I started writing this post on the 1st of September- yeah September- and although I didn't finish writing it then, stuff has reared up its head, and I feel now will be a good time to talk about it. The beginning is all fun stuff, but it'll eventually get to the point. So here we go.
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Yes, I know I haven't finished my last post, and neither have I mentioned birthday runs, but I will get back to it, I promise.
So the last couple of weeks at work have been pretty easy. I could have done it all in my sleep! No stress whatsoever, no late nights- very welcome reprieve from the usual. The reason for this is that we're running a course at the Hilton Hotel - "Southampton Short Course"- for 3 weeks with delegates from all over the world, and majority of the lecturers I work with are involved with that, so they're busy with it. Also, the majority of my work is done before the course, so I've done my part, all that's left being minor things that can be done easily.
So I've been taking things easy at work. 3 weeks is a long time to be cooped up in a hotel studying, so the Institute organises events for them to attend, for a small fee. The good thing about this is that we that work at the Institute have the option to attend these events, but free of charge! Good times!
The first event I went for was just dinner at the Hilton- a British themed dinner- the whole point being to mingle with the delegates and show our support. When I first heard that the dinner was British-themed, my immediate thoughts was fish and chips! There actually was the option for fish and chips, but most people went for Roast Beef, and it was quite good. We had some soup for appetisers- pea soup I think- and it was quite nice! Couldn't stay for pudding though, but if I did, it would have been bread and butter pudding. No real loss I guess. But anyways, glad I went, becuase well, that was dinner sorted! That was last week Wednesday.
The next event I went for was definitely the best. It was the next day, and we went to Chichester Festival Theatre to see Singin' in the Rain, with dinner afterwards at the Brasserie in the Park there. It was absolutely brilliant! The show, that is. The food was good too, but the show was incredible!
I'd been saying I hadn't been to the theatre until Thursday, but I realised the other day that I actually had been. That was at Uni, in my first year, when there was an adaptation of "The Country Wife" in the Weston auditorium. I'd been so excited! I'd read the book at A' Levels and loved it, so was over the moon that it was being shown as a play. I remember going alone, because no one I knew could be bothered. But I was too excited to care! I even remember sneaking in my own microwave popcorn! Haha.
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| Weston Auditorium, UH- outside |
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| Weston Auditorium- inside |
But anyways, glad I had forgotten, because it was nothing compared to this. I hadn't actually seen Gene Kelly's Singin' in the Rain, so had no idea what to expect, but it totally blew my mind! Saw the movie post-theatre, and it wouldn't surprise you to learn that I preferred the theatre production. It was simply brilliant. The stage was fabulous, the acting on point, and they even had real rain! On stage! I was captivated.
I've just 'stolen' some pictures from Google. Million miles away from the Weston auditorium. One of the bosses hadn't seen the film either, and he was as excited as me, too! The Singin' in the Rain song performance was just before the interval, and he was like saying how we wishes he could go on stage and play about on the water that was on the stage! I won't obviously spoil the show for you, although I checked, the last showing is on the 10th, and it's all sold out! :'( Yes, I wanted to go again! But I heard a rumour that the show- same cast, I think- might be returning next year, in London! I'm so there! [I've just done a quick google search just now, and it seems it's is coming to London in February! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!!!!! I really am so there! "I'm singing in the rain! I'm singing in the rain! What a glorious feeling I'm happy again! Hey Joel, We are so going to see this, just so you know! :-*]
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| The stage |
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| The star of the show, Adam Cooper, 'singin' in the rain'! |
You really need to see it! Okay, I'll stop banging on about it now. :'(
We didn't get back to the hotel until really late, as we then had dinner at the Brassiere in the Park at the theatre. Nice touch from the skies, as it was raining outside when the show finished! It was raining even harder when we got back to the Hilton. Torrential rain, even! Got a lift from a work colleague, and I think I got home about 1am or something, but I don't remember. Glad it was a work-do, so need to rush in to work the next day! Awesome.
That was the height of the work perks, but I got to go on other not-as-cool-but-cool-enough events. The next event I went for was a boat trip on the next Tuesday, a cruise around the Southampton docks. I've been on it in the past, as every year Maritime Law LLMs get to go on the trip, as it's quite educative, and I went when I did mine. It was good fun though, and as it started at about 2pm, didn't have to go back to work. The funniest bit of the trip was towards the end, when we got chatting to the delegates. There were some Nigerians, and as me and one other colleague are Nigerian, they started teasing us about finding us rich husbands in Nigeria, and arranging a wedding, and all we need do is turn up! I was laughing/smiling so hard, my cheeks hurt. They were like they'd charter a private plane too, to transport our other colleagues if they wanted to attend to! Hilarious.
It really is a small world though, because a few days before the course started, one of my Nigerian friends from Southampton had to move back to Nig, as she couldn't find a job, and shortly after the course, I find out she's gotten a job in Nigeria, so I send her a congratulatory message. She then replies saying, that "Oh, my boss said he met you guys at the Short Course in Southampton!" Turns out her boss was the leader of the Nigerian-wedding chat! He's like a top maritime lawyer in Nigeria. So I guess if I find myself back in Nig looking for a job, I know someone I can turn to!
Some pictures...
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| We were on the Princess Caroline. Obviously... |
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| The view from just the docks, before we sailed. |
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| At some point at sea. |
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| Uhh, not sure what this is... Oh yeah, cars are being loaded onto a ship. It was interesting at the time! |
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| Something something. |
Good trip!, back to the other trips! The next one was the next day, actually, this time Wine-tasting at a Vineyard in Winchester. Sounds like fun, but most of the time was spent being taught about how wine is made, and we were shown round the vineyard, the wine-presses, etc. It was long! The only thing I really remember from it was the way they plant their grapes, using the "Geneva double curtain".
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| Can you see it? |
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| Our tour guide, and I think Boss of the Vineyard. I took his picture because he reminded me of one of my former lecturers. |
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| Can you see it? More obvious in the previous picture, I think... |
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| Wickham Vineyard wine. Notice how there's no Red in the picture. Much better. |
Another successful dinner! I only really got to go for one more event, and that was a themed dinner at the hotel, this time Indian. Turned out much better than the British one. This time it was a buffet, and it was really nice food. Lots of it. There was also a 'surprise', which we knew nothing about.
We were all just waiting in the bar area, making small-talk and wondering what the surprise might be, when we heard the loudest noise! It sounded like a massive clatter, like someone dropped a lots of pots and pans in the kitchen, but then the 'noise' settled into music, and it turned out to be two Indian drummers! They were really good. And was it a good surprise? I think so. It fit with the theme, obviously, and other than the fact that we had to suspend conversation while they were drumming, it was a nice surprise. Another successful event!
The main event of the 3 weeks though, was the Gala Course Dinner at Osborne House on (in?) Isle of Wight, but I didn't get to go, as I had Joel staying round, and it was only for staff and delegates, but it was fine, really, as I can always go next year! And ah, that leads on nicely to the main topic! Apologies it's taken so long to get to it, but you gotta set the scene! ;-)
So the day after Singin' in the Rain, still on a high, and not in a rush to get into a work, I get an email from a work colleague (remember my lecturer-friend from a previous post?), asking if I want to go for coffee. I'm like 'no problem, we'll go as soon as I get in'. So I get in, and we go for coffee. There was me thinking it was just ordinary coffee, but there was more! Ooooo...
She tells me that she's off on maternity leave in January for 6 months (I didn't even think to ask if she was pregnant because well, if she wasn't explicitly volunteering the information, I wouldn't ask, and neither would I assume), and she was going to put me forward to replace her. She pretty much sold it to me there and then, and I was going to consider it. She basically has the same job as me, but I am a Research Assistant, while she's a Research Fellow and a bit more. I work for a number of lecturers, but she pretty much works for just the one- Professor Rob Merkin. He was actually my dissertation supervisor for my LLM, and I actually got him to be one of my referees, when I applied for my current job, so he knows who I am, and Johanna was like Rob's happy for it to be me to replace her for those six months.
But our conversation was off-the-record, she was just informing me, just so it wasn't a shock to me if I was asked about it. She's like my Boss will probably contact me soon to let me know about it, but she kind of warned me that my Boss might not be too keen. As I was (am?) initially on an 11-month contract, which runs out end of January, with the option of a further 11-month extension, and my issue was whether when the 6-month job is over, I'd get to go back to my old job. That'd be the perfect scenario! But my Boss is err, different sha. But anyways, before we get to that, my off-the-record conversation with Johann finished, and I headed to my office.
As soon as I got in, and before I had time to gather my thoughts, I get told that my boss was looking for me, so I pop down to his office, and he starts to tell me about Johanna's job! But the way he's telling me about it, it's like 'err, don't you even consider it!' He pretty much was saying that if you go for those six months, you won't have a job to go back to. Not in those exact same words. Not even in similar words, but that was the vibe I was getting. He's like Johanna's job is a lot of work, and it's not really relevant to you for your future career, it's only 6 months, etc. I asked about the possibility of a job-share, we hiring one more person in our department (it's slightly confusing, but the department I work at- the Institute of Maritime Law- is quite separate from the Uni, who Johanna works for. Although I did find out recently that she's a member of the Institute too, but like I said, it's confusing)- and we covering Johanna's tasks, so I didn't have to leave the Institute, but he wasn't having none of it. Johanna had mentioned that he's very protective of his staff, he likes to keep them to himself, if that makes any sense, that he's rather keep the Institute work separate from the University's work, and he pretty much said the same.
He then says that our conversation is 'strictly confidential', then asks if Johanna had already mentioned the job to me, and I'm like err, no, remembering she said it was an off-the-record conversation. So Filippo is like the next thing that will probably happen is that Johanna or Natalie (the head of school) would contact me about it, but that he'd go about processing the extension of my contract. The same way Johanna had sold the job to me earlier, was the same was Filippo pretty much 'unsold' the job to me. It was funny, because Filippo was like Johanna would probably try to convince me to take on her role, and that she can be quite persuasive! I think they both know each other quite well! Actually they should, seeing as Johanna had my old job!
But anyways, I kind of decided that I wouldn't take the job, what with it only being for 6 months, and Filippo not being too keen. I discussed it with my cousins when I went back home a few days afterwards, and we decided that it'll be a good idea not to take the job. The question then, was what to do next. Johanna was expecting Filippo to talk to me about the job, and Filippo was expecting Johanna to talk to me about the job, but none of them knew that I'd spoken to the other, as both conversations technically did not happen. So I'm like, do I go speak to Johanna, tell her I'm no longer interested in the job, without mentioning that I'd spoken to Filippo, or do I go to Filippo and tell him that I'd subsequently spoken to Johanna, and tell him that I told her I wouldn't be taking it? On like the final day of the Short Course, there was a farewell lunch for the delegates which I went for, and I got a lift from Filippo. He asked me again if I'd heard from Johanna, and I just had to swallow hard and say no! Lies.
It was such a tricky position to be in, and it proper felt like I was somehow involved in some corporate espionage! But obviously, that's over-dramatising! It was a sticky position, but nothing more than that. I was worried one time though, that Filippo would find out that I'd spoken to Johanna already and that I lied to him, and he won't be impressed, so I was careful not to send any emails to Johanna that would give me away as having spoken to her prior to Filippo, just in case my emails were being monitored! Talk about paranoid! Considering that both conversations happened pretty much right after the other, either could have easily come before the other. Amyways, wasn't too comfortable with the situation. I guess that's what happens when you have "confidential" conversations!
I eventually decided to send Johanna a carefully worded email, saying that I wasn't really interested in the job anymore, as it was only for 6 months, and I wouldn't have any job security after that, so I left it at that.
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[today's thoughts, now]
But Filippo was right though, she doesn't take no for an answer, and even though she keeps saying that she's not trying to convince me to take her role, she's *kinda* succeeded.
I've been thinking of late of what direction I want my career to go, and we recently had this event in London, the Donald O'May lecture, an event which has been run by the Institute of Maritime for the past 29 years, and I was involved in setting up for the event, and we displayed a number of recent books that had been published by Informa, but had been written by the members of the Institute. I'd seen most of them before, except one, by Ozlem Gurses, a recent Ph.D student turned lecturer, and I couldn't help feeling that I'd LOVE to have a book published one day. I've had a couple of articles published, but how amazing would it be to have my own name on a book!? Like how cool!
And that's why all of a sudden, Johanna's job looked even more attractive. She has lots of articles published, as well as books, in conjunction with Rob Merkin, who I mentioned earlier. She runs the newsletter, Shipping and Trade Law (which was where I had my two Articles published), so she's responsible for sourcing articles from willing LLM and Ph.D students, as well as other contributors, and if need be, she writes articles for the newsletter, to bulk it up if there aren't enough. She's the editor. She also does other weekly newsletter-y type things. I always get an email once a week from her, and it includes a brief summary of all the maritime law cases that have been decided in the past week. She also runs this book publication, the Ratification of Maritime Conventions. It is an already published book, but it is updated online as soon as a convention is ratified by a member state. So basically, she's on top of all the recent maritime law happenings. And to add to that, she is also Rob's Research Assistant, and Rob is even more busy than she is! Oh, and did I add that she lectures, too?
That seems, and is, a whole lot of work. Can I handle it? Well, maybe. But first things first, I have to apply for the job, if at all I will be. It'd be great if I got it, because I'd get to work for Rob, and actually do full on research work, because at the moment, I don't do strictly research work. I pretty much do the bits the lecturers can't be bothered with. Proof-reading, finding new cases, and the occasional research work. I love researching, and it'd be work-heaven for me, even if it might get overwhelming. But then, it's only 6 months. I'm considering maybe doing a Ph.D afterwards- either after 6 months or 11 months, which ever the case may be- and I'd want Rob to be my supervisor. Working for him now, I'm thinking it'd be a good opportunity to find out possible ideas for a Ph.D, or a research project- something long-term. But then, I'd be nailing myself to the mast for an academic career. Am I ready for that? I don't know.
But the question now though, is what to do next. I really want her job- hmm, am I finally admitting it to myself?- but I don't want to cross my boss, whom it didn't seem, was pleased with the idea. But he did say that if I was interested, I should speak to him about it.
I guess initially, I wasn't sure whether it was a viable option for me, but now I think it is, and having talked about it with a couple of people, I've decided that the best way to approach things is first of all to speak to Johanna, find out what EXACTLY the job will entail in those 6 months, and if I am convinced that I can handle it, I'll go directly to my Boss and lay my cards on the table, explain why I think it'd be a good option for me, but at the same time make it clear that if at all I do 'leave', I don't want it to be on bad terms. To be honest, if he's going to be very upset, I'd rather just stay where I am! Me I don't like wahala. Obviously he wants me to stay because I do a good job, so I always have that as a bargaining tool, in asking whether there's a possibility of me deferring my extension until after the 6 months. (my contract has currently been renewed until July 31, not December. It was split into two, something about HR wanting contracts to run in line with the financial calendar). It gets slightly confusing when it gets to work permit extensions, but that's a bridge to crossed another day!
You might have wondered why it all kicked off again, as I'd said I wasn't going to bother, but Johanna kept drip-feeding me info, like she's writing up her notes for her replacements; she's found someone for my former boss, Aleka (I saw her at the Donald O'May lecture, and she said she was looking a research assistant, so I told Johanna about it as she knows lots of capable ex-students), and she's also considering him as her replacement, but she thinks I'll be her perfect replacement; etc etc. Then she told me that the job was going to be advertised in the next few days/weeks, and I should have a look when it comes out, see if I'm still not interested, and that's kind of when the cookie crumbled.
I know her job is going to pay a bit more (how much, I don't know, and I'm not too bothered), and it hit me that if I'm going to act on it, I better do it now, before it gets advertised and the salary then gets revealed, because it'll seem (probably) to my boss that I'm only after the job because it pays more! I'm not sure when exactly it'll be advertised, but I need to speak to my boss beforehand, so he doesn't think I'm 'running away' because of the money. He's away now for a week, but I aim to speak to Johanna today, so I know for sure that I'll be applying, then I'll send him an email asap, knowing that I need to speak to him when he gets back, about the conversation we had all those months ago!
Decisions, decisions, decisions!
I planned on finishing this blog last night, but I was still typing it at 1am so had to stop, so here I am, finishing it up at work. It's past 3pm now, and I really ought to head to Johanna's office now and speak to her.
But first though, need to mention other stuff. This story (it's crazy long already, apologies), is far from over, but I'll continue when there are any further developments!
In other news, it's Joel's graduation today, woohoo! Yes, we are in November! University of Hertfordshire are silly like that. Mine too was in November, despite the fact that courses have ended in May/June, and you know already what your results are. Heck, some people have already found jobs and have moved on! But it's November UH graduations traditionally hold, so November it is. It starts at 7pm today (another ridiculousness), so I'll be popping down straight after work today. I'm not actually going for the ceremony itself, because you only get two tickets, so he's going with his mum (who flew down from Georgia just for it) and his Uncle. I'll meet up with them afterwards. Slightly nervous, as I haven't met either before! But it'll be the briefest of meetings though, as it'll be late by the time it's all over, and they have to head all the way to Harrow. I'll just spend the night at my Aunt's because the graduation is in St Albans, and she lives there. Easy for me.
The plan was to head back down to Southampton in the morning- I took tomorrow off- and play football with my team (yes, I joined the Uni's ladies football team this academic year, like I did when I did my Masters!). We always play Wednesday afternoons, but as I work full-time, I haven't been to any, so the plan was to finally play. But the plan has changed now.
Seeing as Joel's graduation starts at 7pm, all the way in St Albans, there's no scope to actually have a party or celebrate on the actual day, so he's decided to use Wednesday to celebrate somehow. The plan is to go see Wicked! (it might seem like it, but this blog isn't about shows! :p) in the afternoon, and probably go out to dinner afterwards. So now that I've cancelled football (gutting, but there'll be other Wednesdays), I'll be going with him and a few family members to see Wicked!, not sure yet if I can do dinner afterwards, but we'll see. It'll be another chance to meet his family, as I have only met his sister so far (and well, I'll be meeting his mum and uncle tonight). Should be err, interesting. I better be on my best behaviour!
I'll let you know how it all goes, as well as how it goes with Johanna and my boss. I've got to go now, but I guess you'll be right in saying that this blog is finally back! Again, apologies for the length, but it just had to be written!
See ya! ;-) xxx
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