July and im home for some time

Well first year has been over now for 1 month or so and between moving all of my possessions into storage (which in itself was a huge investment of time, money and energy) and then returning home to find that there was no Internet in the house and no hope of it till the end of June ive had no time to post. That's my excuse and im sticking too it.

Being back home for an extended amount of time is a really strange and to be honest un-comfortable experience, I had my freedom and here it is severely compromised. I feel constantly under my parents feet and the only thing i can do to try not to annoy them is to keep out of their way and confine myself to my room. One great thing to come out of no Internet is that i have been forced to read/draw/paint to pass the time and have been getting into a book called 'The architecture of happiness - the secret art of furnishing your life' by Alain de Botton. Its quite a tough read but very interesting none the less, it talks allot about the psychology of design which has always interested me and how we can create buildings in different ways which can affect us subconsciously. Its changed my view on the practice of architecture and my role within it and at the same time deepened my dislike for certain factions of modernism (i.e. Le Corbusier).

Apart from that book ive been reading some on Impressionism and realism in the 20th century and decided to buy another book by one of my favourite authors Haruki Murakami its called 'The wild sheep chase' ive only read the first few pages but im hooked all ready such is the power of Murakami. Im sure i will have finished reading it by next week depending on how i spread my time about. The great thing about having free time and no particular thing to do is ideas seem to flood to me...i have 3 ideas for installation pieces, 3 photography projects, 2 art pieces, various clothes and pieces of furniture. I HAVE TO DO THEM. Someone please force me to make something this summer otherwise i will be really depressed at having wasted so much valuable time.

China looks like it will have to wait till next year now because of money issues and i missed the deadline for application, but instead my parents suggested a trip to Canada to visit my relatives, and i jumped at the opportunity. Apart from not seeing my Canadian family for over 6 years i have really missed the place too, the fresh air and beautiful scenery is inspiring to say the least so im pretty pumped about the trip i even get to meet my cousins wife/husband/child (i have more than one cousin out there just to clear that up.

When i wasn't reading i was sorting out things in the loft into boxes of 'leave' and 'take to Glasgow' and i came across this old passport photograph of me (top) i think its 4 years old and well...its quite clear that i have changed quite a bit...even if the hair is a drastic instant change, by the by the other photo is probably the most recent one of me. It got me thinking about change and how much of it i have been through in the past 4 years....GCSES, AS level, Btec and the first year of my degree, what a whirlwind to say the least. This time last year i was so excited to go to Glasgow whilst at the same time working full time for Habitat MK who incidentally have refused to re-employ me on the grounds of company restructuring which sounds like a lie to me.