Pancake Day 2017

Set up our own little pancake station today for dinner. Rocked some savory wraps, consisting of mushrooms, bacon, spinach and cheese before moving into the main event - the sweet pancakes.

Got my euros for travelling today too and I pack up my bag for travelling so I'm basically ready to go for Friday. Bring on Amsterdam!

Pre Pancakes

Powered into work with a beaming face, you know why? Because we decided to move Pancake day forward in our office and have it a day early. Our office hand went all out in setting up a little breakfast bar, we're talking a mini hob, a little batter spatula and a cornucopia of toppings on the side so you could really make it your own, sweet or savory. Suffice to say, I got my fill...

Just a Little Longer

Spent the remainder of my weekend chilling out in Newbury and playing World of Warcraft with my bro. After we said our goodbyes to Mum and Dad at the train station. Louis turned and told me that its always hard to leave home after such a short stay. I felt that too, you always wish you could have stayed just that little bit longer.

Chinese War Wound

Awoke to the sound of my alarm which came on way more early than it should do for a Saturday morning. Met Louis at the train station before the sun had come up, but we had a surprisingly easy journey. Gave Granny Sue her Birthday card and gifted her some flowers, before heading out for a Chinese dinner which was delicious. Might have been a bit too eager to eat  actually, at one point I accidentally bite my tounge outrageously hard, still tingles a bit now, gotta suffer for a good meal though.

Put me on Numbers

Finished up my weekend with a packed a bacon flavored wheat crisps and a can of beer, courtesy of my boss. Cracked down on some social media metrics today with the intention of updating a few of our person logs for campaigns, always useful to have a little bit of data to back up your successes and shortcomings.

All packed and ready to hit Newbury early tomorrow morning. I'm meeting Louis at the train station at around 6:30 so I'm very seriously considering getting some extra kip on the train.

Dreaming of Take-Out

Once again, another quiet day in office. I just kept my head down and cracked on with work hoping to come up with some stellar ideas. Louis and I are looking into getting train ticket to head back to Newbury over the weekend since its Granny Sue's Birthday. It also means that we will both get a Chinese Takeaway so I'm already dreaming of that, be nice to spend a bit of time with the family too.

Frugal Dinner

Got into work bright and early to crack on with my 360 video planning. Again it was just me and one other college so it felt like quite a slow one but I think I got some good stuff done.

We tried being frugal tonight so me made a 'leftovers curry' by throwing in all the old vegetables and stuff we had into a big pot and it worked rather well, certainly kept my wallet smiling anyhow.

360 Video

Office was dead today, folks were shattered after the shoot or had other places to be, so it was just me and my other boss for a good chunk of today. managed to get through a fair amount of stuff though, got assigned a newish job to crack on with, and this one is all about 360 degree video which is supposedly going to explode in popularity this year. I'm admittedly not entirely convinced of this however, as I haven't actually seen any videos that have really impressed me in 360, which is why I'm trying to think of something that plays with the form in an interesting way.

So many 360 degree videos are glorified Go Pro films at the moment, stuff of cars moving or peeps doing things in cool spaces. But it all feels a bit gimmicky, I don't know what the 360 advantage of some clips are, yes its cool to watch something in VR, but you quickly get the gist. Below is possibly my favourite example of 360 video, and its a promotion for a Russian anti-domestic abuse hotline.

 
Really subtle, and it worth watching at least twice to get the full scope of it. I wanna try and think of something like this for my next brief.

What a Shoot

Got up bright and early for a shoot today which went really well. I'd worked with the DOP on a previous project and he remembered me and trusted me to do a little bit of camera assisting. Just constantly expanding my knowledge base and its nice to be trusted on a film set.

Knackered now though, when I got home, first thing I did was sit down and that felt like the greatest thing ever. Think I'm going to sleep well tonight.

Lazy To-Do

Had myself little 'to-do' checking day in a way that involved not leaving the house today (best kind of day). Tightened up my CV and my Linkedin profile first and foremost, then had a little gander at all the best looking jobs on offer. I'm due to rendezvous with my boss again to discuss a new job soon so I've made a little list of all the places locally that I'm interested in and I'll take next steps very soon.

I also decided to start watching some more films again since I've been quite lax on that recently, especially Studio Ghibli films, so I decided to spearhead it with From Up on Poppy Hill. It was a super gentle offering from them that was cute in all the right places, the story is nothing to write home about, but the tone had an undeniable charm that puts you in a lovely state of mind afterwards.

Also check out Your Name, the new highest grossing Japanese animated film (beating Spirited Away) and it was pretty dang good. It starts off as a pretty simple little thing, but its remarkable how much you actually end up caring about both of the central characters as the film goes on. The art and animation throughout is outstanding too, it really is a complete package - Big recommendation here for Mum and Dad too methinks.

Blaise Castle

Had a 'doing day' since I got the chance to share the weekend with Rebecca. Drove up to Blaise Castle and had a little stomp around the site there. It was actually a bit of a maze going around there, there is one unhelpful 'you are here' style map near the entrance and a sungle signpost later that loosely points in the direction of the castle. That track then splits off into 4 other routes which are all unmarked. We ended up exploring all the possible ways before picking the path that actually lead up to the castle, luckly, it was worth the faff.

If you squint at the bottom left, you'll see a very despondent looking Rebecca in the distance.
Came home via IKEA to grab an extra Billy Bookcase. Spent the evening feeling bad about the neighbours after hammering in a few nails to build the thing, but at least we have somewhere to store our surplus books. Rebecca's personal library was spilling out onto the floor previously so thisbextra shelf has been a huge boon.

Sun in Bristol

Could hardly wait for this weekend to come, it was all I could think about this morning and all I could contemplate throughout the day. I met up with Rebecca for lunch and I was takeb aback but just how lively Bristol was on a sunny Friday lunchtime. Not that it was especially warm, but the bustle made me notice more things, especially the smells coming from dozens of small restaurants and street food spots. The spring and warm seasons are apon us and that gives me something to really look forward too.

Banter with the Bro

Had a kinda meh day at work today, just struggled to seem useful to my colleges in any capacity. Went home feeling a little bit naff but my spirits were quickly lifted after playing some games with Louis. We played World of Warcraft and chatted mostly about our life and which YouTube channels had legitimately good content on - it was oddly life affirming stuff. Nothing beats a good chat with Louis sometimes.

Landing in Style

Got invited to come along for a film shoot for work next Monday. By the sounds of it, they mostly want me to be informing members of the public that filming is taking place as we are doing it in a restaurant. While it's not the most glamorous job in the world, someone has certainly gotta do it and I'm really looking forward to next week now.

Forgot to share this one when it first came out. We did a shoot in Portugal before Christmas for Hackett London, and this is the film we produced. Went live about 2 weeks ago but I think it's pretty special.

Valentine's Day 2017

While Rebecca and I don't really go all out in Valentines Day, we relish any excuse to go out for a fancy meal. We hit up a small Italian place near my work, I tucked into some tomato pasta since that it the one thing I almost never get to eat and it was glorious. We each treated ourselves to a graphic novel too, courtesy of Rebecca's staff discount - I know what I'll be reading in my lunch break tomorrow.

Golden Age of YouTube

Tasked with researching the UK's top YouTubers at work today. I actually deemed it to be a rather depressing read, all the people that I vaguely remembered being YouTube stars back in the day have either fizzled out, or mostly do vlogs now. In their stead, they have been replaced by a new wave of lifestyle vloggers and people loosely connected to Zoella. I have entirely resigned myself to the fact that I am too old for these kind of shows anyway, but their content is so vapid. At least TomSka and others tried writing and performing sketches, even if they weren't always funny they put the effort in, now all people do is talk about their craaaazy existence and rehash the same tired tropes over and over. I didn't realise how good we had it five years ago.

And yes, the irony of me only writing about my life in a self important blog is not entirely lost on me here. At least I hope I'm not as bad as them.

Tiramisu Knockout

Pleased to announce that the Tiramisu I made turned out beautifully. I called Dad up this morning for the recipe, it was just as simple as I remembered it and it tasted great with Kahlua subbing in for the liquor of choice. We prepped a nice meal for some of Rebecca's work friends tonight and seeing that he cooked us a nice meal (and even busted out an unexpected cheese board) a while back, we thought we could return the favour. Not all the tiramisu got eaten so I'll be chowing down on that over the coming week.

Printer Online

Never set up a printer before today, I was expecting a truly frustrating experience di to the stigma of printers, but to my surprise it was very painless. Still need a fun picture to give it a test run.

Since we are having guests round tomorrow, I thought it would be a good excuse to make some tiramisu. Haven't done it complelty by myself before so it might turn into some perplexing goop, but if it turns out even half as good as the one I made with Dad a few years ago, it will at least be a very tasty goop.

Middle Class Revolution

Continued my research into the middle class revolution so I could present some cold hard facts to my bosses. From that, I think we just about managed to find a potential route we could make into a funny film, I'm going to help write a draft script on Monday as a result so that will be a nice change of pace. Can't believe its the weekend already too, I'm actually dead chuffed and I have a fair bit planned for tomorrow - most of it will be slopey, but I'll see if I can do something cool with my days off.

San Junipero

Since none of my co-workerd were going to be in the office today I was given the opportunity to work from home. Basically it was like being at the office but I had access to better coffee. Since Rebecca was having a spring cleaning day, I decided to avoid that frenzy by taking myself to the library next door to us to crack on with work there.

Later this evening we tucked into one of the latest episodes of Black Mirror: San Junipero, and it was easily one of the best things I've seen on TV for ages. It ticked a lot of boxes for me and had one of the best use of music I'd ever seen. It transcended every other episode of the series so far and I haven't got it out of my head since it ended.

What Class are You?

My job today was researching into why the middle class should form a rebellion and I think I came out the other end of my study time as a low-level socialist. Got to do a fun BBC 'Class Calculator' too, kind of thing my Mum would go nuts over so I'll pop it below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22000973

Finally discovered where the 'reduced' shelf for bakery good is in our Asda - turns out they have some legit amazing stuff in there. Saw a large R2-D2 cake down from £13 to £2, I spent the rest if the evening regretting not buying it.

My Social Media Presentation

Delivered a stirling presentation about how different social media platforms can be used for advertising to my colleges today. There's a whole bunch of exciting and developing ways we can start to use Facebook and YouTube more basically. I basically just compiled all my research into a fancy KeyNote and had a nice chat with everyone else about it - they seemed pretty  pleased with it too!

2000th Blog Post!

Celebrated Rebecca's 22nd today in style. First we hit up Boston Tea Party for a big brunch and then we had a general mooch around a part of Bristol we had never been to before. Ended up going over the suspension bridge, and walked home via the other side of the river, turned into a really nice trek around the outskirts. Came back home just as it started to rain and watched Howl's Moving Castle. We just said goodbye to Mark, Lucy, Louis and Rachel after catching up with them over a nice meal out. I think Rebecca's had a really lovely, low-key Birthday, and I think my presents were a success too.

Also, this is my 2000th blog post! That's pretty crazy when you think about it from a near one-a-day perspective. Once again, thank you to anyone and anyone who has ever tuned into this space, it s the readership that keeps me going and keeps me smiling; hopefully its brought a smile into your day at least once too.

London Lash

Went out for a very gentle night out on the town for Rebecca's Birthday weekend. We met up with some of her old housemates and a smattering of my old coursemate and went out for a Wagamama and cocktails. This morning we all felt a little bit delicate, so we had an easy going day at Rebecca's house. We briefly went out for lunch before traveling back to Bristol.

I've booked the day off work tomorrow so I can spend the day with Rebecca, she's got a job interview first thing, but after that we are going to go out for brunch and just wing it for the rest of the day.

Contract Good and Bad News

Got the word at work today that they wouldn't be renewing my contract. While they really like me and a lot of the stuff I was doing, unfortunately I didn't quite get to where they wanted me to be in order to help them out fully. That said, they are all really eager to set me up in a different job somewhere else in Bristol - my boss knows several people in similar businesses and he is willing to help me find somewhere he thinks I would be suited.

Obviously this news is a little bit of a bummer, but its actually a very promising way to get a new start. Its extremely generous of them to help me get a new job and I am very grateful that they took a chance and hired me in the first place.

Facebook Canvas

Got tasked with researching the newer means of spreading content on Facebook and YouTube today. Facebook Canvas is a  whole new world to me, but while it seems like a nifty thing for brands to use, Facebook hasn't revealed any of the official statistics to really support the feature. Only time will tell it seems.

Rebecca's got a job interview for a social media job tomorrow morning, so I helped her build her PowerPoint and spruce it up a bit. I reckon she'll do alright too, got my fingers crossed for her.

Trainspotting 2

Got back really late last night after watching Trainspotting 2, which was disarmingly good. If you go in expecting more of the same from the first one, you will probably be disappointed at first, but what you get instead is a completely honest look into nostalgia and all that it entails. It's an incredibly meta experience, served with a smattering of excellent and memorable scenes, all done in that classic Danny Boyle style. Its a film for anyone who loves the original film, and it reminds us that we can never go back to 20 years ago.