My final hand-in at Racodac today felt very good. No more silly projects for me. (I hope.)

Paramount Comedy is supposed to be getting back to me by the end of the day. I just hope I’m not on the toilet when they ring.

At this very moment in time I could have been appearing as an extra in the much-loved British police drama, The Bill. But, alas, I had to turn down the offer to allow myself enough time to finish everything for my final hand in this coming Friday.

The world is a bastard.

My interview at Paramount Comedy this morning could not have gone better. Well, getting there could’ve done - the Transport for London website is possibly the most unreliable website I have ever encountered. But enough of that, the interview-proper went excellently.

My favourite answer was probably to the question: “In one sentence, why are you the best man for the job?” - to which I responded: “I am a confident, competent worker, with a good sense of humour and generally… a… nice… chap.”

My video work (including my completed Major 2 and previews of my Major 1 and Negotiated Group projects - which my tutors haven’t even seen yet) went down a treat. And until I stated otherwise the DVD covers I took to demonstrate my print skills were thought to be the genuine articles that I’d simply ‘brought along’. Perfik.

The rest of the day has seen me keying out footage for my Negotiated Group project. Looks pretty damn good if you ask me. And even if you don’t - which you probably won’t.

There, I’ve gone and answered that tree-falling-over-in-the-woods -being-heard-question now. It’s just not right. Not right at all.

Argh, so much to do - hence being so quiet of late. I’ve completely finished my Major 2 (The Times Crossword promo), have very nearly finished my Major 1 (elephant.co.uk rebrand) and have yet to enter production on my Negotiated Group project (DFES promo to encourages children to read more).

Not forgetting project reports, mounting work for display, promotional material for exhibitions et cetera. All due on 15th June - though I’m aiming to have most of the video work done by the 6th to show at my interview at Paramount Comedy on the 7th. Madness.

Yesterday was an eventful day that saw me shooting the bulk of my Major 2 on the Isle of Dogs. I’ve two more scenes to shoot - which I am returning for tomorrow - as I wound up helping Elliot S. & Sam S. with their joint project in the evening through to the early hours… in which time I had my first ever kebab-shop kebab.

I know how to live, me.

I wasnee expecting the just-over-£500 profit we made from today’s jumble sale at Racodac. Nay indeed. Fair enough one man’s rubbish and all that. But such a high amount from selling donated clutter was quite a surprise.

I managed to purchase one of the better items of the day: one of those 3d pin art sculpture things. I’ve wanted one for years, if only to make an imprint of my nob. But small matters aside, it turned out to be quite a fun day. And rather tiring for those of us who actually, you know, put some effort into it.

Today has been a day of mixed emotions - but all in all a good day. I didn’t go to bed until 5am and was up again by 7am to get all of my animation work together for submission at noon.

I don’t like leaving anything to the last minute but I’ve pushed my ability further & further with each Rave project so wind up working on the finishing touches as late as the night/morning before.

After the frantic dashing about and then missing the early bus, I texted Zehra A. to see how all was going her end. A tree had fallen on her train-line meaning it impossible for her to get to Rave by train for the deadline. So she’d hopped on the hourly bus in the middle of nowhere (where she lives) to the middle of another nowhere (not far on from where I live).

By pure chance, she was literally two minutes away from passing my stop on the opposite side of the road. Embarking on a journey to the unknown, her face was a picture the moment she recognised me standing there - more so as she got off the bus and made her way towards me.

Sharing the journey was what we both needed after our separate struggles for weeks on end. Though admittedly Zehra’s struggle *just* to make it in put my stress of the morning into perspective.

We made the deadline with plenty of time to spare and were then briefed on the next project. No rest for the wicked, eh?

Excellently, while helping a couple of mates in Convergence with their projects afterwards, Jordan A. relayed “Paramount really love you, Blake.” from a telephone call to his missus who’s on work experience there.

I was really hoping I’d made a lasting impression - they certainly seemed pleased at the time. But having heard such a comment from them almost a year later has filled me with hope for the near future. What with me supposedly entering the working world very soon and all.

It’s taken over two years to resume Star Trek: The Screen Voyages but I’ve now re-visited III & IV in a bid to maintain sane whilst rotoscoping travelling mattes for my animation. It’s such a painful, tedious process and it’s not helped by varying framerates being forced upon individual image sequences. Nay, it’s damned annoying.

Very nearly finished now, but then I have spent the last month living & breathing the blasted thing - the last two weeks of which I’ve been stuck at my desk.

I think I’ve gone a bit peculiar to tell you the truth; I got such pleasure yesterday in decapitating the penguin character models I made for this animation. I even did the cackling laugh.