Blueberry muffin and coffee at macdonalds. Okay not the healthiest start an macedeea nut at least you get to use the toilets for free. Tmi.
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Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Into London
Just heading into London this morning for my forst freelance placement at forward publishing. It's a one week placement working on a megazine for tecso, a baby publication I think. It's a nice change going into central London for a change. My last placemnt was in twickenham, about half an hour from Wimbledon, where I currently reside. Freelance can vary. Usually you get paid by the hour, but this one is a flat day rate. Not fabulous, but considering I didn't have much planned for this week, it'll do nicely. Once again blogging from my iPod touch. Not as diifficult to type as I thought and the spelling correction, though not perfect is doing a great job. Just at London Waterloo taking the overground as there's severe delays on the district line. Not everybody as me thrilled to be up so early. Pollution bad as usual. Try blowing your nose at the end of a day in London and see the soot. On the bakerloo line. Warm and incomfortable as usual. In Durban the view from work was the beach at umhlanga ridge, or the leafy surrounds at westville quarry. In Leicester you would pass the cows grazing and literally smell the manure from your desk. Now I head to picadilly circus, possibly the busiest and noisest places in London. This Is supposed to be an improvement, right? At least I don't have to drive to work. :-).
Posted with LifeCast
Posted with LifeCast
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
break time
In between all of this chaos, hanse and kenny offered their couch to crash on. yumika and her friend, mayoka (i'm sure i've got the spelling wrong). yumika over from italy - studying operatic singing of sorts, both japanese girls, and kenny and me, two south african durban homeboys (something like that). we dropped hanse off at work, who just got a promotion, and went to richmond for breakfast and a walk along the river thames.
1 year
Flip, can't believe that's it's been one whole year since i posted any, well, posts. Not sure why. Just caught up in LIFE, I guess. LIFE gets in the way of things. There are always more important things than posting on blogger. Just had a really quiet trip to SA. hardly told anyone I was gonna be there, just a quick trip for my mum's 50th birthday, which was a surprise (for her). Back now a couple of weeks from balmy conditions to snow and literally freezing temperatures on day of arrival. Nice.
Anyway resigned from my full time job just about a month ago for the joys and pleasures of freelance. It's a different ballgame over here, the agencies can be good to support you, but there's so much competition, and so many talented people it can be quite tough.
A fish out of water. Gave up home, gave up car. Living temporarity in a house in Southfields, south west London, just a couple of stops away from Wimbledon. Tadhg's and my stuff stored temporarily in Wimbledon while he's in Ireland. How's it feel to be unemployed in the 2nd most expensive city in the world? Scary, that's how it feels. Just been looking for a place to stay, been trekking around London, walking what seemed like miles from tube stops looking for a place to stay. Eventually found a lovely place in Southfields, locally known as Saffafields, becos honestly, there must be more South Africans and Kiwis than British in this neck of the woods. You'd swear I'm in Musgrave.
Anyway seeing an agent tomorrow. Sink or swim, who knows.
Anyway resigned from my full time job just about a month ago for the joys and pleasures of freelance. It's a different ballgame over here, the agencies can be good to support you, but there's so much competition, and so many talented people it can be quite tough.
A fish out of water. Gave up home, gave up car. Living temporarity in a house in Southfields, south west London, just a couple of stops away from Wimbledon. Tadhg's and my stuff stored temporarily in Wimbledon while he's in Ireland. How's it feel to be unemployed in the 2nd most expensive city in the world? Scary, that's how it feels. Just been looking for a place to stay, been trekking around London, walking what seemed like miles from tube stops looking for a place to stay. Eventually found a lovely place in Southfields, locally known as Saffafields, becos honestly, there must be more South Africans and Kiwis than British in this neck of the woods. You'd swear I'm in Musgrave.
Anyway seeing an agent tomorrow. Sink or swim, who knows.
Friday, March 16, 2007
2 days
I'm all packed. Didn't leave the house yesterday except to by a Yebo Africa calling card. Funny how the Indian people at the shop pronounce 'Yebo'. Yeeeeebo.
Heading into central London today to get bits and pieces done.
Michael Jackson just got into London yesterday. Been checking out a forum of fans speculating where he is today. Eventually figured it's fruitless and a waste of time trying to stalk him outside his hotel with all the screaming fans. He needs his privacy too.
Had two cups of tea and it's not even 7:30. Buzzing. Should give me some fuel for the next couple of hours.
Speaking of fuel. Quite upset that my car was possibly filled with contaminated fuel. Thousands of motorists around the country had exactly the same symptoms on their cars with hundreds of pounds of repair bills. Noticed some of the symptoms, like hicupping and sluggishness. Will be glad if it's simpy my paranoia, or bad driving.
Heading into central London today to get bits and pieces done.
Michael Jackson just got into London yesterday. Been checking out a forum of fans speculating where he is today. Eventually figured it's fruitless and a waste of time trying to stalk him outside his hotel with all the screaming fans. He needs his privacy too.
Had two cups of tea and it's not even 7:30. Buzzing. Should give me some fuel for the next couple of hours.
Speaking of fuel. Quite upset that my car was possibly filled with contaminated fuel. Thousands of motorists around the country had exactly the same symptoms on their cars with hundreds of pounds of repair bills. Noticed some of the symptoms, like hicupping and sluggishness. Will be glad if it's simpy my paranoia, or bad driving.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
countdown has begun...
been living in new malden which is just south of london. been living here for just about 2 and a half weeks now. though that i may have done a lot more social wise but time does indeed fly.
been mostly getting my shite organised in terms of my portfolio, cv and other legal bits and pieces. kinda done now and just chilling out mostly, eating too much junk food and watching dvd's. been through borat, the wild, taken (which is a late christmas present from nischol), and other misc stuff i've acquired.
leaving to come to durban on sunday. feeling really different from when i did same time last year. circumstances very different, to say the least. will be packing my bags tomorrow and getting myself together.
st patricks day is on saturday, so may go to richmond to a pub that supposedly had celebrations or sorts. or cheap drinks at the least.
been mostly getting my shite organised in terms of my portfolio, cv and other legal bits and pieces. kinda done now and just chilling out mostly, eating too much junk food and watching dvd's. been through borat, the wild, taken (which is a late christmas present from nischol), and other misc stuff i've acquired.
leaving to come to durban on sunday. feeling really different from when i did same time last year. circumstances very different, to say the least. will be packing my bags tomorrow and getting myself together.
st patricks day is on saturday, so may go to richmond to a pub that supposedly had celebrations or sorts. or cheap drinks at the least.
Friday, March 09, 2007
the real world
It's been ages since I wrote a entry into this blog. It's been a strange few months. Huge changes. A lotta living in the real world with little concern for the virtual world that is the interweb. Isn't that just the way things go? Many of my friends use the web as an outlet. Got me thinking. Plus I also got a lot of flack from people in my real world for living too much in the virtual world. Yeah it's an outlet, an easy cost effective way to stay in touch, make friends and connect with the world. Social networking. But there's also another side of it. People use it as a mask. Like being at a masquerade ball. You always have that veil of self protection. That layer, that boundry that gives you the freedoom to do what you want and behave how you want to with slightly lowered inhibitions. Blogs, unless they are done anonymously, rarely give insight into the real person, though they may be symptoms of and insightful into the workings of the inner mind. Blogs can be superficial and fun. And they should be, but at the end of the day it allows us to quench our thirst for the basic human needs to connect, to share, to belong. Wether it works for you is a matter of outlook and what's important to you at this point in your life.
I don't intend to give up my blog. I still would like to share what's happenning in my life, my journey, my experience both in words and in pictures with whom ever comes accross my blog and my flickr site, but I'm making a resolution to live in the real world a little bit more.
I don't intend to give up my blog. I still would like to share what's happenning in my life, my journey, my experience both in words and in pictures with whom ever comes accross my blog and my flickr site, but I'm making a resolution to live in the real world a little bit more.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
second day the gym
yay! the last time i od'd on protein shake and creatine, so didn't sleep well. used the sauna so skin broke out and not quite recovered yet...
for every up there is a down. came home late and ate my food that i bought from the 'reduced to clear' section at tescos. really good stuff that's reduced cos it's reached it's display by date. cheap and great.
probably won't sleep well tonight.
need to get my visa stuff sorted, loads of paperwork to get together for my application in january not to mention loads of cash to hand over in the process...
flip it's 11:15pm...eek.
for every up there is a down. came home late and ate my food that i bought from the 'reduced to clear' section at tescos. really good stuff that's reduced cos it's reached it's display by date. cheap and great.
probably won't sleep well tonight.
need to get my visa stuff sorted, loads of paperwork to get together for my application in january not to mention loads of cash to hand over in the process...
flip it's 11:15pm...eek.
Monday, December 18, 2006
All I want for Xmas...
...is a NEW LIVER.
This past Friday was out company xmas party. Was fun. Got to see sides of people that you would never see during the constraints of a normal working environment. It was a bit all over the place though. It was hald at Whittlebury Hall, which is supposedly very posh. Diana used to stay there years ago. It wasn't free though, we had to pay for the room ourselves, though the rest of it was free.
Bcos there was a couple of other functions going on, and many function and lounge areas, as well as a couple of bars, people wandered and there was not much sense of togetherness.
I eventually ended up with the Roxio Toast UK team. Was fun cos I had a go at them for all the bugs and stuff what toast still can't do, but cheap free hacks off the internet can do.
Drove back home to Northampton the next day with a massive hangover...
This past Friday was out company xmas party. Was fun. Got to see sides of people that you would never see during the constraints of a normal working environment. It was a bit all over the place though. It was hald at Whittlebury Hall, which is supposedly very posh. Diana used to stay there years ago. It wasn't free though, we had to pay for the room ourselves, though the rest of it was free.
Bcos there was a couple of other functions going on, and many function and lounge areas, as well as a couple of bars, people wandered and there was not much sense of togetherness.
I eventually ended up with the Roxio Toast UK team. Was fun cos I had a go at them for all the bugs and stuff what toast still can't do, but cheap free hacks off the internet can do.
Drove back home to Northampton the next day with a massive hangover...
visa museums and organic beer
this sunday i went to london for 24 hours and a bit. just got back this evening 8pm ish.
f1rst stop was to get to motspur park, south of london to see my friends tadhg and nat. they just got from prague (lucky bastards). they had a piss up these past 3 days that they were away cos stuff is just so cheap there. the architecture brilliant, and they described it as a most romantic city. the people, though, are rude and ugly. scored 2 t-shirts, a mug and a teddy bear which was won on a raffle on easyjet airlines. ;)
watched a re-run of x-faxtor. leona! leona! leona!
Today made an early start. got up at 6am to take the early train into london central.
1) stopped to have coffee at cafe nero with tadhg before he started work.
2) museum of london. damn these british people are so full of themselves, and brag about themselves and their so-called illustrious past. walked around uninterested, though took some nice pics, mainly in the 'refugees' section.
3) went to see a south african law firm who have a department specializing in work permits. getting documentation together, and will submit application in january. a really standard, buit long and drawn out procedure.
4) visited harrods. went to see where the digital signage that i'm creating (that still has the potential not to happen) might appear. harrods sells animal fur illegally, and there were protestors outside. i told the lady that i would go in and not buy out of principle. besides the stuff is overrated and overpriced...
5) met akhil for the last time before he moves to paris in a couple of weeks. met at this funky, albeit very dark underground bar where i had just two organic beers whcih got me very drunk.
6) perused the sex shops in soho for a particular item that i can possibly mention...ahem...moving on...
7) ate a falafel salad meal in soho before catching the train back to northampton. watched a bit of 'failure to launch' on the train, before falling off to sleep listening to this superbly soothing classical CD on the pod...
8) came home to see ollie put up a christmas tree, for which the lights don't work
almost 9pm. gonna retire early (in theory). nite.
f1rst stop was to get to motspur park, south of london to see my friends tadhg and nat. they just got from prague (lucky bastards). they had a piss up these past 3 days that they were away cos stuff is just so cheap there. the architecture brilliant, and they described it as a most romantic city. the people, though, are rude and ugly. scored 2 t-shirts, a mug and a teddy bear which was won on a raffle on easyjet airlines. ;)
watched a re-run of x-faxtor. leona! leona! leona!
Today made an early start. got up at 6am to take the early train into london central.
1) stopped to have coffee at cafe nero with tadhg before he started work.
2) museum of london. damn these british people are so full of themselves, and brag about themselves and their so-called illustrious past. walked around uninterested, though took some nice pics, mainly in the 'refugees' section.
3) went to see a south african law firm who have a department specializing in work permits. getting documentation together, and will submit application in january. a really standard, buit long and drawn out procedure.
4) visited harrods. went to see where the digital signage that i'm creating (that still has the potential not to happen) might appear. harrods sells animal fur illegally, and there were protestors outside. i told the lady that i would go in and not buy out of principle. besides the stuff is overrated and overpriced...
5) met akhil for the last time before he moves to paris in a couple of weeks. met at this funky, albeit very dark underground bar where i had just two organic beers whcih got me very drunk.
6) perused the sex shops in soho for a particular item that i can possibly mention...ahem...moving on...
7) ate a falafel salad meal in soho before catching the train back to northampton. watched a bit of 'failure to launch' on the train, before falling off to sleep listening to this superbly soothing classical CD on the pod...
8) came home to see ollie put up a christmas tree, for which the lights don't work
almost 9pm. gonna retire early (in theory). nite.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
strange sky formation
this is the view from my apartment. we've been having strange weather, moderate and frequent rainfall, icy cold wind and a tornado last week. Oliver (landlord) took a pic from our apartment that was featured on BBC news...
This pic was taken by me last night. had a strange linear cloud formation that stretched miles and miles... that tower you see is northamptons claim to fame - it's a lift tower which was used to test, well, lifts years ago. it still exists as a landmark. currently decorated with a small crimbo tree...
First day of gym
Yay! Half and hour of cardio, a full body workout, a quick dip in the pool, then a visit to the sauna. 9pm, and i still need to eat. don't quite a mens health cover body (yet). hmmm...
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Rabbit out the hat
yeah! About literally 50 design variations later, client is happy and all is well...
on to the next challenge...
on to the next challenge...
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
so much better after that can of fosters
you can create motion graphics for check out desks at heathrow airport, create work stands inside harrods, but it's odd how a simple layout that involves a picture and a flat colour can f**k with your confidence. this was one of those days.
as creative people, do we need days off where our cretivity is not flowing like we would like. motzart did not have a crazy hetic deadlines coming out of his ears, michaelangelo took years to create the sistine chapel, pop artists take months to create an album, and we are expected to in the space of a few hours, conceptualize, copy write, and execute an idea with 5 different options. technology does not make our lives easier, it makes our clients expectations higher. i wish i was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair.
think i'm gonna be an alcoholic, or turn to hard narcotics. just had a can of fosters, and it's not quite saying hello, though making the evening so go much faster...
making many typos as a write this, in between occasional spoonfuls of my organic chunky veggie soup, that makes up three portions of my recommended fruit and veg for the day, and bites of my granary bread with too much of unsalted butter.
gonna get to bed fairly early so i can be alert and creative for cracking the creative juices...gonna curl up under my double duvets while the icy wind blows outside. it was about 12 degrees this morning and pelting with rain. i look at pics of the durban coastline and wonder why i'm in this little hellhole called northampton. that's why escapes to london almost every weekend make this journey bearable. a binge-drink once a week never killed anyone.
damn i need to clean the bathroom...
ipod is calling me. just got the latest 5th generation video ipod, and loaded all my tv shows, music videos and movies onto it. currently making my way through the first season of lost. makes all the commuting i do go so much faster, can watch about 3 episodes of lost on one commute.
but tv shows demand so much commitment. i need to watch through many hours of lost and from peeps who are onto the third season, some questions have been answered, but many still remain. do have the patience? a movie is so much more non-commital. over in less than two hours with no commitments. reminds me of some of my best relationships. did i just write that? must be the fosters talking.
ollie my landlord is working from lunch till 11pm, so it may be a week until i see him again. kinda like having my own place...
got loads of pics to upload to my flickr site. paid a years membership only upload every now and then, though i have unlimited storage space, albeit a 2gig monthly upload limit. if only my broadband was fast enough. got the free option with one of the phone rental companies, so during peak hours it's super slow, like pouring a banana smoothie down a polar bear's back in the middle of winter.
tomorrow is a new day. wish me luck...
as creative people, do we need days off where our cretivity is not flowing like we would like. motzart did not have a crazy hetic deadlines coming out of his ears, michaelangelo took years to create the sistine chapel, pop artists take months to create an album, and we are expected to in the space of a few hours, conceptualize, copy write, and execute an idea with 5 different options. technology does not make our lives easier, it makes our clients expectations higher. i wish i was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair.
think i'm gonna be an alcoholic, or turn to hard narcotics. just had a can of fosters, and it's not quite saying hello, though making the evening so go much faster...
making many typos as a write this, in between occasional spoonfuls of my organic chunky veggie soup, that makes up three portions of my recommended fruit and veg for the day, and bites of my granary bread with too much of unsalted butter.
gonna get to bed fairly early so i can be alert and creative for cracking the creative juices...gonna curl up under my double duvets while the icy wind blows outside. it was about 12 degrees this morning and pelting with rain. i look at pics of the durban coastline and wonder why i'm in this little hellhole called northampton. that's why escapes to london almost every weekend make this journey bearable. a binge-drink once a week never killed anyone.
damn i need to clean the bathroom...
ipod is calling me. just got the latest 5th generation video ipod, and loaded all my tv shows, music videos and movies onto it. currently making my way through the first season of lost. makes all the commuting i do go so much faster, can watch about 3 episodes of lost on one commute.
but tv shows demand so much commitment. i need to watch through many hours of lost and from peeps who are onto the third season, some questions have been answered, but many still remain. do have the patience? a movie is so much more non-commital. over in less than two hours with no commitments. reminds me of some of my best relationships. did i just write that? must be the fosters talking.
ollie my landlord is working from lunch till 11pm, so it may be a week until i see him again. kinda like having my own place...
got loads of pics to upload to my flickr site. paid a years membership only upload every now and then, though i have unlimited storage space, albeit a 2gig monthly upload limit. if only my broadband was fast enough. got the free option with one of the phone rental companies, so during peak hours it's super slow, like pouring a banana smoothie down a polar bear's back in the middle of winter.
tomorrow is a new day. wish me luck...
Thursday, November 30, 2006
confessions on a kitchen floor
Yes I may burn in hell. I have been slowly weaning myself off a pure veg diet. Yes I feel sorry for the little buggers, but been tempted by gastronomic experimentation, and been having fish as well as chicken in moderation. Trying to buy organic, though it's significantly more expensive.
The vegan freaks will have my head for this...
The vegan freaks will have my head for this...
Happy Tree Friends
Definitely the coolest animated shorts ever! A cross between the Smurfs and Itchy and Scratchy. Can be a bit macarbe (spelling) and definitely not suitable for children. Visit the Happy Tree Friends website, though they best are downloaded for FREE through iTunes.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
starving
That's all. Can't be bothered to type anything else. Can't be bothered to drag myself to join the gym. It's a realtively warm 13 degrees celcius and I don't wanna leave the house.
Will try and get free tickets for the World Music Awards next week in London, but that means taking time off from work, and more expense...gonna install software on my machine, watch some DVD's maybe Wallace and Grommit 3 cracking adventures / Rumour has it / emmmm
I'm starving. Having pumpkin ravioli with sage infused oil and parmesan, instant of course. Not helping with that illusive 6 pack.
Cold, miserable, edgy, hungry, surprised I typed that much out. x
Will try and get free tickets for the World Music Awards next week in London, but that means taking time off from work, and more expense...gonna install software on my machine, watch some DVD's maybe Wallace and Grommit 3 cracking adventures / Rumour has it / emmmm
I'm starving. Having pumpkin ravioli with sage infused oil and parmesan, instant of course. Not helping with that illusive 6 pack.
Cold, miserable, edgy, hungry, surprised I typed that much out. x
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Lily Allen
Just picked up the New Lily Allen CD from the library, from what I've heard already, the album rocks. Don't know about her though, she had the potential to be a real diva and already exudes bitchiness.
Also listening to recently is Pink 'I'm not Dead', Will Youngs 'Keep On', the Guilmots, Justin Timberlake and James Morrison - all worthy of having a listen.
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