Social class

I have many things to say about social class. But more of that another time.
I have encountered this conversation a number of times, which makes me a little annoyed:

There's lots I could say to this, but I think I'm going to leave it hanging for a while...

Quakers

I've been thinking about the Quakers for a while. I don't know much about them, but am fascinated by their silent meetings and their equality-based outlook on the world.
I stumbled across some information on the quakers this morning and found even more stuff about them that I can get along with, e.g.:

• the light of God is in every single person
• everyone can have a direct, personal relationship with God without involving a priest or minister
• all human beings are equal and equally worthy of respect
• all human beings contain goodness and truth
• Quakers do not accept value judgments based on race or gender
• Quakers welcome diversity
• they don't believe in sacraments (either as realities or symbols) or formal liturgies or ceremonies and also refuse to take oaths.
• since believers should have a direct relationship with God, no one (priests, for example) and nothing (like sacraments) should come in between.
• Quakers have always treated men and women as equals, and were pioneers in the movement for female equality.
• Quakers feel that the quality and depth of feeling between two people is the most important part of a loving relationship, not their gender or sexual orientation.

I'm not so sure about some of the other bits (not celebrating Christmas & Easter, not putting great importance on theology, just being quiet and waiting, etc.) but the Quakers seem to be streets ahead of many Christian denominations in terms of inclusivity, freedom, responsibility and rejection of potentially unnecessary hierarchies and (perceived) outdated/meaningless traditions.

I see some areas of the emerging church challenging the views of the established church on some of these issues (inclusivity, gender equality, seeking and meeting with God in action now, rather than "bringing God to the people"), whilst maintaining others (sacraments, ordained full-time leaders). But it's interesting how this approach can be seen as radical (and to some, heretical) when the Quakers have been doing this for some time...

Surprises

I loved this. For an organised, slightly anally retentive person, I love surpises, randomness and chaos in little bits. Revels for example - you never know what flavour you'll get. I used to like "top deck" cadbury's chocolate in Australia because it was a little like the block version of revels. In my quest for fair trade/eco/ethical clothes, I've ordered loads of the surprise goody bags from people tree, mainly because it's a bargain, but also because it's a surprise and a bit exciting.

However, I'm also starting to realise that my feelings for surprises only goes so far - as anyone who tries to plan a surprise event/trip for me will testify. I'd like to say that this because time is so precious to me that I like to make the most of everyday and have a plan to do just this. But I think it's probably the control freak in me coming out again...

Titlifcation

I've just come across this article on the beeb.
Hoorah!
I've been "Ms" since I was 16 (i.e. old enough to have a strop about it) and some peoples' attitude towards it drives me bonkers, for example:
a - I was stood behind someone in Argos who was asked for her details for a warranty for some product she was buying "Is it Miss or Mrs?" she was asked. "It's Dr" she replied. Girl on the till looked confused and said "I still need to know if it's Miss or Mrs".
b- I went to visit a customer and checked in at reception. "Is it Miss or Mrs?" she asked. "It's neither, it's Ms" I said. "Well, you can't be, we don't have that on the system." she said. "In that case, put me down as Mr" I replied, getting a little bit shirty. "But you're not a Mr" came the reply. Me - now with my heckles well and truly pointing skywards: "Well I'm not a Miss or a Mrs either, so take your pick!" We compromised on "no title"...
c- I still get annoyed each time I receive my npower/virgin media bill because their computer says no to Ms.

Why is this so hard for people to understand? Why do people think they have a right to know your marital status if you're female? It's just another means of treating women as second class citizens, as if their value is dependent on if they belong to a man - Mrs John Smith, my arse.

I remember two of my English teachers at school were "Ms" - one introduced herself by saying "My name is Ms (name withheld to protect the feminist), but I AM married."
I don't feel the need to do this, if I tell anyone I'm Ms and they look me up and down and say "but are you married or not", my usual reply is "None of your ****** business."

This is also linked to the argument over whether or not women should change their names when they get married, which I think I've expressed my views about before...

I actually believe that Ms should be the default, and you could opt out to be a Miss or a Mrs if you really wanted. I have friends who are Mrs or Miss, which is fine if that's what they want to be, but not if that's the label society is imposing upon them.

I shall be Ms until the day I die, regardless of whether I'm married, divorced, single, widowed or have a lesbian life partner.
Until I'm professor/lord/your highness, that is.

my second place (aka work)

I'm actually going to talk about something personal. I think I can do this, I don't think anyone vaguely concerned knows I'm here... (if I'm wrong shall we just say it's our little secret??)
I was having a good day today, been stressing about getting a report done but realised today that the deadline is 3 weeks away, not 1, so I was actually starting to chill out (nB. about work, that is. Still have loads of other stuff to stress about ;-))
Then my boss arrived, gathered the team together and told us that he's resigned.
Now, I've had ups and downs with my boss, but generally we've found a way to work together. In fact, I was actually starting to appreciate him as my manager.
And now he's off.
I can't say I blame him, he's had a fabulous offer from elsewhere and would be a fool not to take it...
But now I'm in a quandry. He's told us he's encouraging all of us to think about applying for his job. There's three of us in the team (if you count me) who might be in the running for it. One of these people I've struggled to work alongside, so it would be a nightmare situation for me if he got it. Another I know less about, but in my experience he's a bit ineffectual - I'm not sure how much he actually achieves and so am skeptical about his suitability too. So, you could argue that I have to apply, if only so I can't kick myself for not doing so when I'm downright miserable with one of them doing my appraisal.
But I don't know if I actually want it. There's a load of stuff involved that I'm not sure that I'm any good at and/or may not be able to do well. Plus it would mean I'd have to work harder. I do a shed-load of other stuff outside work which takes up quite a bit of time, plus last month (though this may be off the cards now) I was making funding arrangements to do a PhD, which would take up even more time... and I would actually like to have a life.
Good points: more cash, they might give me a company car, and not being managed by someone who I potentially have no respect for.
Bugger.
This is going to take some thinking about.

shopping

I love to shop.

This time last year I decided to stop shopping to see if I could do it. I managed almost 5 months without buying too many unnecessary things. I'm sort of doing it this year - I've purged the sales and have enough stuff from boots and lush to keep me smelling sweetly for at least the next 3 years. So there is no excuse. I'm writing down everything I spend (this is a tactic they tell people to do when they want to eat less, it sort of brings a realisation of how much you're eating/spending and shames you into cutting down...)

I should also probably stop buying in bulk. Someone only last night told me that we needed to stop buying food as if we were superstitiously stocking up in preparation for the famines etc at the end of the world (like some well known religions advise you to do....)

I don't know why I love to shop, bet someone's done a study on this somewhere. Leave it with me...

Anyway, the reason I'm talking about this is because of this. I don't read this publication. At all. Ever. But was made aware of the story so have made an exception. This is, of course, very sad. But also a bit concerning. I'm seeing it as a warning...

multi-purpose

I liked this