Uhh it was ghastly to go back to work just when you had sort of slipped into that Christmassy state of being. To ease the pain we went for a nice pub lunch with Layla. Made it all seem a bit more bearable.
Now finally the holiday stretches in front of me. I have waited for this moment for so long. I hope it doesn’t go by in a flash!
I’ve made the bed with fresh new sheets bought especially for Christmas, the lights and decorations are up and twinkling, and our traditional pyjama party with Sooz has been held… I feel like I’m softly slipping into the luxuriously lazy rhythm of Christmas time. Just have to remember to go to work tomorrow!
Annoyingly I have a bit of a suspicious feeling in my throat and really achy shoulders… I’m trying to think positive and consume as much echinacea as I can. Surely my luck can’t be so bad that I’d get ill for Christmas, no no no.
I spent the first half of this day catching up with some admin work, but my plans for the rest of the day include such laborious tasks as playing with my new lenses and reading magazines. Actually, I better get to the magazines right now, the sofa’s looking awfully lonely.
I could get some of the office Christmas party pics from earlier today off the camera but I’m on the sofa with my laptop, and watching Eddie Izzard, so can’t really be arsed. Maybe tomorrow. :P
I’m so tired that everything aches, not sure how long I’ll manage to stay up for. Doesn’t matter though. I’m treating today as the start of my Christmas holiday, even though I still have to go in on Monday. I’m thinking I will treat Monday as ‘popping up to town to have lunch with Layla’ sort of thing. Sounds much more inviting that ‘going to work’.
I’ve been playing with my INQ a lot yesterday and today, and am getting to like it more and more. Funnily, this being a mobile phone trial, I’ve actually used very few traditional phone functions, like making calls or even texting, in the past two days, since I can pretty much satisfy most of my communication needs via other methods. There are certainly a lot of things I like about the INQ, but also some niggles that could do with a bit more work in my opinion.
Last night after work I headed up to a very snazzy office in the West End (oh it was quite lovely to be back at my old stomping grounds!) to meet up with Matt from 3mobilebuzz and to find out a bit more about what’s actually involved in the mobile trial. It also gave me a chance to share the biggest gripes I’ve had with the handset so far, which Matt then forwarded to INQ/3, which is kind of cool. Not sure if my user experience is going to make any actual difference when it comes to the future INQ models, but here’s hoping.
But yeah, the things I really like about it so far:
Then the negatives:
Hmm. I guess that’s it for now. I’m still waiting for the software that will enable me to synch the phone with my calendar and address book. I also haven’t put any music on it yet so can’t comment on sound quality etc. yet.
Sometime next week there’s something a bit exciting happening regarding the trial. Will tell you more about it when it’s live.
Uhh I think I’ll have to give up now and go to bed. Hopefully will have a lot more energy tomorrow, have shedloads to do. And also, we’re having a little xmas do with Sooz before she’s off to Finland (sniff) for Christmas.
Today didn’t start very well. Waterloo was in chaos and getting on the tube was a right palaver. And not just in the usual way. While waiting on the platform for the (5th) tube that I might fit in, I got a bit annoyed by the person behind me getting a bit too close (and that’s saying something with the way people were packed there). He was very short though so I assumed it was a kid, they don’t generally have a similar sense of personal space as adults tend to. Finally there was a train I could squeeze into and the person behind me pushed me in with such force that I had to swear out loud. Once we were all squeezed in I realised the someone had their arm practically around me. Trying to turn my head wasn’t very easy as the car was so crammed with people, but I did realise that it was the same shortarse from the platform, who had now squeezed himself behind me. I then realised that he wasn’t a ‘kid’ at all, but indeed some mutherf*****g pervert trying to get off by humping my leg! Eugh! All I could do in the tight space was to elbow him in the chest really hard. I later hoped I’d said something to embarrass him for good, but I was too shocked to speak at the time, besides, he was behind me so it was a bit difficult. After I elbowed him he got off the train at the next stop… only to move on to the next carriage. Uhh. I still feel violated!
The day didn’t get much better once I got in the office. We still have no internet/server access due to problems that have now been going on for a month. The atmosphere at work is very tense as people as just so over not being able to do their work and just having to sit there and wait… it’s soul destroying. And to add insult to injury, we’re supposed to get the issue to press tomorrow. Hey ho.
There were some positive points to the day though. Since going to the INQ launch party, I was chosen to test out the new handset for a month, and I received my review copy today. It was good timing as I really could use some distraction at work, which playing with the phone provided. In this short space of time I have already grown to like it quite a lot. All the social networking tools are easy to use, and dad already managed to phone me on skype while I was on the train. :D
I think I mentioned after the launch the original artwork created for the cards that work as a manual. They’re super cute.
I’m not quite sure how I can synch the phone with my address book and calendar, something that would be vital for me if I was using the phone for real. For now it grabbed all my facebook contacts and added them into my phone book. Note sure if that was the way I wanted to go about things. :D I think I’ll have to have further play with it to figure out what’s the best way to do things. I will let you know my thoughts over the month.
Today the in-laws came down for a visit and brought Stu a fancy pants coffee maker birthday present. They also treated us to a lovely meal at the pub. Just what the doctor ordered.
Christmas and holiday can’t come fast enough… Yet again another nightmare week, when nothing works in the office and when the bonkers, illogical bureaucracy of this country infuriates me at every juncture. At least I’m liking the crisp, cold weather. It’s nice to be able to breath some fresh air and enjoy the twinkling Christmas lights instead of the endless grey rainy days.
Lookit! I got a little xmas tree for the office. :D I haven’t had any time to put any decorations up at home yet, but I’m thinking I’ll start with some fairy lights next weekend… I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of Christmas, everything christmassy just makes me feel all giddy. It’s the only thing that gets me through winter. Every year I get worried that the xmas spirit won’t find me this year, but every year it eventually does. Can’t wait to get wrapping presents and baking goodies now! :D Also, can’t wait to have some time off and just slouch around in my pyjamas.
I went to do some Christmas shopping (and attempted to execute a shopping assignment, which got sabotaged :P) on Oxford Street last night after work and that was a bit of a nightmare. It’s hell at the best of times, but even with the credit crunch going on, braving it in December is just madness. Nevertheless, I think I have most of the presents sorted now, which is a relief. Bring on Christmas!
What a busy, exhausting weekend it’s been. I’m still battling the remnants of my latest nasty cold, which doesn’t help with the energy levels either. On Friday we headed to Ikea with Sooz after work, and nearly got stranded at Edmonton coming back as no buses were picking up passengers. It was such a cold night as well, brr. I’ve never been so glad to be on a manky old train than I was when we finally got on one at Tottenham Hale. Ahh the warmth. Also, I’ve decided that ikea shopping without a car (and a man to carry stuff) is too much like hard work!
Saturday morning we headed to the Finnish Xmas Bazaar at the Finnish Church in Rotherhite. It was the last day of the bazaar so apparently they had run out of a lot of stuff already, but I still manage to fill my bags with some goodies for Christmas. It was thoroughly weird suddenly being in the middle of all these Finnish people and products though. A bit overwhelming even. I did get to say hi to Asko, which was nice, hopefully we’ll manage to organise to go for a coffee or something in the near future.
And last night ended with Layla’s and Mike’s engagement bash in Staines. It was a fun party, but boy did I feel tired at the end of it. We took a cab home, via the chippie, after which I flopped in front of the telly with my recording of the X-Factor (how on earth did they get Britney??), aching limbs and hot chips… Bliss.
Gosh, what a week! I’ve packed in three different ailments, press week with catastrophic network-failure-lost-files incidents in the tune of your worst-nightmares, stress over S’s company laying off 30% of their staff, and just general anxiety over not having enough time to get organised. Yes, it’s safe to say this has been the worst week this year, no contest.
Santogold is getting me through it. I hope she gets me through this latest development that is yet another nasty cold too.
I feel like I ought to let you know that MTP now has a facebook page, just in case you feel a strong urge to become a fan! :D
In other news, I’ve sent a strongly worded letter to London Underground today, as this morning I’d just had enough! I’ve had to walk from Waterloo every morning this week because of disruption on the Jubilee line. What exactly is the point of paying for a season ticket if you can never get on the train?? But yes, I expect they will jump into action any minute now, after receiving my letter. I can only wonder how many zeros there will be on my compensation cheque. :P
Tonight’s the night of the mysterious driedonpaper launch party. Sooz is coming with me, and we’ve been pulling our hair out trying to figure out what it might be for – with no success. Is exciting! I hope it’s something good after all this suspence… will let you know tomorrow.
Frustrating week. Trains are being rubbish, shoulder is acting up and my to-do-list feels endless. At least it didn’t rain today!
The stupid cold that has been doing the rounds has finally caught up with me. But I won’t go down without a fight! I’ve been consuming vast amounts of echinea and hot lemon and they’re helping me to keep my head above the water, so to speak. Jen came over for yesterday’s Antony and the Johnson’s gig (more about that when my head isn’t quite so woolly – it’s safe to say it was mindblowing though), and I was clever enough to take Friday off work so we had a chance to spend some time together and pop to Richmond for a bit of shopping. Today she’s gone to central London on her own, while I’ve been trying to go through my to-do-list, with Stu constantly complaining that I should be in bed.
We were testing my new cheapo macro ring flash on each other yesterday.
We’re supposedly going down the pub tonight, not quite sure how I’ll cope with that though… hmm. Might have to change that to a Sunday lunch thing, we’ll see. I don’t want to be a bad host though, it’s just that I feel pretty shit…
Since the concert finished at a reasonable hour last night (who knew symphony orchestras are so punctual!), we decided to come back home afterwards. Originally we were going to stay at Sooz’s flat, while she’s living it up in NY. I must say I was pretty glad to wake up in my own bed this morning.
Here’s our train arriving at Vauxhall last night.
P.S. if anyone is interested in booking me to shoot their wedding at a discount price, I’m currently running a pretty generous wedding photography promotion!
My head is whizzing. I’ve been trying to come up with prices and strategies and marketing copy and all the kind of things that make my brain hurt. I’m really hoping that at some point I will arrive at a point when all the hours of work start paying off and I’ll start seeing the changes I’m striving for. Until then, all I can do is keep pushing. I think I’ll have to try to simplify my extra-curricular workload though. Something’s got to give. Lately that something has been blogging and DLB. But I don’t want to give up on those either. I will come up with a way to do it all. All it needs is a workable structure, I hope.
I so could have had the whole week off. Two days of holiday sure doesn’t feel like enough! But still, it was nice to have mum around for a long weekend, even though we completely ran out of time to do all the things we would have wanted to do (like go see a musical, go to Paris, go to Cornwall, go to Richmond Park, go to the London Eye etc. etc.). We did manage to spend some time in the National Gallery and walk around London in general. Mum also went a bit shopping-crazy on Monday and I only managed to drag her out of the shops when I started feeling decidedly dizzy. I did get (another) pair of lovely boots out of it though! Apparently they’re the only Christmas present I’m getting this year. :D I’m not complaining…
Having my normal routine interrupted meant that I couldn’t really keep up with any of my blogs/websites, or work on other projects I currently have on the go. I really have to pull my finger out now and get back to working on all my stuff. If I’m totally honest, I think I’ve created a bit too much work for myself lately, but hopefully it will all pay off in one way or another in the long run…
Hmm I’m supposed to have a shoot on Saturday but I haven’t heard a peep from the model. I hope she’s ok and still up for it.
Saw this challenge here and loved it. The aim is to photograph your daily commute and what you have for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I widened it a bit to include pretty much the whole day. So, here’s my ‘average day’ in pictures.
8am. I leave for work. The street looks fairly quiet. But then again, it always does.
On our station, waiting for my train.
I get a seat, result! First we cross the bridge over to Richmond.
Getting closer and closer to Waterloo (I had more pics from along the way, but this entry was getting waaay too long).
Get off the train. I then walk to the other end of Waterloo station.
1st and 2nd escalator down to Jubilee line.
2nd and 3rd escalator…
I just manage to run into a tube that’s ready to leave. Can’t get a proper picture as am squished against the wall.
Get off the train at London Bridge. There’s two escalators but the other pic was too blurry.
Finally some air!
9am. Our swipey thingy isn’t working at the moment so I have to ring the bell to get in.
Can you guess what the official company colour is? :P
Have a muesli bar for breakfast. Suz has left me a note.
It’s press day so I’m super busy getting pages through pre-press in the first half of the day.
1.30pm. Meet Layla in the lift, we then wonder where to go for lunch.
I get to treat myself to a tuna melt in Costa, since it’s a hectic day and all.
Back to work. There’s the view as well. Super.
Layla calls me into a ‘very important’ meeting in her office. Bump into Hassan in the stairway. Serious business.
John sees a photo op and elbows into our ‘very important’ meeting.
5pm. I force Layla to walk back to Waterloo with me, since the sun is out.
See, is sunny!
There are those sunflowers again.
Nearly at Waterloo now.
5.30pm. Walk back across Waterloo station again.
I get on Layla’s (stupid) train. No seats. I have to change trains at Richmond.
6ish pm. I get off the train and go to the store to get some bits and pieces for dinner tonight.
Almost home, just around the corner.
Nasty spider tries to prevent me from getting to the front door. I showed him!
6.30. Get in and have some water. I see that the sun is just setting so get my SLR out and take a picture for 365 Bokeh.
Start making dinner, but get bored with it so S takes over and cooks me sausage and mash. Is nice. I do the dishes though! I spend some quality time with the sofa and remote.
Have shower, update bloggy things and then head to bed. Where did the evening go?
I finally finished laying out Nikki’s wedding book today. It ended up being 84 pages, and looks pretty good to me. Am very pleased with it. I think the fact that I’m a designer in my day job helps me automatically think about the layout when I’m taking the shots, which makes laying out quite easy (if still laborious). I’m thinking maybe photo shoots delivered as a book could be my little ‘niche’, if I was to start taking photography a bit more seriously… Hmm.
As a side note, one thing I’ve been meaning to mention is this wonderful website called The Selby, which showcases real homes of interesting people. It’s really inspirational, not to mention addictive, snooping around in people’s homes!
Fanny Bostrom, artist and Bill Gentle, photographer, at home – Brooklyn – August 18 2008
But yeah, I’ve been quite busy today so far. I’ve done the dishes, hoovered, put summer shoes and clothes into storage… Oh yeah and sent Stu to Rayleigh to do some washing as our washing machine is broken. :( Sooz is on her way over and I think we’re gonna head out to try to make the most of the super nice weather (strange to pack summer stuff away when it’s bright sunshine and +20C, but I know it won’t last!).
Today’s productivity made up for yesterday when I didn’t get anything done, thanks to Marjut. She pointed me towards Fabchannel, which is where you can watch full concerts from many (of my favourite) artists. I even had to send Stu out to get a cable so I could hook my laptop to the telly and watch them full screen. :D What a great resource!
The sun came out to play today in honour of it being Friday!
It’s been a long old week, or at least it feels like it. I had two days of training in Farringdon (what a bitch that was to get to!) on Wednesday and Thursday, so it seemed to sort of stretch the whole thing out. It was nice though, the training. I would even go as far as to say inspiring. Hmm. Let’s not get carried away though.
Hopefully this weekend I’ll have time to catch up with stuff. There sure is a lot of it to catch up with.
The Bride-to-be enjoying some rays (and trying not to pose :P)
I have a feeling someone’s going to kill me for this, but you’re allowed to be mushy at specific times of year! We’re not ‘officially’ celebrating 1 September any more since the wedding, as apparently wedding anniversaries are the only ‘proper’ anniversaries. :P But never the less, today still means something to me, and I can at least celebrate our 9th anniversary of being together with this mush-fest of pictures. :D If nothing else, looking at it brings back good memories (while also making me feel incredibly old, like where an earth did 9 years disappear??). Also, check out that fringe. WTF. :D
I got these honours from Eveluna and Emmie, respectively. Thanks very much girls! I think both of these have pretty much done the rounds in most (Finnish) blogs that I read, so I won’t pass them on for now. I’m a little bit busy at the moment, getting ready for our first wedding anniversary present to eachother, an R.E.M. concert. I’m not sure whether to take my camera as these are the first tickets I’ve seen where it says that they categorically refuse entry from people carrying cameras. :| Not sure whether to be a wuss or not…
Oh and I spent most of the morning putting together this little one-day road trip video from Cornwall. If you’re not a fan of driving, you might want to pass. :P