One door shuts....

Categories: and-another-thing, general-stuff

Tags: grumpy

Date: 27 March 2009 16:33:49

...firmly. Four years with a full stop today at lunch and new challenges ahoy.

For the past four years I've been the manager of a thriving arts centre. It's had its issues but for the most part we've done some awesome things. Gigs all over, made some good friends, played a lot of shows, all sorts. It's carrying on, I'm doing less. From next Tuesday I'm down to one night a week instead of two/three and all the paperwork hits another's desk. For the most part that's an entirely good thing just seems a shame that in ways my involvement is ending with a whimper. A planned staff social was cancelled as people pulled out for one reason or another, a lunchtime meeting with my superior and my replacement ended with a couple of small snubs as things are handed over and, more than than, I had to pay for my lunch and lend one of the other people the money for half of theirs.

Sigh...

Still, whether it's recognised or not, I'm happy for the most part of what we've achieved in the past few years and enjoyed a good percentage of the challenges that were set in front of me. In a lot of ways it was a hospital pass so to have remained unblemished was an achievement all told :) The person who's taken over is a different kettle of fish and will do some things better and some things different and that's the way I'll have to accept it from now on in. I look forward to seeing where the centre goes, just strange that I won't be doing the steering.

Sounds morose. Next week I'll probably be delighted and loving all of my free time. :) Yak who? I'll say...

The main problem is that instead of taking it easy for a while, which would by far have been the preference, I'm now taking over the hours I've dropped at the centre at college as well and there's a similar feeling of powerlessness inherent in that role in as much as I can do the job to the best of my ability but I'm at the mercy of others who seem to not want to be so bothered. Tricksome and hard to keep morale and motivation up for myself and with the people I work with when some extremely dubious decisions are made but, hey, as of now I'm just a worker bee :)

Diff subject 1: Watched last Gallactica last night. Lump in my throat as I still think it was an awesome achievement all through, despite some decisions that still grate. I hate any pitch that contains the premise '...but we've sexed it up' and think it was a poorer show for it's occasional overdwelling on the cheaper aspects of life in general. Which made it all the more ironic that, as a show finale, the final message was a decrying of the worst aspects of forward progress that the worst of Gallactica took on board.

The premise though, WHAT a premise. And when Gallactica was great it was peerless. Certainly one of the very few shows in my life I stop to catch and watch, no matter the business and the busyness. The end? Well, I'll certainly be watching it again and some of the shots were heart rending and powerful in equal measure. Did I enjoy it?

Dunno. Some bits were amazing, some... overly drawn out (although who can blame them). Like I said I'll watch it again but the final third felt as if it dragged a little and some parts were as clumsy as I've seen the show manage. Other parts were graceful and beautiful and those I loved. Still: the best show on tv currently and sadly missed: so say we all.

Won't miss the electronic bagpipes music though. That was and remains awful.

Diff subject 2: received the new House of Heroes CD which I had to import.

WHAT a corker. Beautifully paced and orchestrated, as was their first cd, better written than their debut though. Well worth the listening to if you want rock that does something different. Very interesting content and is now a regular on my ipod(s) and will remain so for a long while I think... Add 'em on Myspace, tell 'em I sent you :)

Diff subject 3: next week sample copies of Sylver 3 get sent out. This is tricksome for a number of reasons. 1: I'm still final editing the last 100 pages (although I have three weeks top to tail to do so...) and 2: it leaves almost no time to sort out quotes. Which is sort of kind of my fault in many ways (was supposed to have been done for Jan but life happens) I hate the way these things all come upon me but hey ho, I should be more focused, driven and mercenary some times – if I wanted a level of success that is. Sometimes I'm happy just being the small little me, helping out a hundred kids or so rather than knocking on any doors of supposed success, but I'm also supposed to think to the benefit of the people who've published me (which I do and am grateful for) and that should require me to be a little more driven and egocentric. Sigh...

So: buy my book. Flipping now. Any or all of. You choose.

Thanks :O)

I should do more, but hey, I'm tired today and the battery on the macbook is running low (not to mention the fact that it's beginning to make some strange and suspicious noises).

Strange day... And youth group to come so no time to think... Onwards and up/downwards.