Boredom Floats On Butterfly Wings

In the month of May; in the year 2010, mild mannered design-come-IT technician Liam 'Kabamf' Brown is beginning his work day. When suddenly disaster strikes. Disaster in the form of his arch-nemesis: the dreaded Boredom Fairy!
How will our hero stave off this eternal foe? With the work day just beginning, can he withstand such an onslaught of tedium for so long?
The Boredom Fairy has yet to realise however, that with the combination of her dastardly powers and the requirement and necessity of the employee workload, a new force is born. Inspired Procrastination!

This is something I've noticed or a while now. For all my love of writing and doodling/drawing, I can only ever bring myself to do either when I'm at work as a way to put off the tedium that a job can sometimes bring. At home I'll very rarely engage in either without some circumstances such as a power-cut or sleeplessness. I'm fairly certain this is because of three factors:

1. At home I have free time to do as I please. Read, watch or play.
2. I'm very impatient when it comes to acquiring skills and without an obvious improvement in any of my creations, I'll swiftly give up.
3. Finally, I am one hell of a lazy creature at times.

The last two probably affect me more that the first. It's somewhat of a catch-22 situation really. I need to do more in order to improve those skills, but without the apparent boost in ability I crave I'm far to lazy to actually try. Thus I won't do more to improve.
The doodling suffers the most, with the only amount done being on scrap paper at my office desk. That combined with my inability to try new things out of a fear of failing, means I have stacks and stacks of paper all with cartoon heads on; the one main doodle I'm happy with. As for the writing? That comes in fits and starts as evidenced by this very blog (all of which I think I did do at work. I do do actual work, honest!). It was getting much more frequent at one point when I had the pleasure of essentially writing a letter once a day via e-mail, to what I can only describe as a pen-pal. As informal as that was it did focus me a lot more by giving me an achievable target: write a letter for your friend on the other side of the internet. That has come to an end now and as such my urge to put letter to page has dwindled to its former dim glow. In that time my mind was challenged, my imagination given an outlet and I created a handful of ideas I'm proud of. So is that the solution? The answer as to why I do this when at work? I am faced with a problem (boredom) and I overcome it with the chosen answer (procrastination).
Do I unknowingly yearn for an obstacle to test my creativity against?

Have At Thee 2009!

That almighty daystar sure put in the overtime over the weekend. The heat has progressed from 'just warm and sunny enough to invoke childlike energy' to 'I'm not moving'. This is both a good and a bad thing. My steadfast partner in crime, hereby referred to as Kev, and I entered one of the local drinking holes for liquid refreshment for a fleeting moment. A Sailor Jerry's and coke wit'ice & lime for me and a lemonade for he. Several steps later and we were basking in those glorious rays. We then couldn't bring ourselves to get up, pinned as we were by said glorious rays.

This weekend has seen me attend not one, not two, but three BBQs within a 24 hour period. Considering I never actually engaged in the ritual and habitual charring of dead animals for mass consumption in 2009, I firmly believe I am now well on my way to making up for this. An added bonus came from the use of disposable BBQs at one point, invoking memories of festivals of yesteryear. With beer in hand, sun on head, music flooding the ears and socks cast aside to grant my bare feet purchase on the ground, I could have sworn I was already at such an event. So much so that I very nearly set up my new tent to complete the scenario. I was fortunate enough to attend a soiree between BBQ one and two. I say this not because it is worthwhile but merely so I can use the word soiree.

In closing, take heed of these words: it is too hot for socks.

Grabbing At Straws

Seeing as I can't decide on anything worthwhile to write about, then I guess I'll just have to write in general. Just for the sake of it. Or my poor blog will feel unloved.

We'll start things off with something nice. I attended a wedding reception recently for a girl who I grew up with. She's older than me and closer to my sisters age. So much so that growing up I was the tortured younger brother, forever trying to keep up with their antics and being teased purely because I was younger. Good times.
It was a lovely experience. I've attended weddings and their post-ceremony parties many times before, but this one felt different. Maybe it was because I'm old enough to appreciate them now, but mostly I think it's because I knew the bride. I hadn't seen her or her family in some time, the most current being a funeral unfortunately, and I hadn't even spoken to any of them in years. But seeing this bride; this girl whose home I used to play at; whose family went on annual trips to watch pantomimes with mine; seeing her now was an altogether wonderful occasion. So crucially more important was the scenario of someone I knew getting married that it actually felt different. I can't help but wonder how it will feel when a close friend ties the knot.

Second on the agenda and something brief: apparently my little jaunts to the gymnasium are proving more fruitful than even I'm aware. Three separate people have now suggested to me that I have lost weight. Needless to say I played "You think so? I dunno, but thanks anyway" card while secretly shouting FUCK YEAH! in my head. The curious thing is that I have actually put on weight. Only a couple of pounds mind, but even so with all the hard work one puts in at that torture palace (so named now not because of the physical exercise but due to the god awful music they play) it doesn't help the mindset of someone trying to lower their weight. A close friend pointed out that it probably has something to do with toning while another suggested muscle weighing more than fat. It's possible both are true, regardless this means the goal of 'looking sexy' is under way. Watch out smaller jeans, I'm coming for ya!

Thirdly, I finally managed to watch the movie Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief. I'd been yearning to watch this for a handful of reasons:

1. Sean Bean (one of Britain's greatest exports) plays Zeus! Sean Bean. God of Thunder. Yes!
2. Growing up I was a Greek mythology nut. I loved the stuff. Heroes, monsters, gods. I ate that shit up. Even bought a nice copy of Homer's Odyssey while in Greece. A copy now worn and weathered through use.
3. This film has some big names playing roles that don't have more than maybe 5-15 minutes scene time total. Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Uma Thuman, Steve Coogan, Rosario Dawson and apparently Ray Winstone who I must have missed in my trance.

I'm glad to say I enjoyed it. It does suffer from the problem that all book-to-movie transitions suffer from i.e. the story feels rushed as they try to condense everything into less than 2 hours. But that's just an necessary evil. The special effects are top notch with some great designs on the monsters, which includes one of my all time favourite Greek beasties. My only wish is that it were longer to flesh out the characters a bit more. Seeing as this won't happen it gives me all the more reason to take a stab at the book itself. Here's hoping to a string of sequels!

Lastly a subject that I can't contain. 3 weeks from now I will have a beer in one hand and a burger in the other. I'll be tired from sleeping in a tent and my arse will be firmly planted on the grass near stage 3 as I and a handful of others are treated to a band a mere 24 hours before some of the biggest names in rock swagger on stage and blow my mind with awesome vocals, face melting solos and hair prickling riffs. Yes in 3 weeks I go to the first festival of the year. Download Festival. 5 days of drinking too much, eating junk food, sleeping poorly, being deafened by live music and braving the portaloos. It'll cost me hundreds of pounds when it's over and done with and you know what boys and girls?

I can't wait.

Blocked and Dammed

I'm posting purely as a show that I haven't forgotten about this blog. I just can't for the life of me think about anything to write about or even draw.
Sad times my friends. Sad times indeed.

Late Night Musings

So. At the writing of this post, it is about 2:06am. I've been out and about in my merry old town/city of Ripon and in true form I've managed to drink enough rum to make my wallet cry. Spending so much of my hard earned (read: somewhat earned) cash on such pointless endeavours as booze should really bug me. But it doesn't. Know why? Beacause I had a fun. I'm relatively shy around new people, a fact that isn't lost on those who know me well. Sure I'll put on a brave face and spout words and phrases that seem normal enough. But really it's just things I've learnt to say and do around the average pub-goer, that I've learned from spending much of my childhood around such folk and in such places. Please note this is not a "I grew up in bars" plea, but just a staement of the fact my father is an avid (putting it weakly) football player and fan and as such, spent a lot of his free time playing in local teams. Me being the adorable (shut up, I was!) child was brought along. But I'm missing the point.
So i've done my bit. I've met the new people my friends have brought with, put on my most comfortable charm and gone about my business as if I'd known them for years. I'd drank enough to spurt easy humour as regualr as Old Faithful, but not too much as to hamper my judgment. A fact made all the more clear by the refusal of takeaway for health reasons. QED, fun was had. We laughed. We danced. We bonded. Yet for all the merriment that was had I can safely say I will probably never hear from any of the new folk again. I still don't remember their names, but then, my memory is freakishly selective. The question remains then, that is all the mirth and pleasantries spent on these then-and-now future strangers, worth it? Would it not be easier overall to merely spend the time amongst those you know? The comfort zone so named because it is where we feel we fit in the scheme of things. Short answer: Yes. But I pity anyone who doesn't go out and flood themselves with rum, all the while flirting with the danger of the new person.

It's safe to say I'd lost the point I was going to make quite a while ago. But I felt this blog wasn't complete without semi-drunk post. If I could manage it, I'd be going off on tangents until I accidentally got back the orignal subject. In fact, I'm doing it right now!

Geez, Internet. You Sound Like My Mother!

You see that button up there? The one at the top of the page that reads Next Blog >> ? That button is great. Using its mysterious powers, it gazes at the blog you're reading and then divines another blog of somewhat equal topic for you to peruse. That's great. No wading hip-deep through the waters of the unwanted, just POP and you're staring at someone else's musings that the almighty button thinks you'll like. No fuss, no muss.
So why is it about 7 times out of 10 I am sent to a blog detailing and chronicling the life of some newborn or family, as written by the mother-figure? Moreover, why am I sent here from blogs by artists and travellers? What are you trying to tell me internet? Do you want me to start a family!? But I'm young yet! You'll get your grand kids in due time you malevolent info-being.

P.S. That title? Yeah, my mother never quizzes me about having kids. That was a lie. I lied. Deal with it.

A Momentous Occasion

A doodle has been did. By myself. In it I have managed to draw a hand that doesn't look like it was taken to with a meat tenderizer. I'm just...I'm so damn proud!