I hate myself! Not really though.

It this stage of a project I hate the most. At the beginning of the week we had 3 weeks till hand in. That's ages! That's more time than we have had on some full projects. So you find yourself feeling confident and motivated, but not so motivated where you don't allow your self to have the occasional mind wander. Then, it comes to the end of the week and you realize you now in fact, only have two weeks left. Time planners do help. If I didn't use them the final week would be stressful. Looking into the psychological side I think i must in some way hate myself, and want myself to suffer so I leave it all to the end?

As far as time actually goes at this point, we have a comfortable amount of time to get finished. There may be a few late night sessions come hand in week, but nothing a bit of red bull can't solve. Am I still confident enough that I don't need to ask you to wish me luck?

'End of an Era', some might say.

Me and Claudia were talking today. A good talk that needed to happen. But a talk that brought around the destruction of Top Hat productions. We had always had this plan to move to London come then end of Summer '10. It's al fair and well to have an plan. To say that 'in 7 month time, ages away from now, I will move to London and get a job there.' is fairly easy to do. But, as the time comes closer I start to have doubts and fears.

Claudia was understanding of my hesitation. She made a valid point that I am only 19 and when she was 19 she had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. It still stands I know I want to do advertising or be involved in the art and design industry at some point. But maybe I just need a bit more time?

I've went to speak to Clare and Allie, the course leader of the BA (Hons) Creative Practice top up year and although I have missed the deadline by months, I still have a chance to apply if I get my UCAS form (joy of joys) sent in be the end of next week - 7th May). So its off to write a personal statement and throw myself into another year of education.

Underwater Explosions

Ever since I was a child, if you gave me a pot of water, paint and a paint brush I would spend hours trying to make patterns of 'paint explosions' in the water. I would load the brush with a bright colour and no sooner dart it into the pot and watch the paint disperse through the water. Occasionally I would manage to make an explosion that looked half decent by my child like standards. Most of the time it would just look rubbish. Never did I make one that looked like these.

Produced by Mark Mawson these images are only the beggining of how Mr. Mawson explores the beauty and elegance that movement underwater has. I love the way the different shadows and highlights make each 'explosion' looks so soft and rounded instead of wet, cold and messy.

Security risk.

Because this wouldn't get you arrested the second you leave your house...

Seriously?

New York New York.

It's decided then. I want to live in New York. Probably one of the easiest choices I have ever had to make in my life falling second only to 'hmm, double vodka lemonade and lime please'. That city is amazing! The streets are just a flood of yellow with everything moving in seemingly chaotic yet secretly intricate fashion. Everyone knows where they need to be and there only real goal is to get there. Yet they are still more than happy to help you with directions if you get lost. Granted, they will send you off in the complete opposite direction that you need to be in. But its the thought that counts, eh?

After our 17 hours of travelling we checked into our hotel. But not the hotel we thought we were not. Not the hotel with a view of central park and the Empire State building. No. Not there. Instead, we walked though the reception of a holiday in where we were randomly split into pairs to share rooms. After a couple of minutes of room swapping and finding out the college policy of boys and girls not being allowed to share a room on college trips (a policy and have unintentionally ignored for the past 4 years of Newcastle College and from now on will intentionally ignore) I ended up sharing a room with Samantha. This was my first real taste of how everything is bigger in America. The bed. I assume New York's culture isn't so different to our own that they partake in threesome relationships. However, that could be the only explanation for the size of the bed that greeted us when we walked into our room. A family of four could have lived on that bed never mind sleep in it. It was humongous! Only now that I have recovered from the shock do I regret not talking a picture of it.

Over the 2.5 days we got to spend going around New York (I have worked out that the trip cost £300 per full day we got to spend there) we done the usual touristy things. We went to a comedy club (which seemed to be a reticle of a Sarah Silverman show). We went on a tour bus around the city. We took hundreds of photos. We ate in novelty places. We ate in 'real american diners.' We went shopping. We went window shopping down Madison Avenue. We even had a horse drawn carriage ride around Central Park (and paid someone off to get the horse we wanted). But when we weren't walking around with our massive signs that read 'I'm a tourist. Please harass me to buy tour bus tickets!' we went to two advertising agencies. McCann and.

McCann was the first agency. After arriving fashionably late we met some of the creatives for the company, one of whom was the man behind the Motorola Madonna commercial from way back in the early naughties (and who my Madonna loving friend has since hailed as a hero as this was apparently the beginning of Madonna comeback?). What surprised me though, and probably everyone else as well was how different agencies work over in New York and American compared to here in the UK. In New York your required to submit a CV with your book because your previous academic achievements are considered important.

Unlike any agency I've been to in London the New Yorkers took great pride in showing you their offices and gadgets. This is probably due to a lot of the work being produced entirely internally so they have recording studios, film sets, white rooms and fancy corridors galore.

The next day at DDB we saw a trio of young creatives, 66% of them being fancied by every girl and me in the room. They talked a lot about how to get into the industry and although it is different over there than it is here some things translate over. Such as working freelance which is how they got into DDB. Working freelance and treating it as we would a placement; an opportunity to 'blow their socks off' was one of the best bits of advice they gave us.

Overall, I liked the agencies and loved the people in them. I love New York and could probably, one day, see myself living and working there. My only 'hicup' at the minute is the different style of work that is produce. In the UK adverts are very creative and persuasive (at least the good ones are). Over there, its more practical and straight forward. 'This is our product. This is why you need it. Thank you for your time.'

I'm really tempted to post a link to Alica Keys – New York to play us out but I'll resist. Honestly, I was half expecting the entire plane to burst into song during our descent into JFK.