I drew up a ‘To Do’ list of 22 tasks for before the course finishes in less than a fortnight. I’ve achieved one so far: I bought a new lightbulb for my desk lamp. Next week I have to pass shorthand by Wednesday at the latest and hand in all my coursework, including a couple more stories and an essay on journalist ethics (which, needless to say, I haven’t started yet), by Friday. Then exams the week after. Then, who knows? Probably work experience for the Taieri Herald in Otago, and then conceivably three weeks on a DOC weeding mission to the Chathams if I’m accepted for it. So it might be mid-December before I get back to Wellington. On the other hand there’s a temporary communications job going at the Department of Corrections here until Christmas which I should have a reasonable shot at – follow in Suraya’s footsteps?
It’ll be good to have this course out of the way, I’ve been noticing a distinct emptiness to my bank account. Not that money’s a major focus for me, but it’ll be good to get off the student allowance and into a paid job. On the other hand if I get stuck on the dole I'd be $10 a week worse off than I am now and I don’t want to go there again for sanity reasons. A personal financial nadir I remember came about a year ago when I was living in a deeply filthy flat on Wallace Street (not getting a job because I was working on Loose Autumn Moans): the toilet kept getting blocked, so I went to the Warehouse to buy a plunger – and the transaction was declined due to lack of funds*. Seemed oddly symbolic.
There’s also been a vacancy for a junior reporter at the Wellingtonian this week. I’m not even sure about applying for that, it sounds quite unappealing. It’s described as a ‘busy, competitive environment’, they want someone with good shorthand skills, and the editor is (in his words) ‘a bit of a right-winger’. And there’ll be competition for the role. I hate competition, I always think of cooperation as a better model for humanity to follow. Does that make me a communist?
The cooperative venture that’s going well is the Ascension Band. Three people who played the gig didn’t show up for the jam on Tuesday but there were three new faces. There’s a kickass band in there if we stick at it, and it was good practice for me to rein in my spastic guitar style and do some ensemble playing. Other guys said the band’s good as a chance to break out & have more freedom than usual, so we’ve struck a good balance. The band’s about the most ‘rock’ thing I’ve done, even more so on Tuesday than at the gig. The repertoire so far consists of one good half-hour piece in three movements, but there’s limitless potential to do more. I reckon work up a 60-70 minute electric symphony and perform it in the Fringe Festival.
The trouble with this journalism course is that to do well at it requires total dedication, whereas because I spend most of my waking hours thinking about (& sometimes even working on) my extra-curricular activities my course grades show me as a pretty average student (or even mediocre if I don’t get the shorthand pass). I should be able to do at least some exam study though – my reward for getting through next week’s workload. Music keeps me sane and gives me a reason not to kill myself. I feel a lot happier when I’ve got a gig scheduled on the calendar, and conversely I feel down a couple of days after them. I envy professional players who do gigs all the time, but then it becomes a job thing. And I’d miss getting sunlight.
As far as the arts go, music’s much more of a social outlet than writing. I’m finding it hard to be a passive consumer though. I went to the Midnight Burlesque at the Big Kumura last night, bit of a mixed bag with music, stand-up comedy, fashion show, dancers, and guys hanging things off hooks stuck into their penises. Not having anything to do with organising the show – though they got some lotteries commission funding so I want to find out how they did it – I felt pretty superfluous and the only part I really enjoyed was dancing to the Chandeliers (who’ve evolved from being a fairly plodding surf instrumental trio into a really dynamic band in the last year) at the end. The big workload is always in the back of my mind at the moment so it’s hard to relax – I’m thinking about music when I should be studying, and thinking about study when I should be enjoying a night out.
Physically I felt good that day, having swum 40 lengths of the Freyberg Pool rather than my usual 30, but my face had broken out in shaving rash from using cheap nasty blades so I looked all pimply. In keeping with the spotty teenager look, a particular girl who I'd developed a crush on was there & I had no idea how to do anything about it. I blame being an only child with introvert tendencies, no extended family nearby and sent to a boys’ school, for my stunted social development - but that doesn’t mean it’s an excuse. I’m not so bad I couldn’t go and talk to her, but no idea how to get beyond ‘polite conversation’ level. Suffice to say I had one of my not-uncommon walking-home-alone-while-listening-to-the-dawn-chorus ends to the night.
I had a dream this morning, where I was in the audience as a grey-faced midget clown came rushing out do do a performance and fell flat on his face. He had to get up and brush himself off before doing his tumbling act.
Daylight savings this weekend - roll on summer.
http://fiffdimension.tripod.com
* Actually it wasn’t quite that bad, I was able to dip into my travel fund which I’d started building up from DOC wages after paying off my student loan. I’m quite good at savings, the problem is it’s hard to save without an income. Hence a temporary Corrections Dept job to finish off the year actually sounds kind of attractive. I could stay here and save, and keep the Ascension Band running regularly, then have no commitments after Christmas so take a holiday.
Department of Corrections is a pretty good place to work. Once you get a foot in the door there is a huge variety of different work available there: administration, policy, prisons inspectorate, probation... and you can get some groovy free training in the public service. I was doing 3 hours a week of te reo maori (on work time) for the last year I was there.
Posted by: suraya at October 5, 2004 02:40 AM