The Fifth Doctor

After Tom Baker had announced that he was leaving the lead role in Doctor Who after such a long run, the producers sought out a replacement would could show a great contrast in the character.

Peter Davison's Doctor was less the adventurer and much more a team player. Is that perhaps why he wore cricket 'whites'? A much more sensitive person, his Doctor reacted to situations rather than initiating them; he abhorred violence. He was, at that time, the youngest ever actor to play the role.

However, underneath the character's nervous energy was a Time Lord of great age and experience; even courage. Steven Moffat once said of Davidson's portrayal that "this Doctor takes the emphasis off the eccentricities and turns it into a pained heroism of a man who is so much better than the universe he is trying to save but cannot bear to let it stand."

Davison had originally agreed to play the Doctor for three years (1981-1984), and did not renew his contract following advice from Patrick Troughton (the Second Doctor) to avoid the risk of typecasting. He handed the role over to Colin Baker...

Reading This Blog

Unfortunately, Google Reader is being discontinued. The news was announced a few months ago, but the service actually ends on 1st July 2013. Which is just over a month away.

It's a real shame, because I've been using Google Reader to keep up with all the blogs I follow (over 150 at last count!). I guess that many people may follow this blog through Google Reader. And I don't want to lose you...

May I suggest that you give Feedly a try? Just click here. Feedly has devised a quick way to transfer all of your Google Reader blogs so you can follow them on Feedly. And, it’s free to use.

Don’t miss out.

Dealing With Anger

I picked up a book at a Christian exhibition last week about anger*. It's a topic that I've blogged about before, something that I have struggled with, hence why I chose to read the book. It is an interesting read - already it has taught me a lot about the energy that is released through moments of high emotion. Not quite like they show it in the comics (see Jack Kirby's terrific illustration of the Incredible Hulk). But the whole subject of anger is something that I've been forced to study in some depth recently...

I felt tired on that particular afternoon, washed out, drained of energy, in pain with my knee, my ankle, my back. Yep, I had been overdoing it a bit! Long time readers to this blog will now that this happens from time to time...

An unfortunate event happened that afternoon; something that led to an extreme emotional response from me. I ranted, raved; really lost it big-time. However, in looking back on the whole unfortunate business afterwards to try and understand how I felt, I discovered that the experience filled me with new energy, new impetus. I was even pain-free for a short while. It was truly fascinating... how can something so wrong have such a right effect?

Well, my rational side concluded, I really need to look into this. I need to find some way to tap into this flow of hidden energy - without having to experience the down side, to 'lose it'...

Well, actually, it turns out I don't. Having read the first few chapters of the book, I realise now that it's not extra energy that I'm dragging up from somewhere - it's my natural energy level. The writer of this book revealed to me exactly how much of my own normal energy is being zapped by huge chunks of repressed anger - zapped by hurts that are there, just under the surface, all bottled up. I supposed it's a bit like a coiled spring which is under tension all of the time - it's a strain for me to keep everything going, an effort to keep it in, trying to stop it all spilling out. If I didn't have to bottle this up, could I have all this sort of energy on tap, all of the time?

The natural energy levels I used to have as a young man; the enthusiasm, the love of life. That is how God made me. That is how I used to be. That's how God created me. And that's who I need to find again, buried deep within me. And now it is time to deal with this, once and for all.

More later...

*The book is called "Healing Life's Hurts" by Graham Bretherick (Monarch Books).  The subtitle on the cover says this can 'make your anger work for you'. 

Deep Anger

Lamentations 3:43-44 (NIV)

"You have covered yourself with anger ... You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through."

I have just started reading a Christian book about anger and it's quite intriguing and challenging... I'll post some snippets later this week.

Hopefully.

Life Gets Tedious Don't It?

The sun comes up and the sun goes down,
The hands on the clock keep going around;
I just get up and it's time to lay down,
Life gets tee-jus don't it?

My shoes untied, but I don't care,
I ain't figuring on going nowhere;
I'd have to wash and comb my hair;
And that's just wasted effort.

The water in the well's getting lower and lower,
Can't take a bath for six months or more;
But I've heard it said and it's true I'm sure,
That too much bathing will weaken you.

I open the door and the flies swarm in,
Shut the door and I'm sweating again;
And in the process I cracked my shin,
Just one darn thing after another.

You know that old brown mule, he must be sick,
I jabbed him in the rump with a pin on a stick;
He humped his back but he wouldn't kick,
There's something cockeyed somewhere.

A mouse a-chawing at the pantry door,
He's been at it for a month or more;
When he gets through there, he's sure going to be sore,
There ain't a darn thing in there.

Hound dog howling so forlorn,
Laziest dog that ever was born;
He's howling 'cause he's sitting on a thorn,
Just too tired to move over.

Tin roof leaks and the chimney leans,
There's a hole in the seat of my old blue jeans
I've ate the last of the pork and beans,
Just can't depend on nothing.

The cows gone dry and hens won't lay,
Fish quit biting last Saturday;
Troubles pile up day by day,
Now I'm getting dandruff.

Grief and misery, pains and woes,
Debts and taxes and so it goes;
And I think I'm getting a cold in the nose,
Life gets tasteless don't it?

(Lyrics to "Life Gets Tee-jus Don't It", a song written and composed by in 1948 by Carson Robinson)