Writing, writing, writing.

I'm now about to enter my third week of Uni.
I enrolled in a postgrad Science Communication course, because of the interest I had in Lilly's Writing Editing & Publishing course (a lot of the courses overlap, and me being a sucker for science, would have been mad to pass up the chance of a science coherency).
I really like the course convenor; she's really enthusiastic about the topic, and gets me enthused. Better than that, she understands her shit.
I'm only doing two courses this semester, which I am very thankful for; 1) a journalism course called Intro to Medical and Science reporting, and the other - a writing course - called Communicating Controversial Science. They both really interest me.
But man, postgrad is scary. Almost everyone in the journalism course has had journalistic experience (either in the field or in their undergrad), and can thus write much, much better than I can. I have a lot of practice to do before I will be at their level (which could mean, my lucky readers, a heap of practice articles/entries appearing on this blog).
In the writing course, almost everyone has had a fair bit more academic practice than myself (read: honours), or has just come from undergrad, and is thus more in the swing than I. The discussion section last week was rather initimidating.
But my ol' teacher, Mr Damian Gore, said once "if it doesn't hurt, you ain learnin'!" So I have to agree with him there, and am excited by the prospect of my future skill set.
Every week there is a heap of readings followed by a writing task. This week it is to write an article for 1) The Australian, and 2) The Courier Mail. They're both only small (200-500 words), but it means I have to start researching a topic. I'm thinking Thorium reactors, and how they are a) better than previous reactors, b) would benefit from being marketed as something other than a nuclear reactor, and c) a viable alternative to the new "green" energy sources. I also like the idea of tackling, on a broader scale, the different solutions for combating climate change.
So that's probably what I will focus on for the remainder of the Journalism course (we have to have a portfolio focusing on the one topic by the end of it).
Now let's just hope this helps me in my career - whatever it may be.

Not Sure On The Job

I don't have to leave for the job until October, so over the last few days I have been thinking and thinking and thinking about it.
I'm still not sure. I've been trying to get a hold of some of the people in Qld about jobs, and filled out a competency exam for one of them, but the lady to contact is busy right now, and the competency exam one is too soon to know.
So I want info soon, and don't want to commit to Perth until I have it.
This means it's still not a definite for Perth. And I think with the wages they're offering, I will prefer the East Coast.
So there you go.
Maybe Perth isn't the opportunity I thought it was going to be.

New Job

So it looks like Lilly and I will be packing up and moving to Perth for a job.
I applied for a job with a company called Geoforce a few weeks ago (Mart told me about them), and they are desperate for people, so the fact that I don't have a degree in geophysics doesn't matter. In fact, they have even given Leanne a job.
So that's why we're both moving.
Now. I still have some things to decide.
First of all, it's going to bring a whole new lifestyle. Living on the West Coast means not seeing my friends and family for extended periods of time.
The job works on a two weeks on, one week off roster. The advantage of that is that I have a week off to travel (and visit friends) every two weeks. The disadvantage of it is that I have to figure out where the hell I will stay during that one week off. Do I pay rent for a place I'm only going to live at 1/3rd of the time? But, of course, I don't have to pay for food during those two weeks, so I'm at an advantage there.
But the big decision... it's a pay cut, and it will take me a while to work up to the same pay level I was at during my time at TC.
So is it worth it?
Is the experience worth the sacrifice?
Will the job be worth anything (it isn't strictly in line with my degree) in terms of career? i.e. is it a career path I want to follow?
So I'm going to call some of the jobs I applied for in Qld today, and see what they are willing to offer me. If they offer wages closer to $60k, then I will probably take them.
The $45-50k at Geoforce won't be enough to convince me then.