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That was the Year 2017

The annual meme is back so as 2017 draws to close it is time to review the year as it is, as it was. Reflecting on life that has been led by me in my Pete-centric universe.

1. What did you do in 2017 that you’d never done before?

  1. Gave a lecture a Hope Lodge No.54 of one of my LOLSpapers
  2. Advanced my Dad into the honourable degree of Mark Master Mason.

 

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?  Did you have any Challenges in 2017 and were you successful, and will you have more Challenges for 2018?   

I set none, in fact, I failed the usual 100days challenge.  Been late for all the LOLSpapers this year (but at least I took part)

  1. Was pleased with my Masonic work in Mark.
  2. On the whole, this was not a very productive year.

2018  – the post describing this challenge is here. (will happen this time.)

 

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Colin and Kathleen had a daughter called Grace/Nora!!

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Not this year some brethren did that I did not know and I think a family member in.

 

5. What countries did you visit?

Well, it was certainly the year of the Caravan.

  • South Lakes
  • Mow Cope (Cheshire/Staffordshire)
  • Capesthorne Hall (Cheshire)
  • Haggerstone Castle (Haven – Northumberland)
  • Ynys Mon (Wales)
  • Llangollen (Wales)
  • Then in November out of Caravan season we went to North Lakes.

 

6. What would you like to have in 2018 that you lacked in 2017?

Well more sleep but to be fair to Callum he has been a lot better.
Better organised
Less grumpy (but that may be sleep related)

 

7. What dates from 2017 will remain etched in your memory, and why?

10th January – the Advancement

 

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Getting to three years in the same job and ignoring the itch to find something new.

 

9. What was your biggest failure?

Letting life got in the way of being productive.

 

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Nope, thankfully I have been very lucky this year.

 

11. What was the best thing you bought?

  • Office Subscription to 365.
  • Bike

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

Henry, he has done really well this first year, he is an enthusiastic individual and a little over the top but on the whole a good Kid.

 

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?

Depressed  – the odd client

Appalled – the odd client

 

14. Where did most of your money go?

Household stuff (Like bills)

 

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Ynys Mon adventure with the Mylett’s
16. What song will always remind you of 2017?

Hero by Pegboard Nerds

 

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? Happier

b) thinner or fatter? Thinner  [yet not sure how though)

c) richer or poorer? About the same

 

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

More correspondence with friends and family. Just stayed in touch more.

Been less grumpy.

 

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Grumpy

 

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

Christmas this year was at home with family and My parents and then the in-laws joined later in the afternoon.

 

21. What was your favourite month of 2017?

August – lots of adventures in the Caravan.

 

22. Did you fall in love in 2017?

With the wife.

 

23. How many one-night stands?

0

 

24. What was your favourite TV programme?

I have enjoyed:

  • Star Wars Rebels

25. Do you hate dislike anyone now that you didn’t hate dislike this time last year?

The odd people but not  really

 

26. What was the best book you read?

Dan Brown – Origin. As it appears I have only really been reading Ritual books

 

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?

MonsterCat has led to –

  • Pegboard Nerds
  • Hellberg

And many others

 

28. What did you want and get?

Some great holidays in the Caravan

 

29. What did you want and not get?

To feel more relaxed but didn’t get it

 

30. What was your favourite film of this year?

  1. John Wick2
  2. The Last Jedi

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I went to a Lodge meeting to hide from the fact I turned 40.

 

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more

Feeling less rushed.

 

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2017?

Outdoorsy- and am now sporting a beard.

 

34. What kept you sane?

Friends and family

 

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Bebe Rexha

BebeRexha2BebeRexha1

36. What political issue stirred you the most?

No stirring, more head scratching and disappointed at what Parliament, EU and the Government do.

 

37. Who did you miss?

Colin.

 

38. Who was the best new person you met?

No new one person, I have met a lot a great people too numerous to name.

 

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2017.

Hard work and perseverance is always helpful.

 

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.  

Its Friday am in the morning  – Monstercat track I am yet to work out the song title.

That was the Year 2016

As 2016 draws to close it is time to review the year as it is, as it was. Reflecting on life that has been led by me in my Pete-centric universe.

1. What did you do in 2016 that you’d never done before?
Went to my brother’s wedding

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Did you have any Challenges in 2016 and were you successful, and will you have more Challenges for 2017? “Artisan 2016”. Was 3 things, 100days – PASSED, write 4 Non LOLSPaper – FAILED as only one was written also FAILED was the Art project.
Why was this a failure? Well life and work gets in the way of hobbies. Plus I did write a blog post for Openlodge.com, about 20 church news letters. A quick basic website.
But still a failed project year.

2017 – the post describing this challenge is here.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My Sister in Law had a child called Isobel.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
2016 has been a bad year for the departing of Celebrities and Brothers and their family.

5. What countries did you visit?
We have not traveled by plane or boat this year, so we have been nowhere but for this green wet land we call home. Well we did some Haven holiday and bought a caravan!!!

6. What would you like to have in 2017 that you lacked in 2016?
Sleep, the idea of going to bed and not having to get up during the night for a crying Callum would be the most precious thing I could get in 2017

7. What dates from 2016 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
8th November – was installed into the chair of Adoniram

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting through the year with a small amount of sleep.
Writing the Paper on the Apron

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not being able to complete 8 papers this year, as life got in the way.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I changed my religion after short time in hospital, but as the Docs are scared of most things it could have been Big C bad. But it was not 🙂

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Carrie the Caravan – so we can have more trips away.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Callum for remaining so happy despite all the coughs colds and shit the world has thrown at him.
Helen for being an awesome Mother and Wife.
Henry for seeming to be settling in at School.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Depressed – US for moaning about their presidential candidates and no its not right we lost. Also Brexit, was disappointed by the result but have moved on. But others can’t and the country got silly.
Look we lost get over it and help make the situation better.

Appalled – The West’s we stand for freedom and peace. But erm Aleppo who?what? Where now?

14. Where did most of your money go?
Bills and erm more Bills

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
1. Joining as an Associate of the Lodge of Living Stones
2. Seeing my brother get married


16. What song will always remind you of 2016?
Do Let Me Down by the chain smokers featuring Days.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier
b) thinner or fatter? Thinner but still 13stone .. Tis odd
c) richer or poorer? Poorer with more things attacking my wage

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
More correspondence with friends and family. Just stayed in touch more.
I must get better at it.
Oh and Sleep that would have been nice.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Erm pontificating

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Christmas this year is at the mother in laws’ place it was nice !

21. What was your favourite month of 2016?
On reflection November

22. Did you fall in love in 2016?
With the wife

23. How many one-night stands?
0

24. What was your favourite TV programme?
I have enjoyed:
• Suits
• Game of thrones

Also watched “Hunting Hitler” he escaped and went to live in Argentina!! What proof?
Proof we not need as there are Nazi symbols and a ruined buildings in the jungle. That’s all the proof we need!!!

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No one – there are more idiots in the world but hate leads to the dark side.

26. What was the best book you read?
The Alchemist’s Secret Book by Scott Mariani and I am on the third book and they have got samey…
I need to rebuild a kindle but need a machine and so we go round the pc roundabout once more.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Nothing ground-breaking – There’s
Zara Larson
Chain-smokers
But seemed to have got in to the PodCasts of Monster Cat… (such a bad Kitty!!!)

28. What did you want and get?
Wanted sleep got … tried, but life has been good.

29. What did you want and not get?
More sleep 🙂

30. What was your favourite film of this year?
Not really been the Cinema much this year, but Rogue One was well worth it.
It was Star wars does titanic. With a bit of red dwarf thrown in and does question the term Boffin!!

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Erm nope nothing I turned 39 so not much to shout about.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more
Sleep – yes it is a theme here but it’s true, I feel I have been on the tenterhooks all year.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2016?
Can’t be arsed to Shave. Look..

34. What kept you sane?
The voices in my head, and chanting ritual that I was trying to learn.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Difficult this year,
as in Jan I thought Demi Lovato

demi-lovato

 

 

 

 

 

or Zara Larson

zara-larsson-lush-life

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mercedes Mason always a good bet.

mercedesmason

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even Hayley Atwell from Agent Carter and Conviction.

Hayley_Atwell

 

 

 

 

 

But to be honest I am not sure.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Brexit – as it was referendum year for remaining in the EU and it would appear the country does not agree with me. But oh well.

37. Who did you miss?
Westminster Lodge 7532 as I have now left my post as Tyler and in accordance to the agreement with my wife resigned from the Lodge as it is not fair on all parties.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Sadly no one had been able to replace Callum from the top spot.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2016.
You can survive on little sleep, but don’t overlook how this will affect your productivity!!

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
“I need to sleep,
“I need to sleep
Why won’t you let me sleep!”
A very old Pavement song.

That was the year 2015

Art Blog Post – Quarter1

Art Project update post.

OK so this is kind of my idea to do this blog post to show/prove we have been working on (what I believe is the most difficult challenge this year) “The Art Project”.

“The Art Project is a piece of art that can be done over the course of the year, that is not a poem, story or script. But an Art thing , painting, drawing, graphic image, collage, sculpture etc. or &c.
As it is art and rules cannot be applied to it, then only a base framework it can be done on anything and there must be some post throughout the year on its progress. Perhaps 1 a quarter or once a month.

This is the challenge I am not looking forward to as I am no good at the art things I was banned from picking colours at Net-Work Internet limited for my Purple, Orange and Neon Green website I built.”

Well the quarters are:
Q1 – Jan/Feb/Mar
Q2 – Apr/May/Jun
Q3 – Jul/Aug/Sept
Q4 – Oct/Nov/Dec
Q1 – Well what have I done, it been a quarter of thinking and ideas and what can I do and why and more importantly HOW!.
I thought about the different types of art out there and my limited range of skills. I have decided to do something on or around “King Solomon’s Temple” this will be made up of several ideas.

For example here is a basic design of the temple with the prominent feature of the two pillars:

18thmarch-2
The same day I also looked at the Masonic Orders I have joined, so in this next photo, I have worked with a Circle and Pentagram, taking a prominent symbol for each chamber. Note the “Triple Tau” or “TH” and the Star/Shield of David. I am pleased with the Ark Mariners logo as it is the only Colour.

18thmarch-1
I am not the best artist in the world so I have found a couple of tools / websites that may help later in the year.
I have found a Collage one but not tried it as I think I need to work out the set of images/photos to make it work.
https://www.befunky.com/create/collage/

As I for some reason offered to run the Rochdale Parish News Paper and website. So one change I did make was to add a picture of each church it covers.
St Chad’s was easy as I had a black and white diagram from a St Chad’s Lodge summons.

StChads1

But I could only find photographs online for St Mary’s in the Baum. Being a bit of a skinflint I didn’t want to use all the ink out of the Parish Church I went on the hunt and found this site http://www.snapstouch.com/

And here are some of the results.

StMarys3.jpg_outline

StMarys2.jpg_outline
Again not sure how it will fit in but in the words or Arthur C. Clarke “Only time will tell” [Songs from a Distant Earth]

My good lady has mysteriously morphed into the Sunday School Teacher. As such there was an all age Services, which was a craft activity so I created this:

18thmarch-4

More to see and play with the glue and materials. Another activity that took place was the creation of Sun and the covered in different types of tissue paper. The reason why I have added this in hear is not because it was something arty and I just claiming it, no it is because I built the sun. I used and old wine box for the two halves of the circular section. As I don’t have a large compass, I in fact used a piece of wall, a nail and a Sharpie pen to draw two semicircles and then cello taped them together. I wanted to have two sets of rays coming of the sun. A curved style and the some isosceles triangle ones. After the Sunday School decorated it looks like this:

18thmarch-5
So this is a method style part for the Art project.

My current idea i have, came to me from stumbling across a broadcast of the film Prince Caspian. I joined the film as the Pevenise were trying to work out where they were in Narnia as they could not remember any ruins. They were at Cair Paravel, and it struck me I could do an interruption of the ruin temple of King Solomon.

I thought that I could make it even more fun with using a new technology a 3D pen. Again my skills are not the greatest so and Church architecture can be fiddly then I need plans and designs so I have been playing with a CAD package on my phone, whilst I find one for my PC.

18thmarch-7

18thmarch-6
By the end of the next quarter I hope to have basics firmly in place to allow the final half of the year in making the mental model a reality.

That was the Year 2014

As 2014 draws to close it is time to review the year as it is, as it was. Reflecting on life that has been led by me in my Pete-centric universe. Read More »

Day 40 – Road

Roads are amazing and wonderful things. Sometimes they  are physical sometimes mental, metaphysical, concepts. But all lead somewhere, whether good or bad, happiness or sadness.

“All Roads lead to Rome” they used to say  but not if you turn left a Alberkerkey.

 

This road was an old road, it led from the there to …

 

Well that just it no one knew, many had started on the path. “But few returned to the sun lit lands” Sorry wait that’s a different story, I got hoodwinked again. The old mind is not what it once was, to many tales, myths and stories that I know.

 

Some are about Great Kings and Heroes, some about Daemons and Gods, Aliens perhaps! Or the Most High – Bingo.  Yet again I am of on another road. Not the one I started but a left a the lights and a awaiting for my old pal Ethel the Aardvark  to go Quantity Surveying.

Ooops , sorry.

So Great Kings – “well once a king and queen of Narina always a …” Bullocks thats not even my story. Lets try a an old Ninja trick, and not the choking  a chicken one, the other one but the Shihan change not the original.

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Breathe,  so this road  was difficult to find  but once  found and you started on the path, well you have to see it through or well you know the other option.

The road as it begins starts by the pub called “Moon & Star”.  This is an old building said to be built from neolithic henge, the  heel stone is still in place. If you tap it with the right knocks when the Moon and Star are full well then that is when to begin.