turkey

Xmas day was great. Family all around.
Cool presents.

I didn't eat a thing because I was so excited about coming out of hospital I pigged myself on crisps and sweets. Then went out with the family on christmas eve and ate loads of italian food.

Xmas day I puke loads of green stuff ewww.

Didn't stop me having a good time though.

Comments

[Daisy-Winifred]

Hey, does that mean you now sing the rainbow song to the u-bend...you know, red and yellow and pink and blue orange and purple and green :0) Glad you still managed to find that good time to be had in the midst of the green stuff, presents does that mean Santa thought you'd been a good girl or did you just lie ha-ha. Take care.

[David]

Hey Emma, You'll like this - I am so out of touch with the world of telecommunications, that I was unable to make my computer simply send you a mail, directly - therefore, I've had to post for all the world to see, but what the hell.

I just wanted to say a quick hi and a big many apple-ogies for the last mail I did send you (how insensitive was I asking you for comments to students on the state of Design in the mobile industry?) Truth is, it would have been light years ahead of anything that has made it this far North (if my own out-of-touchedness is anything to go by).

Having just been pointed to this site by Adie, read the 'While you were at work' post and having had a chat with a certian Mr Owens, I reckon you should be divulging more of your thoughts on work stuff to design students. It's an incredibly important thing, Design, but its also the cause of much anguish, frustration and hang-ups for it's very practitioners. Designers really can get so far up their own arse with its importance and the inability of others to understand it, that they miss out on a lot of other stuff. they should be thinking about

I have absolutely no basis for this whatsoever, but I bet that 80% of designers in consultancies in London, spend 80% of their working week, working 80% more than they ought (plus 80% of 100% of their thinking is in some way related to work). All of this is for a net gain in efficiency, client happiness or personal job satisfaction by approximately 20%. That's the 80/20 rule everyone's told me about, isn't it?

I used to work in the Smoke in big business, lots of travel and all that. Spent lots of late nights online to the states. I reckon I was thinking about work more than 80% of the time I was awake and probably 80% of my dreams were work-infested. I work in academia now, which is a breeze, apparently. Not so if you have worked for a big corporate - something about that culture gets you in a mindset that you bring with you. It's taking a while but I am slowly divorcing myself from the old work habits, beginngin to leave it till the next day, at 9.

Tomorrow I am going to work from 9 till 5 (minus a time for more reading of this site of course) and then stop thinking about work until 9 the next day. I've heard it said that habits form after repition for 30 days. I reckon in a month I'll be sorted. I'll then move on to a programme of reducing how much I care about what I do (trusting that if I can't do it, they wouldn't have given me the job - another hang up designers can often have). I ultimatley plan to have 20/80 ratio where I spend 20% of my time, energy, effort or worries in a work related mode, yet gain 80% more efficiency and enjoyment in all other aspects of my life.

Glad to have had this site pointed out to me (you can thank out little Antipodean imposter for that). Take care.

[Beth W.]

It's been a chilly, rainy day here in pine woods Florida. I spent time with 3 of my step-grandkids this afternoon. We went to a diner. I drank hot tea while they ate ice cream and chocolate chip cookies.

Hope you're having a better day.

[Daisy-Winifred]

Just stopping bye to say hello. Hope the gap in your posts means you got away for the trip you mentioned before Christmas and that you are enjoying enjoying enjoying :0)

[candygirl]

I did get away though I puked my guts up most of the time. Took a trip to a little hospital in Haverford West in Wales. I enjoyed being with the kids

[James]

A lot of people lost a great deal when Emma died, but she never flinched from real life, and was always realistic and grounded. Commercialism like Suzi's spam-post above is a sad fact of life, and one that Emma understood and would have taken in her usual good humour.

The above is only the second time this wonderful blog has been defaced by the cynical dregs of the Internet. The blog has been spared the tide of commericalism that drowns most other blogs because almost everyone who reads is so touched by it. Emma would have seen this as an amazing testament to how much respect and decency people can still demonstrate.

I've lost track of how many times I've read it, and each time feel warmed and uplifted to have known such a great person

[Ruby Maltas]

I am a medical student at Cambridge University but I also work in a Sue Ryder cancer Hospice as a volunteer. Sometimes when my work becomes too much and I have been shouted at all day by Consultants and Ward Nurses I think why am I doing this? Then I remember the people I have met like Candygirl and it's clear. Their courage makes me carry on. I have had many personal battles to overcome including the recent death of my younger brother and reading the stories of other people struggling through adversity really inspires me.

Thank You

You must be so proud.