I just got an offer of employment!
The Exciting Bits
- I'd be working in Oxford Circus.
- It would be a rather easy job moderating a web forum for a big video game company (re: not too much effort needed, not going to consume my post-work thoughts and make writing difficult).
The Mediocre Bits
- The pay is a bit mediocre at £7/hr, thought it could be a bit higher as that is just an estimate from the recruiter - I'm told that if it isn't £7 then it will be higher, not lower, as it is in the best interest of the recruiter not to overquote.
- It's only a three month contract, but whatever....it will still be cash and it will open the door to a proper bank account as well as a National Insurance number. Also, future contracts through the same agency?
The Suspiciously Brown Bits
- I'd be moderating a web forum for a big video game company (re: impressing future potential publishing or film employers, ladies).
- At this point I have no clue as to what actual company it is or the precise pay.
I'm supposed to hear back on Monday and I could start work as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday though - so this puts the job way ahead of the folk at Lead Generators, who seem to think that most job hunters can afford to go through their eighty-two week hiring process.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Chuggida Chuggida
So I'm leaving around 4pm tomorrow - camera in hand - for the leafy, literature-soaked city of Oxford. Shall return sometime Sunday so as to see the new Borat film with the lads.
The past couple of days I've mostly been fighting the good fight, being careful not to lose focus or momentum. A temporary office or bar job should be mine soon and though it is not the main goal, I sure would like to have an income again! I've also started to dig up some useful film resources and even come across a UK/European satellite channel which takes independent film submissions. I'll have to read over the legal bits and think it over but hey, it might be a really interesting way to get my name out there.
Exploring more of Reading lead to seeing some pretty boids.
I've also been writing more and more, feeling almost a little posessed....which might explain this sketch. The climate change script comes easily, but I keep working on a horror script as well - which has a middle-aged (closer to 60 than 40) woman in the lead. I really want to try my hand at horror and I can get the necessary mood(s) whipped up...but it just doesn't come as easily as the climate change story. I guess having a little fire in your belly can really make the difference. It's certainly much easier to be passionate about climate change than cults...unless maybe I work in some totally transparent commentary on the power of religion to warp minds? Yes yes?
And then it turns out in the final scene that The Bible was the real sapphic vampire-lady all along...DUH-NAH!
I certainly was whipped up and pissed off about the unintentional duplicity and insincerity exhibited by people trying to "find someone" when I wrote Tonight We Fall In Love - which makes it all the more bizarre for me to go back over the script, since I am a much different person from when I began writing it at the age of twenty-two. I guess it's like reading old diary entries, for those who keep them.
Not much else to report - I went swimming with Tim tonight and after several laps (which made it painfully clear that I need to import Cathy that I might have a tennis partner again), I am more than ready for bed.
If only writing were somehow a cardiovascular sport!
The past couple of days I've mostly been fighting the good fight, being careful not to lose focus or momentum. A temporary office or bar job should be mine soon and though it is not the main goal, I sure would like to have an income again! I've also started to dig up some useful film resources and even come across a UK/European satellite channel which takes independent film submissions. I'll have to read over the legal bits and think it over but hey, it might be a really interesting way to get my name out there.
Exploring more of Reading lead to seeing some pretty boids.
I've also been writing more and more, feeling almost a little posessed....which might explain this sketch. The climate change script comes easily, but I keep working on a horror script as well - which has a middle-aged (closer to 60 than 40) woman in the lead. I really want to try my hand at horror and I can get the necessary mood(s) whipped up...but it just doesn't come as easily as the climate change story. I guess having a little fire in your belly can really make the difference. It's certainly much easier to be passionate about climate change than cults...unless maybe I work in some totally transparent commentary on the power of religion to warp minds? Yes yes?
And then it turns out in the final scene that The Bible was the real sapphic vampire-lady all along...DUH-NAH!
I certainly was whipped up and pissed off about the unintentional duplicity and insincerity exhibited by people trying to "find someone" when I wrote Tonight We Fall In Love - which makes it all the more bizarre for me to go back over the script, since I am a much different person from when I began writing it at the age of twenty-two. I guess it's like reading old diary entries, for those who keep them.
Not much else to report - I went swimming with Tim tonight and after several laps (which made it painfully clear that I need to import Cathy that I might have a tennis partner again), I am more than ready for bed.
If only writing were somehow a cardiovascular sport!
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
I've never been so enraged by cleavage in all my life
Yes, you read that right. Bared bosoms are on probation with me right now and let me tell you why.
The GRC interview was almost wholly unsatisfactory and the worst part is that there is no real villain to haul up on the end of a pike. They specified in their email to me that I should come all gussied up in a suit, something which is still way too warm to wear on the tube or inside a building right now (though perhaps the fact that my body is still aclimatized to Canadian weather is to blame).
Already a little grouchy from the train ticket costing more than I felt it should do, my jaw just about dropped when I saw that nobody but the receptionists were "dressed smart" and my advisor was wearing jeans along with a tank top that had me convinced that her breasts had achieved sentience and, after a brief discussion between them, decided that escape was their best option.
Oh well, I suppose this isn't such a war crime. She was pretty personable, honest and at least somewhat helpful (providing me with some handy advice on my letter writing campaign). I just don't think I had to spend money and a day on coming into her office so I could re-iterate a bunch of info which could have been handled in a fifteen minute phone call. An extra five minutes would have covered the advice, which included the rather dour little number about how November and December are always the quietest months in hiring since by this point the budget for new employees (given out in January) has been pretty much spent.
Leaving the office I was pretty fed up and put out. Feeling like that, it's hard not to want a villain - so I attended to that need while cheering myself up with a good laugh on the way home as I mentally blamed this woman's chest for anything from the day's frustrations to religious extremism and climate change.
Moving over to the bigger picture, the Stern Report dropped today and I'm quite glad. In a nutshell, important members of the English government and The World Bank have put something together which reinforces two of the main points of Al Gore's brilliant arguement - that screwing up the environment will actually damage the economy more than trying to fix things and that no matter how you cut it, this is a problem of the present which needs to be dealt with right now. I promise I'll not be turning this site into a soapbox - but given that climate change is easily the most pressing world issue in existence, I reckoned that this was worth mentioning.
In other news, I got a reply to my follow-up email from Lead Generators. Apparently I am still supremely sexy and they are "grateful for" the Dawkins review I left with them. But "Unfortunately, the process has taken longer than expected and [we] will need another few weeks to get back in touch with you to complete the interview process". Erm, OK!
Ah but screw it, this too has left me somewhat galvanized to continue not only job searching but to keep trying new methods - if only to prove a point. Tomorrow I shall launch my email assault on the world of publishing and pick up the needed supplies for the postal assault - in both cases being mindful that the letters are addressed to specific individuals and not the useles black hole that is the HR department of most companies.
Finally, head on over to this site which Kate found and click on The Beginners Guide to Britain - it's really funny and a great thing to watch if you've had a day like mine.
The GRC interview was almost wholly unsatisfactory and the worst part is that there is no real villain to haul up on the end of a pike. They specified in their email to me that I should come all gussied up in a suit, something which is still way too warm to wear on the tube or inside a building right now (though perhaps the fact that my body is still aclimatized to Canadian weather is to blame).
Already a little grouchy from the train ticket costing more than I felt it should do, my jaw just about dropped when I saw that nobody but the receptionists were "dressed smart" and my advisor was wearing jeans along with a tank top that had me convinced that her breasts had achieved sentience and, after a brief discussion between them, decided that escape was their best option.
Oh well, I suppose this isn't such a war crime. She was pretty personable, honest and at least somewhat helpful (providing me with some handy advice on my letter writing campaign). I just don't think I had to spend money and a day on coming into her office so I could re-iterate a bunch of info which could have been handled in a fifteen minute phone call. An extra five minutes would have covered the advice, which included the rather dour little number about how November and December are always the quietest months in hiring since by this point the budget for new employees (given out in January) has been pretty much spent.
Leaving the office I was pretty fed up and put out. Feeling like that, it's hard not to want a villain - so I attended to that need while cheering myself up with a good laugh on the way home as I mentally blamed this woman's chest for anything from the day's frustrations to religious extremism and climate change.
Moving over to the bigger picture, the Stern Report dropped today and I'm quite glad. In a nutshell, important members of the English government and The World Bank have put something together which reinforces two of the main points of Al Gore's brilliant arguement - that screwing up the environment will actually damage the economy more than trying to fix things and that no matter how you cut it, this is a problem of the present which needs to be dealt with right now. I promise I'll not be turning this site into a soapbox - but given that climate change is easily the most pressing world issue in existence, I reckoned that this was worth mentioning.
In other news, I got a reply to my follow-up email from Lead Generators. Apparently I am still supremely sexy and they are "grateful for" the Dawkins review I left with them. But "Unfortunately, the process has taken longer than expected and [we] will need another few weeks to get back in touch with you to complete the interview process". Erm, OK!
Ah but screw it, this too has left me somewhat galvanized to continue not only job searching but to keep trying new methods - if only to prove a point. Tomorrow I shall launch my email assault on the world of publishing and pick up the needed supplies for the postal assault - in both cases being mindful that the letters are addressed to specific individuals and not the useles black hole that is the HR department of most companies.
Finally, head on over to this site which Kate found and click on The Beginners Guide to Britain - it's really funny and a great thing to watch if you've had a day like mine.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Month's End
Well howdy. Sorry for the absence!
Job hunting may feel a little discouraging, but I still have faith. A list of publishers has been drawn up and form letters composed - their peace of mind will be interrupted by my cries for employment. Meanwhile I have an interview with the GRC tomorrow where, after my having impressed them via my CV and charming phone manner, they will poke and prod me to see what they can find (jobwise).
Friday night was a pretty fun time. It turned out that Leon and some friends were having what may be referred to in some circles as a "wingding", though it was enjoyable enough to warrant consideration of being upgraded to "hootenanny" status. Lots of good folk were there, a decent number from Canada, and later in the evening the party spilled out into Camden to find it's way to a Cuban-themed place that had good drinks and a name which I do not recall.
I'd love to be more detailed but it has occurred to me lately that if I keep giving anatomical detail of the goings-on between me and the people I meet in England, than mayhap I could make people feel like they really have to watch their behaviour in my company lest it find it's way to the most public of forums. So I'll simply say that I was pleased to chat with some recent Canadian ex-pats about our respective escapades and that I met a fellow film enthusiast as well as a fan of Hunter S. Thompson, leaving me well pleased. By the end of the evening I felt more relaxed and at peace with the city than I had since I arrived - I think the last traces of "Jesus Christ I'm in a somewhat unfamiliar country" finally fell off.
Surprise, surprise.....Saturday was spent alternately vegging out and writing. Sunday was a bit of that mixed with a trip to Hyde park to see what Speakers Corner was all about. The fellow on the soapbox when I arrived was taking a harried "Muslim veils divide the community, ergo they should be banned" position on the current ruckus. It got kind of awkward, rather quickly...but I still think I'll check it out sometime again in the future. Once again I nearly went to the south-east end of the park to see the Diana memorial. But even this many years later, I find remembering the hypocritcal public behavior which surrounded her so utterly repuslive that I couldn't bring myself to do it.
That may sound harsh. But it's surprisingly easy to forget that before Diana died and provoked people to remark"Oh no! Our fair lady has fallen!", those same people would look over their morning breakfast and think "Hey I hope those clever lads at The Daily Mirror manage to sneak another camera in Diana's toilet bowl again!".
But enough of that nonsense. I also found some incredibly good bookstores and stared at a few as I imagine a starving man in the desert looks upon the mirage of a turkey stuffed with lasagna. Particularly Ralph Steadman's book about Hunter S. Thompson with a forward by Kurt Vonnegut! Man oh man I already want to start building my library over here and I still need to bring my other books over from Canada. So much to read, then display as painfully obvious conversation pieces! "Oh why yes, I have studied the Kama Sutra, though I suppose it would be better to say that I've lived it".Today I head off to Reading, which should be relaxing and all - plus I'm sure I'll get to see the lads for a bit of fun now and then. I've also arranged to head up to Oxford (the city, not the circus) this coming weekend, which should lead to futher book-inspired salivations...but oh well!
Slowly but surely I'm gathering more and more information and useful experience with job hunting in the UK - things'll come around, I'm sure of it (he said prophetically, before falling into a bottomless pit).
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