Does anyone else miss the fast show?

Right? RIGHT?!?

An Inherent Appreciation of His Own Absurdity.

It's been a good few weeks since getting back to part-time hours again. I had my driving test a week or so ago which sadly, I failed. I must admit though that it went a lot better than I was expecting, which is positive for my next test. Having the extra time on my hands, I should've started doing a whole lot more drawing and such but I've only really gotten down to that this week, I've spent the last few weeks transcribing from recordings I made back in March about family stories that I'm hoping to form into a collection of comics. I've also been enjoying experimenting with cooking again including three new soups and new homemade veggie burgers (also the leftover Veggie Burgers made quite a nice addition to a veggie pasta).

Homemade Veggie Burger on a whole-meal handmade roll with Sweet Potato Chips.

At the beginning of September, my friend Mark and I headed down south to watch Everton. As I mentioned in my previous blog post I hadn't been to a Premiership game in 10 years, and what a game it turned out to be. Unfortunately Everton's season is proving to be the worst in quite some time, but the game we chose definitely gave us our money's worth - 6 goals (3-3) with some amazing last minute action that left me with quite a sore throat and resulted in me not being able to speak properly for the next three or four days.

Our view at Goodison.

Following the game we headed back to New Brighton to attend the Magazine Hotel's beer festival and to say farewell to Dave and Jen who are off travelling around the world at this very moment (jealous much). All in all a very good weekend and I can't wait for my next premiership game (well at least if Everton can pick themselves up sometime soon) and trip to Merseyside.

Our Beer ratings.

Yesterday I rooted out my sketchbook after finishing the longest of all the transcriptions and just started some drawings, some related to the comics idea and some not at all. Still it felt nice to be drawing for drawings sake and not from making myself feel guilty for not having done any drawings in such a long time.

Work space, mid-transcribe.

Over the next few weeks I've got a few things going on. Including my driving test, our trip to Sweden (which I can hardly wait for), brand new FIFA for the XBOX on friday, setting myself the task of producing (at least) a drawing a day and a blog (at least) once or twice a week (depending on whether I actually have anything interesting to say). The latter two means I will actually be ensuring that I now take a sketchbook with me pretty much everywhere I go, something that I used to do but have gotten out of the habit of doing since it was basically just taking up extra space in my bag and meaning that I was risking losing my favourite pens (somewhat of a defeatist attitude, I know).

Grandad affectionately became known as 'The Cockleshell Hero' after crashing his van through the promenade railings and ending up on the beach.

Evil Eric Sykes with Big Hand. Reference for a possible character.

Bat-Man Jacky? Grandad had a very posh friend who never owned a television.

The Case of the Missing Forty Pages.

Jen's St. Michael Cash Register.

Fem Hundra Kronor. Can't wait for Gothenburg.

Back to the sketchbook!

JAB

Part-Time Fun-Time

It's been far too long (again)

After a few months worth of supposedly hard work I'm moving back to my old part-time hours, and must admit I have pretty mixed feelings about it. I'm glad that I'll have more time to myself after some pretty intense work hours over the past months but the change is coming as somewhat of a shock to the system (Well not THAT much of a shock as the past few days off I spent making the most of the sun, buying new books in charity shops and reading Thomas Harris, I guess I've not really got much to complain about.)

A selection of books, read, reading and to be read.

One bonus of all the extra work I've been doing has meant I've started to read again (taking advantage of my half hour breaks) and I've been enjoying it a lot, I haven't enjoyed reading quite so much in a number of years (maybe I've just been reading the wrong things). Out of them all I've particularly enjoyed My Year of Meat and The Moneyless Man, eye opening in their own individual ways and also more recently Red Dragon, just because it's nice to get stuck into some decent well written fiction from time to time.

Now to drawing, I've not done much and I always feel a pang of guilt when people ask me if I've been doing any and my answer is simply "No". I suppose I've done more than I would've expected to though in reality and thanks once again to Jen who has inspired me to do some drawings for a zine we both decided to take part in. I think I started to beat myself up a little over how some of the drawings were turning out but Jen reassured me that it was just to be a fun project and so I did have a lot more fun with it it after that.

Koala in a Tree (for Animal Club zine)

We've had a few weekends and the odd weekday out and about and finding little bits of sun here and there to chill out in. It's been an okay summer weatherwise I guess, and we have made the most of the sun when we've had it with beach trips, days out in Edinburgh, trips to Merseyside and a picnic. I do enjoy the beach but the Mersey, the Forth, the Tay and the North Sea are all bloody freezing for paddling in, even in the summertime (Also I'm not sure I can ever really condone paddling in the Mersey, it's just not right). This weekend we're off to stay at my Dad's in Merseyside again and then to see Modest Mouse in Edinburgh on Sunday. The following three photos have been borrowed from Jen from trips to North Queensferry and the Picnic at Balgay Park (where I made a cat friend on the way home).

Shell Nose (with beard)

Beach Feets

Cat Friend

I'd been wanting to grow a beard again for sometime and in March, I finally felt it was time to give it a go. I must admit, since getting my job last year I was concerned as to what my employers stance on facial hair was but alas, they never muttered a single word about it, as a result I grew my beard to the longest it's ever been. Anyway, it did get a little out of hand in the end so I decided to shave it off just under two weeks ago and had some fun messing around with different facial hair styles. Very enjoyable. I guess I'll grow it back now.

Beard Fun

In other news, I've vowed to myself to make it to a few football games this season after witnessing Everton's reserves enjoy a victory at Station Park against Forfar in July, it was a great evening and a more enjoyable game of football than I'd been anticipating. Everton won 3-2 with about 5 minutes left to play.

Forfar Vs Everton "Souvenir" Programme

Dundee United Vs. AEK Athens

This year's second football venture was on Thursday night to see Dundee United take on AEK Athens at Tannadice. My first ever European game. Sadly United weren't really up to it, and got beaten 1-0. They don't seem to have got off the starting blocks this season sadly. The game itself wasn't awesome but I did enjoy being at a game again and the atmosphere was pretty good at times. All in all it was a good night out with a few folk from work. I can only wish United all the best in the return leg in Greece. It would be good to see some more European football in Dundee this season, failing that I suppose there's always the cup and the league hey?

Ticket for the Europa League game

Room with a View (Park End seats)

Coming to September I will be off to Merseyside to see Everton take on Manchester United, hopefully Everton will have picked themselves up from a poor start to the season and had a chance to build up a nice run of form by then, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see. It is promising though that we actually managed to take three points from United at Goodison last season. I haven't had the pleasure of going to Goodison since Everton drew with Manchester United

1-1 on the opening day of the 99/00 season (Thanks again, Jaap Stam for that point, we needed it).

Another football related sketch (why have two grounds so close?)

Back in the real world I passed the Theory section of my Driving Test and have now booked my Practical for an early morning slot on September the 21st, nerves are setting in already but I am quite excited by the fact that there's a possibility I will be able to drive in little over a month. Here's hoping.

Also, I hadn't intended any drawing this week but I somehow managed two! I know they aren't spectacular but a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

Here's to sun, beaches, reading, football, music, drawing and blogging (and above all free time).

JAB

Come, Come to the Animal Club

It's been so long since I've drawn anything or blogged at all due to going from working part time to working full time (well probably more than full time) hours at work. It's a shame because I have missed drawing but it's one of those situations when you've been working all day (or all week) you just want to go home, sit down and do nothing.

As you can probably gather, my artwork has taken a bit of a hit due to the extra hours but I suppose it does have some positives, I'm finally saving up a little money and as a result have been able to afford to take up driving lessons again (which I am enjoying a great deal more than when I was having them about 6 years ago). I'm also finding the time to read some more books, although I can hardly say I didn't have time to read before I just never read as much.

So, anyhow, Jen has inspired me to get back into my drawings more despite my working hours and although the drawings are fairly simple at the moment I've really enjoyed to be putting some bits and bobs into a sketchbook again.

Armadillo

Cat

Eagle

Gibbon

Vroom vroom*

JAB

*(The sound of too much clutch and gas).

Self-Portrait

I'd been wanting to do a new self portrait since re-growing my beard for the first time in an age. Here it is.

JAB

A day out at the Ferry

Drawing plans have hit a little bit of a snag due to the amount of overtime on offer at work at the moment - and I need the money so I'd be a fool to say no to any of it.

I did manage to get a good start on my project idea when I was off two weeks ago and visited my Dad for the week, I got the chance to record him and my Uncle Derek reminiscing about their Dad over a few pints at our favourite local and then spoke to my nan about my Grandad too. Sadly after returning home and working so many hours motivation levels concerning drawing and such have been at an all time low. Finally have a day off today and after a grand day enjoying the sun in Broughty Ferry with Jen I decided to finally get some of the drawings from two weeks ago online.

The ideas are there but the time doesn't seem to be just now.

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Me and Mum

Grandad

Dad, Uncle Frank and Robbie impersonating Deputy Dawg (with socks)

'Year 5' - Comic based on a book of memories my sister made whilst at primary school.

More to come soon...

JAB

J&J, Phil and I.

It's been an exciting few weeks. At the end of February Mum and I headed down to London on the Sleeper train for me to receive my Duke of Edinburgh award. Having never been on the Sleeper before I must admit it was quite an odd experience, constantly feeling I was going to fall out of bed I never really got the best sleep and then spent the whole of the next day in London with that vertigo-like sensation of feeling like I'd spent a few hours on a boat. The trouble sleeping was rectified on the return journey by consuming a few pints before boarding the train, meaning I more or less slept straight through to Dundee. Most people seem surprised when I tell them I'm only just getting my Duke of Edinburgh award now, it's mainly been down to laziness if I'm honest but it's nice to know that it wasn't just me who was lazy as two others from my school were receiving theirs at the same ceremony. I must admit, I'm not the biggest fan of the royals but it was pretty exciting to get a glimpse inside of St. James' Palace and to see Prince Phillip.

Beans

So here's my latest comic, based on a true story. I'm coming up with ideas for comics at a pretty fast rate but still want to get ahold of family photos and some interviews with the concerned to deepen the story-lines and this seems to have hit a bit a snag because of the fact that I've not seen enough of them lately to sit down and chat about these things. So hopefully it'll come to fruition when I get my week break from work in a couple of weeks and will probably head down to the Wirral for a week or so.

Last week was Jen's birthday and we spent the evening at Kokomo's. Jen was part of organizing Jumpers & Jamboree there along with Lauren and Nikki. It was a mighty enjoyable evening with much Art, Craft, Drinks, Music and Raffle prizes. Thanks guys, it surely was a great night and looking forward to your next event whenever and wherever that may be.

J&J poster

It was an extremely busy evening which made me feel a little daft for not having anything to sell, still I had a great time and I'll know to get some stuff together to sell for the next event. The photos here are taken from the Jumpers & Jamboree Flickr group which I have linked to in the previous paragraph, have a gander if you will for some more.

Busy, busy, busy

Andrew Bird (with Tree)

So it's sunday and I don't have much planned for today besides recovering from my week, this blog and maybe sorting a few bits and pieces out that need to be done. Most of all I shall be making the most of my day off and watching the football later on today. Here's hoping you all have equally exciting Sundays.

JAB