he's not, as has been suggested, past his prime.

I'll be backing the Italian Dragon Calzaghe. Go on son.

Mogwai

2008-11-04T12:19:00.001-08:00

a couple of weeks ago tonight me and my boys went to see a wonderful Glaswegian band called Mogwai. I'd write and tell you about all about it, in a brilliant, eloquent way, but brilliant and eloquent words ain't what I do, that is what my pal David Al does, and when he does it, it's like watching an inspired angel of arson pouring the psychedelic petrol of critical wordplay over the already burning fire of pop culture. so please check out his gig review here and his blog here.
words ain't my bag baby, but pictures most certainly are, please enjoy;

Mogwaion the way home from the gig
Liam and David

I'm trying to make a new laptop function, and get the ol'interwebatronamatica on my old desktop working, and it's making me feel like this;

2008-11-02T18:31:00.001-08:00

nicked fae PostSecret

L loving I inspirational A approachable M magnificent

2008-10-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

Robin Williams = (for an aspiring youth worker like me) beardy, inspiring, brilliant

2008-10-29T16:04:00.000-07:00

Good Will Hunting
Dead Poets Society
Awakenings

an artists drawing of the author (placement, day 7)

2008-10-21T07:36:00.001-07:00

one of the young people I work with welcomed me with this masterpiece

my family and my pals had other ideas though

2008-10-21T07:17:00.000-07:00

so I got to my folks place and they threw me the biggest and best (surprise) party I have ever been to.
so to my family and my friends and everyone who couldn't come but who emailed/youtubed/texted/wrote/facebooked, thank you so much, I love you and you make me feel like a blessed man.
Thanks so much to Erin and Pat for taking all the pictures.

my 25th birthday (thought it was going to be a quiet one)

2008-10-21T06:45:00.000-07:00

so last Wednesday was my birthday, and I thought it was just going to be a quiet one, I'd spent the day at my placement, helping the young folks I am working with prepare a presentation for their family and friends to tell them about the 12 week personal development program they'd undertaken together, and then headed over to my folks place for dinner.
I am working in a wee town called Dumbarton, on the outskirts of Glasgow, which has a large hill in the middle called Dumbarton Rock. I had a perfect view of it from the train station, and the weather was beautiful, it went from blazing sunshine to cloudy to rainy, with the raindrops appearing ignited by the sun.
I took these pictures just by the entrance of the train station;

at the train station entrance
at the train station entrance
at the train station entrance
at the train station entrance
at the train station entrance

and these ones at the station;

Dumbarton Rock
Dumbarton Rock
Dumbarton Rock
Dumbarton
For AJ (as always)

and these on the walk home from the station;

on the way home
I love my sisters

happy birthday Dizzy

2008-10-20T17:19:00.000-07:00

with all of my heart, thank you

2008-10-16T15:46:00.001-07:00

placement ; day 7...ok, I'm sleepy. so tonights post will be more about pictures than words!

2008-10-14T15:17:00.001-07:00

Today was a long, but awesome day; I worked my placement, participated in a Baha'i study circle in a coffee shop that I love and then attended a meeting of the Glasgow Baha'i society, where we talked about the importance of education and service in over-coming lifes tests and challenges.
During my placement today I helped the team I'm supporting to create a presentation they are preparing for their family and friends, to tell them about the experiences they had undertaking the 12 week personal development course that the charity I am working with offers. It was inspiring to hear their stories and to see the bonds of trust and friendship and unity that developed between them, expressed through kindness, trust and a lot of laughs.

The rest of my day I would like to share with pictures;

my Ruhi 4 study class
my Ruhi 4 study class
my Ruhi 4 study class
my Ruhi 4 study class
a full moon on my way home from the Baha'i society
the train station on the way home from my placement
my Ruhi 4 study class
my Ruhi 4 study class
my Ruhi 4 study class
my ruhi 4 study class
I love my sisters

placement ; day 6...

2008-10-13T14:20:00.000-07:00

a picture taken in Sighthill, were I spent an amazing hour this evening, helping with a Baha'i youth club

as ever, if anyone reading this would like to know more about the Baha'i Faith, the official website can be found here

today I began working with a group of young people who are coming to the end of a 12 week personal development course, which was designed so that the participants could learn how to create opportunities in their lives.
I will only be with them this week, for the last few days in the program. after this I'll be helping recruit other young people for the next 12 week program which is to begin next month.
I also volunteered in a Baha'i project this evening, offering a club to younger youth, that is, similarly to the course I now help contribute to full-time with my placement, designed to help encourage creativity and independent thought.
afterwards I was chatting with a mate of mine, who also volunteers to offer this Baha'i club, over coffee in my kitchen, about our belief that when individuals arise to serve the people around them, as best they can, in whatever way they can, they are assisted and strengthened by God. a pal was kind enough to send me this quote this morning, so I could read it before beginning work, and I'd like to share it now, just before I go to bed, so as to bring my day full-circle;

"Wherefore, look not on the degree of your
capacity, ask not if you are worthy of the
task: rest ye your hopes on the help and
loving-kindness, the favours and bestowals
of Bahá'u'lláh -- may my soul be offered up
for His friends! Urge on the steed of high
endeavour over the field of sacrifice, and
carry away from this wide arena the prize
of divine grace."

~ Abdu'l-Baha

placement ; day 5

2008-10-10T16:25:00.001-07:00

view out of my window at night

so my first week of placement is over, and it's been wonderful, I've learned a lot and I have a great to process over the weekend.
my beard is coming along and I have hopes that this will continue to contribute to the value of what I have to offer.
as I mentioned before, because of the kind of work I'm doing I'm very limited as to what I can write about, and I think that until I can figure a way around that these daily posts will be quite vague...so, that and the fact that it's half-past midnight, I'm just home from my second job working a late shift in a books store and I have an early start tomorrow, means tonights post will be quite short.
I would like to share this quote from the Baha'i writings, I wrote it here at the start of the week and I would like to finish this weeks posts with it. it is a quote I have come back to time and time again in the last few years and I spend a wee bit of time every night meditating on it's meaning.

1. O SON OF SPIRIT!
My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and everlasting.

(Baha'u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)

placement ; day 4...

2008-10-09T17:08:00.000-07:00

...wasn't in today! but I did go to an awesome gig, with an amazing line-up, as part of a Scottish Mental Health Festival, heres a few photos I took

placement ; day 3...an inspiration

2008-10-08T18:16:00.000-07:00

49. O CHILDREN OF DUST!
Tell the rich of the midnight sighing of the poor, lest heedlessness lead them into the path of destruction, and deprive them of the Tree of Wealth. To give and to be generous are attributes of Mine; well is it with him that adorneth himself with My virtues.

(Baha'u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words)

placement ; day 2 ...'this darksome earth will be flooded with light'

2008-10-07T17:12:00.000-07:00

a photo taken at the train station where I end every working day

as ever, if anyone would like to read more about the Baha'i Faith, please see here for the official website
a quick description of what I study can be found here

community education, as a practice, has only existed since 1975, and therefore, unlike more established professions, such as social work and primary education, which are also taught in my university, and with whom community educators such as myself are encouraged to engage with in the spirit of collaborative practice (often referred to as; 'dialoging', a word my sister hates!), community education is relatively new. although we have policy that acts as a charter, the boundaries are only roughly defined, and the ongoing discourse between the academics and practitioners of comm.ed of the values, principles and beliefs that should inform our practice is still in it's initial stages.
I find this really exciting because my hope is that this means I can bring a fair amount of creativity to my work.
it's understood, both in the different documents of legislation that sketch an outline for our profession, and in the theoretical papers written that discuss the concepts central to our work, that there are certain core values that should be upheld be anyone wishing to be a practitioner of community education, which include the equality of women and men and a universal right to education. I will write about these more, but I just wanted to very quickly describe the foundation upon which community education has been built. community education workers, from what I have seen, take a lot of pride in being part of something forward-thinking and progressive.
my mate Asiyih shared a quote with me today from the writings of A'bdul-Baha, the son of the Baha'i manifestation Baha'u'llah and the divine exemplar of his teachings, that struck me as beautiful and a perfect description of the type of service Baha'u'llah calls upon humanity to offer;

O peoples of the world! The Sun of Truth hath risen to illumine the whole earth, and to spiritualize the community of man. Laudable are the results and the fruits thereof, abundant the holy evidences deriving from this grace. This is mercy unalloyed and purest bounty; it is light for the world and all its peoples; it is harmony and fellowship, and love and solidarity; indeed it is compassion and unity, and the end of foreignness; it is the being at one, in complete dignity and freedom, with all on earth.

The Blessed Beauty saith: 'Ye are all the fruits of one tree, the leaves of one branch.' Thus hath He likened this world of being to a single tree, and all its peoples to the leaves thereof, and the blossoms and fruits. It is needful for the bough to blossom, and leaf and fruit to flourish, and upon the interconnection of all parts of the world-tree, dependeth the flourishing of leaf and blossom, and the sweetness of the fruit.

For this reason must all human beings powerfully sustain one another and seek for everlasting life; and for this reason must the lovers of God in this contingent world become the mercies and the blessings sent forth by that clement King of the seen and unseen realms. Let them purify their sight and behold all humankind as leaves and blossoms and fruits of the tree of being. Let them at all times concern themselves with doing a kindly thing for one of their fellows, offering to someone love, consideration, thoughtful help. Let them see no one as their enemy, or as wishing them ill, but think of all humankind as their friends; regarding the alien as an intimate, the stranger as a companion, staying free of prejudice, drawing no lines.

In this day, the one favoured at the Threshold of the Lord is he who handeth round the cup of faithfulness; who bestoweth, even upon his enemies, the jewel of bounty, and lendeth, even to his fallen oppressor, a helping hand; it is he who will, even to the fiercest of his foes, be a loving friend. These are the Teachings of the Blessed Beauty, these the counsels of the Most Great Name.

O ye dear friends! The world is at war and the human race is in travail and mortal combat. The dark night of hate hath taken over, and the light of good faith is blotted out. The peoples and kindreds of the earth have sharpened their claws, and are hurling themselves one against the other. It is the very foundation of the human race that is being destroyed. It is thousands of households that are vagrant and dispossessed, and every year seeth thousands upon thousands of human beings weltering in their life-blood on dusty battlefields. The tents of life and joy are down. The generals practise their generalship, boasting of the blood they shed, competing one with the next in inciting to violence. 'With this sword,' saith one of them, 'I beheaded a people!' And another: 'I toppled a nation to the ground!' And yet another: 'I brought a government down!' On such things do men pride themselves, in such do they glory! Love -- righteousness -- these are everywhere censured, while despised are harmony, and devotion to the truth.

The Faith of the Blessed Beauty is summoning mankind to safety and love, to amity and peace; it hath raised up its tabernacle on the heights of the earth, and directeth its call to all nations. Wherefore, O ye who are God's lovers, know ye the value of this precious Faith, obey its teachings, walk in this road that is drawn straight, and show ye this way to the people. Lift up your voices and sing out the song of the Kingdom. Spread far and wide the precepts and counsels of the loving Lord, so that this world will change into another world, and this darksome earth will be flooded with light, and the dead body of mankind will arise and live; so that every soul will ask for immortality, through the holy breaths of God.

Soon will your swiftly-passing days be over, and the fame and riches, the comforts, the joys provided by this rubbish-heap, the world, will be gone without a trace. Summon ye, then, the people to God, and invite humanity to follow the example of the Company on high. Be ye loving fathers to the orphan, and a refuge to the helpless, and a treasury for the poor, and a cure for the ailing. Be ye the helpers of every victim of oppression, the patrons of the disadvantaged. Think ye at all times of rendering some service to every member of the human race. Pay ye no heed to aversion and rejection, to disdain, hostility, injustice: act ye in the opposite way. Be ye sincerely kind, not in appearance only. Let each one of God's loved ones centre his attention on this: to be the Lord's mercy to man; to be the Lord's grace. Let him do some good to every person whose path he crosseth, and be of some benefit to him. Let him improve the character of each and all, and reorient the minds of men. In this way, the light of divine guidance will shine forth, and the blessings of God will cradle all mankind: for love is light, no matter in what abode it dwelleth; and hate is darkness, no matter where it may make its nest. O friends of God! That the hidden Mystery may stand revealed, and the secret essence of all things may be disclosed, strive ye to banish that darkness for ever and ever.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha)

placement ; day 1

2008-10-06T17:31:00.000-07:00

A s promised, I'd like to talk a wee bit about what I study and what I believe as a Baha'i.
My second year as a community education student starts with a four month work experience placement, which began today, and I'll try and write a bit about it every day, and include pictures. Because of the type of work I'll be done, it's extremely important that I maintain appropriate discretion and confidentiality, and so if I don't mention something it's either for that reason, or because I'm dyslexic!
I will be working full-time with a charity, that works with young people, from the ages of 16-25, who have been marginalized from full-time education or work for many different reasons. My main responsibilities are to help with the initial recruitment, by engaging with local youth and young adults, and then to help support the participants that sign up through a 12 week personal development project, the point of which is to help create and build confidence and skills and will give the young person a recognized vocational qualification.
I have always had a lot of respect for this charity, because of something I saw a couple of years ago when I was at a seminar held in the centre of Glasgow, for different charitable organizations. I was there representing the charity I used to work for when I first moved here, and I remember being very moved by what a group of youth, who had been through a development program with the Princes Trust, had to say about their experiences. In this kind of work, lots of buzz words get chucked around, and one of them is; empowered, but I really believed, just by looking at them and listening to them, that they had been strengthened, in a way that I hadn't seen since I said my goodbyes three years ago at my last weekly Baha'i youth class that I attended throughout my 18 months in Haifa, when I stood up, turned round and saw for the first time what our teacher had seen every week, the beautiful sight of a room full of troubled, struggling, hopeful, striving young people.
As the nature of the work I will be engaged was explained to me, two Baha'i quotes came to mind, and I will strive to understand the depth of their significance and meaning so that their truth and wisdom can inform my practice. The first, I hope, will help develop my love and appreciation for the young people I'll be working with;

The Great Being saith: Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit therefrom

(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 259)

and the second I hope will guide my choices and decisions;

1. O SON OF SPIRIT!
My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and everlasting.

(Baha'u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)

If you would like to read more about The Baha'i Faith, please find a link to the official web site here.

So I will write everyday about what I learn, and hopefully through the process of writing I will learn and understand more, and gain more insights. I was more excited this morning about undertaking this placement than I have ever been about anything that I've ever tried, the only thing I've ever felt I can do well enough to try and dedicate a lifetime of service to, is to be able to talk to young people, and all I can do is try. And trying makes me feel like a blessed man.

Also today, I helped tutor a Baha'i junior youth class and then participated in a Baha'i Local Spiritual Assembly Meeting, both of which I will write about some time soon...right now, I'm too sleepy!

So heres a couple of pictures I took today of the college where I'm based;

and I've noticed that some of my famous and much loved movie contemporaries in this kinda work are either Samuel L Jackson;

or bearded. (I'm going to grow a beard)

my pal Ryan got married

2008-10-05T16:54:00.001-07:00

my pal Ryan, is married! my old flatmate, who once nursed me back to health when I was sick, with bad horror movies and episodes of Invader Zim, my pal Ryan who I once woke up at 3am one Saturday morning to make me pancakes, which he did with infinite patience and love, is married!
on yersel' son.

a few pics from around Glasgow today, on my way into town early this morning, and at work...

2008-10-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

...
...and heres a few lyrics from a song I like too, just because I'm listening to it right now

All of the moments that already passed
We'll try to go back and make them last
All of the things we want each other to be
We never will be
And that's wonderful, and that's life
And that's you, baby
This is me, baby
And we are, we are, we are, we are
Free
In our love
We are free in our love

Then I see you standing there
Wanting more from me
And all I can do is try
Then I see you standing there
I'm all I'll ever be
But all I can do is try
Try

Nelly Futardo

a pictures from Glasgow this week

2008-10-02T15:00:00.000-07:00

Glasgow, the city that can be ugly and beautiful at the same time

two of my favourite entertainers of all time, together at last; Grover and Stevie

2008-10-02T14:57:00.001-07:00

Todays soulful sesame street treat can be found here

time to say goodnight (andrea bocelli on sesame street)

2008-10-01T18:03:00.000-07:00

guaranteed to give you a case of the warm and fuzzies. I defy anyone to watch this without crying.

...tonights post dedicated to Asiyih

Jellyman Kelly (James Taylor on Sesame Street)

2008-09-30T16:16:00.000-07:00

if you can watch this without a tear in your eye, stop what you're doing and come to my house, I have a cup of hot chocolate, a woolly blanket my grandma knitted and a ton of Sesame Street memories to melt your cold heart.

if you don't have any plans for 7pm,Tues, 21st of Oct...

2008-09-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

...then I'll see you at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange, for the Mogwai gig. wrap up warm, it'll be a cold night.

I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin', because I'm free, nothin's worryin' me

2008-09-27T17:47:00.001-07:00

Jack Reacher : the movie

2008-09-26T17:25:00.001-07:00

As I've mentioned before, despite the fact that I work in a bookshop and have constant, limitless access to many of the worlds greatest works of literature, my heart belongs to a six-foot five, steely eyed, ex-military policeman named Jack Reacher, a big fella who travels around America, tackling crime, fighting injustice, loving many a lady and trying to exorcise the haunting ghost of his brother, for whose death our hero feels partly responsible.
Jack is just a man who wants to travel and live the quiet life of the American drifter, enjoying cups of coffee and the blues, but is forever getting tangled up in adventure and romance in a rather unabashedly homoerotic fashion.
*spoiler warning* At the climax of the classic tale 'Tripwire' he faces off against bad guy 'Hook Hobie', a ruthless banker holding the woman he loves hostage (a recurring predicament); when Hobie, a villainous Vietnam veteran, with a half-scarred face and a hook for a hand (I'm being serious) shoots Reacher point-blank in the chest, we find out that our hero is a man so manly he has pectoral muscles that are so thick they act like a Kevlar vest (again, serious), absorbing the bullets impact and saving his life, allowing him to shoot the bad guy and save his lady.
I read three of these in quick succession last summer and loved them for their cheesy rubbishness, and one of my mates, after hearing me bang on about them for ages, finally read one that I'd recommended.
He told me afterwoods that he thought the author, a British fella named Lee Child, who lives in America, and makes so much money from these books that he probably swims in a pool full of cash every morning like Scrooge McDuck, is intentionally mocking aspects of US culture, by constructing a caricature of the archetypal American hero and using the 'drifter' plot device as a means of ensuring he encounters many different people and situations, all of which are extremes, and using the absurdity of the stories as a quiet way of satirizing what he see's as a corruption and falseness within both the society of America and it's foreign policies... and then he sells it to Americans without them necessarily realizing what the English bounder is up to.
Maybe true, maybe not!
But, as you can read here, there are plans for a film to be made soon, and I am awaiting the call to be offered the lead.

kind of blue

2008-09-24T18:14:00.000-07:00

This evening I'm listening to the Miles Davis album my dear old man got me for my birthday last year, and it's makes want to throw on a plaid shirt, stick a candle in a bottle, take up smoking and read a paperback novel...

...Mickey Rourke, Rumblefish

this morning I shaved my beard off...

2008-09-23T15:07:00.001-07:00

...then checked my email, and found that a mate had left me this in my inbox.

And so now it's going to be at least another month and half of not shaving before I can be a college professor, a car-jacker, homeless, or a lumber jack (I would really love to be a lumberjack)

each new day

2008-09-23T00:32:00.000-07:00

Strive to attain nearness to reality through the acquisition of strength of character, through morality, through good works and helping the poor, through being consumed with the fire of the love of God and in discovering each day new spiritual mysteries.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 99)

this is what my life looks like at 7am;

midnight in a perfect world

2008-09-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

The first set of pictures I've used are pictures I found just browsing on the net, of the shop I work in, and the street it's on, Buchanan Street in Glasgow

The second set are pictures I found running; Midnight in a Perfect World through different search engines.

I work in a large bookstore in the centre of Glasgow, on Buchanan Street.

It's in a big, old building,with nine floors, that has been several things over the years; it used to be the home of a Tobacco Merchant (our film and music section used to be the slave quarters), was a bank for awhile and is now the flagship Scottish store for the company that I work for.

Buchanan Street

It is an amazing place to work, because of the type of shop that we are and the type of things that we sell, we get just about every kind of person you could think of, and because I mainly work in customer service and sales, no two shifts are ever the same.

Buchanan Street

Everything I love and hate and am fascinated with about Glasgow I've seen in my shop...

Buchanan Street

...people being kind, people being violent, people being drunk, people being funny, people being sad, people being rich, people being poor, people being angry, people being confused, people being lost... I've reunited people with their favorite books, mothers with lost children, I've had old men take my hands and recite me poetry, I helped a blind woman browse books, I've explained to a mentally ill man why he has to keep his trousers on, I've split-up fights, I've helped a man with tears in his eyes find a book about divorce law, woken up snoozing drug addicts, I've helped a man, sweating and shaking, find a book about over-coming social anxiety disorder...all kinds of everything.

Buchanan Street

Sometime it's challenging though, and today was definitely one of those days. A lot of my colleagues had phoned in sick, we just had new equipment installed which is being a wee bit temperamental, we had two celebrities in doing books signings, it was lashing with rain outside, which often means, on a night-shift, the shop fills up with customers looking to escape the weather, and I had to help defend a colleague from someone treating them in way that I haven't seen since I last saw a playground bully. Towards the end of the shift, I sneaked an album onto the play-list that I've always loved, since my mate Kev, who, along with his family, redefined kindness by offering me a home when I lived in Ireland, endtroduced me to it years ago and we used to listen to it on vinyl in his bedroom. It's called Endtroducing, and it's by DJ Shadow. My favorite track on it is called Midnight in a Perfect World, and it was the last song playing when we were closing the store.

Buchanan Street

To be around people and to try and offer them a service, to be around the actual reality of their lives and live in that moment, whether it's wonderful or whether it's sad, makes me feel at the end of everyday like a blessed man.

Midnight in a Perfect World
Midnight in a Perfect World
Midnight in a Perfect World
Midnight in a Perfect World
Midnight in a Perfect World
Midnight in a Perfect World
Midnight in a Perfect World

Is this a perfect world? No. Could it be? Yes. Is it Midnight? Almost. Goodnight.

this picture I took myself, it's the station where the train that takes me home each day arrives

go on Mickey

2008-09-06T08:12:00.000-07:00

I don't know if anyone else does this, but sometimes before I see a movie I'll watch the trailer online, or at the cinema, or hear a plot synopsis, or see a few images online, catch a glimpse of the poster, listen to a scrap of dialogue on the radio, or just hear folk talking about the concept or the premise, and my imagination will kinda construct a story around these little bits of information...and sometimes I'm so happy with it that I'm not sure if I want to see the film.

I've been trying to get round to seeing the movie Half-Nelson for ages, I know the basic premise; an inspiring and dynamic teacher tries to connect with a class full of kids in an under-unprivileged neighborhood, as he battles a drug addiction, and befriends one of his pupils, who has issues of her own, after she catches him getting high. And thats all I know about it, the basic story and a few images;

...but in my mind I've imagined many different scenes, outcomes and conclusions already.

This trailer for another movie called 'Real Time', about a compulsive gambler given an hour to live his life to the fullest by the hitman paid to kill him, is another really good example. I would love to see the movie, but these three minutes are just so beautifully laid-out and thought provoking I could spend years just thinking about it before wanting to know how it actually concludes.

The movie that has been on my mind the most recently is a film called The Wrestler.
Three things, kinda guilty pleasures, that I really like, are; boxing, the actor Mickey Rourke and pro-wrestling. In a funny sort of way, all three of those things have come together, in a film due out next year.

Mickey Rourke was a really gifted actor who had a few successful movies in the eighties, and who had always been a good amateur boxer. He spent most of the nineties turning down loads of parts in really great films to try and follow a career as a pro-fighter, but never had much luck, and destroyed his good lucks in the process. He was regarded for awhile as quite a sad figure, who threw away all his gifts and was always plagued by personal problems that became public. He returned to full-time movie making a few years ago and has become a sort of cult figure, but I was always hoping he would make a movie were he had a chance to really shine.

He's just finished filming a movie called the Wrestler, were he plays a character called Randy 'The Ram' Robinson, who was a big star in the eighties, but has been reduced to wrestling in grimy, violent independent promotions around the country after his star has faded. He's obviously too old and past his prime, and is forced to retire after a heart attack in the ring. He takes a job in a local deli, moves in with a stripper and attempts to connect with her son, and tries to build a relationship with his estranged teenage daughter. He gets the opportunity to rekindle a feud with an old wrestling nemesis and is tempted to step back into the ring, in the hope this will kickstart his career, even though he knows it could kill him.

Thats all I know about it, along with these few images, and part of me thinks thats all I want to know, because it's such a simple and beautiful concept, a real American folk story, and I think the characters and the set-up is very moving and soulful - in a really unusual sort of way.
I'm already rooting for Randy, I find any character who does his best to struggle with himself to do the right thing, always really engaging ...and it also reminds me of someone I know. Mickey Rourke is perfect for the role, I can't imagine a character and an actor with such a meaningful connection.
It's already been critically really well received and has won a couple of awards, with talk of an Oscar nomination for Rourke. I think his life is probably as complicated and troubled as the character he's playing, but he's an actor and a person I really love, and I think whatever his past or future is about, it's just awesome he's managed to create something so real and heartfelt.

Check out a couple of pieces on the BBC website about the film; here and here.

from now on, something a wee bit different

2008-08-28T20:14:00.000-07:00

What I would like to start doing is writing pieces here on my blog about my understanding of the course I'm doing, which is a degree in (depending which of my lecturers you talk too!) ;

community education

community learning and development

youth work/adult education/community development.

I want to write about the literature, policies, legislation, theories and concepts I need to understand.
I want to write about the city of Glasgow that I get to study in and live in and work in; all the squalor and beauty and decay and regeneration and violence and color and race and love and pride and hate and hope and depression and anger and history and blood and liquor and dirt and mud and refuge that is Glasgow, where I get to ply my trade.
I want to write about my religion, the Baha'i Faith and how it transforms my work and my studies.

I'll try and include photos for each entry, like this one I took near the city centre, where someone wrote, in massive letters; BAD WORLD FOR POOR PEOPLE, which I thought was quite a stark and bold sentiment to want to express, especially as it was done illegally in six foot high letters with white paint.

But I won't stick exclusively to just this one subject, so for those of you who have been missing posts about my underwear (hi Mara!) you have nothing to fear.

Baha'i Summer School 08

2008-08-14T18:05:00.000-07:00

my sisters and I, striking a pose

The Junior Youth facilitators...the Junior Youth Facilitating equivalent of the Chuck Norris Delta Force Team

Myself and Kevin Locke

Rory and Kian

Big Kev, playing his flute

to conclude my Haifa reminiscing; The first and last of the Baha'i Writings I memorised during my service.

2008-08-02T17:51:00.000-07:00

O SON OF SPIRIT!
My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and everlasting.

(Baha'u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)

to conclude my Haifa reminiscing; the songs that characterized my service

2008-08-02T17:31:00.000-07:00

Speed Kills by the Smashing Pumpkins

Hurricane by Bob Dylan

You Held The World In Your Arms by Idlewild

Black by Pearl Jam

The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel

Be Yourself by audioslave

One Line by PJ Harvey

The General by Dispatch

Missing by Everything But The Girl

to conclude my Haifa reminiscing; friends. Liam loves ya.

2008-08-02T17:18:00.001-07:00

Omeed on the left there tried once and failed miserably to give me a stone cold stunner, as he is about a third of my bodyweight

Nays
Neguin and Leila

to conclude my Haifa reminiscing; friends. Liam loves ya.

2008-08-02T17:05:00.001-07:00

my pal Shaz, the first mate I met in Haifa, who has the same forbidden love as me.
check out his art here.

Sina, who had the best party I've ever been too. In my flat.

(both heavy and my brother)

my sis Dani
Josh. Strikingly handsome.

Ryan and Ginger

to conclude my Haifa reminiscing; friends. Liam loves ya.

2008-08-02T16:59:00.000-07:00

to conclude my Haifa reminiscing; pics I took that I love

2008-08-02T16:40:00.000-07:00

Intentionally cheesey Ruhi pic

There was a spot near a cafe I really liked in Akka, where folk would dive into Haifa Bay...(thats Haifa you can see in the background, across the sea) ...and lot's of folk have taken amazing pics
of this very cool local phenomena... I really dig mine because of the kinda surreal quality of the persons pose, it makes me think of someone trying with willpower alone to run through the air to Haifa

This is my mate Rose from Uganda

Justice Boy

Gingers foot

time spent with a friend

2008-07-29T15:55:00.000-07:00

A really good and dear friend of mine and I spent some very happy hours for a few nights in Haifa stumbling around some of the Baha'i buildings after nightfall, once everyone had left, testing the fire alarms. He was there in a sort of techy, engineery kind of capacity and we had free access to merrily roam around. We had schematics, which I was very excited about, because it reminded me a wee bit of Laura Dern searching for Samuel L, Jackson in that concrete bunker in Jurassic Park, getting guided over walkie talkie by Richard Attenborough and Jeff Goldblum. Except, instead of Richard Attenborough and Jeff Goldblum, we got a fella from Cambodia communicating with us over loudspeakers with an accent that has to be heard to be believed.
Myself and this pal actually first spoke properly for the first time on some leather chairs outside a dining room, where he was waiting to have lunch with a mate who he then went on to marry...he was saying if he wanted, he could transport himself around the buildings by crawling through the air ducts and that one day he might arrive in the lunch room by kicking through a panel and dropping into his chair from the ceiling.
One evening I had a bit of leftover work to take care of...I had to sweep the entranceway to one of the Baha'i buildings, which took quite awhile because it circles itself around a large garden and has a lot of steps. Being the kind bloke that he is, he offered to come and help and we spent an hour or so together, sweeping white marble in the moonlight, on a balmy night, with Haifa lit up below us. It's one of those places and times and experiences I wish I could escape too whenever I need to take five from a tricky or stressful situation.
When I was a little kid my my mum and dad would put on tapes of childrens stories for me and my sisters to listen too whenever we took long trips and I remember one of them was a story about a wee boy who got the chance to have three wishes granted. He made all the classic mistakes and made two greedy wishes, but learnt on the journey that his third wish should be selfless.
His second wish that he could be the happiest man in the world. He instantly found himself an old man, on top of a mountain surrounded by sheep, with no-one around. The genie explained that the happiest man in the world was a shepard who lived alone on the top of the mountain.
I'm pretty sure that if anyone in the world were to have made that second wish on that particular evening, they would have found themselves in Haifa sweeping with my friend under the stars.

towards the end of my time in Haifa...

2008-07-29T15:32:00.000-07:00

...I told my good and beautiful Kate that I really wished I'd been a little more organized with my time and arranged to visit a couple of Baha'i Holy Places; the Ridvan Gardens, a spot that Baha'u'llah had loved, and the Archives Building, which Shoghi Effendi had constructed to house some important artifacts from Baha'i history. I'd had the chance to visit both, but really wanted to go one last time before going back to Scotland.
Ridvan means paradise and to be in a place that brought joy to Baha'u'llah is quite an amazing feeling. Much Baha'i history, particularly what took place in Israel, is characterized by suffering, but the Ridvan Gardens are just beautiful, in a very simple, straight-forward way that I felt I could understand.
The Archives building is like the Baha'i writings I think, you develop a personal relationship with whats inside that is yours and yours only.
Kate is a woman who can just make things happen, and as a surprise for me somehow managed to arrange for me to visit both these places before I left. I often find it hard to find the right words, whether I'm talking or writing, and it's difficult for me to say how much it meant to me to be able to go to both of those places. I'm forever grateful to her for that, and for giving me a really recipe for apricot chicken, which I've never quite perfected.
The first picture I've posted is me with my pal Justin, taken on the afternoon I went to the Ridvan Gardens and bumped into him.
This a self-portrait kate did of herself, which I think is wonderful.

the afternoon I spent in a coma

2008-07-28T04:08:00.000-07:00

The Baha'i calender has 19months of 19days and during the last month, Baha'is abstain from eating and drinking between sunrise and sunset... the Baha'i Fast concludes on March 20th, as the sun goes down.
It's a really, really personal undertaking, there is guidance and teachings in Baha'i Writings about how and why it should be done, but it is down to the individual to understand it for themselves. Someone I know did an awesome photography project during the Fast of this year, which you can see here. I think it's an awesome insight and chronicling of such a cool and unique experience.
I was in Haifa in 2005 for the Fast and one morning I got up super early so I could head over to a friends house for an early breakfast, prayers and a mutually supportive, trying-to-stay-awake hangout. (you know who you are Sheila Mould) We prayed, chatted for ages, numbed our brains by watching Sex and the City episodes but I was the first to crack; I went and flopped out in my mates bed and took a pretty lengthy nap. Once I woke up I dug out a copy of a novella my friend Ginger lent called me 'The Coma', written by an author I really like called Alex Garland. It's the story of a fella who is attacked on the subway and beaten into a coma after standing up for a girl getting harassed by a group of guys, and the subsequent journey he takes inside of his own head.
It's wee bit like an album called 'Deloused in the Comatorium' by a group called The Mars Volta, but a bit less intense and scary.
The book has amazing woodcut prints throughout, done by the authors father, one of which is the picture at the top of this entry.
It only took me an hour or so to read and I can remember every detail, it was one of those great stories that you can comfortably read in one sitting and feel afterwoods that you have a real and genuine experience.
It's frightening, funny and really moving and by the end I found myself really rooting for the main character. Anyone who has slept in and found themselves in that odd place their mind takes them when it's left to wake up by itself, knows that the inside of their head can be a pretty weird, cool, discomfiting landscape of memories and half formed thoughts. This book captures that perfectly, but in a way that is ultimately beautifully, redemptive and all about freedom.

lightening over Haifa

2008-07-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

I had a place in Haifa where I used to like and sit, it was a wall at the top of a staircase that gave me a great panoramic view of Haifa, the bay and across the water, to Akka and Bahji.
If I sat in just the right spot, I would be able to see the golden dome of the Shrine of the Bab through the tree's, behind me and to the left. As far as I was concerned, it was perfect.
My favorite memory from my wall was sitting there one evening in the middle of a thunder storm, in the muggy, oppressive heat you always get when the weathers like that, watching lightening crashing into the water in the bay.

(the pic shows flares being set off after a maritime accident)

wrestling in an hospital waiting room

2008-07-26T13:17:00.000-07:00

About a year into my service in Haifa I took pretty serious allergic reaction to something and was in and out of hospital for a couple of weeks, giving all kinds of samples and getting hooked up to all kinds of madness to be given med's intravenously.

What I had wasn't too serious at all, but was
very, very uncomfortable.
Because part of my service was about supporting
some of the young people serving at the Baha'i
World Centre I was in and out of various different hospitals quite a lot, but I remember the evening I went as a patient myself for the first time. The waiting room was basically a long corridor with chairs along the wall and I was there with a lot of people who were in a good deal more distress and pain than I was. I was sitting in this corridor, it was dark outside and the place was lit with those harsh strip lighbulbs in cages, and was just idly watching a TV that was mounted on the wall. It had mostly been showing Arabic soap operas and endless adverts, when suddenly, to my absolute delight, it started showing American Wrestling.
Anyone who knows me, knows that this brings me more joy and escape than just about anything else. So I'm sitting there loving every second, a big, stupid grin on my face and this little kid, who had come with his gran and looked like he really needed to be there, sees me watching Wrestling, walks over to me, climbs up on to my lap, takes both
of my hands with his, puts my arms around him and
watches it with me. Total magic.

friends in high places

2008-07-25T15:09:00.000-07:00

A little while before I went to Haifa a very good friend of mine died quite unexpectedly in America and I couldn't afford to go and be at her funeral. I always meant to get in touch with her family, who had been really kind to me when I went to visit her, but I was never able to put words to paper, or pick up the phone, and time passed and I was never in touch.

One evening while I was in Haifa I was visiting the Shrine of the Bab, the big beautiful golden heart beating at the centre of the city, a very holy place for Baha'is, that was just across the street from where I lived, to say some prayers and to meditate.

The Shrine of the Bab is the resting place of the bodies of two of the central figures of the Baha'i Faith, The Bab (Whose name means; The Gate, Who was the herald of Baha'u'llah; the Baha'i manifestation ) and A'bdul -Baha' (the son of Baha'u'llah, Whose name means; 'Servant of the Glory' and Whom Baha'is believe to be a unique figure in religious and human history, the perfect exemplar of His Fathers teachings). This Shrine is the second holiest spot on earth for Baha'is, the first being the Shrine of Baha'u'llah, which is directly opposite, across the bay of Haifa. Baha'is come from all over the world to Haifa, on pilgrimage and to visit, so that they can be close to these places.

Whilst I was walking through the gardens and across the path to the Shrine, a place where I had thought of my friend and her family very often, I noticed a couple of folk walking just ahead of me and thought; 'hey, they looked like my mates parents, wouldn't that be crazy...' I remembered that they had a very distinctive appearance...long, silver, plaited hair and dungaree's - and that was the husband (a man who once spent half an hour bringing leather trousers to a changing room I was in because I'd told him I wanted to look like Bon Jovi).

They were both taking their time and enjoying the gardens and I snuck a sneaky look at them I was walked past, and realised; 'yeah, it's my friends parents'. I stop and spoke with them, neither of us being able to believe that we were really seeing each other. Of all of the two people in the world that I could have seen on that path, there was no-one else in the world I felt I needed to see more. They were both visiting on pilgrimage and I finally had the chance to sit with them and remember my friend and her life.

These Baha'i Shines have been the place for so many little, personal miracles since they were built, pilgrims, such as these friends of mine, wait so long and travel so far just so that they can establish a connection for themselves, which I think is a mysterious and a beautiful thing.

If anyone reading this would like to know more about the Baha'i Faith, the official website is here.

you call that cover?

2008-07-24T04:39:00.000-07:00

One evening when I was in Haifa my pal Kiran came and met me after a long day of voluntary service...he was working in the gardens department and I was in cleaning and maintenance.
Kiran is from Nepal and comes from a royal family, so I used to call him Prince Kiran. Me, I come from Scotland, with a definite working class background of ship-yard workers and army folk.

We were both pretty tired and neither of us had a really great day, so we decided to walk down to my flat, cook some food and hang out together.
So we walked down the side of Mount Carmel, that faces Haifa Bay, which over the years the Baha'is have sculpted, with the Shrine of the Bab, with it's marbles pillars and beautiful golden dome, and it's nineteen forever lit terraces.
The Terraces run straight up the mountain and if you walk down them you reach Ben Guirion avenue, with it's restaurants and shops, which continues in a straight line to Haifa bay.
We were walking down the public steps that run parallel to the Baha'i steps, and it was a dark evening so we could only catch glimpses of the illumined gardens and terraces to our left.

When we reached Ben Guiron and began to walk down to my flat, with the Shrine of the Bab behind us, the heavens opened and we were hammered with rain. We weren't in a running mood, so we thought we'd have to just laugh about it. I taught Kiran 'Raindrops keep fallin' on my head' by Burt Bacharach and told him all about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the movie he'd written it for.
Neither of us had any business singing, but we went for it all the same. So there were, a Nepalese Prince and a Scotsman, united by a desire to serve at the World Centre of the Baha'i Faith, a religion that began in Iran with the purpose of uniting the world, walking down an avenue in Israel, singing a song written for an American cowboy movie.

this is me, in Haifa, thinking, looking a lot like me, in Scotland, now, thinking about Haifa

2008-07-22T13:24:00.000-07:00

Two very close members of my family are in Haifa, Israel, for their Baha'i pilgrimage and I think because of that I've been thinking a lot about the time I spent there.

Looking back it's hard to believe how long it seems I lived in Israel for...I have a really, really good memory, it's totally characteristic of my dads side of the family and I can remember so, so many things...so over the next few days I'll put some memories down here in my blog.

stories from the Citadel, stories from the Seat

2008-07-20T18:31:00.000-07:00

I spent a year and a half living in Israel, serving at the Baha'i World Centre in Haifa and while I was there a good mate of mine named Ginger lent me a PJ Harvey album called Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, which was the most brilliant counterpoint to the city by the sea I was living in.
I just heard a track from it called A Place Called Home which, like every other track on the album helped me twist my head round the madness and chaos and sublimity of being where I was, and like the friend who gave it to me, helped characterize my experience of being there.
So thanks Polly...

Thanks Ginger...

and thanks Haifa.

Liam 12, essays 0

2008-07-03T20:52:00.000-07:00

It took 7 months of study...

3 months of full-time essay writing, with a paper due in every Monday...

But finally...

Liam 11, essays 1

2008-07-01T08:38:00.001-07:00

Liam 10, essays 2

2008-06-30T10:03:00.001-07:00

an experiment to discover who reads this blog

2008-06-23T16:22:00.000-07:00

yeah, I'm talking to you…

...yeah YOU, I can hear you breathing!

I know of four people who read this blog fairly regularly, you all left comments recently, I reckon you know who you are...

...but how about the rest of you, huh? I know you're there, not because I think what I write is interesting enough to get lot's of peoples attention - I've come to terms with the fact I'll never be a ;

57 comments

type of blogger, but I know YOU read it!

Maybe you saw a link on a friends site...
... givemebackmymoustache huh? interesting name, I'll check it out!

or maybe I left a comment on a blog you read;

liamk

liamk, eh? 'yeah I met him in Haifa', or, 'he's my brothers mate'.

C'mon, I KNOW you're there, I KNOW you're reading this! BUT IT'S OK! BECAUSE...

sshhhhh

...I do it too!

We’ve ALL been there, it's nothing to be ashamed of!
...can’t sleep, surfing the net...looking at blogs, following the links to other blogs at the side of the page, hoping to find someone you know, or you find someone you know but they don't know you...YOU KNOW YOU DO IT!

Surfing the net at night, thinking that you should go to bed, knowing you need to get up early, can't stop mindlessly browsing, bored of facebook, start checking out blogs, find one you like, sneakily add it to your 'favourites' or your 'bookmarks', guilty checking it every now and then...

it's NATURAL! it's OK!

and I want to find out who reads mine. who actually takes the time to read the utter nonsense I write. so come on. you're reading this, you know you are, don't try and sneak off, I'll hear you...

don't be shy, come on, I don't mind, I deliberately don't put anything personal down...

we'll make it fun. a mate of mine wrote a post on his blog recently, asking the following three questions, answering them is a blast. If you're reading this, copy the questions, follow the links into the comments box, paste'em, answer'em, post it as a comment and let me see once or for all who stops by quietly here every night - I know YOU do! - to check out my blog.

You are in a mall when the zombies attack. You have:

1. one weapon.
2. one song blasting on the speakers.
3. one famous person to fight alongside you.

Weapon can be real or fictional, you may assume endless ammo if applicable. Person can be real or fictional.

My answers;
1. A motorbike and sidecar
2. Livin' On a Prayer by Bon Jovi
3. Bill Murray

The Worlds Ugliest Dog Competition, California

2008-06-22T12:28:00.000-07:00

As I've mentioned before, I get pretty excited about unusually large animals, but an article I found on the BBC news site has sparked an interest in award winningly ugly ones too.

Liam 8, essays 4

2008-06-11T14:31:00.000-07:00

Today I finished another piece of work and tomorrow I start another. I have three more papers to hand in for the end of June, the deadlines being the next three consecutive Mondays. These pictures illustrate how I'm feeling.

this pig is wearing tiny little boots

2008-06-11T14:16:00.001-07:00

I'm actually not sure if I can get enough of this picture.

a mash-up photo I created on a study break of my mate Bob and PJ Harvey

2008-05-20T11:14:00.000-07:00

an article on the BBC website about the recent arrest of Baha'is in Iran

2008-05-20T05:43:00.001-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7409288.stm

something that I get very excited about...

2008-05-13T14:41:00.000-07:00

...is unusually large animals. Not so much animals that are already naturally big, but rather animals that are bigger than they should be normally.
Look at this huge cow. I mean just look at it. It's freakin' huge.

I have a story I like to tell, it's about a big dog I once saw. People, especially my sister, who groans everytime she senses I'm eagerly preparing to tell this story, often tell me that I don't tell the story very well. That is because she fails to appreciate it; I tell the story PERFECTLY, it's just everyone else who doesn't get it.
Basically, I once saw this HUGE dog. And I don't mean big, like; 'woah, check out the big mutt', I mean; 'what is that? WHAT IS IT?! Will it eat my children? Is it fed live walruses?!'
You know how whenever you see something for the first time the synapses in your brain have to do something crazy to accommodate this new unexpected aspect of the world that you have to understand? I could actually FEEL my brain doing that, I could feel my brain struggling to comprehend how massive this thing was.
There is a dog that lives in a street very near me in Glasgow where I used to live and it's a real beast, one day I will get a photo of it, thus far it has eluded me but it's day will come and I will post a picture here on my blog. I once saw a guy coming running out of a pub and accidentally, and at full speed go plowing into this dog...he did a complete somersault, landed on his arse with no idea what happened and the dog didn't even slow down. Legend. Total legend.

kindness and coffee

2008-05-02T15:41:00.000-07:00

a lovely man named Karam passed away a few days ago and I'd like to remember him here, his enthusiasm and his kindness and his sense of humor would brighten many, many peoples day, mine included.
he always had a smile for people, always wanted to make them a coffee and always, always, without fail, would slap me around for fun.

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy...

2008-04-30T05:30:00.000-07:00

I spent Tuesday afternoon in a thirty quid an hour recording studio, providing a voice to be used as part of my mates Sam's film, thats he submitting as his fourth year project for his degree in animation.
I ended up trying to sound like Tom Waits, not an easy task.
Behold Sam's work here.

(...you need to follow the Tom Waits link for the title to make sense)

Try

2008-04-29T15:11:00.000-07:00

I am a blessed, blessed man with a wonderful life...I spent the last few days being with my friends, listening to great music and last night I ate homemade curry with my mam and crashed on her couch. I've got a lot to be thankful for.
Many people don't have wonderful lives, although they could. We all could, all of us, all of the time.
I believe it is my responsibility to try and serve humanity and I try to understand the following quotation from the Baha'i writings so as to turn that belief into action.

When you love a member of your family or a compatriot, let it be with a ray of the Infinite Love! Let it be in God, and for God! Wherever you find the attributes of God love that person, whether he be of your family or of another. Shed the light of a boundless love on every human being whom you meet, whether of your country, your race, your political party, or of any other nation, colour or shade of political opinion. Heaven will support you while you work in this in-gathering of the scattered peoples of the world beneath the shadow of the almighty tent of unity.

You will be servants of God, who are dwelling near to Him, His divine helpers in the service, ministering to all Humanity. All Humanity! Every human being! never forget this!

Do not say, he is an Italian, or a Frenchman, or an American, or an Englishman, remember only that he is a son of God, a servant of the Most High, a man! All are men! Forget nationalities; all are equal in the sight of God!

Remember not your own limitations; the help of God will come to you. Forget yourself. God's help will surely come!

(Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 38)

adventures in the us. something that has begun to fascinate me...

2008-04-19T18:47:00.000-07:00

...Nicholas Cage's hair.

adventures in the US. horses = wrong.

2008-04-05T22:21:00.000-07:00

I really, really hate horses. Theres a good reason and I might get round to writing about it.
I spent the weekend at a friends parents farm deep in the heart of Ohio this weekend and it was about the most beautiful place I’ve ever been.
Big barns, lots of sky, great manure smell, flies buzzing, friendly, drooly dog, fun, squishy mud, affable old bloke, sweet old lady, big family dinner with pizza and root beer and fat babies and college basketball and good natured fella’s talking about hunting, lots of laughter…
And horses. They don’t like me and I don’t like them.
I was asked by the lovely matriarch of the home to go out into their field and bring’em in, so I pulled on some wellies, rolled up my plaid shirts sleeves and squelched off into the field with a stride that must date back to the days of the cavmen.
Now heres the thing, as a teenager I overdosed on Stephen King novels. The work of Stephen King, that master of the Americabre, whose great skill is skill is taking all that is cosy and safe about the Midwest of America and creepying into something pant-moistening, arse sweatingly scary was very much on my mind as I climbed the hill, leaving the safe farmhouse behind and hearing the sound of snorting and hooves pounding growing louder.
I get why people like horses, they’re big and pretty and strong and you can ride around on them.
I DON’T LIKE THEM. And crucially, THEY DON‘T LIKE ME.
I tried to take some pictures of them earlier this evening and they came out awful. I’d thought; ‘ok, at least they’re alright to look at, how hard can it be to get a nice shot or two, just turn on the camera, point and shoot’.
But no. I spent a good 20 mins trying to get one good shot and they were all awful.
At one point one of the horses looked at me, standing there hopefully with my camera half raised, slowly and deliberately turned round, lifted it’s tail and…well, it wasn’t to wave hello.
Furthermore, they’re actually downright scary. Take a look at these pictures, especially the one with the white stripe running down the side, look where it’s eye should be…THAT’S RIGHT, EVIL!

adventures in the US, with Mara,Mark and Liam

2008-04-05T20:28:00.000-07:00

adventures in the US. for Leila

2008-04-05T19:37:00.000-07:00

No Way Out 08

2008-02-17T16:13:00.000-08:00

Tonight is a WWE pay per view called No Way Out. Fortunately for my family and my studies I don't have pay per view, so I'm following developments online.
Normally, like any fan of predictably scripted entertainment, I can guess fairly accurately the outcome, whose going to do what to who, when, how...who'll make a miraculous, last minute comeback and unleash a flurry of offence only to be hit from behind by a steel folding chair, wielded by a dwarf who's just crawled out from under the ring wearing a leprachaun outfit.
I have actually seen that happen.
But tonight, for reasons way to complicated to fully go into, is a bit different. There will be something called an elimination chamber match - six fella's go into a big cage, last one standing is the winner and earns a coveted Wrestlemania title shot one month from tonight.
Now, my finely honed instincts tell me that the match will be won by a fella named Triple H, who in my opinion sucks and who has already headlined Wrestlemania loads of times.
BUT, to my suprise, a guy whose being around for about 10 years, a big fan favourite named Jeff Hardy, whose glorious countenance is pictured here for all to bathe in, has been getting a big push recently and is the outside favourite to win the Chamber tonight.
This, in my opinion, would be most righteously awesome.

The Most Boring Pictures I Have Ever Taken

2008-02-11T07:41:00.000-08:00

I was sorting out some old photos on my laptop last night and I came across these, without doubt, The Most Boring Photos I Have Ever Taken.

Chuck Norris Facts

2008-02-08T02:12:00.000-08:00

When Chuck Norris falls in water he doesn't get wet, water gets Chuck Norris.

thinking about friends

2008-01-31T17:20:00.000-08:00

Not long after I started my service in Haifa I went round to my mate Danielles flat and spent the best part of an evening convincing her to watch a movie I'd borrowed, called the Station Agent...her flatmate Leila and Leila's friend Shaun, neither of whom I really knew, were around and decided to hang out too and watch the movie.
It's a fantastic, awesome film, it's about a fella named Finbar Mcbride who lives in the city and lives a fairly quiet and lonely life, until an old mate and a colleague from the model railway store that he works in dies leaving Finbar an old railway station in a sleepy rural town in the middle of nowhere in his will.
So Finbar heads off to check the place out and begin a new life for himself. Within a couple of days he meets a couple of quirky charactors; an overly friendly Cuban fella named Joe who works in a hot dog van and has an insaitable appetite for conversation and a woman named Olivia trying to come to terms with a personal loss.
The film is about a very different group of people at the very beginnings of a friendship, a friendship which is tested, but strengthened and reinforced by love and infinite, infinite patience...so I always thought it was a funny coincidence that watching it together was a catalyst for a very similar friendship.
The two outstanding moments from the movie that I remember are;
Leila shrieking with laughter when Finbar almost gets hit twice walking along the side of the road by the same car because the driver didn't see him (he has dwarfism).
Shaun reacting to a scene where a woman see's Finbar in a supermarket and screams (again with the dwarfism) by saying; 'yeah, that kind of thing has happened to me before' (Shauns a big, big lad).
It's a great film and ends with a joke about having sex with a librarian, which I think is how all films should end.

LOST

2008-01-29T13:27:00.000-08:00

I used to be a big fan of the TV show Lost, my youngest sister Rosie got me into it...'wow', I thought, 'people stranded on an island, look at them, such cool charactors, the affable nerd Hurley, gotta love him, the straight down the middle, dependable Dr. Jack, the dashing and roguish Sawyer, his devil may care counterpoint, some pretty girls, a Middle Eastern fella and a bald guy who's all mysterious, better keep an eye on him'...'and look, all this cool stuff is happening, the threat of huge, ambiguous monsters, a psychic kid, a few love stories, some flashbacks, a bloody great polar bear, some killer smoke, a weird bunker with a Scottish bloke in it, a rambling subplot about a mysterious tribe known as 'the others' who turn out to be, oh , just some other people...'
It was the the TV show equivelent of going to a sauna, you sit there for ages, hoping something interesting will happen to make this boring experience worthwhile, believing that something, anything postive will happen if you just stick with it and in the end all that happens, is you end up sweaty and bored.

The only really cool thing that happened was when a pretty likeable but fairly marginal charactor called Ernst unexpectedly blew up because he was waving a stick of dynamite around.
(yeah, I know thats not 'really cool' but you need to see it it in context)
Not since trying to read The Alchemist has my attention span been treated with such contempt.
Anyway! I chanced upon this site which exists to get people excited about the soon to air to fourth series and it features an 8 minute catch-up...a synopsis of the previous three series.
However I think that all the previous three series only really had the total of about eight minutes worth of actual entertainment, which this cleverly edits together AND comes with a very funny voiceover!
So if you're looking for eight minutes to kill, check this out.
WARNING; IF YOU'RE INTO LOST, THIS (obviously) GIVES PLOT SPOILERS.

a few pic's from around London

2008-01-27T16:37:00.000-08:00

visiting mates in London

2008-01-27T15:57:00.001-08:00

Last week I spent a few days down in London with my best mate Justin, enjoying the company and hospitality of our friends Shidan and Hugo. It was an awesome holiday, the first night we were together in Shidans flat Justin said that he wished we could all just move in together and make it a permanent arrangment, it was that kind of reunion, we knew we could have spent a year in that living room talking over cups of Shidan's genuine Italian coffee and munching take-away kebabs and still not felt like we'd spent enough time together.
So we got up to all kinds of mad ballyhoo, we're all quite poor so it was fun had on the cheap...we sat in sports cars in showrooms making car noises, tried to view a room in the Ritz hotel that would have cost us £6000 a night if we ever intended to pay (we didn't get near it), did some sightseeing, got lost on the underground (that was actually just me) went to a Baha'i deepening and met some lovely folk, watched a film about killer sheep, ate a lot of cheap food in a lot of cheap restaraunts, drank a lot of coffee in greasy spoon cafes and ended every day by laughing gaily and slapping each other on the back.
Heres some pics of us...I'll pap up some touristy sightseeing ones I took in a wee minute as well.

some pic's I took at the resting place of Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, in London

2008-01-27T15:49:00.000-08:00

...7 BILLION DOLLARS!

2008-01-26T17:29:00.000-08:00

I know this is kind of an obvious comparison to this story, but I can't help it.

The Unbelievable Truth

2008-01-26T17:07:00.000-08:00

My sister Erin just asked if I'm writing another blog entry about my pants.
An amazing, crazy day today. I live in Glasgow, which is ethnically and culturally a hugely rich and diverse city. I'm lucky enough to work in a book shop called Borders, which is right slap bang in the centre of town and I think because of the type of store it is, big and with a really varied stock of music, movies, magazines and books, with a large coffee shop, it attracts all kind of everybody. No two days are ever, ever the same, it's lovely, going to work is always a real pleasure. Today I got asked if we sold gyroscopes, met an author who took my hand and read me poetry, saw at least 4 famous people and got was caught by two of them staring, I somehow managed to keep a straight face when putting out a page for a boy named Courtney who had lost his mum (he found her), spoke at length with a drunk man who tried very hard to convince me that a book called Apache Nightmare exists (I'm almost sure it doesn't) and helped someone find a book about the history of a gig venue called the Barra's, where she works, so she could give it to a band called Thirty Seconds From Mars who are playing there tonight...I had Middle Eastern food for lunch in a cafe called Where The Monkey Sleeps with a friend who is a professional organist and bumped into my mum and stepdad who where on their way to a Burns supper (annual event commerating the life and work of a beloved Scottish poet named Rabbie Burns - it's where the Scot's tradition of eating Haggis comes from) hosted by a Guyanian bloke they know. I spent the evening with my mate Paul, we played guitar together (him well, me badly) drank coffee and green tea, listened to Thelonious Monk and talked about history, philosophy, life, family and faith.
Good times! I'm a blessed, blessed man.

Holocaust Memorial Day

2008-01-25T16:27:00.001-08:00

Yesterday my friend Niaz and I went to a Holocaust Memorial Service (I was telling someone at work and they asked me if this was a band), being held as part of Holocaust Memorial Day, in our uni. I'd been invited to represent the Baha'i community, a huge honour and a huge responsibility.
It was a lovely service, different representatives of different Faiths and organisations offered readings and relflections to commerate people lost in holocausts and genocides througout history and to think of the suffering experienced by so many around the world today.
I was the first to speak and I read a piece of scripture that had been written by A'bdul-Baha, the Son of the Founder of the Baha'i Faith and it's divine manifestation, Baha'u'llah. A'bdul-Baha is a figure of great and unique importance, as Baha'is believe Him to be the perfect examplar of His Fathers beautiful teachings and look to His life of service and selflessness for inspiration and example.
The service itself offered me a tiny insight of the hardship and suffering so many people have suffered and continue to experience in our world and this sense of scale was at times overwhelming. I am sure that many other people at different times in their lives become aware of this scale, even if only for the briefest moment when seeing an image on the television or an article in the paper and I imagine it often to be accompanied by indignation and a sense of hopelessness. I feel that to inform ourselves, to independently investigate the truth, to struggle and work hard with all of our effort and courage to find a way of turning these thoughts and feelings into actions, is so important.

cake and pizza

2008-01-24T15:39:00.000-08:00

When I was a wee nipper (Scot's slang for 'a little kid') I promised myself that when I was a grown-up I would enjoy all of the things in life that I felt I was being so cruelly denied.
I am now 24...I'm just under six foot tall, I have a sort-of beard with a kind of moustache thing that almost connects to the stubble on my cheeks. I am even a mature student at university.
The other day I began a rambling, pointless anecdote with the words; 'when I was a teenager'.
I am now, beyond any doubt, a grown-up.
So as part of my on-going commitment to that young hopeful lad I once was, who dreamed innocently of an autonomous existence were 'I'm hungry and I want cake and pizza' was justification enough to eat cake and pizza regardless of the time of the day...I am now going to eat some cake, then left over pizza from dinner currently warming in my oven (in that order...and it's midnight) becuase I am hungry and I want cake and pizza.