killing me softly

Had an excellent weekend devoted to seeing friends, Friday night having dinner with Alex and Sandra lubricated by wine and whisky, Saturday we had lunch with Olga and Pavlos, I met Eric for a beer and then yesterday we hooked up with Rubén and José for lunch and cake. Superb.

Today started well, the class was relatively quiet and paying attention while we went through the timetable and menu and then Anás woke up. He's an awesome kid who got a rough time last year because he doesn't always listen, sometimes he found his hands more entertaining than the class, hell sometimes he found a piece of lint more interesting, and he would shout out (wrong) answers at inopportune moments. Little has changed.

I brought him to the front to tell me whose turn it was to do the weather and the date today.

"Anás and Fiorella."

Then he sat down. The entire class called his name and told him to go to the front, so he did. In order to illustrate names belonging to people I asked everyone in the class whose name was David to raise their hands, myself and the only student called David did so. As did Anás. Cue more shouting of his name from the mob who were caught between laughter and anger at him. I asked him if his name was David.

"Yes!"
"You're sure? you're sure your name (pointing at him) is David?"
"Yes." (nodding hard enough to shake his teeth loose)
"Your name is David?"
"Yeeees."

By now the class were in the aisles wetting themselves and I was beginning to wonder if his name actually was the same as mine, so I moved on.

"What day is it today?"
"David."

Somedays you teach a kid the difference between right and wrong, other days you're just happy when they know their own name.

..and another thing

Just to let you know I will at some stage start posting about lighter hearted topics. ;)

unsuccessful again

Southampton uni this time which makes it 2 from 4 and doesn't include last weeks nightmare interview. Nottingham is in a couple of weeks but to be perfectly honest I've kind of written it off already. I know it's the wrong attitude and I've managed to pull good results from shitty scenarios before (uni springs to mind) but the open day for those accepted to the course is a week after my interview. People interviewed in March are most definitely bottom of the pile. Which in itself I don't mind, I much prefer to be told I can't do something and go out of my way to prove someone wrong but in this instance I feel I'm just going through the motions.

From start to, almost, finish it's been an exercise in damage limitation. Although the massive GAMSAT entrance exam went much better than I anticipated (and remembered at the last minute I had to sit the smaller UKCAT exam as well) there's been an issue with almost every step of the process. In Spain there's no precedent to observe doctors before starting a med course (wtf!) but despite that Carla's managed to sort stuff out for me. I received an email from Newcastle asking why I had missed my interview (I never got a letter because they screwed up the address), St Georges asked me for a different reference (Carla's dad was inappropriate, although no other uni has said the same), they also asked if I had an Honours degree! Plus on my own side I nearly booked the wrong dates for flights. Endless.

So, it's almost over. Thank fuck. Good riddance is my attitude right now especially given the money I've thrown at it. I've spent almost a grand on exams, flights and other travel costs, a figure that would have been far higher but for mates that live in London and Nottingham. What a farce. I could have bought some awesome camera kit for that much. What really sticks in my throat is that I think I would have been good at it, I wouldn't have set the world alight but I would have been able to plug away at something worthwhile, tough and depressing at times certainly but worth doing. I think I know why I've been knocked back, not sure because any feedback given (has to be requested in writing) is so oblique as to be useless, but I think an Arts graduate trying to get onto a vocational course amidst a recession smacks a little of desperation, my lack of long term work experience and my honesty in telling them I'd had a place at med school which I turned down when I was 18 have all counted against me. Now I'm faced with the reality that there are no 'proper' jobs I'd actually be that keen to do. Teaching is fun but I couldn't hack doing it for 30 odd years I don't think. The police is a route that in theory (public sector, positive work, varied) I'd be interested in but in practice I'm not sure I'd fit in. Which leaves what? I'm not too sure to be honest, I wasn't able to find anything I'd want to do in the 6 years since I knocked back med school which is part of the reason I re-applied to med school in the first place. If I had a discernible talent then I'd focus on that but while photography is going well it's not really a viable option, I'm just not good enough to work in that field doing something interesting. So ideas are welcome but for now it's a case of applying to another school for next year, consolidating my private classes and clearing what remains of my debts. Que sera, sera.

newcastle interview

From henceforth to be known as, 'twat in suit', it was amongst other adjectives: horrific. Stern, fine. Pushy and pressing, fine. Outright bored and insulting, well em no actually. There were such gems as:

".....Scottish history or whatever you studied..."

Ah, cheers for bothering to read the paper in front of you bawsack. (I in fact studied Scottish literature and comparative literature for those that haven't been listening) More to come in this story, well probably nothing from the uni except 'thanks but no thanks', but mi novia is literally calling me from the bedroom. Not erotically you understand, she's cold and hasn't got a hot water bottle. Well at least someone wants me...

interesting

In my boredom and frustration I did a quick personality/what sort of job should you do quiz. It was actually better than I thought it would be, 'you like to keep your options open' rang particularly true:

unsuccessful *2

fuck

I'm still here

Honest. I can't lie and say I've been busy or that the interweb has unexpectedly ceased to work thus depriving you all* of a riveting read. Nope I've just been being lazy, well that and becoming growingly obsessed by taking photos. The camera that I bought** for Carla and I at christmas is still providing us with hours of fun, well me at least as Carla has had work and homework to contend with, and impressed/annoyed our friends no end. The constant adjustments, *clicks* and re-adjustments (it is a manual focus lens) are thoroughly entertaining to all and sundry. I feel like I'm actually getting better which is nice although undoubtedly a plateau lies ahead I'm making the most of it. The camera itself is an impressive wee machine, teeny for an slr and to the point with minimal fuss. I think in time we'll feel we need a bit more - more control over exposure, white balance and an ability to auto focus with older lenses would be nice but for now it's ideal. Have a look on my flickr and feel free to leave comments, god knows the groups I've put some of the pictures in haven't held back:

3/10, well it's a snapshot really.

No it's bloody not! That took me ages. However, it's all good and it helps that tommy's photos are still getting better and better, I just have to sift through a few older ones (I'm a bloody long way from even imitating his current work) to get the brain flowing and then I go see what I can find. With hugely varying results. Still it's all good. Just need to get that big wheeled single speed out again, then I'll find some interesting pics.


*all implies more than 2

**Thereby reducing my debt to Carla to about 3k