Seat of Global Domination & Mission Control (much larger version)

Abi: Don’t you think it is weird when you finally see the place where someone you only know online spends most of their time talking to you from? I do. For a social interaction it is incredibly solitary, we can spend hours of our time in someone’s company yet never see into their world. So when you do it can be a very strange experience indeed.

I’ve just moved house so my “Seat of Global Domination” is in fact my bed. This explains the lack of “keepsakes” and clutter on show here. I do have a lot of interesting stuff that usually surrounds my desk area but that is all still in boxes as my possessions gradually find their homes. It’s all about the essentials, baby.

P.S. That old Swiss phone dates back to wartime and is fully functional and my favourite household item ever. I basically stole it from the house I shared with an ex boyfriend and I am so glad I did.

The yellow hat was knitted for me by a friend.

The t shirt was stolen from a boy, then shrunk to fit me. I have about 20 striped t shirts of various descriptions and this is by far my favourite.

I wear kneesocks almost everyday. You just can’t always see them.

I cannot function without the Internet.

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Seb: Welcome to my office! When we moved in 12 years ago, I was already too tall to fit under normal desks. So my dad nailed this piece of wood between my two cupboards and voilá! A desk!

The angle of the photo makes everything look so small! The desk is actually about 2 meters long. At one stage I had a fourth monitor, but it really was too tight a fit — there was no space for all the useless shit (or ‘clutter’ as Abi calls it, pfft!) that surrounds me.

I could talk for ever about the significance of everything in this photo — I only keep significant keepsakes! — but I’d probably bore you. Feel free to ask if something in particular piques your interest though!

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Instructions: Hit the buttons. Order doesn’t really matter, but most phrases are grouped into ‘types’. Also, visit Lilu’s blog for more grossness, after you’ve had a fiddle with my soundboard.

Tips: You don’t have to wait for one sound to finish before you start another. Also, you might want to turn your volume down a little…

(If you can’t see the Flash soundboard below, you need to visit my blog.)

By all means let me know of any particularly nasty/nefarious combinations that you can come up with. And let me know if you use it, er, in the bedroom too.

Wake up, Seb & Let’s turn this megawatt beam of optimism up to 11

Seb: I’ve spent much of the last week feeling a bit down… which is odd, considering I’ve just come back from Norway. And the fact that I’m never… down. Perhaps it was the cold and harsh readjustment of sitting down in front of three computers, obligated to work. From slouching on a sofa and playing video games and eating crappy student food, I guess that’s quite a readjustment.

I don’t think it’s that, though. It’s something else. I’m bored. The fleeting pleasure of sitting in the British sun, reading a book, drinking coke, warming my skin… is fleeting. I don’t feel entirely comfortable in my own skin at the moment and I need to suss out why. I get the feeling I’m not very fun to be around at the moment — which is weird, because I think I was very well received in Norway… so it must’ve changed after I came home…

And of course, meanwhile, as I rest up, Abi is having the time of her life half way around the world in sun-drenched Australia. Damn her! My grand tour to Asia can not come quickly enough…

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Abi: I come to you this week 8 hours in the future! from the other timezone that is Western Australia. After a delay of about seven hours, taking in the delights (and humidity) of Singapore, I eventually landed in Perth and into the bosom of my family to a balmy 23(ish) degrees in contrast to the (not my words) BOILING 13 degrees my fellow Brits have been exalting.

The flight was long and not for the faint hearted, I do however love flying so this didnt phase me in the slightest. It gave me time to muse on how small the world is, how you can be somewhere in a day and how taking a step onto a plane is (give or take a few hours) really no different to any other step we might take.

I took this picture while in Singapore, the heat was unbelievable and the pool SO welcome after a long flight!

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For the last few months I’ve been trying to troubleshoot my sleeping problems. Looking through the archives, it seems I first reported trouble sleeping over a year ago — yikes! — and then a few months ago I alluded to some continuing issues. I think things have been improving, but I’ll be damned if I can attribute that to any one change! I’ve been exercising regularly (cycling for a few miles every day), and of course I’ve travelled quite a lot this year which has given my mind the SPACE it needs. It’s amazing: the moment I leave my room (which is usually only when I travel), my composure completely changes. I don’t think I’m particularly highly-strung at the worst of times, but when I travel I’m positively mellow.

So, anyway, the bedding! First I got a fancy 400-thread Egyptian cotton bed sheet and a nice protector to go under it. That didn’t help much (though it does feel really good to slide up and down against), so I got new pillows and covers. They helped a bit. Then earlier this week my newest (and most expensive, eep!) purchases arrived: a Hungarian goose down duvet, and a 400-thread Egyptian cotton duvet cover. Today I spent a few minutes re-making my bed — and as you can see from the creases, I am yet to lay on it! I’m looking forward to tonight, that’s for sure.

You’re all invited to come and try out my new bedding, incidentally! Come! There’s plenty of space.

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In other news, it looks like I’ll be in San Francisco in the middle of September. Microsoft is flying me out there for a software launch event! From what I can tell, official business will only last for a day, which means I should be able to spend a few days exploring San Francisco. Do any Angelenos want to come up and see me?! I doubt I’ll make it down to LA unless I can squeeze a whole week out of the trip.

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Photography-wise, I’m glad to say that my exhibition of photos from the Faroe Islands went well. I also sold a few photos from Norway! At last!

I updated my Montenegro gallery, so you can now buy those too. The gallery on this site is actually the most complete collection — Flickr is still missing a few, which I will update in the next few days.

I think that’s all for now…!