Pictures

You can now find images of Dublin and journeying here. Enjoy!

Procrastination Ponderings

I really liked this image from my 4th session, I'm getting into reflections. Unfortunately, with so many grey days and me in work from dark to dark, I haven't been able to do some journeys with camera. Bit of a bummer really. I will endevour to share more photos with you. Promise.

Saw my Super today. He liked my ideas, he nodded a lot. Ultimately, he wants to see something he can read....ooo like a chapter or two of my dissertation. Yeah right. It just isn't happening. Yesterday and today, I crashed, did some food shopping so we wouldn't starve and did my nurse impression for the Poorly One. He's better today, and I'm going to send him off to school tomorrow as I've got to go to work and he's beginning to get tetchy with the XBox.

At the moment, I have a big list of all the things I ought to have done by now.

1. Dissertation
2. Christmas cards
3. Christmas shopping
4. Christmas tree & decorations
5. Poetry
6. Prose
7. Creative Practice
8. Laundry

These are things that need to happen, preferably sooner than later. They merely sit and stare at me accusingly. These are not life-threatening procrastinations. I always procrastinate, the bigger the project, the longer the procrastination. I don't know why I do it, I just always work this way. Which is very frustrating. Considering I want to do an MA, which might mean more essays and another dissertation, I wonder what my subconscious is trying to tell me? I wonder if it's about fear of failure. Or whether I should just shrug my shoulders and go 'hey, I always work this way and manage to pull something decent together - relax'?

Answers on a postcard please.

100th Post!

To celebrate I thought I would share one of my pickies with you. It's part of the University in the pouring rain. It is unenhanced. I love the camera that I've borrowed. It's FujiFinePix and it'll take 9m pixles!

My butt is getting well and truly kicked and I am panicking. I have no idea how I'm going to work and produce this wretched dissertation and keep my household going and still keep my boy happy. Work is still fun, but I come home knackered and grumpy. I resorted to takeaway last night, having missed the 18.11 bus. I had to wait half an hour in the cold for the next one. After about 10 mins I was joined at the stop by a woman in a white woolly hat, lugging a pet carrier.

Things to do While Waiting at a Bus Stop.

• sing/ mutter along with MP3 player, even if it means admitting that you like cheesey music


• flex and rotate hips


• try not to stare at the woman who is singing along in her KA stopped opposite


• rotate ankles in time with Donna Summer


• stare into oncoming traffic


• practise footwork for body jabs


• smile at woman with pet carrier

Is it any wonder that the woman with the pet carrier stayed as far away from me? Anyone would think I'm a bit odd.

Beer and Universal Truths

As I considered what I wanted to write about tonight, I realised that a pint and a half of beer does not aid the little grey cells. The world my sub-editor and I put to rights, has no real artistic merit, nor holds any interest to anyone who has not consumed equal amounts of beer. Despite that, 2 hours later we still were having impassioned debates about the idea that as creative writers/poets/artists, our job was to show the universal truth within that particular moment.

So what's the universal truth in this particular moment? How do I express it without resorting to cliche and sap? Don't know. I know I tend to tell the truth when I'm in my cups and I suspect that is why many well known writers and poets were known for their love of a tipple (or 10). The alcohol makes a bit of space between the stuff happening in the head and one's intellect. Things appear a lot more manageable. Of course alcohol is a lousy anaesthetic, and I don't drink if I'm distressed. But it is nice to indulge in a bit of intellectual bullshit every now and then. The trick is being able to create that space without recourse to substance.

I've been able to borrow a digital camera for the summer, which is just great. If I'm up to it tomorrow, I may take the camera out for a quick trip and see what happens. I also will need to pick up the foamboard from the College shop. The big problem I see with this project is that although the blog and the pictures and foamboard squares will document a journey on many different levels, I need to find the universal truth in the experience.

Tonight, I just don't know. Tonight, I've had one and a half pints of beer and I still feel disappointed in my results and truth be known, a touch lonely. But as I listen to Carmina Burana, and I think of the future, the year ahead and beyond, I am hopeful.

So buckle your seatbelts, make sure your tray tables are in an upright position, and on behalf of the captain I'd like to welcome you aboard.