I haven't updated since I got back from the USofA, and since I got my job! *gasp* Okay, well it's not much of a suprise really, considering my terrible track record with updates. So yeah. I went to the USA for 3 weeks in September, and it was just amazing. There aren't words to describe how incredible the trek was. I'm working (slowly) on writing up all our experiences, but some of the highlights included:
- sitting under the stars in the Rocky Mountains in a natural hot spring, shortly after the first snowfall of the season
- watching sunrise over the Grand Canyon
- going to a cowboy camp and learning how to ride a horse, make fry bread, lasoo, two-step and shoot a gun all in one day
- finally getting to San Francisco and sailing around the bay and to Alcatraz
- discovering that Nebraska really IS that boring
I was lucky enough to be travelling with a fantastic group of people, who were as much a part of the holiday as what we were seeing. They really made it go from a good holiday to a great holiday. And overall, there isn't any other way I'd choose to see America for the first time.

For photos, have a look at my collection here.

The other major, life-altering event that has occurred since my last update is that I am now working full time. I mentioned the interview in my last post, and the upshot of that is that I got the job - something I found out the day before I left for America. I am now a professional audio visual technician. I'm working at King's College London, where I've just graduated from, so it is a little strange because I feel I'm straddling that boundary between being a student and being a member of staff. But it's good too, because it's almost like being at uni but without the pressure of essays and exams. The work itself is something I think will get boring before long, but for the moment I'm happy. The main part of the job involves putting out and picking up equipment that has been requested, so it's not very mentally challenging (which I am happy about for now), although I am currently learning how to project movies which is quite exciting. Of course, the best thing about working is that I get a pay cheque every month...

So that's mostly what's going on with me at the moment - working, working and more working. I think it'll be a bit of time before I fully figure out combining work with hobbies and socialising. I've done some work on a couple of shows (the next one is in December) since starting my job, and I've been out a couple of times with friends, but it is difficult sometimes especially when I have to get up the next morning at 6am. At the moment my plan to help solve this involves moving out of home and into somewhere with some friends - trouble is, I have yet to ascertain which friends these will be, and where it is I will live. If it comes to it, I might have to wait until the coming summer when everyone else is looking for places and housemates.

Time for a revamp, I thought...

In celebration of the rather fantastic and long-awaited crowning of England as the best rugby team in the world.

And so the summer draws to a close

My updating is terrible, but yes. It's been a busy summer, but I've had a fantastic time and I hope it's about to get even better - I'm off to America on Sunday. Me and a friend from university are flying to Chicago and then leaving the following morning on a tour acrss the country, from Chicago, through Denver, the Rocky Mountains, the national parks of the south west (including the Grand Canyone), Las Vegas, Yosemite and San Francisco. The tour ends there, but we're staying for an extra few days to see more of San Fran and then travelling down to Los Angeles for a day there before we fly home. I have days when the excitement is overwhelming, other days when I can't get it straight in my mind that this is something I am about to do, and then a few days when I feel just slightly nervous about it all.

Obviously, this is the culmination of my summer which has been spent mostly working in a series of different jobs. I worked for the two days of the London Graduate Recruitment Fair, which was quite an easy way to earn £100 or so. I did some lighting for two dance shows, one at the Greenwood and one for my sister's dance school. The biggest job I undertook was as a student ambassador for the London Talent scheme. For 4 weeks I helped supervise 30 kids who were using the Greenwood as their rehearsal venue before performing at the Old Vic on the last night. During this time I also got to be Acting Theatre Manager on several occassions, which went well apart from the day two children got stuck in our lift... While I was at the theatre, I applied for the position of audio visual technician/theatre technician at King's. Had my first job interview, which was more than weird, and at the end of the day I didn't get the position - although took some consolation from being their second choice out of 10 other applicants. The upshot of this, however, was that I got a phone call saying that another A/V position was available in late September and if I was interested it wouldn't be advertised and I would be interviewed again. Because of my holiday, I am having this interview tomorrow. While I have no burning desire to work in A/V, it would certainly provide an income while I do try and decide what I want to do.

So right now, this is what is dominating my thoughts.

Finally, I am a free agent in the world! Yes, I have shot right through the education system of Great Britain with no pauses for breath, and been spat out the other side and now here I am wondering what to do with the next 60-odd years of my life. However, I am not panicking about that just yet. First I am intent on having a fantastic summer. I have spent the last 3 summers working my arse to the bone to fund my university life, and now it is time for me to enjoy myself before I have to spend the rest of my life working.

Having said that, I am not exactly in the most financially stable position in the world so I'm not disregarding paid work entirely. The difference is that I am taking on a series of small, casual jobs that I actually *want* to do instead of one full-time job that I have no interest in aside from the money. So, for example, last week I worked 3 days at the theatre for a children's dance company and earnt myself £200. Tomorrow and Thursday I will be working at the London Graduate Recruitment Fair doing general upkeep tasks for the organisers, and that should earn me about £100. But the best job I have starts in the middle of July and lasts for 4 weeks - I will be deputising the theatre manager at the Greenwood while a drama and film scheme for children called London Talent happens there. This would normally be great anyway - we all know how much I love working there - but what makes it extra specially fabulous is that I will be paid £275+ per week.

So not only am I doing work I really enjoy and being paid well for it, all this money does actually have a defined use. If you've ever looked at my dreams page, you'll know that I've longed to go on holiday around the USA for many years. Well my friends, the time has finally arrived. On September 7th, along with my friend Sabrina, I will be landing in Chicago and on the following morning we will be joining approximately 10 other people to go on a TrekAmerica tour across the country, finishing in 2 weeks time in San Francisco. However, although the tour ends there, me and Sabrina are staying for 4 extra days to spend more time looking around San Francisco and the travelling down to Los Angeles. There are few, if indeed any, ways to express my excitement about this trip.

All in all, I think I will be very happy for the next 3 months. After then, we shall see...

That damn question.
"So...what are you going to do after you graduate?". It takes different forms, sometimes it's 'What are you going to do with your life?', or occassionally, just 'What are you going to do?'. And all I have in reply is 'I don't know'. Sadly, that has no variation. I do not know at all. I am about to graduate with a degree in geography, and all I know is that I never want to write another essay again, and I definitely don't want to have anything much to do with geography. I'm very good at that - saying what I don't want to do. I just can't tell you what I do want to do.

For a long time I have toyed with the idea of being a professional techie in theatre. Let's face it - it's been a huge part of my life, and more important to me than my actual degree these past three years. I feel like I know the field, as a job area. I know where to look for jobs, I know what courses are good to take, and I have the contacts to help me get work. But the more I think about it, the more I consider that doing it professionally would kill the buzz I get. And even if it didn't, in West End theatre, I doubt very much that everyone involved is as friendly and accommodating as the people I have loved spending the last 3 years with are. Because an amateur production is much less pressured, and no-one is paid so everyone appreciates everyone else a little more. And if you take away those two things: the buzz and the friends, then the two things I love most about being in theatre are gone.

Having said all that, no, I won't be making theatre my career (because it's also shockingly paid, and hey, money's damn important). But I know the most about that job sector, and for the moment I am happy to get by on what I can from there. It's all about taking one day at a time. Because when you don't know what to do with yourself, there's not a lot else you can do.

So forgive me for the distinct lack of updates here. Everything goes into my LJ on an almost-daily basis, so if you want that sort of speed then you're better off reading that. Anyway, it's been a ridiculously busy month with coursework scattered all over the place and three shows one after the other. The coursework, for the most part, went well enough I think. I don't get the marks until...well, actually, I'll probably never get those marks back individually. I feel that two out of the four I did a relatively good job on, and two weren't such a great job.

The shows this last month have been good as well. The first one was 'Into The Woods' which is a fantastic show and I think we did a pretty good job with it overall. My lighting was iffy but finally came right for the last performace (isn't it always the way?!). As I type I'm listening to songs from this show! Anyway, the show after that was the infamous dance show which was a bit of a nightmare but eventually quite fun. The crew renamed it: Dance Show 2003 - The Year of the Big Trousers. Before that it had been named The Great Dance Show Crew Disaster because we had a serious problem with finding people to help out, but as usual it all worked out okay in the end. Finally, after the dance show, we did The Crucible which was really good fun although not in terms of the actual show, just in terms of the fun the crew had in general. I convinced the directors to use the orchestra pit, so it was raised dramatically at one point to reveal prisoners inside.

On the last night of The Crucible, me and Tim were presented with two Exceptional Service awards from the student's union. It was fantastic although not so much at the time because there was the humiliation of Toby doing a big speech about us and then making us go onto stage.

Anyway, a proper entry about the status of my life now I have virtually finished in education is due very soon.

War on Iraq

Recently I have found myself more and more opinionated on this issue. Probably because it seems to be building more and more into a reality. And along with a significant proportion of Britain, if not the world, I am disgusted. There are so many things wrong with the notion. Not only the most-cited reasons such as the loss of innocent life, or that moremoney is being spent on war than the public services, but the thing that really bothers meis that war is about to be used as a political tool for the gain of Tony Blair and George Bush.

The supposed 'crisis' involving Iraq and its hidden weapons conveniently began right around the end of August, as the anniversary of 9/11 loomed on the horizon and everyone started to recall that the War on Terrorism hadn't actually resulted in anything more than the overthrowing of what we consider to be a cruel regime in Afghanistan. As anyone who has seen the film 'Wag The Dog' knows, the best way to divert public attention from your own political failings is to have a war, and a war you can win. Sadly, most of the public bought the diversion. But now it seems to have escalated into a bigger 'crisis', as *gasp, shock, horror* Saddam is hiding weapons of mass destruction. Well, knock me down with a feather. If you give the man weeks to decide whether to let weapons inspectors in, then of course he is going to spend those weeks hiding the weapons. Just how stupid are our democratically elected leaders??? The calls to disarm him smack of hypocrisy, as as far as I can see, America and Britain have no god-given right to demand anything of other countries when we ourselves have a bigger arsenal than can possibly be imagined.

How would Bush feel, I wonder, if Iraq demanded that he re-sign the Kyoto Agreement because he is poisoning the world?

I've updated my photos site, and the dvd and theatre pages.

I'm still slogging away working on The Secret Garden in town. I am having good days and bad days, in the sense that one day I will be happy that I'm doing it, and the next I will be wishing to never see another lamp again. Overall it is without a doubt an experience that's very valuable. Tomorrow the new issue of Time Out is on the shelves, and hopefully a review of the show should be in it. Judgement day. If I can be bothered, I might go out and buy a copy tomorrow, but considering it is meant to be minus 9 degrees tomorrow with the wind chill, I'm not too sure.