Month: February 2019

February 28, 2019

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8.30 am: The rain had returned: 9.00 am: I’d a full day of teaching, advisory, and ‘pastoring’ ahead. The inbox was poked periodically, while I awaited arrivals. When I was a student, staff taught you … and that was that. They didn’t see your problems and future as being either their business or responsibility. And who’d ever heard of student…
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February 26, 2019

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1.30 am: Bedtime. 8.15 am: The smalls: those things that are neither difficult nor interesting to do, but which nevertheless must be done, now. The new: I’d been invited to introduce the Rivers of Gold exhibition – which is being held at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre – on Monday. 10.30 am: A jaunt up the hill to review the work…
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February 25, 2019

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There’s never been a time when the Higher Education sector has had more information about staff working hours and responsibilities. Likewise, structures of line management are far more clearly drawn today than ever before. Everyone is in-the-know about everyone, it would seem. But few are in a position to relieve academics and administrators of their sometimes intolerable workload. There simply…
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February 22, 2019

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9.00 am: Studiology. Before composition recommenced, I undertook a RAM upgrade on two on my MacBook Pros. The computers are now seven years old. The additional 8 GB will not speed up some processes, but will allow large sounds to play in parallel in session mode without digital drop out. My bespoke PC will have 32 GB and more than…
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February 21, 2019

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For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2.11). 8.00 am: A communion: At times, people of faith are apt to interpret the events of their lives as though they knew God’s mind. The thought that the calamities…
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February 20, 2019

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8.15 am: A communion. To begin: A cold, hard stare at the inbox, the ‘list’, and the day’s appointments. Remorseless demands. Mounting ambition. Grim determination. You don’t remain where you are by slacking. And remaining takes far more effort than getting there. What would it possible to do today? Having put writing behind me for a while, I opened the…
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February 19, 2019

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7.15–8.30 am: 9.00 am: It takes me exactly 15 minutes to walk from my house to Old College. I began a fairly stiff day of postgraduate teaching and meetings. The morning was dedicated to MA fine art tutorials. The students are developing along very different paths, each with a bespoke problem. This is a tutor’s delight, and a challenge to…
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February 18, 2019

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8.00 am: A communion. I would like to come away from it all, and have the opportunity to extend my communion over several days. The ‘it all’ is that composite of circumstances, irresolutions, conflicts, distractions, and discouragements that are the stuff of our common-human experience – in different ratios and intensities – throughout life. But winter will give way to…
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