Update to Previous Blog

I would have just added this to the previous entry but it's already fed to Facebook so many of you won't see it if I do that.

Basically I went back to the Job Centre at the allocated time, although it took them half an hour or so before they were able to see me because they were greatly understaffed. When I was finally seen I was told that I was being allocated a new time slot on Fridays - it was going from lunchtime to 9:10am. Fuck that shit, I'm not getting up that early just to get a pittance. I then decided it was best to step in with the news that I was now employed for summer, and I told him it was casual so there'd be work some weeks and not as much others. He then told me that, because I was officially employed, I had to sign off, but that if I was ever under 16 hours in a week I was entitled to claim JSA for that week. This is awesome, because I have decided I don't like the dole. And of course, I have to try and line up a new job to fall into sometime soon.

But yay :D

Sadly I ended up missing the first properly sunny day in Glasgow for a while because I got fucked about, but never mind - hopefully the weather might perk up and I can go and sit outside and read. I've discovered I vastly prefer the Botanic Gardens (at the crossroads of Great Western Road, Byres Road and Queen Margaret Drive, just down from the former BBC Scotland Broadcasting House premises for those who don't know) to Kelvingrove Park. They're both lovely in their own ways though.

I really can't wait to come into some money. On top of the multitude of books I've already accumulated over the last year or so, I've found around £60-£70 worth of books across both the Fopp branches in Glasgow which I can't afford to buy. The worst bit was, in the city centre branch it was mainly classics I was finding - to be specific, those cheapy ones Penguin do with the green jackets, made from recycled paper. We usually got given these at uni because they only cost £2 each, pretty good value for money usually (apart from 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man' by James Joyce, could NOT get into that book). Anyway yeah, Fopp had a massive display of them underneath the stairs, and I looked on them, and my mouth it did begin to foam and I just thought, 'WANT'. Yeah, I tend to have this reaction to books. It helps I no longer have to analyse the damned things. I desperately wanted to gather several of them up in my arms and take them to the counter, but alas, I haven't enough money to justify getting them yet. I did laugh though - one book they had was 'Crime and Punishment' by Fyodor Dostoevsky (which I won't be buying because I have a copy at home in Shetland, I think) which was still a snip at £2 but was three times the length of the others. Then again, said long Russian book could also have been 'War and Peace' by Leo Tolstoy. Bloody Russian literature, with its lengthy rambliness - THINK OF THE TREES, COMRADES!

Sorry, I'll calm down now. I will afford all those books one of these days, oh yes. In fact, I'd love to work for Fopp...

Also - to all of you following me on Facebook, certain entries are missing, so if you want them you need to come and find them on the actual blog, which is here. I don't know why they're not feeding in to be honest.

Unemployment Still Sucks

And so, the ongoing saga of the dole.

Basically, for various reasons I'm not keen to go into, I couldn't make my sign-on appointment last Friday. I phoned my Job Centre to explain this and they told me to phone back on Monday to arrange a new time to come in. Said new time ended up being 10am today. So I went in, to be told I couldn't just sign on, I had to go for a Failure to Attend appointment, which was scheduled for 3:40pm.

Keep in mind also that I live at the other end of the city from the Job Centre I'm registered at (still) and I couldn't afford to get the subway home, I'm typing this from the uni library, where I'm waiting for the time to creep round. Think I'll go to Fopp and torture myself by looking for bargain books I can't afford until I need to head back out there.

I hope I can get regular enough hours on the subway to justify signing off...

At Last!

So - the uni finally gave us our results, and I got a 2:2.

I won't deny, I'm a little disappointed. It was my class choices really. I got 40% for one of them - a bare pass. This is really the year I could've done without that but never mind - they could have kept all the good classes on the syllabus and not removed them because of certain lecturers either being promoted, going abroad or fucking off on research leave. The course is changing next year so all classes will now be one semester and continuous assessment, which sounds better to me anyway. There's also the small problem of my dissertation getting 55%. Ah well, after I found out - entirely by accident, I assure you - which lecturer was marking it I knew it wasn't going to do well. I held false optimism about it but I shouldn't have kid myself.

So, yeah - didn't go as well as I'd hoped. However, if I do decide to go for a CW Masters, there may be the possibility of getting in on the basis of a portfolio I have to submit as opposed to purely academic merit. Besides, some of the best writers don't have degrees in anything, never mind their craft.

Oh, and I can also confirm I have a casual summer job working in the subway ticket offices, so that's something to be cheerful about :)

'Say Paulie, Would Ye Ever Sign One A' These For Us?'

So...long overdue update required on this front. You've all been patient enough I guess, so here goes.

The job situation appears to have temporarily improved. Thus far as I can tell I seem to have a summer job working as a customer service assistant in the ticket offices for the Glasgow underground. Since I live just up from one of the stations this is rather helpful to me. I had the aptitude test for said job earlier this week - basically this consisted of two tests, one for logic and one for numeracy. When sent email notification of the impending test I was directed to two practise ones on the website of the company who make them. The logic one went okay (65%) but the numeracy one was highly complex, involving percentages, figures and a lot of mathemical techniques I'd barely gone near since Standard Grade. I didn't think to take my time over the harder questions (which they recommended you do; quickly but accurately is their attitude) and ended up completely falling on my arse with that one (with the miserable score of 21%). Needless to say, when I went into the real thing that morning I was panicking.

The panic was, however, unfounded. The numeracy test we were given was considerably more basic than the practise one had been, stuff I am genuinely better with. Once again, we were told to work quickly but accurately and not to worry if this meant not finishing the test, as sometimes people who hadn't finished the test did better than those who had for getting all their answers right. So I followed this advice - and indeed did not finish that test. Then we did the logic one, which I completed (those of you who know me will know that logic is one of my stronger points).

Following the test, myself and the seven other folk sitting it were led through to await the results and see if we'd made the interview. We were then told that of the eight of us there, three of us passed the aptitude test - and I somehow, amazingly, ended up being one of them. After the interview I was then invited to a medical on Thursday - which I guess seems odd, but they needed to do drug and alcohol tests (which I've passed no bother).

Of course, the job is just for summer, and it's casual - I'll be filling in if there are holidays or if someone phones in sick. It's well paid, though, which could help for when it actually ends and I have to go back on the dole. As far as I know I get to sign off once my contract starts. And I still have my internship. Our latest book is out on July 27th. We're excited :) And I like the colleagues I have that I've met. It's quite odd to think I'm essentially now holding down two jobs. I've just realised I had three in second year of uni on top of my degree - although two of them paid little and mostly involved working from home. This year I've been lucky to find anything. The internship helps because I can, at least, say I'm employed so I don't look like I'm completely workshy. At the same time, it's also the career I want really.

I've still not got my degree results yet. It's driving me up the wall - I know so many folk who have theirs and I don't have mine. There was a rumour going around that we might not get our results until after our graduation. That's surely a complete pile of shit, otherwise what would be the point in the ceremony? If that did happen I'd pull out of the July congregation and demand to be moved to the November one (although I could totally see my mam throttling me for that, after I whinged at her and both my siblings to be there and have even applied for a spare ticket so that can happen). But at the same time, I'm certain that has to be a pile of shit. I'm hoping they'll be with me tomorrow or Tuesday. I will keep you posted.

And finally, the moment you've all been waiting for (and if you've read this far, good on you. Have a Coke and a smile).

Yeah...earlier today I went with my brother and his friend to see Paul McCartney at Glasgow's Hampden Park stadium (see, you knew the title would be relevant). It was fucking awesome. We had to leave halfway through the encore so we could get the last train back into town (they had to go back to Edinburgh), which was a bit crap because we missed him performing both 'Yesterday' and 'Helter Skelter'. However, the rest of the set was well worth the ticket money. For 68, Paul McCartney must be one of the most energetic performers alive. The setlist he chose was also amazing. For instance, it was mostly Beatles stuff. Well, yeah, that was kind of inevitable, Captain Obvious. But seriously, I was going for that alone. He did solo stuff too. One of the songs turned up from his project The Fireman from a couple of years back, and of course he played 'Band on the Run' (:D). He also played a song he'd written about John Lennon and an imaginary conversation with him, and he played 'Something' in tribute to George Harrison. With that and 'Let It Be' I nearly welled up. Nearly. Some of the numbers were more obscure Beatles songs that you maybe wouldn't expect ('I've Just Seen A Face', anyone?). But it was so, so worth my while and I'm glad I went. Best graduation present ever. Sadly I didn't have him sign anything. The title is a quote from Paul's 'Grandad' (played by the brilliant Wilfrid 'Steptoe' Brambell) from 'A Hard Day's Night'.

Phew, that was a very long blog. Bedtime now. I need to post with more frequency.

Unemployment Sucks

I'm sure you saw this coming.

Yeah - unemployment = skinto. Signing on ain't a whole barrel of laughs either - especially when I have to cross to a whole other part of the city to actually do it. Of course, I tried phoning the Job Centre's Benefit Enquiries line to explain this to them - which I was told to do when I first went to sign on. So I phoned them. Was then given another number which turned out to be that of the Job Centre for the area I live in now. They then transferred my call to the Job Centre I'm currently registered at, who then told me to - guess what - phone Benefit Enquiries. So I tried them again - and once again got redirected to the Job Centre for my current area. I gave up at this point.

Acht, claiming my money only has to happen every couple of weeks or so. But of course, if I'm down at the wrong address I'll get in trouble. I have a job interview on Monday - well, actually an aptitude test which may lead to an interview. I'll go to my nearest Job Centre and order them to change my details for me. Assuming I don't get the job I have the interview for.

Have also realised that my imagination appears to have run dry in my old age :( This breaks my heart.

Books for Summer

Earlier today I finished reading 'Norwegian Wood' by Haruki Murakami. I'm ashamed to admit that it took me about six months to finish. A shame, because it's a beautifully written book and well-deserving of the praise that was heaped on it when it was first released. It follows the main character, Toru, while he is at university and his relationships with two very different young women in his life. This is my copy:



Yes, it's battered. I believe I found it in a book catalogue aged about 15 and pestered my mam to buy it for me solely because it was named after a Beatles song (and if that's not a good enough reason to buy a book, I don't know what is). Of course, I started it but never finished it, then it ended up on the bookshelf in the room I shared with my sister and was largely forgotten about. (Sorry, Mam.)

Of course, I've since grown up, left school and gone to university, and in doing that have met people who've read Murakami and can recommend him to me. So when I was home over the festive, I retrieved my copy from the shelf and took it away with me. It's in two parts to echo how it originally looked when it was first published (the only other edition I saw in Fopp was in one volume). Like I said, this time around it took me six months (or thereabouts) to read, but I read it and loved it.

The other one I'm reading is 'Mrs Dalloway' by Virginia Woolf. It was on the syllabus for the Modernism class I took in 2nd year (other 'Modernist' writers include James Joyce and TS Eliot). Needless to say I barely got it started, but this year I ended up writing my second semester essay for my Private Self class on Virginia Woolf's diary. I ended up using 'Mrs Dalloway' as well, and felt compelled to re-read it outwith the constraints of university. I'm loving it a lot.

Obligatory Post-Ball Blog

So yeah - grad ball was, well, a ball!

I always love an excuse to catch up with my coursemates :) I was sat at a table with a few of them from the last four years (three of them with plus-ones), a number of whom I hadn't seen in as long as a year.



And before you ask, yes, the Oran Mor was roasting. I wish I'd brought my black feather fan. Ah well, can't win 'em all.

After a really awesome tea - Scotch Broth for starters, steak pie and veg for main and sticky toffee pudding for dessert - the floor was cleared and the ceilidh dancing started. Ceilidh dancing is fun, and this time I actually had folk to dance with, which is unusual. Of course, I'm clearly not much good at it. In primary school we were always given traditional dancing lessons for Christmas parties but clearly I've failed to retain anything I learned then (hey, it's been well over ten years since I left primary school, what did you expect?!). Of course, the one dance I did know how to do was Strip the Willow, and when it was announced as the last dance of the evening my friend Ross asked me up to dance - only for my dress to give way halfway through. Thankfully I managed not to flash the entire dancefloor - that WOULD have been embarrassing. Apart from that, though, I'm glad I went. Think I'm going to need to acquire another mini sewing kit in case something like that happens again though.

For now, I'm waiting on my results and job hunting. Unemployment is very boring. Then again, I do have my first meeting with the people I'm working as an intern for tomorrow evening...

I've Arrived Safely

And so, for the next two months, I am officially a West End Wendy.

I still need to move my stuff in properly. As in, find places to put it while I live here. It's only for two months but I can't allow it to take up space in the sitting room. I need to look at my clothes and see what can be either chucked or put to a charity shop. If I'm honest, there's not a lot worth keeping. I did chuck out a lot of stuff that I no longer need. But not a hell of a lot.

Right - I'm getting ready for my Grad Ball as I type this. I will be back on another night. Goodnight for now :)

A Farewell to Academia, Part 5: Goodbye to my student digs

It's occurred to me that, in about 36 hours, it'll be the end of an era.

I shouldn't be doing this. I should be continuing to pack all the boxes full of all my worldly possessions (at least, all the ones I have in Glasgow - I have loads more stuff back in Shetland) so that everything's ready for 10am on Sunday, when I have to leave (damn delivery guy charging extra for a Sunday callout, grumble). Presently I'm not liking having to negotiate with the brown packing tape, that stuff is a bitch to work with. Brittle as fuck and splits constantly. Trying to get an evenly-measured length to stick the boxes together with is difficult, to say the least.

But I'm reflecting on the four years I've lived in Glasgow so far. This is the third property I've ever lived in since moving to this city. I hadn't intended it to be this way, to be living in Dennistoun. I thought I'd be a west end girl. Perfect student area, right? True, it is. I love it. But due to monetary constraints I ended up here, in this abode. That said, Dennistoun's not too bad. Sure, it's in the east end, and as a naive country mouse moving here to come and study I was always told the east end of the city was a bad'un. And sure, the east end has its troubles, but so does everywhere and anywhere else. As I said, living here has been a-okay for me and I've enjoyed it. I've never had any trouble. Plus, when I properly got involved with the student union it turned out that a lot of the other folk from my uni lived here too, or the better off ones lived in the Merchant City. Very few of them lived in the west end or the south side (I could literally name two of my contacts off the top of my head who do). This was especially helpful when parties were to be had.

I've made a lot of good friends down here - I have more friends in Glasgow than I ever had living in Shetland. Down here I met people I genuinely connected with, people who could make intelligent conversation and who had the same feelings and opinions as me. I've changed a lot as a person since I moved here. I don't know if that's been for the better or not, I'll leave you to judge.

But as much as I'll miss uni (well, some things about it) and living here, I can't wait for the two months I'll be in the west end for. It'll be a nice change. I currently can't afford to live there permanently (although with any luck the job situation might just work out) but maybe by the time those two months are up I'll manage the south side, or perhaps come back to where I was. Moving out of here after two years will be hard, no question about it.

But at the same time, hopefully there are better things on the horizon. One thing I could do this summer is try and get another novel dreamt up and written. May be easier said than done, but it'll keep me busy as I try to remain afloat in life...

If you could eat dinner with any person, dead or alive, who would it be and where would you go?

Granny Rena. And we'd have fish and chips at the Aith Hall.

Ask me anything

What was the happiest moment in your life?

This year it was getting my publishing internship.

Ask me anything

If you could attend any concert, what would it be?

I would have loved to have seen the Beatles at their peak

Ask me anything

What was the best concert you went to?

Big Day Out at the Green, 2003 :) Fucking awesome line-up.

Ask me anything

What are you most excited about right now?

Grad Ball on Sunday, moving into what will be my home for the next two months, graduation

Ask me anything

What was your favorite TV show as a child?

I had a few...Button Moon and Camberwick Green come to mind. What else? The Moomins, Fireman Sam, Postman Pat, Thomas the Tank Engine, Trap Door, Grim Tales (Rik Mayall FTW), Jackanory, Animals of Farthing Wood...I could probably think of oh so many more, but not right now.

Ask me anything

Would you rather be a vampire or a werewolf?

Vampire, eternal youth could be a great laugh :) There are no benefits to being a werewolf.

Ask me anything

Sayonara For Now, East End. We May Meet Again Some Day

Forgot to mention just there - I have some form of abode for the next two months.

Basically, once I leave my current Denny digs on Sunday I'll be moving to Hillhead. I know that sounds odd, given that I've just had to sign on, but I'm taking it up for two months as a favour to a friend who needs to return home over summer. Besides, I couldn't get anything else at such ridiculously short notice. I do, at least, have these digs till about late July / early August, so that gives me more time to find something a little more permanent.

And if, by some fucking miracle, I manage to get myself a job (or write a Startlingly Good Novel that sells six figures' worth of copies, gets into the WHSmith Bestseller List or, better still, finds its way to the Man Booker Prize nomination list...HA, THAT'LL BE THE FUCKING DAY) at all over summer, no matter how menial, permanent or temporary, I might just be able to afford to make the most of it. Like I said, here's hoping. But at least I'll be within walking distance of Kelvingrove Park so I can enjoy my beloved books when I (a) have a spare moment and (b) when the sun shines. Then again, even if it doesn't, I could read anyway.

Basically I'm relying on parental contribution over the next while, but I'm not going to make that a permanent thing. I've applied for several jobs so far today since going to the job centre earlier. Like I say, the prospect of long-term unpaid employment is looking like a terrifying prospect from this angle. A lot of jobs have been applied for online, but I have a few more that I need to send off in the hope they'll be right. I've applied for everything I think I'd be of use for, from library assistant to kitchen porter via admin assistant. I'm still applying for jobs as well. It doesn't get any better.

Something has to turn up sometime.

Meanwhile...my internship colleagues and I convene next week. I've been sent a database of people to flog books to. I'm still trying to get packing done (I've done NOTHING today. Literally nothing) and also need to properly sort moving, but I need to get my finger out with that, being that it's the only form of employment I currently have.

Hopefully things will turn out for the better, but only time will tell.

The Dole

As in, I'd like to come off it now, please.

Looks like life - or at least summer - is about to become one big long dole-scrounging operation. I've started a job hunt again. Said jobs are going to have to be a little more menial.

Got yourself a new flat sorted yet?

Nearly...will keep you posted!

Ask me anything