Dear World,
In recent months, I have been spending a rather large amount of time around American’s... one in particular. This one will probably be the one I spend more time with than anyone else here, and to tell the truth I’m not too upset about this.
It is in light of this that I unashamedly proclaim that I have been saying, with increasing regularity, phrases with “foreign” words in, such as bathroom in place of toilet, and soccer in place of football. I have had a few American mannerisms developing. I’m married to an American and half of my family is now American.
It is with no hint of aggression or bitterness that I say; “World… Get over it”. I love my heritage, and am just as grateful that I get to experience another culture, variation of mother tongue and ways of life… Thank you world, my life is richer for it.
With love,
Your favourite 23 year old.
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
Lag Off...
The last few days in America down in Asheville, NC, were not ones of significant rest and relaxation. Spooner has an array of colourful and interesting friends- whom we would be out visiting and having fun with until earlier hours. In addition Nathan (who kindly lent us his spare bedroom) was a talkative and lovely young fellow who we would wake from his sofa-based slumber and keep up for another couple of hours. It would often be 2am before Liz and I were bedward bound. I say often, we were there for 2 nights!
As much fun as this was, it did not bless my soon to be jet-lagged induced body.
On the morning of departure (and all times will now be GMT!) we arose at about midday… we arrived in the UK 18 hours later at 6am (when we were catapulted 5 hours into the future- where I now remain) and pushed through to 10pm that evening before heading to bed- meaning I’d been awake for 34 hours continuously. Phil Brown’s body continues not to fall asleep on aeroplanes.
Then comes a weekend. A weekend where a stag/bachelor party is a must, meaning arising at 7.30am. On a Saturday. An exhausting day of football and beach shenanigans featuring a wonderful curry at the end later leads to my mother and little sister visiting from Newcastle. Having not seen them for a good few months we chatted until late, set their beds up and went off to a well needed deep sleep.
3 seconds, or so it felt, later my alarm went off at 7am so that I could shower, eat and go and play in the church band. (After sleep talking a significant amount and keeping my lovely wife up).
Not the kind of jet lag recovery I was hoping for… now we’re back at work, and I can’t work out if I’m falling asleep due to lag, or just no sleep.
I say; LAG OFF!
As much fun as this was, it did not bless my soon to be jet-lagged induced body.
On the morning of departure (and all times will now be GMT!) we arose at about midday… we arrived in the UK 18 hours later at 6am (when we were catapulted 5 hours into the future- where I now remain) and pushed through to 10pm that evening before heading to bed- meaning I’d been awake for 34 hours continuously. Phil Brown’s body continues not to fall asleep on aeroplanes.
Then comes a weekend. A weekend where a stag/bachelor party is a must, meaning arising at 7.30am. On a Saturday. An exhausting day of football and beach shenanigans featuring a wonderful curry at the end later leads to my mother and little sister visiting from Newcastle. Having not seen them for a good few months we chatted until late, set their beds up and went off to a well needed deep sleep.
3 seconds, or so it felt, later my alarm went off at 7am so that I could shower, eat and go and play in the church band. (After sleep talking a significant amount and keeping my lovely wife up).
Not the kind of jet lag recovery I was hoping for… now we’re back at work, and I can’t work out if I’m falling asleep due to lag, or just no sleep.
I say; LAG OFF!
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
We Did It...
We’ve moved!
People laughed at me, mocked me even for my optimistic timescale for the day (i.e. getting the van loaded and unloaded at our new place by 1.30pm)… but I passed with flying colours. Not only was every single item out of the van and 5 car loads by 12.30pm, but we were completely unpacked by 6 in the evening and could then settle down for pizza and friends.
This was not done without a butt-load of hard work and help from friends, however. Big Steve turned up with a massive van, Mikey Allen was unpacking and fixing bits in our house all afternoon- seeing the Church pulling together and helping out was very stirring.
It’s now a 10 days into a new life chapter with Liz, and I love it. It’s our house with our stuff with more space! I love walking into our living room and seeing how nice it looks and thinking that this is my life with Liz. We’re very blessed to be here. There is something about moving which is painful- the upheaval of solid roots and all that is familiar with it- but I love that I get to lay these new foundations with my wife.
Part of our new life together is the presence of close friends, something we craved at our old place. Mark and Hannah (who worked with Liz at Young Life) now live about 5 metres away on the floor below (we’re in a block of flats) and a new girl at church lives directly across the hall from us! We see Mark and Han every day and love it- they are so much fun to be around and we can totally be ourselves with them- plus they have the cutest baby who loves my face!
Life is pretty good right now- I love that I get to do life with a wonderful and caring woman by my side.
Marriage comes recommended by Phil…
People laughed at me, mocked me even for my optimistic timescale for the day (i.e. getting the van loaded and unloaded at our new place by 1.30pm)… but I passed with flying colours. Not only was every single item out of the van and 5 car loads by 12.30pm, but we were completely unpacked by 6 in the evening and could then settle down for pizza and friends.
This was not done without a butt-load of hard work and help from friends, however. Big Steve turned up with a massive van, Mikey Allen was unpacking and fixing bits in our house all afternoon- seeing the Church pulling together and helping out was very stirring.
It’s now a 10 days into a new life chapter with Liz, and I love it. It’s our house with our stuff with more space! I love walking into our living room and seeing how nice it looks and thinking that this is my life with Liz. We’re very blessed to be here. There is something about moving which is painful- the upheaval of solid roots and all that is familiar with it- but I love that I get to lay these new foundations with my wife.
Part of our new life together is the presence of close friends, something we craved at our old place. Mark and Hannah (who worked with Liz at Young Life) now live about 5 metres away on the floor below (we’re in a block of flats) and a new girl at church lives directly across the hall from us! We see Mark and Han every day and love it- they are so much fun to be around and we can totally be ourselves with them- plus they have the cutest baby who loves my face!
Life is pretty good right now- I love that I get to do life with a wonderful and caring woman by my side.
Marriage comes recommended by Phil…
Friday, 12 June 2009
Cam Your Bodia...
Yes, this blog title has been stolen from my wife. Yes, it is hilarious and should indeed be the title of the Meseg-Smith blog about Cambodia for the next two months. And yes, I have completed Paris Hiltons Diamond Quest on my phone. Twice.
All burning questions of yours, I’m sure.
Today is the day that I’m finally rid of my in-way-over-my-head tender… and I have spent the afternoon reorganising my desk after what looked like a paper explosion (and those that know me are aware that that’s a) something I don’t usually put up with and b) is hard to admit) and sorting out my college files. So, I thought now that is done and there is half an hour left of my working week, I’d let the world know of my recent adventures!!!
Weddings
Last weekend Liz and I were heavily involved maybe the most disorganised and hectic wedding that I’ve ever been a part of- I was an usher/groomsman and Liz was the hottie whom everyone looked out for- and I LOVED it. Dan and Anna aren’t usually this disorganised, but Anna, bless her, was told on the Wednesday before her wedding day that she was to have an interview for a job on Friday morning, 24 hours before her wedding day!!!
To tell you the truth, I love rolling up my sleeves and getting involved in serving good friends, God and the local church, whether it be a house move or helping set out desks after our church service. It’s one of my favourites. And it was a real honour to be able to bless such brilliant friends on their wedding day and ensure they had a mostly stress free and relaxing day.
All burning questions of yours, I’m sure.
Today is the day that I’m finally rid of my in-way-over-my-head tender… and I have spent the afternoon reorganising my desk after what looked like a paper explosion (and those that know me are aware that that’s a) something I don’t usually put up with and b) is hard to admit) and sorting out my college files. So, I thought now that is done and there is half an hour left of my working week, I’d let the world know of my recent adventures!!!
Weddings
Last weekend Liz and I were heavily involved maybe the most disorganised and hectic wedding that I’ve ever been a part of- I was an usher/groomsman and Liz was the hottie whom everyone looked out for- and I LOVED it. Dan and Anna aren’t usually this disorganised, but Anna, bless her, was told on the Wednesday before her wedding day that she was to have an interview for a job on Friday morning, 24 hours before her wedding day!!!
To tell you the truth, I love rolling up my sleeves and getting involved in serving good friends, God and the local church, whether it be a house move or helping set out desks after our church service. It’s one of my favourites. And it was a real honour to be able to bless such brilliant friends on their wedding day and ensure they had a mostly stress free and relaxing day.
Houses
Liz and I are moving!!! To those of you we are close with and know and love- we’ll send you our new address via email! However, moving is stressful. It means a major upheaval of pretty much everything that’s familiar. It means sifting through box after box that is stowed in the attic and being ruthless with what we need to keep! It’s an exhausting process.
God has been blessing us immensely through this. Having just signed on the dotted line and put in our notice at our current place it dawned on us… poop, we don’t have anything we need for an unfurnished house!!! We drew up a list of all the things we absolutely needed to live and I emailed the McCullough’s (a family in our church who are moving to start a new church in Istanbul) and asked if there was anything they could lend us/ give us. Andy sent a swift email back offering every single item that was on our list, no less, and a little bit more (namely a pair of y-fronts). Brilliant.
Food
A link was sent to me last week- THIS is my kind of meal…
Liz and I are moving!!! To those of you we are close with and know and love- we’ll send you our new address via email! However, moving is stressful. It means a major upheaval of pretty much everything that’s familiar. It means sifting through box after box that is stowed in the attic and being ruthless with what we need to keep! It’s an exhausting process.
God has been blessing us immensely through this. Having just signed on the dotted line and put in our notice at our current place it dawned on us… poop, we don’t have anything we need for an unfurnished house!!! We drew up a list of all the things we absolutely needed to live and I emailed the McCullough’s (a family in our church who are moving to start a new church in Istanbul) and asked if there was anything they could lend us/ give us. Andy sent a swift email back offering every single item that was on our list, no less, and a little bit more (namely a pair of y-fronts). Brilliant.
Food
A link was sent to me last week- THIS is my kind of meal…
Friday, 22 May 2009
Silly silly Footballers...
Footballers do such silly things, at all levels of the game.
The one that I've been a part of that sticks most vividly in my mind is my best friend Jon Lewis' stupidity. I was in the process of being shown a yellow card for retaliation (I stuck an elbow in an opposing midfielders rib cage after a dirty horrible challenge by him) and the referee was taking such a long time about it that Jon decided to shout out "Oi ref, stop looking at his arse"... and promptly got booked himself.
Here were a couple of other studig things from the professional side of the game:
In a match against Chelsea that was affected by increasingly thick fog, Bartram (the Charlton Athletic goalkeeper) was unperturbed by the lack of action for 15 or so minutes, presuming his side were on top. He didn't have the, er, foggiest that the game had been called off. "After a long time a figure loomed out of the curtain of fog in front of me. It was a policeman, and he gaped at me incredulously. 'What on earth are you doing here?' he gasped. 'The game was stopped a quarter of an hour ago. The field's completely empty'."
Mark Bosnich, whose other career highlights include being arrested outside a strip club on the morning of his wedding and being sacked by Chelsea after testing positive for cocaine, on this occasion entertained the crowd at Tottenham, noted for having a considerable Jewish following, during a break in play with his goose-stepping, moustache-sporting Adolf Hitler impression.
The one that I've been a part of that sticks most vividly in my mind is my best friend Jon Lewis' stupidity. I was in the process of being shown a yellow card for retaliation (I stuck an elbow in an opposing midfielders rib cage after a dirty horrible challenge by him) and the referee was taking such a long time about it that Jon decided to shout out "Oi ref, stop looking at his arse"... and promptly got booked himself.
Here were a couple of other studig things from the professional side of the game:
In a match against Chelsea that was affected by increasingly thick fog, Bartram (the Charlton Athletic goalkeeper) was unperturbed by the lack of action for 15 or so minutes, presuming his side were on top. He didn't have the, er, foggiest that the game had been called off. "After a long time a figure loomed out of the curtain of fog in front of me. It was a policeman, and he gaped at me incredulously. 'What on earth are you doing here?' he gasped. 'The game was stopped a quarter of an hour ago. The field's completely empty'."
Mark Bosnich, whose other career highlights include being arrested outside a strip club on the morning of his wedding and being sacked by Chelsea after testing positive for cocaine, on this occasion entertained the crowd at Tottenham, noted for having a considerable Jewish following, during a break in play with his goose-stepping, moustache-sporting Adolf Hitler impression.
Thursday, 14 May 2009
You've GOT To Be Kidding Me...
...This is a phrase is reserve for one of those times when the truth just seems bizarre, and one of those times was today.
At work I have been busting my gut to get a particular project done in time (Names and companies have been removed). It is the life of an Estimator, you have deadline and whether it’s finished or not, you have to give a final price.
Due to various unforeseen reason, I was recently give a project, approx. value of £1 million to price, and was only given 2 and a half weeks to price it (I should have had 5-6 weeks!)- a near impossible task for a trained Estimator, let alone a trainee! We decided to endeavor and do our best, but with one week until deadline and barely any of the job priced, we bit the bullet and asked for an extension of time. We/ I was shot down and given a firm no. A few days is all I needed.
Now, coming up to a week after I submitted the price, I called the Project Manager to see if our bid (we were bidding against 5 other Contractors) was successful/ in the ball park/ being looked at seriously and to my, probably obvious anger, was told that they hadn’t opened the envelopes yet. My stunned silence provoked him to carry on explaining… and he explained very elegantly that a couple of members on the Clients’ board of directors are on holiday and that they can’t be opened until their return… in another one and a half weeks!!!
You’ve GOT to be kidding me!
Friday, 20 March 2009
Mail Order Bride...
Today has been somewhat perfect. The weather is great- but not too hot. I have a car with a sunroof and a Michael Jackson tape that works. I had a curry… for lunch, and oh so much more.
I went to meet my friend Ben (http://benleaman.blogspot.com/) for a spot of lunchtime fun and goodness at the offices of the Crown Church, a few miles up the road, and something I’ve been waiting on for an age (or so it seems) turned up. We fought over who should open and claim it, but when Ben threatened to pull out the People’s Elbow, there was only going to be one winner…
I went to meet my friend Ben (http://benleaman.blogspot.com/) for a spot of lunchtime fun and goodness at the offices of the Crown Church, a few miles up the road, and something I’ve been waiting on for an age (or so it seems) turned up. We fought over who should open and claim it, but when Ben threatened to pull out the People’s Elbow, there was only going to be one winner…
Ben is clearly excited (and exhausted after fighting me off) about the parcel…
The tension mounts…
What now….??
That’s MY mail order wife!
She even does your work for you, and speaks to both sets of in-laws, AND she’s not even out of the box yet!
I can’t believe Ben beat me to her… it’s going to take a good few years to get one as good as this again…
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