"You already look like you're at home!"

Thats what one of the producers at work said to me the other day. It was my second day at the Manchester International Festival, and the comment made me feel all fuzzy inside. I really feel like I'm part of the team already, it's fantastic.

To those of you who are in the process of starting a new job or career, my advice is simply to go for it. Dive in head first. At the begining of the week, I was concentrating mainly on listening and taking notes, knowing that I had so much to learn, but at the same time I was worried that I should be saying more; firing ideas into the ether to prove myself as a producer. Well today I think I may have started doing just that. And it feels fantastic. My ideas were well received and discussed along with the ideas of the rest of my team. I feel really good about this job.

What's fantastic is the fact that, going out for a drink with my MIF girls tonight, I felt as if I was dying to talk more about work, just as much as I wanted to get to know them even better. And last night, meeting friends in the pub and thinking how my world will now literary revolve around the performing arts, travelling and going out with friends. That's exactly what I've always dreamed of.

I've got a feeling this is going to be an absolutely amazing 12 months! I've completely fallen in love with my new life already.

On a completely different note, I've been meaning to tell you guys for a while now about a choir that I saw during my first year of University - The Watoto Children's choir, which is made up of children who have lost their parents to war or disease. They are a stunning performance group, and you should definitely check them out.

Much Love.
CC.



http://www.watoto.com/the-choir

Ready, Aim... Fire!

I'm so proud - my brother's got a job interview tomorrow. I really wish him all the best and pray (not in the religious sense) that he gets the job, but it is another reminder of my job search.

I spent hours per day (something which I have yet to see my little bro do) filling in application forms, emailing scores of performing arts companies with my CV, and sending even more to "back up" jobs, letting industry professionals know that I was searching for work, attending auditions and interviews. Because I was applying for positions in the performing industry, something which is not heard of in my family, and largely seen as far too ambitious, even for a trained dancer and Warwick University graduate with experience coming out of her ears, those jobs I was applying for tended to take a little longer to get back to me. My mother was convinced that I was just dreaming, that a job such as the one I now have (Trainee Producer at Manchester International Festival) was not possible for me, OR, as she told me more than once, that I simply wasn't trying hard enough.

Now that, I wasn't happy about. It's difficult to explain to a mother who's generation grew up leaving school at 14 and going out and getting any job to "earn your keep" that I had been preparing myself for such a job search for 5 years. All through sixth form and university, I filled my days with performing arts projects and events, many of which I was the sole producer, so that I could fill my CV and pretty much guaruntee huge chances of getting a good job in this industry at the end of my university career. Explaining this to my mother, didn't work.

I find it really difficult to understand people without ambition. I'm not saying that not having a huge ambition is a bad thing, it's just that my brain doesn't seem to work that way. I guess it must be the same when it's the other way around, and that's why my mum couldn't understand me. Everything I do is aimed towards California. It's not just to pay the bills...

...Which is why, when I heard my dad tell my mun to stop trying to change my mind about the move the other night, it made me smile sleepily.

Never give up my friends.
CC.

I think I hear my brother hoovering...

...Well there's a first!

Job interview today, to be a trainee producer at Manchester International Festival. I want this job so bad. I really think it could help me in my hop across the pond.

The interview went well, I didn't stop talking, which is always a good sign! The woman who I would be responsible to is lovely, and she said she was really impressed with my application, so fingers crossed.

My advice for anyone who has an interview coming up:
Have a closing statement - tell them how much you want to work for them and why. Tell them that you can help them as much as they can help you.
Tun any trick question quickly into a positive.

Right... now to properly start my day.

Much love Rockstars.
CC.