So I had my first brush with the paparazzi this morning - if only that was as exciting as it sounds ;-)
Alesha Dixon (from ex British girl band Mystique) was about to arrive at our office for an interview, and the paps were all gathered outside our front door and trying to talk their way inside (no dice) - apparently they were cold. Aaah, the hazards of the job. There were only about 15 of them; not nearly as crazy as when it's an A-lister, but I found it terribly exciting anyway - it doesn't take much to please me. Am trying to find a schedule of what's happening when so I can be prepared, and perhaps take my own sneaky pap photos - but only for my scrapbook, of course.
Things are getting busier, and I'm starting to learn a bit more of who's who, so I can function a little more indpendently than on Monday. My worst thing about starting a new job is having to ask questions every 5 minutes. I'm the kind of person who would rather struggle for two hours trying to find something out by myself than ask someone. This wouldn't be the case if I only needed to know things once or twice a day, but in the beginning, when everything is as foreign as flying pigs, I need to know things all the time, and I just hate bugging people. Not that people here aren't buggable - they are, very much so, and are very willing to help. Since it's more efficient to ask questions and be done with it, I am making myself do so, but I look forward to the time when I know as much as Sammy and can cruise on autopilot.
We have an hour and 15 minutes for lunch everyday (did I mention that media people tend to do everything they possibly can to get out of doing any real work while still running successful companies?), and so there's plenty of time to go shopping, visit local attatractions or indeed take a nap under your desk, should you so desire (no-one would bat an eyelid here). Today I went to visit the National Portait Gallery. Now, I should say here that I know absolutely nothing about art, and have almost zero interest in it. I understand why people enjoy making it, and how it's a form of expression that tells us a lot about cultures and eras, but beyond that I really couldn't give a shit. I blame my parents for this. As children, my sister and I were ferried away on the most wonderful camping trips all over South Africa. We had the best geographical and historical education on our country that any child could wish for - far beyond what they teach in schools. However, my folks neglected to include art in their educational syllabus, and we are therefore both pretty much ignoramuses when it comes to the finer things in life (with the exception of drinking expensive wine - we do that very well). But the National Portrait Gallery is a London Landmark, and I am trying to make a mission to visit such attractions just so I can say I did - not actually to infuse any sense of culture into my life. I'm slightly ashamed to say that most of the exhibits bored me to death, particularly the community art. There were, however, several photographic exhibitions, and those I could look at all day. I suppose it's the sense of reality that I appreciate. I adore losing myself in a good book, but I've never felt the same way about a painting or sculpture. The Princess Diana Photo exhibition was my favourite - she really was ethereally beautiful and the pictures are alternately classically gorgeous and haunting.
Tomorrow I might go to the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, depending on whether or not there's something I may be interested in seeing. Or maybe I'll just go shopping......
Alesha Dixon (from ex British girl band Mystique) was about to arrive at our office for an interview, and the paps were all gathered outside our front door and trying to talk their way inside (no dice) - apparently they were cold. Aaah, the hazards of the job. There were only about 15 of them; not nearly as crazy as when it's an A-lister, but I found it terribly exciting anyway - it doesn't take much to please me. Am trying to find a schedule of what's happening when so I can be prepared, and perhaps take my own sneaky pap photos - but only for my scrapbook, of course.
Things are getting busier, and I'm starting to learn a bit more of who's who, so I can function a little more indpendently than on Monday. My worst thing about starting a new job is having to ask questions every 5 minutes. I'm the kind of person who would rather struggle for two hours trying to find something out by myself than ask someone. This wouldn't be the case if I only needed to know things once or twice a day, but in the beginning, when everything is as foreign as flying pigs, I need to know things all the time, and I just hate bugging people. Not that people here aren't buggable - they are, very much so, and are very willing to help. Since it's more efficient to ask questions and be done with it, I am making myself do so, but I look forward to the time when I know as much as Sammy and can cruise on autopilot.
We have an hour and 15 minutes for lunch everyday (did I mention that media people tend to do everything they possibly can to get out of doing any real work while still running successful companies?), and so there's plenty of time to go shopping, visit local attatractions or indeed take a nap under your desk, should you so desire (no-one would bat an eyelid here). Today I went to visit the National Portait Gallery. Now, I should say here that I know absolutely nothing about art, and have almost zero interest in it. I understand why people enjoy making it, and how it's a form of expression that tells us a lot about cultures and eras, but beyond that I really couldn't give a shit. I blame my parents for this. As children, my sister and I were ferried away on the most wonderful camping trips all over South Africa. We had the best geographical and historical education on our country that any child could wish for - far beyond what they teach in schools. However, my folks neglected to include art in their educational syllabus, and we are therefore both pretty much ignoramuses when it comes to the finer things in life (with the exception of drinking expensive wine - we do that very well). But the National Portrait Gallery is a London Landmark, and I am trying to make a mission to visit such attractions just so I can say I did - not actually to infuse any sense of culture into my life. I'm slightly ashamed to say that most of the exhibits bored me to death, particularly the community art. There were, however, several photographic exhibitions, and those I could look at all day. I suppose it's the sense of reality that I appreciate. I adore losing myself in a good book, but I've never felt the same way about a painting or sculpture. The Princess Diana Photo exhibition was my favourite - she really was ethereally beautiful and the pictures are alternately classically gorgeous and haunting.
Tomorrow I might go to the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, depending on whether or not there's something I may be interested in seeing. Or maybe I'll just go shopping......
4 comments:
I get the joy of those brushes with the pap regularly when big shows are on at the studios. There is actually nothing worse than departing the office on to a red carpet where there are loads of cameras going off etc.
Meh.
Glad that the new job is going so well :)
cool job!! go shopping~ seems like a good idea... you don't like art?? if you like good wine you can learn to love art... ;)~
Woohoo - congrats on the job!! (been awol for a while so only caught up today!)
I can relate to the boring exhibits - with FD involved in the art world I sometimes have to go to these things and pretend that I have an opinion on the painting of the weird looking people playing cards. I've finally tuned my "smile & nod" response - I find this works best, along with the occasional - "Mmmmmm.... interesting subject matter".
@ Miss M: tonight is the premier of Sweeney Todd at L-Square. They're rolling out the red carpets and doing all the fancy decorating... I bet I'll see some SERIOUS paps tonight!
@ sweetass: But what do I do if I'm just plain not interested?
@ MsMozi: I like the smile and nod - think I'll stick to that. It's just easier ;-)
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