I would love to live in the rounded corner of this building, particularly since I'd then be looking out on the Thames each morning. Maybe when I'm finally fat, coke-addled and making millions by producing terrible vehicles for comedians who cannot hack it anymore but are somehow still popular.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
A picture I realllly like but couldn't find any context for.
I would love to live in the rounded corner of this building, particularly since I'd then be looking out on the Thames each morning. Maybe when I'm finally fat, coke-addled and making millions by producing terrible vehicles for comedians who cannot hack it anymore but are somehow still popular.
Sometimes I like to pronounce the word "Bitch" as "Bee-Itch"
It makes me feel more "street", you know? It works best when said very slowly, being careful to rub ones tongue over the two syllables with a thoroughness that is almost amorous in it's moistosity.
Such are the factoids which spill from me after a satisfying meal and a day of adventurin' in central London. Good luck with the rest of this entry!
Anyways, time to catch up on pictures.
First, on the same day in Reading where I took a picture of that war monument....I visited the remains of a monastery and the nice little bit of river beside. It was a fun enough thing to romp through and I appreciated the little monk ditty they put up for all to read.
Though I wasn't in Bristol long and even then not in a very exciting bit, I took two pictures. One of the church right outside my hotel window and another of the train station. It occurs to me that the train station looks as if it could be an adjunct to the Canadian houses of parliament. I swear, even the hot dog stands in England have at least a few Gothic arches.
Right then, on to Christmas in Broadstairs. As I'm sure I've mentioned before, my Aunt Liz and Uncle Phil are down that way (along with cousins Carla and Andrew as well as many others!) and they never fail to be wonderful hosts. I arrived for a highly enjoyable carnival of people coming by the former hotel which they call home, with myself tightly hooked into a pair of IV's (one labelled "Brandy" and the other "Mince Pies"). I also won ten quid on a pub gambling machine, played with the twin boxer dogs who always give me joy (Webster and Harvey), took a few seaside pictures and generally enjoyed myself so well that I was paying for it until yesterday. Could one ask for anything more?
Two days of slightly surreal work (rendered as such by my being the only person in the whole National Rail Technical Block who wasn't on vacation) and two evenings of exploratory walks finished off the week. Tomorrow I head to Reading for New Years and also to get the rest of my junk which I was unable to carry with me when I moved.
When I woke up this morning, it occurred to me that I had some fliers for places in London which I hadn't the time to explore yet. I made myself an itinerary over breakfast and set off to fulfill it. I made the first item on my list, The British Library near Kings Cross, and even took a photo of the rather impressive Kings Library (this column of ancient texts went straight through the whole building), but after I left there...something came over me.
Though I have visited England many times in my life and I have visited central London every chance I've had since my arrival in October...I guess you could say there is still some tourist in me or perhaps some "little boy who grew up in Carp". My eyes widened slightly and the plan I'd drawn up in my mind became covered over by a myriad of overriding messages which said things like "Wow gee this sure is a neat city" and "Oh wow look at that thing over there! Let's go look at, listen to and maybe smell it".
So I took a good walk past all sorts of wonderful buildings until I, seemingly inevitably, found myself in the Embankment area.
After a little more aimless gawping at things such as a sandwich chain which has a rather clear message, I found myself the highly engaging South Bank Book Market. In it I found a lot of what you might expect, but also some wonderful authentic prints from the past 150 years which I would have bought if I was at the point where I could justify spending twenty-five quid on original fashion art of 1920's flapper girls or sections from children's educational picture books of the Victorian Era. I came eerily close to spending ten quid on a 148 year old newspaper!. I realize that may not be soooo incredible, but it's the fact that I found it in the kind of venue where I'm used to only finding Hardy Boy books and puzzle books with all the crosswords and mazes already done that blew my mind.
The book market takes place directly in front of the National Film Theatre building. I'd seen it before but never gone in and so, prompted by some heavy rain that sprang into being, I investigated. I actually ended up seeing a flick and I really enjoyed the high quality of the theatre. I just might look into a membership, since they show such a great variety of works. Plus my money wouldn't just be supporting the building and the employees, it would help towards the restoration of old and obscure film prints - something I don't exactly have much trouble getting behind.
When I came out it was dark and I was greeted by slightly recontextualized sights which sent me straight back into gawp mode. Yes I'd seen them before, but to see them at night as well as to think that I could now visit these sites and sights on damn near any time that I fancy...well.
I just wrote "What can I say?" then deleted it as that is a question I almost never have trouble answering. I can say that as 2006 comes to a close that I think it has been a pretty damn good year. It started with my hitting the brick
wall that comes from finishing your degree and having to decide what comes next, but then went into a turbulent stretch where I made a film, met several interesting people whose company I enjoyed and abilities I respected, took several hits straight to the chin and kept on going until I achieved a dream I've dreamt since my early teens. All this and without ever sacrificing my beliefs, acquiring stupid debts or hurting anyone to get what I wanted.
It's been a good year.
I hope you all can say the same.
Now let's see where we wind up next.
Such are the factoids which spill from me after a satisfying meal and a day of adventurin' in central London. Good luck with the rest of this entry!
Anyways, time to catch up on pictures.First, on the same day in Reading where I took a picture of that war monument....I visited the remains of a monastery and the nice little bit of river beside. It was a fun enough thing to romp through and I appreciated the little monk ditty they put up for all to read.
Though I wasn't in Bristol long and even then not in a very exciting bit, I took two pictures. One of the church right outside my hotel window and another of the train station. It occurs to me that the train station looks as if it could be an adjunct to the Canadian houses of parliament. I swear, even the hot dog stands in England have at least a few Gothic arches.Right then, on to Christmas in Broadstairs. As I'm sure I've mentioned before, my Aunt Liz and Uncle Phil are down that way (along with cousins Carla and Andrew as well as many others!) and they never fail to be wonderful hosts. I arrived for a highly enjoyable carnival of people coming by the former hotel which they call home, with myself tightly hooked into a pair of IV's (one labelled "Brandy" and the other "Mince Pies"). I also won ten quid on a pub gambling machine, played with the twin boxer dogs who always give me joy (Webster and Harvey), took a few seaside pictures and generally enjoyed myself so well that I was paying for it until yesterday. Could one ask for anything more?
Two days of slightly surreal work (rendered as such by my being the only person in the whole National Rail Technical Block who wasn't on vacation) and two evenings of exploratory walks finished off the week. Tomorrow I head to Reading for New Years and also to get the rest of my junk which I was unable to carry with me when I moved.When I woke up this morning, it occurred to me that I had some fliers for places in London which I hadn't the time to explore yet. I made myself an itinerary over breakfast and set off to fulfill it. I made the first item on my list, The British Library near Kings Cross, and even took a photo of the rather impressive Kings Library (this column of ancient texts went straight through the whole building), but after I left there...something came over me.
Though I have visited England many times in my life and I have visited central London every chance I've had since my arrival in October...I guess you could say there is still some tourist in me or perhaps some "little boy who grew up in Carp". My eyes widened slightly and the plan I'd drawn up in my mind became covered over by a myriad of overriding messages which said things like "Wow gee this sure is a neat city" and "Oh wow look at that thing over there! Let's go look at, listen to and maybe smell it".So I took a good walk past all sorts of wonderful buildings until I, seemingly inevitably, found myself in the Embankment area.
After a little more aimless gawping at things such as a sandwich chain which has a rather clear message, I found myself the highly engaging South Bank Book Market. In it I found a lot of what you might expect, but also some wonderful authentic prints from the past 150 years which I would have bought if I was at the point where I could justify spending twenty-five quid on original fashion art of 1920's flapper girls or sections from children's educational picture books of the Victorian Era. I came eerily close to spending ten quid on a 148 year old newspaper!. I realize that may not be soooo incredible, but it's the fact that I found it in the kind of venue where I'm used to only finding Hardy Boy books and puzzle books with all the crosswords and mazes already done that blew my mind.The book market takes place directly in front of the National Film Theatre building. I'd seen it before but never gone in and so, prompted by some heavy rain that sprang into being, I investigated. I actually ended up seeing a flick and I really enjoyed the high quality of the theatre. I just might look into a membership, since they show such a great variety of works. Plus my money wouldn't just be supporting the building and the employees, it would help towards the restoration of old and obscure film prints - something I don't exactly have much trouble getting behind.
When I came out it was dark and I was greeted by slightly recontextualized sights which sent me straight back into gawp mode. Yes I'd seen them before, but to see them at night as well as to think that I could now visit these sites and sights on damn near any time that I fancy...well.
I just wrote "What can I say?" then deleted it as that is a question I almost never have trouble answering. I can say that as 2006 comes to a close that I think it has been a pretty damn good year. It started with my hitting the brick
wall that comes from finishing your degree and having to decide what comes next, but then went into a turbulent stretch where I made a film, met several interesting people whose company I enjoyed and abilities I respected, took several hits straight to the chin and kept on going until I achieved a dream I've dreamt since my early teens. All this and without ever sacrificing my beliefs, acquiring stupid debts or hurting anyone to get what I wanted.It's been a good year.
I hope you all can say the same.
Now let's see where we wind up next.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Just thought I'd share...
...a good bit of fun for the holidays.
Meanwhile, I'm back from Broadstairs and it was lovely. More words and pictures when I've shaken off the 32 year old Brandy my cousin Carla's husband brought back from France.
Meanwhile, I'm back from Broadstairs and it was lovely. More words and pictures when I've shaken off the 32 year old Brandy my cousin Carla's husband brought back from France.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
A Christmas Miracle!
I suppose I should say "A Christmas Fortuitous Development!", seeing as how I don't believe in the supernatural, but it just doesn't have the same ring to it.
You see, I thought I had to work on Boxing Day because the recruitment agency stressed that it was important for me to be able to work then - they almost made it sound like a deciding factor in getting the job. But when I asked my boss at National Rail, a really nice guy by the name of Andre, when I should show up on the 26th....he just looked at me kind of goggle-eyed before saying "What are you talking about? That's a bloody Bank Holiday, none of us are working that day, let me tell you".
So huzzah! It seems that I shall be off to Broadstairs for Christmas after all. I shall do my damndest to remember my camera this time.
My first day at National Rail was pleasant enough. I met all but one of the people who work there and they all seem like pretty relaxed and kind people. Everyone seems to start work around when they are scheduled, leave for lunch whenev's and you get a whole hour (from an eight hour work day this is a decent chunk!). This is great because it gives me time to explore and thus I found a good sized library nearby, so I can feed my book habit and leave my wallet more intact than it would be otherwise.
The training in Bristol was dead easy and I have to say it was pretty cool to be able to charge my food expenses to National Rail. My instructor told me that NR is really good about taking care of their employees and so far I'd have to agree, especially since I'm only a frigging temp!
After the terrible stress/pay ratio of all my jobs in Canada, all this is a huge breath of fresh air. I guess these must seem like pretty mundane details to get excited about, but let's face it - it's the little day to day things which can either keep you feeling good about your dayjob or drive you crazy in short order.
I reckon I'll wrap up with this nice picture of me that Mark took during the second day of shooting for "Tonight We Fall In Love". All jokes about narcissism aside, I think that it is a really nice shot - which just goes a ways towards explaining why I respect the guys abilities as I do and would work with him again in a second.
Have yourselves some wonderful holidays everyone!
BONUS LINKS WHICH MIGHT DEFLATE THE SENTIMENT EXPRESSED IN THE PREVIOUS SENTENCE
Want to help the environment while getting yourself off of annoying mailing lists?
It may say "The New American Dream" but this is something for people of all nationalities who want to help save the planet.
This is a bit dry, but an important development in helping to get us off our asses and try to stop shitty things like all the dang polar bears drowning and the regular bears ceasing to hibernate.
You see, I thought I had to work on Boxing Day because the recruitment agency stressed that it was important for me to be able to work then - they almost made it sound like a deciding factor in getting the job. But when I asked my boss at National Rail, a really nice guy by the name of Andre, when I should show up on the 26th....he just looked at me kind of goggle-eyed before saying "What are you talking about? That's a bloody Bank Holiday, none of us are working that day, let me tell you".
So huzzah! It seems that I shall be off to Broadstairs for Christmas after all. I shall do my damndest to remember my camera this time.
My first day at National Rail was pleasant enough. I met all but one of the people who work there and they all seem like pretty relaxed and kind people. Everyone seems to start work around when they are scheduled, leave for lunch whenev's and you get a whole hour (from an eight hour work day this is a decent chunk!). This is great because it gives me time to explore and thus I found a good sized library nearby, so I can feed my book habit and leave my wallet more intact than it would be otherwise.
The training in Bristol was dead easy and I have to say it was pretty cool to be able to charge my food expenses to National Rail. My instructor told me that NR is really good about taking care of their employees and so far I'd have to agree, especially since I'm only a frigging temp!
After the terrible stress/pay ratio of all my jobs in Canada, all this is a huge breath of fresh air. I guess these must seem like pretty mundane details to get excited about, but let's face it - it's the little day to day things which can either keep you feeling good about your dayjob or drive you crazy in short order.
I reckon I'll wrap up with this nice picture of me that Mark took during the second day of shooting for "Tonight We Fall In Love". All jokes about narcissism aside, I think that it is a really nice shot - which just goes a ways towards explaining why I respect the guys abilities as I do and would work with him again in a second.
Have yourselves some wonderful holidays everyone!BONUS LINKS WHICH MIGHT DEFLATE THE SENTIMENT EXPRESSED IN THE PREVIOUS SENTENCE
Want to help the environment while getting yourself off of annoying mailing lists?
It may say "The New American Dream" but this is something for people of all nationalities who want to help save the planet.
This is a bit dry, but an important development in helping to get us off our asses and try to stop shitty things like all the dang polar bears drowning and the regular bears ceasing to hibernate.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Tenous but...
...an Internet connection nonetheless! I seem to have wirelessly latched the remora of my laptop to the soft, white underbelly of some other gentlemen or ladies wireless network.
Well, it seems that Manuela and I will have to meet later in the week due to shceduling cafuffles, but at least I heard back from her. Since my last post I also got a reply from an Italian fellow about working on a film noir script, but never got a call back as I was supposed to. Such is this business, hell - such are many businesses in which you have to deal with the meandering shitminds of the human species.
Tomorrow is day one of the new job and also when I shall head off to Bristol for a couple of days training. I shall take many a pretty picture, to be sure. I'm a bit surprised that I have to head all the way out to the West Coast for training on a database program but I'm not really complaining. It will be nice to have a private washroom (in the hotel) a few days prior to when I move across the compound and into my actual room, with it's precious private washroom, additional space, inset wardrobe and fewer house mates (the slice o' compound I'm in now has something like five and I heard the distinct, piercing cries of someones filth-oozing crotchling earlier...).
One unfortunate development is that I have discovered that all train, tube and coach services are suspended on Christmas Day. In a broad sense I can truly respect this way of ensuring that a larger portion of the population gets to enjoy a day off with their family. In a personal sense this is a bit sad, because it means I won't be able to visit anyone for Christmas that is outside of walking distance because I'd need to get back to work at 9am on the 26th. So yes, I shall be spending Christmas day awwwwww awooooone.
But shucks howdy, I think the heart shall continute to beat, yes? Plus I can still eke out some silver by going to the Hyde Park Fair on the 24th and on the 25th I think I'll just set aside the day to satisfaction - cooking myself a meal I can truly enjoy or perhaps treating myself to eating out some where nicer than the chicken hut I foolishly allowed to lure me inside today with the promise of a two quid chicken lunch that was so greasy, a drumstick leaped out of the box and tried to sell me a bunch of pre-release DVD's stored in a fruit crate.
Holy run on sentence....
Anywho, to finish for the day I thought I'd attach this picture I took during my last days in Reading. This is one of the many, many war monuments in England which are generally attributed to a regiment/division/battalion which was recruited from the neighborhood. What made this one interest me was that it was so new - the base underneath this particular lion was inscribed with dedications to men and women who had died in Kandahar and other such places in the last five years. The sense of continuity stretching back from this lion to ones I saw in central London that were dedicated to men who had died forging the British empire was a strong one which held me in awe for a few silent moments. Time may only be something we've all agreed to believe in so as to structure our existence, but given that it is grounded in so many people and places who genuinely existed I cannot help being sent into a state of awe when I allow myself to really think it over.
Well, it seems that Manuela and I will have to meet later in the week due to shceduling cafuffles, but at least I heard back from her. Since my last post I also got a reply from an Italian fellow about working on a film noir script, but never got a call back as I was supposed to. Such is this business, hell - such are many businesses in which you have to deal with the meandering shitminds of the human species.
Tomorrow is day one of the new job and also when I shall head off to Bristol for a couple of days training. I shall take many a pretty picture, to be sure. I'm a bit surprised that I have to head all the way out to the West Coast for training on a database program but I'm not really complaining. It will be nice to have a private washroom (in the hotel) a few days prior to when I move across the compound and into my actual room, with it's precious private washroom, additional space, inset wardrobe and fewer house mates (the slice o' compound I'm in now has something like five and I heard the distinct, piercing cries of someones filth-oozing crotchling earlier...).
One unfortunate development is that I have discovered that all train, tube and coach services are suspended on Christmas Day. In a broad sense I can truly respect this way of ensuring that a larger portion of the population gets to enjoy a day off with their family. In a personal sense this is a bit sad, because it means I won't be able to visit anyone for Christmas that is outside of walking distance because I'd need to get back to work at 9am on the 26th. So yes, I shall be spending Christmas day awwwwww awooooone.
But shucks howdy, I think the heart shall continute to beat, yes? Plus I can still eke out some silver by going to the Hyde Park Fair on the 24th and on the 25th I think I'll just set aside the day to satisfaction - cooking myself a meal I can truly enjoy or perhaps treating myself to eating out some where nicer than the chicken hut I foolishly allowed to lure me inside today with the promise of a two quid chicken lunch that was so greasy, a drumstick leaped out of the box and tried to sell me a bunch of pre-release DVD's stored in a fruit crate.
Holy run on sentence....
Anywho, to finish for the day I thought I'd attach this picture I took during my last days in Reading. This is one of the many, many war monuments in England which are generally attributed to a regiment/division/battalion which was recruited from the neighborhood. What made this one interest me was that it was so new - the base underneath this particular lion was inscribed with dedications to men and women who had died in Kandahar and other such places in the last five years. The sense of continuity stretching back from this lion to ones I saw in central London that were dedicated to men who had died forging the British empire was a strong one which held me in awe for a few silent moments. Time may only be something we've all agreed to believe in so as to structure our existence, but given that it is grounded in so many people and places who genuinely existed I cannot help being sent into a state of awe when I allow myself to really think it over.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
And things just keep gettin' better?
So I've arranged to meet with my prospective script editing employer on Sunday night for an informal, in-person interview. We'll see how that goes!
In an amusing turn, it looks like I am going to get to see Bristol on Tuesday night through to Thursday night as that is where National Rail is paying (hotel/transit) to send me for training in their database program. During the days I predict....monotony? But I'll have a couple of evenings to check out an English town I've never been to before so what the hey. Plus it is two less nights spent in the tinier room at my building-to-be until the dude in my room shuffles off on the 22nd.
So hot crackers, if you will!
Anyways, it will be at least a week and change before I get an internet connection set up at my new place and given that it is the holidays it will probably be longer than that. I'm moving this Saturday so, from that point until I get reconnected, don't be hurt if I'm total crap about correspondence.
But when I get hooked up, I will have a place, a job and a steady routine for the first time since July. So, theoretically, I will finally be back on top of correspondence like I used to be.
Ta ta!
In an amusing turn, it looks like I am going to get to see Bristol on Tuesday night through to Thursday night as that is where National Rail is paying (hotel/transit) to send me for training in their database program. During the days I predict....monotony? But I'll have a couple of evenings to check out an English town I've never been to before so what the hey. Plus it is two less nights spent in the tinier room at my building-to-be until the dude in my room shuffles off on the 22nd.
So hot crackers, if you will!
Anyways, it will be at least a week and change before I get an internet connection set up at my new place and given that it is the holidays it will probably be longer than that. I'm moving this Saturday so, from that point until I get reconnected, don't be hurt if I'm total crap about correspondence.
But when I get hooked up, I will have a place, a job and a steady routine for the first time since July. So, theoretically, I will finally be back on top of correspondence like I used to be.
Ta ta!
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
My Heart Was Not Programmed For Such Joy
I
Got
The
Job!
Which means I also have now been able to secure the apartment in Islington!
ALSO
Though I had to leave a message, I imagine I will hear back from the woman who is interested in paying me to work on her script (not much, but so what? It's film experience and the data entry will do plenty to keep me fed). So that qualifies as a film lead, for sure, on top of some beginnings of contacts which I will be able to develop more fully upon being in London.
So this means that I am succeeding in the goal I set myself, even the bit about my first or second job being one where I can wear fancy pants. This is the exact opposite of a non-day, today is...I don't even know what term could accurately describe a 24 hour period in which everything just went right all of a sudden.
Obviously this is not the end of Difficulty, but it's a glorious launch into something I have dreamed about for literally years. I have done at least three ridiculous victory dances, with absurd and obscene lyrics to accompany, and I still haven't been able to completely calm down since the job confirmation from an hour ago.
Got
The
Job!
Which means I also have now been able to secure the apartment in Islington!
ALSO
Though I had to leave a message, I imagine I will hear back from the woman who is interested in paying me to work on her script (not much, but so what? It's film experience and the data entry will do plenty to keep me fed). So that qualifies as a film lead, for sure, on top of some beginnings of contacts which I will be able to develop more fully upon being in London.
So this means that I am succeeding in the goal I set myself, even the bit about my first or second job being one where I can wear fancy pants. This is the exact opposite of a non-day, today is...I don't even know what term could accurately describe a 24 hour period in which everything just went right all of a sudden.
Obviously this is not the end of Difficulty, but it's a glorious launch into something I have dreamed about for literally years. I have done at least three ridiculous victory dances, with absurd and obscene lyrics to accompany, and I still haven't been able to completely calm down since the job confirmation from an hour ago.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Welcome to Orgasm Town...
...population ME.
So today was pretty awesome!
1) I finally got my UK drivers licence in the mail, thus alleviating a good deal of worry over whether I had cocked something up and lost both my Canadian drivers licence (which you trade in) and a 41 pound cash note in postal limbo.
2) Though tube trouble hilarity rendered me a bit late, I felt that the interview with National Rail went incredibly well today. I think it's always a good sign when the interviewer starts asking you all sorts of questions about your personal life and how interesting he assumes it is! Luckily, because it is a contract and not a long-term thing, I was able to get away with using my film experience in answers to certain questions (ex. Have you ever had to co-ordinate several people on one task?) and this only lead to further fascination with my obviously amazing, star-struck lifestyle.
Ahem.
But whatever, I'll take it! On top of that there was also an attempt on their part to sell me on the position in regards to how fun it could be to deal with various train company people at all levels (Mmmhmm) and how when I come near the end of the contract (27th of April, 2007) I would be in a good position to not only find more work with National Rail but to find a different position which I might enjoy more in a location that would better suit me. Thus, if regular film work is still not in my grasp by that point then I could consider myself reasonably well taken care of anyways. This all is kind of amusing in that one of my Grandparents (Dad's dad) spent the majority of his life working for National Rail after good old double-you double-you two.
3) After the interview I went and had a look at an apartment in Islington and was pretty impressed. For 128 pounds a week (all inclusive) I didn't expect a rathole per se, but I certainly didn't have the highest of hopes. In the end, it was a third floor room about the same size as my old apartment with a private washroom and a double-bed included. The second floor has two people's rooms (one actor who is "never around" and an Italian girl who could work harder at looking ugly) and on the first floor is another washroom and a shared kitched. Apparently a cleaning lady comes by once a week to take care of the majority of gunk across the building.
I was also expecting a house or maybe some moderately maintained tenement building from the 1970's. Oh no, this is a pretty nice....I guess compound is the word, the stone wall and gate which surround it causing me to lean towards the term. The building is a sort of cresent which is in turn split up into several house-sized chunks (in the previous paragraph I described just such a chunk). In the middle is a courtyard with some trees and a parking lot which isn't too horrid to look at. All in all, a rather safe, clean and livable looking place to be.
The nearby pub is called "The Hercules", bless it's little soul.
So I laid a small holding deposit on the place, feeling that I had struck it lucky as I had with my place in Ottawa, and the exciting conclusion to all this nonsense will come by "sometime Friday", which is when I shall find out about the National Rail job interview result.
Finally....
4) I heard back in regards to some script work, paid - though at the amateur/indie/whateverthefuck level, and tomorrow I shall call the person back on that number. A nice little touch which is in no way dependent on the National Rail results, so even if that fails I could come out at the end of the week with more than what I had at the start.
HOORAH!
So today was pretty awesome!
1) I finally got my UK drivers licence in the mail, thus alleviating a good deal of worry over whether I had cocked something up and lost both my Canadian drivers licence (which you trade in) and a 41 pound cash note in postal limbo.
2) Though tube trouble hilarity rendered me a bit late, I felt that the interview with National Rail went incredibly well today. I think it's always a good sign when the interviewer starts asking you all sorts of questions about your personal life and how interesting he assumes it is! Luckily, because it is a contract and not a long-term thing, I was able to get away with using my film experience in answers to certain questions (ex. Have you ever had to co-ordinate several people on one task?) and this only lead to further fascination with my obviously amazing, star-struck lifestyle.
Ahem.
But whatever, I'll take it! On top of that there was also an attempt on their part to sell me on the position in regards to how fun it could be to deal with various train company people at all levels (Mmmhmm) and how when I come near the end of the contract (27th of April, 2007) I would be in a good position to not only find more work with National Rail but to find a different position which I might enjoy more in a location that would better suit me. Thus, if regular film work is still not in my grasp by that point then I could consider myself reasonably well taken care of anyways. This all is kind of amusing in that one of my Grandparents (Dad's dad) spent the majority of his life working for National Rail after good old double-you double-you two.
3) After the interview I went and had a look at an apartment in Islington and was pretty impressed. For 128 pounds a week (all inclusive) I didn't expect a rathole per se, but I certainly didn't have the highest of hopes. In the end, it was a third floor room about the same size as my old apartment with a private washroom and a double-bed included. The second floor has two people's rooms (one actor who is "never around" and an Italian girl who could work harder at looking ugly) and on the first floor is another washroom and a shared kitched. Apparently a cleaning lady comes by once a week to take care of the majority of gunk across the building.
I was also expecting a house or maybe some moderately maintained tenement building from the 1970's. Oh no, this is a pretty nice....I guess compound is the word, the stone wall and gate which surround it causing me to lean towards the term. The building is a sort of cresent which is in turn split up into several house-sized chunks (in the previous paragraph I described just such a chunk). In the middle is a courtyard with some trees and a parking lot which isn't too horrid to look at. All in all, a rather safe, clean and livable looking place to be.
The nearby pub is called "The Hercules", bless it's little soul.
So I laid a small holding deposit on the place, feeling that I had struck it lucky as I had with my place in Ottawa, and the exciting conclusion to all this nonsense will come by "sometime Friday", which is when I shall find out about the National Rail job interview result.
Finally....
4) I heard back in regards to some script work, paid - though at the amateur/indie/whateverthefuck level, and tomorrow I shall call the person back on that number. A nice little touch which is in no way dependent on the National Rail results, so even if that fails I could come out at the end of the week with more than what I had at the start.
HOORAH!
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Yesterday I took a long walk along the Thames...
...and I actually remembered my camera! Here are a few choice pictures that I took.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Oh lord...
...Achewood is magnificent. I have just got to share this Fridays edition, which contains the relavatory comment: ""You know who never gets to give a high-five after a job well-done? A mortician". This fact is, of course, provided by a five year old otter.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Maybe I shouldn't post every little clip I make...
...but what the hey. The Movies is definitely something in which you can easily make pure schmaltz with the greatest of ease. I've definitely enjoyed learning it's strengths and weaknesses over the past few days but in the end, I would of course prefer to have a bunch of my own footage and the latest edition of FinalCut Pro. It's a damn shame that programs like that are made so prohibitively expensive for the average lad or lady at the very beginning of their career. All the more reason for me to hurry my ass back into London so I can start finding subsidised arts collectives like Ottawa's own SAW gallery.
Meanwhile, I just got my first haircut in England WOOOO!
Uh...
Yeah, so things are trundling along nicely. Sorry I haven't had any big, photo-worthy adventures lately! I wish I had! But mostly I've been a writin' and a jobbin' these past few days, in-between butting my head against numerous catch-22's present within the process of getting myself integrated into The System. Lord knows I'll have some useful advice for anyone who chooses to move to England once all this is said and done. Though it isn't all bad, I was pleased to find out that the government has a means by which you can get them to cover your transit costs to an interview - so that saves me 17 quid on trainfare for this Monday's excursion to Barking.
I've started to make my plans for Christmas and that, of course, feels a little odd in that they won't be in Canada (as I doubt I need to explain, it's not really an option yet). Little things like that and the way most people my age in England speak about snow (a distant memory from youth, wiped out by good ol climate change) has rendered this December fairly surreal for me when viewed through the lens of holidays and weather.
Ah well!
Meanwhile, I just got my first haircut in England WOOOO!
Uh...
Yeah, so things are trundling along nicely. Sorry I haven't had any big, photo-worthy adventures lately! I wish I had! But mostly I've been a writin' and a jobbin' these past few days, in-between butting my head against numerous catch-22's present within the process of getting myself integrated into The System. Lord knows I'll have some useful advice for anyone who chooses to move to England once all this is said and done. Though it isn't all bad, I was pleased to find out that the government has a means by which you can get them to cover your transit costs to an interview - so that saves me 17 quid on trainfare for this Monday's excursion to Barking.
I've started to make my plans for Christmas and that, of course, feels a little odd in that they won't be in Canada (as I doubt I need to explain, it's not really an option yet). Little things like that and the way most people my age in England speak about snow (a distant memory from youth, wiped out by good ol climate change) has rendered this December fairly surreal for me when viewed through the lens of holidays and weather.
Ah well!
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Heya
New DIRK HARDWOOD serial!
Also I got some more work done on the written bit, it is now an agonizing 9/10's complete.
Progress.
Speaking of which, screw immigration paperwork! I'm just sayin'!
Also I got some more work done on the written bit, it is now an agonizing 9/10's complete.
Progress.
Speaking of which, screw immigration paperwork! I'm just sayin'!
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Hot Dawg : Episode Two
So!
It seems that I have secured an interview for a data entry job on this coming Monday at 1pm in Barking. It would be for National Rail and though I normally wouldn't get excited about a data entry job, this one is quality for three reasons.
1) After reviewing the file sent to me, it seems my duties would be varied and interesting enough that suicide wouldn't seem a viable way to hurry up the end of the workday.
2) It is a full-time contract which runs through until April - thus I could keep looking for work in the meantime and would stand the best chance of getting something I want at precisely the time that the data-entry work would finish.
3) It seems to pay rather well! Not outrageous, but more than the 15,000 pa average which I've seen and certainly enough for me to move out of Reading and back into London with my own durn room n' stuff.
So the fingers? They are crossed.
Meanwhile, in celebration of the recent upswing in my days and the oncoming Christ-Mas, I allowed myself a treat. It's a computer game called "The Movies" which, as the title suggests, allows you to engage in amateur computer animation using basically the same universe and look as The Sims. Though you can enjoy watching little bars fill up from grey to green by managing a studio, the real draw was of course the actual film making. For my first effort, I thought I would do an introduction to a line of Dirk Hardwood serials, especially since I am having a devil of a time getting around to finishing the last written entry, between everything else going on. Hope you enjoy it! There are a pair of annoying typo's in the captions (which I have to use for dialogue right now, as I don't own a microphone) but otherwise I'm very happy with it.
It seems that I have secured an interview for a data entry job on this coming Monday at 1pm in Barking. It would be for National Rail and though I normally wouldn't get excited about a data entry job, this one is quality for three reasons.
1) After reviewing the file sent to me, it seems my duties would be varied and interesting enough that suicide wouldn't seem a viable way to hurry up the end of the workday.
2) It is a full-time contract which runs through until April - thus I could keep looking for work in the meantime and would stand the best chance of getting something I want at precisely the time that the data-entry work would finish.
3) It seems to pay rather well! Not outrageous, but more than the 15,000 pa average which I've seen and certainly enough for me to move out of Reading and back into London with my own durn room n' stuff.
So the fingers? They are crossed.
Meanwhile, in celebration of the recent upswing in my days and the oncoming Christ-Mas, I allowed myself a treat. It's a computer game called "The Movies" which, as the title suggests, allows you to engage in amateur computer animation using basically the same universe and look as The Sims. Though you can enjoy watching little bars fill up from grey to green by managing a studio, the real draw was of course the actual film making. For my first effort, I thought I would do an introduction to a line of Dirk Hardwood serials, especially since I am having a devil of a time getting around to finishing the last written entry, between everything else going on. Hope you enjoy it! There are a pair of annoying typo's in the captions (which I have to use for dialogue right now, as I don't own a microphone) but otherwise I'm very happy with it.
Monday, December 04, 2006
This past Saturday evening...
Saturday night was a good load of old fashioned fun out on the towne to celebrate Alex's 25th. Despite unintentionally mating with a large flower (I got pollen ALL IN MY HAIR I WAS SO UNHAPPY) I had a great time offering my services as the photo lad, so I thought I'd post a couple of pictures just to make sure y'all don't get the impression that I just sit on the edge of a gin-soaked bed, sobbing uncontrollably while idly clicking my way through monster.co.uk. A single tear filled with manly sadness slowly finding it's way down the nape of my neck to settle in the mustard-stained trim on my "I heart the UK" t-shirt.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Perhaps the ball, it has started to roll?
Wow, I just floated off and feel asleep like a newborn after cooking up some Shepherds pie last night. Waking up in my clothes at 3am, in front of a sketchbook while sitting in the den, was bizarre! But then I find that having to wake up to go to bed usually is.
ANYwho, okay so Sunday was a little raw with frustration over having done so much job hunting this year, but then Monday really made up for it. Having to get up at a specific time with an actual job to go to felt great and despite the early hour, I felt really energized by it. Checking my London A-Z on the train into Paddington, I was pleased to learn that Tottenham Court Road is (oddly) not in the actual area of Tottenham (which is in turn far to the north and slightly west of central London, AKA a pain to get to from Paddington). It's actually in central London and the company was at the south end of the road, right where it meets with good old Oxford Circus.
Remembering the data entry job I did just before coming over, I expected a kind of grungy farm (in that the facilities would resemble a barn) with several discount lunch tables all in a row, their clumsy joints straining under the weight of old computers and tedium. The building itself was in a rather depressing business park, a ways down the road from my old job at the Shoppe.
But lucky for me, it turned out that this wasn't some data entry farm but a small company which works in what I was told is a new sector in English business - the third sector, or "Social Enterprise", something which straddles the grey area where government and the public sectors intertwine for the purpose of charity. Thus I got my own bloody desk with a decent chair, nice computer etc. in an open concept office which was extremely pleasant and had a decent kitchen on top. True, I only dealt with them for three days, but I'd like to go out on a limb and say that the people were also very pleasant (though lacking kitchen facilities, as we all do unless we engage upon some truly radical surgery).
Though there was some copy and pasting, I actually got to type! OOOOOH. That may sound absurd, but at that last job I just used a word recognition tool over images of addresses on envelopes. I could go hours without using my left hand or 99% of my brain. Lord, if it hadn't been to save money for coming to England...
ANYwho, I found the office easy enough as it lay just to the right of this craven idol of Freddie Mercury. Another fun fact about England, or at least London to be sure, is that musicals are way more popular here - at least judging by the amount of press, posters and musicals. The world of English musicals also bears a passing resemblance to the world of Japanese advertising in that it is a sort of elephant graveyard for American celebrities past their prime. Do you miss the wild, clay-molding-while-dead antics of Patrick Swayze? THEN COME ON DOWN.
To my immense good fortune, there was a power outage around fifteen minutes after I got back from my lunch break on the first day. The company was told it would be hours before energy was restored, so I got to leave early while still being paid for a full day. The setback in work was also definitely responsible for my being asked to come back a third day - so I guess I can thank either faulty wiring or the first worlds wasteful attitude towards energy use for a chunk of extra cash. The following two days went smoothly and though I was pretty beat at the end of them, it still felt good to be working.
As for the third phrase, I kept thinking it would fit seamlessly into this update but now it seems a bit forced. I'll press on though, for you dear reader!.
The nut of it is that the first day was nearly sabotaged by my hunger for a snack. Right beside the buildings main entrance was a hot dog etc. stand that deserved the descriptor "hole-in-the-wall" more than any I'd seen before. Feeling oddly peckish and with a few moments to spare, I decided to buy a pastry. The Armenian behind the counter kindly offered to warm it up. I guess in Armenia "warm" is their phrase for "searing" and thus when I bit into the pastry I was treated to a molten chocolate ejaculation straight into my limp, salivating maw. I can still feel the oddly textured burn all along the right side of my lips. This wouldn't have been so bad, except that a strange car-collision of half-formed jokes about what was going on at that exact moment came into my noggin'. So the sound I made was a strange hybrid of yelping in pain, choking on food and laughter. For the rest of the morning, stupid, nonsensical porno film titles kept popping into my head and I can only hope that I wasn't grinning too stupidly. Ah well!
Finally, I saw this odd thing during one of my lunchtime walks. I suspected some kind of crazed, holistic institution but it turned out to be a large building firm. Huh!
ANYwho, okay so Sunday was a little raw with frustration over having done so much job hunting this year, but then Monday really made up for it. Having to get up at a specific time with an actual job to go to felt great and despite the early hour, I felt really energized by it. Checking my London A-Z on the train into Paddington, I was pleased to learn that Tottenham Court Road is (oddly) not in the actual area of Tottenham (which is in turn far to the north and slightly west of central London, AKA a pain to get to from Paddington). It's actually in central London and the company was at the south end of the road, right where it meets with good old Oxford Circus.
Remembering the data entry job I did just before coming over, I expected a kind of grungy farm (in that the facilities would resemble a barn) with several discount lunch tables all in a row, their clumsy joints straining under the weight of old computers and tedium. The building itself was in a rather depressing business park, a ways down the road from my old job at the Shoppe.
But lucky for me, it turned out that this wasn't some data entry farm but a small company which works in what I was told is a new sector in English business - the third sector, or "Social Enterprise", something which straddles the grey area where government and the public sectors intertwine for the purpose of charity. Thus I got my own bloody desk with a decent chair, nice computer etc. in an open concept office which was extremely pleasant and had a decent kitchen on top. True, I only dealt with them for three days, but I'd like to go out on a limb and say that the people were also very pleasant (though lacking kitchen facilities, as we all do unless we engage upon some truly radical surgery).
Though there was some copy and pasting, I actually got to type! OOOOOH. That may sound absurd, but at that last job I just used a word recognition tool over images of addresses on envelopes. I could go hours without using my left hand or 99% of my brain. Lord, if it hadn't been to save money for coming to England...
ANYwho, I found the office easy enough as it lay just to the right of this craven idol of Freddie Mercury. Another fun fact about England, or at least London to be sure, is that musicals are way more popular here - at least judging by the amount of press, posters and musicals. The world of English musicals also bears a passing resemblance to the world of Japanese advertising in that it is a sort of elephant graveyard for American celebrities past their prime. Do you miss the wild, clay-molding-while-dead antics of Patrick Swayze? THEN COME ON DOWN.
To my immense good fortune, there was a power outage around fifteen minutes after I got back from my lunch break on the first day. The company was told it would be hours before energy was restored, so I got to leave early while still being paid for a full day. The setback in work was also definitely responsible for my being asked to come back a third day - so I guess I can thank either faulty wiring or the first worlds wasteful attitude towards energy use for a chunk of extra cash. The following two days went smoothly and though I was pretty beat at the end of them, it still felt good to be working.
As for the third phrase, I kept thinking it would fit seamlessly into this update but now it seems a bit forced. I'll press on though, for you dear reader!.
The nut of it is that the first day was nearly sabotaged by my hunger for a snack. Right beside the buildings main entrance was a hot dog etc. stand that deserved the descriptor "hole-in-the-wall" more than any I'd seen before. Feeling oddly peckish and with a few moments to spare, I decided to buy a pastry. The Armenian behind the counter kindly offered to warm it up. I guess in Armenia "warm" is their phrase for "searing" and thus when I bit into the pastry I was treated to a molten chocolate ejaculation straight into my limp, salivating maw. I can still feel the oddly textured burn all along the right side of my lips. This wouldn't have been so bad, except that a strange car-collision of half-formed jokes about what was going on at that exact moment came into my noggin'. So the sound I made was a strange hybrid of yelping in pain, choking on food and laughter. For the rest of the morning, stupid, nonsensical porno film titles kept popping into my head and I can only hope that I wasn't grinning too stupidly. Ah well!
Finally, I saw this odd thing during one of my lunchtime walks. I suspected some kind of crazed, holistic institution but it turned out to be a large building firm. Huh!
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Phew!
Thems was three long days! From getting up at 5:30am and spending about three hours commuting wrapping around nine hour days, I basically didn't exist outside of a data-entry context. Today, however, is a day to get things done! Haircuts (I need many), groceries, Christmas shopping maybe, further job hunting, doin' up a decent update on this here website and waging war on my overflowing inbox.
Phrases to look forward to in my later update
- Craven Idol
- Good Fortune
- Molten Chocolate Ejaculation
Phrases to look forward to in my later update
- Craven Idol
- Good Fortune
- Molten Chocolate Ejaculation
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Today I skipped a day
Good gravy, I think I just lost a day to nothing much in particular. A yawning void of nothing much seems to have gobbled it away and I haven't replied to any emails, finished the Dirk Hardwood installment I have saved at the 3/4 mark, done another sketch with the new pencils I treated myself to and meanwhile I ache all over with my own crapulence. Ye gods, is this what it is to be unemployed to the extreme?
I haven't heard about the three week contract again, so that means I'll be working just tomorrow and Tuesday. Ah well, I can see myself feeling ten times the man I've been today around tomorrow night when I make dinner after coming home from work.
Just a reminder that I do read all your kind and encouraging emails and messages. I just don't always have the time or energy to reply to them as soon as I normally do....and once a year, maybe, I have a non-day like today.
Never had a non-day? I don't recommend it.
I haven't heard about the three week contract again, so that means I'll be working just tomorrow and Tuesday. Ah well, I can see myself feeling ten times the man I've been today around tomorrow night when I make dinner after coming home from work.
Just a reminder that I do read all your kind and encouraging emails and messages. I just don't always have the time or energy to reply to them as soon as I normally do....and once a year, maybe, I have a non-day like today.
Never had a non-day? I don't recommend it.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Pictures I forgot to post!
These pictures don't quite do justice to how wonderful a fall scene I came upon along the Thames, but here they are nonetheless. I actually gasped like a pre-pubescent Japanese girl getting her first Hello Kitty mobile/Nintendo DS/vibrator/fax machine when I rounded the corner and came upon this combination of two of my favorite things in life, Fall and A Cosmopolitan Major City.
Well, maybe this one does a little justice. Like Batman!
Finally, here is the front of the BBC head office.
Well, maybe this one does a little justice. Like Batman!
Finally, here is the front of the BBC head office.
Friday, November 24, 2006
Friday Update: Fuck
Oh boy oh boy, my faith is being tested here. By "faith" I guess I really mean, patience.
So I have two days of confirmed work on Monday and Tuesday for a different company near Tottenham Court. The three-week thing is up in the air due to some stupidity on the part of the hiring company (as opposed to the recruitment company). The recruitment companies claim of being able to pay me by cashable cheques turned out to be false, so I had to get off the phone and ask my hosts to use their bank information. Luckily, so I could call them back, the recruiters gave me the phone number for the wrong office! I'm also a fan of the fact that in order to claim my pay, I'll have to fax my timesheet to them. Ray covers that pretty well in the latest Achewood, so I'll leave it to him. A cartoon cat.
Between this and a lot of nonsense involving paperwork, lazy people and my trying to claim jobseekers insurance (re: the dole)...well, I can honestly say that I will never need to get in a bumper car match with a dozen mongoloids. I already know the feeling.
But then my spirits were lifted right back up by Richard Dawkins and John Stewart donkey-punching Ted Haggart (my apologies for the uploaders truly remarkable video signature at the end of the clip). Hot damn, I really need to pick up a dvd of Dawkin's The Root of All Evil? some time. Good ol' Andy Brown introduced it to me in the summer and it served as a good primer for The God Delusion. Apparently the BBC editorial board fucked with the title to make it more attention-seeking, which goes a long way to explaining it. But title aside, it's great.
So I have two days of confirmed work on Monday and Tuesday for a different company near Tottenham Court. The three-week thing is up in the air due to some stupidity on the part of the hiring company (as opposed to the recruitment company). The recruitment companies claim of being able to pay me by cashable cheques turned out to be false, so I had to get off the phone and ask my hosts to use their bank information. Luckily, so I could call them back, the recruiters gave me the phone number for the wrong office! I'm also a fan of the fact that in order to claim my pay, I'll have to fax my timesheet to them. Ray covers that pretty well in the latest Achewood, so I'll leave it to him. A cartoon cat.
Between this and a lot of nonsense involving paperwork, lazy people and my trying to claim jobseekers insurance (re: the dole)...well, I can honestly say that I will never need to get in a bumper car match with a dozen mongoloids. I already know the feeling.
But then my spirits were lifted right back up by Richard Dawkins and John Stewart donkey-punching Ted Haggart (my apologies for the uploaders truly remarkable video signature at the end of the clip). Hot damn, I really need to pick up a dvd of Dawkin's The Root of All Evil? some time. Good ol' Andy Brown introduced it to me in the summer and it served as a good primer for The God Delusion. Apparently the BBC editorial board fucked with the title to make it more attention-seeking, which goes a long way to explaining it. But title aside, it's great.
Dilly-dallying with Dali
I think the interview went pretty well yesterday. The word "Excellent" was used more than once to describe my test results. Then again, I loudly used the same adjective when I got my foot caught in the train door while getting off at Paddington. But whatever, I'll (theoretically) get a phone call later today to confirm whether or not I'll have a three week data entry contract which would start on Monday. The pay is decent (eight pounds an hour) and though about a third of what I'll make will go to transit, the rest will still be very helpful. One interesting thing that the nice young girl I spoke with (I'll be damned if she was over twenty, thus "girl") told me was how hiring apparently heats up in January. As she was the third person from as many different recruiting companies to tell me this, I reached a point where I could believe it.
The job would be near Charing Cross, by and by.
So okay, I might not get into London until January, but that's fine by me. Whatever defeatist bastard coined that phrase about horses and hand grenades obviously never played darts - which is a much better metaphor when it comes to life goals. I'm just happy to know that there actually are some good periods for job hunting (another is April, due to the fiscal year). I swear that no matter the time of year in Ottawa, I'd always have a few people tell me of how that exact moment in time was total shit for job hunting. ANYwho....
So London was gorgeous yesterday and after the interview I made a point of trundling about a bit. It was nice, actually, since I managed to connect a few dots and now I think I have a much better handle on central London. PROTIP: The tube is a great way to get around, but you won't learn the city as anything but a grouping of circular patches around the stations unless you walk or bus a bit too. Plus it's much cheaper! The bus is about half the price of the tube and shank's pony costs as much as it always has.
I started by heading over to Trafalgar Square and I pulled the ol' camera out. As with most of Central London, it is drenched in history and I highly recommend taking the time to read all the informative plaques etc. Which reminds me, until recently I have only been reading half of any informative plaque, placard, poster or what have you. I actually had to remind myself that ALL of the text was in English here, thus throwing off the habit of a lifetime...
Eventually I found my way to my beloved Enbankment area and grabbed some lunch, which I valiently devoured in front of a watching crowd of some four dozen pigeons. Despite the fact that entire battallions of the buggers can be seen marching up and down most streets, I have yet to actually get shat on and for that I am thankful. Only that though, otherwise I'm an ingrate. I don't think I've even seen any birdshit! Perhaps they aren't birds so much as the finest concealed CCTV cameras that money can buy?
Heading over to the Saatchi, I saw they still had an exhibiton on the most wretched of artforms - manga - in the main area. But luckily in one of the sub-galleries there was a Salvador Dali exhibit! Knowing that Dali has always been one of my dad's favorites and having grown up constantly seeing bits of his work around the house, I couldn't see a reason not to go in. I gotta say I'm glad I did because it turns out I was powerfully ignorant about the man. Yes the melting clocks were a running gag of his, but there were others which should have been just as famous. Keep an eye out for crutches, spanish beans and disguised self-portraits throughout all his work and you'll see what I mean. In particular, I enjoyed his use of shelving coming out of the body as a means of drawing attention to all that we conceal inside ourselves.
Also, I thought he died ages ago (you know, sometime before Transformers and all that other 1980's crap which won't die) but apparently he only passed away in 1989.
Though I was wary of the kind of "worshipful-masturbation-to-cover-up-the-Emperor" nonsense you often get with "the greats", I was pleased to find that despite it's surreal nature you could often find the meaning within it which was trying to be expressed. Not that this is the point of art! I just have a strong distaste for people coming in after an artists death and slathering his or her work with their own interpretations until they eventually calcify into what the artist supposedly meant.
There were also many, many statues - again, I had no idea he had done anything but sketches and paintings. Dali also had no reservations about doing several series of works which were tributes to what had inspired him over the years (his series on Don Quixote gets my highest recommenation). He also dabbled in surrealist film making, which was constantly broadcast from a few mounted televisions, as well as photography and even a bit of jewelry. He truly deserves the title of "renaissance man".
Also, he apparently did a cartoon with Disney that took over fifty years to get to completion?
For a mere 15,000 pounds I could have bought a signed print, a print, of my favorite work of his...but somehow I thought that this was outside my current budget. Maybe after I get a job?
The job would be near Charing Cross, by and by.
So okay, I might not get into London until January, but that's fine by me. Whatever defeatist bastard coined that phrase about horses and hand grenades obviously never played darts - which is a much better metaphor when it comes to life goals. I'm just happy to know that there actually are some good periods for job hunting (another is April, due to the fiscal year). I swear that no matter the time of year in Ottawa, I'd always have a few people tell me of how that exact moment in time was total shit for job hunting. ANYwho....
So London was gorgeous yesterday and after the interview I made a point of trundling about a bit. It was nice, actually, since I managed to connect a few dots and now I think I have a much better handle on central London. PROTIP: The tube is a great way to get around, but you won't learn the city as anything but a grouping of circular patches around the stations unless you walk or bus a bit too. Plus it's much cheaper! The bus is about half the price of the tube and shank's pony costs as much as it always has.
I started by heading over to Trafalgar Square and I pulled the ol' camera out. As with most of Central London, it is drenched in history and I highly recommend taking the time to read all the informative plaques etc. Which reminds me, until recently I have only been reading half of any informative plaque, placard, poster or what have you. I actually had to remind myself that ALL of the text was in English here, thus throwing off the habit of a lifetime...
Eventually I found my way to my beloved Enbankment area and grabbed some lunch, which I valiently devoured in front of a watching crowd of some four dozen pigeons. Despite the fact that entire battallions of the buggers can be seen marching up and down most streets, I have yet to actually get shat on and for that I am thankful. Only that though, otherwise I'm an ingrate. I don't think I've even seen any birdshit! Perhaps they aren't birds so much as the finest concealed CCTV cameras that money can buy?
Heading over to the Saatchi, I saw they still had an exhibiton on the most wretched of artforms - manga - in the main area. But luckily in one of the sub-galleries there was a Salvador Dali exhibit! Knowing that Dali has always been one of my dad's favorites and having grown up constantly seeing bits of his work around the house, I couldn't see a reason not to go in. I gotta say I'm glad I did because it turns out I was powerfully ignorant about the man. Yes the melting clocks were a running gag of his, but there were others which should have been just as famous. Keep an eye out for crutches, spanish beans and disguised self-portraits throughout all his work and you'll see what I mean. In particular, I enjoyed his use of shelving coming out of the body as a means of drawing attention to all that we conceal inside ourselves.
Also, I thought he died ages ago (you know, sometime before Transformers and all that other 1980's crap which won't die) but apparently he only passed away in 1989.
Though I was wary of the kind of "worshipful-masturbation-to-cover-up-the-Emperor" nonsense you often get with "the greats", I was pleased to find that despite it's surreal nature you could often find the meaning within it which was trying to be expressed. Not that this is the point of art! I just have a strong distaste for people coming in after an artists death and slathering his or her work with their own interpretations until they eventually calcify into what the artist supposedly meant.
There were also many, many statues - again, I had no idea he had done anything but sketches and paintings. Dali also had no reservations about doing several series of works which were tributes to what had inspired him over the years (his series on Don Quixote gets my highest recommenation). He also dabbled in surrealist film making, which was constantly broadcast from a few mounted televisions, as well as photography and even a bit of jewelry. He truly deserves the title of "renaissance man".
Also, he apparently did a cartoon with Disney that took over fifty years to get to completion?
For a mere 15,000 pounds I could have bought a signed print, a print, of my favorite work of his...but somehow I thought that this was outside my current budget. Maybe after I get a job?
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Minor Update
Got an informal interview/test for a data entry job in Paddington which requires me to come into Chancery Lane tomorrow.
Will they screw me about? WHO KNOWS
Will they screw me about? WHO KNOWS
I'll have a White Irish please...
Good god, I was just signing up with another recruitment agency and eventually I got to the part where they ask if you'd be willing to give over your gender, race, religion etc. so as to help them meet their quotas. I always find this about as sensible and tasteful as making a point of telling people how many "ethnics" you know, so I opted out as usual.
Just to see, I explored the drop-down menue to learn how good ol' whitey is being categorized today. Instead of the usual "Caucasian" I saw three options.
Somehow, I doubt I need to expand upon the numerous troubles that I - or any thinking person might - have with this list. Good gravy....
Just to see, I explored the drop-down menue to learn how good ol' whitey is being categorized today. Instead of the usual "Caucasian" I saw three options.
Somehow, I doubt I need to expand upon the numerous troubles that I - or any thinking person might - have with this list. Good gravy....
Monday, November 20, 2006
Chugga-lug Chugga-lug
If only to let you all know that I haven't gone and dug myself a burrow of unadulterated doom, I thought I'd mention that the weekend was beautiful. Though cold, it was closer to that familiar dry cold of Ottawa, and the sun was out at many an hour so as to illuminate the steady stream of picturesque scenes to be found during my three kilometer walk down the Thames. Along the way I came across the reason there were so many swans by the river last time I took pictures there, a full blown enclosure for the creatures. Having safely fed from human hands for years, these birds (some of which were half my height) are very characterful and not at all afraid to imply that maybe you should get out of their way.
I left my camera and all other gadgets at home, but next time I head that way I shall bring it to try and record some of the life-affirming scenes to be walked through along that path.
Today I'm picking up on some more leads and casting the net a little wider, so as to include good ol' data entry. I thought hard about this over the weekend and decided that, in the very beginning at least, it's really just an exercise in foolish pride not to accept anything less than one of the two specific job types I want in the long run. Casting my mind not too far back, to this summer, I have to wonder how much better things might have gone if I hadn't let pride cause me to quit two different jobs and then be thrust back into job hunting purgatory for weeks at at time.
Meanwhile, I've continued to plug away at the horror script and have dug up my copy of AcidForge so as to enjoy making a little music. As my buddy Joe would say, "Productive fun is the best kind".
I left my camera and all other gadgets at home, but next time I head that way I shall bring it to try and record some of the life-affirming scenes to be walked through along that path.
Today I'm picking up on some more leads and casting the net a little wider, so as to include good ol' data entry. I thought hard about this over the weekend and decided that, in the very beginning at least, it's really just an exercise in foolish pride not to accept anything less than one of the two specific job types I want in the long run. Casting my mind not too far back, to this summer, I have to wonder how much better things might have gone if I hadn't let pride cause me to quit two different jobs and then be thrust back into job hunting purgatory for weeks at at time.
Meanwhile, I've continued to plug away at the horror script and have dug up my copy of AcidForge so as to enjoy making a little music. As my buddy Joe would say, "Productive fun is the best kind".
Friday, November 17, 2006
It was s'posed to be so easy!
Okay! So it seems I didn't get the publishing job and the most likely culprit is the film stuff I left on my CV. Despite playing it down as "just a silly hobby", I was deemed too much of a....I guess we'll call it a "flight risk". To add insult to injury, a data entry company in Paddington called me yesterday with an offer of employment. Unsure as to my status with Mintel, I said "Sure!" as the pay was great (ten pounds an hour) and it was a short term contract which would earn me enough cash to get into London. The recruitment guy went "Great! I'll call you back later" then didn't.
Hooo boy.
So I'd be lying if I said I felt at the top of my game right now, but I'm hardly about to give up. I do think I'm getting close to the point of just taking a data entry job or whatever, though, so I can just get set up and continue hunting for film work. One of the nice folk I met in Camden said he'd help me get a job with a telephone charity fundraising company which would pay alright and offer flexible hours. Another week of this nonsense and I might just take him up on the offer.
Meanwhile I've been whoring myself out like the dickens, with more of a focus on film work since the bad news about Mintel. I've also been working more on the horror script, which feels like a sure-shot for reaching feature-length, and have been steadily adding bulk to the next Dirk Hardwood installation.
I wish I had more exciting adventures to post pictures from and all, but it's been a bit dull lately. Lots of job hunting and wishing I had a job, I'm afraid! Sorry guys, I'll have to take up bungee-jumping or alcoholism or something to spice things up.
In the interest of something cheerier, do check out the regularly updated art page of a gent who goes by the alias of "Posterchild". I think it's one of the best things he has done and it almost goes without saying that I greatly enjoy his "Evidence of Batman" series. His philosophy on the reclamation of public spaces by the actual public is also a great read. If you feel like supporting an artist, then you can do so with some of the t-shirts he has made out of his work. Finally, there is also a classic little movement he got rolling.
Hooo boy.
So I'd be lying if I said I felt at the top of my game right now, but I'm hardly about to give up. I do think I'm getting close to the point of just taking a data entry job or whatever, though, so I can just get set up and continue hunting for film work. One of the nice folk I met in Camden said he'd help me get a job with a telephone charity fundraising company which would pay alright and offer flexible hours. Another week of this nonsense and I might just take him up on the offer.
Meanwhile I've been whoring myself out like the dickens, with more of a focus on film work since the bad news about Mintel. I've also been working more on the horror script, which feels like a sure-shot for reaching feature-length, and have been steadily adding bulk to the next Dirk Hardwood installation.
I wish I had more exciting adventures to post pictures from and all, but it's been a bit dull lately. Lots of job hunting and wishing I had a job, I'm afraid! Sorry guys, I'll have to take up bungee-jumping or alcoholism or something to spice things up.
In the interest of something cheerier, do check out the regularly updated art page of a gent who goes by the alias of "Posterchild". I think it's one of the best things he has done and it almost goes without saying that I greatly enjoy his "Evidence of Batman" series. His philosophy on the reclamation of public spaces by the actual public is also a great read. If you feel like supporting an artist, then you can do so with some of the t-shirts he has made out of his work. Finally, there is also a classic little movement he got rolling.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Jobbin'
Done up all pretty, I set off today so as to secure employment. Nearing Barbican station, I had a bit of an encounter with a woman who had an arse like a bumper car and a voice that could be likened to being stabbed in the kidneys while trying to enjoy watching your child take it's first steps.
That is to say, she was unpleasant...
...with me over my seeming to abandon a free paper on the subway seat which (she assumed) I had brought with me. I gave her a saucy wink and then exited, no time for temper tantrums today. Early for being early, I took a stroll around the neighborhood and was pleased to see that it had a small park and a large selection of pubs and restaurants which I might choose from if I need to buy a lunch. There was also one of those betting shops which are so popular here, adorned with several smiling Vinnie Jones posters letting me know that he would "do well by me, my son". This parlor was named "Ladbrokes" and though I understand they are betting brokers, it just doesn't strike me as wise to have that word in the name of a place which is trying to entice you with visions of cash. Kind of like naming a casino "Cash Strapped" or "Shitouttaluck".
The interview went fairly well, I feel. There were some last-minute skill bits, but nothing as bothersome as that Microsoft Word test. There was typing (la dee dah) and a sort of general "Are you stupid?" test. The latter is something I had to do at Greythorn recruitment as well and I have to wonder if there isn't some sort of sub-class of clever idiots who wank up a good CV, sound fair enough in the interview but then cannot do simple addition, multiply fractions, spell "indenture" or know the proper meaning of "effect".
Then again, maybe I shouldn't be so hard. I find that frequent use of spellchecker has brutally assaulted my own abilities and for the past few months I've been trying to avoid using it as anything but a last resort. The maddening thing about having an English degree (Honours too, you special boy you) is that you are often expected to be bloody infallible and a simple mistake will topple you off your high perch and place you straight into a large pile of what Ralph Steadman might refer to as gigoloshit. I don't know precisely what that last word means, but I'd marry it if the laws of man and nature would allow.
The pay turned out to be a grand above average for graduate jobs, so that's nice. There is a well-developed training program, 25 vacation days in a year and a semi-casual workplace (sweaters, but not novelty t-shirts or condoms). The job itself apparently is "Production Assistant" and would involve a lot of style editing over general proofreading, but whatever. It's something I can do for 40 hours a week and not just feel like I'm turning off my brain for eight hours a day while accruing nothing but a shit wage and more free radicals in my cells. Heck, some aspects which were described to me even sounded appealing to my taste for organizing things and changing them so as to remove the verbal chaff from the wheat.
They claim that I will know by Friday as to the result, one way or the other. I'm going to keep applying to other jobs, but I must say that I really do I hope I get this one. If all went well I could be living and working in London before the end of the month.
Switching from the micro to the macro, a decision was made today to dramatically raise traffic congestion charges in London by 2009 (giving folk time to adust their lifestyle to cleaner transport). The brilliance of this particular bill is that it changes things from a flat five pound fee to a gradiated fee based on the model of vehicle. Zero emission vehicles don't have to pay any fee at all...
I caught some BBC debate on the matter and it was hilarious listening to how rational the Green side were. Not only did they stress how this would benefit everyone and quote facts from reputable sources, but they made a point of explaining how families and small business could adapt without breaking the bank - usually while saving money in the long run. Meanwhile, the other side of the arguement just whined about the inconvenience of having to change business methods or tuning the family car to emission standards. There was no effort to expand upon the basic premise of "It will be a pain in the arse and I don't wanna and it will rape everyone's wallets" nor any attempt to meet environmental needs halfway.
It's just pathetic listening to this substanceless babyshit, but it is the defense of inconvenience which strikes me as one of the greatest obstacles for that understated job of....you know, saving the world. It's funny how hyperbolic that sounds, when it isn't.
Ok, I'm sorry - to apologize for soapboxing I will give you this. Some of you may have already seen it though, such is the internet.
Addendum
I actually found the company description of the job.
That is to say, she was unpleasant...
...with me over my seeming to abandon a free paper on the subway seat which (she assumed) I had brought with me. I gave her a saucy wink and then exited, no time for temper tantrums today. Early for being early, I took a stroll around the neighborhood and was pleased to see that it had a small park and a large selection of pubs and restaurants which I might choose from if I need to buy a lunch. There was also one of those betting shops which are so popular here, adorned with several smiling Vinnie Jones posters letting me know that he would "do well by me, my son". This parlor was named "Ladbrokes" and though I understand they are betting brokers, it just doesn't strike me as wise to have that word in the name of a place which is trying to entice you with visions of cash. Kind of like naming a casino "Cash Strapped" or "Shitouttaluck".
The interview went fairly well, I feel. There were some last-minute skill bits, but nothing as bothersome as that Microsoft Word test. There was typing (la dee dah) and a sort of general "Are you stupid?" test. The latter is something I had to do at Greythorn recruitment as well and I have to wonder if there isn't some sort of sub-class of clever idiots who wank up a good CV, sound fair enough in the interview but then cannot do simple addition, multiply fractions, spell "indenture" or know the proper meaning of "effect".
Then again, maybe I shouldn't be so hard. I find that frequent use of spellchecker has brutally assaulted my own abilities and for the past few months I've been trying to avoid using it as anything but a last resort. The maddening thing about having an English degree (Honours too, you special boy you) is that you are often expected to be bloody infallible and a simple mistake will topple you off your high perch and place you straight into a large pile of what Ralph Steadman might refer to as gigoloshit. I don't know precisely what that last word means, but I'd marry it if the laws of man and nature would allow.
The pay turned out to be a grand above average for graduate jobs, so that's nice. There is a well-developed training program, 25 vacation days in a year and a semi-casual workplace (sweaters, but not novelty t-shirts or condoms). The job itself apparently is "Production Assistant" and would involve a lot of style editing over general proofreading, but whatever. It's something I can do for 40 hours a week and not just feel like I'm turning off my brain for eight hours a day while accruing nothing but a shit wage and more free radicals in my cells. Heck, some aspects which were described to me even sounded appealing to my taste for organizing things and changing them so as to remove the verbal chaff from the wheat.
They claim that I will know by Friday as to the result, one way or the other. I'm going to keep applying to other jobs, but I must say that I really do I hope I get this one. If all went well I could be living and working in London before the end of the month.
Switching from the micro to the macro, a decision was made today to dramatically raise traffic congestion charges in London by 2009 (giving folk time to adust their lifestyle to cleaner transport). The brilliance of this particular bill is that it changes things from a flat five pound fee to a gradiated fee based on the model of vehicle. Zero emission vehicles don't have to pay any fee at all...
I caught some BBC debate on the matter and it was hilarious listening to how rational the Green side were. Not only did they stress how this would benefit everyone and quote facts from reputable sources, but they made a point of explaining how families and small business could adapt without breaking the bank - usually while saving money in the long run. Meanwhile, the other side of the arguement just whined about the inconvenience of having to change business methods or tuning the family car to emission standards. There was no effort to expand upon the basic premise of "It will be a pain in the arse and I don't wanna and it will rape everyone's wallets" nor any attempt to meet environmental needs halfway.
It's just pathetic listening to this substanceless babyshit, but it is the defense of inconvenience which strikes me as one of the greatest obstacles for that understated job of....you know, saving the world. It's funny how hyperbolic that sounds, when it isn't.
Ok, I'm sorry - to apologize for soapboxing I will give you this. Some of you may have already seen it though, such is the internet.
Addendum
I actually found the company description of the job.
Monday, November 13, 2006
In case any of you felt like buying me something for no good reason...
....I'm just sayin'.
Man, I am sick of being on a budget.
So I've prettied up my finest shirt, slacks and jacket for the journey into London tomorrow. The travel route is plotted out on paper, despite being an absurdly straightforward tube ride on the Hammersmith & City line followed by a minute's walk at most. I've even researched the company a bit so I can sound appropriately keen. Yes, I shall be a sparkling lad with a cleanly shaven neck that just inspires confidence.
Everything is gonna be fine, just you wait.
Man, I am sick of being on a budget.
So I've prettied up my finest shirt, slacks and jacket for the journey into London tomorrow. The travel route is plotted out on paper, despite being an absurdly straightforward tube ride on the Hammersmith & City line followed by a minute's walk at most. I've even researched the company a bit so I can sound appropriately keen. Yes, I shall be a sparkling lad with a cleanly shaven neck that just inspires confidence.
Everything is gonna be fine, just you wait.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Suitably Mirthless and Without Guilt
Just for a laugh, I thought I'd post this photo I had to take of myself to use in my Young Persons Rail Card application. I was pretty amused at how the site specified that you could not smile or show any real expression in the photo, despite the fact that the hair-jellied jackass in the website seems to be halfway through orgasm. Oh well! In case any of you were desperatly wondering what I look like after being told a bad joke, wonder no more.
In case you ever wondered what I would look like as an early 90's trading card from a series about hairy-chested rappers with names that will haunt them in their elder years, then lo this mystery shall be solved as well.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
My Canadian Bravado Has Gone Cold and Fallen Off
Holy god......it's supposedly ten degrees warmer here than in Ottawa, technically. Yet I am freezing! The whole "wet cold/dry cold" dichotemy is true! I was all chuffed up about resisting the cold elements, drawing upon years of -35c Ottawa weather to give me the necessary chutzpah to laugh in the face of English weather.
But I ain't laughin'. Oh no.
Meanwhile, not much to report. Gonna go see a movie this weekend and perhaps have a drink with the lads. Otherwise life is pretty much in a holding pattern for me until this Tuesday's interview. I feel very confident though, since I have passed the difficult part (that skill test) and only have this interview for the purposes of selling them my chisled features. The "do-we-like-your-face" style of interview has never been a problem for me, so I have high hopes. The only worry is if they decide to screw me around like Lead Generators seems to be doing.
But ah well, we'll see what comes up.
Call me perverse, but the beautiful fall weather is driving me more and more towards work on my horror script. The tenative title is "Archbrook" and I am sticking with the age of my female protagonist (around 58) because it opens up a whole world of new and interesting possabilities. It's definitely shaping up to be a kind of mystery where the horror is implied more than it sometimes is in this genre. Why on earth the changing of leaves gives me inspiration to write of gentlemen cults and various prediciments in which to place an older woman, I'll never know!
But hey, it beats the hell out of writers block.
But I ain't laughin'. Oh no.
Meanwhile, not much to report. Gonna go see a movie this weekend and perhaps have a drink with the lads. Otherwise life is pretty much in a holding pattern for me until this Tuesday's interview. I feel very confident though, since I have passed the difficult part (that skill test) and only have this interview for the purposes of selling them my chisled features. The "do-we-like-your-face" style of interview has never been a problem for me, so I have high hopes. The only worry is if they decide to screw me around like Lead Generators seems to be doing.
But ah well, we'll see what comes up.
Call me perverse, but the beautiful fall weather is driving me more and more towards work on my horror script. The tenative title is "Archbrook" and I am sticking with the age of my female protagonist (around 58) because it opens up a whole world of new and interesting possabilities. It's definitely shaping up to be a kind of mystery where the horror is implied more than it sometimes is in this genre. Why on earth the changing of leaves gives me inspiration to write of gentlemen cults and various prediciments in which to place an older woman, I'll never know!
But hey, it beats the hell out of writers block.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
First World Problems need First World Solutions
I just finished wrestling with a syphillitic internet tech support agent and I have finally rid my internet connection of all the foul bugs which were getting crushed and gumming up the great grinding gears which facilitated my chosen hobby: Inter-naut.
These are the battles which define our generation.
So I passed the Microsoft Word test, it seems? Thus I have an interview for next Tuesday in a part of London just East of Holborn and I do feel excited since I asked the big recruiting man at the company (who directly sought me out after seeing my CV on monster.co.uk, which felt nice) if this would be the only interview and he said "Yes". So I guess we'll see how that goes. I got a call from the nerd-job recruiter and he claims to know nothing but he'll call me when he knows something. Thanks darling!
I took a little time off from job hunting today so as to wrestle with some mundane issues but also take some long walks around the obscenely wealthy part of Reading (we're talking gated homes with private security guards) and begin to turn my hoard of script notes into script pages. Mainly my horror script, since I feel the need to do more research for the climate change story. Thus far I remain terrified.
Right then, as promised, here are some pictures from the fair towns of Oxford and Uffington.
Blackwell's is my favorite bookstore, where I returned to and snuck a picture of one of ye olde books behind glass. Across the street you have The Museum Of The History of Science, which has some really fun heads adorning it's outer gate.
The name of that ancient tomb I saw was Wayland Smithy. The name refers to a legend, I forget how it came about, that says if you leave your horse and a silver coin at the tomb overnight....when you come back some ghost will have done up new shoes for your horse?
Anyways, here I am in front of it - dressed up like little Jimmy on his seventh birthday with a new scarf which might cause the local octegenarians to remark upon what a responsible young man I appear to be.
Finally, here are a bunch of snaps from around Uffington. I just loved taking long walks around here as you cannot help feeling at peace among such broad expanses of nothing much but nature and horses. This truly epic tree is something I'd love to try painting, when I get the chance. That is the kind of tree where stories take major turning points, mark my words.
Anyways, that's enough for now - other than you might want to check out the first Dirk Hardwood excerpt. Why have I started to write Dirk Hardwood? Let me put it this way, sometimes a fella just needs to toss some half-empty beer bottles at a hornet's nest and then run like the dickens - or as the sperm donor said to the nurse "Sometimes a man just has to get it out of his system".
These are the battles which define our generation.
So I passed the Microsoft Word test, it seems? Thus I have an interview for next Tuesday in a part of London just East of Holborn and I do feel excited since I asked the big recruiting man at the company (who directly sought me out after seeing my CV on monster.co.uk, which felt nice) if this would be the only interview and he said "Yes". So I guess we'll see how that goes. I got a call from the nerd-job recruiter and he claims to know nothing but he'll call me when he knows something. Thanks darling!
I took a little time off from job hunting today so as to wrestle with some mundane issues but also take some long walks around the obscenely wealthy part of Reading (we're talking gated homes with private security guards) and begin to turn my hoard of script notes into script pages. Mainly my horror script, since I feel the need to do more research for the climate change story. Thus far I remain terrified.
Right then, as promised, here are some pictures from the fair towns of Oxford and Uffington.
Blackwell's is my favorite bookstore, where I returned to and snuck a picture of one of ye olde books behind glass. Across the street you have The Museum Of The History of Science, which has some really fun heads adorning it's outer gate.
The name of that ancient tomb I saw was Wayland Smithy. The name refers to a legend, I forget how it came about, that says if you leave your horse and a silver coin at the tomb overnight....when you come back some ghost will have done up new shoes for your horse?
Anyways, here I am in front of it - dressed up like little Jimmy on his seventh birthday with a new scarf which might cause the local octegenarians to remark upon what a responsible young man I appear to be.
Finally, here are a bunch of snaps from around Uffington. I just loved taking long walks around here as you cannot help feeling at peace among such broad expanses of nothing much but nature and horses. This truly epic tree is something I'd love to try painting, when I get the chance. That is the kind of tree where stories take major turning points, mark my words.
Anyways, that's enough for now - other than you might want to check out the first Dirk Hardwood excerpt. Why have I started to write Dirk Hardwood? Let me put it this way, sometimes a fella just needs to toss some half-empty beer bottles at a hornet's nest and then run like the dickens - or as the sperm donor said to the nurse "Sometimes a man just has to get it out of his system".
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Microsoft Turd
See what I did there?
The reason for a delay in my posting Oxford pictures and the first installment of Dirk Hardwood is that I got an offer from a publishing company for an entry-level proofreading position in central London. "Complete a Microsoft Word test that we'll send you and, if you do well enough, we'll call you in for a single interview which could then lead to employment". Sounds good enough, I can make Micrsoft Word dance through most hoops.
BUT THEN THE TEST WAS ALL ABOUT TABLES
Some questions are obviously quite easy (ex. change the font, sort by reverse alphabetical order and of course the actual proofreading/editing at the end). But I've already harrassed several people who know more about Word than I, as well as spent a few hours dabbling, and yet the "tabbed tables" questions are basically ruining me.
On the upside, this and some other frustrations seem to be putting me in just the right mindset for Dirk Hardwood...provided I don't pass out and then wake up in a ditch somewhere, wearing naught but a copy of the Microsoft Office manual and electrical tape.
The reason for a delay in my posting Oxford pictures and the first installment of Dirk Hardwood is that I got an offer from a publishing company for an entry-level proofreading position in central London. "Complete a Microsoft Word test that we'll send you and, if you do well enough, we'll call you in for a single interview which could then lead to employment". Sounds good enough, I can make Micrsoft Word dance through most hoops.
BUT THEN THE TEST WAS ALL ABOUT TABLES
Some questions are obviously quite easy (ex. change the font, sort by reverse alphabetical order and of course the actual proofreading/editing at the end). But I've already harrassed several people who know more about Word than I, as well as spent a few hours dabbling, and yet the "tabbed tables" questions are basically ruining me.
On the upside, this and some other frustrations seem to be putting me in just the right mindset for Dirk Hardwood...provided I don't pass out and then wake up in a ditch somewhere, wearing naught but a copy of the Microsoft Office manual and electrical tape.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Chompida Chompida
I can hear many a firework going off in Reading tonight, thanks to the numerous Guy Fawkes celebrations. As I rolled off the train from Oxford, I thought that the fireworks were all in one area and organized by the local government. But oh no, it seems that fireworks (good ones, too) must be more avaliable than I thought. Walking back to my hosts home, I saw them rocketing out of several backyards and more than once I spotted some embers bouncing along by my feet - presumably after a large plummet.
Meanwhile, Oxford was wonderful. I took many a picture, which I shall upload tomorrow when I'm not worn out. I got a chance to go back to my beloved bookstore, Blackwells, and see books which went back to the 1400's (though once you passed 1800, it was pretty much all bibles). The "Musem of the History of Science" was also inspected as they had an exhibit on Leonardo Da Vinci's mathematical tools. That may sound dull, but keep in mind that:
a) each tool was hand-made, with the kind of decorative flourish you would see applied to any cathedral of the era (Did your high school geomatry set come with golden inlays of apocalyptic battles between heaven and hell?)
b) I am the son of two goldsmiths
At this point, it's worth mentioning that my friends in Oxford actually live near the town in a little hamlet called Uffington. Near there you can find several remarkable pieces of history, the most famous being the 3000 year old, giant white horse. This afternoon I took the most incredibly relaxing walk along the Ridgeway so as to visit a large, 3,500 year old tomb that was laid across another tomb (5,500 years old this time). I got a decent picture of me taken in front of the darn thing, which is essentially like the end result of a mating rut involving Stonehenge and a tiny Pyramid. What made the tomb more remarkable than just age or arrangement of large stones which primitive folk could not have easily moved with their technology, was the circle of hard oak trees which surrounded it. The sound of the wind passing through them was quite moving, almost to the point of being surreal and frightening.
Many a film crew has used this site as a set for horror films and I can't say as I blame them.
Otherwise I ate incredibly well and enjoyed hours upon hours of excellent conversation with my Oxford hosts, well-educated people that have lived rich lives thus far and are able to spin a fascinating anecdote at the drop of a hat. I should be so lucky as to be able to have others describe me as such when I reach their age.
Tomorrow I should hear back about the forum nerd-job, which I shall take if I can get it. Being temp work, I should be able to drop it like a hot potatoe if Lead Generators get back to me or anything else wonderful comes up. I'd likely work for three or four weeks from Reading, then grab a room in London (preferably in the Camden Town/Oxford Circus/Islington trifecta). Aside from pictures, I also plan to add the first installment of a pulp serial idea which seized me viciously by the taint while I sat reading on the train back.
Current working title: The Mysanthropic Misadventures of Dirk Hardwood
Meanwhile, Oxford was wonderful. I took many a picture, which I shall upload tomorrow when I'm not worn out. I got a chance to go back to my beloved bookstore, Blackwells, and see books which went back to the 1400's (though once you passed 1800, it was pretty much all bibles). The "Musem of the History of Science" was also inspected as they had an exhibit on Leonardo Da Vinci's mathematical tools. That may sound dull, but keep in mind that:
a) each tool was hand-made, with the kind of decorative flourish you would see applied to any cathedral of the era (Did your high school geomatry set come with golden inlays of apocalyptic battles between heaven and hell?)
b) I am the son of two goldsmiths
At this point, it's worth mentioning that my friends in Oxford actually live near the town in a little hamlet called Uffington. Near there you can find several remarkable pieces of history, the most famous being the 3000 year old, giant white horse. This afternoon I took the most incredibly relaxing walk along the Ridgeway so as to visit a large, 3,500 year old tomb that was laid across another tomb (5,500 years old this time). I got a decent picture of me taken in front of the darn thing, which is essentially like the end result of a mating rut involving Stonehenge and a tiny Pyramid. What made the tomb more remarkable than just age or arrangement of large stones which primitive folk could not have easily moved with their technology, was the circle of hard oak trees which surrounded it. The sound of the wind passing through them was quite moving, almost to the point of being surreal and frightening.
Many a film crew has used this site as a set for horror films and I can't say as I blame them.
Otherwise I ate incredibly well and enjoyed hours upon hours of excellent conversation with my Oxford hosts, well-educated people that have lived rich lives thus far and are able to spin a fascinating anecdote at the drop of a hat. I should be so lucky as to be able to have others describe me as such when I reach their age.
Tomorrow I should hear back about the forum nerd-job, which I shall take if I can get it. Being temp work, I should be able to drop it like a hot potatoe if Lead Generators get back to me or anything else wonderful comes up. I'd likely work for three or four weeks from Reading, then grab a room in London (preferably in the Camden Town/Oxford Circus/Islington trifecta). Aside from pictures, I also plan to add the first installment of a pulp serial idea which seized me viciously by the taint while I sat reading on the train back.
Current working title: The Mysanthropic Misadventures of Dirk Hardwood
Friday, November 03, 2006
Hot Dawg...?
I just got an offer of employment!
The Exciting Bits
- I'd be working in Oxford Circus.
- It would be a rather easy job moderating a web forum for a big video game company (re: not too much effort needed, not going to consume my post-work thoughts and make writing difficult).
The Mediocre Bits
- The pay is a bit mediocre at £7/hr, thought it could be a bit higher as that is just an estimate from the recruiter - I'm told that if it isn't £7 then it will be higher, not lower, as it is in the best interest of the recruiter not to overquote.
- It's only a three month contract, but whatever....it will still be cash and it will open the door to a proper bank account as well as a National Insurance number. Also, future contracts through the same agency?
The Suspiciously Brown Bits
- I'd be moderating a web forum for a big video game company (re: impressing future potential publishing or film employers, ladies).
- At this point I have no clue as to what actual company it is or the precise pay.
I'm supposed to hear back on Monday and I could start work as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday though - so this puts the job way ahead of the folk at Lead Generators, who seem to think that most job hunters can afford to go through their eighty-two week hiring process.
The Exciting Bits
- I'd be working in Oxford Circus.
- It would be a rather easy job moderating a web forum for a big video game company (re: not too much effort needed, not going to consume my post-work thoughts and make writing difficult).
The Mediocre Bits
- The pay is a bit mediocre at £7/hr, thought it could be a bit higher as that is just an estimate from the recruiter - I'm told that if it isn't £7 then it will be higher, not lower, as it is in the best interest of the recruiter not to overquote.
- It's only a three month contract, but whatever....it will still be cash and it will open the door to a proper bank account as well as a National Insurance number. Also, future contracts through the same agency?
The Suspiciously Brown Bits
- I'd be moderating a web forum for a big video game company (re: impressing future potential publishing or film employers, ladies).
- At this point I have no clue as to what actual company it is or the precise pay.
I'm supposed to hear back on Monday and I could start work as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday though - so this puts the job way ahead of the folk at Lead Generators, who seem to think that most job hunters can afford to go through their eighty-two week hiring process.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Chuggida Chuggida
So I'm leaving around 4pm tomorrow - camera in hand - for the leafy, literature-soaked city of Oxford. Shall return sometime Sunday so as to see the new Borat film with the lads.
The past couple of days I've mostly been fighting the good fight, being careful not to lose focus or momentum. A temporary office or bar job should be mine soon and though it is not the main goal, I sure would like to have an income again! I've also started to dig up some useful film resources and even come across a UK/European satellite channel which takes independent film submissions. I'll have to read over the legal bits and think it over but hey, it might be a really interesting way to get my name out there.
Exploring more of Reading lead to seeing some pretty boids.
I've also been writing more and more, feeling almost a little posessed....which might explain this sketch. The climate change script comes easily, but I keep working on a horror script as well - which has a middle-aged (closer to 60 than 40) woman in the lead. I really want to try my hand at horror and I can get the necessary mood(s) whipped up...but it just doesn't come as easily as the climate change story. I guess having a little fire in your belly can really make the difference. It's certainly much easier to be passionate about climate change than cults...unless maybe I work in some totally transparent commentary on the power of religion to warp minds? Yes yes?
And then it turns out in the final scene that The Bible was the real sapphic vampire-lady all along...DUH-NAH!
I certainly was whipped up and pissed off about the unintentional duplicity and insincerity exhibited by people trying to "find someone" when I wrote Tonight We Fall In Love - which makes it all the more bizarre for me to go back over the script, since I am a much different person from when I began writing it at the age of twenty-two. I guess it's like reading old diary entries, for those who keep them.
Not much else to report - I went swimming with Tim tonight and after several laps (which made it painfully clear that I need to import Cathy that I might have a tennis partner again), I am more than ready for bed.
If only writing were somehow a cardiovascular sport!
The past couple of days I've mostly been fighting the good fight, being careful not to lose focus or momentum. A temporary office or bar job should be mine soon and though it is not the main goal, I sure would like to have an income again! I've also started to dig up some useful film resources and even come across a UK/European satellite channel which takes independent film submissions. I'll have to read over the legal bits and think it over but hey, it might be a really interesting way to get my name out there.
Exploring more of Reading lead to seeing some pretty boids.
I've also been writing more and more, feeling almost a little posessed....which might explain this sketch. The climate change script comes easily, but I keep working on a horror script as well - which has a middle-aged (closer to 60 than 40) woman in the lead. I really want to try my hand at horror and I can get the necessary mood(s) whipped up...but it just doesn't come as easily as the climate change story. I guess having a little fire in your belly can really make the difference. It's certainly much easier to be passionate about climate change than cults...unless maybe I work in some totally transparent commentary on the power of religion to warp minds? Yes yes?
And then it turns out in the final scene that The Bible was the real sapphic vampire-lady all along...DUH-NAH!
I certainly was whipped up and pissed off about the unintentional duplicity and insincerity exhibited by people trying to "find someone" when I wrote Tonight We Fall In Love - which makes it all the more bizarre for me to go back over the script, since I am a much different person from when I began writing it at the age of twenty-two. I guess it's like reading old diary entries, for those who keep them.
Not much else to report - I went swimming with Tim tonight and after several laps (which made it painfully clear that I need to import Cathy that I might have a tennis partner again), I am more than ready for bed.
If only writing were somehow a cardiovascular sport!
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
I've never been so enraged by cleavage in all my life
Yes, you read that right. Bared bosoms are on probation with me right now and let me tell you why.
The GRC interview was almost wholly unsatisfactory and the worst part is that there is no real villain to haul up on the end of a pike. They specified in their email to me that I should come all gussied up in a suit, something which is still way too warm to wear on the tube or inside a building right now (though perhaps the fact that my body is still aclimatized to Canadian weather is to blame).
Already a little grouchy from the train ticket costing more than I felt it should do, my jaw just about dropped when I saw that nobody but the receptionists were "dressed smart" and my advisor was wearing jeans along with a tank top that had me convinced that her breasts had achieved sentience and, after a brief discussion between them, decided that escape was their best option.
Oh well, I suppose this isn't such a war crime. She was pretty personable, honest and at least somewhat helpful (providing me with some handy advice on my letter writing campaign). I just don't think I had to spend money and a day on coming into her office so I could re-iterate a bunch of info which could have been handled in a fifteen minute phone call. An extra five minutes would have covered the advice, which included the rather dour little number about how November and December are always the quietest months in hiring since by this point the budget for new employees (given out in January) has been pretty much spent.
Leaving the office I was pretty fed up and put out. Feeling like that, it's hard not to want a villain - so I attended to that need while cheering myself up with a good laugh on the way home as I mentally blamed this woman's chest for anything from the day's frustrations to religious extremism and climate change.
Moving over to the bigger picture, the Stern Report dropped today and I'm quite glad. In a nutshell, important members of the English government and The World Bank have put something together which reinforces two of the main points of Al Gore's brilliant arguement - that screwing up the environment will actually damage the economy more than trying to fix things and that no matter how you cut it, this is a problem of the present which needs to be dealt with right now. I promise I'll not be turning this site into a soapbox - but given that climate change is easily the most pressing world issue in existence, I reckoned that this was worth mentioning.
In other news, I got a reply to my follow-up email from Lead Generators. Apparently I am still supremely sexy and they are "grateful for" the Dawkins review I left with them. But "Unfortunately, the process has taken longer than expected and [we] will need another few weeks to get back in touch with you to complete the interview process". Erm, OK!
Ah but screw it, this too has left me somewhat galvanized to continue not only job searching but to keep trying new methods - if only to prove a point. Tomorrow I shall launch my email assault on the world of publishing and pick up the needed supplies for the postal assault - in both cases being mindful that the letters are addressed to specific individuals and not the useles black hole that is the HR department of most companies.
Finally, head on over to this site which Kate found and click on The Beginners Guide to Britain - it's really funny and a great thing to watch if you've had a day like mine.
The GRC interview was almost wholly unsatisfactory and the worst part is that there is no real villain to haul up on the end of a pike. They specified in their email to me that I should come all gussied up in a suit, something which is still way too warm to wear on the tube or inside a building right now (though perhaps the fact that my body is still aclimatized to Canadian weather is to blame).
Already a little grouchy from the train ticket costing more than I felt it should do, my jaw just about dropped when I saw that nobody but the receptionists were "dressed smart" and my advisor was wearing jeans along with a tank top that had me convinced that her breasts had achieved sentience and, after a brief discussion between them, decided that escape was their best option.
Oh well, I suppose this isn't such a war crime. She was pretty personable, honest and at least somewhat helpful (providing me with some handy advice on my letter writing campaign). I just don't think I had to spend money and a day on coming into her office so I could re-iterate a bunch of info which could have been handled in a fifteen minute phone call. An extra five minutes would have covered the advice, which included the rather dour little number about how November and December are always the quietest months in hiring since by this point the budget for new employees (given out in January) has been pretty much spent.
Leaving the office I was pretty fed up and put out. Feeling like that, it's hard not to want a villain - so I attended to that need while cheering myself up with a good laugh on the way home as I mentally blamed this woman's chest for anything from the day's frustrations to religious extremism and climate change.
Moving over to the bigger picture, the Stern Report dropped today and I'm quite glad. In a nutshell, important members of the English government and The World Bank have put something together which reinforces two of the main points of Al Gore's brilliant arguement - that screwing up the environment will actually damage the economy more than trying to fix things and that no matter how you cut it, this is a problem of the present which needs to be dealt with right now. I promise I'll not be turning this site into a soapbox - but given that climate change is easily the most pressing world issue in existence, I reckoned that this was worth mentioning.
In other news, I got a reply to my follow-up email from Lead Generators. Apparently I am still supremely sexy and they are "grateful for" the Dawkins review I left with them. But "Unfortunately, the process has taken longer than expected and [we] will need another few weeks to get back in touch with you to complete the interview process". Erm, OK!
Ah but screw it, this too has left me somewhat galvanized to continue not only job searching but to keep trying new methods - if only to prove a point. Tomorrow I shall launch my email assault on the world of publishing and pick up the needed supplies for the postal assault - in both cases being mindful that the letters are addressed to specific individuals and not the useles black hole that is the HR department of most companies.
Finally, head on over to this site which Kate found and click on The Beginners Guide to Britain - it's really funny and a great thing to watch if you've had a day like mine.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Month's End
Well howdy. Sorry for the absence!
Job hunting may feel a little discouraging, but I still have faith. A list of publishers has been drawn up and form letters composed - their peace of mind will be interrupted by my cries for employment. Meanwhile I have an interview with the GRC tomorrow where, after my having impressed them via my CV and charming phone manner, they will poke and prod me to see what they can find (jobwise).
Friday night was a pretty fun time. It turned out that Leon and some friends were having what may be referred to in some circles as a "wingding", though it was enjoyable enough to warrant consideration of being upgraded to "hootenanny" status. Lots of good folk were there, a decent number from Canada, and later in the evening the party spilled out into Camden to find it's way to a Cuban-themed place that had good drinks and a name which I do not recall.
I'd love to be more detailed but it has occurred to me lately that if I keep giving anatomical detail of the goings-on between me and the people I meet in England, than mayhap I could make people feel like they really have to watch their behaviour in my company lest it find it's way to the most public of forums. So I'll simply say that I was pleased to chat with some recent Canadian ex-pats about our respective escapades and that I met a fellow film enthusiast as well as a fan of Hunter S. Thompson, leaving me well pleased. By the end of the evening I felt more relaxed and at peace with the city than I had since I arrived - I think the last traces of "Jesus Christ I'm in a somewhat unfamiliar country" finally fell off.
Surprise, surprise.....Saturday was spent alternately vegging out and writing. Sunday was a bit of that mixed with a trip to Hyde park to see what Speakers Corner was all about. The fellow on the soapbox when I arrived was taking a harried "Muslim veils divide the community, ergo they should be banned" position on the current ruckus. It got kind of awkward, rather quickly...but I still think I'll check it out sometime again in the future. Once again I nearly went to the south-east end of the park to see the Diana memorial. But even this many years later, I find remembering the hypocritcal public behavior which surrounded her so utterly repuslive that I couldn't bring myself to do it.
That may sound harsh. But it's surprisingly easy to forget that before Diana died and provoked people to remark"Oh no! Our fair lady has fallen!", those same people would look over their morning breakfast and think "Hey I hope those clever lads at The Daily Mirror manage to sneak another camera in Diana's toilet bowl again!".
But enough of that nonsense. I also found some incredibly good bookstores and stared at a few as I imagine a starving man in the desert looks upon the mirage of a turkey stuffed with lasagna. Particularly Ralph Steadman's book about Hunter S. Thompson with a forward by Kurt Vonnegut! Man oh man I already want to start building my library over here and I still need to bring my other books over from Canada. So much to read, then display as painfully obvious conversation pieces! "Oh why yes, I have studied the Kama Sutra, though I suppose it would be better to say that I've lived it".Today I head off to Reading, which should be relaxing and all - plus I'm sure I'll get to see the lads for a bit of fun now and then. I've also arranged to head up to Oxford (the city, not the circus) this coming weekend, which should lead to futher book-inspired salivations...but oh well!
Slowly but surely I'm gathering more and more information and useful experience with job hunting in the UK - things'll come around, I'm sure of it (he said prophetically, before falling into a bottomless pit).
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