Even if at times I have frustrated myself to bits because I can't quite get an image (or photo, website, painting, drawing, the list is endless) to look "right" - at least I have always managed to keep that eye that tells me what "right" is.

I tried a painting a few months ago. It looked fairly nice, shape-wise - but it wasn't abstract enough to be good just because of its shapes, and it wasn't meaningful enough to be good in its own right. It included a picture of a ship's bow, some Linnea (the national flower of Sweden), waves and a lovely sunset.

So how did I make this shallow painting good? I surrounded it with black paint and made it mean-and-moody. Either it gave it more meaning, or it made it more abstract. Either way, it's better. Odd that. I wonder if that's the way real artists think.

That's the way I approach any graphic design I do. I may have a plan (like the ship, the waves, the flower and the sunset) - but ultimately the planned outcome isn't quite there yet so I throw the proverbial black paint at it until it comes good.

Especially when it comes to websites, and you find what looks great in Mozilla Firefox looks awful in Microsoft Internet Explorer - things simply have to change. If they do get more simple, great - but if the changes add complexity onto something already quite complicated - then you're tearing your hair out at 3am wondering why coding websites is so addictive.

Luckily at 03:05 the website you're currently reading decided to behave - though at 03:35 I was still continually refreshing both Firefox and Internet Explorer in disbelief that the two browsers really were seeing the page identically...

I suppose the same principle goes for photography - but this time there is a limit to the amount of black paint you can throw at a photo. You almost have to pre-empt black paint-age. It's a challenge, and a fun one. Well, you can see the results for yourself in the gallery!

To "geek". A verb invented by a friend. To describe me.
"Where's Sara?"
"Downstairs. Geeking."

Anyone who knows me, also knows I spend too much time by my PC. Case-in-point, it's now nearly 4am and I'm so engrossed in writing this website that I'm sure it was 2am last time I looked at the clock. And it's only in the top right of this very screen.

I like websites, forums, Minesweeper, instant-messaging, internet-banking, Freecell, Photoshop, visual styles, digital photos, Google, mp3s, blogging, shopping, browsing, BBC News Online, email, ad nauseum. Let's face it, I'm a geek. Can't you tell by the desk? And the web-site? I'm sad enough to have written it all in Notepad...

Finally, the subject that occupies the theme-pic at the top-left, and this lovely watermark down here at the bottom-right. So we don't need yet another picture of these tall ships, no matter how beautiful they are (look at the relevant pages in my photo album if you need reassurance of their beauty).

Ok so, after a month or so with Motorola I went on holiday, and I spent it in the Canary Islands on a big brig called Stavros S Niarchos. It was hard work, and I didn't get enough sleep, and the weather was a bit rubbish considering where we were - but - it was amazing.

On the strength of my enthusiasm, I was invited back to be a watch-assistant on another voyage. Within another 3 or so months I took more holiday from Motorola - this time mostly unpaid - and jumped on a 16-night voyage from the Azores to the Mersey, Liverpool via the south coast of Eire and the Isle of Man. Again, I was exhausted, sleepy, tired of living in such close quarters with so many people for so long. But again, it was amazing. This time I got a recommend to be a deckhand. I shall hopefully join a voyage or two this summer doing the deckie thing - no 4am watches, always a full night's sleep, wheee!

Bizarrely, this new-found love for massive ships, has led me to an enjoyment of tiny vessels like these Topper dinghies (above-left). After having an entire watch pulling on only 3 or 4 ropes at a time, it feels fantastic to be the only one in control of the movement of a boat. These little things can be really fast and good fun too - as the water laps over the stern and you turn, duck for the boom, and try to find the rudder-stick before you crash into another unsuspecting dinghy-sailor. Sigh. I completed my RYA Level 2 ("Basic Skills") this March, having completed Level 1 in November '05 ("Start Sailing"). I thoroughly tested out my new wetsuit (lovely and warm) and recovery technique by performing a rather unexpected capsize in a Topper. Despite the very cold water - capsizing, swimming around the boat, righting it, and sliding back in - was good fun!