Sunday, November 05th 2017 (Up Late This Morning)
Jigsaw is exactly what you'd expect from a modern movie studio: a rehash of material they've already done five or six times before (or is it seven? I gave up on the Saw series extremely early on but I'm sure I've seen 1, 2, and possibly 5) but in a way that deluded fans (like Lindsay) will gobble up and buy into. That's okay though. We're not really in Edinburgh to watch a movie – we're just here to get away from Fife for a while, and I thought it would be nice after a week of hard working at the college and on the window cleaning on my own to treat Lindsay to some dinner in the capital and a Halloween present in the form of a trip to see the latest film in a franchise she likes.
Next time we are in Edinburgh it will be very close to Christmas and we'll be here for the lights and the Christmas Market. There are already signs that it is all on its way with greedy little men and women with nothing better to do every minute of every day other than think about how they can add that little bit extra this year to their already enormous horde of money are sneaking festive themes in there more and more all the time. Thankfully where we stay it is not all that prominent unless you go down the high street. There will come a time to get into the Christmas spirit but it will not be when some sleazy store manager's bank account says that it should be.
Did you know that I've still never been to an AA meeting in Edinburgh? All the times I've been here and not once have I sought one out. I wonder if it would be worth my time. Not this time, it's coming up to a quarter to nine at night, but some other time. Lindsay and I are having a coffee while we wait on our bus home and I bring it up.
Lindsay – ''It's not much different through here. It's just as shit as it is where we stay.''
Stevie - ''…''
Lindsay - ''…''
Stevie – ''It is shit, isn't it?''
Lindsay – ''I'm glad it was there but now I think I'd only go for the sake of the newcomer.''
Stevie – ''I don't think I can help the newcomer.''
Lindsay – ''Why do you say that?''
Newcomers arrive and are surrounded by mixed messages from old timers. Before you know it they are of the impression that they don't need to work a Twelve Step program and that they should just have a laugh instead. They stick around for a few weeks, maybe even months, and then they go back out there and drink, or are just never seen or heard from again. The old timers then tell us that they could not get it because they were unwilling to listen. It's almost as if the old timers are not aware that listening to many of them will likely get you drunk, certainly won't help keep you sober. My journey isn't unique but the way I go about telling it in AA rooms is. I avoid jargon and lip service, telling them what I believe will make them like me more, and this is not perhaps the best way to help a newcomer.
When I go it is for myself. This is true of all of us. It's just that I am willing to be honest and just say it. I don't need people to like me that much that I have to lie to myself to get it.
We're back in college again tomorrow morning and so it's high time we started looking at that. Of the practical assessments, of which there are two (but one of them contains two parts) I have completed part one. What remains are the podcasts which I am leaving for the time being. It would help to perhaps begin planning how I might be structuring these shows so I will set aside some time for this through the week.
Of the four Assessed Shows that also make up the first semester of this, the Higher National Certificate in Radio, I have so far sat the first one but have yet to have it marked, and have passed the second one with flying colours and it aired on the college radio station last week. This leaves two: the live show while interacting with social media and the three interviews.
This week I would like to make significant progress with these interviews. I will be practice interacting with social media while we go about our live shows both tomorrow and on Tuesday with the plan of sitting the assessment the following Monday. All this planning makes it easier for me to know what I'm doing. What we have to do for these assessments is record our live broadcasts and then edit them to take out the music. This usually takes the hour show down to around a twelve minute clip which one of the lecturers then listens to and passes or fails us. They don't call it failing actually – they just say that remediation is required. I've heard others in class be given this but want to avoid it myself. I want to avoid it the whole semester if possible. Remediation. No thanks – not for me. So I have to ensure that my work is of a high enough standard.
This means making sure that my interviewing skills are up to the job when mum comes in this week to speak with me in the college studio. I plan on interviewing Lindsay over the weekend (although this can really be done at any time it is supposed to be done ''on site'' and so within an NHS environment and so we were going to be having a coffee in the hospital canteen and record it. I'd then take the best and most relevant parts and edit it) and then at some point the following week I'll arrange the phone interview although I'm thinking about just asking someone from class to step in and pretend to be an NHS worker. I'll get away with it if I choose carefully and script what they are to say well enough. It only has to be ninety seconds or so.
This should mean that this time next week I will be sitting here in one Sunday morning's time knowing that I only have one telephone interview to do; that I'm almost ready to record a live show while interacting with social media; and have made a start on the podcast ideas. If all goes to plan then this will leave me with five or six weeks to work on my podcasts. I can see me putting a lot of work into them as I love having something to work on at home and I have the software on this very laptop with which to complete these projects.
Right now though – breakfast!!
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Stevie
Off for breakfast.
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