freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose

Somebody, please give me a job.

I'm passionate, have experience working at a bookstore, literary magazine, publishing house and team assistant, as well as other things. You will not regret it. I am awesome and I want this so, so badly.

I have so many plans and ambitions for this year that can't happen until I have a proper job again and it's killing me not knowing. Perpetual employment limbo. Earning barely enough to cover bills and travel one week, then a comfortable amount the following week is frustrating. I never know how much money I'm going to have so it's impossible to plan things.

I want to move out, I want to save, I want to travel.

I swear, if I don't get at least an interview out of one of these three jobs I am going to be baffled. What do other people have that I don't?

I'm trying to distract myself with things like learning to ride a bicycle and a manual car as well as entertaining the notion of getting my motorbike licence, but my thoughts keep slipping back to the fact that I'm stuck in career hell.

If I did get a motorbike though, I think I'd buy a Honda CBR125R. It's a nice little light bike, just what I need. Being 5ft2 tall and weighing a whopping 56kg, I don't pretend I'd be able to handle a monster.

cliffside

Still hanging in there, sort of.

The good thing is that almost every major publisher based in Sydney has advertised either entry level or semi-entry level positions in the past few weeks. The bad news is that still only equates to four jobs. I know I didn't get one, the closing dates for two more are this week and the fourth has only just been advertised. This also means that if I don't get any of these positions, I'm probably going to jump off a cliff because the steady stream of editorial positions becoming available is going to dry up pretty soon.

Review: 1. The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

Set in London during the Second World War, The Night Watch is most certainly an intriguing novel. The main characters (Kay, Viv, Julia, Helen and Duncan) are all linked in some way and lead somewhat unorthodox lives. Julia and Helen are lovers and must hide their illicit relationship. Kay is a solitary woman who dressed like a man and is struggling to move on with her life after the war. Viv has devoted years of her life to a relationship with a married man and is starting to realise what this affair has cost her. Finally, Duncan is a boyish man who has been in prison and is now under the thumb of the creepy Mr Mundy.

The story itself is structured backwards - we begin with the characters in the "present" and see how their lives currently are. The story then jumps back a few years to show how the choices they made during the war have affected them in the future. We see Viv lost in the passion of her affair, Duncan's life in prison and the love triangle between Kay, Julia and Helen. The final chapters of the novel jump back further and show the "beginning" of the story - the incident that led to Duncan's time in prison, how Viv met her lover and how Kay first met Helen.

Personally, I think the backwards storytelling didn't really add much to the story, particularly the final scenes which I could mostly guess anyway. Besides from that, Waters is an excellent storyteller who uses such vivid language. I like how she chose to tell the story of more unconventional characters, especially Kay, Julia and Helen. Homosexuality was taboo during the 40s and the implications of this really hits home when set against the backdrop of war. Despite living together and loving one another, if a gay person died during the war, their partner would receive no war widow compensation. Their partner could not openly mourn their loss. Overall, while I enjoyed the book I can't unfortunately say that it has been a standout one that I will remember in great detail in the future.

3.5/5