circumstance blog

On Vacation

I had a chance to spend some time in the sun for free. I'll be back soon.

Posted by shannon at 08:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

See the sights in style!

I saw the coolest thing on my run this afternoon. I decided to take a different route, running east along the river instead of my usual western route, which would take me past plenty of scenic spots like Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Lambeth Castle and MI-6 HQ. I got just past Lambeth Bridge when I had to go around this strange looking vehicle that was poised on the river bank, looking like it was ready to drive onto the ramp in front of it straight into the river. So I waited a minute, and then it started up and drove at a good speed right into the drink! A few people cheered. It was quite impressive. Then the bright yellow, school-bus looking vehicle cruised, or should I say more like drove, down the Thames toward Westminster Bridge. Here is a photo of this amphibious tour bus from the Frog Tours site. It looked like fun, but I guess I prefer my site seeing on foot.

Posted by shannon at 07:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

snapshots

I walked around a lot the other day in search of those rubbers. I took a few photos, this was an attempt at some doorways which didn’t come out that great, but it was kind of an afterthought.

57 and 59

I found this building on Fulham Road genuinely weird. I couldn't tell if it’s a restaurant or shops or office or what. The stained-glass Michelin Man on the front is quite ugly, almost scary. The painted tiles that adorn the outside of the building depicting pastoral scenes of cycling and motoring are quite cute though.

81 Fulham Rd

The dog was pooped when we got back. She is not exactly in top condition, like these working sled dogs.

It was a long day

Posted by shannon at 06:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

sketches

World's End Chip Shop

I had fun sketching boxes tonight in my drawing class. I embarrassed the teacher merely by being an American, because she apologised for saying: "rubbers are really fabulous, they're just great!" Not like I didn't know what she meant, I didn't even giggle inappropriately, but she felt the need to explain anyway. Must go out and get a great big squishy rubber now, so I can erase my mistakes.

A fox crossed my path on the way home through the park. It was much larger than most of the dogs I encounter there.

I am tired and yet I still find myself awake redesigning a friend's site. I must learn to close up things I'm working on so I just don't start up again as soon as I sit down in front of the computer.

Posted by shannon at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Don't Eat the Baby

I was in the grocery store yesterday, on a very busy Saturday afternoon in an extremely large urban store where people are bumping their carts into you as you try to squeeze through the aisles. I was standing among the tall refrigerated shelves, trying to find something to make for dinner, when this old man mutters to himself: "Oh, SHUT UP ALREADY!", and then to me: "Is there anything worse than a baby crying?" as he looked disgustingly down the aisle and the offender. I hadn't even noticed the noise, as it's easy to block things out when you're concentrating on raw chicken laid out in styrofoam trays wrapped in plastic. (I am usually thinking about how unappetizing it looks, what kind of horrible life the creature had before it was killed, do I really want to eat chicken? etc..)

So, having snapped out of my poultry trance, I looked up at the man, then at the baby crying. As far as babies crying it wasn't really so bad, he was contained inside his cart, both parents seemed to be attending, he hadn’t hit full screaming mode yet. I looked back at the man and said "Well, its not like life gets any better, might as well cry like that when you have the chance." I'm sure he wasn't expecting that response. I'm not sure he understood me, as the statement didn’t really make too much sense. So I want to clarify now.

Whenever I see and hear a baby crying, I stop and look at it. It's so obvious how horrible and uncomfortable and miserable it feels, I can't help but feel bad for it. I empathize, at times I feel just like that. I see a kid screaming, balling his eyes out, and I can't help but feel that I wish I could do that too. Just scream and cry and throw a fit. But of course I'm older and I know it doesn’t work. I want to tell the kid to carry on, scream and cry and let it all out, feeling terrible doesn’t change as you get older, you just learn not to let other people know how you feel. They will just tell you to SHUT UP.

The strangest thing about me, that I can still surprise myself. Crying babies do not annoy me. What does annoy me is people with little patience for a child's misery.

Posted by shannon at 01:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'll be taking part in

I'll be taking part in Iron Scribe this weekend as Iron Scribe Eye-Bean. And watching new episodes of "Star Trek: Enterprise" on bill's Tibook.

Posted by shannon at 01:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)