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‘It was a good day’

Today has undoubtedly been the most surreal but definately most amazing day of my whole 21 years on this earth!

So, I woke up at 8am, in a typical Monday morning mood, not particularly excited about anything. My war writing lecture from 9-10am was nothing special and I was quite keen for it to finish so that I could go and collect my Dissertation portfolio which was ready for collection. 

YAYYY I got my very first 2:1 during my degree and it was for a piece of work that actually counted!! This was amazing news and already my day was starting to look brighter :) 

Half and hour later when I had arrived back home and was drinking my cup of tea, I got a phone call from News Associates regarding the entrance exam I had taken just a few days ago. 

I PASSED!!! Another amazing piece of news! The telephone conversation was quite intense as I was asked whether I wanted to sign up, then and there, for the NCTJ course they offer in Wimbledon. Needless to say, I somewhat panicked thinking ‘Is this really what I want to do?’, ‘where can I get £4000 to fund the course from?’, general ‘I am actually becoming a grown up’ thoughts but after thinking it all through, and with some motivating conversations with great friends, I am 99% sure that I will grab the opportunity with both hands!

As if this wasn’t enough, I then got an email from the recruitment company working for the London Olympics…

‘Congratulations!’

I couldn’t believe it! This is just too lucky! I ran into the living room to tell my lovely housemates and I gave them my phone to confirm that what I thought I had just read was true… Yes, it was true! They were so happy for me and supportive, I can honestly say that this is probably the most happy I have ever been :)

That’s probably enough bragging and boasting now, I just felt like I needed to write this all down so I can look back on this blog if I’m ever feeling down and remember how much I’ve got to look forward to and be thankful for…

Here’s to 2012! An amazing year already with lots more in the pipeline :)

RH91 x

News Associates Journalism Workshop

On Friday 10th February, I had a very busy but also a very interesting and productive day!

I attended a journalism workshop in Wimbledon, organised and run by News Associates. To begin with, I was interviewed by a member of staff who would determine whether or not I was a suitable candidate to put forward for the NCTJ exam, which would be conducted later in the day. The interview was casual and surprisingly fun (I’m pretty new to interviews so I was dubious about what to expect) and I basically just chatted about my position at my university’s paper, my work experience with the Northern Echo, my blog and the story I am writing for my dissertation. Overall, I was pleased and I was told that all my experience seemed on track, although I could do with working a bit more with another paper (note to self - must get on this!)

Shortly after, I took part in the main body of the workshop where Samantha Colebrooke created a ‘false’ story for us budding writers to produce a news article about. The story involved an explosion at the NEC near Birmingham and live updates streamed in throughout the 90 minute exercise, along with interviews from Sky News clips. It was fun but intense and I feel, although it was quite dramatised, it was a fairly accurate representation of the uncertainty and immediacy involved with a job in journalism. 

As the day came to an end, it was time for me to sit the NCTJ exam. This involved a section where I had to spot and correct grammar mistakes in a news article, which I’m quite confidant about as I am pretty picky about punctuation and such like! In the second section, I was given information regarding some dodgy hot dog that were sold in local supermarkets and then I had to write a 200 word article on the matter. Finally, there was a general knowledge section which resembled a tricky pub quiz but thankfully this section required the least amount of points.

I should find out by Tuesday whether I passed or not so I will keep you guys posted! If I pass the exam, then the door opens for me to get on to a NCTJ accredited journalism course so fingers, toes and everything else crossed.

RH91 x

Distorted Dreams

The stress of third year has officially hit me. I’ve been having horrible nightmares on and off for a couple of weeks now. Granted, it doesn’t help that my dissertation project is about psychopaths and my Media project is based around the Mad Hatter. But I love psychology. Do all psychologists get bad dreams because they are have pursued a career in all things ‘brainy’. I find it all so freaky but that’s why I’m addicted. I’m out of my comfort zone. My dreams so far include: my dad becoming seriously ill and dying, my step dad going on a killing spree in my local high street and Joey Essex from TOWIE becoming my new boyfriend, and to be fair he was an amazing boyfriend in my dream!

The latter mentioned is probably nothing to do with my exploration into psychopaths but I would say the first two definitely are! I wonder if writers of horror/thriller novels or directors of such films get horrible dreams because of the nature of their profession? I guess you can’t have too much of a good thing. If I’m going to spend the majority of my final year at uni researching and writing about psychopathic haracters then obviously this was going to have some effect on me…

Let’s just hope I don’t turn out to be a psychopath myself. That wouldn’t be too great. Actually, for anyone that’s interested, professor Robert Hare has devised a checklist which determines whether you have psychopathic characteristics. Depending on how strong the characteristic and how many on the list you can tick off, it is quite a simple but effective way of exploring your mind! I found it fascinating. Here’s the link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare_Psychopathy_Checklist. I know people say you can’t trust ‘wiki’ but I’ve done a far bit of research into this and this wiki link is just as valid as any book or website that I’ve looked at!

RH91x