Celery for 365

I've noticed that many blippers celebrate the milestone of 365 entries with a cheery photograph of a cake and candle. On a drizzly grey Edinburgh day in early January, when we are still keen to keep our New Year resolutions and practise abstinence, I thought it would be more appropriate to decorate a stick of celery instead.

So this morning I set off to Joyce's cake shop on Rodney Street in Edinburgh to source some appropriate accessories. I bought a jar of red sugar lips (just one tiny b short of "blips") to form the 365, and Joyce's husband kindly threw in the golden cake base free of charge. We already had the tea lights in the house, and everything else in the picture was a present to me, including my treasured Blipfoto badge. (Graham and Joe awarded me the latter after my inaugural professorial lecture on 15th March last year. As part of the presentation I reverse engineered Blipfoto in answer to the question "What's so social about informatics?" and Joe wrote about this in his entry for that day. )

So, what's new since my 300th blip back on 6th November 2012? Three things spring to mind...

First of all I think that my photography is beginning to improve at last - hurrah! This is largely thanks to the loan of a DSLR, which I am fostering for ReliantRobin. I am particularly proud of the first picture I took with it. I'm still using my old compact camera when out and about, hoping to get lucky as I did with the weather on a misty December day on the Meadows, and completely by accident in Sheffield the following day.

Second, I am now taking action on some of the reflections I have made in my journal entries. For example, when I considered blips 201-300 I stated that writing my journal had made me stop, think and question whether I really need to dash about quite so much. I was prompted to think about this again at Christmas when my childhood friend Eileen asked me what I did in my "spare time" and I struggled for an answer (because, in practice, my life is dominated by my job). I then resolved to take some action. As a result I am now making a concerted effort to take leave when on leave (I've been doing a bit of this this week), and accept that I cannot possibly respond positively to every work invitation that comes my way.

My last piece of news is really a question: does anyone else dream about Blipfoto? My obsession for hunting for good blips continues when I'm asleep, and you may be amused to hear how frequently I come across other blippers plus their pets (I know!) in my dreams. Just last night I spotted an interesting red and green fishmonger's sign hanging above a former market place in the Edinburgh New Town... I think that this just shows how much Blipfoto and all my blipping friends mean to me, so thanks everyone for passing by my journal and leaving such lovely comments. I should also say how much I enjoy reading your journals too.

If you're interested in my other milestone blips, you'll find them here:

300
200
100 (the illegal one)
1 (stars Graham and Joe at Blip Central)