In an attempt to make my own entertainment for lack of anyone else to help, I decided to go to Nottingham centre to have a proper play with my new camera.

I’m now understanding how F/numbers work and how aperture size needs to be compensated by shutter speed etc. I’m now getting it…but still trying to figure out how to take a long exposure in daylight with a camera which only goes down to F/22 without complete whiteout. n00b!

I went to the Nottingham Contemporary to see the ‘Star City’ exhibition. It was all a bit odd. Got some fairly interesting pics, but it was all a bit too post-modern. Had a walk around the Lace Market while I was at it.

It’s so odd walking around Nottingham and actually noticing stuff, as you do when looking for photo opportunities. Normally, the nuanced character of Notts city centre passes one by, until you stop to notice it.
I stopped caring about the potential for people to try to steal my camera…it’s not really a threat. If someone tried, they’d be the ones in danger, anyway. When one walks around a city purely to look for photos, one feels like they’re not participating in what everyone else is doing – you’re there in a different context!

I filled up my memory card with RAWs, so I look forward to going over them, and getting frustrated because I’m not brave enough to get the more risky shots.

Wooo…I finally got my new toy. My first proper D-SLR camera.

It’s a Nikon D3000. OK so it’s not a top-line one, but it’s still a decent entry model to the world of SLRs.

I’m a bit scared of it – it does stuff my old Fuji didn’t, so I need to take it out and play with it…but so far, it’s brilliant. It’s great not having any noise on indoor shots!
I look forward to taking this baby to the Lake District, France, Edinburgh and around Nottingham this year!

Yesterday was pretty amazing. I was lucky enough to be invited to the last ever Richard Bacon show on 5Live – possibly the best show on radio. Nobody seems to know about it though! Bacon invited 200 loyal members of the ‘SHH’ down to BBC Radio Theatre, London.

The Guardian wrote a nice article to offer some explanation for the uninitiated. Nobody seems to understand why I made such a pilgrimage from Nottingham for a radio show. It required meticulous planning and a night with no sleep, but it was such an experience. It was quite an odd, surreal experience spending the evening on oneself in London before driving back in the early hours.
We were each presented with the much-coveted ‘Special Half Hour’ badge as we entered the radio theatre and I was co-incidentally sat next to not only Olly Mann of ‘Answer Me This’ podcast fame, but a chap from the same area as me. Also sat nearby was Quentin Wilson and Ash Atalla, Producer of The Office.

We had a discussion about whether or not it’s ok to steal from supermarkets if you’re poor, and the night culminated in a funeral for the Special Half Hour (‘SHH’ when mentioned outside of the time slot). We sang Jerusalem to mark the show’s passing. It was, as always, difficult to interpret the true tone of the show, the genuinity of the fans and the sincerity of the presenters. It’s a typically British phenomenon that we treat everything with an undertone of humour and slight wry sarcasm. We, the English can be serious, but never genuinely earnest — a quality that separates us from our fat cousins across the pond.
I did find that not only is Richard Bacon very Alan Partridge-esque in real life, but as some listeners have said before, very self-indulgent. He is apparently not modest about his radio empire at all – with millions of followers on Twitter and thousands in the Special Half Hour facebook group. He likes to cmmand us to cheer or clap and does tend to boast at any opportunity.

We’ve become something of a cult, now destined to be disbanded; the SHH consigned to fade from our collective memory.
At least we all now have our ‘SHH’ badges to remember the last 14 months or so of enjoying this short-lived, but brilliant show. 10pm-1am will never be the same again; I now have to listen to some guy I’ve never heard of. It has been a true honour and a privilege.

Well, today was a bit of a mixed bag of crap. Following my application to Logica a while back, I saw I had the familiar graduate scheme subject line in my mass of junk in my inbox.
“Thank you for taking the time to complete your application and our tests. ['here it comes' you think] Unfortunately….” ARGHH! Oh, look, ANOTHER blow-out! I really shouldn’t make a habbit of checking my inbox first thing in the morning before work…becuase it smashes one’s self-esteem for the day. They seem so impersonal and arbitrary in their decision to reject me. My life feels like one depressing struggle against these corporate monoliths.
On a more optimistic note, I was very pleased to recieve my Masters degree certificate in the post. Forgive me for being pleased with this, but it confirms my ‘Commendation’ degree classification. I now look forward to graduation later this month – pics to follow no doubt.

However…frankly, all of that nonsense pales into utter insignificance when compared to what else I recieved today…Modern Warfare 2! The game I have been waiting for for eternity. I even got some new headphones to play it with!
I have had precious little time to play, but I’ve borrowed sleep time to play it. I hope to complete it over the weekend. I’m AMAZED by the gameplay so far – it helps me forget my actual life.