An October update
Oct. 10th, 2013 11:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
graculusSo, after the most recent (apparently unfounded) panic over on LJ, I have finally taken the plunge and backed up my account over onto DW - who knew I had posted 1500 times, though that's probably a drop in the ocean compared to some folks? Now it's time to see if this cross-posting palaver actually works or not and tell you all the exciting things I've been getting up to.
*watches tumbleweed blow across*
Okay, so maybe not that exciting!
I spent yesterday afternoon getting inducted into my new job, so I am now legally allowed to offer to take people downstairs in the special chair if there's a fire or other need to evacuate the building. It was quite entertaining watching the university students milling around on the stairs as we practiced. My proper shifts start next Monday and I'm not sure if I'd mentioned previously that I'll be working (mostly) nights? It's been a while since I've done that but hopefully it won't be too bad once I get used to it - it may just be easier on the whole to go nocturnal, though some of the weekend shifts are daytime so we'll have to see how best to approach it.
I'm still keeping an eye out for other jobs, but at least this takes the pressure off a bit financially and also gives me a) a foot in the door (at the university and generally in that line of work, if this is where I end up going) and b) someone else other than my former manager to give me a professional reference if needed. Though I'm not sure if my new employer even contacted the folks I'd given as a reference this time around (two former colleagues, both of whom liked me and despised my former manager).
I'm also enjoying the adult teaching course I've recently started, so I'm not committing myself yet to any one particular direction - most of what I might want to do, however, requires further training/qualifications and that means a significant cash investment so I'm keen to get it right before I jump in...
In other news, thanks so much to my participation in fandom for making me no longer able to consume unthinkingly. Really, thanks for that. Life was so much easier before I was primed to notice things like the preponderance of white actors in shows or dodgy representations of women in general, not to mention other minority groups/cultures/sub-cultures. Or clunky writing and poor characterisation.
It seems to end up being something of a bargaining process with the shows I'm currently watching - I'll take your overall positive casting/good writing of non-white actors in major roles but balance it against your specific dodgy representation of a particular minority group. Yes, Sleepy Hollow I am looking at you. I am still mostly enjoying the hell out of you and you have lived up to my hopes more than other shows - also congrats on getting a season 2 order only 3 episodes in! - but carry on with the (mostly) good stuff or else.
In returning shows news, I am enjoying the heck out of both Elementary and Person of Interest, the latter being helped immensely by the presence of Shaw as a returning character. Some of the fandom seems quite ambivalent about her and it's always interesting to see the double standard well and truly in action where female characters are concerned. On the one hand, there are obviously folks out there who don't like Shaw because they perceive her as a 'threat' to Carter, both in terms of overall screentime and any potential romantic entanglements with Reece, but it's also quite possible to dislike a female character because you dislike the character, not just because she's female. In this case, imo, you'd be wrong but them's the breaks. ;)
When it comes to Agents of SHIELD I'm an equal opportunity disliker, both of Skye and Ward so far, in both cases because I don't think they're particularly well-written or acted. That could change, for either or both, or the show could just drop off my watchlist completely? At present I am certainly watching for (in order) Melinda May, Coulson and the science twins, so who's to say what might happen as the season rolls on?
*watches tumbleweed blow across*
Okay, so maybe not that exciting!
I spent yesterday afternoon getting inducted into my new job, so I am now legally allowed to offer to take people downstairs in the special chair if there's a fire or other need to evacuate the building. It was quite entertaining watching the university students milling around on the stairs as we practiced. My proper shifts start next Monday and I'm not sure if I'd mentioned previously that I'll be working (mostly) nights? It's been a while since I've done that but hopefully it won't be too bad once I get used to it - it may just be easier on the whole to go nocturnal, though some of the weekend shifts are daytime so we'll have to see how best to approach it.
I'm still keeping an eye out for other jobs, but at least this takes the pressure off a bit financially and also gives me a) a foot in the door (at the university and generally in that line of work, if this is where I end up going) and b) someone else other than my former manager to give me a professional reference if needed. Though I'm not sure if my new employer even contacted the folks I'd given as a reference this time around (two former colleagues, both of whom liked me and despised my former manager).
I'm also enjoying the adult teaching course I've recently started, so I'm not committing myself yet to any one particular direction - most of what I might want to do, however, requires further training/qualifications and that means a significant cash investment so I'm keen to get it right before I jump in...
In other news, thanks so much to my participation in fandom for making me no longer able to consume unthinkingly. Really, thanks for that. Life was so much easier before I was primed to notice things like the preponderance of white actors in shows or dodgy representations of women in general, not to mention other minority groups/cultures/sub-cultures. Or clunky writing and poor characterisation.
It seems to end up being something of a bargaining process with the shows I'm currently watching - I'll take your overall positive casting/good writing of non-white actors in major roles but balance it against your specific dodgy representation of a particular minority group. Yes, Sleepy Hollow I am looking at you. I am still mostly enjoying the hell out of you and you have lived up to my hopes more than other shows - also congrats on getting a season 2 order only 3 episodes in! - but carry on with the (mostly) good stuff or else.
In returning shows news, I am enjoying the heck out of both Elementary and Person of Interest, the latter being helped immensely by the presence of Shaw as a returning character. Some of the fandom seems quite ambivalent about her and it's always interesting to see the double standard well and truly in action where female characters are concerned. On the one hand, there are obviously folks out there who don't like Shaw because they perceive her as a 'threat' to Carter, both in terms of overall screentime and any potential romantic entanglements with Reece, but it's also quite possible to dislike a female character because you dislike the character, not just because she's female. In this case, imo, you'd be wrong but them's the breaks. ;)
When it comes to Agents of SHIELD I'm an equal opportunity disliker, both of Skye and Ward so far, in both cases because I don't think they're particularly well-written or acted. That could change, for either or both, or the show could just drop off my watchlist completely? At present I am certainly watching for (in order) Melinda May, Coulson and the science twins, so who's to say what might happen as the season rolls on?
