#22 - Out of Hours Takeover💤
#22 - Out of Hours Takeover💤
A sweet spot between science and magic, and other musings.
Hi, I’m Laura, I guess this is where I say something about myself? Where do I begin?
I was born in Northern Ireland, in a border town not far from Derry. I went to a convent for 7 years, growing up awkwardly during the peace process, navigating a post-war world, and to top it off, I then came out… Sound familiar? Step aside Nicola Coughlan, there’s another ‘wee lesbian’ in town. After school, I studied Pharmacy at university. Despite my desire to follow a path of music or art, we were encouraged to ‘get a proper job and study something useful’ by our parents and school teachers, so mostly, that’s what we did.
When I graduated, I packed my beetle up and moved to Brighton after university (so cliché, right?) so I could live out my little gay dreams! They say queer people experience a delayed adolescence when they finally come out, and I can totally relate. My life kind of started then!
I wasn’t fulfilled in my job, and having made enough money in pharmacy to buy a proper DSLR, I became obsessed with photography. I would shoot on busted film cameras with broken light meters, and plastic Lomo cams from Urbies (so fucking hipster), I’d learn the hard way when I would over or under expose a photo, or god forbid not even load the roll of film right. Long story short, I now run a successful wedding photography business with my beautiful wife. We’ve been shooting together for over 7 years and it’s been the dream.
Editor’s note: Laura and Alex are the dream wedding photography duo. Check their work out here.
I still legally deal drugs from time to time (pharmacy that is), but the left side of my brain has been put in a drawer for a bit, and the right is now fully behind the wheel. I still absolutely love my scientific self, and I will never let that go, but that little girl in an oversized convent blazer never dreamed she could be creative for a living. Life is good right now.
Enough about me and my shit, let’s get into it.
Thoughts from my Notes App
So, because I am quite a visual person and I don’t write very often, my notes are extremely boring (think finances and shopping lists). But I did manage to strike gold, finding the only remotely entertaining or interesting thing in my notes. Behold…
I prefer to save memes on my insta, so I have thrown a few of those in for good measure:
ICYMI
How Physicists Proved The Universe Isn’t Locally Real
There have been a few things occupying my brain recently, with all of the horrors going on in the world, I have found myself adopting a “big floating rock energy” approach to life more than usual (I think that’s the casual term for dissociation). But seriously, we are just all little balls of skin, on a giant sphere, careering through space and time, right?
I have got really into quantum physics this year (bare with me). And it completely blew my mind! It all started when I heard about the 2022 Physics Nobel Prize - a group of scientists proved that the universe is not locally real, i.e. things only become real when we perceive them. It’s a lot to chew on so I will link a video below. Quantum physics can be a controversial topic in the physics world. Prying too much would disprove Einstein's theory of relativity, so a lot of scientists avoided the topic, but these badasses went all in.
And, don’t get me started on the possible existence of the multiverse…
My tiny brain finds this information hard to compute, I have basic and silly questions like: “well if nothing is real then can we create/change the reality we haven’t perceived yet?” and “is manifestation legit?”. I guess I will have to manifest and see. I am growing to embrace and encourage the more witchy side of myself, being from Irish pagan descent it had to come out at some point, and no time like the present.
David Hockney: Drawing from Life (National Portrait Gallery)
In case you missed it, this exhibition was stunning. I have always loved Hockney and to see his work in person was incredible.
Fuji X100
Last year I lost my love for photography a bit, I found myself never taking my camera with me and trips away, leaning more on my iPhone and for the first time ever, I shot hardly any film. I decided to do something about it, and bought myself a little fixed lens Fuji X100F. When I say it has reignited my love for photography, I realllllyyyy mean it. If you need a new camera - this is your one.
Here are a few images straight out of camera:
What to watch this week
YES THEORY
I love traveling, but I don’t do enough of it, and haven’t seen enough of the world yet. So naturally I watch travel videos on YouTube. My absolute favourites are the guys from ‘Yes Theory’ no matter where they go they have the best time and go into an experience with open minds and open hearts.
Absolute trash, but we are starved for sapphic content so don’t judge me.
The Jinx Part Two
I didn’t think anything could top The Jinx Part One. But, Robert Durst never ceases to amaze me. He is the original creep. A wild ride, please watch!
For some reason this itches a scratch in my brain, I watch them around 11pm at night, cuddled up and entranced by the 2x speed and gentle hum of the power washer as it lifts the caked on dirt from the pavement. Also just a genuinely nice thing for this man to do for free.
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Things you should have on your radar
Billie Eilish - Hit Me Hard and Soft
All killer, no filler. Absolutely obsessed. Billie really experiments in this one. Fave track changes all the time, but currently ‘Birds of a Feather’ is up there.
Operation Olive Branch
A grassroots effort to amplify Palestinian voices and raise funds to evacuate families from Gaza to safety. Get involved, share and donate what you can.
What I’ve been reading
Small Things Like These by Clare Keegan
Set in Ireland in the 1940s, this is a beautiful and simply written book full of tragedy and hope. This book is only around 120 pages long, but Keegan uses every word intentionally. I started it at 9pm and finished it at 11pm, crying my eyes out as I closed the cover.
‘Butter’ by Asako Yuzuki
Loving this read! Yet to finish it, but it makes me more angry at men than I already am, and hungry with the incredible descriptions of food. I hope it takes a gross and violent turn soon, I am ready.
When Iman first asked me to do a guest takeover, the first thing I thought was “you’re nowhere near cool enough”, but then I got over my millennial self, and leant into my cringe. I have learnt to embrace the weird and wonderful parts of myself, encouraging them instead of pushing them down like we’ve been conditioned to do (ok, sis get deep). It’s so freeing not to care what people think. I think I will keep this up!
All my love,
Laura xx
FYI, you can read past letters here.
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