Archive for the 'work & writing' Category

[lyg10] all the little babies go uh-uh i want to;

Published on December 4, 2009 in [lyg10] and work & writing. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

September this year marks ten years since I made my first, tentative and over-sharey, foray into blogging. I hope you’ll forgive a little self-indulgence on my part, but I’d like to do something to celebrate a pretty significant milestone. I’ve hit upon the idea of publishing some selected takes from my archives – there’s a little bit of poetic license required here, as some of the proper cringeworthy teenage stuff is (thankfully) lost in the mists and pixels of cyberspace, but what I’ll publish every Friday from here until the end of the year is culled from the LiveJournal years, 2003-2006.

On my Easter break during my Masters degree, I had to find myself a placement at a magazine or newspaper. This post was about my first day.

5th April 2004
I’ve been here a couple of hours and already I’m starting to wonder whether a certain local newspaper reports the news, or is it. There must be some kind of conspiracy going down. I’m sorting through the mail and not two, not five but at least twenty white envelopes bursting with votes for the “Bonnie Babies” competition are mixed up with the tonnes of irrelevant press releases. Each envelope is addressed in the same shaky handwriting. Could it be the contest is rigged?

“The entire thing is just a way to encourage families to buy fifty copies of the paper and send off the voting slips,” the sub-editor, laughing, explains. No conspiracy here then, just the shameless exploitation of dozens of plump, pink cherubs with names like Caiden and Antonnio (yes, that’s with two “n”s, we checked it. Twice) in pursuit of circulation figures. My natural cynicism is obviously still out-of-touch from the weekend.

I am shown to somebody else’s computer, logged into the system and basically left to my own devices. I am given the occasional task, but I could churn out whatever copy I wanted to all day if I had it in me, although that’s not to say it would make it into the paper. “All you need to work here is to be mad, and to love chocolate,” I am told but as the workday progresses and my natural curiosity breeds more and more questions it becomes clear that shorthand is also pretty essential. Bugger.

Ever wonder what comes into the mailbox of a local paper? Crap, for the most part. Press offices and random cranks up and down the country send the most irrelevant nonsense to anybody who might, just might feel inclined to give it some coverage on a slow news day. In the course of half an hour of tearing through envelopes I find a recipe for Easter nutloaf, discover that peppermint oil is an excellent cure for flatulence (perhaps to be borne in mind should you sample the nutloaf), giggle over a militant anti-European movement who think we should set our MPs on fire until they agree to vote against the EU constitution and boycott French cooking, or something, and find out that although 79% of people surveyed in the Scottish TV region are aware that dental hygiene is as important for dogs as it is for humans very few pet owners actually care enough to do anything about it.

I decide I would be more endeared towards Max Factor if they sent out samples of their revolutionary new mascara instead of just writing about it. All that’s on offer are a couple of sachets of SoLo Salt.

The wee man from the Hospice is very, very helpful. A local MP’s press officer takes time out from her holiday to call me back. The friends who promised me news stories had their phones switched off all day.

I do a lot of sitting about. I am still the girl who can go from press release to six pars of news story in under fifteen minutes, but I am wary of appearing too keen.

I had high hopes of maintaining my pseudo-broadsheet (read: boring) style-integrity, swatting up on a week’s worth of butchered English and tabloidized phrases the night before. Yet, minutes into my first major assignment (a photo spread on a primary school’s Easter Bonnet Parade), I realise that my tutor’s sacred Checklist has little place in the reality of a community newspaper. “I’ve used every cliche I can think of about cute children!” I wail.

“Excellent,” says my mentor (looking-after-workplacementgirls, getting-messed-about-by-local-councillors, chocolate biscuits), “you’ll get on just fine.”

Eight hours later (post-purchase of some necessary Grown-Up Office Type Wear), I am utterly exhausted. A university career of the odd lecture, all-nighters and mid-afternoon naps has left me spoiled and unprepared for the realities of the workplace. And I’m supposed to do this for the rest of my life? Even the rest of the week seems impossible.

But at least I didn’t have to make the tea.

come on over to my place;

Published on November 10, 2009 in photography, shopping and work & writing. 6 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

the maisonette
the maisonette
the maisonette
the maisonette
the maisonette

Trying to catch up, slowly but surely, with bookmarks and photographs and little notes on bits of paper scattered over the sofa I jokingly refer to as my desk. The Made in the Shade Maisonette, which opened its doors in the newly renovated upper floor of De Courcy’s Arcade in the West End at the end of October, promises to be Glasgow’s permanent retail, gallery and social space dedicated to showcasing and promoting off-beat design, craft and vintage lifestyle in what the papers are now calling the city’s “answer to Covent Garden”. Roll your eyes if you will, but the shop is an adorable and friendly little space stocking everything from hand-bound notebooks to Tom Selleck embroidery. I might have spent more than I intended, although I’m afraid the ‘tache didn’t do it for me.

Since Carrie and Clare are my best Twitter friends I’ve got a piece on my visit and the opening published on Mookychick and many thanks to Kaite for setting me up with that one!

And since we don’t like to be called parochial around these parts I’d also like to direct you to the home on the web of Blackbird Summer Market, happening so far away it’s a whole other season. The first Blackbird will take place in Melbourne, Australia’s Worker’s Club, 51 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy on Saturday 5th December. The fabulous Sam and Courtney have been working flat out to put together an exciting all-day lineup of great bands, DJ sets, food and – of course – vintage fashion and handcrafted jewellery and products. Definitely not to be missed if you’re in that part of the world – the Glasgow contingent will be shivering and wishing you the best of luck, girls!

dancing about architecture: the definitive edition;

Published on August 11, 2009 in a little more personal and work & writing. 2 Comments Tags: , .

even bad books

I didn’t get much done this weekend: not writing, or photography, or anything. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – my brain is hardly a tap, and I’ve learned to accept that the words and images don’t always flow. The only thing that’s curious about it is that I usually feel more of a compulsion towards creative pursuits when I’m traveling and I brought my big purple notebook in readiness for the usual semi-pretentious outpourings. I suppose not bringing a pen with me was a bit of a hindrance.

We spent some of the weekend in this gorgeous 17th century house full of nooks and crannies, antique fireplaces and mosaic tiled floors, a huge Aga oven and with a garden full of chickens. I was lucky enough to be around people who understand me enough to let me crawl around, photographing four-poster beds and meathooks and teacups and bits of wall. Disappointingly, not many of the photos came out well at all – but I’m glad I have enough of a quality control filter to recognise that, these days.

On the train down I watched the sunset, while on the train back up I mostly snoozed while my famous writer man pecked out a bit of the second novel. I always thought I’d be in the same position by this stage in my life – that, whether published or not, at least I would have written something and be well on my way. Instead, I’ve struggled to find my voice or even pin down what it is I want to write about. What stories can I tell better than anybody else? What can I do that hasn’t been done before? The sunset, effortlessly the most beautiful thing in nature, doesn’t care that it mocks me.

in my own back yard;

Published on April 8, 2009 in art & culture, music, photography and work & writing. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

Perhaps it’s been amplified by the Twitter effect, particularly the way the site helps likeminded souls to network and to publicise their work, but there seems to be some kind of zesty creative juice in the local water of late.

Glasgow PodcART certainly seems to think so, and the site is fast becoming one of my favourite webby haunts. Centered around a weekly podcast showcasing the best in local underground music and featuring interviews with folks involved in the arts scene, the site is designed to be a hub for music, writing, art and photography. The creators based the site on a similar project in Northern Ireland, and have a noble mission statement:

We are not professionals and we are not doing this to gain some kind of status as individuals. It is a team project and we hope it reflects our passion for the current Scottish art scene. We believe we can help illuminate the incredible talent our country has to offer and also provide a useful tool that will allow cross pollination of ideas and art across a wide spectrum of styles and genres.

There’s lots to see on the site already, not least past episodes of the podcast to download. And in the spirit of shameless nepotism: episode 8 features an interview with my friends at We Sink Ships, a Glasgow-based music and photography project. Neil and Heidi have curated an online music exhibition which will be running until mid-May – if you’re as much a sucker for striking, vibrant, live photography as I am then Two Times Intro is well worth a look.

Also well worth a mention is Under The Radar, the new blog focusing on underground music from the Scotsman. It’s so exciting to see a “traditional” newspaper run with the opportunities to network with and publicise the stuff that’s out of the mainstream, and to make the most of having a website. Under The Radar has a shiny Twitter account too.

As for my own creative juices? Well, I’ve spent the whole night playing Mario Kart with Kate from the other side of Glasgow, and watching The Apprentice. Something not quite right with this picture. But I did write this, if ye fancy a swatch.

the seventh thing i like the most;

Published on March 4, 2009 in a little more personal, legalese, music, photography, quizzes/memes, travellin' and work & writing. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Actually it’s only five things, but I couldn’t resist the chance to use a line from that Miley Cyrus song I am unashamedly diggin’ right now. Music For Dads indeed… although, on the subject, I see that a certain Mr Springsteen has just announced his first Scottish show in what I believe is my lifetime for the day after we come back from Dublin. We can’t afford to see him twice in two days, but I suspect it’s going to take an incredible degree of self-control not to jump for those tickets when they go on sale on Friday.

So, this is a meme: a couple of lovely people have given me lists of five things they associate with me and which I am supposed to expand on. I’d offer to do the same for you, but we know how hopeless I am at getting around to such things. You can try though, if you leave an email address on your comment!

These five topics were suggested by Las.

Music:

I often joke that I didn’t listen to music until I was sixteen, and anything I’ve come to listen to or love since then has been a case of me working backwards. Although it’s a slight exaggeration, I don’t have a lot of musical memories from my early years. Although I taped stuff off the radio like everybody who grew up in the nineties, and I adored the cassette Walkman I was given for my seventh birthday, perhaps the most noteable source of music throughout my formative years was the mixtapes my dad played in his car. He was the one with the CDs and the cassette tapes – for about a year after getting that Walkman, all I listened to was The Best of Boney M which was the only tape he could find to give me.

My musical “awakening”, if you like, happened when I was not yet sixteen. I was on study leave, working towards my Standard Grades and staying with my dad at the time, when out of curiosity more than anything else I thought I’d investigate the neat racks of alphabetised CDs he had ordered through his Britannia Music Club. REM’s Out Of Time just happened to be the first album I played, and that album’s “Country Feedback” was the first song to properly blow my mind.

I was a riot grrl in my late teens, before I discovered alternative country and American college radio-friendly indie and singer-songwriters who sound a little bit like Bruce Springsteen. My all-time favourite bands are Whiskeytown, the Replacements and Sleater-Kinney, and REM will always hold a special place in my heart.

The Law:

People ask me, sometimes, why if I wanted to be a journalist I chose to study law. I guess it’s one of those courses that sounds more vocational than it is, because if you’ve got the patience for it law is one of the most challenging and intellectually stimulating programmes you can put yourself through and it’s suitable for any sort of career. The truth is, I chose it because I was warned against specialising too young and I had the grades for it – the alternative was medicine, with its clear (non-journalistic) career path and dead body to call your own.

I hated it.

I hated half my yeargroup, I hated that I had become a “small fish in a big pond”, and I hated Public Law. Although I met my best friend and started my first blog within about the first week, and eventually found a place I felt more suited to on the student newspaper, I devoted much of my four years to getting out of there as fast as I could.

Which is why it seemed only fitting that my favourite class during my postgraduate was our media law module. I suppose it helped that I was a “big fish” again, because of course I my experience in the subject meant I found the work easier and was able to tutor a classmate, but the truth is I just find copyright/defamation/freedom of the press interesting. The study of law is really the study of society at its best and worst, and these days I don’t regret my choice of degree for a minute.

Writing:

A friend said to me recently that I was lucky in that I’ve always known what I wanted to do. I figure, yes and no, because everybody else I’ve ever met wants to be a writer too! But I reckon I’m quite good at it, even if I can never channel my words where they’re supposed to go, and when I was lucky enough to derive a living solely from making a magazine I couldn’t avoid that proud little glow when I got my payslip at the end of the month.

Ironic, then, that I’m not sure what else to say here. I could tell you about the toy typewriter I got one Christmas, and the little magazines I used to make with A4 paper and coloured pencil I suppose, or the “novel” I wrote when I was thirteen, or I suppose how if I could do anything, ever, it would be to hit the road with a notebook and not come back until I’d written something hilarious, sprawling and true.

Photography:

And then, what can’t be any more than a couple of years ago, I found a new love. Sure I’d always taken pictures; indeed, I had been my mother’s designated family photographer from a very young age and I have boxes and boxes full of high school snapshots, but it was only relatively recently that I got the photography bug good and proper. Somewhere in between me starting my first “365 Days” self-portrait project and the purchase of my beloved Canon SLR last summer I’ve become that girl who doesn’t leave the house without at least a point-and-shoot in her bag… and I couldn’t be happier for it.

And, in case you missed it (I suppose it’s possible…) I’m now well into my second project!

Adventures:

I always think of you galivanting around places, says Las, I have no idea why! Well, probably because I do, a lot, and because sometimes I think all I really talk about is where I’ve been and where I’m going next. It can’t hurt that the writing comes easier when I’m in transit too, so there is always lots to catch up on when I get back.

One of the best things about having the best friends scattered all over the world is that I get to go lots of exciting places and only pay for the airfare. With Australia last year and my upcoming American adventure in September (Philadelphia, Nashville and a roadtrip to Ohio) I think I’ve gotten used to the idea of having one big trip a year – I won’t tell you what the plan is for 2010 just yet though, as it may yet fall through. Since my best friend in in London and my partner’s family is from the Midlands there are usually plenty of smaller trips to break up the year though. I like to take weekends. I never used to like long holidays when I was younger, and so it makes sense for me to plan shorter trips and use the minimum annual leave so I can do more. And since I’m always so tired I can’t say that I really suffer from jetlag… although the two readers of this blog who might remember me sleeping til 2pm after a 27-hour flight might beg to disagree…

That was fun! If anyone else has a “five things” list they’d like to suggest let me know.

paying my rent in the tower of song;

Published on February 18, 2009 in music, quizzes/memes and work & writing. 17 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

No lengthy posts tonight, despite a backlog of time-sensitive topical bookmarks I should probably tackle, because I’m tired and I need a night off! But my colleague/workplace BFF started something of an office meme today, and I thought it might be worth posting.

“The idea,” says Gary, “is to jot down ten most bestest songs ever and find out what other people like so you can see if you like it yourself. Apparently this exercise builds understanding of other people (yuck – why?).”

I found an all-time Top Ten easier than it sounds: I have hundreds of favourite “songs of the moment” at any given time (four-star rated on my iTunes, fact fans!) but my all-time favourites (with five stars!) are few and far between. Although there are a couple of tracks I’m sad to see miss out, my ten favourite songs make me sound as cool as yer da:

10. The Hold Steady: How A Resurrection Really Feels
9. The Velvet Underground: Venus In Furs
8. REM: Country Feedback
7. Red House Painters: Have You Forgotten
6. Bob Dylan: Visions of Johanna
5. Violent Femmes: Kiss Off
4. Ryan Adams: Come Pick Me Up
3. Oasis: Wonderwall
2. The Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter
1. Bruce Springsteen: Thunder Road

I’d be really keen to see your lists, and I promise I’ll even listen to everything. Post them or leave a link below!

Stereogum has the video for “The Wrestler”. Springsteen looks badass, but we’re in agreement here that Mickey Rourke could kick his ass. Five months til Dublin!

In other news, today I got the chance to guest edit the “non-political” Scottish Roundup. Let them know if you like it, and maybe they’ll ask me back!

underneath the mistletoe last night;

Published on December 17, 2008 in a little more personal and work & writing. 13 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

don't worry, there's still a monkey in it

Cranky at work this afternoon, a quick email from home informed me there was a nice surprise waiting. Clutching bags to my chest and trying to avoid pressing against the cold window on my bus home in the rain, I convinced myself I’d be returning to a pretty tree – what with how busy this month has been, and I guess the fact we won’t be opening our presents here on the morning itself anyway as we’re spending Christmas in the Midlands this year, we haven’t found the time for it yet. Spotting the telltale glow from the living room, I rushed in and squealed at Jay.

“Er, that’s not actually your surprise…” he said.

No. Nestled on my sofa, among the jumble of power cables and discarded pieces of make-up, was the biggest and most awesome care package from Seattle imaginable, packed with t-shirts and music magazines and treats. And the first of those gorgeous Decemberists singles, the ones I could never justify buying for myself. You could say I have the best friends ever. You’d probably be right.

Yesterday was one of those magical days that remind me of just how much I love what I do. I had been invited to the Scottish Parliament to interview an MSP for an article I’m producing for the next edition of the magazine, and it was an incredible and moving experience I hope to write about in more depth – probably when I come to write up the interview and can do it justice. Afterwards I was taken into the debating chamber you see oan the telly, and I had to hold myself back from jumping up and down like an exciteable schoolgirl. I’m such a nerd for that sort of stuff!

Afterwards, I walked back up to Princes Street via Canongate and its collection of eclectic shops. High heeled boots and cobblestones aren’t the best combination, but it wasn’t until I was safely sat on the train home I realised just how sore I was. Still, for the first time this year I felt properly Christmassy – picking up a couple of little trinkets for the tree in “Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe”, and a couple of last minute stocking fillers for the family. I also found a 1969 edition of my favourite book in a secondhand shop specialising in children’s literature – it had been part of a school library and was worse for wear, but I couldn’t resist snapping it up for seven pounds and fifty.

Over dinner the other night, I was reminded of one of my favourite Christmas stories involving me as a little girl. My class were putting on a musical sketch for the school end-of-term concert; a reworked version of The Twelve Days of Christmas for which we all took turns to walk on stage in a variety of costumes which fit the lyrics. I can’t remember what my original role was, but when I came back after a day off sick they’d given the part to somebody else. Wanting to spare my tears, since I was such a good little girl, the teachers promised me they’d write me a special part – and they did, but I was horrified to discover that my song was now going to be “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”! “You don’t have to kiss anybody!” they reassured me but at six years old I was mortified, and determined I wouldn’t be as much as pretending to kiss the cheek of a smelly boy in a Santa hat (something I considered a particular affront as I rather liked the boy in question, or whatever the equivalent is at that age).

The solution presented to my ever-active mind seemed obvious, and by the time I came back to school after a day snuggled under the covers at my Grandad’s they had rearranged the parts again and I quietly slipped into the line-up as one of the “eight netballers netballing”. Next year I got to narrate the school Nativity play, which meant I got to wear white and silver tinsel and was the only one who got to talk.

I don’t know if I’ll have the time to check in here again, so hope you all have a wonderful Christmas whatever your plans. I’ll be back before the end of the year with Last Year’s Mixes.

learn to love the highway when you’re home: last month’s mix, november 2008

Published on November 26, 2008 in a little more personal, music, travellin' and work & writing. 8 Comments Tags: , , , .
This entry is part 9 of 28 in the series monthly mix club

Winter is coming. The lights are going up, the nights are getting colder and, in her third floor flat somewhere on the less salubrious part of Glasgow’s south side, this blogger is – for the most part – fairly content. The emotional storm of recent weeks has passed, as it always does, and my cold rose has healed completely (odd, as the bruises I pick up all too quickly take forever to fade). I’ve even got my pulse down to something resembling normal during my nightly workouts at the gym!

I try to keep the private (if not always the personal), and certainly the professional, out of this blog as much as possible, but I suppose I won’t be doing any harm by mentioning that I’m being promoted at work. Not to worry though, faithful readers – when I have any free online time at all, I spend it with you first and foremost! I’m going to Edinburgh tomorrow afternoon, to meet a contact and get that last bit of full-time journalist out of my system before moving into my new role on Monday (although I’ll be keeping the magazine too, so our quarterly stress sessions shall perhaps get even more intense!). After my meeting I’m going to treat myself to the shoes I fell in love with last time I was in the city, if they even still have them, and then wander around the newly-opened Winter Wonderland with my battered Nikon.

I have a serious case of wanderlust this weather, so it’s just as well I’m away practically every weekend for the rest of the year. This weekend sees my reunion with the Web Hedgehog, aka the brains behind this wonderful site, at which I will hopefully not disgrace myself to the level I did on that fateful night we first met; and next weekend the Bezzer and I get to see Jesse Malin in – of all places – Putney. A family wedding down south, and Christmas in the Midlands, should keep me occupied until I can put together the plans and the money for an American trip.

But onto the pressing business – the last Last Month’s Mix of the year! Yes I know it’s only November, but if you thought it would be business as usual alongside that eagerly-anticipated (!) Last Year’s double-header you are very much mistaken! November 2008 has been a momentous month, personally and politically and everything in between, and if I’ve captured even a little of that here then I’ll have done very well indeed.

Coming Out In November: last month’s mix, November 2008
1. The Mountain Goats: “Waving At You”
2. David Vandervelde: “Someone Like You”
3. The Helio Sequence: “Everyone Knows Everyone”
4. The National: “Mr November”
5. Ryan Adams: “When The Stars Go Blue”
6. Herman Dune: “This Will Never Happen”
7. Kay Hanley: “Fall”
8. Kathleen Edwards: “Somewhere Else”
9. Okkervil River: “West Falls”
10. Frightened Rabbit: “Good Arms vs. Bad Arms” [live]
11. Phosphorescent: “Wolves”
12. Dresden Dolls ft. Franz Nikolai: “Ballad of a Teenage Queen”
13. Leona Naess: “Leave Your Boyfriends”
14. Absentee: “Bitchstealer”
15. Mark Kozelek: “Celebrated Summer”
16. Joanna Newsom: “Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie” [Ys Street Band version]
17. Marah: “Baby Love”

[.ZIPPED MP3, LEFT CLICK/SAVE]

Monthly Most Played after the jump.

Continue reading ‘learn to love the highway when you’re home: last month’s mix, november 2008′

that was my ass you saw bouncing next to ludacris;

Published on November 18, 2008 in a little more personal and work & writing. 9 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Gym Bag (Day 84 of 365)

So the big news story, she says as she stuffs her face with a slice of a particularly stringy four cheese pizza*, is that I’ve joined a gym in the city. It’s one of those women-only places, the one that’s particular gimmick is the 30-minute all-over-body workout, which is something I feel I can commit to easily enough after work of an evening – it’s not a case of pitch up, half-heartedly struggle with a couple of machines and then never go back. Many of the patrons are older ladies who aren’t the most svelte, figurewise, which is quite nice too as there’s a real sense of “we’re all in this together” as we make our way round the circuit. There isn’t that added pressure to look good while sweating that I’d imagine you’d feel in the more conventional gym set-up, and it’s easy to catch somebody’s eye and smile.

I used to have two cardinal rules: to never check my weight, and to never check my bank balance. All very well in principle, for both issues are particularly depressing when dwelled on to extremes, but that’s probably how I ended up thirteen stone and overdrawn. I’m nowhere near that weight now, thanks to sixty sit-ups a day and cutting out the chips (in fact, when I saw my dad at the weekend for the first time in a few weeks he practically yelped “what happened to you, have you not eaten in three months?”) but I’m still a little overweight and my personal fitness leaves a lot to be desired. A lot of that is down to my ongoing problems with my knees of course, and I think I’m allowed to take it easy on the squats if I don’t feel as if I can get out of a particular bend, but I’ve noticed the pain easing as I’ve gotten a little fitter and I really think my new routine will help. I seem to have the thready pulse of an eighty-year-old, and a BMI of something ridiculous and eye-opening. I may only be on my second session, but I’m quite proud of making the commitment so far: they ask you to aim for at least three sessions a week, and I plan to keep it going.

It’s one of those places that sets you targets, and measures you regularly to see if you have met those targets, which I’d imagine is the sort of thing one can become unhealthily obsessed by – but these days, I’m too big a fan of good food and home baking to take it to extremes. I’m so clueless about these things that, when asked what weight I would like to aspire to, I quoted the last figure I was that I could remember – it was only later that the trainer’s look of horror made sense to me when I remembered that I did have something of an eating disorder at the time. Oops!

When I left the gym tonight, I ran into an old classmate on her way to take her two-year-old to see the Christmas lights in George Square. It was nice to see her, and probably the perfect ending to a very strange, very introspective, few days of nostalgia. Yesterday I was invited back to the Law School to chat to some of the students about alternative career paths, and I wandered around Professors Square lost in my thoughts, remembering that I used to get to spend every day in an environment that is always particularly gorgeous at this time of year when the leaves change colour and the squirrels practically run up to you. The talk went as well as these things do, bearing in mind that public speaking terrifies me – the students didn’t ask me questions in the plenary session, but a couple of them came to find me afterwards. Perhaps I’ve managed to inspire some future budding journalists, in the very building where my blogging career began! I also got to spend time with one of my tutors, who also happens to be one of my absolute favourite people in the world and who I haven’t seen in far too many years. So that was great, even if he did remind me about the time I fell off a chair in the middle of a seminar while attempting to clean the whiteboard.

I think I’m almost ready to face 2008 again… but I still don’t regret the tattoo.

*The pizza wasn’t even all that nice, which I’m finding more and more these days when I overindulge with things that aren’t good for me. It’s enough to make you want to be healthy… or just stick with chocolate, which never disappoints, particularly now that you can by Wispas again.

[PHOTO: Day 84.]

sound and vision;

Published on October 13, 2008 in a little more personal, photography and work & writing. 10 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Back in the Saddle (Day 46 of 365 // Week 7 of 52)

There was, of course, one small reason why I was looking forward to going home. Email correspondence with my workmates during the small window our waking hours overlapped had revealed that the replacement for my damaged Canon EOS 400D had been delivered to my office, and I was getting excited at the prospect of trying out the “nifty fifty” millimetre lens I’d inherited from James. Trying it out became the focus, if you will, right up until the point I remembered I was supposed to be jetlagged.

Well it was either jetlag, or some combination of the night before’s gin and three hours worth of X Factor repeat (don’t screech your way through Ryan Adams versions, bimbettes – you will incur my wrath, and I will cheer when you meet your deserved fate). They say it takes you a day to acclimatise for every timezone you cross, which gives me a ready-made excuse for crankiness until early next week.

Although I was a little disappointed that my DSLR wasn’t able to accompany me on my Australian trip, mt luggage was pretty full anyway and it was probably for the best. This photographic hobby of mine is now turning into a bit of an investment, but most days I’m still as thrilled picking up one of my cameras as I ever was. Like the homes of many, I’m sure, my flat is littered with the remains of hobbies taken up only to be abandoned – Jay gets more use out of my £20 eBay acoustic guitar these days than I ever did, and the knitting I became so enthused by in January lies abandoned. The plan was to wean myself off my excessive daily internet usage by knitting my way through the evenings while watching episodes of The West Wing, but I did manage one chunky-knit blue scarf and now that The Wire occupies my evenings instead I wouldn’t want to miss a beat huddled over some dropped stitch. I tried baking, too, for a while, but the weight I put on wasn’t worth my dubious attempts at cupcakes and cookies.

No, the joy I take over photography reminds me of the other hobby I kept up long term: the one that saw me playing at making magazines on my toy typewriter, or scribbling in journals long into the night. It’s rare that I get as super-enthusiastic over something as I do about writing, and now I get to do that for a living.

[PHOTO: Day 46.]