"Cynicism - the almost automatic belief that one is being lied to. "

"Philosopher Onora O'Neill believes cynicism is our response to the information-rich era. Faced with a morass of information on anything from the Iraq war to which pension to buy into - information that few of us have the time to analyse - cynicism is the only realistic way of "interpreting" it all."

source -that BBC online magazine thing.

Cynicism is like a survival instinct -it's not good when survival instincts jade your life so much.

HOW ARE WE MEANT TO LIVE IN THIS WORLD?? ITS SCREWED UP UNBELIEVABLY MUCH. WE'RE NOT HONESTLY MEANT TO BE ABLE TO MAKE SENSE OF IT ALL AND AVOID GETTING DRAGGED INTO AND MASHED BY THE SCREWED-UPNESS ARE WE??

i guess we can try..

i guess that's what i'm gonna do..

back to back kickass volcano tutorials.

stars, old rave tunes, friends, tea, whisky, cake, chips, good sized fire (untill waves put it out). Thankyous.

summer feeling, football with random French people on meadows in warm sunshine.

yesterday was good. today there is no one anywhere in the world. it sometimes happens in cities. not sure if i should try and get used to it or not.

Ruth and myself are building a fire on portobello beach (Edinburgh) tommorrow
(Weds) night to mark the progression of life.

8pm beach by portobello baths.
bring something that burns
swimming is not banned.
there might be food.

anyone welcome
Cheers
Tom

Taught a tutorial on volcanoes today.. I think they are real. ...and someone had seen one erupt in Costa Rica.

GET THE NEW GLOBAL MONASTRY MIXES HERE!!

The world is definitly a better place because of wee pict

Thank you.

"Carnival has begun in earnest so I live in constant fear of being
completely soaked whenever I go outside in this crazy, nation-wide, month long
water fight. Gonna buy a water gun today though and wage some war"
-Joy

I just got an email addressed to: Rev. Tom Kirby, from a professor at Beijing University.

I love Scotland in February. And yesterday I saw English mountains over the sea.

new barstaff at the bongo last night C+M, they seem like they'll fit in; me 'n' Gabe got a lecture on not corrupting them.

3paid employments today: geog practicals, gracemount, and bongo, 1down2go
i think i am realising WORK IS ACTUALLY A GOOD THING!

tommorrow going to a wee cottage 40mins West of Dumfries

"Mum, could you take me to Bristol/Bath to jump off buildings with people I just met on the internet? Please..?"
-urbanfreeflow member

"CREDO kommer att köra runt ett mobilt bönerum i en husvagn mellan gymnasieskolor i hela Sverige!!! Så håll utkik efter nomaden under hösten... "
-24-7 Sverige

last weekend my friends L+S climbed a mountain by moonlight that was so bright they saw a rainbow.

football really good laff last night (smile if u were there)(or anyway)

Some stories that we are a part of help us live life more fully. Stories are underated. My life is a story, so is yours. We are also part of bigger stories, like our family's, the human race's. And some stories we are invited to join. These need to be tested for depth, goodness, and fakeness.

today went to check out pollock halls where i might live as of september, chatted to a guy all afternoon. being a warden innit.

We love David Beckham.

tonyt going to see some whirling dervishes..

just been marking the work from all the people in my tutorial, takes ages, is all online. kind of clever i spose.

worked 3 nights in a row til4 in the bongo. All quite intense. Is really busy at the moment.

Friday was Imbolc which is a big pagan festival. There were lots of naked people painted green carrying trees and drumming, processing in, and performing rituals. Weird winged creatures as well. Was crusty central. But i do like crusties.
Saturday was Messenger soundsystem, all about RIGHTEOUSNESS and SEEKING THE KINGDOM OF GOD, and praising JAH.
I was in the cloakroom, it was really hot.

spent the days with banging headaches enjoying the chill out time and lie-ins that my line of work allows.

Even Gracemount was over-full on Fri, 100ish and turned 20ish away.

Saw biggest moon rise ever from Calton Hill on Fri.

I really like the people I get to hang out with these days.

"NEVER RUSH!"
-R+F's flat motto.

I by the way, am still in my flat. Just slightly less officially. Dont know for how long.

my friend Cecil makes furniture. He rocks. paparwark is Shetlandic for priest's work.

What this country needs is not so much heavy isolated rainstorms (athough they are useful for topping up reservoirs by causing rivers to flood) but some prolonged periods of drizzly weather
to allow the water to infiltrate the soil, and for groundwater supplies to be replenished.
(Weather forecast last week)

Got to the finals of handball, beaten by Ainsley Park.
Did archery and trampolining. I like work.

sat on a traffic island for ages, sort of helps.

took my first tutorial, enjoyed it, went well but having 13nonspeaking people and the subject of scientific referencing is not the ideal scenario.
gonna start walkin round the geog department more like i own it

stunning stunning sunset on portobello beach yesterday, kinda shows whats possible I guess.

good soup today, hung out with my interesting colloquy (friendly respectful inter-faith conversation) friends, and went to help OOTB move their office.
OOTB are brilliant, and on the way to possible monkstyle way of working in the city. I indirectly work for them as I work in the Bongo

having problems today explaining my interpretation of the term monk. hmm..