Down time

In sharp contrast to DragonDrop's weekend, we have had 2 days of relative inertia. Feeling slightly burnt out from some very busy weeks of work (of which there are still more to come), we shelved all plans of running around this weekend and just relaxed. We were, in a word, knackered and needed it.

A perfect start to the weekend was a trip over to East Dulwich to see new parents Sam, Lizzie and the beautiful new edition to their family Elfie. What a little angel she is and they are such proud parents (and understandably tired)! Lizzie's mum made us cheese and cucumber sandwiches - not had that particularly combination since primary school lunches - strange how tastes can trigger long filed away memories. Took a very long route home trying to find a garage that would fix our chipped windscreen to no avail and popped into Modern Metropolis, a great retro emporium not far from our house. It is filled with the most amazing furniture, lighting, fittings and objects d'art - many of which trigger the line 'I remember that chair from when I was little' or 'my mate's cool folks had that sofa'. It's a great place and a little dangerous if you have any money in your pocket. In the name of retail therapy C bought a cool white and green plastic globe desk mirror and pole slide side lamp - both 60s originals...nice (and cheap). Apart from a trip to Wimbledon on Sunday not much got done apart from that. Ploughed through the papers, watched a load of Wimbledon, Glastonbury (Jay-Z was great for the festival - what was all the fuss about) and the Euro 08 final (yay Espana), did the usual chores and necessities. 

Extremely sickened that Robert Mugabe has been sworn in for another term - those poor, poor people. How on earth is he allowed to get away with such blatant brutality and steal power like that? I don't know enough about the politics of the region, but can someone enlighten me as to why his neighbours (or the UN) are not intervening on the grounds of human rights, displacement and genocide? He is not alone in the world of being a vicious dictator, but that fact that he's not even trying to hide his actions is just appalling. 

My noodle had a bit of wobble this weekend - the catalyst was something really daft. I've soaked it in soy sauce for a bit and it seems better now. 

Mind the gap - it's sometimes wider than it looks. 

It's only a job

I was re-reading a link that a colleague sent me today and with what's going on in my work life at the moment it seemed quite apt and valid to share it (apologies for length...as they say on b3ta)!

1. Simple rules
There are a lot of choices to make over the course of a lifetime. That’s why it’s important to have some simple rules in place to guide one’s actions. As odd as it may seem, something as basic as “be nice to everyone” saves a lot of time and thought.

2. Surround yourself with people who are better than you
This morning I spent twenty minutes on the treadmill. Whenever the fellow beside me sped-up, I found myself instinctively wanting to do the same.People who are better than you help you forget your own perceived limitations.

3. Choice and outcome

For everything new I do, I learn something; therefore, it can’t be a waste of time. Repeat efforts, however, have to be measured carefully to ensure they are not just time-consuming bad habits.

4. Talk to your clients like they are your spouse
When I start to think of others as “them”, something is lost. When I can find a way to cut through the formalities, however, something real happens.

5. Perception is sometimes more relevant than actuality

Garrett has silver hair, a charming smile and wears a pair of smart, dark-rimmed glasses. He is intelligent and speaks with confidence. In a room of executives, everyone takes notice and listens intently to what he has to say.One day I bumped into him on the street. He was as articulate as ever, but his hair had grown somewhat long, and he wore a less flattering pair of glasses. I found myself somehow less “taken” by the discussion.Other than two small aspects of his appearance, nothing had changed; yet, this was enough to detract from his message. What you say is often less important than what people hear (or see).

6. Set the bar high

If you want to run a 5k, become a marathoner. As a result, you’ll find that 5k runs become a piece of cake.By setting goals higher than you feel achievable, even your failures can be spectacular.

7. Busy-ness as a path to nowhere

There’s a fellow down the street that picks up bottles all day. He works much harder than the executive in the office tower but earns far less. It’s not by any means fair.Most of us get caught up in being busy, instead of concentrating on what are accomplishing. This feels satisfying, as all of our peers are doing the same. (Logic suggests this is simply a bad habit.)Get “un-busy”; determine where your wealth and happiness come from, and put your resources into that.

8. Take a moment

The urgency to respond to a situation can be perilous.When confronted by unwelcome news try this: breathe, acknowledge, and continue about your business.In five minutes you’ll see the situation more clearly. You might appreciate not having leapt to a response.

9. Today’s problems

It’s easy to look ahead and start thinking about potential problems and how you might solve them.Some of these problems will never occur, so this is time wasted.There are always plenty of problems needing to be solved. Just concentrate on today’s.

10. They won’t shoot you

When you are really stressed out at the office, rushing about in a frantic mess, try to remember that there are very few mistakes that will result in you getting shot. Take a breath and put the situation into perspective. It is probably a smaller issue than you think (at least in the long-term).

...and with that I am off home to put my feet up.

Taste My Bloody Eardrums

Still feeling like a bit of weekender. Last week was an 8 on the bonkersly busy scale - did loads, loads still to do, annoying set backs, lots of achievements. Although we are working to a deadline of July 1st it has become more apparent that the teething problems after launch will make things just as nuts. Bring it on - I'm feeling energised and motivated.

Left work bang on 5:30pm on Friday - the earliest for a least a month. C has a friend who works at Channel 4 who very kindly gave us some tickets for Taste in Regents Park. A foodie festival basically where top London restaurants, food producers and chefs set up stalls and punt sample dishes to the gastronomically minded. All good fun and very well laid out event. Had some great 'samples' of nosh - finally tried Wagyu Beef from Cocoon - (yep, it's damn good), some amazing Gelatti and Anthony Worrel-Thompson's hog roast. The only thing I will say is it was very overpriced for what you got. If we had paid it would have been £25 each to get in, then as each (very small) sample dish starts at £5 and you need at least 5 to feel even slightly satisfied it gets very expensive, even though the food is exceptionally good.

Saturday we chilled, then went round to see Mike and Lou in Croydon. Good fun night playing games, chowing down, messing about with light sabres and being merry. Got totally lost trying to get out trying to find the M25 next day, but eventually got on our way to Amersham to see C's Grandpa and her Mum who is down to look after him for a few days. Lovely relaxing summer Sunday in the home counties. Sunday Roast, G&T in the garden, games of boules...all very civilised. Lovely and hot and great to see Clare and Robert again. We bought our tent to put up in the garden - reason being we packed it away damp in 2006 after a festival and haven't opened it since! It ponged, but nothing a few hours airing and a squirt of air freshener couldn't solve. C drove home and I jumped on the tube back to Marleybone - how nice to be on a tube that is above ground and travelling through the Buckinghamshire countryside instead of dark sweaty tunnel...

I last saw My Bloody Valentine on the Rollercoaster tour in 1991 with Dinosaur Jr, Jesus and Mary Chain and Blur. They have always had a special place in my record collection and are a truly pioneering band. Their seminal album Loveless will often be found in any '50 albums to hear before you die' listing. On first listening they can be an uncomfortable band to appreciate - they employ huge layers of guitars, effects, disjointed harmonies and awkward melodies...but, the more you listen to them the more they grow on you and eventually you are hooked. It really is addictive stuff. The vocals are thin and ethereal and basically lost in the mix, but it just doesn't matter, because the spiralling whirlwind of everything else just binds the whole thing together. All I could remember of the '91 gig was they were very good and very, very loud. Well, 17 years later and they have reformed to finish the album they started of the same year and play a few gigs. Myself and some friends bought a load of tickets months ago for Sunday's gig at the Roundhouse in Camden Town - a fantastic and very famous venue in English contemporary musical history (The Doors and Pink Floyd played early gigs there). In short they were fantastic - incredible sound and visual effects. They played the same set list as their last gig and it was faultless. The last song is their single 'You made me realise' which is famous for it's 30 seconds of white noise shit storm in the middle...at this gig it lasted 20 minutes! When the venue staff handed out ear-plugs on the way in I thought it was a PR stunt or 'statement', not a necessity. I had to move further back to stop my tonsils sweating and my ribcage caving in. I have never heard such a monstrous, but beautiful sound. Although it is near painful, it is totally entrancing and you couldn't tear yourself away from it. Definitely in one of the top 5 gigs I've ever been to. 10/10. Can't wait for the new album, though at their current rate of production I will be an old man by the time they release it!

Tunes of the week: Vampire Weekend's and Fleet Foxes's new albums. Top stuff - check them out.

Finally a massive thank you to PaintMonkey. We commissioned him to put brush/palette knife to canvas for us a good few weeks ago and he has created a beautiful piece of work for us. We look forward to growing old with it on a wall wherever we call home.

Until next time...

More exposure

Another website (well a business blog) has requested to use one of my photos. Check it out.

Weekender

I've certainly earned my groats these past few weeks. The past few weeks have probably been the busiest I have ever been in that there job. It's been a steep learning curve in some areas, a baptism of fire in others and great experience all round...dare I say it's even fun? To be honest, the most stressful part of it is that it hasn't been planned very well, which meant those few involved in making it happen ran around at 10 different directions at once for a good few days due to the geographies, complexities and logistics involved. There is more focus and direction now, but still a lot to do. Have well and truly ticked the branding part of my job title now. The only down side is that I've been getting home late, having my tea and then basically it's bed time. It's not going to be like this permanently and I am happy to put the extra miles in to get a good job done. The result is I have been looking forward to my weekends much more than usual...

C was away at a christening in Gloucester this weekend with Darbs, so I had a few days to myself for the first time in ages. Aside from a much needed lie-in on Saturday I vowed to make the most of the weekend: Did the necessaries - food shopping, cleaning, odd jobs and loose end tying. Then spent most of the afternoon playing guitar (acoustic - batteries dead on fx pedals). I used to play loads and have become quite lazy as of late, but it didn't take long to get that great feeling back. Taught myself some Hispanic semi-percussion rhythms I've been listening to a lot recently and even did a load of picking exercises that become quite mantric after a while. Got totally lost in playing for ages - I have really missed it. Must have killed about 4 hrs solid and my fingers were nearly bleeding  by the end - great fun. Rang Mark to see if he was about, but he was working to a deadline and as no one else was in town I resigned myself to a night in with a nice meal, good bottle of red and a film (read: no mates). I know it's tedious to write about what you had for dinner, but this is my blog, my hit ratings are down anyway and it was really nice so...Pan fried Salmon fillet; lemon, onion and parsley risotto, and flash fried courgette and carrot shavings. I rule.

I've been meaning to see Into the Wild for ages. It is the true story of a young college graduate who decides to go travelling in the early 90s, but totally shun the materialism that appears to surround his life and try to literally live off the land where he can, as he works up the US from Virginia to Alaska. He takes everything to the extreme and cuts off contact with his family and friends (who naturally worry themselves silly) for nearly a year, whilst surviving on whatever he kills or finds. The solace, inner peace and sense of freedom he finds is also extreme, but the further he finds himself in his journey the more you feel for those he has abandoned without thought for their state of mind. His parents inability for show the love he craves, instead of showering him with material love is what pushes him away and he (un)intentionally punishes them for it. At first I related to him trying to find some reality in a world of fake ideals and misunderstood emotion; then I worried about him as his quest became an obsession and affected his health; finally, I hated him for his selfishness. His routes bring him back to an abandoned old bus which becomes a home from home and finally his grave. A very long, very thought provoking and inspired film. Totally deserves all the nominations and should have won more. 9/10.

Sunday I was up very early, grabbed by camera and was out the house. Headed down to Waterloo to see the result of Cans Festival, where an entire 200m underpass has been transformed in a free for all street art festival. The brainchild of Banksy who features several times, it is a visual treat. Some of the works are huge, some tiny, some simple, some wildly detailed. What a brilliant idea and it's venue is the perfect canvas. People are still free to draw there and it will just grow and grow. It'll be there until someone else paints other stuff over it...and then it will have just evolved. Go and see it if you can. Here's some of my photos. Spent the rest of the day wandering around the South Bank which has a big festival going on with loads of amazing jazz, latin and percussion bands, food stalls and performers - a great way to kill a few hours and the sun was shining. 

Around late afternoon I headed to Parliament Sq. when Stop the War Coalition were preparing to 'welcome' George Bush to Westminster - a fascinating scene. A real charged atmosphere full of tension and expectation in the air as people unloaded piles of placards, dressed as judges (to attempt to arrest bush apparently), hippies playing guitars, people from numerous nationalities shouting into megaphones, journalists yakking on phones, camera crews and a shifty looking nun. Chatted to a few people, some of whom have been camped across the road from Parliament demonstrating for several years, others were activists from various organisations, others just came down to see what was going on...a bit like me. Kick off was 5pm - Walked for a little bit, but when someone offered me a broken placard for a weapon when the police line closed in round the corner I decided to watch from a distance. 

Finished a great book last weekend as well. Bill Bryson's - The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt kid. Bryson is always an easy, laugh out loud read and that was what I fancied. This book is great - a look through the magnifying glass into childhood in 50s America. It really is quite amazing how much the world and it's values have changed. Bryson makes it all sound so engagingly innocent, timeless yet surreal...but then childhood often feels like that as I remember. Imagine living in a time where atomic bomb tests were a spectator event and you could actually book to stay at the Atomic Hotel in Nevada in a travel agents whilst you did! That said, the stuff he got up to with his friends didn't seem that different to when I was a kid and he celebrates the ability to spend endless summers playing in the street, creating entertainment out of very little except our imaginations - something many of the kids of the current generation I feel may have lost. Top book. Might read another one of his soon.

Some great new tunes discovered over the past few weeks as well. Firstly, Rodrigo y Gabriela - I can't rate these guys highly enough and last week bought their Live in Manchester and Dublin album. Their style sounds like a novelty on paper - metal riffs combined with Hispanic classical picking and intricate soundboard percussion, but it is quite simply amazing and dare I say has revolutionised guitar playing to a certain extent. I've seen their name low down on festival lines ups for a few year and always wondered who they were, but now they are really starting to make waves. Watch some of the videos on the site - I defy you not to be intrigued and later hooked.

Second is Sennen. A Norwich 4 piece (one of whom it turns out I know and works at the same company) who if you had to try to describe their sound it would be like Mogwai singing Simon and Garfunkel...if you can imagine such a thing. Brilliant chiming interchanging guitars, haunting harmonies, charging, then walking, then climbing bass lines and some very inventive and intricate (but sounds effortlessly simple - you clever bastard) drumming. A real journey 'album' as well instead of 10 songs in a certain order. Stripped down and chiming 3 minute  indie pop songs and huge 7 minute wall of sound anthems. These boys have listened to more than their fair share of Spacemen 3 in their time, amongst others, but any influence is respectfully built upon and not imitated. Some gorgeous tunes and a triumph of an album - can't stop playing it. 9/10.

That's about it really. I was checking my hit stats recently and noticed that my blogs in less happy times seem to get the most traffic. I don't tag them 'misery guts, moody git or self-pitying northern monkey etc.' so I wonder why that is? It's just what's going on in my own journey along the mortal coil and isn't pretending to be anything else. Actually - top tip: If you want loads of hits, just tag your blog with Star Wars - instant popularity (and a lot of disappointed SW fans). I should imagine tagging Holly Willoughby or Brad Pitt has a similar effect. Anyway, whilst I'm on a relatively good run I don't intend to start bitching for the sake of it, so stop reading if you like...see if I care...oh, right...you're going are you?...well, bye then...are you still there?...hello...hellooo...

...and relax...

Sleep patterns, now there's a thing. I am lucky in that I generally sleep quite well, even in my sad face periods. During the week (and especially in winter) I find it a real struggle to get out of bed in the morning. It's not because I don't want to get up, even though work might make it little less easy, rather I feel constantly knackered. When the weekend comes I always promise myself a lie-in, but wake up about 5am, think about stuff for a bit, try to wake C up, get a frosty response and so I get up. I love that time in the morning when no one else is up, dawn is coming up (hi dawn) and everything outside is coming to life. I usually make myself a nice cup of coffee, put the radio on and 'do stuff'. My internal clock has this setting at weekends...'you've worked hard all week, now get up and make the most of the weekend'. Ironically I am usually the first to go to bed...not because I am a lightweight (it has been mentioned in the past), but because the same internal clock just shuts the rest of my body down. There are more and more occasions where the second wind takes effect and I can carry on into the next afternoon, but these are random. My old mucker DD has the opposite - he can function on very little sleep (and keep his sense of humour as well - respect). Maybe that's what having kids does for you - you just learn to function on less. Something I wait to experience with interest. So that's sleep...

Our first 'free' weekend for about 2 months came around. Plans were chucked around...exhibitions...mammoth walks, but in the end what we settled for no plans and decided to just see what happens. A more lazy relaxing weekend I haven't had for a long time. Read the papers in near entirety, listened to the radio, ate comfort food, walked in the common and recharged. Saturday night was a break from the plan by going to see Maria and Rus in their new trendy pad in Old Street. Very nice it is too and even has cool triangular balcony. Had a top nosh dinner then went out to sample some of their new locals. Old Street has over the past 5 years become very 'cool'. There are some great pubs and venues, but to be honest it started feeling like a Nathan Barley convention sometimes, with everyone trying to out cool each other and wondering who's famous/popular so they can latch on to them. Maybe because I'm not very cool anymore (C says different)...no, actually some of the people were just a bit pretentious and fake. Sorry for the negativity there - just an observation - feel free to comment...oh, and I had the worst pint of Theakstons ever, ever, ever...that didn't help.

Spent today mostly horizontal on Wandsworth Common reading more papers, my book and soaking up the very hot sun. Very lazy and well deserved. Now watching Glastonbury the film and although I still hold the same values as I did when I first started going to festivals 1989, can't help feeling I've sold out a little bit. Unavoidable possibly, or I just grew to like home comforts a bit more than I did back then (well hot water is quite nice in winter isn't it). Hey ho - Latitude is not far away...can't wait. 

Not going to touch on work too much, but last week was without doubt the busiest I've ever had, and the one to come with be more so. Also, I'm branding a new company (and everything that goes with branding) on my own on top of my already packed project list. Good experience and dare I say fun...a bit more time wouldn't have gone a-miss though. Story of a designer's life.

Fair thee well.

Censorship, Security or short-sighted?

Over the past week a large amount of websites have been banned at work. First, IT in their wisdom banned all stock image and media websites. The reason being that all had imagery tagged with 'nude', 'flesh' or 'naked' suggesting pornography (you can still access The Sun, The Star, FHM and many other sites that could contain similar material...not that I do you see...just went on for research...)! As you can imagine this went down like a sack of cack with all the designers who use these websites to buy/share/sell imagery for work (and outside work for that matter). I managed to get them quickly unblocked and received an apology from those concerned in the IT crowd, but it highlighted an increased level of censorship/paranoia amongst the corporate world. I understand risk and security in the modern age, but moderation, investigation and individual merit of usage must be observed...otherwise we may as well be seen as sheep...baa!

Social networking sites have been banned for a while, mainly because people were spending too much time chatting to mates etc. I can sort of understand that, but YouTube's blocking was a bit puzzling. I even explained to the Firewall managers how it is an effective marketing, research and resource tool. The response was that so many people were looking at videos during their lunch hour, that the company's bandwidth limits were being breached...erm...a multi-national with a huge LAN config. can't cope with what can't be that many daily video downloads?! I suspect they just feared people were spending too much time on it and not enough working. As What really got my goat was loosing access to Flickr and Twitter. I wondered how long the later would last as it has little work relevance (and I can still post by phone), but Flickr (loves you)?! Promptly threw my rattle out of my proverbial pram and got access back sharpish. 

So, aside from that work has been pretty much all consuming and will continue to be for the next few weeks. I seem to have my fingers in so many pies in this job that I barely have time to take a nibble, let alone a bite. I have some major projects on the go at the moment, as well as juggling the daily design work and branding help desk type stuff. The bureaucracy and politics seems to make my job 10 times harder - on paper a project is simple if executed efficiently and communicated well, but inherent issues such as pricing wars, difficult personalities and lack of value for creative solutions create mountains out of mole hills. I'm sure it's the same in many other companies, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating. Shouldn't grumble though, it the current economic climate I am grateful to have the job I do.

The weekend was fun. We went to stay with Chris and Jen in Littleworth, Oxfordshire again on Saturday. Top night with BBQ, wine, banter and making a fuss of their cute dogs. We bought Chris an huge Cuban Cohiba cigar for his b'day which he loved (he's a member of the exclusive Cigar Club, so it's not quite such a weird pressie) and proceeded to share one from his personal collection. I really enjoyed it, though can't see myself becoming a cigar smoker since I'm barely a smoker of any kind anymore. After cruising back down the A4 we spent Sunday afternoon on Kings Road looking for some bargains (wrong street me thinks), then a chilled Sunday night in as it poured down outside...there had better not be hose-pipe ban this year! At least my window boxes are doing well - the Rocket is rocketing up!

Oh...and we finally got our wedding album after 6 months - we love it and it beings back lots of amazing memories. Not much else - got a new free upgrade K850i phone after threatening to leave my supplier if they didn't give me one (they wouldn't stretch to an N95 - bugger)! In the absence of a radio reception on the tube I have been mostly listening to The Mighty Boosh podcasts - very funny they are too. A great new (to me) book on the go - easy read, so review to come soon. Just got to get through the next few weeks - it's going to be painful, but challenging and hopefully worth a pat on the back at the end (that's the best bonus I can expect in the city at the moment)!

See you later then dear visitor...come back again soon. I'll have some chocolate digestives next time!