Faux_punk Inside

Funny how the mind goes off in tangents. I took this pic because it's one of my favourite t-shirts (i.e. I was wearing it today and when I needed a blip, laziness & lack of inspiration reminded me that it's one of my favourite t-shirts). But taking it got me thinking of all other stuff.

First up, it reminded me of the day I bought it. We were in Miami. It was our first holiday together - September, 2006. The woman in the shop asked what language we were speaking... she didn't understand our scottish accent at all :-s

We also bumped (almost literally) into Boris Becker in sunglass Hut that night. Mathew asked 'Who?' I was more stunned by that than the fact that we'd been within touching distance.

So then I got to thinking about how, for me, the punk really is more inside, now. Gone are the days of multi-coloured hair. Unless the occasional grey amongst my brown counts. And my tastes in music are mellowing. Either that or chart/pop stuff is simply better than it was 5-15 years ago!

And then the obvious struck me. I got to thinking about online identities. When I wear this t-shirt, punk really is inside. I've been faux_punk for almost 10 years now. it pees me off a little when some sites (not naming any names, blipfoto) force me to drop my underscore. It started as a throw-away easy email address - a bit tongue in cheek, because I was too 'nice' to be a real punk. And a decade on, I've realised I've more or less branded myself. I'm as much faux_punk as I am Dod Ross. And possibly more than I am George Ross.

Told you... tangents...

Anyway, the meeting with my dissertation supervisor went really well. She likes what I've done (huge relief) and gave some good advice on what to change, and what to make sure I don't change. She won't let me stop at the 20,000 words needed for my dissertation, but will push me to finish the entire novel with an aim to publishing it. And she wants me to meet her agent. You can imagine, I was buzzing when I left her office today. Chapter 5 will be written before the week's out, and I'm really looking forward to meeting her again in three weeks. Oh, and she also asked if I'd photograph her, as she needs a pic for her own publicity. I'm really looking forward to it.

For anybody who's interested, her website is here. Stevie is an inspiration, to have such words of encouragement from somebody who is well published is great... but it's not just encouragement, she also tells it like it is! I'm all excited about my writing again.

After meeting Stevie, I had a look for some photography books in the library, but was fairly disappointed. Then off into Swansea city centre to meet Cath and her baby Megan. She's on maternity leave at the moment, and it was great having some time to properly catch up, rather than just the 10 minutes here and there at work. Also great to meet the wee one. She's a lively, cheery contended little soul who didn't scream when I briefly held her.

A good day, rounded off by a trip with Mathew to look at new cars, and a right good snooze on the couch before tea.

A question that occurred to me just before I came upstairs to blip... what does the queen watch when BGT's on? And if that's what she watches, is she allowed to vote?