Hey!  Remember me? No? Well this won't be very interesting then.  Move along please...

So what's been happening?  Not a great deal really.  The business is chugging along very slowly but to be honest it's not surprising - I can't believe how long it's taken the stresses of the old job to get out of my system.  I can't remember a time I slept so much.  Finally go round to rejigging the performing arts flyers, which have been going out over the last week or so to every theatre and drama school in London, from the National Theatre down to local community groups.  So far, I've got one email back, hopefully a few more will trickle through over the coming weeks.

We've had a big old junk purge recently.  As well as selling the old car, I've managed to make about £300 on ebay from old junk that has been knocking around the house (old mobile phones, dvds unwanted christmas presents from years gone by).  We're planning on blowing the profits next weekend at the BBC Good Food Show (we won some free tickets).  Top of the shopping list at the moment is a dough scraper, a new bread bin and a spice rack (although I'm sure we'll find plenty of other goodies to splurge on).

The arrival of Autumn has been a rude reminder that yet another year has gone by without fixing the central heating - only 50% of our radiators work, there's no thermostat and the timer's a bit dodgy.  It hasn't really mattered so much before as neither of us were in much.  Now I'm home all the time, the issue's become a bit more pressing.  Guess I'll just muddle through with extra blankets and lots of jumpers.

Finally, remember White & Nerdy?  Showed the video to hubby the other day.  First thing he says is "Oh look, on the whiteboard.  It's Schrodinger's equation."  Now that really is nerdy...

frog

Well this is a sight you don't often expect to see in the city. This little guy was camping out in the back garden this evening - very unusual considering that the nearest river is at least a mile, as for a pond or lake, well over two miles. Sorry if the quality is a bit grotty - I didn't want to scare him with the flash.

Rather than provide a litany of recent woes, thought I'd say a quick "hello" and leave a happy link:

Don't Download this Song

P.S. Mareike - if you see this, I've been having trouble with my mobile.  If you could text/email again, we'll definitely have to try to hook up!

Wow, the weeks just fly by, don't they?  Not much news really, we've finished the infamous tandoor and are now onto the far more fun (IMO) bit, cooking.  So far we've had three tries, two for guests.  It's a funny kind of cooking - lots of work up to 24 hours beforehand, preparing the marinades and stuff, then a hiatus before the big cook-fest, a huge frenzy of skewering and running around.  The marinading stage is something I'm really growing to love, you can really take time ginding up the spices and getting everything ready.  A stark contrast with the cooking stage, where hubby's strengths come to the fore - a good division of labour, I think.

In other stuff, I've just posted out my cds for the latest mefiswap.  Am looking forward to see what I get back - spent ages agonising over my mix choice: stuff I love, quirky but not too off the beaten track.  Also, off for the annual Brizfest tomorrow (big get together with my mates in Bristol) - slightly different vibe this year as it's the first time one of the group will be bringing their new baby!  Less of the getting complely loaded and more of the sitting in around in parks and chatting, I think.

Hubby's back to work next week, which is a shame, we've had a great month at home together.   Need to knuckle down on the business stuff which has taken a bit of a back seat the last few weeks.  Also thinking of doing a bit of volunteering (the local Oxfam are hiring).  Apart from anything I need a bit of an incentive to get out of the mornings at some kind of sensible time - the old body clock's gone a bit haywire since I stopped getting up at 6 am every morning for work.

Hope all is well for you guys!

A fun day was had by all today, dodging the thunderstorms to get the tandoor built.  Now we're at the stage where we're bringing the top in (i.e. decreasing the circumference with each course) it's a fiddly two-person job with me holding the slabs of clay in place whilst hubby jiggles them into just the right position.  We're both pleasantly surprised by the structural integrity, though.

Have also decided to have another small PC hardware splurge.  The power supply is starting to make some slightly worrying noises so I've ordered a new one and got a new (faster) graphics card whilst I was at it - nothing spectacular but it should speed up all the graphics work I'll be doing.  Also need to do some research into batch-processing on GIMP.  Nothing fancy, just a quick and dirty script that will automate rotating 90⁰ and another to create thumbnails and medium resolution files (I can tell you, after you've done about a couple of hundred of those in an afternoon, it gets really boring).

Also, I got a call from my old work today asking if I can come in for a day or two in September to babysit a float, which is nice.  Less nice is that they offered me a rather embarrassingly low day-rate (about half of what I'd consider the going rate).  Whilst appreciating that some money is better than none at all, feel a bit miffed that they want to take the piss quite so extravagantly!  Will fire off an email over the weekend with my figure and see what happens.

Last of all, am trying to think of a little photographic project to keep me occupied once hubby goes back to work.  Something I can use as portfolio fodder and also maybe try to get shown in a gallery or something.  Find it a bit peculiar getting all artistic, I've been focusing so much on the business end of things that it's easy to forget that I'm now an official creative-type.  Should clearly be wearing more purple.  And possibly something floaty and diaphanous...

Hope I'm not giving away too many tricks of the trade here, but have just found an automated airbrush application that (in moderation) gives fantastic results: My Perfect Picture

As well as a nice skin-tone balancing app, it has a rather freaky 'beauty' mode that can change the shape of the subject's face to something more aesthetically pleasing (sadly, it only works for girls so far). Even so, at nice low settings, it's cut out about an hour's worth of touching up skin tones, banishing zits,, etc.  Strangely, the one bit it leaves well alone is the eyes, which I tend to spend the bulk of my time working on (cutting out any nasty bloodshot bits, shrink or expand the iris, bring up the colour of the pupil and so on...)

Of course, you can also have fun cranking it up to 11 and turn all your mates into barbie dolls...

And as an extra bonus ETA feature, check out: You Are Mighty.  Carl Orff-tastic!

Our copy of WestSide magazine plopped through the door today (glossy local free magazine - 50% estate agents' ads but quite nice local editorial stuff in the rest).

Was having a flip through and happened on an article on the local music centre I photographed a couple of months back.  And, lo and behold, were three of my pictures and a credit!

Woo!

In other news, hubby's tandoori building exploits are coming along in leaps and bounds.  We also took delivery of a new composting worm bin today from WormCity.  We managed to kill off all the worms in the old one (too wet, too dry, too much food, not enough? - hard to tell) but we thought we'd give it another go, this time with a commercial bin rather than a home-made botch job.

Remember Dance Dance Revolution?  Here's the inevitable flash version for those less inclined to throw themselves around in a publicly humiliating fashion:

Flash Flash Revolution: Spin It Up

Was feeling pretty smug on the first few levels on getting well over 90%.  After about level 5 though, it all went to poo.  And my hand really hurts.  Ow!!

via b3ta

A bit of philosophical ETA: I was having a look at some other DDA videos on YouTube and this one cropped up.  A little over 3:00 the guy's doing his moves to a dogdy version of a Chopin etude (Op. 10 in C minor aka the Revolutionary) - if you've never hear the original this is a rather clinical midi version and.  Here's a video of Richter's sublime interpretation.  Sadly the video and audio are woefully out of synch, but you'll get the idea.

It's basically a warhorse exercise for the left hand whilst trying to keep your cool with the right.  I first learnt it when I was about 16.  That's not to woo me up as a great piano player.  It's just to say that any half-decent pianist who gets to pre-music college entry level could give a perfectly ok good rendition of this piece.  In hindsight, it just seems a little peculiar that here's a video of a guy who's managed to move his two feet in perfect synchronicity over a possible combination of four different positions.  A pianist, on the other hand, manages to put ten fingers (and thumbs) over a combination of 88 keys.

My maths isn't what it used to be, but I think that's the greater achievement.

Incidentally, my piano teacher was told by his teacher (some mad Russian) to begin each of those big left hand phrases with the thumb (to give it an extra 'thump') - am rather gratified to see that I haven't found a video so far of this dodgy technique (not least 'cos I couldn't manage it myself!).

Just to let you know that hubby is blogging his latest crazy project, building a tandoor oven, here.  I've been offering moral support (and cups of tea) and have offered to take some nice pictures for the great tandoor-building masses.  He's built up a bit of a backlog of posts but in the near future you should be able to see some exciting pictures of the world's biggest tin opener, chicken wire, angle-grinding and cement.  The weekend promises lots of clay action.

Oh, the glamour...

In other news, I got an email today off the back of the website asking for a quote for a portrait.  Woo!!

G

IMG_2244
Originally uploaded by Gwen Nathan.

Just realised I haven't updated for ages - should anyone be remotely interested, here's what I've been up to.

Lots of heaving furniture around - have not got desks and shelves all set up.  Also remembered an old WH Smiths voucher someone gave me for Christmas and am now stocked up with enough stationery (folders, paperclips and the like) to last for a good old while.  Most of the cabling is finished, I just need to wire up the amp and speakers so I can listen to some tunes while I work.

Have done my first month's management accounts and everything checks and balances - hurrah!  Unfortunately I made a loss on the month, which is to be expected, I guess, what with the big start-up capital outlay.  That said, I don't think there are any more big spends on the horizon except the fabled office chair.

Got another job on Sunday (weather-permitting) for an actress I know who needs some headshots.  She wants an outdoors-y, natural look so we'll be frolicing in a park (well, she can frolic, I'll just observe).  Long-range forecast at the moment shows a big black cloud with a bit of sunshine behind it, so it could be a bit hit and miss.

I got my Smartcard for the car-sharing scheme in the post this morning, which is quite exciting.  Have made my first booking to try it out on Saturday to go to a friend's party.  Rather suprisingly the Smartcard is actually an Oyster card (to non-Londoners, this'll mean nothing, but it's the pre-payment card for all of London transport).  I'll need to check, but it looks like I'll be able to combine my two cards (my old public transport one and the new car one) into a one-stop-transportation-enablement-solution!

Have been starting to realise that this working from home malarky can get a bit lonely sometimes.  I guess it'll be better once I'm busier and out working more, but it's strange not having coworkers around all the time to have a chat with (I especially miss David, my old 'pod-buddy' from work, even if he did keep trying to teach me about football and why Brentford were the greatest team evah).  That said, hubby's going to be on holiday from next week for four whole weeks - barmy, I know, but he never gets the chance to take little holidays, so he just saves it up into one big chunk - this will clearly either be a blessing or a curse.  I don't think the pair of us have been at home together for quite such a long period before, so it could be... interesting.

Finally, the party on Saturday is fancy dress (no theme).  Anyone got any easy (and cheap) ideas?

How fab is More4?  A lot fab, that how much.

Settled down for a big old weepathon for the last two episodes of West Wing and what do you know?  There's a quiz before hand hosted by the lovely Rory Bremner (who does a terrible Leo impression by the way).  Panellists consist of Mark Oaten, LibDem MP; Arabella Weir, comedienne; some political pundit whose name escapes me and....

David Tennant - West Wing geek extrordinaire!  Seriously, he knew all the quotes, was buzzing in before the question was finished, and his romped home to victory.

And the icing on the cake, they were trailing Studio 60 in the ad breaks as 'coming soon.'

I have died and gone to Aaron Sorkin heaven.

Well, I'm finally here in the office!  It's taken nearly two weeks of sweat and bruises but I've made it at last.  The angel on my shoulder won and I haven't bought any new furniture, unfortunately, making do means I've got virtually no storage space - just piles of stuff on desks and the floor.  Hey ho.  Cable spaghetti was an utter nightmare as anticipated, not helped by the fact that I couldn't unplug any of the four-gangs downstairs (as they're plugged in behind heavy bookshelves); need to wait for a strapping man again, I guess.

Was out on another job at Very Posh Restaurant tonight.  Getting there was a bit exciting!  Just as I got out of the shower, the heavens opened in quite a spectacular fashion.  My feeble brolly (I should point out that I was dressed by this point) wasn't much protection, especially as I was more concerned with keeping my cameras dry than myself.  At the station, they'd closed the platforms due to flooding (although they eventually opened them again) - gotta love London Transport, any kind of weather that's even slightly out of the ordinary and the whole system falls to pieces!  Gently steamed on the train with various bits of clothing adhering to self.  From posts passim, you'll know about my paranoia about public transport so at least I got there on time.  Very damp, but on time.

Yet more ex-clients at the gig and more friendliness.  I even met a guy who I'd spoken to on the phone regularly for nearly two years but had never seen face to face, which was nice!  And I get to send out another invoice tomorrow, which is even nicer!!

Just spent a thrilling afternoon doing my very first bank reconciliation.  Who knew it was so damn complicated?

Of course, it was added fun this month because I only used the business account for about half of the business expenditure (whilst I was waiting for the cheque books, plastic cards, etc. to arrive).  Vowed to never use my personal account for anything business-related ever again but then realised that stuff like utility bills will have to stay in my personal a/c so am going to have to do the same jiggling every month, I guess!

The feeling of satisfaction, however, when I worked everything through was immense and my books now balance!!

In other news, the office is all painted (you can barely see the sweat marks...) and I'm just waiting for my strapping young man to get home so he can help me carry the heavy stuff up/down stairs as appropriate.  I indulged myself by playing on the IKEA office designer software.  A lovely suite of Alve desks and storage comes in at not-very-thrifty £409.80 - and that doesn't even include a chair!  Think that'll have to wait for a bit, or I could put it on the credit card maybe... no no no!  I will be good.

So, unless the devil on my shoulder wins, tomorrow is cable spaghetti day (should the devil win, it'll be hiring a van and driving to Brent Cross).

"On the wish list for later are...a better monitor - again, would ideally want a LaCie but they're fearfully expensive - another ebay job I think."

Huzzah - just picked one up on ebay for £25 (too good to miss)!  Admitedly, it's a CRT rather than a LCD (that is, big and chunky not flat screen).  Going to pick it up from Putney tomorrow.

Happy day.

Why I love YouTube.

The cast of Star Trek (TOS) sings Knights of the Round Table from Monty Python & the Holy Grail and my inner nerd explodes...

Learnt a new word today: exigencies.  Has nice nuances of necessity and circumstance - will try to find a use in everyday speech to befuddle my interlocutor...

In other news, got one coat of the ceiling done before the heat drove me downstairs - will try getting up nice and early tomorrow to get some more done before the heat really kicks in (looks at watch - hmmm).

Also recommend checking out my new find.  As you may know, I'm a big fan of MetaFilter.  Well, they've recently launched a new Music site MeFi Music.  Some really bizarre stuff, some rather surprising stuff, and some other stuff which might remind you of somebody else...

And finally, hubby was on the telly tonight (but he doesn't want me to tell you about it).  If you know what he does, you might have spotted him on the news this evening...  Very proud.

I know it's a common theme but, blimey, it's rather warm at the moment isn't it?

Possibly not the best of days to be redecorating...  Definitely not a good day for slogging back from the hardware shop laden with three huge tins of paint and some pollyfiller either...  Certainly an idiotic day to be taking down 8 foot shelves by yourself.  At least I've now got a nice blank canvas to start painting tomorrow (ceiling, walls and all the woodwork).  Anybody know what order you're supposed to do these things in?  I'm guessing ceiling first as it'll probably drip on everything else, but what next?

In other news - I think I'm nearly at the end of the big initial start-up spend.  Have taken delivery of my nice funky cd cases from Jewelboxing (all the way from Chicago - the glamour!).  The spare hard-disk and DVD burner I ordered (for backing up all these digital photos) should be arriving tomorrow.

Last items on the immediate shopping list are:

• Storage for the office (will saw up the 8 foot shelves into slightly more sensible lengths, I think - plus a set of drawers
• New lamp shade
• Pot plant

• Quieter power supply and video card for the pc
• A nice comfy office chair (rather than the dining chair I'm using right now, which ain't doing my back any good at all).  Quite like the look of these (which you see cheap on ebay fairly frequently)
• A better monitor - again, would ideally want a LaCie but they're fearfully expensive - another ebay job I think.

Well, it's started!  One of my favourite displacement activities is checking the web-stats for the new site and, guess what?  Yesterday saw a marked increase in traffic and a new referrer on the list: http://forum.colddeadseed.com.  Also had a couple of emails in my inbox saying nice things about m'photos of JM.  Guess the site will be doing the rounds on the various fan boards now...

Not sure whether this is a good thing or not.  On the one hand it's all publicity but on the other, it opens up the whole nicking-photos-and-sticking-them-on-ebay can o' worms again.  Will have to keep my eyes peeled again, I guess!

Another productive day, I think.  Designed a flyer for all these drama schools (sneak peek here).  It's ¹/₃ letter size to fit in a standard envelope.  Thoughts comments?  I'm a bit worried that Lady M is in soft focus on the left whereas the others are quite hard.  Does it look funny?  (Usual warnings about hot-linking/nicking/etc. but it's friends only, and I trust you guys!).

Now, I'm spectacularly shit a writing marketing blurb.  Spent literally hours writing a cover letter, trying to get all rah-rah with positive adjectives and stuff.  Failed utterly - just goes to show I should stick to the pictures, not the waffle.  Anyone got any experience of writing 'cold-call' letters?  Any do's and don't's?  Help would be extremely appreciated!

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