Post It Note Sketches

Post It notes – I love them… But we’ll get on to that in a bit.

First, I’d like to explain what’s been going on in my life recently. Of course, if you read my last post, you’ll know that I quit my job a while ago, and at the time, was not-so-patiently waiting for life to re-start when I’d worked the last of my notice there. Well now it has, and I have to say, the difference in my mood and personality has been amazing. It’s so nice to wake up in the morning and to decide for myself what the plan for the day is. Yes, it’s now completely up to me to get motivated and to get stuff done, but I can work on what I like when I like, and that has made me so much happier.

Financially it makes sense for me to look for another job at least part-time, but at the moment my priority is to get the never ending album project finished and that is what I am concentrating on.

So anyway, back to the point. When I was not so gainfully unemployed, I used to sketch little things on Post-It notes. It was kind of a coping mechanism as it gave my mind a small break from whatever spreadsheet I was staring at. Apparently doodling has been shown to help memory and concentration, but even so, my little sketch collection seemed to be frowned upon… yet I couldn’t bring myself to throw them all out.

Recently I was tidying up the studio and I found a stack of ones that I’d brought home with me, so I thought I’d share them:

What do cows say? That’s right – cows say ‘moo’.

Technically not a Post It sketch… Liked it enough to share it anyway.

Some curly curls being curly.

A lion sat next to a product code. That happens a lot in real life, right?

Butterfly flutterin’ by.

Flowery fun with highlighters

Some fan art… Looshkin belongs to Jamie Smart and is usually less chunky than this!

Yes, past me – drawing IS fun

Why, monkey – don’t you have big ears?!

Possibly a panther. Definitely a big cat.

More fan art – Filler Bunny is the creation of Jhonen Vasquez.

And if you like those, here’s a tumblr dedicated solely to the art of Post-Its. You can even send in your own!

In Limbo

It’s a Thursday afternoon and here I sit, in limbo. Having handed in my notice at work, it feels like I am just waiting for the end to start. And once that happens, perhaps I can begin anew.

I do feel better though, despite the nagging fear that there won’t be another job out there, or that I won’t be able to find the self-motivation to finish the projects that I am determined to make time for. In this limbo state, I can see more clearly that this is not a bad thing.

Change is important, and whether life after my old job turns out to be good, bad or even a complete surprise, I know that I would have regretted staying.

So, thank you to everyone who sent me messages or who I’ve chatted with since my last blog post . Thank you for your support, concern and advice – I appreciate your thoughts, both positive and negative (or sensible, as they’re also known ). It’s good to know you’re there.

And the countdown continues…

Oh XKCD, you say the truest things…

I am wondering whether it is a good idea to print this out and stick it above my desk at work (it’s only fair to warn my unsuspecting colleagues…).

Or possibly I should just stick it to my forehead.

From the most excellent web comic XKCD

Velour

Futurama – I love it. It has, however, had an unexpected side effect on little ol’ me…

I can no longer hear the word ‘velour’ without thinking of Zapp Brannigan.

Seriously, even when I read the word on a page my brain will immediately switch to Zapp’s voice, followed inevitably by a mental image of kiff looking disturbed. Poor Kiff.

This occurred to me while making copy amends to gift products at work today… you’d be surprised how many things are ‘presented in a veloooourr-lined box’.

And for my fellow Futurama fans out there, here’s a YouTube video – Zapp Brannigans Guide to Making Love at a Woman:

Productiveness and Practice

Image from oddquartet.com – print it out and stick it on things! You know you want to…

Practising: I am well aware that I need to do it, but I have a tendency to either get distracted by other things, or lapse for weeks if I don’t have performance to prepare for.

But, as I mentioned in my post the other week I’ve recently started taking piano lessons again. It’s been going pretty well so far – in four (five?) lessons I have three pieces that are starting to come together and I’m pleasantly surprised how quickly things are coming back to me. I’m pleased that I’m remembering how to read music again (which I haven’t done seriously since I left university… in 2004). But the main thing that starting lessons has given me – something to practise for every week.

My previous experience of piano lessons has been draconian attitudes and pressure to pass exams*, so it’s been a really refreshing experience to go to a teacher who told me on my first lesson ‘yeah, if you can get 15-30 minutes in 4 or 5 time a week, you’ll see some improvement’. And I am.

What I’ve tried to do these past few weeks is to keep track of how long I have practised each day, and record it on a prettily coloured chart to keep myself accountable. I’ve included rows for guitar and vocal practise too… but to be honest, once I’ve worked through my piano practise, picking up the guitar feels like a treat and not a chore.

So, lately I’ve been playing a lot more and this is an excellent thing: time spent playing is never time wasted. However, I am starting to feel like I’ve actually been less productive. I don’t have anything physical to show for my work. Despite spending way more time in the music room, I haven’t progressed further on my never-ending album, nor have I written much new material or worked on the bits hubby asked me to do for the relaunch of the radio show.

I can’t help but think that I could do with a few more hours in the day to fit everything in.

Or maybe I just need to get more organised…

*I had several teachers growing up, but the two that I had most of my lessons with were also the two that I feared the most… The first scarred me emotionally for life and made me hate everything to do with playing (which explains why I quit several times). The second made me work really hard and actually got me through grade 5 with merit. I have a lot to thank her for, even if she did terrify the young me.

Little Things

Small things amuse small minds they say. If that’s the case, I must be pretty small-minded… but I think that little things can make all the difference.

So, here’s a list of little things that have given me happy little moments lately and why:

• Piano practice – I never thought I’d say this as I hated piano practice for years, and am notoriously bad at getting into a routine. I’m really enjoying the improvement I’m seeing after only a few weeks of re-starting lessons and making an effort to play (nearly) every day. And I like the way my fingers feel slightly stretched out after I’ve played.

• Discovering new stuff – New music, new films, new books, little nuggets of new information… it’s all good.

• Sharing new stuff – One of my friends was winding me up about my ant-fear the other day, but in the process he shared this article on ant super-colonies with me. Ants are pretty flippin’ impressive, even if they do scare the heck out of me. Sharing is fun, see.

In my friend’s defence, I started the ant conversation by sharing this image with him… (from http://science.memebase.com)

• A little act of rebellion – Shhhh… I use headphones at work. And they’re not allowed! I’m such a bad girl.

• Chocolate – Good dark chocolate is my favourite – rich and strongly flavoured, but not too bitter. All other forms of chocolate are acceptable though. And it’s such a creative thing: check out one of my favourite local chocolate shops, Lick The Spoon in Cirencester.

Chocolate lollipops from Lick The Spoon, Cirencester

• Tidying my record collection - The other day I went through and put all the CDs that were scattered around the house away. I put all the mixed up CDs back in alphabetical order. Boring and slightly anal, yes – but also kind of soothing. It’s also a reminder of what music I actually have – there were several albums that I had almost forgotten about and not played for ages that I just had to put on even as I was tidying. Reconnecting with albums you used to listen to a lot is good for the soul.

I have a feeling that everyone has these little things that cheer them up – what are yours?

6Music’s Milkshake

I love BBC 6Music – not least because they interviewed the lovely Barry Dolan (a.k.a. Oxygen Thief) and played his single Mestle and Porter the other night… But I love them mostly because they play a variety of music that is constantly different, interesting and, most importantly, good.

Nevertheless, I was still a little surprised yesterday morning to hear Andrew Collins play Radiohead’s Idioteque followed swiftly with Milkshake by Kelis. Even on a station as eclectic as 6, that’s a big jump in style.

Image from Wikipedia

But, as I was dancing round my bedroom while trying to find suitable work clothes, I was struck by something just a little odd in the lyrics. And because I am pedantic (or pendantic, as Shaun Keaveny would say) I thought I’d point it out.

The lyrics are (as if you didn’t know):

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, And they’re like, It’s better than yours; Damn right, it’s better than yours,  I can teach you, But I have to charge

I know you want it, The thing that makes me, What the guys go crazy for.
They lose their minds, The way I wind, I think its time.

La la-la la la, Warm it up,
La la-la la la, The boys are waiting

Wait a second? Warm it up?!

I thought we were making milkshake here… Seriously, who warms up a deliciously cold ice cream and milk-based beverage?

Warm milkshake? No thank you, Kelis. No, thank you.

It’s Ok to Be Neither; A Reflection on Gender Variance

I read this article, It’s Ok to Be Neither by Melissa Bollow Tempel,  yesterday and was surprised by how much I was affected by it.

Growing up, I’d never classed myself as a child with ‘gender variance’, but by the definition provided by Ms Tempel, that’s exactly what I was.  I had short hair for years. I wore trousers, sweatshirts and grungy t-shirts with men’s shirts over the top (what? it was the 90′s!). Like Allie, the little girl mentioned in the article, I often received gifts that I could never wear because they were too girly.

When I was younger, the only ‘girl’s’ toys that I liked were animal ones, Sylvanian Families and My Little Pony (but not the pink ones), never dolls. Well, alright, one Barbie, (or possibly Cindy?) doll; she had all her hair cut off, and I wasn’t really bothered when the dog chewed her head. I always wanted to be like my brother and make cool things with Technics Lego, and was always subsequently annoyed that I wasn’t as good at it as he was.

I remember the embarrassing moment on the second day of secondary school when I had to stand up and say “errr, no. I’m a girl, actually” when we were doing an introduction exercise in drama class, and the person who introduced me said “This is Ellie and HE likes…”.

But the thing is, apart from not being recognised as a girl on more than a few occasions, I never felt different, (well, not for liking boy’s things anyway, but that’s another story). I was a girl who didn’t like pink, but I was still a girl.

These days we all seem to have so much marketing, advertising and pop culture thrown at us that reinforces gender roles, that children who don’t conform to these ideas are facing as many, or even more problems than I did when I was growing up. You just have to walk into any large toy shop and you’ll be confronted by a massive display of pink things ‘for girls’ and a massive display of guns, cars and soldiers ‘for boys’.

And that’s why I feel that breaking down gender stereotypes at a young age is an important step, as  Ms Melissa states in her article. Encouraging a school environment where everyone feels comfortable to express themselves surely can’t be a bad thing. Nor can recognising when gender issues are causing problems for a student and addressing them.

However,  I’m not sure that labelling children with ‘gender variance’ is particularly helpful in this case. It makes it sound like a condition, not just a person expressing who they are.  I wonder whether the label here reinforces the stereotype – to be ‘variant’ suggests that you are deviating from the norm, when really, what is normal?

The truth is we all have a feminine side and we all have a masculine side – how much we choose to express each side of ourselves at any one time is entirely up to personal choice and what feels right.

Learning Through Google Doodles

Google Doodle to celebrate Nicolas Steno's 374th birthday

I have to confess that I was never good at history at school. I was fairly interested in geography though (well, the bits about volcanos and stuff really, not so much the bits about population growth and migration…), and I enjoy a bit of casual fossil admiration, so my interest was piqued when I saw today’s Google doodle.

Turns out, it was all to do with Nicolas Steno, who was at least partly responsible for modern geology.

So, here’s what I’ve learnt today, thanks to Google (and Wikipedia, heh):

Nicolas Steno was a Danish Bishop and scientist who was a pioneer in both anatomy and geology, and who believed that observation was the key to scientific discovery. He travelled widely through Europe and his scientific contributions include discovering that fossils are the remains of living animals, and the three defining principles of Stratigraphy: the law of superposition, the principal of original horizontality and the principle of lateral continuity.

He sounds like someone who you wouldn’t want to get into an ill-informed argument with, either:

At a time when scientific questions were mostly answered by appeal to ancient authorities, Steno was bold enough to trust his own eyes, even when his observations differed from traditional doctrines.  – Wikipedia

So, happy 374th birthday Steno. I salute you.

Seasonal TV Ads That Make My Blood Boil

TV adverts are one of those things that can be brilliant, or can be the most annoying thing ever.

There’s a reason for this – to sell, they need to be memorable (which is different to being good!) and they’re on repeat as often as possible, so that they’re seen by as many people as possible. This deadly combination of striving to stick in the mind and endless repetition can have any one of us shaking our heads and moaning at the TV in dispair…

Generally, I try to ignore the clamour of advertisers trying to sell me stuff, but these two adverts really get my goat:

The Activia Yogurt advert -

Apparantly, according to this advert, a yogurt can magically tidy your house, bring in a new light and bright atmosphere, help you feel thin, healthy, and to stick to those elusive New Year weight goals.

I’m not knocking the benefit of yogurt (it’s genuinely pretty good for you, especially if you eat it plain and naturally sugar-free), but can it change your life? I mean, really? And can anyone explain to me what exactly makes this better than a normal bio-live yogurt? Because I just don’t get it.

It’s just a YOGURT!

The Boots the Chemist Advert -

TV adverts have historically been hot-beds of sexist ideals, but this advert manages to insult both women and men by tarring both with the wide sweeping brush of gender stereotypes.

Two clearly ill, cold-hearted women bitch to each other about how much they have to do (while spreading their germs around, I might add), and then callously patronise a man who’s sensibly gone to bed with his cold.  I mean seriously – f**k the ‘I have to keep going like a superwoman regardless of my health’ attitude that’s foisted on us women these days. If you’re ill, call in sick and get some rest, you idiots.

And, also, well done bitch number two for making a man who you supposedly care for look bad while blatantly enforcing the negative male stereotype that all men act hard until they get a little sniffle and then they turn into whiney, pathetic puddles of man flu.

And what’s worse is that they’re clearly trying to be ‘feminist’ with this advert; totally mis-understanding that feminism is about equality and not the sickening “girls are better than boys, ner ner ner” attitude that’s on show here.

*aaand, deep breath*

Sorry, I started ranting… but oooh, it makes me so angry!

Now it’s over to you! Which adverts get you angrily shaking your fists at the TV, and why? Let me know in the comments.