Too Long

Okay, I'm back again. It's been far too long since I last blogged. I've been mega busy, I started a new job last month and I've been training full time for 6 weeks altogether and still have (at least) 2 weeks of training left to go. All this work has had a serious effect on the amount I've been drawing as I think I've only produced 3 drawings over the past 6 weeks, two of which where cards (one mother's day card and one birthday card) so they don't really count in my eyes. It's not the end of the world though as the training has been a nice experience, something a little out of the ordinary for me I guess. 

Once I've been 'passed out' from my training I will be working 17.5 Hours per week which is going to give me much more time to do some illustrating/blogging and the likes. Work is fine, nice people to work with and a nice change from my old job, I'm just not used to working full time really, and it's taken some adjustment to get used to and then in two weeks I'm back to part time again, so I'll be fully adjusted just in time to adjust back. Typical. 

But I really shouldn't complain because I'll finally have some time to be creative at last. 

3 weeks ago I moved in with Jen and Sanna in Dundee. I must admit, it's ace to be back in Dundee again, it feels like home already. Also Jen and I purchased an IKEA bed as we can now afford to as we are both working, and I've not had a bad nights sleep in it yet. Awesome. 

my side of the bed.

Other news? My Mum is getting married in October of this year, I'm really happy for her and looking forward to the wedding, it's not going to be a big ceremony but I will be giving my mum away and apparently I have to make a speech which I'm not too sure about. I'm sure it'll be fine anyway. 

my new Superdry shirt.

In January this year I discovered Superdry shirts, such a good make of shirt. I remember walking into a shop called 'Cult' while I was visiting Liverpool One and it was covered wall to wall with checkered shirts, I thought I was in heaven. I must admit they cost a little more than I would care to spend on a shirt really but they're awesome quality. I just purchased my second one recently after my first paycheck. 

Most of my free time at the moment has been spent playing Star Wars Battlefront (I & II) on my Playstation 2 and come the bank holiday weekend I plan to begin watching the Star Wars saga from the beginning including the Clone Wars movie and all four Clone Wars spin off series (i'm currently reading the online Clone Wars webcomic as we speak too). I am aware of how much of a geek this single paragraph makes me look but I'm really looking forward to it, it's been too long since I last watched anything Star Wars. Oh, and to put a cherry on top of that already immensely geeky paragraph I purchased a 501st Legion Clone Trooper figurine for my bedroom. Sweet.

Music-wise I've been enjoying my 5 Star playlist in iTunes. I've been rating my library right from the beginning and I'm currently up to 'F' in the rate-athon. Again 'geek = yes' but it's such an amazing playlist that I don't care what you think. Really enjoying Mumford & Sons at the moment courtesy of one of Jen's work colleagues. 

More to come.

JAB.

When I'm Cleanin' Windows (In Wigan)

So last week began pretty similarly to the rest, much work to be done and all that jazz. Except that this time there was a little twist thrown into the equation, Mum was taking a couple of days off so I had to be in charge. In reality it wasn't as ominous as I'd originally imagined but I certainly had my work cut out for me. Evenings in Perth alone are a little less colourful than the daytimes in the shop so I entertained myself by cooking, watching films and enjoying a few glasses of wine. I began by watching THX-1138, George Lucas' first film although the less said about that the better - I would not recommend you waste any time on this pretentious piece of crap (Sorry George, you are a Master - but only because of Star Wars). I then watched Thank you for Smoking, a film that I remember seeing advertised a couple of years ago but never got to see. It was an Okay watch, quite a black comedy but very easy to sit through, I'd recommend it if you've got the time. In my boredom I then trawled through my DVD collection (not that my DVD collection is bad, I just feel that I've watched all of them so recently) and I came across Tongan Ninja, so I then sat up and watched that - what a film! I'd forgotten the genius of the guys from Flight of the Conchords and it was a breath of fresh air to see this film again. I'd recommend you watch this film if you are a fan of Flight of the Conchords and of course if you can afford the extortionate £2.99 that you have to fork out for this gem.

The Tongan Ninja opening credits - a masterpiece.

Also this week I decided that I miss having a musical instrument with me in Scotland and at the moment I have no way of transporting either of my guitars up here so I decided to buy a Ukulele -

Samuel, my Ukulele.

It's a bargain at under £15 and will surely keep me occupied until I can get my hands on one of my guitars again. I've been learning a few bits and pieces on it, however I am aware that it sounds terrible at the moment as my fingers haven't adapted to the insanely tiny fretboard. I was learning some beginner bits and pieces, Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head, No Woman No Cry, and Banana Pancakes. I am aware of the obligatory George Formby jovial reference that needs to be inserted here so here you all go...the master at work. Enjoy...

"She's more like eighty than eighteen, when I'm cleanin' windows"

Maybe if you're lucky I'll give y'all a rendition of this someday.

Musical instruments, movies and work aside, this week (as of Sunday) saw the beginning of my holidays. Sunday afternoon me and Sanna took a train ride to Dunfermline to visit Jen and family. The train was delayed for quite some time due to trespassers or crisp packets on the line or something, but the weather was rather pleasant when we arrived which made up for things somewhat, so we all sat and had a beer in the garden which was equally as pleasant as the weather. Sunday evening we went for an awesome Chinese meal thanks to Mark and Margaret (Hello to you both if you are reading this, hope you are well!). Monday Me, Jen, Sanna, Fi and Daniel headed through to Edinburgh to see some arty things - unfortunately the weather had turned but we still had a nice day out. We visited a few galleries and saw some swell things.

Painting by Andrew Grassie.

We went along to the Talbot Rice Gallery to see the Andrew Grassie Exhibition, I'd never heard of Andrew Grassie before but I was quite taken aback by his work. His works are all photorealistic interpretations of mostly arty spaces, as shown above. The pieces are all fairly small too so you do have to kind of keep reminding yourself that they are actually paintings. I enjoyed this exhibition but thought it was quite harsh some of the comments people had left in the comments book. Silly people.

Robert Hanson drawing of a man with a moustache.

Another artist that I had very little knowledge of at the start of the day was Robert Hanson, Jen had wanted to go through to Edinburgh to see his exhibition and I just like Analogue so of course I agreed to go. Robert Hanson's drawings and prints were both amazing and I would love to have bought one if I had a little more money to throw about the place. We also visited Owl & Lion and the Red Door Gallery - two more places that just tempted me to spend money - however, for once I resisted. Oh and on the subject of moustache's, here's a rather comical collection of all things moustache.

Photo of "Opera for a Small Room" 

The last exhibition we went to was at the Fruitmarket gallery where they had a couple of interesting pieces of work by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller. One was called The House of Books has no Windows, which was a rather cool house made of ancient books, everyone was standing on the outside viewing it but me and Jen decided to go inside, like Jen said it smelt like being inside an old book. Another piece they did was Opera for a Small Room, which again was a very intriguing piece of work, they had constructed a small old fashioned looking room in the gallery space which was very dark and eerie, as the show went on the lighting and sound changed very dramatically. Quite an odd, sppoky piece of work but it was very interesting, I just wanted to stay there and see what was going to happen next. I guess you have to see it to understand what I mean though.

Well, that pretty much brings us up to date I think. The rest of the week promises to carry on being just as enjoyable as me and Jen are travelling to Dublin on Wednesday and hopefully me and Sanna are going to see Star Wars: the Clone Wars on Tuesday, which although I am aware doesn't look so amazing, I am pretty darn excited about seeing. Below is a rather comical piece of Graffiti that I saw on my way to meet Sanna on Sunday, the original text repeatedly said I LIKE MYSELF and well, it had been modified but I don't think you needed me to tell you that really.

That's err...nice to Know.

Keep it running along smoothly.

J.A. Birch IV