Friday, April 01, 2005
An Embarrassing Moment And April's GDR
Another day off work and the weather couldn't decide if it wanted to rain or not. I had stuff to do around the house in the morning, but after lunch, and on Laura's request, we went to an art gallery; the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
It took us over two hours to get round it all, and I was amazed who much Laura enjoyed it. When she said she wanted to go I thought it was more the idea that had taken her fancy because of her fascination with painting. I expected her to want to leave after five minutes, but she was genuinely interested in the details of the paintings, some of which are over 500 years old.
A section of the gallery was pay-to-enter and it detailed the time of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert throughout Scotland. Laura was awe-struck by Victoria's tartan and diary excerpts.
A moment of madness occurred while in the most protected part of the gallery. Laura had taken a seat on a leather couch to look at a large painting of the Battle of Bannockburn, so I joined her. All of a sudden, the sound of the Madness classic, One Step Beyond, recorded as an MP3 from a live performance in 1980, blasted out from the inner pocket of my jacket.
I panicked and fumbled with the mobile phone and managed to answer the call from Gail. Alas, it was too late. The female curator knew who it was and appeared from nowhere to demand I turn it off. Of course I did so, apologising profusely and with a face as red as a tomato. I was sure I had turned it off on the way in, so I wasn't expecting it, but it's something I will double-check next time I go into a gallery, that's for sure.
Gail and I went to a surprise 50th birthday bash in the local Fireman's Social Club. Gail was in her element; the thought of loads of firemen in their "dirties" as she calls it - but then I thought it was rather good too. At £1.80 a nip I was in my own element!
GDR for April
With the demise of KIC Magazine last month before it really got a chance to establish, I did get the taste, but perhaps the wrong experience of freelance column writing. It was good to be in print, but I miss regret losing the opportunity to develop the columns more.
Last month went well, so this month I am going to up the anti on fiction and poetry. I found a new aspect/voice of poetry that I enjoyed writing in and I want to work more on it.
And so, this month's GDR reflects these desires.
Fiction
16 (and concluding) issues of Hunting Jack
3 new short stories
Write two Last Laugh sitcom scripts
Restart work on A Friend to Die For
Poetry
Write at least 4 new poems
Submit In The New Town Mist
Find markets for children's poems already written
Non-Fiction
Write travel article on Edinburgh Literary figures
Marketing and Promotion
Leaflet re-distribution for Hunting Jack
Promote web design services; new site maybe?
Reading and Research
Read more fiction
Catch up with KIC e-zine subscriptions
Read notes on Buddhism
Purchase books on RL Stevenson
Purchase 'Eats, Shoots & Leaves'
Buy books on poetry
Technical
Complete another 6 chapters of the Web Development manuals (chapters 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 & 19 already done)
It took us over two hours to get round it all, and I was amazed who much Laura enjoyed it. When she said she wanted to go I thought it was more the idea that had taken her fancy because of her fascination with painting. I expected her to want to leave after five minutes, but she was genuinely interested in the details of the paintings, some of which are over 500 years old.
A section of the gallery was pay-to-enter and it detailed the time of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert throughout Scotland. Laura was awe-struck by Victoria's tartan and diary excerpts.
A moment of madness occurred while in the most protected part of the gallery. Laura had taken a seat on a leather couch to look at a large painting of the Battle of Bannockburn, so I joined her. All of a sudden, the sound of the Madness classic, One Step Beyond, recorded as an MP3 from a live performance in 1980, blasted out from the inner pocket of my jacket.
I panicked and fumbled with the mobile phone and managed to answer the call from Gail. Alas, it was too late. The female curator knew who it was and appeared from nowhere to demand I turn it off. Of course I did so, apologising profusely and with a face as red as a tomato. I was sure I had turned it off on the way in, so I wasn't expecting it, but it's something I will double-check next time I go into a gallery, that's for sure.
Gail and I went to a surprise 50th birthday bash in the local Fireman's Social Club. Gail was in her element; the thought of loads of firemen in their "dirties" as she calls it - but then I thought it was rather good too. At £1.80 a nip I was in my own element!
GDR for April
With the demise of KIC Magazine last month before it really got a chance to establish, I did get the taste, but perhaps the wrong experience of freelance column writing. It was good to be in print, but I miss regret losing the opportunity to develop the columns more.
Last month went well, so this month I am going to up the anti on fiction and poetry. I found a new aspect/voice of poetry that I enjoyed writing in and I want to work more on it.
And so, this month's GDR reflects these desires.
Fiction
16 (and concluding) issues of Hunting Jack
3 new short stories
Write two Last Laugh sitcom scripts
Restart work on A Friend to Die For
Poetry
Write at least 4 new poems
Submit In The New Town Mist
Find markets for children's poems already written
Non-Fiction
Write travel article on Edinburgh Literary figures
Marketing and Promotion
Leaflet re-distribution for Hunting Jack
Promote web design services; new site maybe?
Reading and Research
Read more fiction
Catch up with KIC e-zine subscriptions
Read notes on Buddhism
Purchase books on RL Stevenson
Purchase 'Eats, Shoots & Leaves'
Buy books on poetry
Technical
Complete another 6 chapters of the Web Development manuals (chapters 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 & 19 already done)
Colin 10:37 pm