Monday 29 December 2008

Why are you in Blighty?

Some people have spotted that I'm back in the country and though some people are a little nervous about asking (in case I have a breakdown or something) I think people generally want to know why... to be honest I'd quite like to know myself! Depending upon my mood these are the potential answers to the question why are you in Blighty?
  • Plans change
  • I had a good holiday in Australia but decided that that was enough and I had got what I wanted from the trip
  • I never wanted to live perminantly in Oz and once I established that I was not going to be able to get the job I wanted out there finding other temporary or random work seemed fairly pointless
  • I missed you
  • I know what I would like in life and that will probably be in the UK so I would be as well to start on the road to getting that sorted. So anyone who has a job, girlfriend or house in the country for me should send them over at once
  • I have no idea, I probably need my head checked... by a professional
  • Sun and relaxed attitudes don't suit my depression or need for pathos
Of course my visa is valid for a fair while yet so flying off again is not impossible...

Tuesday 11 November 2008

Sydney, so good they named it!

So I've been in Sydney a while now and as ever there are some photos in the usual place.

What have I been up to? Well, I've walked most of the city; lived on the 72nd floor in a luxury apartment; gone to Manly on a ferry (this is NOT a euphemism); eaten pancakes on Darling Harbour (nope not a euphemism either); seen the Opera House (a lot); climbed over the Harbour Bridge; seen rain; visited the Art Gallery; been to Bondi Beach; stayed in 3 different hostels; been involved in the rigging of a pub quiz; been attacked by birds; slept in bunk beds; watched thousands of bats fly across the city in the twilight; been round a random photo exhibition; seen the cleverly named Blue Mountains and Scenic World; been to the cinema; done some work experience with creative retouching specialist Electric Art; and yeah probably some other stuff.

And on the off chance you didn't know - I have another blog, the latest article on which is about Australia! Click here for things I know.

Tuesday 28 October 2008

Can you hear me, Toecutter?

I have toured the wastelands in the last V8-interceptor, bumped into Tina Turner, Bruce Spence gave me a lift in his gyrocopter, and when I look up at the night sky I remember his name - the Night Rider!

Ok so maybe that stuff just happened in my brain but I did see some ace things. The Road trip took us north from Brisbane to Bundaberg (a small town spread over a wide area) then north again Agnes Waters and the town of 1770 to go out to see the Great Barrier Reef. Post reef back south again to Brisbane via the Glass House Mountains then a few days on the road down to Sydney stopping at Gold Coast (on Indy night), Coffs Harbour and Newcastle. And here comes the big boring list of things I've seen

Wild stuff seen on land:
An eagle feasting on some smaller unfortunate beastie.
Kangaroos bounding across the road, just like on the warning signs.
Parrots flying around like regular birds, who do they think they are? And Gallahs too!
Several large bats swooping about the place.
Lots of lizards they seem to be the equivalent of squirrels in this hemisphere - just wandering about and posing for photos! The biggest one spotted being a Lace Monitor lizard who was somewhere around 4 or 5 foot long.
A pair of possums who seemed to live on top of one of the motels we stayed in who were very friendly!

Water beasties - mostly spotted on the Great Barrier Reef near 1770:
A family of Humpback Whales jumping and splashing about.
Blacktip Reef Sharks grooving around by Lady Musgrave Island.
Turtles, one of whom came and swam with me!
An Octopus hiding on the reef who was kind enough to demonstrate his amazing camouflage ability!
And obviously a huge number of colourful fish and coral.

"Big Things" - there seems to be a weird Australian tradition of making huge models of things (vaguely to do with advertising) - for note you should really read Danny Wallace's book "Yes Man" which makes reference to these fantastic "Big Things" as well as saying yes to the opportunities life throws you like quitting your job and going to Australia! Anyway there are hundred's to see of which we spotted: the Big Banana (apparently the first ever "Big Thing"); Big Pineapple; Big Clam; Big Prawn; and a few biggish things - a fly, shrimp, avocado and a strawberry - only about the size of a car; and a small Uluru (the size of a petrol station).

Also worthy of special note is SuperBee HoneyWorld a roadside museum! As ever photos of many of these wonderful things can be seen on flickr with more to follow at some point - maybe even fish photos if they worked!

Saturday 18 October 2008

Photos

Hullo, the first (small) set of photos from Australia are up here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/olr/. I'll get more up as soon as I have more time at a computer of any sorts. In other news my brand new ipod has been wiped by a combination of stupid laptops and stupid apple programming - well I guess it couldn't all be sunshine and laughter!

Thursday 16 October 2008

Acting your age...

...is entirely overrated and not something that messers Thomas, Hicks and Roberts have ever been accused of! Accordingly we took a trip to Adventure World amusement park yesterday, it's basically a low-key version of Thorpe Park or somewhere like that - but the waterslides are awesome, and the place was pretty much deserted! So we three 30 somethings ran around like the fat childish idiots that we are sustaining many an injury, getting stuck in tubes, eating icecreams and generally having a top time!
My advice for anyone who wants it is act your shoesize... today we're off to the aquarium!

Tuesday 14 October 2008

Land, Sea and Air

Went to Caversham Wildlife Park yesterday and Rottness island today so I've seen lots of flora and forna! I've stroked koalas, kangaroos, and a wombat - all very soft, softer than expected. Also seen were kookaburras, owls, spotted quolls, tasmanian devils, minks, and tonnes of other beasties!
Today the weather was gorgeous for our trip to Rottness Island - which is a small island with virtually nothing and no one on it, perfect for beaches and snorkeling. Huge numbers of fishies to be seen along with amazing coral - most excitingly we saw a lobster and a stingray!
And, of course, as always there were parrots flying around pretending to be normal birds!

Saturday 11 October 2008

Phase One

I'm now in Perth, Fran and Gord making me a welcome guest for the past few days. I'm not sure I really "got" Singapore to me it seemed rather a lot like Hemel or Watford - or rather a large number of Watfords gathered together! Malls and malls and malls which considering I've spent a number of months trying not to spend any money wasn't really what I was after. But Perth is a lot easier to "get" weirdly it actually reminds me a lot of Porthmadog (my Dad's home town in North Wales) - a seaside town with a fairly relaxed attitude... it is slightly hotter, though did go in the Indian ocean today which was cold beyond all expectation! What else have I done? Eaten prawns, Vegemite, and tim-tams. Seen parrots (walking around like regular birds), a bar of gold being poured, Norwegian Figs, a kukabura (sp?), a number plate that read Roo Mad, a shop called Dingos and one called Crazy Craig's, and a whole bunch of art in the Gallery of WA. Dave has joined us now, Thursday has come to Australia, walking along the beach and paddling in the Indiana ocean on the way to the Cott probably beats walking down Charring Cross to the George but I'd probably better keep trying just to make sure...

Saturday 4 October 2008

More news from nowhere...

All things being equal I start my odyssey on Monday night and the next time I write it'll be from Australia!
The vague plan (for those interested) is
  • A couple of days in Singapore
  • A week or so in Perth staying with Gordon and Fran
  • Fly across to Brisbane with Dave
  • Make our way to Sydney over the next 2 weeks
  • Find somewhere slightly more permanent to live in Sydney and find some work
  • Visit New Zealand in February or March
  • Head back to Australia... what happens from this point depends on lots of things!
If I find myself near a computer during this time I'll be bunging photos up here and obviously if I have anything to say it'll be right here!

Saturday 20 September 2008

More Propaganda for Mr Frost

Spent this evening creating a propaganda poster for the Ghast Empire.


Having looked through a lot of war time propaganda posters I can advise the following to help your country win the war:
Don't do anything alone, ever!
Don't talk to women!
Don't let women talk!
Don't listen to Women
Get Canada involved!

Monday 15 September 2008

A bit of creative retouching for Space Captain Smith


With the launch of The God Emperor of Didcot I was asked to do some images in the spirit of propaganda and spreading the word.

This one is based on a model built by the author himself (which you can see by rolling over the image).

The plan was to give the picture the feel of a Victorian photograph, hence the slightly cheesy framing, as well as adding a suitable moon/desert style backdrop and jets, billowing dust and smoke clouds as though taking off or landing.

Redesign of TD

I've finished (as far as these things can ever be finished) redesigning Thursday Design. So if you fancy seeing the slightly less verbal and slightly more graphic version of me you can find it at www.thursdaydesign.com
Hope you like the new look!

Wednesday 10 September 2008

How to be nice, a quick tip.

Some people need help to be nice, sad but true. So here is a little tip:
If you are lucky enough to be sitting whilst others have to stand on a busy train, bus or tube when it reaches its final destination you should let them off first. They've earnt it! Don't start standing up and trying push past, just wait, in no time at all they'll have cleared and you can be on your merry way.
I don't understand why Londoners are always in such a rush (and I include myself in this) most of the time we're only on our way to work anyway so that extra 30 seconds really doesn't hurt that much!

Remember, kindness is its own reward!

Thursday 28 August 2008

Why so much blog today?

I've not been around much of late, I guess I'm not very consistent when it come to writing things here... which I suppose begs the question why now?

Well it all links to my trip to Australia, for example right now I probably ought to be doing something else - worrying and organising for my trip and most importantly get my C.V. and website sorted and talking to the people I'm hoping to work for out there! Which leads us to the fact that I can now encourage you to go and have a look at my website, you can see it at http://www.thursdaydesign.com/ I hope you like it!
And finally I'm quite likely to be using the blog to keep interested parties (if there are any) informed of my travels as I roam around the world!

Oh and of course my friend Toby has another book out! It's as good, if not better than the first you can get it from Waterstones or Amazon.

A day at the end of July

This is just a little account of a very entertaining day I spent wandering around London in late July, it was entertaining enough to write about at the time so I figure I might as well put it here too!

Been to the fĂȘte at the V&A, which was distressingly like every other village fĂȘte I've ever been to but supposedly with a sense of irony. I didn't spend long there but instead looked round the rest of the museum, I had forgotten how cool it was - some pictures. I found out what a tabernacle is, I hadn't realised that it was a gap in my knowledge!

I then walked to Hyde Park past Knightsbridge (navigating by the sun!) I found a bench to sit on by a fountain, the tranquility of which was slightly marred by the heavy throb of London traffic and someone playing music through their phone. I had to move on before long, shortly after being investigated by a small rodent, maybe its his bench!

From Hyde Park I went through Green Park and St James's briefly chasing a Zeppelin, from there I continued past Downing Street and crossed the river by Westminster Bridge and wandered down the Southbank past the Aquarium, London Eye, and eventually stopped to watch the skateboarders and BMX riders - more pics. I bought myself a well earned beer and sat by Thames reading my book and chilling out.

I then met up with a couple of good friends for another drink and eventually we ended up outside a pub in Soho for another friend's birthday celebration.

It's days like this that make you realise just how excellent London is!

Dreams can be cool, so very cool!

Last night I dreamt that I was a Ghostbuster!

So apparently I'm going to Australia...

I'm not quite sure how it happened really.
My good friend Gordon has gone to Oz to live for a few years and invited me out to visit him, good excuse so (with about a years notice) I arranged a month or two unpaid off work, so the plan was to go over for September/October time. Well it's no secret that I wasn't enjoy work as much as would like, to cut a long story short it doesn't have enough of a creative element involved for me, and I was looking around for something new hopefully in creative visualisation or graphic design of somekind. So when I was told that dispite the previous arangement I would not be allowed the time off to go to Australia it was the catalyst I needed to get me moving. A few people were key in my final decision:
  • Jaime - Jaime had the misfortune of sitting next to me at work and hence got the brunt of my general bad mood, but she's always been a supportive friend (as well as an equally under used resource at Spotlight!) and keen traveller so was quick to suggest I went to Oz whatever work said.
  • Gordon - obviously Gord was nice enough to invite me out in the first place, but also when I said I couldn't make it he just said that I was always welcome and when I decided to tell them where to stick their job and go to Oz anyway I could stay with him until I got myself on my feet!
  • Stephen - after being told I couldn't have the time off for Oz Stephen and I took a road to the south of France, it was perfectly chilled out enough that I could get my thoughts together (with some wise words from Stephen) and make my decisions. Also as my flatmate he's had to put up with my work related rants for sometime now!
  • Cez - my brother has always listened to my problems and occationally offered solutions. He's a proponent of the take a big leap and do something crazy school of thought - and although both of us are usually too scared to take those risks this year we both have, he has quit his job and is going become a teacher (good luck bro!)
  • Danny Wallace - I was read Danny Wallace's excellent book "Yes Man" for the second time when all this kicked off. The main thrust of the book is about being positive and taking hold of the possibilities that life throws your way or even creating them yourself. And by coincidence one of the biggest decisions that Danny has to make is about Australia. I'll say no more for fear of ruining the book - which you really ought to read and maybe even learn from!
So yes I'm off to Australia, it's one of the craziest things I've ever done, I'm more than a little scared but above all I'm excited! Let's see how sunburnt this tiger can get!

Sunday 16 March 2008

Fear of failure is self-fulfilling!

My cowardice is almost as inhibiting as my lack of self confidence, good eh?
I'll never get into design because I don't believe I'm good enough combined with the fact that I'll never be brave enough to make the jump from the known to the unknown.
Risk is just something I'm no good at when I have a comfortable alternative.

I am NOT a vegetarian

The more the people label me the more I want to fight against it. I used to be a vegetarian for about 5 years - for about 5 years I ate no meat or fish, since then I have seldom cooked anything non-vegetarian probably because that's how I learnt to cook and if I can avoid killing animals then that's surely a good thing. Late last year I decided, in the hope of being a bit healthier, to return to a vegetarian diet. I was not vegetarian! If someone else was cooking I would eat what ever they provided. The plan was to do it for a month - but I was enjoying it so it has kept going... but I am not a vegetarian, I am someone who eats a mostly vegetarian diet. I like animals enough not to kill them, however there are times which for convenience or just selfish desire I will eat meat or at least that's the theory!
However I'm mental so now enough people think of me as vegetarian that I feel almost forced into being a vegetarian. It's ridiculous, why is it that other peoples thoughts and views affect me me so much? And why am I now feeling like rebelling? It's as though other peoples views bully me into a course of action which I then fight against, especially stupid because I was previously enjoying!
I over-think things and am a bit of an idiot but does anyone fancy a burger?

Friday 11 January 2008

Wannabe Geek

I have realised recently that I occupy that uncomfortable middle-ground between geekdom and normality. Being, as I am, far too geeky to be anything but a social pariah and yet not geeky enough to actually be able to do anything useful like build a flux-capacitor or make a PC work!

Thursday 10 January 2008

Day 10, 2008

One of the resolutions I made was to take a photograph everyday this year. The hope being that I might improve my photography and photo editing skills, and it might also make an interesting review of the year.
Of course there is the problem of getting to the end of a non eventful day having seen nothing worth taking pictures of! So I may end up with a collection of photographs of objects in my house, and possibly having annoyed the hell out of my friends by constantly thrusting my camera in their faces!
We shall see! Here are the first 9, if you want to follow the progress you can find all my pictures here

The Hostest with The Mostest! Cez My shiney new phone

Katrina & Cherene Bender Tshirt Beer

Kew Spiral Stairs A Very Versatile Natural Substance B&W Zoidberg

Tuesday 1 January 2008

Day One, 2008

Once again another year has passed and, as seems to be the tradition, I've made some resolutions. A fairly standard selection of changes intended to improve body mind and soul for the benefit of my fellow man and maybe, if my luck improves any time soon, some women too...

But then I began to wonder is the world worthy of such positivity and generosity? A pointless question I'll admit, that's simply not the way the world works, only doing things because you hope to be rewarded will lead only to frustration.

I'm still resolved, I shall better myself for my own benefit. I am prepare to continue bending myself to the will of the world but this year I also plan to bend the world to my will.

"It's the same thing your whole life: Clean up your room. Stand up straight. Pick up your feet. Take it like a man. Be nice to your sister. Don't mix beer and wine, ever. Don't drive on the railroad tracks... I'm not gonna live by their rules anymore! You make choices and live with them." - Phil Connors, Groundhog Day