Archive for July, 2009

19
Jul

Now, Where Were We?

Before we go any further I’d like to apologise for my previous post. By the time you’d recovered from that first sentence I had vanished, leaving behind only a creepy 30 second animation by way of an explanation.  Sorry.

After way too long spent working in sales and being unemployed I am now getting paid to write every weekday and not on a commission basis but for a genuine honest wage.  In the interests of professionalism I don’t want to get into details here on the blog but rest assured that I have updated the about box and author page to reflect my current situation.

In theory this blog has always been about the challenges but it’s tended to stray and has been characterised by some as a record of my quest for employment.  Now I have found work it might be worth recapping on the challenges, it also might be worth you making a cup of tea, this could take a while.

Write More1. Write More

My progress through the subsections of this challenge was comprehensively covered in this post and with my new job the only things left to cross off are freelancing and writing a 50,000 word novel in November.  On the freelancing front, an article I wrote about commissioning promotional videos may be getting published in a trade magazine soon, although I’m not sure this is exciting enough to count.

Something I’ve been meaning to do and have mentioned a handful of times on this blog is to put together a portfolio of my work and even though I said I wouldn’t add any additional subsections to this challenge…

1g. Put together a portfolio of my work.

Get Out of Debt2. Get out of Debt

I was a bit of a techtard yesterday and managed to delete a number of things, including the most recent version of the spreadsheet I use to calculate my debt.  Nonetheless, I will input the data once more and bring you Finance June this Friday, if you’re really lucky I might even redraw the graph for you.

Wake Up4. Wake up at a Reasonable Hour

When work starts at 9am having a challenge to get up before 9:30am seems a bit redundant.  Consider the challenge modified.  I will document my early bird ways for a month and then consider this challenge completed, any creative ideas on how to do this would be appreciated, otherwise I might be forced to take 31 photos of an alarm clock in a style similar to what I did with the apples back in April.

Learn to Drive6. Learn to Drive

When I’ve repaid my parents and finished my student loan over calculation repayments (that thing needs some kind of acronym) I will be investing in some lessons.  My sister had her first lesson today and says she can already “turn it on, make it go and make it stop.”

Complete my Degree7. Complete my Degree

As previously mentioned I’ve come to realise that a journalism degree would be pointless for me.  Instead I am going to look into getting my NCTJ certificates (I already have one of the law certificates) and then completing an Open University degree, probably in English Literature, at a later date.

Eat Steak and Crumpets8. Keep Eating Steak and Crumpets

Next week I get paid, which means I can eat steak without feeling bad.  Instead of just eating steaks in different places, taking a poorly lit photo on my sorry excuse for a camera phone and then labelling them “tasty” or “like rubber” I’m going to try and make this a bit more interesting for you.  I’m going to try and eat steaks with lots of different people and incorporate a bit about them and what we talked about into the review.  This could go horribly wrong.

Haven’t had any crumpets recently but in other Breads of the World news (I named it after the section in Sainsbury’s) I did have some English muffins the other day.  These probably deserve a post of their own because whenever I use the word muffin people think of the big-as-your-head American muffins that are meant to taste of chocolate but more often than not taste of clay.

Well, that seems like enough for now.  One of the other things I managed to delete yesterday was the file containing all the most recent versions of my blog icons.  Going to go through three DVDs, two Operating Systems and one inbox and try and see what I can turn up.  Laters.

17
Jul

*Intermission*

Think work might have drained me of all my words (yes, I have been rehabilitated into the working world). I promise that I will try and write something on the train when I go to see Peterborough play Villa on Saturday (there’s a sentence I never thought I’d type).  I’m attending the game as part of Jason’s birthday celebrations, so anyone who knows anything about this football thing feel free to leave comments, preferably comments I can memorise and recite in an attempt to appear knowledgeable.

In the meantime here’s a 30 second animation I made while at university, I feel it deserves a home on the internet and hopefully it’ll put paid to all those rumours that I never did any work.

Soundtrack is a 30 second sample of Better Version of Me by Fiona Apple (the unreleased version, as produced by John Brion) overlaid with some sound effects from somewhere I have long since repressed.

05
Jul

Not Dead

My posts have spluttered and died, last week my blog spluttered and died but I am not dead. Without meeting you in person it’s going to be hard to talk you out of this Scribs-will-be-sadly-missed mentality but take a look at my chart.  This is not normal behaviour for a dead person, and, while there’s a lot to catch up on, let’s get the formalities of the way first.

Deskscape is something I mentioned last month but not something I got around to doing.  Please accept the picture below with my apologies.  I’ll take a shot of my desk before I move out and we’ll dub that Deskscape July.

deskscape_june

  1. FHM CalendarHolly Valance in the worst pose since the blunt force trauma stylings of Abbey Clancy back in February.  I have decided to call this look the constipated sea lion.
  2. Postcard – A rather cynical postcard mocking desk jobs.  At the time it was ironic because I’d stuck it to a desk, now it’s ironic because I’m clinically unemployed.
  3. Speakers – These cost me £4 two years ago, they were worth every penny.
  4. Student Loan – What was £19,754.92 is now apparently £19,993.48.  Sometimes I just love getting mail.
  5. Receipts -  A handful of memories and receipts held up alongside my online bank statement will help me figure out Finance Friday for June.
  6. Phone – When I first got the Samsung J700i I was thoroughly disappointed but thought that maybe, like the music of Kate Bush, it would grow on me.

No, no, no.

This phone is still lousy, as is the software that came with it.  The Samsung New PC Studio is as bad as the previous one but now comes with added bloat, sluggishness and, wait for it, abstract animations.  An added feature is that it has no support for Macs or Open Source, have decided to invest in a Bluetooth dongle and do away with this software atrocity.

Well, that’s Deskscape out of the way.  In the near future I aim to introduce new challenges, update you on old ones and create icons for all of them.  I’ll also be blogging some more about my life, my finances and whatever other crazy things you suggest.






About


All aboard the special bus I'm a Stoke-on-Trent based blogger, journalist and semi-productive member of society. This blog is a record of my successes and failures as I try and complete life-improving challenges suggested to me by readers.

Most Recent Tweet


Follow me!

Most Recent Tweet

follow me on Twitter


Read my Feed


RSS Feed If you want to read all my posts without the effort of visiting this site then hit the orange button.

Recent Comments


    Lm: I too went through the week of Sky School at ANB Promotions,...

    supa: no no do not apply any one!

    Scribbleboy: Been contemplating having one of those but the...

    Sai: http://www.languageisavirus.co m/nanowrimo/word-meter.html...

    nhrn: Eh, I used to do that all the time last year, in-fact I...

advertisements