Sentiment - Video and photo montage production

When you are aware of, hear, see and feel the pain and sadness in the lives of others, it can only make you appreciate what you have – not what you don’t have, haven’t had in the past or won’t have in the future.

So many people who have really lovely lives love to moan; about their job being crap, they want a new car, the kids are getting on their nerves, they’ve no money to go on holiday, their husband doesn’t do the washing up right, life’s not fair, I hate.. I want… Yarda yarda yarda (You know what I mean?)… and yes, we all fall into the poor me trap sometimes, but we get out before we get bogged down with poor me syndrome. So how is it that so many people do not jump out of that hole before it becomes a deep dark and sulky life, losing the capability to look up to see how beautiful the sky is, or appreciate that they can pick up the phone and talk to the person they love or even appreciate that they have a working body?

Yes yes, so much for my New Year resolution of blogging at least once a week. *slap on wrist*

My excuse is that I’ve been working hard! I’ve been busy as a bee preparing and giving presentations about Sentiment Ltd – There have been some hairy moments and a few times when all 6 computers in this office were on their way out the window – PowerPoint and myself are not friends!! However, all in all, it has been a fun start to 2009.

This last week I met up with a TV production company who approached me with the view of possibly hosting a TV show about funerals. So I headed into London Town to meet the TV company and talk through their ideas. The nice TV chap said to me… “We want to follow the stories of 6 people who are dying. They will need to pre-plan their funeral and then when they die we will film it.” He went on to tell me that he needs to do this in a 6 month time scale! I sort of looked at the poor guy with a bit of a blank expression and asked him what happens if these people live beyond the 6 months?

His response was… “Well, if they’ve got something like motor neurone disease, they’re guaranteed to die right?” Oh my god I wanted to laugh so hard! If it wasn’t for the fact he was so sweet and genuinely serious, with all the best intentions of showing funerals in the right light, I may have slapped him in the face and told him to wake up to the reality that this real life we are talking about?

Anyway, I saw it as endearing and naive, so I’ll forgive him and hope that he has gone back to the drawing board with a bit more research, understanding and compassion! I suppose when you’ve had no experience whatsoever with death and dying, you can see life so black and white!

On the 3rd day of Christmas my accountant said to me “I don’t have a will” – * needle scratches record* YOU DON’T HAVE A WILL?? You have to be kidding me right?

The reason this conversation started is because he’s reading a Jeremy Clarkson autobiography – apparently Jeremy talks about the fact when you hit 40 years of age you begin to spend every day for the rest of your life thinking about your death (I’m sure Jeremy Clarkson has a much more humorous way of writing than I do)… anyway.

Since my accountant has turned the ripe old age of 40 he has in fact developed an irrational thinking of death – he fears his man flu is going to turn into throat cancer and his aching old leg joints are thrombosis, his acid indigestion is a heart attack, and the effects of last night curry is going to cause certain death!