All the 3s

In 2001, I bought a bunch of CDs on Fence, one of which was King Creosote's 12 O’Clock on the Dot. I was 18 and had just started my degree.

I can vividly remember listening to the album on the little stereo in our studio after my classmates had gone home. I was working in my sketchbook and it was raining outside.

For whatever reason, All the 3s caught my ear. It's a short, funny song about ageing, specifically about turning 33. I've uploaded an extract here:

33 seemed forever away. 2001 to 2016. 15 years. No matter how you square it, 15 years is a big chunk of life. My 20s hadn't started yet - in 15 years they'd be done and dusted. At 18, I'd barely had a drink. I'd barely had a girlfriend. 15 years was definitely forever away.

The idea stuck in my head and I've thought about All the 3s on every birthday since.

Yesterday I turned 33.

Left: me at 18 (I think). Right: me today, at 33.

What's happened in 15 years? Things: I graduated. I went to the pub. My 20s. I got married. I bought a flat. All these things feel like they happened yesterday. 15 years is no time at all.

I still feel exactly the same. I still own 12 O’Clock on the Dot. I still work in my sketchbook. It's raining outside.

I've got all my hair and I've got all my teeth (going by Facebook, that puts me ahead of some of my schoolmates). I'm carrying about 10lbs more than I should be. Here's a time-lapse of me trying to sort that out:

I imagine I'll continue to think about All the 3s every July. My 33rd birthday'll be further behind me each year and, instead of being some beacon of age, it'll be a memory of my youth (albeit one that I'll swear just happened).

15 years only feels like forever when you look this-a-way. When you look that-a-way, it's yesterday.

Birthday Thankyous

Working from home makes you weird. And, if you're already weird, working from home makes you weirder. It's one of the downsides of a pretty good gig.

After 3 years of full-time self-employment, the isolation has had a noticeable effect. I've got, like, bad at interacting with people. I'm not bloody Gollum, but I'm rusty and I worry that I'm boring for people to put up with.

'I've got no pals' is a half-joke I have with Alex whenever she's busy and I can't face going to something alone. It's not true, but when you've only spoken to two people all month (my wife and the postman), it can be easy to forget that other folk might actually wanna hang out.

Anyway, that's a long way of getting to my birthday, which recently happened. It was a good birthday.

First up, I thought I was turning 33 when I was really turning 32. So even though I technically did get older, in reality, I didn't. I beat the system.

Second, I got a treasure hunt. An hour-long treasure hunt for presents on my 33rd* birthday. When did you last do a treasure hunt on your birthday? You were probably 8. My wife is better than yours.

Alex's plan was elaborate. Clues led into cupboards and under floorboards. Sometimes I'd find a present, sometimes another clue and sometimes a little challenge. I smashed a piñata, I lucky dipped, I broke eggs, I exhibited at the GOMA.

Bucks Fizzin'

Best of all, Alex asked a bunch of my friends and family to improvise video clues that played at points along the way. This caught me by surprise (see the aforementioned 'I've got no pals' bit).

I'm not going to share the clips here, but I'd like to thank everyone who made one. I'm really touched. Cheers: Mum & Dad, Jen & Alan, Hilary, Johnny Lynch, Stuart, Concetta & Shawn, Frank & Nicky, Kim & Del, Rory. They meant a lot.

Special mentions to Mark, who got the biggest laugh with 3(!) videos of impressions of Alex and me; Jonnie, who sang a song. Fergi; who did his in the bath (props on the strategic camerawork, Katie); Lynne, who got Bruno involved; and Fiona & Ian for their mini-epic, The Godfather-In-Law, recorded in Sicily.

So, aye, thanks to my pals for being my pals. Thanks for the presents. Thanks if you sent a card, a message or a tweet. Sorry I'm a bit rubbish these days.

Cheers Alex x

*32nd!

A 2012 Montage: 12 Photos Per Month

This is a chronological 12 x 12 grid of photographs taken during 2012* (the first row is January, the second is February and so on). I've been making these things for 5 years now as a kind of quick-reference sheet for what's happened in my life. The photos mostly come from fairly ordinary stuff like trips and restaurant visits, but I like to share them regardless. March is a little later than I'd have preferred to get this up (I was aiming for New Year's Day, sheesh) but hey ho.

Compared to my fairly miserable 2011, 2012 was a good year. Hoo-boy, maybe the best ever. The photos don't quite do it justice but, honestly, it was really fun. For the nosey, there's a giant version of the montage over on Flickr and clicking the #montage tag below'll let you scroll through the full set from previous years.

Looking back, everything changed really early on when things took an, um, half-expected turn in February. Along with a few good friends and teammates, I was made redundant from the design job (the source of my misery) that I'd been working at full-time for the previous 11 months due to company cutbacks. I remember Alex screaming 'That's wonderful Dave!' when I told her on my walk home. Christ I hated that place.

Luckily I had a few freelance gigs that I could turn to and, as fortune would have it, I found enough work to survive on for the rest of the year. For the first time ever I was paying 100% of my way with no part-time jobs as backup. I really hope that I'll be in the same position this time next year. Thank you Job-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. You didn't mean to, but you made my life a whole lot better.

What else happened? Oh yeah, in June, Alex and I got bloomin' married, didn't we? That was pretty amazing. Everything at our wedding went perfectly (bar the weather) and all our friends & family spoiled us rotten. We followed with a mini catch-our-breath honeymoon in Jersey (complete with a 'comedy wedding anecdote' collapsed ceiling on our return) and, in September, a bigger let's-go-on-holiday honeymoon in Paris. 9 months on, we're still solid as a rock. No divorces or nothin'.

Shortly after we got back home, my grandfather ('Poppa' to the family) sadly died. The old boy did alright - 94 years old, father of 4, grandfather of 10, great-grandfather of 15 (and counting) and owner of the twinkliest eyes in town. He and my Nana (who's still going strong with a mean sense of humour) were married just shy of 71 years. Platinum anniversaries don't come round too often and, barring WWII, those two barely spent a day apart the whole time. He was a good man and I miss him.

The rest of the year was full of our usual trips to Arran to visit Alex's grandparents, plenty of walks and picnics in Pollok Park, car painting in Inverness with the Team Recoat folks and a visit to a potato factory in Lincoln. The arrival of a Chillies just around the corner wreaked havoc on our waistlines and the terrible weather didn't exactly help with the repeated attempts to 'get fit'.

Some miscellaneous things:

Best meal: My annual hog roast roll from Oink in Edinburgh. I nip through every December to do some Christmas shopping and look forward to sitting down by myself on a bench with one of these all year long.

Funniest moment: Mark shouting something unrepeatable on The Rubber Dinghy Rapids in Alton Towers on my stag do.

Best harbinger-of-good-times: On a very grey New Year's Day I spotted a kingfisher in Pollok park. We watched it fly up-and-down a little burn like a bolt of blue lightning.

Best bar: Aye it's town centre, but Max's on Queen St. in Glasgow is unfussy, has good beer, nice staff and really tasty food. We started going because it's a convenient place for a few friends to meet up and grew to really love it.

-

As for 2013? No idea really. Exercise is sorely needed. I don't think I've ever felt so unhealthy. My best man, Fergi, has just moved into our street. Hopefully that'll make me a little less hermit-like. There are a few imminent big birthdays on the horizon too which'll be good fun. Work wise, there's a new computer winging its way to me as I write. Can't wait. My iMac, after years of solid service, is getting a bit doddery in its old age. Hold on buddy, you can put your feet up soon.

* Other photo credits: Nikki Leadbetter is responsible for the 4 wedding photos and Alex most likely took any others featuring me.

Married.

In June, the wonderful! Beautiful! Spectacular! Alex Horne didn't see sense and signed up to a lifetime of rubbish when we got married out at The Cruin on Loch Lomond. To make matters worse, She's now going by the infinitely-harder-to-spell-down-the-phone moniker of Alex Galletly.

Alex is the best. She'll light up a room. She'll make everyone happy. She's way out of my league. Without her encouragement, I'd be a wreck of a man and without me holding her back, Alex'd probably be The Queen by now. Despite her massive flaws (she's left a BLOODY MUG ON MY BLOODY DESK), I wouldn't change a thing about her and goddamn it if she didn't look amazing on the day:

From the first time we went out for dinner, to getting engaged in Philadelphia, to moving to Glasgow together, to getting married - we've been really happy. It's disgusting. When people ask "how's married life?" they're often disappointed to hear "it's exactly the same as non-married life", I guess that doesn't sound so romantic. The thing is, non-married life was great, so being married is great. It was already romantic. Urgh. Seriously though, if we'd had any doubts I imagine there'd have been tears and arguments. Without stress, planning our wedding was, dare I say it, fun.

We had an amazing day surrounded by friends and family. The weather was crap, but it's always crap so that didn't matter. There was laughter, tissues-at-the-ready, drinking, rolls-and-sausage and dancing. It was great fun. The speeches were good. No fisticuffs went down. I didn't get jilted. I've put some more photos over here.

Big thanks to everyone:

The staff at The Cruin were unbelievabe - they were friendly, helpful and made the day run really smoothly. Once everything kicked off, we didn't need to think about a thing. The venue is beautiful, the food was delicious, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a Loch Lomond wedding without hesitation.

Alex's vintage dress came from Dragonfly Dress Design and her flowers from Sparrow and Rose. Both run from Elderslie St. in Glasgow's West End and were wonderfully accommodating.

Music was provided by The Wild Cigarillos, a ceilidh band from Edinburgh. They got everyone up dancing and were brilliant at explaining what the hell to do for the inexperienced (myself more than anyone).

Our humanist celebrant was Sheena Johnston. Sheena was great. She met with us a few times beforehand and put together a ceremony that was really warm, personal and, y'know, human. Many of our guests mentioned how good the service (is that the right word?) was and, as humanist weddings become increasingly popular - to anyone looking for a celebrant, honestly, Sheena is the best!

Stationary was provided by me! I'll maybe put up some images soon - despite being produced in a frantic rush, it all turned out ok in the end.

Our photographer was Nikki Leadbetter. From our first meeting, Nikki has been a complete pleasure to work and hang out with. She understood exactly what we wanted (informal / plenty pictures of guests / catch the atmosphere of the day) and worked really hard all day with enthusiasm, energy and a big smile on her face. Nikki put all our guests at ease and we're really happy with how our photographs turned out. Hire her, she's great.

Lastly, thanks to our friends and family for spending the day with us and for all the amazing gifts. We've got a pile of thankyou cards still to be sent out (sorry) - everyone seemed to have a blast. Thanks to my best man Fergi, and to the bridesmaids Kirsty, Nicola and Tara for all your help too. To Fergi, Mark, Chris, Steve, Steven, Darren and Stuart - that weekend down in Manchester was one of the funniest I've ever had. Cheers.

To our parents, we couldn't have done it without you. Malcolm & Mary Galletly, Fiona & Ian Horne - very proud to have you looking out for us.

The Past 2 Weeks Expressed as a To-Do List

Pretty much covers it.

A 2011 Montage: 12 Photos Per Month

For the 4th time now I’ve taken enough photographs to put together a montage covering the 12 months since the last New Year. Arranged chronologically, each row of the above image represents a month of 2011 using photos taken with my camera or my phone*. The previous ones are here: 2008, 2009, 2010.

This has become a tradition. I sit down, usually on New Years Day, and take a few hours sorting through iPhoto, dropping pictures into folders and sticking them together in Photoshop. The end result, while likely dull to anyone but myself and maybe a few of my friends is, to me, quite a special little thing. That 4400 x 3300 (full size) rectangle contains the 28th year of my life. I can’t change that. Not now, not ever.

For some months, the pickings were mighty thin. Maybe I didn’t do much, maybe I didn’t carry a camera. For others, there were so many photos that I had to be completely ruthless with my editing. It’s a hard balance weighing up how much I like a particular image with how much it represents a time or an event. I also try to include a good mixture of ‘important things’ (eg. a holiday / an exhibition) and ‘silly things’ (goofing off around the house / stuff we’ve eaten).

On the whole, 2011 has been a funny one. Small in some ways - I didn’t leave Scotland, I didn’t exhibit much, I put on a little weight. Big in others - I worked on some of my most important jobs (many of which I can’t talk about yet), I spent my first full year living with Alex and we passed the ‘6 months until our wedding’ milestone. I saw less of my friends and less of my parents than at any other time of my life. I made some ‘career’ decisions that I really regret and others that I’m really proud of. At some points I was very happy, at others I was very sad.

Mostly when I look back, one thought comes to mind: I wish I’d had more time. More time to draw. More time hanging out with Alex. More time alone. More time doing nothing. More time with friends and family. More time working for people I like, less time working for people I hate.

I may do a few more end of year / start of year posts over the next few days, I may not. I know they’re not that interesting to read, but they can be fun to write. Please stay tuned for more rubbish from me throughout 2012. I think it’s gonna be crazy. Thanks for reading my blog. I love you x

* owning a new, fancy phone has presented a problem this year - square photographs! Thanks to the likes of Instagram and Hipstamatic, I’ve actually taken more square pictures than rectangular ones. This has meant that, to keep things consistent, many of my best photos didn’t make the cut. I’m considering making a second, 12 x 12 square montage to fix this.

A Wee Trip to Arran

I write this on returning from our big 'summer' holiday - 2 nights on the small Scottish island of Arran. With a wedding fast approaching, we're staying sensible and cutting back on the most reckless of spending. Big holidays ain't an option.

It turned out to be a great wee trip. Alex has family in Whiting Bay and we've been over a hundred times to visit, but finding a good deal on a posh hotel added a new twist to the familiar surroundings. For the first time in my life I experienced a sauna (verdict: hot) and I got to go swimming, something I haven't done in 10 years (verdict: wet). Here's a link to my Arran photo album (pretty much just holiday snaps, don't get too excited).

Anyway, this post is essentially fluff to surround my most recent attempt at an animated photo (above) that I made this morning while waiting on the ferry. I'm really happy with how this one turned out - I think it sums up our relationship pretty well. I might post a little tutorial about how to make these things soon. After posting my first attempt, I received a few requests and I think I'm getting the hang of it. I don't even know if they have a proper name. Moving photographs? Living photos? Harry Potter pictures?

That swimming pool has given my left ear one hell of a beating. Can't hear a goddamn thing.

Penfall'd

Since moving to a flat with wooden floors, I've broken countless nibs by accidentally knocking my pen off the desk. Today I ruined one with a flourish.

Actually, it might be fine. Tough little beggar.

Goodbye 2010

Hello! Happy new year! After a small festive break away from bloggington, I'm hoping to get back in the swing of things and to take my humble wee website 2-tha-nxt-lvl (see, already started). If all goes according to plan I'll be posting more interesting things, more often, starting NOW. I also hope to get a little better at actually writing stuff too - as you might (may?) have noticed, I'm a bit clunky.

The photo montage above is the third instalment of the chronological 12 photos / 12 months thing I do every year (2008 is here / 2009 is here). A trilogy! Not bad going. As always, it's not strictly 12 pictures to a month, mainly because of a few camera issues that meant I had to shuffle stuff around. The photos aren't great either but they're not really supposed to be - just silly wee snapshots from my silly wee year.

2010 was great. Quite a quiet one, but that's ok. It wasn't bad work-wise, pretty good home-wise. No complaints. How about you? I hope you had a good one. I'm really excited about 2011 now though. It's all creaking into motion and, fingers crossed, it'll be THE BEST YEAR THERE'S EVER BEEN.

Hello 2010, you're looking well x

100 Tuesdays

Close to two years ago I asked Alex to go out for dinner with me on a Tuesday night in Glasgow. She said yes. It went well, we had a good night, so I asked her out again. The best day for both of us, by chance, was the following Tuesday. Another restaurant, another good night. I was feeling pretty smooth! The next again Tuesday also found us out in a restaurant eating a meal - a pattern! - and there and then we made the decision to try to go out to eat every Tuesday from then on.

Today is the 100th Tuesday from that night. We're still going. I have seen Alex every single Tuesday since our first date. Not bad considering we don't yet live together. If I were to guess, I'd say we'd made it out to a restaurant, cafe or bar on 90 days out of those 100. We've maybe had 5 take-aways and bought in food to cook or had a picnic on the remaining 5. There have been no real hurdles, problems or mishaps. Actually, a schedule clash sometimes makes for the best nights - my Newcastle trip was purely to avoid missing a Tuesday.

How's it been? It's been great. We've eaten some really nice food in some really nice places. We used to joke about how we turned Tuesday (the most boring day) into the best night of the week. I guess it was expensive at first, but we learned to tone things down pretty well. We've learned where to get a good deal if we're tight for cash. I only wish I'd kept a diary or something so I could remember more specifics, but I make enough bloody lists.

You could say this is our 'date-night' but I dunno, that implies all sorts of things about trying to keep the magic in a relationship and spending some quality time together - things we don't particularly need to work on. We're doing fine. This is more like a joke that got out of control (in a good way) or a weird game. I'm just happy I've never had a slap or a glass of wine pored over my head. Nobody's gotten food poisoning and we've never even argued. I've probably moaned a bit, but I do that all the time. Alex has been great.

So tonight, Tuesday 100 (Alex and her friends call them 'Dave Tuesdays', but I ain't about to get into that), we're going to one of our favourite places. Wilawan in Stirling. A place I'll full heartedly recommend if you ever find yourself nearby and fancy some Thai food - the best place to eat in town, by a mile. Pro tip: it's all about the starters in that place. Damn.

As for the future, who knows? We're planning our move to our own place soon which might change things up a little. Maybe not. There's no sign of stopping anyway. 100 became a goal to aim for a while back and I'm very happy to have reached it today. What's for tea?

Farewell 2009

Today, Monday 11th of January, is my first 'real' day of the year. After the whole Christmas thing, the whole New Year thing and a little holiday in Arran, this has been the first chance I’ve had in ages to get myself some juice and have a sit down.

Now, is it too late to reflect back on 2009? Are all the lists done? Does everyone know who made the best film and who sang the best song? How skinny should my jeans be? Oh, I don’t know! Damn. I imagine all that stuff is long in the recycle bin but hey, like I said, my year starts today. If there’s a dead horse lying around, I’d sure as hell like to give it a kick too.

Last year was fun. Lots happened, lots didn’t happen. I got to go places, meet people, see things, eat, drink, draw, laugh and muck about. I got engaged! I went on about 50 bloody holidays! It snowed! Over the next week or so I intend to post a few top 10 lists and things but on the whole, 2009 gets a thumbs up from me. Yeah, I know the world got itself in a bit of a state but jeez, lighten up. In the grand scheme of things; I went to Oban.

That image above is a chronological montage of my year, like the one I posted last January. It doesn’t cover everything, because I left my camera at home too often, but it’s a good enough place to start. I hope everyone else had a good one. There’s 480 unread blogs in my reader that I need to catch up with. Maybe they’ll let me know what’s up.

My 2008: 12 Photos For Every Month

12 months: 12 photos for each. Well, that's the idea anyway. In reality I extended and shortened a few to include certain pictures. It's chronological though - New Year to New Year.

With a little more deliberation I could have built the image out of funnier/more interesting photos or stuck to a '1 photo per event' kind of deal. I think I'd have driven myself crazy doing that though. I kinda just dragged and dropped things that caught my eye. I guess there's also little in the way of art related stuff in there, but hey-ho.

No doubt there will be a few more posts looking forwards and backwards this week. I'm not quite up to churning out full lists of my albums/shows/films of the year, but I'm sure I'll find something to talk about. It is January after all, the month of bullet-point lists.