Carcaixent Day 2

Busted out the knitting needles once again to get cracking with another square. In fact, around 40 other young people all got together today to learn how to knit or crochet to master the art of wool working. After an hour or two we had a great big group dinner on the streets of Carcaixent. Today was the first day everyone was properly together so it was lovely to catch up with everyone and see how they were doing.

Carcaixent Day 1

Braved two early morning planes to enjoy the glory of the Spanish weather. Even the Spanish think its a little too hot out here! Least that was a good excuse to dive into a pool, haven't swam so much in ages. To cap it all off, I was handed a beer to enjoy while swimming, felt like I was in an advert for a holiday! Rebecca and are winding down for bed now, need to catch up on a few hours before going to paint the town red over the course of next week.

Tooting Picnic

A picnic on Tooting Common was on the cards today as we celebrated Matt Winslow's Birthday. I ate my weight in hummus and quiche and spent the rest of the evening trying to digest it all. Just when I was about to pop, a salted caramel New York cheesecake materialised. I couldn't say no to that.

We are all prepped and ready to take to the skies very early tomorrow morning. Our tines are pretty chill overall so if it all goes to plan, we'll have a pretty painless journey. Especially for Sam, who got upgraded to business class free of charge for some reason.

Knitting Nutter

The art of rolling up your clothes into your suitcase is a skill I've just about mastered over the pat few years. I managed to save so much space by rolling up 8 shirts into a dense bundle, plenty of space for a book and some other extra bits and pieces.

Once I ticked everything off my list for packing, I got to work on my knitting project. I spent a good chunk of the afternoon and the entire coach ride to London catching up on my stitches, about half an hour before writing this, I finally finished! I cast off (with the help of a YouTube tutorial) and I'm pretty chuffed with it. Its scrappy, dog-eared and a bit too long, but I'm still proud of it.

Korean Burger

Got back on track with the knitting after Rachel once again set me straight. Got a few more days before I have to complete my square and with any luck, I should just about finish it off. In the meantime I got stuck into making the presentation we need to give about wool and trade within Newbury and the UK. Newbury turned out to be a bit more relevant than I expected, what with Jack of Newbury and a few other bits so I reckon I'll have something half decent sorted soon.

Rebecca and I went out to Honest Burger to celebrate one more night in Bristol before going in holiday. I got the Korean burger which was covered in a spicy sauce and kimchee (this should be on every burger) I'm not usually 'that guy' but I did actually end up taking a sneaky picture of my dinner just so I could show it off.

Travel Toiletries

Waved farewell to Jamie as he hopped on his Megabus back to London, was a little bit glum after he left since we had such a good time together over the past few days.

I started stocking up on miniature toiletries for our trip to Spain, got plenty of sun tan lotion and deodorant so I won't get burnt or stink while I'm away. It'll all stash away nicely in my new collapsible rucksack I got online too - thing is like a jack-a-pack, it comes in a tiny pouch but folds out into a legit backpack. Really chuffed with it and can't wait to bust it out next week.

The Heart of Art

Did a proper little art tour around Bristol with Jamie. We visited an exhibit all about the human heart and how it functions as an organ and all the complications it can lead to if something goes wrong. Well worth checking out.

Jamie's gig got cancelled this evening rather suddenly so we used our new free time to check out Incredibles 2 which was pretty good. Lot of things to like if you were a fan of the first, a fun shake up of character roles keep things fresh and it's great to see these characters continue to grow. I personally felt the whole thing was a little dialogue heavy in places though and it very rarely lets up with its pace. We perhaps lost a bit of quiet time and periods of reflection that serve to make the characters feel a little more vulnerable and human. There was a LOT to cram in this one though so it feels like it could have done with a bit of trimming in places to keep things a little more concise and focused.

Not Quite a Zombie

Golly, it doesn't feel like I've been up for 21 hours, the whole day has felt like a dream. Did plenty of running around in the baking heat though and I am ready to climb into bed and bring the duvet up to my chin and just sleep and sleep and sleep.

Harbour Festival Take 2

Met up with a whole bunch of friend in Bristol to celebrate the Harbour Festival. Got a burger, some sweeties and just generally hung around while watching a whole bunch if boats go by. Last year it just chucked it down with rain so it was good to actually experience the Festival in all ints glory.

Once we got back, I hopped on a call with an American guy I'm writing my next YouTube video with. We agreed to do a collab project at the beginning of the year and only now have we had the chance to properly sit down and crack on with some scripting - and it went really well! Had to sign off a little early since I have to get up VERY early tomorrow so I can travel down to London for filming. It's gonna be a long old day.

Sonic Mania Plus Review

Spent most of this glorious Saturday sitting in my pants playing video games. No regrets at all.

In fairness, I did write an article over on my website too, a Review for Sonic Mania latest bit of DLC. I'd been tinkering around with my website's design for a little while now and I gotta say, it's looking pretty swish, you can check it out here:

https://eyebrowowl.wordpress.com/2018/07/21/sonic-mania-plus-review/

Jamie came round to stay with us for a few nights since he's got a gig in Bristol. Most of the evening was spent chatting about films and TV shows we enjoyed before we settled into some games. Some things never change.

Brand New Showreel

Not since they days of me prepping to submit my dissertation have I been this anxious about sending something off. I spent the past few days polishing off this current job application one to a mirror shine and crafted several pieces of surplus content to bolster the whole thing. Spent ages on it yeah. Then, the one thing that held me back was the little 'document upload' bar on Gmail which refused to budge beyond 60% no matter how long I left it. Damn near killed me.

But it's all been sent off now though and I'm actually really proud of it too so I hope it leads to something. If not, then at least it forced me to make a new showreel - check it out below:

Sizzle Reel Inbound

My eyes are glazed over after spending all day editing down my latest showreel. It's the kind of thing I've been putting off doing for a long time now, but this latest job I'm applying for has given me the perfect kick up the bum to crack on with it. Currently it's 90% complete, I have everything in place but I just need to add a little bit of text and do some fine tuning. Really pleased with it so far though, Rebecca was enamored with it when she saw the first cut, I showed it to her, mark and Chris and they all gave good feedback on it. I'll be making those changes tomorrow and I'll show it off here when it's good and ready.

The Vanishing of My Job

Stared at my laptop screen for a long old time today while trying to fine-tune the latest application I'm working on. There was a little bit of drama involved in it though, halfway though the vacancy simply vanished off the website. I still had four days left to apply! Called them up though and the nice lady said they were having some technical issues and it would be up again soon, lo and behold it returned. Rebecca and I have been proof reading it for most of the evening and it's now in a pretty happy place, unlike me as I've gone crazy looking at the damn thing.

I also got a call for a filming day in London next week for a small sum. It's nice to be needed.

Jobs All over the Show

So, job in the morning was a bit of a mixed bag. Turns out the place was an agency recruiter and they just wanted to meet me in person before signing me up onto their database. My biggest concern however is while in the workplace I'll be working towards a qualification that's the equivalent to an A-level, so maybe I'm just a tad over-qualified. Great for anyone who's come out of GCSE's without a doubt though, just not sure if it's right for me in this instance.

I met up with Rebecca to vent my thoughts. My job search has admittedly been less than fruitful over the past few months and I said something along the lines of 'jobs aren't exactly falling from the sky'. Moments later, we walked past someone literally offering jobs to people walking by. It was for charity door to door work which after a little thought I decided probably wasn't the best way to go (the hours were horribly unsocial too) it's just funny how initially perfect it all seemed. At the very least, it reminded me that there is always work out there and I just need to keep at it.



Shot over to Louis's gaff to ask Rachel if she could fix my knitting which she didn without even batting an eye. Once I got home I sat down to start on a few more rows but after 60 seconds, I somehow went dreadfully wrong again. The thing about knitting is that it's incredibly relaxing and lovely when it's all going fine, but it quickly turns into the most stressful thing ever when the slightest thing goes wrong - there's just no middle ground.

I rounded off the evening with a play-through of Sonic Mania's new DLC which was only ok. Gave me a good excuse to replay an excellent game but it didn't add as much extra content as I would have liked. Hey ho.

Approving Upnod

Lugged my laptop down to the library to get cracking with some work. A really, really good sounding job opportunity caught my attention late last week so I'm giving it my all with this application. I read out my closing sentence to Rebecca and she gave a knowing 'That'll do pig' kinda nod which can only be a good thing. 
 
Funnily enough, tomorrow I have a job interview for a digital marketing thing. The description was quite sparse but I should get a much better measure of what it's all about soon. I'm just really hoping its not another surprise group interview.

Honeycomb Hangouts

Last year I didn't really get to experience much of Bristol during the Summer since I was away on filming projects. I'm certainly making up for lost time now though as Rebecca and I took a stroll into town and to soak up the sun. We dangled our feet over the harbour side, went hunting for various Wallace and Gromit statues and treated ourselves to a honeycomb ice cream at Pinkmans - it was damn tasty!

While eating dinner we flicked Film4 on to see if anything good was showing, and since we are only human, we watched the entirety of Back to the Future Part 3. I actually can't remember the last time I saw that one, and while it is the weakest of the bunch, it's still a hell of a ride.

Pride in Bristol

Mum stayed down for a night in Bristol so we decided to go sight-seeing this afternoon and what a good day to do it on! With the Pride march on, the whole of the city had this really lovely vibrancy, we saw the parade go past and cheered them all on.

There's Rebs, giving her winning smile to the crowd.

Once the last of the marchers past us, we hit Pho up for lunch and with broth and noodles in our bellies we did the one thing I've never done in Bristol: go on a boat. Mum took us all on one of the boat tours that goes up and down the harbourside, never seen the city from that perspective before so it was really refreshing, plus it let me get this great shot with the classic coloured houses in the background.

Passed by several sail boats en route

Rebecca and I went home to slump around after all that, we even watched The Incredibles to catch Rebecca up in case she wanted to check out the sequel soon. All in all, a good old sunny Saturday.

Weaving for Europe

Because the theme and central activity of the upcoming Youth for Europe meeting is weaving, I decided to learn how to knit. Yes, I am aware that by making that statement I've aged myself 50 years, but we've been asked to bring some patches of knit work and I thought I'd get ahead of the curve. Mum and Granny Sue taught me, and despite a few beginners error, they though I picked it up pretty quickly. Brought back my project to Bristol too so I can periodically add a few rows onto my weave.

Grandad Bob's Funeral

We drove down to Orpington to attend Grandad Bob's funeral, which went extremely well. It was a lovely service and Louis did a really good job reading out his eulogy too. A photo book of my Grandparents was handed round at various points throughout the day too and that was a wonderful way to remember him by.

I've only been to two funerals, last one was a cremation and this was a burial. Many people commented during the wake about how few actual burials they've attended. It's the kind of thing you see all the time in the movies, but it was a bit surreal when its happening right in front of you. It's a lovely plot of land though and its comforting to know he's buried next to the church he used to sing in.

Its Coming Home

Moments after sending off another job application, I got a call back from one I applied for on Monday. Got myself an interview booked for next week too so something good may come from that, we'll see.

Louis and I took the train, and then the bus back to Newbury to attend grandad Bob's funeral tomorrow. We sat and watched the England semi-final with the family once we got back. It's the only time in my life that I think we've all sat down to watch the vast majority of a football game AND had dinner on our laps while watching the telly. Though we lost, the England boys put in a strong effort and I'm grateful they brought us together for just a little while.

The Power of Dreams

Uploaded my latest video 'The Power of Dreams in Gaming' first thing this morning. It's probably the biggest project I've undertaken since it features a hell of a lot of game footage. Still really pleased with how it come out though, I mean, just check out this moderately professional thumbnail! You can give it a little watch right here:

Aside from that, I was in full-on baking mode today. While Rebecca was eating her cereal, I was kneading dough to form some ring loaves. The holes closed up even more than I anticipated, but the taste of the bread was on point, was amazingly pleasant to chow down on some freshly baked bread for lunch. Then I got to work on some Jamie Oliver inspired chocolate and cherry mousse which came out really good. I've never made stiff peaks from egg whites by hand before and that was a rude awakening. But 15 minutes of whisking paid off because it yielded some very light and fluffy mousse. I shared both of these baked treats when Rebecca and I went to have dinner with Louis and Rachel, felt pretty adult bringing my own artisan goods to a dinner party.

Technically Sound

I got some serious work done today. Booted up my laptop first thing and absolutely smashed a few more job applications, sent off two today and I've got another one ready to send through during sociable hours tomorrow - new record for me. On top of that, my latest video is finally exporting and ready to be uploaded for tomorrow. This will mark the first time that I've played around with After Effects to add a little bit of extra production value to the final product. Its a real blink and you'll miss it addition, but I'm super proud of the way it came out. I also balanced out the audio by toying with the EQ a bit, so this will be my most technically impressive video yet - I'll post it here as soon as its uploaded.

Film and Theatre Fan

Rebecca went out to spent some quality time with her Mum, so I spent some special time with some DVD's I brought with me. Dad recommended Ulee's Gold and I felt that this morning was the perfect opportunity to watch it, it did not disappoint. Peter Fonda plays a socially reserved beekeeper while the lives and issues of his estranged family muscle their way back into his life. It was told in the style of a great American novel, everything unfurled naturally and every scene and piece of dialogue had substance and purpose. A really underated gem in my  opinion and probably the greatest drama where bees have a starring role.

We hit some traffic on the way back to Bristol, but arrived just in time to go see a play co-directed by Rachel. I was informed beforehand that there would be some light audience participation, it made me chuckle when a ringing phone was thrusted into Louis hand and the actor prompted him to answer it. While it certainly was abstract, there was enough personality and humanity to latch onto which carried you through the experience. The soundscape played a big part in it too and it felt like you stepped into a realm of a collective subconscious. Good, and dare I say, inspiring stuff.

Pride 2018

We braved the heat to head into Central London to be part of the Pride March. I don't think I've ever seen so many people in the city before, it was just so busy! The parade itself felt endless, we were stood watching all the floats and buses go past for about three hours and there was no sign of them stopping. We drank warm beer at the side of the road with some old course friends, a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon:

Rebecca and I toddled off a little before it ended so we could meet up with yet another friend for dinner. She headed off to see A Monster Calls at the Old Vic so I headed back and soaked up the last of the sun with Rebecca's parents out on the patio.

Penning Memories

Visited Louis to brainstorm different points for Louis' eulogy speech. We reminisced about different thoughts about Grandad Bob growing up and shared different memories we had of him. We got a really good selection of points, Louis is writing them up now into something I reckon will turn out really well.

I went up to London with Rebecca this evening for a weekend full of nice dinners and Pride marches. Looking to get a bit of extra curricular work done while I'm out here too. New video will be out very early next week I believe!

Together Screening

Ooof, it was hard waking up early this morning. I bought a coach ticket to take me up to London early doors so I could at long last go to the screening of Together, the feature film I worked on this time last year.

Film came out rather well too, I remember at the time being anxious about how it would cut together, but it was far more coherent than I expected. The final 20 minutes though are a bit shakey and several moments will make you wonder just how well researched the court scene was, but overall I'm very proud to have my name in the credits.

Here are some of the other folks who worked on the film, I spent the afternoon with them drinking at a nearby Weatherspoons in celebration:

Travelled back to Bristol in the late afternoon, good thing I packed a book with me today! I managed to go cover to cover on Fight Club in a marathon reading session. Really enjoyed it too, amazingly pacy style of writing that kept me hooked throughout. Made me respect the film even more, its just so well adapted.

Roll on the Shelves

With some of the leftover bread dough from yesterdays pizza making excursion, I decided to bake some bread rolls. In hindsight I realised the original recipe I followed to make the dough was tailored more towards pizza bases than light bread rolls, but they still came out fine. It filled me up enough to crack on with some more work at the Wildseed office. We constructed some shelves and had a big sort out of a lot of the random tat they accumulated over the years. We gave a tiny cupboard a complete facelift and now its like a whole new space, really pleased with how it all looks!

In between the gaps of renovating and baking, I cracked on with editing. It's really coming together very well but this bun needs a little longer in the oven.

(OK, I'll ease off on the baking puns for now. Baking one pizza base and a few rolls doesn't quite make me the new Paul Hollywood)

A True Italian

Got cracking on my new video, recorded and assembled the voice over and spliced in a whole bunch of footage. Its somehow going slower and quicker than I anticipated, I'm blazing through some sections, but my ending is a little bit more abstract so I'm not sure what footage to cut to just yet. For me though, editing is like the slogan for the new Jurassic Park film, 'life finds a way'.

In the midst of editing I was pretty busy in the kitchen. Last night I prepped my pizza dough to rise overnight and this afternoon I made up some homemade tomato sauce. Basically, everything for this dinner was made from scratch which I'm really pleased about. The dough was a bit of a faff though, I've never really made bread or played around with dough so this was a real baptism of fire. Stretching it out proved a lot harder than I anticipated, and every time I tried to pass the dough under my knuckles (like a true Italian stereotype) I just needed up tearing it and had to start all over. Perhaps I overworked it a bit, and I was worried the base would end up being a bit tough, but once I put my toppings on, my anxieties melted away. I was greeted with this after a few minutes cooking time:

Only half a pizza here because I was too busy eating it. It turned out really, really well and totally had that rustic, restaurantesqe taste to it which I was massively chuffed with. It will only get better next time too!

Mr Manual Labour

I helped Mark with some office renovation work this afternoon after an impromptu email landed in my inbox. We were basically dismantelling an old children's bathroom, removing the stalls so someone could come later to take away the tiny toilets. We had a good crack at it but called it a day after some screws we desperately needed to get to had been poly filled in, might come back to those later in the week.

Once dinner was all cooked and eaten, Rebecca and I filled up a bucket full of suds and went to town on cleaning her car. Frankly, it was filthy. She'd parked it under a malting tree a few weeks ago and the whole car looked like a piece of chewing gum that rolled around on a shaggy carpet. Spic and span now though! I washed my hands thoroughly before beginning making pizza dough using an overnight rising process. I think something is wrong with my scales though since it didn't register how much yeast I put into it all, hopefully it'll all be fine and as long as the flat isn't consumed in a hulking, doughy mass then I'll consider it a success. 

Travelling Bookworm

Did the whole planes, trains and automobiles thing since I was travelling back from Spain for most of the day. Went from Valencia to Switzerland and then onto England, got myself a double helping of complimentary sandwiches as a result and while the contents were a little suspect, I certainly appreciated the free meal. I was totally shattered once I got back to Bristol but thankfully I didn't have any other plans tonight so I just stayed in and recovered with Rebecca.

All that travelling gave me a chance to finish Norwegian Wood though. Going into it I wasn't too sure what all the fuss was about, but slowly I found myself getting sucked deeper and deeper into the beautiful world of the book, even when I couldn't really get a handle on where the plot was going, I just enjoyed spending time with the characters. I found myself feeling the same sense of ennui as the main character once I finished it and that's always a sign if a good book.