saturday 30th november
sammi arrived to the internal sound of jim carey yelling 'cable guy!' in his truck wearing combats and a beanie, on time and with extras. certainly not the white vanned, overall-wearing forty something with boring conversation and a craving for tea i'd expected.

i cleared the rubble from the lounge in two lbc-rammed stages, taking directions from my new neighbour, jane, to the 'local' tip. after a couple of wrong turns the first run was a success. unfortunately by the time i'd got back again after stuffing my poor clean car with plasterboard and wood for the second time it was shut (why? who'se going to steal rubbish, i wondered,) and i had transforned my car into a skip. my options were to unload it again at home subsequently re-ruining my lounge (which needs to be clear for the imminent floor board sanding) or leaving it in lbc until i made it to the tip again (an hour and a half drive from where i'm currently living). arse. i knocked on a house with a skip outside, offering money for space but ended up driving into zone 1 fully laden. then, a flash of genius. i pulled into shoreditch fire station and stuck my head round the door with a 'hi, guys, are you still looking for wood?' two minutes later there were three firemen gratefully unloading four-by-four. i didn't have to lift a thing. ten minutes after that lbc was empty. where the plasterboard ended up is a whole different story...

my client, based in new york but thanksgiving in oregon, called me on my mobile as i was in harringay sainsbury's to talk about an advert for another country.

as i rumbled south over london bridge i couldn't stop thinking how soon i will be able to watch sky tv in bed and change the channel, drive around my new locale knowing where i'm going. and about wood. the firemen are on strike so they'll use it to keep them warm as they picket. instead of putting fires out they're starting them. and i gave them the fuel.

friday 29th november
having to take your mobile into your bedroom for when the a utility installer calls is how my morning started and it will be the same tomorrow. i have walls, floors, ceilings and a phone line. and rubble.



thursday 28th november
ripping my head out of all things house. filling it with all things state.



wednesday 27th november
croissants and coffee before steve and i donned hard hats and wellies in the galliard homes labyrinth. we were strolling round the apartment he's about to buy, pointing at the hole where the sink and toilet would be, standing in positions to simulate tv placement and examining the huge assortment of white goods it came with. impressive. then the rest of the wall came down courtesy of steve's aggression. imagine a piranha with a sirloin steak.

tuesday 26th november
london's skyline has changed again. it looks like a christmas tree.



monday 25th november
enjoy it while it's good.

over the last few months i've been doing a lot of getting-things-ready stuff but today i feel relieved of it. now instead of being organised i have to be active; to put all my little schemes into action. i'm swapping decision making for action and actually getting stuff done, too. look at me - i'm running a design company on my own and preparing my flat - could i be more ... ... ?!

the renders i left with cunning last night worked, quite shockingly, so i plugged them into the final composition, slapped the whole kaboodle on onedotzero's media 100, watched my advert on tv and rang my clients on wall street, who hadn't arrived at work yet. i waited. talked to rosalie and left, the twenty-something hours' work over the weekend seemed well invested. it allowed me to go to my flat to smash up walls and unscrew absolutely anything that stuck out or looked like it needed special attention from mister hammer. kicking and ripping plasterboard is brilliant fun, despite what you might have heard.

my flat? good.
drills? good.
hammers? goo-hoo-hoo-d.



... well, i left work informing my anonymous 'friends' where they could see what i'd done as i left to get a hammer. this evening this:

'friend' 1, 2.47: looking fucking nice mate. the ending with the global pullout, and then the hexagonal masking is very state-sexy. shame they are being twats about the sound... was it too 'mountain goatsy' for them? get a few shepherd bells in there with a mixture of bombs dropping and women being whipped. that oughta do it.

'friend 2', 2.50: helicopter noises are always a winner. as are sirens. from sirencester.

'friend' 3, 2.58: and goats being buggered.

this may not seem funny but in the context of the work i showed them it's bang out of order. incidentally, it took steve less than 8 minutes to think of the reply. time well spent, anonymous mate.

sunday 24th november
into work around mid-day. out of work after midnight. it's sunday. long and patience-sapping but looking damn good, even if i do say so myself. since i bought my flat i've spent less than two hours in it so far. did i already tell you i bought my own flat? oh, i almost forgot.

saturday 23rd november
i forgot to bring home my mouse so i had to clean the crap £15-er. i even oiled it, semi-silencing the sqeak-damn-thing. on one part of this piece for the americans i couldn't do the mega-fiddly bits so i made the end logo. which soon turned into one big mega-fiddly bit. the bastard.

friday 22nd november
this date has been stuck in my memory for a while now and with good reason. i doubt i'll forget it too quickly. all day i waited for nick to send the music, eager to collect my keys before six o'clock (when bennett walden closed). he answered the phone sounding like death warmed up around three with apologies, sick from the pizza i bought him. tomorrow he's going to see what his future brings. in hungary, i think. good luck, you overtalented very, very nice guy (who i made sick).

thursday 21st november
pizza at nicks as he did the sound. i watched him flange voices, build ramps and operate those aricraft cockpit-sized mixing desks. i wondered what the million twisty buttons were for. the pizza was worth the wait as much as the score and judging by his kitchen he'd been rather busy lately. so as he was turning my advert into magic i washed up. we chatted less and got more done. then we sat around.

i forgot to ask what the twisty buttons did.

friday 21st november - wednesday 20th november
tignes. coming shortly.

thursday 14th november
work was stopping me from packing. i really don't have time for the impending road trip but i'm beginning to believe unless you make time you'll never do it. and i so badly want to go again. there's no feeling like sitting on top of a mountain in minus ten degrees with nothing beneath you but snow. i'm not joking.

wednesday 13th november
happy birthday the socially convenient sonleys. after work tapas, beer and a very wet walk home. before i left i shook peejay's hand and kissed jen twice, the second on the stomach.

the bus stopped, i got on and placed my ten pound note on the tray. the driver shook his head and said 'no, mate.'
'huh?' ('it's 'pardon'' i heard my mum say inside my head)
'ain't got no change' (perfect english for london, incidentally)
'so i have got to get off, do i? oh good, because it's not pissing it down or anything. (long pause. the driver looks at me, shrugs to show just how much he cares) thank you. thank you very much. that's very kind.'



tuesday 12th november
i can't remember. house stuff and work i'd say. i'm sure i did something.

monday 11th november
definitely friends more than clients now, jules and ben came in to approve the two identities philip cleverly designed for their companies bringing more congratulations on the baby front and rufus (who suposedly had a bath yesterday). last time he left paw prints on a favourite t-shirt, this time he drank water from our fountain while we had our meeting. i had a mild worry about the amount of time my current work project is going in relation to how urgently it is needed but after nine hours of sennheiser assistance managed to put together the pieces that have so far taken me a week to build. many ram previews later and i was beginning to regain a lot of faith. it's true; the more fiddly and complicated it is to make, the better it looks. it's always encouraging when hard work is rewarded, if only by satifsfaction. so, to cut a long story short, nice one.

it's winter; aspen's not around. luckily for him:



sunday 10th november
i bought two presents for the sonleys and more cards. two days, two birthdays, three people. i'm still chuffed for jen and each day i think about peejay, the guy i met on my first day of college, being a dad. it's madness but i'm totally digging it. seeing squamish peejay as a dad is going to be hilarious, but don't worry, it's okay; jen's just going to be the coolest mum. i wonder why i feel proud of her. and about nostrils.

saturday 9th november
what happened was what always happens. late up to devastation in the lounge and a kitchen with clear surfaces. sainsbury's, cooking, beer and turok headshots. saturday with al. same as it was twenty years ago. as monty burns would say, 'eeehehexcellent.'

friday 8th november
when they played info freako we cheered for so long he had to wait. 'so you like that one, then?' was his response, shortly before this and this. it's not that the first is mike edwards, but mike edwards and al. and it was shot by me which means we were all there. and that's the point. jesus jones at the marquee. retro style, heh.





thursday 7th novmeber
'aw, come on. i need a cuddle - i've just been chased by a man... with a sword!' i think i heard it on the tv.

tuesday 5th november
after a day's work philip and i took the train past trellick tower (one of my favourites) with the boys from bark (we design companies get away with name murder you know), patrick burgoyne (editor of creative review) and laurence king's laura willis to bristol temple meads. a quick taxi and we were at the arnolfini, where i was informed by the polite man behind the counter my grandparents were waiting in the bar with two pots of tea. slurp, chat, catching up then into the full 250 capacity auditorium to debate graphics in britain. with microphones. eek.

as a designer i never in my life thought i would be asked to sign a book. there were definitely fireworks but i didn't see them.





monday 4th november
an important day in my little life. venturing to pinner, zone 5, with the tube carriage to myself and my walkman on i felt a mixture of nerves, trepidation, excitement and plain old tiredness. mr alfreds and i ran through the documents in easy english, shook hands and it was done. a brief exchange. then it was the bank, the building society. back on the platform mum and dad didn't pick up. i wanted them to be the first to know but it turned out to be the cheese. b-boy was available and keen so he joined me at manor house to see the flat i'd just bought. oh yes. i am a homeowner, if only contractually for two weeks by which time i actually get the keys. it's as exciting as it is expensive and responsible. this is all new for me.



sunday 3rd november
after another day's after effecting the transition is almost there. i've put a cheesy qr logo in to demonstrate. and yes, the hexagons were all placed one at a time. shame i can't tell you who it's for.



saturday 2nd november
up reasonable despite a late one - 11 after 2 - and busy. i collected glue, cheque books, a pair of pliers and posters from work. first on the list before passport photos and funky. judging by the amount of rubbish i've managed to pile up and clean up from my bedroom, the lounge and the kitchen it's been a productive day. well and truly sorted. done and done. now dinner. later more after effects layers. then possibly 'the others'.

friday 1st november
beginning to build this advert is not something i can rush; there's a lot of planning, testing and drawing to do before i can animate and polish if i'm going to avoid the half time loss of faith, which brings with it the dip in enthusiasm turning opportunity into failure. i think i've planned as much as i need to (famous last words, probably,) and after an early start i have over four hundred nervous after effects layers. it's going well i think and the best way to overcome work worry is to, er, work.

the good in all of this is i feel as though i've regained focus after a week of feeling absolutely rotten whilst worrying about money, the flat i'm buying and work and after a lot of travelling in japan. everything is a little clearer, lighter and faster. next week has another hectic schedule with exchanging contracts (declench!) a talk in the arnolfini and a meeting with sonners, steve and funk at café provençale. the last time i was there we had a houstonian. on the subject of film we saw panic room. it's a fincher film and after fight club and seven i still rate him. nice titles, too. inside i feel much calmer. everything seems just fine, thank you very much.


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