Philosophy

The conference on Monday was great. It offered an interesting insight into University Events but the content itself was also enlightening. Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, had many quotation gems including,

"Humour and playfulness are essential for success."
"Open exchange of information has a positive global impact."
"The potential for impact increases with a focus on mobile."
"Tiny bits of information can have a profound impact."

With regards to the latter, he told a story about a man, photographing in a tense political climate who tweeted simply "arrested." Friends who knew where he was and what he was doing were able to contact the necessary people and the next tweet they received read "freed."

What I find most fascinating with regards to Twitter is its philosophy - a philosophy which is mirrored closely by Apple. Neither Twitter nor Apple prohibit the free use of their infra-structure by other entrepreneurs. They are not fueled by money, but rather by social good. During his masterclass, Biz explicitly stated his belief that with any entrepreneurial business there should always be a focus on using influence to impact both local and global issues for the good in some way - a concept with which I whole-heartedly agree.

I attended a lecture by a representative from Apple a few weeks ago and again, when questioned as to why one of their products, iTunes U, was free his response was simply, we want to enable others to have access to information.

Yes there will be profit in some cases. Yes people need to earn their living. But the philosophy behind these companies appears totally sound. Not "how do we exploit others and get rich?", rather "how do we enable others with what we have created?" It's a refreshing approach.

Much love,
xx

Nasty Neighbours

A couple of months ago, the television in my parent's office suddenly showed just static. Without explanation, they could no longer receive any channels. They had recently had work done to their office roof and asked the roofer whether he had seen anything wrong with their aerial. Not having noticed anything, the roofer offered to go back up and have a look for them. On closer inspection, they discovered that the wire had been cut, put into a splitter so that two wires could come out of one, and then fed through the window of the office next door. In the process, my parent's aerial had slipped out and they had lost connection!

They spoke to their neighbour who was less than apologetic for stealing their television signal but they took no further action. In the subsequent months they had to knock on his door many times in order to ask him to lower the noise he made in his un-sound-proofed music studio.

All of this, however, was just the tip of the iceberg.

I was in their office with them on Saturday when they lost all electricity. Going outside, my mum noticed that the other offices on the road still had all of their lights on and so she called the electricity board. She was informed that it was probably a localised outage and an engineer would have to be sent out on Monday. So they packed up early for the day and went home.

When the engineer arrived yesterday, he told them that their electricity was not controlled in their office, but, bizarrely, had its source in the office next door. After further investigation, he went on to explain that earlier last week the office next door had been broken into, in order to turn off the power supply as the tenant had not been paying his bills. When the tenant discovered this, with the electricity in his control, he simply switched the wires, stealing electricity from my parent's office and leaving us in darkness.

Needless to say he has now been reported to the landlord but I'm still utterly amazed at the sheer audacity and ruthlessness of the man. It's completely beyond my comprehension.

Much love,
xx

Frustrating, good, frustrating, good.

Thursday was a long day. I took in so much information that my brain needed a break. I was asleep by 9.30pm but when I woke up in the morning I found a text on my phone. The Photographer: "How about I cook you dinner tomorrow night while you have a long bath?" Friday was a good day. He even bought me a magazine to keep me occupied so that I didn't get bored in the bath.

The weekend was productive, and the concert went well - all changes from the rehearsal I had to miss because trains were cancelled were communicated, sometimes in the middle of performing the piece! - but this morning has had little things like internet misbehaving, things going missing and money annoyances contributing to a frustrating couple of hours.

This afternoon, however, I am headed to a conference in Oxford, which I am very much looking forward to. Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford is a series of panel discussions and seminars exploring "big issues and future directions of innovation and entrepreneurial phenomena". Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, will be there and I will be in a seminar with him.

I love that although there's still a lot of things to figure out in my new job, and lots of information to take in and process, I still love it, love the principles behind it, and am thoroughly grateful that I am earning my living by doing something I adore.

Much love,
xx

P.S. You can follow the goings-on at Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford by following #SVCO on Twitter.

Capturing Christmas

This year I’m excited to be spending my first Christmas with the Photographer. He will be joining my family out in Germany for five days and will get to experience his first German Christmas. We will be going to the Weihnachtsmarkt beneath the Kölner Dom, indulging in copious amounts of Stollen, Lebkuchen and a variety of other festive treats, and going on many frosty walks.

This year, knowing that Christmas itself will be so joyous, I’ve found myself wanting to capture the lead-up. The onset of the “Christmas feeling” has begun early for me, hearing Christmas music, eating Christmas treats and chatting about Christmas plans in the office. We will be running a Carol Service in the Cathedral, I will be going to a Christmas concert at my old Church – always an incredible evening – and I even have a Christmas weekend booked with eight other friends, which is set to include mulled wine, walks and celebrations.

Somewhere in the midst of this I need to find time to buy Christmas presents and ensure that I’m not simply running around doing things but also enjoying the time with friends and family.

And of course above all of that, I don’t want to forget that there’s only one reason we have this holiday to celebrate, and for that I am very thankful.

Much love,
xx

Synchronous Diaphragmatic Flutters

For almost as long as I can remember, I have been a sufferer of synchronous diaphragmatic flutters. I usually get them about six or seven times a day and they vary in their numbers from one to five minutes worth. Almost anything I eat or drink will result in them and quite often I will be going about whatever I am doing and for no reason, there they are. They are such a core part of me that I can almost use their name as a signature.

Anyone else get the hiccups?

Much love,
xx

Success

Job well done.

Despite me having been ill this past week, almost losing my voice several times and being sent home from work twice, last night's fireworks display was, in my humble opinion, magnificent. Sadly, I can't really take any of the glory for that. The credit has to go to Phoenix fireworks for putting on the best display I have ever seen (and I wasn't the only one to think so).

Despite the heavy rain and severe weather warnings from the Met Office, around 4,500 people(!) turned up to watch the display. The other organisers and I were very chuffed at the turnout and also at the help we received to get staging, lighting, lazers and sound set in the rain. I work with a great team.

Love my job. Here's to our next event!

Much love,
xx

Camera Shy

Being 6ft 1, there are two questions I am asked quite frequently:

1. Do you play basketball?
2. Are you a model?

The former I have the answer on a Tshirt for. The shirt reads simply "No, I don't play basketball."

For those of you that know me IRL, you'll know that I dislike being in front of a camera intensely. However, the Photographer has gone a long way in ridding me of some of my camera-shyness. He makes photos fun and he even manages to make me look presentable!

As his photos become more varied and he experiments with different lighting and scenery, I am often asked to be his model. A couple of weeks ago I was his model under a bridge next to graffiti. At the weekend I was his model in a park, wrapped up in a scarf, hat, winter coat and gloves and throwing hundreds of huge red leaves in the air to shower down on me.

The first "modelling" experience I had was with a friend of mine at a photography studio called Urban Slink. We made each other laugh, we laughed at each other and we generally had a brilliant day. It was my first taste of "shoulder down, tilt your chin down, look up..." and it wasn't half as bad as I thought it would be.

Then I ended up falling for a Photographer and now, my answer to my second frequently asked question is on its way to being... yes.

Much love,
xx