November 2025

It has occurred to me many times this month that were I not having such a nice time I would probably have burned out by now 🙃 (It's fine, Christmas is just round the corner)

Sadly the never-ending freelance fear of saying no will forever burden me (You can say no to work Emma!!! Especially work that is no fun and not very well paid!!!), and I am having such a nice time with my teaching work for the most part that I am definitely doing more than I need to there as well... 

Have my visual diaries suffered because I am working 9 – 10 hours most days?! PERHAPS. You, my lovely readers, can be the judge...

 

 

Kelly Jessie doesn't have to worry about working too hard. She just falls asleep with her licky-bowl on her head. (Ironically Kelly-Jessie is part of the reason that somehow despite working so bloody hard I'm still, frequently, broke, as she is somehow the most expensive dog I've ever owned)

 

 

Someone at my Quaker Meeting said this to me, and I took it as very high style praise. (Doin' this daily visual diary thing since 2013 and I still can't draw hands)

 

 

To further add to my stress, both my laptop and tablet are DYING (my laptop has been dying for over a year, but no really this time), and I have no money to replace them. However, after some persistence with the IT department at work I managed to get my work laptop actually functional (you have to go through a very convoluted process to install various software that I need in order to function, like Dropbox, Notion etc, but I did ultimately manage it after lots of admin). So the immediate crisis has been averted, though I don't entirely like having to work on a laptop that is not actually mine, needs must for now. Plus there are one or two pieces of software that the IT overlords will not let me have, like Affinity Publisher and Audacity with the right plugin. Sigh.

I can do both good cop and bad cop, as a tutor :)

Last year it seemed like Jessie didn't mind the fireworks, but this year she really did mind, for some reason. Had a stressful few days of desperately trying to console her to a cacophany of incredibly loud bangs, while also furiously working into the evenings on a laptop that was rainbow wheeling every few clicks, sob

One of my amazing MA Design for Data Vis students set up her own independent exhibition exploring the topic of TERMS AND CONDITIONS!! (https://didntreadthetandcs.com/) It was great and she is great (and I got to hang out with lots of cool people) 

Having been watching all of Adventure time for MANY MONTHS, we finally finished Adventure Time. What a fuckin' masterpiece, eh lads? (We are now watching spin off Fionna and Cake which is also surprisingly good)

After a long hiatus, somehow found time to do a London Loop with Jay. Progress!!

I used to hate when it started getting dark early, but somehow it's okay these days. No SAD for me!

 

I still hate rain though! (Took this photo during a brief beautiful moment of sunlight on an otherwise dismal grey day) 

Was up all night feeling like I was about to vomit (Emma's phobia) and convinced I had norovirus (Emma's worst fear), but in the end I was... fine? (And crucially did not vomit even once). 

I like to think I am mostly keeping on top of things, but I did arrive half an hour late for a teaching session (in my defence, the time was changed!!) — the students all whooped and cheered when I walked in, which I initially thought was lovely and then realised it was because they were all super annoyed with me, oops

One thing about teaching that I totally suck at is learning names. I can remember faces, and I can mostly connect students projects and ideas to said faces, but actually recalling their names desperately eludes me. I often have to refer to the little photo sheets the admin team give us, but annoyingly because it's the students themselves who supply the photos during the application process, they are often... unhelpful.

My partner got a cute little boardgame called Botswana which everyone else likes more than me (it's quite good but it doesn't like, set my world on fire). We had our old housemate Beth and partner Angus over for dinner and games, and it was fun (and had been way too long)

 
Mum took me to see the Kerry James Marshall exhibition at the RA and I really enjoyed it (but there's absolutely no way I would have paid the £££ they charge to go see it myself, so thanks mum!)

 
My partner managed to get some old Mario Kart games running, so we played a little. This continues to live rent free in my head, and probably will forever.  

 
And then suddenly, it's SHOW TIME! Degree show time, that is. The 15 month MA courses at LCC have their shows in November (unlike most courses which have shows in summer). I've never been quite so closely involved in making a show happen before, and hoo boy it's a ride.

Formerly reasonable students suddenly become extremely unreasonable...

...And I have to summon what limited DIY skills I have buried deep down inside me (actually untrue, my colleague Keir does it all and I just hold things in place while wearing dunagrees so I look like I might be good at DIY)...

But we did it!!! And I collapse.

Collapse... straight onto a train to York to see those boys! (Also new friend Alina was there briefly)

 On Saturday we did an escape room! It was great! We were slow!

I love staying with Justin and Dav, but I also wish they perhaps had 1 (one) more comfortable armchair...

This was the first time we had left KJ behind with a house/dog-sitter. She had an extremely good weekend and literally did not even care whether we ever came back or not. 

 AAAAAAAAGGGHHHH (every day is like this at the moment)

 

Because I am a huge idiot/glutton for punishment/ambitious individual trying to progress in her career/still somehow broke, I agreed to teach a short run of evening classes with 16/17 year olds thinking about coming to study creative arts subjects at uni. They let me teach illustration!! Woohoo!! Here is a REAL DRAWING I DREW ON PAPER (for the first time in yonks) (It was fun, actually!)

Had fun trying to capture the feeling of everything being a bit much

And then spent a rare no-teaching day trying to clear the inbox, only for three separate freelance clients to email me AFTER 5 on a FRIDAY with tasks. I should be safe after 5 on a Friday!!! Nothing more on the pile please!!!

Yesterday I had a nice treat, which was getting the train to Margate and sitting behind a table at a zine fair with my pal Keir all day. Margate was anticipatedly grey and rainy, but I still got my chips with curry and mushy peas, and was treated to a lovely sunset on the train home.

I feel like I should probably print this one off and pin it on the wall of my kitchen.

Evergreen (pun intended) advice.

Onwards to December, where hopefully Emma will finally log off for a bit. (I will never log off) 

October 2025

I think I actually quite like autumn. I've been frankly alarmingly busy (such are the perils of new academic year and several freelance projects coinciding), but I'm feeling broadly good about it all. It also helps to finally be making some cold hard cash after a few lean months...

KJ loves 'street food'... (And it is now very much my job to try and stop her enjoying it, after her pancreatitis in the summer...)

My main job now is as lecturer on MA Design for Data Visualisation, but I still teach a little bit on BA UXD. I love teaching first year undergrads too much to entirely abandon that side of things. (They are sweet and chaotic and they don't know anything 🥹).  Plus I have all the materials prepared, so why not eh. At the start of term, I was alarmed, however, to find myself faced with FORTY EIGHT new undergrads (in a room definitely designed for a maximum of like, 35 students)... I have been having to use my LOUD VOICE a lot more often.

Had what should have been a nice day out to Oxford to the Co-tech meetup with my Cookiewolf colleagues Katja and Stuart, but had some kind of insidious lurgy which left me feeling fatigued and achey, so left early afternoon. (Not until after delicious free lunch though, because you know Emma's never gonna miss out on that)

Stayed in bed ALL DAY the next day and that helped?!?!

Took it easy the next day as well. KJ is an inspiration when it comes to 'not doing much' (I mean I actually did a ton of work but I didn't move much)

Then, back at it! (These coloured blocks represent the many colours of my google calendar events)

 

One of my greatest ever visual diaries, I think (inspired by a conversation with fellow bean fans Dav and Davey)

Ran some meet n greet tutorials online with our new MA DDV students. The fun thing about MA level teaching and much smaller cohort is really having the oportunity to get to know our students and their interests in much more detail than we're able to with undergrads. Also theoretically as they're a bit older, their interests are more well formed (though with some of them it is still a little bit like trying to get blood from a stone...)

One of my undergrads gave me this adorable (but not at all vegan) moon cake. I regifted it, but did have a tiny bite, just so I could say I'd tried mooncake. I extremely did not like it, but I extremely DID like this students thoughtfulness and skill in a) handmaking it and b) bringing special bespoke mooncake packaging from China so she could give them out to all her friends and tutors.

I first went to the GP about my chronic throat issues in... 2021, I think!? Anyway, I have a tentative diagnosis of 'Laryngeal Hypersensitivity' which basically just means my throat is a little bitch which needs to chill out. (I have been prescribed some speech therapy, which is cool?! Also maybe a real sign that Emma talks too much, huh)

They put a camera down my nose to take a look-see, which I was expecting to be profoundly traumatic, but which was actually entirely painless and kinda cool. I got to see my larynx and let me tell you, it is an evil looking thing. I was mostly reminded of the eye of sauron. 

My Quaker church hosted an art exhibition! I helped a bit with the organisation which was mostly stressful but kinda fun. I did enjoy having a quiet day sitting in the meeting house while it was actually open. (And a poet came to do poems about the art)

I was talking with a friend about my trademarked EMMA SYSTEM of determining whether someone deserves a second date. I developed this in my early 20s and frankly I still stand by it. 

This is just based on some particularly elaborate and colourful sprayed markings left by roadworks people.

Went for dinner with one of my fav old school friends in which we both got excited about making stupid fan art. (I have still not yet sent him my fanfic because I am being far too much of a perfectionist about it)

 Thinking about LAYOUT

Thing is right, I was convinced — yet again — that the lurgy was upon me. And my partner got REALLY bad flu over the subsequent days. But for me it never really progressed beyond that beginning 'I'm about to get sick' vibes. #blessed I guess, but I am still poised for the surely inevitable freshers flu to hit...

KJ had to have a little tiny tooth out and she dealt with it like a trooper. (Hurt me more tbh, £800, and not on insurance. Sob.)

Continued expecting to get sick, so lay very still on the sofa with my sick partner all day. Didn't make me feel good tbh, but resting may have been the secret sauce that helped me avoid getting any worse?! idk what's going on in my bod really

Continued to try and move very slowly and look after my partner, but did manage to do a bit of end-of-season garden tidying.

It's definitely possible to have too much of a good thing (lying on the sofa). Because my partner was so disgusting in the bed I also slept on the sofa. It's really comfy, so this is no hardship whatsoever, but it does feel kinda gross to spend all night on the sofa... and then also all day on the sofa...

Did a nice freelance job a few months ago where I illustrated a load of maps for this guy's travel book, and finally it was time for the launch party. Was quite a fancy affair, but also I was tired and awkward and didn't really feel like talking to anyone. Did enjoy the view across the Thames to Battersea Power Station, and also continuing to daydream about being able to travel as much as the guy who wrote the book has... (though ideally not by motorbike, like he did)

I'm really clocking up the hours teaching this month (it's very lucrative :), and enjoyed writing and teaching an 'introduction to illustrator' workshop. Found myself astonished by how low the students skill level was (did not expect 'draw a circle' to take over 10 minutes to get everyone in the room to the same place, tbh)

Always delighted when I have time to go play games with my pal V. Very much enjoyed (and would recommend) 'Perspectives', for fans of murder mysteries, escape rooms etc. 

 

Much like my friend Kelly-Jessie, I also had to have a tooth extracted this month. I'd been really dreading it, but in the event it was... fine?! (I mean, touching wood that it is hopefully not infected or dry-socketed or anything like that). The tooth itself was totally fucked which made me feel like a real gremlin (but not my fault!!! My mouth is a bad shape!!!)

I made a very good dinner.

Feeling a fair bit of aesthetic self-loathing at the moment, so made a weird self portrait (it... helps?!)

For the last 500+ days I have been very slowly learning Mandarin Chinese on Duolingo. I am extremely not good at learning languages, but I now have enough small sentences that I can surprise and delight some of my students, in some very specific contexts. What I fail at in pace of learning (very slow), I make up for in apparently having quite good pronunciation (according to my students?!)

The pickings, they are... slim

Davey is here!!!! (briefly) from Montana. We love to see it. (this is a bad visual diary because I was too busy hanging out with Davey)

Ran a field trip to the Japan House Pictograms exhibition with my BA UX students. It all went very smoothly, which is good, because the night before the trip I was blighted by a succession of dreams about things going extremely wrong, which included me forgetting to take a register (minor), my students all being very naughty and stealing things from/trashing the exhibit (major), and, at its climax, all of my students (somehow, yes, all 48 of them), falling down the spiral staircase at Japan House and being seriously injured. I mean it's kind of hilarious, but I genuinely woke up in a cold sweat over it. 

In all seriousness, I desperately need to find some way of incorporating exercise into my life again, but I have been roundly failing for basically the entirety of this year (and, my life, to be honest).  (Eating less would also help but fuck that!) 

Feeling a bit hopeless about it because I hate pretty much every exercise I've ever tried, and I have noooooo timmmmmmeeee. Any tips welcome. I'll probably reject them all but worth a try, hey. 

Also to be clear, there's nothing wrong with being blobby, and some days I'm even able to look at my body and like having cute hips and a cute butt. But most of my weight seems to pile on my belly and that's the not-healthy bit, and the bit I dislike the most. 

KJ's not exactly helping — I got a relatively big, high energy dog breed to force me out for brisk walks, but she's quite a slow, lazy girl, and because of her reactivity, the best walks for her are slow sniffy ones out of everyone's way. My smart watch doesn't even detect that I am doing a walk when I go out with her, sob.  

Anyway, onwards now into the colder months. I hope you're all doing well through them!