You can take the road, it takes you to the stars..

As I don’t have internet at home at the moment (I’m silly and used up all my data, not my fault though..) it’s the perfect time to catch up on books.

I’ve just finished “On the road” by Jack Kerouac. I don’t quite get how that book was life changing and inspiring at the time of publishing (but I can never imagine how things that look normal for us now, were once a novelty). What I know though is that it filled me with the desire to just go and travel… Anyone wants to be my friend (preferably someone with a driving licence), and just have a road trip with me?
Obviously the traveling it was easier during the 40s and 50s than it’s now. I wouldn’t feel secure without a considerable amount of money with me, the hostel prizes aren’t measured in cents anymore, sadly. Same with food.. Oh well.  I want to go somewhere, just go, just leave, without looking back. I’ve grown afraid of being stuck in one place – having too many responsibilities, chains that keep you from leaving. I thought that it was an Aberystwyth thing, because it is a small town at the end of the line, and you can’t easily go anywhere from there. I thought everything would change when I’ve moved to Bristol because it’s in the middle of everything – you can easily take the train to anywhere. But it doesn’t seem like I’m going anywhere anytime soon. So really, any place can be the end of the line, and YOU are the one who needs to build up the courage, and just GO.
But then, I feel the restricting hand of finance, although it shouldn’t be defining my possibilities that much. If you want something, you can work something out, usually. So really, there’s nothing stopping me from traveling, nothing but myself. We keep making up excuses, and we hold on to them like they’re a religion of some kind. Takes time though to let go.

 

Another book I read was a CSI book I bought from a charity shop before a train journey. Just wanted to mention it because it’s horrid. Like.. Really horrible. The storyline is alright, similar to the TV-shows – quite predictable, but easy to follow, and therefore enjoyable. But the writing is so horrible. I’ve marked so many pages in that book because they have lines that are remarkably silly. It kept me entertained, I kept laughing at the silliness. I don’t have the book with me otherwise I’d share some of the brilliance!
I think the author tried to create the atmosphere of the show but tried a bit too hard.
It was a quick and easy read. And in the end I kind of enjoyed the book as a whole but the writing. So bad it becomes brilliant!

So call me maybe?

My favourite way to wake up – the phone is ringing.

I’m joking, I actually hate it. I hate phone calls in general. It’s the quickest way to wake me up though. I just bounce up. Look at my phone, take a few deeps breaths (hoping that you know.. I won’t sound like I’m from behind the grave or something.), and answer. It works better if I don’t know the number. Because when I do – I’m just probably going to sleep through it, sorry.

Anyways – that was a call from Pret, asking me to come to an experience day! And if I’m successful then – I’ll be offered a part-time job! THIS IS EXCITING. Can you tell how excited I am?! YES. COOL, I KNOW.

Khm, I am actually quite alright already, it’s been like half an hour, so I’ve calmed down a bit.

Enough time to check my emails and everything (people and spam-stuff seem to love me today..), aand… I had an email from KrispyKreme saying that they want me to go for a trial day. And thankfully they don’t even clash or anything!

Two trial days, and a pair of jeans that needs to be bought very soon. Like.. today. Oh dear. I don’t like shopping. At all. Specially for myself.

And at this time next week, I’ll be writing how the work times clash, and I can’t choose.

Lost in the woods

I had an adventure today!

I mean – I went to search for a retail park in a part of Bristol I’d never been before. (I do things like that A LOT).

I looked at Google Maps, and thought “Well, that doesn’t seem that far away, and it’s not complicated or anything, Just go down the road there, then left until the ring road, and then left again, until you reach retail park – GREAT! I’ll walk!”

It’s not that it was hard to get there or anything, the journey was pretty much as I described (so no adventure there, sorry) but I had anticipated the length of the journey. It took me nearly 2 hours to get there!

Most of the time I was walking next to a highway, in semi-darkness, because who needs lights on footpaths?! The only light came from the passing cyclers (scared me to death every time they went past). Meanwhile the joy of the 5th of November started, and I felt as if I was walking through a desolated land with warfare noises in the distance (See, I told you I’d get to the adventure bit).

To make it even worse, when I finally reached some sort of civilization (other than the highway and some bushes), I realized that the map had lied! On the map it seemed that the retail park was straight next to the highway – nope, nope it wasn’t. I had to find my way in a maze of little streets and hope that my nose is right, and keeps me towards the right directions (it was right, my nose never lies, thank god).

At least I got what I went there for, which is good, I would’ve been VERY upset otherwise. Plus I went to an ASDA the first time in my life! (Oh what an exciting life I have…) Did a bit of food shopping, and THEN…Then I had to figure out how to get back home – there was no way I would walk that distance again. I searched for a bus stop for ages. I can’t look these things up either because the webpage for  Bristol bus services  gives only very vague description of the bus stops… I found a bus stop, eventually. Had to wait for a bus for 40 minutes because obviously the buses from that nowhere land are hourly. Drove through more places I’d never been to, and thankfully arrived in the city centre! Yay! And there’s nothing interesting in the journey after that.

 

The sad thing  is that when I got home, my Ben&Jerry’s was completely melted.

Let’s start at the very beginning..

For some reason or another, I’ve decided to start yet another blog. I guess in my case – You can never have too many blogs!

I’ve now happily moved to Bristol after graduating with a BA in Scenography and Theatre Design from Aberystwyth University. And now I’m just trying to start a responsible adult life. Which is HARD, by the way. Life of a graduate is horrid, just saying. You don’t have any of the boons of being a student (like loans and discounts and living space (‘student only’) and part-time jobs) but they don’t accept you as full member of the society either (you’re not a professional ? Well to bad, we make it almost impossible for you to find an accommodation).

I’m slowly getting there though. I have a place to live and everything! Hooray! I’m living as a Guardian in an unused Retirement Home. That means that the building is probably demolished in the next year or so, but until then, Guardians rent rooms in this property (or any other property that’s facing the same destiny), and we make sure that the building doesn’t get vandalized and it’s kept nice and proper (you know, since it’s a PROPERty.) (I’m awful, sorry)

At the moment my life revolves around finding a job. I’ve surely filled in like a gazillion online applications (they don’t like the old ‘I’ll just bring you my CV’ story anymore). And so far, I’ve had 3 interviews. And by the end of the week, I hopefully have some sort of job. Fingers crossed!

The main reason I’m in Bristol though is because of THEATRE. Yes, I actually want to do something with my degree. It started off pretty well – before I actually moved into Bristol I got a job as an assistant lighting designer – which is great! I mean… that’s exactly what I want to do with my life. It was for a play in Alma Tavern, which is a tiny-tiny theatre in Clifton.  I had two days full of rigging, and going up and down ladders, and plotting, and choosing gels, and alll the other exciting stuff you get to do! It got even better as I was asked to stay to help operate the light (you see, they just had one operator, but the show had loads of precise sound and lighting cues that happened simultaneously, and it would’ve been hell operating them alone). The only downside was, it wasn’t a paid job. But hey – it’s something for my CV, right?!

The lovely ladies who owned the theatre company paid my a tiny bit in the end, and gave me a phone number for another similar production taking place in November. That would have been a paid job, though paid just a tiny bit, and although my heart was bleeding, I decided not to call the other company, just to get a ‘proper’ job. It would have been alright probably, but I figured it’s better to be fully flexible than to go on a job interview and say “can’t do these, and these, and these days and hours..”. The probability of getting something is much higher when you can do ALL the hours. And then later, I just hope that it wasn’t beginners luck, and I get to do more and more theatre stuff, until it can become my main income.

This post turned out to be something completely different than I intended to. That’ll probably happen a lot.