Back again

I haven't blogged so much as I have this week! What a jam packed week it's been! Yesterday Vince and I went for our day trip to London which was brilliant. =] I can't believe how quick the train actually is, it only takes about an hour and a half.

We first headed straight to Big Ben and Westminster and it was such a sunny day so we took loads of photos. The London eye is MASSIVE, there were loads of queues so we didn't bother going on it, it's quite expensive too!





We took a long walk through Westminster towards Buckingham Palace and I think we just missed the changing of the guard ceremony as there were loads of horses out and huge crowds. I could faintly see the soldiers behind the gates. I wanted to go and see sights like this because I've never seen them before, they are all pretty ordinary and boring to most people but I wanted to be a proper tourist!



So after all the tourism fun we decided to stop off at Monument hill where there is a monument that was built after the great fire of London. You can climb to the top and have a cool view of London. 311 steps later we were at the top and we could see right across London. When we got down to the bottom we got a certificate to say we had been on it, haha.

Vince wanted to go to Canary Wharf to see all the skyscrapers so off we went. It was a boiling day yesterday and being stuck on tubes and trains wasn't great! Canary Wharf was pretty cool and we decided to have lunch at the Slug and Lettuce.



The journey back into central London was literally hell on earth. We had to take special overground tubes that people were literally cramming themselves onto. They were packed full and everytime we stopped at a station, more people would try and squeeze on, it was ridiculous! Then one of the trains infront of us had some sort of passenger emergency which caused our train to be delayed. It was a boiling hot day and there were loads of people crammed onto a small train which was horrible! People were hot, sweaty and smelly and literally leaning on eachother and we were stuck like that for about an hour, it was so frustrating and I just wanted to get off! So after we FINALLY got off those horrible trains we made our way to Oxford Circus where I have been based all week. We just had to go to Topshop but it was so so busy that we could barely look around properly so we decided to head to Carnaby Street which Vince had been looking forward to all day! The main reason we went there was because there is a piano in the middle of the street that anyone can play. He couldn't wait to play it. He started playing a song of his own that he made up that was amazing to watch, he is so talented! He got a massive crowd watching him and when finished they all clapped and cheered which made him jump, haha. They were disappointed when he left aswell.



We then took a walk to Piccadilly circus which we visited just over 3 years ago on a College trip. It's weird going back, but it was absolutely packed and unfortunately there were huge thunder clouds hovering above so we stayed for a little bit and then headed to Covent Garden.



When we got to Covent Garden it started raining, but not for long. Last time I went to Covent Garden I was quite disappointed, the shops aren't great and there weren't many performers today. I had a good look in the David & Goliath shop and the Tea shop where I tasted different flavours of tea but all in all Covent Garden was a bit of a let down so we didn't stay long. Camden was up next and although I was pretty sure all the stores and the market would be closed for the night, we set off anyway. After MORE delays on the tube we finally made it and guess what, everything was all closed up for the night which was disappointing so after a brief look round we headed back to Piccadilly Circus to try and find somewhere to eat.

It took us AGES to find anywhere to eat. All the restaraunts were quite expensive, we even went in one where the electric had gone so they were using candles on all the tables. We headed back to Oxford Street and found a nice little restaraunt called Garfunkels where we had a nice meal to round off the day. It was a good day but I was a bit gutted about Camden, so next time we go we've planned to see it differently. We're going to make sure we go to Camden early, visit Greenwich park at Sunset and Piccadilly at night. :) I definiately want to go to Madame Tussauds aswell. It was a great day, something different from the norm!!

Bye bye London!



Today was a pretty relaxing day as I spent most of it in bed! I ventured out around 2pm and went to Asda to buy some food for dinner and I cleaned up the kitchen, finding out the hoover is broken, in the process. It doesn't suck anything up properly? I've also found that theres a few bits dotted around the house that I don't know if I can take with me or not, depends if I have any room in the car! Vince cooked an awesome dinner, it was basically a roast dinner but with sausages instead of chicken/lamb. It was so filling, I'm still stuffed! Tomorrow I'm treating us to a Chinese takeaway. :)

I'm currently sitting at the computer with Glasonbury 09 on the TV and I can still hear the beats of next door's music. They have literally been playing it all day long at full blast. I feel sorry for whoever is moving in here on Wednesday, it's SO annoying. People just don't have any consideration. Every time I play music I always worry if it's too loud and annoying people but then I think, why do I care? Because obviously no one else is concerned that it's 11:45 at night and they have music blasting from their stereos.

Done and done.

Right. I'm done with work experience at Reveal magazine. It started off well but yesterday and today were a bit of a let down, it just seemed they were getting me to do jobs for the sake of having something to do. I didn't even finish my 'comparision' word document which was apparently going to be 'really helpful,' to them. They didn't even ask about it.

Anyway, the day started off very Michael Jackson themed with everyone in the office discussing his death. Straight away I was summoned to write the Reveal Blog about Michael's death which you can see at: RevealBlog.co.uk (I will be printing these three blogs out and putting them into my portfolio, at least I have something to show for my experience.) After this, everyone in the office had a meeting and decided they would put together a Michael Jackson supplement and so I was asked to go out into London to find some books about Michael Jackson and there were NONE. I was quite surprised that there weren't any..the shelves were full of biographies on bimbos like Nikki from Big Brother but no MJ. Everywhere I went MJ songs were playing, in peoples cars, in HMV on the big screen and there were camera crews everywhere! I even got asked to speak for the camera but I ran away! Unfortunately I didn't find any books so I had to go back empty handed. The other girl that went also couldn't find me so at least they can't say I didn't try.

After lunch I was asked to collect the answers from reader surveys and work out the percentages of the answers which was pretty easy. It took up a lot of the last 3 hours but I was also asked to go out and get supplies (fruit and alcohol) for the people who were staying late in the office to finish the MJ supplement. At about 5:10pm I was still sat in the office, I've left at 5pm every day this week so I asked if it was alright for me to go as I had to catch a train (which I missed by the way) and they seemed surprised. =\

As I said in the previous blog, it's been a good experience but it kind of trailed off towards the end. My friend asked me if I'd like to work there and I said no. The office is very seperated, with all the different sections sitting quite far from eachother and not really interacting. I expected people to get on well and there to be lots of chatter, which there was at times, but most of the time people were quite quiet. I expected there to be more urgency in a magazine office, it's not the sort of magazine I'd like to work with but it was worth the experience!

No more getting up at 6am! I can't wait! Though tomorrow I'm getting up at 8am to go to LONDON, woo. I bet it rains but I don't care!! I'm going and I'm going to have a lovely lovely day with my lovely lovely Vincey, who has been absolutely brilliant this week, waking up at 6am every day and taking me to the station, picking me up everyday AND cooking me delicious dinners, I owe him lots!

4 down, 1 to go.

The end is nigh and I'm kind of happy and not happy. I certainly won't miss getting up at 6am and the long train journeys but I will miss having the experience of being a proper 'grown up,' in a career.

Today was a bit of a let down as I didn't really do much. I did however get to do the Reveal Blog again, this time it was about Louis Walsh and his crazy number one fan.

I was asked to do some photocopying and stamping of invoices, find possible real life stories in the newspapers and I also started comparing all of this weeks weekly magazines, with Reveal. I have yet to finish that because I kind of got distracted and started reading the magazines, but I feel like it's just a job for me to do because they couldn't think of anything to give me.

It's a little frustrating because I have written out some problems, tip ideas, a piece about hypnotism and I have found some real life stories and I haven't recieved any feedback for what I've done! I know they probably won't use the hypnotism piece but I'd still like some advice on where I could improve, maybe I'll ask tomorrow.

It's been a good experience, seeing how a fully functioning magazine works but it's still frustrating to feel like I haven't actually done much! I think on my next work experience venture I will definitely stay somewhere in London, probably in Picadilly as it will be MUCH cheaper and I'll beable to have some sort of a lye in.

Apparently it's meant to thunder at the weekend and I bet it does when Vince and I go to London for the day, haha. Just our luck. I still need to plan where we're going to go actually..

Sunday will be spent sleeping most probably, with a nice roast dinner, a proper lazy day I think! I deserve it. Monday will be spent cleaning the kitchen, bathroom, landings and my bedroom ready to move out on Tuesday. Wednesday will be spent moving into my new house and then life will return to normal when I probably go back to work on Thursday, though I need to check with the boss lady!!

Here we go again..

So, now I only have two days left at work experience. I can tell tomorrow and Friday will fly by! Today was a good day, it started off with a nice sleep on the train because let me tell you, these early rises are starting to have an effect on my now. I am shattered!! Anyway, once in the office I got straight on with sorting out the post and then carried on my piece about hypnotism. I was interrupted while finishing it when I was asked to take the editors blackberry over to the other building to fix it, haha and then I got asked to write todays reveal blog for the website! I was shown a picture of Paris Hilton with a camel..and had to come up with a few funny sentences, which was quite easy actually but then I was told to scrap it because they couldn't get permission to use the photo so instead they used a photo of Jennifer Aniston, sucking her thumb. It was much harder to think of something to write for that but I managed to get out 3 suggestions, I was told to scrap the third one and they decided to use most of what I wrote, though they added a few other bits themselves.

Titled 'Jen's still a child at heart,' you can find the blog at: RevealBlog.co.uk and I'll also be writing tomorrows blog aswell!

I forgot to mention at the start, that I accidently, on purpose, stumbled into TopShop this morning and bought a new notebook, only £3! During my lunch break I went to a little cafe down the road and had a square omelette and a cup of tea! I also explored Carnaby street a bit and found a few cool shops, especially the David&Goliath shop where they have some really cool tshirts. I also found a PROPER independent record shop where I bought a HIM album for £3! I love proper, small record shops! Not places like HMV which are causing all the independent ones to go out of buisness!

So after my shopping trip I got back to the office and finally finished the hypnotism piece. I emailed it away but have heard no feedback on it. I'm not sure if they are going to print it or not. They will probably just use some of what I wrote and reword it and then not put my name. =[ I hope not!

London was BOILING today and it didn't help when I was asked to take down every single magazine cover that they had displayed on the wall, and then put them all back up in order! I managed to take them all down and put 25 covers back up but I have to finish the rest tomorrow.

When I look back on my days it doesn't look like I've done very much but every job I do is quite time consuming. I can now make it from work experience to the tube and then to waterloo in under half an hour which I'm quite impressed with. Especially as how you really can't rush on Oxford street because there are just SO many people walking about. I need to figure out what I'm going to wear tomorrow. I've taken to wearing flats now because no one else wears heels around the office!

Make sure to check out the reveal blog tomorrow!

Day 2

So day two at Reveal magazine bought a little more excitement than my first day. Though I was soooo tired I managed to stay awake for the majority of the day. I did ALOT of filing today which was quite boring, though it's quite interesting looking through the invoices to see how much pictures of celebs cost. Some of them cost thousands!

I'm really not keen on doing the post every morning, mainly because it seems I have an outdated office map and some people on it aren't in the office anymore and it's all wrong and I keep asking people who they are and I feel like they're getting annoyed at me. :\

Anyway, for some reason I was asked to go and buy 5 copies of Closer magazine and make a trip to the buildings down the road, which took up a bit of time. After that I was asked to make up some problems for the problems page!!! Yes, that's right, they are all fake. I was also asked to come up with some titles for the 5 ways to..section on the health page. It was surprisingly difficult to think of things that haven't already been done in previous issues and on my lunch break I had to ring my mum and my sister for some help! They were quite helpful and I managed to get 10 of each down. So after that, and after some MORE filing I was asked to write a piece about hypnotism. I don't know if it's going to be used or not but I wan't to make it a good piece so maybe they will consider printing it!? I have to complete it tomorrow and the girl asked for an introduction, explanation about how it works, who it can benefit and what the side effects are. I hope I do a good job =\

As I got to Oxford street about 45 minutes early, I just had to go into TopShop and oh my god it's HUGE!! About 4 floors full of clothing and a floor full of accessories, sweets, lingerie, stationary etc..I was in heaven! Though unfortunately I didn't buy anything, I will definitely be visiting it again!

I'm looking forward to going back to London on Saturday with Vince so we can explore properly! I want to see everything!!! So until tomorrow..goodnight!

1 down, 4 to go

I'm tired, my feet hurt, my head hurts and did I mention I'm soooo tired!!!! Today was my first day of work experience and it didn't help that I kept waking up at 3am and then every half an hour onwards until 5:45am. =[ I got ready pretty quickly so tomorrow I won't be getting up so early.

I fell asleep on the train to Waterloo so it didn't seem like a very long journey. Waterloo is HUGE and really confusing, plus you have to pay 30p to use the toilets!! Outrageous! Finding the tube was fine. I don't know what I was worrying about. It was pretty easy to get to the offices aswell and I've even found a quicker way (I think) so I'll probably be pretty early tomorrow. It took a lot for me to stay away from TopShop both on the way there and on the way back, hehe.

Anyway. I got to the offices ten minutes early because as mum says it's better to be early than late! I got sent to the fourth floor and right away was thrown into jobs. I had to sort out the post and put it on everyones desks. I had an office map but it's all around the wrong way so I kept getting confused and had to ask people who they were, I felt a bit silly but theres nothing I can do really. They get their post in the end. After that I had to sort out the competitor magazines and file them away in a big cupboard that is pretty full up. Surprisingly that took up a lot of the morning so after that I was summoned to package the most recent issues into envelopes, complete with addresses (of celebs). THEN I had to write up the past two issues contents into their directory which took AGES. I had a read through the magazines while I was doing it though. That took me up until lunch time which we get an hour for. =]

I went to a little cafe and had a cup of tea and Spaghetti Bolognese which was RUBBISH. Vince's is WAY better. The one in the cafe didn't taste of anything at all. I ended up leaving most of it because I was stuffed from the pasta so I wen't for a walk around the area and a big HMV sign caught my eye so I headed towards it and found myself on Oxford Street, woo, very exciting. I didn't spend much time there but at least I know where it is now! The office chair made my back really hurt so it felt good to walk around a bit.

When I got back to the office I finished up the contents directory while listening to the other people on the desks surrounding me talking about upcoming features. I know theres going to be some sort of photoshoot on Wednesday so I hope I can go. After all this I was told to go out and do some market research. I had to visit news agents in the area and ask them a few questions about how many issues of Reveal they stocked and sold and how many issues of Closer (probably their biggest competitor) they stocked and sold. Most of the newsagents were fine about it, one got a bit funny and wouldn't answer though. I'm supposed to write it up tomorrow, though I don't know how. =\ While doing the market research I explored the area a bit and went to Carnaby Street, which was cool. What was really cool was the piano in the middle of the street that people were allowed to play on. I instantly knew Vince would want to play on it and when we go on Saturday we're going to make a visit. We have decided to visit London on Saturday as my train ticket will still be valid. We're going to be proper tourists and we don't care! Haha.

After that I was allowed to go home at about 5pm, half an hour early, so I found my way easily to the tube, to Waterloo and then made it home at about 6:30. I fell asleep on the train again, hehe.

Overall it was a good experience seeing how a normal office runs. I am definitely not wearing heels tomorrow. I felt quite over dressed actually. I was told jeans with heels, 'fashionable,' but people weren't wearing very fashionable clothes and most of them were wearing flats so I will be tomorrow aswell, mainly due to the growing blister on my foot. Tomorrow I have to do the post again and write up my market research, but other than that I don't know what I'll be doing, for now though, I think I need some sleep!!!!

1 day to go..

So today is Vince and my 1 year of getting back together and he got me a new digital camera! I love it and I will be taking loads of pictures with it. We were going to go out for a meal but decided to stay in and cook Spaghetti Bolognese which was YUMMY. It was much cheaper to stay in and eat seeing as I'd just spent £40 on my weekly food shop because expensive Tesco was the only place open.

Tomorrow is the first day of work experience. I have everything sorted. Train ticket, outfit, book for the train, map and directions and some lunch! I'm sure everything will go ok and I will post an update when I get back. Vince said he will have dinner waiting for me when I get back!!

In the mean time, my first review for Noise Addiction e-magazine will appear in the third issue. You can read the first two online: http://issuu.com/noiseaddiction

See you tomorrow!!

Oh!

Long time no blog, and I don't even have any excuses for it because it's not like I haven't been at the computer! The past week and a half has been spent at home/vinces/work. I've spent most days at home, on the computer and watching Dickinsons Real Deal and Countdown. Lol! I've become quite a fan. Saturday is my next day off and then Sunday will be spent travelling to Southampton where I will spend the next week or so. Sunday is also mine and Vince's 1 year anniversary of getting back together and we're celebrating with some expensive gifts and we will probably go for a nice meal aswell. He's getting me a new digital camera and I just bought him a new television this morning. :)

I have some weird mixed up feelings about starting work experience at Reveal magazine on Monday. I'm DEADLY nervous about going there and finding my way and actually being USEFUL when I'm there instead of some sort of hover fly in the background, but then I'm also telling myself to stop being silly and be confident about it! I'm pretty much 100% sure I will get lost on my first day but as I get there about an hour early I'll have plenty of time to find my way and if the worst comes to the worst I can ask someone or phone the office! I need to take inititive and if I see something that needs doing then I need to do it! I've been reading through the 'workie pack' that they sent me and I have to do the boring jobs like sorting post and answering telephones but theres also the opportunity to go to photoshoots and launches aswell as getting something printed in the magazine. I'm only there for a week so I have to make the most of it! I'm also interested in the big TopShop that stands right next to Oxford Circus tube station, I might accidently fall in there and buy something, oops!

After work experience I have a few days before I go back to work which will be spent packing up my belongings and moving into our new house! HOUSE being the key word, a proper house, not a dingy old flat. I'm quite looking forward to being able to eat at the kitchen table and having a proper living room and a GARDEN!! Though it will be quite annoying having to mow the grass, it will be good to actually go outside or just have the doors open that lead to the garden from the living room, how posh!

What else does the summer holidays hold for me? Well I might possibly be going to Longleat in July, then I have a little holiday to Devon with Vince and my friends which I'm looking forward to loads. :D And THEN, in August it's Vincey's birthday and I don't have a clue what to get him!! Oh dear. Before I know it, it will be September and it'll be time to go back to Uni, scary! So I'll try and enjoy this summer as much as possible!!

Goodness Me

What a palarva Friday was! I spent practically the whole day refreshing my Hotmail inbox and I never recieved her damn email! Though I swear she doesn't believe me. However! The interview went ahead regardless. Vince and Josh offered to go to the Joiners for me and ask the questions for me! (Thank you!) but they didn't need to as at about 5:30 the home phone rang and my dad answered, (He said he thought it was someone selling something and was going to swear at them, luckily he didn't) then passed it to me and I hear this American voice on the other end. It was Angel, the guitarist from Aiden, ringing me and telling me that he still wanted to do the interview! I thought that was extremely nice of him but I soooo wasn't prepared for a phone interview. For one, my shorthand has completely leaked out of my brain so I had to write down his answers very quickly and try and remember any bits I missed out, but I think it turned out OK as I was quite good at remembering what he said. I was so glad he called because it means I can use it towards my dissertation and also send it to a magazine to take a look at (which they said they would be happy to do!). It was great of him to take time out of his busy day, rehearsing for a gig etc..and phone little old me and answer my questions.

This interview made me decide to start practising short hand again so I have purchased my equipment, i.e: Pencils, Ruler and a Notebook and I will practise, practise, practise. I've also decided to take a look at Telephone recording equipment so I can record any future telephone interviews. I didn't think at the time but I could have put my phone on loud speaker and use the dictaphone to record it but I was so rushed and unprepared that I didn't think!

The band should hopefully be back in November, where I will try and arrange a more professional interview! For now, I'm quite happy as I have something towards my dissertation. =] Good times.

Annoyed

[EDIT]
So apparently the PR woman sent me a contact number and told me to arrive at 5pm? I didn't recieve anything? The email I just got was sent at 2:30 and I recieved it 2 hours later at 4:30. There was obviously something wrong with our emails as I checked my email about every hour from 1pm onwards. I probably should have gone to Southampton anyway but I didn't think I would be doing the interview so what was the point? [/EDIT]


So yes, I am annoyed. Today I was supposed to be interviewing Aiden and then reviewing their show at the Joiners, but the PR woman from Victory Records was absolutely useless! She said the interview would be great and she asked for my contact details. She then didn't contact for a few days so I emailed to ask if the interview was still going ahead to which she replied yes..and so I asked about times, who should I ask for and where in the Joiners should I be? No reply. No reply yesterday or the day before and no reply today either. Did she want me to do the interview or not? I refuse to believe that she hasn't checked her email because as a PR person, well, surely she'd be checking her mail a few times a day?! So Vince left for Southampton without me. I even bought a new dictaphone for this, and then another one. I guess if she gets back to me in time I could possibly get the train but it would cost a bomb! It's just really inconvenient and quite unprofessional of her to organise an interview but not give me the details. Bring back the old PR lady!

I'm ALSO annoyed because our local music venue is being closed down due to 1, yes ONE, person complaining about the noise constantly. Now this means I won't beable to interview Attack! Attack! on July 18th as planned. So I went from having two interviews to having zero, and they were both going to go towards my dissertation aswell, so it would actually show that I did something for it during the summer!

Other than that things are pretty good. =] It's not long now until I start work experience and I'm more nervous about getting the train/tube and actually finding my way there then anything else! I'm also wondering what to wear..they said 'fashionable,' and I would describe myself as particularly 'unfashionable.' Help?! It's also not long until Vince and I celebrate 1 year of being together. =] I still need to buy his present actually. Hehe.

Things are slightly better at work recently. People have had words and things have changed for good hopefully. The only thing I'm not happy about is that Vince and I are apparently not allowed to keep our own tips which I need to speak to the big boss about. Vince is on his best behaviour at work after getting told off for something he didn't do (a big fat hippo did it!!!!) and getting told off for stacking glasses too high. I swear they are out to get him because nobody else gets told off for these things! It's fun working with Vincey so I don't want him to lose his job.

Yesterday I enjoyed my day off by sitting at home and doing nothing. I went to Vince's in the evening. We went to KFC but I had already eaten and so bought myself only some popcorn chicken. Then Vince goes and buys a family feast bucket, LOL. "Why did you get that?" I said. "Because you'll be hungry later and want some!" He said, and he was totally right because I munched about five pieces of chicken! He knows me so well, hahaha! I also have today off, which I would have spent in Southampton, but I'm home and planning to do nothing today aswell!

The Joiners Listings June 2009 - Previews

The following was created for the Joiners music venue listings magazine for June 2009
You can read the full magazine at: http://issuu.com/the.joiners/docs/june2009