look! it's moving. it's alive. it's alive!

Err…so…that was another rather long gap….My record I think. I officially have no chance of catching up now.


I can't be bothered to talk about work (as you may have noticed) I'll do the highlights! I have to write less and you have to trawl through less rubbish. Everyone wins! Deal? 


I've managed to work out how to change my blog name to something much more relevant/accurate. It gives me an excuse for when I don't post something for 3 months…or 3 years. 


Here is my 3-year work-life catch-up! 


...completed my 2 week work placement without getting killed. I stayed at my lovely friend Katy's flat in St Pauls while I was in London. 
...had the placement extended for another 2 weeks…as a result I had to drag my bag with only 2 weeks worth of stuff to Brick Lane where I slept on a mattress on the floor of a big house where my other lovely friends Mike, Ellie and Daniel lived. I shared the floor with Stacey the mouse. 
...had my extended placement extended to a 6 month contract. Now needed somewhere to live urgently. 2 weeks worth of stuff still being washed and recycled. Stacey the mouse still hadn't moved out. 
...not being a Londoner, visited flatshares in the worst parts of London to try and find a room. Still sleeping on a mattress… 
...was saved by yet another lovely friend Cassie who was also moving homes and offered me a bedroom in an attic flat in an old house in Greenwich. Said goodbye to Ellie and Mike and Daniel and Stacey and moved to my own place at last! 2 weeks worth of stuff still going strong… 
...started work properly at Zag, a brand and product invention company. It's best described in terms of Dragons Den…Someone would come up with an idea, we'd find a factory to make the product, design the packaging and logos etc and try to get it into shops. 
...spent 2 and a half years at Zag. It was a crazy environment, especially as it only had 2 graphic designers and 1 product designer. Had my brain frazzled and learnt a lot. 
...was made redundant at Christmas 2010. Not the best timing but at least I could retreat to St Ives for a family Christmas and Mum's cooking. 
...having some time to think about exactly what I wanted to do with my life I decided to escape the world of branding and move into publishing or products for children…ideally children's publishing! 
...visited the Job Centre a few times and was only vaguely surprised at the number of drunk people on Kilburn High Road in the middle of the day. 
...after a month of unemployment (including a lazy Xmas week or so) I got a 6 month post at Dorling Kindersley as an Assistant Jacket Designer in the travel guides department. This was so I could get my foot in the door in the publishing world and also learn the publishing basics as I went. It was a good job as I got to be a designer as well as see behind the scenes by attending the meetings with some quite senior people. 
...the 6 months has just come to an end so now I am unemployed again! (Oh, you thought I'd suddenly got a load of energy to write my blog again? Actually a load of time) 


See? That was boring even when shortened! No wonder I put it off for so long...