Random burblings since 1999
Pulled into an impromptu training session today, plans for the day abandoned, and so playing catchup with the quick and easy tasks.
Playing football from six to seven, heading to Asda once I get home.
Aiming to be home by nine, have dinner, maybe watch some TV and then to bed.
Where did the day go!
I was working at home the last couple of days, mainly research and planning (which now means I fully understand the tasks ahead of me for a particular project and it’s now scaring the heebie jeebies outta me!!), and it’s always a bit odd slipping back into the stream of commuters and co-workers. It’s akin to the feeling you get on your first day back after a holiday, but not as powerful and I guess there is a degree of paranoia attached – the joke asides about having a nice “couple of days off” wear thin after a while.
As the weather has been horrible I’d not even set foot outside the door and was thoroughly enjoying some fresh air until a guy wandered onto the station platform and proceeded to chain smoke three cigarettes in ten minutes, I moved as he lit the second one unaware or uncaring (or both) that he was covering three separate people with his smoke. But you know my feelings on that topic, so let’s move on.
There appears to be a new trend, or at the very least a repeating trend, amongst female office workers. Now, don’t get me wrong I understand the reasons and I don’t want to delve into the psychology of it (although I will in a second), but I counted 11 different woman all wearing business suits and trainers as they walked to work this morning. Is this the fashion again or was I just lucky to be in the presence of some smart ladies??
Speaking of which, a comment from the newspaper leapt out at me this morning. I can’t recall who exactly, but it was an editor of handbag.com stating that she was surprised that woman still felt they had to be attractive to get on in the workplace and that they felt they had to display some masculine tendencies if they wanted to be considered equal to their male counterparts.
The reason it caught my eye was because she was “surprised” which suggests a degree of naivety. Now, before anyone leaps down my throat, let me state that I don’t think it’s RIGHT that this kind of atmosphere is perpetuated but the basic facts are that in many work places it still holds true. One of the problems is that, a lot of the time, some men just don’t realise when they are being offensive as it’s “just office banter”. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve fallen into that trap in the past, and I’ll continue to do so in the future but I am much more aware of it than I have been previously.
Well done Liverpool, what a game, what a victory!!
I watch and follow a lot of sport, in fact there are few sports I don’t watch – horse racing being the main one (I just typed “house racing” which could be an interesting DIY show…). I prefer basketball to football, football to rugby, and everything else falls in line after that. I play 5-a-side irregularly, used to play badminton, and the odd game of basketball.
Not sure where this post is heading, maybe it’s just an excuse to point out that the Scottish international rugby team won a game last night, beating the Barbarians 38 – 7. Or maybe I just want to wish Liverpool luck tonight, even if they are playing my preferred Italian team.
Ohh there’s a thing – who do YOU support?
I’ve never really followed one team in any support, with the exception of the Lakers whom I’ve been a fan of since I saw my first skyhook and heard that they had a player named “Magic” (damn that Jordan bloke and the Chicago Bulls…).
Football wise I tend not to follow the specifics of any team in Scotland as I’m from the West Coast and growing up that meant choosing one of the two Glasgow teams, something I wasn’t keen on as it wasn’t anything to do with football. Of the English teams I have to admit that this season I’ve been pulling for Chelsea, mainly since catching Jose Mourinho’s interviews last season with Porto – anyone see a comparison with Martin O’Neill (who’ll be departing Celtic soon)? Both very honest and dry with their humour.
My latest sporting passion may very well be Extreme Dodgeball which I stumbled across on Saturday, very VERY American and over hyped but actually quite tactical and fast paced. Too much equipment required for it to catch on properly though.
We have some empty picture frames lying around, and we’d like to put some photos of our friends and family in them. This poses a slight problem though as we don’t have any photos that we like.
I did a little research last night, and as we are getting together with our friends at the weekend it’s a great opportunity to practise taking “informal or candid portraits” or, as I prefer to call them, “taking 300 pictures of people when they aren’t looking”. The trouble is the minute you take your camera out everyone spots it and they all become very self-aware, rendering candidity a nonsense.
About 15 years ago (oh my god, is it really…), when we (my family) were on holiday in France we met up with some friends of my parents. Ohh and before I go any further I’ll state that this post is up for correction if my Mum or Dad drop by, slightly hazy on some of the facts.
Anyway, my parents had known Pascal and Maryline (sp?) for many years, and I’d met them some years before (including a hairy car journey with Pascal in a VW camper van doing 90mph down a B road… or at least that’s what it seemed like. What IS IT with continental drivers?). Pascal is a teacher and photographer who has had some work published – postcards and the like. One hot summer evening in Brittany, sitting in the campsite as the sun began to set, we scoffed down barbequed food and sat talking and laughing – I was at the age where talking with the “adults” was turning out to be fun, who knew!.
Pascal had his camera bag with him, and as we were all talking, he took out his very large and foreboding looking SLR and started changing settings, clicking quick test photos of nothing in particular (I presumed). Next thing I know I hear a click and he looks up from behind his camera, grinning at me. He’d completely fooled me into thinking that he was just checking his equipment* and I hadn’t even noticed him point the camera in my direction.
If I can find the photo he took I’ll scan it in, suffice to say it’s very natural looking (and proves that I did once have hair… when I was 15…). Looking back to that day, it’s that kind of anonymity that I’ll need if I want to take the kind of photos we’d like. The trouble is, and this is particularly so with my friends, I’m not really the type to sit in the background and try to be invisible. I’ve still to figure out a way around that particular, and very personal, issue but I have a few thoughts – I could pretend I’m in the huff maybe??
I’ll probably resort to the old “place the camera on the table, tilt it slightly and start clicking” method. Much more luck than judgement that one but might be worth a shot (pun intended). That’ll be fine in the pub, but I’ll need another tactic for when we go to the cinema… ohh slight flaw there, dammit. Mind you there will be dinner after that, and possibly more drinks in a rather grand old building for which it’d be good to take my camera anyway.
So, any tips or suggestions? Should I wait until after dinner when everyone is happy and relaxed (tipsy)? Or should I pretend to take some photos all day but only take a few now and then, thereby diminishing the “ohh crap, he’s got the camera out again” factor.
My mate Keith is a pretty good photographer too, well when I say good I mean he knows what all those technical terms mean and understands the basics better than I do, so I’ll be asking him on Friday night for some pointers. I also know several very good photographers read this nonsense so now is your time to shine, let us mere point-and-click minions feel the warmth of your knowledge. G’wan, gie’s a tip or two.
Candid photos – how best to achieve them. Suggestions in the comment box please.
What’s this I see before me? Hmm interesting… (OK, probably not, I know, I know…).