Day 295: Good Space, Good Face

Not Steve Wheeler. At all. 

Well bugger me, it's been another peach of a day. A bit of a peach theme, actually. I was visited at lunchtime by my peach of a surname-sister, Emily Moon. That's her new surname. I was Judy Moon for nearly ten years. A long time ago, but I still have heaps of letters addressed to me as such. So, nickname nepotism aside, lovely, lovely Emily came for lunch at The Hub. We had the best dhal I've ever eaten, made by Emily and full of bright green peas, orange carrots and crunchy things. The salad had wonderful colours too - beetroot purple, tomato and pepper red, the green of the leaves and some crunchy passion fruit eyeballs... little sweet crunchy things. And, of course, peaches. Well, nectarines. A ripe, juicy nectarine cut into the salad. Angel-white cottage cheese with yellow pineapple. Assaulted in the eyes and the mouth - in a good way, of course. 

Not at all sexual.

Then we had a chat about the 21-day healthier living experiment thingy - the Tasty Autumn Experiment (www.facebook.com/events/471646916186486/). My friend William and I are setting it up. Emily's helping, with ideas, meetings, foody goodness, and she's going to do some of her brilliant art for it too. *

Not an actual tiger.

I saw this dog picture today. It made me laugh and it made me think of Victoria Sandison and Cristian Muscatello. Not because they're dogs. They're both very nice. But Cristian brought us the pug dressed as a pug and Victoria has photos of pugs in rollerskates, among other things.

Apart from that - nice people all day. I was less productive than I'd have liked to be, but I have been working like a rabid dog (all dribbly and mad-eyed) so I suppose it was just my gentle time. I'm refreshed for tomorrow. More happy rabidness tomorrow, and a chance to catch up with Rob Grundel, albeit at the stupidest time of day ever thought up, and hopefully we'll both get to see the man with the most moreish face in the whole world, Steen Haakon Hansen. 

Not my face.

And I had a very pleasing call with resident fox Steve Wheeler this weekend. I was pacing around Northfields Tesco at the time. It felt a bit incongruous. Steve and Tesco are not really a good match. But I'm excited by the conversation we had. Anyone know of a brilliant living working space for two or three people where we could make creative/bodyworking/space-filling magic happen? Please?

* Bloody hell! I was just looking for the facebook page link and I saw this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSVGyBuuYD4&feature=related - never seen anything like it. Just stunning!

Day 294: Heeeeeeee!

Don't worry - it's just my wanty face

It's too late to be blogging, but here I am anyway. Thank you for work that was worth staying up for, and a VERY long day that feels a lot less so because of how much fun I've had. Thanks for 10 mins with Victoria, which - even without seeing her face - ended in idiocy and laughing too much.

I really enjoyed The Challenge AND I'm really glad it is now over. Win..... and Win! Today went well. Definitely a success. Peo

I LOVED my pitch today. Thank you Ms Bean. I love that I get to do it. I know what I have my heart set on. Oh yes. Bring. It. ON!

Day 293: Teenagers Made Me Cry

Not for losers

Teenagers made me cry by singing Lean On Me to the residents of a care home. Partly, it's moving that these sixteen-year-olds are putting themselves out there and doing it. 

Partly, it's how much their audience enjoyed that (probably the gesture as much as the music itself) and partly it's that song. Thinking about it now makes me cry. It's simple, beautiful and its message moves me every time. 

Oh, and just when I thought it couldn't get any better... Lean On Me Glee Karaoke? Get in!

Day 292: Bonkbuster Bandwagon

Eeeeee, it's late. My eyes are sticky like a cow's. My mind is wandery. Luckily, I'm sitting up at my desk, not in bed. If I was in bed, I'd be in trouble. So would you. Nonsense, that's what I'd be talking. Not like now. 

Thank you to the Daily Mail (never imagined I'd say that!) for the term 'Bonkbuster bandwagon'. I found it as I was doing my research into the '50 Shades pheonmenon'. Don't ask why. I loved it. Go, Daily Mail. You are very funny. 

I liked how today worked. Lots of things went 'wrong' but it all worked out. I got to St Pancras at 7.30 to get my train. No train until 9.25. Arse. So with the help of a nice gentleman on the station (he had a brilliant name, which I have now forgotten) I set out for Victoria station. I was late, but not in a way that affected anyone. I was grateful. As soon as I had a solution, it wasn't stressful any more. Even before, actually. I decided that I'd be chilled whatever and it felt really nice.

I'm aching to be in my softest of beds. I'm itching to be wrapped in soothing sleep. It will be balm. Come on, sleep. Balm me!

Day 291: Hola!

Muscatello and Sandison this morning?

For two doses of Victoria Sandison, I am grateful; for more work – juicy juicy – to do with our recent exciting pitch; for Donna in Kilburn being lovely and asking ‘what flavour dog was that?’ – fantastic! Cameron Off The Plane was lovely. It was great to see him again. Still feels like someone I’ve known for much longer than I have. We had a journey together but there were parts of it where one or both of us was asleep, head jutted forward, mouth open (me), or watching our tiny screens. Feels like longer than that.

Tiger suit. 

For an entertaining ride home; for the group of men dressed as tigers walking up the main road through West Hampstead; for an afternoon of charity shop promiscuity; for the dress, skirt and girly tops I found during said binge; for the links I made about where different parts of London join each other; for more and more opportunities to weave; for a few nice doses of Ruth – delightful as always; for a lovely Thai meal, great conversation and an altogether pleasant evening. 

Not a tiger suit, but mighty pretty

Day off: done. 

Day 290: A Little Bit of Bliss

Can't get over the stuffed animals

Goodness me. It seems I went back in time on my last post (from Day 288 to 287) and now, two days later, I'm up to 290. Can't knock a bit of time travel, eh? Space and time are doing that stretchy thing they do. They really are! The last few days have been SO full, it feels like a few weeks have passed since Monday. 

My group were brilliant again, even though there were only 5 of them (GCSE results); I really could eat them up, all of them. One sixteen-year-old boy in my group was six foot six. He'd have to have been a freezer meal. There's such a range at that age. Some of them look like children and some of them look very much like grown-ups. Now I understand why The Challenge has different-coloured sweat-shirts for the Challengers and the staff. Sometimes it'd just so hard to tell. The first day was packed and exciting. They were so very up for playing, this lot, even with just a few of them. They played every game bigger than expected. It was great. 

I'm still in the afterglow from Wednesday night. I was all happy and exhausted afterwards, almost in a sex way. Still, when work's really good, it's a bit like that. I've just spent a few invigorating hours doing something I love. Why not flush and feel spent? Oh god, you can tell what I've been reading, can't you? Shove it up your arse, Anastasia Steele. Right up.

I'm right, though, aren't I?

On another note, tough, it's amazing the difference in feeling when I say 'it's got to be good - how can I make sure it's flawless' and 'I wonder what will happen if we do...'. The latter is definitely what I'm for. I caught myself willing it to be good as I was on the way there, so I made a commitment to ignore it and be playful and puppy-faced. It worked (for me//most of the time). I loved it. I'm grateful to them for humouring me.

Today, my whole group was back and they did so well. I was very proud of them and feel privileged to have got to work with them. Oh dear, my eyes are beginning to go weird. Just quickly, then, can I just say 'BEST PITCH ACTUAL EVER'. We laughed such a lot, before, during and after. Still laughing, actually. It was AMAZING. There's not much I can say, really, apart from thank you - Victoria Sandison is amazing. The others were too. I still can't quite get over it. 

And today, my group made me cry a little bit by being brilliant and by giving me a card. Lovely, lovely, lovely. A little bit of bliss right there. 

Day 289: Joy, Repentance, Joy, Joy

The bug-eyed dog of repentance

I've done it again. Late Blog. I'm sorry. I'm so tired that my eyes are twitch-itching and red, my bum is asleep from sitting on the floor and my eyes are doing whatever they like. But today jusr rocked and yesterday was ace too, but I didn't blog.

I shall hardly peep today, either. Just to say, though 'Hoooray, Immo's back!'. We walked to the venue from the train station this morning and that was very pleasing. And then my group came. Courtney is a mentor I've worked with before and he's lovely. Helen is new and she's lovely. And my group? Lovelylovelylovelylovelylovely. I could go on. They're intelligent, forthcoming, playful, generous and they look out for each other. I'm in awe of them.  Fabulous trip to visit some elderly people and if that wasn't enough, I then got to go and play with a group of improvisers in LSE.

I had a fabulous, clappy, delightful time. They were great. They played loads. I played loads. I felt light and full of glee as we tried out some stuff that I love. Worth every second, even though I'm now spent. It's a happy, tired, positive kind of exhaustion. All good. 

AND I have a brilliant poetry book by Rachel Rooney, that she gave me, and it's brilliant. It's called The Language of Cat and it's won a prize and everything. She goood. 

AND I got a breakfast invitation from lovely Emily, for Friday morning. Silly early. What a great thing to do. I'll swim first. 
Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!

Nuff saiid.

Day 288: Sorry Hedgehog

Hedgehog of sorryness

My blog is late. I feel badly about it, so I offer you this badly stuffed hedgehog. I hope it makes up for it. It worked for me.

Yesterday was fully of tasty goodness. I had the pleasure of working with the wonderful, funny, tiniest of pikeys, Victoria Sandison yesterday. Oh, we laughed. We always do. We worked together at Hasbro and we were always really conscious of the fact that we laughed a lot. We curbed our Little Spanish Man in public (sometimes - let's not exaggerate - he got a good airing) and we were always careful to make sure we were seen to be 'working hard' as well as laughing so that it didn't look like we were just a pair of dossy tossers. 

What a joy it is, then, to have nobody to answer to and nobody to decide whether or not we're working hard enough. We laugh and create magic. It's fucking amazing! We had so much fun yesterday, and I'm really proud, pleased and excited about the things we came up with. 

I'm absolutely delighted to announce that yesterday, I wore a dress and looked like a girl. I felt really good with it, too. It was thanks to Anna Levy looking girly and hot as usual and to Loose Baker wearing a very cool flowery dress. I was going to wear my dress in the evening, but I put it on for the day instead. It was a pleasure. Vic then accompanied me to buy some cheap and girly shoes (rationale being if I have shoes that I can wear with a skirt or dress, my usual excuse no longer works and I can wear dresses much more of the time). It's fun cycling in a dress too, in a breezy way. 

In the evening, I in my dress and shoes, I had the pleasure of beautiful Celine Boulhaya and her birthday celebrations, which included beloved egg Adeel Ahmed, who looked regal in his Eid clothes, Stephanie Boyle - a delight of a woman, Nick Moorhead - a peach if I ever saw one, Hainsley and Rahul, who continue to amuse and delight me, Diana, Ria... and so many lovely people who love my Pudding as much as I do. And Paul Hawkins! I haven't seen him in beards! He was one of the loveliest housemates I've ever had and I loved seeing him so happy.

Day 287: Challenge Accepted

Delighted by happy, lovely teens today. They all sang 'Rehab' into ribena bottles during their lunch break. One of them played keyboards and drums incredibly well. He accompanied. He was one of the quieter ones - totally at his ease behind a musical instrument. 

We also played with diaphragm breath yesterday, prompting to all start shouting to the other end of the playground as soon as we went outside. They had a race, too. It really made me laugh. They were so pleased to win.  

Once again, I was very proud of them in their presentation. They were playful and loud on stage and most of them seemed really comfortable (even though they were all nervous). I loved that group. They were fabulous. Very grateful for them and for the job itself. The staff were very pleasing today too. Lovely Tom (with whom I share a mutual friend, it seems). Keisha, who's lovely. Some very attractive boys on the staff (I say boys intentionally - even the mentors are mostly 15-20 years younger then me, so I'm admiring them in a very gentle way, so as not to break them).

I am grateful, now, for my bed and my brain. I'll sleep like it was my job. With purpose.

Day 286: Smash!

I have no words for how good yesterday was, nor how tired I was at the end of it, hence no blog post. Despite how much I love writing it, I just couldn't muster it. I had to sleep and I'm very glad I did. Getting up this morning was so much easier for it. 

I had my slide back into The Challenge and I'm delighted to be back. I have been blessed with a fabulous group of young people, pleasing mentors and a fabulous support team (full of Irish Emily, Challenge Tom and Keisha back again - great stuff). I'm sure tomorrow will be fun. I like and respect these people, all of them. It's a pleasure to be working with them.

Nowhere near this dangerous

After that, the Hub Islington Summer Party. I had a ball. Most people were drinking Pimms and I swear I saw the odd bottle of champagne. There was Rounders, which I was all set not to enjoy, but I had a lovely time. Following that, the Hub Olympics. So much fun. So much playing. My involvement included a tug of war, Dangerous Twister and an egg and spoon race that culminated - thanks to me - in Egg Roulette. One of the eggs was not cooked, so we all bashed them against our foreheads. Mine was raw. There are photos. Instant karma.

I could have stayed and played with these pleasing people when they all went back to Liora's place to carry on and I wanted to - I really felt part of this group, all loved and welcomed, - but I contented myself with a wee and trucked off up Archway Road and to bed. You know the rest. For once, though, no 'oh, I'm not in it because (insert story). I chose to go home because I wanted to be on form for today. I was sorry to leave but happy too. I had a great night and I was fresh(ish) this morning to go off for another day with my delicious Challenge ninjas. 

Rob Grundel pleased me on the phone. Sounding as croaky as I do, though for different reasons. He's having a full and fabulous Edinburgh with his lovely family and the other Rob. We're in Copenhagen at the end of them month. I'm excited. A full teambuilding day. Brilliant, brilliant stuff. I get to do what I love and be playful and paid for it. How lucky am I? And it's great to have someone I can totally rely on and love working with to do it with me. It'll be a good bag of discoveries, this event. For everyone involved. That's my plan, and what they're paying us for. Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant. Grateful doesn't cover it. Joyful. Excited. Curious. 

Ruth and I arrived home at the same time and I spent a lovely evening with her, eating omelette and peas and some perfect runner beans from her garden. There are so many little things I'd forgotten - and which still remain out of my reach. I'm grateful, though, always, to the lovely bus drivers who drop me off at a station on my way home; to the people in the centres we visit, who humour us and let us spend time with their residents. I'm happy to be part of this and I'm blown away by the quality of the stuff the groups come up with and the way they switch on and bring it, most of them, when they get into that context. Watching some of them light up at different things - at a comment or an experience with an elderly person, at a success they've had, a good idea, a successful showcase or a good bit of learning - it's absolutely fabulous. God, I'm grateful. That's good, isn't it? It is.

Day 285: Don't Forget The Storms

How can I possibly have forgotten flying through an electrical storm? Unless I'm part of an action movie and that's the bit where I'm spectacularly struck, change into a latent superhero(ine) waiting for the catalyst that will make me become my new true self and then forget it ever happened, thus allowing me to do a self-discovery/coming of age/self-acceptance dance at some point in the story.

That's not what happened. We were flying over Kuala Lumpur et al and there was a bunch of electricity doing stormy things in the sky quite far off. Far from fear, I felt intense excitement and awe at their beauty. They were almost sepia in tone, but dramatic and all brand new. Very good, they were. A first. An exciting first. 

I need to be asleep, but not without mentioning a lovely day, a delicious communal meal with very good people all round and a tentative launch of the idea William and I have had (with the help of The Hix), to run a 21-day healthy food challenge/experiment in September. And then another Best Meeting Ever with people in LA, some work done and a delightful evening with Victoria Sandison, off of Brave. She rocks like nobody else. Unique and brilliant, that girl. I can't believe that what we're getting paid to do is so so so much fun. I'm loving it. Loving it with big hands. Fuck yeah!

My life is pretty fucking good right now. Thank you. 

Day 284: Talking Turkey

Thank you, Catherine Semark, for the joy of watching this man lose his shit at a load of turkeys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9lT3wZNWw4&feature=youtu.be

Today has been amazing - it had beloved, fabulous Pudding in it and superpoet Rachel Rooney, up from Brighton, and a hug from lovely Anna Levy and all sorts of other goodness. 

It's had impromptu job possibility (or two), a maybe place to live that's within my budget and well placed and a dog with curly brown hair. Can't beat a man laughing at turkeys, though. Nothing beats that. 

Day 283: Good To Be Back

"Welcome Back"

Well, hello, Blogger. Hello, familiar interface. Hello, 23.36 as a start time, still with the intention of posting before midnight. Aaaaah, it's good to be back.

I have been blogging. Ish. I've written almost every night. I consider nights that happen during 30+-hour flights don't count. You can't really tell when they are anyway - you just know you've been up a long time and you wish you'd had the mettle to say no to the dodgy-looking muffin that was thrust at you to curb the boredom, but you know you pretty much never will. Aah, embrace it. Eat that fatty dough and be happy with it. It's all part of the experience! 

So yes, I wrote. I wrote a lot. I still haven't decided, though, whether I'll post those posts or not. I may, in the interests of consistency and courage, if nothing else. Or I won't. I'm not sure yet. The act of blogging every night was completed and I enjoyed it very much. That I was tired doesn't cover it. Tired I was, but envigorated and all over the place too. It was fabulous, but from what I remember (I haven't yet read back), quite contextless and weirdy. We'll see. Soon, I'll decide.

In the meanwhile, back to today. Bugger me, I'm grateful. For one thing, I'm still awake. It's 23.41. I've been up since about 9. Now I'm starting to feel tired, which seems very right. But I"m still standing (or sitting) and I'm ready to write. That's got to be good. 

I had a lovely day. The Hub was Annaless, which is never quite as good as when it's Annaed up to the eyeballs, but it was nice to be back. I saw Misters Hix and Reason, Lady Rebel and lovely Jen, among many others. William and I (and the Hixster) decided we'd do a thing and the thing is probably going to be something like The Eatwell Experience. We're going to start late August/early September and do a group balanced eating session - 21 days, all about eating in a balanced way, drinking water and playing a game/doing an experiment to see what it does to your mind and body. I've heard it said that 'nothing tastes as good as fit and healthy feels' and I realise I've never really been as fit and healthy as I could be. I suppose the closest would have been on the farm at Esalen - I was toned and fit from doing physical work every day, but I still ate a lot of gunk and wasn't hugely happy in my head. This time, then, will be a revelation. I feel great already, so imagine how amazing I could feel with a body clear of all the junky, sticky, achy stuff I often eat. I'm excited about that. We're going to talk about it at Thursday's Sexy Salad lunch. Wahay! Should be good. 

A Peace-faced Giraffe

Good times with Nikki - she's brilliant, and looking fabulous too, with new hair and everything! Great to talk to her. We shall do some yoga next week. That will be good. And then this evening. Thank you so much for my rich seam of lovely Em that I blatantly got to mine this evening. She really is something, that girl... A soul and a half. A real delight. We talked and ate thai food, swam and swapped. It was so good. SO good. I feel blessed, and she gave me one of the nicest compliments I think I've ever had, for which I'm almost floored with gratitude. Wow.

I left her just after the meal, to go to the supermarket. As I queued to pay, my phone went off, but I couldn't' find it. I crouched down and looked, and swore  saw it moiving. The aldy there was beign sligtly ex;reas]]sskvkkkkkkkk/  Oh dear... I spoke too soon. So, another girl and I offered up our phones to phone hers , then her mother's, so they can' get back to e by hometime. Then cn I go home? CAn I,can IO[[

Time to succumb. Till next time, fabulous poeple. Till soon.