oh... I wouldn't move there...

Moving to the Big Smoke?. A phase of life all too familiar with a lot of young adults who have just finished their degrees. but if your new to the city of London and have been raised on the mean streets of Devon! the big question is 'where do you move?'

A much bigger problem than you may imagine. If you believe everything you see, hear or read you would become a shivering wreck and refuse to go outside. One person will tell you that Hackney is really bad, home of the murder mile ect ect but then your tiny, skinny and blonde friend who's a girl says that it's fine and that she has lived there for years.

The media is either painting London as a hoodie infested death hole or as a shiny beacon of hope for the world. Make up your mind! either way it's hard to know as one street will look fine and you feel good, you turn a corner and your in bum town feeling bad.

Truth is there are good and bad areas to any place and it is easy to get scared, especially with our news being the pessimistic and dare I say it sadistic bastards that they are. but if you ask the right people i.e. people who actually live there, you will find out that it's not that scary at all, just really fucking expensive!

So my advice is first ask those around you who know or live in London then go there, walk around and just ask people in the street and I am the biggest scaredy cat ever so I speak the thruth :)

The Second Coming!!!

Thats right after a bloody weird couple of months I have returned and to say unto you that I have risen from the dead of unemployment and have risen a fully employed Art Director in Advertising. Spread the word of the graduate lord!!!.

As you can see i'm still a loser but its all good :)

Right then so what happened since i was bored and poor... i'm still poor but in no way bored any more (i still play pokemon in the loo though)

The placement went very well seeing me and my Copywriter Mr Roach work on a number of great briefs ranging from Nestea (ice tea) to the advertising giants Coca Cola. There were others going for the position but (and I quote) "they were just shit" so we were either very good or they were just that bad either way I have one of the most difficult jobs to attain after graduating which is sweeeeeeeeet.

Won't ramble on or boast too much mostly because I could still lose this job as I am on whats called a probationary 3 months which means at the end they can say "actually we made a huge mistake don't let the door hit you on the way out!"

So no break, no big sigh of relief just a huge carrot at the end of a rope for us to follow. Don't know what the laws are might put up some work but this blog isn't about cataloguing what's going on in the ad world, there are much better blogs for that, no this blog is for me and about me and what's going on inside this creatives mind and hopefully will help others going into this industry with the bits that are always forgotten in lesson and in the text books.

I hope you continue to enjoy my thoroughly self indulging stories :)

Poordem™ matt roach

Poordem™ matt roach as you have probably guessed is the combination of being bored with the added handycap of being very poor.

Me and Matt are waiting for the 17th of august. then our assault on the ad world can begin. Untill then we have to pay rent and bills and then manage to find money for food. Now with the dare I say it "current economic climate" all the crap weekly paid jobs have been taken even the institutional new starters bar job has become extinct! benefits take ages to go through and you can't get a normal job because by the time you get it you will be starting your placement.

So what ensues is poor driven boredem. It manifests itself in a number of ways, for some its buying sainsbury's basic beer (we've all been there!), some take refuge by simply buggering off home and leaving everything and some watch and re-watch there vast collection of dvd's that they collected at uni, only it now seems a lot smaller.

As for me, mine has resulted in me picking up my old game boy and getting lost in the world of pokemon, vicariously living through my little pixelated me through his adventures.

This is something the student books don't prepare yourself for and that is the limbo in between graduating and getting that first job, especially this new super limbo where there are precious little crap jobs to take.

Could this be an idea for a book 'life after death of dissertation'?

On hind site I should have set up a small savings account when I started and put 10% of my part time job pay cheque into it so that I had something after I graduated but a lass I failed to find a time machine and go back in time to tell me this bit of information.

If you do have a bad case of Poordem™ matt roach I suggest buying a gameboy advance. Either that or get some friends either way is good.

Graduation

Graduation is something we see in the movies all the time, you know the films mostly american and its all emotional and vomit inducing but when mine came along I was pleasantly surprised at how much of an emotional experience it was.

My mum came with her sister, my auntie who were the two people who dropped me off on my first day kind of bringing the whole adventure to a proper end.

All my friends were there including those friends that you lose contact with. Old house mates, old random when your drunk I know you friends. My fiance and her family.

It was all very official considering how unofficial uni has felt. When I think of uni i don't naturally think of all my hard work, i think of all the fun i had and how much i am gonna miss being a complete douche and so to be walking up those steps and shaking some womens hand and been given this document of your academic achievement did seem like something out of a movie.

It really felt like the end of something everyone was talking about what they were doing or what they were gonna do and it was all very grown up and mature, no "yeah gonna go to this bar i heard of and just meet someone there and stay with him/her" it was "yeah i have a new flat and have signed on to make sure i can pay for it etc etc 

so sometimes the movies do have it right and it goes beyond a cliche and i find myself considering taking another degree so that i can go back, kinda like a shawshank redemption moment i'm an institutionalized man now!

a lot of people i know missed there graduation and i'll tell you now don't. it was great. 

"I'm not gay, I'm an Art Director!"

This exclamation I found myself making in town the other day was not a jealous attack on employed Art Directors, no it was in fact an act of self defense against my fiance.

Being an Art Director I have a very definite sense of what I think looks good and where it will look at its best and this attitude filters into the everyday aesthetic choices I make. I'm a sucker for an attractive blonde. Did I say Blonde I meant Brand, to me there one and the same. I love fantastic looking packaging with an equally attractive brand on it. If a product hits the magic two, it is in my basket end of.

Like I said I have a strong opinion on what looks good and if your a girlfriend or lucky ;) enough to be the wife of an art director, your clothes and general fashion sense is no different. We're the kind of men that when you ask our opinion we won't shrug our shoulders and be bored. So when my fiance asked what she should wear to graduation she didn't expect me to have already thought about it and had an idea as to what would look great.

A skirt and shirt combo with shoes later and she's giving me a weird look "you can tell me honestly, are you gay or have you ever thought you were or were you once... stammer stammer????"

"NO I'M NOT GAY, I'M AN ART DIRECTOR!" its like asking a gay man if he's straight because he doesn't like Paris Hilton.

You can't help it if something you think looks bad or out of place or even simply amiss its like a little bug biting you on the back of your head. It's the same feeling when looking at a campaign your gut instinct leads you.

Thats how I will always be be it clothes or even the new curtains for the living room, I'm a man who will have his say. There will be no "yes dear" from me!

My Copywriter...

Us creatives are a crazy breed, we aim to experience as much as possible. This is Mr Matt Roach my creative other half and looks like he experienced nearly all 100 things to do before you die at Download, which judging from this picture is a good job as he looks like he is about to die... come to think of it I haven't actually heard from him in a while...

I have and never will work with Matt because we simply just have too much fun in what we do. To be in Advertising you have to be a character, some of the most interesting people I have ever met have been ad people, they say what won't kill you... blah blah blah. Well as you can see Matt has way too much character :P

So why write a post on Matt? well he will be starting his own blog soon and so you can look forward to a much better punctuated and grammatically correct version of our journey, the content however I can't guarantee, as quite clearly my blog is already better than his (face! roach)

UNPAID (un)FARE NOTICE

Just a quick one to say a massive (ma-hoo-sive) FUCK YOU to National Express. Students have enough financial stuff to handle without one of your loser staff giving me the wrong type of return, then to have another one of the twats fine me for it.

I'm in a hurry, quite clearly as my train had already pulled in, I ask for the best priced return. I then proceed to run to the train. Now a normal person would think 'oh wait he will need a saver return not an off peak return as he quite clearly wants to catch this train, i'll give him the correct one' no! he thought 'ill give him the return which means he cant take the train till after 9 in the morning despite the fact he's out of breath here at 7:30'.

Having explained to the guard on the train that I was a smart chap who would know to buy a cheaper, correct return rather than a more expensive wrong one and that it was an honest mistake, he then saw the logic to fine me anyway.

Crack team you've got there National Express...

The lesser of two evils

To all parents who want the best for their child. Bring them to this place on a monday morning and guaranteed they will never want to go back again.

What I mean by the lesser of two evils is that I have had to go on job seekers and housing benefit. 'SCUM' you shout well its better than sponging off of my hard working mother, I have done enough of that its time for me to take responsibility. Now with this placement and general want to be in advertising, its safe to say I could be unemployed for a while, I'm not gonna give up and work for some crap local marketing agency just yet!

What an experience, my skin was crawling, I felt completely out of place but I new I had rent to pay and I had closed my Bank of Mum account. The whole process was demoralizing, I have to admit I felt like a failure but I snapped myself out of it. I have no desire to go back to that place to sign on, I may have to once more time but after that, never again.

I'm just glad I don't have a real family to support, I have two baby rats they need there water dam it!

It really put everything into perspective as to just how much people will do just to get by, my reaction to going on job seekers was a typical reaction of that of someone who had no idea of what financial hardship was. I was humbled by the whole experience.

One things for sure I don't believe for a second that anyone would rather live off of jobseekers rather than having a job as I have been doing it for about a week and I am climbing the walls.

I will try not to look down my nose at anyone on benefits again as quite clearly I'm just not in the right frame of mind to accept that some peoples lives are actually harder than mine ;) for a guy my age thats close to enlightenment.

Don't consider government handouts as admitting defeat think of it as the dark before the dawn. To anyone that does live off benefits, I am sorry because I can't imagine anything worse.

Now don't get com(placement).

Please lets make that 202 employees, Me and Matt were successful in our interview, we expected a 'we'll call you', meaning once we have checked there isn't anyone better than you then we will call you. but no the guys at BD apart from being nice guys (they bought me a coke) also sat there and listened and talked about our book, none of this complete silence whilst we judge you crap and they are giving us a 2 week placement.

Any student in advertising or trying to break in can tell you that me and matt are lucky bastards we both can't wait to start :) we will be working in the same building as the guy who invented orange wednesdays... I know, who wants to touch me?

Farewell farnham

Well thats it, done but not dusted. I have left Uni. It was an amazingly sad day, i'm not ashamed to say that a few tears found there way down my cheek. My life changed that day my mum and auntie left me in my student village room. How was I to know that the next 3 years would see me change into the person I am today?. I didn't.

Uni is more than just getting onto a career that requites it. It's one of the most important experiences of your young adult life. I learnt to appreciate the little things such as a sofa, which after three years without I know have and love.

I experienced the pure joy of excess and I experienced the excess I hated. I know how to make a pizza last nearly a week, I know what its like to have an amazing time without having to remember it. I learnt that it is friends that come and go and that it is love that lasts forever.

But with the obvious fun stuff I have learnt above all that I am worth a lot more than what I first thought upon coming here. I am good at what I do and I love doing it. The romanticized look on life I had is gone instead is replaced with a world of possibility but that you have to go through some shit times before you come out smelling of roses. I can now pay rent and bills... I can't afford it but I know what to do should the occasion where I have money arise :)

I will never forget Uni or the ppl that I met, and I have an Americanized, massive baggy hoody to prove it :)

This is MD

Myself and Matt have our chat with BD network this monday at 11am.

Matt is on his way as we speak to my new flat to spend the weekend sorting out our work and to just have a laugh since we havnt been able to chill out and have fun together what with all this new found adult hood.

Whish us luck the pilgrimage could soon be over...

Turfing

Look familiar? Well me and Matt were riding tubes a lot with our recent degree show and so we invented tube surfing.

When your on a tube you hold on to the greasy rail to stop falling into the fat guys lap, well me and Matt don't, we decided to throw off the shackles of oppression and let go of the rails we have for too long used as crutches for our dreary traveling. And as if on a surf board road the tube all the way into liverpool street station, your not allowed to touch any wall or person but you do have 3 lives. 

Best game ever.

If your extreme you can try one legged tube surfing but we are not liable for any injuries you may sustain or inflict.

Happy Turfing :)

The Duo Rides Again

If you read my blog and thank you if you do, you might have heard me mention my best friend Matt.

I have known Matt literally from childhood to manhood, thats since we were 11, we are now 21.

Originally we weren't going in for being a creative team as we had spent 3 years being told it was nearly impossible and if you make it you'll be fired unless your amazing all the time :s which was a shame as we both are very passionate about advertising.

We did however work together on all our uni projects, very few creative teams share the kind of creative connection that me and Matt have developed through growing up together. This does come with advantages, if one of us is being precious over an idea or just being plain shit we will literally just punch each other but equally we can break each others creative blocks and instead of bouncing ideas of each other we can play olympic tennis with bowling balls and rocket powered super rackets.

We don't need any stupid gimmick to sell ourselves as our brand is ourselves. Just chatting to us or to people who know us and you will see we just love to laugh, listen to rock music and make great advertising.

We were approached at DIALOGUE (which btw was a big success) by two really nice guys from BD Network who seemed to really like our work and told us to call them to talk. Both me and matt were a tad under the influence but it was free wine what can you do? and so I hope we didn't put them off.

We will be approaching them very soon once I have moved house.

So me and Matt will be going for the creative dream once again, we have both been feverishly reading everything on their website and we cant believe we haven't come across them before. Anyway thats for another post.

The duo rides again, but is it into the sunset?

Oh yeah, thats me the lanky one and Matt's the shorter ginger one, bit of a anti-climatic unveiling of myself... enjoy :)

DIALOGUE day 1

What's Big, square and white all over?

Our degree show room in free range 2009! The day (27th may) was long, tempers were frayed and the fast food companies made a bit more money. Everyones boards which I designed and so felt very responsible for were taken out of the packaging and were all fine. I breathed a massive sigh of relief exactly like that beer advert.

Lots of drilling, hammering, nailing, shouting, drinking and thinking and 8 hours later half the room was done. Only half of us had turned up (the better half) and we all deserved medals.

A great day until I watched the football... 

Final Major Project snippet

My Guitar is an extension of myself, I know every bump, dent and imperfection that makes it perfect. I am someone who can create something from nothing and can see through what's there to sing light into the darkness.

My guitar is my weapon of choice, my voice in this over crowded world. I don't shout in anger, I sing with passion. My guitar is my friend, the music our adventures.

To share something that runs so deep within you is natural, music is meant to be heard, not messed with but to be true and raw. Only Musicians understand that this shared passion is being on a higher plain, a unique level of consciousness and understanding you have with your own soul.

This is playing guitar.

Some of my Final Major Project for you to read and wonder at :)

portfolioh no!

*choral choir noise* heres my portfolio all sexy and ready for tomorrows meeting. I bought it today after it had been on the shelf for only 10 mins, fate had obviously brought us together as it is simply b-e-a-utiful. 

To me it is very important and I had up until today been looking for quite a while, my work doesn't need a fancy portfolio to make it look better but fuck it it doesn't hurt and it makes me feel better as I love things to be understatedly stylish, the smooth cool guy at the back of the room who doesn't need to say anything for people to be impressed. (I'm not this guy) luckily I'm a good talker and can convince you that I'm very cool.

Choosing one is harder than it looks because my one had to not only match my favourite graphic designery clothes that I wear to look smart but with a creative edge but it had to be made out of a good quality material, have a nice smooth zip!!! for a nice opening action, have a good sounding snap to the ring binder which in itself has to be slim and modern, not WHSmiths own clunky ones. Had to be easy to unclip and fold over the rings. A proper internal system to manage lose material and last but not least is, to me, the all important fact that it mustn't have a stupid logo emblazoned all over it.

No it has to be genuine and I won't be sticking stickers all over it like a lot of idiots do, all it does is to make you look 12.

About tomorrow, I'm excited and nervous at the same time, a feeling a friend of mine really likes so hopefully this is a good omen. Its quite a trek I have to make and it could send me home in an emotional body bag but this industry just wouldn't be interesting with out it :) I could become a portfolio salesman... its a form of advertising...

I Came, I SAW, I Conquered

We all know as creatives you should push the boundaries but look at your life, does it stop with your work?

If it does, start doing it now. I believe in being fearless in everything you do, no matter how scary the prospect is e.g. a particularly formidable client. 

Here is me on the new SAW roller coaster. Now roller coasters you may think is hardly being daring but when your really scared of them it is an extraordinarily difficult fear to overcome. This was made worse by the old warehouse design, torture instruments, blood, noises from the film of people being tortured, a massive shotgun noise going off in a pitch black part of the queue and the first part of the ride is you in the dark with that scary ass puppet suddenly appearing and starts telling you it wants to play a game!!! nicely followed by being dropped a 100 ft without warning.

Your nerves are shot and your shaking (very similar to a big deadline) then comes the 5 minute slow vertical climb before shooting downwards onto spikes which you barely miss!!!

At the end there is a lovely DVD to show you just how much of a girl you are in comparison to your fiance who laughed throughout the whole thing.

So am I fearless?

Of course I am I'm engaged to get married!

original content

If your at uni, male, white, 6ft and lanky you are in a band or are the band thanks to the developments in home recording technology.

I am happy to say I am an all singing, all song writing, bedroom acoustic guitar crooning cliche :)

I have a new addition to the family called the snowball microphone and its beautiful and records my beautiful voice and guitar playing. Finally a piece of hardware that can actually do my CF MARTIN acoustic guitar justice. you can hear every indian rosewood tainted note in all its glory.

www.myspace.com/somethingheartfelt check it out, I don't think I'm that bad.

Make sure when interviewing a graduate that they play a musical instrument, and putting together loops in garageband doesn't fucking count!!! that way you can be sure your employing someone who believes in the creation of something original and not into just being creative with what is effectively someone else's music.

Playing an instrument is just something you have to do, I don't get how a boy can get through puberty without it. do you?

The most rewarding bit of print I will ever do.

Here it is my 4 weeks notice to be handed in today to my boss.

Goodbye! part time job that I have always hated and despised, Hello! probable new crap full time job doing the same thing whilst looking for a job that I really want.

Not long before I can reclaim my weekend!!! it has been lost for nearly 3 years!!!

My little red book.

You do not have to say anything. But it may harm my chances if you do not mention when questioned something which I may later rely on in meeting you. Anything you do say will be used as evidence in an interview situation.

Instead of having the little black book with attractive women's phone numbers, I have the little red book with creative professionals email addresses and numbers in. (it's OK I'm engaged).

Who ever I phone, everything I learn e.g. email address, good times to call etc, will be put into this book a long with my actions towards you, such as whether I have sent you anything. I can also set a reminder for when to follow up an email or a time when I know its good to call them.

A handy aspect of this is I can also record my mistakes so that I know not to do them again. A howlingly massive mistake was replying to an email requesting a covering letter and CV and forgetting to attach it. I should have been beaten brutally for that one :s

B-E-A-UTIFUL.

Incase you couldn't tell I was being very sarcastic. Well kind of, it is beautiful but only in that it is a beautiful view from my window as I work on my CV and portfolio.

Ah well... back to work... Come on Lawrie you gotta want it!!!

The "List"

Here it is. The book all soon to be graduates should have. If you don't, go get one. I can't say where because my uncle gave it to me.

It is essentially a big fat A to Z list of agencies. It has a lovely big section for advertising and design.

I have a top 5, a back up 10 and 30 extras. What is great is that even if I get no where with all these, there is about another 100 for me to try.

My portfolio is nearly finished and so interview season is very close. It also means my phone is gonna be buggered sideways not to mention my bank account :s

Livin' on a prayer.

I have to admit I am not a religious person but a lot of my family is and my nan and granddad who come from Ireland pray for me a lot.

I go to my grandparents house every easter and on this particular occasion my nan told me about St Joseph ^ for those who haven't a clue what I'm talking about he is the part in the nativity play when you were younger that all the boys wanted to play but then played one of the sheep.

Joseph (a carpenter) along with being Mary's husband and Jesus's guardian, is the patron Saint of employment and that there is a prayer you can say every day to help you find a job, I have to admit I was skeptical but considering all the stories I have heard of peoples methods of trying to get a job e.g. hunger strikes, breaking and entering. This wasn't the most far fetched method I have heard of.

I believe we all turn to a 'higher power' when in need, not necessarily God or Allah but the powers that be that could help you. The Audi God that could help you avoid the traffic jam or the God of Marketing who will magically change your essay mark for you.

I am not making fun of peoples belief systems, quite the opposite as I think it is in this belief and what you do to reassure your beliefs that makes things possible. Any book you read on the creative industry is essentially some one laughing at you going "you want a job in advertising... you! jog on!" We are battle hardened to the hard knocks to our self esteem this life sends us.

I may not be religious but I can't help but look at the prayer every now and again in the hope that it might do something. Usually I avoid luck because I have something more to prove but I would never say no to a bit of help. If there is something that makes you feel good about yourself or a situation no matter how silly it might be or how others see it. You should all ways do it.

What a difference a Dave makes...

What can I say I like this T-shirt, never a truer word spoken by a top quality garment. Finally my ability to bring my skill and personality to a project is being recognized world wide. Well not quite because as this t-shirt demonstrates...

Yes it is a world wide phenomenon that everyone knows a Dave, not to say the quality of some Dave's have been ruined by cheap copies and imports no no no, Dave's in short are amazing which is why In every creative agency there is a Dave, I challenge anyone to prove me wrong and if you can... well! what are you waiting for there is a Dave about to graduate right here!!!

If you could, buy one of these T-shirts @ www.balconyshirts.co.uk your guaranteed to get laid. Unfortunately not with the models as they don't come with the T-shirt.

New Look

Same Blog, new look. It just occurred to me that if I don't tell anyone that I have changed the look then the people who do read my blog wouldn't know to look unless I did a post so 2 birds with a big rock and all that :) Let me know what you think about this style of illustration, I have had some really nice feed back from a creative director.

i before e except after c

it has been brought to my attention that my grammar and spelling in my posts are 'shit' i felt i should address this personally as i had no idea it could offend people. 

When writing these posts i don't really write up to Eton standard, its not like i can't write properly its that i don't have time, i'm a busy man :) if you can read it and understand it thats good enough for me, ok i wont be proof reading any books any time soon but i think i'll get over it.

As for my un-capitlised i's it is actually because i prefer the shape of the small i to the big I. To me it looks better so there you go mystery solved.

The cat sat on the mat.      see!

An updave for your computer.

Hello, yes i'm back which feels like months since my last post but never mind its been for a good reason or i should say reasons.

i have been a  machine these last few days, i think the promise of finally finishing has given me a boost and i feel as if i'm possessed by a doing work spirit.

i finished my brand sector analysis which was a lot harder to do than i just said. 3 days no sleep, phoning in every favour i possessed for help, to make sure it was as good as it could possibly be. F***ING BRAND MAPS are bastards. But it was handed in leaving the Final Major project to go. Which is great because it's branding my own guitar store which is my all time dream :)

So what else have I been doing, well... I have been working in a design agency (nick cannons studio) where i have been honing my skills in graphic design and also strategy and working on my client handling. This however opened all sorts of doors. I have taken on a few branding projects one of which could see me spending some of my last summer in the Carribean (pause for effect) and various others including a website and re-brand of a special event. Lots and Lots of practical experience all doing me good except it has left me completely afraid of answering my phone :s.

Over the last few weeks nearly every phone call that i have received has been a client. what's so scary about that dave? well imagine having a director of a company talking to you like an equal respecting your opinion and liking your ideas! my only critic these days seems to be my mother.

Ok dave now your mental... Well for me personally its a very odd experience, many of the creatives I meet have final thumb print syndrome where they will say anything about your work to make it so that it is theirs or was saved by their creativity. There is nothing more on this planet i hate more than someone suggesting a completely bollocks improvement to my work, i just nod and smile but secretly there being choked on their own pen inside my head :)

So yeah what's meant to be an ego or even self esteem boosting experience just makes me feel awkward, i'm a complicated chap. I'm under no delusions of my own brilliance, i guess i have just been very lucky with the clients i have at the moment :) long may it last.

The major thing on my plate other than my major project is my degree show, I spent a lot of time and effort developing an idea with a friend of mine and we came up with a concept for the pre-determined title DIALOGUE, the idea was to have our work looked at through the context of our personalities by giving yourself a line that describes your self and your role.

A lot of people liked it, mostly because of how cost effective it was and how easy it would be to do, in fact i think they only took it because of the font i chose, i have mad font picking skills!

Anyway so yeah a mixed reaction but a major portfolio piece for me as its some of the best design i have done and so i'm waiting to get my teeth into that.

Other than that i haven't done much...

Tornado

Hands up who can drive?... well i can't, i don't know why or how i just never got round to learning. It takes a long time to learn and be able to drive a car, not to mention the money. My way was simple, just pay 60 quid for doing a days CBT (compulsory basic training) which i admit i should have failed seeing as though i crashed the bike and split my knee open... but none the less i had a license of sorts.

So there she is, my motorbike/moped hybrid aka TORNADO, thus named because Zorro's horse is very fast and black and my bike is also black... I wanted to write a blog about her because she makes up a lot of my fondest memories of university, she may not be the fastest bike ever but she all ways got me where i needed to go.. well mostly but the break downs were as memorable as the moving journeys.

100 miles to the gallon, tenner at a time of premium, i know i know, premium! so she was very student friendly, plus when walking around town in my really nice bike jacket know one would know that she topped 45 miles an hour down hill with the wind behind her. Nope i was a hells angel with a massive red L sticker on my hog.

I took this picture of where she lives in a lovely shed and every morning when i go to wake her she always looks as if she's gazing out of the window as if wanting freedom a lust for the road, speed really isn't everything because i get to enjoy a lot more of the ride including f***ing off the drivers of cars :)

Yes people make fun and i join in the jokes because at the end of the day it is very funny and i would say i wouldn't trade her in for the world but i'm all ready planning to so there's no moral to this story bar that moped hybrids are the way to ride, if they work properly.

Flat hunting

Have started the process of finding a new place to live after its all over and i have to say it was a pleasurable experience!

i might have got this wrong and theres something i'm missing and if i have please comment and tell me why but in my second year i moved into my first student house and it cost the 5 of us 300 pounds each for a tiny (fucking shit) 4 bedroomed house (the living room was converted into an extra bedroom) so thats 1500 pounds a month into Mrs X's grinch like hands.

i was nearly panicking when i saw the rents for a brand new flat on the new developed docks in ipswich, which was £450 a month plus bills and I will have to be paying taxes without my lovely student loan to make me feel better, welcome to the real financial world! which by the way is in recession... yeah...  However Mel explained to me that that was between us and so was only really £225 for a flat that is as big as the house, brand new furniture and kitchen, and with out having to share everything and with student houses you can imagine what gets shared... etc etc and Mels mother in law (a nice one don't believe Disney! she's actually a fairy god mother) swooped in and said she would pay the deposit on where ever we found.

So there's another big item checked off my list. Well nearly i have to find some where to live and a job that can pay for it and can get to with out having to resort to living outside it in a tent.

i feel very lucky as i have a pretty tight support system so if i go mad from the pressure or balls it up some how, i'm pretty sure my mum would welcome my gibbering drooling self back with open arms :) unitll 2 years later when i'm still there no job and spend my nights sobbing with a bottle of jack daniels... thats a big kidding!

An ODE to ABC

I don't know for sure how other 3rd year students are feeling but at the moment i keep getting flashes of  just how close to finishing my degree is.

Now for some subjects they have along way to go but my finishing line is just months away, still stuff to do but as for lectures and studying with my course mates, it's over.

No more stumbling in on a tuesday morning looking god awful because the SU had its main night on a monday!

No more staying up all night constantly texting other groups to try and find out what the other groups have done to make you feel better.

No more mitigating circumstances! 

No More slagging off the lecturers for not understanding our brilliance

No more no consequences for cocking up royally

No more, "where's pete?"

No more "I disagree!"

No more "shut up matt and dave"

No more "any questions... except george?"

No more "NAH NAH NAH"

No more emotional out bursts from luke! (i know!)

No more  being forced to act nice to each other when waiting for a tutorial with Gareth, when really you wanna say fuck off because your so pissed off and want to go home

No more Francescos pep talks... where would we be with out those... think about it

No more SU unless your really sad and come back when you've left *shakes head*

No more lauren rallying us together to get up off our arses

No more will and his flipping AUDI!!!

No more wilf my god no more wilf... thats like an institution

No more matt and dave plugging their music in presentations

No more amazingly elaborate presentations from Rach or Gem

No more NASA calculations to decipher what the hell chris and greg just explained

No more who the hell knows what with Kirsty and Becky!

and No more any one else that I have neglected to mention i might have liked you who knows ;)

No more ABC or the original ABM as i like to think of it and its a daunting thought maybe we should just start our own agency?

I won't lie i'm not a good a friend to some as i am to others, some may hate me some might secretly love me but for three years they have made up my a huge part of all my human interaction (some of them reading this are thinking what the hell is he talking about...) but I don't think any of us have thought how weird it is gonna be to not be studying together.

So this is an ode to the people who made coming to university a truly terrifying but brilliant experience lol most of them are very talented but above all just nice people (most of them)

and i wish them all the luck in the world in what ever they do afterwards because i reckon a lot of us will be feeling like paddington in the coming months.

I realise this has nothing to do with anyone bar my course mates but its my blog so there.

Do you expect me talk? No I expect you to leave!!!

It was a very close shave but I had to talk (literally) my way back into my job! and on Valentines day of all days, wheres the love? indeed! 

A big thanks to the official witness to my disciplinary who understood logic (well my logic).

Afterwards my boss could have made me wither and die with that stare, obviously wanted me to leave as the grounds for the whole thing was so ridiculous but I got my own back by spending a load of money on uniform with the lovely allowance I get :) then I spent valentines getting trollied with my fiance :)

Probably not what my creative communication skills were meant for but proves I'm damn good! 

Lets hope next time I can talk my way into a job that I actually want :)

Your Fired!!! or not, i'll get back to you...

i went back to my part time job today, after a great holiday and it was like a nice big hug, if the person i was hugging was a naked old man covered in razor blades which were tipped with aids infested acid.

Might have over exaggerated a bit but only slightly. So, why such an elaborate analogy well my boss called me into the office along with the assistant manager to give me a bollocking for going to Paris with out telling them. Now maybe i was away from England longer than i thought because i was positive before i left that telling the assistant manager and the sunday manager 3 days before my shift was an adequate enough english custom to leave them enough time to find cover for what was only a 4 hour shift.

Apparently not... at 2 o clock on Wednesday i was gazing upon the amazing venus de milo when my phone goes off... it's from work of course i ignored them because what would i have said       "Oh Hi, i'm sorry i'll be right there i'm just in the louvre right now but hang on... !) fucking idiots!

So any hoo on wednesday i'll know if i still have my job, now i hate that job so much it gives me energy, in fact i get up early in the morning just to hate it because there is not enough time during the day but it pays the bills so fingers crossed... i guess it could battle harden me for if i get fired in the future.

Team Melave

Me and Mel have started up our own running team, one of those cute couple things... but I love it! of course I turned it into another opportunity to do some graphic design and came up with an aggressive logo (we're both very competitive!) made with the joined version of both our names. It is just a bit of fun but it is cool to be in a sort of official running team especially my own one, I am part of Nike Town Runners and I go to london to run with them when I can which isn't often but Team Melave is the new elite team I run with and I'm gonna need it with all my lectures starting again :)

Back in England... woo...

I can't bring myself to explain everything that i did on my holiday, i'm sure you don't want to hear it so I'll keep this short.

Me and my fiance, lovely hotel, No tours or guides, Walking (a lot of walking) all over Paris, Great food, Great museums, Great fucking heights!, Some questionable people, Some lovely people, lots of very questionable attempts at the french language, good pictures, bad pictures, sunny days and a lot of money later and you have the best 4 days that I have had in a very long time :)...

...and I went back to that alley way and took a picture. Those Parisian scum haven't scared me!

Paris Holiday

Thats me and my friend Matt when I went to Paris when I was 18 and got my head kicked in, in an alley way but don't worry I got back to my hotel with my phone and wallet, maybe they just didn't like me?

Anyway I'm in desperate need of a holiday and my mum has kindly given me a holiday to Paris with my fiance :) originally in the hotel where I stayed first but obviously moved it to another area! I can't fucking wait my iPod touch has a translator app so i can kinda speak french and I can forget about work :)

A biento!

21

I turned the BIG 21 yesterday and my first thought was... fuck! I am now completely clear of the safety net that is considered a teenager. I am now a young adult, to me this means one of the biggest years of my life as a major life shift is coming when i graduate and i step blinking into the real world for the first time. Will it be everything I imagined? well no it won't be I havnt been living under a rock at university! it wont because I'm not rich living in the playboy mansion, 6ft 2 blonde and work as a professional worlds sexiest man! just kidding i dont need to be 6ft 2...

Questions questions questions are everywhere when your 21:

Will i get a job i like?

Where will i live?

Will i have to go back home or chance it in london?

Will i get the degree i want / maybe deserve?

Do i keep a safe job in a shop till the credit bollocks is over?

Should i send cvs now?

Have i enough things on my cv?

Am i good enough for the job i want?

Will i be alone?

Will i find someone?

You know, crap like this instead of my usual dilemma of which to scratch first my arse or my balls.

Good news is though now i'm 21 i can legally adopt a child (africa here i come).

Bad news is If i commit a bad enough crime i will be sent to prison no ifs or buts bit of a bummer... but i can drink in America woo and own a firearm legally what a great mix, might not go to America too soon.

The best i can hope for is to be happy failing this I can now also become a member of parliament so i will change the laws accordingly. 1st on my list would be to give me a job I really want then i will quit and do that instead. see not just a pretty face, i'm also slightly mad :) but at least i have a plan... of sorts. 

Witness the Fitness.

A new year, a new start... well kinda. Those of you who know me well enough know that i love to run, i recommend it to everyone, nothing helps me cope with the stress of everything better well apart from one thing :)

Anyway so a new toy has found its way in to my lap! the new iPod touch which is magic and I mean actual wizards must live in this thing because its just impossible! I'm not writing a review i just can't help it :)

Nike+ is one of the best uses of digital media I have ever seen since facebook (still not reviewing ;) I have a chip inside my shoe that talks to my iPod telling it my speed and distance depending on the work out that I have set which is usually running a mile as fast as i can and a longer 1 hour run at the week end.

How ever this is just the start because when i get home i connect it up to my mac and it uploads the information onto my online account where I'm called davelawrie+ (yes... can you guess i'm in advertising?) 

I have a little character mini me which is a bit too flipping a like! I can see the all knowing nods of 'bloody student' already... but what i like best is the community side of it, apart from face book i have never gone into the world of online social networks outside close friends but with this I have created a team, 'melave' which is just me and my fiance and we get invited run with other people around really nice tracks not just the road where I live lol but you can also sign yourself up to nike+ races in places like New York or London. There called challenges where you can run 3 or 5 or 7 miles, once completed it uploads to your account and you get stuff for how far or how fast you run and a higher status for challenges as well if you like that kinda thing but what i like is how it charts your progress I can for once actually see myself getting better.

I have never been a fan of nike and have only agreed with one of there slogans which was about how running is 'an addiction' but nike + combines everything I love with ease, my first proper holistic branding experience and i have to admit nike has gone up a lot in my books.

The Death of my Dissertation

Heres my dissertation printing...

Heres my dissertation fresh off the press...

Here's my dissertation bound and ready...

Here's my dissertation with CD in the library...

Here is where it all ended. Months of relentless work, our hearts and souls put into the form of size 12, 1.5 line spaced words... right into a battered old cardboard box that was in the corner under a table...  worth it! 

so thats it dead and dusted. I will not say another word, it's just over.

The magical 10,000

Not many things move me to tears... and this wasn't one of them either but I felt very incredibly good. 

The magical 10,000 word mark seems to be impossible when you first start, its like looking up at the top of a mountain before you plan to climb it.

This is just a first draft but I have my team of expert proof readers (my mum) on the case. Now for the obligatory all nighter on thursday to make sure every little thing is perfect :)

Good Luck all my course mates :) and go fuck yourself Mr Harvard who ever you were!!!

U.C.engAged

I got fed up of writing about the academic side of university as the biggest part of my whole university experience was meeting my fiance. Yes thats right I said fiance :)

A lot of students come to UNI with their college sweetheart but I have seen it fail so many times it's enough to make you lose faith in love all together. There's this myth that when you come to UNI the idea is to get with as many people as possible which is why we have to suffer the shit ads about 'stds' and to some sad people that is what it's about (not the std's).

I was amazingly lucky meeting Mel. It wasn't the most romantic of beginnings (drunken kiss) but 2 years later and a proposal at Reading Festival '07' and I've never been happier :)

I know lots of people who have met their current partners at UNI and by current partners I mean a partner that could be the one, not who the hell are you get out of my room current partner. 

Its the one thing no manual or student guide can help you with I'm afraid. You may be a skeptic and want to be out there and single before you "settle down" but to me this all depends on your idea of settling down. It's a stupid term because who wants to settle for anything? it implies there's something better. If your thinking kids, a house, a mortgage and a car all ready then please for the love of god! your with the wrong person, get away quick.

With the right person very little should change in regards with all the things you want to do in your life. The only difference is now you have someone to share it with, someone who can add more to the things you will do. They are much better than your best friends (you can't do certain things with your best friends... well not usually).

I've seen people not give anyone a chance in terms of giving it a go and their paying for it now.

I'm rambling on but I really do feel incredibly lucky. To find someone who your not thinking about "settling down with" rather carrying on the adventure with i'd imagine is bloody difficult. So heres to everyone at UNI who has 'a someone' not just with someone.

Creative campaign Project Presentation...

As presentations go this one has to be in my top 3. At the beginning of this course, presenting was some what of a weekly hell, getting up in front of everyone to have them judge you like an animal and then at the end have "feedback" (they never held back) from people who know about as much as you do which seems pointless but the result is that now we are all very good at it (well most of us(that will drive them crazy if they read this, who could I mean hmmm,,,).

I was very proud of my ideas the images are but one out of 5 briefs that I did the rest you can view on my website :) I did the drawings with Crayola Crayons! nursery kids kiss my ass (not literally) I just raised the bar you little snot bags.

So celebrations are in order... well no not quite everyone got a weeks extension for their dissertations cuz george complained (thank you very much george) :) and so I have another week with no sunlight till it's done 

One small step for man, one giant leap towards my degree.