Category: Life

Recent things…

aka ‘5 things on Friday’, issue #0.

One of the blogs I read fairly regularly is that of ex-BBC chappy, Hugh Garry.

He’s a smart chap and I finally managed to meet him at a social media week event a little while back, which was nice. One of the things he mentioned back then was an attempt he was making on his blog called ‘5 things I liked this week‘.

Once a week [well, nearly – get back on the horse Hugh!] he just puts exactly that: five links to five things that he liked that week. I’ve been doing something similar for the ‘heads for a while now and, well, I think I’d quite like to do something similar, for myself, in 2012.

Every Friday (hopefully on my way home from work) I’m going to jot down the five things I’ve done or seen that week. Or perhaps even five things that have happened to me or that I’ve seen or whatever. Either way, it’s going in the Moleskine and then, naturally, it’s ending up on here.

To kick off, and for memory’s sake, this is the one I started God knows when earlier this year, but with a much larger number than five. Call it ‘Cool things that happened in 2011’ or something.

So, in no particular order:

_______

AND THAT’S IT!

Wow…  I aimed for 5 and I finished with 55.  Not bad for my first go.

Let’s see how this works out for 2012.

🙂

Alfie and James

Pic taken from aforementioned cooking comp; ‘Nom Nom Nom 2011‘, Alfie and  I – aka ‘The Hirsute Hashtag Slingers‘ – looking dashing and awesome, ready and raring to go.

We had such fun that day and this pic just makes me smile.

via Annie Mole

Thursday Projects

focus

c/o Michael Hell

Taking an hour for lunch isn’t easy at the best of times. I try, we all do. Hell, (1000heads creative director) Robbie Dale and I have been trying to schedule a weekly lunchtime catch up for nearly two years now – it’s shocking how this meeting is hardly ever kept. However, the promise of it being there week in, week out at least makes us try to keep it…

Something new is required, a weekly focal point of something where I deliberately take myself away from the office (where possible) and attempt to build something new. Be it a new piece of writing or a new photography effort; the fourth day of the working week – the lunch break at least – is where I’m going to do it.

I started a fortnight ago and have already built something cool for the guys I work with; “1000heads is Out of the Office“.

This week? I don’t know… I might revisit This is my N8, maybe.

So here’s a challenge for 2012: book yourself an hour a week to build something new. Something fun.

Oh, and do it on a Thursday.

…

Get to it.

 

 

 

 

just friends

“Let’s just be friends” came the reply.
“What? Just friends? Can I ask why?”

Panic flickered across her eye,
she looked away and began to sigh.

Go on, say it. Say that lie…

“I like you a lot, you’re a really nice guy…”
I heard the “…but” as I gazed at the sky

It’s always me, I just wanna know why.

 

— JW, 1995

 

Me and my friends

a parable for the ambitious

I’ve been thinking about the future a lot of late. Not about flying cars or memory implants and what not, more along the lines of having an actual plan.

2011 has nearly come and gone and the blank canvas I stared upon at the crest of the year is once again gushing towards me like a second, more powerful, ocean wave rearing its head up and over the naked shore.

Advice is sought, advice is given and sometimes, in the most surprising places, advice is discovered. Over the past six to eight months or so, the same piece of counsel has been recurring time and time again from a myriad of different vessels.

If I don’t do something about it soon, I fear I will drown in the flood.
“It’s like the old joke…”

It had been raining for days and days, and a terrible flood had come over the land. The waters rose so high that one man was forced to climb onto the roof of his house.

As the waters rose higher and higher, a man in a rowboat appeared, and told him to get in.

“No,” replied the man on the roof. “I have faith in the Lord; the Lord will save me.” So the man in the rowboat went away. The man on the roof prayed for God to save him.

The waters rose higher and higher, and suddenly a speedboat appeared. “Climb in!” shouted a man in the boat.

“No,” replied the man on the roof. “I have faith in the Lord; the Lord will save me.” So the man in the speedboat went away. The man on the roof prayed for God to save him.

The waters continued to rise. A helicopter appeared and over the loudspeaker, the pilot announced he would lower a rope to the man on the roof.

“No,” replied the man on the roof. “I have faith in the Lord; the Lord will save me.” So the helicopter went away. The man on the roof prayed for God to save him.

The waters rose higher and higher, and eventually they rose so high that the man on the roof was washed away, and alas, the poor man drowned.

Upon arriving in heaven, the man marched straight over to God.

“Heavenly Father,” he said, “I had faith in you, I prayed to you to save me, and yet you did nothing. Why?”

God gave him a puzzled look, and replied “I sent you two boats and a helicopter, what more did you expect?”

Have faith.
Listen to those around you.
Defend ideas.
Be smarter.

But most of all: have a plan.

Whatley out.

Movember Fun

I’m growing a ‘tache.
For charity.
A men’s health charity in fact.

And I would love love love it if you could sponsor me. It’s easy really, click through and hit the ‘donate’ button. £1, £10 or even £100; all are welcome.

My Mum sponsored me a tenner, and left me a comedy limerick:

A moustache is a way to donate.
But remember the food on your plate,
when eating your food,
take care now, you dude
and don’t let the crumbs be your fate.

My sister, not to be outdone, did the same (both on the tenner and poem front):

I heard you’re trying to raise a stash,
by growing a handlebar ‘tash.
But remember, when you’re through,
The Village People may kidnap you
and make you dance YMCA for cash!!

Thing is about my family, they’re a competitive bunch and, well, my Mum came back again!
Mum, over to you…

A man whose moustache looked a fright
Was OK till he went out at night
when out came the moon
The girls they did swoon
then screamed when he turned on the light

A man who liked to drink gin
Grew a ‘tash that was long & quite thin
It wasn’t a joke
when, like a sponge, it did soak
& his glass had nothing left in!

A man who ate lots of goulashes
Had a ‘tash that was made of eyelashes
It fluttered each day
in quite a good way
But the glue gave him lots of red rashes.

A man wearing jeans colour RED !
Wanted a moustache to match (he once said).
He dyed it quite bright
and thought he’d done right
but he stopped the traffic instead

A man down in Maida Vale way
Grew a moustache that helped him portray
the man that he is
all Whatley & whizz
And the rest – well I shouldn’t say!

Amazing. Lost for words really.. Grinning, but lost for words.
They’ve donated, you should too.

Thanks all.

Rings of Saturn

Screen Shot 2015-10-25 at 23.57.06

This happened, but I feel it needs elaboration. Below is exactly how I remember it.
It was …an incredible dream.

Screen Shot 2015-10-26 at 09.16.19

In darkness, I shouted over the noise of our transport - 

“Go! Go quickly! Race to the end of that hill’s corner and then stop. Dead. Do not – I REPEAT – do NOT keep going. Stop, as soon as you get there. Trust me. Go now!”

I saw the outlines of nodding silhouettes as the sky turned a deep blue, “We don’t have much time, go NOW!” 

Racing, heart-pounding, we drove across the track. Corner one, clear. Dipping, downhill, speed increasing and then, I saw it. The first ray of sun revealing what had been there this whole time. Our planetary rings, silent in darkness, suddenly deafening by their over-whelming presence. Back up the hill. Out of the valley, into the corner and stop. Hard. 

Breaking, the dirt shifting under the tracks below. We come to a standstill. On the edge of the cliff and as one, we look up. The first sunrise in twenty-seven years and we’re here, to bathe in its infinite glory. 

The light dances and shines as it pours across the asteroid belt. The deceptively rough lines, crying out as they soak themselves in long-forgotten rays of luminescent nectar. 

We can only stare, transfixed, in awe of nature’s universal power and equally, at our constant insignificance. 

Screen Shot 2015-10-26 at 09.21.43

Image above taken from this amazing video – ‘What if Earth had rings like Saturn?‘

adrift

again, wind comes unrolling out of the east
like a prophet, judging with a heft of its
palm the weight of things, taking measure
with spanned fingers of the space between,
while wolf-fish graze the floor of the sea,
the teeth inside their smiles white as beacons.

plenty of time to consider the dimensions
of your loss, how it might be listed
on manifests. still, what you have left
is better than you deserve. and sufficient,
if one holds on hard enough, to keep you afloat

a narrow band of slip shows now
beneath night’s skirt on the horizon,
and widens. once again as you watch, light,
with its hunger, will have the world.

– James Sallis