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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Jeffery Pig's LiveJournal:
| Thursday, August 14th, 2008 | |
| 10:35 pm | Whee! Happy animal. It's really weird in a way that I've become loads more chilled out about literally everything this past year or two, everything generally seems to be going well and I'm content and enjoying life. I haven't finished my youth work portfolio because one of my assessors didn't do his bit right so it got sent back to me and he's not making any effort to see me and do his bit so there's no point in me doing any of it. I'll hang onto my file so that I can hopefully finish it at some point in the future, but if nobody else is bothered whether I finish it or not then neither am I! I should really investigate local colleges this year and see what I can get myself trained in for free or very cheap this academic year, in exchange for NUS privileges. That's trivial though. Money is also trivial because I'm making enough to do what I want to do, within reason, and I'm enjoying making it as opposed to finding it a chore to fill my hours in. I'm generally healthy, haven't been drinking as much as I generally would because my time has been filled with interesting fun things. Hayfever hasn't been bad at all this summer either, though that might have been to do with lots of rain. I've also been going to the gym and eating reasonable amounts of reasonable foods, and I've finally been told I'm on the waiting list for knee surgery - this time next year with any luck I'll have 7 healed up holes in each knee and won't have any further issues with them. The idea of having 2 lots of 3+ weeks off work, bike and life on crutches (but on sick pay too) isn't a problem. I'm vaguely pondering Leeds/Reading if I can get something cheap last minute off ebay, because I don't particularly fancy being around for Manchester Pride - think I'm all Prided out for this year, not generally being a fan of them in the first place because I have no shame anywhere at any time of year. I'm also vaguely surprised that I'm still really happy to be with El, and I can't wait for El's resits and house move to be over and done with because that time of year is a bit stressy/dull. Every now and then I think back and am really grateful that I went to Loughborough for Uni. I learned some valuable lessons about myself, people and life as a whole, and while it wasn't particularly fun at the time, I'm glad that everything that happened happened. So what if I still occasionally miss music scenes, sports teams and people as they were, I'm happier now. |
| Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 | |
| 11:15 pm | Some fun weekends! Last weekend I went out in London to Club Demolition at Astoria 2, which I would recommend to any metal/punk/ska fans, for Luke's birthday. The rest of the weekend was spent in Brighton at Rowan's for Brighton Pride, which was also enjoyable for the most part. Then I worked for a few days, saw Benji at Phoebe and Pixie's place and then it was Rebellion (ex-Wasted) festival in Blackpool! Loads of enjoyable people, bands, beers and meals. Did Xtastering for Goldblade and Luke and Nick paid me back with beer and food, yays! Fingers crossed I can blag some more decent stuff soon, like Aiden and Less Than Jake, whose new album does't suck as much as the one before it did. Now I'm tired and just waiting for a text saying El got home ok, and then I'll be off to bed because I've got to work quite a bit for the rest of this week. |
| Thursday, July 24th, 2008 | |
| 2:59 am | Amsterdam isn't happening... So that frees up some money for the time being. The next couple weeks read like: day work evening work weekend clubbing and gig in Manc with Laura day work evening work weekend in London with Luke and in Brighton for Pride with El and others. |
| Saturday, July 12th, 2008 | |
| 2:35 pm | some threads/people on GYUK are annoying me and QYA is really slow and disorganised atm. Amsterdam has not been booked and I still haven't sorted out my passport though I have filled in forms and have photos. However, on the positive side, I have been pretty useful this week and got another job doing youth work for Bury Council and have also got an interview to do Gym Instructing for Bury Council on the 30th of this month. I smell quite bad but am going to the gym shortly before going to Monki's to go out and sleep over because I'm reffing in Urmston tomorrow morning. |
| Monday, July 7th, 2008 | |
| 10:53 pm | A ramble about this weekend's Pride London etc OK so it was the first Pride I'd been to since 2004... 2005 in Manchester I *saw* bits of but didn't attend because I wanted to kill people. I anticipated this one being the best yet as I had my partner, friends, banners and belief that this was the right thing to do. Also, I needed to convince myself that this is what it's supposed to be about. It was awesome overall, meeting up with friends and randoms and having a generally good time in good weather. I enjoy the company of and believe in all those people who I walked with, not often that I'm inspired by the youth of today but here was a great example. Youtube, Photobucket, Flickr and other sites have evidence of what went on. I am proud to have been there, and we need to bring some of that confidence to our everyday lives, because that's where it really matters, you know? Pride isn't just a set weekend in a set city, it should be about every day in the environments that we live in. And yeah, fuck it, I'm putting pressure on people who only have a spine during Prides. I've got to live up to that myself. TCC on Friday was good too, though it was generally just a social to me. Maybe I'm becoming some sort of scene queen for the anti-scene? Hehe. But yeah, new people and constructive talk was a good way to spend an afternoon. I stop getting frustrated with hoping for a really fast revolution, and take the actual good parts from it - some noobs showed up and some professionals showed up and that was productive and beneficial to both. The only negative thing I've heard so far about Pride is that someone, no link required really because it's all over the internet, happened when a transwoman was refused entry to a womens toilet at Pride. The matter is being looked into by Pride, Police and other organisations and I am impressed with the amount of coverage this seemingly isolated incident is gathering. |
| Friday, June 20th, 2008 | |
| 2:28 am | random crap, why not! I'm a bit annoyed this evening as I was planning to go to Rotherham tomorrow on my motorbike to watch the play that El's in and take part in the workshops, but the stand on my bike snapped when I got in from work tonight and Dad can't fix it in time for tomorrow 8am so I'm not going. That frees up my day, because I don't have to be at work at Bury for a specific time, and I plan on going to the gym as well as watching someone who I took a course with last week in her job and give her feedback at 4pm. Tomorrow and the weekend should be pretty chilled in comparison to the past couple weeks of juggling jobs. On the whole though, I'm happier with where life seems to be going at the moment. I'm really content with my partner El too, we don't have secrets and it's still refreshing to feel so relaxed about connecting with someone. I really believe in this and it's made a world of difference to how calm I am, getting what I think is the right amount of support and encouragement. I think we look after each other quite well and get a variety of experiences together. I mean, I'm not living in perpetual fear of letting someone down, being dumped, them slashing themselves or having eating disorders, and I find myself thinking 'I'm proud of you' a hell of a lot more than I'm thinking '*rolleyes*' - success! It's two years since Scidentity and graduation, and I feel much happier in myself. Yeah I can still be a childish immature twat at times when I feel like it, and I hope I always will be, but I'm so much more comfy in dealing with reality. I feel more knowledgeable because of the people I've met in the past couple years, and I realise that many of the people who I had a lot of respect for when I was a teenager really are nothing special. That's kinda disheartening in a way, but I'm finding better people now and realise I was a fool to look up to some of the people I did. My anger has become more witty and tongue-in-cheek with a wink, and me-as-a-14-year-old would be really pleased at the way I've turned out. That'll do Pig, that'll do. |
| Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 | |
| 12:58 pm | So I haven't written in a while, but hey. What's new? Um...probably not much, and most people stalk me on Facebook these days I guess so they know what I'm upto and where I've been etc. My weekdays are generally spent in Bury/Bolton working (have finally started for Bury doing Community Playwork last week), and weekends are generally spent in London mooching around with El. I actually just came onto LJ to post my 'personal statement' that I've just written for my NVQ youth work college file. Quite enjoyed writing it. Personal Statement I am 23 years old and have lived in Bury all my life, apart from when I went to University in Loughborough to study Sociology with social psychology. I did A levels in French and Psychology, and AS levels in Chemistry, Physics and Sociology at Holy Cross College in Bury. This demonstrates that I have had an interest in understanding relations between people for a number of years, and enjoy academic learning and challenges. Through playing sports socially, I got involved in coaching children and playwork at the age of about 16, and these are areas that still interest me. I’ve always enjoyed being able to pass on my own knowledge and learning to others because helping people to gain confidence and progress their skills is positive for their development as well as being rewarding for me. The skills that I think I bring include the ability to communicate with a variety of people in a variety of ways, a desire to listen to people, energy, passion and enthusiasm for a wide variety of activities and topics, as well as the beliefs that everyone has valuable opinions and talents and can improve. When I started as a youth worker 18 months ago I didn’t really know what to expect from the settings or how I was expected to behave and feel. I knew that I wanted to be a positive role model and that through my own experience I had learned valuable life skills that I wanted to pass on in order to help others. In my opinion I don’t have enough life experience as an adult to be much use to anyone who isn’t younger than myself, and I personally value young people’s thoughts and opinions because these people are our future and I want the opportunity to develop their abilities and confidence while they are still at a good age to take on new knowledge and change behaviour patterns for life. In addition, I recognised some of the social issues involving young people such as alcohol, drugs, sex and relationships, self-esteem and bullying, and felt that I had valuable knowledge and experience around these subject areas that other people might be able to benefit from. My motivation for wanting other people to benefit from my experience was mainly because I have learned from my own and other people’s mistakes, and would myself have liked more comfortable opportunities to talk to adults informally. I have now got knowledge about job-specific behaviours, mainly from learning while working and getting tips from colleagues. This experience has seen me gain confidence in interacting with young people who often display behaviour that is difficult to control, knowing what is expected of me and how to be a better youth worker. Looking back on my motivation, I may have been a bit misguided about what youth work should actually involve. Of course in doing my job I will be affected by my own values and experiences, but I have learned that youth work is more about helping to facilitate the positive development of young people in ways that they choose, not necessarily involving everything that I think is key, and sometimes involving things that I took for granted or hadn’t considered. I am doing this NVQ 2 in youth work because it was a requirement of my job, and while I would have liked to do something more intellectually challenging, free qualifications are always good for my CV. I’m currently doing youth work and community play work, as well as casual jobs in football coaching and residential childcare, and have also recently done a level 2 certificate in fitness and gym instructing and hope to progress in that field additionally. I feel that working with children and young people in non-school settings is still the right path for me, but I don’t know what career progression I want as it seems that the higher one progresses up the career pyramid the more one becomes an administrator and manager and the less you have contact with real grass-roots people in their everyday lives. That is what I personally value most, find enjoyable and rewarding, and I would like for people higher up the career pyramid who make policies and other things that influence communities to be more in touch with grass roots people and their issues, so that I can be more sure that what I report back and what grass roots people report back will actually be listened to and acted upon positively. I recognise that I am angry and frustrated with ‘the system’ because I have seen people be let down by it, and I am motivated by my desire to be a good useful ‘cog’ in the ‘machine’. I intend at some point in my life to go back to higher education and continue my academic development, but I haven’t yet found a specific research topic area that I feel I would dedicate myself to. Additionally, I would like to gain more experience working with preferably young people in as many settings as possible to broaden my horizons and find more potential paths for career development that I might not currently be aware of, even though I don’t really see it as ‘my career’ as such, because I have realised I value horizontal progression (getting my fingers in more pies) more than vertical progression (moving upwards in the same field) in terms of my own development. |
| Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 | |
| 2:03 pm | I suppose my last entry was a bit stupid... It's not as if I can stay away from queers, because most of my friends are queer. That's not a problem, it's only a problem when queerness is the main thing being spoken about. Having said that, I've been asked to be on some panel thing to speak about goods and services legislation and trans people at NUS National Conference tomorrow, it's the 'whole' NUS conference, not just the LGBT one. Anyway. Time for a picture entry methinks! I have a bed! I've had it for a month or so, and it's a nice bed. Got it from my mum's friend who was divorcing. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6 A number of people seem to think El is really hot in this pic http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6 Cute quaint old street in Chester where I was working last week for SUSO. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=7 It snowed, view from my bedroom. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=7 And no, I'm not that cheap. (vaguely lewd photo NSFW) http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=7 |
| Saturday, March 29th, 2008 | |
| 11:41 pm | I'm all queered-out for the time being. I'm gonna have a nice break for a few days hopefully, away from queer stuff and queer people. At home and on my own, because I've been all peopled-out the past week. It's been good, and I'm feeling more mature and like a valued and constructive human, but at the same time I feel like I've overdone the thinking, planning and activism this week and I need a change from feeling angrily passionately bubbling under my skin and being constantly surrounded by people who provoke that. So, El was up Monday-Wednesday which was nice cos we hadn't seen each other for a couple weeks and we socialised with Phoebe/Amy/Dennis on Monday and then went to Satan's Hollow on Tuesday with Laura and Matthew which was cool. Wednesday I headed off to do a residential with Bolton kids in the Lake District, expecting to be back Thursday evening, but then the kids decided to be arseholes and not make their drinking and weed-smoking discreet so we had to drive them back Wednesday at 11.30pm and I finally got to bed at 2.30am. Went to London on Thursday to mooch around and be filmed with MK by Twis, Friday all day was the LGBT Consortium AGM and Conference with five other QYA people, which I guess went as well as one could expect (no comment) followed by more filming and pizza... and then today was the 'Volunqueers' conference/discussion group in Birmingham, which was useful and good fun. A post on GYUK has just reminded me of something I'd forgotten, and sometimes I'm really grateful for having a shit memory. I'm glad I've grown up since then, and it only clicked now what someone was doing by warning me off someone years ago. I hope also that someone is happy and sorted and no longer frequenting that board. |
| Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 | |
| 2:41 pm | So, time for some random bitching! Still haven't started work for Bury Council, and they offered me the job more than 3 months ago. Still waiting for CRB check. Not amused, as I'd hoped to get my first paycheck in April so that I can go see Ben in NI (and talk at Xaria's group thing) and take El to Disneyland at the beginning of June and have paid for a passport by now. I'm finally done with SUSO drinks promo stuff, I've done my 30 shops in 35 days and have one last report and batch of photos to send them, and should get paid for the vast majority of it in a week. Yesterday I refereed at Manchester Cup international junior football tournament. We had to meet there at 9am even though the first games didn't kick off until 11am, and I refereed 12-4.15 with nothing more than a 15min break at 3.15. They promised us free food and drink, but the lumpy hot chocolate, bacon muffins and barely defrosted chips were crap. I was supposed to be there again today, but it snowed about 3 inches overnight and so I called the organiser at 7.40am to say I wouldn't be there as it wasn't worth me travelling a 30 mile round trip on a motorbike through snow, only to find out that the tournament might be cancelled. They owe me £50 for yesterday, and I *might* have been prepared to trek in today if the tournament had been amazingly well organised...but they blew it. Knees are doing OK, I'm able to run and climb stairs, but I'm not quick enough to play football at the standard I want to and think I should be able to, so I'm going to the gym shortly then off to football training. I've recently made friends with a couple people who I met a couple weeks ago in Taurus, and am glad that I have more cool odd randomers to chat to, who I think are decent human beings. |
| Friday, February 15th, 2008 | |
| 1:58 pm | Notorious P.I.G. Strikes Again! http://lgbt.wikidot.com/pig-30-second-i Transcription of me being interviewed by Josh Bradley from Bradford University, as part of their LGBT History Month goings-on. |
| Thursday, February 14th, 2008 | |
| 11:29 pm | So...things are always gonna come crashing back down... Like me, to the floor, in Rockworld, having dislocated my GOOD KNEE. I've had no trouble with this knee since I was about 15. Oh well, at least I'm walking without crutches. Gig and club were really fun though, I felt like I had the enthusiasm of a small child. I like that feeling, reminds me that I have the power to do whatever I like with my self. Cos I am my self, I'm not some victim-passive-recipient thing. Life on the whole however is pretty awesome. I'm doing a day-long conference in Birmingham for my Bury job, they've paid for me to go on it and are booking my train tickets for me. I like them already! I enjoy working with the Trafford kids because I connect much better with them as people, and enjoy catching up with them and chatting to them. A little attention goes a long way. But not for the Bolton kids cos they're ungrateful bastards a lot of the time, but that's partly due to youth services being really poorly run. Anyway, my new job for this week (and the next 5) is promoting some new 100% fruit juice soft drink. If you want free samples, get in touch. www.suso.co.uk Have been reading Jamison Green this week and agreeing with and being inspired by a lot of the things he says. I feel a bit odd saying this here but he's got more of El's social viewpoint than mine, to the point where El could have actually written large chunks of it. This angers me a bit, but not in the way one might expect, but I don't want to face being a leader. I want to be taken seriously as my own invention, not going along with what other people feel more comfortable with. |
| Saturday, February 9th, 2008 | |
| 6:17 pm | So it has been ages since I got drunk... And I'm really in the mood for a big night out tonight, so thankfully Laura's got us tickets for Dropkick Murphys/Mad Caddies/The Briggs and then we're going to Rockworld til 3am! All is good, me and El are good, I felt pretty confident in my Gym Instructing exam last week and had my practical assessment today and passed that, so I'm in a pretty good mood :) I've got loads of stuff selling on ebay and I've been doing extra hours at Bolton and Trafford, so money's fine. Job at Bury hasn't started yet but I'm not fussed about it starting immediately. I was supposed to be refereeing tomorrow but the game's off so I'm going to see El and will either see the Manchester derby game (footy) on TV in Manc or London. Time to get ready then, cos I told Laura I'd meet her in Bury at 7pm and I have to ride my BMX there cos I've slready started drinking :) Current Music: the briggs - devil's playground |
| Friday, January 18th, 2008 | |
| 5:34 pm | SQUEE! http://www.myspace.com/thecastingou A couple members of Boysetsfire's new band, and they're playing Camden Underworld on March 2nd, which is a Sunday night and so I can go see them. Well excited already! Though first up is High Society this Sunday in Birmingham. Woop! Happy animal. |
| 12:53 am | I really want to gossip with people but I know that's unfair... But I have read a few things tonight that I want to tell some people. And yeah, that's partly telling other people about my findings, for the gossip factor, and partly because I want them to know I'm there for them. |
| Friday, January 11th, 2008 | |
| 5:47 pm | Achievements - mailing list etc I have, after a few teething troubles, gotten a mailing list sorted. It's for individuals and organisations who deal with trans/gender-variant youth, and trans youth themselves. If you want to be added to it you can reply to this or email/msn jefferypig@hotmail.com. It's for London Pride-based spam to begin with, but will eventually become the trans youth network mailing list as an offshoot of Queeryouth.org.uk. Anyway. Youth work has been going ok, I'm not expecting us to have equipment so I'm not getting angry about the lack of it now. I basically DO want out of there as soon as I've got this NVQ because I'll have done 18 months work for them by then and if things don't change I'm off, unless they give me reasons to stay. Haven't started this playwork job in Bury yet as I'm still waiting for CRB clearance. Youth work and Gym Instructing courses are going pretty well, Gym Instructing finishes in 2 weeks with an exam, and then I just have a practical assessment whenever I feel ready after that. Youth work course is all social psychology theory pretty much so it's piss easy and I've done it all before up to now, my only concern about that is the fact all my worksheets I've done on the job are at my line manager's office and I don't see him very often to get them off him to start building my portfolio! Generally though I'm confident that when I get those I'll be doing just fine with no worries, cos the course is aimed at retards. El and I are still getting on very well and managing to see quite a bit of each other despite the distance. Life's generally pretty good for me at the moment and even though El's a bit stressed over various things recently that hasn't had much of an effect on how we are with each other, which is a relief. |
| Saturday, December 29th, 2007 | |
| 3:11 am | I am a rodent ready for hibernation. I have been sleeping lots and eating lots and conserving energy by watching TV this week. Tomorrow I am back to the gym. Also, my knee hurts but I'm going to punish it anyway, it's possibly just sick of being inactive. I'm home and at the gym over this weekend, in London for NYE, working midweek, in Cardiff next weekend, and then London beginning of next week, before the usual 'work college college work work' evening sequence begins. |
| Wednesday, December 26th, 2007 | |
| 1:05 am | So journal, it's been almost a month... So it has been at least a month that I haven't stalked any of my exes' journals. Go me! I suppose in a way that me watching people isn't so much a big deal anymore, I don't really care what anyone's doing. That could be a good or a bad thing, I'm taking it as good. Looking back through my phone calendar: Kaiser Chiefs gig was poor for teaming (support band were on before most people arrived)/teamers (they were shit) but the Kaisers were better than I expected. Stay Beautiful clubnight on the 1st Dec was good though only El and I went for various reasons. Pride London meeting was good and I like how most of the committee seem to have their heads in the right place. Football coaching with Team Theme has been really enjoyable, but if I'm gonna bother doing it from January I'm going to ask for a pay rise because a lot of the time it's cold and miserable outside or too cramped inside and the money isn't worth it. I was really not very well on my actual birthday (6th) but slept lots and had a Chinese takeaway for tea. I got money from the parents, and spent it on some Nike Shox trainers in a sale and had more money spare after paying rent. On the 8th I went flyering for DJ Zinc @ Warehouse Project in Manc, unusual venue but I enjoyed the atmosphere even though I didn't know any of the DJs playing or tunes they played. The following day I went with Laura to Retro Bar's Christmas do which was put on by the Bomb Ibiza/Ska Bar crew and that was good camp Christmas fun. Harwood youth club has been shut by the head of the youth service until further notice, which I'm really grateful for because it was shit and the kids were quite often shit, Barlow Park youth club has been running a lot better and the youth work college course has actually gotten vaguely useful - it used to be completely shit. I'm enjoying my Gym Instructing level 2 course, and passed the mock exam without revision by about 20 more marks than I needed, which was good. I'm pretty chilled about that and the practical, though the college gym has some really daft equipment, not like the new posh JJB gym I go to. I've only had one shift with Trafford in the past month or two as they've hired a new full-timer, which means spare shifts are down by 5 a week which sucks. I have however had an interview for and got the job of Community Playworker in Bury (ie home) doing 18 hours a week for starting salary of 10k, which is a lot more appealling than working for Bolton currently, though I will re-evaluate that in June when I pass that NVQ. Guested for a new team that I hadn't even met before, Manchester Womens FC, at Man City's training ground the other week, we won 13-1 and I played in goal for most of it as one might expect, but also played out and set up the last goal which was nice. They seem like a decent bunch to play casually with, plus it's always nice to be worshipped for my goalkeeping skills :p Stopped over at Monki's cos he only lived about a mile from the ground and then went Christmas shopping with him the following day. Went to see El Weds-Fri last week and we had our sorta mini Xmas in bed, got El some Adidas 'kermit' trainers amongst random tat, and I received a George grilling machine. Mmm! Haven't tried it out yet but can't wait to have steaks and paninis cheap/quick! I also have a tail on the way, once it's been made. Eeeeee! Saw El's band Brontosaurus Chorus in London on Wednesday, Johnny Panic in London on Thursday and David Ford on my own on Friday as El was gigging in Cardiff then. Friday daytime I did some customer service computery thing in London and was done by 12.30 and got £50 for it so that should have covered what I spent on beer over the 3 nights. Heh. It has been the usual quiet Christmas here, slept til the afternoon, started drinking before the food arrived, have currently polished off two full (pork) dinners, a chocolate orange, many pringles, 4 bottles of Peroni and almost a full bottle of white wine. Spoke to my Gran (who is American and lives in MN) on the phone for a little while even though I have no idea what to say to her, and have watched loads of cheesy but still nice Christmas TV. More grub/drink shortly...and I will phone my sweetheart. Yes I will. Hope you all had a good day :) PS Jakobinarina are the most listened-to band of late. |
| Friday, November 30th, 2007 | |
| 1:28 pm | You really would think... it's not that hard to get people to take free gig tickets to a popular indie band off you. Well it is! I have in my bag 4 tickets for Kaiser Chiefs tonight in Manchester and a load of flyers and badges that need to be handed out there, and all my helpers have pulled out. Oh finally, after a load of phonecalls I have recruited an Xtaster minion from Wigan and his mates. Job done...assuming they meet me! |
| Thursday, November 29th, 2007 | |
| 3:56 am | Stay Beautiful clubnight (Camden, London, THIS SATURDAY) So it's the weekend before my birthday and I'm going out. Anyone who wants to join me, see you there! |