Painting

I did this painting for a friend. She asked me if I could do a 'tasteful nude' that she could hang on the wall at home. I hope I did her justice.

The painting is watercolour, and pastel chalk on Ingres paper and the original is about 24" x 16". Just another thing that I'm interested in. I only do two or three paintings a year, and the driving factor is always an interest in the subject matter. The female nude being a favourite for obvious reasons!

It would have been nice to have the time, space and inclination to make this interest a full time occupation, but there are so many other things that interest me, I just couldn't devote the time and energy required.

If I get around to it I may post some of my other paintings on here.

Doorstep Discovery

On July 20th in the summer of 1969, I was seven years old. My father led me out to the front doorstep of our house in West London. Pointing up at the moon he said, 'Son, there are three Americans up there who are going to make history, and change the world as we know it'.

He said it with a lump in his throat and tears welling in his eyes. He was truly PROUD of these men, the scientific community and humanity in general. He has (and does) instill me with a sense of total awe and wonder at the world we live in, all that surrounds us and the human condition in general. Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins have screwed up my life, by making me interested in what we all do, and how and why we do it.

Today I have filled out yet another job application, it's not the first and it won't be the last.

It got me thinking about career choices and how they are arrived at.

I've decided that some people are lucky, they either have a focused career path due to a single interest or goal, or they have no interest whatsoever and simply follow a career path based on merit or wages. The first of these two groups are those who 'love' their jobs, the second 'love' their career.

So what of the rest of us? Those who fall into the unlucky state of being interested in almost EVERYTHING! Unfortunately I'm one of those. There is no mapped career path, no fixed goal, no lifetime vocation, and at 43 years old there's a skill set so varied that as a single entity it's probably useless to any individual employer.

As a result of being made redundant in 2003, after 24 years working in various roles in manufacturing industry, I had reached a crossroads. My career had followed a path of 'make as much money as possible' to spend on indulging my many interests outside of work time.

To follow on with this path I had decided to go self employed. You learn a great deal about yourself when you choose this option! After three years I have discovered that although I am a good technician, a good communicator, and a 'people person', I am definitely a piss poor sales and marketing guy. I always feel that I'm overcharging - even when I'm not, and I tend to give after sales support without charging for the service. This has meant that I lack the 'killer instinct' for sales, so orders are few and far between. Although I have enjoyed great customer satisfaction and repeat business it's too little to make any real success, or money.

So I've decided to return to paid employment working for someone else, and still have the dilemma of what area to work in, and if I can sell my skill set to someone for a decent remuneration. Back to selling, the one area that I KNOW I'm not too good at.

Anyway, during my self employed period, and with time on my hands I wrote this website as a historical document, a testament to a disappearing part of the UK, the end of a manufacturing industrial site. Enjoy it, for the link click HERE.

An Image..

I've been interested in photography since I was a teenager. My father bought me a decent SLR when I was seventeen (a Fujica STX-1N) and I got sought of hooked. I've had a bunch of different cameras since then, mostly SLRs and mostly secondhand.

This year my wife bought me a brand new digital SLR to use alongside the compact digitals I already own. The new Pentax *ist DL has only been on a couple of outings as I get used to using it and getting to grips with it's functions and menus.

Anyway, I took this shot using the Pentax during the late summer. It was taken about 3 miles from my house and shows the Brecon Beacons with Pen-Y-Fan in the distance. I live on the edge of the National Park, which is truly beautiful and totally awe inspiring during any season of the year, but possibly at it's grandest during the summer months.

It's a huge contrast to the west London suburbs where I grew up!

Britney's Pussy

I had a good laugh at this one. Ah the power of the Internet!
We got to see Britney's bits in full uncensored colour, but only on the Internet.

Most of the UK tabloids printed censored versions being 'family papers' (haha).

The reactions have been quite amazing. From 'Put her on the sex offenders register', through the 'Score it out of 10' comments, to 'Phwor! wot a scorcher'.

Now, I've seen more fanny’s than you've had hot dinners (don't ask), and I don't intend rating hers here. What REALLY interests me is why she chose to flash it in the way that she did. She obviously knew it would be seen and photographed, nothing wrong with that really, but the publicity and notoriety can't be that great can it?

Surely a good spread in Penthouse would have seen her (and her minge) in a more flattering light, and with better photos! I would bet that she could have earned top dollar for the shoot, still got the publicity and the notoriety, and seemed a bit classier than the 'oops I did it again' flashing we've seen twice in the last couple of weeks.

She's a good looking girl, and no doubt this episode will be forgotten as quickly as it emerged, but personally I'd rather have a load of soft porn photos taken by a professional to show the grandchildren than a couple of paparazzi snaps when I was half pissed.

Anyway if you want to see the originals you can view them HERE as long as the link still exists.
Judge for yourselves.

First days...

So I finally got around to creating a blog, yippee!

Unfortunately, being a lazy sod it's likely that posts will be very few and far between.

Today's musing.... Afghanistan, another bloody disaster. I've just watched a BBC Panorama documentary following 3 Commando Royal Marines on patrol. Have the government learned NOTHING from history?
For Christ’s sake, we've been involved in Afghanistan in one form or another since 1809. The Afghans were fighting each other for hundreds of years before that. We (the British) have been involved in at least two disastrous encounters there before, followed by the Russians who left with their tails between their legs as well.

Armed might will never defeat raw courage and a guerrilla army who are fighting on their home soil, for a cause they are willing to die for. Hearts and minds my arse. The Taleban ARE Afghans, as were the other groups who fought before them. Some of whom WE backed and supplied against the Russians!

Unpalatable as it may seem, the best thing we can do in situations of faction fighting and civil wars is KEEP OUR NOSES OUT. The situation will eventually resolve itself, probably without the result that we want. These internal struggles are often bloody and inhumane, but since the only other option is effectively installing a totalitarian system backed by extreme firepower and an indefinite occupation by our forces, there really is no other long term option.

Bear in mind that both Afghanistan, and Iraq are countries with borders that WE created (prior to British occupation these entities did not exist as countries as we know them).