Creativity Vs The Clock

A funny thing can happen to you sometimes. You reach a point, in whatever situation you're currently in, where you're absorbed into your own routine so much that it becomes difficult to add any more elements into that routine. Not only that, some of the old, well-worn elements can lose their place.

In short, shit becomes pretty boring. And if you're anything like me, your solution will likely be to grab that routine by the ankles, turn it upside down and shake all of the out-of-date, loose change out of its pockets. Then, stand it up, straighten its collar, give it a couple of slaps around the face and tell it to sort itself out.

So, you ask, what's the meaning of all this, of all these metaphors? What are you trying to tell me? Well... I quit my job. Yep. teagirl is currently flying solo on the teabag front. No big pots of hot beverage from this kettle right now, just one solitary, stolen-from-Starbucks mug.

My time had come to leave Halo Post Production. I'd had a - mostly - brilliant time working there, learning plenty of useful skills along the way. The biggest plus was getting to work, day in, day out (and often night in, night out!) with some of my best friends. Someone told me recently that all people who work in TV are crazy on some level, which I'm finding makes for some very interesting and enjoyable friendships. But you can't stay in one place for the people, as sad as it is - and was - to leave them behind and move on. I'd gotten everything I could get out of the job, there wasn't room for progression, and while I would have always given it my all, my heart was starting to focus itself elsewhere. And I'm very much a "heart" kind of girl.

The question I've heard the most so far, naturally, has been "So where are you heading next?" This is where all that "grabbing by the ankles" and shaking things up business comes in. In true Ash style, I've changed pretty much everything, quit my stable job (during a recession... yes, I'm aware!) given up my extremely-tiny-and-lime-green London home, all with no real plan.

There's a bit of a plan. I'm in Toronto right now visiting my brother (and doing my last piece of decision-making about my possible 6-month stint here next summer). When I get back to the UK I'm having some much-needed family time in Blackpool before throwing myself into everything again. Which means more couch-surfing and hopefully some production jobs that will lead to something stable, so I can set up camp in the Big Smoke once again....

But it wasn't all about the job, about changing my situation to better suit my progression. Something else occured to me, only part-way through all these changes, and bear with me, because it may sound a little pretentious at first. But, I felt that my creativity was being stifled. I've always been creative, and I mean always. In anything too.... music, writing, sketching... at one point I could even make over 50 things out of one of those cardboard toilet roll holders. And creativity was exactly one of those things that had become excluded from my routine. Not only because I didn't have any real spare time, but because I was so absorbed by that routine - and so focused on spending all free hours between the pub and my bed - that I didn't really feel like being creative anymore. I didn't want to make the time for it. I stopped writing, I can't tell you the last time I drew anything that wasn't a moustache on Katie Price's photographed face. And I stopped blogging.

So, I'm back. If only for the reason that I really don't have any bloody excuse now.
Stick the kettle on, would you?

She's funny, that Ash...

As you have probably read, two days ago I published a post talking about the funny things that I tend to witness when in and around London. Usually, this involves my enjoyment of other people's misfortune since, let's face it, when someone does something really stupid, it's pretty funny.

Well. Less than 24 hours after posting one such event occured... What are the chances, right?

Yesterday, on the commute into work, a girl was just entering the station as the train she needed was pulling into the platform. She'd walked in on the opposite side of the tracks, so needed to cross over a footbridge to catch the train. As she ran up the steps she slipped - who'd a thunk it, rain in June! - and despite going down quite heavily, picked herself up and carried on running across the bridge.

Pretty funny thing to see, right? That wasn't all....

As she was coming to the bottom of the steps on the other side, the train doors started to beep (meaning the doors were about to close), so she quickly legged it onto the nearest carriage, JUST made it..... and slipped on the wet floor, flying smack bang on her arse.

Gotta say, it was a pretty impressive fall! Legs flying into the air and everything.

To make matters worse, the carriage was fairly busy, and the chorus of "Oohhh!"'s from the concerned-yet-actually-just-really-amused witnesses only confirmed that, yep, everyone just saw your comedy fall, love.

Embarrassing, right? I suppose the fact that is June doesn't really make people very wary of slippery floors, which is a good thing for calamity-spotters like myself...

Oh. And one more thing. It was me. The girl slipping on her arse in front of everyone?

Me.

That Funny London

I'm walking down the street in the West End. Or on the tube travelling home late at night.

I'm strolling around Covent Garden, or sat outside a crudely-named pub with a pint in hand.

I can be anywhere, doing anything, when something happens. Something a bit strange, or amusing, or a little outrageous. It may be something small, but something notable, something that I might find myself tweeting about immediately, or not-so-subtly calling a mate about.

The fact is, it's funny, that London. On an almost daily basis I will witness something that makes me love living here...... Well either that or it makes me wonder why the hell I left my (now) seemingly quiet and tame existence in Blackpool.

And I never blog about it. Never. So it's time that changed. From now on I promise to share these oddities with you.

Here's a little gem that I did tweet about, but hell, I'm gonna tell you about it anyway.

One afternoon a couple of months ago, I was sat on the tube on my way home. For those who don't know, right now "home" for me is Buckhurst Hill in Essex, at the Eastern end of the Central Line. I was minding my own business reading my book, A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo, which is a memoir of his time serving in Vietnam.

I get as far as Leyton and two men get onto my carriage and sit next to me. To be perfectly honest, I can't work out if they've been at the merry juice or if they're just "high on life", i.e. a little bit nutty. I keep reading, but I notice that they're talking about me, and trying to see what book I'm reading.

I keep reading. In the end one of them asks about the book, so I show them the cover and tell them it's a book about a soldier in the Vietnam War. He says: "Oh! I've been to 'Nam! Dage'Nam!"

I'm polite, and laugh along. I say this, but in actual fact I did think it was hilarious. Old joke, of course, but good on the old boy for trying!

To be honest this wasn't the funniest part of my encounter with these men, who did look a little like someone should go up to them with a flannel and give them a good wash. After that moment of hilarity, the other guy asks if it's a fictional story - I have a feeling that whatever my response, it probably won't make it much clearer for him - and I tell him yes it is, and how this guy really served in Vietnam.

He turns to his mate and says: "Vietnam. That's the Second World War init?"

Brilliance

I wanted to share this, because I think it's actually fantastic.

Erika Iris Simmons is an artist who currently lives in Georgia, USA. She works with "non traditional media" to create her artwork, so things like playing cards, old books, and cassette tape. She has a few different ranges of work, including pieces created from different kinds of paper, or portraits of artists/authors made from rearranges pieces of their own original work.

However, it's this selection that caught my eye:

"Ghost in the Machine"

It's brilliant. For realisies amazing. What a cool idea!

These are my favourites:

Bob Marley

Betty Davis

Alfred Hitchcock

So have a gander, and enjoy!

(You can also visit Erika's website at www.iri5.com)

You've evaded me for too long, pesky celebs.....

I've been told off.

My good friend Evan just sat me down and - I quote - "bitched" at me (she's American....!) at the state of my blogging affairs.

"Ash, seriously, I've been checking your site for Celeb Spots of the Week since about January. You should rename it Celeb Spots of the Month, not Celeb Spots of the Week..."

She's right. I know this much is true. But it's funny she should have had this rant at this particular point in time. Aside from a few Z-listers, those pesky celebs have evaded me for a few weeks. It seems the bitter winter months of late have caused them to retreat into their own fur-lined, diamond-studded version of hibernation.

However, in the last week or so they have begun to reemerge...

Here you are folks! Celeb Spots of the Month...!

Sandy Toksvig - Comedienne, author and presenter - walking right by my work building, down Riding House Street with a group of people.

Wendi Peters - Actress, best known for her role as Cilla in Coronation St, and current star of Grumpy Old Women Live - walking down Great Queen Street in Covent Garden.

Sophie Anderton - Model and "reality TV star", i.e. general all-round bitch on I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! - entering one of my work buildings to visit another company. I have a very good story to go with this spot. I may post about it in the future...... Depends if I can get done for some celebrity-self-styled crime or not!

Matt King - Super Hans in Peep Show, Cook's father in Skins, star of Inkheart, Rock n Rolla and Bronson - walking down Oxford St.

Sean Pertwee - Tonnes of TV appearances, most well know for Cold Feet and the third Doctor Who, and the films Dog Soldiers and The 51st State - at our company, recording a voice-over.

Sarah Alexandra - Maybe you don't recognise the name, but you'd recognise the face. She's been in Green Wing, Coupling and Teachers, and played Michelle Phifer's witch sister in Stardust - Also recording a voice over at our place.

Frankie Sandford - Of The Saturdays - Also entering our building to visit another company - Swooooooooooooooooon.

Clare Nasir - GMTV weather girl - attending the launch party of Yo! Sushi on Market Place, with her boyfriend, BBC 6Music DJ Chris Hawkins.

Hardeep Singh Kohli - Roving reporter for The One Show - also at the Yo! Sushi launch party.

Kerry Katona - Ex-Atomic-Kitten member, "Queen of the Jungle" and general trashy reality TV star - seemingly being the "main event" at Yo! Sushi's launch party.

And there you are folks. Nothing special, but after a serious drought for CSOTW, somewhat of an influx of popular personalities for teagirl.

Let's hope they're back in action, and Celeb Spots of the Week doesn't need to become, as suggested by Evan, Celeb Spots of the Month...

Yo! Kerry!

On wednesday evening, at around 7pm, I was rummaging around in some library boxes at work when I received a call from one of my colleagues, Carolynne:

"I'm only telling you this because you're a celebrity junkie like me, but the new Yo! Sushi restuarant is opening tonight, and there's loads of paparazzi outside..."

Naturally, since my job as teagirl is not only to make tea but also to celebrity spot, and since Celeb Spots of the Week has suffered a drought recently, on my next run I took a detour round the corner to see what was going on.

To be honest.... not much was going on. It seemed like a nice set up for a launch party, with street cooking, traditional Japanese drums and a small red carpet. I waited around for about 10 minutes, and spotted a couple of minor celebs:

Hardeep Singh Kohli - Best known for his role as a roving reporter on The One Show, and probably even better know for his suspension from the show following a complaint made against him by a female colleague for "inappropriate behaviour."

Clare Nasir and Chris Hawkins - GMTV weather girl and producer, and her BBC 6Music DJ husband.

The "highlight" - and to be honest, if this is the highlight of your busines launch party, then you really need to reevaluate a few things - was the emergence of Kerry Katona from the restaurant, leaving in a black Range Rover. To be fair to the girl, she looked bloody fabulous; obviously in shape, wearing a great outfit, lovely hair and makeup...

Then, once she was in the car and they began to drive off, three paps jumped on their mopeds to chase after her. It turns out she was heading to the premiere of JLo's new movie, The Back-Up Plan, but even so, it struck me as kind of sad that they'd hang around a - let's be honest - crappy sushi restuarant to snap one C-List celebrity, only to jump straight back onto their bikes to then follow her around for rest of the evening.

Sad, yes. But if I was going to be offered a shed-load of money for one photo, then maybe I wouldn't judge so harshly....!

No ordinary lunch break.

I have something exciting to share.

I stumbled across something yesterday that I had been completely unaware of - probably due to the head-in-the-cloud-edness that I've been experiencing lately.

The discovery was this.

Yes, Walkers have brought out a range of 15 new flavours in time with the World Cup. Ok, so maybe it's not all that exciting... but hey, it brightens up my lunch hours spent alternating between ham, chicken and rice concoctions...

So yesterday I had myself a bag of 'French Garlic Baguette', and I have to tell you, they were pretty darned good. A few seconds after finishing my first crisp, I had the distinct feeling that I had not simply eaten a garlic baguette flavoured crisp, but actually the garlic baguette itself. Extraordinary. I also tried the 'Brazilian Salsa' flavour, curtesy of a colleague, and they were pretty good too.

So my plan now is to make the most of this exciting period in crisp history, and munch my way through as many of the new flavours as possible. Gotta say, not really feeling the 'Scottish Haggis' or 'Australian BBQ Kangaroo' too much, amongst others. But hey, maybe someone could sponsor me for some charity, and maybe then I'll endure the likes of 'Welsh Rarebit'....

Yeah ok, maybe not.

Today.... I'm not sure, but I think I'm gonna go for 'Italian Spaghetti Bolognaise'.

Or maybe 'Spanish Chicken Paella'.

Or 'Japanese Teriyaki Chicken'...........