Notes from an Anglo-American Man

Hi guys just wanted to let you know I’ll be rebooting the site in the next few days. I’m going to be taking it into a new and exciting direction, so please stay tuned.

17:30Me
hey just out of curiosity do you have a passport?
17:30Josh
I do, but not anywhere nearby
how come?
17:30Me
i’m thinking about human traking you
17:31Josh
whats that then?
17:31Me
*trafiking
17:31Josh
ahh
17:31Me
you know modern slavery
17:31Josh
why?
17:31Me
:)
need the money
for RPG’s
17:31Josh
i would make you no money
17:31Me
:p
17:31Josh
i will however write you an rpg
17:31Me
well then cancel the whol selling you think
17:31Josh
okay
i’ll need some money and subject matter though
17:32Me
monkey kingdom
i want a RPG about monkey politics
17:32Josh
okay roll a d6
17:32Me
7
17:32Josh
you are a rhesus monkey
17:32Me
hopes he doesn’t get caught cheating
17:33Josh
your skill include economics and drinking your own pee
17:33Me
ok I want to try and swing to my neighbours tree
bringing them a bottle of my pee as a gidft
17:34Josh
roll a d6
17:34Me
1… i mean 5
17:34Josh
you are eaten by a fiendish squirrel
you sadly lose
17:34Me
dangit can i use my bottle of pee to intice the squirrel into some kind of suicide pact?
17:34Josh
no, its fiendish
Me
dangit then I drink the bottle and let the pee have its effect
17:35Josh
you are partially refreshed
the squrrial has digested you fully
and you die
17:35Me
aww

Ok so the ads I was running were not working, they were obviously not hitting the right things for you guys so I created a less intrusive and hopefully more relevant adspace. Hopefully you’ll find something you’re interested in. I have left the old one up slightly modified, please let me know which you prefer so I can make sure the ads are relevant to what you want to see.

Peace and love
Ben

There once was a man who owned a vast farm, filled with many crops and animals. Not content with his own farmland he began to look at the lands of his neighbours and soon found land that he coveted. Thinking to himself how can I take this land without risking the ire of our common neighbours he sat and gathered together his smartest farmhands. For many days did they sit around his kitchen thinking of ways that they might get the land that he so desired.

Then one of them came up with an idea that was so cunning in its ingenuity that the farmer laughed with glee when he heard it, and to the farmhand he gave the title of head of public relations.
This man armed with his new title began to spread rumours of how great things were on the farm and how all farms should be run the same way that his master ran things. As well as spreading the rumours the head of public relations began to sell products based on the supposed ideology of the farm; Soon he had other farms buying their products and wondering if this new way of farming might not be the way to go. But other farms were wary for although the farm was beautiful at first glance when they looked past the first rank of animals and looked into the middle of the farm they saw that the animals were weak and sickly, some not having been given food or shelter from the master of the farm. Some of the crops were good on the outside but when you bit into them you saw that they were rotten and inedible. But all was well on the outside and that is all that some farmers saw.
When some time had passed and the farmer saw that his head of public relations plan was firmly taking root he declared that all farms that did not farm his way were wrong and that all farms should put pressure on these farms to toe the line and farm the same way, despite the fact that these farms had been farmed the same way for many generations. Some of the hesitant farmers gave into this pressure but many remained strong in their desire to do things the way that they wanted to.

Seeing that his plan was working the farmer then put together a group of farmhands to invade the non-conformist farms and seize control, for the good of the farm. For many months did the farms struggle but eventually the invaded farm fell to the pressures and farmhands of the vast farm.
The farms that were taken over this way were soon in trouble for their leaders had been replaced for the common good. But once again the covetous farmer swooped in and saved those farms, for the good of all.

Soon all the farms fell to the one farmer, whether through the following of his system of farming or through brute force and coercion. And when looked at from the outside all the farms were happy and prosperous, but each farm had lost the heritage that it had had.

So long time no write… shame on me! I’m not a good blogger, in case you hadn’t noticed
I have ideas and I start writing them down but it rarely gets submitted. In fact as I look at my drafts at the top of my screen I see 8 different posts that I never submitted.

So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m writing a lot for college, and I’m lazy… so I’m going to post what I consider to be my best college work here. It will most likely only be one or two essays but you may or may not be interested in reading them.

I hope that you’re all doing well and by you I mean the 10 people who still seem to check this site!

Peace and love

How much do you love?
Just how far would you be willing to go for the people that you love? What depths would you be willing to go through for them?
Imagine for a second, if you will, that the man or woman that you are in love with has an incurable disease. Imagine that they will not get better, but that as time goes by they will only get worse.
Would you stay with them and help them through it, or would you leave?
Now I want you to imagine again, but this time I want you to imagine that you have never met them before, and that it is obvious that they will only deteriate. What would you do? Would you dismiss them out of hand or would you let love take a chance?
Any of you who know me, know that I’m in love with love. It is the most important thing to me, it penetrates all aspects of my life and it affects how I act and react to everything. So when I ask these questions it’s because I want you to think about it.
Now I want you to imagine that it’s you with the incurable disease.
We put so much emphasis on the physical stuff. So many people out there will never feel the true power of love, not just from us. But from God as well. For as much as I am in love with love, God is more in love with it, and as an extension of that us.
I know that as much as I love my sisters, and they are the single most important thing to me on this earth, God loves them more. I cannot even begin to fathom the depth of love that He has for them, and for me and for you.
We are that person with an incurable disease, we are imperfect creatures, who don’t deserve the love that God gives us. But He gives it anyway. While we were still sinners he sent His son for us. TO be a perfect sacrifice so that we might have a relationship with God, so that we might be able to feel and know His love.
It’s not about being a good person, no one I know fits that bill, it’s about accepting the relationship that He offers us.
So I ask you today, how much do you love? And how much do you want to be loved?
And most importantly are you willing to be loved by the most passionate of lovers, God, who made all of creation for us.

So It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I’ve been busy (honest!)
I’m really enjoying the classes, they are thought provoking and some are pushing me further than I thought, but only because I let them. One of the things I realised when I decided to finish off my degree was that I wanted to learn, not just to get a bit of paper which told me that I knew something, but to understand and comprehend all the subjects that I took. A tall order as I am taking such a varied load.

I think that without my friend Melissa I would be having a very different experience, she works at the college that I’m going to, and so she knew the professors, and which ones would suit me. I told her what I wanted to do and she helped me sort it out, and boy did she do a great job.
I love all of them! it is very rare for this to happen, especially within a relatively small college (though it is growing very fast!!!) but it makes such a difference.
I want to do well not only for my own benefit, but I want to see the professors help those who are around me, so I speak up. I share my thoughts, something that I would normally not do until I knew the people around me, and felt more comfortable. But I want to make the person who is up front trying to teach job that much easier. I will play devils advocate if I need to, I’ve not had to yet, as I’ve felt very passionate about the things we’ve been talking about.

Onto talking about math.
For those of you who know me, and have known me for while, you will know that I had my ability to do higher math seriously damaged through multiple concussions. To the point that trying to do it now, literally hurts me. But I have the full support not only of my teacher but also of the math dept and their tutors. It will make such a difference to me. I once loved math, to the point that at age 8 I was doing GCSE level (that’s end of high school for you yanks) algebra. It was a game, it was fun. I thought of it like a child thinks of candy (I was an addict). When I started doing the math, I wanted just to pass and be done with it, but if I can get back to the point where it is fun again, well I can’t even begin to tell you how much that would mean to me.
So all you out there who pray, pray for this, pray that I get my ability not only to do it, but to enjoy it, back.

As for the social side of things, it’s great to be seeing my old friends again, and soon I hope to be making new one, but my main focus is on finishing this semester with the best possible result, not in terms of grades, but in terms of understanding.

Peace and love my brothers and sisters out there
Ben

Ok so this weekend was great, went to my old church. Saw some old friends. Drank some Dew… good times.
I’m sitting here in the atrium of MMCC and am waiting for my second class to start, theories of personality. This is going to be an interesting class I think. The book could be used as an offensive weapon if you put your mind to it.
Got a cellphone yesterday so I finally have some means of communication, and I picked up an international calling card so that I can call the UK (landlines only I think) from the cell. If you want the number drop me a line and I’ll decide if you merit getting it or not. *Insert smirk here*

It looks like I’m going to have to spend more time at the college than I originally thought (mostl ikely 1 extra day per week)but that’s all good as long as I get the grades that I want I’ll put in the work needed.

I really missed my “kids” this sunday but didn’t let it bother me too much, I know that htey are in good hands with Jess, Laura and George. and of course my mum.

Anyway gonna shoot off as I’ve not got a whole lot left to say and when I get to rambling it aint pretty.

Peace and love be with you guys.

Went to Mid Mich today picked up some of the books, was good to spend some time with my friend Melissa. Though weird to be back in college.
Other than that not a whole lot to say.

Peace
Ben

My flight to the US was supposed to leave at 10:30 am from Manchester, however the airport was closed to arriving and departing planes until 12pm. So at 2:30 PM (approx) we took off for Chicago. Now I have a thing about flying into Chicago, I don’t like doing it, if I can avoid it I will, but this time the difference between flying into chicago and anywhere else was $200. Why do I have a thing about flying into Chicago? Because I have never had a good experience flying into it. This was not to change this flight.
THe flight was long and hard, and due to various things, which I won’t go into on the net but if you know me well you’ll know what, I was in a very bad state by the time I arrived to Chicago, HAd the plane been on time I would not have had the problems that I did (I think) but as it was it didn’t.
About an hour before landing I had to take some medication, now about 10 minutes after that I rushed to the bathroom to be sick, as the med can hit me hard even at home, but I was already feeling bad. Unfortunately there was someone in the bathroom so up goes my hand and i manage to hold it in until I get a bag. Now i didn’t think about it at the time, but the contents of my stomach would have had the residue from my medicine. This would cause me a problem later.
I was feeling mentally and physically unfit, to the point where I honestly doubted my ability to get to the gate I needed to, the med makes me dopey at times, so I had wheelchair assistance.
I go through customs, no problems We find the gate that I need to get to and I go through security.
The pat me down and swab my hands (see I told you the med would cause a problem, even though i had thoroughly washed my hands)
I set their machine off, it alarmed on most of my carry on, anything I had touched since being sick.
To top this off customs had failed to stamp my passport… so there I was 8 TSA agents, many experts going over everything. One hour later they realise they have a totally innocent guy and I am free to go.
Of course allthough they are qualified to take all of my stuff out of my carry on’s I have to repack everything.
Now I’d already missed my origional connecting flight but was booked onto the last flight into Grand Rapids, MI of the day. So I sit down, ask a woman who was waiting for the same flight if she could wake me up if I fall asleep. I get on the plane, fall asleep and wake up just as we’re landing in MI.

It’s not 10:38 PM MI time, 6 hours after I was supposed to land. it is almost 4am UK time and I am TIRED. Instead of going straight to Evart like I was supposed to, I go to my aunt Norma’s for the night. Which was nice as I got to see her on her birthday. But I wake up at 4am MI time y body telling me I’m a lazy sod for sleeping till 9am… stupid time differences.

I arrive in Evart at around 2pm and go to place where I’m staying with my cousin Angela and her husband Keith. (who I may or may not refer to as spatula and barkey.)
I spend a bit of time unpacking pick out my copy of the water babies that I am giving to my good friend BJ (who owns the local book store) and walk over to the shop. Where I proceed to spend the next 2 1/2 hours talking. Good times, How I have missed those stimulating and fascinating discussions with BJ. I can’t think of any of my other friends who I can talk to about half of the things we discuss. It is good to be back.

Here I am on the beginning of day 3, woken up again at 4am but happy, and ready for the day ahead.

Peace and love be with you guys.