Eye know

The final picture from my research in to Captivated vs Captivity, and this is by far my favourite. The creature's look speaking without words, but saying so much.

With eyes full of words, the world sat before. 
Looking for life, his life passed in front, 
the day starting with silence and ending with more.
The words watched and the face told,
as the gates opened, but not for him.

Baby Business: Week 21, toilet humour

Perfected raspberry blowing. Tick

Perfected screeching full volume. Tick

Perfected the discreet burp. Definitely not!

I will apologise in advance for lowering the tone of my blog this week, it has all gone to base-level with a whole new look at ‘toilet humour’. The week started so innocently, with the usual cuddles and playtimes when things took a turn to the ‘dark side’...

Incident 1:

Bath time and there we were playing the raspberry blowing game on the changing mat whilst the bath was running, when I gathered Little One up for a big squeezy-hug and... What is that warm feeling on my leg? Doh! Never pick up an excited baby with no nappy on. Denim really soaks up wee. Little One’s reaction – giggles of course.

Incident 2:

Little One is now extremely ‘in to’ Timba the dog. Her eyes follow him everywhere and she keeps putting her hands out to stroke him. She actually got to lie on him the other day and was full of chuckles and squeals of delight as she grabbed great handfuls of his fur - not sure Timba was as impressed with the situation. At the beginning of the week Little One was watching with her usual intense fascination when my delightful dog farted... loudly! Well that was it, Little One burst out in to uncontrollable giggles.

Incident 3:

You change umpteen nappies a day and every so often there will be one that will catch you off guard. Little One treats her changing mat as one of her favourite play-zones: wriggling, waving arms and legs, chatting, squealing and generally having a good time. So it can often be a little challenging changing her nappy (Krypton Factor has nothing on this). I always have a quick ‘sneak-peek’ into her nappy to prep me for what is to come. I took a look – all clear, just a bit wet... easy. So in the spirit of playfulness, I flicked the nappy from under Little One only to be met with a perfectly round marble of poo between the eyes. Bullseye! Little One’s reaction? Yes, you guessed it – giggles.

So it is true - toilet humour makes people of all ages laugh. 

Murder in the Chatroom

Writing out of my style, out of my comfort zone, is something I love - creating unnecessary stress on my creative senses to fuel new ideas, new ways of thinking and to open up my mind and my penmanship.

It's not like I don't have a million things I am meant to be working on (and actually finishing), but if I don't stir things up a bit, push myself that little bit differently, then I fall in to ruts, get bogged down in my safe place of my own style and thinking. Nothing wrong with having your own style and thoughts, but what if they could be even better, even broader, even more tantalising? That's where randomness is fabulous, just for-no-particular-reason I will sit at my keyboard and let the keys jabber away in an area I either don't know or a style I have not tried.

Sometimes laughter is the best medicine, with plenty of chortles born from my experimental ramblings, but sometimes, just sometimes, there's something that is a little like 'potential' sneaking out. A million light years from perfection or actual credibility, but just that little scent of something worth trying again...

So here's a one that has caught my creative attention, and got a whole lot of whirring occurring in my head. So much so I even mocked up a cover for the story below:

Hello Purplecat10. Missed you yesterday.

Hi Boosh24.

Are you having a good day?

Not really.

What’s up?

Just some bitches at school. Fucking hate them.

What have they done? Are you ok?

Photoshopped some pictures of me and posted them for everyone to see.

Facebook?

Yeah and Instagram. They’re not even any good at photoshopping, but they made me look like a hooker.

But you’re nothing like that.

I know, but what does that matter. Now everyone’s calling me a slut and the lads are pretending to offer me money for me to blow them off. Dicks.

Purplecat, you’re better than that. So much better than them. You’re my Purplecat and I know you’re not like that. I know you, I really know you, and you know me. You are special, remember that. We are special.

I know Boosh. It still feels shit though.

Oh my Purplecat, I wish I was there to give you a cuddle.

Me too Boosh.

Maybe one day...

  

Maybe.

Jean Atticker took a deep breath and opened the first file. This was not going to be pleasant, she knew it would turn her stomach, but this would only make her more vigilant. Every little piece of evidence was vital to a conviction. Nothing could be missed, overlooked or misinterpreted. That bastard was going to get life. Life for a life. And it was up to her to make sure that the evidence was watertight.

The case had repulsed the nation and led the headlines for months, with the search, the suspicions and pointing of media fingers and then the discovery. The awful discovery, which many had felt inevitable, but that left no one untouched by tragedy.

And then the arrest.

Jean stared down at the papers in the file, a photo paper-clipped to the front of the first document. Cara Evelyn smiled back at her, eyes bright and mischievous, her long hair falling across her cheeks and shoulders. 14 and full of hope. 14 and full of life. 14 and dead.

What's the pig idea? Pigs swill.

When I read about great ideas and great organisation, it fires me up and in a similar way to that fire in the belly I get from a creative splurge, or writing a character's personality though actions. So I'd like to write about these causes, activities and organisations that motivate me, make me want to stand up and shout "YES"... basically if it stops and makes me think, then it will have an impact (in its own way) on my creativity. We are what we think. We are what we believe.

So here's the first, of what I hope to be a growing number, of these types of posts. I write about those causes and organisations I come across, in magazine, papers, tv, conversations, and not because I am connected to them or that they have been promoted to me. I just write as I find.

The other night I sat in a fairly nice restaurant, eating pretty delicious food, made from locally sourced produce. My plate sat in front of me, not empty but pretty well attacked. I was stuffed. It was tasty, but I just couldn't manage another mouthful. So what happened to the remains? I'm not one for asking for doggy bags, but I hate the thought of it all getting scraped into a black bin bag and thrown out for the garbage truck to chomp on. Surely there's a better way than feeding the bin?

There is. There has been for thousands of years. Pigs swill.

For centuries humans have fed pigs on the scraps from their tables, helping pigs grow big and fat ready to be eaten. Then the humans feed the scraps from their tables to the pigs, helping them grow big and fat and... Recycling perfection. In fact, I believe that this is why people first started keeping pigs... the ultimate recycling bin.

The pig... “is the Husbandman’s best Scavenger, and the Huswives most wholsome sink; for his food and living is by that which will else rot in the yard …; for from the Husbandman he taketh pulse, chaff, barn dust, man’s ordure, garbage, and the weeds of his yard: and from the huswife her draff, swillings, whey, washing of tubs, and such like, with which he will live and keep a good state of body, very sufficiently.”
From Gervase Markham, 17th Century Author

Currently there is an EU ban on feeding swill (food waste) from restaurants, etc. to pigs. Welcome to 'The Pig Idea', who wants to get this ban lifted and:

• Stop food waste being wasted
• Stop forests being cut down to make way for grain for pig feed
• Reduce the rising costs of pig feed and pork production
• Free up food supplies to help feed people 

Right now we are not allowed to feed pigs our food waste, yet we are feeding pigs food that could be eaten by people, people who can't feed themselves through poverty, famine, displacement, etc. Sounds crazy hey.

The Pig Idea and its many supporters don't just work to promote the use of swill, they also campaign to ensure all safe and edible unsold food is used to feed people who need it. But not all wasted food is suitable for human consumption, so why not use it to still benefit humans?

Food for thought, so I did a doodle about it...

Read all about The Pig Idea >
@ThePigIdea #oink

I forgot to feed my Tamagotchi blog

Pitiful. Truly pitiful. A sad, limp graphical curve wends its way south, past months of dedication and devotion, to level out at a sorry all time low. And so my blog pageviews graph highlights the reality of neglect.

As a naive newbie to the blogworld, I have swotted, researched, followed and posted, nurturing my blog with care and devotion, encouraging my little blog to step out into the online world with a voice and a story. Proudly I watched her grow, make new friends from all over the world and inspire me to write. And then I had to let her fend for herself for a month. Just one little month, what harm could that do...?

Let's side-step for a minute, as to answer that (well, understand the why) it's worth remembering how and why we are here. Blogs are a voice, not always loud, but certainly not quiet. In our social-media-means-of-communications, blogs have been an obvious sub-evolution of all the many, varied things we have to say and share. In fact, over 250 million blogs now have something to share, with a new blog apparently born every second of every minute of every hour of every day in to the blogosphere. That's an awful lot of voices out there. So who should I listen to?

Well, if I'm not interested in what you're talking about, I won't listen. If you're not interesting, I won't listen. If you lie, I won't listen. If you insult me, I won't listen. In fact, there are many reasons I won't listen, but also many reasons that I will listen. BUT, and this is kind of key, if you don't speak, I have nothing to listen to!

So there's the lifeline of our blogs. Our voice. It defines our blog, gives it a heart and soul and the energy to explore and earn, and legs to run, grow and climb. So a month off, a month of near silence, my blog had no fuel and no voice for its friends (followers) to listen to, so of course they stopped listening.

I once owned a Tamagotchi pet, a little digital dog who lived in my backpack as I youthfully traveled the world. Everyday, more than once a day, I got my little dog out, tickled its tummy and fed it a biscuit. Long (death-defying) bus journeys and tedious waits at airports meant more love and attention for my little pet. Then one day, somewhere off the coast of Sumatra, I forgot about my faithful Tamagotchi, who lay at the bottom of my backpack unfed and untickled. My digital dog dwindled to a shadow of its former self. I lost interest.

My blog may not be a toy, but it needs to be cared for as it's my voice. And if people want to listen, I have to give them something to listen to.

A month of silence? Time to clear my throat, wake the digital dog and find my voice again.

My (ahem, embarrassed look) weeks...

Ok, there's no excuse, I've been slack and unattentive to my blog. I had the internet rugged pulled from under me and I flaked out. Terrible. Pathetic. Lame.

PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER.

So I would like to apologise and am planning a bumper blog month for June, only a week in so plenty of time to really start running and entertaining (hopefully). I have a host of posts planned, ones that I''ve been meaning to write/post for a while, so watch this space.

Now instead of a summary of activity in blogland, writerland and creativeland (as that has been a bit lacking), here is a gallery of doodles that you may have missed... I was still functioning graphically!

 

 

 

 

 

and the top blog posts for May were...

Although May has been a quieter month for me, I have a whole blog about that coming up, I have been pleased to see so many friends visiting both my blogs. Thank you. I promise that June will be a far more active and much more exciting month for Stories & Stuff, and i did a doodle will continue to keep exploring the creative crevices of my mind and imagination.

So the most popular blog posts for May?

Stories & Stuff Blog

Baby Business, week 18.
Rightly so, as it was My Little one who wrote this!
Take a peek >

i did a doodle blog
15th May 2015
Colour Collective doodle for the colour Cerulean Blue.
Check out cerulean blue >

Thank you to all those who visit me in blogland and follow my doodles and stories.