Update for Mr Reznor

If you're reading this Trent... I have a few more covers recommendations to add:

• I Can't Dance by Genesis (You have to trust me on this one)
• Close To Me by The Cure
• All That She Wants by Ace of Base
• I Need You Tonight by INXS ( Go on, TELL me that wouldn't be amazing!)
• Lullaby by The Cure
• I Feel Loved by Depeche Mode
• Ashes to Ashes by Faith No More
• Discoteque by U2 (and they'd do a damn better version than Bono's little brain could ever comprehend or cope with)

On Candystripe legs...

(That's a quote from The Cure by the way).

It smells like Autumn. You can see more of the sky because there are no leaves left on the trees. It's fresh and crisp. I like it.

It's Bonfire night tomorrow. After that, it's officially christmas. Woop!

I have a total of 1 Christmas present bought so far. Not a flying start I admit, but it's a start. I know what christmas tree theme I'm having this year- Candystripe on my black tree. Tim Burton is going to bow to my fantastic candy stripe christmas tree. I have no decorations yet but I can already see how awesome it's going to be in my head. All will bask in it's glory. Well, I will anyway. I will be wrapping my presents to match of course as is the Slink quality standard.

In other, less stripey news, I have immersed myself in the familiar and comforting smell of Polymer clay fumes today. I've used some rare time off work to do what I love most... mess about with clay. I've missed just about everything about it... apart from how washing your hands every 20 minutes completely destroys your skin.

Ah well. It's good to be back. :-)

Uncomplete.

I haven't had the time to blog for months. I hate it, actually. Being busy is all well and good but it means months roll by and before you know it it's nearly christmas again.

I've been in my "was new" job for six months now and passed all my probationary wotsits so that's good news. Six months have absolutely flown by. I felt pretty out of sorts last week and I put it down to not being able to make stuff.

I don't feel complete. Working full time at a job with good earning potential and good long term prospects is the sensible thing to do. Hell I've got a pension for gawds sakes which I suppose is a good thing... but it means alot of my days are sucked into a meaningless blur of commuting and the hum of computers, shuffling papers and earning money to pay my bills. Necessary I guess but it's not allowing me room to be do what I do best. It's not allowing me to stretch my creative self and make stuff which is the only time I feel truly complete. Whole.

I have a project in mind which could take a few months. Once I get the materials I'll make a start on it not only because I want to but because I need to for the sake of my creative brain. My biggest fear right here in the moment is losing my creativity; losing my ability to make things would be like cutting both my arms off. If I'm not able to find time to make things then I might as well.

I miss blogland. I will make more of an effort.

Good Deed for the Day...

Helping a pregnant lady tie up her shoe lace on the train!

Smells.

I have a new job. I'm officially a commuter now- working in the city and travelling in by train every day.

This morning was quite an assault on the senses; or more specifically the nose.

First of all, the usual train smell is enough to be contending with- that musty, warm, burnt-fuel smell that sets you up for a full days work.

Next, a slightly-more-than-middle aged man gets on the train and sits behind me. Accompanying him is a wafty smell that comes and goes. I wasted a good few minutes trying to work out if it was parsnips, a cheap cologne- or what I prefer to call Man-Perfume- or possibly an expensive cologne that unfortunately smells of parsnips.

Off the train, and at New Street station is where the real onslaught begins. Straight away the smells of big, dirty trains, and probably plenty of big, dirty commuters too. Through the kiosks, passed the odd waft of various perfumes from passers by and up the escalators to the main shopping precinct, and now the nose goes into hyperdrive. First up is the warm smell of Subway. All subways smell the same, and it's never all that pleasant; not necessarily a bad smell but it certainly does NOT smell fresh. Next door is the fruit juice stand. Smells from here are far more interesting- varied, tangy, sweet and bitter all mixed into one strange smell, but you don't get chance to revel in it because right next door to that is the pretzel shop. This actually smells rather nice- it's a smell that reminds me of breakfast in New York and it makes me feel happily hungry. Out on the street, and it's full of fumes and traffic smells, dirt and unescapable nicotine clouds.

Even reaching my office building and I'm greeted by the smell of newly cleaned floors, photo copyer ink and heat, new paper, the odd coffee and bacon sandwhich, then finally, after it all... the comfort of slowly burning computer dust.

Thank you Mr Darwin.

It's been Darwin week on the BBC recently... and geez was THAT needed. In recent weeks I've noticed crazy christian beliefs sneeking into normal tv programs and it's pissed me off enormously. Now, I don't mind there being christian tv programs, I have no objection to Songs of Praise being on TV and advertised clearly so that I can avoid it like the plague, but I don't necessarily like it being not-so-subtly implanted into storylines and plots in regular tv programs like Eastenders and Holby city. The latter has obviously taken on some Church-going script writers in recent months and it became increasingly more comical and blatant by the week. Similarly, I can cope with Christian characters in TV land. What I object to are these "subtle" undertones of Faith and higher-self messages in plot lines. It's not big, it's not clever, it's down right irritating and not what I pay £135 a year for.

However, last week, the Beeb redeemed itself with a week of programs about the genius of Darwin (a fellow Midlander of course) and a man who we should ALL be grateful for bringing sense and reason to the world through science and fact. Ah sweet sweet fact and evidence.

I cannot even imagine how different the world would be if Darwin hadn't devoted his life to these studies... though I would have hoped that if he hadn't, someone else would have. How brave of him though, to actually come forward with his studies and present them to a world where free-thinking was considered dangerous and evil. Amazing man.

Snow Haiku

I went for a walk
Snow cushioned each step I took
still crunchy and soft.

The Great British Art of Complaining.

I read this today. Highly amusing.

Virgin Air Food Complaint Letter.

This one is deserving of a mention too and I can completely sympathise having had tanglings with ntl in the past.

I'm keeping them here for future reference because I think I'm going to need them as templates for communication with our wonderfully shite lettings agent. I thought we'd rid ourselves of one bad agent- slow, rude, unhelpful and miserable creatures who when asked to carry out tasks completely within the confines of their job role, reacted like we'd just asked them to climb Everest. However, we've since learnt that actually, they weren't so bad.

Our new letting agent has two of the rudest, slowest, incredibly dull, thick-as-two-short-planks, idiots working for them- it's hard to believe they manage to make it to work every day. We've so far been waiting two months for them to make a phonecall and arrange for our aerial to be fixed so we can actually use our tv properly. Something about them being able to actually make that call seems far too difficult for them to grasp, yet we're not able to arrange for it to be fixed ourselves because the agent apparantly has to use their own contractors. So, in my typical rottweiler manner I'm phoning them every day to check if they've sorted it out. :-) The person I spoke to yesterday gave me the delightful excuse of "well it hasn't been a problem before" as the reason for them being slow with it... hrmm, wierd. So if the boiler explodes I guess their won't be a rush on that either because it won't have been an issue before. I'm aware it's only a TV aerial. It's not an urgent matter- however, we've been extremely patient up to now having waited two months when we could have easily, quickly and simply arranged for this to be fixed within 2 weeks!

This will be the last time we use a letting agent. They're completely, utterly useless.

Too Cold to Create.

Currently Listening to: Bob Marley

... which doesn't feel right when it's freezing cold both inside and out. It's the kind of music which really doesn't suit cold, stark, grey days; a bit like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers who seem to hibernate over the colder months only to re-appear every summer without fail.

I am officially too cold to create stuff today.

It must be about 3 degrees out today and probably not much warmer in this bloody igloo of a house either. I'm meant to be working on a commission but my hand's are too cold to work with the clay. The light is now dimming to since it's nearly four o'clock so not only will I be freezing cold, but unable to see as well.

That said, the most productive thing I have done today is: Clean the bathroom- and I didn't even do that properly because I didn't mop the floor.

Ah well, it is a wednesday. Wednesdays are always a bit rubbish aren't they?

Change.

So, here I am. New town. Well, it's a city actually which doesn't feel right because it's smaller than the town we just moved from. Anyhoo, yeah new location, new flat, new year. And hopefully, a new job within the next month.

I can't quite believe how quickly time has flown over the last few months. We're settled, just about. I have a new studio room with a nice big spare desk that I can work on. I'm currently undertaking a project which is my first paid commission and I'm already nervous about presenting it to the customers since it's an emotive and personal subject I'm sculpting... but I'm relishing the challenge and love that I'll be able to send out my second invoice. wooot!

I have a new website for my artwork which will hopefully integrate some of my personal commissions. Any more and I'll have to strip the Illustration bit altogether. It's not live yet though, since I haven't had proper internet access to upload all my work.

I feel positive, despite the cold, the economic gloom and it being January/February which are by far the worst months ever. Aside from October, and September.

Speaking of cold; This new flat is bloody freezing. An old, converted house with brick, uninsulated walls and single glazed windows, it's colder than an igloo. The first few nights we were here, you could actually see your hair moving in the draughts! Needless to say, after one electric blanket, numerous draught excluder tape rolls and door sausages (draught excluders) as I call them, we're coping. Just, whenever it drops below 4 degrees in the UK, think of me shivering away in my black furry slippers and five jumpers.

Good news of the day: I completed more of my sculpture and feel it's going pretty well.
Bad news of the day: I forgot my age for about 5 minutes today. I couldn't think if I was 25 already or 25 this coming birthday... sadly it was the former.