Well I’m no longer young [Daniel]

*** This was meant to go up around my Birthday…… the end of last month, but somehow I forgot and it has ended up here, halfway through September***

Yahp, I’m no longer within the period of my life that has been defined as “teen” anymore. Now I’m one big responsible adult…. apparently. I’m not even sure what that’s (responsible adult is) supposed to be anymore, as all my major goals have shifted now into the “meh” realm of things. Or rather don’t seem to be as pressing. As the years increase so does my apathy? I’m not sure I don’t think so.. It’s just I’m really unsure about what I want (the stereotypical reason for starting an Arts course), write a book, a decent job, a nice home life, saxophone and radio to keep me busy…..

Sigh/shrug/snooze* It doesn’t seem to press too much on me, the day before my birthday I was too busy worrying about what I’d achieved instead of looking forward to the future. So now, probably with the progress of the week and an increase in sleep, I’ve managed to de-stress myself into a state of acceptance. That could probably be attributed to the whole idea of anxiety before any “big event,” you feel it intensely with a sense of sickness that reaches into your bowels, making you feel as if at any moment all your insides will come out…. and then you do whatever it is that get’s you all wound up and its fine. Nothing’s the matter; life goes on, Ob-la-di Ob-la-dah, etc. Life feels like that now, that exalted release after a moment dreaded, everything feels pretty sweet.

*Herein lies the post from the start of the month*

Okay so that was then, with some slight (very late) editing, however here I am ready to let forth the good news of:

Employment!

Radio Volunteering!

And! The might matter of Uni (which you may or may not be interested in considering this is a university website).

Employment is great, not only did I get presents for my birthday, but also! Three tutoring jobs! Which was what I wanted for my birthday (well any job but getting what you want on your birthday, no matter if it isn’t a present, is pretty swell).

Anyways that worked out ridiculously well, and I mean ridiculously well, I got fed, tea and respect all within my first couple of hours of work (which is more than what I can say for some other jobs). And to top it all off I really enjoy it, there’s nothing more satisfying than that moment of “Eureka,” for the student you’re tutoring, no matter what year level. It’s really satisfying. That being said, if one of them decides to cancel my money for the week is *                * (gone, vamoose, poof), which is well within their rights, but for poor university student me it is a very sad moment. This has led me to discover, or rather get off my arse once more, to look for yet more work.

My logic for this is rather simple; tutoring is unreliable work that, whilst fun, may not pay all the potential semi-imaginary bills (or money grabbing little sisters).  Plus, if you think ahead about the school holidays the allure of tutoring loses some of its shininess; not many children want to do school work on the holidays (perhaps like some certain uni students). In anycase, no rest for the destitute Art’s student.

Now what was next on my cleverly implemented signposting? Radio work/volunteering… hmmm.

Well quite simply, I cannot get over how incredibly fun this volunteering is, you get to go on the radio! (With a planned show of course and a certain degree of professionalism). Accompanying this cool, yet oft repeated fact, is another startling revelation: I met with Kyle from the Regurgiators (in the flesh yes). We had a genuinely cool/nice/freakishly awesome (I kept thinking this as we talked) conversation about Japan, music, doing what you want verses what you love, heaps of stuff, until he had to go on air for his interview (as I had already finished with my news reports). In short volunteering (especially on radio stations) comes with perks, plus I can say that I frequent the air waves on a resume (not that I’ve had too many job interviews where this has come up).
So yah, volunteering, or more specifically radio volunteering opens up opportunities that you would never ordinarily have, and allows you to meet up with some really nice people. Now if only I had enough time to volunteer for ACMI, Melbourne Writer’s/Film/anything festival, the young writers festival in Newcastle, Voicewokrs, and a whole heap of other things (like university stuff, e.g. blogging).  Oh well I guess I’ve got a list of things to do after I finish up at SYN Fm (I don’t think that will happen until well after university though).

Now I’m going to take a break to qwander? wonder *ahem* about my gratuitous use of brackets (I think it’s like telling a secret in something that doesn’t really deserve it- *urghk). There we go, no more brackets (Heheh, that’s what you think).

Um, apologies for the bits of craziness I think I’m a little bit excited to finally be writing a blog post that (when writing it) doesn’t feel like a dog’s breakfast. Case in point (and if you’re wondering if this is signposted as university stuff, I’m not even sure what this is, bear with me though). *AHEM* Case in point the last month/two or three weeks I have been struggling to write creatively (bad for short fiction), write blogs (bad for this), struggling to write anything. My hypothesis! End of 2nd year blues or, “Wah do I really want to do this course still?” or even better “Wait a second, I’m doing an Art’s course, I’m not guaranteed a job.” <- That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

My solution to this is to think about the boring alternatives and then realise (perhaps when having a bath so you can yell “Eureka” and do a nude run), that you’re doing what you want (hopefully) resulting in much happiness.

Though truth be told a suspicious amount of people are having these 2nd year blues, which is interesting and insightful. Interesting because it shows that they’re giving their futures a bit of a grey matter pounding. Insightful, because it shows that even in 2nd year (and all through your life) you’re going to have a wee bit of doubt, which you’ll have to work through.

Anyway this, and other things I’ll talk about further at a later time as it is late, and blogging for too long is just asking for trouble (I’ll try to upload this and my computer will crash losing all of my work + this blog).

Anyways night, enjoy the break!

Dan