100/6,624

I've finally reached 100 posts and they've been viewed 6,624 times as of writing this! I haven't got much in the way of a big milestone topic to post about but it has been a pleasant but occasionally sad week. The three friends who lived in the flat upstairs have moved out, leading to some sad goodbyes but one of the girls is only moving down the road so it's not too bad. Despite some friends leaving, another visited from Brighton midweek who has interviewed me for Spindle Magazine, I've known her since school and she who remains one of the few people I still keep in contact with from when I grew up on the Isle of Wight. An added bonus for me was that Hannah planned to buy one of my prints that I displayed in my Final Major Project at Uni, an image based around the illegal gold mining in the deserts of China and how it affects the last remaining 800-1000 wild Bactrian camels. The demand created by China's gold boom has led to increased legal mining on the borders of the nuclear testing site-come-nature reserve of Lop Nur (Xinjiang), however illegal miners have encroached onto the camels territory leading to their decline for reasons such as explosions, hunting, interbreeding with domestic Bactrains despite having survived over 40 cases of nuclear activity in the past! I made the image by first creating a headpiece made from photocopied camels which was inspired by the headwear of central asia such as the Kazakh saukele and the gold makeup and jewellery were supplied by lecturers and technicians at Solent. I then photoshopped in handmade collages which formed the shape of a gold ring, including the text 'Gold cannot be pure, people cannot be perfect' which I found to be an appropriate Chinese proverb, constructed using images of camel bones. I've posted the finished item below, which Hannah bought on Wednesday. 

Anyway, when Hannah did visit we wandered  up to Southampton Common which isn't far from mine at all so I've been spending a fair bit of time up there, enjoying the sun while I can. With cider and snacks we had a great catch up, though it was exceedingly hot, and in the evening we came back to mine where I photographed Hannah in some of my headdresses, including one I've still yet to use properly.

 So Wednesday was lovely and so was yesterday, I went back to the common with Gemma and Sara later joined by Asha then Nikki, Asha being one of the girls who lived upstairs, and we ventured into the funfair for the evening. Despite enjoying the rides, I did feel incredibly ill at the end as it seems I don't have the stomach for it! Asha and Nikki decided to go on 'Oxygen', the biggest ride there, but it was the last ride we went on seemed to unsettle us all a bit! Anyway, here they are on 'Oxygen'.