Knife skills and other things

contrary to somewhat cool opinion I haven't 'gone native' in my quest to learn some knife skills. This isn't about butchering an elk or disemboweling the neighbor's dog - it's about being able to chop vegetables like Gordon Ramsey and create vegetable centerpieces like one of Martha's minions. Don't worry people - it's a middle class pretension thing, not a return to my 'gut it n eat it' roots.

What else? Well we had a friend over last night who actually talks. It was nice to be the audience for once. And I enjoyed every tale - even if we did slip into ad speak on occasion (nothing more boring or more tempting). We also went to a folk gig where the audience was elderly and enthusiastic enough to have us worry about displaced and broken joints. Alas the young, cool, weird acts were separated by a man in a blue nylon suit who looked like Neil Diamond's dad and sang like Neil Diamond's Waste Disposal. Tragic and he acted as constant deflation rather than punctuation.

Bought my last lens for a while - another Minolta to replace the Sony Kit lens that came free with the camera. Actually I got two lenses with it and one was much better than anyone will admit. But the other is no match for the Minolta and so I gave in one last time. Other than a remote shutter I'm now done with buying for now.

The image above is a much reduced test shot that I took in the store.

So now bathed, dressed and trying to get up for Drag Queen Bingo, dinner at Fiddleheads (Curried Cauliflower Samosa with Savory Eggplant Jam, Citrus-Almond Couscous, Herb Oil for me) and then on to the casino for Dancin'

Time for a RedBull I think

Mood swings

~not in the mood~
Originally uploaded by Lisa at TSS

I'm a tad bi-polar today. My brain is telling me to savage each and every person that comes within 15 ft; my body is responding to the 'fight' impulse with a springier step and almost boundless energy.

Not sure what's causing it - perhaps it's a possession and I'll have to have lots of women in Sunday Hats pray around me while an elderly preacher speaks in tongues. Though I imagine that that's less fun than it sounds. But there is a business opportunity there - hats with brims made of real brimstone. Sure they'd be heavy but these women tend to have pretty thick necks - at least in my head.

They'd smell pretty bad though. With Brimstone just being sulphur. I guess it would be like wearing a large egg sandwich. But at least you'd always have the smell of the devil close at hand to remind you of his noxious presence on earth. I'm liking this more and more, I could sell this.

Just found out that Sulphur is odorless. It's hydrogen sulphite that smells of rotten eggs. Still my audience wouldn't know this - they think that the earth is 6,000 years old, that man was cast from eden for eating an apple and that the end of days is as imminent as H&M's end of season sale.

Never underestimate the customer people used to say.
The customer is your wife, don't treat her like an idiot
And all of those things

But when it comes to the kind of people who believe that angels are roaming the earth and that any second they will be ripped from their clothes up into heaven and watch in rapture as the jews burn I guess that the rule doesn't hold.

Brimstoned Hats for all then

More pics

Jude took this pic of me. Her first 'go' with the new lens.

Anyway weekend looks busier

Friday is a night watching the lead singer of Wilco doing something solo with my friend Toby
Saturday is drag queen bingo
And then dancing at the MGM in detroit
Sunday is looking for photoshoot props.

Maybe this winter won't be a total washout after all

Dangerous

spinout
Originally uploaded by Bob L2008

Had to drive to work twice today

140 miles in the snow
With people spinning out left and right

And somehow just avoiding me

Late meeting meant I missed my knife skills class but Jude is gonna teach me tomorrow,,,, should be fun....

Knackered now...

XOXO

XOXO
Originally uploaded by ♥babybee

Check zipper and let's go...

P1100145.JPG
Originally uploaded by stevenjude

Lots of big proects coming to fruition at work... which means lots of meetings with the big guys. Now I'm not a big fan of the sell - where you go in mob handed and try to explain that this thing is worth spending money on... it feels as though you're selling some old potion.

Better is the process where the clients are with you - have seen the work at every stage and we all just slide into doing the right thing. But that's a small company thing. Big companies have less time - mainly because they're doing more and getting 30mins of executive time means you're doing pretty well.

And the people that I'm working with at the moment have some pretty good, wanna be as hands on as possible, people.

So it's check the flies, blow the charts up big and Present time. Which I enjoy actually - i just wish it could be more discursive.

Weekend over

Weekend seems to have flown by. Today I drove first to Plymouth and then into Detroit with my friend Nardia. Plymouth had ice sculptures. And cold. Freezing, chilled to the bone, find me somewhere with soup cold. Detroit was less cold but had less to do - it seemed even more deserted than usual. Still we made it out to the old train station... which was very cool.

Yesterday was spent just playing with the new lens.


Not entirely successfully - but hey living and learning