So, I’m moving to Brighton on Sunday the 18th. I was down there this weekend and had a chance to properly wander around the place. It… it’s a little bit more interesting than Chelmsford in Essex (WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? – Squage).

Whereas Chelmsford has the usual run of soulless chain shops and restaurants and a couple of shopping arcades, Brighton offers not only these amazing features but also a huge array of quirky locally owned shops, sweet shops, veggie restaurants, outdoor stalls.

(Ok, that’s not a surprise – Squage)

Chelmsford graffiti consist of hastily-scrawled spray paint featuring the call-sign of a local “yoof kru”, Brighton’s equivalent is two-storey tall complex works of art depicting manga characters, Star Wars scenes, life-like paintings of Aung San Suu Kyi and loads more.

(Cool, but not a surprise – Squage)

Ok, Brighton’s bars are a fair bit more expensive than Chelmsford’s, plus it’s full of stag and hen parties. But the former’s fine given I’ve a student union to go to and the latter’s fine as it rather adds to the fun atmosphere of the place (although I’ve not been wandering around at 2am on a Saturday yet). There’s a really cool feel to the place, just an underlying feeling that people like living there.

(Hang on, hang on, stop a second. So what you’re really saying is “Brighton’s a city, and it’s bohemian, and it’s a party town, and you like it”? – Squage)

Yes.

(I think everyone knew that. What are you bothering mentioning it? – Squage)

BECAUSE I WANT TO EXPRESS HOW FRICKIN’ AWESOME IT IS THAT I’LL BE LIVING THERE.

(So, basically, you want to rub it in people’s faces? – Squage)

Of course not. :-)

(You’re happy to make people think you’re a gloating tool? – Squage)

That don’t! :-)

(You are literally too stupid to insult – Squage)

Stop quoting from The Hangover.

(Would you please put some pants on? I feel weird having to ask you twice – Squage)

Ok, that’s enough.

BYE!

Pat

• Saturday marked the “1 week til I dump some of my furniture in Brighton” milestone.
• Yesterday marked the “2 weeks til I move to Brighton” milestone.
• Today (the 5th of September) marks the “10 days to go working for My Beloved Employer ™” milestone, along with the “I’ve added a ‘My final working day is’ line to my company signature” moment.
• Tomorrow marks the “4 weeks til my phone line gets plugged in” milestone. Yes. 4 weeks.

Now, I know September is a busy time around a student town, I accept that.

But really?

Are there really so many long-empty houses and so few BT engineers that the earliest date a bod could turn up and spend 30 minutes kroning a couple of wires is the 27th of September?

Good grief.

Fortunately the broadband is available as soon as the physical connection’s madeOh-WAIT-A-MINUTE-No-I-Have-To-Wait-Another-5-To-7-Business-Days-For-A-Button-To-Be-Clicked-On-A-Screen.

(It’s good to see Pat’s illness on Friday hasn’t removed his ability to get ignorantly wound up about unimportant things – Squage)

DON’T INTERRUPT MY POINTLESS MOANY BLOG UPDATE, DAMNIT!

(It’s almost too easy, this… – Squage)

Frackin’ rackin’ brackin’,

Pat

Whatever it was, it’s caused Pat to leave work early and spend the day coughing, sneezing and generally looking red faced and sorry for himself.

Yes, it’s Squage here, subbing for an ill Pat.

Clearly doing any work outside 9-5pm is too much for him, and packing counts as work.

Mind you, one could argue work inside 9-5pm is too much for him too.

…

…

No?

…

…

Nothing, Scullion?

…

…

Aww, you being ill rules. You have no energy to write your usual moany cutting remarks! *cracks knuckles* Here we go…

Pat’s a moron, Pat’s a moron, Pat’s a mor-OOOWWW!(I can clip your head even if I don’t have the energy to interject, Squage – Pat)

Well now that’s two of us feeling sorry for themselves.

Til tomorrow, hopefully…

Squage

Between now and moving to Brighton I’ve ended up with a LOT of social engagements, which means some rather early packing started in earnest last night.

It reminded me why I bloody well hate it:

Pat

Today is the final day of August. It’s my pay day. But it’s more than that. It’s my final pay day with a paycheck worth mentioning.

Have I made a TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE over-long and out-of-tune piece of audio, to mark this occasion and in honour of the karaoke night I’m going to be ruining with my voice on Friday?

YOU BET YOUR SEXY FACE I HAVE.

Here are the lyrics (well, the original ones. This doesn’t include the ludicrous amount of off-script nonsense):

I leave in September
So soon it’s farewell
And don’t think I’ll come back
But then, who can tell?
A change in career is to come
I’m Uni bound
So here comes my last bit of earned money

It’s the final paycheck
The final paycheck

Ohh
I’m heading for Brighton to drink til I fall
‘Cause I’ll be a student and having a ball, yeah
With so many projects to do and beers to be found
(To be found)
I’ll miss having monthly new cash to blow…

It’s the final paycheck
The final paycheck…

Pat

It’s a virtue, they say.

And by “they” I mean most people I ask about patience (those who don’t are usually doctors who haven’t quite heard me correctly).

If that’s the case, then call me Alan Non-Virtuous. There’s nothing * worse than sitting around waiting for something you know’s gonna be awesome.

Alas, that’s what I’m doing at the moment. On the 26th of September I start Uni, doing a two year FdA in Digital Media Design, down in Brighton. It’s going to completely blow my mind and open a range of opportunities I can only begin to imagine.

However, I’m at work until the 16th of September. Having resigned on the 1st of July, I’ve already got the vast majority of my handover done and as there’s no one to replace me yet I’ve got no one to train up.

So I spend a lot of my time looking at my Outlook calendar, seeing the “Last day” appointment, looking at “DAYS TO GO.xls”, checking the current date, looking at my Outlook calendar, seeing the “Last day” appointment… and so on.

Anyone fancy a coffee? I wanna chat about the number of days I’ve got left.

Again.

Anyone?

…Hello?

/Pat

* Aside from fingernails scraping on a white board, forgetting to lock your car after walking across a car park from it in the rain, genocide, stepping on an upturned plug with bare feet etc.

P.S. Obviously I’m doing lots of work too. Just to be clear. The above is for comic effect, oh Beloved Employer™. Do not confuse silly posts with serious ones. Always read the label (and check the pills themselves). Your home is at risk if it’s made of bits of slugs and you’ve built it by a salt factory.

This afternoon I’ve been doing some serious preparing for my Uni days: idly sitting on my ass and watching terrible day time telly.

If nothing else, it’s reminding me just how terrible telly before 6pm is. I actually feel like going to do some ironing. Or even starting to pack things. It’s that bad.

Things’ve got at least mildly better now: Come Dine With Me. Today it features a self-confessed “typical hippy feminist vegetarian” lady and a massively sexist south african gentleman. It’s good to see Channel 4’s Ex-Big Brother casting person’s got a new job at least…

Pat

P.S. Oh, I’ve just realised: this is the last bank holiday Monday I’m going to be happy about for a long time. From now on they’ll just be Pain In The Ass, Shops Closing Early™ days. Who says my life choices don’t involve sacrifices?

So, within the month I’ll be working largely with 18-20 year olds on my Uni course.

It’s going to be quite the contrast to my current work, where I’m the youngest in my department.

As a result, I’m a little concerned that I might be a little Hall And Oates (i.e. Out of Touch… HA HA HA! CONTEMPORARY REFERENCE, KIDS! HA HA HA!) with my coursemates.

To prevent myself feeling like the granddad of the team, I need to get down wid da kids.

How? Well, I think the list below will help me seem like One Of The Yoof:

• Saying “Dude”, “Rad”, “Cool” and “Hip”
• Playing Gameboy games
• Swearing using “Bloody” and “Ruddy”
• Blaming Thatcher for most things
• Knowledge of the Radio 4 schedule
• Regular assertions that a good night in is far better (and much more cost effective) than a good night out
• Wearing heat-sensitive T-Shirts. And Neon. Lots of neon.

That should help, I think. Any other ideas?

Pat

“What? In his thirties? With this economic outlook? Quitting a career and going into education? He’s a fool.”

It’s something I’m sure people have thought when I’ve told them my intentions. In fact, I’ve had people say similar directly to me.

Often, it’s hard for me to articulate a response clearly on the spot.

Fortunately, with a blog post, I have a little more time to explain things. I’m not really sure it’ll make much difference. Here goes anyway!

What’s the Reason for Uni?

My current situation:

• I’m not happy where I am
• I want a creative career, but not entirely sure what
• I have a talent and passion for art
• I don’t have experience in it

Therefore right now, I don’t feel confident to go for a creative role, and frankly I don’t have the experience or knowledge of exactly what floats my boat.

Uni should give:

• Opportunity to explore many creative roles
• Plenty of experience (it’s a vocational course with work for real-life clients)
• Inspiration (like-minded people, freedom to explore ideas, interesting part of the world)
• Vast improvement on my skills
• A big boost to my confidence

By the end of Uni, I should be in a much better place in terms of skills, experience, confidence and (one hopes) employability!

Why Now?

There’s no time like the present. It’s a cliché, but it’s true.

Of course, you could argue that it’s too late in life to be doing something like this. That by now I should be:

• Married
• Soon to be a parent
• Working my way up the career ladder

Well, that’s all lovely. But I’m not. Oh and it’s not too late, dufus.

You don’t just suddenly decide to settle down. You need to be ready, and guess what? I’m not. I never have been. Why? Because I want to be happy in my work first, doing something creative and ace.

Until then, “settling down” is a pseudonym for “just settling”.

Previously I’ve let The Fear Of Risk™ stop me from taking a leap of faith towards what I really want. You could argue I wasted much of my 20s due to this *.

Well, enough is enough. Yes, I’m not a yoof anymore, but I’m also never going to be as young as I am right now (which both rad and skill).

• Have I got ties? Nope.
• Can I afford to do this? Yep.
• When the hell will I get a better chance than now? Good point. You knows it.

But Quitting Your Job in this Economy?

Yes, I’m afraid so. To be honest, my reasoning here is similar to that above.

I can’t predict the future, but I can make a positive change to my life.

Sure, it’s risky, but then I consider the following things:

• You’ve already worked out this is the best change you can make right now.
• The worst case scenario is: you try to get back into IT, with 9 years’ experience under your belt, various references and both an IT degree and digital creative FdA to accompany them.
• When you’re 50, even if it all goes to pot, you’ll be happy that you at least tried.
• If it all goes well, who knows what you’ll be doing in your mid 30s!

My conclusion is always this: bring on the return to education at 31. :-)

Pat

* Aside from the trip to Nz/Oz. That… that was frickin’ amazing.

P.S. Special kudos to my mate Jimbo who rightly suggested the best response to anyone questioning my motives is this: “I’m doing it because it’ll make me happy. So f**k off.” :-)

• Four-and-a-bit Weeks
• 1 month
• One twelfth of a year
• 1/120 of a decade
• A very small period of an ice age
• A ludicrously small segment of the Earth’s age
• The amount of days remaining before I sit in reception at Brighton College thinking “Blimey. I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

Yep. I’m leaving full time employment and am off to Uni at the age of Thir[mumblemumble]e.

Things are gonna be changing for me in 2011.

I’ll explain more about what the heck I’m going to be doing, what the hell caused me to do it and how the move is going in future posts.

For now, I’m blogging to let you know that I started my countdown to The Change in true design student style: knackered through staying up too late doing drawing *.

That’s how I roll :-)

Pat

* Alas with no beer… but I’ve a feeling I’ll fix that over the bank holiday weekend.