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Yesterday morning was fantastic - sunny and bright and clear. Very cold though. I'd taken Toni to work, and before taking Rebecca to school, we went to the church point and saw a man feeding the seagulls. I took this picture - the sky was filled with seagulls and the sound was amazing.
I feel a bit overloaded and numbed by so many things going on at the moment - workwise and in other aspects of life too - and it's a bit exhausting. But not boring. I'd welcome boredom.
I had a good day today, and n ailed a few of the lingering TO DO list items. Still haven't finsihed the book about how to be effortlessly productive, but getting there. I organised my desk last week, and threw out some printouts and Post Its from months ago, which was liberating.
Over the last week I've been taking photos of town centre shopping in Newbiggin, Ashington and Bedlington - and I need to do a bit more before the end of the week to hit the deadline. It's quite interesting, and it's good to have the excuse to interact with people to get photos - I like the opportunity of taking people's photos, but feel stressed that I'm keeping them from doing other things, or intruding. Most people have been fine, although almost everyone 'fake objects' at first but then says they will eagerly when you say it's okay you'll find someone else. I've also found some interesting places I never knew about before - including an amazing Parrot shop in Bedlington.
I've seen Sweeney Todd twice now, and love it. The music is amazing - I've been listening to the Broadway Soundtrack album for about 17 years, and like it more with each listening. And it is music that requires repeated listening. The film is very good, but falls short from being a masterpiece in my opinion. Not sure why - a little emotionally cold perhaps.
I've just finished watching the extras in the 5 DVD Blade Runner Final Cut set- an I feel that I've probably experienced enough of Blade Runner for a while now. Great film - but like Sweeney Todd, a little dark and seamy and dirty.
Just watched Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof and loved it. My mate Pete hadn't liked it much because there are long dialogue sections in between the action. I loved that about it. Characters are talkign about stuff that's not plot-essential, which is always a good thing, and leads to more surprises in a film.
I've been learning the PROPER chords on my uke to the song Tonight You Belong to Me too today, in between working, answering the phone, visiting the solicitors to get Arts Forum paperwork signed off, borrowing Andy's car agan because ours has developed another fault, posting letters and parcels and answering emails.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Another day full of different stuff that hopefully will neither be boring nor too stressful. And life goes on.
Our house has always been a bit damp, and having thre damp course replaced did little or nothing to solve this problem. So we're trying a new angle with a builder. Over the next few weeks all of the render on our house is being scraped off and replaced, and then the house will be painted and lovely again. Also some interior plastering is being done. And the garage is being reconfigured to give us some more storage space. The company that's doing it is run by a guy I used to go to school with, and the great thing about it is, it's actually going to happen.
We spoke to him not that long before Christmas after waiting for almost a year or the previous builder to give us an estimate. Well we gave up on him, and I saw this builder friend working on someone else's house, and within what seemed like the twinkling of an eye, he'd given us a quotation, agreed to do the work, and yesterday - 5 days early - the scaffolding turned up. It's hard to believe that a building business can be beyond our expectations - and it's early days - but I think this represents a good start. Yesterday scaffolding went up all over our house. It took about 10 hours, 4 people working on it.
Another Friend From School encounter happened earlier in the week. Someone I sat next to in Maths and Science and a few other lessons (Chris Reed) is now a successful software developer, and he's asked me to talk to him about a web site project he needs to be done. I met with him on Monday, and we chatted in very professional and businesslike terms about his complex software and multimedia requirements. And after we'd discussed everything we both admitted it was very strange to be here being all grown up and serious, since the last time we'd been together over 20 years ago, our primary objective was to make each other laugh as loudly as possible at the least appropriate moments in various High School lessons. This usually involved the use of surreal imagery and naughty language, and we were very effective in making these lessons a huge amount of fun at the expense of our grades.
I hope the same thing doesn't happen if we do this multimedia project. But I suppose at least it would be great fun. And my humour is much more sophisticated now - I don't need the surreal imagery any more.
At last - thanks to Andy Curtis who helped him with post production at CurtisFilm Ranch, here is Oliver's Star Wars animation:
Hello. Life is a blur at the moment. I am hanging in though. I'm still not organised. I started reading the book again today - Getting Things Done, by David Allen. I must pit this into practice if I'm to survive.
Got a few new web job enquiries this week, but really need to concentrate on finishing off the ones already begun. I'll need motivation and probably some help. Any takers on either?
Really looking forward to the release of Sweeney Todd next week. I hugely enjoyed Hairspray on DVD and hope there's a new run of big budget musicals in the pipeline. High time they remade Jesus Christ Superstar in my opinion.
Oliver has been busy recently using my small Panasonic digital stills camera as an animation tool, in conjunction with his Star Wars Lego. When I've figured out how to use iMovie I'll add a soundtrack and get it online for you to see. I'm impressed with him - he's only 9 and really made a decent 1 and a half minute film.
Tonight I will drink Cava and watch the telly - probably Play it Again Sam, the Woody Allen film. Tomorrow we, as a family, will walk a Northumbrian beach. I'm looking forward to it. How will you spend your Sunday?
I was given the contract to do the photography for the Wansbeck and Newbiggin promotional brochures.
I am getting a bit better at Poker
I enjoyed very much playing jazz and ballads with Andy's band, Quintessential on Saturday evening
My cold is slowly going away
Our car is back from the garage, and we didn't have to pay for anything as it was all covered on the warranty, which we weren't expecting
I downloaded and have been VERY much enjoying the new Sweeney Todd soundtrack - can't wait to see the film
I had a great time in Harrogate with Christine and Steve at the Christmas Toy and Gift Fair 2008, and there looks to be a very stong lead for Chritine's book, at last
We've just played Scene It Music Edition with the kids and it was good fun - we should play more games
Watched Hairspray (2007 version) a couple of nights ago and it was fantastic - really good musical and a genuinely good feelgood film.
Got a couple of web site contracts today, one for a business that repairs saxophones, and one from a bloke who trades in Coins of the British Empire
A builder has finally agreed to do some work on our house, and will soon be starting, so we'll have a less damp place with more space for bikes.
NOW I'd like my Beetle and iPod to work again, and I'll be starting to feel even better...
I feel as if this new year has punched me in the face. I'm run down, and have so much to do I don't know where to begin. I started having a cold a couple of days ago, and it's knocked the wind out of my already depleated sails. So I'm hoping for an injection of energy and fun over the next few days and weeks, if that's possible. If it's not, I'm off to bed until 2009.
I've played the guitar since I was six. My grandad taught me to play songs like Undecided, Kiss of Fire and Little Brown Jug. He was a great guitarist, but by the time I knew him - and that wasn't for all that long - he was a little past his best. He'd played for dance bands during the war - banjo, guitar and trumpet. And I've heard he was a very impressive character. So I think he would have approved of my current interest in ukuleles. And it's not just me - there seems to be something of a worldwide renaissance in this small guitar-like 4 stringed instrument. My brother in law James got one for Christmas, Andy recently succumbed, I have a baritone version, and Toni got me a soprano for Christmas - and they're really fun to play as long as you can keep them in tune.
One of the other ukulele related gifts I got was a ticket to see the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain perform later in the year at the Alnwick Playhouse. They're a bunch of talented folks who play tongue-in-cheek arrangements for their ukulele ensemble. It's NOT all George Formby (he played a banjolele incidentally).
Here they are playing David Bowie's Life on Mars:
And here's a nother wonderful performance from Joe Brown at the Concert for George (Harrison) playing I'll See You in my Dreams. Lovely stuff:
And finally, some virtuoso uke playing - the wonderful While My Guitar Gently Weeps, as played by Jake Shimabukuro. Awesome. George Formby can stick his lamp post...
All the very best wishes for 2008. I hope it brings you all we want and better than we deserve. I wish you health, happiness, success and joy. We're all in this together, so let's vow to make it the nicest, friendliest, most affirming, enjoyable, interesting, creative and special year we can make it. It's a blank canvas, and we have the brushes and paints in our hands - and we can make it beautiful if we believe it can be. Let's see what we can do! Ready, steady....go! Oh and it doesn't matter if it's a bit untidy...
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