Halloween

bonfires burning bright,
pumpkin faces in the night,
i remember halloween,
dead cats hanging from poles,
little dead are out in droves,
i remember halloween

brown leaved vertigo,
where skeletal life is known,
i remember halloween,
this day anything goes,
burning bodies hanging from poles,
i remember halloween halloween, halloween, halloween, halloween

candy apples and razor blades,
little dead are soon in graves,
i remember halloween,
this day anything goes,
burning bodies hanging from poles,
i remember halloween, halloween, halloween, halloween halloween, halloween, halloween, halloween

- The Misfits

Well, it’s that time of year…

The sun starts setting earlier, the evening air has that lovely crisp feel, the leaves on the trees start turning the most briliant colours before they fall from high above and I get that twinge in my right hand to start doodling again…

I know it’s bad practice to just wait until inspiration hits but I think that’s what I need to get myself going again. My mind is always focused on web based work these days and leaves little room for anything else but I intend to alter the ratio slightly to fit in some more of my creative interests, as aforementioned, cartooning.

I think I’ve grown out of the idea of becoming a full time cartoonist with my own book(s) etc but whats to stop me from creating the odd strip and getting it up on my site? Who knows, it might motivate me to get off my arse and redesign that too, well more of a re-jig to be more accurate as I like the design, but I have always wanted to incorporate a “Portfolio” style section show-casing my ‘Art’.

I did have a point when I started writing this but the idea of turning on the PS3 for another go on the demo for ‘Skate’ has slowly crept up on me (another thing competing for my attention this winter – if you haven’t played it yet, let me say this, it makes any Tony Hawk game look like Parappa the Rappa), so anyway, I’ll finish up by saying my brain meats are working on a story which I hope to flesh out over the next week or so. For now I’ll leave you with a sneak peak in the form of a rather crude 5 minute doodle to wet yer whistles.

Bye for now! S x

8 random thing-a-mie-jobs…

I’ve been hooked into taking part in this by Andy and I can’t let him down now can I? Some of my friends will know some of these and some won’t so I’ll try get a mixture in.

Are you ready? Got yer pipe and slippers? Okay, here goes:

The Rules

• You have to post these rules before giving you the facts.

• Players state eight random facts/habits about themselves.

• At the end of the blog post, you tag eight people and list their names. (Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.)

• People who are tagged need to write about their eight things on their own blog and also post these rules.

The Facts

1. I’ve never been sick as a result of drinking.

2. The first ever web mag I bought (Practical Web Design), I entered a competition and won The Adobe CS Premium Suite worth £1600.

3. I’m distantly related to the guy who invented ‘Cat’s Eye’s‘, the little reflectors in the roads. He was my Great-grandfather’s cousin or something.

4. My Art teacher at school “borrowed” some of my GCSE coursework (after it’d been marked) to take with her to an interview for another job, to show how good a teacher she was. I haven’t heard from her since so I presume she got the job then threw my work away.

5. When I was growing up, my dream was to work as an animator for Aardman Animations. When I got a bit older, my dream was to write my own comic books series for Slave Labor Graphics, now my dream is gravitated toward a career in some sort of design field (although I still need to train myself up, I need to prepare as this web thing won’t last in it’s current state till retirement age) but I’d stil love to have a comic series (all I need is an idea…).

6. I’ve played guitar since I was 6 years old. I own a custom made guitar built by a guy who apparently has also built guitars for some famous peeps, Mark Knopfler is one of them. The guitar is also numbered as on the first 100 he built which is pretty cool.

7. Despite the fact that I moan about how shit the weather is all the time, I actually prefer winter to summer. I prefer the darker evenings. I prefer having to wrap up to just walk to the shop for milk. The air is fresher. It hits you like a tonne of bricks as soon as you step out the door. Plus it’s the time of year where I can wake up at a reasonable hour and still catch the sun rising over the hills.

8. Nearly three years ago to the day (October 2nd), I almost died as a result of both my lungs collapsing at the same time. I was sat in bed in agony, only able to take short breaths and thought it’d be a good idea to have a lie down. Not so. I stopped breathing and nearly passed out. I managed to sit up again and had a panic attack. I somehow managed to sort myself out and call an ambulance (my brother was asleep next door but I didn’t want to disturb him as it was 1 am and he had work the next day – dumbass = me), so the ambulance took me to the local hospital where the doctors proceeded to drug me up in preparation for the next phase…

   Getting two big needles and thrust then into my chest, a lung a piece, which strangely enough, didn’t hurt at all. Also, as soon as the needles went in, I took what felt like the biggest breaths I’ve ever taken in my life! Tubes were fixed to me to drain fluid out of my chest but they didn’t work too well. So I had to have surgery which has left me with a cool scar that runs from the joining of my collar bones down the middle of my chest and a few more where I had bigger tubes fixed to me. To cut a long story short, I came home, then had to go back, had another operation, went home, then had to go back again. Been okay since so fingers crossed. If you want to hear more grusome details, email me.

Sorry if you didn’t find any of this interesting but it was funny pretending to be intersting for an hour.

I’m going to follow in Katemonkey’s footsteps and break the rules by not nominating anyone because I don’t really know anyone else who would do it. So to finish I’m going to quote Katemonkey

I’m not officially tagging anyone to do this. But if you want to do it, go right ahead.

Catch y’all later! S x

So Long, fairwell…

I’m not leaving forever, just for a short time so I can recharge and catch some sun. I’m flying to Spain in just over 5 hours and I’m slightly nervous having not been on a plane since I was 9 but I’m sure it’ll be okay.

I’ve decided to leave my MacBook here while I go away which effectively cuts me off from all internet/film/music/photo access for the duration…should be quite interesting. I can hardly leave my computer alone for a couple of hours let alone days!

Anyway, I’ve only had about an hours kip, dispite being in bed since 10, an I’m still knacked so I’m gonna try get some rest.

Good luck to all those mates who are going back to Uni, and a big good luck to those who are starting this year!! Sorry I couldn’t be around to give you all a send off.

See you all when I get back! S x

The (in)accessibility of Dean Clough

I live in a small town in ‘The North’ of England called Halifax, a town which boasts some pretty amazing historical facts. The inventor of ‘Cat’s Eyes’, the little reflective road markers was from here (and is also a distant relative of mine – my great grandfather’s cousin or something) and we had a guillotine here and were chopping heads off long before the French. Thoses are just a couple I know. It is also well known as an industrial town and played it’s own part in the Industrial Revolution.

I work for a web company and our office is part of a large mill just outside of the town centre, named Dean Clough, which consists of six or seven large mills and a couple of small additions packed into an area stretching 2/3 mile. The mills have been converted info office space occupied by various companies as well as housing a few art galleries. There is a constant mix of people coming to work and people coming to look around.

There is a fairly simple one way traffic route through the collection of buildings but I’m still surprised by the amount of times I see visitors getting lost and need help finding their way around. There are maps dotted around the site which are supposed to help visitors figure out where they are but I find them very confusing.

This three dimensional artists impression is great at showing the expanse of the site but I think it fails when it comes to clearly displaying the various roads, buildings, gates and car parks. Our office happens to be quite simple to find, we’re in a small building sharing with only one other company but on these maps, shown above, our office is completely lost behind one of the large mills. It’s no wonder clients call us saying they’re lost.

I really started thinking about writing this a couple of months ago, just before the smoking ban came into effect. As a precaution, Dean Clough admin sent information about the ban which included a map illustrating the areas where smoking will be permitted. The thing is the map is a very simple birdseye view of the site clearly outlining each building, gates, roads and car parks, which I think would be much more effective in aiding lost visitors.

It’s not as visually pleasing but it’d do a better job and maybe help increase visitor numbers…

Nearly one week in…

I’ve had my computer for almost a week and I’m extremely happy with how it’s turning out. I’ve been taking it with me everywhere I go. I’ve started filling my address book, adding events to my calendar and adding pics into iPhoto. After my previous post, I decided to give TextMate a try after the recommendtion from Andy and I think it’s pretty good. My only problem is that there’s no hash key! How can I add a colour in CSS without it? A little help? Chars!

My first post on my new MacBook…

Yes! I’m glad to report I’ve finally made the transfer back to Apple and about time too! My old PC threw in the towel last Wednesday and as I need a computer I had no coice but to scamper off to my nearest Mac stockist (which turned out to be Currys : O) I’m still getting to grips with the interface and some of the nifty stuff it can do but one area I’m having trouble with, is finding some good, cheap HTML/CSS/Javascript editors. Any ideas?

Just for the fun of it, here’s a side by side comparison with my old laptop…

Wow I’ve not written anything for a while…

Sorry people. I’ll try do better in the near future…

Ciao! S x

Hey Mr. Weatherman…

Where’s our bloody summer?!!

I know it’s unfair to blame TVs friendly faces for the crap weather but there’s no-one else.

I want one!

Please someone, buy me one!