Cry as they all die blonde

I've been slacking off. There's been things I should have been writing down, but haven't. Instead I will make this entry a sort of mish-mash of recent happenings.

I was interviewed last week for a paper that for privacy reasons I will refer to only as "The Chronicle". I had sent them a speculative letter asking them to keep me on file for any vacancies that might come up, and they invited me for a preliminary interview, or an "informal interview".

I was mislead by the word informal. Even when i got there the news editor -- whom I remembered being a happy and laid back sort of guy from when I was on work experience -- led me to a meeting room and told me it was just an informal chat. The interview didn't go entirely badly, but I think that my nerves might have lead me to lose my train of thought once or twice. Also, I wasn't prepared for when I was asked to talk factually about the paper. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I must have appeared as a terrible journalist, since the first thing a decent journalist does is his research -- but I hadn't researched the paper. I'd read the paper and familiarised myself with the news locally, but nothing about circulation figures, that the paper is the oldest business in the area and is one of the oldest papers in the country.

I also had to do a kind of written test -- remember this isn't even the official interview, this is just to see if I am worth interviewing for a position. It might have gone well, or I might have crashed and burned -- trying to write 250 words and find the right news angle from a vicar's newsletter.

I am yet to hear back from my first interview -- the much nicer interview I had weeks back. I'm told this can be a good sign.

In non-journo news, I spent yesterday with San wandering around Camden. Camden is like no other place on earth. In fact, London is a very unique city in that it appears to be run entirely by people from other countries -- from waitresses to bar tenders to shop assistants in tourist shops, every last one of them speaking with an accent. It makes me smile. But Camden... one big melting pot of cultures and counter-cultures and people with sandwich boards and taxis trying to run you over as you cross the road, or markets mixing the sounds and smells together to just make that unique Camden feeling.

San and I are going to her flatmate Krystina's birthday next weekend, so I was looking for something to buy her and texting one of San's other flatmates asking for ideas and guidance. In the end, I bought her some pretty studs for her freshly-pierced ears. I miss being pierced myself.