Mike's musings

Some feedback on the blog today. Don't get much feedback - probably cos there aren't that many people reading it, I presume! - so this was nice. Do please use the commenting function if there's anything you'd like to say.

The first comment was from my mate Mark (LO, Mark!), to say that he and a mutual friend had been rolling around the floor laughing at the suggestion that I "tend towards persuasion". Hmm. I asked for more detail, and he alleges that they were thinking in particular about my Linux advocacy^W bigotry, and

Toby "says as delicate in approach as in appearance". You have probably calmed down a bit in your old age though.

Oddly enough, all this stuff about old age didn't make me feel a _whole_ lot better. :-)

Which reminds me: for the past 12-15 years, I've used backwards smileys, e.g. (-8 instead of 8-). I've resolved to try to cure myself of this habit. Another random comment: I added two new (well, quite old, but I'd not got round to them) albums to the music server yesterday:

• Kate Rusby - Hourglass
• Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No.2

Took me over 21 days' worth of music: hurrah!

Oh - the other comment on the blog was from an IM & IRC mate called spike. He was saying that maybe if more people in the church took the view "I try to be clear, honest and definite, but not conceited, arrogant and annoying", (note the "try"...) he might have stayed in the church a bit longer. I don't think he's alone. I hope that God's calling/movement in my life/love - whatever you want to call it - allows me to be more me, and that I don't present a false face. Of course, I expect to change, but my psychological make-up, what I've come to be, has been guided and informed by my experiences, and they are guided by God. I've never been entirely happy with the idea of being "born again" - in large part because I've never felt away from God in the first place - and I have an implicit suspicion of an event that changes someone in one fell swoop. I'm not in any way saying that this can't happen, but just that a healthy suspicion may be sensible. As humans, radical changes to personality are less likely to "take" if they're generally at odds with our underlying personality. Which, I guess, is one of the major threads in the Persig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" (definitely worth a read, if you never have).

Music Today

• Los Angeles PO, S Rattle / Symphony No 2. 1 Largo - Allegro moderat - Rachmaninov, (Symphony No 2 - S Rattl)
• Los Angeles PO, S Rattle / Symphony No 2. 2 Allegro Molt - Rachmaninov, (Symphony No 2 - S Rattl)
• Los Angeles PO, S Rattle / Symphony No 2. 3 Adagi - Rachmaninov, (Symphony No 2 - S Rattl)
• Los Angeles PO, S Rattle / Symphony No 2. 4 Allegro vivac - Rachmaninov, (Symphony No 2 - S Rattl)
• A Rose In April - Kate Rusby (Hourglass)
• Annan Waters - Kate Rusby (Hourglass)
• As I Roved Out - Kate Rusby (Hourglass)
• Bold Riley - Kate Rusby (Hourglass)