My New Song. Thanks, Merlin Mann!

Dear Merlin Mann,

I love your website.

It's awesome.

Especially this bit.

Today, thanks to you, I wrote a song.

Ok, it's not a very good song. But I got it down on paper and onto my computer and that is something I haven't done since I was 11 years old.

That's a bit sad, no? Still, I had a mental block that I was crap at writing songs. And therefore I was just not going to write them, and that was that.

Anyway, the reason was that I was reading 43 Folders and I thought to myself, 'You know what? I should probably actually be asleep right now. But I'm not. I'm procrastinating. I'm procrastinating from SLEEPING, one of my all-time favourite activities. So if I'm awake, I'm actually going to DO SOMETHING USEFUL (for a given value of useful). I'm going to do something that I think I can't do.'

So I wrote some random words on a page, and three hours later, I have a song.

Like I said, not a great one.

But I'm working on that.

Productivity rocks.

On Self-Reliance

Who doesn't love self-reliance?

The kids I look after go to a Posh School. It's a very nice school. Everyone there is either on the staff or younger than 9, and it's a generally happy and enthusiastic sort of place.

It has once flaw, and that a minor one: there is nothing resembling a bus service to it, and parking is somewhat restricted. There is a nearby road to park in, but this is utter misery at 8.15 in the morning when it's minus 4 outside and there's snow on the ground.

So in the last couple of weeks the complaints have been coming constantly about the long trek (about 200 metres? Yeah.) to school.

'Fine' says I, 'if you want, I can leave you right at the gate. But' (to the little one) 'I cannot come into school with you. You must sort your coat and bags and snacks out by yourself. But I think you can do it.'

So on Tuesday we had a go at the 'drop-off zone', which reminds me somewhat of airports. And it worked rather well.

And on Wednesday we got to school a little too early, so had to sit in the car for a bit. We walked around to the gate and I got from the little one, 'I'm going to go and do my stuff myself'.

'Well okay then!' I said cheerily, 'see you after school!'

Mwahaha. It's getting so I'm hardly needed at all. Except as Taxi Driver and Worker Of The Oven And Occasionally The Television.

It amazed me how quickly she took to Doing Stuff Herself, because she loves people doing stuff with her and preferably paying her lots of attention. Her elder brother is fine with you paying him attention, but he's happier if you let him do whatever it is himself (I relate). It's rather sweet.

The Exegesis Fairy: encouraging independence in four year olds since...errr...a couple of months ago?

Last day of term today. Yippee!

I Shall Wear Midnight, but not today

So...finally I have read the latest Discworld book, I Shall Wear Midnight, and as with pretty much all Discworld books, it made me cry a bit. (In a good way).

Unusually, however, it wasn't the actual novel that made me cry (though it was awesome and heartwarming and generally brilliant) but the author's note at the end. I read it and I cried for the beauty of stories and for the transience of human life and because I will never, ever, in a million years, be able to write something as good.

That doesn't mean I won't try, though.

And that's kind of the point.

Sure, it was great to have Tiffany visiting Ankh-Morpork, finding out that they've finally made Angua a Captain in the Watch, seeing (just passing through) all kinds of characters half-forgotten and soon-remembered. It was amazing to have Tiffany fighting the latest evil and the Nac Mac Feegle and Granny and Nanny and casual mentions of Mightily Oats and all the rest, but the real beauty of it, the real gift, was the spirit of it.

The spirit inhabiting all Discworld books, which is simply that Anything Is Possible. That good can triumph, that you can find your way in the world, that the universe is your playground if you can think about it the right way. (And of course, the moral of the story as vocalised by Tiffany, which is that the best thing in the world is finding what you're good at and doing it).

Discworld books are those that should be read with caution, especially if you're dosed with the cold and painkillers, because they make you want to leap from your bed and change the world.

God works through weakness, and right now I have a lot to spare.

Or, to quote Granny Weatherwax in Carpe Jugulum, '

"Don’t chase faith, ’cos you’ll never catch it.” She added, almost as an aside, “But, perhaps, you can live faithfully.”"

And to the part of me that wants to know every step of the path, and wants to know HOW, I can only respond, 'Go do something good.'

A year ago my mother and I were being made a gourmet dinner by my nuttiest ever housemate. Today I am tucked up in my own house snuffling, and ill, and slightly chilly.

And even though my vocation seems to have vanished without trace...I'd still rather be here, and rather be this me, than anyone or anywhere else in the world.

When I am old, I shall wear midnight...but not today.

Today I shall wear red. Today I shall sing.

How about you?

Advent people

'We are an Easter people, and our song is Hallelujah.'

At the minute, of course, strictly speaking, we are an Advent people, and our song is 'Why are we waiting, we are suffocating...'

Okay, maybe not.

But Advent is a time of preparation, of readying ourselves for Christmas and the coming of the Christ Child.

In our house, it seems mostly to coincide with The Coming Of The Blackbird Through the Hole In The Roof And Then To Our Bedroom Via The Hole In The Plaster. Not catchy, admittedly, but nobody should be confronted with a crazy bird at ten o'clock on a Sunday morning.

...

Insert your own joke here.

...

Anyways. It's cold. You may have noticed. It's pretty cold in the West Midlands, even though we seem to be escaping the worst of it, but yeesh. Do the heaters turn up any higher?

Hmm...actually, it seems they do. Excuse me a second.

So it's NCIS marathons (season 3, since you ask) and the duvet on the spare bed has been conscripted to provide extra warmth. Seeing as our proper duvet is two duvets joined by poppers, technically we're using three.

Whatever though, it's warm.

Advent is a time of preparation, which can seem kind of tricky when it's just endless winter and cold and snow and ice and your hands feel like they'll drop off with cold and... but it's worth it, in the end. Christmas, and remembering the original, is worth it.

We'll just have to bundle up till March.