Weighing up a post grad

So yeah...as I've probably made pretty clear in a lot of posts on this thing, job hunting in this climate is proving particularly fruitless.

I've spent the last two years in that Paid Job, with no permanent contract, and even though there is a massive big restructure going on that's involving numerous people being demoted / promoted / taking severance pay / retiring and so forth, I've still had no hint from the management of the possibility of a permanent contract with them. Then again, it's been two years. They probably think I AM permanently employed with them. I was assured by the team leader who trained me up when I was first taken on that it was unlikely I'd ever get laid off even though I was only meant to have been there for the summer. He said he'd been employed on a temporary six month contract 12 years ago (at that point) and was now in a reasonably senior position. Seemingly that's how they do things. They didn't even do that with me. I've signed nothing with them, I'm merely on the roster and not entitled to a lot of things such as maternity pay or the same holiday entitlement as every other person there.

Needless to say, I'm getting sick of it. It would be nice to have a consistent wage, and indeed to be doing a job that's intellectually stimulating and where I'm being treated well by the management instead of messed about the whole time. It would also be nice not to dread going in for a shift every day, and to not have the constant feeling of opening myself up to so-called 'performance issues' all the time (I'm not even kidding, you can get disciplined for farting in that place if you'll pardon the expression), and finally to not get the feeling that I should have stayed at home. I'd always rather make less money to do a job I like instead of more money to do a job I hate (although if 'less money' is still enough to get by that helps too). Sounds mad, but only turning up to work for the sake of the money takes a toll on one's emotional wellbeing after a while. Or maybe I just need thicker skin.

Anyway, another thing I've been looking into lately is the option of post graduate study. But in some ways, trying to get into that is proving even worse.

See, the first hurdle I tend to fall at is that a lot of courses will not admit you with anything less than a 2:1, and I got a 2:2. Despite the huge misgivings I had about this mark when I first got it (due to apathy brought on by poor class choices), this is actually not a bad mark. In addition to my 2:2 I also do have a lot of practical experience, firstly from volunteering with the uni radio station and secondly from all the Cargo stuff. I've still had interest for interviews and whatnot, and I do hope this will eventually lead to work within a chosen sector (although I would like to avoid a move to London if possible - the rent is extortionate). However, for academic purposes very few consider it to be good enough.

Even then, the only possible subject I'd be up for is creative writing. Again, more problems:

1. The writing thing has been severely on the back burner for months now. I've had hardly any new, good ideas, and what I have had just ended up getting stymied by severe brain blockage. At one point I was even planning a sitcom about my work place (because believe me, if I repeated half the stories I bring in from work on here it would sound like a poor man's Fawlty Towers or similar), if only to keep my brain stimulated. But I need to rattle together a portfolio, and indeed a thesis, and to prove to myself that I can keep up a piece of writing and finish it. Thus I can capably complete a Masters.

2. But wait, I hear you cry. Wasn't your undergrad degree in creative writing? And if so, why do you want to go back for more of the same? Well, it's like this: note how 'creative writing' is written in lower case. Aye, it was tacked on as an afterthought to the whole course. It ended up being such a cop-out, if we hadn't had to focus on the 'journalism' (note the small 'j') on that course we'd have had time to focus on more varied types of writing. But no, didn't happen. And I feel if I did a post grad I'd have more of a chance to hone my skills.

3. What to do with it afterwards? Would it really be any more useful than the degree I have now?

I've thought also about doing linguistics, but again, not much you can do with it, and plus, there's the whole entry requirement problem for that too.

Oh well. I will read up on more of it tomorrow and apply then. Anything to get out of that job.

Trips Home Are Expensive

I get paid tomorrow and already my wages are more or less being spent.

After the usual expenses - rent, council tax and bills - there's the whole issue of food and getting to / from place to place (usually by train as that's the cheapest way). I'm only casually employed so I never have a set wage to make a proper monthly budget with.

This month I'm especially feeling the pinch because I'm due to head home for a friend's wedding. It's not that I don't want to go to said wedding, I very much do. But going back to Shetland is so expensive.

My usual means of travelling home is by getting a train (or, less likely, a bus - I hate them though, plus I have a railcard anyway) up to Aberdeen, which takes about 2.5 / 3 hours, followed by a 12-hour ferry from Aberdeen to Lerwick.

The ferry fares vary depending on the time of year, and are at their highest at what's considered to be 'peak' time. Obviously July - when I intend to travel home - falls under this category, because when I tried to get a rough idea of prices for booking to go home I was quoted a return fare of £120 to get a bed in a cabin. To go without said cabin is £70 cheaper. On top of this shall be a train fare, which will probably cost about £15 both ways.

Travelling by plane is dearer. I was once quoted £125 for a single flight up to Sumburgh from Glasgow. In both instances this was with islander discount applied.

I wish I knew how they get away with such daylight robbery. Oh well, slumming it home I guess. Wish me luck!

Some Upcoming Stuff

Cargo and Comma Press are hosting a short story reading on National Short Story day (June 20th), also the shortest night of the year. It will start at 7pm and is being held at Mono on King's Court. Full details are here. Valve Journal are publishing their second volume later this year, and will be holding an event with tasters of what will be published in it called 'Come Dine with Valve'. Details are here.

Last dance with Mary Jane, one more time to kill the pain...

So I've just had the best week I've had in a long, long time, and it's done so much for my morale that I'm gutted it has to end.

I've mentioned more than once that we'd got tickets to go and see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at the Dublin O2, after deciding against going to the Isle of Wight festival. So, earlier this year I parted with £77 of my family bond (well, a little over that if you count having to fork over for passport photos - which I had to get done twice because the first set were awful even as far as passport photos go) to finally renew my passport, and was granted a week's paid holiday by my Paid Job.

I went to see them with my dad, brother and sister, and a couple of my dad's bandmates were there too (although they had seating tickets - which I don't envy them for in the slightest, given how close we ended up standing to the stage). After a day spent hanging out with dad, sis and dad's partner's daughter in Glasgow doing various things, we made our way to Prestwick and got a Ryanair flight to Dublin - a surprisingly hassle free experience given the poor things I've heard about them from various people. We then met in with the brother (who had flown over from Edinburgh) and, after a bus to the O2 to try unsuccessfully to collect our tickets in advance (box office didn't open until the doors did), we got the Luas back to where our apartment was.

Since we'd got an early morning flight, and we were all soaked from walking from the Luas station, sis and I went back to bed for a couple of hours. When we got up and dressed again, we went for a pub dinner before getting the Luas back to the Point Village to go to the gig. Again, we had to stand outside queueing for ages, in the rain. This makes me glad I downloaded the Kindle software back to my phone when I loaned my actual device to my mam, as it was something to keep me occupied briefly.

But eventually, the doors opened and we went in, picked up the tickets and made our way into the venue.

The venue, first of all, is stunning. Formerly known as the Point Theatre before O2 took it over, it holds a capacity of 14,500 both seated and standing (9,500 if all seating). We ended up near the front, and I still can't believe how close to the stage we ended up being.

Petty was supported on the European leg of the tour by a guy called Jonathan Wilson - who I thought could have been good, but for the obvious sound problems with his set. After he was done I made a mental note to dig him up on Spotify to see if I genuinely liked what I heard.

And then Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers took to the stage, and we all went nuts. How exciting to be standing only a few feet away from a guy who's been a genuine musical hero since I was really young. The set list was great, I genuinely cannot fault a single song choice. Last time I had a lump in my throat from a rock show was Paul McCartney nearly two years ago, it was incredible. (More details can be found here.)

The day after, still reeling from how amazing the gig was, my brother headed back to Edinburgh and my dad, sister and I spent the day in Dublin before flying back to Prestwick. We spent most of it wandering around, and in between we visited the Guinness factory. The admission included free Guinness. It genuinely tastes better in Ireland.

I would most definitely go back to Dublin again, but I'd need to save up - it was so expensive. But yeah - it was definitely worth going there for Tom Petty. I hope he doesn't leave it 20 years to tour Europe again, although I'd happily go to America to see him.

On another note, I hope this is the beginning of me blogging more frequently in future. 

Inertia

Update rate this year is going at the very slow pace of once a month. That's pretty bad really.

Nothing much to say though, just been applying for more work and still not getting anywhere.

Oh, and I'm going to see Tom Petty next week. I think I forgot to mention that I renewed my passport at last. Expensive, yes (I mean really - £77?! I know it's for ten years, but that still seems steep), but at least I don't have to think about it again any time soon - well, unless I get married in that time, but given the current state of my love life (by which I mean non existent) I don't think I have much to worry about on that front. Plus, it's one of those shiny new green-paged ones, and the photo on this one is much, much nicer than the one of me on my old one, from when I was 14 and in the early stages of what I like to call my 'ugly and angry' phase. Come to think of it, I wonder if that phase ever came to an end?

I will add more updates as I can think of them.