The not-so-secret diary of Bing (aged 24)
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Apologies
I've just realised that I have made a grand 7 posts since the middle of February. Major apologies. Although what can I write- I got up, then sat at my desk to study, ate some food, studied some more, watched a bit of TV, did some more study, surfed the net, went to bed?
Ok so my life is a bit more interesting. Like this happened to my car on Sunday morning while it was parked on the street.
It made me sad. Yet, philosophical. Katherine (Michael's 12 year old daughter) and I cleared the glass out at church while everyone else was doing worship practice. I was there early because I went to the police station after dropping Ken off at church. We had gone to the dawn service together, which was a pretty cool service- although the encouragment to hug everyone around you lost its gloss after a while.
Oh and here's a visitor that I spied while studying on Saturday.
Apart from that its been study, study, study. Today I learnt about neural tube defects, which have big names like myelomeningocele, diastemomyelia and Arnold Chairi malformation type II, and cerebral palsy which has even worse names like athetoid cerebral palsy and spastic diplegia. I also learnt about how many ways an infant's brain can go munted and I was quite pleased to be alive. In today's tragic moment, I went for a bowl at the cricket nets today to unwind my shoulders. By myself, bowling at nothing. In a very public place, when traffic was really heavy. Could there be anything odder- especially me trying to bowl left-armed. Know me before you judge me.
I've just realised that I have made a grand 7 posts since the middle of February. Major apologies. Although what can I write- I got up, then sat at my desk to study, ate some food, studied some more, watched a bit of TV, did some more study, surfed the net, went to bed?
Ok so my life is a bit more interesting. Like this happened to my car on Sunday morning while it was parked on the street.
It made me sad. Yet, philosophical. Katherine (Michael's 12 year old daughter) and I cleared the glass out at church while everyone else was doing worship practice. I was there early because I went to the police station after dropping Ken off at church. We had gone to the dawn service together, which was a pretty cool service- although the encouragment to hug everyone around you lost its gloss after a while.
Oh and here's a visitor that I spied while studying on Saturday.
Apart from that its been study, study, study. Today I learnt about neural tube defects, which have big names like myelomeningocele, diastemomyelia and Arnold Chairi malformation type II, and cerebral palsy which has even worse names like athetoid cerebral palsy and spastic diplegia. I also learnt about how many ways an infant's brain can go munted and I was quite pleased to be alive. In today's tragic moment, I went for a bowl at the cricket nets today to unwind my shoulders. By myself, bowling at nothing. In a very public place, when traffic was really heavy. Could there be anything odder- especially me trying to bowl left-armed. Know me before you judge me.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
For the 3 of you who still read this
I saw Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" today with Sam. It so rocked my world. Although I knew nothing about it, except that the paper told me that it was one of the 25 movies I should see. Apparently it was Chaplin's first talking movie. And what surprised me was the ending. Right throughout the movie, there was slapstick, running gags, satire of Hitler and other politicians, an amazing globe-gymnastics scene, and mistaken identities. At the end, "a Jewish Barber" is mistaken for the great dictator, and he says this:
A Jewish Barber: I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone, and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge as made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The airplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men; cries out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say, do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. Soldiers! Don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you, enslave you; who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines, you are not cattle, you are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don't hate! Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers! Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it is written that the kingdom of God is within man, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power. Let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill that promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance! Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness. Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite! Hannah, can you hear me? Wherever you are, look up Hannah! The clouds are lifting! The sun is breaking through! We are coming out of the darkness into the light! We are coming into a new world; a kindlier world, where men will rise above their hate, their greed, and brutality. Look up, Hannah! The soul of man has been given wings and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow! Into the light of hope, into the future! The glorious future, that belongs to you, to me and to all of us. Look up, Hannah. Look up!
(from IMDB. Hannah is the barber's love interest.
Is that not an inspiring piece of monologue? It sent shivers down my spine. And seems to be a huge space filler in my blog :).
the last few weeks I feel as though I've been going "banana cake insane". That is, when you feel your life going to mush, yet you trust that God is making something good out of your mess. Long hours, not really being able to pray, clinging to the fact that God was with me, although everything else in my behaviour was going the other way, and yet still learning life lessons. And med lessons. Both very important.
And now I'm on holiday. At least until Thursday. But is it really a holiday when you're only catching up on work?
I saw Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" today with Sam. It so rocked my world. Although I knew nothing about it, except that the paper told me that it was one of the 25 movies I should see. Apparently it was Chaplin's first talking movie. And what surprised me was the ending. Right throughout the movie, there was slapstick, running gags, satire of Hitler and other politicians, an amazing globe-gymnastics scene, and mistaken identities. At the end, "a Jewish Barber" is mistaken for the great dictator, and he says this:
A Jewish Barber: I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone, and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge as made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The airplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men; cries out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say, do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. Soldiers! Don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you, enslave you; who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines, you are not cattle, you are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don't hate! Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers! Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it is written that the kingdom of God is within man, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power. Let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill that promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance! Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness. Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite! Hannah, can you hear me? Wherever you are, look up Hannah! The clouds are lifting! The sun is breaking through! We are coming out of the darkness into the light! We are coming into a new world; a kindlier world, where men will rise above their hate, their greed, and brutality. Look up, Hannah! The soul of man has been given wings and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow! Into the light of hope, into the future! The glorious future, that belongs to you, to me and to all of us. Look up, Hannah. Look up!
(from IMDB. Hannah is the barber's love interest.
Is that not an inspiring piece of monologue? It sent shivers down my spine. And seems to be a huge space filler in my blog :).
the last few weeks I feel as though I've been going "banana cake insane". That is, when you feel your life going to mush, yet you trust that God is making something good out of your mess. Long hours, not really being able to pray, clinging to the fact that God was with me, although everything else in my behaviour was going the other way, and yet still learning life lessons. And med lessons. Both very important.
And now I'm on holiday. At least until Thursday. But is it really a holiday when you're only catching up on work?
