It's been too long...

[alixandrea]

It was, in fact, my journal's 5th birthday yesterday. My first entry was, predictably, about 9/11.
http://alixandrea.livejournal.com/2001/09/14/

It took me a while to get over this and after a few false starts wallowing in my fear and misery about the state of the world, I re-started my journal properly in December of the same year:
http://alixandrea.livejournal.com/2001/12/04/
The entry is about the 'Punk Weekend' Erik and I had early in our budding relationship. It's quite sweet to re-read, although it appears nothing much has changed at Slimes, "...the sound man at Slimes needs to be shot at point blank range (IMNSHO of course...)" ;-P

It's very much the longest diary I've ever kept, although more recently I've been neglecting it again. Things have been a bit depressing recently y'see and I just haven't felt like it.

Home is fine - the boat is in the best condition yet *touches wood* although it predictably needa clean and we still need to get the new flue and floors in before the winter. Erik is suffering another mystery illness but will probably be fine in the end - he usually is. He's happy apart from this, enjoying his job for the first time in many years & being quite creative on and off.

I've got a posse of musicians hovering around but haven't yet been able to get them all in the same place at the same time. It's a bit of a pain, every time I think we've got a date set, someone pulls out or I can't get hold of one of them... I'm sure we'll work it out in the end.

We've set a date for leaving the UK if nothing does happen musically. We'll be going somewhere in Europe (probably a Germanic/Low Countries type place) at the end of next year. Amsterdam is looking the most promising (we can continue boat living) so we're trying to find somewhere we can learn Dutch together.

I was an extra (or 'supporting artist' as they seem to like calling us) in the filming of an episode of 'Midsomer Murders' for two days last week. I got to 'pretend to' be a hippy for two days, staying in Jolene in a field, sunbathing and occasionally getting up to do a scene a good few times, before being told I wasn't needed for a while and being allowed to chill out some more. It was such hard work! ;-P At £80 a day, plus meals and unlimited tea I think I could get used to that sort of employment... I met some lovely people, including a musician I might be doing some work with, and the casting agent is keeping me on her books so hopefully I'll get a chance to try it again. Keep an eye out for me in Series 10, Episode 4 - 'The Axeman Cometh'. I've got no idea when it's going to be screened but it probably won't be until Spring. Hopefully I'll be able to watch it somehow, being TV-less...

My Mum's finished her book at last and it's great! I've been given free reign to edit a copy of it too, which I'm looking forward to. She's still not got an agent for it yet but she's had loads of interest so it's only a matter of time. I'm kinda toying with the idea of doing some more writing myself but I doubt I'll get around to it. I can write great beginnings and ends, but I'm crap at middles...

Here's the main thing though, the reason I've been hectic and down. My contract is ending on September 29th. I've had loads of ups and downs in this job, I've had to sit next to the most irritating cow-orker in existance for a good portion of the time I've been here and it hasn't all been roses. But I can honestly say that this job has taught me a hell of a lot and I will very much miss it. The chance to be paid to do something I actually believe in, the chance to actually be part of something that makes a difference to the environment, even if it's not perfect, even if I've spent a good proportion of my time tearing my hair out at incompetent colleagues, ministers, schemes and computer systems. I'm still gutted that it's over so soon. I knew it had to come to an end at some point but of course it never really hits you that it could all end until you get that letter thanking you for your time and effort and apologising for the situation. The RDS is merging with two other agencies and there are barely enough positions for the permanent staff, let alone us casuals.

It has left me with a resolve though. I'm not going to go back to doing jobs I hate just to pay the bills. I've got enough experience now to be able to apply for the things I want to do. If necessary I'll temp until I get offered the perfect position. I've got a pretty good CV now (we had a talk from a couple of guys from Adecco about jobhunting etc. and they offered us loads of really helpful advice) and I know the sort of thing I'm aiming for. Of course, ideally my work will be performance-based, but if not, there's plenty of admin-type jobs I can do in the performance industries and there's also a hell of a lot of charities and public services out there that I can apply to. I've been applying for jobs with councils, TV companies, theatre companies and charities, as well as more performance-related stuff.

If anyone sees anything they think I might be interested in or able to do, please forward it to me. I'm not afraid to commute for the right job - as long as I'm paid enough to be able to afford the train fare. I don't mind contracting again either - after all, I don't know if I'll even be in the country this time next year.