This Week

Ok, so in keeping with my new years resolution here is a new blog about this week and the things that I have been doing, hold onto your hats people here it is...

On the subject of hats, I bought a new one this week, on friday me and Karys went to london to trawl through the sales at 'big' shops. (This was a particularly heroic trip for Karys as she braved the outside world despite feeling under the weather)

All in all the trip wasn't a massive success in part due to the fact I am a very picky shopper, and also because I am a very small specimen of man and find it difficult to find clothes that fit, However I did get a hat, and some new shirts, (which I am modelling below)

It should be noted Karys does not approve of this shirt, due to there being a lady on it, but kindly agreed to take the picture anyway.

Karys, bought a Jumper with a boat on it.

Also during this trip Karys revealed that she doesn't know the difference between Hugh Laurie and Ryan Reynolds.

hmmm...

She revealed this by pointing at a picture of Ryan Reynolds in a Hugo Boss advert on the subway and quoting a line from a TV advert for a face cream product starring Laurie. She later claimed that she was making some form of witty comment, but I think that this was to save face at having made such a horrendous mistake.


Also this week, I have been working with a group of advertising students, who are considered sworn enemies of the graphics group, but actually are just normal creative-y types like us. we have been working on making a new celebratory day, and after three days of banging our heads against walls came up with a day of logging precious memories to raise for dementia awareness day. The idea being that in logging a persons most precious memory and putting it on display, they think how bad it would be to lose that memory and thus awareness of the plight of people with dementia is raised. We will be setting up a website and optional money collection to collect and display the memories.
The main problem we are having currently is avoiding bad taste jokes in the run up to the event, things like:

"Don't forget, Dementia awareness day, 17th september 2012"

or

"Remember! 17th September 2012 is Dementia awareness day"

Finally this week we got some rather exciting 'Beat Magnets' news which is super exciting and awesome, but unfortunately I am unable to divulge that information for a little while, so until then you'll just have to keep franticly checking our facebook and twitter pages in the hope of getting a hint.

...Wade 

Beat Magnets

To start the backlog of blogs from 2011, I'm going to start with one of the most recent events, (that also happens to be the easiest to find images for)

The new band 'Beat Magnets'

We formed a towards the end of the year after much frustration at not being musicians anymore (we'll at least on the part of myself, Duffield and G) we found a new Bassist (Pearce also known as P'sneer) and Drummer (Smithy, also known as James Smith) and a place to practice and we were set, we have our first gig coming up (28th of November at East West bar Reading if you are around) and I for one am very excited, feels like forever since I've performed with a band, and its one of my favorite feelings.

As ever we had trouble coming up with a name for the band and eventually settled on beat magnets after deciding that the best formula for a band name was:

A one syllable word, followed by a 2 syllable word

Having decided this we just threw together names that followed this rule until we hit on one that we unanimously thought was... "Ok, I guess" 

"ok... I guess"

The band builds on the (somewhat shaky) foundations of 'Ricky and the Pigeons' and 'Battery Powered' with the aim of a fuller rockier sound, we have decided to forgo labelling our music with a genre, other than 'rock' because its an easier way of saying "we play music with guitars and it is loud and might make you want to dance a bit"

...and thats pretty much it, the new band 

Us, complete with harsh lighting and logo

...wade

Still in the game

Hello Blog Readers!

This is my 3rd attempt at writing this blog today after discovering it whilst trawling through my various online profiles. It's my 3rd attempt because on 2 occasions blogger decided I didn't really want the 2 or 3 pages of text I had written and simply deleted them instead of publishing them like I asked.

Anyway despite this I am once again writing to this blog as I realised I havent done so for a whole year, and when I looked back at 2009 and 2010s posts it saddened me a little to think that I would have to rely on my 'fuzzy at best' memory to remember the events of 2011.

Aside from the massive amounts of newsworthy stuff that happened in 2011, (if you want to read about that stuff you are in the wrong place this is a highly introverted and narcissistic about Me!) it was a full and action packed year, so much so that I can hardly believe I didn't blog about it.

For example in 2011:

1. I finished my first year of university (apparently we dont get a grade, but I passed, so... yay)
2. Whilst celebrating point one with my course mates I drank so much I nearly died and lost my drivers licence, which I am still yet to replace
3. I moved out of my student flat, and into a normal flat, in reading with Karys, where I am responsible for paying for everything (...yay)
4. I started/joined a new band 'Beat Magnets' with Duffield and G from 'Ricky and the Pigeons' and new friends Pearce and Smithy (who play Bass and Drums respectively)
5. I began applying for internships and placements at graphic design firms.

Its point number 5 that brought me here and to writing this blog, as a graphics student applying for internships much of what potential employers think of you is done before they meet you, and may even dictate if they want to meet you at all. So with this in mind I have been going through my online presence making sure I am available anywhere a potential employer is going to look, and that I don't look like a fool when they get there.

Currently my online arsenal consists of
- A professional and personal Tumblr
- A professional and personal Twitter
- A professional and personal Blog
- A professional website
- A linkedin profile (which is like job facebook)
- An Online portfolio

I keep track of most of this through my iPod or Phone (I want to get an iPhone as I find the iOS interface much easier and quicker to use, have to save up my pennies) and on top of this I also help manage the band's online presence as well.

My new years resolution this year is to:
- Tweet as a graphic designer twice (at least) every day I am in Uni
- Blog as a graphic designer once a week (at least)
and
- Keep on top of my personal blogs and twitters and things, I want to update this blog for instance about  once or twice a week with what I'm doing so it doesn't slip into obscurity like last year.

 until next time

...wade