micah jones

Zachariah J L Jones

2011-11-21T01:14:00.003Z

Today's produce!

2011-08-12T13:22:00.000+01:00

Fail!

2011-08-05T10:16:00.000+01:00

D day

2011-08-04T21:45:00.001+01:00

Operation fiat on the road update!

2011-07-29T09:31:00.000+01:00

Glorious! after thrice daily calls to the DVA a cancelation has been got! The operation has legs at last and the whole enterprise has a dogs chance, which is much netter than no chance!

Were off for the stag weekend with the glorious knowledge of time in the bag.

One more night should do it!

2011-07-28T23:35:00.000+01:00

Package has arrived!

2011-07-28T16:49:00.000+01:00

New sills for the fiat arrive today! It's now 8 days to d day!

Operation have commenced....

2011-07-27T22:37:00.000+01:00

It's been two years since tools were lain down on this beauty. Another wedding, this time sam and the fiat is required for action. With 11 days to the wedding operations have commenced. Soon hopefully she will be back on the road!

Garden Green!

2011-07-08T14:33:00.001+01:00

Blue house!

2011-07-04T18:50:00.000+01:00

Seed redemption!

2011-05-23T10:43:00.000+01:00

After losing on the final day of the fantasy football season, I turned to seed planting for some cheer! Carrots, lettuce, rocket, parsnip, broccoli, peas, squash, lavender, and Tomatoes!

Spring

2011-05-20T21:19:00.001+01:00

SPANISH CONCRETE

2011-01-21T12:06:00.003Z

Snow

2011-01-19T16:26:00.000Z

These are real snow flakes falling, amazing! It's funny how some of the childhood stereotypes of what thing look like are actually true!

Location:Gilnahirk Rd,Belfast,United Kingdom

Lend with care update

2011-01-17T23:58:00.001Z

If you would like to follow the progress of our wonderful market stall holder from Togo go here for an Update. It's amazing the different stories and opportunities to lend to someone for a time...

Location:Gilnahirk Rd,Belfast,United Kingdom

Espana!

2011-01-17T10:53:00.009Z

Proper Espana!

Chiros!

Spanish babe!
New year was seen in this time in 'The Stray Sod' in a small village in Espana! All Spanish characters had vacated the area an left it to the english... was about 24 hours in before a Spanish accent was heard! Brilliant craic and some cool spots. Amazing spanish food. If you can over look the rancid defacing of the landscape and the copious amounts of English accents then fun can be had.. and was.

Sinas

2011-01-07T12:55:00.004Z

We went to visit this container shop in north belfast a couple of weeks ago, its really quite amazing what you can do with a very small amount of space. food for thought! Its amazing what this guy has done, and its affect on the local community. Unfortunately the planners aren't pleased and are trying to make him remove it.

Just need to get my hands on a container!!!

Stuck between a rock and a hard place!

2011-01-05T10:19:00.002Z

Slow night snow!

2010-12-17T13:59:00.001Z

Got home last night about 12, and the snow was dumped all over the place, had to get out and take a few long exposures.

Location:Gilnahirk Rd,Belfast,United Kingdom

Funk star returns...

2010-12-17T13:55:00.001Z

After a few quiet years in the roof space of Saintfield, the funk star board has returned! The snow is not bad! The new coat has now been fully tested, and is the job.

Location:Gilnahirk Rd,Belfast,United Kingdom

Lend with care!

2010-12-13T14:07:00.001Z

A friend brought this to my attention Lend with care. It's a really amazing project, it's a micro financing organization the loans are put up along with their business idea and the you can choose to help finance it in part or in whole.
The loan then is paid back to you over a specified period. Kick starting little economies all over the place! Sometimes giving to charity can seem like throwing money into a empty well shaft, you don't know if it ever reaches where it's meant to, if it even gets there at all, or how much gets there.

Not only do you get to help one person with your money but you can keep ploughing it back into more and more people as it is paid back!

Location:Gilnahirk Rd,Belfast,United Kingdom

Snow & mountains

2010-12-05T16:16:00.001Z

First day in the snowy Tatra mountains was great, tobogganing in the morning and some rather dodgy skiing in the afternoon. Hopefully some proper skiing tomorrow!

Location:Ivanská cesta,Ružinov,Slovakia

Race alone...

2010-11-24T23:34:00.001Z

I recently read an interesting article about a man. He was in the park watching his son race some other kids. The kid came round last and shouted "I want to race alone", this seemed somehow a contradiction of terms at first but he came up with something quite profound. To race alone does not mean to stop racing. If I race you I only reach your capacity and a little more. I think it is only when we race against ourselves that we truly reach our full capacity, it's only by forgetting what's achievable by others that we achieve great things.

Some how in our self made worlds we have forgotten what it is to look up and forget what's around us. As a society we rest on what everybody else is doing. What would the world look like if we didn't compare our selves with everyone else, comparing our selves only to the potential placed in us by our maker.

Jones

Location:Gilnahirk Rd,Belfast,United Kingdom

the Field!

2010-03-19T11:20:00.003Z

Sadly my camera memory card corrupted and i lost the photos from the day, but a solid days work on st. Paddys day left us with a ploughed field and and a compost heap! Pen came down with her Cultivator and we dug the whole thing! now for some vegetables!

José Jonezerelli plays in Gilnahirk...

2010-03-06T12:00:00.003Z

Faces of Belfast

2009-12-16T12:17:00.007Z

Spent a few hours on the street last saturday taking portraits of people in the street, the forgotten and the ignored, presenting them then with a photo of them selves. It was amazing how excited the people where to have a picture of themselves. So much character and history in their faces....

We are now HOME OWNERS!!

2009-06-24T12:59:00.004+01:00

Today we get the keys to our abode! I never thought it would be possible but recessions are mixed blessings, and here we are! It a class wee place on the Gilnahirk road just as you turn off the Kings road. Loads of shops and stuff near by, cant wait for us to move in!

the Changing Room

2009-02-18T22:09:00.005Z

The Changing room is an event Alyson and Elaine are running in March, its an event about ethical fashion and lifestyle as well as fair trade clothes, second hand clothes, food, workshops on urban gardens, fixing clothes and herbs!

It should be very good, I've been working on all the graphics and the website, so check it out, tickets are available online or via the belfast welcome centre.

Will you marry me?

2009-01-11T03:09:00.006Z

It was snowing and dark, with the anticipation of new year simmering, standing on a bridge over a canal in Milan. The moment had arrived, and it was a glorious moment....

We headed of to Milano for new year for the last few days of 2008, a christmas present from me to Elaine. It was a fun few days, we saw a good bit of the city, went to a crazy ballet in the massive opera house, and wandered on the roof of the Doumo [hugebigmassive cathedral], discovered Milanese people have severe delusions of grandeur, took lots of photographs, but mostly just ate lots of Pizza and drank coffee. Very nice after the craziness of work and Christmas.

So it was the last night, the dying moments of a great year, a year that will be remembered; we headed out to get dinner, traveling along in the underground, the moment was finally arriving...

It had started to snow, and we walked toward the place where the restaurant was on the canal.

We came to a small footbridge bridge over the canal and Elaine started to take Photos of the scene... After making several attempts I caught her in my arms and kissed her, and then dropping on one Knee and taking the ring out, I asked her to marry me... the words came out so fast.... nerves taking control of the arms and legs which were ready to shake, Elaine smiling and laughing said 'Of Course!'.... then after standing up and putting the ring on her finger, an man with a pile of red and white roses appeared beside us, from the deserted street.... unfortunately I didn't have any change so she technically had to buy her self one!

We headed on round to the restaurant, after much photographing [mostly of ourselves!] and celebrated two very happy people. Seeing in the new year with a cafe full of crazy Italians, a great end to a great year, and great hope for the year too come.

A year that has so far be all go... and will probably continue that way for much of it! Looking forward to all that it will bring; challenges, joys, disappointments, surprises and of course glorious moments and weddings!!!

Dereliction

2008-12-17T19:16:00.004Z

I moved to Sydenham in the summer of 2008, having spent the six months previous in Amsterdam working in an Architecture office. I choose Sydenham because it is a great location, only 10 minutes by bus into the city centre and still a walkable distance. Its an area which has been moving forward and has benefited greatly from the economic boom, becoming a very sought after area for first time buyers. It has been slowly leaving behind is name for being a loyalist stronghold and becoming increasingly open and less territorial. The positives for living in this area are mounting.

Though there is a problem which seems to be growing and was encouraged by the economic climate of two years ago and reinforced by the recent down turn. That is Dereliction.

There were two derelict houses on my street when I moved in and subsequently there has been two house fires which rendered a third derelict.

The difference between this sort of dereliction and a typical run down area is that much of Sydenham’s problem is cause by developers. They buy up one, two, three houses in a row or in some cases as much as ten houses, basically half of one of the streets. Now this in itself is not the problem. The buying up of houses for development has its benefits as well as it problems. But where it goes wrong for Sydenham is what happens in the period between the residents moving out and the houses being rebuilt. That period can sometimes be anything from two to five years on average. What effect does that have on these streets. What atmospheres does it create and what social problems are generated?

Question:

2008-11-29T22:41:00.000Z

Its been a while, i think sometimes it just feels like life is too normal to post about. But really its not.. or at least i hope its not. We always look at the events for inspiration. But along the way in the quiet of the morning bus or the oasis that it the bog... many epiphanies occur in our daily cogitation.

So i feel the need to spue a few......

Every wednesday I arrive into the university foyer to the sudden realisation that i will not get the work done i had hoped but instead, i will spend the next two hours in deep thought. Its a very unreasonable realisation and one that aggravates a man to his core. But this too is unreasonable because I love spending time thinking. The reason for the the suddenness of this realisation and why it occurs in the foyer of the university is simply because the room where the class will be conducted with its door open and summoning its students is opening on to the foyer.

This is a class i have always hated, in fact i was a very frequent sleeper in the second row, alway with the hope of finding some morsel to chew on but always ending in a slumped mass of noisy slumber. But the class never the less has stuck with me like glue for the last 5 years.

I now love the class, despite its interruption to my plans of a good mornings work. I find myself scribbling down thoughts, difficulties and ideas. Recently ive been brought back some of the age old questions of my existence. Questions are great.

Individual. Society. Reality. Choice. Masses.

The question, i think is almost one of the biggest things that make us human. The ability to look, step back, to ponder and wonder. To speculate, to dream and to challenge all that goes before. The ability to question is what gives us the ability to have choices and wander different paths, it gives us freewill and individualism. Philosophy evidently means 'the love of wisdom', i find that interesting, because it is the organisation of questioning. Often i find myself though into a corner, and that is not so easy, it takes a side step and to go back to the start. But that is the nature of the question. For as long as we keep asking questions, we are still alive!

derry walls...

2008-11-19T22:38:00.003Z

I have a decent sized image of the walls 'mapping' HERE [which can be read]

It can be read as a single narrative.

Feel free to leave comments.

Re-activate.... maybe re-build is a better description!

2008-11-16T22:54:00.000Z

September 16th 2008

not sure why this was never posted.... problably because its not amazingly exciting on the grand scheme of things....

Ok so the glorious fiat 126 which I own, has been layed up for since i went to Amsterdam in December last year, spending the first 6 months outside in the cold and the last 3 in a nice warm ... well dry garage. So the plan was to put this glorious piece of Italian/polish engineering back on the road as SOON as i passed my Test.

But sadly reactivation is not as easy as as hoping in and heading down for an MOT. And so last week after passing the Test and obtaining a full UK driving license....

it seems to end there.... not sure where i was going with that.

But the furture of the Fiat has developed... i now own an angle grinder! So the pain staking process of grinding away the rotten rusted metal and welding in new pieces and grinding it down and filler and sanding and all that will follow....

Derry walls...

2008-10-21T19:15:00.006+01:00

standing under the CITY

2008-10-14T19:54:00.004+01:00

In the light of what has passed, the most prodigious morsel of information that I was able to feast upon was in fact the need for cows in the inner city environment. How can a city exist without them....? In this coming age sans wealth where will tomorrows meat come from?

The future of the city depends fundamentally upon the introduction of the ‘Beaasts’ to the wretched and worthless streets. The city cannot go on. The life of the city once finely depicted on the silver screen described a city in disarray. A city besieged by its own wealth, its own greed. Devouring its own children.

As we stand by and watch own society consumes itself, the royal city of death as shown with flashing pink towers lives only to die.

Is it not so that the city itself is the very depiction of that self consuming monster. Driven by the inherent greed of man, creating both the beauty that makes it and the final poison that will slaughter its very existence. A bitter sweet concoction of life, intensity, beauty, escape and the ultimate pit of death.

[project 1 - thoughts]

A glorious day!

2008-08-29T14:08:00.002+01:00

The test has been passed! Amazin... the roads of Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connacht....
Fine roads they are....

The fiat 126 will now be re-activated... and installed upon the roads of Eire once more.
MOT's and the likes will cause a short delay on this action, but with a snag list the length of my right Femur this reactivication may take some time. But never the less work shall be comenced now that the liecence has been obtained!

at the foot of the hill...

2008-08-13T13:50:00.002+01:00

I am now happily ensconced in a fine abode on hillfoot street, sydenham!! There are a few minor blemishes, the roof at the back leaks abit and the door is abit wick.... but it has character. Thats the main thing. Its a happy sort of place if alittle rough around the edges.
It brings the nomadic days of wandering around sydenham to an end. All are welcome to darken our doors and enjoy some fine food, and glorious concourse. Its nice to be back.... and have a spot to just be.

the bonfires...

2008-07-16T19:48:00.004+01:00

I had never been at an eleventh night bonfire before, though i have seen them from a distance. I was quite keen to check out, what i have generally seen as the more harmless part of the twelfth 'celebrations', but mostly because i wanted some good photos!

more photos on webgallery

We live in such a ridiculously sane country!!

2008-07-16T19:20:00.005+01:00

A friend sent me some links to some glorious Japanese-ness.

Point to note is that these are not any old platform attendants! These my dear fellows, are 'Oshiyas' translating as 'Pushers'. Employed, indeed to push. I love it! Cant wait to go to Japan some time!

You may need to let it stream before you play it, it seems to go quite slowly!

its not about the trousers....

2008-06-30T13:01:00.003+01:00

the following is in reasponse to comments from Roy on 'All or nothing'

All taken in good humour, and yes... the thoroughly disopointed was an over statment!! But to me [and this my differ from your own feelings] though i agree with you in some levels, i dont agree entirely....

I am at a 'gathering' stage of life, im soaking and experiencing and developing ideas and values, learning how to impiment those values but over all that is the gathering, learning and discovering. I am not claiming to been acting that out in any great way. I dont have a plan, I just have a hope. And that hope is to gather enough to get started, to make change and to create. You have to soak, you have to breathe in before you can breathe out.
We have different aproahes, as im sure you well aware! Im studying architecture for a reason, and to be honest that reason isnt to create beatifull buildings, that may happen along the way, hopefully it will but ultimatly its not my vission. I told you before about how much of a contradiction it was to me to be living in the lucas building, something i struggled with the whole time i was there, but thats just how it was, thats were petes folks had decided to buy. And so too now, i dont nesscaryilly want to go back to uni, and do more study, but i need to to get to the places i need to go.

But id like to just make a point about the value of talking about stuff, and the danger [not a great word for this context, choose your own] or difficulty of pointing at someone 'just' talking. And that is that you have to wait, wait and see. Alot of what i was trying to say was that post was that this is possible we CAN do this we CAN make change in the lives of not hundreds but millions of people.... i what to dream big, I have to. What we are planning to do with Estudio Architecten is talk.... create disscusion, is that not the plan? because in doing that you and i believe that it might create something....we dont even know what! but as far as i know, we dont have any plans in the pipeline for anything more than facilitated disscussion... talk. i think i could paraphase you i saying that you wanted to 'create a space for people to discus'? The context for that is Architecture, in Belfast, in Ireland and in the world....

Its much more than the trousers, thats not really what its about! and by the way my jeans are about two weeks off being done, so the trousers will hopefully comence soon [using them as a pattern], and you know what, it will probably fail, trousers are bloddy hard to make! but i want to try.
I am fully aware of how much my life contradicts itself, i am as human as they come. Im under no dilusions about that, but i am im not ashamed of my life either. And i that was definitely not my intension in that writting. I discovered something in cambodia nearly three years ago now, and that is that it is so dam possible....that project was dead on, but i have always felt the main purpose of me being on that trip was to discover that simple thing.
What i did and what we did was nothing very big, but it taught me a serious lesson. And why i hear you cry are you not doing more of that micah? And the simple answer is that am gathering, and not producing yet. You cant gather full time and produce, at least im not ready to produce i dont have the sense, expertise, the status, reasorces, but they will all come.
And you see if in 10 years i havnt produced wether in Belfast city or the southern trip of molgolia, may be on my head.

I have a passion, but that dosent mean i have it together, that i have a plan or that i even have done a thing. All i claim to be is my self. Unashamed but yet disturbed by what ui see.

I hope this clarifies me alittle, and please understand that its not remotly about same or guilt. This is about wanting stuff to happen because whats going on in so many places home and away is wrong, no matter who you are and what you believe its still not right.

The very best of regards,

your faithfull friend

Micah

Good to be back...

2008-06-24T23:23:00.002+01:00

Its been a good week, a week of Belfast. Started my new job in Twenty two over seven yesterday which seems to be a great spot and its nice to be working in the city centre [above Ormeau baths gallery]. Its refreshing to be back, to be back in peoples lives and to have 'normal' relationships again. Its hard to slip back out of the 'only going to be here for a week' mentality and feel permanent [well for the foreseeable future!] again.
At the minute Im kind of hot desking only with houses... so am a bit here there, I look forward to life settling down a little bit again, in then sense of relaxed rhythm, with which life and roll smoothly over the bumps. Life rhythm is sometimes hard to slip into, hard to feel the beats and relax into, but its great to lose yourself in it when it does happen.... when for some moments you feel the groove.
Life is good, Im very happy and the present morphing into future looks good.

One more time for the last time....

2008-06-12T18:00:00.000+01:00

And the end of an era. Shutting down my mac for the last time at Dok Architecten.

After work we will have a borrel [food+drink] to mark the occasion. Myself and several others will be heading on in the next 2 weeks or so. Its been good, the Netherlands have also been superb.... Amsterdam, beautiful!

Looking forward to spending the next five days enjoying Amsterdam and the rest of the place with Elaine before heading back to Belfast on Tuesday, and start a new job in the city soon after.

Good times...[apologies for the contextless hardcore rant in the previous post... was feeling slightly frustrated with a few things].

All or nothing....

2008-06-10T08:52:00.003+01:00

I have come to a point.... a point of tiredness of the inspiration-less challenges to create change.

We lack challenge, we expect little, and believe even less is possible. Recently I've been having a little difficulty with the dull and mediocre expectations of people and their challenge to the world. It is so long since I've herd someone with single minded conviction lay it down. Somehow when challenged we need to be challenged with something beyond our own capabilities, beyond what we believe is possible. Something that we have to take hold of and run, and hope and pray that you will make it!

Its got to be all or nothing....

Do people simply not realise the potential? There is a world out their lying in a heap. An absolute mess, there's spots of untouched beauty and tranquillity, but there's also hells of pain and suffering and desolation, fear and hunger.

Its time we, in our lovely western society woke up to the fact that our footprint is casting more of a shadow over the rest of the world than we like to think. That when we buy our nice new clothes for 3 quid and eat our cheap food and our cheap shoes we are not innocent. It may not cost us much...

There's a a food crisis at the minute across the globe.... but funnily enough it isnt affecting us! Why do we feel that we should have the right to live in this way. What right do we have to sit and enjoy when the rest of these guys are in pain and fearing for their lives. We have become so wrapped up in our own happiness and our own comfort that we fail to see that it is at the expense of the rest of the world.

We have the power and the means, the expertise and the clout to change the world.... but not the WILL.

We want to do 'our bit' but we also want to have EVERYTHING. To have all that we 'deserve'. Its disgusting. Its time to give up on this shit, and change the world..... not the world in you.... forget yourself, and just make stuff happen. Everyone already knows the statistics, everyone knows the situation but is seduced by the hope of comfort, and drunk with the the pursuit of personal happiness.

Which is the GREATER evil?

to commit the evil,

or to STAND BY AND WATCH?

Strong words maybe, but Im sick of mediocre challenges to be nice people and be loving. We are hating the rest of the world right now. We have no love for them. Will we watch as they die, in their thousands. While we enjoy all the dreams we've ever had.... Its not about doing our bit.... its about giving up dreams, making sacrifices, not getting what you want....gaining the world.

In the end the poor and the starving will never go away..... they are with us to the end, making poverty history is impossible. But that doesn't make the slightest bit of difference to the bottom line. They are our brothers.....

the time has come...

2008-06-08T15:20:00.004+01:00

The time here in the Dam is drawing to a close, ill be finishing work this week and heading back to Belfast. Its going to be an interesting time. I've really loved my time here, but from the beginning it was always going to be a time, [as originally i had talked of going for only 3 months].

Its a point of real looking ahead right now, Im very excited about the coming months an what they will bring. Being here has been a real soaking up time, and time of exploration and development, in work and in all other parts of life too.

And so I'm really looking forward to coming back to belfast, and all that will mean. Ive been working a bit recently on a website. At the minute its only semi operational [the micah jones and the photography part] but the rest will be up and running soon.

www.micahtjones.com

2008-05-31T01:37:00.000+01:00

the Dijk

2008-05-27T22:26:00.009+01:00

.

Headed up north on Saturday to check out the big dijk that was built to cut off the sea and make the big bit of water in the middle of the Netherlands fresh water.....

Only snag was i was on an ancient specimen of a bike on which only top gear worked. We got the train up to Anna something and then bombed on up to the dijk.... though as it turned out we didn't really bomb so much, more we fought our way up to the dijk.... with heavy wind and a bike that weighed something similar to a small cow, going was tough! but alas we were heading directly into the wind to the dijk but after that point we were always turning with it until the last 12km down to Hoorn was going with it.... very nice!

Its quite glorious when you go somewhere where you have no idea what to expect... in the end the dijk [being the big long 25km one over the sea, as we where never more than 50m from a dijk all day!] was quite rubbish but all the places along the way turned out to be amazing.But after 70km it was nice to get back in the train and head back to Amsterdam for a few biers in Nieuwmarkt and laugh at the tourists in the falling evening light.........

More photos on my Web Gallery

.

Well it was like this....

2008-05-21T22:28:00.016+01:00

A lot has happened since i last made a post on this site, and so i will not even consider the idea of writing about it all.

About a month ago i was back in Belfast and had a very splendid time, i also managed to do most of the things i wanted to and a few that i didn't [mostly breaking things]. One of the main [after to see lovely people] reasons i went back was to Belfast was to see if i could get a job lined up for when i come home in june..... and to this joy is found, and i will comence work in twenty two over seven a week after i get back from the dam. This was a real God send as i wasnt sure how easy it would be to get many interviews squeezed into one week and as it turned out i only really got two, but i had my updated portfolio for uni full of stuff from the last 5 months and it went very well so im looking forward to that.

A few weeks after i had book that trip home i discovered that i would be required to give an interview at UUB for the masters course only a week after i was going to be back, so anyway i left my portfolio with them and agreed to do the yoke over Skype, with a video link...... which was pretty good craic to be fair though maybe a little unsatisfactory.... you find yourself wanting to point at things!

On returning to the Dam we soon found ourselves in the crazyness of queens day..... and before anyone steps in with a howler its not "Our Queen"!! [too be said with a very posh Edinburgh ascent] this is Holland..... they dont care about Elizabeth.... and she dosnt give them a tax free day...... but Beatrix does.
But basically the day in entails a severe amount of beer and alot of people smelling bad and in boats with very large speakers booming hardcore techno...... hmmm sounds great really???

It was quite amazing though to see thousands and thousands of people on the normaly very quiet and reserved streets and canals...

Afew days later i had a quite glorious experience which was my first top flight football match in a stadium, well to be honest my first in the flesh football match ever really apart from maybe Saintfield united... Ajax v sc Heerenveen in the play offs for the last champions league spot....
was good craic and very cool to be in a big stadium with 50,000 people giving it stacks....

....... and then there was the balloning....... with work we went hot air balloning and ended up with grass and champagne on our heads ....... hmmmm a sybolic tradition i believe, the story was in dutch ........ something about barons and escaping to Versaille.....

there was quite alot of other stuff too like hoisting a rediculously heavy washing machine up and into a fourth story window..... actually that one was worth telling.....

As you may or may not know washing machines are full of concrete.... anyone who has had the pleasure of moving one will know this in the very core of his inner most being.... branded across his vision forever more..... a friend of mine from work, an Italian character was moving and it would seem wanted to take the washing machine with him.... so we did....

The coming down part was fine.... all dutch houses have a hook above the top floor window to which you can attach a pulley and a large rope with which you can lower away..... so we lowered away.... with two of us on the rope it was hairy to say the least but do-able.... so we got her down and while still on the rope swung over into the back of the van.....

So round at the new place, which was an extra storey high the stuff was fired up and the washing machine was left to last.... bad plan to begin with, always best doing the mad stuff first... anyway we divised a plan that would allow three characters pulling on the rope and one recieving the fine goods at the window..... the character [roy] was to direct the washing machine as we pulled until it was safely clear of the cars as it would swing out and hit one as soon as it was of the ground... we began to haul and all was well.... though roy had not yet made it up the stair or even appeared at the window.... but we hauled on..... and as we hauled cries from below were heard from a weakening Italian claiming that his power was gone.... this mixed with the already worrying feeling i harboured in my own heart regarding the heavily building lactic acid sapping the life from my already tired arms..... we were about 2m from the window by this point and Roy popped his head out... crapped himself.... and set too....

At the other end of the rope men were dying left right and centre... especially Italian ones and the cries of the dying were heard by a passing American who EVENTUALLY gave a hand..... but we had her up and Roy was hauling her in.....

But the point of the scenario is that washing machines were not made to be put in fourth storey windows...... especially not on one of the main tourist streets leading down to Nieuwmarkt...... we appeared in atleast 87 tourists Amsterdam snaps as token Amsterdamers moving house.

The lads [Pen & Merve] were here over the weekend which was very good craic and relaxed, is always interesting when people come to visit because you always see the city in a new way as you show people the city you live in you always discover new places..... and it would seem possibly the best coffee Merve has ever had.... now that is something!

I have made a web gallery with some more photo's.

2008-04-15T19:45:00.003+01:00

So heading back to Belfast tomorrow, for 10 days....

Its been about 2 months since i was back... it will be very nice to be back.

Hopefully during the time im back, i will; Find a job for June when i come back, get my very damp and unhappy but yet very lovely car fixed and stowed in a nice dry garage [thankyou!], book a long over due car test for some time in the summer, meet up with a lot of friends i havn't seen in a good while, and most importantly, eat and talk and laugh until the early hours....

Ive been having enjoying some pretty flippin decent weather recently [which means really not being beaten violently with ice, its still very cold!] and so needless to say over a thousand photographs have been taken in the last two weeks!

Here's some new photos on the photoblog

2008-04-14T10:02:00.008+01:00

In response Mr Knox's post...

aye... its good to see belfast starting to shake its 'road bloc' ambience off and moving forward, but one thing that really holds it back is the way it looks to other cities.... it is constantly wanting to be like dublin, or glasgow or anywhere.... That will not make the unique and inspired city we need, but sometimes any progress is progress! but that mentality will need to morph, and grow into something else as it gets to its feet... because great as those cities are there not belfast, belfast is a great place and has its own culture, which should be encouraged...

Places like victoria square no harm to them, can be found in every city over 400,000 in the uk..... they all have the same shops and add barely anything to the place...

And sadly from what ive seen of the master plan of the titanic quarter a massive opportunity was missed... but thats got more to do with money than anything else. Its a great spot, but just because of we have little choice dosn't mean we should accept any crap that comes along...

When you go to places like Krakow and dublin and berlin, you know where you are... it they have very strong identities and really make feel like you are in a place where they like themselves! and maybe thats what belfast still lacks... the love of its self. It maybe still thinks that everyones else can do it better... the sooner northern ireland gets back to the innovative and inspired place it once was the better... it is a nation of people who can think for themselves. A culture that when it believes in itself has shook the world... in technology... in literature... in art... in sport ... in everything, when we can summon enough belief in our place... this 1.5 million nation is an amazing place. I love it! but i want to see it go in its own identity and its own thought... and see individuals start to take control of there own future... the time for waiting has past and the future lies in our own hands... the work has been done to free us, and now we must make the move ourselves.

There is no doubt that that the troubles have had an institutionalizing effect on Northern Ireland... but the time to move has come... and we must... this time comes and goes again.

Fear and loathing.....

2008-04-09T11:21:00.002+01:00

Its with slight sadness and concern that i look about today at the state of some aspects of our society....

About a month ago, i was back in Belfast for a very short visit home.... i was in the airport preparing to leave and going through security.... which was fine.... to a point. I only had hand luggage and so had one small backpack well packed... and a camera bag....

It went through and they asked to open it...... ok yeah sure open away..... and then they proceeded to dismantle it and place everything in a tray while 'swabbing it'..... to i believe check for traces of explosives...... so fine its abit annoying as i was very tight for time but ok..... the point at which it became flippin pesky and caused me grievous annoyance was when they appeared back with the try and dumped it before me to replace in its various positions.... now with a bag which is well packed this can be quite peeving, and to make matters worse the 'security' woman was now taking a stand against my hair gel.... a small tub of texturizing substance, which though half finished and only about 50ml in its original state..... it still caused great offense to the general safety and well being of the world...... a long and awakard existence then incurred with long silences as she tried to take the thing off me, and i asked her why..... and she said because ....."thats what we are here for, to take things off you" [those may not be her exact words but... you know...].... it would seem that i would require a small plastic bag to put it in..... [i knew all this before hand as do you]..... these things cost a £1 and i had no
pounds on me as i was going to a place where they don't like them..... so she had to take it from me.....

Why! What good on earth will it do to have my goods in a plastic bag? Its not the hair gel that i care about its why they want me to put my stuff in a bag that will do absolutely no good what so ever should i actually be carrying a small tube of Semtex or a home chemistry set.... so why? The only thing it does is that it reminds me ever time i fly anywhere, that one time somewhere, with something, someone tried to blow something up.
That is the only reason..... its not in the name of safety, its in the name of fear and fear only! A 'constant' reminder of the supposed 'constant' threat of attack......

It really would make you question the truth in it all.... what really goes on. Its bizarre even in my short lifetime there has been huge change in the UK and Ireland.... trust has become discouraged, the societies have become more and more segregated and fractured.... and parents lie awake at night for fear of their children's safety..... has the place really got that dangerous? is it really as imminent as we are told? Schools have been fortified and surrounded with high fences, the city is covered in CCTV cameras, they scan your underpants when your taking a flight, they have chips in your passport, they can still say anything on TV and some parts of society will believe it.... because its TV...... and they cant lie..... can they? oh no...... someone would stop them! yeah right!!!
Its all fun and games until some stops you from living in the name of safety..... its mad how vulnerable the western world has become in the last ten years..... and with the current economic climate of Europe and America who knows where it will end up...... i think often people forget it was only 15 years ago since the last full scale war in Europe..... and it was only 50 years since the one before that, and 20 years before that, and all through history.......

The stable, comfortable, unbreakable, safe and peaceful state that we now live in, has never been the norm for very long...... theres been 36 conflicts in Europe alone in the 20th century. It concerns me greatly the distrust and fear that is dividing communities of varying ethnic background it Europe today, every where you look nationalism and national identity is being pushed, while multinational integration is being feared.... just look at the change of the portrayal of the Islamic world in films over the last 30 years.... the stereotype has moved from the jolly fat man eating food constantly with 30 half naked belly dancers around him, to the extremist who wants to kill anyone and everyone in the west...... do you believe either of those?
Fear is being poured into our daily lives, and if we choose to accept or believe it we will become very dangerous people..... the sort of people who justify wars[though maybe don't take part, but don't disagree with it].....

I don't think people realize the danger of fear, and of coropate fear..... and some how look at the events of the 20th century and say..... phuuufff .....that will never happen again! Its fear that enabled the governments to attack Iraq, to start the 45 minutes thing which someone died over, and its fear that causes the sort of hatred and anger that allows the events of the 20th century in Europe..... it starts with fear.....

... the mad man out in the street killing people is only a mad man if no one believes in his cause, then he becomes a solider....

We always have a choice, but some how we rarely make it, to stand up, to question, and to trust instead of fear......

please feel free to comment, disagree, add to, denounce, challenge, contradict, eat a sandwich or discuss!

Artic conditions + Rain + Coffee + Bicycle + Magnum + food + Girl + Boy = Happy times

2008-03-31T11:24:00.038+01:00

For about a month it was warm and sunny and times were good, the flowers were blooming and lambs were flocking the streets.....

But then we tried to get a tax code and the environment fought back with vicious intent... throwing first shards of ice upon our cold and wearisome faces as we battled to to survive against the high winds and slight hills of the canal bridges.....

and then someone left the lid off and the place dropped to ridiculous temperatures.... but the thing that really threw the cat in my face was that it hadn't snowed since i arrived and then it dumped its wet self upon us in a few days.... but not a button of the stuff actually lay..... it froooze us, beat us, slapped us, wet us, threw itself in our face but yet..... BUT YET! it did not lie!

But this was by no means doom upon the land for it was indeed a mere backdrop to a great long weekend..... so it was pretty good craic bombing around on the bicycle with Elaine on the back [sitting rather uncomfortably but warmly on the rack] down the narrow streets of the Dam and dodging various items such as cars, trams and other assorted large objects as i got beaten with ice and snow storms which were coming on and off like a 2 year old with a light switch... it was great fun despite how it sounds! Though it was required to visit a lot of establishments along the way for warm beverages.

One of the best things that we braved the climatic beatings for was a Magnum exhibition at the stedelijk museum, it was really good highly recommended if you ever hear of it anywhere, Magnum is a pretty amazing group, its basically a photographic cooperative, which is owned by its members, set up by a bunch of amazing photographers in the 40's.... but it is astounding how many of the worlds most influential photographs were taken by such a small bunch of people, and totally changed the world of photography, people who understood the power of photography.

It was extremely inspiring but at the same time decidedly sobering, there ethos is to tell the story of the real world.... and that they do. Robert Cappa, one of the founding members is famously quoted "If your photographs arn't good enough, your not close enough", he landed on in the first wave of omaha beach on D-day, armed with only a couple of cameras.... thats pretty close.... in the end he got too
close in Indo-china, when he was covering the war there when he stood on a landmine.

The exhibition really does show the single minded determination of the photographers to tell the world what the world is really like.... war, and desolation in all of its rawness.... in some ways you may leave the exhibition feeling heavy, and many people have ask the question of how necessary it is to take photographs like these, do we need to see them? ....i suppose it is up to the viewer, ignorance is bliss, but somehow you cannot choose ignorance...

The photographs are not all so confrontational only a few... most of the photographers have spent their careers study aspects of life, in different places.... with amazing insights into the human... it really is an amazing example of the power of photography as a modern media...

I was amazing to experience something like that, absolute dedication and emersement of people...

Strong coffees were required afterwards!

After so food and afew more coffees we headed down to the Paridiso for DJ Shadow and Cut chemist... which was great and very cool. Was very good to relax for a few days and talk alot... and wander alot , eat alot and generally have a really great time...

We headed down to the coast one day which was interesting, and on easter sunday we had the crossroads [church] experience... which was ... eh also interesting!

Raw fish and stoops in delft....

2008-03-30T21:56:00.010+01:00

No trip anywhere is quite complete without at least one testing of some local cuisine! So when rudy [crazy Italian from work] and I headed down to Rotterdam via delft on the way... some cuisine was enjoyed.... starting with some raw fish sprinkled with raw onion, it dosnt some that appetizing and its even less appetizing when you see the guy continuously gutting and laying them out...... it seem you dangle them above you and bit bits of them..... hmmm well thats what everyone else was doing anyway..... and then to finish off a fresh, hot massive stroopwaffel.... oh yeah! after wandering around the Delft TU libary for a while taking picture of unsuspecting students and building we head on down to rotters.....

The bigness of Rotterdam was quite a shock after being so long in the tiny low streets of Amsterdam..... everything is about 5 times higher.... and 50 times longer! was cool though to be in a modern city..... as Rotterdam was flatten during the war, its one that has started from scratch quite recently.

more photos... My Photoblog

Cow wafer on mows field...... hmmmm

2008-03-11T08:46:00.004Z

Koekoek op Maaiveld...... does in fact translate directly as ..... Cow wafer on mows field....

It seems that its quite normal to write that on a drawing of an underground carpark!

the Normalness

2008-02-28T16:34:00.003Z

Only a few weeks ago i was talking about how normal everything in Amsterdam was becoming, with only two months this place seemed almost as normal as Belfast..... and then traveling back home to belfast it was the strange one!
But it was great to be back and the weirdness soon dissipated within a couple of days. it was cool meeting up with friends and family who had been reduced to skype and email people for the last two months.... and be able to communicate again with greater expression....... and of course meet the new lad, young Winston who arrived since i departed in december...

It is in some ways quite reassuring to go 'home' and be back with everyone and remember how much connection you have with a place.... i love being in Amsterdam, its a really great place.... but its because of the place... the place will never make the connection that people do and so i think i would have to be here a long time before i would start to feel any real connection with Amsterdam other than place..... but to be here now and be in this moment is great and it is extremely enjoyable! Maybe something that will very much shape my view of the place i go back to.....

photos on facebook

[i think you need be on facebook to be able to see them, sorry too anyone who has not partaken in such in that particular venture]

and

My photoblog

An all too quick vist Home....

2008-02-27T19:30:00.020Z

It was always going to be short visit.... but i wasn't quite prepared for how fast it went!

But it was probably the most compacted weekend life has bestowed upon me! Not a whole of sleep was had.....

Arriving on thursday night and away again on tuesday morning..... i didn't really plan to much [which was viewed with mixed feelings by some! but worked out great in the end!] so although compact it was; it was also fairly relaxed... ...dinner at Mr & Mrs mojos, sampling the great mojos fine delicacies on thursday night and running round in the crazy wind and rain of belfast lough at sea park on friday afternoon and much required warming coffee....... and dinner with jenny and the boys [noah+jonah]... be kind and rewind and a pint of guinness...... planes flying over first of the day.... saturday morning at the market with coffee and burgers happily recovering from sleep deprivation.... more coffee at Sheila's and good chat.... a shave at mojo's and then the tail end of the rugby..... a Noah Winston Simon party with all the family in the warmth of Jenny and Joel's homely kitchen...... and some extremely realistic violence [abit of Sarcasm there... i think] with Rambo in the jungle to finish the night! .... great fry and a spontaneous collection of people in the morning.... leaving the city behind to rolling hills and restful place of Saintfield..... with lunch, extra helpings of great discussions, good to be with the lads again [pen+merve].... walking the back roads in the failing light with franco and steaming into Belfast again to Holy Grounds..... more coffee and laughter and unprovoked attack upon a small slice of cake..... and a pint in the pub with friends... .....monday brings the start of the goodbyes and cup in in the tea rooms.... in the relaxed peace of Saintfield once more... jonah and the 'happy cake' [not the sort you get in Amsterdam!] and a good night.... ....... a bus to Belfast and a final cup of tea and a very short drive to the airport..... and a final goodbye.....and suddenly Im back in my parallel world.....

A Sense of permanence....

2008-02-10T21:15:00.000Z

In reference to the question Mr Nixon posted...... a quote that for me sums up in some ways the concept of 'home'..... though i do believe to the quote below i must add more emphasis on people... because it is only people who can really hold 'home'.

“Home can be about architecture or place in geography; or it can be about the sense of permanence we come to know through habit: an article of clothing repeatedly worn, a favorite turn of phase, a melody of which we are fond, or the many visits to see a friend. Home is about the familiar, about gravity, about falling back into the self after being dispersed and overextended in the world.”

This quote informed the title for my final year dissertation.... which after much deliberation i have finally given its own space on the world wide web! A few people had expressed interest in reading the mad rant which is basically and extended blog entry expressing my dismay as a young man looking ahead to my future.....i must at this point place a large disclaimer or something of that sort and say.... this is an extremly single minded response... and even when i read now it now one year on i look back and wonder......but never the less, feel free to have a read, its not very long.... if you do, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts!

Barcalona.....well bosenlomer!

2008-02-09T23:38:00.000Z

So we moved over to this joint a few weeks ago.... our third dwelling since arriving in Amsterdam! Its been an interesting experience...

When you move to a new city you expect a to experience a different culture but it is quite bizarre when within that city you move to a new area... theres a another totally different culture!

Bosenlommer [a suburb of the Dam] is a majority Islamic community, which can be interesting for a couple of Irish guys who could very easily pass for being Jewish! [we have been asked that question alot!]. Its completely different here in Bosenlommer... as i mentioned before in the last post about curtains and stuff... every window in central Amsterdam is thoroughly unobscured... here everything is very closed and private... a very different [but nice] atmosphere.....

One of the great things about moving out of Centrum means that you experience a much bigger city....the 25min cycle down to work everyday....you pass though so many areas.... past some many diverse people.... so much going on..... so much aready happening [and its only 8:30].... by the time you get into work all you need is a double espresso and your ready for to the Architecten!

Curtains and other assorted items....

2008-02-09T21:49:00.000Z

One of the most interesting part of life in Amsterdam is the non-existance of curtains....well thats not strictly true to say that they don't exist but its more people do have them but do not use them!

One of my favorite things about this place is that as you walk along any street in central Amsterdam at night ...you get little micro-second insights into peoples lives... to their homes....to them! just for a second... as you pass and look it to someone else's world... the lack of curtains give the place a very warm and open feel.... people don't hide their lives away... certainly not in the physical sense anyway.

As you pass you get a glorified view of what is the most personal expression of personality... home.... and that view is perfect and quite unreal.... you dont have time to see the flaws or the blemishes.... just beauty.......

It is a stark contrast to the northern Irish norm of 'beautiful' net curtains and blinds! Though i have to confess, though now our curtains stand like true dutch curtains [pushed to the wall at all times] when we lived down on Entrepokdok in a ground floor apartment we kept the curtain semi-closed most of the time....though it did have a little to do with the fact that we were living in someone else's house, while she bombed off to Milano, and were pretty sure if we put ourselves on public display people would consider us to impostors and notify the relevant authorities... maybe too we were just getting used to the idea!

Newness....of Noah Winston Simon!

2008-02-04T19:06:00.000Z

The eagerly awaited damp parcel of joy has arrived......!

Look out Jonah shared limelight from here on.....try not to beat him up....its not nice!

Welcome to our mist.......i wonder who you will become, and where you will go, and who you will met, and what you will do, and who will remember you, and what you will change, and who you will love.......... look forward to becoming your mmuncle Micah........

He was born yesterday..... hhmmmm

Sunday 3rd Febuary..... weighing in at 8lbs 2oz's but not bad for only nine months!

What am I doing in the Netherlands....?

2008-02-04T19:00:00.000Z

Was just reading a bit about Ireland, and found it to be quite surprising......

Though i think if Norn Iron was to be included[United] in this, 4th in the global index of peace would not be so easily achived.....

.......Ireland is among the richest, most developed and peaceful countries on earth, having the fifth highest Gross Domestic Product per capita, second highest Gross Domestic Product (Purchasing Power Parity) per capita and having the fifth highest Human Development Index rank. The country also boasts the highest quality of life in the world, ranking first in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Quality-of-life index. Ireland was ranked fourth on the Global Peace Index. The state also has high rankings for its education system, political freedom and civil rights, press freedom and economic freedom; as a result it was ranked fourth from the bottom on the Failed States Index, being one of the few "sustainable" states in the world.

What am i doing here in the Netherlands......20th in the World peace charts......you wana see them on new years eve....

But the strange thing is seventy years ago basically all of the things mentioned above would have been at the total oposite extreme......poor, violent, eating too much potatoes and generally quite unhappy with our neigbours....well just Britain really......

And something that i think many people do not realise.... but the irish flag first propery adopted after the easter rising....green, white and gold.......... The green is representative of the catholic community while the orange represents the prodestant or Community. The white in the centre represents the peace between the two groups...... hhmmm you dont much more Cross comunity than that! Funny how things change.

Het Werken!

2008-02-02T11:53:00.000Z

So its been a month since i arrived in this city.... a good month. Its strange how quickly a place becomes normal and the place you once lived slips into the memory for a while.... its quiet crazy how quickly it happens!

And so today[Monday] i finally finished my work on a project that i've been working on almost since i arrived at Dok; which was building a 3D computer model of a massive apartment blocks. It has been quite a serious jump in scale moving here to this office, not just in terms of the projects but also in working in a sixty strong office... it has a completely different dynamic and atmosphere to places i've worked in previously.

I suppose a big office can afford to work differently... one of the best bits of the day is the amazing lunch's cooked by a chief in house! some seriously glorious food... and abundance of kaas [cheese].

We were meant to be heading off one day last week for a hot-air ballooning trip after lunch but it would seem hot-air ballooning in january is quite susceptible to weather difficulties! so we didn't get going but even on the average day there always something going on... the other day i working away listening to the 'bodem loss piet' [thats the frenetical dutch for bottomless pit! sounds like someone just saying bottomless pit with a dodgy accent really] of music which is shared over the network when one of our bosses came round with a glass of Port and some fine chocolate! and then again on monday a large projection of a count down appeared on the wall at the climax of which we all stopped work and had champagne and food! [One of the partners has been awarded the role of what is basically, state architect! which is pretty much as high as you an go!].... but one of the most interesting things is it is soooo relaxed... no worries about whether they arrive 10min late or early or whatever.... people don't stop when the bell rings! We also every week take a longer lunch one day and someone gives a presentation on an interesting project their working on and then people interject and discuss it.....

It i think creates a great atmosphere for creativity and a really dynamic working environment... i enjoy working here greatly! Hopefully there will be a few more trips during the time i am here! A few months ago the whole office steamed of to germany to a massive disused coal mine for the weekend all expenses paid!! [Its a museum and a gallery i think, as well as being huge and a UNECO world heritage site]. So hopefully we end up seeing a few sites as well as a taste of good architecture!

>Photoblog additions...

its very poor quality but gives a bit more of the bigger picture....

Been doing a bit of running recently...

2008-01-24T19:58:00.000Z

hhmmmmm.....

2008-01-10T19:59:00.001Z

It been a strange two day lets just say.....

.... i mean it all started yesturday morning... well actually no....

......It all started as soon as we arrived in the Dam, as you may have read in a previous post that i was happily ensconced i think were the words in an apartment on the canal, and that the landlady was acting a little strange....

It was a cold and dark morning leaving the place... we bumped in to the lady herself and she said a few disconcerting things like... "you im affraid cannot, maybe stay for all of the month" and "I have people coming, you move by the 20th?"..... some would say that these are disconcerting words... but others would not panic and say... the 2oth is a long way away and we'll have something by then and it'l be fine.... hhhmmmm.... it was agreed we would talk further when we got back.

Well after a good days work and pint at the pub with our new colleagues, we young sirs returned to the abode of choice and entered by the front door, we were let in by the the lady herself as she 'shares' the hall.... well we had some discussion in which at one point when roy asked when would you like us to be away? the answer was.... "ehhh in a few days?"... woowh!
anyway to cut a bizarre and long story short she said that her friend down the road had an apartment we could have and we went down and met her.... and it is at this point that sadly the story takes a turn toward the more tragic.

We found the place, 200 yards futher down, an Italian book shop and entered.... met by a rather charismatic woman of about 50 or so we sat down at the table in the middle of the now closed shop... the woman sat down and we began to unravel the story, it would seem that the landlady was suffering from Alzheimer's diease and that she was loosing her memory.

The Italian book shop lady proceed to explain that this had happen before, that she [Landlady] was totally confused at even what we were doing in the apartment and unaware that she had agreed to us staying there! She went on to say.... "... I am going to Milano tomorrow and you can stay in my house....!" she then took us to her house a little further up Entrepotdok [on which everything is on, the italian book shop, the first apartment and her apartment and Dok Architecten] we entered and she showed us around.... perfect strangers.... she handed us a key and we left and went back down to apartment number one.... confused, amazed, perplexed, bewildered and unable to pronouce the name of the person who's house key was now in our pocket.....

We returned and had a few words with the land lady saying we were leaving tomorrow and went into the apartment.... the day had been a strange mix, of confussion and in the midst.... extreme kindness, kindness to be honest that left me baffled, a total stranger who would had you a key of her house and go on holiday without a shadow of concern, leaving all of her stuff.

After work today we went across town to see an apartment of a Scottish character and which we will hopefully be 'happily ensconced' in soon, and return home via 'proprietario italiano del negozio del libro' house and said hello, helped put her bags in her friends car and leave for the airport, as she drove off we moved our belonging in.... and now sit upon her sofas drinking tea from her cups and write upon blogs about the bizarrity of the life and time of Roy and Micah in the dam.....

and so end there, though the story will continue.... maybe when proprietario italiano del negozio del libro returns home in 10 days......

Glorious....

2008-01-06T20:15:00.000Z

I found this on you tube, you may remember the drum/piano edit which mojo posted a while back, which was a work of pure genius, this is by the same guy and is superbly put together! I love it...people expressing ideas in public whether or not you like them. Enjoy.....

Chistmas tree burning party!!

2008-01-06T19:22:00.000Z

We were just wandering around the streets of the dam today, looking in shop windows for some sort of cooking device, after several hours with no results we came upon a square just in front of the Heineken brewery with a large gathering of people [200 or so] and a massive flaming abundance of flame [fire]! So after checking it out it seems that here everyone bombs down to the square with their christmas tree in hand and they pile them up and throw them on a big fire and hand out free muled wine.... glorious!

Though extreme peevement was felt when i was found NOT to be carrying a camera.... wont happen again!

at the table...

2008-01-04T16:02:00.001Z

Hallo...we have hot dogs!

2008-01-02T10:27:00.000Z

After much talk, emails and waiting.... i am now happily ensconced in an apartment on the canal, about 400 yards from where ill be starting work next week! [Special thanks to Mrs Mojo]. Its quite strange, five of us left Belfast last week and four have returned early thismorning! Its the odd scenario of a holiday having to turn into normal life...

It was Glorious class time, Mojo, Alyson, Ashley, Elaine and myself where the essence of it, there was so much laughter [x32], food, cold, joy, late disscusioning, wandering, and relaxed agendaless existence. So thankyou to you people, including the hobbits!

It seems as though Christmas has slipped back in time, like last year already, as new memories and places and people slip side in.... And now readjusting in the wake of the departure of the peoples.....

Thanks to mr Mojo, two bicycles have been gloriously liberated and put to new use as my means of transport, apart from afew bulges in the front tyre its in fine form.

Apart from the fact that the landlady is bonkers, the place is great, today we had a confused exchange about some sheets that had 'Gone missing' though it was quite clear to all present that she had walked off 20 mins earlier with them and had put them in a washing machine... well if nothing else it will make interest times... ....in the time since the above writen ive just been involved in the most bizar light bulb changing session of all time, which resulted in gasps and exclaimation at the "miracle" when the new bulb actually worked....... good times!

More photos can be seen on my Photoblog.

The end of...and beginning of...

2007-12-12T13:35:00.000Z

My time in 407 the Lucas building has come to an end...as has my time in Norn Ourland for the time being. I will be taking up residence in the new year somewhere in amsterdam and will start work there on january 7th @ DOK Architecten. So it will be very new times this new year, hopefully a glorious time to be had. Because the pay while not cover the cost of living there im looking into some work further afield as i will probably only be able to stick around in holland for 3 months before i run.

Hopefully ill be able to find a disused electric box or pumping station to live in for a few months. So ill be flying out a couple of days after christmas and as the mat/blogroll rolls out we shall see.....where....when....something!

the Exhibition Experience...

2007-12-12T13:22:00.000Z

So after living like small mammals for two weeks we now have removed all furniture which had resided in my bedroom [from the rest of the house] from my room. I can now once more make it from my bedroom door to my bed without having to crawl through a small hole between tables and stacked chairs and stuff from the living room.

it is once more a house, reverting back from gallery ambience.

The whole experience was glorious, there was a serious amount of work and slog to be had but, when all is well and on the wall and theres about 30 odd characters wandering round prodding though over your stuff its pretty interesting. Its also amazing to find people enjoying the your stuff and some wanting it in their houses, thats cool!

407 continues....

2007-12-03T13:29:00.000Z

The exhibition will continue on this week, Thursday 6th and Friday 7th.

From 7 -11pm

Everyone is welcome.....

Its a photographic exhibition of around 40 pieces, from every where from Belfast to the outer reaches of the finer depths of the galaxy. So far there's a decent crown down of about 70 characters in total, its has gone very well and has been really interesting putting stuff up on the wall and seeing how people react or feel about it.

Would be great to see any of you down there.....

2007-11-15T13:22:00.001Z

[Cick to enlarge]

For more information, Please leave a comment.

All are welcome!

Exhibition in the Apartment....

2007-11-08T13:38:00.000Z

Were having an exhibition at the apartment at the end of the month, Thursday 29th and friday 30th. More information to follow.
Everyone is welcome.

Back from the Dam... with no Ham...

2007-10-29T13:30:00.001Z

Well yes is the answer.... but no is the reality, Roy and myself headed out to the Dam on easyjet flight 7677667767a, it is always a good idea to arrive at least one hour early it would seem, just in case you need to get a taxi back home to find you passport and back to the airport with minus 7 minutes to spare. But anyway we got there, with several interviews planned for monday morning.. so we chilled and took in the scenes and hit the sack... next day up early and raced all over amsterdam going from one practice to another, squeezing in 4 interviews before sun down. And making the discovery that sadly no firms pay year out students, so after a little frustrated depression at the tram stop, we decided to head to the last one of the day which we were already late for, so eventually we got there and had a decent interview with the two partners of the firm, and again were offered 'internships' with basically no pay, so we returned to see if we could find some funding of some kind, scholarships or grants to help fund the scenario, and also the firm were keen to work something 'livable on' out failing that, so the trip ended on a possitive note and we return to norn ourland with a little hope and several offers................ so only time will tell.

Raw thoughts.....

2007-10-20T20:13:00.001+01:00

I think this is what they call the "Stream of conscious-crap"

Returning now from a slaughtering of straight defeats in a game off squash, and mulling over the feelings of the day....

....It is i suppose a known unknown that when we start to grow up and be independent that we wll struggle, i find myself in a new faze, one i have to say i was not expecting quite so soon... Here i am, living in this house alone, my life revolves around me in several ways, on one hand i can choose where i want to be and go and see and look, but on the other hand if i stop and do nothing and not move for 18 days, nothing will happen!

i have to make everything happen in my life, it is i think an odd place but a very real place to find urself... as it cannot be forever that i depend on others for strength and the physical such as food, warmth, money and home, for all these things i now depend on myself.... but at this i find it is a place where i walk alone dispite all the people in my life i still walk alone and i must find my own place in this world, i cannot depend on others to place me. the odd thing is i think is that i have lived in belfast for some time, nearly a year, but is only recently that i have depended on my own income, before i lived on the un-real funds of a student loan and so now i find myself trying to understand the world for the first time in a real sense a sense where there is no one to keep me straight no end point as such, this i do not in any way mean that there is no people in my life who direct me, i have loads of amazing people who speak truth into my life regularly and who encourage, but for the first time i find myself at the start of an endless road that i can see very little of, suddenly there is no structure to hold me, im free.... to go anywhere, do anything... but at the same time i depend entirly on my own discipline , my own money, my own strenght and force i believe i can call on God and he will strengthen me, it is me and the world with God.

Ok so at this point i have just spoken to father, and he has reminded me of the ways in which my life touches others lives... and i suppose if find myself for the first time living on real money and discovering that its alot harder than it looks... for every penny i spend i must earn another and that if i dont earn i dont spend, or eat really. even though i have a job that pays well i find that to actually make ur way there is so many costs, but the thing is, i like it, ITS REAL! it feels good, i known that when save a little i can spend a little, but it also makes me realize as i did when i was away on holiday just how much it takes to make something happen and how much you take it totally for-granted when you live at home although you totally dont think you are when you are at home! Life is really quite a challenge! but not in the crazy hardcore things, jsut the simple mondain ordinary things like eating working living and most of all creating somewhere you want to call home...... i am very thankful of the hope that is that we dont have to live alone forever, that we are intended not to be alone and two can become one and be united and can do it together... aw how glorious is that! Thank God for Naomi and the hope and light that she brings!

I know that this post is slightly bizar but at the same time sometimes i think it is ggod to write and express what its floating about in your mind and heart, to be known and to know. please feel very free to add or subtract or comment on these thoughts.

I supose this is about that, and that yes the previous post about living in tension comes back... a place between Dependence and Interdependence a place they call independence! a spot of tension....

Process has no end product......

2007-10-11T13:07:00.000+01:00

Comment on Molly's blog

"Process has no end product, but is actually a series of fixed points."

That is one of the best comments ive heard all year! it is so true and gives me a great sense of relief that yes, there is no point where i can say 'Yes im there'! there is no there, only a points and chapters to look back on and develop, giving freedom to just do it and not be caught in the panic of 'oh crap im not there yet, will i ever be?' i like it alot and alot of food for thought.
For all processes work in the same way, they DO NOT have closure in many ways, just look at life as humans, when do we get there? we just keep going growing, thinking breathing doing, and when we think about being 'There' we just get depressed because its constantly on the move just out of reach and like a carrot on the end of a stick, when we strive to get there we will not, for as we try and discover there, the there we wanted is replaced, changed and renewed transformed, so we cannot keep going in that direction. The approach described there by your man dominic suggests a journey where there is a constantly changing, moving and dynamic future, where we have space to breathe and are not stifled by the life we thought we wanted.

Ive been thinking alot about the concept of 'Living in tension' this isnt about what springs to mind when that is said, of physically living in a place where there is fighting, i mean it in terms of, where there are two points two things two thoughts, two places, where there is space between and it is just not possible to be at either, for example just take what was just said there about process having no end product, no 'there', just a series of points, that means constantly having to make do with the place on the way, with the chapters but the end and the closure does not and may not happen, Being able to actually LIVE in the place between in the tension of where we are and where we want to be, its so important because its like a journey in a car, if your only interested in point A where you leave from and point B where you want to go and ignore the whole journey in between then you miss out in so much, if all your looking for the whole time is the first signs of point B coming over the horizon you cannot see what is right here and now in front of you.
So if we cant live in that tension its like someone going from one big slap up dinner to the next without eating in between, without the little sandwhichs and bowls of soup which we need to keep going. The space between, the tension between here and 'there' the place where we spend most of our lives, so often the process is being taken out of process, everything in this society screems be 'there' if you want to, but there are no shortcuts, i dont think there's a way of avoiding the process of getting the end product, an if there's anything to learned from 'LEGO' its once youve got it built, its no fun!

back in black.....

2007-10-04T13:38:00.000+01:00

Well its been a while, alot has come to pass... since that last time words were issued. And so i have return to the place of black clothing and drawings to work until the end of the month... here in big design. There has been much goings on... to france... in the fiat, bombing about all over the place ... enjoying local cuisine and delights, we drove down to the south of france camping in tents and eating much. Many lessons, thoughts and discoveries were made as well as decions of days to come and reflections on the year thats been. So in short we had a craker holiday [with great moments both Joy filled and sad] we got down as far down as Weeksis glorious abode in which is situated upon the side of an Alp. which is glorious and quite splendid.

The summer really marked the beginning of new times, things simply always keep moving and you cant go back neither should you... as new times are good and will bring you to new places though they might not always be easy. I enjoy these new times greatly and their unknown properties. There has been many major events including the great marriage of Mr Mojo to Mrs Mojo [alyson] and sudden and aburpt end of university life and comencement of 9 to 10 minutes to bed time, working life which is glorious in its own right. I started work imeditly after finishing uni and then went on holidays for a Month and a good bit, half of which was spent with naomi touring france and half of which was doing other stuff back in norn ourland, making decions or at least trying to make decions! its been a really decent one but a wierd one at the same time... it didnt really seem like a summer more like a porlonged spring.... getting ready for the actual summer which came and passed without being noticed....

All I can say is .... Im off to france!!!

2007-08-14T21:38:00.000+01:00

Has been abit crazy getting MOT and the likes but were off tomaro with or with out it! Heading to france by boat and bombin round for 3 weeks.

a response to molly's blog entry...'Developers developing what exactly'

2007-08-02T13:24:00.000+01:00

In order to make any sense of the following you may need to read 'Developers developing what exactly'...

Hhhhmm..... interesting statments made there, something that i am all TOO aware of from my work, though none of the stuff comin out this office is to replace old victorian houses i have been involved [i didnt design it, just the planning ap] in the production of plans for such a scheme as you mentioned where a site formerly a large familly ouse with large garden is replaced with a massive 2 storey 'victorian' style house squeezing in 9 apartments, the house being knocked down is hiddeous 70's house but it is about more than just what it is replacing. Its alot of the reason why im interested in going to amsterdam to work. i think there are several issues,

A> there has never been any empahis on Good design and well thought out and socially aware stuff from the planners or government, as people will aways try to make as much as they can an will not care what is left so long as they get a worth while cut. It has to start at the top so that the whole market changes.

B> probably the worst thing is 'reasonable' reason, where ask 200 people if the think its 'nice' theyl prob say "oawh its louvely isnt it" because they think it is, they have no presidents of anything other than. an so there reason has been reformed to agree and think this is nice

C> northern irish people especially prods have NO respect for Hertitage, its rare to find anywhere in northern ireland old buildings that have been renovated, it doesnt happen, because there is a culture of knocking down and rebuilding, its deep into the culture, just look at the average age of the cars on the road, youl find it hard to find one over 6 or 7 year old [thats ever used].

its a major issue.... i think though theres much more to it than you have mentioned in your blog. it is sadly the case i think that the majority loves it....

Its always hard to remeber saying anything quoted in articals....

2007-08-02T13:00:00.000+01:00

This was the story online the UU website, after graduation.

Aparently im from ballynahinch.......

Micah Jones, from Ballynahinch, who graduates this week with BA Architecture First Class Honours at the University of Ulster summer graduation ceremonies at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall, used the Peaceline as his inspiration for his final year design project.

Micah who was among the first cohort of UU students to graduate with BA Hons Architecture also picked up awards for Best Design and for highest aggregate mark in Year 3.

For their final year project students had to design a Northern Ireland Cultural Centre in Amsterdam.

“My aim was to design a building which expressed certain aspects of Northern Ireland’s culture, both positive and negative,” says Micah.

The inspiration for his project came from a plaque he saw on the peaceline wall, which said people were unable to talk about it.

“I decided to use this concept to try and remould something negative that people couldn’t take about into something positive. I wanted to make this a wall that people can talk about, an open discussion point. The other aspect of the project was to look at different aspects of culture in Amsterdam like artists’ accommodation using compact barge living.”

Following his graduation, Micah hopes to spend some time in professional practice, both in Northern Ireland and in Amsterdam before returning to York Street to do his MA in Architecture and continue working towards becoming a fully qualified architect.

Nail clippers will fall....

2007-07-15T23:09:00.000+01:00

Ok, so were on the balcony and im cutting my toe nails...as one does in such circumstances, but no sooner had i finished one set of nails and moving on to the big toe of the second foot....the nail clippers flew from my hand and began a decent...now at this point i will add some further facts about this dubious situation.
I live on the fourth floor with three balconies between my self and the ground...further notes would be the the floor of the balcony as with all the balconies in the building have metal grid floors....so returning to the clippers...on their triumphant decent they fell through my floor and 307's but after taking severe beatings when passing through the 307 balcony it was thrown to its final resting place...207's window ledge a sad state of affairs for any clipper, tent poles were assembled and glorious a contraption contrived...this was then lowerd down past the windows the hopfully uncoupied 07's and there proceded a 5 minute jabbing session upon the threshold of 207, after much near missing and wrong way senarios the clipper was indeed dislodged from its procarious position and collected.

These events are TRUE and occured upon sunday the 15th of summer 2007. All is well....

On the WEB!

2007-07-09T10:50:00.003+01:00

Check out the University of ulster front page stories!!!

will prob only be on for a few days so you may have to search for Micah Jones.... glorious!

www.ulster.ac.uk

http://news.ulster.ac.uk/grad/2007/summer/

well this is the plan....

2007-07-04T17:09:00.000+01:00

Anyone who has spent anytime with me in the last 6 months will be fully aware of THE PLAN! but anyway this is the scheme, starting in belfast city Naomi and me will take a flight to Krakow in poland where we will find ourselves a glorious Fiat 126, and set off on an epic voyage across europe through slovakia, hungry, croatia, slovenia, austria, Switzerland and france. The plan has many flaws and many many ways which it could fizzle, but always the optimist i am very excited at the proposal. will be documenting the trip via the blog while were away.....

......wouldn't it be class if......

....you have to dream or you die....

The end of what was an amazing but yet unsustainable time!!

2007-06-28T17:48:00.000+01:00

Didn't get round to posting this for a good while; Lastnight was my final year degree show, it was seriously good craic place was stiff with architect and crazy characters from Belfast's architecture world, its funny because degree show is really the main event in the art college experience and it didn't disappoint!
It was with with very mixed joys in which I entered the day the exhibition, marks were still NO where to be seen and i had slowly as the time for them to be revealed neared realized just how important they were to me, throughout the year i had meantained a strong stance of "marks...who needs marks...pppowff" but when the shit hits the fan as the say things change! I have never worked so hard for anything and enjoyed it thoughorally throughout, but it was much more than that, much deeper, i realized that under the surface.... this was the first thing which i both enjoyed no end and was good at, having never particularly excelled at anything i sudenly became aware in those final days of how desperate i was to win something...to feel that there was something that was decent at. So getting a first and then collecting two awards great. Was a great night, its taken a good while to even get this on!

Bite the Big one...

2007-06-28T13:58:00.000+01:00

So three days after the exhibition, myself and pete started work in Big design Architecture in Antrim, so for the next few months until naomi and i head to europe for a month traveling across europe, working life is all around, its kinda weird its quite hard to get use to the idea that you have to be in everyday at the same time, but a the same time at a moment in my existence when after being VERY concentrated for a long time there is an element of security from just being emptied out into nothing, like being squeezed through a wee hole into space the contrast is too much. After a dodgy first week, work has become very enjoyable and the slow but joyous metamorphosis back to a person from machine is decent. so the foto above depicts the new behind micahs head scene from big.

One sunny day at the docks....

2007-06-12T15:31:00.000+01:00

It always happens, you find your self in a piece of waste land on a sunny day feeling glorious and over confident! This was several months back now but the story has gone relatively untold so it now will be extradited.... after a further exploration of the now gutted H&W old head office building in the docks we thought we'd take a walk over to the nearest crane in serach of any derelict buildings to explore, but to no avail.... in stead we came across a series of cazims which to the naked over confident eye seem very JUMPABLE [about 3m across]... no....no... not at all so after we got the camera setup and pete unhappily positioned in the cazim with the image of a glorious shot of a massive leap and the crane in the background and rough reinforcement bars and broken concrete....

......testing with rocks.....

......can i just say at this point i jumped further than this cazim of death before atemping the run....... but on cazimless areas.....

.....the coast is clear.....

.....enter micah stage right......

......AH crap [confidence makes a shock exit by the next point] theres no way im gona make it..... its sure that i WILL be killed to death......

.....no no its too late for decisions now, im a meer passenger not enjoying the ride......

.....feet first into a sound mix of oil and water and death....

.... and in......

....and stumble...

.....aye and sure why not take a seat too......

leap and photo of the century leave by the nearest exit.

ah what would we do with out continuous shooting cameras

the end...

2007-06-08T17:58:00.000+01:00

Its Degree show!

Please feel free to come down on thursday night, 6pm in the main foyer of the new building..... everyone who ever reads upon this roll of blog is welcome!

a small momento from the art college days....

2007-06-08T12:03:00.000+01:00

A good chair in these times can be a hard one, everything is so perfect and brand new it restricts the use, but a gloriously bummed up old chair found and liberated from the art college is just what is required. In essence lovely as perfect 'suites' of flumptious sofas are a man needs to be able to just USE it. Anyway the chair has been recieved and understood and been installed into the apartment. When your transport is a bicyle furniture removel is on the the hard side but by no means impossible....
The crack of course was in the response of the royal avenue'ers or lack of, it is known that belfast is to put in the polietest term not really very open to unusal goings on, so when a couple of characters come walking down royal avenue [main shopping street] with a large armchair perched on top of a bicycle the response is mixed, the wierd thing is that people either love it laughing and making comments or else stone dead zero acknowledgment not even a slight smile! The best responses were when people are just sitting minding there own business at the traffic lights and a chair come rolling by...

Degree show!!!

2007-06-04T17:52:00.000+01:00

The main Art college degree show starts tonight but Architecture will not bee part of it, final internal assenemt and external has still to be done, so we will be having a glorious last laugh exhibition on the 14th of june of everything that has been going on this year, in the world of architecture at uub. All people are welcome details will follow at an earlier date...

glourious...

2007-06-04T17:30:00.001+01:00

check out the video on mojos blog...

Sleep....What is Sleep?

2007-05-24T09:46:00.000+01:00

So it would now seem that i am NOT dead after all but just been sleeping for a while... tuesday afternoon was for me the biggest day and crux of three years, it went superbly, it was partly to do with a liter bottle of kick[cheap and very nasty tesco version of red bull] which when mixed with the adrenalin of standing up in front of 7 or 8 architects/tutors caused an almost loss of voice usability. There was much panic, the presentation had been printed on to foamex[sort of plastic stuff] and had to be mounted on the wall with wooden batons which took til about 3 on monday night then a quick blast home and started exporting the 3D walk thru[see post below], first atemp said it would take 33 hours so it was reduced abit but still took from 4;30 to 4;30 12 hours! so it was finished just 20 minutes before it was required, glorious! So needless to say tuesday night and much of wednesday morning was spent celebrating. Now a small stint of hibernation will occur and then i shall rise and become Micah once more.....

Walking through....

2007-05-24T09:43:00.000+01:00

The day the Northern Ireland cultural center stood still...

2007-05-22T10:04:00.000+01:00

This is the day, 3 years in the making, my last final review, 3 oclock my moment will arrive endure and depart. Glorious! Good times have been had by all, its crazy that this is it... computer 3d model is still being exported [panic] but is all on the wall the work spead out on display ready to be consumed in the final feast.... A return to the blog roll can be expected!

End Times...

2007-04-24T10:38:00.000+01:00

As the last weeks of my first stint of university come to an end, things have become serverly dodgy, three essays and an interm review in a week, but never the less here i find my self on the morning of another review, having had about 3 hours sleep and now eating a mars bar. It has been a long time since the joys of my life have been disclosed upon this very electronic manafestation, so i shall begin.
In essence the reason for the lull in the blog roll is partly due to the fact that life has consisted of very little other than work, and work does not provide the nesseary.[+lack of time i must confess]But alas it has not been dull in any way, it has been an existance ravaged by irregular goings on and happenings. but the purpose of this juncture in blog is to make known that i am alive and well, as my family and friends in the majority has not laid eyes upon my weary soul in some weeks.

Hole in the wall....

2007-03-28T12:04:00.000+01:00

I was amazed to find a door in the peace line, its crazy as you walk up the falls road and try and cross through any of the side streets to get over to the Shankill area each time you are meet with huge locked gates, some of which are only open during the day time on weekdays, some streets are no-longer streets but dead ends as road which once bought you from the falls to the Shankill been built over or the wall cuts across with no gate. It is actually not as simple as it may sound to get from one side of the wall to the other, it took us nearly an 30min of walking to find away across, eventually getting through the huge automated gates up past Clonard, which automatically close at 10 or 11 each night. It seems to be a forgotten reality in belfast... when i discovered they still closed the gates I find that uncomfortable as to me the troubles are very much over, to some it is the harsh reality. i recently discovered that peace line walls are still being built, another 300 meters....today... as Jerry and Ian start talking, sectarian [a word which makes our ear go deaf very time we hear it] divides are not diminishing...there is though a door in the wall, it may be welded closed [literally welded closed].

No Entry...

2007-03-28T12:00:00.000+01:00

Welded and shut...where does it lead?

Over the wall...

2007-03-28T11:05:00.000+01:00

the space between....

2007-03-28T11:00:00.000+01:00

Locked and uninhabited....the space between their gate and our gate....closed for the weekend.

ROAD CLOSED

2007-03-28T10:59:00.000+01:00

Ahh... dissertation complete.

2007-03-20T14:04:00.000Z

Ahh... the joys, to say "it is finished" is to breathe fresh oxygen. For it is true, the writings of 2007 are complete, the dissertation handed in. heres a small extract....

.....Yes, the house has become a commodity, an investment, like the ‘American dream’, a way of bettering our situations. It drives the prices of our housing up and up, making them so inaccessible without a mortgage. A mortgage that ties us to a place, to a job, to an existence, which we maybe didn’t even choose. A mortgage that drives us deeper into the social mould of buying into a pre-packed lifestyle; it is no longer about home or place, but market value. It creates the atmosphere that makes our choices for us and drives out all personality from our houses. Squeezing us all into a conformity of known values, this works, so it is so. It is a cycle, which keeps it
The house as a commodity drives us into materialism; a place where I have no desire to go, driving everyone somewhere, they all want to go. But I think in some ways that is the harsh reality, that money is what is driving the commodity machine and it money that’s driving the people.....

“Money does talk, it swears” (Bob)

...The evolution of a house from shelter to commodity is the cause. It has driven personality from it, and has made the house rigid and un-dynamic by making those changes ‘bad’ for resale, these are all attributes that the house here once held, but no longer. It’s not about regaining the past but renewing the present; finding a new place in which these needs can be met. If we side step the moulds of conformity and commodity then we would find a place fertile for the growth of diversity and personal identity, somewhere where houses can reflect people and can change as people change. These three issues I have laid out are only my own perspective, the perspective of one who stands at the gate and looks into the garden, not as no who stands in the garden and looks back, so for this reason I cannot answer my issues but I can only know them....

....In the end it not about how, but about why, who knows but God where life will lead me, all of my plans will not hold it, but I can believe in something, the why, believe in the why am I doing this and the story begins, the how is obsolete.
I can only bring the issues and not the answers as I am at the beginning of what seems to me the greatest venture of life, the quest of living, living a rich and full existence, fighting back the moulds and crushing arms of society driven existence. Trying to repel the conditioning winds of the world and hold tight to something worth believing in....

....In this dissertation I have only touched on three of the biggest issues I feel as a young character looking out of my window at the years ahead; at the hopes and the dreams, but now; now this is it. Those were the issues, this is the life, as only life can give the answer, it’s a life’s work...

sickness is rife in our land.....

2007-02-28T12:34:00.000Z

It has become apparent in these last days that great sickness has befallen me. It struck like a hot iron without warring... leaving me in the arms of death fighting for my small and dear life [Ive Got so much to give!]... was feeling abit poor for a few days simple cold type thing then on monday there i was sitting at my desk at 407 and felt unable to continue, so i rolled of my chair into bed [which is happily situated within rolling distance from my desk] but the sickness which then insued was second to none... 15 minutes later my body temperature was rising fast and though i wasn't asleep i was having kinda nightmares, all possible fears were firing all around me, people were drowning left right and centre, shootings, murder, fires, everything that is possible, it was mental... so progressively getting worse and worse and the hallucinations getting more and more intense, serious fever was upon me....minutes became weeks and i was in a bad way... but alas naomi came bounding to my side... placing cold cloths upon me very few minutes but the fever raged on and stronger... was totally un-alive loosing all control of my body and mind i was a mere passenger.....finally at about midnight or after the decent was started though crazy wide awake dreams were still being had, the issue was that i was convinced that the hole thing was a book and it had photographs in it but they were all in the wrong place and squares of photo had got on other pages and pages were in wrong order and i couldn't get them right...but i was wide awake! Thank you Naomi for caring for me deep into the night.... was a night i will not forget in a hurry the worst of my existence.....oh the delirium!