Me and you : spanning the decades
I thought I’d put up a few photos showing me and a selection of the people close to me throughout the two and a half decades I have been around. Not everyone could make it on here, there’s far too little webspace, but these kinda show in some kind of sequence some of the better photos of me. I’m not excactly photogenic, these are the rare photos that turned out okish. I know some people strongly object to having their photos on sites, so not everyone is on here.
1980’s: Awwwh, that’s me and my mom
1980’s: That’s me growing up with dad
1980’s: Me and my sister on the doorstep of innercity Birmingham in the mid 80’s, if you listen closely you can hear Musical Youth in the background.
1990’s: Skiping forward a fair bit, that’s me and my sister spanning over the meridian line in Greenwich. I have always had a connection with the stars and the universe beyond.
1995: In school year 10 scooping an award for media studies, just before hitting college where I studied … Media and Communications
2001: Here with Jono Bacon pimping KDE2 at the 2001 Linux Expo. The open source movement is facinating, this guy got me into it big time as we stayed up many a night till 5am hacking away.
2001: Ah the legendary bonfire parties at the magical musical house, oh no my hand has gone! That’s coke in that plastic cup.
2003: That’ll be my best mate Rich Dudley. I met Rich while on industrial placement at a web development agency in 2001 and forged a long standing friendship. The world was changing, but the 80’s tunes united us in a shared sense of where we had come from and where we were going, quite often that would have been the coffee area.
2003: Later on that month in the same bar with University friends and housemates. Left-Right : Aine, just off shot (click to show), Berlen, Craig and Zara
Graduating in 2003 with that degree in Multimedia at Wolverhampton Uni, celebrating with the folks.
2004: In Hyde park with my mom and my sister. I usually keep myself to myself unless I’m with the right people.
One last thought, see the tiny dot on my right arm, that was a sign I had the worst kind of skin cancer, ignored for far too long, something so trivial as a dot in an old photograph.
Guiding words
Often I wonder why time moves so fast, I often get caught up with things, focusing on the here and now and usually end up simply drifting away from people, but I just stop and think, woah that was never 2 years ago, of course at that point it’s nearly too late.
Life just goes by as Eva Cassidy says, “In endless song”. I guess music has provided me with a lot of my understanding of the world and shaped some of my beliefs. I listen to the Kings of Convenience when they say “save 10 years to remember” and marvel at the way Feist tells us to “collect the moments one by one” because that’s how the future’s done. I often get lost but find truth when Sting proclaims “Mannors make a man” and I often cry as Ben Folds tells of how it “sucks to grow up”, how “20 years from now maybe we’ll both sit down and have a few beers”. I am extreamly lucky to have known some wonderful people and I hope people out there feel as lucky to have met me.
Perhaps one of the most moving lyrical moments came in 1997.
The long term benefits of sheading your ignorance
“But trust me, in 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Dont’ be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.
Get to know your parents. You never know when they’ll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They’re your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future. Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.
Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.
But trust me on the moleAwareness“
Found your site via the BBC site.
My son of 10 years has several moles not like yours as of now, but we are worried.
We leave in brasil, and being away from the sun is hard to do, if you want any outdoor activity.
So we are presently thinking of putting ban aids on his moles when he goes outside. Of course sunscream is the norm.
Really appreciate what you are doing !
Happy New Year ! with my wishes to you for total recovery ! My son dragged me in seeing all Star Wars movies again , but with a critical eye in mind. I believe in working to get strong mindset, to tackle challenges.
Well, “the Force ” I believe is not only on the screen but potentially in each one of us, so … ” May the Force be with you ! ”
Philippe