85. Do the hand jive

RIGHT... an update with IMAGES! IMAGE HEAVY ALERT!!!

Today I have got my back tyres replaced, and I wish to do some painting / drawing (for business cards and such), and print out a picture, and make some cake, etc etc etc.

Here are some images of what I've been doing:

Created the sketch for this just before the "Swan Lake on Ice" show started, came home & coloured it in. Squidget also made a sea captain picture, I want to do more "we should draw THIS" things, it makes us create things we otherwise might not.

First doodle I did at Golant, just painted it, no pre-sketching or anything. I like that he has no body, and he only has snapped strings as I decided I couldn't paint in all 4 in such a small space with such a not so small brush...

Went on a walk which resulted in a sketch for this, and then creating a more "proper" image of it, which is this. I also then doodled this:

Which seems to be peoples favourite current doodle on Society 6 (well, of my stuff) which surprises me as I thought they'd prefer the other more "done" stuff. This is, REALLY, a doodle.

One the same page I also made this doodly doodle of 3 girls, because I had paint leftover, and I really don't like wasting it.

The hostel is thinking of making a muffin / cupcake business, to help raise more money for the place. I created some easy little labels to stick on them (dashed line to write on what the cakes are).

And THIS is a sketch I did some many days back, but I tried to paint it and it wouldn't work and I got frustrated so I drew it out and did it digitally in the end. And that worked, mmhmm.

The on came a couple of "lairier" bits, a mermaid with three tails...

And an image for my assistant manager who is leaving Golant soon, to go back to Treyarnon Bay YHA. I hope she doesn't see it before I give it to her.

More stuff soon, I hope... but I can't upload images or words onto the internet at Golant (incase my, or anyone else's memory stick had a virus on it. It'd affect the whole YHA system!), so it could be a week or two. Sorry!

And here are some of what OTHER folks have been doing:

A photo of a baby Snub Nosed monkey from National Geographic... they aren't so cute when older (the same applies to most things, apart from humans, and human babies... well... yeurgh!).

The moon on the 19th March was MASSIVE. Found this via National Geographic, too. It's over New York - appropriate for some (not me).

My mate tall Will does funky photograph related things. Here is a solagraph of the sun moving over part of Falmouth (in the direction of my house!) over the course of a few months / weeks or so. He sent me a link to this:

The same sort of thing but elsewhere, by Tarja Trygg. It's so lovely seeing how the sun moves... mmmm the sun.

Owen Davey graduated from Falmouth a few years back, and this is DELICIOUS!

84. I'm a total bore.

OH FALMOUTH, how I love you!
Woke up 6:30, watched the sunrise – well, part of it. The bit which wanted to show itself to me. Which was most of it – the bright orange sun appearing over the hill, some pink fluffy cloud above it… mmm. It sucks not having keys to the hostel, though. Can I have some yet, please? Someone was a bit late to join me on breakfast duty, so I couldn’t get in! Thankfully I found Ben & got keys off of him, and then Rachel came and joined me and so everything ran wonderfully smoothly and then… OFF AND AWAY!

It’s not a bad drive from Fal to Golant, my driving was a bit shit though as my tyre air was VERY low, and even another van driver honked me whilst next to me at a red light, & said “your back tyres are desperately low!!!” sort of thing, so I found a garage & pumped em up. I am yet to learn a lot more about vehicles & their needs. And… I’ll need to get a new set of back tyres. They’re very bald. Yes indeed I will. Perhaps that can be my job tomorrow.

But the sun was shining, and even though I had to pay £2 for parking as I couldn’t find a space, that was made better within 2 hours as:
-I got to use the INTERNET!
-When I moved Hector 2 hours later, I did a VERY nifty bit of parking, pat on the back to moi!

After that I went for a wander into Falmouth town, it was lovely! It’s crazy how much one can miss a place.
I went right to the end of the high street to the old high street, to the Natural Store. I’m not really meaning to be very VERY personal & all, but I went there on a mission: TO BUY A MOONCUP.

A Mooncup, you may ask? Well, the first time I heard about them was when there were adverts for them pasted all over the backs of toilet doors at Glastonbury… didn’t really look into it much, though. The next time was when my cousin Dan came to stay, she said they were really good as they totally reduce both waste and costs of BEING FEMALE. What are they? Well, I’m going to leave it to you to look it up. If you don’t like super girly things (this may apply to any chaps out there) then you may not want to. I can warn you that they aren’t the cheapest things to buy (roughly £20) but I’m sure they’ll be worth it in the end.

After than I skipped past a couple of charity shops, in one I found a lovely shade of turquoise jumper – 50p – nothing wool or anything, just cheap, but I have slight plans for it. The other shop I found a glorious “hippy Indian” throw / hanging / scarf / piece of pretty. Lovely! Now I just have to argue with myself as to what I’m going to use it for. As you can tell I was on a little bit of a spree… but the sun was out and I’m going to get paid a little soon! Not that I want to spend it all, but these things are mostly all useful… I went on to Boots, where I bought some liquid plaster (Germolene stuff – in catering you may well have to wear those blue ones, but they CAN fall off and they SUCK! Where as this Germolene stuff is good as if you put 2 layers of it on, it doesn’t come off (even in the shower!) and can’t be seen, and doesn’t make your finger smell. Yes, it’s the way forwards. Especially since I’ve been getting little cuts on my hands left right and centre, which I only find out about when I make a citrusy fruit salad or do the washing up. Yowch. Also got some chiropractic heel things for putting in my steel toe capped Doc’s – it’ll hopefully make my feet far happier in the kitchen.

I then went and sat on some quiet steps down to the sea, where I watched Flushing, and the boats go by, and basked in the sunshine whilst still feeling as if I was still missing Falmouth, despite me being there.

Walking back I passed our landlord Jeremy "Jezza" on the street, he's so forgetful - asked me what year we were in! Third, silly! Otherwise we would need another year in the house!!
Roskillys icecream shop was open, which definately signals the start of summer. The bald chap was in there, so I had my normal conversation with him of "oh, I never know what to have" and then after 5ish minutes "I think I'll go with the apple crumble, it's not warm enough for orange and mascerpone" (I ALWAYS go for apple crumble). He told me to try the blackcurrant cheesecake some day, but I reminded him that I'm not a great fan of blackcurrents (we've had that conversation before).
So I went and licked my icecream on some steps on the quay - not the best place, as that place was already taken, but it made me notice that I'd never sat on those steps before, and that Trago Mills is on stilts!!
Then to Tescos to pick up some grub & milk to keep me surviving, it was good as my two favourite Tescos workers were in there (mmhmm!), always makes a day better.

Munched on some reduced chicken & vegetable sushi in the sun in the back yard, and then indulged some more in the interwebs before shooting off to Lisa's for food, wine, and nattering. It was good to see a friendly face again. Well, a friendly face I hadn't seen in a while, who I know well.

The walk back was nice, the night was clear so I could see the stars, and it smelt like an early summer evening, and on Arwenack avenue the lamposts were making silhouettes of the trees and leaves on the floor. Lovely jubly.

83. Where were we...

Bedtime. Again. Definitely, got to be up in 6.5 hours! Could have gone to bed earlier, but Siobhan, Rachel & I were sitting at the top of the stairs having a good natter about life. Mmhmm!

A few things in my brain have got sorted out, I don’t reckon I actually want the duty manager job as I’m not sure I’ll want to stay here after October (a couple of reasons, nothing awful, but… yeeeah). Rachel is thinking the same, but with catering manager job. We shall see indeed! Wherever life takes us / we take ourselves / a joint effort.

Off to Falmouth tomorrow night, for 2 nights. I need it, yes indeed I do! It’ll be good in the summer once Hector is all kitted out, I’ll be able to take myself off in my off days and just crash in the back of him.
The stars are lovely and out tonight.
My feet ache like… HELL tonight.
Goodnight. I’ll post this all on teh interwebs tomorrow when I indulge myself ALL EVENING on MSN & Facebook & such. H’OH YUS.

Night y’all!

82. I want you-oo-oo

Mrrr.
Hello, first hangover of Golant.
It was the big wedding party last night, and although we weren’t essentially wedding guests, we (myself, Rachel, and Ben) decided to turn our night off into a little party. Drank down some pints of Heligan Honey (mmm), I munched on some of the leftover hog roast (my god!), and we nattered, and raced, and attempted to barn dance, and tried to stick Rachel into the toilet with sellotape, but failed as she is TOO CLEVER, and saw it. Later on we sat in our staff living room and listened to music (well, went “YEAH I LOVE THIS SONG! AAAHHH!”).
So yes… we’re now all a bit zombieish.
Whilst cleaning, I looked out of the window (room 7 or so, I’d say. Nice view of the river) and it was raining/hailing BEAUTIFULLY. The sort when it’s just coming straight down, not too hurried but still fast, thickly, and making a constant “shh” sound. When you can see some strange body of it even in the distance. I just thought it was excellent, so stuck my head out the window (fresh air was greatly good).

On a different note, SOME PEOPLE ARE SO DISGUSTING.
And on a different note again, I really love serving food to people off of the hot plates thinger (like a dinner lady!).

Mmm… bed. Today is definitely a bed day.

81. Plum on the run.

Didn’t write much yesterday… but I’m sure that’s FINE.
Today I worked 7am-4pm, and I’ve been lazing about since. I’m now watching River Garden, and feel a little bad about all the crap I’ve eaten today (lots of leftovers from cooked breakfast…. So… well…). And then there’s the rest…
Must remember instead of nabbing old cold croissants, to grab a TOMATO. Especially since here in the hostel they’re so fresh! Because they get used, and then more get bought.

I’d like a proper set of sharp knives for the kitchen, please. In fact, I’d like a properly equipped kitchen, and a pot washer.
Butternut squash and peanut butter soup, with a squeeze of lime… that sounds GOOD… with chopped coriander and natural yoghurt on top. OM NOM NOM! I can has blender?

Weddings are odd… the ACTUAL wedding didn’t happen here, however a LOT of drinking Pimms did.
“Feeling exhausted? Dark circles? Try this make up to put over it! With caffeine inside it!”. Really. REALLY. I don’t think that makeup will make you less exhausted. Some adverts are ridiculous.

Old saying “the devil himself was too scared to go to Cornwall, in case he ended up in a Cornish pasty” (does this mean that the Cornish will put ANYTHING in a pasty?). Apparently. River Cottage man is making pasties. They DO look good… and he put it in his pocket. “I can’t tell you how comforting it feels, digging, with a hot lunch in my pocket” (I reckon it should have got crushed by now, he was bending over a lot).

80. I don't like tea.

30. Your highs and lows of this month.

March was pretty daaamn good. My cousin Dan was down for a while, so we went off on a few little adventures, the sun re-appeared for the year (come on summer!), and I went on a miniature adventure to Lands End with Squidget. Saw a musical and an ice show, my birthday occurred and we sat on the beach at night with food, ale, good company, and musical stuff.

On the low, I suddenly noticed that I was soon to leave Falmouth for soon, being near the end of my degree and such. I failed to go to a couple of things – parties, the BTCV weekend away…
But the highs KILL the lows, as there’s so many more of them! Live with optimism! (occasionally easier said than done, but it’s worth a try!).

Wow… never seen so many well dressed people in one Youth Hostel. No… never seen well dressed people in a Youth Hostel!!!
The wedding weekend started today, people started to appear, and I spent a long, LONG time cleaning up after the school party who were here before them. Messy school.

79. I'll have it in pine...

29. Goals for the next 30 days

-Get my illustrated book image finished to a level that I am happy with.
-Get at least 2 projects done for uni.
-Do not watch that TV unless it’s just to be sociable!
-Sort stuff for a car boot sale.

-Start thinking about finding agents to see in London.

-Get on with putting a fabulous portfolio together.

-Get the van bed finished.

I know they aren’t exactly AMAZING goals, but… I just need to get some stuff sorted at the moment. Nothing much just for me, it’s just for my life. Self pampering can come later. Perhaps in June. Definitely in June.

Arrrgh… I now know why I don’t watch TV; the real reason is because we don’t have one, the OTHER reason is because I’ve just watched the TV here at Golant for maybe… two hours? I don’t even know WHY I was watching it, all the programmes were scheisse and it made my eyes go funny. But the day is not entirely wasted, no! Not at all! I had a lie in and so my alarm went off at 9am and I got out of bed a few minutes later, then did some arty farty stuff (“coloured in” a pictcharr), and then Ben and Rachel came back from morning shift & we had a brief natter & Rachel gave me some post which I’m GUESSING was from my dad via Amazon, as it was an OS walking map of this area (I HAD asked for one to be sent, but not a brand new one!!). But yes, I decided that even though the day was a tad grey, and a little moist, I’d go for a walk into Golant village. Off I went along the drive, coming to the footpath and walking through a field which has longish grass which rustled in the wind, and birds (skylarks?) twittering above my head. On I went and walked past a field in which I looked into and 2 pigs came running up to the fence to great me, oink oinky snuffle grunt. Nice and nice, looked those piggies. Shame they were behind 2 barbed wire fences and a bit of hedge – apparently that farmer is paranoid about foot and mouth. Walked past a dead rabbit (on my way back I walked past it again, and it’s guts had been torn open & it’s eyes pecked out). There were some cows with new calves in the field, one teeny calf was propping itself up in a corner. Went briefly into the churchyard on top of the hill, then walked down the hill. Wandered through the village, it’s quite pretty, and onwards over the china clay works railway to by the river. Here I ate my lunch of a tine of sardines in spring water, and a chocolate brownie. Pondered life a little, then walked back up the hill (puffing a bit, it’s steep!!) and went back to the church as I wanted to look in it, and last time there had been other people. Looked in, it was drizzling at this point, and looked through the visitor book to see if any folks from places I knew had visited. The organ player came in and I talked to her for a while, friendly woman, said that the hostel is in the perfect location. I left the church and sat under a tree in the churchyard, eating an apple and being rained on whilst listening to birds tweeting and the wind blowing. It felt good; mysteriously good for someone who is getting soggier by the minute. Continued walking back “home” (went the say way as I came, contemplated making a circle walk but felt a little lazy), on the way I looked in the pig field again and there were 2 male pheasants chasing each other – when they saw me they stopped, and walked slowly about for a while, ignoring each other, then when I hid a bit they chased each other again! Gay lovers? Embarrassed by their squabbles? Who knows! Home, then went into hostel to check e-mails and talk to Paul.
I asked 3 questions:
-How do I get the global gossip internet thing? He doesn’t have a clue, suggested asking Ben… I hope he knows. Internet is getting more important, sort of.

-The catering manager job… do I have a chance? He said that it’d be better if I applied for another up coming position… duty manager! BASICALLY, assistant manager. Siobhan is leaving, so the position will be opening. I’m more qualified for that, too. Sounds important! I’ve e-mailed Chris Long (YHA jobs chap) about it. Eee! Ohh… it’s scary, and a little daunting, but… what’s to lose?
-Cake illustrations… would he like them now. He’s got ‘em now, and we sorted out a couple of other things too. Friendly chap indeed.
For supper I made up a batch of veggie Thai green curry, that’ll last me for a few days, since it looked like it’ll be super busy for the weekend (the wedding going on, and all).

Whoops, I appear to have piddled someone off by applying for this new job… even though they have had exactly as equal chance to apply themselves? It’s a strange, frustrating world sometimes.