Domestic Violence + Lent

*DISCLAIMER- This may offend the deeply religious among you, but it is just my opinion, so, sorry.*

In order to fully understand what I was undertaking by giving up cake for Lent I went off on the Internet in search of the basis for it. I have always been an atheist, reluctant to believe in anything bigger because I think that life is ultimately in our own hands and we make of it what we will.

Don't worry I know the basics- six days, day of rest, Jesus was born, there was a donkey, he died, he came back again etc, but Lent was one of the stories that I had never fully known. And for those of you that are in the same boat (surely i'm not the only one?!) here it goes...

Lent lasts for 40 days and 40 nights because that is how long it is said that Jesus spent wandering through the desert. So for 40 days and nights people are meant to give up something very tough for them so they can understand the trials and tribulations of being Jesus. Or something like that. Except, whatever we choose to give up we can indulge in to our hearts content on a Sunday because apparently every 7 days Jesus was allowed some water.

As i've made clear, i'm not all that religious, but I really don't understand this part of Lent. I can understand with Ramadan that they can eat once the sun has set because they have to eat. But the point of Lent is to understand the suffering and surely everyone would understand it better if they couldn't indulge in a sneaky cigarette at the end of each week?

So, for Lent, as some of you may have read, I am giving up cake and doughnuts, baking and eating. Which is a lot tougher for me than it sounds. But by my reckoning it's going to be very easy if I am allowed to bake and eat an entire cake each Sunday! So my house mate and I have agreed that we will not have cakes, even on Sunday. So we're actually going to have to go 47 days without cake. So technically, we're going to be better than Jesus yeah?

Unfortunately for me, Lent has come at a very bad time. In the next three weeks I have three assignments due which add up to almost 9000 words. And they are all Sociology so it's a lot of reading, a lot of understanding and not a lot of enjoyment on my part since I have completely lost the "buzz" for sociology.

I am currently in the middle of reading up on domestic violence and why it happens and if there is one thing you need after a day of reading about how "all men are potential rapists" it's a cup of tea and a slice of homemade Victoria Sponge. So, needless to say, i've been finding the challenge of Lent very difficult, especially since we have some cupcakes left over from our last baking session that I am not allowed to eat!

But I am determined to complete this challenge. I am well-known for being a person who gives up, unless it is something that i desperately want. For example, when i was 11 and had to choose which secondary school I went to I would only let my parents put one school on the list which was a grammar school, for which I of course had to pass an 11 plus to get into. But, because I wanted it badly enough, I did it and got in.

When it came to making the decision about what I wanted to be when I grew up, as the name of the blog suggests, I was determined that my future was in writing and journalism was the home for me. And here I am several years later, still holding on to that dream no matter how many people try to shake me off it!

Now, I may not have the same amount of determination about this cake business as I did about my education but I am determined enough that when a cupcake is waved in my face to say no (some people are as determined to see me fail!).

But it is only Day 2 so we shall see!!!

Gemma

Lent and the F.U.T.U.R.E

In three months I graduate from university. The plan for my life is to then get a job as a junior reporter, slowly climbing the ladder until someone lets me into Features and I eventually become an Editor. The reality is journalism jobs are dwindling, but more people are turning to it as a profession. Which means that for every job opening there are hundreds of applications. And much as I hate to admit it, my CV would not stand out.

So, I need a new plan for the future. And here's where my problem lies. There is a very good opportunity for a very good job as the Editor of the the university newspaper. I have been involved in the paper for two years now and the previous Editor told me I should go for it and at the time I really wanted to. But a year has passed since then, I've seen from the current Editor how much work the job is which i'm not sure it is the ideal job straight out of university.

I am also unsure I want to be an Editor, it was never part of my plan to do Editor first then go back to reporter. I'm not even sure that would be possible. I don't want to get pigeon-holed into an Editor position without ever having the experience of court reporting or a junior reporter. This is how people get their contacts and their tales and these are the experiences which shape you as a writer. I really don't want to miss out on that.

But the alternative is to get any job that will pay the bills and freelance until someone realises my potential which could be years and I might lose the thrill of journalism. Something else which I definitely don't want to happen. So i'm going to at least go for it- what's the phrase? "Throw my hat in"?

That was a whole lot of rambling for a decision wasn't it?!

Today is Pancake Day, so I had the customary body weight in pancakes, sugar and lemon juice. That makes tomorrow Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. I've never been much of a Lent person. I don't have any addictions, nothing which I could really do with cutting out of my life so my usual Lent line is "I'm giving up giving up, i'm very good at it."

This year however i am partaking in Lent in order to help out a friend. My friend wants to quit smoking but he can never manage it. So my housemate and I have decided that we will give up baking and eating cakes, including doughnuts, if he gives up cigarettes. Nobody quite understands what cakes mean to us.

Almost every weekend since the beginning of third year we have made a cake. If we are bored, or meant to be working, or there is something to celebrate, we make a cake. It's not the face that we then eat them that is the hard part, I can cope with not buying a flapjack when I go to my Monday lecture. But baking is my stress relief and final year is a lot of stress!

In the next 47 days (Lent, it turns out, doesn't count on Sundays) I have four deadlines. So ordinarily that would be 8 cakes, one while reading and preparing, one whilst writing or finishing. So I am officially in the market for a new stress release. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Well, that's me for the night!

Gemma

Journalism vs Sociology

Oh dear- it has been an entire month since I last wrote my blog. And I have hardly any excuses. In mid February I had my NCTJ Essential Law exam and the NCTJ Reporting exam a day later. But apart from that I have frivolously wasted away my time, neglecting my poor blog for more exciting reading and writing, such as my experience of speed dating (I did it for my career and I won't hear any more about it!).

So the Essential Law exam... Honestly it has been that long that I've forgotten what happened with it! There were a couple of short answer questions which I had never known the answer to- the head of the judiciary and what "taking the silk" means. But thankfully I feel like the other questions were passable at the very least. In the week leading up to the exam my brain had no capacity for anything other than McNae and even on the day of the exam I felt like I had not done enough. But the questions fell in my favour and I feel i've done enough for the pass at the very least.

The next day was the NCTJ Reporting exam and what a kerfuffle that was! The problem was we needed computers for the exam, obviously, and apparently had not booked a free computer room. Thirty minutes after the exam was meant to start we were still trekking round the maze that is the media building at Salford University trying to find a room to do it in. Eventually we came across a room of Mac's and with one guy in the group owning one we were soon all set up. This was a 2 and a half hour exam and after 90 minutes I was finishing up, went to add a header to this (bearing in mind I don't know how to use a Mac) and the computer crashed. I had saved it after the first of two questions, but not since so I had a major, but silent, meltdown. Thankfully the technician came and saved the majority of it, missing off the last ten minutes of work. So I finished up and got out of there before anything more could go wrong!

Since then I have thrown myself into my final semester which consists of entirely Sociology modules, apart from shorthand. Unfortunately I chose to do a course including sociology on a whim because I had discovered I was good at it during A-Levels. Let me tell you, for a journalist who wants to be writing news stories and features, not essays, five years of sociology is too much! It is becoming harder and harder to switch my brain between writing stories and writing essays and the harder it becomes the less I wish to do it.

Since the exams I have learnt that I passed my NCTJ Court Reporting exam. With a low mark but a pass is still a pass and that's all that matters. It worries me slightly that the one I was confident on came back with a lower mark than I was expecting, makes me nervous about the other law exam which I am far less confident about. But only time will tell now!

As for shorthand. Well! I had originally planned to take my first exam tomorrow, the 3rd of March. Unfortunately, despite my commitment to working at home this semester, I still do not feel ready, still yet to continually complete passages at 60 words per minute. So my teacher and I have agreed to postpone my first exam by a month, by which time I am hoping to sit the 70 instead of the 60. Then the 80 in May and 100 in June. Right? Right!

Anyway, very little to report, unless you want me to rant about the unreliability of Arsenal but I'm sure you don't want to hear about that!!