Bosnia are out of the cup already!! Iran still have a faint chance so I think I'll get behind them. I hope Iran wins and loads of Iranians go crazy and drink illicit booze and play punk records and hold hands with the opposite sex and all that. I reckon Salvador will be full of Iranians going for it, leaving the headscarf in the hotel room and knocking back a few caipirinhas. Essentially I am making a drunk hipster neocon case for supporting Iran.
Brazil is exceeding expectations, although I am looking forward to heading up the coast to Salvador as it is definitely winter in São Paulo.
PS newspaper cartoon in Fohla de São Paulo: "Uruguay has done in 90 mins what Argentina could not do in 200 years: kick out the English pirates". Oooooh!
Sunday, 22 June 2014
Saturday, 21 June 2014
Thursday, 12 June 2014
Closing Ceremony
The Countdown to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil is almost done, the World Cup starts today. I'll drop in from time to time to give you some updates, but the purpose of the blog has been fulfilled. I am genuinely surprised at how much I've enjoyed the discipline of daily updates, and how much writing has helped me think things through.
My break started properly when I returned from holiday in China last September. I tried to give myself space, space away from the world of corporate ghosts, in order to discover a new path. I became desperate at points. Ultimately, the magic 8-ball said, "Ask again later".
I have to return to the world of ghosts for a while, but I'm going to maintain a golden thread back to this space. I will develop technical skills in home fermentation, needlepoint tapestry and brewing. If these don't work out I'll find other technical skills, but they're a good start. I will read the complete works of Bruno Latour and continue to follow contemporary sociology. I will seek opportunities to volunteer in my local community. My emotions have felt closer to the surface in recent weeks, I want to keep them there - I will continue to read the modern classics of Japanese literature. Moving to Bath or Bristol will require me to find a new tai chi teacher - I will use this as an opportunity to rededicate myself to my tai chi practice, as I have become very complacent. I will continue to study the key religious texts of Taoism, even if my studies are hopelessly warped by my status as a Westerner. I will obey the Five Nevers as much as possible. I will halve my drinking. I will find a way to continue making and performing music. Hopefully, I will buy my wife a dog.
By doing all this, I will construct a sort of spaceship or spacesuit that will keep me well supplied with oxygen as I navigate the world of ghosts. This protective layer will stop me from confusing the ghost world with the real world. It will give me a fighting chance of eventually escaping the ghost world completely.
Thanks for reading!
My break started properly when I returned from holiday in China last September. I tried to give myself space, space away from the world of corporate ghosts, in order to discover a new path. I became desperate at points. Ultimately, the magic 8-ball said, "Ask again later".
I have to return to the world of ghosts for a while, but I'm going to maintain a golden thread back to this space. I will develop technical skills in home fermentation, needlepoint tapestry and brewing. If these don't work out I'll find other technical skills, but they're a good start. I will read the complete works of Bruno Latour and continue to follow contemporary sociology. I will seek opportunities to volunteer in my local community. My emotions have felt closer to the surface in recent weeks, I want to keep them there - I will continue to read the modern classics of Japanese literature. Moving to Bath or Bristol will require me to find a new tai chi teacher - I will use this as an opportunity to rededicate myself to my tai chi practice, as I have become very complacent. I will continue to study the key religious texts of Taoism, even if my studies are hopelessly warped by my status as a Westerner. I will obey the Five Nevers as much as possible. I will halve my drinking. I will find a way to continue making and performing music. Hopefully, I will buy my wife a dog.
By doing all this, I will construct a sort of spaceship or spacesuit that will keep me well supplied with oxygen as I navigate the world of ghosts. This protective layer will stop me from confusing the ghost world with the real world. It will give me a fighting chance of eventually escaping the ghost world completely.
Thanks for reading!
Wednesday, 11 June 2014
Housekeeping
UPDATE #1
I spent so much time writing this morning's post that I missed my train by three minutes and had to shell out £31.50 for another single. I took the 10.58 Overground from New Cross Gate to Canada Water, which was actually delayed until 11.02. I had arrived at the station and collected my tickets at about 10.45, but the 10.52 train to London Bridge had been cancelled. At Canada Water I changed from the Overground Line to the Jubilee Line. This is one of the quickest changes you can make; the design of the station has been praised by the CEO of Hong Kong's MTR metro system for its efficient use of space. I caught the westbound Jubilee Line train at around 11.12, at this point all but resigned to missing my advance-booked 11:30 train from London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads. I boarded one of the middle carriages through the double doors, walked a few feet forwards and then turned to face the doors through which I'd entered. On a square-shaped train carriage I would have leant against the opposing set of doors, but as the Jubilee Line trains have curved carriages, I hunched over a little while reading some documents related to my imminent job interview. I would have preferred to stand right in the middle of the carriage where I can stand fully upright, but a man had boarded behind me and occupied this space.
At London Bridge, Steve Coogan boarded the train with a male companion. He was wearing a dark grey suit with faint, thinly spaced pinstripes, very similar in design to my own, as well as sunglasses. His companion was shorter and wore a beard: I did not recognise him. Steve Coogan did not move far from the door - rather, he tucked himself into the small space left of the train door, near the button that opens the door.
I spent so much time writing this morning's post that I missed my train by three minutes and had to shell out £31.50 for another single. I took the 10.58 Overground from New Cross Gate to Canada Water, which was actually delayed until 11.02. I had arrived at the station and collected my tickets at about 10.45, but the 10.52 train to London Bridge had been cancelled. At Canada Water I changed from the Overground Line to the Jubilee Line. This is one of the quickest changes you can make; the design of the station has been praised by the CEO of Hong Kong's MTR metro system for its efficient use of space. I caught the westbound Jubilee Line train at around 11.12, at this point all but resigned to missing my advance-booked 11:30 train from London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads. I boarded one of the middle carriages through the double doors, walked a few feet forwards and then turned to face the doors through which I'd entered. On a square-shaped train carriage I would have leant against the opposing set of doors, but as the Jubilee Line trains have curved carriages, I hunched over a little while reading some documents related to my imminent job interview. I would have preferred to stand right in the middle of the carriage where I can stand fully upright, but a man had boarded behind me and occupied this space.
At London Bridge, Steve Coogan boarded the train with a male companion. He was wearing a dark grey suit with faint, thinly spaced pinstripes, very similar in design to my own, as well as sunglasses. His companion was shorter and wore a beard: I did not recognise him. Steve Coogan did not move far from the door - rather, he tucked himself into the small space left of the train door, near the button that opens the door.
He faced the door of the train, thus using the aquamarine column that hosts the door-open button to obscure his face to anyone standing or sitting to his left. His companion stood to the right, in front of the door, thus largely obscuring Steve Coogan's face to anyone standing or sitting to his right. The only people in a good position to notice Steve Coogan were me and the man who had boarded behind me and was now occupying the central part of the door space. He had his back to Steve Coogan, however, and was thus providing him with extra cover to other potential onlookers.
The train stopped at Southwark, and the man got off. I moved slightly closer to Steve Coogan, stretching to my full height in the middle of the carriage and continuing to look down at the documents I had with me. As the man got off and new passengers got on, Steve Coogan turned his head away from the door as people boarded the train, brushing straight past him. His companion tilted his body so as to subconsciously manoeuvre new passengers away from Steve Coogan. I was checking the expressions of the new passengers faces to see if they had registered Steve Coogan's presence, but they did not seem to. Steve Coogan and his companion repeated this tactic at Waterloo with the same results. They spoke in low voices throughout the journey, I did not pick up a single word.
I now believed myself to be the only person in the carriage aware of Steve Coogan's presence. This felt to be something of a responsibility, as Steve Coogan had obviously taken such care to remain unnoticed. I shifted my posture very subtly, under the guise of the natural movements of the train, to further conceal Steve Coogan from anyone over my left shoulder. Finally, Steve Coogan disembarked at Westminster, three stops after London Bridge. He stepped to his right and seemed to pause, half-facing the train, as if to allow the passengers a glimpse of his face now that he was safely off, and then continued right towards the exit.
UPDATE #2
The interview went fairly well, I don't have a special feeling about it but the whole thing felt comfortable, I wasn't lost for words or anything. The people seemed pleasant, one of them used to work at my old company, although we didn't overlap. I was worried that a really bad interview would leave me stewing all during Brazil, but this was perfect - it made the future feel more concrete without unsettling me. It was also great to physically visit Bristol (on an amazing day for it as well) and go through Bath on the train, I felt very calm and happy about being there. I even had warm feelings about being on First Great Western trains - I'm suddenly noticing their "Be a Great Westerner" ads everywhere in London.
UPDATE #3
I just posted a really banal tweet on Twitter, which may seem to break one of the Five Nevers. It was purely for the benefit of the people who just interviewed me, who are probably googling me. From now on, you should basically assume that my Twitter feed is my Linkedin page. Don't judge me. What a terrible world, though, that I would feel the need to do this.
Declaring for Bosnia & Herzegovina
I had a quick look at this fun graphic thing in the Wall Street Journal, the "World Cup of Everything Else". Iran wins quite a few things, e.g. most married women, most Muslims, highest consumption of tree nuts, highest traffic death rate. I also had an Iranian on my MA course and went to her Persian New Year party in the year when the Guardian was suddenly hyping being the only non-Muslim at a Ramadan party, which made me feel slightly ahead of the curve.
I think I kind of like Iran, it seems a case of good people, bad government. Even their (very unpleasant) government seems to have a sense of humour in how they wind up the UK and US, unlike, say, the tiresome high camp of North Korea. I like their food too, what little I've tried of it.
But I think I'm going to have to go for Bosnia and Herzegovina. They only win one of the WSJ's World Cups - unemployment, a staggering 44.3%. There were serious riots in Bosnia in February, dubbed the Bosnian Spring, which I must confess completely passed me by. Bosnia has pretty much been victim to the classic post-communist disease of having all the state assets sold off to dodgy characters who then strip the assets and screw the workers.
They also have a fascinating political structure: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina accounts for only 51% of the land mass of the country "Bosnia and Herzegovina", with the rest taken up by semi-autonomous regions. I don't have time to explain it in full but check out the Wiki page. There is also the High Representative of the international community who can bypass parliament and fire elected officials - Paddy Ashdown was one for a bit. That office will remain until Bosnia and Herzegovina can prove that it is grown up enough to run itself properly.
So yeah, I feel like B&H getting out of the group stages will mean a lot to the country - they are also the only one out of them and Iran likely to even have a shot, and I'll be watching the final group stage match. So while Iran are technically the underdog in the head-to-head, I'm supporting Bosnia & Herzegovina as the underdog in the broader sense.
Also check out this flag!
I mean what the fuck is going on here? It's really long, a 1:2 proportion, very rare. I love the half stars on the top and bottom, thinking outside of the box there.
Tuesday, 10 June 2014
Interview tomorrow
Interview tomorrow with a PR agency in Bristol - not a particularly fantastic opportunity but worth the practice. So far job searching is great out west, there are consultants who actually find vacancies for you and give you tips etc. Interest from two agencies so far although I can tell one has the wrong idea about me, I don't see it working. They think because I have been freelancing that I will have loads of contacts and clients that I can bring to them, when in fact I have really been working as a remote worker more than a proper freelancer. I don't know anyone!!
It's a good reminder that this isn't necessarily going to be easy just because I'm leaving London, there are certain gaps that I need to account for - particularly, the fact that all the work I've done pretty much has been in Asia, and in six years as a PR I've probably picked up the phone to journalists less than 20 times. Someone more junior always did it for me. A nice editorial job would probably be more up my street, but I'm not sure if they exist or exactly what they are - will take a closer look after the WC. I fly pretty much this time next week! I have a strange mix of nerves right now, partly job interview, partly World Cup, partly from a heavy weekend. To be honest I would have been just as happy to leave the whole first interview thing until after the WC but fuck it, what can you do.
Went to Stratford Westfield with Jess to buy some shorts and some summer shoes that I can wear without socks (those bullshit ankle socks always slip under my feet and drive me mental). Bought some shoes from Aldo that appear to be made of cardboard, glue and linen, not sure how long they will last - they might be espadrilles, I don't know the terminology. Had a can of Ting and some tortilla chips with Jess in the Las Iguanas overlooking the Olympic Stadium, getting in the Brazilian mood. I like the Westfield, it's kind of relaxing compared to Oxford Street or wherever.
God I love how boring this blog post is! Feels like a good sign.
It's a good reminder that this isn't necessarily going to be easy just because I'm leaving London, there are certain gaps that I need to account for - particularly, the fact that all the work I've done pretty much has been in Asia, and in six years as a PR I've probably picked up the phone to journalists less than 20 times. Someone more junior always did it for me. A nice editorial job would probably be more up my street, but I'm not sure if they exist or exactly what they are - will take a closer look after the WC. I fly pretty much this time next week! I have a strange mix of nerves right now, partly job interview, partly World Cup, partly from a heavy weekend. To be honest I would have been just as happy to leave the whole first interview thing until after the WC but fuck it, what can you do.
Went to Stratford Westfield with Jess to buy some shorts and some summer shoes that I can wear without socks (those bullshit ankle socks always slip under my feet and drive me mental). Bought some shoes from Aldo that appear to be made of cardboard, glue and linen, not sure how long they will last - they might be espadrilles, I don't know the terminology. Had a can of Ting and some tortilla chips with Jess in the Las Iguanas overlooking the Olympic Stadium, getting in the Brazilian mood. I like the Westfield, it's kind of relaxing compared to Oxford Street or wherever.
God I love how boring this blog post is! Feels like a good sign.
Monday, 9 June 2014
WORLD CUP WORLD CUP WORLD CUP
I see that the Guardian has now launched its own countdown to the World Cup blog, stealing my idea. It's finally dawning on me that it's really happening - I spent an hour or so yesterday watching previews on Grantland and getting into it. The Men in Blazers guys on Grantland are pretty funny, actually.
Flying next Tuesday, staying overnight in Paris and then over to Sao Paulo on Wednesday morning. Have done zero research into Brazilian culture or things to see - my sister-in-law and travel companion Lindsey has a Lonely Planet, I'm just going to go with the flow. I might go a bit more safe and touristy than I normally would in, say, China, given the crime and political instability - I'm kind of avoiding developing any kind of "must see" list so that I don't end up taking unnecessary risks. I keep reminding myself that people do actually visit Brazil all the time, it's not like I'm going to North Korea. I also have a contact in Sao Paulo from Goldsmiths who might be able to show us around a little.
I saw a great documentary at the Greenwich Picturehouse about a slum clearance project in Salvador, where I'm going to watch Bosnia & Herzegovina vs Iran (Lindsey will be leaving her Team USA scarf at home for that one), it looks absolutely beautiful.
The whole West Country plan is really helping as well - for a while I was worried that I wouldn't even be able to enjoy Brazil because it would be impossible to shut out job anxiety. I think it's going to be fine now, my mind feels much clearer.
Flying next Tuesday, staying overnight in Paris and then over to Sao Paulo on Wednesday morning. Have done zero research into Brazilian culture or things to see - my sister-in-law and travel companion Lindsey has a Lonely Planet, I'm just going to go with the flow. I might go a bit more safe and touristy than I normally would in, say, China, given the crime and political instability - I'm kind of avoiding developing any kind of "must see" list so that I don't end up taking unnecessary risks. I keep reminding myself that people do actually visit Brazil all the time, it's not like I'm going to North Korea. I also have a contact in Sao Paulo from Goldsmiths who might be able to show us around a little.
I saw a great documentary at the Greenwich Picturehouse about a slum clearance project in Salvador, where I'm going to watch Bosnia & Herzegovina vs Iran (Lindsey will be leaving her Team USA scarf at home for that one), it looks absolutely beautiful.
The whole West Country plan is really helping as well - for a while I was worried that I wouldn't even be able to enjoy Brazil because it would be impossible to shut out job anxiety. I think it's going to be fine now, my mind feels much clearer.
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