tuesday 31st july
hangovers make me eat lots. but i don't regret it despite the meeting
first thing this morning being pretty hard work.
monday 30th july
we had the lot. we had it all. we kicked life in the ass. and i
have now seen montgomery
burns. twice. we were funkstarred,
bluished, quietly
resonating and very, very drunk. a bottle of wine apiece courtesy of mr.
mondavi and others, talk of famous adams and howies and songs and absolute
and utter rubbish. we strayed from the point. we tangentialised,
rarely returning to finish stories. we forgot where we were and we didn't
care. the conversation grew, it flowed and then got stupid. by the end
of the night we were all giggling like idiots. and running to the toilet.
we ate strawberries, cherries, bananas, kettle chips and i ran around
the block, a wine mercenary on a mission.
it was great to see alison relaxing in london. i like her; she's funny,
incisive and has the ability to talk at supersonic speed. tonight she
was in london being a londoner. i think she liked it. i'm glad.
i have cherry juice stained fingers, i have a childproof lighter, i have
memories that i can't avoid smiling at.
i have photos.
so if you weren't you, who would you be? oh yeah, and apparently
i'm 'awesome'. har har!
excellent.
sunday 29th july
the weather is so hot i feel as though i could pop at any minute. my veins
would stretch, my stomach would bloat out with a creaking stretching sound
and then splatch! ahem.
imagine missing your own birthday.
saturday 28th july
after a blowout last night, another tonight. aitchie not well and a de-moed
sister which left me few options. so harry met sally whilst i met flash
actionscript whilst eating a 'sad loner' premade 'meal' for one which turned
out, surprisingly enough, to be pretty revolting. i'm on holiday next week
(destination to be confirmed) and am building something you can all play
with while i'm away. are you going to miss me? who am i trying to kid?
friday 27th july
49 after effect layers, no reds that bleed, goin' undercover after two years'
junk mail.
well, they've been bugging me for ages and it was so hot today i didn't
care enough to control my curiosity. if you're either pinkney, beswick or
lemkin then sorry, but i opened your mail. but don't worry - there's nothing
useful in there. i think. er... a few tesco vouchers for organic stuff,
a photocopied invite to the vale of glamorgan festival of music (featuring
living composers of australia - as opposed to dead ones who could clearly
not turn up i suppose), and whether you're interested in a job at the bbc
from an online recruitment consultancy, salary 20-25k, which you shouldn't
take even if you're desperate because the bottom of it read 'if you're not
interested in this temporary position could you suggest somebody
you know who would be". hey, it's not my mail.
clean wheels for the weekend with days of plans and meeting people and sun.
it's days like this i miss in the winter months so i should start appreciating
them i think. and take photos to remind me. what did adam
say? 'If dreams are like movies, then memories are films about ghosts'?
organic food. worth a try?
thursday 26th july
settling in to a new work routine. it's going quite well. onedtotv text.
nice but could take a while.
wednesday 25th july
well it seems at least arms length is not nearly far enough for some people.
..."steps out of the shade and says something like "you and me,
babe. how about it?" or words to that effect? hmm? what do you say?
rolling around in the dirt is now way of getting clean and too much too
soon is no way to protect yourself. that's what i'm thinking of at the moment.
heh.
tuesday 24th july
i'm writing this in the afternoon and i can feel myself getting better almost
by the hour. tomorrow i should be ready to go back to work and do something
other than slob around. nothing to do when you're locked in a vacancy indeed.
the worst thing is how long it takes to repair. time keeps going when you're
ill. yet it does have it's advantages: not only is every single sock i own
clean - somthing that never happens - but the plants are watered, minidiscs
track marked and the kitchen floor has been mopped stupid. plus i
got a bit of work done and eagles at cooper park holes 4, 6 and 10.
monday 23rd july
i have spent most of my time today lying on the sofa staring out of the
window. a bit like revising for a-levels, really. i was watching how some
leaves flap more. they get more wind. in leaf terms i wondered how much
of a flapper i am as a human. if you know what i mean.
sunday 22nd july
not feeling too well but i did get a chance to make this.
text taken from 'so sophisticated' by the stereo mcs. stand by for updates.
saturday 21st july
two steves, one slope: boarding steve and skiiing steve. a foot and a half
of big air and not a few crash landings.
friday 20th july
flying round apricot hill, fat alloys sliding on the bubbly-bubblies, in
a skyline gt-r, coming first and watching the face of the guy who worked
ether in sheer disbelief as he watched the replay's racing line. it was
only released today. i've been playing it for months on the debugging station
i borrowed for doing the e3 video. how cool am i?
i'm really looking forward to going boarding tomorrow. that and jeffrey
archer being sent down. heh. now that's news.
thursday 19th july
i knew that monday morning would catch up with me. bad news about h. mystery
from sis.
i watched gone in sixty seconds tonight and just loved it. everyone
else hates it but i thought it was tacky and exciting. so now a picture
of cage on reconnaissance and the '67 shelby mustang gt-500 has become my
dvd player's background. how sad am i?
wednesday 18th july
does anybody else apart from me feel like this?
tonight i met alison.
this, for me, was a first as unlike her i've never met anyone i've 'met'
through the internet before, and despite nerves and paranoia and emails
and replies and hurried phone conversations and directions and trepidationand
the inevitable 'what will she think of me / is she a nightmare' questions
buzzing around my head i can say that it was fun. yes i had a thoroughly
enjoyable evening with talk of culture (the north/south divide) and all
things weblog-esque but i also got to learn a lot more about someone whose
writing i admire for many reasons. i worry that by making parts of my life
public it will deaden the feelings, alison quickly said she finds them amplified.
i'm pleased i can now put a face to a place and still enjoy reading her
site and imagine the spoken intonation of her written words. and
i used the word 'stoic' correctly in reference to andie macdowell without
even realising. alison, of course, knew what it meant. what did i listen
to on the way home in the car? have you seen me lately?
and just how many times have you seen them play live?
tuesday 17th july
i managed to catch a showing of shrek this evening. i would write a review,
except it would say the same things everyone else has said about it so i
won't bother. i quite enjoyed it, though.
monday 16th july
tonight i'm in the mood for working late. fortunate, that, considering how
much i need to do and the deadline being tomorrow. updates as i go.
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then sleep. then more work. then driving. then 'i
do not sell knockoff goods. i occasionally sell discontinued
end-of stock items.' i'm tired.
it is july and i knew saturday's globe
reminded me of something...
sunday 15th july
golf, golf, driving to work and to matt's. sheesh!
saturday 14th july
where shall i go on holiday?
friday 13th july
julie's. fine food, fine wine, excellent company. helen's.
thursday 12th july
new studio layout, new start.
busy, then? er...
wednesday 11th july
points in time. so where are you?
today steve, (25 yesterday,) graduated from his masters. a familiar
occasion; i've graduated from exactly the same place twice before, the
ceremony being the usual pomp and over-pronounciation spent staring boringly
through the heat haze at distant tutors who are reflecting them back from
on high for so long that focal lengths become confused and dizzying. i
usually dislike formal occasions mostly due to the sheer formalities
(plus i'm no fan of dressing smart) but today was perfect for lots of
reasons. i was happier for steve than probably he was of himself. proud,
but not in a condescending way. no, this afternoon outside westminster
abbey and later in high street kensington i was sharing in a tradition,
a point of arrival and departure, a friend's commitment, self motivation,
talent, and rain and wind and sun.
these were not the reasons i was happy.
it's hard to say why i was. he's been through a terrible six months, losing
almost everything close to his heart that defined and moved him and it's
reassuring that after all that worry, depression and backfired optimism
his past is still full of amazing achievements and huge personal growth.
you should never forget the feeling of freedom college brings. reminiscing
helps, even if it is just to stop yourself wondering about what's next.
i shouted and cheered despite being specifically told not to. the definition
of missed opportunity is a celebration without exclamation, i say.
we walked from high steet ken to embankment in one conversation. it finished
with 'if you had to chose a piece of your work for an epitaph, which would
it be?'
2am. again. these are big days.
tuesday 10th july
steve is 25 today. happy birthday, fat boy, with talk of brands hatch,
capris, bollards, 'when i was young...'s and 'do you remember the time
when...?'s. families make me laugh with their routines, both communicatory
and lifestyle based. next time you're round a family listening to stories
and explanations watch for the body language, the suggestions how they
all know what's happening next, automatically. and they say soap operas
aren't realistic because they're too predictable?
monday 9th july
putting fresh bed linen on at 2am is never enjoyable but it is so rewarding.
tonight i'm going to sleep for england. onedottv titles are coming on,
plus alison
is on english time! how's that for a head job?
sunday 8th july
what kind of materials stretch in the wash? not 100% cotton i'll bet.
saturday 7th july
first service, 40-0, but it's a replay. that's all so far. oh, apart from
buckethead:
a rusting old white saabs driving into the sainsbury's car park with opera
blasting past wound-down windows.
friday 6th july
fixed laptop. nice evening of pimms and strawberries. damn - i forgot
to ring brad back.
thursday 5th july
they say england doesn't have a climate, it has weather.
a few days ago we were conversing about times of day. it was late. i like
dusk the most, when everything is somber and still, calming down for the
evening with the over-intensity of the warm, dying glow of natural night
with it's blues and greys slipping into black, silhouetting tree branches
while the sodium orange of street lights and artificial car headlights
sting your eyes. matt's favourite is the low pressure just before a thunder
storm, when the clouds are heavy and you can almost feel them pressing
down on you. the anticipation of something unavoidable and powerful that's
about to happen.
driving back to london after a relaxing day with my mum at home-home spent
cycling alongside a million acres of wheat and corn blowing gently in
the breeze as we pushed our spoked wheels across melting tarmac it must
have taken ten minutes from beginning to end. at about ten to nine the
skies closed in. dark rolling ogres lumbered overhead, clipping the top
of canary wharf's tower. the street lights popped on one by one in seconds.
at elephant and castle it was dry. by the time i had past kennington it
was a monsoon and at oval there must have been two inches of water exploding
from under my tyres.
i couldn't help thinking of new york in 1993 as i felt the cold stings
of the fat droplets hitting my neck and the time peejay and i exited the
station on broadway. it had been a clear day on entering the subway -
we went to work in shorts then, something i never do in london - minutes
later it was torrential. we glanced at each other, shrugged our shoulders,
took off our t-shirts and walked the two blocks home past the yellow cabs
and suit wearers under umbrellas, trying to get in the yellow cabs. as
we entered the apartment jeremy and winona just stared at us, wondering
how to react - was this another of those things weird english 'fellows'
(as they charmingly called us) do - like drinking pints? we were utterly
soaked from head to toe and grinning with excitement and life. we sat
down on the futon, soaking that too. we enjoyed the heat and the wet and
i can remember it almost too clearly.
as i unloaded my bike from the back of the car leaning over as i reattached
the front wheel, my back absorbing arrows of water, i decided. i hopped
on, cycled the few hundred yards to the house, detouring to squidge the
front wheel into as many puddles as possible. after leaving the bike in
the hallway and dropping the rucksack i walked down the drive, and just
stood waiting for funkstar deluxe to arrive. it had eased off a little,
the big heavy drops had become normal weight rain, but before too long
when i ran my hands through my hair it flicked water from the sides and
ran down my neck. paul from downstairs came out bare chested with danny
and robbie bounding around behind. he didn't ask me what i was doing.
i loved it, i said, looking up blinking, and we talked for a while as
the street lights overpowered the sun and everything was human false-lit.
paul loves storms because he was born during one on hallowe'en. the rain
stopped, i went inside and then deluxe arrived.
a year's weather in one day. just what i needed after yesterday.
wednesday 4th july
the only nice thing that happened to me today - apart from shane handing
me a beer - was seeing this across southwark bridge:
tuesday 3rd june
still no phone. they recognise my voice now. under no circumstances
order a new phone from a mail order company. they're sending another
tomorrow, but without the accessories. nice. odds on it actually arriving
rather than getting stolen by the van driver again? ooh, i'd say about
evens.
email trivia received:
1. a rat can survive without water longer than a camel.
2. a raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down
continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.
3. a duck's quack doesn't echo. no one knows why.
4. during the chariot scene in "ben hur", a small red car can be seen
in the distance.
5. the number of possible ways of playing the first four moves per side
in a game of chess is 318,979,564,000.
6. there are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange, purple
and silver.
7. the very first bomb dropped by the allies on berlin in world war 2
killed the only elephant in the berlin zoo.
8. bruce lee was so fast that they actually had to slow film down so you
could see his moves. that's the opposite of the norm.
9. the phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old english law which
stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your
thumb.
10. roses are red, violets are violet.
11. by raising your legs slowly and laying on your back, you cannot sink
into quicksand.
12. it takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has
to begin with.
13. charlie chaplin once won third prize in a charlie chaplin look-alike
contest.
14. chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.
15. sherlock holmes never said 'elementary, my dear watson'.
16. the glue on israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.
17. the guinness book of records holds the record for being the book most
often stolen from public libraries. 18. bats always turn left when exiting
a cave.
modnay 2nd july
huge sigh of relief.
channel 4 approved the rough cut title sequence so it's a case of keep
going the way you're going. it means a lot of work, but i'm thankful i
don't have to start again, again.
also, good news from ade.
possibly the most self-motivated student of them all. the hard work is
definitely paying off, and in a few years this guy is going to be not
only a force to be reckoned with, but a damn good designer, too. in my
opinion anyway. not that that counts for a fat lot blah blah blah.
still no mobile phone delivery. guaranteed by 5.30? you've got just two
hours left... tick, tick.
hey! it looks as though today is modnay! all those for me misspelling
the days from here on raise your hand and say 'bad spelling rocks!'
consider my hand up and waggling.
sunday 1st july
all six in one day. catch-up time with friends: stu, lou, peejay, jen,
funkstar deluxed. nice to see the world (or at least charlton and clapham.
re-storyboarded the title sequence. tomorrow i shall know if it's good
enough to air.
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