So long 2010

LIke Minds Summit, Feb 2010

– Image via Scott Gould

For the first time, in a long time, I find myself standing at the precipice of a New Year, staring out at a blank canvas.

It’s exhilarating.

It scares the living hell out of me, it makes my blood pump hard and my brain can’t work and adrenaline floods my insides whenever I even begin to pause and think about it… and it aches, oh my God it aches. But.. it… is…  exhilarating. I feel alive. The possibilities now are endless.

This –

I am a snow globe.
Shake me.
Let the blizzard roar.
This is what I was made for.

The peace. The intensity. The calm in the storm. The beauty of the fall. The peace.

Come on 2011, take your best shot….

.

.

I’m ready for you.

..

—

–

//

.

– – –

Postcard from LA

Oh, so THAT'S why it's called Sunset Blvd...

I’ve been in LA for nearly a week now and it’s been fairly intense; working solid from 10am through ’til 4am most days (while my body tries to adjust to the time difference) and generally trying to keep on top of things. We wrapped project one on Sunday morning and project two wraps tonight; it’s been a helluva ride.

Fortunately, thanks to the timings of both projects, I was able to take Sunday night and Monday morning off to catch up with my friends Matt and Jen. The former introduced me to Ryan Penagos, aka Agent_M, the editor for Marvel.com (so much geekery was had!), and the latter took a colleague and I down to Dog Beach for a midday stroll in the Sun.

Sitting in the sunshine two weeks from Christmas is a very odd feeling indeed.

What else is new?

I’ve decided to take up dance again and I’m writing a truck load more these days too. A friend got one of my pieces published recently; non-trade, in-print and actually out there in the real world, so that’s quite exciting. I have a couple more I want to submit, so we’ll see if that leads anywhere.

Thing is, you know that bit in Star Trek where Spock tells the rest of the crew how everything has changed? That now, thanks to Nero’s actions, they’re all living in an alternate reality…?

Yeah. That.

.

.

.

Things are different now.

__-_-__-_-__-_-__-_-__

__-_-__-_-__-_-__

__-_-__-_-__

__-_-__

-_-

_

–

.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

LA2

Somewhere over the US

Are we over water now? I think so. At least, we should be. I guess we’ve been up for an hour now, maybe longer. My toes hurt.

Damn shoes.

I love my job. Six seats to my right a couple of competition winners sit happily drinking beer, looking forward to their prize; two VIP red blue carpet tickets to the Tron: Legacy ‘World Premiere’ in Hollywood.

I was at the London one last weekend. That was cool. Although Patrick probably nailed it best when he said “Premieres are fun but it’s essentially like going to the cinema with a suit on” – Yes Pat, just like that (if you ignore the Hollywood superstars arriving around you and of course the free popcorn.. that’s always a winner. Let’s not forget that).

LA. Again.

I’ve been there before y’see, although last time was a holiday, this time it’s for work. I think I’ve managed to wangle some down time over the coming week, with both Sunday evening and Monday daytime currently cleared for catching up with some of my favourite Californians. Matt & Jen namely and probably Jeb too, if there’s time.

I love the internetz for stuff like this. Having such a large global network means that more often than not there is always someone to see or meet. Some might see that as an annoyance (and to an extent, I can understand why), however if I ever want to completely escape… utterly switch off… then I know how to do that too.

Obviously you wouldn’t know when those times happen because I don’t actually talk about them. But they are there. Gently. Flowing back and forth.  Slowly. Like a soft breath on the wind…

But I like people. I love people. Even the inconsiderate German chap in front of me on this flight (seat thrown back, feet pushing against the wall in front) I love them all.

Well, I try… 🙂

A few things I’m working on

Sorry for the darkness, I’ve been a touch busy…

First, the Nokia C7 Social Challenge is now live – good stuff

Second, N8Producers is out there too…

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=17371123&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0

Oh and last but by no means least, I met Jeff last night…

Hey! Jeff!

That was at the Tron: Legacy premiere in London’s Leicester Square. This tweet made me smile a lot, but I think the best thing of all was being able to spring two tickets on a couple of lucky members of the cheering crowd.

I’m still editing that video but I’ll share it when it’s done; trust me, they were very happy 🙂

I love making people smile.

So much.

Whatley out.

Birthday Blog

Today is November 21st. My birthday.

Last year my other half laid on the best birthday experience ever; including all my friends, all my geekiness and nearly all of London’s Soho district.

It was fantastic.

This year has been – amazingly – even better. Friday night I was out with work for a huge, multi-celebratory knees up. Three birthdays, two leavers and one awesome award win meant that it was the perfect combination for getting the whole company out together. It’s a rarity for all of us to unwind like that and it was definitely well overdue for some of us. I guess I got home about 4ish maybe? But even then didn’t get to sleep until the very early hours (what with deciding to carry on partying with everyone at home way back in the vale). Brilliant.

Last night was my actual birthday party; friends old and new, a few work colleagues, best mates from home, some family (it’s my sister’s birthday today too) and it was one of the best nights out I’ve had this year.

A night of music from the 80s, filthy fairy cakes, beetlejuice-based hilarity, Marmite-flavoured chocolate… the list goes on.

Looking through my phone this morning there’s only a few photos to show off what a great night we all had (I’m sure others took many, many more), however I did find one video. One very special video.

Big love and thanks to Bryce & Camilla for today’s #vlomo10 entry. You guys rock… X

Fog

I shot this on the way into work Friday morning with the full intention of it being the #vlomo10 entry for that day. A timely Benny appearance at the 1000heads offices kindly put a stop to that however, so here is Friday’s original entry; slightly out of time – but nonetheless, still here.

Enjoy.

Oh – and that photo that I took?

19112010357