No 4: I believe in Lionel

Who was Lionel? And what happened to him? These were the questions asked at a piece of culinary theatre I went to last night. A hidden, secret garden, filled with wondrous joys and tastes. But I can't say more than that, otherwise it wouldn't be a secret. But maybe a picture says it all?

"I believe in Lionel"

No 3: Pipeline

Seems that no matter what job I do, regardless of the company, I'm likely going to spend a certain amount of time each day in a meeting. And for the past 2 years - at 3 different companies - they've nearly always been pipeline meetings.

In my industry - TV & Film VFX/CG - the term pipeline is used to refer to the way we transport data from department (or discipline) to another. Raw stuff comes in at one end - Film footage, photos, 3d Models and other data.... it travels through the company via artists, technicians, producers and a myriad of software... and TV & Film comes out the other end, all shiny and polished and ready to enjoy.

If only it were that simple....

Pipeline meeting, JF Animation, Brixton, London, Nov 03 2014

No 2: Picture in Picture

Odd day. Whilst trying to communicate with friends on multiple continents - USA, India & Japan - I became slightly confused about the time. This was caused by two things.

1) My over-reliance on Google for all things. turns out that the Google-brain is not infallible and my calendar was wrong about the time in Japan.

2) European daylight savings time changed last week but in the USA it didn't happen until today... and Japan doesn't do the one hour back thing at all.

All this and it was belting it down with rain all morning. so my breakfast plans where nearly ruined. Let's not even talk about going to the Gym at 7.30am.

So I thought to myself, how about a picture of a clock reflected in a puddle? To represent a confusion about time and a generally wet day. Simple, huh?

No. The only thing simple about that idea was me. Each time I went out to take the picture I left the SD card from my camera behind. By the time I got it together to bring it with me... well it was too dark to take the picture. So what you have below is a photo-shopped version of what happened. Why photo-shopped? Because I also couldn't take the picture I wanted with my phone and Canon at the right moment in the right light.

No 2: Picture in picture

Bah Humbug!

No 1: The View

So it's time for another challenge. This time I'm going to create an image that represents my day, every day, for the month of November 2014. 'Create' means I can photograph, manipulate, draw, or sketch. Or even do something fully CG. The point is that it needs to be created by me and should in some way reflect the day that I've had (or am having at the time), be it literally, figuratively of emotionally. I don't need to write about the pictures, but I probably will, to help put them in context.

That said, I decided to start off with the view from my childhood bedroom in queens park park, West London. I went to visit my mum this afternoon, as I usually do on a Saturday afternoon and with it being an unusually clear, sunny day for the beginning of November it struck me as a good place to start. The picture below is actually very high resolution. You can see the full res version here. (it's nearly 100mb, you've been warned).

The view... from Queens Park Court, W10, November 1st 2014

I grew up up from the age of 10 to my early 20s looking at this view every morning and evening. It's my view of London and whilst this picture isn't bad it doesn't really do it justice as there is much more than what you see here on either side.

The flat is on the 4th floor. Not particularly high, but the land dips away and there are no obstructions for a good distance, so you end up with a spectacular, panoramic view London. When we first moved in, in 1980, you could see every landmark building in the capitol. Since then, there's been lots and lots of construction, so some of them are lost - St Paul's Cathedral and the Old Bailey for instance - but then again, there's lots of new ones too. The Shard, Canary Wharf, and most recently the Gherkin.

And the view is seasonal. In a few days time it'll be lit up with fireworks for Guy Fawkes night. In winter it looks great on those rare occasions when London is covered in snow. In summer its sea of green and sunlight reflecting off the glass.

Whenever I travel anywhere, whenever I need to think about a new endeavour, whenever I am looking back at events nostalgically, I find myself returning to look at this view of London.

Train of thought

Denis looked out of the window… and burped. Not loudly. Just enough of an expulsion of air and sound to feel satisfied. After all, what’s the use of being comfortable if you can’t be comfortable? And despite being on a train, comfortable he was. Extra wide seats, with plush velvet upholstered foot and head rests. There was an unexpected meal and drinks service, along with free WiFi and very polite staff.

Outside, the Belgian countryside whistled past at high speed in glorious sunshine, whist inside his head - by way of his iPod! - the Stereo MCs were playing one of his favourite tunes, "Ground level”.
 
They was on-board the Eurostar service to Amsterdam, or more precisely, they were on the second leg of the journey which was actually a Thalys TGV service to from Bruxxelles- midi to Amsterdam Centraal. With Gavin riding shotgun, he headed for a weekend in Amsterdam.

Thus far the journey had been a pleasant surprise. Through the magic of appropriate timing, He'd had been able to book ‘standard premium’ tickets for the same price as regular ones. He hadn’t expected much of a difference  - a power access point and reclining chair at best - only to find themselves sitting in what would be first class on an English train.

“English trains”, he muttered to himself out loud, with a sigh. As he did so the sun briefly disappeared behind a cloud as if the mere words could invoke doom & gloom. The service concierge who was walking through at that moment - giving out belgian chocolate coated nougat treats - looked at him quizzically

“Is Monsieur ok?”, he asked, offering the tray of sweets.
 
“Yes! very much so,” Denis-Jose replied, taking an offered sweet and surreptitiously palming a second as his hand moved away. “Sorry, I was just thinking out loud. I’m very, very OK!” The concierge gave him a relieved look. Almost as if he’d have had to raise an alarm if it were anything other than that.
 
“Enjoy the rest of your journey with us sir” he said, and continued along the aisle.
 
"Oh I will", he said to himself, popping the pilfered candy into his mouth "I moft thertainly mm, mmm, will..."

* * *

Living in the UK, it’s easy to forget - or even never experience - the magic and romance of train travel. I don’t mean this in a nerdy, train-spotter like way. I just mean in a comfortable, elegant, civilised way. Train travel in the UK is so expensive and poor quality, that most people see commuting and long distance travel as a chore at best and as a punishment at worst. We would fly everywhere if we could.

However, if you cross the channel onto the European mainland, it becomes a very different experience. First of all, it’s much cheaper. For example a typical 1.5 hour / 100km journey in the Netherlands, Belgium or Germany will cost you around 18 Euros. That's £15 for the standard fare, no discounts or weekend away day specials or anything. You can get em cheaper if you try. That same journey in the UK can cost as much as 3 times that amount. And you wouldn’t necessary even get a seat.

Secondly the trains are, for the most part, really clean and well maintained. You can sit down without worrying too much about what you are sitting on or in. You can use the toilet relatively safely.

Thirdly - and this is the one that’s hard to frame if you’ve never experienced it - they are punctual. I mean, really punctual. If a timetable says 13:52, you better be on that train at 13:51 or you are waiting for the next one.

Add to that frequent services going pretty much everywhere, crossing boarders without passport checks or needing to change currency and it changes the prospect of travelling around quite dramatically. It’s not just OK, it’s great!

I first started doing regular European train excursions when I was in my early 20s. In 1991, me and the chaps went on an epic journey to see Roger Waters perform The Wall at the Berlin Wall. Back then it was still a split Germany, so we had to navigate our way through East-Germany, changing trains as we went and on our way back we decided to spend a couple of days in Amsterdam. I think all of us on that trip were surprised at how easy it was (not to mention cheap, relatively speaking) and that sparked a series of frequent trips to various far away places - all by train. for me, this culminated in a grand adventure around Europe with an inter-rail card (along with Pete, Lisa and a few other randoms) in 1992. I wrote about that in a pre-blog world. I might post it one day…

I never really came back from that trip. I ended up living in Europe for a total of nearly 13 years , only returning to the UK for the occasional holiday and one ill fated business venture. It was 2005 when I finally returned back to the UK to live full time. In truth, it was nice to be home again, but what a rude awakening that turned out to be! Not just with mundane things like passenger trains but, well, everything.

I love the UK. I was born there, grew up there and still plan to spend a good portion of my twilight years there (at least until I can afford a nice place somewhere warmer). But it saddens me that most of my fellow Brits don’t really understand how much better life could be if we did some things the European way. The idea that the standard of living is better on the continent isn’t just preposterous to most… well it’s unthinkable. I don’t think the thought that our European cousins might be getting a better deal socially is even considered. Britain is stuck in the notion that getting involved with Europe or being European means losing sovereignty, identity and everything that's British.

But you only have to do on a train journey like this one to see that this is so much nonsense. We’ve been through 3 countries already - France, Belgium and The Netherlands - and each one is distinctly and discretely different from the others. There is no mistaking the different national identities.

Perhaps because they don’t have to waste time worrying about certain social aspects of life, such as healthcare, transportation, public sanitation and education, they can get on with the business of being themselves. Britain should give this a try. Worry less about being british and care more about the welfare of individuals. This European approach will probably lead us to a better Britain and give us the resource and freedom to be great again.

I’m sure there are lots of people who will disagree with me on this and point out all the problems that the European countries have right now, especially where their economies are concerned. But before you write me off completely, go on a holiday which takes you across several countries in Eurpoe in one go. By train bike, car. but not by plane. You need to see things from ground level. As the stereo MC’s said:

 “it just depends how close to ground level you are, so get on a train of thought.”

Mono-tasking

Time. It waits for no man. And it certainly doesn't wait for me.

As I look back at my run of 30 day challenges and especially the one I'm currently on, it is apparent that the biggest challenge in my life - by far is time. Lack of it, management of it, just plain not having any of it.

In the first challenge, on the occasions that I didn't go to the gym (or do the equivalent work out), it was because I didn't have time. When I struggled to buy Gavin gifts in the second challenge, it was because I didn't have time to go shopping (although I still managed to give him a nice gift, MERF!) On the days when I failed the writing challenge it was  because I didn't have time to spend sitting at a PC or even with a pad - despite having a topic I wanted to write about. I even said at the end of that particular challenge that I'd continue... and I haven't, because of.. you guessed it... lack of time.

And now, the current attempt to meditate everyday has been (so far) an absolute failure. The combination of not being able to find somewhere quiet when I have the time to do it and, mostly, not having the time to do it, means I've utterly, utterly bombed out on this one. It's day 13 and I've only succeeded on 5 days. That's abysmal.

So why is this? When did my life become an overloaded, never-ending sequence of things to do and places to be?

I want to blame the internet. Hey, it's a great thing to blame! Distracting me all the time, increasing the number of TV shows I can watch exponentially. Hell, let's blame the internet for everything that's wrong with the world!

But no. It's not that. It is true that it takes up time, but, when I was doing the 'no recreational internet challenge', I still managed to fill my day to the brim. And, more pertinently, when I lived in Japan I had internet access on tap, all day, everywhere, Yet I never struggled with my daily routine the way I did before or after that. So it's definitely not the internet, but there maybe a clue right there. Hmm. Japan...

Japanese culture is different from our own in so many ways. Obvious ones and not so obvious. And the not so obvious one where I think I'll find my answer. It's to do with idea of multi-tasking.

At some point in the last decade, someone, somewhere, came up with the idea that multi-tasking is the way forward. I think it started off with the meme that women are much better at multi-tasking than men. Or at least, this common thread (certainly on Facebook) appeared around the same time. Which is probably true, by the way. 

It has since become the mantra of today's modern, mobile device enabled, flexitime, protein drink boosted, do, do, do, urban society. To get anything done these days, You have to multi-task. You have to do many things at once, because if you aren't multi-tasking, you aren't making the best use of your time.

I call bullshit on that. Multi-tasking is bunk. It's something that computers can do. That machines can do well. But It's not something that we - human beings - do well.

Yes, we can do several things at once, but most of those are unconscious actions. Walking, talking, avoiding objects, while taking a drag on a cigarette and scratching an itch - can all be done at the same time, but only one of those activities - talking - requires concious effort and not that much. 

What I see around me are people doing many things poorly. I see people (myself included) only partially engaged with their jobs, each other and their location. I see a general acceptance of lack of craft. We accept poor quality in lieu of efficiency and convenience. Which brings me back to Japan.

I only lived in Japan for a year and a half, so I'm not going to claim to be an expert. For one thing, I don't speak Japanese and for another, the company I worked for held my hand the whole way and made life really easy (in a right-wing Christian sort of way, but that's another story). But I was there long enough to see some fundamental differences between cultures. And one of those is where and how you focus. Craftsmanship.

I'm going to generalise now. The Japanese don't cut corners. They do things properly. By which I mean, if there is an accepted, right way of doing something - say, building something, crafting something, growing something - they will do that way. No need to find another, quicker way to do it, if the accepted way gets the best results. That doesn't mean you can't improve the technique, but doing something quicker is not necessarily an improvement.

So why would you multi task? Why would you reduce focus on what you are doing? Why wouldn't you give something all the attention that it deserves? If it's not worth doing properly, why do it at all?

The end result of this, is a much calmer, lifestyle, rich with skilled artisans, each profoundly good at doing whatever their thing is. Masters of their craft.

It also results in a much simpler personal agenda. It's a lot easier to manage your day if you are not juggling several things at once.

So, I need to simplify my daily routine. Juggle less stuff.

Mono-tasking. It's the way forward.

and remember: Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana.

Inner Peace

It's time for a change. It's time for something new. it's time... for a new challenge!

The last couple of days I've been hanging about on street corners, asking people for ideas. On sunday I stood on a crate at speakers corners and challenged people to challenge me. I shouted from the highest mountain. I... I... I...

I did none of those things. I did the next best thing. I asked Facebook.

Lots of ideas came flooding in. Most of them quite doable. All of them interesting in their own way. I might list them all in another blog. Right now, however, whilst I need only one, I'm going to make a challenge out of two of them.

First of all, from the other side of the world, Suzanne MacNish suggested...

"I also noted a theme in your blog about some of these challenges making you feel better- so from a sleep deprived mother I have the sleep challenge for you (oh how a good nights sleep would make me feel better!). It may be too tough for a London summer so may be best to hold off to later in the year. But the challenge is to set yourself a reasonably early time that you need to be in bed by every night (eg 10pm). You don't necessarily have to be asleep- you can read a book or get up to other bed activities- but no TV or ipads. This includes Friday and Saturday nights- where the challenge gets tough!"

Then, from much closer to home, Martin Barry suggested...

"Meditate for 30 minutes each day.Or just find 30 minutes where you just sit down and shut yourself off from the world and try and empty your mind."

I like them both, so I'm going to combine them into one. The challenge will be to spend 30 minutes each day meditating or sitting peacefully, clearing my mind, switching off from the world. BUT, if I have failed to do that by 10.00pm, then it's off to bed with me!

I recently had a preliminary diagnosis of potential Hypertension. AKA Extremely High Blood Pressure. How high? Well, on successive readings, it tends to be 150 /110 on average. High enough that my Hernia operation was cancelled until it got below 140/100... but since the op it's gone back up again.

Now, this is related to a number of things, but one of them is lack of sleep and another is stress at work, so this combo challenge is an opportunity to positively affect my health in an area that really needs it.

I started yesterday. I managed to lie down in a quiet environment for 30 minutes in the middle of the day, thinking of nothing. I played some really mellow ambient music in the background and I think... I'm not actually sure... that I drifted off into a weird semi dream like state. Afterwards, I felt strangely serene and a bit floaty. Not the same as if I'd just had an afternoon nap. different some how. Perhaps as the challenge goes on I'll have better words to describe it.

Today I wasn't so successful. I went to a small park at lunch time with the intention of sitting peacefully in the sun, but ended up on the phone to my sister for the entire time. Later, at when I got home, I tried to lie down quietly but failed again: there were just too many distractions. Everything from fighting cats in the back garden, to an ice-cream van out front. So it's off to bed early with me, as soon as I finish typing this.

I can see this isn't going to be a walk in the park...