Jason Thompson's Blog

Toiletblog #1

You don't need to know why I've called this post what I have.

The year has started very busily which in one way is good. If only I had the motivation and resolve to match.

I've sorted out some of my birthday arrangements finally. For technical reasons it won't be the week of my birthday (20th March) but on Good Friday which this year is 10th April. The Spprts Centre is booked be I now just need to get on and design the invitations then get them out. Discussing a few ideas with Tim also that might come off.

I had the offer last week if doing dome paragliding by a world famous flying mn who lives in Newbiggin. I'm putting together a simple web site for him and we got talking about paragliding and you know, I think I might just give it a go. Before I'm 40.

My sister has finally moved back to Newbiggin too - ian and u helped move her on Friday evening - later helped by Christine Steve and rebecca too - much appreciated by that stage as it was well after midnight and we had a very tightly packed van of belongings. Cheers folks.

It's great having her and her girls here - I feel the family he come together again and the house is lovely, and only a couple of streets away. Great! Welcome home Michelle, Charlotte and Alyssia.

There's lots to do over the next few weeks. Work wise I really need to consolidate the new photography business. Work is starting to come in but I need to follow up some leads that might be good contacts. I think I'd like to really go for thebphotigraphy work. I get excited about it and it's technically much less problemmatic than web sites and stuff like that. Want to concentrate on arts related photography if possible though. We'll see.

Next month the Arts Forum appoints a member of staff finally. That should really help move the organisation forward. I actually can't wait. It'll be wonderful to hzvd someone dedicated to getting things done. Woo hoo!

Oh well - time to go and have a cup of tea. Catch you next time.

Very very lax indeed

Aren't I? Yes. Yes I am. So much to write about, and as ever that's when there's least time and energy to write. It's not that I don't care. It's that I care too much. Yeah right.

I wanted to write about toilet seats and how rubbish the attachment mechanism is that we all use. I have yet to find a toilet anywhere in the world that has a properly affixed toilet seat that actually stays up, for instance.

I wanted to write about growing up.

I wanted to write about procrastination.

I wanted to write about Spam Fritters.

And I wanted to write about Gil Elvgren.

I will do all of these things. But not today.

What a difference a day makes

Yesterday I returned to work after the Christmas and New Year break, and it hit me very hard. I have been able to keep on top of emails with the iPhone, which helps a bit, but yesterday was the first opportunity to get stuck in an actually respond properly to a lot of the enquiries that have been coming in, and sort out some of the backlog of web site updates and requests, On top of that, I had to get some of the organisation done for the first Arts Forum meeting of the year, which was a very good one, but lasted until after 10pm byt the time the committee meeting had run its course. Interesting, yes, but I was brain dead by the time it all finished.

So not a day of slipping gently back into a routine, but a full on mind-smash of things to do and stuff to think about, respond to, understand, contribute to and generally be involved with.

Today however, was quite different. There was still lots to do, but I felt as though most of the truly urgent stuff had been dealt with or at least prepared for. Also, there was some good news for the Arts Forum. We have been successful in securing funding for a member of staff, so we ca now get on and plan for that - and it's going to make a huge difference to the amount our organisation can achieve.

This morning we had a meeting with a PR guy from the Council, and it was good to be able to talk to him about all of the things the Arts Forum is planning, including the new building we're developing as an Arts Cenre for the village. I'm looking forward to that aspect of this year - as uncertain as it is. I really want the Arts Centre to be a living, well used part of the community, and I think it'll probably be one of the most worthwhile things I've ever been involved in.

The post Christmas period is always a strange one. The let down after the supposed excitement and the return to work after the time at home with family and friends - it's easy to feel a bit down. However, I feel that Christmas hasn't fully finished yet - there are still some chocolate coins for instance.

There are also many many wonderful things yet to watch and read. These include:

1: La Strada and Roma, both Fellini films I've wanted to see
2: Series 3 of Mighty Boosh
3: 14 Hitchcock films
4: Gone Baby Gone
5: Futurama last film
6: Extras to The Dark Knight and Indiana Jones films
7: Seies 2 of Count Arthur Strong
8: Charlie Brooker's latest book - Dawn of the Dumb
9: David Thompson's Have You Seen... - book of 1000 film recommendations
10 Mighty Book of Boosh - an epic tome filled with laughs!

I'm also looking forward to taking some more photographs soon with my new Canon 50D camera and L Series lens. I need to think about what I want to photograph. I was just talking to Toni's brother James about this over Christmas. I don't just want to take the same photos everyone else is taking - usually scenic stuff - but I want to find a project to get stuck into. Iku is taking photos of active retired people -  a great idea, and Keith is doing something with allotments. I need a project to make into a series of photos. What attracts me is the concept of delapidated or decaying buildings and machines - so I might give that a go. There's a nobility in decay, I think, and one of my favourite photos of mine is of one of the rusty old tractors near the coble yard.

I just hope I can get the motivation together to keep on top of work this year. As long as the to-do list doesn't get too long, I can usually cope, but I need to be more organised and disciplined, somehow.

I hope you all have  better year this year than you had last - that's certainly my personal hope. Last year had some good high points, but also some of the lowest of my life so far. I'm hoping to tip the average toward the positive this year. We'll see, eh? Life begins at 40 and all that.