What, 10pm already? February 11, 2009
Posted by faranaaz in Life, Work, Writing.Tags: budget, job, learning
7 comments
I have had the weirdest day.Rewind to last week.
Lynley: Who wants to go with the business team to the budget speech lockdown?
Faranaaz: Errr… No thanks. Okay, wait maybe. Okay I’ll do it.
… 5 minutes later …
Faranaaz: Ohmygod what am I doing?
Return to today.
Wake up at 5:30. I’d been awake on and off for the past two hours. This after staying up until about 11:30 watching True Blood. (Couldn’t help it, it was addictive.) Totally freaking out just at the thought of how much work I have to do, yet feeling that I’m not doing enough work or a high enough quality of work. Go figure.
Drive over to work, all stressed out. The other two journalists are already there. They’re checking stuff online. I’m not sure what to check.
Third journo – a freelance business writer I’ve never met before – arrives. We drive to Pretoria. The conversation is upbeat and light.
Arrive at the Treasury and get escorted to the coffee shop by a security guy who will not let us out of his sight. Then we go through security, leaving all electronic equipment at the desk, and up to the lockdown area. We sign in and receive our documentation including Trevor’s budget speech, and are assigned desks in the computer lab.
We read the speech and congregate in the tea room briefly to discuss thoughts and impressions and to divide up the work. A security guy tells us we cannot take the budget speech from the computer lab to the tea room, despite the fact that the entire floor is locked down. Go figure.
We return to our desks and begin our assignments. Ironically, I’m writing on Trevor’s overtures to the green side of life. No analysis at this point, just a brief rundown of what’s included and what’s not. (See here.)
Before we know it, we’re done. We wait until we’re allowed to transmit our stories to the newsroom. This happens round 1pm. Then we sit around until they decide to let us out of lockdown. This only happens at 2pm, when Trev begins his speech.
We nibble at snacks. Gross disgusting. Who decided a battered, deep fried fishfinger qualified as food? I have one mini samoosa and a quarter cheese sandwich and call it quits. At least the conversation is interesting. I finally realise I was freaking out about nothing.
Then we’re released and its back to the office. I have about a half hour of peace. In this time I receive no less than 15 email messages, 5 of which require immediate response.
Part of my freakingoutedness is due to certain profiles I must write on clerics and academics. Due date this Friday. State of completion, about 10%, and I can’t get hold of any of my sources. Screwed is the word.
Nonetheless, I forebear. Then my editor is looking for me. He wants me to rehash my story and get some comment from roleplayers. I hit the phones. Unfortunately, every journo in the country is calling every stakeholder in every sector in the country.
I wait for callbacks. They come. I ask questions and scribble comments frantically, then put them all together. Dinner arrives but I’m too busy to eat. I stuff a few Nando’s chips in my mouth and move on.
Draft 1 is handed in and completely lambasted. I feel awful. Back to the drawing board. Now I remember what I was freaking out about to begin with. I’m so busy rehashing I can barely register what the other trainees are saying to me.
I hand the second draft in at 21:15. Trepidation. I’m sure I’m going to be raked over the coals for not giving the ed what he wants.
I prepare myself for the worst.
Then he calls me over. Says, “What did you think?” I’m not quite sure what he expects. “Weeeelll…” I say. He asks me why I’m so guarded. I’m still not not sure what to say. In the end I decide that my second draft was better because it provided a more balanced view. I thought old Trevor had dropped the ball but I realized this was probably greatly influenced by my talking to opposition party MPs. Once I’d compared Trevor’s efforts with other international outlooks I realized he wasn’t doing so bad.
In the end, the ed said the point of it is not that I shouldn’t criticise, but that I should always provide a balanced, considered view. Fair enough. Sounds obvious, I know. But sometimes you get caught up reporting on what you see in front of you.
It didn’t need a third draft, thank God. I think I would have ended up staying until lights out if it did. Of course, now it’s too long but that’s for the subs to sort out.
I came home, after spending over 15 hours at work, wanting nothing more than some yoghurt and a hot shower.
Last Day of Freedom September 17, 2008
Posted by faranaaz in Life.Tags: job, work
2 comments
Yep, my last day of freedom. It’s been months and months since I had a steady job and as of tomorrow I’ll be back at it. The piles of work and deadlines and dealing with writers and editors and portal managers, driving through traffic there and back and wondering what to wear and what to make for lunch. There has to be some kind of middle ground between doing absolutely nothing and doing stuff. Some day, I hope to find it. But for now, I’m back to being a working stiff.
And back in the now, I’m sitting at the dining room table, listening to the Juno soundtrack, with my box of tissues as hand. Yes, the hayfever has caught up with me once again. And I can’t take anything for it right now coz I’m fasting. So I just have to stick it out. Bleagh.
My grand plan for the day includes
- taking a shower
- playing Xbox
- marinading some chicken
- attempting to make roti (there’s a first)
I’m fairly certain I’m capable of at least two of those things.
Meanwhile, I’ve become really nostalgic for the places we’ve been to in the last eight months. I saw a guy cycling down the road the other day and wished it was me. Seriously, one of my goals in life is to live in a city where I can get anywhere I need to be by bicycle. And of course snowy Chicago, been missing that too. Walking around in my dudun and converse, body warm, feet freezing as I make my way across the icy sidewalk. I think it’s the Juno soundtrack. It’s stirring memories.
Ah well. Gone now. It’s Joburg and the “real world” for the foreseeable future.
Jobs and Books February 4, 2008
Posted by faranaaz in Uncategorized.Tags: Cambridge, job
3 comments
Well, unfortunately I don’t have any pictures to share today. I took a few of the gardens here at Wolfson but they were a bit tame and I haven’t got them off the camera yet.
Today, as I was preparing to leave for town, I got a phone call from the Temporary Employment Service. They had a sit in job to offer me and I said yes. So it’s five hours of office admin, between 12 and 5 on Wednesday at the University’s Legal Services office. The pay is £9.80 per hour which is pretty nifty I think! So obviously, I jumped at the opportunity. Then I headed off to town to spend money that I hadn’t earned yet. Of course, at the time I didn’t realise that that’s what I was doing. But in retrospect, it’s pretty clear.
It felt as if I was cycling for the first time in days but actually the last time I cycled was Saturday when we went to the Grafton Centre. Anyway, off I went. Although it had rained earlier in the morning, the sky was clear and the sun was putting a golden glow on all the roads and pavements. It was lovely. There was barely a breeze and so it felt quite exhilirating to be out and speeding along on my bike with it’s rattling front basket. (It is so irritating – I must make a plan to get some cable ties for it.)
As usual, I parked my bike at St Mary’s and made my way to the market. It took me a long while to find something worth buying. For a moment there I thought I was going to end up getting Cold Mountain or something by Kazui Ishiguro, books that know you really should read but can’t actually be bothered with. I was saved by Ian McEwan’s Atonement, brand new and only £3. And around the corner, in the Speculative Fiction/Horror section (because I know I will ‘hit a wall’ with Atonement at some point) I got a collection of short stories called The Mammoth Book of Monsters for only £4, again brand new. Be still my heart. It has contributions from authors such as Joe R. Lansdale and Clive Barker. On the whole, I was quite happy with my purchases.
After browsing through Next and wanting to buy absolutely everything and then Marks & Spencers and wanting to buy pretty much nothing, I was saved by the bell. The hubby called to ask where we were meeting for lunch. Cafe Indigo was the answer.
Now, I really wanted to take pictures of Cafe Indigo but firstly the place is so small, you could back all the way up to the wall and still not get everything in. And secondly, well it just didn’t feel right to so obviously take pictures of random people. So you’ll have to use your imaginations and picture the Coffee Bean, before it moved and upgraded. But with creaky wooden doors and floors, and walls that are a lot more colorful, purple, blue, and orange.
So we sat there on a couch and spent way too much money on sandwiches and coffee. They were good though. And we chatted for a bit about this and that. Okay, it was about our hopes and fears for work and living in the UK but it sounds cheesy when you say it that way. Then Sameer had to go back to the institute and I decided to leave town before I spent any more money. Well, I almost succeeded.
The little road that you take to get from the Indigo to Kings Way opens out right next to a books and art supply shop. Originally, I just meant to go in and look. Well, I almost ended up buying an entire pack of oil paints, brushes, linseed oil, turpentine, and pallette knives (trowels). Then I came back to my senses and decided to get a set of charcoal pencils. Then I put it down and stepped away slowly. I was almost out of the shop when I saw an inconspicuous staircase and a sign that said “Sale”. I gave in to temptation.
Downstairs everything was on sale for less than half price. Sameer’s lucky I got out with just one book – The Complete Book of Drawing Skills, £4. After that, I left, walking quickly with my eyes downcast lest I be drawn in by any other Sale signs. I unlocked my bike and cycled home without further event. And here I am.
Unemployed girl December 22, 2007
Posted by faranaaz in Uncategorized.Tags: job, quit
4 comments
Yesterday was the day I’d been counting down to since July 11th, 164 days ago. The day I quit my job. I’d been building up to it slowly but surely. There were days when I was focused and worked hard but they were few and far between. There were days when I worked in short bursts, now writing frantically, now lounging apathetically, my head on the gel pad before my keyboard. And there were days when I sighed, moaned, groaned, and made repeated trips to the kitchen and the front desk (for munchies). Those increased in number as the number of colleagues I cared about decreased. Needless to say, I was completely disfunctional by the last day. I really did think I could finish that last topic but in the end, there were just so many distractions on the day, that I barely got into it.
The going away gathering was held early in the morning. I almost missed it. I was taken aback by the sincerety of Roger’s speech. It was so tinged by nostalgia that I suddenly realized that I’d miss Laragh, particularly the Laragh that used to be, the one on Kloof Street with the intimate little rooms, run down though they were, with the friendly people who’d smile and introduce themselves, and show an interest in your life. The laid back Laragh.
I got a card that said “Congratulations”. It had penguins on it, wishing another penguin goodbye as he flew off in a hot air balloon. It was sweet. Even the generic Good Lucks and Take Cares were sweet. Particularly sweet were Kirk and Karien’s messages – short and sweet but signed “Love”. I choked up.
My going away speech was impromptu but I really felt a gush of emotion for the place. Sure it hadn’t all been rosy and great. There were some dire moments, it’s true. But for the most part I was happy there, accepted by others, and valued for my contribution. For that I guess I’ll always cherish it and look back at it with nostalgia.
At lunch I was ambushed by the Magic peeps. I suppose I should have expected it, since we’ve all become so adept at keeping secret the suprise gatherings and gift givings that we throw each other but I really didn’t expect it. I honestly thought we were getting together for one last coffee break. There were Ethne and Sharon (my Alt+130 is not working on this laptop coz there’s no keypad!), with chocolates and flowers, and a personalized card, which made the leaving so much more real. It wasn’t just random people or casual acquaintances saying Goodbye from Laragh but also those who I’d been closest to during my time there, and those who’d managed to escape before me.
It was the first job that I’ve had where I can tell someone “Remember when…” and laugh about it. But it’s over now. And I’ve three or four weeks left. Unemployed, future slightly uncertain, back in my mum’s house, hoping things will go well and turn out they way we want them to.
