Recent Events and Surviving Pain for Botswana Orphans

February 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Orphan1

A lot has changed for me in the past few months. Since I last posted on the blog I have scored a job as a News Librarian at Network Ten News in Melbourne. It was completely unexpected but also incredibly exciting. It came around the same time I was interviewed by the Herald Sun after attending the Melbourne Writers Festival. To be honest I’m glad I ended up with the job at Ten over working for the Herald Sun. Working in the News Library often means looking through old archive tapes and trying to find the best footage to use for a particular story. It’s interesting work and as someone relatively new to Melbourne it has helped to rapidly give me an idea of who the important people are and what the major issues have been. This time in the News Library will no doubt help me with my journalism into the future.

In October last year I also completed my honours project on using mobile technology to change the media. I believe it was a success and it has changed the way I perceive and approach media organisations. Since spending so much time performing academic research I am far more skeptical about many aspects of journalism. While I have not changed by views on many major topics, including how journalism should change, I did gain a very good instinct for how to annoy academics. My work came back with good grades. I scored 78% from both of my examiners, which was far higher then I expected considering I was trying to push the boundaries. Watch out for an upcoming post on www.Media140.com where you will be able to download a copy.

Anyway, since finishing my project, life has just been busy. Most importantly (besides work that is), I’ve been training hard to complete a 300km bicycle ride along the Great Ocean Road from Geelong to Warrnambool raising money for charity. The charity I have chosen to support is the Botswana Orphan Project. As part of the training, for the past three weeks I have ridden up Mt Macedon, north-west of Melbourne. My final ride, completed on sunday, was a 63km ride, starting in New Gisborne, and then riding up the front face of Macedon and back down through Woodend and Gisborne. All I can say is… it was hard work!! The worst part is that the first day of our ride is double that! We will likely die. But I can’t think of a better way to go then by raising money for such a great cause. Botswana has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the world and average life expectancy has been plummeting to the point where people are not expected to live past the age of 40. This leaves an increasingly young population which needs help… and I want to help!

You can support me in my ride by donating here: http://www.mycause.com.au/mycause/raise_money/fundraise.php?id=5190

Filed Under: Job Hunt, Journalism, Life, Melbourne Tagged With: , , , ,

Life In Melbourne – A Series Of Mismatched Photos

March 20, 2010 By 2 Comments
My new room

While I have only been living in Melbourne for less than two weeks, I have had time to find  room to live, move in, start uni, eat healthy food, and catch an awful lot of public transport. This is my new life in pictures, all of which are in different styles and not necessarily related.

My new room... thanks for the accessories IKEA

I've been trying to eat healthy since getting here


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Filed Under: Life, Melbourne, Photos, Random Tagged With: , , , , ,

Life In The Fast Lane

March 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

To say the past few weeks have not been hectic would be an understatement. They have been a few of the most rushed, confusing, and best weeks of my life. Let me tell you about them quickly.

On the 26th of February I received a call from Adrian at RMIT about the Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) (Honours) program, which I applied for a few months ago, and had assumed I did not get in. Adrian told me he had only just received the paperwork and that there was a spot in the program if I wanted to take it up, the only catch was that I was living in Brisbane and the course started the following week.

Quickly I thought about it and phoned a few people whose opinion I value in relation to my career and decided that I would move to Melbourne ASAP so that I could start without missing too many classes.

After a week of preparing in Queensland I hit the Gold Coast Airport ready to catch my Jet Star flight JQ 431 to Melbourne only to have it cancelled just as we were meant to board. A voice came over the loudspeaker telling us to all head for the baggage drop and collect our bags before going to see if we could get on another flight. I did this and then waited in the subsequently huge lineup of people only to be told that I could either wait around all day and fly to Melbourne that night or I could fly two days later on Sunday. I chose the second option.

Luckily the delays meant I avoided the mega storm which Melbourne experienced but was there in time to see Southern Cross station leaking from the roof. I also managed to catch a few days of really wet weather which, when combined with my lack of sleep back in Brisbane, caused me to get a cold. Either way I was in Melbourne and eager to start my course.

The past week has been spent getting accustomed to life in a new city and the fact that I am no longer living at home with mum. My aunty, who lives here, drove me around to pick up stuff to go into my room, and then on Friday I moved in with a guy who surprisingly shares my last name but is not related in any way. I have also been spending a lot of time trying to come up with a research topic for my honours project, a task which I have completed and will be posting about shortly.

So… Welcome to Melbourne! :)

Filed Under: Life, Random Tagged With: , , ,