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As of last Monday I am officially a student at Thames Valley University. Every Monday I leave work at 1pm and attend classes from 2.30pm to 9pm. I then struggle home (tubes and buses are few and far between after 9pm) arriving at around 10.30pm. Consequently, I've been knackered all week. On Tuesday morning I literally thought I was going to fall asleep at my desk. I'm studying for a Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resources Managment. In two years time when I've (hopefully) passed the course I will be able to add PGDipHRM to the BA after my name. Not that I've ever put the BA after my name but you know what I mean. If I'm really committed I can opt to top up to an MA. Scary stuff.
Sadly, the worrying has started to creep in already. When I left my job in Plymouth nearly a year ago (doesn't time fly) I'd realised that I'd got caught up in my own hype and ended up in a job I didn't really want. I applied for my present job because it was different to what I was doing before and I wanted to see whether I liked the HR field. It didn't pay anywhere near as much as I was getting in Plymouth but that didn't matter as I knew I was moving back home and the communte is cheap. I didn't expect it to lead to a high flying HR career. I just wanted to move away from management and the specialised field I had been working in and concentrate on general admin for a while. My post of 'Personnel Administrator' was one of three posts in Personnel advertised on the same composite advert. One of the other posts was filled but they couldn't find anyone for the third so they decided to offer two 'Personnel Administrator' posts with a training allowance and the possibility of taking on more responsibility (and being paid more) in the future. Now I'm actually doing the professional qualification and I'm scared. I'm not sure that this is the career I want either. The initial stage of the course is business studies and I'm finding it all very dry. I'm just not at ease with being part of the corporate world. At the moment I'm justifying my participation by saying that whatever I do in the future, knowing about Personnel will be useful. I think the only thing to do is see how I get on over the next few weeks.
In other news, I went to my friend's 'Godfather' theme party the other weekend. It was a lot of fun. Almost everyone made an effort with the fancy dress and I didn't look hugely out of place. My gloves (£5 bargain in John Lewis) were a huge hit. Everyone wanted to try them on after a few drinks! Unfortunately, due to the bus ride from hell we arrived an hour and a half late. It was one incident after another. Firstly, the bus took ages to come. Then when it did turn up it was really crowded and it took ages for people to get on and off at every stop. It was 9pm and there were two people with buggies, for heavens sake, where were they going with kids at that time of night! Then I realised that I'd forgotten my mini A to Z which had the bit of paper with my friends address on it tucked inside. I had to phone her and ask her where to get off of the bus. Then we missed the stop because another bus was parked in front of it and we couldn't see the name. The next stop was miles away and it was a fifteen minute walk (in not very sensible shoes) back to the place we wanted to get to. Finally, I couldn't remember the door number so we had to phone another friend who wasn't going to the party to ask her. By the time we actually entered the party at 9.30pm most people were hammered and will never remember that we were ever there! I've got a few photos but I can't post them as my friends don't want their piccies on the net! They all think writing an online journal is a bit weird for some reason.
It's sooo long since I've written in my journal. I'm now the proud owner of Series 5 of Press Gang on DVD along with a DVD of Tube Tales. I agree with what people have said on the Press Gang mailing list. Series 5 is probably the weakest. There's no doubt that 'A Quarter to Midnight' and 'There are Crocodiles' are masterpieces but I'm not sure about the rest of the series. The very final scene is amazing. Stephen Moffat is the king of the cliffhanger. He just couldn't bring himself to give Spike and Lynda a truly happy ending. The odd thing about series 5 is that the newsroom atmosphere isn't as effective as it was in previous series. I think there are fewer extras (maybe there were funding problems) and the newsroom doesn't seem as hectic and bustling. It was also a great shame that Lee Ross was unavaliable to reprise the role of Kenny for the final series. It's not really possible to take 'Friendly Fire' seriously without him as it flashes back to the setting up of the paper and Kenny would have been there every step of the way. I suppose you have to take into account that this series was shown five years after the first episode so many viewers wouldn't have remembered the initial series. It probably worked OK for viewers new to the series. One of the stand out features of Press Gang is that Stephen Moffat paid close attention to continuity in a way that many TV programmes often don't. 'Friendly Fire' demonstrates this by filling in extra elements of the story from earlier series. Additionally, Kenny, who emigrated to Australia (due to actor unavalibility!) beween series 3 & 4, is mentioned in three episodes of series 5 and in several episodes of series 4. Spike even mentions his series 3 girlfriend Zoe during 'A Quarter to Midnight'. It's little details like that which make the series worth watching.
Tube Tales is a series of short films made by Sky TV. Time Out asked readers to write in with ideas for short films about the London Underground and a few were picked and filmed. Dexter Fletcher starts in the first segment (it was filmed in 1999 and he is looking pretty lovely) alongside his 'Lock, Stock' co star Jason Flemying and Kelly MacDonald whilst Lee Ross puts in a very good performance as a drunken lout in the final segment. The collection of films is interesting. I'd recommend them as somthing a bit different to a normal movie. This is the first step in the 'Press Gang' collection. The next step is to encourage one of the budget DVD releasing companies to release Julia Sawalha's big movie 'Buddy's Song' (which also features Lee Ross and of course the legendary Chesney Hawkes!) and 'The Rachel Papers' which stars Dexter Fletcher and was filmed between series 1 & 2 of Press Gang.
The Tribe spin off 'A New Hope' starts on Channel 5 on Sunday. I'll probably watch out of morbid curiosity but I'll almost certainly wish that I didn't bother.
Sadly, the worrying has started to creep in already. When I left my job in Plymouth nearly a year ago (doesn't time fly) I'd realised that I'd got caught up in my own hype and ended up in a job I didn't really want. I applied for my present job because it was different to what I was doing before and I wanted to see whether I liked the HR field. It didn't pay anywhere near as much as I was getting in Plymouth but that didn't matter as I knew I was moving back home and the communte is cheap. I didn't expect it to lead to a high flying HR career. I just wanted to move away from management and the specialised field I had been working in and concentrate on general admin for a while. My post of 'Personnel Administrator' was one of three posts in Personnel advertised on the same composite advert. One of the other posts was filled but they couldn't find anyone for the third so they decided to offer two 'Personnel Administrator' posts with a training allowance and the possibility of taking on more responsibility (and being paid more) in the future. Now I'm actually doing the professional qualification and I'm scared. I'm not sure that this is the career I want either. The initial stage of the course is business studies and I'm finding it all very dry. I'm just not at ease with being part of the corporate world. At the moment I'm justifying my participation by saying that whatever I do in the future, knowing about Personnel will be useful. I think the only thing to do is see how I get on over the next few weeks.
In other news, I went to my friend's 'Godfather' theme party the other weekend. It was a lot of fun. Almost everyone made an effort with the fancy dress and I didn't look hugely out of place. My gloves (£5 bargain in John Lewis) were a huge hit. Everyone wanted to try them on after a few drinks! Unfortunately, due to the bus ride from hell we arrived an hour and a half late. It was one incident after another. Firstly, the bus took ages to come. Then when it did turn up it was really crowded and it took ages for people to get on and off at every stop. It was 9pm and there were two people with buggies, for heavens sake, where were they going with kids at that time of night! Then I realised that I'd forgotten my mini A to Z which had the bit of paper with my friends address on it tucked inside. I had to phone her and ask her where to get off of the bus. Then we missed the stop because another bus was parked in front of it and we couldn't see the name. The next stop was miles away and it was a fifteen minute walk (in not very sensible shoes) back to the place we wanted to get to. Finally, I couldn't remember the door number so we had to phone another friend who wasn't going to the party to ask her. By the time we actually entered the party at 9.30pm most people were hammered and will never remember that we were ever there! I've got a few photos but I can't post them as my friends don't want their piccies on the net! They all think writing an online journal is a bit weird for some reason.
It's sooo long since I've written in my journal. I'm now the proud owner of Series 5 of Press Gang on DVD along with a DVD of Tube Tales. I agree with what people have said on the Press Gang mailing list. Series 5 is probably the weakest. There's no doubt that 'A Quarter to Midnight' and 'There are Crocodiles' are masterpieces but I'm not sure about the rest of the series. The very final scene is amazing. Stephen Moffat is the king of the cliffhanger. He just couldn't bring himself to give Spike and Lynda a truly happy ending. The odd thing about series 5 is that the newsroom atmosphere isn't as effective as it was in previous series. I think there are fewer extras (maybe there were funding problems) and the newsroom doesn't seem as hectic and bustling. It was also a great shame that Lee Ross was unavaliable to reprise the role of Kenny for the final series. It's not really possible to take 'Friendly Fire' seriously without him as it flashes back to the setting up of the paper and Kenny would have been there every step of the way. I suppose you have to take into account that this series was shown five years after the first episode so many viewers wouldn't have remembered the initial series. It probably worked OK for viewers new to the series. One of the stand out features of Press Gang is that Stephen Moffat paid close attention to continuity in a way that many TV programmes often don't. 'Friendly Fire' demonstrates this by filling in extra elements of the story from earlier series. Additionally, Kenny, who emigrated to Australia (due to actor unavalibility!) beween series 3 & 4, is mentioned in three episodes of series 5 and in several episodes of series 4. Spike even mentions his series 3 girlfriend Zoe during 'A Quarter to Midnight'. It's little details like that which make the series worth watching.
Tube Tales is a series of short films made by Sky TV. Time Out asked readers to write in with ideas for short films about the London Underground and a few were picked and filmed. Dexter Fletcher starts in the first segment (it was filmed in 1999 and he is looking pretty lovely) alongside his 'Lock, Stock' co star Jason Flemying and Kelly MacDonald whilst Lee Ross puts in a very good performance as a drunken lout in the final segment. The collection of films is interesting. I'd recommend them as somthing a bit different to a normal movie. This is the first step in the 'Press Gang' collection. The next step is to encourage one of the budget DVD releasing companies to release Julia Sawalha's big movie 'Buddy's Song' (which also features Lee Ross and of course the legendary Chesney Hawkes!) and 'The Rachel Papers' which stars Dexter Fletcher and was filmed between series 1 & 2 of Press Gang.
The Tribe spin off 'A New Hope' starts on Channel 5 on Sunday. I'll probably watch out of morbid curiosity but I'll almost certainly wish that I didn't bother.
