I Work in Television

Note to self: regardless of what anyone tells you, today is not Sunday, it's Wednesday. Even though Wednesday was actually a public holiday - although you were technically at work while you were at the coast - disregard the surroudning onset of Mondayitis - you've already HAD yours. Welcome back to shift work, Trout.

It's comforting to remember that, no matter how imposing the setting, the basics of starting a new job are always the same. This is where you park, this is how you get in and out (straight on at Van Gogh, left at Daryl Somers, up to the orange floor and DON'T ACCIDENTALLY WALK INTO MAKE-UP AGAIN), this is where the tea and coffee and vending machines are, these are the things to avoid in the canteen, these are the people who are ALWAYS pissed off, so don't worry, it's not you. You make your own discoveries about the building - it's quicker to cut down this corridor, this hand-dryer won't work unless you physically try to stuff your fists into the spout, this door won't shut properly unless you kick it once on each side. After that, once you've got a handle of the new terminology, you're pretty much set. Now I've unravelled the mysteries of VT, MOS, VOSOT, UPSOT, TAKE VIZ, PTC, ENPS, and CG, I feel quite at home.

And I LOVE online. I love the adrenaline of immoveable deadlines, the constantly changing running order, the arrival of scripts and having to juggle several stories at once. I love listening in to the studio and seeing vision come through the router on its way up from the edit suites, I love my three seconds of fame on the microphone, and I love cueing out a caption and seeing it come through on air. I've a way to go before it's second nature (and I get blase about it all) but the first signs are good :)