“Excuse Me, But What’s The Point Of This Class?” –Random Girl in my Toolkit class

Hello lovelies! Thank you all for the comments and feedback I’ve received! So happy that you all seem to be reading and enjoying *does a little happy dance* That being said, there is a high demand for MORE. Just kidding. It’s just time to update you on my life again…

Mondays. Hands up for who really enjoys Mondays? You didn’t raise yours, did you? I’m not surprised, they suck. And they just happen to be the longest day of the week for me. Coincidence, I think NOT. But anyways, this particular Monday was a drama fest. There had been rumors all weekend that a tube strike was coming, and I’m sorry to report that come Monday morning, it was here. Tube strikes are when the workers simply refuse to come in due to anger about their wages or something and go on strike (obviously) but what happens to all those people you ask? Well the people who rely on the tube to get to work are just plum out of luck. This means they have to take an alternate bus route or tube. (I know you’re thinking how can they take the tube if it’s on strike, but hear me out first). When I first heard about the tube strike, I was freaking out because I assumed that it meant the entire tube system would be out, but that isn’t the case.

What actually happens is quite like the weekends (they generally close down parts of the tube on the weekend to ‘fix’ it for the Olympics in 2012) were one whole line or the south/north part of a line will be down. The difference is that on the weekend when they’re working on something, they generally make it somewhat convenient to get where you need to go, or send it replacement buses. When there’s a tube strike, it’s not convenient. There will be random parts of a line out, 5 or 6 random stops closed on a working line and there are no alternate sources of transportation set up for you. THANKFULLY, the strike didn’t effect me. I was able to still catch my Bakerloo line to Queen’s Park for work (there were several stops along the way where we didn’t stop because they were on strike though) and get on the Metropolitan line (thankfully I was going North! South of Baker was closed) to go to the Harrow Campus for film class later.

When I got to work at 10, there was literally just Elena and Sarah there (Georgie’s work placement was up on Friday). Soooo quiet. Ben and Matt were in France working on something or other, the whole Production team was on a casting call and even Luca, the quiet accounts man who sits in a corner and comes in simply for tea before he dashes away again, was gone. Wow. Just when I was thinking this was going to be the most boring day ever, Josh came in. Yay! This man is funny, he’ll entertain me! He’ll give me something to do. Nah, not really. False hope yet again. I instead got put on Paper duty. Paper duty, for those of you who don’t know, is when you skim the paper and cut out interesting articles or things that might spark an idea for a TV show. Yeah, I know, sounds fun, huh? Sarah got sent away on an errand, so at one point it was just Josh, Elena and me. Josh asked if I wanted to go to the Post for him, yea? Did I want to go to Post? You mean the Post Office? Sure Josh mate, I’d love to. It’s literally just down the street and for 5 minutes, I got to be outside the office and away from the stack of paper. Once lunch time hit, so did all the random Texas questions Josh had been holding back.

JOSH: Is it really like King of the Hill? (I’ve already been asked that! Is that really all we have to represent ourselves? Come on Texas!)

ME: Well no, I mean there are parts like that, but it’s exaggerated.

JOSH: What’s the legal driving age?

ME: 16

JOSH: What about drinking?

ME: 21

JOSH: At what age can you, you know *whistles*

ME: Haha, umm 17 in Texas, but I think that might depend on the state.

JOSH: So you can drive before you can *whistles*? That’s a bit off. And then you have to wait so long to drink! What’s the deal with having two flags?

ME: Well one is for your state and the other is the American flag. But Texas can fly their flag at the same height as the American flag because we were a country first.

JOSH: Do some people still want the south to succeed from the Nation?

ME: There are some people like that, but that’s more in the dirty south, in like Georgia, and the Carolina’s and such and those people aren’t the majority at all.

JOSH: Do you have to pledge to your country every day?

ME: All the way through high school you do. And they added a Texas pledge halfway through middle school.

JOSH: So you have to say TWO pledges? That’s ridiculous. I’m not pledging my allegiance to anyone. Who’s your senator?

ME: *blush* Ummm…

JOSH: You don’t know? Well how do you feel about Obama then?

ME: I loved him when I voted for him, but I don’t know if I’ll vote for him again.

JOSH: No? Why not? He’s so dramatic, well you all are really, but he gives some great speeches. The one in the rain, yeah? That was brilliant!

ME: Do you find American’s dramatic?

JOSH: Compared to us, yes, but we like to be calm about things. Our politics are quite boring really. Yours are just fascinating. Why did the Republicans try and destroy the country?

ME: Oh my gosh! You’re just like the man in speaker’s corner! I’m not going to talk about this with you!

JOSH: What are you a fan of Bush? We all think he’s a stupid twat, he ruined your country, didn’t he?

ME: Well yeah, in someways he did.

JOSH: Why do you guys like guns so much? I don’t understand why people own guns.

ME: Oh everyone in Texas owns a gun! We have 2.

JOSH: What? You have guns in your home? Have you ever fired it before?

ME: Oh sure! I still have my target!

JOSH: That’s ridiculous! Why do you need a gun??

After lunch Josh asked me if I had any experience shooting.

ME: Yeah I told you-oh wait, you mean like with a camera?

JOSH: You Americans, always so quick with the violence. Yes with a camera.

ME: Ohh, right. A bit yeah.

I was then about to be sent on an errand to look at jewelry, but there wasn’t enough time since I had to leave at 2. When I asked why I needed to scope out some fine jewels, I was told it was for the shorts we’re on commission to do for the BBC. We did one not too long ago, and all of the sudden, Josh got excited, “Oi, Devon! Have a look at this! Go email it to everyone you know! That’s your task before you leave today. Go generate excitement in America for our shorts!” You can see the short they did for the BBC about Ethel's Missed Connections here!

We’re filming three more live action ones this month. I’ve gotten to read the scripts for all of them, and Josh said I’d get to come to the shoots, yay! And Oh my lanta, one of them has baby hands in it! I got super excited and tried to explain to Josh about SNL and Kristen Wiig and baby hands, but he just looked at me like “stupid American, what are you talking about?”. Ah well, off to class.

This class was so boring! We didn’t even watch a film this time. Instead, we spent 3 hours talking about things that could have been explained in half that time, easy. Especially since we were supposed to print out the notes she wrote that said the basic jist of everything she was saying. And then Devon started getting sleepy. And kept dosing off. And the first page of her notes is quite unreadable. But I managed to somehow shake off the sleepy stupor and take 2 more pages of notes. After class, Vicky was quite keen on us all going to Student Union for drinks again, but Chloe was sick, and I really just wanted to go home and sleep. So I did.

Harrow Campus is kinda eerie after dark. It was really foggy near this open field where I was walking to get to the tube. It was creepy and yet so cool and I thought it’d be a great location for some movie or another! The tube did take longer to get to us due to the strike, but I got some good pictures of the pretty sunset while I was waiting! Finally got home around 8, had some vegichili, watched the new episode of Inbetweeners booked some more theatre and pretty much called it a night.

Today the strike was over (they’re just 24 hr things) but there will be more to come. And those will probably effect me (I saw a lot of ‘Queen’s Park’ written on those white boards). When I walked in Josh goes:

JOSH: yeee-haw!! Oh sorry, is that considered racist?

ME: (Pfft. Like we really say that!) Yes Josh, I take great offence to that.

JOSH: There you go again with that American sass...

ME: I’m not sassy!

JOSH: And none of that Texan accent either

ME: I don’t have a Texas accent!

JOSH: Yes you do! You’re using it right now

ME: *puts on British accent* Well what, do you want me to talk like this then?

JOSH: Is that your British accent?

ME: *blush* yeahhhhh

JOSH: That’s quite good actually…

ME: Oh, thanks! And I do not have an accent

JOSH: Yes you do

ME: Well at least I don’t mumble (he’s one of those mumbling Brits)

JOSH: Well maybe you just can’t hear clearly

Am I really being referred to as sassy yet again? And I don’t have a Texas twang at all, but whatever. And so I went about my day. There were more people at work, but Matt and Ben are still out and won’t be back till tomorrow so today, Sarah and I were assigned a new topic of research, this time, the Woman Explorer! (just don’t ask).

Usually either Tuesday or Wednesday’s lunch consists of everyone sitting around the table dissecting the lastest edition of Heat (a trashy, girlie, magazine) which for some unknown reason, keeps being delivered to the office. Today I got asked about Russell Brand’s popularity in America (he’s quite big over here. Well duh, right?) and when I made fun Robert Pattinson, Josh got upset, “Don’t make fun of him! He’s our biggest export!” Shortly after lunch, Josh announced that he ‘fancied a shortbread’. When I asked what this was everyone in the office stared at me. (ok, I’m not entirely stupid, I just didn’t know if he meant like the cake or a shortbread cookie or if it was something different altogether. I’ve just never heard someone say shortbread without it being followed by cake or cookie.) Turns out it’s a traditional Scottish dessert and is a bit like a ‘biscuit’ but is somewhat cake-like as well. I got the first one! Josh told me, “There you are, a taste of homeland for you” and it was quite good! I had another one with tea. Yum! I could get used to this. I could get used to this a lot.

My favorite part of the day was when I was putting my tea cup in the dishwasher and from the other room Josh asked, “How long do we have you here till then Devon?” To which I replied, “I’m just fixin to leave”. *pause* “You’re what?” HAHAHA. I had to explain the phrase, which he found ‘ludicrous’. Wait till I use, ‘right quick’ or ‘just over yonder’ or refer to turning as ‘hanging right’. Hahaha, yesss!

I then jumped on the tube back to Marylebone for my stupppid intern class. Today we talked about how to stand out on a resume and job skills and blah blah blah blah and then it got interesting. A girl put her hand up:

GIRL: Can I ask a question? What’s the point to this class? I mean we already know all this, why do we have to take it?

TEACH: Excuse me, you know all this?

GIRL: I just mean we’ve all gotten this information before. I don’t understand why we need to go over this. I mean, we’re already in an internship, doesn’t that show our dedication and that we clearly know about resumes and the hiring process?

TEACH: I don’t understand, you signed up for this.

GIRL: No, I signed up for an internship. I didn’t know I’d have to take this class too.

TEACH: Well then that’s a failure on your school’s part to tell you so. That’s not my fault.

Enter huge heated debate that took half an hour here. All the Americans in the room didn’t understand a.) why we being forced to take this class when we have an internship (a lot of us were told we’d have 3 classes and an internship, not 4 classes and an internship) and b.) what the point of taking it was. The obvious difference between American and European’s approach to jobs is that in America, we’re focused on ‘the job’. You get the degree to get ‘the job’ or what skills you need to get ‘the job’. While in Europe, you focus more on your ‘employability’ and why you should be hired for a job based on your person. Hmm skills or personality? Interesting choice Britain. I mean, obviously, your skills play a role in you getting hired for a job, but all the stupid slides were talking about was how to make yourself look like this person with a great personality! So the point of this whole freaking class is to become ‘employable’! WHATTT? Like some other random girl said, American’s do not see these two things as mixed subjects.

Also, all of this class is pointless! She’s talking about starting salary and firms and companies, and I’m just thinking this is not like the production world at all! If I want to work on film sets, it’s just living one job to the next. There is no annual salary. I tired to explain that to her and she just said "hmm, that's interesting!" And let’s not even get started on interview approaches. The teacher was amazed when I said, “It doesn’t really matter what you did, it’s really just how you present it in an interview. Make it look pretty. But a bow on your box of crap.” But I happen to think that’s a good approach. Call me crazy.

Love,

A-tried-of-fighting-with-these-silly-Brits-Devon