The ride of your life!

Yes, its time, time for the Guf to be tested to the max.

Sure, the Guf has done some long journeys, I have traveled many a mile behind its sweaty wheels...but this weekend...the real ride of its life is coming.

The Guf was bought to aid my photography - allowing me to travel to places and stay in the van overnight. As yet, this theory is untested.

We have big plans for the back of the Guf and getting it set up with a proper bed/seating and stuff...however, time permiting does not permit such an action!

Therefore, a temporary compromise situation was needed to allow me to use it for this project, pending the full kit out when time is more willing.

On a trip to Ammeas the other day, we picked up a nice futon mattress for a tenner. it snugly fits in the rear of the automobile.

So this weekend, Me, Guf, Hannah and Meg-face are heading to Cornwall to shoot the Eden project and visit the notirous GOS.

Today, with the assistance of the lovely Hannah - we prepared the finishing touches. A pair of curtains was obtained and hung on those boingy springy wire things. A curtain now covers the back doors and blocks the back from the cab. A King size 15tog duvet was purchased from the waining co-op and we are set. The light can be blocked out...the floor is bedded and a big duvet will shield us from the cold night air. All that remains is to go to Cornwall and kip in it!

I am very exciting, so is Guf - she can't wait to be slept in so she isn't h'all alone in the night anymore.

A review of the trip is pending our return when you will learn if it was a hair brained scheme and the van is just too small to sleep in or not!

Personally, I think its going to be a lorra fun and be plenty walm enough provided enough bedding is brought!

Big up the Guf. Big up Cornwall. Big up sleeping in vans and big up yer pants.

Fruity Whistler

On my way to meet Dave earlier, I passed a fruity whistler.

Perhaps the fruities public whistler I have seen/heard in some time.

He sounded like one of those plastic birds you put water in and blow into and they produce a birdy cheep cheep noise. I like them.

But did I like the fruity street whistler? I am not sure.

Should I trust people who whistle down the street...or are they too jolly to trust?

The Library

I spent about 3 hours in St Peters House library today, researching for my exam project. Studying endless books of images that might inspire and help me refine my plan enough to write a proposal. All librarys are strange, but St Peters house is the most strange.

The staff are odd, thats just a fact. They are comprised of the most classicly stereotypical librarians ever placed on the world. Its a dream of ironic geekness. One thing binds the staff though - their inability to be enthused about anything! Perhaps I too would not be enthused if I worked there, but I was thinking - they are surrounded by thousands and thousands of books, containing hundred of images in each. Thats thousands times hundreds of images, which equals millions. Surely that would get you excited on a daily basis?

I went to get change for the colour photocopier at one point and meandered down to the enquiry desk. I stood there. One, particularly odd and vague chap was on duty and his colleague was chatting to him. I did the usual shuffles, leanings and such like to show I was there and waiting service. But he did nothing, for minutes! He clearly saw me but just decided to ignore me! Fair enough I thought, I wont say anything, I will wait with the patience of a saint until you decide to honour me with service. He started edging to the desk, I got excited and readied my fiver to swap for glistening pounds...some other guy sauntered up behind me with some books and stood next to me at the counter. What happened...he only went and served the new bloke first! Fair enough, I thought again, I shall saint it up some more and not say anything to the librarian ignorer or the other chap who was too rude to tell the librarian I was first.
THEN, what should unfold...only more ignoring! The chap left and the librarian just fiddled with the computer for AGES without saying a word! Eventually he vaguelly looked in my direction and I thrust my note at him before it was too late! Crazy, and not the only time its happened. Am I invisible or perhaps just too polite?

My other funny thing about St Peters House is the 4th floor...its like Willy Wonkers Chocolate Factory (minus the Ompa Lumpas). Nobody goes in and nobody leaves. The fourth floor has all the over sized books and lost of monographs for painters and I don't think I have ever seen anyone up there. This leads me to the conclusion that either nobody likes paintings any more and doesn't use them as research or all painters are just really lazy! The bonus of the deserted fourth floor is that there is a chair by a small round window that I like to sit in and read my books whilst chomping on onions. Your not allowed to eat in the library, but as nobody is on the floor I can...and sit down...and look out of a round window. Its good.

My other problem with the library is the crapness of the photocopiers! Given it is the library dedicated to the art school, they have one colour copier and its complete tosh! So much so many students take books out and go to City College as their machine is better! Seems most strange they would be so badly equiped.

Libraries hey...who needs them when we have the internet (thats a joke...I don't mean it, I am sorry Libraries).

Running scared

I am annoyed. Ney frustrated is a better word for it.

Recently, with all the Christmas Jazz taking place, the frantic finishing of the SHIT and various other stress-head school related distractions, I have not been a part of this world.

Its true, I have barely noticed its there and this provides me with ample angst.

Normally, I thoroughly enjoy to live on planet John. Froliking around the place, observing the unobservable, harking at the unharkable and inspecting the world with my warped brain. But this has not been possible of late (covered that already, see a few lines above in this post!).

You see much of my art and my bloffle (Blog+waffle = bloffle) is inspired by my daily partaking in the world. Walking to the library, watching out the watch hole, froliking in the Autumn mist in a land called Gallerlei. So the distractions of late have halted this important process which has meant some things. Here are the some things:

1) I have had no blog inspiration. In fact, the last few days when I came to pen, all I could think of was the Shit. Tonight I tried to think of some interesting things I had seen and there were none.

2) I have had immense trouble coming up with ideas. As all WMB fans will know, I have to hand in my exam project proposal tomorrow. Weeks it took me to think of nothing, then a vague theme hit me and I have had to be uber-thinker the last few days in order to try and thrash out some kind of a plan.

3) Its made me boring. Yes, yes, I am sure many a reader is smugly saying to themselves "he's always boring" and yes, that may be true - but I am 'John boring', which is its own kind of dull, a fascinating and intreaguing dull that you all love. You try and deny it to yourselves, but I know its there. I can see it in your eyes, your evil eyes.

But, hopefully I can now move from boring back to John boring - just how I like it. I have done my writing now and can get back to taking pictures, which allows me to walk around a lot and fill my head with new and riveting insights!

Shit rags.

Its done.

The Shit has been written, printed, successfully bound and handed in.

It was quite hard to hand in, in the end. I stood there with it and gave it one last flick through to make sure everything was ok, no pages upside down etc and kept thinking of all the things I could change!

but obviosuly change is as change must, and change musn't so it wasn't. See?

Its rather exciting to have done it though, thats 20% if my degree finished. Woo ha, Woo ha, got you all in check.

5 months of work is never an easy thing to finish to a point of satisfaction, but my writing is quite good so I reckon I have done the best I could give the circumstances, and thats all you can do aint it.

Now I am to spend tonight thrashing out my exam project idea...ready to hand the proposal in on Wednesday aft. The exam project is the part of the degree I am most scared about really! Commiting to an idea before starting it is always hard as the way I work needs room to develop and manouvre.

My current thinking is to do something about the night. I first got into photography by shooting at night and I love to take pictures out and about late at night. Plus there is something unresolved there still! I have done many a project at night but never found what it is I want to say...or why! So perhaps this is the time to do it.

End of an Era(tional fear of writing)

I am printing the shit.

54 pages of crap about a topic I no longer have any interest in!

It's amazing what months of working on one thing can do to the initial joy you had for it.

I say joy, I mean mild enthusiasm!

My deadline is Friday and here I sit at clubbing O'clock on a Saturday printing it so I can try to get it handed in on Monday.

Oh what a feeling
seeing is believing...

Thats what I shall be singing come Monday aft when the bitch can finally get out of my life.

Not to say I am not pleased with it...coz I am, and I think its quite good all in all. Could be better, but then what couldn't! You can spend forever trying to improve, so there comes a time when enough is enough and you have to decide to stop. Tonight that moment came.

I can only imagine the weight of relief when it's done as then I can concentrate fully on what I came to university for...to take pictures!

The last writing hurdle is handing in my proposal/brief for the exam project this Wednesday. First task...decide on what I am doing for it!

Just had a horrible thought...is there a maximum size they can spiral bind in printers? The shit is 54 pages on monstrous heavy weight paper...if its too big I am gonna have to shrink the font and print the whole thing again! Fingers crossed its ok.

Sorry for the lame post, especially after such a gap...but my mind has been elsewhere recently!

Normal service will resume as of tomorrow.

Peace out.

P.S If anyone wants to read the Shit, just ask ;)