Pen Paradise

I set off for work hilariously early to beat the traffic and instead the traffic beat me. Over an hour of driving later I landed and dove into my work. The big thing at the moment is the amount of birthdays we have coming up for friends and colleagues so we're cooking up plans and gifts for them. Speaking of gifts, I've had my eye on a rather nice pen for a little while now and a saw our base was a stones throw away from a stationery shop. Low and behold, they had my pen, not even behind a cabinet so I could try it out and get a sense of it. Better still, they offered to sell it to me with a blue ink cartridge inside - I was prepared to drop some more money just so I could write in my signature colour. Just in time too, I had plenty of Birthday cards to sign...

On Turning 25

Deary me. I finished up my to do list before lunch time and nothing really emerged to stack on top. I'm not used to lulls in the action as it turns out, but the mind does start to wander when it's not occupied. I honestly think I spent more brain energy being the office DJ, a usually thankless task but when it helps everyone around me lock in then it's all worth it. 

A coworker is lamenting the fact they're turning 25 soon, pondering and getting stuck up on the fact 'they haven't accomplished much with their life'. That kind of thinking bits hard, especially at that age. I remember working at coffee #1 and telling my 30 something colleagues exactly the same thing when I was turning 25. Despondantly they remarked how they'd give anything to be that young again. Well now I'm empathizing pretty hard with that sentiment. Still, I hope we can knock them out of their funk.

Run Rebecca, Run

Rebecca and I went out on another run together, this time we smashed her personal best. First time we went out last month she was wheezing her way towards the finishing line (not a far cry from how I was doing the first time I got back into the swing of things), but today she took it all in her stride. Slowly but surely I'm convincing her that it's a fun hobby.

Our lazy Sunday's have also given way to a new part of our routine: a mid afternoon movie. Often these are mid 2000's chick flicks that Rebecca is enlightening me on and so far we haven't hit a stinker. It's just funny going back through my film history to see well regarded 60's French cinema, Silent era masterworks and cheese ball Rom Coms all lumped in together. 

Padel 2

Keep getting Saturday headaches. Probably a combination of catching up on sleep and not having caffeine in my system at the appointed time of pre-6am. I push through it every weekend though, I suppose by the time it goes away symbolizes how rested I am. It didn't effect my performance during some sports though. Mark and Lucy invited Rebecca and me to go play some Padel together. It had been a hot minute since I last had a stab but racquet sports do come back to me pretty quick. Padel is an odd one though because you need to unwire your brain a bit from classic tennis rules as there's always more options to keep the ball in play - the most common being smashing the ball against the wall for a bounce back. Literally every one of us that played got offer that opportunity in a game, ran over to strike the ball, then had a physical hiccup as our brain and our arms didn't communicate properly. That made it all the more fun though - we're all at a similar level so the match was dead close but always a hoot.

11 Years

Although today was meant to be a bit shorter for everyone, I still found myself running around trying to facilitate everyone. I got the Friday feeling though, around lunchtime I started to twinckle knowing that two whole days of rest were incoming. But that feeling was slightly stolen away as the post work requests came flooding in. 'Hey there, sorry it's after hours but...' is the prefix from hell, especially on a Friday. But I got away smooth and managed to enjoy a date night out with Rebecca to it's fullest. 

Not just any date night though! It was our 11th anniversary of getting together tonight so we hit the town, visiting a swanky wine and pasta place which was stunning. We're talking crab, clams and the silkiest panna cotta I've ever had. We crashed back down to earth by  sauntering into a kooky board game bar smack bang in the middle of Friday Night Clubbing Central. It was a little slice of us and a little quieter than most places so it was Ideal for us. The whole time we spent playing games I couldn't believe 11 years had passed me by - I'm so very lucky to have Rebecca in my life.

Plied with Pancakes

My colleagues noted my thousand yard stare on occasion today. I was running out in the rain a lot, juggling multiple requests on emails and WhatsApp which managing several expectations. It can be quite draining that but I didn't want to make a thing of it. Yet to make me feel better I was plied with pancakes from catering, which I would have enjoyed more if I wasn't constantly getting up to sort out more problems. That said, I wore my many hats well and showed a lot of people I wasn't just a Prod bod. Even the director made a remark as he saw me loading a camera truck.

A busy day requires some fun in the evening though. I nipped out for a quick run before Louis and Rachel popped round to try the new Mario Kart game. Louis likes the new cow character and shouting cow puns when he does something hype as it turns out. 

Tray 9

Attended another round of teeth shaving with my dentist. I asked him if it was as ropey for him as it was me and he just smiled while giving a tired look. Another set of my trays went in too, markings my 17th week with these things in my gob and I'm still not halfway yet. The results are starting to be a bit more pronounced though, just have to let that carry me for now.

My one hour at the dentist unexpectedly put me in the backdoor for the rest of my work day. I played catch-up til about 4pm, then coasted for a couple of minutes, then got hit with a bombshell that I had to untangle a bit too late in the day. I think it's all sorted but I certainly earned my money today. 

Cleared To Do

Something miraculous happened this afternoon. I cleared my to do list. Every single thing has a strike through it, not one job left to do for the day, even my daily duties were all done and dusted. While there's always something to be getting on with, I'm in a position to do those extra jobs in a more leisurely capacity which is a lovely prospect. This even came off the back of a chunky curveball I swiftly battered away when one of our hire vans broke down on the motorway. Everything was tidied up and sorted swiftly though without fuss. I felt so good after the day I went for a short run to, once again, try getting back into the swing of things. I gotta try keeping that up a bit more, I can feel my muscles being to atrophy behind my desk.

Lukewarm Monday

Back to it this Monday and the day went by slow. We're kinda over the big hurdle now, all our time, energy and stress has been poured into a single area and now that sequence is over we're just kinda laughing. I was in the office today and most of the day was just quietly spent tapping away on keyboards and emails, enjoying a lukewarm Monday to get us ready for the week. Even still I found myself as the first one unlocking the office and closing it up at the end of the day. I gotta learn to leave in good time really, there's so much more to life than work.

Power Washer

Prepped Sunday Scramble for Rebecca and her family. Her Mum and Dad are out in Spain for most of June, but before they went they offered to power wash our back garden. I couldn't possibly say no to that could I? It actually looks better than new out there now - the cat will barely recognize our garden!

I stayed at home while Rebecca went out to a gig in Bristol. Those few hours alone was all I needed to recharge my batteries before the next work week. I think we've broken through the hump of the block and gotten into a really firm swing of things. Just have to maintain energy and get through the marathon job and that starts with an earlyish night to catch up after yesterday's madness.

Happy Birthday Dan 2025

In between games of Mario Kart we got the house ready for Rebecca's visiting parents. We took the into Bristol town where I eventually splitered off from them so I could hang out with Dan plus a few other friends from my secondary school days. We did pizza, pints, shots of ameraetto, fun hypothetical questions and arcade games after dark. Rebecca and I queued to get into the sweatiest booth in Bristol to play some Guitar Hero together. I think Dan has a good day out in the city - he's the Birthday boy as of the stroke of midnight so I hope he had a good one!

 

Mario Kart World

Friday on the truck was a fun place to be. A bunch of the grown ups toddled off home just after lunch so we started raising hell. We admittedly got a bit overexcited by it all but we were laughing, working hard and laughing some more, a jolly good way to spend the day. Better still, Rebecca and I had a Friday night in. We opened a bottle of wine and settled in to drink and drive with the new Mario Kart - this time finish up all the levels, earmarking our favourites and learning to the best routes to destroy each other with later. It's been over a decade since the last Mario Kart so I think we're allowed some excitement.

Switch 2

While driving around town doing various drop offs for work I got the guy punch email. 'Your copy of Mario Kart isn't getting delivered... So sorry'. Potential day ruiner that, luckily I managed to hop into Argos and pick up a copy like usual - now I just needed to cross my fingers and my toes for my Switch 2 console to arrive.

No dramas there though - it landed super effectively with Rebecca at home. Now came the agonizing clock watching at work. I put my copy of Mario Kart on my desk as if it was a photo of my child - 'do it for them' style. That kept me going and before I knew it I was unwrapping the console and playing games with Rebecca all evening long. 

Nothing beats the excitement of a new console. Perhaps this one was a little downplayed because it's a little too similar to my old Switch. That and I'm 31 now, my emotions are much more in check. But I'd be lying if there wasn't a tiny part of my that felt like a little kid again opening up that box. 

T'was the Night Before Switchmas 2

Rocked up to a unit base I'm pretty sure was visable from space. With a huge number of cast and SA's in there was a lot to wrangle from all the departments, but everyone looked at ease. They had the right help, good team members and all the resources they needed to do their job well while keeping a sense of humour. That's frankly the best possible environment in our business and it was a pleasure to go into work today.

Tonight is also the evening before the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2. I always get a little sentimental saying goodbye to and old console though, I remember what the original Switch represented, I recall where I was physically and emotionally when I got it and I can't help but smile thinking of all the good times it's resulted in. I went Interrailing with that thing, it's been a constant partner for family holidays and Su Beer competitions. To think that device will now be put in storage after tomorrow is actually madness. But that cycle is all part of the game. New tech comes in, rendering older consoles obsolete, but their impact is irreplaceable.

Copy+Paste

I don't think I did anything at work besides move information from one spreadsheet into another. I'm not even joking. Names for distro lists? Lemme copy+paste those off a Google sheet onto a dedicated emailing platform. PO'ing taxis? Lemme copy+paste from the invoice into a logging spreadsheet so I can copy+paste it all again into our PO software. Work like this is a bit fabricated at times, do humans need to justify their time doing busywork or are we just here to suffer? At least I get pennies for my pasting, then numbers in my bank account go up.  

Switch 2 Dispatched

Got to work just after the crack of dawn to set up our satellite wifi, (We're saving money by using me instead of a dedicated engineer to set it up). My boss invited me down to set to see it all setting up and getting ready for the big sequence we're doing. I had a small hand in organizing bits and bobs and it was nice to see them arrive and get put in situ. Otherwise I just kept to myself, put my head down and got in with my work. I'm actually getting ahead of the game once again, I have breathing room and I'm feeling good about the next few weeks. But it was a long old day for me, I've not fully got back into the swing of being back in Production during shoot days. I'm in the office tomorrow though so I should be able to recover a bit. 

The one thing that's keeping me going is the dispatch email I got saying the Switch 2 is on its way to my doorstep. Just a few more days to go... 

We can be Vampires

In the true spirit of enjoying my one day off and thus not wanting to see sunlight, I spent the majority of the day playing games and watching films about Vampires. Ok, I did actually do the North Street shuffle as it only felt right to do something productive with my day beyond being with creatures of the night. But if we really want to talk about bloodsucking, then we can go no further than Grease 2 - a cult classic to some or an absolute tire fire in my eyes. At least it was fun to watch something quite terrible with Rebecca, we had a hoot laughing AT the movie tonight, the ultimate brain off Sunday watch.

Hassleback

Woke up and had coffee just like I do every morning. I like to give myself a leisurely 49 minutes each morning before heading out to work, a chance to calibrate and steel myself for the day ahead. I figured out what bus to catch the previous night, but I figured checking again wouldn't hurt. But it did hurt. I now apparently had 10 minutes to dash out the house to catch the only bus running on a Saturday that would get me in on time. I was in a grump but an unlikely colleague approached very early in the morning with a tote bag. 'I have a game I want to show you'. He produced a crudely painted wooden box with slots cut into it, some poker chips and a single dice. He explained how his Brother came up with the game as he taught me the rules. We played a round and It was indeed a cute dice game with a fun twist. We finished and I thanked him for the game. 'That's for you' he then said. I was caught off guard by the generosity, but touched none the less. Here I was, just white knuckling my way through a working Saturday and a ray of sunshine entered my world. My outlook changed and my day seemed all the brighter.

False Friday Stupour

I legitimately thought Friday was going to be a nice normal time, instead I once again found myself running on my hands to keep up with the day. To add insult to injury, the shooting crew wrapped fairly early, leaving me and the Production team in the office still scrambling to get everything sorted. Because I'm working tomorrow I couldn't quite bring myself to go out to play board games so I stayed indoors and enjoyed a Friday night all to myself. If anything, I accidentally pulled myself into a false Friday stupour, it was only much later I re-remebered that tonight was a school night. Early rise for me again tomorrow, but Saturday can't be so bad right?

Moth Missionary

Rebecca is once again out of town which can make me a little glum, but tonight I was super glad she was away. Not just because I had another big gaming session with Mark and Dan, but because the cat brought in another present in the form of a jolly massive moth. Alive too - the fella had antennas, walked around a bit all while the cat just stood admiring it. I couldn't join the fan club however, instead I dashed for the Hoover, assembled it to give the most distance between myself and it, pressed go and prayed. This moth was honestly almost bigger than the nozzle so it was a bit touch and go. Thankfully it ended up in the dust chamber and I carted it out of the house. A freighting way to close the day.

Tray 8

 I once again found myself chasing my work tail a fair bit. While trying to do the important stuff, urgent things kept coming up, and by then the important stuff had become urgent. I never know if I'm working as hard as I should be or if I'm just bad at managing my time. Rebecca tells me I must be doing better than I think which hopefully is true. But right now it could afford to slow down a peg or two.

I've put in the 8th tray into my mouth now, whole doing so I caught a glimpse of my teeth in the mirror and I noticed the change. It's been 14 weeks with these braces now and the improvements are finally bearing fruit. I'm still a ways off from the estimated half way point but seeing the results has remotivated me.

Studio Schnanigans

First in means I deal with all the shenanigans that came with our first studio shoot day. Dodgey WiFi, malfunctioning printers and fire lane farces were all part of my morning scurry session. Once the workload plateaued it turned into a nice little day, plus the caterers are only down in the car park so we were well fed. We've got through all the teething issues of this morning so we should be coasting after today.

Wet Roller

 My last day of painting saw me divorced from my beloved Grinch roller (he didn't quite dry out overnight, he is a shaggy boy after all) so I had to settled for a battleworn roller that is probably on its final tour of duty. The second coat went on though and it all looks crisp and clean. Rebecca is doing the finishing bits over the next couple of days so we can share before and after pictures when they're good and ready.

But the real heart of the day was being with Louis and Rachel for her Birthday. She rustled up a bountiful roast dinner, including some of the plumpest bits of chicken I've ever tasted. Louis made some slapping focaccia and then the homemade cake was the ultimate send off. I know Rachel loves to cook a meal but we couldn't help but feel a little guilty she did all that work - best we could do was the washing up at least! We caught the latest Wes Anderson film together too, it may not have been my favourite but we had a good time watching as a group.

Rolling with the Grinch

We're sleeping in the spare room while the main bedroom is being decorated, but we managed to make a little nook here. Some hastily assembled reading lamps were all that the space needed to give it a warm and cozy glow. The cat clearly wasn't a fan though as the first thing I woke up to was one of those lamps colliding with my face. Luckily we had no instances while painting where the cat ran into the room, otherwise we ran the risk of suddenly having an all white cat.

We did the first two coats of ceiling paint before moving down to the walls. Our very best roller is this thick, green fella that's reminiscent of one of those mechanized car wash pillars. I dubbed this roller 'The Grinch' and he made light work of the afternoon. We got a whole base coat on the walls too so now we have a good idea of what the room is going to look like once all is done. Despite visiting B&Q three separate times to debate shades of off white, we ended up coating the room in a pretty standard shade of white 'with a suggestion of grey'. Jokes aside, it looks nice and I can't wait to sleep in a room again where I'm not assaulted by flying lamps.

Bedroom Paint Day 1

Bedroom painting day 1. This is our big prep day where we rearranged the furniture, threw dust sheets over everything and taped up the skirting boards. This is arguably the most tedious part since you don't see any results nor is  there anything to really get exited about. But it's an important step nonetheless, the canvas is blank now, all we have to do is rock up tomorrow and we're well on our way 

As a treat to us for starting the decorating, Rebecca and I popped to the cinema to catch the latest Mission Impossible film. We held hands for the first 15 minutes or so but I had to shake free - the circulation in my hand was waning as her grip grew unconsciously tighter every second. I think that's all you need to know about the movie!

Happy Fri-Yay(?)

Despite signing off a good couple of emails with 'enjoy your weekend' this was another Friday that doesn't quite feel like one? Maybe there was a small bubbling energy to the fact it was a long weekend, but most people in the office surprisingly didn't really have big plans for the longer break. Everyone just wanted to sleep (which I can totally empathize with). Rebecca is back after her long stint away and I'm already thinking of all the fun ways to hang out with her again.

Premium Pen(?)

New book on the bus which I've already buried my nose in. In fact the book has been the highlight of my day. The low light was being sent on a wild goose chase to purchase a birthday present in the form of a nice pen. I'm a chap with a collection of nice, but not indulgent pens so I have a good basis for what could be considered a gift pen. The brief that was given to me is that they needed it for today and they wanted it engraved. It was already mid morning when this request came in so I had to scramble. A reliable stationary place where good enough to humour my request over the phone for some photographs of their selection. I also knew there was an engraver up the road from them who could turn something around same day. I tee'd it all up and sent the best option to my boss. For reference, I offered up a Lamy AL Star, a £25 pen, metal build and highly ergonomic. 

It was rejected as they wanted to buy them something in the £100 price point, which can only ever mean a heavy piece of metal from an overly prestigious brand. I get it for fountain pens (maybe) but for a rollerball they're a fat load of nothing. My bespoke recommendation was sidelined and a colleague thankfully swooped in and managed to find a website that does engraving a speedy delivery for a bonkers fee. Shame, I was only trying to make them look good and spend their cash with power.

Book On a Bus

With Rebecca our of town with the car I've been getting the bus into work, bonus points for bringing my book onboard to read too. I had about 40 pages left which should have covered both trips, to and from the office, but after I sat down I chewed through the first 20 pages and the rest turned out to be acknowledgements, notes, glossary etc so I had nothing to tuck into on the way home. I'll bring a new book in tomorrow though so I'm ready. 

With Rebecca out it also means I have zero people to impress when it comes to cooking dinner. I got back close to 9pm too so all bets were off. There were sausages in the freezer and a lot of leftover Mexican style condiments so I decided to try and make a pork tortilla with sausage - at worst it could only taste like a breakfast burrito right? Right?! Turns out the moment you 'over salsa' a sausage wrap it just tastes like tinned spaghetti hoops with those utterly vile cocktail sausages. That dinner should have been illegal but it kept me alive long enough to face another day. I'll try harder for supper tomorrow.

Base Warmer

Pullee up to our unit base fully prepped to go to war about the wifi setup. In reality, everything was fine and I just cracked in with my day. It was good to be back on the truck, even if it was just a fleeting visit. Hanging out with the base squad and ensuring the day was ticking over smoothly, that's my jam. What I didn't miss so much is when the call sheet needs to all be changed last minute and I elected to stay behind to to help. Silly me.

Travelling down a Rabbit Hole

Locked in for another week, my first day of which was back in the office doing my thing. A deal on parking in the city center that I've been trying to wrangle since I started wearing my braces in February went cold on me - my teeth have made more movement than my parking dilemma. But you gotta laugh, that was the main takeaway of the day. I should know because I sit next to the travel and accom person who basically dies a thousand deaths every day and they take it in their stride. 

They also started the day listening to an audio book they are really into and apologized in advance if they started tearing up - they love the characters that much. I remember when I loved things as much as they do, but I feel like I subconsciously distance myself things now because I fear getting hurt. That or I don't like being associated with being a mega fan of a thing, they're level of engagement is something I look down upon, but is that because I was that person once upon a time? We hate what we were, but maybe a part of me wants to go back to start enjoying things with all my heart. I started thinking about the games I might talk about in my end of year round up and nothing qualifies for en entry just yet. Played nearly 20 games and nothing even registers. I don't think I'm emotionally numb but I find myself chasing a game or a movie that rekindles that spark - I put a lot of pressure on things and myself, maybe that's why nothing lives up to my inflated standards? All this from a small comment from a colleague.

Balloon Day Tripper

Our guest dashed off after a bowl of porridge and Rebecca left shortly after to attend a wedding. That just left me home alone with the cat, and quite frankly, I was incredibly ok with that. I used the time to recharge my social battery after a big work week and a bigger Eurovision party. I caught up on video games, clutching through some hard as nails retro titles before buying a brand new narrative adventure game which is pretty esoteric right now but I've heard rumours it goes places. Very excited to play more already.

Mum popped down to Bristol for her hot air balloon ride we arrant for her a few months back. Technically she won't know if the event will go ahead until their dedicated weather hotline provides the all clear, but it's been so lovely recently I think she's going to be ok. 

Eurovision 2025

 Twas the morning before Eurovision, and all I could think about was the food we needed to prep for the evening. The first thing I did, before breakfast, before coffee, was prep some the lemonade. Actual breakfast turned into brunch at our favourite nearby spot, that turned out to be some much appreciated time outside of the kitchen before it was crunch time. The butchers provided me with a shoulder of pork which I carved and prepared for slow roasting in its own juices - a redemption of the carnitas I attempted to make two years ago. This time round I kept them juicy and the results were so much better.

The guests for Eurovision poured in as I was shredding the meat. Best part was some people wanted to get involved in the making of the food too - Matt and Ben rolled up their sleeves and Mark dived in like a hero to prep the guacamole. It all came together beautifully and everyone was dead chuffed with the scran. Scorecards replaced plates as we settled in for a marathon of music. For the first time ever I did a bit of research going into the final and developed a favourite for Austria. What a joy it was to see my favourite take home the trophy after such a close final bout of scoring. Just before everyone left we threw some candles into a jam rolly Polly and wished Mark a happy birthday (it ticked over past midnight). A really fun Saturday made possible by plenty of planning and even better friendships.

Fridgid Friday

The sun was still rising when I got into the office. Doing the early, early shift was quite refreshing in some ways, I had plenty of scope to check my emails at a leisurely pace, plot my day and read a bit of the news. In fact, my whole day felt a bit low paced which is quite nice as we get a bit of respite, but it had a weird side effect of making a Friday not feel like a Friday. I left the office weary and a bit hungry, but there was still lots to do ahead of the weekend. Rebecca and I did a big shop, cooked dinner, made two types of pickled red onions and two types of lemonade... All before our guests turned up! It's Eurovision weekend and we're going to be cooking up a storm tomorrow.

10% - 90%

Arriving at the terminus in the job where my workload is full of 10% and 90%'ers. Now everyone is in set, my role becomes a lot more admin based which I can do in my own time. But then the phone rings and suddenly nothing else in the world is more important than this one thing that needs resolving now, now, now. The key I've found is to take the energy from the former into the latter. Just being fairly zen when dealing with those high stakes requests is helpful for me and for the person on the other end of the phone, if they're at ease so is the situation. It's just telly after all. I just don't want to get shouted at if I mess some up - that's my cross to bear though.

Becoming a House Car?

I'll be splitting my shoot days between being on the truck and being at the office for this one and today was my first day hanging out at my usual office desk. Different day and different dynamic, now when people need problems solves I have to differ them to whoever has taken my place. The trade off in being a middleman is I get the chance to get a lot of other stuff done - namely all the bits I've been putting on the backburner recently. While I don't think I'll ever prefer office life, not having to do 90 minutes of driving is a big perk 

That's Show Business

Continued dodging the rain and completing our days, a little ahead of schedule as it turns out so a bunch of us got an early off. That was a nice bonus after going on a bit of a wild goose chase for a left of field request. It was one of those 'Red Alert, lets get every member of Production looking into it' ones, which filtered down to just me, which then got banned off only after I put everything in place. That's show business though - ain't nothing like it. 

We're planning the dishes to prepare for our Eurovision party this weekend. Louis and Rachel offered to make some salads to compliment our bits and pieces. When I wrote it all out in our WhatsApp group I had to take a step back and say 'damn, that sounds tasty'. The best part is, it'll look like a lot of effort went into it - very excited to take some photos of it too.

Shoot Day One Down

 First shoot day went about as successfully as anyone could really hope for. I was slammed for the first couple hours of the day, mostly printing scripts and schedules, but once everyone has their paperwork everything plateaued and we had a chance to enjoy the day. All the cast and crew were just delighted to be back which was such a lovely thing to see. I even had the chance to run down to set and make sure everything was ticking over. I instinctively gravitated towards a monitor to start taking notes on the camera metadata and write shot descriptions, but that aint me anymore.

DVD Menu

While Rebecca continued snoozing in bed I finished watching the original Jumanji, a film I remember there being a trailer for at the beginning of one of my videotapes growing up. I was saying to Rebecca just the other day that I miss the home release DVD menus and trailers before you can even watch your film. Something about them just got you excited to watch your film even more, an you remember the names of even more films you're excited to see. Advertising at its finest.

Shoot day one tomorrow. I'll be around Unit Base just to make sure everything runs well and to order. Gradually it sounds like I'll be relegated to the offices to monitor things from afar and answer emails. It'll feel weird being so divorced from the action, but this is the role I signed up for, I just gotta own it.

50 Shades

 In the recent heatwave our garden has exploded into life. And by that I mean our weeds have erupted into new heights. I'm half convinced we have a final boss weed growing at the very pit of our flower bed. It's like a Dr Who villian, every session there's always a new baddie to combat in the backyard. This time round it's a broadleaf that grows upwards, climbing up and out for sunlight. I yanked it all out and now the space is ready for whatever new, wacky and wonderful weed will take it's place.

Rebecca and I are also in the midst of picking out a new colour to paint the bedroom and I'm once again blown away by the nuance in the shades of 'off-white'. There's perhaps more greys than actual colours in the rainbow and we're wrestling with finding the whitest gray, or the grayest white... I daresay there are more than 50 shades of gray so settling in just one is a tall order. There samplers smeared on all walls now and we've been scrutinizing them every time we walk past. The stakes couldn't be more low but we care so much!

100 Degree Mental Gymnastics

I was fully expecting to be in the office until about 10pm tonight. The final prep day before shoot is always manic but we got through this one without kicking and screaming. That said, my brain felt hot after all the mental gymnastics it had to do, spinning plates and making sure I got everything done in a shrinking timeframe. There was so much going on I almost forgot there's a whole weekend to enjoy right now. I aim to recharge mostly after a few long evening stints of work and maybe do something special with Rebecca before I start back up on shoot days. 

Those 12 weeks of prep really flew by, week one will be busy as sin but it'll settle down into a nice rhythm soon - at least a I'll keep telling myself that.

Compound Stress(?)

 I felt Uber stressed going into this week and fully expected that emotion to be compounded as it went on. In reality I took a machete to the big jobs early on, cut them down and not much has sprung up in its place. Feeling quite calm all things considered, which I've never felt this close to shoot. The feeling must be fairly mutual though as a big group across all departments went out for some post-prep drinks. I barely drank but I still lost track of time just chatting to people and soaking in the good vibes.

One more day til the marathon starts.

Switch Come... Switch Go

The Switch 2 launches next month and I rather uncharacteristically haven't pre-ordered my console yet... And at this point it might be tricky to get hold of one. I put myself on a mailing list this morning for a website I got a top off about getting a very small restock in for. At lunchtime today I got the email and hopped into the online queue to secure my place.

I still get a little star struck by cast members, even moreso when they drop me an email. A couple of them come to me for scripts now which is fun, printed or digital copies. My only lament is someone asked for scripts as I was in a virtual line for the Switch 2. I took my eye off the tab for a couple of minutes to be professional at work, I glanced up afterwards and I learnt how quickly I'd sacrificed my shot at getting a rare console. I won't let the next chance pass me by I decided.

Adult Balance

Tended the camera test and donned my Catering Coordinator hat once again. Thankfully all I really did was make a few phonecalls and the venue took care of the rest, but building rapport is half the battle. I had intentions on leaving the shoot after lunch as everyone seemed to be getting on just fine, but every time I got mentally ready to go more work appeared out of the ether. Guess that's why I was there but when will this workload let up? I'm so tired this week, on the one hand I want to sleep, on the other I want to do things in the evening. That's the adult balance we must all figure out for ourselves.

Double Bubble

Rose early to bid our hut and our holiday goodbye. I was driving to work come hell or high water because it was double pay today! Perks of the unions fighting for our workers rights, I got enough cash today to not feel guilty about buying in lunch. 

We're gearing up to do a camera test on one of our locations tomorrow. As the headcount spiralled it became increasingly clear they were going to parachute me in on the day to make sure it all runs ok. So now my car is full of teabags, water pumps and mobile Internet routers - everything a production member needs to ensure a smooth filming day. Beyond that, anything is possible with a smile and enough cash.

'Tick'ed Off

I thought this late Spring heatwave would never end so I only packed shorts rather than including long trousers. I learnt that was a mistake the hard way, not just because I got chilly knees, but because I got my first ever tick. We got it out safely with tweezers mind, but I was a little grossed out by a bug just kinda sleeping inside of my skin.

In better news, we visited a burger place that we wanted to try two years ago when we were last in a Shepherd's hut. The book up FAST so we were lucky to get a place today. It was a burger two years in the making, but it was worth the wait! We walked it off with a trip around Goodrich Castle then headed back to the hut for our final night. Wine, board games and then a atmospheric horror game... Which in hindsight we shouldn't have played in the middle of a field in the dead of night. But maybe it enhanced it?

Here's Rebecca looking scared after I locked her up in the castle's dungeon.

 

Hot Tub

Just before I started filming on the first series of Rivals, Rebecca and I headed West and over a bridge to spend some time in a Shepherd's hut in Wales. Well, we're repeating the trick only a few miles away from the site of our original holiday, but still in a wee hut. The key difference with this place is there's a hot tub only a few paces from our gaff, the host warmed it up for our arrival so it felt rude not to dip in. It dawned on me that outside of swimming pools, I don't think I've ever been in a hot tub before. Based on all the games of The Sim's that I've played I associate them with the high of luxury - they were always the most expensive thing in the in-game furniture catalog, and a worthy reason to use the Rosebud cheat code for quick cash. Stepping into the tub I realized there really ain't too much special about it... It's just kinda nice to be in some warm water while outdoors. The novelty wore off once I clocked it was just like sitting in a big hot bath, except I also got bit of nature falling into the water too and I had to shower the chlorine off my body afterwards. Not the life-changing experience the late 90's promised they were.

Email Nirvana

We held our Production meeting in a nearly carved out spot of our plan offices. About 40 people held and important meeting about how the next couple of months olare going to play out, all the while I was trying to muffle the sound of my typing as I was only 10 meters away from them. Everyone left happy and informed though, but my inbox exploded the moment it was all over. I've always been the type of person who hates having unread messages hanging over them, yet today it kinda got to a point where I had 15ish unread emails and an almighty calm washed over me. I achieved Nirvana as I realised I didn't need to rush around all the time. Everyone else answers their messages when they see fit, I get round to your messages when I finish everything else. Perhaps I projected too calm an energy because a couple of my other team members were in high alert trying to buy a curtain for ASAP. I must have sounded quite blasé about it despite it being the most important thing in their world. Maybe my anti stress balanced it all out, or maybe I'm turning into my Dad? Mum always says if he was any more laid back he'd be horizontal. I just keep remembering 'we're all just making telly at the end of the day'.

Doughnut Treat

 The final coffee run had us stationed in a well loved doughnut shop in the center of town. So right after we passed out the final beverage we returned and order ourselves a little treat for a week well done. I continue to feel like I'm playing whack a mole with my to do list, whenever I sit down to try and crack in with something meaty I'm cornered by other requests popping up all over the show. Still got everything more or less done but still feel like I'm treading water. What was a nice gesture was our team were all invited out by some of the visiting London lot for drinks tonight. I was a little shattered but I made the effort to show my face and I'm glad I did (like I always am with these things.) I'm always keen to try and attend the social things after work because they allow people to get to know each other and build rapport. It always ends up making my job easier as it's easier to ask people for favours if you've shared a pint with them.

Tray #6

Nailed another coffee run (it's like we've done this before) and returned to base to crack on with the day. No real curveballs or oddities today, just coasting along on a steady tide of work as it all cranks up. For all intents and purposes, today was a day, everyone else was dealt the same hand and I spent it answering emails.

Tray #6 wrapped itself around my molars though. Still getting used to the feeling of this new set inside my mouth, no doubt it'll once again be a bit ropey to yank it out before I eat breakfast tomorrow... It only gets easier though and preoccupying myself from thinking about it too much is the best medicine.

Beige Flood

Another day, another early morning coffee run for the tech recces. We have these two big polystyrene catering hot boxes we've been using for the runs, they're great because they're capable of holding around 20 cups and can keep things relatively hot. Where they ain't so good in in their bulkiness, a fact I learnt trying to load a full box of drinks into my car boot - it wasn't happening. My plan B was quite brilliant though. Wedging it longways between the back and front seats, reclining the passenger side seat back like a clamp to hold it in place. It was perfect. If only our Production Assistant had the same idea as their container arrived spilt in arrival, the exec Producer's being one of the greatest casualties of the beige flood. We laughed it off and sorted it thankfully, the fled from the scene if the crime, back to my inbox which consumed my attention til hometime.

Awards on Parade

Some people bring re-usable cups into the office, other brings their dogs. Only a choice few will bring their BAFTA in. That marks the second time I've seen a real award with my own eyes. A bunch of the creative departments all won trophies at last night's ceremony and the atmosphere couldn't be better in the office. 

Most of the guys were out on a big round of recces for the duration. I managed to catch up on everything in their absence and even had room to breathe a bit in between emails. It's crunch time, but the pace is manageable for the most part. If only they gave our awards for well managed time... Actually I wouldn't win it.

Iced Car Coffee

A hearty breakfast of sausages and halloumi was all I needed to keep me going. We took a short walk up into the London suburbs before embarking on the long ride home. A mini heatwave has hit the UK and of course, Rebecca's little car has no air conditioning. We sweated our way down the motorway, stopping for an iced coffee at the halfway point which just about got us over the finishing line. Our friend is off attending a TV awards ceremony in which Rivals was nominated for a few catagories (spoilers, we won a few of them) but Rebecca and I just wanted some peace and quiet tonight, opting to stay in and decompress before the week starts anew.

Editing Masterclass

Flocked to an edit house alongside the other peeps who submitted a short film to the competition my work hosted a few months back. We were attending an editing masterclass hosted by a few members of our post production crew. The entire session was remarkably wholesome, we watched each other's shorts, gave legitimately constructive criticism and then offer fun and creative solutions to everyone's work. Even though none of us had ever met the editors before, we all got on like a house on fire, we were cracking jokes, listening intently and all feeding off the creative atmosphere. It was legitimately a real thrill to be there, not only to see a few of my old colleagues but to chat earnestly about our projects.

I returned to our friends house while Rebecca and Ben sat in the garden, enjoying the last dwindling patch of sunlight. Matt prepped dinner while I contributed by cleaning the snacking bowls of nibbles. A bread and butter pudding made from leftover hot cross buns came out the over and topped with hot custard which was a genuine post-Easter treat. Tomorrow will also Mark the first day in quitta while where I'll be bedding down without setting an alarm. After a big old day (and week) I can't wait to catch some zzz's.

Back to the Backburner

Though it's only been a four day week, my levels of exhaustion are trying to convince me otherwise. I immediately started playing catch up after being out of the office all day yesterday, and I didn't slow down until I basically got home. I'm really hoping there's some breathing room next week as I have a few jobs that I've left in the back burner for a little too long. 

Though I was in London 24 hours ago, I find myself back there for the weekend. We're staying with friends and I'm off to an editing masterclass - the final reward for my short film. I don't really know what to expect from it but there'll be a few old faces which I'm looking forward to seeing again.

Another Readthrough

 'Theo'

 

Shouted a semi-familer voice as I was lugging 90 pastries up the street. It was a member of our London crew on their way to our readthrough who was offering to help me carry the food. I had only had wee coffee and a very modest continental hotel breakfast at this point so I was very happy for the help. My colleagues were still setting up tables and getting things ready for the big day when I got back to the hall, but many hand make light work and by the time the cast arrived we were all ready to rock. While the talent did their thing I was up in the rafters tinkering away on my laptop, catching up with emails and the like. The whole thing went really well all told - we hit all he beats and everyone left happy which is a big old win. We even got invited to post-readthrough drinks - which we totally stayed too late at and missed our scheduled train for. My Coordinator and I continued with tradition and enjoyed a canned cocktail on the train home. Another readthrough done and dusted in style.

What struck me most though was how much of a family atmosphere this show has cultivated. It was visable in the cast reading their lines, the hugs everyone gave when they greeted each other again and the calling of my name to help with the smallest job of carrying pain au chocolats.

Up and Down *That* London Road Again

 Continued doing some email firefighting before hopping on a train up to the big smoke. We have our read-through coming up and once again I found myself running up and down a very specific part of London to get all the bits ready for the day. Deep down I'm having a great time but I already can't wait for this time tomorrow when it's all over and I'm back home. I'm certainly back doing the runner type jobs in lieu of any other candidates, but there's no job too small at the moment and we're all just trying to scrape by.

Cosy no More

I knew I was in for an unwelcome slew of emails and responsibilities, and every second I spent sat behind my desk was draining. The day went quick but in a bad way too, that kinda way where you wished you had more hours in the day... But if there were then you'd just continue dealing with nominal busywork. Today was the first day it felt like crunch time, which makes sense because deadlines are fast approaching and people are crowbarring everything into a four day week. We got a big thing coming up on Thursday which we're all scrambling to get sorted. I'm basically building my week around it so I'll be very glad to see the backside of it so I can get back to the real job. Back home I only really had time to shower and pack a bag since I'll be taking an overnight bundle into work tomorrow. I'm already exhausted and it's only fake Monday!

Easter Monday Scaries

Louis and I bid farewell to Newbury after a swift breakfast. Back at Bristol I landed just in time to see Rebecca's folks who were down visiting her for the Easter weekend. After they left though Rebecca and I just kinda coasted through the rest of the day. I'm pretty sure all I had for lunch was Easter chocolate (it's what Jesus would have wanted) and a cup of coffee. Every minute on the sofa was bliss, but I could never quite shake the niggling feeling that the long weekend was drawing to a close. The Monday scaries hit me big time, but there's nothing I can do to change the flow of time so I learnt to accept the incoming return to work. It could be a big week for us, everything is coming to a head now, we just need to grit our teeth a little bit and get through the week.

Easter Sunday 2025

Easter hoodies were passed around the breakfast table. A chocolate egg for me and a chocolate cat for Rebecca (my parents know her so well). In the spirit of family togetherness Louis and I holed up in the living room and played Street Fighter while whooping loudly - we just big kids at heart. We opened up the floor though to a handful of movies with Mum and Dad though which is always a family favourite activity. Playtime was a good shout, an easy going French visual comedy, plus The Life List, a Hallmark Rom-Com that was a little light in both Rom and Com.

Frozen In Place

Threw my luggage together and bid Rebecca farewell for the holidays - Easter is for the boys this year. In a fairly left of field, but no less appreciated move, Dad prepared a Christmas lunch, complete with steamed pudding. I had a calorie deficit after yesterday's vomiting episode so I tucked it heartily (even mustering a glass or two of red wine). Then we drove up to my Auntie's house, somewhere I couldn't actually figure out how long it had been since I was there last. It really was a place frozen in place though, the geometry of the rooms, all the knick knacks and photographs jogged parts of my memory that I had almost parted with. A Canadian relative was staying over so the family came together to spend the afternoon with them - it was a good natured little event actually with everyone on their top form. Best part was us all helping finishing off a jigsaw puzzle. Several pieces had been hammered down incorrectly so it turned into a forensic science event, holding up flashlights and combing over all the slotted in pieces to find the misfits. Once we unpicked that knot and put it together properly there was a big cheer and then it was time to go.

(Feeling Not So) Good Friday

To celebrate our last day of work before the Easter break my team all went out boozing in Bristol. I spent the entirety of today regretting every choice I made last night. I got up not thinking too much of it, I poured out a bowl of cereal and was about to crack on with my day because I assumed I was invincible. Turns out, standing up re-jigged all my stomach acids and I was then in agony for the next couple of hours... Occasionally barfing my guts up when it all became a bit too much. By lunchtime I was mostly past it but waves of nausea kept hitting me even as the sun was setting. Only the new Paddington film was able to inject enough food vibes into me so I could finally see straight again. Got it all out of my system before heading back to Newbury for the holidays.

Looking Sharp on the Sharps

Instead of doing any real work for most of the day, I was politely roped into helping with the camera tests. They had all the lights, lenses and equipment, they just needed a subject to shoot. So I sat in a chair for 90 minutes and looks down the barrel as the DOP and Director scrutinized lens flare, depth of field and bokeh. We had a laugh though, all the while we cracked jokes and kept saying how well I scrub up on camera... I didn't even do my hair this morning and I still looked fabulous.

It did take me away from my day job though. In fact, my day job took me away from my day job - every time I say down to do a task I felt a tug at my shirt pulling me away from what I was meant to be doing. I'll be playing catch up all of tomorrow for my sins.

Speed Up to Shooting Time

Halfway through the work week which is a wonderful and daunting prospect. The weeks before the shoot now feel like they're evaporating rapidly and time is becoming a greater commodity. I'm still helping out all the other departments set up their spaces, meanwhile I'm playing a bit of catch-up with my own workload. I'm just about staying afloat at a comfortable pace but I can sense all that could change in the next week or two. I'm still enjoying my evenings at home while it lasts though. Still eating dinners with Rebecca and watching movies while I can, a slice of humanity to savor before I give my life to the shoot.

A Friend of Costume

Filled the day by mostly helping our Costume department fill up their space. Every job I'm seemingly rebuilding the same shelving units, some friction fitting sets that go up quick but fall apart just as fast if you're careless. I'm regaining my reputation as a fixer for most and people are genuinely are grateful for my efforts which is always nice. We even managed to get Louis some second hand good will at work. He was looking to get rid of a table that just so happened to be perfect for us. Gotta buy that guy a beer for help me out.

Budget Board Games

Our local  board game shop is closing down and put a shout out online saying they're having a closing down sale. So after brekkie Rebecca and I made a beeline for the shelves for some bargain board games. We left with a very sensible haul of one game but I could have gone on if I wanted to, but that would have just been buying things for the sake of it, and my games shelf doesn't exactly have many gaps left in it. The rest of the Sunday was spent just letting the world pass by. I got a big chunk of my book read and got to watch a movie. 

Very excited by the prospect of a four day week coming up. I want to carbon date this next statement though so it'll age like wine: this Thursday will be uncomfortably busy because everyone will forget Good Friday is coming up. Instead of spreading the five days work evenly across four, it'll all get panic dumped into us Thursday afternoon. I hope I'm proven wrong.

Booze Cruise

 I felt unusually grumpy for most of yesterday so I dedicated this morning to going into goblin mode for a reset. I did all the things I was aiming to do - watching films and finishing games, I came out the other side with my battery refreshed and my spirit willing to do some socializing. I met up withe a colleague to celebrate their Birthday. I had every intention of leaving at a sensible time, then then they gestured at their boat and said 'wanna go for a ride?' Wagt followed was an incredibly boozy up-stream boat ride. I did a lock as the others drove, all of us were a shade more tipsy than we'd care to admit but it was a good lark. More than anything, I want sleep right now. I'm tucked up in an Uber ready to be in my bed. The GPS says 3 miles, I already cannot wait...

Pushed It Too Far

Yesterday's run took it out on me, I pushed myself a little harder than I had planned and it was indeed a bit too much. I was knackered before bedtime, but that didn't translate into a deeper or a more restful sleep - I woke up feeling the same. As a result, my muscles weren't 100%, nor was my energy levels so I spent the whole work day counting down the minutes before I could go home. I found myself in a bit of a bad mood overall, but took the evening off to ensure I got a change to recharge my social battery. Deep down, I just want to read my book and continue through my current game. I already feel much better now, hopefully the new day comes with a renewed attitude.

Tirami-Gloop Strikes Again

The tiramisu was warmly received by my coworkers and the birthday boy. We even stuck little candles in the top as we sung to him which was cute. I was asked to cut the pudding into portions and my worst nightmare manifested: I cut into it and it was what my mother would call 'Tirami-gloop'! The mascapone later hadn't set and started pooling like thick cream/thin custard. The saving grace was the fact it was still blooming delicious, if you treated it like slightly melted iced cream with some coffee flavored sponge to mop it up with it was actually a good time. Just a far cry from what I hoped to deliver. That said, I think it was all nearly gone by the time I checked in by the end of the day - it still found it's audience! Though it is your quintessential staff room kitchette - leaves anything in there and it'll be gone by the end of play.

Stoppin' the Scammers

My workload dripped in at a remarkably steady rate, almost to the point where I was playing whack-a-mole with emails, Whatsapp messages and phonecalls. The day's highlight was stopping our boss from getting scam called. She frequently has her phone in loudspeaker so we can sneakyly listen into her calls, when she said 'But how do I know you're HMRC', followed by 'Ok, what do you want me to type into Google', that's when we knew to run in and tell her to pull the plug. 

I also made a very speedy batch of tiramisu with the help of Rebecca. I always say that I've honed my recipe to perfection, but anomalies always rear their heads. It did look a little wet when I poured it into place - not a deal breaker because I'm certain it'll firm up over night. The pressure is on a little bit though because it's for a colleagues birthday tomorrow, plus there has been unbelievable levels of hype for me to make a tiramisu ever since I started the job. Just hope I can deliver.

Professional Family

A big meeting with a lot of important people went down today and I was quite taken aback when the execs all remembered me and gave me a hug. I was mostly on tech support / tea and coffee duty once again. Everyone and their mother wanted printing done ahead of the meet and when one of the machines went down they all flocked to our printer. That said, we all got pats on the back for pitching in and helping everybody out - Production rarely get any special recognition so it was nice to hear that. In fact, today more than ever I noticed how the 'family' vibe has been heavily cultivated. It's so much easier to work and communicate with returning crew members. You get the sense that people want to be here, not in a workaholic way, but because we respect each other and we get our best work done together. And when even the execs are treating even the lowest people down the ring like old friends you notice the positive attitude spreading like wildfire.

Somehow Less

As per, I spent the first hour of my day responding to emails, up til lunch doing work, post lunch chasing people on emails, and in the final hour everyone coming back to me and asking for tasks done by end of day. There's a big meeting tomorrow that requires all parties to scramble and prepare an end of term presentation. From a production standpoint, we just need to coordinate travel, catering and tech - servicing basically. My new role though still feels oddly removed from it all. The teamates above me do all the big organizing jobs, the ones below me arrange the food, while I sit in the middle logging NDA's which feels unhelpful in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes it feels like I have a higher salary and less responsibilities, is that truly a net gain though?

Garden Grappler

Grappled with some of the garden's weeds in anticipation of a grand transformation. We're letting Rachel use our soil patch as an allotment space, at least it might mean getting some free produce out of the deal, but at it's worst it'll breathe some new life into the garden. I learnt just how invasive mint can be, Rebecca is in some state of blissful ignorance about it. She's just keen to put it into a glass of Pimm's, whereas I can see it running rampant already - for such a small plant those roots spread like wildfire. 

Outside of the garden I went on a run (just a little 2K to get me back into the swing if things), I made lemonade, cooked a roast and made stock from the scraps. All in, a fairly productive weekend... Just wished I had another day to recover from it.

Bar Stool Best of Three

In lieu of any plans this Saturday we opted to go out and enjoy British Summer Time. There wasn't a cloud in the sky as we strolled over to the harbourside to get ready for some day drinking. Just me and Rebecca, and a couple of board games we brought along to the pub, we even played a best if three set, loser had to buy the next round. I'd never used so much of my brain on a barstool before but it was well worth it to watch Rebecca get out her wallet and do a walk up shame up to the bar. Back at home we just took it easy. I started reading Project Hail Mary at Rebecca's recommendation and I'm already chewing through it. Tomorrow is looking just as sunny, might finally go out and tackle the garden...

A Box within a Box

 About 18 months ago I was tasked with sending an American cast member's luggage back to the States while holding onto a couple of boxes in case they return to the UK. Today they asked about those boxes left here and my whole team turned around and said 'we remember that, but none of us remember where they ended up'. I then spent three hours doing detective work, racking my brain and trawling through blurry photographs before finding out the truth... We did indeed have them, but they were loaded into the wrong storage container, hence why it got lost. Thankfully it was a problem solved and I came out of it looking like Sherlock which was kinda funny. I spent the rest of the day on catch-up but still managed to get everything done before home time. Very jazzed for the weekend, Rebecca and I have some day drinking and some Bristol sunshine to make the most of.

The Other Shoe

 Can't believe it's almost Friday, another week has flown by and prep still hasn't felt like it's ramped up to an uncomfortable level. What was nice is seeing some of my research pay off, I was looking into international fixer companies and delivered a shortlist to my boss. Today I saw a meeting was being set up with one of the big names I put forward, with any luck that will be really positive and count as another job done. I'm mostly doing backend housekeeping, ensuring all our spreadsheets are up to date and everything is ready to go at a moments notice. I even did the easiest lunch run of my life today... Surely the other shoe will drop soon, but for now, I'm enjoying myself.

Switch 2

Crammed the cat into her carrier before shooting her off to the vets. I know that she knows that carrier is a sign of bad news, but I've never seen her wriggle so fiercely before as she was being picked up to be put inside. Bless her, she spent the whole car ride making the saddest meows but Rebecca tells me she was as good as gold with the vet. She got a clean bill of health too - cat MOT complete.

Back in the office I had one eye on my emails and another on the latest Nintendo Direct where they talked about their new consol, the Switch 2. While the hardware may not be a revolutionary upgrade it still made me watch with child like wonder as saw the new games and system detail bombard my imagination. A couple of my colleagues tuned in for the start too, it was a ton of fun to share that hype train with some chums, especially because we all love Mario Kart.

Mum, Louis and Rachel popped round for a Chinese takeaway. In between mouthfuls of chow mein Louis recounted his recent weekend trip to Center Parcs with his friends which always elicit belly laughs from us. As we waved goodnight I savoured a few moments extra with my teeth feeling normal just before I put in my fourth tray. My jaw feels tight again, but I guess that means it's working.

Short Film Panelist

Still a team member down so my colleagues kept joking saying that I've gone back in time to being a Production Assistant. I'd laugh with them but I was too busy doing a lunch run, washing up mugs and finding lost post. 

The day's highlight was attending an evening event which I was invited to be a panelists for. It was kinda like speed dating for short film pitches, and I was one of the 'experts' that young filmmakers presented their ideas or scripts to so I could provide feedback. I gotta say, the quality was pretty damn high, most of them were just finishing uni mostly but their concepts were fresh and passionate. I gave input where I could and it was mostly on boarded by them, in each instance I gave out my email address for extra notes later on. I'm curious to see how many of them get in touch but hopefully I steered them towards me improving their works.

Save the Cat

 No one truly ever knows what a Monday will bring for them, that seemed doubly true for me today. First up, we were a team member down so it was up to me to fill in the gaps - which meant immediately hopping in my car, driving across town to go pick up a pair of glasses one of my colleagues left at home. Riveting stuff.

A short while later we were having a catchup by the window and someone remarked about how uncomfortable a cat looked perched on a fence. So we all looked over as the cat sat, had a wobble, lost its balance and to save face decided to scamper up the nearest tree. Then it just kept on climbing and climbing and climbing til it got about three stories high. That was understandably cause for concern and somehow I became chief of operation Save That Cat. First up, I needed to check if the fire brigade would actually come out for us. I found the non-emergency number of our closest places and got to make a phonecall I never expected to have.  Turns out they will wait about 24 hours before sending one out which I kinda fair in most cases but this particular tree was very spindly and the cat had nowhere to perch for another 23 hours and 50 minutes so we decided to take action into our own hands. A nearby resident just came outside with a big old ladder to help the cause but alas, it wasn't quite tall enough. Then the contruction team next door got involved alongside their powered machines. We ended up guiding a telehandler up towards the tree to offer up a platform to the cat. We had some salmon for coaxing just in case but the cat eventually realized we were here to help and hopped onto the arm of the machine. We all cheered in that moment, I heard later that the whole of the office were watching out the window at this daring rescue. It was somewhat premature though as halfway through the machine's decent the cat decided it would rather take matters into its own hands and leapt off, colliding with a windmirror on the way down, but still landing on all fours. It bolted away before we could check it it was ok, I reckon it just had a bruised ego thankfully. Perhaps I could sell the movie rights for this story.

Then back to it I was told I had to bring in a hire car for tomorrow. I wish that was a better tale to tell, instead it was a phonecall.

Mother's Day 2025

Popped down to Newbury to spend some time with my folks this Mother's Day. Aside from giving a card and some flowers, my biggest contribution to the day was helping Mum out with her latest jigsaw puzzle. But in between that we went in a great big walk in the countryside while Mum pointed and named every tree. Beech, silver Birch, oat, horse chestnut, the works basically. We're lucky to have such nature in our doorstep, especially this time of year. For dinner we nipped out for a curry, the day went by so quickly though so I had to jump back into the car shortly after getting back home. Daylight saving hours struck hard this Sunday. Yesterday it wouldn't be my bedtime right now. But presently I'm just as tired as I would be this time of night.

Outlast Advocaat

We have a new record on longest lasting bottle of advocaat. That stuff usually don't make it past epiphany in our house but for some reason it was kicking around for ages this year. Felt right to finish it off just before the clocks go forward. The ring in this new era of sorts I did a proper Spring clean. On my hands and knees dusting skirting boards, vacuuming unloved corners and sprucing up all the other spots. Rebecca and I carved out some easy going time too. We finished Adolescence, the talking point TV show that's doing the rounds - I'll be poised to chat with colleagues about it on Monday now which is now often the best part about watching a new series. It sure was nice to have a sloppy Saturday all to ourselves though, best part was watching the cat roll around in the sun on our patio. Plenty more of that to come this year.

Greasing the Friday

Been a good few weeks since I've had to wake up at 6am for work, but pastries were a staple of the early Friday morning meetings on the last job so we're bringing them back - at the small expense of my sleeping hours. It did mean we could pick at the pastry leftovers which is a nice perk. But because of my braces, I held off until lunchtime to check the box for remnants, and if course, only the plain croissants were leftover...

The other reason I went out of my way to make the morning meeting so pleasant: if the bosses are in a good mood they sometimes let us go home early on Friday's... And that's exactly what happened today! What a blooming treat!

Quizzin' Thursday

I kept thinking it was Tuesday today, imagine my delight when I realized I was already knocking on the door of the weekend. The past week has flown by and even today went by in a heartbeat. Again I was mostly doing NDA's and points of research for the Line Producer. I also totally misinterpreted a meeting this morning, thinking it was an online call but in actuality it was in person with about 18 people in it. Teas and coffees apenty in that case. I left my barista job half a decade ago yet that old baggage follows me around.

In the evening went went up the road with Louis and Rachel for another stab at the quiz night. We came painfully close wlto winning some of the rounds but never quite sealed the deal. Turns out we know star signs better than we thought, full house on that section but the other teams were just that bit better.

Laptop Sub

My to do list went virtually untouched today as a bevvy of ad hoc jobs all landed at my feet upon entering the office. Lots of little prep bits and putting important people into meeting rooms, that sort of thing. Then just as their Zoom call was about to start, the work laptop died so I had to sub in mine. I thought it would be for 30 minutes but I was off my device for almost two hours. Regardless, I got a lot done and people are in good spirits overall, even as prep ramps up in workload it all feels managable and we're all confident in our roles - that makes such a difference in a work environment.

I could have watched a film tonight but I opted to play some online games with colleagues and people from the Bristol TV scene. I'm getting good at meeting strangers, so long as there's a game in the middle of us to ground conversation. Normally I'd be terrible at throwing myself into the deep end but I'm getting better and better as I get older.

Eco Warriors Unite!

Today's whiteboard question was 'What's the best kind of cake?' Vicky sponge, easy.

Besides that I got a chance to show off how much of the Albert certification I had already completed. A chap from the head office's sustainability team visited our site today so we had an opportunity to sit down and chat all things eco friendly. That's kinda become my baby now, the domain that I'll be overseeing as the shoot progresses which is a sizable duty. Mostly keeping logs of the paper used - how many taxis we book cast and how much fuel our generator guzzles. No doubt we're going to contribute a mountain of pollution on this job, guess it's my job to keep that in check where possible and record everything to feed the great statistics beast.

 

What Would Make Monday's Better?

We have a whiteboard at work that now features a daily question - a 'would you rather...' of sorts. Today's was 'What would make Monday's better?'

 

A) Finding a £20 note

B) Unlimited Artisan Coffee

C) Half a day off

D) Free lunch from Pret (you can tell the age bracket of the person who wrote the question.)

The tally was pretty unanimously in the C column, giving further credibility to my argument that if you ever want to treat a film crew, give them the currency they value most: time. Time to spend time with loved one, time to spend tinkering with hobbies, time to ask questions and time to simply exist. I could have done with a bit more of that as I watched the clock between emails, dreaming of hometime where I could do all of the above.

Boutique Bakery

I sleep so much better when there isn't a cat snoozing on my side if the bed and swaddling up to me for warmth. On one hand, it's adorable but in the other, I do miss unbroken rest. Waking up in our friends house in a bright and airy London flat was a treat. Then the coffee and hot cross buns came out and the morning went from great to idyllic. We had a very leisurely breakfast before walking up to a boutique bakery for some lunch, time went so fast though as we had to dash across London shortly after so we could catch our coach back. This weekend went by far too quickly, tomorrow it'll be back to the grind, the emails, the spreadsheets and the cat hogging the mattress. I already can't wait for the next weekend.

Mickey 17

A delayed coach is usually something I'd groan at, but it gave me ample time to dive into Orbital, the next book I'm reading. In truth, I probably should have tried to get a little bit of extra sleep on the journey since I woke up feeling pretty tired and reading 100 pages of tiny text probably didn't help the cause. I perked up as soon as we got to London though. We killed a bit of time doing some shopping before meeting up with some of Rebecca's friends for pizza and a trip to the cinema for Mickey 17. The film was just so-so, (review on my Letterboxd), but the Picture House venue was a genuine delight, a great space to catch a film in.

Coach Stan

Fridays at work are always tempered with that twinkle of anticipation for the weekend. Better still, I smashed through loads of bits so I have a nice clean slate for Monday... And everything I didn't finish up will become Monday's problem! I packed my bags ready for a weekend up in London with friends, including plenty of books to take up for the coach trip. It's been a hot minute since I caught the coach, I remember quite liking when I was going back and forth on the cheap. Read a lot of books and listened to a lot of podcasts and albums. Hopefully my optimism for coach travel will remain unwaivering after tomorrow, though we do have to get up earlier than I would like on a Saturday to catch a good one. All in the name of keeping friendships alive though and you can't put a price on that.

Keyboard Comedown

There I was. Flat on my stomach, underneath my desk, poking a cable tie with a cylinder of sellotaple applied to the head as I went fishing through the floorboards of my spare bedroom. How did this come to pass I hear you ask? Well I was doing some tinkering on my keyboard and a piece fell off my desk and through the crack of my wood panelling. Lord I felt like a lemon holding my breath and praying that the sellotaple didn't get too dusty as I flossed the floorboards. I felt so dumb that I actually had a bit of an epiphany moment. Why they hell have I spent so much of my life thinking about this damn keyboard? It actually made me quite depressed, when you make an aspirational purchase and it doesn't immediately spark joy and you end up deep in forums and YouTube videos reading about how to fix aspects of it then you know something is wrong. I felt like I was buying into this dream of becoming a better writer because I had a nicer keyboard - one that looked and felt a bit like a typewriter. But that simply isn't the case, every time I press a key I get a weird vibe - a far cry from the confidence it's meant to inspire. In truth it just makes me a bit sad to think about it at the moment.

Tray 3

Swing by the dentist once again for another check up on my braces and another round of IPR. That's where they get an abrasive strip and run in between your teeth, almost like dental floss if it were sandpaper which the goal of shaving off 0.01mm of a tooth. It was hell the first time round and not much nicer today as I bled a fair bit after the dentist went down to the gumline, assuring he was thorough. The upshot is I won't have to do that now for another 3 months, I just have to let my trays do the heavy lifting. Speaking of which, I put my next set in today and once again I'm feeling the pressure on my everything. It's uncomfortable but before I know it it'll be second nature and then it'll be time to repeat the process all over again. I'm probably about 10% of the way through the treatment (if all goes to plan) all I gotta do is muscle it out for a bit longer.

Gotcha Day

In a classic turn of events, my workload ramped up only at the tail end of the day and everything because super urgent. Before the costume coordinator joins us I'm doing the costume transportation bookings, something I'm very familiar doing but still manages to give me anxiety. Probably because every person who owns a railed luton van tends to be over the age of 60 and you can only cross your fingers and pray that your instructions are clear enough. Maybe in 30 years time I should pack it all in, buy a van and do shuttles from London to Bristol. I'd make a pretty penny doing it.

Today also marks the 'Gotcha' day for our cat. Been there years with this little fuzzball in our lives. I like to play it cool in front of Rebecca, playing the stoic figure who is unphased by having a cute animal in the house. But the cat really has transformed the home, lending it a good energy that feels lively and comforting. I hope the cat feels as lucky as we do that we found each other.

Snowglobe Safety

Why is it on the weekends I'm always up at the crack of dawn, yet on weekdays I sleep in well past my alarm. Guess it's linked to the fact there's a bit of Garfield in me since I hate Mondays and find it hard to stomach heading back into the office after such a restful weekend. But, like most Mondays, they're much worse in the anticipation vs the actual day because everything was just as it should be. Emails, phonecalls and arrangements. Bread and butter. Hometime couldn't come fast enough as I couldn't wait to get back to hanging out with Rebecca, laughing at early evening television, playing games and reading books. If that's all life could be, I would freeze myself in a snowglobe and make sure no one would skae it up.

Cover to Cover

Continuing my Asian media streak I dived not into a film... But a book! Convenience Store Woman came highly recommended by Rebecca so I settled into it to see how I'd get on. A few hours later I had finished it. Granted it wasn't the longest book but it felt great to zip through a story like that again. I'm forever lamenting how little I read but when it's as easy and enjoyable as that it's such a treat. I'll try and make a more conscious effort to read going forward, I have far too many in my 'to read' pile now so it'd be great to clear that.

Subtitles Subtitles Subtitles

I realised only now that all I did today was read subtitles. With Rebecca out of town this weekend I decided to have a little movie blow out today. I hand picked three pieces of Asian Cinema that have been gathering dust on my watchlist for a while and now was the perfect time to give them a shot. What I didn't expect was to watch what will no doubt be some of the best films I'll see all year. Supermarket Woman, Yi Yi and Fallen Angels were on the agenda and now of them disappointed.

I realized I don't think I've ever linked my Letterboxd here before but I'll include it here today because I'm now in the habit of writing up short reviews for each film over on that platform. I also just hit 1,700 films watched after today - already hungry for more though.

Here's my LetterBoxd

Lifting Solo Once Again

A cold claimed a co worker so it was down to me to do a handful of two people jobs but myself... Just like old times. In particular it was, physical labour work, the kind of thing I don't do anymore because as I said yesterday, my body is now just an NDA machine. But still it was good to actually DO something during my day. Even if that thing was unloading a shipping crate, just so I could put it all back in a few hours later. The upshot is everyone ran out of work to do, including the bosses so we all clocked off early. Home at a good time in a Friday night, absolutely perfect.

Quizzin' Thursday

My body is a machine that sits behind a desk that turns blank NDA's into DocuSign forms, to then get filed. That feels like the beating heart of my role at the moment in prep, but I do get to do some fun gigs too. I'm designing the cast welcome booklet to Bristol which has a suite of restaurant recommendations in the area, all hand picked and hyped up with a tagline to really sell each spot. If even one person reads it and goes to one restaurant I will have succeeded.

Our favourite art gallery / board game place also hosts a quiz night on Thursdays now. I've always been too busy on Thursdays but we managed a team if four between myself, Rebecca, Louis and Rachel, we gave it a damn good shot too. Instead of there being and overall winner, the quiz was broken into a bunch of mini rounds that each came with their own prizes. We were so close to winning one of them but lost it at the final post. Plus I learnt that polar bears are in fact the biggest bear, a fact that Louis will no doubt laud over me for a long old time.

A Team Player Once Again

Piece by piece, everything starts falling into place. The work load is starting to ramp up and the responsibilities of being in production start to manifest more and more. I'm hiring cars again, wrangling costume vans and forward planning meals for meetings. I'm wearing these duties like a pair of old gloves, they fit better than I remember and there's something about them that just feels like home. 

Once the day was over it was time to spend even more time with my team for a pub night together. I suggested a cheaper option than going to a board game night would be if I just bought a bunch of games with me... In hindsight I should have charged commission but we had a good time and that's all that matters. Once again I think we're locked in with a really strong team and I'm proud to be a cog in that machine. That was the main thing I missed in the world of script supervising, a team environment and a core group of people you could rely on and share your highs and lows with.

Vendors Remembers

Though I've been out of the Production world for about a year, a bunch of old vendors still remember my name. I was chatting to a regular car supplier and a man with a van, both of which greeted me as if we were old friends. That's one of the unspoken best things about this industry, you meet a lot of people and touch a lot of lives. Everyone knows we're passing ships but it's lovely when we get to wave to each other off the stern if we cross routes once again. They're helping me inch the needle that is my job list right now, while I didn't strike much off everything is getting closer to being resolved... Just in time for more big jobs to land our way.

Parking Peeps

What started off as a fairly simple sounding task to ensure long term parking has now turned into a code red for everyone in my team. We're all calling up local businesses to find anywhere with a free slot on their books with very limited success. It honestly has turned into one of those hopeless tasks, none of us can relax until it's all sorted. Even during meetings it was ticking over in my brain. Being back home was nice though, stepping away from that madness and headspace to instead enjoy the company of Rebecca and the cat. They are the source of strength I drawer from whenever I'm feeling low or snowed under.

Summertime in March

It's been a little while since Rebecca and I did the North Street Shuffle and seeing as the sun was shining and it felt more like May than March, we took a walk into town. We popped out heads into the usual shops to check it's all still there though the board game shop will be under new management soon and Mark's Bread is chomping into the Tobacco Factory's real estate, otherwise its same ol', same ol'. We wanted to get lunch out today, not just an aranchini ball but some proper street food. A Turkish flatbread stand was happy to oblige and it was there that I ate possibly the best grilled chicken I've ever had. I was just eating it in total silence, transfixed but how delicious it was. The BBQ style of it paired with the bustle of the crowd made today feel like Summertime. It got me excited for the coming months of warmth and outdoor hangouts.

Weekend Worth

Turns out stumbling home at 3am results in sleeping in, which results in less Saturday. That's some quick maths you can trust. I clawed back a bit of weekend worth by watching a film and by doing a big old declutter of my desk drawers and other places. Turns out I have a few out of circulation coins that might be worth a pretty penny online now, that's my inheritance knocking around in my desk drawers as it turns out. 

I couldn't spend that newfound wealth just yet though, but we did spash the cash a little bit at a local wine bar, supping reds, whites and orange wines until past the point of inebriation. Then when we got kicked out we found a new bar and drank some more. It's been a hot minute since I got takeout food in a drunken stumble home but Rebecca and I couldn't pass up some Southern fried chicken. A Saturday we'll spent,eta hope I get a head start on Sunday.

Lockdown Board Game Lookback

 Powered through the Friday by smashing out emails and phonecalls so I could start Monday afresh. Curveball job if the day was helping the locations department unloaded a bunch of shipping containers into a big old van. I certainly didn't expect to be shimmying a bunch of mats, EZups and pop up bins this afternoon but variety is the spice of life as they say.

 But I spent the evening doing something very familiar and cozy. A friend of me and Mark hosted another one of his infamous board game nights, they tend to go on late and this one was no exception. But it's such a historic and chaotic group we are all guaranteed to have a good time. We were howling with laughter at Zoo Vadis, a game facilitated entirely by negotiations which got wilder and wilder. But the best part of the night was at the very end. With a glass of whiskey we hopped onto his computer to look at a bunch of files on his Google Drive of all the old electronic board games he made for us during lockdown. He spent hours scanning in, cropping pictures and creating elements just so we could play an approximation of games during the height of the pandemic. I didn't appreciate it fully at the time but it was his lifeline and I remember those nights on Zoom calls so fondly. Tonight we laughed at the absolutely absurdity and effort of the whole thing, but that was his Fitzcarraldo. He built it and we came. And for that I am eternally grateful.

Tray 2

The further up the production ladder you get the more snowed under with emails you find yourself. I now find that I spend the first hour of my day responding to all the emails that came in since closing my laptop down. Thankfully I can maintain the pace of the rat race throughout the day so I don't get too bogged down but that initial hurdle is always present. Otherwise I was hiring forklifts, getting quotes for costume rails and generally doing all the usual bits and pieces, all in it was a fairly successful day where I tackled my to do list. The only thing holding me back was my new retainer trays which went in last night - boy are my teeth sore again! I guess this is what having braces tightened feels like, it's thankfully nowhere near as bad as the first few days, but eating needs to be negotiated once again and I'm re-learning where to rest my jaw. I just need to keep telling myself it will be worth it and it does get easier.

Parking Mad

When I rejoined the Production team I knew I'd have to do some ropey and stressful tasks and deal with some crummy vendors. I wasn't ready for it to come quite so early into the job though as a parking company let us down massively but leading us on then note delivering on any of their promises. So now the ball has unceremoniously landed back in our court for us to deal with and we're all out of time to sort it. 

On the upside, this evening was filled with games with some of my new colleagues. We hopped into a game of Lethal Company for scares, thrills and laughter and creepy aliens popped out of the darkness and sci fi delivery vans exploded because we forgot to take it out of 'park' mode... Oh the irony of a situation blowing up because of parking...

Pancake Day 2025

To bring a bit of sparkle to the office we arranged a little pancake bar for the titular day. Nutella, bananas, strawberries, maple syrup, lemon, sugar and little scotch toaster pancakes were all provided for people to pick at across the day. Anyone would have thought that I'd be sick of them by tea time but oh no, crepes are a big thing in our house so I got to mixing batter the moment I landed home. I was flipping all night, stacking pancakes high and chowing down on them, just as Jesus would have wanted. Best of all, it's about this time of year that my lemon tree bears fruit, so we got to squeeze some home grown citrus onto our dessert. Truly a day of indulgence, ready for Lent now as I dream of chocolate eggs.

 

A Fixer

Defrosted the car... In March?! I was driving in while the windscreen still had ice thawing on it when my Line Producer called to say that her own car wasn't starting. So it became my mission of the day to get that all sorted. Luckily we have some transport boys on the case and they did literally everything super fast. I somehow got all the kudos though and my Line Producer even gave me a massive hug for sorting it. I tell ya, deep down I'm just a fixer.

My new, but old coworker started today and for years we've been chatting about playing online games together. Well today we finally locked in time for a session and I couldn't be more jazzed for it. All the pieces are slowly coming together on this job and I can already tell that it'll be a hoot.

Better Call Saul

Sunday came and went, but not without Rebecca and me finishing up Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad spin off show which turned out to be pretty dang good. We got Bristol's own version of Los Pollos Hermanos as a take away and absorbed the final beats of the show. We laugh because Breaking Bad was a big initial reason why we got together, it was THE show during our first year of uni. I still remember watching the final episode with Jamie, then immediately going back to the first episode to show Mark. Now here we are, over a decade later all still united over our love of that show, and I guess, the world. It was oddly nostalgic to return to that flavour of TV show, the city of Albuquerque and how it's shot is so synonymous with Vince Gilligan's shows now, I daresay I'm going to miss it a lot now that it's all over... Again.

Wilds Weekend

All of yesterday I was dreaming about playing Monster Hunter Wilds with Louis and today was the exactly what we both wanted. Getting big damage numbers while wailing on a massive frog dinosaur with and oversized hammer is a great way to spend a couple of hours on an idle Saturday. Better yet was going over to a friend's house for board games in the evening. Armed with chocolates, beer and scotch we sat down and pawed over cards and tiny wooden pieces long into the night. I ended up pulling off a move that ensured Rebecca's win at the cost of our friends and I felt dreadful about it. Guess it's a war game though so some drama is to be expected.

Prospects Realigned

 Returned to the dentist for a very brief appointment to re-glue some blobs onto my teeth. They asked me how my alligners were working out and I was happy to report that I've grown properly accustomed to them now. If you'd have asked me a week ago it would have been a different story but I am once again in awe at how quickly the body adapts. 

I finished my day at work and all I wanted to do was dive into the new Monster Hunter game - I had just created my character and his little cat companion and was raring for some action. But I'd been invited to a house party by some friends from my last job, so I had to choose wisely about how to spend my Friday night, but one of my favourite quotes gave me a guiding light:

 No one on their deathbed ever said 'I wished I'd spent more time alone at my computer'.

I've spent my whole life wrestling with this internal conflict, and chose wisely tonight to go out to socialise. I drank and chatted long into the night, I'll probably be paying for it tomorrow morning but I'll be smiling at an evening we'll spent.

50's Typewriter

More familiar faces poured into our production office all giving our hugs and handshakes. I've said it once now but it's so refreashing to be part of a massive job that feels so humble still. There's so many of us all coming back that it feels like one big family - all of us with out fun quirks for sure but that's what makes us all so special. I got a chance to crack down on some fairly big things today that could solve a lot of headaches for everyone. It feels good to be a problem solver once again - deep down I suppose I always like to be the person people come to with issues that I can fix. 

I'm still umming and erring about my pair of mechanical keyboards back at home. First world problems I know, but it's so hard to weigh up how much I value loud, clacky noises VS how embarresed I feel by using something so noisy. How selfish a person am I basically? I feel like that meme of Bilbo Baggins holding onto the one ring as he asks himself 'Afterall, why shouldn't I treat myself to a keyboard that sounds like a 50's typewriter?'

Isolating IKEA

Hump day down in the office and it was kinda felt by all of us. The highlight of it all was obtaining a wealth of bits and bobs from other productions. We had so many cardboard boxes to crack into, each one containing the promises of money saved and less work for us. Grimey laminators? Don't mind if I do. Knotted charging cables? Hell yes. Strewn about pens and staples. This is what I live for.

On the way back home I had to swing by IKEA to pick something up for my desk at work. Whole walking around I had a sudden realisation that I don't think I've ever been to an IKEA by myself. No one to keep tabs of, no one to make observational (and highly original) jokes to and no one to browse with. It was an oddly lonely experience. The shop always promotes families and friends, and yet there I was, clutching my laptop stand to my chest while riding down an escalator, not really knowing how to feel.

Production Diary

The duty of hire cars has once again wormed it's way back to me. I've called upon my go-to guy once again and I daresay he remembered me! If only I had some good news to share, but the car they dropped off for us got in a scrape en route to us so I had to report some damage but all was well overall. In fact, I'm starting to get saddled up with a few little jobs now, the biggest of which is sending out the production diary each night. Never thought I'd be the person doing that - that always felt like quite a big responsibility whenever I was looking at it from the outside so it's weird to think it's finally me sending off those emails.

Happier Teeth

You know what? I think I'm getting used to the braces now. By far and away the most painful part of using them is removing them for mealtimes, ratcheting and prying them out of my jaw is a horrid experience... For the first few times. Now my teeth and my pain threshold have adapted so things have gotten much easier. Now, they're still not exactly falling off the bone, but it's a marked improvement each time I go to take them out. Which in my mind is evidence that they are doing thier job which is comforting in and of itself.

The feeling of being at ease is also creeping back into my work life. I'm settling back into my production role much better now - I'm embracing the new life I have for the next year and enjoying working amidst a bigger team again. Things are still relativly calm now too which is a treat. It won't last though so I'll try and take advantage of that while I can. 

Typing Treat

We got back well past midnight last night so we had all the right in the world to sleep in. Perhaps I enjoyed the delights of the free bar a little too much last night, or maybe I just slept in a tad too long becasue I felt wretched first thing this morning. Nothing that a late breakfast and a double dose of coffee couldn't fix... Well I say that, but nothing can stave off the Sunday blues which gripped Rebecca and me while driving home from London. Now that I'm back in Production the suite of responsibilites are coming back to me - the rolling to do list lives in my head in a space that I should charge rent for. 

I did want to treat myself a little bit for starting a new office job so I spashed out on a new keyboard - a mechanical one at that. I've never had such a fancy, or versatile bit of kit so it's my new favourite toy now. You can even connect it to your phone! And yes, I am typing up this blog in bed on the keyboard... much to Rebecca's chagrin. 

Licence to Chill

 For the past month every weekend has been consumed by the making of my short film. If I had free time and I wasn't dedicating it to the film I felt super guilty. Well today was the first time in ages where I had a licence to chill. It's been an age since I played a game in one sitting, but whole Rebecca was on the phone to a friend I ploughed through Abzu, a gorgeous underwater diving game which left me feeling all the flavours of serenity. 

It couldn't be all sofa time though as we had a social engagement near London to fulfill. A mutual chum of our turned 30 so we went to celebrate. It was a joint party with three people so there were a LOT of attendees, and since we didn't know anyone that gave us free license to raid the buffet and boogie in the dance floor with a degree of animinity.